As an awesome retelling of Lewis Carroll’s beloved classic story, Tim Burton’s recent remake of Alice in Wonderland has much in common with the terrain of human rights for gays in the USA. To wit:

• Alice’s befuddlement on arriving in Wonderland resembles many uninformed, uneducated, or simply bigoted politicians’ lack of understanding of the need for attainment of civil rights for gays (gay is here used inclusively)
• Both the Red and White Queen are distanced from their subjects’ lives, much like the major American political parties
• Wonderlanders have knowledge of the mundane world, but are also separated from it, just like most Americans have a fleeting knowledge of the GLBT communities and yet far too often isolate family members who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, or questioning, and commonly locate gay folks in a dreaded other status
• The Mad Hatter’s dual-voiced madness somewhat parallels President Obama’s reversal from a strong and documented supporter of same-sex marriage rights a few years before his election to the myth of separate-but-equal civil unions for gays while maintaining marriage rights for the hetero-privileged
• Fading in and out like the Cheshire Cat and his fabulous grin, the Democratic Party’s voice and support for real-world civil rights for LBGTs waxes and wanes, based on how they have strategized to use the usually liberal gay vote to further their own agenda

While support for repealing the infamous Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy has grown, it is interesting to witness the tired refrain that it will diminish troop morale and unit cohesiveness, which has been refuted with many years of open service in several other national armed forces. Among NATO’s 26 member countries, 22 permit open service, with only Russia, China, and the US not permitting it. Although DADT is in the process of being repealed, on discharge from the military, gays often find that they cannot be open in the workplace or where they live without fear of harassment or discrimination, much like African-American soldiers returning from service during WWII, who faced the same situation.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, would codify the protection of GLBTs into federal law and affirm the right to non-discrimination in the workplace. Imagine having federal protections against workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation, which would protect any gay man, lesbian, bisexual, or trans-person while employed. However, more is needed, as many states permit or tolerate discrimination against gays in credit, housing, education, and marriage. Adding “sexual orientation” to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is clearly needed and would bring the US into harmony with an emergent paradigm of universal human rights. It would also bring the USA into real adherence to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which America was an original signatory in 1948. In its preamble, the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights clearly states

“…recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…”

The rest of planetary civil society is recognizing the unique contributions of lesbians, gay men, bis, and trans folks, while the US has languished in protecting us or even tolerated anti-gay discrimination. It is no wonder gay people are fed up with awaiting real progress, even given the avalanche of 35 years of wrong that Obama and his administration are working to undo. We demand to know when our elected officials will demonstrate a real commitment to legalize human rights for LBGT Americans and we reject the complicity of both parties in maintaining the status quo.

So, to the Democrats – because we know the GOP is the party of NO – stop playing the Cheshire Cat with our rights: we are over it.

Rahm Emanuel doesn’t have the reputation of being Mr. Nice Guy. Some have likened his character disposition to the one of a mobster. With the Eric Massa incident just revealed to the press, the White House’s Chief of Staff is in the spotlight again, and it could complicate the already difficult challenges and hurdles facing the Obama administration to turn the public opinion around before the 2010 elections.

Emanuel could become even more  a source of embarrassment and ultimately more a liability than an asset to the Obama administration. The left now wants him gone. Rahm Emanuel got his job because of his reputation of “getting things done in Washington”, yet what is remarkable is more what has not being accomplished in the first 14 months of the Obama administration than the other way around. So, the “can do” Rahm Emanuel image is becoming more a myth than anything else at this juncture.

Rahm Emanuel is a study in contrast to say the least. Years ago he was offered a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet Company, but instead he joined the Israeli army to fight during the Gulf war.

Is Rahm Emanuel A Lose Canon?

Beside the latest incident involving Eric Massa, Rahmbo has a long track record illustrating his bad temper, lack of control and ruthlessness and violent streak.

The Finger At Arby’s

While in his Senior year in high school, Emanuel badly cut his finger while working at a local Arby’s. But it was Prom night and Rahm was determined in having some fun. So instead of seeking immediate medical attention, Emanuel decided to go swimming in Lake Michigan. The blood and bone infection that resulted from this impulsive foolish act almost killed him.

Political Fundraising Mobster Style

Emanuel started his political career under the wings of the notoriously ruthless Richard Daley. Emanuel was one of Daley top fundraisers by using what amounts to threats and scare tactics. He would tell potential contributors he found their offers so low, it was insulting and he would abruptly hang up the phone on them. The scared donors would call back to pledge more.

