dizmo4's Comments (1420)

“The Red Cross, Amnesty International, etc. have a tendency to go a bit too far in just about every circumstance when they aren't given 100% access when they demand it.

Secondly, of course those held aren't going to like it. Its difficult to get an accurate picture--which I believe is the point--but it seems everyone jumps to the conclusion that this is just like GITMO or abu Garab (sp).

The sad fact is that there are a lot of bad people in Afghanistan. Not just Al Qaeda, but Taliban, Narco Trafficers, War lords, etc. Afghanistan has no justice system to speak of so what is the alternative?

Its interesting how quickly liberals are willing to abandon Pres. Obama.”

“Its by sheer luck that these two individuals seem to be relatively harmless people just looking for publicity--just imagine had these people been the tea-party ilk or birthers or what have you.

Maybe they wouldn't try to do harm to the President, but even if they stood up and acted like idiots its a HUGE embarrassment country and fodder for the right wing for the next 3 years.

The people manning the check point that these two entered need to be fired ASAP. Secret Service needs to do a complete security review NOW.”

“They've changed the filibuster rules so its not he "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" style of filibuster in which a Senator or groups of Senators stand there reading the phone book.

There's now a variety of procedural maneuvers that the opposition can do without ever having to endure the talking for 24 hours. For example, requiring the bill to be read aloud after each amendment is passed, adding weeks to any debate.

In effect, its easier to filibuster legislation today than it was in previous years.

The simple solution is to go back to the time when you force the opposition to hold the floor. Talk endlessly for weeks if they want to kill legislation.”

“Its virtually impossible for Congress to increase taxes, even on the richest 1% and even with the nation facing big deficits.

Any vote for a tax increase is an almost certain death sentence politically -- unless you're in a very blue district.

You really want to add monetary policy to that? Politicize the raising and lowering of interest rates? The whole point here is that regulation WAS politicized during the Bush administration ( and previous administrations). Regulation was framed as being anti-free market and ultimately hurting the economy and job growth. So beginning in the 80s you saw a steady push for de-regulating just about everything. The one regulatory institution that was largely untouched was the Fed.

The fed should be more transparent, and shoudl be reviewed. But stripping it of regulator power is just asking for disaster in the future.”

“no.

Printing money without nay sort of controls is exactly what post-WWI Germany did. Inflation skyrocketed.

The entire purpose of the fed is primarily to control monetary policy and combat inflation. It does that by supplying banks with money and controlling interest rates. Its apolitical so you don't have to deal with teabaggers and the hoards of idiots that accompany any debate on taxes in Congress.”

“The Korean DMZ is another reason that the US has been reluctant to sign this treaty ( the original reason why President Clinton did not sign it).”

“I'm sorry to point out but you were naive.

Barack Obama said repeatedly during the campaign that he would expand the war in Afghanistan. You may not have liked it, but it was no secret.

Secondly, TARP occurred under Bush. By the time Obama took office Paulson had already given $350bn away to Wall Street. President Obama was faced with a difficult choice, try to make the best out of a bad policy, or start over from scratch ( in which case $350bn would have been completely wasted). He choose to make the best out of a bad policy decision from the previous administration. He understood that the Health Care battle, stimulus battle were coming up and it would have been impossible to get any more money from Congress.

Third, there is absolutely no way that single payer would EVER pass Congress. It may be the best option but there are far too many conservative Democrats in the House and Senate to ever let a single payer bill reach the floor. So either President Obama wastes time on a nonstarter or he is practical about the situation and goes for the best that is possible. He choose the latter.

Unfortunately, the Congressional Democrats are far weaker than anyone previously thought.”

“The original Landmine ban was enacted by most countries under President Clinton.
He refused to sign the treaty without an exception for the Korean DMZ.
Obviously, Bush wasn't goign to sign a landmine ban either.

This isn't exclusive to Obama. In fact, I'm willing to bet any US President will refuse to sign the treaty --Democrat or Republican.”

“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.”