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The crop of 2012 Republican presidential candidates is about to expand, adding faces to one of the most varied?and muddled?GOP fields in decades. The lineup currently lacks a clear favorite to stir the GOP base, to the dismay of many in the party. A Gallup poll released Friday shows Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump-tied for first with a scant 16% support out of the crop of 2012 GOP candidates. Neil King has more on why the Republican field currently lacks a clear favorite to run against Obama. A Gallup poll released Friday underscored an awkward situation facing the GOP. Two men who may not even run?Mike Huckabee and Donald Trump?tied for first among Republicans surveyed, with a scant 16% support apiece, while the presumed... Related Topics: Republicans, election 2012 Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/04/23/2012_gop_picture_remains_blurry_254293.html world net daily abc world news fox news current events us today by Christopher Dickey Info Christopher Dickey is a columnist for The Daily Beast and Newsweek magazine's Paris bureau chief and Middle East editor. He is the author of six books, including Summer of Deliverance, and most recently Securing the City: Inside America's Best Counterterror Force?the NYPD. John Barry Info John Barry joined Newsweek's Washington bureau as national security correspondent in July 1985. He has reported extensively on American intervention in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Haiti, Bosnia, Iraq and Somalia and efforts for peace in the Middle East. In 2002, he co-wrote "The War Crimes of Afghanistan" (8/26/02 cover) which won a National Headliner Award. He... Related Topics: Libya, Barack Obama, Christopher Dickey, Paris, Newsweek, bureau chief and Middle East editor, columnist , Middle East Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/04/23/obama039s_middle_east_head_spin_254298.html gov polls us government race us government vote us government ratings us government results by Christopher Dickey Info Christopher Dickey is a columnist for The Daily Beast and Newsweek magazine's Paris bureau chief and Middle East editor. He is the author of six books, including Summer of Deliverance, and most recently Securing the City: Inside America's Best Counterterror Force?the NYPD. John Barry Info John Barry joined Newsweek's Washington bureau as national security correspondent in July 1985. He has reported extensively on American intervention in Afghanistan, Kosovo, Haiti, Bosnia, Iraq and Somalia and efforts for peace in the Middle East. In 2002, he co-wrote "The War Crimes of Afghanistan" (8/26/02 cover) which won a National Headliner Award. He... Related Topics: Libya, Barack Obama, Christopher Dickey, Paris, Newsweek, bureau chief and Middle East editor, columnist , Middle East Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/04/23/obama039s_middle_east_head_spin_254298.html us politics 2008 us obama fox news 2008 us election 2008 us news 2008  AP/Muhammed Muheisen Anti-government protestors hold up a defaced poster of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh during a demonstration demanding his resignation in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday. State-run TV says Yemen's embattled president has agreed to a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators to step down within 30 days and hand power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution. The protest movement demanding his immediate departure said Saturday it also has agreed to the mediators' proposal but with reservations. It objects to an article that gives parliament the right to reject the president's resignation. The parliament is dominated by members of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's party. The leader of 32 years has been clinging to power in the face of more than two months of massive street protests against his rule. State TV says Yemen's foreign minister delivered the government's acceptance to mediators from the Gulf Cooperation Council on Saturday. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. SANAA, Yemen (AP) -- Schools, government offices and private companies have shut their doors in response to the Yemeni opposition's call for a general strike aimed at putting more pressure on longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down. Thousands of protesters kept up sit-ins Saturday at city squares in at least five provinces, two months into the impoverished Arab country's uprising against the entrenched regime. Saleh, who has been clinging to power, showed no readiness for new concessions. He accused the opposition Saturday of "dragging the country into a civil war." Source: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/04/23/ml_yemen_5/index.html abc world news fox news current events us today new york times  Enlarge John W. Adkisson/Getty Images Donald Trump on April 16, 2011, in Boca Raton, Fla. John W. Adkisson/Getty