It has been reported that Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has offered security to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, if he is willing to make peace with the government of Afghanistan. "If I hear from him that he is willing to come to Afghanistan or to negotiate for peace... I, as the president of Afghanistan, will go to any length to provide him protection."
Mullah Omar, head of the Taliban prior to the American-led invasion of Afghanistan, is suspected to be hiding in the Pashtun region of Pakistan. The US government has placed a $10 million bounty on his head, and any peace negotiation between Afghanistan and Omar would be a sharp break from American policy.
Karzai had strong words for the international community. "If I say I want protection for Mullah Omar, then the international community has two choices: remove me, or leave if they disagree. And both are good."
"If I am removed in the cause of peace for Afghanistan by force by them, then I'll be very happy. But if they disagree they can leave. But we are not in that stage yet."
The space shuttle Endeavor has docked with the International Space Station as its crew of seven takes supplies necessary to enlarge the space station to accomodate a compliment of six crew members, from the current three.
Among the pieces of equipment to be installed will be a water regeneration system that distills, filters, ionises and oxidizes wastewater. Using the new system, urine from crew members will be reused to make drinking water.
The shuttle mission is dubbed the "Extreme Home Makeover" after the television show by that name. The makeover will include additional crew sleeping quarters, an additional bathroom facility and additional exercise equipment.
In addition, the mission will include four scheduled space walks that will repair damages done to the space station's solar arrays.
The German Green Party has chosen Cem Ozdemir, the son of a Turkish guestworker, to lead their party. Ethnic Turks make up about three percent of the German population, accounting for about 2.6 million people.
But with a conservative party that had chosen Angela Merkel to run as chancellor in 2005 - a successful gambit - and now an ethnic Turk at the helm of an influential party, it appears that German society is slowly breaking with the past, when women were inconspicuous in public and immigrants' voices were seldom heard.
Ozdemir, a social scientist who studied at the Lutheran College for Social Sciences in Reutlingen in the state of Baden-Württemberg, was elected as a Greens legislator to the lower house of Parliament, the Bundestag, in 1994, the first time anyone with a Turkish background had won such a mandate. He moved to the European Parliament in 2004 after he was forced to give up his parliamentary seat for using his publicly paid airline miles for private use.
In the 2005 elections that saw Angela Merkel and her Conservative Party take control of government, the Green Party won only about 9% of the Turkish vote. The elevation of Ozdemir to head the party the Greens expect to do significantly better among ethnic minorities.
"It is just outrageous that the American people don't know that Congress doesn't know how much money he (Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson) has given away to anyone,'' Senator Jim Inhofe told an Oklahoma magazine. "It could be to his friends. It could be to anybody else. We don't know. There is no way of knowing.''
Sen Inhofe wants Congress to take away the rest of the $700 billion "blank check" bailout for the troubled financial markets until such time as there is some accountability.
Inhofe points out to the fact that Paulson has already changed the focus of the bailout twice. "I have learned a long time ago. When they come up and say this has to be done and has to be done immediately, there is no other way of doing it, you have to sit back and take a deep breath and nine times out of 10 they are not telling the truth,'' Inhofe told the Tulsa World. "And this is one of those nine times.''
Originally the bailout was targeted to allow the government to buy up troubled assets from the banks, providing them with liquidity. Last week Paulson abandoned that plan, deciding instead to put the money directly into the credit market.
Inhofe believes that Congress has been derelict in signing over responsibility to Paulson. "Congress abdicated its constitutional responsibility by signing a truly blank check over to the Treasury Secretary. However, the lame duck session of Congress offers us a tremendous opportunity to change course. We should take it.''
Supporters of the Dalai Lama plan to meet in Dharamsala in northern India, where he lives in exile. They meet to discuss what they can do, moving forward to bring the issue of independence for Tibet from Chinese rule. Earlier this year, because of the Olympic Torch relay and huge protests in Tibet, the issue has received widespread worldwide coverage.
