It is a tough neighborhood and getting tougher. Arab leaders are seeking a verbiage with their people.

Army officers (click here) join anti-government protesters demanding President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s resignation in Sana’a on Monday.

Image Credit: AP

I believe there 'CAN BE' many mixed signals from the leaders of these nations at this time.  I have no doubt the Arab League is seeking a strong tone with the circumstances in Libya both Pro and Con to find 'fellowship' with their people.

While the Arab League detests the action of Colonel Gaddafi, there is the issue of Western involvement in the Middle East which in recent history has lead to sincere tragedy and occupation forces.  The bottom line is their citizens are sincerely scared.  It is important all the leaders involved in the efforts to 'secure' the citizens from a rampaging terrorist named Gaddafi, the voices of reassurance in the way of 'updates' and 'limits to involvement' are important at this point.  Very important.  It will help Arab leadership to validate their words and initiatives with their own peole.


Global coalition must stick to peacekeeping and leave Libya's future to its people  (click title to entry - thank you)

Editorial

Mar 21, 2011 21:59
...The allied campaign has claimed major gains against the regime. The US has talked about the first stage of the coalition strikes under a UN Security Council remit being "successful." There's even talk of Qaddafi's command and control compound being hit in the bombing....

I believe much of this movement has been advanced through social media.  In order for people to understand what is transpiring it may be the West and Arab nations need to speak to the people in the way they find information comfortable and best.

I strongly believe the forces at work in Libya have to inform Arabia of their purpose and initiatives all along the way.  I am confident the Afghan experience has taught the USA the importance of communication and transparency.

Communication with authority is something these citizens do not understand or are used to, so this is a training ground for everyone.

If an Iranian Ayatollah bowed to communication over Twitter with his people I think everyone else can get the picture.

The sense of justice, community and inclusiveness is vital in these seemingly unstable times.

...His Majesty (click here)  took part in rituals to marking the 43rd anniversary of the battle when Jordanian soldiers repelled an Israeli attack on the small town of Karameh in the Jordan Valley, whose name means “dignity”.

In the ensuing battle, several Jordanian soldiers lost their lives while the Israeli raid was repelled with heavy losses as the Jordanian Army launched a heavy artillery barrage against Israeli tanks.

During the ceremony yesterday, the King recited verses from the Holy Koran and laid a wreath at the memorial.

The King viewed the names and photos of martyrs, put on display....

I don't want to hear how men of peace, like the dedicated King Abdullah of Jordan, are ridiculed for their loyalities to their people.   I simply believe they are good and decent people seeking to find a 'path of peace' for their people.  I admire them for their dedication.  In the case of the Jordan King he never relents for the best outcomes of Jordanians.  I believe that.  That will never change.  The King has been a partner in peace for a long time and I would expect that to be respected by everyone seeking the same outcomes.

This is about non-violence.  It is what the Middle East needs and evidently has longed for.

Just to sum up this whole 'Libya thing.'

It makes a lot of sense to me that Libya might be, just might be, a hot bed for al Qaeda recruiting.  Maybe, just maybe, when Gaddafi is gone, that won't be an issue anymore. 

I sincerely believe one of the reasons the United Nations didn't want any occupying forces is because it tends to attract instability and EXTREMISTS like al Qaeda.  You know, like al Qaeda in Iraq.  It never existed before our troops arrived.

Just food for thought.

During their trip to South America, the President focuses on human rights issues and the First Lady on education.

I am sure the Tea Baggers will have a problem with a 'no snitch law' or some darn thing.  If they do, maybe we can implicate them in aiding international terrorism.

Monday, Mar. 21, 2011

Obama says US ready to help Chile in rights cases (click title to entry - thank you)

...It was the first question at Obama's joint news conference with Chilean President Sebastian Pinera. A Chilean reporter asked if Obama would share classified U.S. documents with Chilean judges investigating the deaths of former presidents Salvador Allende and Eduardo Frei Montalva as well as hundreds of other opponents of the dictatorship....

...The entire center-left coalition in Chile’s lower house of Congress joined an open letter to Obama on Monday asking for the apology as well as cooperation in sharing uncensored versions of some 25,000 declassified U.S. documents on the 1973-90 dictatorship. Chilean judges are still pursuing criminal investigations into nearly a third of the 3,065 deaths of leftists and other Pinochet opponents, including the two former presidents, whose deaths remain shrouded in mystery....

