What do you think of our current President?

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by toiditm

I don't mind rambling if it gets the point acrossI don't think there needs to be a conspiracy, just people acting in their own economic self-interest. Every politician with contracts to build or assemble military hardware in their home state wants those earmarks to continue.

Oh really, so what military system did Barack Obama contract?????

Originally Posted by toiditm

They get lobbied for this by lots of private interests and they make sure it stays in the omnibus bill, whether it's a useless decommissioned widget or part of the mysterious project X. This means less $ for future tech that isn't considered economical at the moment. Apollo and SDI were not "economical" ideas either, but they have probably inspired more commercial innovation (increasing GDP and overall US budgets) than all the widget projects combined.

Again more speculative nonsense - sure a congressman or senator will ensure a chunk of the defense budget is spent in their district - Sam Nun Looked after Lockheed in the C-5 days, Diane Feinstein did the same for Northrop in the B-2 days - so what? Do you think those folks were bought and sold or part of the "MIC." That would be like saying that McDonnalds is attempting to capture the world eating market and make us all die of cholesterol!

Originally Posted by toiditm

So a significant portion of photvoltaic cell research is done privately in the US now (the free market has caught up), but the majority of PV manufacturing capacity is in Southeast Asia and China. What about organic waste reprocessing? Same deal, but the mfg facilities are in Europe. It's all what if now, but this type of energy could be powering military and non-military vehicles alike instead of half of deployed units being used to supply fuel to the other half that are actually designed for combat. After an oil crisis during Nixon's time, I don't see how we logically ended up where we are now. Thanks for attempting to explain, though.

Again more rambling - in the 1950s defense contractors had a better grip on the DoD thanks to old WW2 connections - I could of seen why Ike brought up the MIC in his speech, in today's word the "MIC" is nothing more than small time thieves attempting to milk the government or secure bribes and as stated, in the end they will get caught.

[renrich]

Nope , researchers, as you call them, really aides, don't represent the public. They are mainly politicians. Lobbyists represent the public and it is foolish to believe that many politicians are being paid by lobbyists or their employers.

[pbfoot]

Originally Posted by renrich

Nope , researchers, as you call them, really aides, don't represent the public. They are mainly politicians. Lobbyists represent the public and it is foolish to believe that many politicians are being paid by lobbyists or their employers.

I would then say money talks as those with the most money would be better able to get their point over as a they can afford the better Bull*****ters

[renrich]

Good point!

[toiditm]

Again more speculative nonsense

If I hadn't watched Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and heard about the World Solar Challenge then I might have considered things differently, I guess.

Again more rambling

Unfortunately, I didn't know all the benefits of nuclear power and clean coal at the time.

Originally Posted by pbfoot

I would then say money talks as those with the most money would be better able to get their point over as a they can afford the better Bull*****ters

You'd be right. North Carolina is overflowing with pig **** and Dirty Jobs has to find the guy who invented sustainable pig farming. Where is the NSA on this one? You think some ****** in a cave will think of this? Give someone a reason to resist and they will. Give someone a reason to hope and they will.

You want to talk Barack Obama? See if any Democrats look funny at this...

"Thank gawd Barack Obama voted fo' that FISA bill, 'cause it mean tha' big man is wha-chin' and listenin'! Oh my lawdy lawd I am so glad-ah, Hallelujah! Ah lay my foth' amen'ment rahts-ah befo' you, 'cawz I feeeel tha' spirit, Hallelujah! Put me in tha' kay-jed-free-spee-chah-zone! Make me stan' fo' mah fuhst amen'ment rahts-ah! Ah feel a tree-zin on me! Out with my tree-zin, Devil! Out!"

You want rambling? I think you sound like a ****ing nutcase, too.

Is that the future you were hoping for? See if voting for McCain will change it. It won't. Roveian politics brought us to this juncture, but even the players get played now. Someone has been treating our society like a game of Risk. I may be rusty, but I know the g-----n rules and I can call a cheater when I see one.

There is one man alive in the Republican party I would trust to do the right things and of course he is the one they all laugh at the hardest. There is one man who is not a Republican that I would trust to do the right things and of course he's the one they all laugh at the hardest. They are both closer to McCain than Obama, as far as age and experience. I'm not sure how old, but nobody really knows how old Alexander Hamilton was, either. Unlike him, they are both veterans. I also trust Nancy Pelosi, since she's already in line and she's done the best she can with the cluster**** that was left in her lap.

