This is all bullshit and greed. Corporations in America HAVE recovered from the Bush era economic collapse. The only people still hurting are the working class and the poor, and that's neither because of the basic economy or because of US taxes - it's because of corporate greed. You want to reduce US corporate taxes even more? Fine. I'd support that - IF in the same bill, tax penalties for US corporations who offshore and tariffs on imports from any country whose treatment of workers is even worse than ours are included.
BK has closed around 300 stores during that great recovery you claim obama the savior initiated in America after the housing crash caused by congressional over regulation and forced mortgage scam. The idea that if you tax corps to death while regulation them out of business makes for a good economy is a leftie wet dream that isn't based in reality. Google Canada tax reduction to get a look at what it did for their country's economy, then see CA's corp tax increase to see what it did to their economy. The evil greedy corps you lefties despise are leaving the country, that should make you happy. Besides, it doesn't matter how much the government raises taxes or how much it takes in each year they have never come in on budget, always overspend and always just borrow more money for whatever they want without regard for fiscal responsibility or how much they're screwing the tax payers. As I said - if they want to leave, let them - but take all their stores with them, and make room for others who want to be here. You think American taxes suck so you want to go to another country, good - go. Just don't expect to make your profits here while you pay your taxes there. I know that's not going to happen - because the law is fouled up and supports this kind of greed. But it should be that way. Yeah, you don't work for BK so why should you care how many thousands of people get laid off permanently and lose their income, their benefits and their future. Fuck em right ? How about all the Tim Hortons in the US, they're Canadian owned, should we throw them out too? Maybe if we tax the corps enough and bully them enough we can get rid of the majority of corps and they can be replaced with small mom and pop companies that can afford the start up costs in the US that make it almost impossible to start a business. Your hatred will drive corps out and jobs out dd and drive the country broke, all out of greed and hatred for a foolish agenda that says if you tax the crap out of corps all of Americas problems will be solved. |
|
|
|
Notice how you keep dodging that question When was the last time that you participated in a march against Islamic extremism? How about radical Christian groups that engage in violence? How about against terrorist organizations that the US has supported like Jundallah? It's interesting that you keep dodging THAT question. The simple fact is that you have a clear double standard and expect others to do something that you can't even be bothered to get up and do yourself. |
|
|
|
Indeed, the Grand Mufi of Saudi Arabia, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, and the head of turkey's Islamic community have all publicly condemned the ISIS which rounds out the big Sunni three. Throw on top of that the condemnations by the Arab League, and Iran and pretty much all of the big official bases are covered.
would be interesting to see what PREVIOUS denouncements of Islamic extremism that did NOT directly threaten THEM that they made. And by the way since you like to ignore things like this can you point out anything like that from the Islamic communities in the US or UK or anyplaces like that? OR actually any marches protesting Islamic extremism in the West? Notice how you keep dodging that question A lot. Just because you never pay attention doesn't mean that it doesn't happen. There were strong condemnations of 9/11, of Al Qaeda, of extremism in general, we see Islamic clerics assassinated all of the time for espousing moderate views in the face of radicals. Dozens this year alone. We've even seen considerable progress in the area of womens rights over the last several years within mainstream theological views including a denouncement of female genital mutilation from the head of the four main schools of Islamic Sunni though (which is based out of Egypt). |
|
|
|
We don't have any publicly available data that Qatar for example funds the Islamic State. This has been a pretty popular misconception because these countries fund other Islamist militias who may also work with say the Al Nusra Front or even contain Al Qaeda affiliates, but that isn't the same as directly funding the IS. In fact, these countries have been, under US pressure, cracking down fairly hard on financial sources for the Islamic State and even Al Nusra recently. Saudi Arabia might have at one point, it is hard to tell, we don't really have that data unfortunately and it is difficult to distinguish between private funders and those allowed to fund with Saudi government complicity / support.
