If the population of the United States were polled and asked to identify their top ten priorities most would assume that education would rank among the top two. We often hear people say that education is vital for the future of our country; both in terms of literacy and its economic impact. In a 2007 Gallup poll, however, education ranked 10th in terms of priorities for the country. Even gas prices ranked higher on the list than education. Something is wrong with this picture.
We often blame politicians for failing to adequately fund public education. However, if Americans are saying that education isn't a top priority, who can blame them? Isn't it up to us to send the message to politicans that education is our top priority and to convince others that education should be our top priority?
Funding education is expensive. The quote, "education is expensive, but so is ignorance," says it all. If we want a literate population and one that moves our economy forward we must place education as a top priority. Most might say that a large percentage of the taxes they pay already go towards funding education, but this is often not the case. See the chart below for an example of how the taxes paid by a median income family in San Fransisco are spent:
Sector $ Spent %
Military $1,731 27%
Health $1,329 21%
Debt Interest (Non-Military) $657 10%
Debt Interest (Military) $580 9%
Income Security $383 6%
Education $289 5%
Veteran's Benefits $214 3%
Nutrition $167 3%
Housing $119 2%
Natural Resources $97 2%
Job Training $19 0%
Other $790 12%
Source: NationalPrioritiesProject.org
Education within the United States is also deeply unequal. School funding is primarily based on property tax values. The schools that need the most money often receive the least because their school is an a low-income, and therefore low property tax, area. This system creates a inherent inequality.
The videos below highlight two sets of schools. In A Tale of Two Schools, the schools are across the street from each other. One school is well-kept and has many resources available to its students. The other school looks as if it should be condemned. In Trading Schools, there are two schools from the Chicago area. One school is highly funded and has every resource available to its students. The other school is dilapidated and has very few resources for its students. These videos show the inherent nature of inequality present in education today. They show that even though Brown v. The Board of Education declared "separate but equal," unconstitutional, the concept is very much alive today.
A Tale of Two Schools
Trading Schools
For more information:
November 2, 2008
October 5, 2008
Help Save Iranian Teacher Farzad Kamangar
Farzad Kamangar, an Iranian teacher, officer in his union and defender of Kurdish minority rights was sentenced to death by an Iranian court for "enmity against God." In effect, he is being accused of being a terrorist for his activist activities. His lawyer, who was not allowed to defend him at trial, has said that there is no evidence of Farzad committing any "terrorist" activities.
Many national and international organizations have attempted to have this sentenced commuted, but despite their efforts the death sentence was upheld by the Iranian Supreme Court on July 11, 2008. Those who have shown solidarity with Kamangar are now also being subjected to intimidation by Iranian officials.
To help Farzad by sending a petition to the
Iranian government or to read the full story go to:
http://www.ei-ie.org/en/urgentactionappeal/show.php?id=12&country=iran
One Woman, One Vote: Gloria Steinem on Sarah Palin
by Gloria Steinem
Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the
anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party --
are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We
owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger
strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote. We owe it to
Shirley Chisholm, who first took the 'white-male-only' sign off the White House,
and to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who hung in there through ridicule and misogyny
to win 18 million votes.
But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss
has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes
everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting
a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's
not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's
about baking a new pie.
Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to
attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing
but a chromosome with Clinton. Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did
nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many
male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by
the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's
candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest
for McCain/Palin would be like saying, 'Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll
amputate my legs.'
This is not to20beat up on Palin. I defend her right to be wrong, even on issues
that matter most to me. I regret that people say she can't do the job because
she has children in need of care, especially if they wouldn't say the same about
a father. I get no pleasure from imagining her in the spotlight on national and
foreign policy issues about which she has zero background, with one month to
learn to compete with Sen. Joe Biden's 37 years' experience.
Palin has been honest about what she doesn't know. When asked last month about
the vice presidency, she said, 'I still can't answer that question until someone
answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?' Wh en asked about
Iraq, she said, 'I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq.'
