16 April 2008
News and Comments - 04/16/08
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: What's News .
15 Comments so far...
Cameron Says:
16 April 2008 at 6:22 am.
How Many “Gaffes” Equal Incompetence?
John McCain screwed up on Foreign Policy 101 AGAIN. Yesterday at the AP annual meeting, McCain said he would defer any decision to General Petraeus over whether troops should be shifted from Iraq to Afghanistan in order to intensify the search for Osama bin Laden. Only problem is that this is not Petraeus’s job, as he has stated before.
By my count, this makes 6 times this month that McCain has screwed up basic foreign policy facts…the other 5 being various conflations of who exactly is fighting in Iraq.
As Hertzberg says today: It’s easy to say one word when you mean to say another, nearly identical word, but it’s impossible to repeatedly misspeak an entire anecdote — or, as in McCain’s case, an entire strategic reality.
Couple that with remarks made by leading conservative thinkers in the New York Times last week. They claim that McCain “is not as fully formed on his foreign policy as his campaign advisers say he is, and that while he speaks authoritatively, he operates too much off the cuff and has not done the deeper homework required of a presidential candidate.”
This is not deep homework, and has nothing to do with running for President. For John McCain to make this many mistakes while holding an important national security post as Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee is simply unacceptable. These types of mistakes would prevent John McCain from getting a job as a research assistant at any think tank in D.C., let alone delivering anything resembling a responsible foreign policy as president.
The brilliant minds of the punditry seem content to ignore this pattern or question it in any way, despite the fact that McCain is repeatedly screwing up the very platform upon which he claims to run. I’m all for having a healthy conversation about why McCain makes these mistakes, but the first step is admitting that it is wrong, irresponsible, and unacceptable. It is the “job,” after all, of talking heads to hold our leaders accountable. This is much more than a “gaffe.” This is demonstrated and repeated incompetent behavior that has very real consequences.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/moira-whelan/how-many-gaffes-equal-inc_b_96794.html
Benjamin Says:
16 April 2008 at 9:41 am.
Good article, Cameron. This man is not intelligent enough to be president.
Cameron Says:
16 April 2008 at 10:13 am.
Thanks, Benjamin.
I just love this article. It shows that America has backbone. I think we are tougher as a whole than a lot of other countries give us credit for. We will weather the storm no matter how bad it is.
Mood improves as Americans adjust to economy: poll
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans are feeling slightly more optimistic this month as they come to grips with a struggling economy and an uncertain future, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
The Reuters/Zogby Index, which measures the mood of the country, rose sharply to 95.5, up from 87.7 in March, as all 10 measures of public opinion used in the Index climbed.
Concerns about personal finances, job security and the direction of the country eased at least slightly, and positive ratings climbed for President George W. Bush, the U.S. Congress and economic and foreign policy.
Pollster John Zogby said the improved marks were mostly a sign of tempered expectations as the public settles in for a rocky ride on the economy.
“People are still in a bad mood. Political institutions still get very bad marks, and people feel we are clearly in a recession,” Zogby said. “They are just digging in for now. They have made a mental adjustment.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080416/pl_nm/usa_poll_dc_2;_ylt=Aj355CWGN52f7AItOXivVV0E1vAI
Angela Rogin Says:
16 April 2008 at 10:50 am.
I still think McCain’s biggest mistake was saying Putin was president of Germany. How could anyone want a man like that to represent our country? It would be so embarrassing because it is easy to see he isn’t intelligent.
Concerned American Says:
16 April 2008 at 11:35 am.
Saddam’s Exile Deal Could Have Saved $6 Trillion
Iraqi leader offered to go to Egypt for a paltry $1 billion; Bush should have accepted Hussein’s plan
By Ralph Forbes
How did we get from a “profitable” war against Iraq to a $6 trillion swirling black hole that threatens to flush the United States and the world down the drain? Follow the dollars. Follow the lies:
One month before the invasion of Iraq, Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar met with President Bush in Crawford, Tex., Feb. 22, 2003, to beg him, on behalf of European leaders, not to start a war.