Images Donald Trump on April 16, 2011, in Boca Raton, Fla. After talking with Donald Trump on Thursday, he's convinced that the developer/reality TV personality is really running for president, conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer said on Fox News Channel's Hannity last night. "This is not just a feint," Krauthammer said of Trump's much-hyped talk about seeking the GOP nomination. According to Krauthammer, the two had a "substantive" discussion about issues ranging from Trump's alignment with the so-called birthers to trade with China. Krauthammer, by the way, is not a fan of the idea of Trump running for president. He writes in today's Washington Post that Trump is "a spectacle," a self-promoter, "a provacateur and a clown." NPR's David Folkenflik, on last night's All Things Considered and on Monkey See, says there are reasons to be cautious about the chances for a real Trump 2012 campaign. Among them: "Trump has never run for office, and he hates scrutiny from the press." The Hannity video follows. Fast-foward to the 1-minute mark for the discussion about Trump. Update at 12:15 p.m. ET: Over at The New York Times' FiveThirtyEight blog, Nate Silver says that the news media's spotlight is shining less brightly on former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) these days and that coverage of Trump, meanwhile, has "increased exponentially." Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/04/22/135629713/trump-is-serious-about-running-for-president-columnist-krauthammer-says?ft=1&f=1057 usc today us today show us news us people us today college rankings  AP Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Senator Pat Toomey, R-Pa., proposed an interesting theory on Friday: It's Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's fault if a failure to raise the debt ceiling results in the U.S. defaulting on its bond obligations. Toomey reasons that Geithner has the freedom to pick and choose what debts the U.S. should pay. Since just about everyone agrees that defaulting on bond payments would precipitate a major international economic crisis, possibly kicking of another recession, and end the dollar's preeminent status as the world's preferred reserve currency, Toomey believes that Geithner should simply choose to pay those debts first and stiff other creditors, like, for example, Americans getting unemployment benefits or Social Security checks. From The Hill: "... the Treasury secretary himself has the discretion to decide which bills to pay first in the event that a cash flow shortage occurs. Thus, it is he who would have to consciously, and needlessly, choose to default on our debt if the debt ceiling is not promptly raised upon reaching it. It takes a lot of chutzpah to preemptively blame congressional Republicans for a default only he could cause,"Toomey said. He said that Geithner has argued foolishly that failing to pay welfare payments or furloughing workers would send bad market signals that are equivalent to a default. Foolish? Here's what Deputy Secretary Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin said in a statement in January, in response to Toomey's announcement that he planned to introduce legislation which would require Treasury to make interest payments on its debt the first priority in the event of a failure to raise the debt ceiling. "[T]his idea is unworkable. It would not actually prevent default, since it would seek to protect only principal and interest payments, and not other legal obligations of the U.S., from non-payment. Adopting a policy that payments to investors should take precedence over other U.S. legal obligations would merely be default by another name, since the world would recognize it as a failure by the U.S. to stand behind its commitments." Doesn't sound all that foolish to me. As explicitly suggested by the recent decision by Standard & Poor's to change the U.S. credit outlook from "stable" to "negative," financial markets are nervous that political gridlock might prevent Washington from taking the necessary action to address its long-term fiscal situation. If a failure to raise the debt ceiling results in the United States failing to make Social Security payments -- or any other statutorily required payments to U.S. citizens, the markets are unlikely to respond favorably. And that doesn't remotely take into account the political chaos that will break out if the Treasury privileges paying interest payments on debt owned by the Federal Reserve, China, and Japan over the social safety net. It's really hard to imagine a stupider strategy: Stop paying unemployment benefits while doing everything you can to start another recession. Source: http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2011/04/22/debt_ceiling_dumbness/index.html us political issues 2008 us government 2008 cnn politics abc news real clear politics  Yuki Noguchi/NPR Outside Takata Elementary School in Rikuzentakata, Japan ? a city devastated by last month's tsunami ? the