10:11 am November 23, 2009, by Jay
Sooner or later, the piper demands to be paid:
With the national debt now topping $12 trillion, the White House estimates that the government’s tab for servicing the debt will exceed $700 billion a year in 2019, up from $202 billion this year, even if annual budget deficits shrink drastically. Other forecasters say the figure could be much higher.
In concrete terms, an additional $500 billion a year in interest expense would total more than the combined federal budgets this year for education, energy, homeland security and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The potential for rapidly escalating interest payouts is just one of the wrenching challenges facing the United States after decades of living beyond its means.
NOTE: I’m on vacation this week, so posting will be a little lighter than normal. As you might have noticed….
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690 comments Add your comment
Common Sense
November 23rd, 2009
10:54 pm
To Jackie:
Well, I have worked union, non-union and I’ve been in the military. The union sucks by comparison.
Keep reading …….. you’ll figure out what Vessey meant:
“The safest place in Korea was right behind a platoon of Marines. Lord, how they could fight!”
MGen. Frank E. Lowe, USA; Korea, 26 January 1952
“I have just returned from visiting the Marines at the front, and there is not a finer fighting organization in the world!”
General of the Armies Douglas MacArthur; Korea, 21 September 1950
“There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines: Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion.”
Gen. William Thornson, U.S. Army
“Lying offshore, ready to act, the presence of ships and Marines sometimes means much more than just having air power or ship’s fire, when it comes to deterring a crisis. And the ships and Marines may not have to do anything but lie offshore. It is hard to lie offshore with a C-141 or C-130 full of airborne troops.”
Gen. Colin Powell, U. S. Army
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
During Operation Desert Storm
“The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle.”
Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing, U.S. Army
Commander of American Forces in World War I
“Do not attack the First Marine Division. Leave the yellowlegs alone. Strike the American Army.”
Orders given to Communist troops in the Korean War;
shortly afterward, the Marines were ordered
to not wear their khaki leggings.
“If I had one more division like this First Marine Division I could win this war.”
General of the Armies Douglas McArthur in Korea
…………. not don’t get your fatigues in a wad ….. I’m just messin with ya !
AmVet
November 23rd, 2009
11:00 pm
Damnation! And Carrie Nation too.
That Anderson piece is still just mind blowing, isn’t it? Musically it is infused with modern classical. And the lyrics? My God…
Midori, I have written on this very blog that I think Ms. Palin is a charming woman and a fine American. I also contend she was “qualified” for office in that she would take her marching orders from the Washington corporate masters as willingly and well as any man.
Yet, I am personally thrilled that she never darkened the doorways of the residence at the United States Naval Observatory.
As for John McCain, I said he was the only one of those ten candidates on that stage who truly deserved my respect. And he came within an eyelash of being Swift Boated by his own party.
As a student, I always loved studying civics and about our government. I wish more Americans did. But as long as we the people have insufficient say or power in our system, most of us will never care enough to properly inform ourselves or get involved. Too many have just resigned themselves to the way things are.
I think that explains a lot of those ers and ums in that clip at the book signing. Glitz and glam and garnering votes from the vapid and vacuous.
B, just trying to keep it “special” /grin/ with something from the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UByYWMeY68
RW-(the original)
November 23rd, 2009
11:03 pm
Bruno,
I told you clearly at 10:34 that neither of them said what you had claimed and you’ve not given a single cite of where they did. That’s your MO and it’s quite transparent as are you and your motivations. Would you care to offer a single example of my making an argument using or claiming a literal interpretation of the Bible?
Bruno
November 23rd, 2009
11:07 pm
“B, just trying to keep it “special” /grin/ with something from the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival…”
Appreciate you keeping the groove light.
Is it just me, or are the “conservative” posters around here all crazy? Hard to get a straight answer out of any of them, but the insults keep flying.
The bottom line, Am, is that you never once tried to dissuade me from forming a blog friendship with any of them despite past grievances, but they definitely made it a point to question/insult my blog friendship with you. I was just waiting for one of them to start telling me what great Christians they are, and I got my answer tonight.
Nothing Is Free
November 23rd, 2009
11:15 pm
AmVet
Oh yes. MACs break. But with me there are two givens: I can play a thousand lottery tries and I won’t get a single number . . . ever, and I can break computers while I am still in the parking lot.
jackie
You keep saying that Union workers work with the tools they are given. They also work with the addictions they posses, the fatigue from partying all night and boredom from having to do the same thing all day, for 5/7th of their entire life. Automated plants turn out much better, better built and much more dependable cars. Have you been to Detroit lately? How’s that Union controlled town doing?
Getaclue
Hiroshima was ordered by a president that belongs to the same party that is pro-abortion. That would be the party that you support.
Perhaps this would be a good time to start reading a little history.
RW-(the original)
November 23rd, 2009
11:15 pm
but the insults keep flying.
…even though “B” has to stretch the definition of insult to the point of rendering it meaningless to show examples, who am I to get in the way of his persecution complex?…….
I was just waiting for one of them to start telling me what great Christians they are, and I got my answer tonight.
I’d still love to see an example of that too
AmVet
November 23rd, 2009
11:18 pm
All I’m going to say B, is that my experience is almost identical.
But on a much better note…
I reached out to NIF one Friday night a few weeks ago about some tasty stuff he put up. (Yes?) He accepted the olive leaf. This after we had gotten off to a horrible start.
He is one really bright guy and I dig that. And I know it sounds elitist, but I can recognize it when I see it.
And this rapprochement is good for both of us. And this forum, I believe.
I also believe you are the genesis for this.
And I still contend I can learn more from him (and you) that from ten others who feel, think and believe more like me…
md
November 23rd, 2009
11:22 pm
What ever happened to civil debate – point, cross point – leave out all the fillers?
