President Obama needs to address the growing wave of Islamic extremist releases.

Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan waves at his residence after a court verdict in Islamabad on February 6, 2009. A Pakistani court order on February 6 ruled that Khan, father of the country's atomic bomb, was a free citizen, five years after he was effectively put under house arrest. (AAMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images)

Feb 17, 2009 20:47

Updated Feb 17, 2009 22:02
Shari'a-for-peace (click here)

...There are disturbing, though unsubstantiated, reports that India may be supporting the Taliban in both Pakistan and Afghanistan - another example, if true, of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" aphorism....

The way in which nuclear neighbors 'play' is not appropriate. If true and India is backing the Taliban, I would say the extremists that carried out the attacks in Mumbai may have something to say. It might also explain why India was so quick to point a finger at Pakistan and reach for its war chant so very early on.

...President Asif Ali Zardari, whose wife Benazir Bhutto was probably assassinated by Taliban types in December 2007, has approved the Shari'a-for-peace deal. So, reportedly, did the Awami National Party, a secular Pashtun grouping. The Pashtun ethnic group comprises 15 percent of Pakistan's population, and 42% (a plurality) of Afghanistan's. The Taliban is predominantly Pashtun....

It is getting to be difficult to tell the enemy from a friend. THAT is partly due to Bush's policies and the abandonment of Afghanistan for Iraq.

...The decision to trade Sharia-for-peace appears to reflect a bad trend in the Muslim (and Arab) world whereby radicals stick to their guns, and moderates capitulate. Even if the Taliban could be satiated with "just" Afghanistan and Pakistan, these vast lands would become - even more than they already are - safe havens and launching pads for terrorism against "the infidels."
Indeed, reports claim that Osama bin Laden is currently not in some cave but in the village of Parachinar, near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in an area that's seen Sunni-Shi'ite strife.
US envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke, who is just completing a tour of the region, called the Swat deal proof that India, the United States and Pakistan "all have a common threat now."

If only that were true.

If only matters were that clear-cut....

...until tomorrow.

This has got to be the joke of the century.

To begin with, the cost of the Obama Economic Stimulus pales to the cost of the Republican blundering that occurred for four consecutive years. The Obama Stimulus is a cost extended over 10 years. That was 10 years.

Then for Republicans to come forward and act as if they have seen 'the light' and are seeking a higher morality is ludicrous beyond any imagination. These very Republicans approved of huge increases in the USA debt and raised the debt ceiling every year. They were nothing more than the pundits of Bush and his reckless Executive Branch.


Rep, Mike Pence, R-Ind., looks on at right as House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Feb. 13,2009, after the House passed the stimulus legislation. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke)

GOP poised to leap on spending abuses in stimulus (click title to entry - thank you)
By CHARLES BABINGTON – 14 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are preparing to pounce on any wasteful spending in the $787 billion stimulus package as they refocus their criticisms of a measure whose success could hurt their 2010 election prospects....

Every bill they wrote was an Republican Economic Stimulus laced with Pork. Some of the pork was so offensive that it even rattled some Republicans and Ted Steven's Road to Nowhere was removed.

The entire set of circumstances we now face is due to uncontrolled Republican spending and the direct result of their abuses of our democracy. They never had a viable economy, but, only reckless and anything goes spending that would provide jobs and a fatal economy that was 'somehow' a crisis in the closing days of Bush's last year in the Executive Branch.

In those final days, the Republicans literally caught the USA off guard and stated 'the sky is falling' to the tune of $700 billion dollars. That was $700 billion to be distributed over a few months, not years. I am only grateful we have a President that has control over $350 billion of those funds and have used not quite $50 billion to formulate a 'Homeowner Package' to stop foreclosures.

Their leaders fell in a house of cards as the scandals of those years unfold. They redirected the war in Afghanistan and stood by to justify it. The Iraq War caused the USA its international reputation and today, even though diplomatic channels are opening wide for Secretary Clinton, there are enormous skeptics to the viability of the USA and its ultimate intentions. Russia is pensive and countries at our near borders see us as a threat in a way they have never viewed us before.

The government under the Republicans practiced human rights abuses with the 'fencing' of Gitmo and torture. Such a mess it is that as noted on Michael Moore's blog today; we are left to untangle the intricacies of it while leaving old policies in place until policy is in place to do otherwise.

February 18th, 2009 8:58 am

Obama’s War on Terror May Resemble Bush’s in Some Areas (click here)
By Charlie Savage
WASHINGTON — Even as it pulls back from harsh interrogations and other sharply debated aspects of George W. Bush's "war on terrorism," the Obama administration is quietly signaling continued support for other major elements of its predecessor's approach to fighting Al Qaeda.
In little-noticed confirmation testimony recently, Obama nominees endorsed continuing the C.I.A.'s program of transferring prisoners to other countries without legal rights, and indefinitely detaining terrorism suspects without trials even if they were arrested far from a war zone....

President Obama has a rapid pace 'to change' in our country, but, cautious to remove old measures that could mean danger to citizens. I am confident where Cheney's hand was at play the 'jigsaw puzzle' and 'torture maze' is significant. Cheney no doubt had paper shredders galore and documentation that parralleled everthing he did. The 'actual' happenings within the intelligence department, where Dick made his home among some of the youngest of employees, will only be known years in the offing and 'to decide' what is fact and what is fiction will no doubt be a daughting task.

In other words, the man that 'cooked the books' at Halliburton, certainly did the same within the intelligence agencies of our government.

