I don't pretend to know but I get the feeling some of you know it alls think you do. What are the answers to terrorism, Iran, Korea, the economy, illegal immigration, the Mid East etc....
Propose the problems as you see them and lets hear solutions not blame game bullshit.

Troops out of the Middle East and put along the southern U.S. border.

^^^Yep. Let them kill each other off in the Middle East, then cut deals w/ the victor.

It will further fuck the economy though. What is the unemployment rate going to shoot up to when all those Nat Guard guys come back?

Terrorism you will never beat. Only arrests made have been shit heads (shoe bomber) and people that were turned into terrorists/supporters by the FBI guy they became friendly with that needed to justify his job.

To help w/the economy, break up the "too big to fail"s. That will create good paying white color jobs. There is a better chance of that happening than creating manufacturing jobs. Then when those people are making nice cash, they'll renovate their house, build a pool, buy a car, hire a landscaper, go out to diner, etc.

Korea- We missed the boat not nuking the fucks in the 50's. Let them all slaughter each other.

bomb em all and let allah sort them out.

Genocide will fix everything.

The answer is to pay down our national debt. We're the richest country on the planet and our enemies know how to piss off rich people. You fuck with their finances! If we had trillions in the bank instead of in IOU's, nobody would fuck with us. They'd know we could squash any problem we wanted. But, we walk around like fat fucks spending more than we earn and they know what our weakness is. Just do shit that fucks with our economy because our government has gotten to the point where it can't afford it any more.

I love it when conservative pundits bitch about China not cooperating with us in the UN. Come on! We owe China trillions of dollars. If anybody is going to be telling anybody what to do, it's going to be China telling us.

Imo, pull troops out of the Middle East, use intelligence forces to hunt down and kill the terrorists. Worked for the Mossad, sort of.

Economically, I don't think there's much hope for the US, unfortunately.

Invest in bottled water, canned beans and shotgun shells.

I don't think there's an answer. The bureaucracy in government is far too entrenched to allow any kind serious reform.

Maybe another 9/11. I honestly don't know. Societies rise and fall. Maybe we're on the downhill slide.

On the other hand, we have a pretty good standard of living. The poverty stricken have cable tv and cars and computers. That's more than the poverty stricken in the rest of the world can say. So we're sliding off into the abyss. Enjoy the ride.

The greatest threat to America? 1. Corporations 2. National Debt 3. Imperialism

People who couldn't pass an into Econ exam, that would include most members of the "Tea Party".

There is no cure for the Middle East. Why do you think the line "How about peace in the Middle East" has been used as the set up line for so many jokes.

Let me throw this into the mix.
I received this in an email today. I have been preaching this almost exact thing for a couple of years now.


Take the three minutes to read this.

Maybe he is wrong. What if he is right?

David Kaiser is a respected historian whose

published works have covered a broad range

of topics, from European Warfare to American

League Baseball. Born in 1947, the son of a

diplomat, Kaiser spent his childhood in three

capital cities: WashingtonD.C. , Albany , New

York , and Dakar , Senegal . He attended Harvard

University, graduating in 1969 with a B.A. in

history. He then spent several years more at

Harvard, gaining a PhD in history, which he

obtained in 1976.. He served in the Army Reserve

from 1970 to 1976.

He is a professor in the Strategy and Policy

Department of the United States Naval War College .

He has previously taught at Carnegie Mellon, Williams College andHarvard University .

Kaiser's latest book, The Road to Dallas , about the

Kennedy assassination, was just published by Harvard

University Press.


Dr. David Kaiser


History Unfolding

I am a student of history.. Professionally, I have written

15 books on history that have been published in six

languages, and I have studied history all my life. I have

come to think there is something monumentally large

afoot, and I do not believe it is simply a banking crisis,

or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes these exist,

but they are merely single facets on a very large

gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus.

Something of historic proportions is happening. I can

sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks

like, and how people react to it.. Yes, a perfect storm may

be brewing, but there is something happening within our

country that has been evolving for about ten to fifteen years.

The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.

