News Roundup, 3/25/08: Iraq Death Toll Reaches 4,000

Yesterday marked death number 4000 in the conflict in Iraq. Our hearts and our prayers go out to the deceased and their families.

It is almost painfully ironic that this announcement comes at the same time that the Bush administration starts looking for a second surge, and is looking at the UK to provide it. Considering how the war is even dividing Republicans on this side of the pond, it's little surprise that the UK would be hesitant to do so.

But at least we can count as a silver lining that the ill-advised conflict has left the Republican Party without serious support from the rest of the nation, and has bolstered Democratic campaigns nationwide. Not that that stops billionaire Republicans from setting up shady attack organizations that they can fund without having as much consideration for campaign finance limits. But at least on the legitimate fundraising side of things, the picture looks rosy for Democrats in '08.

House sales are still down, but saw a slight increase in February — it's far too early to say anything about sales trending back upward, but who doesn't want to hope for that? Meanwhile, Senator Clinton is calling on the White House to establish a foreclosure task force to address the continued problem, and a few ex-employees of Countrywide Financial are looking to turn a profit from the crisis by buying out loans from companies looking to dump mortgages. I guess folks making profits from their past failures is the in thing these days. It's a shame the average American can't do the same — they have to fight to stay afloat instead. Does that seem backwards to anyone else?

In state news, Texas Democratic Party chairman Boyd Richie takes a look at the sudden influx of Democrats into the process, noting how the logistical issues that have arisen from record involvement and turnout are ones that "Texas Republicans would love to have." (Nicely said!) Former Congressman and candidate for DNC chair Martin Frost lays out a plan to reach a consensus by which a floor fight over the presidential nomination can be avoided at this year's convention. And the Texas Supreme Court gets taken to town over dragging their feet on an ever-growing backlog of cases that's primarily due to their just being unreasonably slow.

Finally today, the White House makes another attempt to wriggle their way out of the missing e-mail scandal that started from investigation into the Valerie Plame case by revealing that they've been destroying hard drives, and moving "some, but not necessarily all," data to new drives. I'm sure it would be convenient if the Valerie Plame emails were some of that data that was "not necessarily" moved, but it does seem like they're stretching for whatever reason they can find, doesn't it?