rubble extends from the parking lot all the way to the ocean, a half-mile away. This week marked the start of the new school year for some of the areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. In the deeply devastated city of Rikuzentakata, classes started more than two weeks late. The students' return highlights Japan's struggle to figure out how to care for young disaster survivors. At Takata Elementary School, second-graders stand beside their tiny desks in their new homeroom, playing a clapping game. To their left there is a glass wall. It looks out onto a vast landscape of debris that runs from the parking lot of the school all the way to the ocean, a half-mile away. Principal Kunio Kinoshita says there used to be offices, hotels, homes and a long row of pine trees outside the school. With all that reduced to rubble, the school now has an ocean view. "We don't know what to do," he says. "We can't move ? this is the neighborhood school. But honestly, having students try to learn while looking out at this really makes our hearts ache."  Enlarge Yuki Noguchi/NPR Newly minted second-graders in Rikuzentakata, Japan, begin their school year more than two weeks late after a tsunami wiped out most of the town. Yuki Noguchi/NPR Newly minted second-graders in Rikuzentakata, Japan, begin their school year more than two weeks late after a tsunami wiped out most of the town. Lacking The Words There is a lot of talk of "kodomo no kokoro no care" ? which literally translates into "care for children's hearts." Psychologists are training teachers, and schools like Takata are trying to hire more counselors. Kazuo Ogino, a Tokyo psychologist, is taking part in some of the planning. He says it's a challenge because it is part of Japanese culture to hold emotions in. And children often don't have the words to express themselves. At least one-tenth of the people who lived in Rikuzentakata died. Many children rode out the disaster at school. Some watched as their fellow students were washed away. Mai Kanno, a very poised 15-year-old, says she still wakes up hoping the city has reappeared. Kanno was at her middle school when the earthquake hit. She cried hard then, she says. Her home disappeared. Her parents were out of town. So for a week, she was stranded at the school with a handful of other kids, waiting. "Friends of mine who weren't at school that day died ? friends I was pretty close to," she says. "I haven't been to their funeral because they're still missing." Trying To Find Comfort The middle school now functions as the city's largest shelter. Kanno is there to help out at a makeshift day care center. It's run in a corner of the library by her friend's mother, Masako Ito.  Enlarge Yuki Noguchi/NPR Masako Ito (from left), 15-year-old Mai Kanno and Ito's daughter Shiori stand outside a makeshift day care center they have set up in the library of Rikuzentakata Daiichi Middle School. Masako Ito is trying to give both children and parents a place to find comfort after the disaster. Yuki Noguchi/NPR Masako Ito (from left), 15-year-old Mai Kanno and Ito's daughter Shiori stand outside a makeshift day care center they have set up in the library of Rikuzentakata Daiichi Middle School. Masako Ito is trying to give both children and parents a place to find comfort after the disaster. Ito is a mother of three. The ocean carried away her home and her day care business. She is using borrowed space and borrowed toys and is wearing a borrowed apron. Within this bare-bones existence, she is trying to comfort parents who say their kids have started crying or wetting their beds at night. She laments that she can't even really offer advice ? this is uncharted territory. Halfway through an interview, she says the truth is, she herself is trying to navigate this: The tsunami took her husband. Ito decided to take her kids to see their destroyed house ? and to see their father's body. She says her kids have mostly kept to themselves about it all, though they occasionally say things like, "I really loved Papa." "My middle daughter often has nightmares, saying, 'I dreamed I lost you, too,' " Ito says. "I just hold her tight and say, 'I'm not dying. I'm alive. So we're going to see things and travel. And you're going to take care of me in my old age.' " Ito is grateful for all of the emergency aid that has come in. "But what I really need isn't stuff, is it?" she says. What she needs is for people to comfort the children, she says, to tell them it's going to be OK. And what she wants is for people not to forget. Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/04/22/135600413/japan-struggles-with-how-to-heal-childrens-hearts?ft=1&f=1004 bush polls 2004 polls gov polls us government race us government vote Syria endured its bloodiest day yet of the Arab Spring as mass protests against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad brought turmoil to dozens of towns and cities across the country and security forces reportedly gunned down dozens of people. Despite a string of government concessions earlier in the week, including the lifting of the hated 48-year-old emergency law, tens of thousands of demonstrators demanding greater political freedom and an end to Ba'ath party rule took to the streets after Friday prayers. Security forces that deployed overnight close to Damascus and other key cities ignored appeals to eschew violence, opening fire with live rounds and using teargas against several pro-democracy protests, activists and witnesses reported. Although firm information was difficult to obtain, at least 75 people were reported killed, including two in Douma, at least one in Homs, at least six in the southern town of Izraa, and others in Moudamiya, outside Damascus, the activists said. With more casualties being reported by the hour, there were fears the final toll may be significantly higher. The White House has urged the Syrian government to stop its violence against demonstrators and called on Damascus to follow through on promised reforms. More than 240 people are believed to have died since the unrest began six weeks ago. Twenty-one protesters were killed this week in the central city of Homs. Activists and observers in Damascus, who described Friday's events as a watershed moment, said their impression was that protests had been bigger than on the past seven Fridays and more bloody. The protesters' demands varied from place to place. In Kisweh, close to Damascus, people called for freedom. In the Mediterranean city of Banias, they shouted: "The people want to topple the regime." Other protesters directed their anger directly at members of the ruling family. "God, freedom and Syria only. God is greatest!" was another rallying cry. In some Damascus neighbourhoods, statues and posters of Assad and his late father, the former president Hafez al-Assad, were torn down, and there was chanting against Maher al-Assad, Bashar's younger brother, who commands the army's elite 4th division. The 4th division, regarded by many Syrians as a private militia, has been reportedly responsible for previous shootings in Deraa and elsewhere. In the Damascus district of Midan, 2,000 people chanted: "Zanga zanga, dar dar, Maher is a bigger moron than Bashar!" Another Assad family member, Rami Makhlouf, a business tycoon who is the president's cousin, was also a target of the protesters' wrath. Fulfilling an earlier vow to intensify the protests on what they called "Great Friday", demonstrators also rallied to the cause in the eastern towns of Deir al-Zor and Qamishli. In the city of Hama, where Hafez al-Assad ruthlessly crushed an armed Islamist uprising nearly 30 years ago, a witness told Reuters that security forces opened fire to prevent protesters from reaching the Ba'ath party headquarters. "We saw two snipers on the building. None of us had weapons. There are casualties, possibly two dead," the witness said. After prayers finished in Deraa, where the protests first began on 15 March, several thousand protesters gathered, chanting anti-Assad slogans. "The Syrian people will not be subjugated. Go away doctor (Assad). We will trample on you and your slaughterous regime," they shouted. Unrest was also reported in Raqqa, al-Tel, close to Damascus, Sayda Zeinab, Harasta and Barzeh in Damascus, Tartous, a coastal town south of Banias, the western port city of Latakia, and the north-eastern towns of Ras al-Ayn, Amouda, and al-Hassakeh. The sheer scale and nationwide reach of Friday's protests suggested Assad's belated concessions, far from defusing popular discontent, may have been seen as a sign of weakness by demonstrators now doubly determined to achieve their aim. But there is as yet no clear agreement on what that aim is: accelerated democratic reform, greater economic opportunity, an end to corruption among Syria's wealthy elite, or all-out regime change. In a sign of improving opposition organisation, activists co-ordinating the protests issued a statement on Friday demanding the abolition of Ba'ath party monopoly on power and the establishment of a democratic political system. They did not call for Assad to stand down. In their first joint statement, seen by the Guardian, the self-styled "local co-ordination committees", representing provinces across Syria, said that "freedom and dignity slogans cannot be achieved except through peaceful democratic change". "All prisoners of conscience must be freed. The existing security apparatus has to be dismantled and replaced by one with specific jurisdiction and which operates according to law." On Thursday, Assad signed a decree lifting the emergency law, imposed by his Ba'ath party when it took power in a coup 48 years ago. He also replaced the cabinet and approved new rights of peaceful protest. But other laws still give security forces sweeping powers. But the first application to protest under the new law ended in the temporary detention of the applicant. Fadel al-Faisal from Hassakeh was held for several hours after filing a request to hold a