RW-(the original)
November 23rd, 2009
11:26 pm
md,
I might tend to agree with your 11:22 but I opened the page and saw that I was supposedly saying that abortion should be illegal and some form of Christianity should be made the law of the land. It’s kind of hard to enter that “debate” in a point/counter point manner when I hadn’t even been here commenting on anything.
Common Sense
November 23rd, 2009
11:27 pm
To Bruno and AmVet:
I’m enjoying you self-adulation party but you know I have addressed this before. Liberals on this site (there are always exceptions) are MUCH more likely to engage in name calling/ranting vs. tough debate. As you know, I am willing to debate on almost any issue as long as there is a good exchange ……………
At ease and carry on libs., I’ll be in the area all day ……………….
Nothing Is Free
November 23rd, 2009
11:30 pm
Great game on Monday Night Football.
Common Sense
November 23rd, 2009
11:31 pm
And now ……………. our thought for today :
If green Martians landed in American tonight and started eating people alive it would be considered “profiling” to target anything green and we would be making them the “victims” before daybreak.
Bruno
November 23rd, 2009
11:33 pm
“He accepted the olive leaf. This after we had gotten off to a horrible start. He is one really bright guy and I dig that. And I know it sounds elitist, but I can recognize it when I see it.”
I blogged with NIF for a few years prior to here at W2W. He is a bright guy with a broad knowledge/experience base. He does take some seemingly “hard-line” stances at times and likes to insult liberals, but in the end it’s kind of a smokescreen for the real reason he’s here which is simply fellowship and conversation.
Catch you later Am.
AmVet
November 23rd, 2009
11:33 pm
CS, interesting.
Not terribly useful, but interesting…
OK, time to shut her down for another evening…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAwWmIy96b4
Jackie
November 24th, 2009
1:08 am
@Common Sense
The Marines have done well and you should be proud to be a member of the Corps.
On the other hand, being in the Army means I am just as proud of my association.
We could both point out many things that we could use as points of pride.
@NIF
You are speaking as if all workers and all product produced were defective.
If one looks at the rework and scrap rate of the American worker and compare that to those of foreign workers, I would be willing to wager the American worker comes out ahead.
To extrapolate as you are currently doing does nothing to further your point. Show a comparative analysis of the American product to that of its competition and point out how many union workers engineered that product. Would be a much better comparative analysis as opposed to your use truism and anecdotes.
Automation turns out better cars, but, how do you get the machines to spend money in the economy? Leaves you in a quandary, does it not?
So, work on extrapolating that point and see what you can come up with that helps the economy and the American worker?
RW-(the original)
November 24th, 2009
1:20 am
Oh My…I scrolled far enough back to see if “B” even had a leg to stand on, which he didn’t, but in the process I found the olive “leaf?” that “am” extended.
Please be advised “am” will no longer tolerate whatever happened before that, got that “b”?
RW-(the original)
November 24th, 2009
1:22 am
It will not be tolerated again.
Do I have that olive “leaf?” right ShamVet?
Rightwing Troll
November 24th, 2009
5:34 am
Ooops…
Looks like Andy $hit everywhere in here last night as he was screaming loudly about how christian he was.
You know nut sack, that in the digital age anything can be created, even movies of screaming fetuses… I mean come on if they fake a moon landing 30 years ago and fool you, think of what they can do today…
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Mrs. Godzilla
November 24th, 2009
5:45 am
Good Morning Campers….a little reading assisgnment……
Health Insurance Reform and Georgia: The Case for Change
The health care status quo is not an option for our states. If we do nothing, by 2019 the number of uninsured people will grow by more than 30 percent in 29 states and by at least 10 percent in every state. The amount of uncompensated care provided will more than double in 45 states. Businesses in 27 states will see their premiums more than double. And fewer people will have coverage through an employer.1 The time for health insurance reform is now.
Under reform in Georgia:
•1.7 million residents who do not currently have insurance and 387,000 residents who have nongroup insurance could get affordable coverage through the health insurance exchange.
•897,000 residents could qualify for premium tax credits to help them purchase health coverage.
•1.1 million seniors would receive free preventive services.
•203,000 seniors would have their brand-name drug costs in the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole” halved.
•106,000 small businesses could be helped by a small business tax credit to make premiums more affordable.
Health Insurance Reform Provides Early Relief and Health Security.
Proposals implemented in 2010 and 2011 will produce real benefits for:
•Families: The 9.7 million residents of Georgia will benefit as reform:
◦Ensures consumer protections in the insurance market. Insurance companies will no longer be able to place lifetime limits on the coverage they provide, use of annual limits will be restricted, and they will not be able to arbitrarily drop coverage.
◦Creates immediate options for people who can’t get insurance today. 10 percent of people in Georgia have diabetes2, and 30 percent have high blood pressure3 – two conditions that insurance companies could use as a reason to deny health insurance coverage. Reform will establish a high-risk pool to enable people who cannot get insurance today to find an affordable health plan.
◦Ensures free preventive services. 38 percent of Georgia residents have not had a colorectal cancer screening, and 17 percent of women over 50 have not had a mammogram in the past two years.4 Health insurance reform will ensure that people can access preventive services for free through their health plans. It will also invest in a prevention and public health fund to encourage prevention and wellness programs.
◦Supports health coverage for early retirees. An estimated 157,000 people from Georgia have early retiree coverage through their former employers, but early retiree coverage has eroded over time.5 A reinsurance program would stabilize early retiree coverage and provide premium relief to both early retirees and the workers in the firms that provide their health benefits. This could save families up to $1,200 on premiums.
•Seniors: Georgia’s 1.1 million Medicare beneficiaries6 will benefit as reform:
◦Lowers premiums by reducing Medicare’s overpayments to private plans. All Medicare beneficiaries pay the price of excessive overpayments through higher premiums – even the 87 percent of seniors in Georgia who are not enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan.7 A typical couple in traditional Medicare will pay nearly $90 in additional Medicare premiums next year to subsidize these private plans.8 Health insurance reform clamps down on these excessive payments.