The Egyptians made a deal with Saddam Hussein to go into exile to avoid a devastating war against Iraq. Saddam wanted a payment of $1 billion and, for insurance, to keep all the information about how the neocons had supplied him with his weapons of mass destruction. Bush quipped that sending Saddam into exile would save the American people $50 billion for the costs of the war.
That “$50 billion” was a lie. White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey was fired in 2002 for daring to predict the war might cost $200 billion.
Paul Wolfowitz, deputy secretary of defense, testified to Congress on March 27, 2003 that oil revenue from Iraq would pay for the Iraq war. “The oil revenues of [Iraq] could bring between $50 billion and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years,” he said. “We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon.”
When Wolfowitz and the neocons were peddling the tale that Iraqi oil would lower the price of gas, oil was selling for around $20-25 per barrel.
Five years after “mission accomplished,” it is over $100 per barrel and gasoline is $3.50 and more per gallon and rising—as the value of the dollar plummets.
This is great for oil companies reaping record billion dollar profits. The House of Saud and the House of Bush, along with the contractors (and of course Israel), are the only beneficiaries of this war.
The Congressional Budget Office estimate for the cost of the war so far is $500 billion. That figure appeared unbelievably low to Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Memorial Prize winner for economics and the chief economist at the World Bank, who is critical of globalism. Linda Bilmes, lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard Univ., agreed. In 2005 they researched the facts and published a report in January 2006 showing the true cost for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was between $1 trillion and $2 trillion.
An outraged Bush blasted Stiglitz and Bilmes, sneering, “We don’t go to war on the calculations of green-eye-shaded accountants or economists.”
Another CBO report put war costs at $604 billion. Adjusted for inflation, that $604 billion is higher than the costs of the Korea and Vietnam conflicts, according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (AFP, March 24, 2008).
Stiglitz and Bilmes discovered, after months of chasing often deliberately obscured accounts, Bush’s Iraqi-Afghan adventure will cost America—just America—a conservatively estimated $3 trillion. But don’t forget, it will cost the rest of the world at least another $3 trillion.
These findings are published in a 192-page exposé, The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict, available at libraries and bookstores. Freelance writer Ralph Forbes can be contacted via email at justrite@ipa.net
Joy Bischoff Says:
16 April 2008 at 11:44 am.
Here is some important information about food storage that I received from Edward Elsberry. I sprout a lot and know the importance of live foods and that it will be even more important in a day when food storage is all we have:
We need to be storing non-hybrid seed and seeds that we can sprout and grow. Did you know that all seeds breath air and are killed by putting those oxygen packets in the cans? Now you have dead food. Seeds are like humans in that they need oxygen and give out carbon dioxide. When they become a plant, they take in carbon dioxide and give of oxygen. So all our grains and beans are now dead when sealed up in cans. That is why they are not to be sealed in cans, only dead food, like processed foods. Visit this website. http://www.lifesprouts.com/. Connie and Richard are in Hyrum Utah and have been telling the church about this for 19 years. They agree but it never gets to the cannery. That’s why you can cook you beans for ever and the are always hard. If you can sprout it first it increases the nutrient value and then cook them.up in a fraction of the time.
E.E. Says:
16 April 2008 at 12:03 pm.
Concerned American, that is a very upsetting article. The amount of money that we have spent boggles the mind. Hind sight can bring so much regret.
Joy, I love to sprout. Live foods pick up many times the protein as unsprouted. It really is the way to go for food storage when our bodies will cry out for fresh foods. Enzymes build health.
E.E. Says:
16 April 2008 at 12:10 pm.
Between the Muslims and the Chinese, the idea of freedom of speech is taking a real hit around the world. France has slid pretty far down that slippery slope. Here is an article that upset me out of France:
Brigitte Bardot on trial for Muslim slur
PARIS (Reuters) - French former film star Brigitte Bardot went on trial on Tuesday for insulting Muslims, the fifth time she has faced the charge of “inciting racial hatred” over her controversial remarks about Islam and its followers.
