I just saw a clip of Sen. Clinton bashing caucuses again...my first instinct was SYFPH, and then to write this diary about why I love caucuses (particularly early in our party nomination phase).

I've frankly had it up to here (imagine me with my hand at my neck) with all this talk about why caucuses aren't as good as primaries.  Bullocks!  Caucuses allow people to vote their conscience and then if they find that their candidate does not have enough votes - then they get to go to their second pick.

That to me is "in-person run-off voting" and I love it because as the US becomes more and more progressive, we will offer a chance to change the Democratic party and politics in general.

But there's more we can do - instant run-off voting.

Via ThinkProgress, we now learn two new things.  Not only did high-level Bush administration members meet to go over interrogation details with the knowledge and approval of the President. Some got to go watch.

There was an extraordinary meeting held in September 2002, just before the techniques were to go up the chain of command, so to speak. [Gonzales, Addington, and Haynes] descended on Guantanamo, met with the combatant commander there Mike Dunlavey, watched some interrogations, and as I was told by Dunlavey and by his lawyer Diane Beaver, basically sent out the signal ‘do whatever needs to be done.’

And the other bit...torture probably happened before and after the Yoo memos.

Via Alternet, but originally from Melina Hussein Ripcoco at Brilliant at Breakfast,  I found a gut wrenching story about one of Gen. Petraeus' and Fil's direct commanders, Col. Ted Westhusing, who at the time of his suicide was the highest ranking suicide during the Iraq War.

His story is one of the ethical soldier who believes in the honor of service, but in just one year in Iraq, becomes so disillusioned with the corruption and greed of all parties, including those above him in the chain of command, that he takes his own life.  Death before dishonor.

and the cease-fire may be called off as well.

Via AP writer SINAN SALAHEDDIN

Iraqi government forces and Shiite militia fighters clashed anew Tuesday despite a government ultimatum to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to either disband his Mahdi Army or give up politics.
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Meanwhile, security forces were reported to be blocking al-Sadr's supporters from traveling to Baghdad from outlying areas to attend an anti-U.S. rally scheduled for Wednesday.

and via AP writer ABDUL-HUSSEIN AL-OBEIDI

Two aides in al-Sadr's office in the holy city of Najaf told The Associated Press that the rally had been canceled. They spoke on condition of anonymity pending an official announcement.

Al-Sadr had called for a "million-strong" protest to mark the fifth anniversary of the capture of Baghdad by U.S. troops. It was seen by many observers as a show of force in his confrontation with the government over calls to disband his Mahdi Army militia.

Via the BBC

Nouri Maliki told CNN that the cleric's movement would not be allowed to take part in elections unless it disbanded its militia, the Mehdi Army.

This looks to be a "what I can't do by force of arms, I will do by force of state power" situation to me.  The quote from al Maliki:

"We have opened the door for confrontation, a real confrontation with these gangs, and we will not stop until we are in full control of these areas," he said.

I'm not sure if Sadr will plan to split the movement into a political / unarmed one and an armed branch (IRA/Sinn Fein).

Rep. Wexler - I'd like you to ask Gen. Petrateus about this!!

The Obama campaign has announced that since a re-vote in MI is not going to happen, that they would support a 50/50 split of the MI delegation (see TPM).

In the last week, we had Markos' diary "Those Poor Florida Delegates" and bobswern's rebuttal diary "Can Kossacks Handle Truths Re: MI & FL?", which included a reference to this piece by Wayne Barret (via HuffPost).

All this has got me going over my opinions (and I got LOTS of 'em) and a potential plan.  And then you get to vote!!  But it won't count (I mean, since when does a DailyKos poll make the rules?!)

Just read two fascinating articles about the situation in Iraq and it amazes me how little I understand about Iraq.  I truly believe that our lack of understanding (ours AND reporters) is why we get the wrongly framed stories that we do (well, that and a little propaganda for good measure).

The Iraqi government that the US is supporting - including air cover for current operations - is our latest role in avoiding the nationalization of Iraqi resources.  We are actively supporting the takedown of a group that supports a strong national Iraqi government that wants its resources nationalized before the October elections.

As Democrats Abroad goes through its delegate selecting process, I just got an email update on the process and current delegate counts.  I think this will help for those folks keeping track of such things.

Just saw the result from my primary - Democrats Abroad.  Senator Obama won 65.6% of the vote.  Senator Clinton won 32.7%.  You can find the announcement here.

I'm currently an ex-pat living in the UK.  Specifically, I live in Calderdale, a part of West Yorkshire in the north of England.  This year, I've paid maybe 3% more in taxes than I do in the US.  But for that extra money, everyone gets healthcare.  That's it - 3%.  People don't have to worry about being covered, or if a particular episode is covered, if the insurance will actually pay.  Doctors get paid and actually focus on...health.

So this week, I got the breakdown of the Calderdale health expenses (try to get this info from your insurance company!!).  What I found was quite interesting and I share below.

Two stories hit me today - one about the FBI deputizing people in private industry ("InfraGard") with the right to shoot to kill in the US in the case of martial law.  The other about the arrests of 13 people in Turkey on charges of leading a rebellion - people related to the "Deep State" which is also related to the Gladio operations of the CIA.

For the FBI story - see The FBI Deputizes Business.

For the Turkey/Deep State/Gladio story - see Mass Arrests Expose Operations of Turkey’s "Deep State" and Wikipedia

My fears below the fold...

This ad is similar to "The Bouncer" ad that got on some channels back in Dec 2004.

You can see the ad for yourself at http://www.ucc.org

You can do something about it after the fold...

The opening paragraph caught my attention...I hope you will agree.

The American Family Association is urging "christians" to boycott Target.  The reason - Target is enforcing its no solicitation policy which means that the Salvation Army will not be allowed to solicit outside of Target Stores.  What you don't hear about this story in the extended entry...