◦Reduces prescription drug spending. Roughly 203,000 Medicare beneficiaries in Georgia hit the “doughnut hole,” or gap in Medicare Part D drug coverage that can cost some seniors an average of $4,080 per year.9 Reform legislation will provide a 50 percent discount for brand-name drugs in this coverage gap.
◦Covers free preventive services. Currently, seniors in Medicare must pay part of the cost of many preventive services on their own. For a colonoscopy that costs $707, this means that a senior must pay $16410 – a price that can be prohibitively expensive. Under reform, a senior will not pay anything for that colonoscopy, or for any other recommended preventive service. A senior will also get free annual wellness visits to his or her provider, with a personalized prevention plan to remain in good health.
•Small businesses: While small businesses make up 74 percent of Georgia’s businesses, only 38 percent of them offered health coverage benefits in 2008.11 106,000 small businesses in Georgia could be helped by a small businesses tax credit proposal that makes premiums more affordable.12 And these small businesses would be exempt from any employer responsibility provisions.
•States: State budgets will be relieved from rising health care costs as reform:
◦Reduces state employee premiums. Coverage would immediately be expanded to the uninsured, decreasing the amount of uncompensated care costs that gets shifted to the premiums of state employees. For states that provide early retiree health benefits to their state employees, a reinsurance program would provide premium relief of up to $1,200 per family policy per year for all employees.
◦Reduces uncompensated care. Right now, providers in Georgia lose $1.7 billion in uncompensated care each year,13 which states subsidize at least in part. Instead, under reform, uncompensated care would begin to be reduced immediately as more uninsured people gain coverage.
Health Insurance Reform Provides Stability, Security, and Choice.
•Provides relief from rising health care costs.
◦Ends the “hidden tax”. The $1.7 billion spent on uncompensated care in Georgia often gets passed along to families in the form of a hidden premium “tax”.14 By expanding coverage to the uninsured, health insurance reform will eliminate this burden on people who already have insurance.
◦Provides premium tax credits. Without reform, individuals and families in Georgia will spend increasing amounts of money out-of-pocket to cover premiums, deductibles, and co-payments, from $9.6 billion today to up to $17.1 billion in 2019.15 Through health insurance reform, 897,000 million Georgia residents could be eligible for premium credits to ease the burden of these high costs.16
•Promotes health insurance portability and choice. Health insurance reform establishes a health insurance exchange that will provide individuals with a wide variety of choices and ensure that they will always have coverage, whether they change jobs, lose a job, move or get sick.
◦Currently 1.7 million residents of Georgia do not have health insurance, and if nothing is done, by 2019 this population could swell to 2.4 million. The exchange will help the uninsured to obtain needed coverage and will also help the 387,000 Georgia residents who currently purchase insurance in the individual insurance market to get quality coverage at an affordable price.17
•Supports long-term home and community based services: It is estimated that 65 percent of those who are 65 today will spend some time at home in need of long-term care services,18 which typically cost almost $18,000 per year.19 This means that 665,000 older residents of Georgia who are aged 55 to 64 today will need home health services after they turn 6520 – services that are not always covered by Medicare, Medicaid, or private health insurance.
◦Health insurance reform will create a new voluntary long-term care services insurance program, which will provide a cash benefit to help seniors and people with disabilities obtain services and supports that will enable them to remain in their homes and communities.
◦Reform will encourage states to expand their home and community based services through Medicaid by providing enhanced funding, and it will create a program to provide community support services for disabled Medicaid enrollees who would otherwise need to be in a nursing home. These programs could help improve care for many of the 265,000 disabled Medicaid beneficiaries in Georgia.21
Health Insurance Reform Improves Quality and Reforms the Delivery System.
•Reduces preventable readmissions. The current health care system does not place enough emphasis on improving quality of care. For example, nearly 20 percent of Medicare patients who are discharged from the hospital end up being readmitted within 30 days.22 For Georgia, that’s 66,100 readmissions each year which could potentially be prevented with improved care coordination.23 Health insurance reform will invest in innovations in primary care and will provide financial incentives to hospitals to better coordinate care at discharge to avoid preventable readmissions.
•Lessens Paperwork. Physicians spend on average about 140 hours and $68,000 a year just dealing with health insurance bureaucracy.24 For the 23,489 physicians in Georgia, this adds up to 3.3 million hours and $1.6 billion in costs.25 By simplifying and standardizing paperwork and computerizing medical records, doctors will be able to focus on caring for their patients instead of dealing with bureaucracy.
•Incentivizes primary care. Roughly 9,500 doctors in Georgia practice primary care and would qualify for a new 5 to 10 percent payment bonus under health insurance reform.26
•Invests in the health primary care. Approximately 1.5 million people, or 15 percent of Georgia’s population, cannot access a primary care provider due to shortages in their communities.27 Health insurance reform will expand and improve programs to increase the number of health care providers, including doctors, nurses, and dentists, especially in rural and other underserved areas.
http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/statehealthreform/georgia.html
Rightwing Troll
November 24th, 2009
5:52 am
Please Andy, since my pontifications are inadequate, please do avail us of your cut n paste wisdom. Or tell us some more about your escalade, or your brave exploits fighting the good fight by swamping a boatload of Liburals. Ohhh,I’d like to hear more about your Iraqi barber woman with tears streaming down her face as she speaks of all the good Dumbya did for her country…
Then you can go back to screaming, quite loudly, how much more of a christian you are than any of us…
I do apologize, however, for pointing it out that I have job that takes me places and allows me to go pl;aces and see things most people don’t get do and see… In light of the fact you apparently don’t have a job and spend your entire days in your mom’s basement fighting the good fight (and blogging about football games) here on JB’s libural blog…
My bad…
ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Mrs. Godzilla
November 24th, 2009
5:54 am
and for extra credit…..
