Posted by Sarah Lyons:

My father, Dan Lyons, passed away from cancer at 1:30 AM this morning. He was at home, surrounded by family. There will be a memorial service for him at 11AM, Saturday February 6th in the West Ballroom of the Colorado State University student center.

 
airplane bomber was NOT from agh/Yemen leader says 300 qaedas in yemen/
Obama flips lid, vows to hnt down word qaeda/

lyons has cancer

 
STEADY DECLINE IN SUPPORT FOR OBAMA’S AFGHAN POLICY/
Minn.post 4dec

Support might spike after his speech,
Plummet after spke in casualties.

 
ANTI-WAR BASE:
--We’ll of course vote for Obama in 2012, as lesser evil.
But we won’t give much money.

--We’ll of course vote for Dem Senate candidtate ,
as lesser evil==
Romanoff will likely beat Bennet in Colrado Dem primary;
But if Bennett votes against
funding 30K more GIs in Afgh,
Then we’ll support him vs. Romanoff
And GOP candidate —just to register our position strongly.

If Romanov says he’d vote vs. escalation,and Bennet votes vs. escalation,
We might stay home in Primary—or support Bennet,
Voting against GOP Senate candidate.

 
Sorry—I’ve been sick.

OBAMA’S SPEECH(pure failed politics)
--he tried to appease anti-war dems
with chatter about 2011 pullout—/
but this is just chatter about START of pullout…
no assurance that it will happen./

--He tried to appease nasty GOP by throwing 30k more troops (and billions more dollars) into the furnace./
But of course GOP immediately denounced
his pullout plan./

ULLAM notes in United Press Features that we lack 3 essential tools
To find a dignified exit:
--GOVERNANCE: Karzai can’t be replaced—
the few competent ministers in his cabinet will quit
when all the $ go to provincial govts—will they do better?/

US waste is real issue, not Karzai’s corruption—
Only one dime in a dollar of our Aid goes to Afghans !

--building up Afghan army:
Officers are Tajiks, problem is mainly with Pashtuns/
Afghans are illiterate/ Optimists say setting up this army will take 3 to 5 years—what happened to 2011?/

When we leave, who will pay the army? Not Afghanistan !

 
OBAMITES TALK EVACUATION
WHILE PLANNING ESCALATION/
Chatter about ‘exit strategy’: meanwhile—
--No more talk about Karzai being ‘unreliable partner’,
thus barring escalation/

--Leaks unanimous that we’re going to send more GIs.

 
PAKISTAN YOUTH HEADING FOR DISASTER/
London telegraph20nov
We spend far more on hopeless, unimportant Afgh
Than on NUKE-ARMED PAKISTAN !

 
HELMLAND GOVERNOR TURNED OVER 3000 MEN TO TALIBAN/
Soon after, Brit casualties spiked/
LONDON TELEGRAPH20NOV

 
UNDERFINANCED CIVIL AID
IN STABLE REGIONS of Afgh
WOULD DO MORE GOOD THAN
OVERFINANCED MILITARY AID
Thompson in LondonTimes20Nos

 
JAPAN DEFLATION RETURNS/
Along with unemployment/
LONDON GUARDIAN20NOV
When(minority) rich don’t spend a high proportion
Of their riches, and majority ordinary people
Don’t have money to spend,

Then aggregate demand-backed-by-money
Sags,

And prices must be lowered.

Deflation is self-accelerating,
As people wait to buy until prices to sink lower.

 
UNDER TALIBAN, CRIME RATE WAS LOW/
Karzai’s police force is weakest link in
US plans/
If police are not trained, reformed,
US risks losing war, says expert Cordesman
NEWS.YAHOO20NOV

Qualified recruits lacking for Afghan police
FINANCIAL TIMES20NOV

 
OBAMITES QUIT TALKING TOUGH TO OBAMA/
COURTING HIM INSTEAD/
They believe he is UNABLE to discipline lower level corruption/
WASHINGTONPOST20NOV

Taliban will celebrate more 'corruption' fodder
for their propaganda.


