xrayzebra
11-11-2006, 10:42 AM
Article number one
Khamenei calls elections a victory for Iran
Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:03am ET26
By Jon Hemming
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday called U.S. President George W. Bush's defeat in congressional elections a victory for Iran.
Bush has accused Iran of trying to make a nuclear bomb, being a state sponsor of terrorism and stoking sectarian conflict in Iraq, all charges Tehran denies.
"This issue (the elections) is not a purely domestic issue for America, but it is the defeat of Bush's hawkish policies in the world," Khamenei said in remarks reported by Iran's student news agency ISNA on Friday.
"Since Washington's hostile and hawkish policies have always been against the Iranian nation, this defeat is actually an obvious victory for the Iranian nation."
The Democrats wrested control of both houses of Congress from the Republicans in this week's mid-term elections, partly because of voter concern over the war in Iraq.
Khamenei, a senior cleric in power since 1989, has the last word on matters of state in Iran's complex system of Islamic rule, while the government, under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in charge of day-to-day decision making.
"The result of this election indicates that the majority of American people are dissatisfied and are fed up with the policies of the American administration," the IRNA state news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
Khamenei said military maneuvers in the Gulf this week in which Iranian forces tested new missile systems showed Iran was ready to face any threat.
But, he said: "With the scandalous defeat of America's policies in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Afghanistan, America's threats are empty threats on an international scale."
Khamenei condemned Israel for its artillery attack on Wednesday in Gaza which killed 18 civilians, and also the "silence" of Western nations over "this great oppression".
"The daily crimes by the savage Zionists in Gaza once more prove that holding talks with this occupying regime is of no use."
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Article Two
Waxman Set to Probe Areas of Bush Gov't
Nov 10 3:54 PM US/Eastern
By ERICA WERNER
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES
The Democratic congressman who will investigate the Bush administration's running of the government says there are so many areas of possible wrongdoing, his biggest problem will be deciding which ones to pursue.
There's the response to Hurricane Katrina, government contracting in Iraq and on homeland security, political interference in regulatory decisions by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, and allegations of war profiteering, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., told the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
"I'm going to have an interesting time because the Government Reform Committee has jurisdiction over everything," Waxman said Friday, three days after his party's capture of Congress put him in line to chair the panel. "The most difficult thing will be to pick and choose."
Waxman, who's in his 16th term representing West Los Angeles, had plenty of experience leading congressional investigations before the Democrats lost control of the House to Republicans in 1994.
That was the year when, as chairman of an Energy and Commerce subcommittee, he presided over dramatic hearings he convened where the heads of leading tobacco companies testified that they didn't believe nicotine was addictive.
The scene made it into the movie "The Insider," but Waxman noted Friday that no subpoenas were issued to produce that testimony.
Republicans have speculated that a Democratic congressional majority will mean a flurry of subpoenas and investigations into everything under the sun as retaliation against the GOP and President Bush.
Not so, Waxman said.
"A lot of people have said to me, `Are you going to now go out and issue a lot of subpoenas and go on a wild payback time?' Well, payback is unworthy," he said. "Doing oversight doesn't mean issuing subpoenas. It means trying to get information."
Subpoenas would be used only as a last result, Waxman said, taking a jab at a previous committee chairman, GOP Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana, who led the committee during part of the Clinton administration.
"He issued a subpoena like most people write a letter," Waxman said.
Waxman complained that Republicans, while in power, shut Democrats out of decision-making and abdicated oversight responsibilities, focusing only on maintaining their own power.
In contrast to the many investigations the GOP launched of the Clinton administration, "when Bush came into power there wasn't a scandal too big for them to ignore," Waxman said.
Among the issues that should have been investigated but weren't, Waxman contended, were the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, the controversy over the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's name,[/B and the pre-Iraq war use of intelligence.
He said Congress must restore [B]accountability and function as an independent branch of government. "It's our obligation not to be repeating with the Republicans have done," Waxman said.
....
I wonder if he will recognize that the Executive branch of government
is also independent. And who investigates Congress? They pass they
laws that we live under.
....
Europeans Revel in US Republican Defeat
US & EU Flags
The US and EU flags may be cozy, but relations have become increasingly distant
The European reaction to Democrat wins in midterm US elections was overwhelmingly positive. Observers said they hoped the US and Europe could start healing widening trans-Atlantic rifts.
Political observers in Europe said they were hoping that a decisive advance by Democrats in the US election could usher in a new era in trans-Atlantic cooperation.
Many of those who saw US President George W. Bush get a bloody nose in these elections expect US lawmakers to take a good hard look at US policy in Iraq, first and foremost.
"Europeans would expect some change in policy and possibly also personnel," said Antonio Missiroli, Chief Political Analyst of the European Policy Centre in Brussels. "It is not to be ruled out that … (US Secretary of Defense Donald) Rumsfeld might go. And I suppose most Europeans might welcome a new face and a turning of the page on Iraq and the wider Middle East."
