massimo1's Comments (22)

“The big question that we should be asking Obama is this: if the Afghan government really doesn't meet expectations, if the army and police forces really can't stand up, will you honor your commitment to get out and stop throwing good money after bad? Or does "situation on the ground" really mean an indefinite commitment. I, we, need to know that Obama intends to keep his promise to leave, whatever the chickenhawk republicans think about that. As if they have any ethical ground to stand upon.
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My answer to you would be to look at his past actions because they speak louder than words.
Pre-election Obama promised to get us out of Iraq in 16 months. Post election he said we would be out but leave 50,000 troops indefinitely. So, the answer is: HE LIES!!!

Since Iraq was a War of Lies and the justifications turned out to be fabrications (no WMD & no Al Qaeda boogeymen, WTC hijackers were Saudis & from the UAE), and we have a miniscule reason for being in Afghanistan (Osama may have been there at one time), I would say Obama intends to be there more permanently than Iraq, not less. He will not stop throwing good money after bad. It will be an indefinite committment and he will never leave, just like Iraq only more so.”

“Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language", 1946”

“This is utter tripe: "The people for whom Obama is a tool want war - be they the military, the contractors, the multinationals ..."

Fact: The Department of Defense employs more than 3.38 million civilian and military personnel, with an annual financial investment of more than $100 billion.

Source -- The DOD Performance and Accountability Report to the office of the Inspector General United States.

$100 Billion dollars per year payed to U.S. contractors (in times of peace, no war expenses included) -- Your assertion that a war is required to enhance profits is utterly absurd, to the point of being willfully ignorant.

Try actually doing a little research. Of course this would only be meaningful if you intended to attempt to construct a reasoned argument. It took me five seconds to locate this report on-line.You are merely spewing assertions without any factual evidence supporting.”

“Not going to let you get away with the propaganda buddy. This: "Maybe if we (the West, not just the US) weren't trampling all over their land, intimately involved with extraction of their resources ..." is pure and utter nonsense. Those nations make vast profit from the commercial sale of their resources. Al Qaeda did not murder 3000 innocent men and women as an environmentalist protest. You cannot rewrite history or claim commercial trade is theft just to suit your misguided sensibilities. Go peddle your propaganda but do not pretend it is remotely close to anything resembling fact or reality.”

“The reply is dead on and the article is absolutely correct. Obama has buried himself as he does indeed move faster and faster to the right and far right. It was stated, correctly, months ago, that he was not a liberal, a progressive or a conservative, but a centrist looking right. That has more than proven itself out. What has also come to light is his inability to make a decision as well as well as allow those who have brought this country to its knees to call the shots. He was a failed President 90 days into the WH. He has no policy of his own. He is merely following the playbook left by Bush and Cheney and being used by the Neocons, the MIC, the warmongers, to get what they want. He has no friends on the beltway. Whatever believers and supporters he had are now all disillusioned with him and the Dems. I fear the Republicans will come back into power with a vengence and the end of the US as we know it will only escalate more rapidly as they destroy the entire country with their reckless and insane greed and moral bankruptcy.”

“I would love to have the "audacity" to disagree with you, but I cannot. If he continues down the path he is headed what you say will come to pass.”

“After that, we'll get another Rethug majority in Congress ...”

“The only principle involved here is the principle of greed.”

“I believe the intention of this effort is to fund campaigns in such a way that if a member of Congress votes against the will of his/her constituents it WON'T be because of financial influence from any lobbyist. Not so that a member only votes how his/her constituents want. The final paragraph makes that pretty clear.

The final paragraph reads: "In a system of Citizen Funded Elections, voting against the views of your constituents is a profile in courage. In the system we now have, when that vote is also a vote in favor of your contributors, it is to most a simple confirmation of how deeply corrupt this government is."”

“We don't negotiate with terrorists we just bribe them.”

“In fact, the US IS overcrowded. Our population has already surpassed sustainable levels, long-term. This is simply a fact. No technology can produce more water, more land, more ecosystems. The laws of physics and of Nature cannot be "managed." What's "ridiculous" is that Americans have virtually no education whatsoever in ecology, and therefore make pie-in-the-sky claims about the capacity of Nature to absorb ever-expanding demands placed on it by burgeoning populations. It cannot. Period. The year is 2009, not 1909. The myth of America as a country that can continue to absorb increasing numbers of immigrants--legal or illegal--is a dangerous one.”