Over the weekend, Roll Call ran an online item, explaining, “With the Senate preparing to vote Saturday on whether to consider a $848 billion health care overhaul bill, national Democrats on Friday launched a rapid response system aimed at blunting each GOP criticism of the bill.”
I have to say, the DNC’s rapid-response fact-checking was pretty damn impressive. I lost count of how many alerts hit my inbox during the debate, but just about every time a Republican senator would make an appearance — on the Senate floor or on one of the cable networks — another alert went out, pointing to his/her demonstrable falsehoods. Late yesterday, the DNC posted the entire package of fact-checking items, which serves as a timeline of sorts, chronicling each bogus claim as it was made.
But let’s not miss the forest for the trees here. Looking over the rapid-response list, the efficiency of the DNC operation is impressive, but the key takeaway is more important: Good lord, Republicans sure do lie a lot about health care.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_11/021131.php
Y’all be nice to each other today…..
Rightwing Troll
November 24th, 2009
6:01 am
I’m waiting to be regaled by Andy…
And I’m still waiting for any one of the resident nut sacks to step up and inform us of how anything Obama has done adversely affected thier day to day lives….
Can’t wait all day though, gotta go to work…
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Rightwing Troll
November 24th, 2009
6:05 am
“Liberals on this site (there are always exceptions) are MUCH more likely to engage in name calling/ranting vs. tough debate.”
Do unto others and all that… When faced with red faced screaming conservatives, one can’t reason with them, that would be a fool’s errand, and I guess I’m just not christian enough to turn the other cheek, or maybe it’s that I’m simply practicing Andy’s version of “christianity” in engaging in this kind of behaviour…
ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
6:52 am
Rightwing Troll
Perhaps you should be asking the 5 million people that have lost their jobs since Obozo was installed by the media. .
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
6:53 am
Rightwing Troll
**I do apologize, however, for pointing it out that I have job that takes me places and allows me to go pl;aces and see things most people don’t get do and see… In light of the fact you apparently don’t have a job and spend your entire days in your mom’s basement fighting the good fight (and blogging about football games) here on JB’s libural blog…**
Well, as long as you are doing OK, I feel much better.
Paul
November 24th, 2009
6:56 am
g’morning, Mrs. Godzilla
Off to another early start?
Good to see a fact-check, counterpoint response system like that. So much more effective than having the Executive branch declare ‘war’ on a network, then backing off when the other networks don’t play along.
How are the Dems going to handle the health bill when their own party is a gaggle of differing interests, each drawing lines in the sand (which they’ve seemed willing to quickly erase)? Then there’s the inability to come to grips with ‘unfairness’ when it comes to constituencies. Read an AP piece this morning about how taxing Cadillac health plans is ‘unfair.’ Example was a Calif teacher who makes $46k a year, has zero deductibles and $10 copays, policy costs $11k a year. Had to read two-thirds of the article before I found this public employee pays NOTHING in the way of premiums. The taxpayers in the state pay for ALL of it. No wonder Calif’s finances are in the toilet. Anyhow, it quoted her as saying how unfair it would be to tax it. The article noted that many of the Cadillac plans are on the middle class.
I’ve mentioned before, I’ve a family member who’s a teacher in another state. The taxpayers there don’t pay her health insurance premiums. She does. Over $900 a month. While the Calif teacher pays $0.
Democrats have quite a challenge in resolving this ‘fairness’ thing.
Paul
November 24th, 2009
7:08 am
I see Pres Obama has finally decided on a new strategy in Afghanistan. The article didn’t say what it was, though. He’ll let us know in a week. But it involves sending 34,000 more troops. It’ll include markers when he’ll decide to continue, stop, or pull back the deployments.
But nothing on what this months and months of waiting to decide has resulted in. Except sending 34,000 troops to implement it.
15 more Americans died this month in Afghanistan.
TnGelding
November 24th, 2009
7:09 am
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
6:52 am
Still can’t face reality, I see.
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:10 am
TnGelding
Still can’t offer any sort of logical debate, I see.
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:12 am
TnGelding
I’ll save us both some time: So what’s your little problem this morning? ARe the unemployment numbers just a trick by the GOP?
TnGelding
November 24th, 2009
7:12 am
Paul
November 24th, 2009
7:08 am
And if he sends more troops even more will die. More grunts hurrying and scurrying about to pick off. Those 15 would have died regardless, since they were already there under perilous conditions.
Normal
November 24th, 2009
7:13 am
MR. PRESIDENT, DO NOT RAISE TROOP LEVELS IN AFGHANISTAN. BRING THEM HOME INSTEAD. BRING THEM HOME NOW!
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:14 am
TnGuilding
**Those 15 would have died regardless,**
Yet another liberal sage that not only knows everything about the past and the future, but also knows everything about every option that could have been taken. You must clean up in the Stock Market and Sports betting.
TnGelding
November 24th, 2009
7:15 am
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:12 am
Rest assured it won’t be the third year of his administration before hiring picks up like it was under Reagan and Bush. And they both cut taxes to fund their recoveries, hence the $11 trillion debt passed on to the current administrtion.
Have a great day everyone! You too, NIF!
Paul
November 24th, 2009
7:15 am
TnGelding
Yup. I’m really, really looking forward to hearing how the months and months of deciding time led to something really different than what he announced in March. Or maybe there’s no real change and it took him that long to decide he already had the option he wanted?
What is this, ‘No Change We Can Believe In’?
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:16 am
Normal
I didn’t have time to answer your post yesterday.
So what is the results that you would like to happen with the NYC circus trails?
