State of the Union

[Feersty]

A lot of key issues will be discussed tonight. Thoughts, concerns? What is the state of the union?

More troops gonna be sent.

[Mike]

state of the union? fucked up, but repairable.

[Evan]

uh oh.... here comes the politicks

The Democrats now promise "A New Direction For America" .......................................

The stock market is at a new all-time high and America's 401K's are back.
A new direction from there means, what?

Unemployment is at 25 year lows.
A new direction from there means, what?

Oil prices are plummeting.
A new direction from there means, what?

Taxes are at 20 year lows.
A new direction from there means, what?

Federal tax revenues are at all-time highs.
A new direction from there means, what?

The Federal deficit is down almost 50%, just as predicted over last year.
A new direction from there means. what?

Home valuations are up 200% over the past 3.5 years.
A new direction from there means, what?

Inflation is in check, hovering at 20 year lows.
A new direction from there means, what?

Not a single terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11/01.
A new direction from there means, what?

Osama bin Laden is living under a rock in a dark cave, having not surfaced in years, if he's alive at all, while 95% of Al
Queda's top dogs are either dead or in custody, cooperating with US Intel.
A new direction from there means, what?

Several major terrorist attacks already thwarted by US and British Intel, including the recent planned attack involving 10
Jumbo Jets being exploded in mid-air over major US cities in order to celebrate the anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks.
A new direction from there means, what?

Just as President Bush foretold us on a number of occasions, Iraq was to be made "ground zero" for the war on terrorism --
and just as President Bush said they would, terrorist cells from all over the region are arriving from the shadows of their hiding places and flooding in to Iraq in order to get their faces blown off by US Marines rather than boarding planes and heading to the United States to wage war on us here.
A new direction from there means, what?

[Apoc]

Did you get that from the Republican Kool Aid Mailing List?

Politics shouldn't make us tired... and I'm so tired.

[ultimagtrlover]

Federal deficit?? We wouldn't have been in such a deficit if it wasn't for this damn war! This damn war that is getting us nowhere. Iraq is manned by a puppet government for the Bush administration. It pisses me off sooo much when I see how some people are sooo convinced that throwing more troops into such a volitile area will help stop the underlying violence in Iraq. Bush has put our men and women in a confict that goes well beyond politics. The major conflict is between the two different sects of religions in the region, and guns and killings can only aggrivate the problem. Whatever the case, I think Iraq will turn into another Vietnam. With BILLIONS of dollars that could of been spent elsewhere to help the poverty in the world, we instead are attempting to impose our own ways of life to another country. Sounds familiar? IMPERIALISM!

[.RJ]

Federal deficit?? We wouldn't have been in such a deficit if it wasn't for this damn war!

Uhm, I dunno where the hell you've been but the federal deficit has been going on for a loooooooong time.

It pisses me off sooo much when I see how some people are sooo convinced that throwing more troops into such a volitile area

How many troops are "we" sending over there? How many troops were sent overseas during Vietnam? WWII? Do you know?

will help stop the underlying violence in Iraq. Bush has put our men and women in a confict that goes well beyond politics. The major conflict is between the two different sects of religions in the region, and guns and killings can only aggrivate the problem.

Fundamentalist terrorists do not respond to sitting around and talking about the problems, even if you gave them some iMacs to feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Can you imagine the backlash WWI and WWII would've gotten if there was as much media fueled sensationalism as there is now?

With BILLIONS of dollars that could of been spent elsewhere to help the poverty in the world, we instead are attempting to impose our own ways of life to another country. Sounds familiar? IMPERIALISM!

Wait, you dont like the $$ being spent on Iraq to change their ways, but you support spending $$ in other countries to "help" them change their ways? There are some pretty fucked up places in the world. Its not our job to fix all of them.[/list]

[Ryan T]

There are some pretty fucked up places in the world. Its not our job to fix all of them.[/list]

Exactly. We've got enough of our own problems here between the oceans without trying to solve everyone elses problems.

[.RJ]

They arent flying planes into our skyscrapers either.

[JustinG]

its all over oil.....there I said it. Do I agree with the war, yes, kill em all, but atleast admit its for oil. Unless they already did, in which case, Kill em all, ask questions later.

[Mike]

Federal deficit?? We wouldn't have been in such a deficit if it wasn't for this damn war!

Uhm, I dunno where the hell you've been but the federal deficit has been going on for a loooooooong time.

might want to do your homework here. it steadily rose (as a percentage of gdp) in bush sr's term, steadily dropped during clinton, and has been steadily rising during w's tenure. as a percentage of gdp, it really shows us where we're going... if you're at a lower percentage, you're beating inflation so in essence the debt is being reduced even though during the clinton years, the dollar amoutn did go up a tiny bit.

It pisses me off sooo much when I see how some people are sooo convinced that throwing more troops into such a volitile area

How many troops are "we" sending over there? How many troops were sent overseas during Vietnam? WWII? Do you know?

comparing iraq to wwii is just... asinine. comparing it to vietnam is right on the money... i'm not sure you were trying to prove this point, but you did anyway.

will help stop the underlying violence in Iraq. Bush has put our men and women in a confict that goes well beyond politics. The major conflict is between the two different sects of religions in the region, and guns and killings can only aggrivate the problem.

Fundamentalist terrorists do not respond to sitting around and talking about the problems, even if you gave them some iMacs to feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

do you firmly believe their sons are not going to grow up hating us EVEN MORE?

With BILLIONS of dollars that could of been spent elsewhere to help the poverty in the world, we instead are attempting to impose our own ways of life to another country. Sounds familiar? IMPERIALISM!

