Letters to the Editor
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@ Nick
War is not a political tool.
It is to the right. Whether the prowar right or antiwar right, it is a tool employed in domestic politics.
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A serious policy suggestion from shooter242?
Let's leave South Korea. We can redistribute the troops, save a boatload of money, and occupy Iraq indefinitely.
The point of this being...what? How would drawing down USFK down to zero, thereby removing a mere 31,000 personnel, save any worthwhile amount of money?
Where would they be deployed to? Japan? Iraq? Pokipsie?
In any case, aren't you the one always going on about how we "can't retreat" from any of our current positions, or does that just apply to Iraq?
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An oxymoron...
Good Faith Trolls?
By definition-- not to mention practice-- Trolls post in Bad Faith.
...which is why it does not pay to feed the trolls. Those who argue another point of view, but in good faith, are another story.
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Jeebus, Paul!
The fact remains that GW Bush has been rather radical in his approach to spending, going litarally years before his first veto threat, and any self-respecting Conservative would have rupudiated him on that basis alone. As a matter of fact, many did.
Don't tiptoe around so...
Bush and this bunch are "smash and grab" gangsters.
They are busting the joint out like any self respecting Mafia crew would. They are "good earners".
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Goodfellas
Busting a joint out:
Now the guy's got Paulie as a partner. Any problems, he goes to Paulie. Trouble with a bill, he can go to Paulie. Trouble with the cops, deliveries, Tommy, he can call Paulie. But now the guy's got to come up with Paulie's money every week. No matter what. Business bad? Fuck you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? Fuck you, pay me. The place got hit by lightning, huh? Fuck you, pay me. Also, Paulie could do anything. Especially run up bills on the joint's credit. And why not? Nobody's gonna pay for it anyway. And as soon as the deliveries are made in the front door, you move the stuff out the back and sell it at a discount. You take a two hundred dollar case of booze and you sell it for a hundred. It doesn't matter. It's all profit. And then finally, when there's nothing left, when you can't borrow another buck from the bank or buy another case of booze, you bust the joint out. You light a match.
Thanks for the chump change, Bush.
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Secrets are only for politics under these gangsters
Intel Links Iran With Nuke Bomb Attempt
By GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Writer
Feb 14th, 2008 | VIENNA, Austria -- The U.S. has recently shared sensitive information with the International Atomic Energy Agency on key aspects of Iran's nuclear program that Washington says shows Tehran was directly engaged in trying to make an atomic weapon, diplomats told The Associated Press on Thursday.
The diplomats said Washington also gave the IAEA permission to confront Iran with at least some of the evidence in an attempt to pry details out of the Islamic republic on the activities, as part of the U.N. nuclear watchdog's attempts to investigate Iran's suspicious nuclear past.
The decision by the U.S. administration to declassify its intelligence and indirectly share it with Iran through the IAEA was a clear reflection of Washington's' drive to pressure Iran into admitting that it had focused part of its nuclear efforts toward developing a weapons program.
While the Americans have previously declassified and then forwarded intelligence to the IAEA to help its investigations, they do so on a selective basis.
http://tinyurl.com/33l87h
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A gang of armed, lawless thugs
That's what libertarians think about The State. Is that definition starting to sound more realistic, folks? Do you get it yet?
It's even sadder that we have to depend on slimes like Dodd and Feinstein, themselves no respecters of the rule of law and the Constitution, to carry our water in this case.
It's done, folks. Our Republic is dead. Get ready to hunker down.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/kwiatkowski/kwiatkowski192.html
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Tax-a-rama: the Cry Me a River Episode
re: The NIT [proposed by Friedman in 1962] would thus be a mirror image of the regular tax system.
You're too late to the party, that system has been in force for quite some time now. It's called the EITC. That coupled with child care credits (mo money) is a very effective safety net, no?
No. I actually qualified for the additional child credit for a year or 2 after my husband's death; it's chickenfeed to put it charitably. The EITC has a higher cap but in order to qualify you need to be truly poor; there is an assets-based cut-off. If you (as a hypothetical poor, working mother) have any money in the bank it's not accessible. I happen to believe that is the way it should be, but it is only there for those living paycheck-to-paycheck.
My point was that there was a high end cutoff at around $170,000 so the largest taxpayers get nothing, subsidizing the rest of the country. That is the definition of wealth redistribution.
Actually there is another class of taxpayers who 'subsidize the country' irrespective of income bracket -- single people. I can only sequester half as much money from taxation as a married couple -- for retirement, for my child's education, in the sale of a house, etc. The tax code is written in such a way as to give the bereaved about 3 years of equality before we're kicked back down to the status of young adults in terms of exemptions, credits, etc. The offset, and it is considerable, is the social security check that all bereaved children receive until they graduate high school. It hasn't escaped my attention that ultra-rightists are quite enamored of the idea of doing away with it. But their track record on actually address tax code inequities that affect the upper middle class (AMT) is... democratesque.
The more interesting point is that Bush can literally give away money, and STILL no one will share the love. BDS seems to be incurable. -- shooter242
If he hadn't mortgaged my daughter's future to east Asia in order to do so I might 'feel the love' shooter242 -- but given the way he's squandered our many resources I find it .... inappropriate.
I'm sorry bud, but when it comes to actual nickel & dime issues I tend to agree with prunes -- you ultra-rightists are either screwing yourselves by supporting people/ideology that are not in your fiscal best interest, or you are among the very tiny hyper-elite that are likely to benefit from the decimation of America's vibrant middle class.