President Obama has ordered approximately 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan. In September General McCrystal requested 40,000 more in order to get the job done. President Obama will surely have difficulty with his liberal base over sending more troops.
Mr. Obama conveyed his decision to military leaders late Sunday afternoon during a meeting in the Oval Office and then spent Monday phoning foreign counterparts, including the leaders of Britain, France and Russia.
Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, declined to say how many additional troops would be deployed, but senior administration officials previously have said that about 30,000 will go in coming months, bringing the total American force to about 100,000.
President Obama will ask NATO nations to help fill in the additional 6,000 needed troops. While he has suffered criticism from the left, the President has also been criticized from the right for deliberating for what some see \as too long. He was accused of ‘dithering’ by some Republicans. President Obama will address the nation tonight from the United States Military Academy at West Point at 8:00 PM.
What should happen here? Should a time line be announced? Should Obama have sent troops immediately without the many meetings with his military advisors? Does it endanger the existing troops in Afghanistan if there are not enough boots on the ground? Should generals always get what they ask for? How many troops are still in Iraq?
During the past week there has been a great deal of news, especially out of conservative blogs and media, about scientists at the Climate Research Unit who may have cooked the books regarding data on global warming.
Preliminary analysis of the contents of thousands of E-mails and documents taken from the computer archives of the Climate Research Unit at England’s University of East Anglia—possibly by a hacker, possibly by a whistleblower—indicate a number of the world’s most important scientists engaged in research designed to prove that global warming really does exist may have been cooking the books.
As columnist Michael Barone wrote in Sunday’s Washington Examiner, “The CRU has been a major source of data on global temperatures, relied on by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. But the e-mails suggest that CRU scientists have been suppressing and misstating data and working to prevent the publication of conflicting views in peer-reviewed science periodicals.”
If true, the cooking of the temperature data to provide support for the idea that man-made global warming is occurring is a scandal of most serious proportions. It should force policymakers to reconsider the role science plays in the formulation of policy if its conclusions can be manipulated the way those concerning climate change now appear to have been.
Well, maybe yes, maybe no. Assuming that the books were cooked, does that mean we turn our backs on cleaning up the air we breathe and the water we drink and wash with? Do we continue to squander our natural resources because some science jerks didn’t dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s? Cities around the world are cloaked in a haze of pollution. Our athletes had to get off the plane in Beijing wearing serious masks to block out pollution. I had a friend who almost died while visiting the pyramids in Egypt. The reason, air pollution and smog. He is asthmatic.
I hope all the doom and gloom was somewhat overblown. It didn’t paint a pretty picture for the future. We cannot continue to dump pollutants in our water supply and our air without serious consequences. Millions of gasoline engines dump carbon bi-products into the air daily. Again, common sense. Forest must be replanted, streams protected from chemicals. Mining must not ravage the earth. Unfortunately, man cannot come to these conclusions on his own. Just look around. He has done a lousy job so far.
If one believes the various blogs, the Washington State cop killer could very much impact the next presidential election. 4 police officers were gunned down, execution style, in a coffee shop near Tacoma, Washington over the weekend by what appears to be a lone gunman.
The alleged shooter who has been identified as one Maurice Clemmons was sentenced to 95 years for all sorts of ugly violent crimes in Arkansas back in 1989. In 2000, he was granted clemency and released by then Governor Mike Huckabee. Bloggers are comparing this clemency to Willie Horton which cratered the presidential candidacy of Michael Dukakis in 1988. It appears Democrats have long memories.
Clemmons is still on the lamb. The 4 police officers were all parents and had been with the police department for years. Don’t expect this one to go away. In fairness to Huckabee, details of the clemency have not been released.
Clemmons was released on bond 7 days ago in Washington State. He had been arrested for 2nd degree rape of a minor. The bail was $150,000. He had to pay $15,000 and the bail bondsman footed the rest. He sounds like a very, very bad person. He has a long rap sheet covering a myriad of crimes. 9 children are now missing a parent because of this senseless violence.