We demand and then codify into law the requirement that

our banks make massive loans to people we know they can

never pay back? Why?

We learned just days ago that the Federal Reserve, which

has little or no real oversight by anyone, has "loaned" two

trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past

few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose

the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is

three times the $700 billion we all argued about so

strenuously just this past September. Who has this money?

Why do they have it?

Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who

authorized it? I thought this was a government of "we the

people," who loaned our powers to our elected leaders.

Apparently not...



We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing

our economy. Why?

We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no

longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are

worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or

articulate.. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards

continue to back mediocrity. Why?

We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election

(violently inCalifornia over a proposition that is so

controversial that it simply wants marriage to

remain defined as between one man and one woman.

Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade

ago?) We have corrupted our sacred political process

by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically

change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist

groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system

into a banana republic. To what purpose?

Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices

are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking

system is on the verge of collapse, social security is nearly

bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire government. Our

education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and

I know precisely what I am talking about) - the list is

staggering in its length, breadth, and depth.. It is potentially

1929 x ten...And we are at war with an enemy we cannot

even name for fear of offending people of the same religion,

who, in turn, cannot wait to slit the throats of your children

if they have the opportunity to do so.

And finally, we have elected a man that no one really knows

anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen,

let alone a town as big as Wasilla , Alaska . All of his associations

and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of

employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip,

is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him

speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian

defense force stronger than our military for use inside our

borders? No? Oh, of course. The media would never play that

for you over and over and then demand he answer it. Sarah

Palin's pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe are more

important.)

Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one

word: Change. Why?

I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children

as I am now..

This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he

has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment,

Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart,

and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different

power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it

comes, you will never see the same nation again.

And that is only the beginning.

As a serious student of history, I thought I would never come

to experience what the ordinary, moral German must have

felt in the mid-1930s In those times, the "savior" was a former

smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom

the average German knew next to nothing. What they should

have known was that he was associated with groups that

shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they

disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through

great oratory. Conservative "losers" read it right now.

And there were the promises. Economic times were tough,

people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And

he smiled and frowned and waved a lot. And people, even

newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his

"brown shirts" would bully and beat them into submission.

Which they did - regularly. And then, he was duly elected

to office, while a full-throttled economic crisis bloomed at

hand - the Great Depression. Slowly, but surely he seized

the controls of government power, person by person,

department by department, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The

children of German citizens were at first, encouraged to join a

Youth Movement in his name where they were taught exactly

what to think.. Later, they were required to do so. No Jews of

course,

How did he get people on his side? He did it by promising jobs

to the jobless, money to the money-less, and rewards for the

military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the

children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better

wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again

in the country, across Europe , and across the world. He did it

with a compliant media - did you know that? And he did this

all in the name of justice and change. And the people surely got

what they voted for.

If you think I am exaggerating, look it up. It's all there in the

history books.

So read your history books. Many people of conscience

objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names,

laughed at, and ridiculed. When Winston Churchill pointed

out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House

of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was

booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was

right, though. And the world came to regret that he was not

listened to.

Do not forget that Germany was the most educated, the most

cultured country in Europe . It was full of music, art, museums,

hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And yet, in less than

six years (a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S.

presidency) it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others,

abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and

neighbors against neighbors. All with the best of intentions,

of course. The road to Hell is paved with them.

As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional

decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the

objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me

cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting

to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope

I am wrong by closing my eyes, having another latte, and

ignoring what is transpiring around me.

I choose to believe the evidence. No doubt some people will

scoff at me, others laugh, or think I am foolish, naive, or both.

To some degree, perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to

look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe-and

why I believe it.

I pray I am wrong. I do not think I am.. Perhaps the only

hope is our vote in the next elections.

David Kaiser
Jamestown , Rhode Island
United States

^^^^ snopes

Thanks I normally run this shit through snopes too but neglected to do so on this one.

Took a colloquium on Fascism and Nazism from an instructor who is now a professor at Cambridge, and the Obama-as-next-Hitler screeds give me a belly laugh, as their author(s) must have an IQ of below 95.

