17 March 2008
News and Comments - 03/17/08
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: What's News .
15 Comments so far...
Jesse Says:
17 March 2008 at 1:11 am.
I think a lot of people are holding their breath right now.
Oil rises to new record as dollar drops
SINGAPORE - Oil prices jumped to an all-time trading high Monday in Asia as the tumbling U.S. dollar and plunging stock markets prompted investors to seek shelter in commodities.
Investors fled the dollar after a surprise move by the U.S. Federal Reserve on Sunday to provide cash to financially squeezed Wall Street investment houses pushed the battered greenback deeper into multiyear lows against the yen.
Cameron Says:
17 March 2008 at 6:35 am.
Here is a freedom of the press issue for us to look at. I think maybe the big problem is how we define national security.
Media shield law remains in doubt
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer Sun Mar 16, 5:38 AM ET
WASHINGTON - As federal judges order more reporters to disclose their confidential sources, news organizations are pinning their hopes on congressional passage of a media shield bill the Bush administration opposes as a threat to national security.
The legislation being considered in the Senate offers only modest shelter for reporters wanting to protect the identity of confidential sources. In many cases, it would leave the fate of journalists — and their sources — to the discretion of judges who increasingly have been willing to jail or fine them.
Out of nine high-profile cases since 2003 where journalists were ordered to reveal information, four might have turned out differently had the proposal awaiting Senate action been law.
For them and dozens of other reporters subpoenaed for confidential information or the names of those providing that information, judges generally would have to weigh the “public interest” of the media reports; that is a factor many judges already consider. They would retain the power to jail reporters who refuse to name sources who leak information involving national security.
If the Senate bill were law, former New York Times reporter Judith Miller still may have gone to jail for 85 days for refusing to identify the government official who breached national security rules by leaking a CIA agent’s name.
But two San Francisco reporters might not have faced the prospect of 18-month jail terms for refusing to name the source for leaks of secret grand jury testimony that shed light on a steroid scandal in professional baseball.
Former USA Today reporter Toni Locy might benefit if a judge assigns enough “public interest” value to her reports about the government’s investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks. For now, she faces fines of up to $5,000 a day unless she discloses her Justice Department sources. This ruling, if embraced by other courts, could confront reporters with the prospect of bankruptcy for protecting sources.
Cameron Says:
17 March 2008 at 10:15 am.
This concerns me. It sounds like we are going to be permanent in Iraq because Al Qaeda will never be completely defeated. It’s like the IRA in Ireland and Hamas in the Middle East. Terrorists aren’t like a regular army. By remaining in what they consider sacred land permanently, we will incite more moderates into becoming extremist. Not only that but by making this clear, the Iraqi government won’t try harder to get their own people ready to do the job. We are being enablers. I don’t think they are ready yet but now they won’t need to solve their problems and get their own forces prepared. Not only that, now the Middle East will believe for sure that we are emperialists who never planned on just coming in then leaving.
McCain, Cheney: US in Iraq long-term
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD - Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. John McCain vowed in meetings with Iraq’s prime minister Monday that the U.S. would maintain a long-term military presence in Iraq until al-Qaida is defeated there.
Explosions went off near the heavily fortified Green Zone shortly after Cheney arrived. Helicopter gunships circled central Baghdad, but no details were immediately available on the cause of the explosions.
The presumptive Republican candidate for president, who has linked his political future to military success in Iraq, met with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki shortly before the Iraqi leader began separate talks with Cheney.
Al-Maliki said he and the vice president discussed ongoing negotiations over a long-term security agreement between the two countries that would replace the U.N. mandate for foreign troops set to expire at the end of the year.
“This visit is very important. It is about the nature of the relations between the two countries, the future of those relations and the agreement in this respect,” the prime minister told reporters. “We also discussed the security in Iraq, the development of the economy and reconstruction and terrorism.”
Angela Rogin Says:
17 March 2008 at 10:22 am.
Cameron, I completely agree with you. I did support the war from the beginning but I don’t support occupation. It will cause so many problems and put us in a no win situation if we really plan on staying until every last terrorist is gone. It doesn’t work that way.
Cameron Says:
17 March 2008 at 11:03 am.
If you read the whole article, both sides are saying different things and it hard to be sure what is really going on, especially after what we learned last month.
U.N. and NATO troops battle Serbs in Kosovo
By Branislav Krstic
MITROVICA, Kosovo (Reuters) - Serbs opposed to the independence of Kosovo clashed on Monday with U.N. police and NATO troops, who came under fire, in the worst violence since Kosovo’s Albanian majority broke away from Serbia one month ago.
