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In the coming weeks, U.S. President Barack Obama, is to decide on the course of action the military will take regarding the war in Afghanistan. Recently in the news, the conflict in the region has overtaken concerns regarding Iraq, another war the government is waging, as the President has made it a mainstay in speeches, receiving much of his focus. Polls revealed, an overwhelming majority of Americans want the nation to withdraw from Afghanistan, sensibly seeing no future there in open combat. It is a waste of lives, time and money. Not to mention, the soldiers wish to be reunited with their families in America. Obama: Afghanistan decision in 'coming weeks' By JULIE PACE, Associated Press Writer Julie Pace, Associated Press Writer – Tue Oct 13, 2:53 pm ET WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Tuesday he will decide on new troops for Afghanistan in "the coming weeks." He told reporters that decisions on the military front were important but just one aspect of the improvements needed to the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan. He said an important element is building up civilian capacity to help improve Afghanistan's governance, agriculture, rule of law and other areas... Later, spokesman Robert Gibbs rejected a published report that the president had authorized 13,000 additional troops that were now arriving in Afghanistan. He said those troops were part of a deployment ordered by the former Bush administration, but had not made their way to the Afghan theater by the time Obama became president. The Washington Post had reported those forces were authorized by Obama. |
Friday, October 16, 2009
Obama To Decide On Afghanistan
Nobel Committee Defends Obama Award
Thorbjoern Jagland of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway
The Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway, have leapt to the defense of U.S. President Barack Obama, the recipient of this year's Peace Prize.
Many have spoken out, stating the President has not done anything of great accomplishment yet, to merit receiving the award. The criticism has been quite heavy and harsh, with some even calling for the award to be rescinded.
The Examiner.com pointed out an article in the New York Times, published days before the award was bestowed upon Obama, hypothesizing when and how the committee should rescind a Nobel Prize given to a recipient deemed unworthy of such an honor.
Yes, it's getting ugly out there.
AP Newsbreak: Nobel jury defends Obama decision
OSLO – Members of the Norwegian committee that gave Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize are strongly defending their choice against a storm of criticism that the award was premature and a potential liability for the U.S. president.
Asked to comment on the uproar following Friday's announcement, four members of the five-seat panel told The Associated Press that they had expected the decision to generate both surprise and criticism.
Three of them rejected the notion that Obama hadn't accomplished anything to deserve the award, while the fourth declined to answer that question. A fifth member didn't answer calls seeking comment.
"We simply disagree that he has done nothing," committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland told the AP on Tuesday. "He got the prize for what he has done."
Jagland singled out Obama's efforts to heal the divide between the West and the Muslim world and scale down a Bush-era proposal for an anti-missile shield in Europe.
"All these things have contributed to — I wouldn't say a safer world — but a world with less tension," Jagland said by phone from the French city of Strasbourg, where he was attending meetings in his other role as secretary-general of the Council of Europe.
He said most world leaders were positive about the award and that most of the criticism was coming from the media and from Obama's political rivals.
"I take note of it. My response is only the judgment of the committee, which was unanimous," he said, adding that the award to Obama followed the guidelines set forth by Alfred Nobel, the Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite, who established the Nobel Prizes in his 1895 will.
"Alfred Nobel wrote that the prize should go to the person who has contributed most to the development of peace in the previous year," Jagland said. "Who has done more for that than Barack Obama?"
Aagot Valle, a left-wing Norwegian politician who joined the Nobel panel this year, also dismissed suggestions that the decision to award Obama was without merit.
"Don't you think that comments like that patronize Obama? Where do these people come from?" Valle said by phone from the western coastal city of Bergen. "Well, of course, all arguments have to be considered seriously. I'm not afraid of a debate on the peace prize decision. That's fine."...
Should the Nobel Peace Prize Committee have the power to revoke unworthy prizes?
October 11, 6:26 PM Miami City Buzz Examiner Robbin Swad - In an almost eerie foreshadowing of the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to President Obama, the New York Times online published an article just days prior to Obama's winning, discussing the suitability of reversing past honorees who received the Peace Prize. Randy Cohen, syndicated columnist and ethics writer for the New York Times' Sunday magazine authored a post entitled, Taking Back Nobel Prizes in which Cohen makes the following argument:
"Past winners comprise a roster worthy of esteem, but the list also includes a few clinkers, people who, in retrospect, seem curious choices at best. On Friday, when this year’s winner is disclosed, shouldn’t the Norwegian Nobel Committee do what we encourage in other realms: acknowledge error, and then rescind those past awards bestowed on the conspicuously undeserving?"
Cohen posted his reflections a week before the world learned that President Obama was to earn the prize. In the past few days, following Obama's "victory", various observers both nationally and internationally have noted that the selection of President Obama was premature, at best and unearned at worst. A surprised Barack Obama additionally echoed such sentiments:
"Let me be clear: I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments, but rather as an affirmation of American leadership on behalf of aspirations held by people in all nations.
To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize -- men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace."
