White House Contradicts CBS News on Troops

MoonHowler

From CBS News:


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Tonight the following was released from the White House:

Editor’s note, 9:57 p.m. EDT: The White House has issued the following response to this story, attributed to White House National Security Advisor James Jones:

“Reports that President Obama has made a decision about Afghanistan are absolutely false. He has not received final options for his consideration, he has not reviewed those options with his national security team, and he has not made any decisions about resources. Any reports to the contrary are completely untrue and come from uninformed sources.”

And back to CBS News:

Tonight, after months of conferences with top advisors, President Obama has settled on a new strategy for Afghanistan. CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that the president will send a lot more troops and plans to keep a large force there, long term.

The president still has more meetings scheduled on Afghanistan, but informed sources tell CBS News he intends to give Gen. Stanley McChrystal most, if not all, the additional troops he is asking for.

 

It sounds like someone stumbled out of the gate, we just aren’t sure who.

Should President Obama send additional troops into Afghanistan?

Execution of Beltway Sniper on Schedule

MoonHowler

The execution of Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad is on schedule.

Today should be the last day on earth for John Allen Muhammad if all goes as planned.  He is set to die by lethal injection on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 at 9 pm.   John Muhammad masterminded a killing spree that lasted in the D.C area from October 3 to October 23, 2002 when he and his young accomplice Lee Boyd  Malvo were caught sleeping at a rest stop in Maryland.

Things might have all gone differently had  then Attorney General John Ashcroft not decided to hand Mohammd over to Virginia rather than Maryland where most of the killings took place.  Maryland had its death penalty on hold.  Virginia was known for taking care of  the death penalty quickly. 

Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert had a good track record when it came to trying death penalty cases. And once again he did not let us down. 

If there was ever a poster child for the death penalty, it is John Allen Muhammad.

UPDATE: 11/9/09  The US Supreme Court has denied Mohammad a stay of execution.  Unless Governor Kaine grants him one, the execution is scheduled to take place on Tuesday at 9 pm.

Fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago Nov. 8, 1989.

MoonHowler

Perhaps nothing symbolized the Iron Curtain more than the Berlin Wall.  The Berlin Wall was a concrete barrier that completely surrounded West Germany and separated it from East Germany.  Prior to the Berlin Wall’s erection in 1961, many, perhaps millions of East Germans had immigrated to West Germany and thus to freedom.   The wall seriously halted immigration and many East Germans lost their life attempting to escape communism for nearly a quarter of a century.  

In 1962, one of the top 40 songs on the hit parade dealt with Berlin Wall.  Hardly a dance song.   The visuals are excellent, even though you might want to turn your sound down:

 

 

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate, along the Berlin Wall and declared:

General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

While Reagan said those words, and is generally thought of as the impetus behind the wall coming down, it actually happened during the presidency of George Herbert Walker Bush.

On Novemeber 9, 1989, After a series of internal revolutionary movements swept through the eatern block, East Germany announced it would tear down the wall. Citizens from both cities came out in force and tore down the wall with great joy while armed guards watched.

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