TnGelding
November 24th, 2009
7:16 am
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:14 am
How do you know I haven’t? You happened to hit on my two main interests, although I have “retired” from gambling on sports.
Rightwing Troll
November 24th, 2009
7:17 am
Do enlighten us.
“Perhaps you should be asking the 5 million people that have lost their jobs since Obozo was installed by the media.”
Perhaps you have number of jobs lost in the 24 months previous of the afforementioned “installation”??? 12 months? 3 weeks? anything? Paint us a complete picture here, don’t just give us a snapshot that supports your chosen political beliefs.
I guess the strongest survive huh? That’s why I’m still in business, and most of my competitors are not.
Oh wait, it’s because Obama hisself descended from above and smote all those who oppose a small business owned and operated by a libural…
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:18 am
TnGuilding
This would be a great time for you to leave. Have a great day, yourself.
Normal
November 24th, 2009
7:18 am
Good morning, all. I hope you are rested and ready to blog. The Thanksgiving dessert preparation is officially over for the Normal household., Side dishes tomorrow and Big Bird Thursday. Life is good, especially when it is served with cornbread dressing!
TnGelding
November 24th, 2009
7:19 am
Paul
November 24th, 2009
7:15 am
At least he isn’t using a two-headed coin like his predecessor. I’ve thought all along he was looking for good reasons not to send more troops and to begin a drawdown. We’ll see.
TnGelding
November 24th, 2009
7:21 am
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:18 am
Thanks, I’ll return to the safety of my cocoon. Overmatched here.
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:21 am
Rightwing Troll
It is good that you have conceded your point and are now wanting to discuss another issue. i thought it was a little bone headed of you to claim that no one’s life has ben changed under the incompetence of obozo. It certainly didn’t take much to veer you off subject.
How is that cappuccino installation business. Sounds really exciting.
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:21 am
TnGelding
**Overmatched here.**
I know.
joe matarotz
November 24th, 2009
7:24 am
At what point do we stop blaming Bush and start holding Obama and Congress accountable?
Just wondering…
Rightwing Troll
November 24th, 2009
7:24 am
OMG!
I know ya’ll really drank the coolaid, but this is over the top…
“Yet another liberal sage that not only knows everything about the past and the future, but also knows everything about every option that could have been taken.”
That is exactly the cornerstone of the GOP’s answer to everything, clairvoyance.
Not a single nut sack here can emumerate a legitimate example of anything that Obama has done that adversely affects their day to day lives, yet you all will sit here and tell us “what will” happen if Obama does this, or “what will” happen if Obama does that.
WOW!!!!…
Normal
November 24th, 2009
7:25 am
NIF, Ideally I would like them tried as you or I would be tried. Give them every chance at a defense and if necessary, a platform to speak as to why they did what they did. Then afer they are found guilty (and I do believe they will be, unless the prosecuters are the same ones that tried O.J.), to sentence them to life without parole with hard labor.
We do not want to execute them because that would make martyrs out of them.
Rightwing Troll
November 24th, 2009
7:25 am
NIF, example please?
Beuller… bueller…?
Paul
November 24th, 2009
7:27 am
TnGelding
My impression was Pres Bush treated Afg as pretty much a holding action – even when Taliban resurged it wasn’t a threat to the central government. Then Iraq stabilized, Pres Obama inherited and accepted Bush Administration’s Iraq draw-down schedule. Then the Bush Administration did an Afghan review, presented it to the incoming administration who said “okay, sounds good” then the troop bill hit and they said ‘wait a minute…”
Now after months they’ve announced more tens of thousands. Hopefully an new strategy’s in the mix, but we’ll see. But back to your post, what does this mean, that Pres Obama couldn’t find any good reasons to not send more troops and begin a drawdown? From what I read (AP) this morning he seems to be putting a lot of stock in a stable central government. At the same time SecState Clinton’s talking about Taliban involvement in the government.
Well, I suppose tossing out his predecessor’s two-headed coin and using a five-headed coin does give him more options?
Normal
Well, we’ve been packing up for the Thanksgiving family get together. It’ll be a mad day of prep tomorrow!
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:27 am
Rightwing Troll
**yet you all will sit here and tell us “what will” happen if Obama does this, or “what will” happen if Obama does that.**
And you have read posts from me that did that? Hmmm. Perhaps a link would make you seem just a bit less hysterical.
But I’m just glad that you moved down here to the South where everyone doesn’t become depressed drunks by February. Cabin fever is a horrible thing.
Normal
November 24th, 2009
7:28 am
Joe, I will always blame Bush all the way back to Reagan and I am holding President Obama resposible for his actions. The jury is still out for me about his reactions as to what he had inherited.
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:29 am
Rightwing Troll
Example of what. I see that your business doesn’t involve communication skills.
Paul
November 24th, 2009
7:29 am
joe matarotz
When the media finally calls them on it and/or when it stops working for them?
Normal
November 24th, 2009
7:29 am
Paul, are you leaving the State?
Paul
November 24th, 2009
7:31 am
Normal
No, just heading south a couple hundred miles. Easy trip. We’ve simplified the menu the last couple of years, same with Christmas dinners. More emphasis on the families and being together. Oh, and more emphasis on the margaritas. And wines!
Rightwing Troll
November 24th, 2009
7:32 am
“i thought it was a little bone headed of you to claim that no one’s life has ben changed under the incompetence of obozo.”
Example?
Normal
November 24th, 2009
7:34 am
NIF, another thing about the trial I forgot to mention. And forgive me in advance, for I have no typing skills, I’m a two finger puncher.
The trial must be broadcast for all to see, world wide. The fact that we would be open about it would prove our sincerity to want due process.
Like I said before, this will go a long way to win “hearts and minds”.
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:34 am
Rightwing Troll
Example of you asking that others give an example.