Marcelo Lucero was an Equadorian who was murdered by a group of teenage thugs on Long Island a year ago last Sunday. His murder has become a rallying cry for Civil Rights, much like Birmingham Sunday became. His murder was senseless and based on hate. According to the Huffington Post (and other news sources):
The lessons from the Lucero killing are stark and clear. Lucero’s attackers told police that they would routinely go “beaner jumping” — which meant they would hunt down and assault Latinos. In announcing indictments last year, Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said the seven students charged in the attack admitted they regularly beat Hispanics for fun. He said one of the accused attackers, Anthony Hartford, 17, of Medford, told police “I don’t go out doing this very often, maybe once a week.” Said Spota: “To them, it was a sport.” Today, one of the defendants in the case – Nicholas Hausch, 18, of Medford, NY – pleaded guilty to four felony charges and will cooperate with authorities in prosecuting the other accused Long Island teens. According to Newsday:
Before coming across Lucero, Hausch said the group pursued another man. “I got out of the car and I chased him. We were yelling at him,” calling him a derogatory name, he said. Authorities say the group surrounded Lucero, 37, and a companion at about 11:50 p.m. near the Long Island Rail Road Station, shouting and pummeling him before he was knocked to the ground. They say Jeffrey Conroy, of Medford, fatally stabbed him. Conroy faces murder and manslaughter charges as a hate crime. Hausch said as the group left, he told Conroy to throw the knife away. Conroy said, “No, I washed it in a puddle,” according to Hausch. While they were leaving, Hausch told the group, ‘We’re not getting away with it,’ ” he told prosecutors
During the Tuesday BOCS yesterday, many citizens came forward during Citizens Time to urge the supervisors to restore a transportation system for the seniors of Prince William County. Last July 1 the county ended a bus program that transported senior citizens between Woodbridge and Manassas senior citizen centers, to doctors and hospitals , and to other spots around town. Economic downturn and shortage of revenue was given as the reason.
The senior centers provide a hot lunch and companionship for those who participate. Many seniors go to the centers to see friends, do activities and to be with people their own age. Replacement vouchers have been allocated for those seniors who don’t drive and who make less than $30,000 a year. Unfortunately, the vouchers only cover about 6 outings. According to News and Messenger:
As county revenue continues to decline, the county’s staff slashed more than $150,000 from its $254,116 senior center and adult day care transportation budget. The move forced officials to eliminate four positions, as well as sell a small fleet of 15-passenger vans used to transport seniors.
With the remaining funds, the county created a pilot voucher system that allows seniors to use taxi cabs or local transit buses to do routine tasks, such as go to the doctor, get prescriptions filled or go grocery shopping.
The board allocated $30,000 in additional funding to the new program, for a total of $130,000. Officials limited voucher recipients to those over age 55 who cannot drive, and to those who make less than $30,000 per year, or couples that make less than $40,000 annually.
The vouchers, ranging in value from $1 to $5, are few, many said. And once they are gone, there is no way for them to get to the senior center.
Today is Black Friday, the uber-shopping day of the year. Many folks will flock to stores and malls in search of the ultimate bargain. There is just nothing as tempting as a sale.
Where are the bargains? If you find something good, post it? How many people will wait for Cyber Monday when all the internet sales supposedly happen?
This video starts off like a Sunday School lesson, but it isn’t really. Actually the video is a showcase of some little known history facts about none other than…tahhh dahhhh…the Pilgrims.
According to Poor Richard and the Wall Street Journal, Lou Dobbs is considering running for the Senate from New Jersey as a third party candidate. Equally amazing, he hasn’t ruled out running for President. it was only last week that Lou Dobbs announced his departure from CNN where he went from finance journalism to advocacy journalism. He spent the last several years hammering away over illegal immigration, even going so far as stating that illegal immigrants were bringing leprosy into the country.
Now Dobbs is announcing a change of heart.