Mailing A 2 1/2 Foot Dead Fish To A Pollster

Emanuel once mailed a dead, decomposing stinky fish to a pollster who came up with a poll not at Emanuel’s liking.

Stabbing The Dinner Table After Clinton’s Election In 1992

The incident took place while Clinton’s campaign staff was celebrating the election in 1992. Among those present at the table was George Stephanopoulos who watched completely puzzled as an unhinged Emanuel started ranting at a long list of Clinton’s “enemies”. As he shouted each names,he  frantically stabbed the table with a steak knife: “Nat Landon! Dead!, Cliff Jackson! Dead!” and so on.

Threatening A Head Of State While Working In The Clinton White House

During the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Emanuel had some very strong words with Tony Blair, then British Prime Minister, before an appearance Blair made with Clinton at a press conference. Emanuel is said to have told a shocked Blair: “This is important, don’t fuck it up!”

The Shower Incident With Eric Massa

The latest incident is one which took place at the House and Senate gym in Wshington DC with former Congressman Eric Massa. Eric Massa accused Emanuel last Sunday of threatening him in the shower of the gym over his vote against President Obama’s budget.

Eric Massa political career is over, he gave his resignation yesterday over an ethic probe. Regardless, Massa wanted to settle a score with Emanuel while leaving Washington.

“I am sitting there showering, naked as a jaybird, and here comes Rahm Emanuel, not even with a towel….his finger in my chest and yelling at me because I wasn’t going to vote for the President’s budget. You know how awkward it is to have a political argument with a naked man,” Massa told an Upstate New-York radio station on Sunday.

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Schultz also lambasted DeLay’s comments about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi strong- arming Congress to push through Health Reform, pointing out that DeLay was infamous for holding up legislation and twisting arms. Hence the moniker:”The Hammer.” Talk about hypocritical “psycho talk.”

Think he’ll be motivated to apply for a gig in the prison laundry room? Just wondering.

Illustration By Ben Heine

Collective bargaining is democracy. Free enterprise fundamentalist claim we can’t afford democracy in the workplace of a competitive world market. The reality is that we cant afford not to organize against concentrated wealth at the top of this economy and its downward pressure on incomes and culture for the rest of society.

We’ve stood by and watched over the years as the proud social mooring of our union culture that mirrors democratic principles of self actualization through collective prosperity, not at it’s expense, has dissolved. Our society is divided in a thousand ways that couldn’t exist in communities that value the common heritage of labor above having easy access to Wall-Mart’s cheap slave labor imports on every street corner.

Unions today represent more than merely a way to negotiate for better wages and benefits and resolving grievances. The critical power of unions are their ability to transform communities. They constitute schools of democracy in a world today, where there are many claims of democratic process but little evidence that collective decision making is actually taking place.

Look for example at the difficulty in getting our health care system reformed. Everyone seems to agree (but the people that can afford to have lobbyist running all over Washington) that more choice and competition through something like a public option for downward pressure on cost is needed. Even Warren Buffet characterized private industry profiteering through medical blackmail as a “tapeworm” slowly killing American productivity. But there’s more than one tapeworm draining America of it’s wealth there are many, each competitively driven to leech more than the other.

Unions are on the front line defending our democratic values. They are the premier institution of a free, democratic society, promoting democracy in the workplace, as well as economic and social justice and equality. If labor’s goal is the shifting of power from a concentrated few back to a majority then unions must lead the democratic struggle throughout our society not just Washington. It means building grass roots democratic unions and moving beyond a strategy of just lobbying the status quo and instead, demonstrating an alternative to free enterprise fundamentalism on the ground.

In a recent interview Bill Moyers asked Richard Trumka how to make unions relevant again:

Richard Trumka: But one of the things that we have to do, and I think in the past we haven’t done a good enough job at this. We’ve expected young workers who are working in a different type of economy to change the way that they make a living to fit our model. Right now, we’re in the process of changing our model so that we fit the way they make a living.

Workers used to get one job– take my dad. My dad went to work in– well, my grandfathers went to work in a coal mine. My dad and his two brothers went to work in the same coal mine. I went to work in the same coal mine. My dad was there 44 years in the same coal mine. People don’t do that now.

