Progressive breakfast club headlines 12/4/08 12345

 

Progressive breakfast club headlines 12/4/08   ARE U.S. TROOPS COMING HOME FROM IRAQ?  Don't hold your breath to be exhaled on inauguration day, 2009.  Campaign promises to "end the war in Iraq" are now being re-calibrated as the next administration moves toward "reality" and Obama is reminding Americans that he only promised to remove "combat forces" in 16 months and indicated that a "residual force" might have to be left behind until such time as "ground commanders" indicate they are no longer needed, including the possibility of (by mutual agreement with Iraq) leaving these forces there beyond the 2011 "deadline" for withdrawal set by SOFA.  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/us/politics/04military.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss&pagewanted=all   IF MUMBAI WAS "INDIA'S 9/11," WILL INDIA LEARN FROM U.S. MISTAKES ON RESPONSE TO THE ATROCITY?  Juan Cole hopes so, as he recalls how the U.S. demonized Muslims as a people and failed to recognize the "assymetical" character of modern terrorism with their foolishness about "state-sponsored" terrorism that led to the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.  The rise of "communal violence" against Muslims and Indians and the persistent demands by India on the government of Pakistan to restrain such terrorists are not good indications that India is, in fact, learning from U.S. mistakes in dealing with terrorism.  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21370.htm   "THE VICTIMS OF MUMBAI WILL BE MOURNED BY AMERICANS, AS THEY SHOULD BE. THE VICTIMS OF UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN ARE NOT.  Margaret Kimberley describes a weakness in American thinking about terrorism: our inability to recognize that such acts have their causes and that among those causes are the "grievances" of people who are the victims of warfare, the "ultimate act of terror." http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=913&Itemid=1    WILL NAFTA DIE ON JULY 20, 2009?  Unlikely as that may seem, it is a firm campaign promise made by both President-elect Obama and Secretary of State-designee Clinton in the heat of their primary election battle earlier this year in Ohio.  In response to persistent questioning by the late Tim Russert, both candidates made firm commitments to exercise the "opt out" provision of NAFTA, allowing the U.S. to abrogate the treaty on 6 month notification to Mexico and Canada.  Though an Obama aide told a Canadian contact that the Senator was not serious about his anti-NAFTA statements that were just "campaign rhetoric," Al Giordano has the tape to prove that both Obama and Clinton made that promise and he is waiting til 7/20/09 to see whether the two officials make good on that promise after they are sworn in on 1/20/09.  http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/welcome-secretary-clinton-obamas-promises-be-kept   HEY JOE PLUMBER: LOOK WHO'S "SPREADING THE WEALTH" NOW.  During the late campaign, John McCain accused Barack Obama of advocating "socialism" by virtue of his plans for income re-distribution with adjustments in tax rates for different income brackets.  The GOP Secretary of the Treasury, says economist Dean Baker, is engaged with taxpayer "bailout" money in a massive program of re-distribution of wealth, but it is re-distribution into the hands of shareholders of "failed" businesses to guarantee income that they would otherwise have lost as a result of those failures.  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/12/02-6   "I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS. THIS IS UGLY."  Orange County FL School Superintendent John Edward's reaction to the budget crisis in the school system.  Among the many options "on the table" for dealing with the crisis is the idea floated of closing as many as 8 elementary schools, a plan which meets vigorous opposition from community parents' groups, who were also upset with last year's Board decision for an earlier school opening date, a decision that the Board has rescinded for next school year. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/education/orl-schclosings0408dec04,0,3012630.story   These headlines and following additional stories posted on website today.  To read them, click http://www.sunstateactivist.org/ scroll below headlines and click on any article you want to read.   ooo  Does Iraq torture its detainees? ooo  Bye, bye, Omaha Royals.  Hi, Omaha ___s. ooo  Are blue tarps in south Texas future? ooo  Waycross FL: Is this a yard sale; or an every weekend flea market? ooo  Now OK to feed the homeless at W Palm Beach public places. ooo  And more.   Why is Susan Rice (Obama's nominee for UN ambassador) "bad news for Africa?"  Check out Glen Ford's article at http://sunstateactivist.org/ssablog/?p=107     Quote of the day:   "If 2008 was, in the NRA's own words, "arguably the most important year in its history," then the election results suggest that the gun group is arguably the most overhyped and impotent special-interest lobby in the country. The NRA even got its chamber cleaned in its home state of Virginia."  Freelance journalist Alexander Zaitchik, noting the defeat of gun rights advocates at every level from the presidency to candidates for local offices, in a kind of "wicked witch is dead" dance over the supposed demise of political influence of the National Rifle Association.  http://www.alternet.org/rights/109841/?page=1