Biden rebukes Cheney, guarantees we're 'safer today'

quoted from the CNN 08 April, 2009

Vice President Joe Biden brushed aside recent criticism by predecessor Dick Cheney that moves by the Obama administration had put the United States at risk, telling CNN on Tuesday that the former vice president was "dead wrong."

"I don't think Cheney is out of line, but he is dead wrong." he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "This administration - the last administration left us in a weaker posture than we've been anytime since World War 2: less regarded in the world, stretched more thinly than we ever have been in the past, two wars under way, virtually no respect in entire parts of the world.

"... I guarantee you we are safer today, our interests more secure today than they were anytime during the eight years" of the Bush administration.

In an interview with CNN's John King last month, Cheney said President Obama had been "making some choices that in my mind raise the risk to the American people of another attack."

Biden said former President Bush had not been fully aware of the country's position in the world.
"I remember President Bush saying to me on time in the Oval Office, and he was a great guy, enjoyed being with him. He said to me, he said, "Well, Joe," he said, "I'm a leader." and I said, "Mr. President, turn around and look behind you. No one's following. People are beginning to follow the United States again as a consequence of our administration."

"... I think the biggest thing we're doing is, I'm operating in concert with the president," he said, "There are not - there are - look, everybody talks about how powerful Cheney was. His power weakened America, in my view."

But he did not deny reports of disagreement within the Obama administration as well, over the president's plan to widen involvement in Afghanistan. A report last week said Biden had warned about the possibility getting into a quagmire, while military advisers pushed for more troops.

"Well, look. Without commenting specifically on who took what position, there was a healthy debate. There is a healthy debate within our administration."

The vice president said that he condemned a new Afghan law that would allow men to rape their wives, but that those issues were not the focus of the U.S. presence in that nation. "I am not prepared to send American troops to die for that." he said.

As the president made an unannounced visit to Baghdad, Iraq, on Tuesday, Biden said that he had no concerns that a recent uptick in violence in Iraq might affect plans to withdraw most U.S. troops from that country by the summer of 2010.

"I'm not worried about that at all. We will draw down along the timeline we suggested." the vice president said.

Also not a concern for Biden: the possibility of Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. The vice president said he was not worried that Israel's new government, under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would order such an attck.

"I don't believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu would do that. I think he would be ill-advised to do that. And so my level of my concern is no different that it was a year ago."

A day after North Korea's rocket test sparked alarm from world leader, Biden called for a tougher response from Moscow and Beijing.

"What I'd like to see is a strong condemnation and a united effort on the part of the Chinese, Russians in the six-party talks to say, "enough is enough, there will be greater sanctions, we will squeeze down even harder on North Korea." he said.

He added that China could "do a great deal more," although he was uncertain it would. "I think this puts the onus on China and Russia and South Korea and Japan, et cetera, along with us, to be bolder in our condemnation."

On the domestic front, Biden said that the administration's economic plan would prevent up to 4 million jobs from being lost and stabilize the economy, but that "it will take at least another year before you start to see employment," and in the meantime, jobs will continue to disapear.

"There will be an additional job loss. ... You're not going to see reports this calendar year saying there was no job losses the remainder of this year. The question is will they continually go down before they begin to rebound, and employment - we go down to zero job loss and back to employment."

He said it was "too premature" to begin discussing another stimulus package, though he has no ruled one out.

The Economy and Boston / source: CNN

Texans report fireball in sky, sonic booms

quoted from CNN News

Sonic booms and st least one fireball in the sky were reported in Texas on Sunday, less than a week after two satellites collided in space and a day after the Federal Aviation Administration asked U.S. pilots to watch for "falling space debris," authorities said.

There were no reports of ground strikes or interference with aircraft in flight, FAA spokesman Roland Herwig said.

Herwig told CNN the FAA received no reports from pilots in the air of any sightings but the agency recived "numerous" calls from people on the ground from Dallas, Texas, south to Austin, Texas.

Video shot by a photographer from News 8 TV in Austin showed what appeared to be a meteor-like white fireball blazing across a clear blue sky Sunday morning. The photographer caught the incident while covering a marathon in Austin.

On Saturday, the FAA told pilots through its routin notification systems that "a potential hazard may occur due to re-entry of satellite debris into the earth's atmosphere." The notice did not specify a time or location.

Herwig said most of the reports the FAA received came in about midday Sunday in an area of Texas from Dallas south to Austin.

He said he was not certain where the information that sparked the FAA notification came from, but it was "probably from NORAD," or the North America Aerospace Defence Command, which tracks man-made objects in space. Calls to NORAD headquarters in Colorado were not immediately returend.

Lisa Block, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said her agency had received calls from residents surprised by sonic booms about 11 a.m. She said calls came from an area from Dallas to Houston.

Last week, the Russian and U.S. space agencies said two satellites, one Russian and one American, collided about 496 miles(800 kilometers) above Siberia, Russia.

The collision on Tuesday produced two large debris clouds, NASA said. The satellites collided at 6.2miles(10kilometers) per second, producing 500 to 600 pieces of space debris, the U.S. Strategic Command said.