They’re going to be in two, three, four, five, six, seven places. So, we have to be able to accommodate them. Our model has to say, “We can help you. And- in the way you’re making a living.” Not say to them, “Well, figure out a way to stay 44 years at one place and we’ll help you.” So, it’s up to us, and we’re changing. And we’re working real hard at it. And we’re reaching out to young people. And we’re reaching out into the community. And we’re building allies and it’s starting to have some effect, real fast.

Most, if not all, researchers acknowledge “human capital” as a key element in driving economic growth. Factors that lead to fewer years of education and training will have negative consequences for years to come (Delong, Golden, and Katz (2002). Families struggling financially often delay continuing education, perpetuating a downward spiral of economic mobility. A recent survey revealed that 20 percent aged 18-29 have left or delayed college(Greenberg and Keating 2009). Another survey (CollegeInvest 2009) in Colorado found that 25 percent of parents with children in two-year colleges had planned on sending their kids to four-year college prior to the economic downturn.

Not only does this drop in attendance and student engagement compound the current economic difficulties of this recession it plants the seeds of hardship for the next generation and impedes social cohesion around cultural values that results ultimately in higher incarceration rates, lower volunteerism, poor health etc. (Baum and Pa-yea (2005).

To begin addressing these myriad challenges of educational opportunity, economic mobility, strengthening a culture of democracy and social cohesion. The National Labor College – an accredited institution that offers blended learning programs- announced plans recently to establish a new online service that will bring high-quality degree programs to the AFL-CIO’s 12 million members and their families. The College for Working Families, will build on existing distance learning curricula to combine the advantages of online learning with resources of labor unions to provide programs suited to the needs and interests of members.

The Princeton Review, Inc. and its subsidiary, Penn Foster Education Group, Inc. leading providers of post secondary educational services, will partner with the National Labor College to form the new College for Working Families — which is expected to grow on a historical scale.

Illustration By Ben Heine

“Expanding good jobs is a top priority for the AFL-CIO and to achieve this, workers’ skills and knowledge must match the role of employers in a changing job market,” Trumka said. “This new online education venture demonstrates our strong commitment to playing a significant role in ensuring that quality education for America’s workers and their families remains affordable and accessible. We believe this is one of the best ways to retain and grow good jobs in this country.”

The College programs will enable working adults to build on their prior training and experience, notably in formal and informal learning provided through union- and industry-sponsored training programs,as well as through local institutions, particularly community colleges.

“In the course of their work union members gain a wealth of knowledge,” Trumka said. “The College for Working Families will be able to leverage an intimate understanding of the nation’s organized workers to provide efficient, effective programs leading to a range of academic degrees that will support the increasing need of working men and women and their families to expand their knowledge in an affordable and assessable manor”

National Labor College President William Scheuerman said “We underwent an extensive process to identify a partner with deep experience helping working Americans achieve their educational goals,” he said. “We were particularly impressed with Penn Foster’s demonstrated expertise in providing high-quality student services and support, elements that we consider essential to the success of this ambitious undertaking.”

“It is critical that the American workforce can be successfully educated and retrained without driving tuition costs beyond the point of affordability,” explained Michael Perik, The Princeton Review’s President and CEO. “We are confident that, through this partnership, we can help ensure that the students who enroll in the College will have a successful learning experience and will contribute in important ways to the growth of the American economy.”

Not only does the College for Working Families address many immediate economic and educational shortfalls, it demonstrates a trending, reemergence of a forgotten American tradition of partnering for-profit institutions with nonprofit to build a more sustainable model for our collective economic future prosperity.

Which do you think is a better way forward?

Editor’s Note: Please follow Wes Rackley on Twitter and The News Junkie Post for all of our updates.

The attack took place in Jos, in the Plateau area of Nigeria, over 500 people, mostly women and children were murdered in the early hours of Sunday. Once again this troubled area of Nigeria is up in flame. It is the second times in a few months that the town is engulfed in ethnic-religious violence opposing conflicting tribes which are either Christians or Muslims.

Nigeria as a whole has been torned by ethnics and religious violence for decades. April 12, 1994 was the first deadly riot in Jos. The cause of the 1994’s riots is arguably the conflict between several tribes: The Benon, Anaguta and Afizere tribes on one side and the Hausa-Fulani tribe on the other. Each sides are laying claims on Jos as their own territory.

