by TChris

Two rockets struck a military base at Taji, north of Baghdad, killing five U.S. soldiers and wounding six more. Two more soldiers were killed near Basra. Violence has been escalating since Thursday.

Insurgents used suicide speed boats to attack an oil terminal. Other attacks killed police officers and civilians.

It was another bloody day elsewhere, with at least 40 killed and many more wounded. In one of the worst attacks, rocks and mortars killed at least 13 civilians in a crowded chicken market in the Shia slum of Sadr City in Baghdad.

April has been the deadliest month for U.S. soldiers; more than 100 have died so far.

Atrios has a post on religion. In a nutshell, Atrios says:

I'm a bit fed up with people hand-wringing about anti-religious sentiment from "the Left." First of all, "the Left" which has any clout or power in this country is explicitly "pro-religion" to a degree which disturbs me.

We're also disturbed by the increased import of religion into today's culture and politics. Specifically, here's what we're pondering. The Hamtramck, Michigan City Council has given preliminary approval to a resolution that would allow mosques to broadcast muslim calls to prayers over loudspeakers five times a day--so long as none were broadcast before 6am or after 10pm.

The controversy centered on noise pollution and religious freedom and tolerance. Those opposed to the measure said they didn't want Islamic beliefs imposed upon them. The prayer, which is in Arabic, occurs five times a day between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Supporters said the issue is an Islamic tradition. They cited the city's church bells, which ring at least every hour, as comparable.

The the Al-Islah Islamic Center says Michigan is just the first--and certainly won't be the last city to adopt their request.

This got us to thinking. Why do we have to listen any religious messages, whether it be "Allah is Great" or a Christian message when we are outdoors? What gives these groups the right to intrude on our listening space? What ever happened to honoring peace and quiet and having the oppportunity to be lost in one's own thoughts?

Think of how many times you've wanted to strangle the person next to you on the bus or train or plane who was talking loudly about nothing into their cell phone while you wanted to read your book in quiet. Or at a restaurant. Or on a mountain hike. Or on a chairlift.

To us, the issue isn't religion at all. It's freedom in our own airspace. Airspace is public. Why should anyone have the right to repeatedly make a sound so loud it can be heard by everyone within 1,000 yards? What if everyone decides to do it?

But, since the topic is religious noises--bells and calls to Allah, all of a sudden we have to be more polite and tread more carefully so as not to step on any one religion's freedom of choice. We're not happy about it. We think the answer is that no religion should be broadcasting through speakers into the public domain in a way that forces others to hear about their religion.

by TChris

The state attorney general's office in New York will join the investigation of repeated acts of vandalism at the contruction site of a mosque.

Vandals drew swastikas on the partly finished building, which is to be the new home of the Islamic Center of Ocean County; punched holes in the walls and left graffiti, including the words "Hail Hitler."

The site has been vandalized seven times since construction began in 2000.

by TChris

The days may be gone when kids call a store and ask if they have Prince Albert in a can, but the practice of making prank calls lives on, as evidenced by Bart Simpson and Comedy Central's Crank Yankers. These days, you have to be careful who you prank, lest you incur the wrath of the FCC.

The Federal Communications Commission is proposing a $4,000 fine for a Miami radio station that got through by phone to Cuban President Fidel Castro in a crank call and broadcast the communist leader before rudely letting him in on the joke.

No word on whether the FCC intends to fine Castro, who undoubtedly violated broadcasting decency rules by "denouncing the callers with a stream of vulgarities."

Kevin at Political Animal says Chalabi may be on his way out.

At the top of the list of those likely to be jettisoned is Ahmed Chalabi, a Shiite politician who for years was a favorite of the Pentagon and the office of Vice President Cheney, and who was once expected to assume a powerful role after the ouster of Saddam Hussein, U.S. officials acknowledged.

Chalabi has increasingly alienated the Bush administration, including President Bush, in recent months, U.S. officials said. He generated anger in Washington yesterday when he said a new U.S. plan to allow some former officials of Hussein's ruling Baath Party and military to return to office is the equivalent of returning Nazis to power in Germany after World War II.

Josh Marshall has more. Twice, TChris has asked on Talkleft, Why Do We Pay Chalabi? . More on Chalabi and his role in the trial of Saddam here.

by TChris

After serving eight years in a Belfast prison, Sean O'Cealleagh came to the United States to make a new life. He got a green card so he could work, then took a job as a bartender at O'Malley's in Seal Beach, where he became popular for his ability to croon Celtic tunes. O'Cealleagh and his wife had a baby. He traveled freely between the United States and Ireland, never experiencing a problem returning to Seal Beach. Life was good.

But in February, returning to Los Angeles International Airport after a trip to Northern Ireland, he was detained by immigration officials who boarded the plane and separated him from his 3-year-old American-born son. They said he should have never been allowed into the United States because of his conviction.

After a four day trial, an immigration judge ruled that O'Cealleagh had been convicted in a tainted trial and had been held by the British as a political prisoner. Although immigration authorities contended that O'Cealleagh had participated in the Casement Park killings, where two corporals were beaten by a Belfast mob before being shot to death by members of the Irish Republican Army, a videotape of the incident failed to satisfy the immigration judge that O'Cealleagh was even in Casement Park when the beating occurred.

