November 26, 2008
Posted by Coonsey in Foreign Policy, Military.Tags: afghanistan, president hamid karzai
add a comment
Karzai of Afghanistan Wants Timeline To End War
KABUL, Afghanistan – President Hamid Karzai told a visiting U.N. Security Council delegation Tuesday that the international community should set a timeline to end the war in Afghanistan.
It appeared to be the first time Karzai has called for a time limit on the international effort to defeat Taliban militants and raise a stable and competent Afghan security force and government.
“If there is no deadline, we have the right to find another solution for peace and security, which is negotiations,” Karzai was quoted as saying in a statement from his office…
The U.S. now has some 32,000 troops in the country, but U.S. military leaders say up to 20,000 more American forces could be sent to Afghanistan next year…
Just last month he was asking for more troops – this is an odd statement. Where is he going with this demand? Anybody got a clue?
November 25, 2008
Posted by Coonsey in Misc.Tags: worm in brain
1 comment so far
Worm Removed from Woman’s Brain
(Nov. 24) – A doctor operating on a 37-year-old Phoenix woman thought to have a brain tumor found something entirely different: a parasitic worm.
ABC News reports that Rosemary Alvarez, who underwent the procedure last summer after experiencing difficulty swallowing and numbness in her left arm, had a tapeworm called Taenia solium inside her head.
It turns out Alvarez likely contracted the tapeworm at some point by eating food tainted with the feces of a person infected with the parasite. “It wasn’t that she had poor hygiene, she was just a victim,” said neurosurgeon Peter Nakaji, who ended up extracting the worm.
November 25, 2008
Posted by Coonsey in Domestic Policy, Politics.Tags: Barack Obama, Economic Team, simulus package
add a comment
Obama Announces His Economic Team
CHICAGO — President-elect Barack Obama, calling for “sound judgment and fresh thinking” to address the nation’s economic crisis, announced Monday his selection of Timothy Geithner, president of the New York Federal Reserve, as Treasury secretary, and Larry Summers, a former Treasury secretary, as head of the National Economic Council.Obama also named Christina Romer, an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, to chair his Council of Economic Advisers, and Melody Barnes, of the Center for American Progress, as director the Domestic Policy Council.
In making the announcement, Obama said the country is facing an economic crisis of “historic proportions.”
“If we do not act swfitly and boldly most experts believe that we could lose millions of jobs next year,” he said.
Well, it sounds like he’s at least working on new ideas to solve our economic problems. Cross your fingers that they can do the job – or at least help.
Obama hasn’t taken a real break yet. He’s been on the go for almost 2 years now and still going. The man sure has a lot of ‘push’ in him. I just hope he doesn’t have a blow out before Jan 20th.
UPDATE:
The Washington Post — Obama and Democrats moving toward $700 billion economic stimulus package: “Facing an increasingly ominous economic outlook, President-elect Barack Obama and other Democrats are rapidly ratcheting up plans for a massive fiscal stimulus program that could total as much as $700 billion over the next two years. That amount, more than the nation has spent over the past six years in Iraq, would rival the sum Congress committed last month to rescuing the country’s financial system. It would also be one of the biggest public spending programs aimed at jolting the economy since President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal.”
I can just hear you conservatives already. Just keep in mind, as Obama and the world is telling us, we could lose millions of jobs next year and that we haven’t seen the economy is such a mess as this — since the Great Depression. This calls for ‘extra special’ measures.
November 23, 2008
Posted by Coonsey in Foreign Policy, Military, Politics.Tags: Ahmed Chalabi, iraq
add a comment
Thanks, But You Can Go Now…
By Ahmed Chalabi
THE Iraq war is over.
It ends five years too late and at far too terrible a cost in lives, money and idealism. The difficult and tortuous negotiations over the American withdrawal now coming to an end in Baghdad offer a distorted glimpse of what might have been.
The independent, democratically elected Iraqi government now representing the interests of its people is nearly identical to the government that could have been formed in 2003. Five years of occupation have only hardened positions and damaged relations between America and Iraq. In fact, the only popular new political movements in Iraq are built around a desire for an end to the occupation, and the principal threat to the current government is its close relationship to the occupier.
Nonetheless, President Bush’s democratic approach to Iraq has, in many ways, succeeded. Iraq has the strongest constitution, the fairest elections and the most democratic government in the Islamic Middle East. This success stems from the democratic ideal expressed by the United States, through the uncountable sacrifice of American and Iraqi lives, and through the Iraqis’ profound belief in the gift of our nation. Iraqi freedom is a debt to America we will never forget.
This is true despite President Bush’s manifest failure to honor his word…MORE
You may or may not remember this guy but he’s one of the first to push for the invasion of Iraq and removal of Saddam Hussein. (more…)
November 23, 2008
Posted by Coonsey in Misc.Tags: thanksgiving
add a comment
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
NOTICE:
As it is during every other holiday season, this site will come to a slow crawl during Thanksgiving week. In other words, I won’t be posting as often during Nov 24-30th. I’ll drop in from time to time but not as often as usual. If you would like something posted feel free to email me.
You on the other hand may use the GENERAL COMMENTS section at any time to express your daily thoughts.
Have a wonderful holiday with your family and friends.
November 22, 2008
Posted by Coonsey in Foreign Policy, Military, Politics.Tags: iraq, saddam hussein
add a comment
Iraqis Burn Bush Effigy Where They Beat Saddam Statue 5 Years Ago
BAGHDAD: More than 10,000 supporters of the radical anti-American Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr gathered in Baghdad’s Firdos Square on Friday to protest the Iraqi government plan to sign a security agreement which would maintain American troops in the country for up to three years.
With powerful symbolism, demonstrators hanged an effigy of President George W. Bush from the plinth that once supported the statue of Saddam Hussein that was toppled after Baghdad to U.S. troops on April 9, 2003.
Preachers and political leaders supporting Sadr erected their podium in the same colonnaded traffic circle. The Iraqi crowd applauded the downfall of Hussein’s regime. To drive home their point, the cleric’s supporters placed a black hood over the effigy of President Bush. They put a whip in his right hand and, in his left, a briefcase on which were written the words “the security agreement is shame and dishonor.”
The black hood was a reference to the execution of Saddam Hussein on Dec. 30, 2006…..MORE
And WE want to STAY there? What will it take for us to finally realize that we’re no longer wanted there (except by those put in charge by the Bush administration), nor can we force our wishes – AGAIN – upon this sovereign nation.
It reminds me of how the U.S. got along with Saddam for years. We even helped him take on Iran. Afterwords though, we’re shunned – we were no longer needed or liked. (more…)
November 21, 2008
Posted by Coonsey in Politics.Tags: Governor Sarah Palin, Turkey
5 comments
Governor Palin Does Interview While Turkey Get’s Slaughtered
While I don’t necessarily blame Gov. Sarah Palin for this, I do recommend however that her ‘handlers’ pick better places for her to be interviewed at. Couldn’t the camera man see this? Geez!!!