In Sunday’s attack, the attackers were from the Fulani tribe (see 2ND photograph), while the victims belonged to the Beron tribe. Some of the Fulani fighters positioned themselves at the entrance of the village while others went in and proceeded to start setting most houses on fire. Most of those who escaped the fires were butchered with machete while others were shot.

“We were caught unaware. We were alarmed by gunshots at about 2:00 AM, ans as we tried to escape, the Fulanis who were already waiting slaughtered many of us,” said Dalyop Gyang one of the few survivors.

The survivors describe the attack as reprisal. They said it could be in direct retaliation for an attack on the Fulanis in Kuru.

Ima Niboro, Nigeria’s acting President, called on “all Nigerians to remain peaceful and law abiding”.

“While it is too early to state categorically who is responsible for this renewed wave of violence, we want to inform Nigerians that the security forces are on top of the situation,” said Ima Niboro.

Ima Niboro has placed all the security forces in the region on “red alert” so as to “stem any cross border dimensions of this latest conflict”. Niboro has also directed the security forces to “undertake strategic initiatives to confront and defeat these roving bands of killers”.

Meanwhile and despite the reassuring words of Ima Niboro, the pure madness of killing is still obviously largely going unchecked in this area of Nigeria.

Editor’s Note: Please follow The News Junkie Post on Twitter for all of our updates.

One of the most terrifying pieces of climate change denial which I see crop up from time to time is some form of “No problem, we’ll just use air conditioners.” This simple statement betrays so many levels and types of ignorance that I prefer the “It’s all a hoax” Deniers. At least their nonsense is easy to expose in one straightforward argument.

Let’s begin with the assumption that ‘everyone’ has air conditioning; privileged much? Needless to say the majority of the world’s population does not, nor are they going to be able to access them. Even within the Denier’s belief system, ie that the problem is heat waves, this betrays a staggering lack of awareness of who is human and what is possible. If you ever needed a blatant example about how climate change is really the oppression of the marginalized by the privileged, this is it.

Our next problem is the profound ignorance of the natural world and how humans depend on it. The author of this sort of statement is clearly unaware of how food is produced, and what it requires to be grown. One needn’t have been raised on a farm to have noticed how often “drought”, “heat wave”, and “crop failure” go together in the news.

The fact is that climate change affects crops both directly and indirectly. Heat waves do not need to actually kill the crops outright. A heat shock during vulnerable times such as germination, flowering, or seed set is enough to ensure no harvestable crop. This is true even if the rest of the season is/was perfect growing conditions.

A less direct effect is that climate change affects rainfall. Crudely speaking, dry areas will get drier and wet areas will get wetter. Neither is good for growing food. I won’t belabour the details, but suffice to say that on our current course we expect to lose significant proportions of our food production capabilty over the next few decades, after which it will get much worse. For those who wish to understand why climate change means global famine (including North America) see Greenfyre’s.

The quick version to understanding the impacts of climate change goes like this: Too often people relate to climate change on the warmer than average winter day – mistake. Right now we are tracking for a global average warming of at least 4C (7.2F) this century. Warming is twice as much over land, so make that 8C (14.3F) to understand what we will actually experience. Now add that to the worst heat waves and droughts that you experience every year.

Consider the less common events such as the heat wave in 2006 that destroyed 50 percent to 90 percent of many crops in the American West, or the 2003 one in Europe that killed over 50,000 people. How about the now annual fire season in California and other regions of the west coast? Add 8C (14.3F) to those. Then add more because 4C is just the prediction for this century, and not even the worst case one. That’s climate change.

Yet another level of ignorance is the belief that some form of technology will save us. Here again this topic deserves far more explanation than I am going to give here, but the short version is that technological “solutions” typically only address one symptom. Our air conditioning example addresses only the effect of heat waves on the privileged. Various schemes to reflect sunlight don’t address ocean acidification, etc.

Even where technological schemes try to address “the problem”, such as carbon capture, they merely shift the nature of the problem. If we were to actually capture all of the carbon successfully, what would we do with it? How safe is “storage”? Or are we setting ourselves up for a sudden release of many years of accumulated carbon dioxide? Where are the resources to come from to build all of these capture and storage facilities?

The wish for technological solutions is very much like the alcoholic’s fantasy that if they could find just the right drink it would solve their addiction problems. White wine instead of red, or straight up instead of mixed drinks; all the little games pretending to change while actually changing nothing.