She was elected governor largely because the incumbent was unpopular, and she's
won over Alaskans mostly by using unprecedented oil wealth to give a $1,200
rebate to every resident. Now she is being praised by McCain's campaign as a tax
cutter, despite the fact that Alaska has no state income or sales tax. Perhaps
McCain has opposed affirmative action for so l ong that he doesn't know it's
about inviting more people to meet standards, not lowering them. Or perhaps
McCain is following the Bush administration habit, as in the Justice Department,
of putting a job candidate's views on 'God, guns and gays' ahead of competence.
The difference is that McCain is filling a job one 72-year-old heartbeat away
from the presidency.
So let's be clear: The culprit is John McC ain. He may have chosen Palin out of
change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and
content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones
who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive
freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows
what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq; someone like Texas
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. McCain could have
taken a baby step away from right-wing patriarchs who determine his actions,
right down to opposing the Violence Against Women Act.
Palin's value to those patriarchs is clear: She opposes just about every issue
that wom en support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism
should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes
g un control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem
cell research but approves 'abstinence-only' programs, which increase unwanted
births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers'
millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn't spend
enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation
rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but
supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she
supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain
has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly,
only younger.
I don't doubt her sincerity. As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Assn.,
she doesn't just support killing animals from helicopters, she does it herself .
She doesn't just talk about increasing the use of fossil fuels but puts a
coal-burning power plant in her own small town. She doesn't just echo McCain's
pledge to criminalize abortion by overturning Roe vs. Wade, she says that if one
of her daughters were impregnated by rape or incest, she should bear the child.
She not only opposes reproductive freedom as a human right but implies that it
dictates abortion, without saying that it also protects the right to have a
child.
So far, the major new McCain supporter that Palin has attracted is James Dobson
of Focus on the Family. Of course, for Dobson, 'women are merely waiting for
their husbands to assume leadership,' so he may be voting for Palin's husband.
Being a hope-a-holic, however, I can see two long-term bipartisan gains from
this contest.
Republicans may learn t hey can't appeal to right-wing patriarchs and most women
at the same time. A loss in November could cause the centrist majority of
Republicans to take back their party, which was the first to support the Equal
Rights Amendment and should be the last to want to invite government into the
wombs of women.
And American women, who suffer more because of having two full-time jobs than
from any other single injustice, finally have support on a national stage from
male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are
equal in it. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are campaigning on their belief that men
should be, can be and want to be at home for their children.
This could be huge.
Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the
anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party --
are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president. We
owe this to women -- and to many men too -- who have picketed, gone on hunger
strikes or confronted violence at the polls so women can vote. We owe it to
Shirley Chisholm, who first took the 'white-male-only' sign off the White House,
and to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who hung in there through ridicule and misogyny
to win 18 million votes.
But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss
has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes
everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting
a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's
not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's
about baking a new pie.
Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to
attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing
but a chromosome with Clinton. Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did
nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many
male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by
the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's
candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest
for McCain/Palin would be like saying, 'Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll
amputate my legs.'
This is not to20beat up on Palin. I defend her right to be wrong, even on issues
that matter most to me. I regret that people say she can't do the job because
she has children in need of care, especially if they wouldn't say the same about
a father. I get no pleasure from imagining her in the spotlight on national and
foreign policy issues about which she has zero background, with one month to
learn to compete with Sen. Joe Biden's 37 years' experience.
Palin has been honest about what she doesn't know. When asked last month about
the vice presidency, she said, 'I still can't answer that question until someone
answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?' Wh en asked about
Iraq, she said, 'I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq.'
She was elected governor largely because the incumbent was unpopular, and she's
won over Alaskans mostly by using unprecedented oil wealth to give a $1,200
rebate to every resident. Now she is being praised by McCain's campaign as a tax
cutter, despite the fact that Alaska has no state income or sales tax. Perhaps
McCain has opposed affirmative action for so l ong that he doesn't know it's
about inviting more people to meet standards, not lowering them. Or perhaps
McCain is following the Bush administration habit, as in the Justice Department,
of putting a job candidate's views on 'God, guns and gays' ahead of competence.