Prosecutors asked that the Paris court hand the 73-year-old former sex symbol a two-month suspended prison sentence and fine her 15,000 euros ($23,760) for saying the Muslim community was “destroying our country and imposing its acts”.
Joy Bischoff Says:
16 April 2008 at 12:29 pm.
If we didn’t have so many blogs up today, I would have blogged this. We welcome the pope and hope his visit will invigorate their church. President Bush gave a very nice welcome and gave a good message.
Bush welcomes pope and says US is open to his message
WASHINGTON (AP) - An enthralled South Lawn crowd of more than 9,000 sang “Happy Birthday” to Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday—twice—and President Bush said that the first papal White House visit in 29 years was a reminder for Americans to “distinguish between simple right and wrong.”
“We need your message to reject this dictatorship of relativism and embrace a culture of justice and truth,” Bush said in brief remarks welcoming Benedict to the White House. “In a world where some see freedom as simply the right to do as they wish, we need your message that true liberty requires us to live our freedom not just for ourselves, but in a spirit of mutual support.” …
“I trust that my presence will be a source of renewal and hope for the church in the United States and strengthens the resolve of Catholics to contribute even more responsibly to the life of this nation of which they are proud to be citizens,” Benedict said at Bush’s side.
Bush showed off America to its important visitor, ticking off what he said are its best virtues: a nation of prayer and compassion, a nation that believes in religious liberty and welcomes the role of faith in the public square, and one that is the most “innovative, creative and dynamic country on Earth” but also among the most religious.
But while acting the proud father, Bush also seemed to suggest that America could use a little tough talking-to by the pontiff.
“In a world where some treat life as something to be debased and discarded, we need your message that all human life is sacred and that each of us is willed, each of us is loved, and each of us is necessary,” the president said, drawing sustained applause from the lawn.
Adela Arguello, a Department of Homeland Security worker from Miami flew in for the events. “We’re living in very terrible times and any message like this is important,” she said. “He needed to come.”
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D90324180&show_article=1
Terrie Soberg Says:
16 April 2008 at 12:40 pm.
When I went to the cannery a few weeks ago, I made sure that five cans of my wheat had no oxygen packets in them so that I would be able to sprout them. I told the other people there what I was doing and they were interested because they had never heard that before, but none followed my example. The chance I take is that I may end up with some weevils, but all that means is extra protein!
Mac Says:
16 April 2008 at 12:53 pm.
Terrie, haha and yuck. I would have to be so hungry to eat weevils. I’m no sissy but I have my limits.
Concerned American, some things are more important than money like the war on terror, imo.
Hank Says:
16 April 2008 at 1:11 pm.
Joy, thank you for the article about the pope. I think it is a very important event. The Holy Father is just what we need to give our faith a shot in the arm. I am glad he was treated with such respect and honor.
Stumpy Says:
16 April 2008 at 1:32 pm.
See Im kinda confused Hank. Ya pick up spanish livin down here in Texas soon to be Mexico again. Sometimes when they say papa theyre talkin about there Catholic religion and the leader the pope. But sometimes theyre talkin about fryin him up or mashin him or somethin. Confuses a man.
So what does papa mean in spanish anyhow?
Oh an Mac - how bout you pay my next few million on the war cause Im plumb tapped out.
Jan W. Says:
16 April 2008 at 1:43 pm.
Stumpy, you probably already know this and are just joking but for those that don’t know, Papa if it is capitalized means Pope. If it is small letters it is potato. I had to laugh just a little at the thought of people talking about frying or mashing that poor Pope. No offense.
Matt Says:
16 April 2008 at 2:16 pm.
Busy around here today. I didn’t have the stomach to put up much of this article but thought we should stay heads up about the gas. I just don’t want to dwell on this. It’s spring and it’s beautiful out there. Enjoy the day everyone.
Oil futures pass $115 for the first time on supply concerns; investors shrug off tepid demand
NEW YORK (AP) — Crude futures rose past $115 Wednesday for the first time, propelled by concerns about how much gas will be available during the peak summer months.
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