All the same people that sanctioned the 'ruin' of the USA now stand as if saints rather than sinners to ridicule the Democrats elected to office to stop their idiocy and wrongful adminsitrations. They scream about oversight to the Obama Stimulus when they know full well they don't have to raise a finger as the Stimulus Package has oversight built into it. They are liars and manipulators and seek to 'grandstand' an issue that doesn't even exist to try to begin a return of a political party that would be better written off in the history books.

When political practices are based in lies and inuendoes, what do you think their administrations are like? I am grateful they are grossly in the minority. They need to be removed from office in 2010. We don't need liars. We don't need 'image makers.' We need people that can protect Americans from the ravages of untruth and exaggerated ideas of economics. The Republicans have never known what viable economics are, they only know what gets them elected.



HAVE

A

BETTER

DAY !

We don't belong in Iraq.

We never did.

Rep. John Murtha needs to come forward to speak. He is not a man that took advantage of his position or the system in DC. Quite the contrary.

...The PMA Group (click title to entry - thank you) which has represented hundreds of large and small defense contactors seeking federal money, will cease operations March 31, according to a report in the Washington, D.C. newspaper Roll Call. The firm has already lost several of its lobbyists, who announced last week they were leaving to form a new firm....

I know that request seems silly to Congressman Murtha, but, we live in a time of 'mistrust' due to the calamity left behind by the previous Republican Empire. He needs to come forward regarding the efforts of small military contractors and their recognition in order to serve the country's needs.

John Murtha was a veteran of the Marines and Marine Reserves. He was not a strong pundit of the wars of Bush and Cheney. His district was called into service and sustained many losses in Iraq. His votes in Congress were to support military contractors, but, it was tempered with the realization that Bush/Cheney were moving into inappropriate and prolonged war in a country where we had no business being while al Qaeda continued to plague allies.

The defense contracts awarded this 'retiring lobbying firm' were in the millions. The monies Bush/Cheney and the Republicans spent on an illegal war (which were serviced by military contractors) were in the billions. If I am not mistaken, the first installment to Iraq was $68 billion of which yet has to be accounted.

The donations attached to this lobbyist firm started in 2001. I wonder if it were after or before 911 and what indeed peaked their interest to donate.

It is also noteworthy that the firm was 'raided' at the last minute during Bush/Cheney's final days in office. Probably about the time the firm decided to close its doors with a retiring CEO. Also noted, the lobbyists that worked for PMA (click here) aren't retiring but moving to different firms to represent clients. Client's use lobbyists. They pay fees and use lobbyists because they have a business to run and it is a way of finding representation in DC when the company cannot support its own representative to the government.

I think Congressman Visclosky has the right idea. Don't give the money back, give it to the much abused US Treasury. I like that. Do we get to keep it?

Visclosky to return PMA campaign contributions (click here)

February 19, 2009
By Jon Seidel
Post-Tribune staff writerU.S. Rep. Peter Visclosky will turn over $18,000 in campaign cash to the U.S. Treasury after a federal investigation led to questions about the source of those donations, a spokesman said Wednesday.
That money was first thought to have arrived from donors connected to The PMA Group, a?Virginia lobbying firm raided by the FBI in November whose associates have given the most cash to Visclosky's campaigns....

Counting on reputation, will it be enough? The 'Populous' Judge and Jury needs to end.

I have no personal interest in this issue, except to protect 'the laws and processes' of my country's democracy. I have been 'offline' for a short while.

By Patrick O'Connor 07:40 PM (click here)

(click title above - thank you) ...But a review by The (Springfield) State Journal-Register found that Burris' list doesn't match records kept by the Illinois secretary of state, the Cook County clerk or the Chicago Board of Ethics....

The laws of the USA, Illinios and Chicago have served this country well. It brought us the most progressive President in modern day. A President that loves us and seeks to correct the ills that have beset this country from past Republican sins. Let's not forget that as we proceed. There should be investigation to bring out the facts, but, here again there needs to be 'due process.' This especially true given the unique appreciation we should all have for Senator Roland Burris. It would be easy to track any legislation he produces or any votes he makes that serve former clients.

That said, I want a full accounting by the Senator from Illinios that the people have a right to have and I expect the Senate Ethics Committee to do a thorough job as it should. There needs not be any other 'media circus' to cater to political wills as occurred with the former Governor. I want to see evidence and I expect to hear from the Senator in question.

You know what bothers me about that cript pictured above. Is that is exists at all. The fact that an African American dedicated his life to service to Illlinios and found the need to memorialize himself as if no others would is sincerely a sad reality. It speaks to the prevalence of bigotry and its battle to over come it. Obviously, Senator Burris felt his recognition had to be set in stone to pass on a tradition of hope to the next generation. That sincerely bothers me and it should bother everyone else.

The Republican Tidal Wave that the RNC is mounting is an attempt to start a 'populous' drive to unseat even the new President. There needs to be a step away from the brink of disaster and begin to process each case as it occurs through Due Process. Otherwise, it will only prove that a 'witch hunt' and the emotions of a nation can be harnessed to unseat an elected government. What is to protect us from the Republican millionaires that continue to 'Hammer Away' at our Bill of Rights?

I do not approve of the hounds that are on the hunt. I remind, when the circumstances of a former Illinios Governor actually made it before a judge, even the Illinios Attorney General was proved "W"rong. That image should be instilled throughout this process and the 'populous' chant needs to be "Due Process" not political and media ridicule.