The difference is that McCain is filling a job one 72-year-old heartbeat away
from the presidency.
So let's be clear: The culprit is John McC ain. He may have chosen Palin out of
change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and
content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones
who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive
freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows
what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq; someone like Texas
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. McCain could have
taken a baby step away from right-wing patriarchs who determine his actions,
right down to opposing the Violence Against Women Act.
Palin's value to those patriarchs is clear: She opposes just about every issue
that wom en support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism
should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes
g un control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem
cell research but approves 'abstinence-only' programs, which increase unwanted
births, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions; she tried to use taxpayers'
millions for a state program to shoot wolves from the air but didn't spend
enough money to fix a state school system with the lowest high-school graduation
rate in the nation; she runs with a candidate who opposes the Fair Pay Act but
supports $500 million in subsidies for a natural gas pipeline across Alaska; she
supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, though even McCain
has opted for the lesser evil of offshore drilling. She is Phyllis Schlafly,
only younger.
I don't doubt her sincerity. As a lifetime member of the National Rifle Assn.,
she doesn't just support killing animals from helicopters, she does it herself .
She doesn't just talk about increasing the use of fossil fuels but puts a
coal-burning power plant in her own small town. She doesn't just echo McCain's
pledge to criminalize abortion by overturning Roe vs. Wade, she says that if one
of her daughters were impregnated by rape or incest, she should bear the child.
She not only opposes reproductive freedom as a human right but implies that it
dictates abortion, without saying that it also protects the right to have a
child.
So far, the major new McCain supporter that Palin has attracted is James Dobson
of Focus on the Family. Of course, for Dobson, 'women are merely waiting for
their husbands to assume leadership,' so he may be voting for Palin's husband.
Being a hope-a-holic, however, I can see two long-term bipartisan gains from
this contest.
Republicans may learn t hey can't appeal to right-wing patriarchs and most women
at the same time. A loss in November could cause the centrist majority of
Republicans to take back their party, which was the first to support the Equal
Rights Amendment and should be the last to want to invite government into the
wombs of women.
And American women, who suffer more because of having two full-time jobs than
from any other single injustice, finally have support on a national stage from
male leaders who know that women can't be equal outside the home until men are
equal in it. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are campaigning on their belief that men
should be, can be and want to be at home for their children.
This could be huge.
September 9, 2008
Help Us End the War in Iraq
25,000 Volunteers, Each Knocking of 40 Doors to Bring Our Troops Home and End the War in IraqOur leaders in Washington aren't going to end the War in Iraq unless we make them.
You and I know face-to-face, one-on-one contact is the single most effective way to communicate with voters and make change happen.
On Saturday, September 20, that is exactly what we are going to do.
Whether you can knock on 5 doors or 50 -- whether you walk alone or bring a friend -- working together with progressives all over the country we'll reach out to a Million Doors for Peace.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP AND GET THE JOB DONE
We're working with our friends from all over the nation: TrueMajority, USAction, MoveOn, and over 20 other hard working anti-war activist organizations.
This will be an historic day of action bringing the grassroots together for one of the largest mobilizations ever against the War in Iraq.
JOIN US.
September 4, 2008
Violent Escalation Raises Fears in Chiapas
There is trouble brewing in Chiapas. Although this hasn't hit the national radar yet, it is something that those of us in the Peace and Justice community must watch carefully. Our friends in Mexico are counting on us to bring abuse to public light.
On August 29 and 30, 2008 Zapatista small farming families once again faced a serious escalation in the disturbing pattern of violence which has swept Chiapas in recent months. The latest attack by armed paramilitary forces occurred in the autonomous municipality of Olga Isabel and resulted in the wounding of 43 year old peasant Mariano Pérez Guzmán. Click here to read the Spanish language denunciation published by Zapatista officials in the caracol of Morelia.
