9 April 2008
News and Comments - 04/09/08
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: What's News .
9 Comments so far...
Jesse Says:
9 April 2008 at 12:50 am.
It isn’t being negative to face reality. Hopefully we will stop playing games, all admit we are in a recession and begin dealing with it in a constructive way.
Greenspan, on CNBC: U.S. in recession
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Tuesday the U.S. economy was in recession, and said it would be appropriate to tap public funds to resolve the mortgage-related crisis that has helped pull the economy under.
In an interview with CNBC television in which he defended his chairmanship of the U.S. central bank against charges that his policy missteps had laid the groundwork for the current crisis, Greenspan said Fed decisions on his watch were rationally constructed based on evidence at the time.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080408/bs_nm/usa_economy_greenspan_dc
Cameron Says:
9 April 2008 at 6:53 am.
I am not too much of a free trade person but if it is true that most of Columbia’s (legal) exports already get in duty-free then it might make sense to make a deal with them that allows our exports to be sold more readily in Columbia. I just am not sure of what the facts are.
Bush sends Congress Colombia trade pact
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer Mon Apr 7, 11:39 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Congress is getting a controversial U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement from President Bush and must vote on it within 90 legislative days.
Many Democrats and union groups denounced Bush’s decision on Monday, raising the prospect that the deal will be defeated.
Democrats contend that Colombia has not done enough to halt violence, protect labor activists and demobilize paramilitary organizations. The president disagreed, saying Colombia has addressed the issues.
“If Congress fails to approve this agreement, it would not only abandon a brave ally; it would send a signal throughout the region that America cannot be counted on to support its friends,” Bush said in a ceremony with members of his Cabinet where he signed the letter transmitting the agreement to Congress.
Bush’s action will force Congress to take up the proposal under a fast-track process that will require votes within 90 legislative days, which counts the days that Congress is in session. Officials said Bush is acting now in order to force a vote before Congress leaves in the fall for the campaign season.
Democrats and labor unions blasted the move, the first time a president has used his fast-track authority to force a congressional vote over the objections of the party controlling Congress.
“The president’s decision to act unilaterally in sending the free trade agreement disregards three decades of established precedent under fast-track legislation and demonstrates yet again his disrespect for Congress,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charlie Rangel said they could not support the Colombia pact “under present circumstances.”
“The president’s apparent disregard for the economic insecurity faced by millions of struggling American families highlights a misplaced set of priorities,” Rangel and Pelosi said in a joint statement.
Bruce Raynor, head of Unite Here, a 465,000-member union representing workers in the apparel and textile industries, said it was an outrage for Bush, during a time of economic crisis, to send Congress a trade agreement “with a country that has one of the most ruthless records of repression of the trade union movement.”
Business groups, including the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, applauded Bush’s move and said they would work to get the Colombia deal through Congress.
The administration insisted the deal would be good for the United States economically because it would eliminate high barriers that U.S. exports to Colombia now face, while most Colombian products are already entering the United States duty-free under existing trade preference laws.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080408/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_colombia;_ylt=AuOh4lVa12vkt_pFOCJf2jeyFz4D
Cameron Says:
9 April 2008 at 10:02 am.
I heard on the news yesterday that 70% of Americans don’t think China should have been given the Olympics. I agree and articles like the one below make me think they are going to be a bad example for what the Olympics are all aboutl
Who are the men in blue? Chinese paramilitary team protects Olympic flame
BEIJING - They wear bright blue tracksuits and Beijing Olympic organizers call them “flame attendants.” But a military bearing hints at their true pedigree: paramilitary police sent by Beijing to guard the Olympic flame during its journey around the world.
Torchbearers have criticized the security detail for aggressive behaviour, and a top London Olympics official simply called them “thugs.”
“They were barking orders at me, like ‘Run! Stop! This! That!’ and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, who are these people?”‘ former television host Konnie Huq told British Broadcasting Corp. radio about her encounter with the men in blue during London’s leg of the relay Sunday.
Members were picked from special police units of the People’s Armed Police, China’s internal security force. The requirements for the job: to be “tall, handsome, mighty, in exceptional physical condition similar to that of professional athletes,” the state-run China News Service said.
At least one torchbearer said she clashed with the squad, and others have criticized their heavy-handed tactics.
Yolaine De La Bigne, a French environmental journalist who was a torchbearer in Paris, told The Associated Press she tried to wear a headband with a Tibetan flag, but the Chinese agents ripped it away from her.
“It was seen and then, after four seconds, all the Chinese security pounced on me. There were at least five or six (of them). They started to get angry” and shouted “No! No! No!” in English, she said.
