I get to talk to John Amato multiple times a day, but it's easy for me to forget no matter how familiar and frequent that voice is in my ear, most other C&Lers don't know what John looks or sounds like. But luckily for all you curious C&Lers out there, Jason Linkins, HuffPo's roving reporter at the DNC, caught up with John in Denver and asked him his take on Maliki's insistence that the newly negotiated withdrawal of US troops from Iraq is a "real" withdrawal:

Iraq and the United States have agreed that all U.S. troops will leave by the end of 2011, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Monday, but Washington said no final deal had been reached.

"There is an agreement actually reached, reached between the two parties on a fixed date, which is the end of 2011, to end any foreign presence on Iraqi soil," Maliki said in a speech to tribal leaders in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

"An open time limit is not acceptable in any security deal that governs the presence of the international forces," he said.

Maliki's remarks were the most explicit statement yet that the increasingly assertive Iraqi government expects the U.S. presence to end in three years as part of a deal between Washington and Baghdad to allow them to stay beyond this year.

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It's a matter of priorities. Giant stingray caught by a British fisherman or the Iraqi Prime Minister backing the Democratic nominee's plan for withdrawing from Iraq? Which would you decide needed a big headline?

Don't worry your beautiful little mind about what's going on in the world, Fox viewer.

With Iraq about to blow wide open, al-Sadr stepped in again.

MSNBC:

Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr on Sunday ordered his fighters off the streets nationwide and called on the government to stop raids against his followers and free them from prison. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a statement calling the order “a step in the right direction” towards resolving six days of violence sparked by operations against al-Sadr's backers in the oil-rich southern city of Basra.

But al-Maliki also acknowledged Saturday that he may have miscalculated by failing to foresee the strong backlash the offensive would provoke in Baghdad and other cities where Shiite militias wield power...read on

So who's in charge of Iraq at this point?

The Orstrahyun: Monday, Australian investors, mostly middle class people who were enthusiastically encouraged by the former prime minister John Howard, and his treasurer, to pour their savings into the markets last year, lost $110 billion before lunch. In 21 days, $300 billion of investors savings have been wiped out.

echidne of the snakes: Would you like to sign an Open Letter From American Feminists? Katha Pollitt has written one, an important one.

Collateral on blip.tv: This episode looks at the privatization of the election process and the recent - so far largely ignored - problems with voting equipment in the New Hampshire primaries.

Scott Horton: The Emails Dick Cheney deleted

gin and tacos: File this under, "Supporting the Troops".

HOLY CRAP: Translating Huckabee...Fundies Say the Darndest Things!...Banned from church...Abortion as litmus test...Jesus Politics...Romney and religion...Government Funded Religion...Rudy's reinvention as a Holy Fool...Ray Comfort's Bible Science...Smilentology! ...God's Profits...Pastoral Electioneering

AP Via Yahoo:

Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd swept to power in Australian elections Saturday, ending an 11-year conservative era and promising major changes to policies on global warming and his country's role in the Iraq war.

"Today Australia has looked to the future," Rudd said in a nationally televised victory speech, to wild cheers from supporters. "Today the Australian people have decided that we as a nation will move forward ... to embrace the future, together to write a new page in our nation's history."

The win marked a humiliating end to the career of outgoing Prime Minister John Howard, who became Australia's second-longest serving leader — and who had appeared almost unassailable as little as a year ago. Read on...

President Bush just lost another lap dog. Rudd said he'd take Australian troops out of Iraq and sign the Kyoto treaty if elected, so here's his chance.

Jim Hightower:  It's Labor Day weekend.  Do you know where your middle class is?

Your Right Hand Thief: The real hypocrisy of Idaho's conservatives is not in Larry Craig's complicated sexuality, but in some appalling comments made by the man who may succeed him.

Shakesville: Bush: "I have no memory of anything at all"

Angry Bear: Lawrence Kudlow has probably written even more pathetic op-eds over at the National Review, but I'm at a lost to remember anything as low as this.