Michelle Obama: Education prepared me for world  (click here)

Posted on Mon, Mar. 21, 2011 01:43 PM

By MICHAEL WARREN

Associated Press

…Students in red uniforms cheered enthusiastically and waved Chilean and U.S. flags as Mrs. Obama arrived at the Summit of the Condors of Renca Institute.

"It wasn't so long ago that my husband and I were young people just like you, dreaming the same dream and facing the same challenges," Mrs. Obama said, describing how she and her husband, President Barack Obama, both grew up poor and with few resources. Their success, she said was due to their good educations.

"Growing up there was never any question in my parents' mind that we would go to college. ... And they always told us that even if we weren't rich, we were just as smart and just as capable as anyone else. ... They thought us that if we dreamed big enough and if we worked hard enough anything was possible. In my country we call that the American Dream and I think it's also true right here in Chile."…

The Four New York Times journalists are released.

Stephen Farrell, Tyler Hicks, Lynsey Addario and Anthony Shadid (click title to entry - thank you) are now with the Turkish Embassy.  The Turkish Embassy if there is any doubt where the four journalists are now safe is in Tripoli.  Imagine that there are still embassies open in Tripoli.

Maybe, just maybe, the ambassadors and all those 'official' kind of folks might have an opinion about the No Fly Zone.

Ya think?

The four NYTimes journalists were released almost immediately when Gadaffi realized there were bombs on the way.

How about that?  Interesting, isn't it?

Howard Fineman is confused. A seriously distressful place to be. Poor Howard.

This is a pics from Howards younger day, but, I thought it was fairly indicative to his current state of mind.

I believe it is indicative of the state of minds of a lot of people like Kucinich and Sessions, too.

Howard doesn't lie.  He sincerely convinced me he is confused.

On "The Last Word" he stated he didn't know who we were defending in Libya because Eastern Libya is a fertile ground for recruiting al Qaeda.  Then the next paragraph he stated if the President (assuming that is POTUS and not other President) had acted weeks ago 'we would have Gaddaffi.  My words not his. 

You've got be joking, right?  I mean no one is this confused and on national television.  Seriously.

Ya know, I'm going to tell you something just because I don't want Howard and Dennnis and Jeff to be confused anymore.

There is a humanitarian effort to stop the killing of innocent people in Libya.  To the best of our knowledge they are not international criminals like that of the Prostate Cancer survivor.  I don't believe we have an FBI file on anyone in Eastern Libya that we know of unless 'Howard's contacts' can say specifically what they people in that region are 'up to.'

That humanitarian effort has been the focus of criticism in its 'delay' for some time now.  The confused media was decrying the slaughter of innocent people. 

Like I said, "What what you wish for you just might get it." 

Now, the effort to STOP a known harborer of terrorists, namely Colonel Gadaffi is underway, EVERYTHIGN IS "W"RONG anyway.

How many times does it have to be said that this Libyan dictator is known to slaughter innocent people including the bombing of a commercial aircraft.  What is the real issue here?

The real issue with Howard.  With Jeff.  With Dennis is that they they ARE NOT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

That is the real issue.

I like the new Press Secretary.  He is lack luster.  Is very direct and no one every talks about him in teh general media.  Perhaps Howard misses all the old Press Secretaries that were 'juicey' enough to enhnace the viewership of the evening news.  Perhaps that is it and perhaps that isn't it.

But, the fact of the matter is President Obama is doing the nation's business.  All of it is important and he is not on vacation with his feet up sipping tea.  He is doing the nation's business.

And I think Admiral Mullens has a brain in his head.  You know.  The guy has been around for awhile and he knows what missile does what.

So, for all the Howards and Dennises and Jeffs there are in the world, I feel for ya.  I mean confusion and fustration is a horrible thing.  But, that really is YOUR PROBLEM and not the problem of many Americans that are NOT confused about why the USA is involved with NATO, France, Great Britain and Italy as well as Arab Orgnaizations FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY.

Try getting over yourselves for just a little while until the President of the United States finishes the nation's business abroad and can address Congress. 

For God Sake!

I really get the idea people can't decide whether they like Gadaffi over anyone other choice. 

Really? 

Funny.  I have no doubts.

