(Ayman Oghanna for The New York Times)
BLAST WALLS ARE FINALLY BEING BLASTED AWAY IN BAGHDAD.
(New York Times)
Residents of Sadr City celebrate as the concrete wall constructed 3 yeas ago to protect the area from attacks on military convoys is demolished as people celebrate the bringing down of “our Berlin wall,” which has severely disrupted normal activities in the area. Welcome as this may be, there remain numerous such walls in place throughout Baghdad.
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MUDDLING THROUGH: A CLASSIC BRITISH “DIPLOMATIC” OPERATION IN EAST LIBYA.
(AntiWar.com)
A “delegation” of civilians, actually members of Britain’s clandestine military elite, the SAS, and accompanied by a low level British diplomat, land near Benghazi in a region controlled by anti-government rebels. The rebels recognize the operation for what it is, and quickly bundle the diplomats off on aging evacuation frigate, and another would-be paramilitary operation fails, though the Foreign Minister promises another such escapade “in due course.”
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WITH DECLINING UNEMPLOYMENT IN U.S., IS PROSPERITY TRULY JUST AROUND THE CORNER?
(Christian Science Monitor)
As unemployment rate drops from 9% in January to 8.9% in February and more than expected number of jobs is created, economists debate whether this is a “sustainable” growth or merely a seasonal fluctuation. Skeptics tend toward the latter, attributing the improvement to cities like New York digging out of the snows of mid-winter. Those who acknowledge improvement are divided over the reason for same. Obama administration credits its programs of payroll tax cuts and investment credits, while GOP claims credit themselves for having “forced” Obama into a job-producing extension of tax cuts for the wealthy.
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SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY: NEW BATTLEFIELD IN THE TEXAS WAR AGAINST THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT.
(Houston Chronicle)
High profile conflicts over educational and anti-pollution policies are seen once again in Texas resistance to implementation of Adam Walsh Act, which requires sex offender reporting systems that the state says are too costly to implement. With the federal government threatening to fine the state, a Texas congresswoman, while supporting “Obama-enforcement” on this issue, is asking the federal government to forego this penalty.
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“IS A $2,335-A-YEAR PAY CUT FOR THE AVERAGE TEACHER WORTH $44.72 PROPERTY TAX SAVINGS FOR THE AVERAGE FLORIDA HOMEOWNER WITH A HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION?”
(Palm Beach Post)
This question is posed at the top of an article in the Palm Beach Post analyzing the budget-balancing dilemmas being faced by the Florida legislature as it goes back into session tomorrow. The property tax cut was promised by Governor Scott in his recent campaign, and a proposal which would amount to a pay cut for teachers by requiring them to pay 5% of other salaries into their retirement funds is being advanced as a way of balancing against the tax cuts.
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Quote of the day…
There’s a substantial ambivalence at work in Monsters, but being American, and all that implies, is what the film is taking on: our anxious obsession with control, our fear of natural forces and hungers, our shrugging disregard for non-white citizens living below the 30th parallel, our secret dread about how fragile our eminence actually is in the face of some unmitigatable chaos.
Michael Atkinson, in praise of new movie by Gareth Edwards.
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