Jim (Con't): Okay, let's start with Iraq. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UN are all condemning what action by Nouri al-Maliki's government?
Jess: Last week, 26 people were executed in Iraq. At least 26. This brings the total number of people executed in Iraq so far this year to at least 96. In addition, there are 200 more executions that Iraq has planned.
Elaine: And these executions are being carried out against people who might be released if the Parliament were too pass the long talked of amnesty law. There are some who believe it will be passed in a number of weeks and this is leading some to argue that Nouri is rushing through these executions because he's afraid the amnesty law is about to go into effect. There was just a protest yesterday, in Kuwait, about this and about how they believe Nouri is focusing on executing Sunnis.
Jim: We're all opposed to execution. But can we get a comparison? What's the US rate, that sort of thing?
C.I.: Last year the US executed 43 people. Iraq's already executed twice that amount. In addition, there are over 311,000,000 people in the US contrasted with 30 million in Iraq. Is that what you wanted?
Jim: Yes. Thank you. Violence continues in Iraq. How many people died from violence in the month of August?
Isaiah: 393 is the count provided by Iraq Body Count. The death toll, as AFP pointed out, for August is more or less the same as June and July. The violence isn't vanishing.
Jim: Nor is the political crisis. C.I., what's the thing there?
C.I.: Briefly, the political blocs watched as Nouri brought the country to a standstill for 8 months in 2010 following the parliamentary elections. The US government brokered a contract to end the stalemate, the Erbil Agreement, which gave various blocs various things. Nouri honored it long enough to get his second term as prime minister and then trashed it. Since then, the country's had a political crisis. Iraqiya won the most seats in Parliament in the 2010 elections. The rumors there are that Saleh al-Mutlaq has formed a deal with Nouri that will see his part of Iraqiya hooking up with Nouri's State of Law. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, stabbed Iraqiya, KRG President Massoud Barzani and Moqtada al-Sadr in the back by refusing to allow the no-confidence vote on Nouri to take place. Jalal then fled to Germany. Months later, he remains in Germany. He is yet again calling for a national conference. Nouri's tried to push everyone off and silence demands by swearing a reform commission would handle it. As the week ended, Moqtada al-Sadr's bloc noted that the reform commission was a joke, had wasted two months and had nothing to show for it. There's your overview.
Jim: Alright. The Republican National Convention took place last week. Jill Stein and Roseanne Barr bother released commercials for their presidential campaigns. Any thoughts?
Rebecca: Here's one: Disappointment.
Jim: In?
Rebecca: Roseanne Barr. She said this was going to be a campaign of issues. But she doesn't talk any issues. Her commercial is about medical marijuana and she didn't even tape a new commercial. She's really just pairing it with existing footage from when she was on the David Letterman program back in July. I really don't see how that's helping advance any ideas.
Marcia: I would agree with that. She's already the pot head and that apparently is all she wants to be because she refuses to bring up issues. She could be popularizing Medicare For All or All Troops Home. Instead, she's really not doing anything. It's really disappointing.
Trina: I think part of the reason it is disappointing is because we're comparing her to Jill Stein and to Dr. Stein's campaign. This isn't Jill's first campaign. In 2002, she ran for governor. So she does have more experience than Roseanne when it comes to running for office. That said --
Ruth: That said, Roseanne has more media experience. And she is not using it. It is really depressing. I was wanting Roseanne to win the Green Party ticket. Now I am so glad she did not win their nomination. Could you imagine if she had won the Green Party nomination? I no longer have any doubts about Jill Stein.
Jim: So you're saying Roseanne's run has clarified and increased your support for Jill?
Ruth: That is exactly what I am saying.
Jim: Stan?
Stan: I'm trying to keep an open mind. I also think that when Democrats think the 'answer' is to mock an old man, Clint Eastwood, third party campaigns are far from the only ones struggling. I don't get how beating up on an old man and showing how snide and snarky you can be is political or helpful.
Jim: Do you think Eastwood was embarrassing?
