The Iraq Elections will reflect the success or failure of Bush policies in Iraq as the USA exits.

The USA is NOT going to continue to occupy Iraq, nor are we going to refight the war there. Iraq needs to determine its future. The USA is no longer the Maliki Militia.

To me, Iraq has always been tenuously held together as a single sovereign country. It has been plagued with civil war since the invasion began on March 19, 2003. President Bush and Vice President Cheney never recognized the demographics of the country for what it was. The potential of division of the country into Provinces always existed and still does. The question as to the 'fate' of the control by the Maliki government is not for the USA to decide. When the Iraqi people vote it hopefully it will reflect the will of the Iraqi people to continue with the government as it stands today, or to move into other dynamics that will allow for greater autonomy of provinces.

I wish the Iraqi people great success in plotting the future course of their country.

Campaign posters in Baghdad. The Baqouba bomb hit days before elections to decide who runs Iraq after the US pulls out. Photograph: Ali Haider/EPA
　

At least 30 dead in Iraq triple suicide bombing (click title to entry - thank you)
Election preparations overshadowed as provincial capital hit by deadliest attack for weeks

Wednesday 3 March 2010 10.22 GMT

　

A string of three deadly suicide bombings in Iraq killed at least 30 people in the former insurgent stronghold of Baqouba today, including an attack in which the bomber rode in an ambulance with the wounded before blowing himself up at a hospital, police said.
The bombings – Iraq's deadliest in weeks – come as the country is preparing for elections on Sunday that will decide who will oversee the country as US forces go home and help determine whether Iraq can overcome the deep sectarian tensions that have divided the country since the 2003 American-led invasion.
US and Iraqi officials have warned repeatedly that insurgents were expected to launch such attacks in an attempt to disrupt the vote.
A police spokesman, Captain Ghalib al-Karkhi, said the blasts struck in quick succession and wounded another 40 people in Baqouba, a provincial capital 35 miles north-east of Baghdad....

President Obama overwhelmingly was voted into office with the passions of the college students and young voter. He needs to address his constituency.

The students of the USA are hurting. It isn't their fault. They have witnessed the bailout of investment banks while their educational opportunities are slipping through their fingers due to increasing costs with state budgets that can support their universities as they had before the economic collapse of October 2008.

President Obama and Vice President Biden along with Democrats swept into majority in 2006 and 2008 were strongly supported by Pro-Peace students demanding change and a return of their democracy.

In addition to the increasing costs of their education, they are witnessing the obstructionist forum of the Republicans and the Right they mostly hoped to replace. The democracy they love is being toyed with by minority power. They are becoming disillusioned. They need for their political leaders to do their part and take their protests seriously. The worst outcome for them and our country is for them to become estranged from their elected leaders.

What has happened with them is not fair in the remotest sense of the word. They need their President at their side. They are the future of this country and should be seen as vital partners to that future with valued opinions. Given a chance, if they were listened to rather than HANDLED, they may be able to solve their own problems with insight lacking by those that administer cuts to their funding rather than prioritizing it.



University of California, Berkeley, students Griffin Cassara, 19, left, and Katherine Cole, 18, walk past the state Capitol after a participating in a ralley against funding cut to higher education in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, March 4, 2010. Marches, strikes, teach-ins and walkouts were planned nationwide in what was being called the March 4th National Day of Action for Public Education.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

March 4, 2010
1929 gmt
Antarctica

The frigid air over Antarctica's Blue Ice is nearly absent.

Weather may force Transtasman rower off-track (click here)
10:37 AM Friday Mar 5, 2010
....Quincey told Radio New Zealand the weather was starting to build and he expected to get "a bit of a battering" over the next few days in the strong easterly conditions.
"It's a little bit unfortunate. I'll get pushed further and further north and further back to Australia," he said.
He estimated it could set him back by 100km or more.
It's nothing I haven't experienced before in the Tasman. It's just very frustrating and a little bit demoralising."
Weatherwatch weather analyst Philip Duncan said a southern storm could affect Quincey's journey.
MetService forecaster Andy Downs said winds were coming from the Pacific and were about 20 knots at present but would build to 30 knots and more....

The upside of climate change (click here)
By Brian Fallow
4:00 AM Thursday Jan 21, 2010
A group of business leaders is urging the Government to set a up a taskforce to scope the opportunities and quantify the benefits of a "clean technology" strategy for New Zealand.
Both at the national and the global level, the debate over what to do about climate change tends to focus on costs, and how much can be offloaded on to someone else.
Very little attention by comparison is paid to the upside, the opportunities, the economic potential....