It is true that awards are usually presented for achievements, as in fait accompli. Despite the Nobel Peace Prize committee's judgment, the jury is still out on the success of the President's actions, as in Iraq and Afghanistan. And who can predict how yet-to be agreed-on talks with North Korea on nuclear issues will fare? Combine all Obama's many international policy question marks to Obama having been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize only weeks after arriving fresh from the campaign trail back in February-- some have argued that Obama's prize is undeserved. Nonetheless, the Nobel Committee has stated, that it is the "hope" for peace embodied in President Obama that impresses them-- indeed, the "world"-- immensely.
"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future. His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population." ...
Republicans Relaunch Website
Does Rush Limbaugh know there's a black lady on the website! (LOL)
The Republican Party relaunched its website today (www.gop.com). The conservative party is also known as the GOP (pronounced "GOP" as in the word "Lop" - just kidding, don't say that or you'll look stupid. GOP is an acronym for the words the "Grand Old Party").
Their website launch went about as smoothly as that of the unveiling of Michael Jackson's new single, "This Is It." But at least we know the GOP actually owns the item it launched (disdainfully looks at Sony).
However, something went wrong, rendering software bugs and glitches, that caused the page to display incorrectly. Let's hope it wasn't sabotaged by a hacker, as it is not the norm for such an expensive site, worked on by several techs, to perform in that manner.
New Republican Party 2.0 website unveiled
WASHINGTON — The Republican Party launched a redesigned website Tuesday with a heavy emphasis on the social media tools that Democrat Barack Obama used so effectively to win the last presidential election.
Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele said GOP.com, which stands for "Grand Old Party," the party's nickname, will "help Republicans compete in any race, in any state, at any time."
Obama relied heavily on the Internet during his presidential campaign for organizing, fundraising and communicating and has created MySpace, Facebook and Flickr pages and a Twitter feed since entering the White House.
The revamped GOP.com prominently features links on its home page to the Republican National Committee page on Facebook, its Twitter feed, its YouTube channel and its Flickr photo-sharing site.
"It takes advantage of various online tools to connect Republicans and concerned Americans across the country to each other and party leaders, creating a larger, more informed, more organized, and more energized Republican community," Steele said.
GOP.com also features a number of blogs including a main blog titled "Sound Reasoning."
A section on "Republican Heroes" provides brief biographies of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American to play Major League baseball, former presidents Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower and Abraham Lincoln and others...
Gay Boyband Member Found Dead
| Andrew Cowles and Stephen Gately Stephen Gately, a member of the boyband Boyzone, who came out of the closet and "married" a man recently, died at age 33, while vacationing in Europe with his "husband" Andrew Cowles. The two men went out clubbing to what was described as a gay bar that is, "A sleazy rundown late-night bar with grimy walls" and returned to their apartment with a gay man, Georgi Dochev. Andrew Cowles and Georgi Dochev spent the night together in the bedroom, while Gately slept on the sofa in his pajamas. I do not fathom how that could not be hurtful to him. The Judiciary Report does not endorse "gay marriage" or "civil unions" but one has to wonder, as a human being, Gately could not have felt happy about being kicked out of his own bedroom, in an apartment he bought for $1.6 million dollars, so his so-called "husband" could sleep with another man. Andrew Cowles Gay always state they want equality - well, if a heterosexual couple went to a bar, the husband brought home a woman and made his wife sleep of the sofa, while he slept in the bed with this new woman, it would look very bad. It does not look good in a gay relationship either. Is this how Gately was treated all the time by his so-called spouse, as that would give most anyone a heart attack. When Andrew Cowles and Georgi Dochev woke up at around 1PM according to the latter's admission, Gately was dead, cold, pale and lifeless. It is being stated he died of natural causes, labeling it a heart attack of some sort. He had been drinking the night of his death, but it was not mentioned as the cause of death. Gately's "civil union" is clearly not what one would call a merger of fidelity, but an open relationship, between two men that claimed to be married, but promiscuity is clearly involved. That is dangerous. Georgi Dochev His "civil union" with Andrew Cowles caused him to fall out with his family, who had not been speaking to him, only reconciling a year ago. Homosexuality runs rampant in many boybands in the pop music genre. Homosexual managers and executives sometimes proposition young boyband members in their teens and turn them gay. Contrary to what is claimed by some, God did not make anyone gay, as it is a choice. Gay men are often attracted to that segment of the industry, as it involves working with teenage boys, who are marketed as heartthrobs by record labels. Boyzone Star Stephen Gately's Death The Majorcan paper Ultima Hora said detectives believe all three returned to the couple's home in the upmarket resort of Andratx from the Black Cat gay club in the capital, Palma, at 4am. But while Gately slept on the sofa, the other two spent the night in a bedroom together. The paper said: 'What happened has not been established, but the investigators have learned that after a while Andy retired to the bedroom with the Bulgarian, while Stephen stayed in the lounge, sat on the sofa. 'And in the morning, the singer's husband and his "friend" got up late and at around 1pm they left the bedroom. 'It was the Eastern European who discovered Stephen was still sat there wearing his pyjamas and was very white and cold.'... Investigators said the singer was discovered in a crouching position in his pajamas. One said: 'He was squatting down on the sofa almost in a praying position.'... The nightclub the couple had been to on the night of the tragedy is a sleazy rundown late-night bar with grimy walls. One regular said: 'It's the last place you would expect to find a millionaire pop star.' |
