Any Obama supporters care to list Obama's experience and/or qualifications?

Well, I thought you might like this. Not only is the United States talking with our former enemies the Sunni Insurgents in Iraq, but now we are going to be talking with the Taliban. This is not Obama or Democrats. This is still the Bush administration actually talking with our adversaries. Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks. This is pure Petraeus and he knows his business fighting insurgencies. I'll give Bush credit here, SF. At long last he has started to listen to his military experts about military matters instead of his political advisers.

 

It's not difficult. "Taliban" means "religious student" in Arabic. Most of the Taliban just want to go about being devout muslims--cutting the hands off of thieves, memorizing the Koran, banning Bollywood videos, and dressing their women like tents. You know, the fun stuff.

The militant Taliban elements allowed Al Qaida to subvert them into becoming terrorists and insurgents. As a result the whole Taliban culture lost control of Afghanistan and NATO has been merrily killing them for 5 years. Many of them are tiring of the conflict, blame Al Qaida for it all, and are looking for a way out.

Petraeus literally wrote the book on counter-insurgency operations. Now that he's in charge of the whole theater, including Afghanistan, he's implementing the strategy that worked in Iraq and has worked many times over the centuries--Divide and Conquer. We're exploiting the differences between tribal groups and rival leaders . . . driving them apart instead of driving them together. It works.

 

That's great, really. Just don't assume that the rest of us are not hard-working and self-made. You talk like the entire middle class making less than your husband is on welfare, has EARNED nothing, and is not worthy to live in America.

Good question--How the hell does that work? I don't get a government paycheck from your husband's taxes. I pay a lot of taxes, too. This is a myth.

We all pay taxes because the government must be funded, that is the price of citizenship in a democracy. The government is going broke because we spend more than we bring in and it must be fixed. We can't keep borrowing money from China and Saudi Arabia to fund tax breaks for the top 5% of us or for profitable corporations like Exxon.

You want to get as much as you can for yourself. Fine, I understand that republican point of view very well. I want to live in a country where everybody prospers.

 

We pay over $153 Billion a year on interest on the National Debt. $10.5 Trillion and incresing at 3.84 Billion a day. That interest is paid to the people to whom we sell Federal Reserve Bonds. Obviously we are borrowing money to meet our obligations. Some of those obligations have been paid with corporate taxes until the huge tax breaks. Now they have to be borrowed by issuing more bonds. Exxon is wildly profitable earning the most profits ever posted in the history of American corporations. Why do they need public help? They don't, obviously.

How does it do that?

Then why haven't they added new refineries? How many jobs have been added as a result of these tax breaks?

The Trickle Down theory never worked, That is the issue that is costing the Republicans the election. Most of it stays at the top. The middle class just sees more of the same while the rich and the corporations get richer and then receive bailouts.