demonstration. Joe Stork of Human Rights Watch said the reforms "will only be meaningful if Syria's security services stop shooting, detaining, and torturing protesters". Syria officials have blamed armed groups, infiltrators and Sunni Muslim militants for provoking violence at demonstrations by firing on civilians and security forces. Earlier, Reem Haddad, spokeswoman for the ministry of information told al Jazeera: "I think if the people protest peacefully, if they cause no harm, if they don't burn or destroy, I think [security forces] will allow them to do so [protest], and I think after a certain time they will actually disperse them, tell them to go home." Asked at what point forces would open fire on protesters, she said: "If they are shot at, which has been the case previously." While calling for an end to the violence and democratic reform, western and other Arab countries have mostly muted their criticism of the killings and repression in Syria for fear of destabilising the country, which plays a strategic role across the Middle East. Katherine Marsh is a pseudonym for a journalist living in Damascus Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/22/syria-protests-forces-shoot new york times usc today us today show us news us people The first Republican to speak out against the Ryan plan: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine.) said Friday that she will not support the 2012 budget passed by the House last week. "I don't happen to support Congressman Ryan's plan but at least he had the courage to put forward a plan to significantly reduce the debt," Collins said on "In the Arena" a program on WCSH 6, a local NBC affiliate in Portland, Maine. Not sure how much weight this will carry in the GOP caucus. Probably not much. Collins is also one of the few Republicans on the Hill who has not signed Grover Norquist's anti-tax pledge, so she's probably regarded in Republican circles as extremely squishy. Still it's important. She' a senator after all. And it's big news. Three or four others might follow her: Olympia Snowe, maybe Richard Lugar, possibly Charles Grassley, someone like that. Although, Snowe and Grassley are right now pretty afraid of the rumbustious right wings in their respective states, so maybe not. I don't think Democrats would be wise to hope many Republicans follow Collins' lead. What Democrats should want is for the Ryan plan to remain "the Republican plan" for as long as possible, like until November 2012. In a similar vein, I've been reading a lot today about how progressive people ought to show up at GOP town halls this summer and go nutso on them about the Ryan plan the way conservatives did about Obamacare. But that would just scare Republicans off the Ryan plan too quickly, and they'd go back to the more logical posture of just attacking Obama about the economy. Far preferable from the Democrats' perspective that the GOP stays married to Ryan until the bitter end, so the less fuss the better.
In order to post a comment you need to be registered and signed in. Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2011/apr/22/us-politics-republicans-collins-against-ryan-plan fox news us government us constitution us congress us government jobs April 21, 2011|By George Anastasia, Inquirer Staff Writer Tyler Clementi jumped to his death days after the incident. A former Rutgers University student was indicted Wednesday on charges of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy for secretly recording and webcam-streaming his roommate's having a sexual encounter with another man. The incident attracted national attention and became a cause célèbre in gay rights circles and beyond after the roommate, Tyler Clementi, 18, committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge days after the secret taping. Dharun Ravi, 19, of Plainsboro, N.J., was charged in a 15-count indictment handed up by a Middlesex County grand jury and could be sentenced to five to 10 years in jail if convicted of the most serious bias-crime offenses. Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan said the grand jury found that the taping on Sept. 19 and a second attempted taping on Sept. 21 were "intended to intimidate" Clementi because he was gay. The indictment was hailed as a step forward by Garden State Equality, an organization that advocates for gay rights. Steven Goldstein, chairman of the organization, said in a statement released Wednesday that the charges were "in the best interests of justice and in the best interests of students across New Jersey, for their potential bullies will now think harder before demolishing another student's life." In a statement issued after the indictment was announced, Clementi's family said the charges were "important for our criminal justice system to establish clear accountability under the law. . . . We are eager to have the process move forward for justice in this case and to reinforce the standards of acceptable conduct in our society." Jane and Joseph