Truthout roundup 5/8

Truthout's Maya Schenwar on the gains made by women in electoral politics; Blue Dogs vow to fight against assistance for returning troops; Michigan Democrats approve plan for seating delegates; 216 arrested in protest of Sean Bell verdict; Obama looks to start general election campaign; "surge" in Iraqi prisoners a concern; unprecedented conditions could be attached to war spending bill; and more Browse our continually updating front page at http://www.truthout.org t r u t h o u t 05.08

Maya Schenwar Women in the Running
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050808J.shtml Maya Schenwar, of Truthout: "America has pretty much agreed that, whether or not Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, she will have made history. However, no matter the outcome of the primary season, the struggle for women's voices to be heard in the political sphere will be far from over. Despite all the focus on Clinton's gender over the course of her campaign, there's been surprisingly little discussion of the gender makeup of the political system as a whole. Like the rest of the world, the US has been moving forward in terms of women in politics, but it's doing so in spurts and slower than many of its neighbors. Ten years ago, this country ranked 37th in terms of women's political representation. It now sits in 71st place, according to a recent Interparliamentary Union study."

Blue Dogs Vow to Bite on Iraq Spending Bill
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050808K.shtml Mike Soraghan, of The Hill: "A small group of fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats is threatening to block the emergency war spending bill over a program for veterans' benefits not offset with tax hikes or spending cuts. Because of that problem, and the efforts by House Republicans to stall floor action with procedural motions, the vote on the carefully crafted supplemental measure could be delayed until Friday or next week."

Michigan Democrats Plan for Delegate Seating
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050808L.shtml Kathy Barks Hoffman, of The Associated Press: "Michigan Democratic leaders on Wednesday settled on a plan to give presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton 69 delegates and Barack Obama 59 as a way to get the state's delegates seated at the national convention. Clinton won the Jan. 15 Michigan primary and was to get 73 pledged delegates under state party rules, while Obama was to get 55. The state also has 29 superdelegates."

216 Arrested in Protests of Sean Bell Case Acquittals
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050808M.shtml Thomas J. Lueck, of The New York Times: "In the largest public protest against the acquittal of three detectives in the shooting death of Sean Bell, 216 people were arrested on Wednesday in carefully orchestrated demonstrations that halted traffic at busy intersections in Manhattan and Brooklyn, the police said. The demonstrations, described by the Rev. Al. Sharpton as 'pray-ins,' played out on a bright spring afternoon as boisterous displays of civil disobedience in which people signed up to be arrested, assuring organizers and lawyers that they were carrying proper identification to show to the police."

Obama's Got a Confident New Strategy
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050808N.shtml Peter Nicholas, of The Los Angeles Times: "Barack Obama hasn't managed after months of political combat to force Hillary Rodham Clinton out of the presidential race, so he's about to try another approach: ignoring her. Confident that he has built a near-impregnable lead, his campaign aides said Wednesday that Obama would begin shifting his focus toward the general election. Obama still plans to campaign in states that remain on the primary calendar -- he is to appear in Oregon over the weekend -- but he may also start showing up in states that are considered important in the November contest: Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania."

The "Surge" of Iraqi Prisoners
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050808O.shtml Ciara Gilmartin, of Foreign Policy in Focus: "Amid all the talk about the US military 'surge' in Iraq, little has been said about the accompanying 'surge' of Iraqi prisoners, whose numbers rose to nearly 51,000 at the end of 2007. Four years after the Abu Ghraib scandal, occupation forces are holding far more Iraqis than ever before and thousands more languish in horrendous Iraqi-run prisons. Detainees are held by the US command in two main locations -- Camp Bucca, a 100-acre prison camp and Camp Cropper, inside a massive US base near the Baghdad airport. The number of Iraqis held in these facilities has steadily risen since the early days of the occupation. In 2007, the inmate count rose 70% -- from 14,500 to 24,700."

Pressure to Cut Costs, Troops Strains "Surge"
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/050808P.shtml Jim Lobe, of Inter Press Service: "Growing impatience in Congress over the enormous costs being racked up by the Iraq war, as well as the Pentagon's belief that it needs more troops in Afghanistan to fight insurgents there, is putting the vaunted success of the George W. Bush administration's 'surge' strategy to the test. Although the House of Representatives appears poised to approve an additional 163 billion dollars Thursday for military operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan through the end of the year, most observers believe that Congress will impose unprecedented conditions on Iraq-related spending."