On August 29 and 30, 2008 Zapatista small farming families once again faced a serious escalation in the disturbing pattern of violence which has swept Chiapas in recent months. The latest attack by armed paramilitary forces occurred in the autonomous municipality of Olga Isabel and resulted in the wounding of 43 year old peasant Mariano Pérez Guzmán. Click here to read the Spanish language denunciation published by Zapatista officials in the caracol of Morelia.
September 2, 2008
1,000,000 Doors for Peace in ONE Day
In the past, the most common way progressives have mobilized opposition to the Iraq War is with nationwide candlelight vigils or a one day march in Washington DC.
Now is the time for something different. Nothing beats the effect of face to face action -- neighbors talking to neighbors about what matters most.
Democracy for America is excited to join the Million Doors for Peace campaign and we need your help to make a difference. On September 20, Americans will go door to door in their community to reach out to voters to end the War in Iraq.
We need 25,000 people to knock on 40 doors each. Are you ready to join the team?
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP NOW
Sign up now and a few days before September 20 you'll get everything you need. The campaign will send you a list of 40 people in your neighborhood who are either newly registered or infrequent voters. We'll go to these targeted homes with a petition calling on the next President and Congress to bring our troops home from Iraq within a year. We'll identify supporters from every political party and, on Election Day, we'll turn out these voters for candidates that share our values.
This isn't preaching to the choir -- this is direct action to make change happen. Will you take action on September 20th?
CLICK HERE AND WORK TO BRING OUR TROOPS HOME
Together, we will move a million voters and knock on a million doors to end the War in Iraq and bring our men and women in uniform home. Join me, your neighbors, and activists throughout the country on September 20.
Thank you for everything you do,
Now is the time for something different. Nothing beats the effect of face to face action -- neighbors talking to neighbors about what matters most.
Democracy for America is excited to join the Million Doors for Peace campaign and we need your help to make a difference. On September 20, Americans will go door to door in their community to reach out to voters to end the War in Iraq.
We need 25,000 people to knock on 40 doors each. Are you ready to join the team?
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP NOW
Sign up now and a few days before September 20 you'll get everything you need. The campaign will send you a list of 40 people in your neighborhood who are either newly registered or infrequent voters. We'll go to these targeted homes with a petition calling on the next President and Congress to bring our troops home from Iraq within a year. We'll identify supporters from every political party and, on Election Day, we'll turn out these voters for candidates that share our values.
This isn't preaching to the choir -- this is direct action to make change happen. Will you take action on September 20th?
CLICK HERE AND WORK TO BRING OUR TROOPS HOME
Together, we will move a million voters and knock on a million doors to end the War in Iraq and bring our men and women in uniform home. Join me, your neighbors, and activists throughout the country on September 20.
Thank you for everything you do,
August 12, 2008
Budget deficit soars to $102.8 billion in July
Deficit is nearly triple the $36.4 billion deficit recorded a year agoWASHINGTON - The federal budget deficit soared in July, pushed higher by economic stimulus payments and $15 billion in outlays to protect depositors at failed banks.
The Treasury Department reported that the deficit for July totaled $102.8 billion, nearly triple the $36.4 billion deficit recorded in July 2007.
The deficit outstripped the $97 billion gap that Wall Street economists had been expecting for July.
The Treasury said outlays were pushed up by $15 billion because of payments the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. made to depositors at failed banks. The Treasury report did not identify the banks but federal regulators seized the assets of California-based IndyMac Bank, the largest regulated thrift to fail in U.S. history.
The FDIC is expected to be successful in recovering much of its outlays for failed banks, in part by selling the assets of seized institutions. The FDIC has also raised the possibility that it will increase insurance premiums on healthy banks to cover the cost of what are expected to be rising bank failures as the current credit crisis unfolds.
Besides the payouts by the FDIC, government outlays were increased by the final bulk mailings of government stimulus payments in July. The July deficit also looked worse than the July 2007 deficit because last year's figure was artificially deflated by timing issues that shifted about $19 billion in normal outlays into the prior month.
So far this year, the budget deficit totals $371.4 billion, more than double last year's deficit through the same time period of $157.4 billion.
