dizmo4's Comments (1592)

“There's roughly 1million land mines in the DMZ between North and South Korea.
Its a major deterrent to a full blown North Korean invasion.”

“Clinton Refused to sign the landmine treaty as well.

The chief issue is the DMZ between North and South Korea. there are millions of landmines in that area, many of which were put there by the US.

Signing the treaty would require that the US disarm those mines.”

“IN November 2007 , Barack Obama's polling numbers were WORSE than this.

Yet he still was able to come back and win the Democratic nominaiton and then the Presidency. Polling data is completely meaningless this far away from an election.

And its completely meaningless without some sort of comparison. They may not be approve of the President's job currently but does that mean they would vote him out of office? That's impossible to know without having a concrete alternative.”

“Lets see

Barack Obama - 11 months experience as President of the United States.

Sarah Palin - Quit as governor of Alaska.

So where's the experience exactly?”

“The problem with that method is that Progressives wouldn't stand for it.

THey've drawn a line in the sand that no health care bill will pass if it does not contain a public option.”

“This is the fundamental problem that Democrats have ---

If the base walks away from Dems, it allows the party to get more conservative ( more Blanche Linconln's and Ben Nelsons') since the only way for a Democrat to get elected is to appeal to independents and liberal republicans.

So the next time they get into power, those conservative members will obstruct the passage of truly progressive legislation.

Its completely self defeating.”

“Someone in Congress ( say Bernie Sanders maybe) should introduce a bill ending government-provided health care to members of Congress.”

“I think you give Reid too much credit. The Majority Leader of the Senate controls the Floor Schedule but thats basically it. Committee Chairs have more power than the Leader does.”

“Exactly.

If Conrad, Bacus, Lincoln, etc. decide that the public option is NOT budget neutral, 60 votes will be required since it would increase the deficit. ( It wouldn't matter whether it increased it or not, all the would be required is if THEY thought it would).

So you'd still be stuck with teh same problem we have now --- filibusters. The only solution is to actually make Republicans filibuster. Shut down the Senate and make them talk for days.

If the Dems do that, they'll do fine in 2010 since they would have effectively stood up to the REpublicans and fought for what htey believed--even if they failed and were stuck at 59 votes.”

“I see the Tr0lls are out in droves today.”

“There you go using FACTs again.

Don't you know that FACTs have a liberal bias?”

“You realize that Jimmy Carter was correct in his policies. Had the nation listened to Carter, we'd be off oil, would have a green economy and a stable financial system. But everyone wanted to feel good about themselves than do the hard work thats necessary to fix the economy and build a solid foundation for the future.

Secondly, its been 11 freakin months. He's started the process on HCR, Climate Change, Financial Regulation, Economic Recovery. You were expecting to have everything completed in 11 months? These are all huge issues and they take a great deal of time to make their way through Congress.

Third. Remember Clinton did not start off well at all, infact the first two years were rife with mistakes. Obama has made missteps to be sure, but he is light years ahead of where Clinton was at the same time during his presidency.

Fourth, you can't compare Obama to FDR. The times are vastly different. The Republican opposition were at least constructive in their criticism and realized that everyone needed to come together for the good of the country. This current crop of the Republican­/Conservat­ives would gladly destroy the US just to watch Pres. Obama lose. 24 hour news media filled wiht talking heads that scream the most absurd BS further poisons the chances of a honest, intelligent debate.”

“They should be.

What else would you call them?

They're selling out their constituents for money. Its not voting their conscience, they can vote no. But these politicians are blocking the chance of majority rule. They're willing to obstruct to protect special interests and their campaign donations.”

“You realize that means basically eliminating medicare and social security ( or cutting defense budget by roughly 75%) right?”

“Analogies comparing the government to individuals is inherently false.

Individuals don't have the type of costs that governments ( even state governments) have to deal with.”

“As opposed to George W. Bush, the first MBA President. Those were some great job-creating years... oh wait.

He presided over the current economic collapse and did NOTHING to prevent or stop it...”

“There's a limit to the Laffer Curve.

Tax cuts only increase revenue up to a point. If you drop the top rate from 80% down to 40% you free up a tremendous amount of capital that can be used to produce jobs and thereby increase federal revenue.

This is what happened in the early 80s. You had high tax rates and high interest rates, which lead to a lack of capital in the market. By cutting taxes, Reagan was able to free up capital which allowed for economic growth.

Right now we have low taxes and low interest rates ( virtually 0%). No one is spending money so people are losing jobs which decreases federal revenue. The only way to combat that is for someone to spend--the only entity capable of spending money right now is the Federal Government.”

“Military spending is not existential.

Spending hundreds of billions of dollars on a weapons system that doesn't work to defend against a threat that doesn't exist is a total waste of $. Instead of spending money on armored vehicles to actually protect our troops from IEDs, the money is spent on F-22s. A fighter that was designed to defeat Soviet era fighters. It can't operate in today's environment ( air to ground).

The F-15 remains the most capable fighter in the world, able to defend the US agianst any current fighter.”

“The rich ( top 1% ) already have more money than the bottom 95% combined.

They have virtually all the wealth in this country, yet none of it is trickling down. They're spending, not creating jobs, not investing in the future. They're simply hoarding the money.

The fundamental problem with "Trickle down economics" is that it fails to take into account human greed. The rich will always want more, and will never spend / invest the amount that is necessary for true job creating and a truly stable economy.

Thats why we had such sustained economic growth during the 50s, and 60s. The recessions we did have were not nearly as bad as we we're seeing now. Its only after we began doing away with the FDR policies that you've seen the stability of the US economy falter.”

“George W. Bush and a Republican controlled Congress spent more money than any other President in US history on needless wars and tax cuts for the uber rich.

Now when Democrats try to fix the many, many problems created by Republicans, all we hear about is how we're so far in debt we can't afford to spend a penny.”

“If she joins a filibuster of health care reform, then yes, yes she is a prostitute. She would have effectively sold herself to the health insurance industry.”

“If McCain had won, we'd be in Iran too.

NATO would have pulled out of Afghanistan completely.

We'd have 15-20% unemployment.

And four more years of misery to look forward too.

Ya know, kinda like the nation had with Hoover from 1929 - 1933.”

“Only a complete 1d10t would call a war in which American Soldiers are dying a "minor" issue.”

“How so?

He's been on the job maybe 6 months. Still hasn't gotten his strategy 100% implemented because it takes time to get the proper people in place.”

“Do you even know what the Central banks do?”