Tonight (Thursday, Jam. 28) former Governor and 9/11 Commission Chair Tom Kean will discuss Homeland Security issues (in light of the Christmas Day bombing attempt and Newark Airport shutdowns) as well as what the incoming Christie administration means for residents of Maplewood and other towns in Essex County. At Maplewood’s Words Bookstore; more Info here.
In West Orange, the food documentary “Fresh”, recently screened in Morristown, is showing tonight at The Magic Acorn preschool/community space at Ridgeview Community Church.
Refreshments will be served. A community soup pot will also be bubbling, so you’re encouraged to bring a vegetarian ingredient to add. Event co-coordinator Annalise Silivanch, who wrote a grant for each child in her daughter’s West Orange elementary school to serve a fresh fruit/ vegetable snack twice a week, will lead a post-film discussion on what people can do in their communities to support/help create local, natural food systems. 7:30-9:30 p.m., 174 S. Valley Rd., West Orange (The Ridgeview Community Church, Meeker St. entrance). Suggested donation: $15 for screening fee, refreshments, discussion materials.
Obama didn’t talk about the war on terrorism last night so I assumed it was over?
Yes, Ice, haven’t you heard? There are no more terrorists, they’re just naughty, naughty boys.
And you know, boys will be boys.
Keep that change comin’, Barack
I seems some Republicans like the SOTU better when it scares them. If there’s no mention of the litany of bad guys coming to get us they’re disappointed. They long for the SOTU that mentioned “war on terror” 47 times, as if the mention of it will make us all safer. As if 10% unemployment and 15% of the population without healthcare wasn’t scary enough.
Those things are, indeed, scary, SSP, but none of it matters if we’re annihilated.
it would be nice if it was a little more fact based.
After American Idol I turned in for the evening and curled up with a couple of purring cats as I drifted off to sleep with my wife watching the ‘ghost hunters’ show in the background.
I don’t have the heart to listen to our beloved leader anymore. The luster has worn thin and I fear our great country is in for some hard times on all fronts, terror, immigration, health care, jobs, social security. The center cannot hold and we’ll all be cast off into the abyss screaming for our mothers as we drift into nothingness.
Iceman, when Americans are out of work, the president should make it top priority.
But if you suspect our Commander in Chief is ignoring the war on terror, you should visit his troops in Afghanistan and let us know what you think.
Unfortunately for us, the war on terror will never be won. We’re facing a diabolical, cunning, tough, implacable enemy with an unlimited supply of candidates eager for martyrdom.
You know what the Somalias said about the American Troops they encountered? They said our troops were severely hampered by their unwillingness to die and fear of death. How about them apples? We’re boned for sure.
True, MB, and that always reminds me of this quote:
“Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, but I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile!”
~Kurt Vonnegut
Ice, you know hearing about Obama’s speech on Glen Beck’s show is not the same as listening to it, right? He very clearly mentioned both wars and terrorism, a number of times.
Nick is correct!
Below is the actual text from his speech!
That’s the work we began last year. Since the day I took office, we renewed our focus on the terrorists who threaten our nation. We’ve made substantial investments in our homeland security and disrupted plots that threatened to take American lives.
We are filling unacceptable gaps revealed by the failed Christmas attack with better airline security and swifter action on our intelligence. We’ve prohibited torture and strengthened partnerships from the Pacific to South Asia to the Arabian Peninsula.
And in the last year, hundreds of Al Qaeda’s fighters and affiliates, including many senior leaders, have been captured or killed, far more than in 2008.
And in Afghanistan, we’re increasing our troops and training Afghan security forces so they can begin to take the lead in July of 2011 and our troops can begin to come home.
(APPLAUSE)
We will reward good governance, work to reduce corruption, and support the rights of all Afghans, men and women alike. We’re joined by allies and partners who have increased their own commitment and who’ll come together tomorrow in London to reaffirm our common purpose. There will be difficult days ahead, but I am absolutely confident we will succeed.
As we take the fight to Al Qaeda, we are responsibly leaving Iraq to its people. As a candidate, I promised that I would end this war, and that is what I am doing as president.
We will have all of our combat troops out of Iraq by the end of this August.
(APPLAUSE)
We will support — we will support the Iraqi government — we will support the Iraqi government as they hold elections, and we will continue to partner with the Iraqi people to promote regional peace and prosperity.
But make no mistake: This war is ending, and all of our troops are coming home.
But make no mistake:
———————-
Obama is a dismal failure.
“This war is ending, and all of our troops are coming home.”
When, please?
Unfortunately for us, the war on terror will never be won.
Terror is a tactic, not an enemy. One cannot wage war, let alone win one, on a noun (although many have tried). How can we expect to succeed when we are unable or unwilling to identify those who would do us harm by name?
And this whole notion of waging war against the purveyors of terrorism is an outmoded application of 20th century tactics against a 21st century enemy. The purveyors of terrorism are a nebulous, shape-shifting collection of cells in a larger organism that transcends national boundaries and sovereign governments. Expecting to conquer such an enemy by invading countries and creating national governments in our image defies modern day realities, especially in countries like Afghanistan that have never had functioning central governments to begin with.
I find the rapid economic and industrial rise of China to be a portent of far greater existential threat to the United States than any tactics by the purveyors of terror (aside from bankrupting our country by baiting us into treasury-busting wars and forcing us to spend oodles of money in the pursuit of elusive domestic security).
Yeah, terrorism is no big whop. 911 wasn’t that big a deal when you really think about it.
Just arrest them, Mirandize them, and (when they get off in our criminal system) send them to a US funded “terrorist rehab” center in Yemen.
