Day: October 3, 2009

Pakistan welcomes U.S. aid for schools, healthcare, infrastructure

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Richard Holbrooke and Shah Mehmood Qureshi
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on welcomed a giant US aid package for his country, voicing hope that alleviating poverty would erode support for extremism.

Congress has given the final go-ahead for a five-year, 7.5-billion-dollar package to build schools, roads and democratic institutions in the country.

Qureshi, who is holding talks in Washington next week, voiced appreciation for the package, acknowledging that the United States was allocating the money despite a struggling economy at home.

‘This is an expression of commitment to Pakistan and the people of Pakistan because better education, better health, improvement in physical infrastructure will help the people of Pakistan,’ he told National Public Radio…

Qureshi did not deny that many Pakistanis felt bitterness toward the United States, which worked with Pakistan to force the Soviets out of neighboring Afghanistan in the 1980s but then eased its involvement.

‘You abandoned us,’ he said.

We abandoned Afghanistan, as well, back then.

Then again, Bush and Cheney abandoned the people of Afghanistan – and the people of Pakistan – once they brought our feeble, halt and cowardly Congress to focus on invading Iraq, to build on policies which became recruiting central for terrorists and bandit warlords to operate in the region.

Ireland votes “Yes” to Lisbon treaty – this time

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Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

In a dramatic political U-turn, Ireland has voted decisively in favour of the Lisbon treaty just 16 months after it first rejected the European Union reform plan. With counting continuing this evening it was expected that 64% of those who voted in Friday’s referendum would have backed the treaty…

As votes were counted across Ireland from 9am it became apparent that even in areas where there had been a strong no vote last year or where parties opposed to the Lisbon treaty had electoral support, the electorate had clearly shifted towards the yes campaign…

The result will also be a boost to Brian Cowen, Ireland’s embattled taoiseach. Cowen became Irish leader in May 2008, just one month before the country rejected Lisbon in the first referendum. Since then his government’s popularity has plunged to an historic low in the opinion polls due to the recession, the country’s banking crisis and rising unemployment.

Both the yes and the no camps agreed that the key factor in turning the Irish electorate around this time was the parlous state of the economy. The two ruling parties, Fianna Fail and the Greens, alongside the main opposition parties warned throughout the campaign that a second no vote would isolate Ireland in the EU and endanger a European Central Bank-funded rescue plan for the Irish banking system as well as the overall economy.

As ever – “It’s the economy” proves to be the right answer for voters.

450 mayors petition for gun reform

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Jesus_gun

A new report from a national coalition of mayors urges President Obama to adopt dozens of reforms to help curb gun violence, including steps to crack down on problems at gun shows and the creation of a federal interstate firearms trafficking unit.

The “Blueprint for Federal Action on Illegal Guns,”…presents 40 recommendations that “would dramatically improve law enforcement’s ability to keep guns out of the hands of criminals — and, in doing so, save innocent lives.”

The strategies outlined by the Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a bipartisan group of about 450 mayors nationwide, focus on the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The agency, which has been sent a copy of the report, declined to comment…

According to the report, hard work by ATF field agents has “been undermined by congressional restrictions, inadequate resources, and a lack of leadership from federal officials in Washington.”

The proposed changes could be accomplished within existing laws through agency reforms, regulatory moves and better funding, the report said.

RTFA. You know the NRA and the rest of the nutballs are going to whine anyway.

My attitude towards the guns I own – even though I hunt no longer – is that I have no more problem with licensing and regulation of them than I have with the motor vehicles in the family. They’re certainly as dangerous.

Chicago won’t host the Olympics – Is the TSA to blame?

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Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

Did Chicago lose the chance to host the 2016 Olympics because of airport security issues?

Among the toughest questions posed to the Chicago bid team this week in Copenhagen was one that raised the issue of what kind of welcome foreigners would get from airport officials when they arrived in this country to attend the Games. Syed Shahid Ali, an I.O.C. member from Pakistan, in the question-and-answer session following Chicago’s official presentation, pointed out that entering the United States can be “a rather harrowing experience.”

That’s putting it politely.

Mr. Obama’s assurances may have not been enough to assuage critics like Mr. Ali. A few hours later the Games went to Rio de Janiero.

The exchange underscores what tourism officials here have been saying for years about the sometimes rigorous entry process for foreigners, which they see as a deterrent to tourism. Once the news came out that Chicago lost its Olympic bid, the U.S. Travel Association didn’t miss an opportunity to point that out, sending out a critical press release within hours.