“So unless we are packed wall to wall, living in tiny little apartments 60 stories high like Hong Kong, then we are not overcrowded? The fact is that we are the third most populous nation in the world, and there are large parts of this country that are too environmentally fragile, the West for instance, to support large populations. Our fish and song bird populations are fractions of what they were years ago, due to overuse and habitat loss. Sure, we can get potable water from sea water, but that's very expensive compared to fresh water. People like you have to bend over backward to deny there's a connection between population and environmental degradation. According to your logic, there are no limits.”

“We spend BILLIONS on people who don't belong here. They need to go back to their own countries.”

“That is a good question. My grandfather, father, aunts, uncles, cousins, and older brother were all born in Hawaii before it became a state. Does that somehow affect their eligibility for the Presidency (entirely hypothetical question, of course)? All were children of two citizens, and Hawaii was a US territory at the time. We really do not have alot to go on in terms of interpreting the natural-born citizen clause, but I would really wonder why all these relatives of mine should be excluded, while I (who was born in San Francisco) am eligible. I cannot imagine that such an absurd outcome is what was meant by that clause written in the 18th Century.”

“His mom was still a citizen of the US! Don't you follow logical arguments?”

“"What if Obama had been born in Hawaii before it became a state? Then what?"

Then his parents would have named him Barry Goldwater.”

“He was born in 1961. Stop fishing.”

“Unfortunately a lot of doctors have not been doing their jobs which makes articles like this necessary. I've read many, many horror stories of people who were misdiagnosed by their doctors. Thank God that HuffPost is giving space to this kind of information!”

“If doctors were treating patients, articles like this would not be necessary.

They are making their own karma.

They are irresponsible.

It is not evidence based medicine to look at TSH alone for example, when even mainstream medicine accepts you could have secondary hypothyroidism in which case TSH may not be indicative of anything.”

“Um, seems to me that he is telling you how to know if you have problems and sending you to a doctor to find out. I don't see any "prescribing" whatsoever and I certainly don't see anything that's the least bit dangerous. I don't know what your problem is, but I assume this is on the website because it has the potential to help a lot of people.”

“I wonder what will be her credentials to run for president when she's not governor anymore? "I was a failure at governing Alaska and I was bored with it anyway. So let me be your president"?

Actually, I can imagine her followers saying that's fine with them.”

“Not a chance - will will be seen as a quitter. Stick a fork in her political career, it's done.

On the other hand, tricky Dick one famously said we would have him to kick around anymore and we all know where that ended up.....”

“Because people who quit a job that can bring help to hundreds of thousands of residents are always our first choice for the office ten steps above.”

“Ebert's Journal is simply some of the best writing on the web. The latest is Mr. Ebert's first hand report of the festival. But he rarely writes about movies in the Journal. In back to back posts he wrote about how to tell a good joke and then his thoughts about God and religion. Then there are the reader comments. They are insightful, funny, touching, revealing and almost always well written. There is really nothing else like it.”

“It makes sense, but action is probably past due. A debate, especially a debate among academics, could drag on for months. In the meantime the situation could become immeasurably worse. Like many problems there are probably multiple solutions to this one. The one Mr. Geithner & company are pursuing may not be the most efficient but as Mr. Neiman wrote it has a good chance of succeeding. Doing nothing, although there are some in favor of it, is not an option.”

“Great idea, but won't happen.”

“Me thinks the Obama Administration is doing their darnedest to prevent another attack on the U.S., therefore the lip service to placate the left, but secret free hand/iron hand with terrorists and, yes, "potential" terrorists. Gotta get to 'em before they become fully fledged, don't we know!”

“Why don't you start your own t- (as in torture) bag protest. Or, perhaps you don't have any t-bags. Look at all the Republicans that went out in the rain with their childish, somewhat stupid signs protesting Obama as president. Most of them didn't even know what they were upset about. At least you have an important issue.
Start your movement, make your signs, call your friends and get out and protest.”

“absolutely correct, massimo. and roker's post is right on point.”

“Something else to ponder the next time you are about to ingest Splenda®: Just because it tastes sweet and has been given a name that sounds like "sucrose," does that make it safe to sprinkle chlorinated hydrocarbons on your food?”

“which ones?? i'm genuinely curious.... ...”

“You get the government you deserve. If this tactic works again expect a lot of countries benefiting from our ex-patriots as this country slips into a backward theocracy.”

“TOO MANY RESTRICTIONS PUT ON THE QUESTIONS ASKED AT THESE DEBATES.....ACTUALLY, THEY ARE BECOMING USELESS AS IT IS A REPEAT OF ANY OTHER DEBATE....W BOTH PARTIES”