always amuses me those numbies blaming the US for Islamic fanatics. Crazies have been around for millennia. Religious zealots as well. THe numbies refuse to acknowledge that blaming the US is pathetic. We are the EXCUSE. Not the reason. There is no question US foreign policy has some blame for attacks against US interests. Nothing operates in a vacuum. If you piss people off enough, they react. This is the result of US foreign policy pissing off a lot of people. I'm neither attacking nor defending the policies themselves, just making a statement of fact that they sometimes cause violent blowback. You also seem to be unable to tell the difference between excuses and reasons.Where are the Religious leadership denouncements? Political types mean very little.And I wonder. Where are those marches in the US and the UK and elsewhere? |
|
|
|
- Assess the range of potential dangers to the US, along with benefits of US influence, and scale military spending appropriately, or let it grow more slowly with time. Unfortunately scaling back the military kills huge numbers of jobs. This is what happens when you make a country dependent on government...all the eggs are in one basket. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume we can cut the military by 40% no questions asked (a very generous assumption). $280 billion in savings. - Other tax or spending reforms Not specific enough to judge. Totals Savings: $613 billion/year You did better than most. You are coming up about $1.4 trillion short though. Maybe $1 trillion assuming the economy gets better. Anyway, there are many potential answers (including many not listed). The problem with nearly all of them is that they require sacrifice, so they are politically unpalatable by one side or the other. No one is saying it is impossible to balance the budget; we are saying it is impossible congress will actually act before it gets so bad that we implode. Though I don't have the time to go through all the numbers and, as I mentioned, this was only a partial list of fixes, I will say that, though Congress does wait with major fixes until the problem becomes acute, it does act once it is acute enough. Meanwhile, it does seem willing to often make smaller improvements. For example, as a generation Xer, I cannot retire with full benefits until I am 67. |
|
|
|
|
Though I fully realize how tempting it is to exaggerate the US debt issue, our debt is certainly not unresolveable. The range of solutions is simply sufficiently politically unpalatable, especially in the current political climate, that major fixes would not be put into place until the problem becomes acute. Some of the solutions include:
- Letting all Bush tax cuts expire. We did just fine with those tax rates in the past, we can again, while significantly helping the budget
- Pinning Social Security and government pension payment increases to cost of living increase, while gradually increasing the age of full benefits to 70.
- Reducing Medicare costs by having people take up some part of the burden or placing some limits on care, as private insurers do. This is contraversial since it means that some might be deprived of lifesaving procedures at the end of their lives. However, with medical developments and up to millions of dollars in medical expenses, one can often extend a persons life by, say, another year. The question we have to ask ourselves is how much public money we are willing to spend as a society to keep someone alive for another year - an average of $100,000? $1 million? I say this with full understanding that my care could be rationed someday as well.
- Assess the range of potential dangers to the US, along with benefits of US influence, and scale military spending appropriately, or let it grow more slowly with time.
- Other tax or spending reforms
Anyway, there are many potential answers (including many not listed). The problem with nearly all of them is that they require sacrifice, so they are politically unpalatable by one side or the other.
|
|
|
|
|
Nukes as weapons are worthless, in fact, less than worthless. They consume societal capital thereby reducing living standards of any nation that touches them. Picture two people at opposite ends of a fuel tank threatening each other with striking a match. Nukes for energy is a different story. There's 26 million times the energy of fossil fuel at the molecular level. If we could stop the boys playing with guns and matches, our scientists could use the help creating something useful.
More
|
|
|
|
so while obama says isis is not about religion... well... isis is telling the world.. it is about religion... now can we say that islam is the religion of hate? violence? murder? cause thats what isis is saying and doing... and there doesn't seem to be too much push back from muslims at all...
Well I believe Islam is not a religion at all, but a political ideology of suppression, terror and hate. They masquerade as a religion so they can claim 'religious freedom'. |
|
|
|
|
Something I find very interesting about these ISIS threads of late……..while our progressives routinely scream 'fundy' and 'religious win gut' at anyone who dares say 'bless you' when someone sneezes, they are mysteriously quiet on the religious fanaticism being exhibited by ISIS right now.
|
|
|
|
|
Indeed, the Grand Mufi of Saudi Arabia, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, and the head of turkey's Islamic community have all publicly condemned the ISIS which rounds out the big Sunni three. Throw on top of that the condemnations by the Arab League, and Iran and pretty much all of the big official bases are covered.
|
|
|
|
It seems almost childishly naive to think that the United States, the global superpower, couldn't be the cause of anything in the world.