The Bush administration recently revised its forecast for this year's deficit, lowering it from an estimate of $410 billion, down to $389 billion. However, the Congressional Budget Office is more pessimistic, projecting the deficit for this year will total $400 billion when the current budget year wraps up on Sept. 30.
For the 2009 budget year, which begins Oct. 1, the administration is now projecting a deficit of $482 billion, which would be the highest i
n dollar terms in history, surpassing the old mark of $413 billion set in 2004.Through July, government revenues total $2.094 trillion, down 1 percent from the same period a year ago. Revenues have been weaker this year, reflecting the sharp slowdown in the overall economy.
Government spending so far this budget year totals $2.466 trillion, 8.5 percent higher than a year ago. That's in part due to the $168 billion stimulus package Congress passed at the beginning of the year in an effort to keep the country out of a deep recession and because of increased spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
August 11, 2008
Franken: America a 'chump' on Iraq rebuilding
Minnesota Senate candidate seeks to get back more U.S. Iraqi fundsLast week, Franken's opponent, Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, said the U.S. should take back $1.1 billion committed to Iraqi reconstruction after a government report found that Iraq has a cumulative budget surplus of up to $50 billion for 2008, thanks mostly to oil and gas revenues.
The Coleman campaign issued a statement Monday applauding Franken for joining in seeking to have the Iraqis pay for more of their own reconstruction. But it said Franken's proposal includes money that has already been returned, plus more that will be returned in the coming weeks, and that it would put U.S. troops at risk by taking money away from a program that provides funds to field commanders for emergency responses.
Minnesota Senate candidate seeks to get back more U.S. Iraqi funds
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Senate candidate Al Franken called on the U.S. to rescind $7.1 billion that's committed but not yet obligated to Iraqi reconstruction, and spend it instead on highway infrastructure improvements in the United States.
Franken, the Democratic candidate in Minnesota's Senate race, said at a State Capitol news conference Monday that there's no reason for U.S. dollars to keep flowing if Iraq can pay for its own reconstruction.
"There's a line between being responsible for rebuilding a country you helped destroy, and being a chump, and I think we crossed that line," Franken said.
Franken's call for taking back more money set off a new round of tussling between the campaigns over Iraq, which has been a central issue in the race. Franken returned to one of his most persistent criticisms of Coleman — that as chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations from 2003 to the end of 2006, Coleman failed
to provide any oversight of U.S. funds being diverted to Iraqi reconstruction."Senator Coleman at any time could have done these hearings on reconstruction and he did none," Franken said, arguing that to have done so might have run Coleman afoul of the Bush White House and Republican congressional leaders.
Coleman campaign manager Cullen Sheehan said Franken was being deceptive in how he characterized the work of the subcommittee on investigations. Sheehan said its small staff and budget would make it the wrong entity to undertake a comprehensive investigation of the Iraqi reconstruction.
Sheehan pointed out that the panel's ranking Democratic member could have instigated an investigation of the reconstruction but did not. That senator, Carl Levin of Michigan, also hasn't initiated such an investigation since becoming chairman, Sheehan said.
Coleman has supported investigations of U.S. spending and policies in Iraq by other entities including the Special Investigator General for Iraq Reconstruction, a nonpartisan group established by Congress to conduct oversight in Iraq.
"It's a matter of dollars and resources and not duplicating effort," Sheehan said.
August 9, 2008
Iraq demands timeline for U.S. withdrawal
But U.S. officials insist there is no agreement on specific dates
BAGHDAD - Iraq's foreign minister insisted Sunday that any security deal with the United States must contain a "very clear timeline" for the departure of U.S. troops.
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told reporters that American and Iraqi negotiators were "very close" to reaching a long-term security agreement that will set the rules for U.S. troops in Iraq after the U.N. mandate expires at the end of the year.
Zebari said the Iraqis were insisting that the agreement include a "very clear timeline" for the withdrawal of U.S.-led forces, but he refused to talk about specific dates.
"We have said that this is a condition-driven process," he added, suggesting that the departure schedule could be modified if the security situation changed.