Maybe you should stick with installing cappuccino machines.
Normal
November 24th, 2009
7:35 am
Paul, ah yes, sweet simplicity. Toss back a merlot for me.
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:38 am
Normal
**this will go a long way to win “hearts and minds**
Don’t you think that the fact that we will still support Israel will cancel that out? This is yet another issue that is turning this country against our own government. So which is more important? A few people in the Middle east might give us a nod of approval? And at what cost?
Paul
November 24th, 2009
7:39 am
This is a pretty sobering assessment from the Germans of the Obama Administration’s initial approach and hopes. Less than a year in isn’t too soon to begin a change in course.
BTW – can you imagine a lead paragraph like this in the NY Times or the NBC Nightly News?
“When he entered office, US President Barack Obama promised to inject US foreign policy with a new tone of respect and diplomacy. His recent trip to Asia, however, showed that it’s not working. A shift to Bush-style bluntness may be coming.”
followed by
“Upon taking office, Obama said that he wanted to listen to the world, promising respect instead of arrogance. But Obama’s currency isn’t as strong as he had believed. Everyone wants respect, but hardly anyone is willing to pay for it. Interests, not emotions, dominate the world of realpolitik. The Asia trip revealed the limits of Washington’s new foreign policy: Although Obama did not lose face in China and Japan, he did appear to have lost some of his initial stature.”
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,662822,00.html
I believe it was Kissinger who said something along the lines that nations don’t have friends, they have shared interests.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 24th, 2009
7:39 am
Warning- The following excerpt contains vulgarity-
Looks like Andy $hit everywhere in here last night as he was screaming loudly about how christian he was. You know nut sack, that in the digital age anything can be created, even movies of screaming fetuses… I mean come on if they fake a moon landing 30 years ago and fool you, think of what they can do today…
Or, they could hold an ultrasound against the mother’s womb as they puncture the baby’s skull and capture it’s screams of horror on video.
You are the one who has landed on the Moon, bat.
Paul
November 24th, 2009
7:40 am
Normal
I’d be happy to!
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:44 am
Rightwing Troll
We didn’t land on the moon? With the way you brag about your travels, I figured that there has to be at least one cappuccino bar on the dark side.
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
7:45 am
Normal
The trials will be in Federal Court. Cameras aren’t allowed in Federal court.
But don’t worry. The terrorists will get their message out, loud and clear.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 24th, 2009
7:51 am
Sales rise in area for existing homes, Metro Atlanta has 3 percent increase.-Urinal
Wow, a front page headline that signals we are back from the recession because of the wise and all knowing Obozo, all hail Obozo!
The number of existing single family homes sold in metro Atlanta rose 3 percent last month compared to a year before, while nationally that number surged by more than 19 percent, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Spin, spin, spin, AJC, considering that last year this time was an absolute bloodbath, how could we NOT have gains this year?
Stooge propaganda.
Normal
November 24th, 2009
7:54 am
NIF, I don’t think that support of Isreal is a given any more, especially with this Administration, and exceptions can be made to cameras in Federal court.
There still are Middle easterners out there how have not made up their minds about us. Those ate the ones who would love to watch. I think that if we try them in closed court, it will just look like a Irani revenge court, like they did with the protesters, and we will have lost an opportunity to show what we are made of.
The terrorists will get their message out, loud and clear.
I’m not sure what you mean about this, but if it means that you worry that the Terrorists will try to disrupt the trial or bomb us again, then
I don’t know what to say. I have never let other peoples threats, whether, school bullies or Taliban, sway me one iota as to what I will do or where I will go. I do not fear them.
Agnes
November 24th, 2009
8:03 am
When we go through with the NYC trial and succeed in winning “the hearts and minds” of Islam:
Will they still insist that we are infidels and must convert?
Normal
November 24th, 2009
8:06 am
Agnes, or when we do win their hearts and minds, will we insist they become Christians? That tripe works both ways.
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
8:12 am
Normal
** I don’t think that support of Isreal is a given any more, especially with this Administration,**
This administration is becoming more and more anti-semetic. i study history and the parallels to past fascist governments are becoming more and more clear. Turning our back on Israel is simply one of many very troubling stances.
**exceptions can be made to cameras in Federal court.**
Never in history has enemy combatants captured on a foreign battlefield been given the rights of American citizens. So the fact that Federal Court has never allowed cameras in the courtroom will probably not stand in the way of turning this into an OJ type farce. So sadly, I will agree that there is nothing that this administration will not do to advance whatever twisted agenda they might be pushing.
**I’m not sure what you mean about this,**
I have been looking for a clip of the Bill ORielly interview last night with one of the lawyers for the terrorists. He made no bones about the fact that the terrorist will put our government and our foreign policy on trial. I’m talking about the Lawyer.
Due proces will free the terrorists, but this administration has already made it clear that these men will never be set free. So how do you think those hearts and minds will feel about our system after the terrorist are freed by the court but are still imprisoned by our government?
You have avoided answering most of the questions I have asked you about this. Please give it a shot. I would give your posts more credibility, if you answered some very obvious questions.
Going back to my first question this morning:
So what is the results that you would like to happen with the NYC circus trails??
Gale
November 24th, 2009
8:13 am
We will never win their hearts and minds if we persist in telling them that their “truth” is wrong. Does the koran actually tell islamists that infidels must die?
Normal
November 24th, 2009
8:18 am
NIF, I answered that once, but I’ll attempt it again. I want to see a fair and open trial, with the defendants given every legal opportunity to tell why. I want them convicted and I want them imprisoned for life without parole and to do hard labor. I want the world to see we fear nothing and that we have nothing to hide. Fair and open are the key words here. Fair and open.
Mrs. Godzilla
November 24th, 2009
8:19 am
We’ll never win their hearts and minds….. at least until we figure out how we are going to pay for it!