De La Bigne tried to push several agents away as they grabbed her arm. She said two French athletes who are martial arts experts tried to help her and clashed briefly with the security detail.
The chairman of the London 2012 Games, Sebastian Coe, was even more blunt.
“They tried to push me out of the way three times. They are horrible. They did not speak English. They were thugs,” Coe, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was quoted as saying in British media. A spokeswoman for the London 2012 Olympics committee confirmed that Coe was quoted accurately, but added that he thought he was making private comments.
E.E. Says:
9 April 2008 at 12:11 pm.
I hope the San Francisco protests are peaceful but I’m glad they are going to protest. I would join it if I could get away. I want China to hear about how the world feels about their human rights failures.
Jesse Says:
9 April 2008 at 12:38 pm.
Sorry this is so long but I thought it was important. Some people think that anyone who questions how the war is being run is unpatriotic. I don’t agree and think some of these questions that are being asked are legitimate. I copied the first and the last part of the following article:
Frustrated Senators See No Exit Signs
Asked repeatedly yesterday what “conditions” he is looking for to begin substantial U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq after this summer’s scheduled drawdown, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus said he will know them when he sees them. For frustrated lawmakers, it was not enough.
“A year ago, the president said we couldn’t withdraw because there was too much violence,” said Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). “Now he says we can’t afford to withdraw because But many Republicans joined their Democratic colleagues in decrying the days of open-ended war and an open U.S. checkbook, and in demanding to know what the administration is doing to pressure the Iraqi government and military to take responsibility for its own fate. “We’re a generous people,” said Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), “but our patience is not unlimited.”
Petraeus and Crocker repeated warnings that al-Qaeda in Iraq, while weakened, remains a threat. But they described an ongoing U.S. troop presence as necessary largely because no one is certain that security gains will endure if U.S. forces leave. The consequences of withdrawal, Crocker said, “could be grave.”
But after hours of questions, they acknowledged that they had gotten at least part of the message. The United States was still funding the roughly 90,000 Sunni security volunteers who Maliki’s Shiite-dominated government is reluctant to put on its payroll, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) told Petraeus. “I’m just asking you why you would object to asking [Iraq] to pay for that entire program, given all we are giving them in blood and everything else.”
“It is a very fair question,” Petraeus responded, “and I think that if there’s anything that the ambassador and I will take back to Iraq candidly after this morning’s session and this afternoon’s is, in fact, to ask those kinds of questions more directly.” violence is down.” Asked Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.): “Where do we go from here?”
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said: “I think people want a sense of what the end is going to look like.”
But the bottom line was that there was no bottom line. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker echoed what they said seven months ago in their last update to Congress — often using similar words. Iraq’s armed forces continue to improve, overall levels of violence are lower than they were last year, and political reconciliation is happening, albeit still more slowly than they would like.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/08/
Carrie Says:
9 April 2008 at 1:05 pm.
Free people shouldn’t just blindly go along with what is happening. I agree with you Jesse that we should be able to ask questions and have an idea of what is going to happen. It has been five years and we need to see more progress. The surge shouldn’t be just about keeping down violence. It needs to be about winning and coming home. I think a lot more people my age have problems with the war than older people. We want answers.
Mac Says:
9 April 2008 at 2:11 pm.
Maybe our military has set benchmarks with Iraq. We all agree they should be secret if they do that so if they are secret we wouldn’t know they were doing it. We need to be patient a little longer guys.
E.E. Says:
9 April 2008 at 2:20 pm.
Gas, Oil Prices Hit New Records
NEW YORK (AP) - The upward trend in energy prices showed no sign of abating Wednesday as gasoline set yet another record at the pump and crude oil topped $112 a barrel for the first time in the futures market.
The national average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas rose 1.2 cents to a record $3.343 a gallon, according to a survey of gas stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. With the peak summer driving season still to come and gas following crude higher, the fuel may well reach the retail price of $4 a gallon that the Energy Department has been forecasting.
But prices that are 55 cents higher than a year ago are hurting demand for gasoline, which fell last week by nearly 2 percent from year- earlier levels, the department’s Energy Information Administration said in its weekly inventory report.
“People are cutting back on gasoline purchases because the economy is squeezing them right now,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8VUFT900&show_article=1
Jesse Says:
9 April 2008 at 6:37 pm.
Mac, I agree that there could be secret benchmarks. I guess what I would like to see is enough progress to give us hope that those benchmarks are working. The surge helped back off violence but that isn’t enough. With both al-qaeda and Iran sending in fighters and training people already there, Iraq has an endless supply of terrorists. It’s like the Palestinian problem. What if we were there and said we would stay until it was settled? We would be there til Armaggedon was over.
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