'End of a nightmare'
The Bush administration was widely seen to have alienated Europe and much of the rest of the world by its "with us or against us" approach to Iraq, alleged human rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay prison, and its stance on ecological issues – particularly its refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
My Comment on the above paragraph[/B}
Strange that they should lump Guantanamo Bay in with
global warming. Since one is suppose to be political and the other scientific,
[B]yeah, right!
Poster showing US figure drinking oil through a straw.
Anti-US sentiment is openly, and frequently, expressed in Europe
Now, it seems Bush's bill has come due, and Europeans are openly happy about it.
"There is less White House in America now and a little less America in the world," Dominique Moisi, special councillor at the French Institute of International Relations, told Reuters news service.
My comment: Wonder if they will feel this way if they get their
tail in a crack again. We pulled their fat out of the fire twice. Plus
we wrote off how much money in money owed to the taxpayers of this
country
"The demise of (Bush's) America is good news for all those who love America," he added.
The Socialist Group in the European Parliament, the second-largest bloc following the conservative grouping, hailed the election result, saying Bush had been "seriously weakened."
"We are relieved that we now see the beginning of the end of a six-year nightmare for the world," said Martin Schulz, the president of the 201-strong Socialist Group.
Their little world they live in
Slow change is likely
Many analysts did not expect Democrats to change things too quickly in Iraq, however.
George Bush and Tony Blair walking.
Britain's Tony Blair was one of few European leaders to stand behind Bush
"The Democrats will make life unpleasant for Bush, but they are not going to get much in his way because they don't want to be tarred by defeat in Iraq," Francois Heisbourg, a special councillor at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris told Reuters.
Gee they seem to know the dimm-o-craps really well. Just make life
unpleasant for everyone, but don't take the blame.
Trade talks may sour
Observers also worried that trade negotiations currently underway between the US and the European Union could take a hit, post-election.
"The democratic Congress would probably be marginally more protectionist than the current one and this would not bode well for the current negotiations in the WTO framework, considering in particular that the 'fast track' mandate for the Bush administration for striking a deal expires in July 2007," the European Policy Center's Missiroli said.
Bush's "fast track" negotiating power allows him to authorize trade deals.
Even Britain is glad
But such policy concerns did not dampen broad satisfaction in many European capitals, amid continued growing unhappiness over U.S. leadership.
Even people in Washington's closest European ally, Britain, appeared glad to see Bush lose his majority in Congress.
Well the Socialist are, is what the above means.
Enough. Just a sampling of the Socialist that are beside themselves
with the Dimms.
Khamenei calls elections a victory for Iran
Fri Nov 10, 2006 9:03am ET26
By Jon Hemming
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday called U.S. President George W. Bush's defeat in congressional elections a victory for Iran.
Bush has accused Iran of trying to make a nuclear bomb, being a state sponsor of terrorism and stoking sectarian conflict in Iraq, all charges Tehran denies.
"This issue (the elections) is not a purely domestic issue for America, but it is the defeat of Bush's hawkish policies in the world," Khamenei said in remarks reported by Iran's student news agency ISNA on Friday.
"Since Washington's hostile and hawkish policies have always been against the Iranian nation, this defeat is actually an obvious victory for the Iranian nation."
The Democrats wrested control of both houses of Congress from the Republicans in this week's mid-term elections, partly because of voter concern over the war in Iraq.
Khamenei, a senior cleric in power since 1989, has the last word on matters of state in Iran's complex system of Islamic rule, while the government, under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in charge of day-to-day decision making.
"The result of this election indicates that the majority of American people are dissatisfied and are fed up with the policies of the American administration," the IRNA state news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
Khamenei said military maneuvers in the Gulf this week in which Iranian forces tested new missile systems showed Iran was ready to face any threat.
But, he said: "With the scandalous defeat of America's policies in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and Afghanistan, America's threats are empty threats on an international scale."
Khamenei condemned Israel for its artillery attack on Wednesday in Gaza which killed 18 civilians, and also the "silence" of Western nations over "this great oppression".
"The daily crimes by the savage Zionists in Gaza once more prove that holding talks with this occupying regime is of no use."
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Article Two
Waxman Set to Probe Areas of Bush Gov't
Nov 10 3:54 PM US/Eastern
By ERICA WERNER
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES
The Democratic congressman who will investigate the Bush administration's running of the government says there are so many areas of possible wrongdoing, his biggest problem will be deciding which ones to pursue.
There's the response to Hurricane Katrina, government contracting in Iraq and on homeland security, political interference in regulatory decisions by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, and allegations of war profiteering, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., told the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
"I'm going to have an interesting time because the Government Reform Committee has jurisdiction over everything," Waxman said Friday, three days after his party's capture of Congress put him in line to chair the panel. "The most difficult thing will be to pick and choose."
Waxman, who's in his 16th term representing West Los Angeles, had plenty of experience leading congressional investigations before the Democrats lost control of the House to Republicans in 1994.
That was the year when, as chairman of an Energy and Commerce subcommittee, he presided over dramatic hearings he convened where the heads of leading tobacco companies testified that they didn't believe nicotine was addictive.