A Serbian party leader said NATO was behaving like the Nazi occupiers of World War Two and Serbia’s caretaker prime minister said his country and its ally Russia were discussing joint moves to stop “all forms of violence against Kosovo Serbs.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080317/wl_nm/kosovo_serbia_dc_8
CindyL. Says:
17 March 2008 at 2:29 pm.
McCain had better wake up to how the country feels. If he decides to be a stubborn maverick who doesn’t even care what the voters want, he is going to shoot himself in the foot. This is on Glenn Beck’s website and I so agree with it:
John McCain makes headlines with his trip to Iraq. But he’s got it all wrong. He’s trying to make the war a central focus of his campaign, when he should be laser focused on the economy. How bad will this hurt him? Watch tonight at 7 and 9 ET.
Jesse Says:
17 March 2008 at 4:31 pm.
I agree Cindy. Our economy needs first hand attention.
Greenspan sees many casualties from crisis: report
LONDON (Reuters) - There will be many casualties from the unfolding financial market crisis, which will lead to a large-scale overhaul of international banking regulations, codes and risk management, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said.
Writing in the Financial Times, the former Fed chief said much of the financial system’s risk-valuation models failed, not because they were too complex but because they were “too simple to capture the full array of variables governing that drive global economic reality.”
“The crisis will leave many casualties. Particularly hard hit will be much of today’s financial risk-valuation system,” he wrote.
He added, however, that he hoped one of the casualties from the worst U.S. financial crisis since World War Two would not be the spirit of broad self-regulation within financial markets.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080317/bs_nm/economy_greenspan_dc
Cavetrollhead Says:
17 March 2008 at 11:27 pm.
There is that phrase Global Economy again. That is the crux of the problem if you ask me. All the world ships are moored together. How many can sink before they all do? Good one Jesse, can’t get more sober source than Alan Greenspan.
Cavetrollhead Says:
17 March 2008 at 11:32 pm.
I agree Cindy. Great observation. He doesn’t seem to consider something very dire about the war. That is this:
If we think it has been hard to get funding for the war so far, just wait until the economy tanks and the democrats hold the majority. They will pull the rug right out from under McCain and leave the Maverick buckless and bulletless in the sites of the enemy. He will have little choice then but to pull us out of Iraq.
Or am I missing something?
Heaven help the Iraqis if the country implodes.
Cavetrollhead Says:
17 March 2008 at 11:35 pm.
Dang, everybody posting has something pithy today!
Very scary Cameron! The Bush administration sure seems to have put their foot in it this time. And I hate to say that Russia may be on the right side of this one and we, on the wrong. Please don’t anyone take that as unpatriotic -just trying to save the apple.
Cavetrollhead Says:
17 March 2008 at 11:42 pm.
I wonder, Jesse, (regarding the price of oil.) Maybe OPEC sees the writing on the wall- that we are getting into alternative fuels. I saw an ad about a production line car that runs on “fuel cells.” I assume it was Hydrogen fuel cells because they said that is produces pure water as exhaust. So maybe OPEC thinks that the age of gasoline is closing and therefore they are trying to accelerate the oil profits before the end.
I would normally find that hard to believe. But if there is a production line car, finally, that burns hydrogen, maybe it will happen.
Mac Says:
17 March 2008 at 11:51 pm.
I’ve been hearing about the hydrogen fuel cells a lot to and I am really hoping that happens.
Cave, I have been struggling lately with the whole unpatriotic thing. I’ve always supported President Bush but there are some things I’ve disagreed with and lately I am learning a lot and seeing maybe I don’t see eye to eye as much with him as I thought. It’s really hard for me. I still support the war and think we have to take on the terrorists but the Kosovo deal, and the Sea Treaty, dang I don’t even want to start thinking about it all but yeah, it is hard.
E.E. Says:
17 March 2008 at 11:57 pm.
Yup, Ron Paul says the same as Romney on not rolling over for the Chinese and India. I actually like a lot of what Paul says. Just not everything.
Cavetrollhead Says:
18 March 2008 at 12:02 am.
Me too Mac. I have been a die-hard Bush fan, but he is making me tilt my head and say “Hunh?” a lot lately. The bail out for foreclosures too, besides what we have already talked about. I hope he knows what he is doing.
Joy Bischoff Says:
18 March 2008 at 12:26 am.
You know guys, this is how I deal with President Bush. I like him and I think he sincerely wants to do the right thing. But he is truly an internationalist and works to bring about the treaties that will help globalism. I really believe he does it because he feels it is best. I heard his father talk about the New World Order. I just don’t agree that it is the best thing.
Cave, earlier you wrote about the ships being moored together. I had been thinking that very thought not long before. It was kind of a new thought for me but the visual of the ships was a perfect way to describe it. I’ve been reading about the economies tanking all over the world because ours is. A global economy would do that where before that wouldn’t have happened to this degree. What a wake up call.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.