The Islamic State has already been denounced by the largest names in formal Islam.
When was the last time you marched in the streets against the activities of Jundallah? Are you willingly this stupid or are you forced? I notice that you refuse to admit I was right on #3. And as regards #1 you are as dense as usual. And I also notice you refused to admit I was right on that. And so called denouncements? No surprise an idiot like you would call them that. You were wrong on all three accounts. Deal with it. |
|
|
|
|
Now of course that doesn't mean that Israel did what we were pressuring them to do (engage in a peace process), instead they unilaterally pulled out of Gaza in order to end peace talks with Abbas.
Dov Weisglass (the aid) went on to explain:
"The significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process, and when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda. And all this with authority and permission. All with a presidential blessing and the ratification of both houses of Congress."
If there was any ambiguity in that he also stated:
"The disengagement is actually formaldehyde. It supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so there will not be a political process with the Palestinians."
That's fairly cut and dry, so no i'm not just proverbially speaking talking out of my ass, rather I say those things because I have paid attention to internal Israeli political dialogue. I make those claims specifically because I have direct supporting evidence for them.
This actually isn't true either, we see pressures occur all of the time in the absence of security council agreement.
|
|
|
|
And I'm really not much of a supporter of the UN. It's goals are fine, but they surpass reality. When you consider the majority of countries in the world have some sort of non democratic government, I don't want their opinions forced on me. Nor do I believe my opinion should be forced on some Afghan tribe. Essentially, their goals are too grandiose to be possible.
We have direct evidence of it though. the Sharon government blatantly stated that they pulled out of Gaza for example because of increased international pressure on them to engage in a peace deal with the Palestinian Authority. From one of the chief initiators of the plan stated when asked why Israel had engaged in it: "Because in the fall of 2003 we understood that everything was stuck. And although by the way the Americans read the situation, the blame fell on the Palestinians, not on us, Arik [Sharon] grasped that this state of affairs could not last, that they wouldn't leave us alone, wouldn't get off our case. Time was not on our side. There was international erosion, internal erosion. Domestically, in the meantime, everything was collapsing. The economy was stagnant, and the Geneva Initiative had gained broad support. And then we were hit with the letters of officers and letters of pilots and letters of commandos [refusing to serve in the territories]. These were not weird kids with green ponytails and a ring in their nose with a strong odor of grass. These were people like Spector's group [Yiftah Spector, a renowned Air Force pilot who signed the pilot's letter]. Really our finest young people." That's pretty straightforward, he mentioned both US pressure and several instances of international pressure. |
|
|
|
I can understand that, and I understand your reasoning. But let's be honest, you aren't the person either side is trying to sway. The people both sides are trying to sway are the people I described, who watch a few moments of FOX, or MSNBC, or CNN to form opinions, then switch back to Honey boo boo. Violence will never change their minds. We see violence change the minds of people all of the time. I can assure you for example that Israel is facing much greater pressure over the issue of Palestine than Morocco is over the issue of Western Sahara and unfortunately, part of the reason for that is the absence of violence in the Western Sahara. There are other reasons of course since Israel is such a prominent interest of our culturally and politically. Conflict doesn't guarantee attention, just ask the Sudanese in South Kordofan. I'm also not sure how this is a rebuttal or appropriate response to my statement. I'm not sure what you would have me do, give in to propaganda? Refrain from correcting people? Stop talking about it? I'm not really sure what you are advocating here. |
|
|
|
His statement was highly ambiguous, when it didn't have any reason to be so. We've seen such things before with other groups like Al Shabaab when it was trying to put forth a public image of control during its three way split and internal power struggle. It becomes especially interesting when the Israeli police reports and independent experts/ analysts both agreed that it hadn't been ordered by Hamas leadership and that they seemed to be operating operationally speaking on their own. The higher ups in the Israeli government are the primary faction stating that Hamas ordered it via primary leadership. Hamas still (right now) denies a role in it.