Stan: I thought his skit was funny, actually. Was it a little corny? Yeah. But it wasn't supposed to be edgy.
Jim: Ann, your father called you and told you to turn on the TV when Condi was speaking?
Ann: Yes, that's correct. He thought it was an important moment.
Jim: And he's not a Republican.
Ann: No. He's a Green like me. He thought it was an important moment in Black history. There was a Black woman on TV speaking about foreign policy. She was taken seriously -- people seriously agreed with her at the convention and some watching did as well and some watching seriously disagreed with her.
Jim: And your take on her speech?
Ann: I disagreed with the content, as C.I.'s said, but thought she delivered it well.
Jim: Marcia, you liked Tim Pawlenty's speech.
Marcia: Yes, I did.
Jim: Pick one section.
Marcia: Okay, here's one section to share:
Next week, Barack Obama will plead with America to give his failed ideas another chance. He’s asking Americans to give him more time and more money.
Well sorry, Mr. President, but you’re out of time, and we’re out of money.
Marcia (Con't): I was driving home and caught it on NPR. I thought it was hilarious.
Trina: I did too. I thought it had humor and I thought it was the highlight of the convention. Please note, my coverage was limited to NPR and The NewsHour on PBS. And I wasn't glued to the set. But of what I saw, I found his speech to be very humorous. And one that had a focus on the economy.
Jim: Dona's slid a note over noting that Ty, Betty, Wally, Mike, Ava and Cedric haven't spoken. James Lipton, of that bad 'actors studio' show, went on Alex Wanger's MSNBC show to declare that Clint Eastwood was disrespectful. Why don't you address that.
Wally: That routine was funny. It wasn't disrespectful. I wasn't even watching. Cedric called me and said, "Are you near a TV?"
Cedric: Right. Ann's father, my father-in-law, is a political junkie. He called me to say Clint Eastwood was doing a stand up sketch or something so I turn it on and I was laughing so I'm dialing Wally to see if he's checking this out too?
Wally: And we watched the last five minutes of it together and were laughing. It was not cutting edge comedy. It was funny. And I really fear those who couldn't grasp that because they seem like really ugly people who have little more to do than attack and attack some more.
Cedric: It was pretty mild comedy. I could see Bill Cosby doing something like that.
Betty: And disrespectful? Does Jaimie Lipton know Barack's not God?
Ava: James Lipton's a closet case. He's also a liar supreme. I'm pulling in C.I. real quick.
C.I.: The Actors Studio is not a college course. James Lipton's tried to turn it into one and what he does, what he calls his little Actors Studio chat is highly controversial among members of the real Actors Studio.
Mike: Okay. Well the priss is a caricature so he's got a lot of nerve right there. Second, Eastwood was doing improv and I'm not sure that Lipton's qualified to judge that -- especially if his take away is "disrespectful."
Betty: In fact, if this critic -- this alleged expert -- can only offer "disrespectful," I think we've just seen that he's unqualified for any kind of critical thought or assessment. He wasn't a member of the Actors Studio was he?
C.I.: No. Nor are most of the people he interviews. Jane Lynch, for example, is a funny woman but when you're using the Actors Studio's imprint and interviewing her, you're bastardizing and insulting the Actors Studio and I am not the only one who feels that way.
Ava: It's considered tacky, that entire show, and that's because it is.
Ty: I would agree with that. Just last week, at work, there were three who studied acting at The Actors Studio -- one was a director now, the other two stayed with acting -- and they were saying what C.I. just did. In fact, one of them used the old joke Gilda Radner did as Roseanne Rosanna Dana about how Gloria Vanderbilt disgraced her family's good name by putting it across the ass of America with all those jeans? It was said Lipton's program was the equivalent of that. There's a real hatred for that program.
Jim: I had no idea. We need to wrap up but why is that, C.I.?
C.I.: The Actors Studio is not taffy. You can't pull and pull. It's either Actors Studio or it's not. And the interviews Lipton does are not with the Actors Studio. The program would be greeted with far less hostility if it had another name.
Jim: Alright then. This has been a rush transcript.