Clementi have declined numerous requests for interviews, but have said through their lawyer that they hope to establish a foundation in their son's name aimed at raising awareness about bullying, privacy rights, and the Internet. In the aftermath of Tyler Clementi's suicide, the incident became the focal point for national discussions about gay-bashing, cyber bullying, intimidation, and privacy rights in the age of social networking. Clementi, described as a promising violinist, was like Ravi a freshman at Rutgers. The alleged tapings occurred shortly after the start of the new school year in a dorm room he shared with Ravi on the college's Piscataway campus. Source: http://www.philly.com/r?19=961&43=166721&44=120339939&32=3796&7=195342&40=http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20110421_Former_Rutgers_student_indicted_for_bias_crimes_in_webcam-streaming_of_roommate_s_tryst.html newsday us weekly intouch weekly world news us news Although images of dead birds and blackened marshes in the Gulf of Mexico are gone, many scientists say it's too early to declare a recovery. They suspect there could be hidden damage to the Gulf's marine life and marshes. And some of these scientists say research on the effects of the spill has been delayed or kept secret. Among them is Michael Crosby, a senior scientist at Florida's Mote Marine Laboratory. The Gulf of Mexico is his baby. He was thrilled last year when BP promised to give scientists $500 million to research how the spill will affect marine life in the Gulf. Eleven months later, he's still waiting to see the money. "In a word," says Crosby, "it's stalled." Last year, BP did give $50 million to several research groups in the Gulf. "But the rest of the money has been just caught up in a quagmire of bureaucracy, politics, turf issues," he says. "Why the hell isn't that money out there? We have lost a year, we have literally lost a year. That's a huge gap." The first year after the spill was the best chance to track the oil and its effect on fish, shellfish, birds, and marshes ? the whole complex web of marine life. Crosby says more scientists need to be out in the Gulf right now. "Listen to those men and women who work on the water," Crosby says. "They are seeing dazed crabs now that don't survive the transport, the massive miscarriages, fetuses, dead baby dolphins. Well, there's no hard-core data to make that link, and 10 years from now will they ever come back? Well, who knows?" A Lengthy Process Last year, BP and Gulf states set about appointing a board of scientists ? called the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Research Board ? to review research proposals and hand out the remaining $450 million. Crosby and other scientists believe the process got bogged down by politicians and officials from Gulf states trying to influence the membership of the board and allocation of the money. Board director and biologist Rita Colwell told NPR that it wasn't politics setting the timetable for the process, but a desire to get the best scientists on the board. Bill Walker, a resources manager for the state of Mississippi, says his governor did object when BP first appointed a 10-member board that didn't have what he felt was sufficient representation from Gulf scientific institutions. Subsequently, BP told the five Gulf states that each could appoint two scientists to raise the board membership to 20. But Walker says he doesn't think that was a major delay. In any case, BP and Gulf states didn't sign a deal on the process for giving out the money until last month ? 10 months after BP announced it would create the research fund. The next step is to ask scientists to submit research proposals. Reviewing those could take months. There is some money flowing to Gulf research. In addition to the $50 million BP has distributed to scientists, the federal government's National Science Foundation has also paid for Gulf expeditions. But Lisa Suatoni, a marine biologist with the environmental group Natural Resources Defense Council, says most of that work was about oil ? not marine life. "What happened to the oil, what happened to the dispersants, what happened to the gases," she says, is what's been examined so far. "But the biologists and the ecologists haven't even laid out their puzzle pieces on the table yet, so there's no way of knowing what the environmental harm was. The answers are slipping through our fingers. It is a very depressing subplot to the oil spill." Keeping Data Secret There's one other big source of money for studying the health of the Gulf: the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But the scientists who take NOAA money can't openly discuss or publish their conclusions yet. That's because the government is preparing legal action against BP under the Natural Resources Damage Assessment process. Christopher D'Elia, a Gulf researcher at Louisiana State University, says the NRDA clamps a lid of secrecy on research that many scientists find stifling. "It may