New Day In Iraq (Again)

The Iraqis have agreed in principle to a June 30, 2009 withdrawal back to US bases and a December 31, 2011 withdrawal date of all US troops, the trick is if the Iraqi Parliament will pass the agreement or not.

The agreement sets June 30, 2009, as the deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from all Iraqi cities and towns, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.

The date for all troops to leave Iraq will be December 31, 2011, he said.

These dates are "set and fixed" and are "not subject to the circumstances on the ground," he said.

Twenty-seven of the 40 Cabinet members in attendance voted in favor of the agreement, said Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. One minister abstained.

The Cabinet consists of the prime minister, two deputy prime ministers, and 37 other ministers.

The approved draft will be sent to the 275-seat Parliament later Sunday, where it will be put to another vote. "There is great optimism that they will pass it," said Industry Minister Fawzi Hariri.

It's a start...but it still means another threeyears of the Iraq War for Obama. He has every reason now to speed this up as much as possible.

Spam, Spam, Recession and Spam

I'll have my Spam without so much recession in it, thank you.

The economy is in tatters and, for millions of people, the future is uncertain. But for some employees at the Hormel Foods Corporation plant here, times have never been better. They are working at a furious pace and piling up all the overtime they want.

The workers make Spam, perhaps the emblematic hard-times food in the American pantry.

Through war and recession, Americans have turned to the glistening canned product from Hormel as a way to save money while still putting something that resembles meat on the table. Now, in a sign of the times, it is happening again, and Hormel is cranking out as much Spam as its workers can produce.

In a factory that abuts Interstate 90, two shifts of workers have been making Spam seven days a week since July, and they have been told that the relentless work schedule will continue indefinitely.

Funny, our recession comes with Viking Hordes too.

Fireside Youtubes

Barack Obama continues to leverage the internet as the first true digital President, delivering the weekly Democratic radio address via YouTube:



It's something he plans to continue to do as President, and frankly it's a fantastic idea. In the address he talks about the need for a stimulus package and unemployment insurance benefit extensions, but the main focus is the fact he's using the term "recession" already.

The Bushies will be quick to point out we're not in a recession because we've only had one quarter of contraction (and of course they will revise that upwards to make sure the "recession" all falls on Obama's head) as if that makes a difference magically.

Obama at least acknowledges there's a problem.