“It’s clear the United States still has a lot of work to do to restore its place as a premier travel destination,” Roger Dow, U.S. Travel’s president, said in the statement released today. “When IOC members are commenting to our President that foreign visitors find traveling to the United States a ‘pretty harrowing experience,’ we need to take seriously the challenge of reforming our entry process to ensure there is a welcome mat to our friends around the world, even as we ensure a secure system.”

The blogosphere is filled daily with predictable examples of innocent people being harassed at some port of entry. Yet, GAO inspectors move imitation bombs through our airports whenever they feel like it.

The disaster called TSA runs the gamut from underpaid, underqualified and incompetent to poorly trained. They are there to satisfy a paranoia which has lasted among politicians much longer than the populace in general. Real security systems needn’t be run like the Toonerville Trolley.

Thanks, Uncle Dave

Pakistan’s army prepares battle for Waziristan

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Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

After fighting brief skirmishes against militants, the Pakistan Army plans to unfold in the next few days what military officials characterise as the mother of all battles in South Waziristan.

‘If we don’t take the battle to them, they will bring the battle to us,’ a senior military official said of the militants. ‘The epicentre of the behemoth called the Taliban lies in South Waziristan, and this is where we will be fighting the toughest of all battles.’

For three months, the military has been drawing up plans, holding in-depth deliberations and carrying out studies on past expeditions to make what seems to be the last grand stand against Pakistani Taliban in the Mehsud heartland a success.

‘We are ready. The environment is ready,’ the senior officer said. But military officials also admit Waziristan will not be an easy battle. ‘It will not be a walkover. This is going to be casualty-intensive hard fighting. The nation will have to bear the pain,’ said another officer.

Already this past summer, the military has lost more than three hundred of its soldiers in the Swat valley. One out of ten was officer — the highest soldier-to-officer casualty ratio in any war, skirmish or operation in the world, a spokesman for the military said…

In late January last year, the military launched Operation Zalzala with the stated goal of dislodging Baitullah Mehsud from his stronghold. The operation did not cause even a tremor and only 12 days later, were authorities struggling to revive the dead Sararogha agreement…

With that went even the pretence of any state authority as control of the volatile region was ceded to now emboldened militants…

Thousands of army soldiers — two divisions — are now sitting on the fringes of the Mehsud mainland waiting for orders from the high command to move in.

Scary stuff for a nation that hasn’t been pushed this far before into deliberate civil war.

Domestic terrorists and warlords acting in cohort with jihadists just might motivate you. A for-real partnership with an international military like the US might provide extra oomph, too.

Wonder where the dudes flying the buzzers will be headed the next few days?

Gay divorce smacks Texas ban on gay marriage upside the head

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Texas tradition on Civil Rights

A Texas judge cleared the way for two Dallas men to get a divorce, ruling that Texas’ ban on same-sex marriage violates the constitutional guarantee to equal protection under the law.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said he’d appeal the ruling…”The laws and constitution of the State of Texas define marriage as an institution involving one man and one woman,” Abbott said in a written statement. “Today’s ruling purports to strike down that constitutional definition — despite the fact that it was recently adopted by 75 percent of Texas voters.”

75% of Texas voters would probably vote to rejoin the Confederacy.

Abbott has argued that because the state doesn’t recognize gay marriage, its courts can’t dissolve one through divorce.

Peter Schulte, an attorney for the man who filed for divorce, told The Dallas Morning News that he and his client are “ecstatic” over the court’s ruling. Schulte said the decision was a surprise, and that he hoped to have the judge sign a divorce order in a few weeks.

Gov. Rick Perry said state lawmakers and voters have repeatedly affirmed marriage as being between a man and a woman.

“I believe the ruling is flawed and should be appealed,” Perry said.

Texas lawmakers have also affirmed that the world was created in 6 days and is only 6,000 years old.

Feds force NY Philharmonic to cancel concerts in Cuba

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New York’s Philharmonic Orchestra has put off its first trip to Cuba after sponsors were barred from visiting the Communist-led country.

“The postponement is due to existing US government restrictions on travel to Cuba,” it said in a statement…

Havana was due to host two concerts by the orchestra at the end of next month. It said that its plans received the support of President Barack Obama’s administration.

I guess no one told the State Department.

Some 150 patrons and supporters of the orchestra had pledged to pay $10,000 each to go on the trip to the Caribbean island.

I guess you can meet and negotiate with nations our government disagrees with – but, you can’t necessarily play music.