The scene made it into the movie "The Insider," but Waxman noted Friday that no subpoenas were issued to produce that testimony.
Republicans have speculated that a Democratic congressional majority will mean a flurry of subpoenas and investigations into everything under the sun as retaliation against the GOP and President Bush.
Not so, Waxman said.
"A lot of people have said to me, `Are you going to now go out and issue a lot of subpoenas and go on a wild payback time?' Well, payback is unworthy," he said. "Doing oversight doesn't mean issuing subpoenas. It means trying to get information."
Subpoenas would be used only as a last result, Waxman said, taking a jab at a previous committee chairman, GOP Rep. Dan Burton of Indiana, who led the committee during part of the Clinton administration.
"He issued a subpoena like most people write a letter," Waxman said.
Waxman complained that Republicans, while in power, shut Democrats out of decision-making and abdicated oversight responsibilities, focusing only on maintaining their own power.
In contrast to the many investigations the GOP launched of the Clinton administration, "when Bush came into power there wasn't a scandal too big for them to ignore," Waxman said.
Among the issues that should have been investigated but weren't, Waxman contended, were the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal, the controversy over the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's name,[/B and the pre-Iraq war use of intelligence.
He said Congress must restore [B]accountability and function as an independent branch of government. "It's our obligation not to be repeating with the Republicans have done," Waxman said.
....
I wonder if he will recognize that the Executive branch of government
is also independent. And who investigates Congress? They pass they
laws that we live under.
....
Europeans Revel in US Republican Defeat
US & EU Flags
The US and EU flags may be cozy, but relations have become increasingly distant
The European reaction to Democrat wins in midterm US elections was overwhelmingly positive. Observers said they hoped the US and Europe could start healing widening trans-Atlantic rifts.
Political observers in Europe said they were hoping that a decisive advance by Democrats in the US election could usher in a new era in trans-Atlantic cooperation.
Many of those who saw US President George W. Bush get a bloody nose in these elections expect US lawmakers to take a good hard look at US policy in Iraq, first and foremost.
"Europeans would expect some change in policy and possibly also personnel," said Antonio Missiroli, Chief Political Analyst of the European Policy Centre in Brussels. "It is not to be ruled out that … (US Secretary of Defense Donald) Rumsfeld might go. And I suppose most Europeans might welcome a new face and a turning of the page on Iraq and the wider Middle East."
'End of a nightmare'
The Bush administration was widely seen to have alienated Europe and much of the rest of the world by its "with us or against us" approach to Iraq, alleged human rights abuses at Guantanamo Bay prison, and its stance on ecological issues – particularly its refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.
My Comment on the above paragraph[/B}
Strange that they should lump Guantanamo Bay in with
global warming. Since one is suppose to be political and the other scientific,
[B]yeah, right!
Poster showing US figure drinking oil through a straw.
Anti-US sentiment is openly, and frequently, expressed in Europe
Now, it seems Bush's bill has come due, and Europeans are openly happy about it.
"There is less White House in America now and a little less America in the world," Dominique Moisi, special councillor at the French Institute of International Relations, told Reuters news service.
My comment: Wonder if they will feel this way if they get their
tail in a crack again. We pulled their fat out of the fire twice. Plus
we wrote off how much money in money owed to the taxpayers of this
country
"The demise of (Bush's) America is good news for all those who love America," he added.
The Socialist Group in the European Parliament, the second-largest bloc following the conservative grouping, hailed the election result, saying Bush had been "seriously weakened."
"We are relieved that we now see the beginning of the end of a six-year nightmare for the world," said Martin Schulz, the president of the 201-strong Socialist Group.
Their little world they live in
Slow change is likely
Many analysts did not expect Democrats to change things too quickly in Iraq, however.
George Bush and Tony Blair walking.
Britain's Tony Blair was one of few European leaders to stand behind Bush
"The Democrats will make life unpleasant for Bush, but they are not going to get much in his way because they don't want to be tarred by defeat in Iraq," Francois Heisbourg, a special councillor at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris told Reuters.
Gee they seem to know the dimm-o-craps really well. Just make life
unpleasant for everyone, but don't take the blame.
Trade talks may sour
Observers also worried that trade negotiations currently underway between the US and the European Union could take a hit, post-election.
"The democratic Congress would probably be marginally more protectionist than the current one and this would not bode well for the current negotiations in the WTO framework, considering in particular that the 'fast track' mandate for the Bush administration for striking a deal expires in July 2007," the European Policy Center's Missiroli said.
Bush's "fast track" negotiating power allows him to authorize trade deals.
Even Britain is glad
But such policy concerns did not dampen broad satisfaction in many European capitals, amid continued growing unhappiness over U.S. leadership.
Even people in Washington's closest European ally, Britain, appeared glad to see Bush lose his majority in Congress.
Well the Socialist are, is what the above means.
Enough. Just a sampling of the Socialist that are beside themselves
with the Dimms.