The truth is hard to get at, I don't know what it is, but neither does anyone with only publicly available records to go off of.
And who do you want this proof for? Some sort of world body like the UN? There is no true such world body that will ever matter in a case like this. Russia is a great example. The UN can say what they like, but it doesn't matter. If anything happens in Ukraine that matters, it will be because the US drags Europe kicking and screaming into an effective sanctions routine. Ban Ki-moon making statements will do nothing important. The same applies to Israel. I ask for proof because it is being used in a propaganda effort to justify Operation Protective Edge and make Hamas out to be the main / sole aggressor within the most recent fighting. Plus I have my standards, so I tend to demand details when hard claims are made of that nature, especially since I am familiar with some of the nuances of conflict. I mean no offense whatsoever, but there is no possible proof that is available to the world in general that would effectively sway your opinion on the situation there. I can understand that, and I understand your reasoning. But let's be honest, you aren't the person either side is trying to sway. The people both sides are trying to sway are the people I described, who watch a few moments of FOX, or MSNBC, or CNN to form opinions, then switch back to Honey boo boo. Violence will never change their minds. Well that is a bit offensive since it implies that I am not capable of changing my mind regardless of the situation and am incapable of impartial analysis. I also find that a bit off since I actually have changed my mind, and quite dramatically, on this issue and used to be a staunch supporter of Israeli occupation which would seem to indicate that my opinion is open to changing dependent upon evidence / research. |
|
|
|
If we're talking about swaying US public opinion, the Hamas guy just sabotaged any gains Hamas propaganda has made, and reinforced Israeli propaganda.
I don't see how this is really relevant to anything that I've been saying. though your dismissal of international bodies like the UN I find a bit odd in this case, since we have seen very real cases of Israel being pressured into giving up territory and making concessions by external actors and bodies. If Israeli conservatives had their way it would still be in occupation of Gaza, the Sinai, and Southern Lebanon; and the West Bank would have been purged of Arabs and annexed in full by now. |
|
|
|
His statement was highly ambiguous, when it didn't have any reason to be so. We've seen such things before with other groups like Al Shabaab when it was trying to put forth a public image of control during its three way split and internal power struggle. It becomes especially interesting when the Israeli police reports and independent experts/ analysts both agreed that it hadn't been ordered by Hamas leadership and that they seemed to be operating operationally speaking on their own. The higher ups in the Israeli government are the primary faction stating that Hamas ordered it via primary leadership. Hamas still (right now) denies a role in it.
The truth is hard to get at, I don't know what it is, but neither does anyone with only publicly available records to go off of.
And who do you want this proof for? Some sort of world body like the UN? There is no true such world body that will ever matter in a case like this. Russia is a great example. The UN can say what they like, but it doesn't matter. If anything happens in Ukraine that matters, it will be because the US drags Europe kicking and screaming into an effective sanctions routine. Ban Ki-moon making statements will do nothing important. The same applies to Israel. I ask for proof because it is being used in a propaganda effort to justify Operation Protective Edge and make Hamas out to be the main / sole aggressor within the most recent fighting. Plus I have my standards, so I tend to demand details when hard claims are made of that nature, especially since I am familiar with some of the nuances of conflict. |
|
|
|
|
I'll never understand after all these years why Syrian soldiers don't learn to NEVER SURRENDER to the enemy when its likely you'll end up like this. At least go down fighting and take a few more with you instead of dying like this.
|
|
|
|
|
Vladimir Putin invades Ukraine, Iraq is still spiraling out of control with the ISIS Caliphate, Syria still in civil war with IISIS controlling much of Iraq and Syria, Boko Harum selling school girls as sex slaves... This is the vacuum left by the USA as they cut and run from the world scene. Yes this is the Barack Obama Foreign Policy!
|
|
|
|
|
Show Posts
