We Sure Love to Mess with the Middle East

[Gene Scarborough]

Since 9/11 things have not been the same.

We were busted / we turned around and busted them (no Ossama capture yet) / most African and Middle Eastern countries are in rebellion /

Yesterday we busted Libya!!!

The cost of this War is bankrupting America and we have little resource to address our own economy. We are the backers of every government being tossed out of Africa and Egypt.

QUESTION: Just how long and from how far away will we get a Terrorist putting a nuclear device at the heart of several of our major cities / infrastructure junction points????

[ET]

Who is "we" that backed Gadhafi in this country? At least for the last 30 years of my life this country hasn't supported Gadhafi. And what governments in Africa are being tossed out that "we" supported (other than Egypt)?

Gene, you need a reality check, sir. The 2010 budget for the Department of Defense was $600 billion. The federal deficit for last year was $1.3 TRILLION. That means if we had not spend one dime on the military last year -- not one bullet, missile or airplane -- we would still have had a DEFICIT larger than the entire military budget for that year.

It's not war that's bankrupting America, sir.

[Gene Scarborough]

Check the figures for yourself, old buddy!!!

What created the greatest inflation period in my lifetime thus far was Viet Nam + War on Poverty. The dollar became virtually worthless against other currencies and the cost of everything was inflating at 21-23% for a good while! Here is a simple formula to calculate how long it takes for the dollar to be worth half what it is today: Inflation rate X 7 = how many years you will need twice as much to be equal to the value now. It is called the "rule of 7."

Carter got the blame, but Johnson did the dirty deed.

The Kingfisher (Amos 'n Andy):

[Jim]

The U.S. went to battle in Afghanistan and Iraq for reasons of national interest – 9/11 and the determination by the top international intelligence agencies that Saddam had WMD, which he probably transferred to Syria from Sept 2001 through January 2002. These were not civil wars, as was not the UN-approved Kuwait dustup in 1991.

Abe Lincoln and the North aided and abetted by Jefferson Davis and the South conducted a civil war, with the Confederacy recognized by no other power as a government, though the South longed for Britain as an ally and fired the first shot at the North. No other country came to the aid officially of either side, though trade continued by individuals. There might have been allies except that no one could figure how the war would turn out and couldn’t afford to take a chance on being on the wrong side.

This is the same setup in Libya – a civil war, with Libya (Qaddafi) desperately needing and not getting allies. Obama, without consulting Congress, committed the U.S. to help the rebels, who have no leader and no identity, and thus no accountability responsibility. In effect, he attacked a sovereign nation that posed absolutely no threat to this country, never mind the angst a lot of people here and abroad have toward Qaddafi. This was an act of war. In both the Afghan and Iraq affairs the president not only consulted Congress but sought and acquired approval.

Obama, who wouldn’t know an M-16 from a tie Chevy rod, seeks to govern by executive order and through the courts. After giving his “war on Libya” order, he conveniently left the country for a few days. The command center for the operation has been on a U.S. destroyer, though Obama has declared that no ground troops will be used, something no military man would ever divulge, and American planes and missiles have been used to kill civilians.

The Defense Department fought with the State Department over the issue, with Obama/Hillary (after weeks of position-changing) winning out over the military experts, who wanted no part of this new and probably endless conflict – at least until Qaddafi is killed, with the latest effort to get him apparently a failure. The conditions in Yemen and Bahrain and to a lesser extent in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria are exactly like those in Libya and likewise no threat to this country. What will Obama do about them? He has said he intends to “handoff” the matter to the Europeans and the Arab League after he’s done the dirty work. That won’t happen because they lack what it takes.

Maybe Obama thought his reelection prospects needed a war of his own on his resume. One can only hope for his removal in 2012. His presidency is an anomaly without peer. Civil wars belong to the countries in which they are waged. If Qaddafi goes down, al Qaeda will have a new training-ground much closer to the U.S. than located farther to the east.