No deal without timeline
But Zebari made clear that the Iraqis would not accept a deal that lacks a timeline for the end of the U.S. military presence.
"No, no definitely there has to be a very clear timeline," Zebari replied when asked if the Iraqis would accept an agreement that did not mention dates.
Differences over a withdrawal timetable has become one of the most contentious issues remaining in the talks, which began early this year. U.S. and Iraqi negotiators missed a July 31 target date for completing the deal, which must be approved by Iraq's parliament.
President Bush has steadfastly refused to accept any timetable for bringing U.S. troops home. Last month, however, Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki agreed to set a "general time horizon" for a U.S. departure.
Last week, two senior Iraqi officials told The Associated Press that American negotiators had agreement to a formula which would remove U.S. forces from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009 with all combat troops out of the country by October 2010.
The last American support troops would leave about three years later, the Iraqis said.
No agreement on specific dates
But U.S. officials insist there is no agreement on specific dates. Both the American and Iraqi officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are ongoing. Iraq's Shiite-led government believes a withdrawal schedule is essential to win parliamentary approval.
American officials have been less optimistic because of major differences on key issues including who can authorize U.S. military operations and immunity for U.S. troops from prosecution under Iraqi law.
The White House said discussions continued on a bilateral agreement and said any timeframe discussed was due to major improvements in security over the past year.
"We are only now able to discuss conditions-based time horizons because security has improved so much. This would not have been possible 18 months ago," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Sunday. "We all look forward to the day when Iraqi security forces take the lead on more combat missions, allowing U.S. troops to serve in an overwatch role, and more importantly return home."
Iraq's position in the U.S. talks hardened after a series of Iraqi military successes against Shiite and Sunni extremists in Basra, Baghdad, Mosul and other major cities.
Violence in Iraq has declined sharply over the past year following a U.S. troop buildup, a Sunni revolt against al-Qaida in Iraq and a Shiite militia cease-fire.
Concerns about militants
But attacks continue, raising concern that the militants are trying to regroup.
The suicide bomber struck Sunday afternoon as U.S. and Iraqi troops were responding to a roadside bombing that wounded an Iraqi in Tarmiyah, 30 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
Four Iraqi civilians were killed along with the American soldier, military spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Stover said. Two American soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter were among 24 people wounded.
No group claimed responsibility for the blast but suicide bombings are the signature attack of al-Qaida in Iraq.
"This was a heinous attack by al-Qaida in Iraq against an Iraqi family, followed by a cowardly attack against innocent civilians, their security forces and U.S. soldiers," Stover said.
Elsewhere, a suicide car bomber attacked the Kurdish security department in Khanaqin, 90 miles northeast of Baghdad. At least two people were killed and 25 wounded, including the commander of local Kurdish forces, Lt. Col. Majid Ahmed, police said.
Ethnic tensions growing in northern Iraq
Ethnic tensions have been rising in northern Iraq amid disputes between Kurds, Turkomen and mostly Sunni Arabs over Kurdish demands to annex the oil-rich city of Kirkuk into their self-ruled region.
Sawarah Ghalib, 25, who was wounded in the blast, said he believed military operations under way south of the city in Diyala province had pushed insurgents into the Khanaqin area.
"I did not expect that a terrorist attack to take place in our secure town," Ghalib said from his bed in the Khanaqin hospital. "Al-Qaida is to blame for this attack. Operations in Diyala have pushed them here."
In Baghdad, six people were killed in a series of bombings on the first day of the Iraqi work week.
The deadliest blast occurred about 8:15 a.m. in a crowded area where people wait for buses in the capital's mainly Shiite southeastern district of Kamaliya. Four people were killed, including a woman and her brother, and 11 others wounded, according to police.
A car bomb later exploded as an Iraqi army patrol transporting money to a state-run bank passed by in Baghdad's central Khillani square, killing two people including an Iraqi soldier and wounding nine other people, a police officer said.
Another Iraqi soldier was killed and five were wounded by a car bomb in Salman Pak, about 25 kilometers south of Baghdad, police said.
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