Free Republic

BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament on Monday shrugged off U.S. criticism and adjourned for a month, as key lawmakers declared there was no point waiting any longer for the prime minister to deliver Washington-demanded benchmark legislation for their vote. Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani closed the final three-hour session without a quorum present and declared lawmakers would not reconvene until Sept. 4. That date is just 11 days before the top U.S. military and political officials in Iraq must report to Congress on American progress in taming violence and organizing conditions for sectarian reconciliation. The recess, coupled with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's failure...

<p>Only moments after both houses of the state Legislature adjourned business Thursday, a coalition of public service groups announced plans for statewide initiative aimed at preventing political deadlock over future state budgets.</p> <p>The proposal, backed by the League of Women Voters of California and the state's Parent Teachers Association among many others, would change the state constitution so a spending plan could be adopted by 55 percent of the lawmakers instead of the existing two-thirds majority.</p>