BeatBushBlog reports:

The city of Portland, Oregon agreed to pay $145,000 to settle an excessive force lawsuit brought by a blind, partially deaf 71-year-old woman whom the Portland police pepper-sprayed and shot with a Taser, after police went to her home to complain about shrubs and appliances in the woman's front yard.

Here's more from the article:

Police said they pepper-sprayed Crowder after she refused to stop kicking them. They admit that Crowder's prosthetic eye fell out at some point, and that Zajac stunned Crowder with a Taser, an electric stun gun, twice in the lower back and once in the upper back after ordering her to stop fighting and resisting.
Warren said the city's argument is bogus. He said, "To kick the crap out of old folks seems a little bit much to me in the name of law enforcement."

We're always asking, Where's Country Joe? Turns out, he and the band are on tour.

Now reconstituted with four of the legendary group's original five members, the new Country Joe Band has just begun to tour. When I saw them perform, midway through April, the music was as tightly effusive as ever, with poetic lyrics mostly brought to bear on two perennials: love and death.

A new development to celebrate is the rise of the Country Joe Band. While standing the test of time, music from the ensemble group resonates profoundly each day as young Americans in uniform do their best to survive in a faraway country: "And pound their feet into the sand of shores they've never seen / Delegates from the western land to join the death machine / And we send cards and letters."

They even have a new song, "Cakewalk to Baghdad" (evidently named after Richard Perle's characterization of how the war would go back in March, 2003.)

We hope Sunday will be the "Million Women March" when women from around the nation and 53 countries converge in Washington, DC to protest the Bush Administration's infringement of women's rights. They will march to uphold Choice, Justice, Access, Health, Abortion, Global and Family Planning. You can get up to the minute details here.

Assembly for the morning rally will begin at 10:00 AM, on the national mall between the Smithsonian museums (between 3rd St. and 14th). There will be a morning stage with entertainment and speakers, from 10:00 - 12:00 or so, and the march will step off at noon. After marching on Washington, a rally will be held from approximately 1:00 - 4:00 PM, with an afternoon stage on the National Mall. Special seating will be available for people with disabilities. The rally program will be interpreted in American Sign Language. The route is wheelchair accessible and transportation will be provided for those who cannot negotiate the route.

On Saturday afternoon there will be a Rally Around the White House:

4:00 p.m., Saturday, April 24
Lafayette Park (H Street, NW, north of White House)

A demonstration to call on the United States to lift dangerous policies that put extreme political agendas before the health and rights of women worldwide. The March for Women’s Lives is about reproductive freedom and justice for ALL women. Currently U.S. policies are undermining the health and rights of women internationally as well as in the United States.

• Congress and the Bush administration claim to believe in human rights, but they have gagged organizations helping women worldwide.
• Congress and Bush administration claim to be guided by compassion, but they have defunded basic health and reproductive services for the poorest women in the poorest countries.

We think the Dreyfuss Report gets this right:

With Iraqi sovereignty only 10 weeks away, and nary a plan in sight, it's now clear that the kind of sovereignty Iraq will enjoy will approximate that of the U.S. Virgin Islands, i.e., nil. Yesterday Paul Wolfowitz, the neocon Pentagon deputy secretary and his mini-me, Marc Grossman from the State Department, made clear that the transitional Iraqi government will be virtually powerless. It will have no ability to make laws and won't be able to interfere with U.S. military actions in Iraq. U.S. commanders will control all Iraqi army, police and security officials. The biggest change is that Czar Paul Bremer will be replaced by Czar John Negroponte, whose title will be "ambassador."

The radical right is alive and running amuck in the Colorado legislature. Judicial impeachment hearings are underway for Denver District Court Judge John Coughlin. It is the first such proceeding in 65 years. His "offense" concerns his ruling in a child custody case involving a lesbian couple:

Coughlin was ruling in a custody case between Clark, a Christian, and Elsey McLeod, her former partner, when he wrote that Clark would have sole decision-making over the child's religious upbringing. However, Coughlin barred Clark from teaching the child anything that would be "considered homophobic."

The chief sponsor of the impeachment proceedings is Rep. Greg Brophy, R-Wray who, "before a packed crowd in the Old Supreme Court Chambers, said he couldn't sit idly by when he needed to protect citizens from the "runaway judicial branch."

At least Colorado Governor Bill Owens, also a Republican, is harshly critical of the impeachment effort. But that hasn't been enough to stop it from getting as far as a hearing:

Another low point in airport security, pointed out by Walter in Denver:

Security agents at Orlando International Airport in Florida barred Athena LaPera, 35, from boarding a Frontier Airlines flight to Denver because the ravages of her treatment for cancer had left her no longer looking like the pictures on her passport and Colorado driver's license. Two days later, on Wednesday, the 4-foot-11, 78-pound LaPera finally got on a Frontier airliner with her 15-year-old son and returned to Denver.

Do you feel safer now?