This week in Democrats :D

[bascule]

I'm something of a fairweather friend of the Democrats, and while I'm sure many of you know I practically hate the Republicans, the Democrats have their fair share of foibles which makes me mad at them.

 

Well, this week, I've been pleasantly surprised...

 

SEC charges Goldman Sachs with fraud

 

Congress pursues a ban on large financial institutions trading in CDOs

 

Hospitals that want federal money must allow visits to same-sex partners

 

Former Blackwater president indicted on illegal arms sales

 

That seems like some progress to me

 

Unfortunately, the Tea Party has done a great job of drumming up bad press. Completely unfounded, ignorant bad press. But bad press none the less. The Democrats will lose quite a few seats.

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Oh by the way...

 

The war is over, we won! WOOHOO!

 

The Taliban want peace talks!

 

:D

[Mr Skeptic]

The war is over, we won! WOOHOO!

 

The Taliban want peace talks!

 

:D

 

Yeah, their conditions include the restoration of Islamic law -- can't see liberals agreeing to that.

[Pangloss]

Just to add one, last week the President has backed off his earlier stance of closing down manned space flight completely, salvaging key parts of the Constellation program and established a new long-term goal. I'm not completely happy with it, but the logic is sound and the science programs remain intact, and in general it's a step in the right direction.

[The Bear's Key]

The Taliban want peace talks!

 

:D

The most striking part of that article...

 

One man who introduced himself as Mullah Abdul Rashid declared that the Taliban's supreme leader was "no longer interested in being involved in politics or government.

.....

Reviewing the five years in which the Taliban governed Afghanistan before it was ousted by a US-led invasion force in 2001 the men declared that it had been a mistake for the Islamist movement to immerse itself in politics.

 

Mr Rashid said: "

We didn't have the capability to govern the country

and we were surprised by how things went -

we lacked people with either experience or technical expertise in government

.

.....

Mr Rashid vowed to "leave politics to civil society and return to our religious schools" when this had been achieved.

.....

The Hizb-e-Islami delegation declared that it was fighting to expel foreign troops and was not seeking government positions after the war.

Separation of religion from government.

 

Now if only the religious power-seekers in the U.S. would learn that.

 

What especially stands out is the bolded part, for its similarity to the Bush Administration's handing out important positions to those with little to no clue about them or relevant functions.

 

Yeah, their conditions include the restoration of Islamic law

I noticed the same thing. It'll most certainly be a sticking point.

[Sisyphus]

The rationale for the war in Afghanistan was not to build a liberal democracy, it was to destroy a support structure for international terrorism, especially Al Qaeda.

 

Of course, the rationale for the war in Iraq was to prevent Saddam Hussein from using weapons of mass destruction, so...

[Mr Skeptic]

The rationale for the war in Afghanistan was not to build a liberal democracy, it was to destroy a support structure for international terrorism, especially Al Qaeda.

 

I don't think essentially giving up and establishing Islamic law are going to remove support for terrorism.

[Sisyphus]

I don't think essentially giving up and establishing Islamic law are going to remove support for terrorism.

 

But ending any association with international terrorism could justifiably be NATO's sole condition for "peace talks." What else would "peace talks" mean? If they want to live under Islamic law, there's not really any means or reason to stop them. The Saudis do, and they're our most loyal ally. Plus it's not clear what "establish Islamic law" means when they also claim they have no interest in running the country.

[Phi for All]

I noticed the same thing. It'll most certainly be a sticking point.

To me, the sticking point is having the Taliban go back to the religious schools. We really need to get a concession to build regular schools so the Afghans get a more well-rounded education, or we're just delaying the inevitable. Separating government and religion is great, but if the only schools are religious ones, what difference is there?

[jryan]

Let me know when they indict Charlie Rangle.

[bascule]

Just to add one, last week the President has backed off his earlier stance of closing down manned space flight completely, salvaging key parts of the Constellation program and established a new long-term goal. I'm not completely happy with it, but the logic is sound and the science programs remain intact, and in general it's a step in the right direction.

 

I saw they're going to preserve the Orion capsule (not to be confused with Project Orion, the nuclear-powered spacecraft) as a lifeboat for the ISS.

[Phi for All]

After the fiasco of the Senate healthcare bill, it's clear that the people want some progress from Congress and this administration. I see this list of achievements as positive efforts and I hope it can continue. We need some good news for a change.

[Pangloss]

I saw they're going to preserve the Orion capsule (not to be confused with Project Orion, the nuclear-powered spacecraft) as a lifeboat for the ISS.

 

Yup, that's the only part currently slated for saving, as I understand it. But we'll see how it goes -- Congress hasn't weighed in yet, and this is all part of budget-wrangling, so we could see more changes to the plan, especially as the last shuttle flight looms less than two months before the mid-term election.