March 9, 2009 archive

1. The NY Times reports Bush’s signing statements are put on notice. “Calling into question the legitimacy of all the signing statements that former President George W. Bush used to challenge new laws, President Obama on Monday ordered executive officials to consult with Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. before relying on any of them to bypass a statute.” However, Obama, himself may still use signing statements.

   “In exercising my responsibility to determine whether a provision of an enrolled bill is unconstitutional, I will act with caution and restraint, based only on interpretations of the Constitution that are well-founded,” Mr. Obama wrote in a memorandum to the heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch.

2. The Washington Post reports the U.S. protests ‘harassment’ of Navy ship by Chinese vessels. “The Pentagon today protested what it called harassment and aggressive shadowing of a U.S. Navy ocean surveillance ship by five Chinese vessels in international waters off the South China Sea on Sunday, warning such behavior could lead to collisions or the loss of life.”

   The U.S.N.S. Impeccable was “surrounded” by Chinese vessels and told to leave the area. When the Impeccable turned fire hoses at one of the ships, “the Chinese crewmembers stripped to their underwear and the ship ‘continued closing to within 25 feet'”. When the Impeccable tried to leave, it was blocked by two ships.

3. BBC News reports a U.S. General says allies ‘not winning’ in Afghan south. Gen. David D. McKiernan, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, believes the coalition in areas of the north, east, and west Afghanistan where “coalition efforts in support of the government of Afghanistan [are] winning.

   “But there are other areas – large areas in the southern part of Afghanistan especially, but in parts of the east – where we are not winning,” he said.

   The NY Times adds Western-style democracy ‘no question’ in Afghanistan. McKiernan “raised the possibility of the American military reaching out to moderate elements of the Taliban, much as it did with Sunni militias in Iraq.”

   “If nationalist-minded Taliban come to power through the ballot-box and respect the constitution, that is the Afghans’ business,” he said. “What we reject is support for international jihad,” he said.

4. The Observer reports Scientists issue stark warning over dramatic new sea level figures.
   Scientists will warn this week that rising sea levels, triggered by global warming, pose a far greater danger to the planet than previously estimated. There is now a major risk that many coastal areas around the world will be inundated by the end of the century because Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are melting faster than previously estimated. Low-lying areas including Bangladesh, Florida, the Maldives and the Netherlands face catastrophic flooding”.

North Korea Throws A

Tantrum About Something  

A Rising Dollar Lifts the U.S. but Adds to the Crisis Abroad



By PETER S. GOODMAN

Published: March 8, 2009

As the world is seized with anxiety in the face of a spreading financial crisis, the one place having a considerably easier time attracting money is, perversely enough, the same place that started much of the trouble: the United States.

American investors are ditching foreign ventures and bringing their dollars home, entrusting them to the supposed bedrock safety of United States government bonds. And China continues to buy staggering quantities of American debt.

These actions are lifting the value of the dollar and providing the Obama administration with a crucial infusion of financing as it directs trillions of dollars toward rescuing banks and stimulating the economy, enabling the government to pay for these efforts without lifting interest rates.

Carbon cuts ‘only give 50/50 chance of saving planet’

As states negotiate Kyoto’s successor, simulations show catastrophe just years away

By Michael McCarthy, Environment Editor

Monday, 9 March 2009

The world’s best efforts at combating climate change are likely to offer no more than a 50-50 chance of keeping temperature rises below the threshold of disaster, according to research from the UK Met Office.

The key aim of holding the expected increase to 2C, beyond which damage to the natural world and to human society is likely to be catastrophic, is far from assured, the research suggests, even if all countries engage forthwith in a radical and enormous crash programme to slash greenhouse gas emissions – something which itself is by no means guaranteed.

The chilling forecast from the supercomputer climate model of the Met Office’s Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research will provide a sobering wake-up call for governments around the world, who will begin formally negotiating three weeks today the new international treaty on tackling global warming, which is due to be signed in Copenhagen in December.

USA

U.S. to pull 12,000 troops from Iraq as withdrawal begins

The initial phase in Obama’s plan to end combat operations will take place over the next 6 months, military officials say. Just before the announcement, a suicide bomber kills 33 police recruits in Baghdad.

By Greg Miller and Usama Redha

March 9, 2009

Reporting from Baghdad and Washington — The U.S. will reduce its military presence in Iraq by 12,000 troops over the next six months as part of the first major drawdown since President Obama announced his plan to end combat operations in the country next year, U.S. military officials in Baghdad said Sunday.

The announcement came just hours after a suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck a crowd of police recruits outside an Interior Ministry compound in Baghdad, killing at least 33 people and wounding 61.

Despite that grim reminder of the lingering danger, U.S. officials said the drawdown reflects growing confidence in the security gains in Iraq over the last two years. It also reflects a major shift in priorities for the U.S. military, which is increasingly focused on efforts to arrest the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan.

Libby Montana

There was an article in today’s local newspaper about a “Green Freeway” stretching from Canada to Mexico. It would pass through only three states, all led by progressive Governors and Legislatures (or at least two of the governors.) There are only a few places in America where you can drive from Canada to Mexico and cross only three states. (But how progressive is Utah?)

As the plan stands, motorists eventually would be able to pull off at I-5 rest stops for more than a cup of coffee and roadside relief: They also would be able to charge, or swap out, their electric-vehicle batteries or fill their tanks with biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen or compressed natural gas.

There are, of course, hurdles, challenges, and obstacles which must be confronted before any of this becomes a reality.

Hop in a barrel and follow me over the fa-a-a-a-alls.

If you have read my stuff, you know I don’t trust Obama in the least.  He may have a sincere bone in his body (it’s probably the ‘stirrup’ in his right ear).  I think he’s one of ‘them.’