The Pump Handle:  Low grades for 'voluntary' chemical reporting

Healing Power of Laughter Dept.: Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says critics are sending "negative messages that encourage terrorism"...Condescending Rice is pondering her "legacy", which will be a lot like the Gonzales legacy...d r i f t g l a s s campaigns for truth in labeling..."Straight Man", Tucker Fay Carlson keeping men's rooms safe to poop in...why can't you homos use the ladies room?... get your war on

A question from the UK press really caught Bush flat footed (cackles ensued) and made Tony Blair smile and say: "You had kind of forgotten what the British media were like, hadn't you?" (Laughter.)

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This isn't the first time Bush has been asked questions by the UK press, but he sure acted like it. Yes, the British press is a little more "direct," you might say...Makes a person wonder how our political system would operate if our press had that same level of frankness...

Q During the course of this visit it has been confirmed that Gordon Brown is going to be the next British Prime Minister, taking over in 40 days' time. I wonder if I could have both your reactions to that. And, in particular, Mr. Blair, what you say to those people who are saying now there is a new Prime Minister in place, you should go sooner? And to Mr. Bush, whether --

PRESIDENT BUSH: That's a lovely question. (Laughter.)

Q -- however inadvertently, you once said that you would like Tony Blair to stay for the duration of your presidency. He's not doing that. Do you think you're partly to blame for that?

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Interesting career choice, Tony. Credibility might not be there, though.

Tony Blair is preparing a mission to build bridges between the major world religions when he leaves office, and plans to act as an ambassador for multi-faith dialogue in Britain and abroad.

Friends of the Prime Minister have told The Independent on Sunday that he is planning to set up a Blair Foundation soon after leaving No 10, and one of its main aims will be to promote communication between Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

But the plan has been greeted with incredulity among MPs who say he has done more to create divisions between Islam and the West than any Prime Minister in living memory.

This is rich...This administration is riddled with liars and hypocrites...

Randall L. Tobias, the deputy secretary of state responsible for U.S. foreign aid, abruptly resigned yesterday after he was asked about an upscale escort service allegedly involved in prostitution, U.S. government sources said.

I'm sad today," said one person close to Tobias. "The president loves him and Condi absolutely loves him."

White House officials said Rice briefed Bush on the matter early yesterday before he met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The president "was saddened and disappointed and wished Dr. Tobias and his family well," spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

Condi and Bush are so sad. His actions further prove that abstinence does not work and never will. We are a Democracy so why is our country being run by Regent University type zealots and programs? Here's an interview with Tobias from PBS.

And it's also not "ABC: Take your pick." It's abstinence really focused heavily on young people and getting them to understand that the best way to keep from getting infected is to be abstinent and not engage in sexual activity until they are old enough and mature enough and get into a committed relationship, such as a marriage. B is being faithful within that committed relationship. And A and B, those two things together clearly had a huge impact in bringing the infection rates down in Uganda...read on

YahooNews: (h/t NonnyMouse)

Denmark is considering boosting its contingent in Afghanistan by 200 troops to 600, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday.

Earlier, the government presented plans to withdraw troops from Iraq. Fogh Rasmussen said no firm decision had been taken on the Danish troops serving under NATO command in Afghanistan, "but we cannot exclude that we will go from the present 400 to 600."

The prime minister said Wednesday that his country will withdraw its 460-member contingent from southern Iraq by August and transfer security responsibilities to Iraqi forces, and that the decision had been made in conjunction with the Iraqi government and Britain, under whose command the Danish forces are serving near Basra.

Fogh Rasmussen said Denmark would replace the troops with surveillance helicopters and civilian advisers to help the Iraqi government's reconstruction efforts.

"The Danish battalion will be brought home by August," Fogh Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen. "We expect that the Iraqis during 2007 will take over security in southern Iraq."

And the coalition dwindles further. Italy's whole government is tottering, largely from their participation in the Afghan war and ties to the US military and even Lithuania is considering pulling their 53 troops.

UPDATE: The Italian premier has announced he is resigning in the face of overwhelming public dissent against his keeping troops in Afghanistan.

You're doing a heckuva job, Bushie!