None of which should be news to anyone who understands the most basic ecological facts, which in our society is almost no one. The sad truth is that far more people know who won the Super Bowl or who may win the Oscars then where their food comes from and what it needs to be plentiful. Needless to say the former are utterly trivial, whereas the latter is essential to survival.

Which begs any number of questions.

Broadly speaking democracy is not about counting votes so much as it is about universal participation in the decision making process. It is about informed decision making by those affected by those decisions. Is democracy even a relevant concept when the populace is so naïve about their basic survival needs?

Daniel Goleman’s book “Ecological Intelligence: Do Humans Have What it Takes to Survive?” explores aspects of this question, and while he seeks to be hopeful the prognosis is not good. The fact is that we don’t know what we need to know, and we generally don’t want to know.

Another question would be “why don’t we know?” How did we get a society where your social status increases if you are knowledgeable about the trivial, decreases if you know and understand what is important?

The “they control us” perspective of power in society is comforting in that it pardons us individually of any responsibility for the various messes we are in. That is about all it is good for. It is true that there are extreme power differences in our societies, and that the powerholders are actively working to ensure that the mass of society is ignorant about what is in it’s own self interest. That is a given.

It is also true that most of the relevant information is not only freely available, there are in fact large segments of society that pour heart and soul into trying to educate the rest. Our collective ignorance is due, at least in part, to a collective desire to be ignorant. The relationship with the powerholders is not so much Master/Servant as that of a subservient, but nonetheless enabling co-dependent.

Part of the solution has to begin with our individually taking responsibility for our participation in this process. Empowerment cannot be done to us or for us. Nor is it about seizing power. It is the process of recognizing and acknowledging the power we already have and wielding it responsibly. “Democracy Now!” is not a demand on the system, it is a demand we make on ourselves.

Editor’s Note: Please follow Mike Kaulbars on Twitter and The News Junkie Post for all of our updates.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences selected “The Hurt Locker” as the Best Picture for 2010. The movie is about a U.S. Army bomb technician who lives for the adrenaline of being able to defuse bombs in what is supposedly the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The film was shot in Jordan.

The movie also won 7 other Oscars, including Best Director.

“Avatar” had a good chance and was expected by many to win the Oscar for Best Picture. But the movie — the highest grossing of all time — only won 3 Oscars, including Best Visual Effects.

“Avatar” was the opposite of what “The Hurt Locker” is about. It focuses on the struggles of indigenous inhabitants of the moon “Pandorum” who fight to preserve their land.

Many progressives liked “Avatar” because of it’s environmental message. Yet, a more violent film, “The Hurt Locker” managed to beat it.

“The Hurt Locker” was directed by Kathryn Bigelow, who also directed the 1991 movie, “Point Break” starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze. Her win as Best Director also makes her the first female to receive such an award. She was also once married to James Cameron, who directed “Avatar.”

Another movie that progressives were rooting for was “Food Inc.” The documentary exposes who is behind the junk that Americans eat. “Food Inc.” was nominated for Best Feature Documentary, but it lost over “The Cove,” a documentary about dolphins.

Another upset, and a source of disappointment for most of our editorial staff at The News Junkie Post, was the fact that the Academy of Motion Picture members failed to give some well deserved attention to the film ” District 9″ which was nominated in the best picture and best adapted screenplay categories. Regardless, “District 9″ is likely, in due time, to become a classic despite its snubbing by the Academy.

There is a great irony about the win of “The Hurt Locker” over “Avatar”. As Americans are dealing with the permanent anxiety and stress created by the wars in Iraq (the topic of Kathryn Bigelow’s film) and Afghanistan, and as the Obama administration is trying to get the US troops out of Iraq; more members of the Academy decided to vote for a film dragging us back to Iraq as opposed to one, “Avatar”, which despite it flows has a soulful uplifting message taking us to a better place. One would wonder if a lot of Academy members suffer from second hand Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Editor’s Note: Gilbert Mercier contributed to this story. Please follow The News Junkie Post on Twitter.

(LOS ANGELES) – The NewsJunkiePost.com brings you up-to-the-minute information on the Oscar winners for 2010.

Tonight’s ceremony is hosted by comedian Steve Martin and actor Alec Baldwin, who began their dialog by poking fun of Meryl Streep for being the actress with the most Oscar nominations in the Academy’s history.

