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SkinsHokieFan

By SkinsHokieFan
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SkinsHokieFan

SkinsHokieFan

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So any good news we hear in the next few weeks will clearly be because of the Democratic victory, any good news goes in this thread. Any bad news goes in some other thread

So 2 pieces of good news today

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20061109/a_afghansurvey09.art.htm

Poll: Afghans express confidence in country's direction, security

By Paul Wiseman

USA TODAY

Most of the 6,200 surveyed say they are satisfied with democracy, but corruption is a major problem

Despite a raging pro-Taliban insurgency, the people of Afghanistan say they are optimistic about the future, satisfied with their young democracy and rank security low on their list of everyday concerns, according to a survey out today.

In what it is billing as the widest opinion poll conducted in Afghanistan, the non-profit, San Francisco-based Asia Foundation surveyed 6,226 Afghans 18 and older in person in 32 of the country's 34 provinces over the summer.

Polling couldn't be conducted safely or reliably in two areas: southern Afghanistan's strife-torn Zabul and Uruzgan provinces, which together account for 2.3% of the country's population. The survey's margin of error was +/-2.5%.

The poll, financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development, suggests that Afghans are surprisingly confident about the direction of their country even as NATO forces battle a pro-Taliban insurgency in southern and eastern provinces and the violence begins to threaten other places that previously had been considered safe.

While violence has increased, Afghanistan has made some progress in the nearly five years since U.S.-led forces overthrew the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban regime.

Afghans finally got a chance to vote — in presidential elections in 2004 and parliamentary elections in 2005. Roads have been paved and schools reopened after three decades of anarchy.

Outside the south, major Afghan cities such as Mazar-e-Sharif in the north, Herat in the west and the capital, Kabul, have been largely free of political violence.

Frederick Starr, chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, said he was not surprised by the survey. “These findings … in no way contradict the larger conclusion that this is a country still desperately poor and desperately in need of help,” Starr said. “What they affirm is that help produces results, which in turn generates appreciation.”

The poll found that:

•Afghans were more than twice as likely (44% to 21%) to think their country was headed in the right direction, rather than the wrong direction; 29% had mixed feelings. Still, the optimists were down from 64% in a smaller Asia Foundation survey conducted in 2004.

By contrast, Iraqis have a bleaker outlook. A Sept. 1-4 World Public Opinion Poll of more than 1,000 Iraqis showed that 47% thought their country was going in the right direction, while 52% thought it was going the wrong way.

•77% said they were satisfied with the way democracy is working in Afghanistan.

•Only 6% ranked security as the biggest problem in their area, behind unemployment (18%), electricity shortages (12%), poverty (10%), a weak economy (10%) and scarce water supplies (9%). Sixty percent said they rarely or never worried about their own safety. However, 22% said security was the biggest problem facing the nation.

•54% said they were more prosperous than they were under the Taliban, which governed Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001; 26% felt less prosperous.

•42% said corruption was a major problem in their daily lives, and 77% called it a major national problem; 51% of those who dealt with public health care officials reported paying bribes for health service.

•Afghans had contradictory attitudes toward political tolerance: 85% said the government should allow peaceful opposition, but 64% said they would not allow political parties they personally opposed to meet in their areas.

•Nearly one-tenth of men and one-eighth of women felt that women should occupy most political positions in a country where women traditionally have been barred from schools and jobs.

•87% said they trusted the Afghan national army, and 86% said they trusted the Afghan national police. The police, in particular, have been widely criticized for being corrupt, brutal and beholden to local warlords. A report released this month by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based non-profit group devoted to conflict prevention, called the Afghan police “little more than private militias … regarded in nearly every district more as a source of insecurity than protection.”

“I have never met one person, including the minister of the Interior, who trusted the Afghan national police,” Barnett Rubin, who studies Afghanistan at New York University's Center on International Cooperation, said in an e-mail. “I think this is not a very reliable survey.”

Starr counters: “For a country that didn't have a national army and had only local militias, the fact that one exists — no matter its absolute level — is a breakthrough.”

George Varughese, who directed the poll for the Asia Foundation, which supports programs in Asia that help improve governance and law and encourage economic development, agrees that some of the results “appear to challenge the current wisdom on issues in Afghanistan,” but says, “We feel it is a solid, important piece of work, completed during a difficult time.”