end up in court," he says. "You just can't publish your data, you don't get involved in the normal kind of scientific discourse we had, so it's a more constraining process. I don't think it works. I think it's a nightmare. I think the whole thing, it just grinds everything to a halt." But NOAA officials point out that without NRDA, evidence against BP and its drilling partners could be compromised if published before a trial. They add that the data they pay scientists to gather are published on NOAA's website; it's the scientists' "interpretation" of that data that is secret. Eventually, that information will all be released and the world will know just what happened to the Gulf. But Don Bosch, a biologist with the University of Maryland who sat on the official oil spill investigative commission, says the damage from the spill is only a small part of what ails the Gulf. "Even in the worst case," he says, "the effects of this spill wouldn't be as devastating as the tremendous loss of coastal wetlands, you know, the large dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, and all of those kinds of things." Those assaults on the Gulf started long ago and are likely to continue long after the BP oil spill is just a statistic. Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/04/20/135573152/quagmire-of-bureaucracy-stifles-gulf-spill-research?ft=1&f=1007 fox news live abc news abc family abc local news bbc news  Libyan rebels were praised by US senator John McCain as he toured their headquarters in Benghazi. Photograph: Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty Images American involvement in the Libyan crisis appeared to be deepening on Friday following the announcement that US Predator drones would be deployed and praise from an influential senator for the "heroes" of the rebel opposition. John McCain, the most senior Republican on the Senate armed services committee and a strong advocate of intervention in the Libyan civil war, visited the rebel opposition leadership in its eastern stronghold of Benghazi for an "on the ground assessment" of the situation. "These are my heroes," he said, referring to the rebels. McCain has pushed for the US to arm the opposition as part of a drive to force Muammar Gaddafi from power, and has criticised America's decision to take a back seat in the international military action against Libyan government forces. However, the announcement on Thursday night of the US deployment of armed Predator drones over Libya indicates a renewed effort to relieve the siege of Misrata and force a breakthrough in the deadlocked conflict in the east. Predator drones ? controversial because of their use against targets in Pakistan and Afghanistan in which civilians have been killed ? were expected to be deployed over Misrata immediately. However, the first mission, armed with Hellfire missiles, was forced to turn back because of bad weather. The Libyan government said their use would result in the deaths of "more civilians" and was "illegitimate". The authorities claim many civilians have been killed by Nato airstrikes, although they have failed to provide evidence to foreign media based in the west of the country. The deployment of Predators follows the despatch of military advisers from Britain, France and Italy, plus the allocation of an expected $25m (£15.15m) worth of "non-lethal" equipment from the US to the rebel opposition. The leaders of the international alliance against Libya claims such steps are within the remit of the UN security council resolution allowing action to protect civilians, but some countries have warned against mission creep. Rebel leaders have appealed for intensified action from Nato and some have demanded ground troops. The Libyan government said the presence of foreign troops in the country would be viewed as an act of war and that it would arm its civilians to resist. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said Nato action had reduced Gaddafi's military capability by about a third. "We've attrited somewhere between 30 and 40% of his main ground forces, his ground force capabilities. Those will continue to go away over time," he told US troops in Baghdad. He said the conflict was "moving towards a stalemate". Many military analysts have concluded that a stalemate was reached some time ago. Libyan state TV claimed nine people were killed in an overnight air strike in the western city of Sirte, although that could not be verified. Meanwhile, a border post between Libya and Tunisia was reported to be in rebel hands despite claims by the Libyan government that its forces had retaken the crossing. Rebel forces displayed weapons seized from fleeing government troops, according to Reuters, and the rebel tricolour flag was flying above the border post near the Tunisian town of Dehiba, witnesses said. Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/22/libya-crisis-us-involvement-deepens-predators us politics 2008 us obama fox news 2008 us election 2008 us news 2008 |