[Gene Scarborough]

Wow, Jim----we sure see quickly where you stand!

Now, could Bush walk on water or not???

Beg to differ with you on the WMD stuff, but none has ever been found / none was visible from our spy satellites certainly covering every inch of the ground / and--what the heck did Osamma have to do with Sadam???

As to "Executive Orders," Bush used them right and left in most things he did----including a "stand down" order to the pursue and order down of any commercial airliner going off the transponder and clearly hijacked.

Man, the Republicans have done a great job on you, my brother!!!!

[Jim]

Back in the 80s, Louis (God **** the Jews) Farrakhan and Jeremiah (God **** America) Wright paid a visit to Qaddafi, the word being that Calypso Louie was seeking a million dollars from his “brother,” which I believe he received in the 90s – can’t prove it. Louie made an interesting appearance on a radio show the other day to warn Obama, his “brother.” He combined Libya with the rest of the Middle East and even Wisconsin in warning this whole country about dire consequences. If you have a few minutes:
.

[Jim]

[Gene Scarborough]

Jim---

If you will be so kind as to take a good look at "Worse Than Watergate" by John Dean (Nixon insider), you might draw a more accurate picture of your political idol.

Further, take a good look at "W" by Oliver Stone who is the best writer of modern Bible we have. He tells both the good and bad and has done it well with Viet Nam / JFK / Bush.

Get real, my brother, neither Democrats nor Republicans are growing angel wings---and Obama certainly does not have devils horns either. They are all people like us trying to do their best despite the awful hate going on over politics today.

So, do your think Donald Trump will be your next shot at the Presidency---or Huckabee? I'm sure the other side could matter little to you!

"Us" means anyone reading your post / If you love waterboarding of possibly innocent people with no due process, I guess you belong in Kadifi-land!!! Sorry to be a little snide, but your kind of Republican will never have my respect.

[Jim]

[ET]

[Gene Scarborough]

So why don't you tell your Congressman / woman to quit spending money we don't have??????

No matter you political direction, we can't keep this up and my starting point would be "meddling in other country's business" needs to go.

I'm sure loving debating a die hard Conservative Republican and a dedicated Southern Baptist at the same time!!! But bring it on!!!!

[KeithE]

Actually to eliminate our $1.17B/year deficit we need cut spending (particularly DoD, SS, Medicare/caid) and increase taxes (income, corporate).
Read to inform yourself about our budget.

Here are some good ideas:
1) Cut the DoD budget ($663B/yr in 2010) by $360B/year. We would still have 3x the DoD Budget of the next highest DoD budget , China's $100B/year


2) Increase marginal income taxes on millionaires to 45% and billionaires to 49%.
saving $79B/year

Could easily get even more revenue by greater tax hikes on the rich more in line with the rising inequality we have seen since 1976 (look at bars above).

3) reduce our health care costs by 40% more in line with the highest health care per capital spending level of OECD countries savings ~$317B/year in Medicare/caid costs (now at $793B/year)



4) enforce corporate tax rates by saving at least $170B/year that would have been saved in 2002 (say at least $200B/year by now)

5) cut our black programs in half (~$50B/year saved); black programs are the "other" at the bottom of

6) cut social security by ~$200B/year somehow.

That's $1.2T is rather obvious savings.

Not saying it is this simple. For example these cuts mean lost jobs and therefore lost revenues. But we need to move in these directions - all of them agressively- all the while trying to improve our productivity thru infrastructure improvements/repairs, energy independence (which most reserchers say will pay or itself), and education.

Another unbudgeted cost of war is the over their diminished lifetimes.

All any of these wars are doing is creating more hatred against the US.

[Gene Scarborough]

KeithE----YOU ARE THE MAN!!!!

I hope you are communicating this to your Senators and Representatives. It makes great sense to me and contains concrete information vs. the Conservative Republican BS I saw above!!!!

[Gene Scarborough]