On October 29 the United Kingdom formally recognized China sovereignty over Tibet, striking another blow to those who seek an autonomous or independent Tibet. Talks between Chinese leaders and Tibetan exiles stalled last week when the Chinese accused the Tibetans of not bargaining in good faith.
Speaking for the Chinese Government, Zhu Weiqun told a press conference, "Our contacts and talks failed to make progress and they should assume full responsibility for it. They aimed at revising the constitution so that this separatist group could actually possess the power of an independent state."
In sharing my coffee with you this morning, after much R&D on how to abolish Obama and pals, I have come across so many websites, reports such as this, blogs, etc. all showing a very bad trend, SPENDING!
Just say no to SPENDING, in Washington DC first. No.1 when in debt quit SPENDING: (Fine Examples)
Heney Paulson of ALL people should not have a blank check, OMG! Paulson is SPENDING too much money for say: GM, which should not be bailed out because, they are SPENDING too much on Viagra. AIG, do not need to be going on luxury cruise ships, HeLL-OOO! Fannie and Freddie do not need to be playing golf, but getting their ducks in a row. This lame duck must be replaced with AFLAC, right NOW!
Out of this world SPENDING, stop it. We don't need an "Extreme Home Make Over' in space, we need to make room for additional crew, for sure. Just tear out the radar, and over sensitive equipment on the inside of the Shuttle and that will make enough room for what is needed in space. Instead of sending people, go back to sending the monkeys. Since they all think we descended from the ape, well then there is your answer to cutting SPENDING. Now, send on a one way trip to outer space, Pelosi, Reid, Dodd, Paulson, Obama, and MO. They make good monkeys and can just live in outer space until their fuel runs out, then it's good bye SUCKERS. Oh I almost forgot all the gang with ACORN, Fannie and Freddie. Pack them in like sardines giving each one a banana, can of sardines and crackers, a bottle of water, if someone feels faint. Obama is in charge of the water since he is "THE ONE." You can save a lot of money that way, and if necessary you could have a Democrat Space Shuttle, and an old used Republican Space Shuttle since there is plenty of blame to go around, and we don't want to be partisan in any way, or show we are not all EQUAL or FAIR. That is another 'guilt trip' we won't have to take after this fraud bought election, not that I had any. So to kick butts and take names, the Republicans have had too much SPENDING as well. Just get them all out of here and tell them to step away from America.
Also we could have avoided too much SPENDING, you know 'hind sight' is 20/20 they say. OK then, when we were in Iraq, and that statue was pulled down of Hussein's, right then, not later, we should have not pretended we won. NO, but what stupid thing did we do, pulled back and pulled some of our troops out. Instead we should have gone in there full throttle and wiped those guys off the face of the earth, everyone of them, giving 24 hours to get the women, children out and then be done with Iraq for good, took the OIL in order to be saving and gone home. Then, some of that money we saved from not SPENDING our own, we could have regrouped and gone after WHAT'S HIS NAME, that cost us in the first place.
AS FAR AS Berlin, Germany, Russia, France, China, Africa, Iran, Afghanistan, or "a man named Stan," as Robin Williams would say, whoever isn't totally on our side, they and the rest of the world are on their own. That would save SPENDING another pretty penny until we get back on our feet. ALL those who vote for that, say I, appose, NO. For you that say NO. then the SPACE SHUTTLE leaves in five minutes. We don't another minute to waste. Time is money.
This all would save a lot of SPENDING, it's called:
A STITCH, IN TIME, SAVES NINE!
GIVE THIS TO A WOMAN TO DO, NAMELY SARAH PALIN, SHE KNOWS HOW TO SAVE $$$. The men in charge of SPENDING, etc. have screwed this from the get-go, as that seems to be what they do best. You will note, not one thing has been done yet toward NOT SPENDING. only more SPENDING.
WE AT TEAM SARAH KNOW HOW TO GET'ER DONE!
Have a get right day, and just quit SPENDING.
My next morning cup of coffee with you, will be on:
WHO TO TAX AND WHO NOT TO TAX.
Beginning with the CHURCHES! You might be quite surprised what I have to say about that subject.