“That also means the most losses,” Martin said as Streep, and the rest of the crowd laughed.

The Oscar Winners

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Picture
Winner: “The Hurt Locker“

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Director
Winner: Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Actor
Winner: Jeff Bridges for his role in “Crazy Heart”

Sandra Bullock wins for Best Actress

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Actress
Winner: Sandra Bullock for her role in “The Blind Side”

Christoph Waltz, Best Supporting Actor

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Supporting Actor
Winner: Christoph Waltz for his role in “Inglourious Basterds.”

Mo'Nique wins for Best Supporting Actress

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Mo’Nique for her role in “Precious.”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Animated Feature
Winner: Disney’s “Up”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Original Song
Winner: “The Weary Kind,” from the movie “Crazy Heart.”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Original Screenplay
Winner: “The Hurt Locker”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Animated Short
Winner: “Logorama”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Documentary Short
Winner: “Music By Prudence”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Live Action Short
Winner: “The New Tenants”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Makeup
Winner: “Star Trek”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner: “Precious”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Production Design
Winner: “Avatar”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Costume Design
Winner: Sandy Powell for “The Young Victoria”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Costume Design
Winner: Sandy Powell for “The Young Victoria”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Sound Editing
Winner: “The Hurt Locker”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Sound Mixing
Winner: “The Hurt Locker”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Sound Mixing
Winner: “The Hurt Locker”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Cinematography
Winner: “Avatar”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Original Score
Winner: Disney’s “Up”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Visual Effects
Winner: “Avatar”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Documentary Feature
Winner: “The Cove”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Film Editing
Winner: “The Hurt Locker”

Category: Oscar’s 2010 Best Foreign Language Film
Winner: “El Secreto En Sus Ojos” (“The Secret In Her Eyes”) from Argentina

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Iraqis voted today in their second parliamentary elections since the US invasion.  There were nine polling stations open in the United State of America for Iraqis living here.

The polling station in Phoenix was located in a former auto-repair shop just West of Northern and 27th, next to another rented space where people could congregate.  Like all stations, it opened 2 days early so that everyone would have a chance to participate.  Today, people braved cold, rainy conditions to take part.  Turnout was heavy.

The other polling stations were located in San Diego (CA), Washington (DC), Nashville (TN), San Francisco (CA), Chicago (IL), Dallas (TX), Detroit (MI), and Dearborn (MI).

Today Iraqi voters are going to the polls despite deadly bomb attacks on polling stations which already killed at least 38  people and dozens were wounded. Most of the attacks took place in Baghdad. The 2010 elections are the second parliamentary elections since the toppling of Saddam Hussein following the US invasion in 2003.

Around 19 million eligible voters are choosing from more than 6,000 candidates competing for seats in the 325-member Parliament. Beside the bombings in Baghdad, targeting polling stations, other bomb, rockets and mortar attacks were reported by Iraqi authorities in Baquba, Fallujah and Samarra.

According from some foreign correspondents, Iraqis seem to be voting in fairly substantial numbers despite the violence.

“This has not deterred Iraqis from going out and exercising their democratic right to vote. Aside from the bombings, the elections look set to be free and fair, with several hundred Iraqis and international observers monitoring the vote. Despite allegations of vote-buying in the run-up to the vote, on the day itself I think voters are going to the polling stations without undue intimidation and I think the count is likely to be reasonably fair,” correspondent Rory Mulholland told Radio France International, in what appears to be an optimistic assessment judging from other journalists  reporting numerous claims of voting irregularities.

On Friday, Al-Qaeda in Iraq vowed to use “all kind of weapons of the Mujahedeen” against anyone casting their vote in the election.

No political block is expected to win a clear majority. Some political opponent of current Prime Minister Al-Maliki are already making claims of voting frauds. Iyad Allawi, a former Prime Minister, heading the cross-sectarian secularist Iraqiya list is already complaining about such irregularities. Hasan Salman, a representative of the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) also claims voting problems.

“The government is using its power to steer things to its interest. We are scared the result will be fraudulent. There are 19 million Iraqis qualified to vote, but there are 25 million voting slips, and we still have not received an answer why an extra 6 million voting slips were printed,” Hasan Salman told Al Jazeera.

The Iraqi electoral commission is scheduled to announce the preliminary results on March 10, based on ballots from 30 percent of the polling stations.

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