State of the Union

[Maengelito]

This might seem a little off topic, but what about our $8.6 trillion deficit? What about our failing schools? What about our shitty (non-existant) health care system (I broke my hand w/ insurance and bills amount to over $1k)? What about Darfur? What about N Korea? What about Iran? What about Somalia? What about our environmental impact? What about our negative impact abroad and our failing first-attack policy?

That's the big one I don't understand. For all the hootin', hollerin', and saber rattling we did over Iraq and the WMD's that didn't exist, North Korea actually developed and tested nuclear weapons in the meantime. If the mere possibility that Saddam had WMD's necessitated us invading Iraq, how is it that the reality of N.Korean nuclear weapons commanded nary a bomb dropped?

One could say it is about terrorism, but Saddam had nothing to do with Al Qaeda. One could say it was about removing a cruel and dangerous dictator but there are plenty of those in the world and several that have killed a lot more people than Saddam. You could even say it was about building a friendly democracy in the Middle East, which is a noble goal, but hardly a reason for us to take on such a costly and dangerous endeavor. Nope, for some reason or another Bush was hell bent on getting into a war with Iraq, even if it meant ignoring real threats or taking the focus off Bin Laden.

north korea is a tricky situation. kim jong il isnt much of a threat to anyone except himself and those he bosses around. the dynamic of his rule and what he's willing to do and not do is like that of a little kid. all this stuff about him having nuclear weapons is just his way of wanting to get all the attention on him so he can have his way. its the same way people think india and pakistan are gonna duke it out except when you talk to people who live in india and pakistan and realize that they depend on each other. same way with taiwan and china.

[.RJ]

kim jong il isnt much of a threat to anyone except himself and those he bosses around.

Well they are working on Nuclear technology, they've been very vocal about it, and they arent afraid to fire test missles into the ocean (that suddenly fail, but thats beside the point) against direct instructions by several goverments to stand down.

They obviously dont care what we think about their nuclear activities, so what happens when they really do have something that will put a hurtin' on our west coast and point it at us? I would say WWIII after we nuke 'em, but do they have any allies?

[Kaan]

China would the country that is in bed with Korea.

[Maengelito]

kim jong il isnt much of a threat to anyone except himself and those he bosses around.

Well they are working on Nuclear technology, they've been very vocal about it, and they arent afraid to fire test missles into the ocean (that suddenly fail, but thats beside the point) against direct instructions by several goverments to stand down.

They obviously dont care what we think about their nuclear activities, so what happens when they really do have something that will put a hurtin' on our west coast and point it at us? I would say WWIII after we nuke 'em, but do they have any allies?

without getting into specifics, its like a bad kid that acts bad just to get attention. they'll do all that stuff because he wants to be a world super power. whats more of a threat from north korea is if they decide to sell their technology to others unregulated to really start some shit.

as far as allies, i'm not sure they have anyone that "would have their back" but all their neighbors are interested in keeping them around and not having them wiped off the map. south korea (represent!) china, russia and japan would prefer to see them flourish.

[JackoliciousLegs]

HERRRRO!

[.RJ]

without getting into specifics, its like a bad kid that acts bad just to get attention.

I dunno, but firing missles into the ocean isnt exactly a temper tantrum.... so, it was a complete failure, but what if it wasnt a failure and the navigation failed - taking out japan, or the US?

[JustinG]

again, kill em all, and take care of france while their at it, dunno why just dont like french people, seem kinda snobby to me

[HAULN-SS]

Btw - I havent had internet since I moved to herndon til today, but I recently read that the war costs 3% of GDP. That's not much. Socialist programs are what drive the deficit.

[Feersty]

My friends getting deployed this year are gonna be extended like crazy. That's for sure.

[Kaan]

when you join the military... you have to know there is a chance you will get deployed. We are no longer in the cold war... we dont sit back and bitch moan and complain... we send our troops in.

they signed up for a job... they are doing their job... their contracts say you "may" get extended... chose your path and deal with it.

i still blame rob.

[Andy]

Btw - I havent had internet since I moved to herndon til today, but I recently read that the war costs 3% of GDP. That's not much. Socialist programs are what drive the deficit.

Yeah, that's not really true and measuring costs against our gross output is really retarded. It's like making an annual budget based on your pre-tax salary and wondering why you end up 30-40% in the hole which is what our government does.

[Feersty]

Reactions to tonight's speech?

Civilian Reserve Corps?
92,000 more Army and Marines?

[CaptainHenreh]

Prez luvs Pop Tarts.

[HAULN-SS]

bout damn time they had a civilian corp

[G.Irish]

Reactions to tonight's speech?

Civilian Reserve Corps?
92,000 more Army and Marines?

I'm not sure what exactly the Civilian Reserve Corps would be so I'd have to hear more about it.

There's no doubt that we're going to need more infantry to deal with the types of conflicts we're likely to see in the foreseeable future. Question is, are we going to cut back spending on uber expensive weapons systems that do not meet the needs of that type of conflict.

I liked what he had to say about alternative energy, I hope that a solid, realistic plan can come to fruition. His call for an end to earmarks was heartening, I hope we can actually see progress in that front.

[BLINGMW]

bah, that just sounded like a big setup. Here's all the wonderful things I want to do, hooray! Of course, no facts or actual plans or anything, just some nice sounding stuff he found on the internet.

And later ....oh, well I would have done it all! But damn this liberal congress wouldn't let me! :roll:

[Maengelito]

bah, that just sounded like a big setup. Here's all the wonderful things I want to do, hooray! Of course, no facts or actual plans or anything, just some nice sounding stuff he found on the internet.

thats every state of the union by every president every year.

[BLINGMW]

well yeah. I guess I ass-u-me-d he might have had something actually new to say since he just did this like a couple weeks ago.

[ScottyB]

say a sentence clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap say a sentence clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap say a sentence clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap say a sentence clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap this is getting old clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap make it stop clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap no seriously guys clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap clap

[G.Irish]

bah, that just sounded like a big setup. Here's all the wonderful things I want to do, hooray! Of course, no facts or actual plans or anything, just some nice sounding stuff he found on the internet.

And later ....oh, well I would have done it all! But damn this liberal congress wouldn't let me! :roll:

Its more like an opening bid. Kinda like the long Christmas list you gave to your parents when you were 8. You didn't expect to get everything on the list, just some of the things. I don't think Bush realistically expects to get all of that stuff done either. I'm just really interested to see if anything happens with the earmarking reform.