WASHINGTON — A boast from Libya's (click title to entry - thank you) defected justice minister that he can prove that Moammar Gadhafi ordered the 1988 bombing of a U.S. jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, stirred hope among families of the 270 dead that the rogue dictator might be held accountable someday.

"This is not surprising," said Rabbi Stephanie Bernstein, who lost her husband, Michael, when Pan Am Flight 103 blew apart. "We always suspected that it was Gadhafi. Nobody does anything there . . . without his approval."

Pointing to the 1986 bombing of a Berlin disco and 1980s attacks on the Rome and Vienna airports, all attributed to Libya, Bernstein said that Gadhafi's massacres of his countrymen in recent days should leave U.S. and foreign governments red-faced about restoring normal diplomatic ties with Libya in recent years....
 

Anyone trying to make 'political hey' out of the 'role' of the USA with the humanitarian response in Libya is risking laughter at any moment.

I mean you have got to be joking, right?  I heard the hissy fits of Kusinich and Sessions regarding the ? right ? of the President to send USA assets to Libya.

France has many interests in the area.  We are an ally of France and we are a MEMBER of NATO.  Does that RESPONSIBLITY ring a bell for anyone?

Italy pushes for NATO control of Libya mission  (click title to entry - thank you)

ROME
Mon Mar 21, 2011 5:14pm EDT

..."It's important that the command passes to NATO with a different coordination structure than what we have now," Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said at a political rally in Turin.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said if an agreement was not reached for NATO control of the U.N.- mandated no-fly zone over Libya, Italy would resume its own separate command structure.
"Italy will consider the idea of introducing its own separate national command to handle the control of all those military operations that require the use of the seven bases our country has put at the mission's disposal," the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier Frattini told reporters in Brussels that "we would have to look for an operational solution which would ensure that someone else's action did not rebound on us."...

The War Powers Resolution states:

 S.1541(c)

(c) Presidential Executive Power as Commander-in-Chief; Limitation The constitutional powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed Forces into hostilities, or into situations where imminent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated by the circumstances, are exercised only pursuant to (1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authorization, or (3) a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces.

"Specific statutory authorization" applies to the alliance the USA has with NATO and other nations such as France and Great Britain.

We can't 'get real' about this?

Either we are allies to other nations willing to act in support of their priorities or we aren't.

Any prolonged engagement would have to be by an act of Congress, but, there is no question that President Obama has the right to engage the USA military when allies deem it necessary. 

I really can't believe how negative the dialogue is about protecting the Libyan people by the coalition which includes the USA.

UN Resolution 1973 is quite specific.  There is to be every effort to protect the people of Libya from hostilities engaged by their current dictator.

The USA is a sovereign authority with a membership to the United Nations.

The monies being spent in support of Libya is a drop in the bucket compared to the past and current engagements of our military elsewhere and besides the cruise missiles being deployed to MAKE THE WORLD SAFER for Libyans were collecting dust anyway.

There isn't going to be another Iraq because there is already a new leadership emerging in Libya.  It is just a matter of time before there is a paradigm shift and a different leadership structure becomes apparent. 

Is the American media and political theater in the USA so very jaded we can't see the forest for the trees?

If the House and Senate Democrats sincerely want to make budget cuts we all can live with...

...start looking at the COST of INEFFICIENCY in government contracts.  In other words, anything paid to outside contractors with some longevity needs to be RE-EVALUATED by its government agency for improving performance in completing the project or program.

Government waste has to begin with antiquated methods of outside contractors to make room for important and essential programs, including Head Start and NPR.

There are ways of improving the cost of government at the Federal Budget Level, it is all in how one looks at it.

I was listening to the testimony of Dr. Elizabeth Warren in regard to the new Federal Consumer Protection Agency.  She made testimony to the House last week.  Besides being her impressive self, Dr. Warren's new department as Advisor to the President and Assistant Secretary to the Secretary of the Treasury will CONSOLIDATE seven, count them seven agencies currently housed under separate departments.  The current distribution of authority is ineffective and cumbersome.

THAT is measurable progress to a leaner and meaner federal government.

The change comes on July 21, 2011 when the new agency stands up and the other agencies pass their responsibilites.  She stated, the change over is like a "Baton Race."  The authority will be handed off with a lead up to that date.