Current Events and the Psychology of Politics
Loading

Featured Posts        



categories        



Links        



archives        



meta        




Archive for September, 2009

Sep 20th, 2009

Summary: The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party has released a statement that characterizes Gov. Tim Pawlenty as “moving closer and closer to Representative Michele Bachmann’s extreme right-wing ideology.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 11th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on the release of a new al-Qaida tape marking the 7th anniversary of 9/11, threatening attacks in Afghanistan; a huge suicide truck bombing that devastated the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad; and a speech by Pakistan’s new president, Asif Ali Zardari, in which he said Pakistan will not tolerate violations of its sovereignty in the name of fighting terrorism — a clear signal to the United States to avoid controversial cross-border strikes against the Taliban and al-Qaida.


Sep 19th, 2009

Summary: The week ends on a deadly note for NATO troops in Afghanistan, with military officials announcing the deaths of nine international (ISAF) troops killed in a single day. … An Afghan immigrant under investigation in a terrorism probe in New York and Denver has reportedly admitted a link with al-Qaida. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the 10th day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter crash that killed seven U.S. soldiers in Iraq; posted a daily summary of security incidents in Iraq; and reported that North Korea was preparing to restart its Yongbyon nuclear reactor.


Sep 18th, 2009

Summary: Politico reports that elements within the GOP are concerned that the “bomb-throwing” Rep. Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota, may be inflicting damage on the party’s reputation with her incessant incendiary rhetoric. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the ninth day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported that the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 turned it into a terrorist training ground for jihadists around the world, with militants converging on Iraq to learn increasingly sophisticated insurgency techniques and then exporting those tactics to other hotspots, including Afghanistan, turning the war against terror “global” in a way not foreseen by the Bush administration.


Sep 17th, 2009

Summary: Today is Constitution Day, commemorating the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787 — one of the most significant and influential events in American history. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the eighth day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on a Pakistani military order to fire on U.S. troops crossing the Afghan border for raids into Pakistan; the increasing number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan; the high rate of Afghan civilian casualties; and a spate of bombings and shootings in Iraq.


Sep 16th, 2009

Summary: Former president Jimmy Carter told NBC’s Brian Williams in an interview that he believes race is at the core of much of the opposition to President Obama. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on seventh day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on a spate of bombings in Iraq coinciding with an unannounced visit by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.


Sep 15th, 2009

Summary: Weekly report of U.S. military deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), compiled from U.S. Department of Defense News Releases. … Afghanistan: Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that a proper effort to counter the Taliban insurgency correctly “probably means more forces.” … Iraq: Four mortar shells landed in the Green Zone as Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Iraq on a previously unannounced mission to help the country resolve its differences ahead of America’s military withdrawal. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the sixth day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on a mass-casualty car bombing in Iraq and announced three upcoming events at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., with a focus on foreign policy and international affairs.


Sep 14th, 2009

Summary: Osama bin Laden has released a new tape in which he cites U.S. support for Israel as the reason for the attack of 9/11, saying, “the cause of our disagreement with you is your support to your Israeli allies who occupy our land of Palestine.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the fifth day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on the assassination of a provincial governor in Afghanistan, U.S. casualties in Afghanistan, an assessment by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Bush administration that the U.S. is “not winning the war” in Afghanistan and “running out of time,” and ongoing violence in Iraq.


Sep 13th, 2009

Summary: U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) held a town hall meeting in St. Cloud to talk about President Obama’s health care reform proposals, which she opposes, after which she headlined an anti-Obama tea party. … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the fourth day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman, in line with his focus on national security, reported on a car bombing in the mainly Shiite Iraqi town of Dujail, 30 miles north of Baghdad, which killed at least 32 people and wounded more than 40.


Sep 12th, 2009

Summary: Veteran journalist Al Eisele of the Capitol Hill newspaper, “The Hill,” made astute first-hand observations of Rep. Michele Bachmann’s behavior from the gallery at President Barack Obama’s Sept. 10, 2009 address on health care reform before a Joint Session of Congress, reporting, “I’ve never seen anyone display the disdainful attitude toward a president as Bachmann did.” … One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the third day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman reported that the death of a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan on September 11 brought the year’s death toll to 112, surpassing the 2007 record toll of 111 and making 2008 the deadliest for American forces in Afghanistan since the U.S. invaded the country in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He also reported that Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, “I’m not convinced we are winning in Afghanistan.” In Iraq, followers of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr demonstrated against plans for a U.S.-Iraq status-of-forces agreement, burning U.S. and Israeli flags.


Sep 11th, 2009

Summary: Today is the 8th anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11. But with the timetable set for withdrawal from Iraq and the fighting in Afghanistan nearing its ninth year, U.S. war coverage has waned, often pushed off the front page by the economic recession, health care reform, and celebrity deaths. One-year retrospective: One year ago today, on the second day after losing his 2008 primary challenge against U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District, Aubrey Immelman paid tribute to the victims and heroes of 9/11.