Yeah agreed but weren't libs depicting Bush as Hitler as well ?

Always thought of Bush 43 as more analogous to Kaiser Willy.

Je t'aime Pinupmutant.

I suppose W. was closer to Hitler than Bam, in the relative way, but, for my money, those guys were closer to THIS.

@pinupmutant:

You know, it would be nice to try to comment on people's links if they weren't US only. I know you didn't mean to but I feel like I'm missing out on something...

Here, Conq.

Sorry, but you have to listen to a Keith Olberman intro before you get to the good stuff. Couldn't find a direct Comedy Central link for it on youtube.

Thanks Random.

They don't show Beck on TV here but I do get the Daily Show.

That was hilarious.

meh the whole Godwin's Law thing is getting old.
You dont gotta be a bleeding heart to support American non-intervention. Many on the right of the spectrum support it too.
And you dont gotta be a 'fascist pig' to want to defend your border and kick out people who have absolutely no legal right to be there.
Do you think Buying American and all that jazz would really work? I used to be all uppity about not buying shit made in China; it now seems unavoidable.
Has the dropping of tariffs and cheaper products from abroad helped or hurt America? I really dont understand how that shit works....

What do you guys think about the Israeli raid on the ship with "aid" going to Gaza ?

Israel wasn't ever going to let them make it to land. How you gonna starve people out of their homes if some jerk offs bring them food? Israel wants beach front condos to replace hovels, and will stop at nothing to get them.

Northrop, Canada is America's biggest trading partner.

Oh yeah, the reason the deficit is so high is:

1. Your taxes are too low. Warren Buffet pays a lesser percentage of tax than his secretary. Even he thinks taxes should be higher. (Yeah, yeah, I know ... Buffet invests in the economy and makes jobs!!! Tell that to middle class Americans who are laid off and can't afford to pay their mortgages. It is call "progressive taxation" -- earn more, pay more.)

2. Spending is too high. You're fighting two wars on credit. If you really taxed people for the cost of the war there would be a revolt. Entitlement programs (Medicaid, Social Security, etc) are going to be "the straw that breaks the camel's back" (i.e remember Greece?).

In about 6-7 years the U.S. budget deficit will double unless taxes are raised or spending is lowered. For God's sake, who is going to buy another trillion dollars of U.S. bonds every year?

IMHO, the budget deficit is the #1 problem facing the U.S. AFTER campaign finance reform. If the American people truly controlled their government, rather than corporations, the U.S. would not be in this mess today.

It's not just current health care expenditures, it's their growth rate that's sinking the country. This isn't a partisan statement. Obama's made the same argument.

Yes Iraq and Afghanistan were expensive as hell, but the idea that that's what's sinking the country is new to me. I did a little googling:

Quote:

---

Administration’s request for 2008 is funded in full, appropriations for military operations and other war-related activities in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the war on terrorism will rise to $188 billion this year and to a cumulative total of $752 billion since 2001.

---

Source: Click

Less than a $100B/year average in a multi-trillion dollar budget isn't what's sinking the country. And eventually, those wars will, some day, end. Health care costs are just spiraling upward.

Well, spiraling upwards unless you believe the politicized numbers Obama threw out there in defense of his health care reform bill. Here's an article with a link to the latest CMS Actuary report on the finances behind that bill: Click. I've been trying to get time to read that report over the last couple of weeks, but it's dense, hard to read, not enough time. Just skimming the NYT article will give you an idea though.

Also, here's a pie chart as to Obama's 2011 budget. Note how much we're spending on Medicare and Medicaid. And, that budget probably includes all the politicized numbers Obama ran around with trying to get that health care bill passed: Click

Note that I'm not against universal coverage. It's just that there are plans that got quite a bit of support in Congress for achieving that while lowering how much we spend on health care. And, real universal coverage, not this "near-universal" nonsense Obama's bragging about. What are the projected numbers? 10% of citizens are still uninsured in 2019? The USA spends ridiculous amounts on health care. It's way too expensive here.

You're probably right about Canada being the largest trading partner.

