There’s no substitute for good sense
Reappointing Robert Gates as secretary of defense was probably the smartest personnel decision of Barack Obama’s political career, the mirror-image opposite of George Bush’s disastrous selection of Dick Cheney as his vice president.
In fact, if Gates had been SecDef instead of Rumsfeld from the beginning, I suspect the whole course of the Bush presidency would have been altered for the better. Alas, we shall never know.
American public support for the Afghan war will dissipate in less than a year unless the Obama administration achieves “a perceptible shift in momentum,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in an interview.
Mr. Gates said the momentum in Afghanistan is with the Taliban, who are inflicting heavy U.S. casualties and hold de facto control of swaths of the country.
The defense chief has been moving aggressively to salvage the war in Afghanistan, signing off on the deployments of 21,000 American military personnel and recently taking the unprecedented step of firing the four-star general who commanded all U.S. forces there. Mr. Gates, speaking in his cabin on an Air Force plane, said the administration is rapidly running out of time to turn around the war.
“People are willing to stay in the fight, I believe, if they think we’re making headway,” he said. “If they think we’re stalemated and having our young men and women get killed, then patience is going to run out pretty fast.”
Mr. Gates, a Bush administration holdover, also waded into the debate over the Guantanamo Bay prison and Bush-era antiterror tactics. He said critics of the Obama administration’s plans to close Guantanamo and move some prisoners to the U.S. were guilty of “fear-mongering.”
“If people begin to absorb the fact that we’ve got several dozen very dangerous terrorists in our jails right now…maybe a little greater perspective would be brought to the issue,” he said.
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112 comments Add your comment
DB, Gwinnettian
May 29th, 2009
6:14 pm
The people who post profusely about Christians surely do sound like people who never go to church.
I post about Christians (and how Christianity has been hijacked by the right wing in a lot of political discussions) all the time.
And I attend church most every week. Just so you know.
That said:
My denomination alone has a top ranking world wide relief agency which includes emergency supplies, water and crop education, (and thousands of homemade quilts). There are outreach programs such as participation in the Heifer Program.
Very cool. Kudos. I have an ancestral connection to Heifer, actually.
I don’t get to say this often, but: Like Dusty said. However, Dusty, I suspect that some of the folks who post what you consider to be negative bits about Christianity are, likely, well acquainted with church communities. Some probably aren’t, though, and you’re right that it’d behoove them to acquaint themselves at very least with some local churches’ secular activities.
Paul
May 29th, 2009
6:25 pm
Hey DB
Had a post that wouldn’t go thru about five times. Just as a point of fact, McCain did support CAFE increases a couple years ago. In a speech at the Detroit Economic Club. Reporter said he got a pretty cool reception.
Into the Lion’s Den with the truth. Just like when Obama came to Ft Worth and told them the days of the 10 mpg SUVs were over. Audience got real quiet real fast. I liked that, too.
DB, Gwinnettian
May 29th, 2009
7:00 pm
McCain? really?
What can I say. I’ve wanted to like the man.
DB, Gwinnettian
May 29th, 2009
7:55 pm
Deep Thought:
Would a President McCain have done with VP Palin as President Obama has done unto VP Biden?
TUESDAY VANDY GIRL
May 29th, 2009
8:18 pm
Nothing I posted yesterday involved minors.. I simply said if male detainees were made aquainted with a broom handle, so be it.
I have taken Calc I and II and am now preping this summer for linear algebra and Diff EQ’s.
Sooo..As you try to put words in my mouth or use that little crystal(meth) ball to determine what I have or have not taken, In the future, remember; I am right, thorough, accurate, and just plain better than most
DB, Gwinnettian
May 29th, 2009
9:16 pm
I simply said if male detainees were made aquainted with a broom handle, so be it.
Sick in any case, but anyone who’s half-awake would know that the detainees in question were minors.
Some day you’ll be very, very sorry that you ever held the views you do today.
Bud Wiser
May 30th, 2009
6:36 am
Here’s a room with a view……
Congress and WH now considering a national sales tax. That is *on top* of the current income tax structure, of course. Tell me the part again about how 95% of Americans will pay less in taxes, mr lying s.o.b. president?
Obowo’s national health version awaiting congressional approval right now also has this little kicker – should your ‘choice’ in health plan coverages be where you stay right where you are now with your employer, that premium coverage cost will be VAT (value added tax). TRANSLATION FOR LIBTARDS – you currently make, oh say $45,000/year. your employer tells IRS they pay $14,000 for your family medical and dental coverage insurance. employer now slaps that on your W-2 saying they paid you $59,000 in wages AND benefits. problem becomes that you only withheld for $45K, BUT, that’s really no problem because Obowo is spending an additional $400 million beefing up IRS, so the WILL find you, and collect their new tax.
Tell me the part again about how 95% of Americans will pay less in taxes, mr lying s.o.b. president?
I think Obowo bows and grovels to foreign leaders like he does also to perhaps make it easier to sneak his hand around behind folks better to see if he can steal their wallets as well. I sure as hell wouldn’t shake hands with him either – might come up missing a watch.
And you idiots still support him, but your ignorant pride and embarrassment makes it impossible to admit now that maybe you just might have backed the wrong show pony.
Either that, or in fact you are as stupid as it appears that you maintain this love idol worship of an empty suit socialist.
Normal
May 30th, 2009
8:25 am
Dusty, you probably won’t get to read this post but, I’ve got to say this. What your church does is good and needed, but until you allow women to be preachers, and gladly open your doors to people who are not
like you, including gays, you are just another social club.
I will also say that while you may think it so, the work you do is not
for the glory of God, but for the glory of your church. Try washing the
the feet of a sick old woman you do not know, in a room where no one can
see you every day for the rest of her life. That, my friend, is for the glory of God.
DB, Gwinnettian
May 30th, 2009
11:15 am
ya know Bud, when you post this stuff with figures you’ve copy/pasted from some fever swamp and don’t give a source? That alone disqualifies your post from serious contention.
That said, there are a lot of healthcare funding proposals out there. They have to be paid for somehow if the government is involved. Obama did not lie about any of this. You are lying, however. And if you had a shred of dignity you’d stop it.
DB, Gwinnettian
May 30th, 2009
11:17 am
one other thing. Bud. You lost. Get over it. Stop crying about the support our current President has; if you have better ideas, propose them. But stop criticizing those of us willing to give the man a chance.
Bud Wiser
May 30th, 2009
8:52 pm
I’m sorry, did a libtard say something?
Bud Wiser
May 31st, 2009
6:20 am
I know all about VAT’s you moron. Congress tried that little trick years ago wanting to tax airline benefits such as flying space-available for free.
As far as the rest of it, you obviously have your head far up your a** (looking for Obowo, no doubt), it HAS been all over the news, so if you’re too stupid to figure out what is going on, well, that’s your problem. AND, I post mostly all original text, italicizing only what I copy for the libtards to try to read. Do your own research, I don’t help little old ladies or ignoramuses across the information highway.
As far as ‘giving Obowo a chance’………with what, my grandchildren’s future? No thanks, I’ll leave that kind of idiocy to you and your ilk, the 94%’ers.