30 May 2008
News and Comments – 05/30/08
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: What's News .
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9 Comments so far...
Cameron Says:
30 May 2008 at 6:30 am.
McCain proposal for joint action gains support
By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer 56 minutes ago
WASHINGTON – Gaining ground this political season is a proposed League of Democracies designed to strengthen support for the next president’s overseas agenda and ensure a global leadership role for the United States.
John McCain, the virtually certain Republican presidential nominee, has endorsed the concept of a new global compact of more than 100 democratic countries to advance shared views and has discussed the idea with French and British leaders.
“It could act where the U.N. fails to act,” he said last month, and pressure tyrants “with or without Moscow’s and Beijing’s approval.”
McCain said the League might impose sanctions on Iran, relieve suffering in the Darfur region of Sudan and deal with environmental problems.
Barack Obama, who has a lead in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, has not taken a stand. But Anthony Lake, one of Obama’s policy advisers, has spoken in favor of the idea.
Analysts at think tanks in Washington and elsewhere envision a league focused on maintaining peace and limiting U.S. military intervention, such as the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080530/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_league_of_democracies
Cameron Says:
30 May 2008 at 9:12 am.
So now we have to take advantage of this and hurry and finish the job in Iraq.
U.S. Cites Big Gains Against Al-Qaeda
Group Is Facing Setbacks Globally, CIA Chief Says
By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, May 30, 2008; A01
Less than a year after his agency warned of new threats from a resurgent al-Qaeda, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden now portrays the terrorist movement as essentially defeated in Iraq and Saudi Arabia and on the defensive throughout much of the rest of the world, including in its presumed haven along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
In a strikingly upbeat assessment, the CIA chief cited major gains against al-Qaeda’s allies in the Middle East and an increasingly successful campaign to destabilize the group’s core leadership.
While cautioning that al-Qaeda remains a serious threat, Hayden said Osama bin Laden is losing the battle for hearts and minds in the Islamic world and has largely forfeited his ability to exploit the Iraq war to recruit adherents. Two years ago, a CIA study concluded that the U.S.-led war had become a propaganda and marketing bonanza for al-Qaeda, generating cash donations and legions of volunteers.
All that has changed, Hayden said in an interview with The Washington Post this week that coincided with the start of his third year at the helm of the CIA.
“On balance, we are doing pretty well,” he said, ticking down a list of accomplishments: “Near strategic defeat of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Near strategic defeat for al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. Significant setbacks for al-Qaeda globally — and here I’m going to use the word ‘ideologically’ — as a lot of the Islamic world pushes back on their form of Islam,” he said.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/29/AR2008052904116_pf.html
Benjamin Says:
30 May 2008 at 9:44 am.
Europe balks at $8 a gallon gas
Protests have rocked London, Paris, and other cities across the continent this week.
By Mark Rice-Oxley | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
London – Trucks blocking a main London highway, fishermen blockading French ports, Dutch drivers petitioning parliament, Spanish and Italian fishermen voting to strike – Europeans are becoming restless at relentlessly high energy costs.
But what can governments do about oil prices that are six times what they were six years ago? Protesters, experts, and officials disagree substantially on which is the most appropriate course of action.
• Tax relief. European drivers pay the highest gas taxes in the world. In Britain, tax accounts for around 65 percent of the pump price for diesel, which recently topped 130 pence a liter or $9.88 per gallon.
“Within a matter of weeks we could see a large number of British haulage companies go bankrupt,” warns Peter Carroll, a truck-business owner whose fuel bill has jumped almost 50 percent since October. “There should be a rebate for essential users. It already applies to bus companies. It would cost money in the short term, but it will keep alive an industry.”
Chancellor Alistair Darling has promised to review a fuel tax hike planned for October. But that might be too little too late. “It isn’t going to make a great deal of difference,” says Jonathan Loynes, an economist. “It’s only 2 pence, which pales in significance compared with the rises we have seen.”
E.E. Says:
30 May 2008 at 12:13 pm.
The first article makes me nuts. McCain is such a new world order proponent.
Carrie Says:
30 May 2008 at 12:58 pm.
I can’t imagine 8$ gas but I don’t think they drive as much as we do. We are pretty spread out.
Iffer Says:
30 May 2008 at 3:03 pm.
Cute picture. Maybe the kitty could be used to scare companies into lowering gas prices.
SGS Says:
30 May 2008 at 3:42 pm.
Europe, along with Russia and China, has fought us until now when we desired to do something about Iran’s nuclear development. Why would this new organization of McCain be any better? Europeans inside UN also are ones who led many effort to bring around sexuality rights, abortion rights and other liberal issues. If you do not realize it, the World Bank and such, including many international private corporations, would not provide services to a developing country unless they adherent to UN’s rules, and that includes requiring mothers to work, to make fund available for abortions and such, to put children in day cares and so on. Yes, Europeans will be wonderful partners for us to be with!
Sorry, McCain, you still do not get my vote.
Pickles Says:
30 May 2008 at 5:58 pm.
Yup, it is through the money system that they tighten the screws. No freaking way he gets my vote either.
E.E. Says:
30 May 2008 at 9:31 pm.
Snag in deal to return Texas sect kids to parents
SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) – Parents’ hopes of quick reunions with more than 400 children removed from a polygamist sect’s ranch were dashed Friday after their attorneys and a judge clashed over proposed restrictions.
A decision by Texas District Judge Barbara Walther means that to regain custody, the 38 mothers whose filed the complaint that led the Texas Supreme Court to reject the state’s massive seizure must personally sign an agreement their attorneys and state child-welfare officials have proposed.
That could add days to the process, attorneys for the mothers said, because the women are scattered across the state to be close to their children in foster care.
“It’s not as simple as going across the street and setting up a booth,” said attorney Andrea Sloan, who represents several young FLDS women and minors who contend they should be reclassified as adults.
Walther had wanted to add restrictions to the agreement worked out by the parents’ attorneys and Texas Child Protective Services, but the parents’ attorneys argued that she didn’t have the authority.
The judge then said she would sign the initial document, but only after all 38 mothers involved in the case the high court ruled on signed it first.
State officials had said earlier that children could start being returned Monday, but attorneys for the parents said the new requirement could add days to the time frame.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D910ANPO1&show_article=1
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