And yeah, part of the solution is raising taxes. It's just after watching how backward assed they did the whole health care reform, I can't imagine them touching it.

And that pie chart is just showing Medicare and Medicaid. Health insurance for retired federal employees isn't part of that. From congress people to the guy that sweeps up at the Pentagon, they all get health care for life, no? That seems to be what is crippling states and municipalities, along with the auto industry, and others. If we went to a nationalized health care, wouldn't it give relief to them?

artwilliams:

Quote:

---

...
IMHO, the budget deficit is the #1 problem facing the U.S. AFTER campaign finance reform. If the American people truly controlled their government, rather than corporations, the U.S. would not be in this mess today.
...

---

What I was gonna say. Or, build a time machine and go fix the 2000 election.

-Chuck, Vegetarian fanboy

OP:

Quote:

---

I don't pretend to know but I get the feeling some of you know it alls think you do. What are the answers to terrorism, Iran, Korea, the economy, illegal immigration, the Mid East etc....
Propose the problems as you see them and lets hear solutions not blame game bullshit.

---

Terrorism - get our troops the fuck out of there, especially Saudi Arabia. This just fans the flames. Do what we can with intelligence and security, while placing priority on rights and freedoms. Once a location of someone who is part of an organization that has attacked us is determined, blast it hard. Get tough with Pakistan. Work well with our allies, and step up humanitarian work. Become what we used to be, the shining beacon on the hill. Aside from all that, we must accept there will be small, random acts of violence in a free society, from within and outside. There is a sustainable, reasonable approach, but no magic solution.

Iran - Work with the international community and Russia to put the squeeze on them. Let it be known through back channels that when their weapons development gets close to fruition, we will not stop Israel from doing some precision bombing.

Korea - Let the Chinese call the shots because we owe them our ass ... probably doesn't matter what we do, the guy is a nut. Maybe try some carrot? I'm not afraid of a little conflagration here, the ROK soldiers would absolutely kick ass.

Economy - Americans work harder than just about anyone, and seem to be getting less for it. The mega-rich are controlling a huge portion of money, and not helping out nearly enough. Our biggest problem, really, is the perception that any reasonable solution is "socialism". We must fix the inequity and have the have it alls start paying on a progressive tax schedule. Enough to balance our budget and start paying down debt, while we meet our entitlement obligations and keep Government services strong. We need to enforce import regulations that call for worker's rights, environmental standards, and fair trade practices. Stop the wars and take a hard look at defense spending. Make smart investments in education, green energy, infrastructure, etc. Call on corporations to pay their share for the things they use. Single payer health care would save money and allow manufacturing jobs to pay decently without entangling employers.

Immigration - fix the system and secure the borders! Huge fines for companies who hire illegal workers. Make it easier to be legal than illegal.

Middle East - doing all we can. Staying involved, trying to keep the lines of peace negotiation open, that's about all we can do. Again, there is no magic solution, but it's like trying to keep the cockroaches in Panzer's place to a minimum.

Again, public financing of election campaigns and instant runoff voting would give us legislatures that spend time looking after the interests of the people instead of looking for campaign contributions. This is the biggie.

Posting a release date for Gag Factor 32 would greatly enhance the spirit of this great Nation and give us something to look forward to.

-Chuck, Vegetarian fanboy

How about in the Middle East, we sit on our hands and let Israel and Iran nuke each other. Then 2 problems solved.

Also, to help w/state budgets, anyone w/ a prison sentence over 20 years should be air dropped into Afghanistan w/ a knife and 2 Snickers bars. Let them know if they are ever found in the US again, they will be executed. That goes for illegals in our jails too.

Chuck has some good suggestions imo. I doubt it happening though. There's a lot of idealism there in a very unforgiving and cold world.

I think Fiend's solution is far and away the best. Outlaw people. 6 billion people die. Problems solved all around.

Re: Palestine-Israel

Hell, if those fuckers in Ireland and England could finally bury the hatchet, anything is possible.

Similar thing, everyone knows the solution they just have to grow the balls to do it.

Finding a cheap alternative to oil and keeping stupid people from breeding would solve most of the world's ills