First, though, Mr. Dobbs is working to repair what a spokesman conceded is a glaring flaw: His reputation for antipathy toward Latino immigrants. In a little-noticed interview Friday, Mr. Dobbs told Spanish-language network Telemundo he now supports a plan to legalize millions of undocumented workers, a stance he long lambasted as an unfair “amnesty.”
“Whatever you have thought of me in the past, I can tell you right now that I am one of your greatest friends and I mean for us to work together,” he said in a live interview with Telemundo’s Maria Celeste. “I hope that will begin with Maria and me and Telemundo and other media organizations and others in this national debate that we should turn into a solution rather than a continuing debate and factional contest.”
Mr. Dobbs twice mentioned a possible legalization plan for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., saying at one point that “we need the ability to legalize illegal immigrants under certain conditions.”
Telemundo and Lou Dobbs are certainly not two names I would ever expect to hear together. Is Mr. Dobbs becoming the poster child for Mr. Make-Over?
We were privileged to receive tickets for the Gaylord National ICE opening at the National Harbor on Thursday evening. When I first heard of the event, I wasn’t sure exactly where the National Harbor was. At first I thought, Baltimore? Then I thought, perhaps the complex on the Anacostia where the National Stadium sits? But then I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the National Harbor sits just on the other side of the Wilson Bridge. We didn’t have to drive too far and the atmosphere was a combination of Landsdowne Resort meets Reston Towne Centre.
The hotel was like something out of a science-fiction movie. The center of the hotel was an entirely open atrium and the outside wall, completely made of glass overlooking the Potomac River. The elevators reminded me of Fair Oaks Mall except that they ran very high and at a quick clip. The interior lighting, beyond words.
The Opening Ceremony included fireworks, a tree lighting and an AWESOME viewing of ICE sculptures. The accompanying video doesn’t do justice to the sculptures, so I highly recommend taking the kids to see this in person.
Much is being made of PC and the enemy after the Massacre at Fort Hood. Who knew what? And why were the right people not notified of Shooter Hasan’s nefarious activities on the internet? Why didn’t someone report his interaction with patients and colleagues? The answer to these questions has not yet been determined but the powers-that-be have called called for answers. The President wants a preliminary report by November 30. Senator Joe Lieberman has called for a Senate investigation.
Americans are right to ask these questions. We are at war and we are at war with an enemy that is without a nation. There is a good chance that the enemy is everywhere.
Some of us here on Anti have been watching the 10 hour series WWII in HDthis week. We were at war with nations–nations that had borders and boundaries. There were nebulous areas, like our internment of Japanese Americans, but that is a shameful story for another day. We have heard the enemy called Japs and Krauts for 10 hours.
People nowadays would not think of calling a Japanese person a Jap (or nip or any of the other pejorative names American servicemen had for the enemy). We wouldn’t call a German a Kraut. Or would we? My relatives who were alive during WWII sure would still do it. So would many people I know who were of the ‘greatest generation.’
So are these people wrong? Are they politically incorrect? Is it wrong to have a slang nick name for an enemy in times of war? And once the war is over, when do we have to stop calling them by these nick names? Is it something special that those of the generation get to do? Is it okay as long as the last veteran of the era lives? I thought of that as I heard the old veterans talk of their service. I don’t know the right answer. Other opinions?
This looks fake. It can’t be real. Those border collies are something else though. They have a hypnotic eye. The is sort of like crop circles gone hi-tech.
The prizewinners of the 18th annual St. Louis International Film festival were announced during the closing night party at the Moonrise Hotel on Sunday.
The audience-choice award winner was “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.” The acclaimed film about an abused girl learning to read was also the audience choice at the Sundance and Toronto film festivals and seems assured of a slot in this year’s Oscar race.
But it was a close competition. By mere thousandths of a percentage point, “Precious” eked out a win over the Swiss/Italian romance “Marcello Marcello,” which was named best international film.
The award for best documentary went to “9500 Liberty,” which scrutinizes immigration policy and racial profiling.
An audience award is what it sounds like. It appears that 9500 Liberty was definitely running with the big dogs. Precious is doing quite well at the box office and can be seen at any theater.