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
8:20 am
Gale
We don’t have to die. We can convert.
To be honest, I think that the Koran is a lot like the bible and a lot of other religious texts. You can prove about anything it you look long enough for the proper passage. Radical Islamists say that we must convert or it is their duty to kill us, but if the Koran actually says that, who knows?
Boogers for the Children Fund
November 24th, 2009
8:20 am
Normal
November 24th, 2009
8:06 am
Christians do not kill mooslims if they refuse to convert. Perhaps you were unaware of that fact.
Paul
November 24th, 2009
8:20 am
NIF
I believe this is the video you wanted of O’Reilly and 9-11 lawyer Scott Fenstermaker.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNOYzYNoOw0
More troubling to me is the inability of the Attorney General to even answer a question raised months ago on this very forum: what Constitutional rights apply to the terrorists? Sen Graham asked AG Holder if OBL were captured should we read him Miranda rights? Get this… after all these months and months of consideration, Holder’s answer was he’s not sure, it depends.
Which means Holder can foresee a situation in which a SEAL team takes him and they’d be required to pull out a Miranda card?!!? And if they don’t, he could walk?!!?
Flippin’ amazing.
http://www.freedomslighthouse.com/2009/11/sen-lindsey-graham-asks-eric-holder-if.html
Jimmy Carter
November 24th, 2009
8:21 am
We’re faced with a staggering debt and what should we do? …. I got it! How about a multi-trillion socialized healthcare program?
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
8:23 am
Normal
No. Read this very carefully. You have now told me that you want a fair trial. I get that. What do you want the results of that trial to be? Do you want them killed? Do you want them freed, do you want them to be forced to work on a hog farm. What do you want to be the actual results of the legal proceedings.
As far as changing hearts and minds, please answer this:
Due proces will free the terrorists, but this administration has already made it clear that these men will never be set free. So how do you think those hearts and minds will feel about our system after the terrorist are freed by the court but are still imprisoned by our government?
Agnes
November 24th, 2009
8:24 am
Normal’s tripe;
You assume I am a Christian. I am not. And according to posts by you, you are not a Christian. Want to try again?
Indirectly related to your post; I ate tripe fairly often as a child. My Mama love it. I thought it was better that not eating.
Mrs. Godzilla
November 24th, 2009
8:25 am
or PATTI
HCR that is paid for and decreases the deficit….
More troops for Afghanistan……should require 60 votes and a plan to pay for it.
Boogers for the Children Fund
November 24th, 2009
8:25 am
Appears Liberhole is gonna be the lone-holdout on this OboboCare debacle. He may well be our Saviour and send OboboCare into the toilet where it belongs.
Jimmy Carter
November 24th, 2009
8:26 am
mmm, mmm, mmm…….more good news.
“The ‘Real’ Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed… ”
“POLL: Support for Health Care Plan Falls to New Low… ”
“WAVE OF DEBT PAYMENTS FACING U.S. GOVERNMENT… ”
“Gold hits fresh high as dollar resumes its slide… ”
But sure, let’s go ahead and spend trillions more for govt run healthcare.
Paul
November 24th, 2009
8:28 am
NIF
Another uncomfortable truth: “this administration has already made it clear that these men will never be set free.”
Indefinite detention for alleged crimes? Didn’t we have, oh, one or two, at the most, mild criticisms of the Bush Administration over this, hmmmm?
Jimmy Carter
November 24th, 2009
8:28 am
“Climategate: ‘Greatest scandal in modern science’…”
“Call for Congressional investigation…”
“Paper: Junk science exposed among climate-change believers… ”
Now why don’t we just have another article about how the facts all point to Al Gore’s doomsday scenario?
Jimmy Carter
November 24th, 2009
8:29 am
mmm, mmm, mmm….
RASMUSSEN:
Obama Poll Drops to New Low: -15
Strongly Approve 27%
Strongly Disapprove 42%
Total Approval 45%
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
8:31 am
Paul
I’m staggered. I try to stay away from the idea that Obama wants this country to lose even more status in the world, but for the life of me, I cannot figure this one out.
The only conclusion I can reach is that he decided that putting the CIA and Bush on trail would be much more effective if the world sees these guys walk because of waterboarding.
this hearts and minds of people in the Arab world is the CNN talking point and has been since this came on the scene. Apparently it is working on some people.
@@
November 24th, 2009
8:33 am
Say whaaattttt????
Bruno — The bottom line, Am, is that you never once tried to dissuade me from forming a blog friendship with any of them despite past grievances, but they definitely made it a point to question/insult my blog friendship with you.
Initially, you began by engaging me with your music dedications. Then…as is oft the case, you moved to telling me what a great guy you thought AmVet was….that I should give him a listen. My response was “No thanks!”
I also said you were free to enjoy his online company if you wanted….just don’t try to pull me into the AmVet’s great club ’cause I know better. I said the same thing to NIF….he’s not getting all girlie about it.
BTW, you’re wrong about how I interpret the scriptures and you’re wrong about my overall stance on abortion.
For the first time in years…YEARS, I’m telling YOU, I had a nightmare last night. I was being pursued by some nut. Interpretation? It was YOU, who was pursuing me, Bruno. I should have never told you a lived two miles from the Fayette County line. It’s a long county line though….happy hunting, dude!
Weirdo!
Normal
November 24th, 2009
8:35 am
NIF, are you even reading my post? I said Life with out parole and hard labor. I would want them freed only if they are found not guilty.
but they won’t be, the weight of evidence is against them.
—————–
Agnes, No Christian here. I’m just saying all religions try to convert, it’s a cult thing.
———–
Booger, perhaps you should read more history….
—————————————–
And one other thing NIF, if the terrorist are found not guilty, I would fight with everything I have to see them freed. If we allowed the government to hold innocent men, what would stop them from doing it to us. That would be madness.