And

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/09/AR2006110900383.html

Trade Deficit Narrows by Most in 5 Years

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER

The Associated Press

Thursday, November 9, 2006; 8:36 AM

WASHINGTON -- Helped by falling oil prices, America's trade deficit showed a sharp improvement in September, narrowing by the largest amount in more than five years.

However, the politically sensitive deficit with China rose to a new record of $23 billion, pushed higher by a flood of Chinese-made televisions, cell phones and toys being imported to stock American store shelves for Christmas.

The overall deficit declined 6.8 percent to $64.3 billion in September after it had hit an all-time high of $69 billion in August. The drop of $4.7 billion was the biggest one-month decline since February 2001.

In other news, the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell by 20,000 to 308,000 last week.

The big improvement in September's trade deficit reflected a $3.1 billion fall in America's foreign oil bill, which declined 10.5 percent, to $26.3 billion. The price of imported oil, which had set a record in August, dropped by $3.60 per barrel to an average for imported crude of $62.52 in September.

That decline helped to push total imports down by 2.1 percent to $187.5 billion in September while U.S. exports edged up 0.5 percent to an all-time high of $123.2 billion.

Even with the improvement, the deficit is on track to set a record for a fifth consecutive year. Through September, the deficit is running at an annual rate of $781.6 billion, surpassing last year's all-time high of $716.7 billion.

Democrats, who took control of Congress in Tuesday's elections, sought to make President Bush's trade policies an issue in the campaign, arguing that the administration had failed to do enough to protect American workers against unfair foreign competition.

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Cskin

Cskin

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I have a strong suspicion that we're going to be reading, and seeing on the evening news, all these stories of rainbows..... sunny days.... cute puppy's breath..... and uplifting stories now that the Dems are in office. You know... you have to solidify the election results with concrete "happy days are here again" visuals for the great sweaty unwashed. You have to set the election results.... let them cure... .and build the foundation for the illinformed to perceive as...."hey, it's not so bad in the world now that Dems control Congress.

I'm quite sure some group will do a survey that details a miraculous change in how the news is being reported in this nation..... how positive stories seem to be sprouting up like willdflowers where the "America is failing" stories grew like weeds just three days ago.

Crazy how that is isn't it?

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Johnny Punani

Johnny Punani

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I have a strong suspicion that we're going to be reading, and seeing on the evening news, all these stories of rainbows..... sunny days.... cute puppy's breath..... and uplifting stories now that the Dems are in office. You know... you have to solidify the election results with concrete "happy days are here again" visuals for the great sweaty unwashed. You have to set the election results.... let them cure... .and build the foundation for the illinformed to perceive as...."hey, it's not so bad in the world now that Dems control Congress.

I'm quite sure some group will do a survey that details a miraculous change in how the news is being reported in this nation..... how positive stories seem to be sprouting up like willdflowers where the "America is failing" stories grew like weeds just three days ago.

Crazy how that is isn't it?

You know that is exactly what is going to happen. But wait! There is no liberal bias in the media!! :rolleyes:

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SkinsHokieFan

SkinsHokieFan

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Wow SkinsHokieFan. You are bitter.

You can say a lot about me, including being a clear partisan hack, but bitter isn't one of them. I tend to see the bright side of things, and I think things will get done

I do however have a memory like an elephant, I can't forget anything

Dissapointed? Sure

Wondering what the D's will bring? Yup

But bitter? Na, after all there is 2008 to worry about now

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jmcardle1982

jmcardle1982

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It's no joke. He was barely a moderate. He'll turn liberal over the next two years

No he will play the non-partisan role which is smart politics. If my hunch is right I think the Dems will over-extend themselves and fight for a mandate that isn't there. This will usher in a new era of Conservative control of government in '08. Please Dems go after the tax cuts. The voters will destroy you if you do.

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SkinsHokieFan

SkinsHokieFan

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Much easier to blame/congratulate one cause (D v. R, etc.) than actually consider the variety of underlying issues.

Hooray intellectual laziness!

:laugh:

Sorry, give me till the weekend, and I'll get back whatever little intellect I did have

Its like the after loss threads in the stadium, all rational thought is gone :laugh:

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