Wait, you dont like the $$ being spent on Iraq to change their ways, but you support spending $$ in other countries to "help" them change their ways? There are some pretty fucked up places in the world. Its not our job to fix all of them.[/list]

IMO, it isn't our place to fix anywhere. iraq was not the most "fucked up" place we could have attempted to "fix."

[Mike]

They arent flying planes into our skyscrapers either.

neither were iraqis.

[WRXtranceformed]

Not a single terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11/01.
A new direction from there means, what?

Osama bin Laden is living under a rock in a dark cave, having not surfaced in years, if he's alive at all, while 95% of Al
Queda's top dogs are either dead or in custody, cooperating with US Intel.
A new direction from there means, what?

Several major terrorist attacks already thwarted by US and British Intel, including the recent planned attack involving 10
Jumbo Jets being exploded in mid-air over major US cities in order to celebrate the anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks.
A new direction from there means, what?

Just as President Bush foretold us on a number of occasions, Iraq was to be made "ground zero" for the war on terrorism --
and just as President Bush said they would, terrorist cells from all over the region are arriving from the shadows of their hiding places and flooding in to Iraq in order to get their faces blown off by US Marines rather than boarding planes and heading to the United States to wage war on us here.
A new direction from there means, what?

I'm not one to get hugely involved in political discussions, because everyone has opinions, and as we all know opinions are like blah blah blah, everyone's got one. I will say that this is an EXTREMELY optimistic view of what's been going on with our aggressive foreign policy over Bush's term. That's putting it very lightly.

There is no way Bush nor his cronies are foolish/crazy/or even brilliant enough to invade a somewhat benign country that we pwned in the past just to use that as a staging ground to draw out more terrorists. If that truly is the case, I REALLY feel for our armed forces over there. Because they're not doing shit if that's the case.

Do you realize the scale of radical Muslim hatred towards us right now? It doesn't only include 20-30 year old men who have been trained at terrorism camps and are ready to become martyrs. It is their children as well, and their children's children who will continue hating us. It is AMERICAN and BRITISH CITIZENS who are plotting and funding a lot of these potential attacks. It is so fucking easy to carry out an attack that will affect a lot of people, and although we're doing a great job of catching most of them I wouldn't be surprised if we aren't hit again with another disaster. They walk out in the streets in Israel with bombs strapped to their chests and kill dozens, what makes you think this won't happen in the US if our enemy gets desperate enough?

To say this war is like Vietnam is putting this lightly... this is like Vietnam on a global scale. Something fundamentally has to change or this "threat" will never end.

[Maengelito]

i dont know when the comparison to vietnam started but its nothing like vietnam except for the fact that it involves the US armed forces against foreign forces. thats about it.

whether or not we should be in iraq depends on who you ask. as many have stated, everyone's got their own opinions, but to call iraq a benign country is foolish at best.

religious turmoil and violence in the middle east is nothing new. its been a part of that region almost as long as people have been there. the problem is that extremists on both sides fuck things up for everyone. there are millions of religions that have come and gone in the history of humans, but the ones that gain followers and popularity are the ones that embrace love and respect for your fellow man. no one says "ya know, i'm gonna devote my life to following the tenets of religion x because i want to blow shit up and kill people for no reason" its just people on the extreme ends of their beliefs that cross the line and make it difficult for everyone. most rational people understand the balance between their beliefs and the beliefs of others, but you have hard lined smart people that can take advantage of other hard lined or impressionable not so smart people.

i hate talking politics so much

[Goodspeed]

its just people on the extreme ends of their beliefs that cross the line and make it difficult for everyone. most rational people understand the balance between their beliefs and the beliefs of others, but you have hard lined smart people that can take advantage of other hard lined or impressionable not so smart people.

Very well said, it is really as simple as that. Typically in political discussions, I've noticed that some people can't deal with the fact that such a situation can be so fundamentally simple, but it really is as you put it. Religion and politics are each dirty businesses, put them together, and shit goes crazy.

[.RJ]

i'm not sure you were trying to prove this point, but you did anyway.

In a way, yes, I was.

But I was more bringing to light the knee-jerk reaction of the post. If you're going to ramble on, thats fine, but get your facts straight and dont sound like a hippie blog written in between meat is murder and save the whales protests.

And for the record, I think the Iraq situation sucks too.

[Mike]

i dont know when the comparison to vietnam started but its nothing like vietnam except for the fact that it involves the US armed forces against foreign forces. thats about it.

mmm "the people" don't want to be there any longer, the leaders continue to send more troops, we went over there to thwart "evil," our death count continues to rise without any real results.

if you're going to say it is nothing like vietnam the you have to give reasoning.

[Apoc]

Don't forget we're fighting a war in which combatants look the same as unarmed civilians until they shoot at you.

Oh and don't forget the killing of innocents who aren't white... but that may be a bit inflamatory.

[CaptainHenreh]

Don't forget we're fighting a war in which combatants look the same as unarmed civilians until they shoot at you.

Oh and don't forget the killing people who aren't white... but that may be a bit inflamatory.

Also, don't forget that the people being killed have no poptarts.

Or strudels.

Or probably sweet pastries of any kind.

[Mike]

they probably make their pastry filling out of bean... ick! they do that in japan... ick!

[Dave]

also fighting in a unknown terrain, though it's a bit of a stretch since we've had like 5 middle eastern conflicts in the past 5 years (sarcasm).

Does this mean there's going to be a new era of sex, drugs, and rock'n roll soon? WOOT!