Jimmy Carter
November 24th, 2009
8:36 am
Climate “change” is about as real as the hope and “change” promised by Private Obama. Just pulled from the web:
“It was announced Thursday afternoon that computer hackers had obtained 160 megabytes of e-mails from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in England. Those e-mails involved communication among many scientific researchers and policy advocates with similar ideological positions all across the world. Those purported authorities were brazenly discussing the destruction and hiding of data that did not support global-warming claims.
Professor Phil Jones, the head of the Climate Research Unit, and professor Michael E. Mann at Pennsylvania State University, who has been an important scientist in the climate debate, have come under particular scrutiny. Among his e-mails, Mr. Jones talked to Mr. Mann about the “trick of adding in the real temps to each series … to hide the decline [in temperature].”"
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
8:37 am
Paul
**Indefinite detention for alleged crimes? Didn’t we have, oh, one or two, at the most, mild criticisms of the Bush Administration over this, hmmmm?**
This is one of the reasons that I just don’t come here as much. I tend to look at reading when I get really frustrated with what is going on. But I love to read history and that is even worse.
I saw the interviews with the people who voted for Obama again the other night. You know, the ones that didn’t know who Nancy Pelosi was? THose people, I can understand, but how can anyone be informed and still support this stuff. Is it just stubbornness? I feel like an objector in Germany in 1934. What is happening?
Gale
November 24th, 2009
8:39 am
There is a big difference in our courts between “not guilty” and “innocent”. We see a lot of “not guilty” criminals walk free because the case is not solid enough or a technicality of the law voids the case. It doesn’t mean they did not do the deed.
Paul
November 24th, 2009
8:40 am
NIF
I wouldn’t say Pres Obama wants the US to lose status, I think he wanted to rebuild status. However, it seems, at least from the German point of view, that his hopes crashed head-on into reality and that the way he thought status would be rebuilt isn’t working. Will there be a shift based on ‘that didn’t work… okay… time to shift towards pursuing our national interests, even if they draw me wearing a cowboy hat”? Probably.
Reality’s a hard taskmaster.
Regarding the trials, I wondered from the start if the Administration was laying the groundwork for their defense if convictions weren’t secured, that is, ‘we tried to hold them accountable but because of the illegal actions of the Bush Administration, we were not successful.” Even though Holder said they didn’t need any information that was so obtained.
Call me a cynic, but we’ll see how it develops.
Jimmy Carter
November 24th, 2009
8:43 am
“Inhofe Says He Will Call for Investigation on “Climategate” on Washington Times Americas Morning Show”
I wonder if Al Gore could head that panel.
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
8:44 am
Normal
We can’t convict anyone whom we have no evidence for. They have admitted what they did and wanted to become martyrs for it. But we can’t use that because they were not read their rights. Why were they not read their rights? Because they have no rights under US and international laws. They are enemy combatants captured on the battlefield.
We gathered all the information against them without warrants. According to civil law, we have no evidence against them.
They will be set free but they are not innocent men. Is that what you want? PLEASE answer this.
Paul
November 24th, 2009
8:44 am
Normal
[[If we allowed the government to hold innocent men]]
Isn’t there a difference between ‘innocent’ (didn’t do it) and being found ‘not guilty’ (the prosecution couldn’t prove it’s case that they were guilty) and being guilty of what was charged, but released nonetheless because of procedural errors?
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
November 24th, 2009
8:45 am
A “fair trial?”
The “president” of the United States, thee Obozo, stated to the world that they will be found guilty and would be executed.
Pardon me, abnormal, but exactly what do the “middle easterners” now expect the results of this “trial” to be?
Paul
November 24th, 2009
8:50 am
NIF 8:37
I think it’s more blind partisanship. Refusing to see similarities in the administration of one they detest and one they adore. It’s all so personalized and people somehow refuse to admit to any shortcoming, any mistake, especially if it’s the same mistake or shortcoming as one exhibited by the predecessor they condemned just months before.
your 8:44 – Holder’s said they have enough for a conviction without that. We’ll see. And you are correct – after Obama became President and Holder became AG the defendants, at Gitmo, said they wanted to plead guilty before a military tribunal and looked forward to their martyrdom.
But the Obama administration said, ‘no, we want to bring you to NYC and charge you in criminal court where we know you’ll plead not guilty.”
Absoflippinlutely amazing.
Nothing Is Free
November 24th, 2009
8:51 am
Jimmy Carter
**Climate “change” is about as real as the hope and “change” promised by Private Obama.**
Climate change is real. The average earth temp was cooler in the 70s and warmer in the 90s. Now it is cooling again. But how much humans play in that is the question.
Gore is a chestier. And the political power that the “green” movement has is amazing. But it is politics. I would like to see a cleaner planet and we are heading in that direction. We cleaned up our emissions on the biggest polluters: cars, now the greatest polluters are cows. Al we need to do is figure out how we can put a catalytic converter on a cow’s a$$.
david wayne osedach
November 24th, 2009
8:52 am
It is no joke. That $12 trillion will have to be paid back by future generations who will have received little benefit from the stimulus. And who knows. Maybe in 20 years it will be $50 trillion. Or a hundred…
Normal
November 24th, 2009
8:54 am
NIF, Paul, Gale, If the United States Federal Court finds any one of them Not Guilty, then they walk. Isn’t that what happened with O.J.?
The country cannot hold them, period. They can expel them from the country, but they can not hold them. Talk about your Communist ideals!
Y’all can’t have it both ways. The American way or some b*st+rd form of Communism. Your choice.
If the trial become a mistrial because of procedural errors, you start all over again, or you send him home. That is our court, that is our way.
So one last time. If they are found Not guilty, then YESSIR, I want them freed and sent back to where they came from.