The missing insurgents

Fierce Planet Posted on by

Many of the insurgents we expected to find in Fallujah weren’t there. It seems at least some of them are operating in Mosul instead.

Insurgents have set police stations ablaze, stole weapons and brazenly roamed the streets of Mosul as Iraq’s third largest city appeared to be sliding out of control, residents said.

Explosions and fire from assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades echoed across the city and columns of smoke rose from at least two police stations set alight. At least seven police stations have been attacked in the past 48 hours.

The US military issued a statement admitting that local security forces had been overrun in several areas and said local authorities were doing what they could to restore order.

UPDATE: A friend of mine calls this IRAQ-A-MOLE! I love it.

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Restricting information

Fierce Planet Posted on by

In addition to outright lying, one way the right tries to enforce their morality is by denying information to people, particularly to women and teens. Because so much of their agenda is aimed at controlling sexuality and enforcing births, information about birth control cannot be allowed. While they talk about preventing abortions, their true underlying agenda becomes clear when we discuss birth control. In their view, the only information kids should get about sex is advice to abstain, and information about birth control and STDs shouldn’t be allowed.
Now I don’t personally think teens in general should be having sex, especially young teens. But the problem with abstinence-only education is that it doesn’t work. This blog posting at the Ms. magazine site points out that in Texas

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Comment spammers

Fierce Planet Posted on by

This blog been up less than a week and I’m already getting comment spam. I’m about to install MT-Blacklist but in the meantime, I’ve made comments moderated. Sorry about the nuisance.

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FasTracks

Fierce Planet Posted on by

I’m very proud that Colorado voted to continue funding light rail development in our state. This is the kind of forward-looking project that will keep Colorado liveable and beautiful in the future. Combine this with passage of renewable energy requirements in this same election, and you can see that Colorado is one of the most progressive states in the country right now, no matter who won the Presidential election here.
Anyway, the NYTimes this morning has a lengthy article on FasTracks and the details of rail development around Denver. Enjoy!

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Don’t forget Uganda

Fierce Planet Posted on by

For all that the Sudan gets little attention these days, there is yet another horror in Africa that we need to be aware of. A rebel group called the Lord’s Resistance Army has been operating in Uganda for some time, perhaps with some support from the Sudan. But in the past year LRA has launched such a savage assault on Uganda’s people that 1.6 million people have been displaced. I follow the news much more than most people, and I had no idea this was going on until I caught this editorial in the Washington Post today.
These rebels are exceptionally brutal too, and the worst is that they deliberately target children. 20,000 children have been kidnapped and forced into lives of servitude, sexual slavery, and brutality of terrible kinds.
This is another area where even a small amount of U.S. attention and some number of U.N. forces could have changed the tragic destiny of so many. But we’re too busy with our wars of convenience to even notice.

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