Rinse, repeat.
The “problem” is under control.
“Terrorist rehab”…I see a cute movie in its future, sorta like “28 Days” with Sandra Bullock.
Personally, I think they’ll pick up a lot of new tricks at “rehab.”
just more hope and change MM.
Yikes, so we’re paying for the rehab, too?
Immediately following the attacks of September 11th, in December of that year, the Senate Judiciary Committee met to discuss the idea of prosecuting terrorists in military tribunals. According to the hearing’s transcript, Sen. Schumer was in favor of military tribunals to try terrorist suspects.:
There are also those prisoners of war who we have captured and will capture in Afghanistan and other countries who will receive a trial of some sort. It is clear we need to try those suspects in a forum that achieves two primary goals—two goals, I might add, that may not conflict. First, the Government must have the power to use even the most sensitive classified evidence against these suspects without compromising national security in any way, shape, or form. In addition, those who commit acts of war against the United States, particularly those who have no color of citizenship, don’t deserve the same panoply of due process rights that American citizens receive. Should Osama bin Laden be captured alive—and I imagine most Americans hope he won’t be captured alive. But if he is, it is ludicrous to suggest he should be tried in a Federal court on Center Street in Lower Manhattan.
Sweet Nellie, we will not be certain if Obama is a failure for many years to come, when we can look back on his efforts. The same holds true for all presidents.
Anyway, he still has 3 more years of work, minimum.
STQ you are killing me here!!!! The minute GWB stepped foot in the oval office, your lefty friends decided Bush was a failure. Why must you talk out of both sides of your mouth just for the sake of speaking? Why?
Montclairgirl, , my “lefty friends” may have written off Bush from the get go. They are probably right, but I’ll be glad to revisit my views as history reveals his actions with perspective.
…I trust by then that your “righty friends” will have grown tired of debating Obama’s “forged” birth certificate.
montclairgirl, many “lefty” types brought a bias to any examination of Bush due to the questionable circumstances surrounding his election. Obama had no such issue.
I will agree that many of the criticisms of Bush were extreme and unwarranted. Some people just didn’t like him, and they let their dislike for him override any sober and realistic appraisal of his performance. But the point is right — we will not know how “good” or “bad” he was for some time, until history has unfolded a bit. Truman was excoriated during his tenure, and now he makes the list of best presidents all of the time. We’ll see.
I think that it is a mistake to try the 9/11 bums in NYC, but I note that the folks who are all over Holder and Obama for proposing it, and for granting Miranda rights, had nothing to say when Reid the Shoe Bomber received exactly the same considerations under the Bush administration.
This is what the president was talking about last night — the blind partisanship, on both sides — that makes my guy good and your guy bad. People are sick of this, and they should be. The first politician who really gets this will fly into office next go round.
So I went down to Words to hear Governor Kean speak, whom I found to be a funny, personable, and gracious man.
I thought I saw a question on this thread, or perhaps another, concerning Gov Kean’s opinion on which recommendations of the 9-11 commission remain yet to be implemented. He spoke directly to this subject, saying that virtually all of their recommendations have now been implemented to some extent except for one: the need to reform, streamline, and strengthen Congressional oversight of the intelligence agencies. One this topic he identified two problems: that lack of accountability of intelligence agencies to Congressional committees due to the absence of direct budgetary control, and the number of committees and subcommittees to which the Secretary of Homeland Security must report. Kean said that all three Secretaries of Homeland Security have complained to him that they and their deputies have had to spend up to a third of their time testifying before (and preparing for testimony) before 80-odd various committees.
With regard to national security, Kean said that some of the biggest challenges facing us are the fragmented, decentralized, and loosely-confederated nature of the various terror organizations across the globe that threaten us; the drive by these terror groups to recruit, in Kean’s words, “blond-haired, blue-eyed” people to carry out attacks as a strategy to avoid profiling; the potential for recruiting among the disaffected and unassimilated muslims in Europe, and the danger posed by recruitment by terror groups of American citizens (by American citizens who gravitate towards such groups of their own volition).
Among other things, Kean:
- Disagrees with holding the trial of KSM in New York on the basis that it will provide the forum KSM wants to martyr himself before the world (the decision which Kean claims was made unilaterally by Atty Gen Holder without consulting anyone else, including the President);
- Lamented the shrill partisan nature of contemporary politics, as well as the recent US Supreme Court decision freeing corporations and unions to spend during political campaigns which he believes will further undermine the integrity of our political system;
- Said that he now agrees with term limits.
- Thinks that Chris Christie is a good guy and a straight shooter who will need to keep his temper in check and learn to effectively delegate to his team. Kean said that he believes Christie when he says that he (Christie) is willing to be a one-term governor if it means he accomplish his agenda for (beginning) to solve the states problems.
At the conclusion of the talk, Kean was presented with a Words ball cap and mug by Jonah (his last name escapes me), who owns the bookstore with his wife (whose name also escapes me). Kean, good sport he apparently is, promptly donned the ball cap and struck a wide smile. Kean then continued chatting with attendees for another 20-30 minutes before sitting down to autograph copies of the 9-11 commission report and the follow-up book written with the commission co-chair Lee Hamilton, “Without Precedent”.
All in all it was a worthwhile hour and a half, and I can see why Gov Kean has become such a well-regarded elder statesman.
(Also, Maplewood Village is quite charming if you haven’t been, as I had not – I plan to return for a stroll. I also recommend a visit to Words; they have a nicely diverse selection worth browsing, including an entire section devoted to persons with special needs. One of the owner’s sons is autistic, and they go out of their way to provide employment opportunities to developmentally disabled adults.)