From previous statements,
It seems to follow that our prevailing in Afgh/
Is impossible, as well as pointless.

 
2 Mass.Senate candidates want us out of Afgh/
3d opposes troop surge
BOSTON.COM

 
PAKISTAN ARMY WON’T FIGHT TAL.INVADING AFGH/
Most of army is on India border/
They worry about Indian influence In Karzai’s Argh/
The available part of army is tied up in Swat valley
And So Waziristan, trying to hold cleared area
(Taliban just pulled back, Ready to come in again)/
Pak thinks US will pull out soon, leaveTal. In charge of Afgh—(McC has already announced that he’s retreating to cities, leaving most of Afghans at mercy of Tal)—
so Pak. wants to appease those Tal attacking
Afgh.

Pak. Army will fight only Taliban attacking Pak.

US can’t count on them as allies vs. Taliban in Afgh.

TIME MAGAZINE20NOV


Yet our rulers chatter on about necessity
of Pak. help against Tal attacking Afgh.

 
MURDEROUS WARLORD IN HONORED PLACE
AT KARZAI INAUGURATION/
Along with Hilary Clinton/ How can Karzai repudiate the warlords who got him elected?
MCCLATCHY2ONOV

 
KERRY ALSO PREDICTS
5 MORE YEARS IN AFGH/
In interview in USATODAY19NOV

Why? We’d be no safer if we prevailed in Afgh/
There are potential terrorists all over the world,
Many of them aiming at US.

Most Americans say this war is not ‘worth it’—
But they will be ignored by the DC honchos.

 
CHINA/US BALANCE OF POWER SHIFTS/
China holds trillion-dollar debt over US/
US HAS held our consumer-power over China.
BUT NOW:
Obama warns China not to count on US consumers.

China would lose billions if it sold off dollars.
But first creditor to sell off dollars
Would lose Less than later creditors.

UP to a point, US would gain from drop in dollar
(more expensive imports,cheaper exports--
more expensive oil would speed conversion
to other energy sources.)

 
GIS PROTECT LUCRATIVE CHINESE COPPER MINE IN AFGH/
Bids said to be rigged against West/
Aghan official said to take $30 million bribe
To rig bids for Chinese.

Meanwhile, US,Brit troops die,& are grievously wounded
To protect Afgh from Taliban

LONDON TIMES19NOV

 
RUSS DOCUMENT ABOUT LOSING AFGHANISTAN/
Is identical with issues discussed today in Washington/
CONVERSATION: ELLSBURG, HOH
IN HUFFINGTONPOST20NOV

 
US PORTS STILL OPEN TO HUNDREDS OF
CONTAINERS WITH NUKE MATERIAL/
We’ve neglected Homeland Defense for silly foreign wars.

Writer tries to make our vulnerability
An argument for staying in Afgh,
BUT terrorist nukes are not likely
To be developed in Afghanistan !
HUFFINGTONPOST 19NOV

 
WHAT OBAMA MUST EXPLAIN TO US VOTERS: /
--he said Taliban takeover would offer ‘even larger’
safe havens for Qaeda. /But how much larger, adding to
present havens in Pakistan,Somalia, Yemen, Phillipines, Indonesia,
and more?//

--If we pull out of border regions (as planned) , we’ll have even less
‘actionable intelligence’ than we have now.//

--he says we need many more civilians advisers
to bolster Afghan agriculture, economy./
But right now these civilians don’t dare leave Kabul./
State Dept. refuses to send more than 1000 total civilians.//

--he warns of Taliban repression of women—but most Afghans
agree with that./ Karzai passed a law forbidding wives to leave house
without husbands permission, and allowing wife to starve
if she didn’t give husband sex twice a week.//

--He talks of vastly expanding and training
Afghan forces—but observers say this might take
A decade or more--& might be impossible.

--He talks of benchmarks toward our exit—
but so far these have not been offered.
NYTIMES EDITORIAL19NOV

Obama CAN’T explain away these obstacles
To staying in Afgh.