Seems like Obama is the cult-of-personality of our moment. You can't fight that. You do, you will get crushed. He could eat a baby on television and people would critique it on the g-----n YouTube. I would be willing to let Obama be president if one of these men was his vice president. That's really just fantasy land, though, because that would require a convention where the partisans voted together. It would also require an admission of defeat by some huge losers.

I lose. You win. Happy? Enjoy the tourney and I hope you win the g-----n trophy.

[Njaco]

Wow, and I thought only my train of thought had only one stop.

[freebird]

Originally Posted by Njaco

Wow, and I thought only my train of thought had only one stop.

Yes apparently the train has derailed....

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by toiditm

I lose. You win. Happy? Enjoy the tourney and I hope you win the g-----n trophy.

So there is no "MIC."

I think you're three loads short of a bushel to be on this site so I'm opening up the cage and letting you free - enjoy!

[Bluehawk]

Dubya has been an excellent POTUS, in my opinion.

Not a "great leader of the free world", but, for me as an American, I am extremely glad it was he in office on 9/11, and I very very much appreciate his steadfast grace and good conduct.

I am very proud of him, and always will be.

And, I believe the passing of time will smile favorably on his administration at least as much as it does on most others... especially once the Democrats succeed in completing their quietly insidious mission - which has always been to get control of our government after the 2010 census.

Dubya, and Rumsfeld, will be vindicated - sooner or later.

Cheney, Kristol, Perle and the other good ole fellas, that's a whole different story which I am confident Ahmad Chalabi will proudly recount in his memoirs.

[pbfoot]

Give Pres Bush points today as he signed a bill preventing transfer of water from the Great Lakes to places other then those in the Great Lakes watershed it was a number of years in the works and a bilateral agreement between canada and the US

[ccheese]

There was some talk about impeachment of George W. I found this on Wiki:

"Calls for Bush's impeachment have been made, though most polls have shown a plurality of Americans do not support impeachment. The reasoning behind impeachment usually centers on the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, the Bush administration's justification for the war in Iraq, and alleged violations of the Geneva Conventions.

Representative Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat from Ohio, introduced 35 articles of impeachment on the floor of the House of Representatives against President Bush on June 9, 2008.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said that impeachment is "off the table"."

Charles

[Bluehawk]

They've been spouting that nonsense for years... the only legs it ever got came from poor losers and imbeciles.

a. So-called "warrantless surveillance" is a time-honored device during war to tighten up gathering of intel, which save lives and property. It has been examined down to the last rat's urine stain by everyone from top to bottom, and comes out clean every time. The only ones who are agin' it are the ones who either HAVE something to hide or the ones who have no clue what has been involved in fighting the GWOT.

b. The "justification" for the war in Iraq has been gone over and over and over and over. We're still there because the original decisions were made as well as possible and because the world is becoming a safer place.

c. The ballyhooed Geneva Conventions are not, repeat NOT, legally binding on ANY signatory or non-signatory nation. They have not more authority than a UN resolution. They are a set of general principles upon which most people agree, and many many major powers (including the USA) have and have not signed off on some or any of the documents. It is not as if the Conventions are treaties or laws like the UCMJ or a Constitution.

The only political movement Dennis Kucinich leads or understands would be the equivalent of the Women's Christian Temperance Union.

[Killer clive]

I live and reside within the southern New England region of the United States. I firmly believe that history will correctly judge George Bush II as the worst president to date bar none. He should have been impeached and brought before the world court for crimes against humanity. No, I'm not joking here. The damage this administration has wrought may haunt us for years perhaps decades to come. As we pass into the 21st century future historians will be right in pinning the start of America's demise with the Bush Reich.

Shortly before my father passed on he spoke quietly to me, lamenting and I quote son, I fought to prevent the kinda stuff this guy is doing. He was a decorated combat veteran of WWII. Ane he meant what he said.

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by Killer clive

I live and reside within the southern New England region of the United States. I firmly believe that history will correctly judge George Bush II as the worst president to date bar none. He should have been impeached and brought before the world court for crimes against humanity. No, I'm not joking here. The damage this administration has wrought may haunt us for years perhaps decades to come. As we pass into the 21st century future historians will be right in pinning the start of America's demise with the Bush Reich.

Shortly before my father passed on he spoke quietly to me, lamenting and I quote son, I fought to prevent the kinda stuff this guy is doing. He was a decorated combat veteran of WWII. Ane he meant what he said.

I'll remember that as I pass the NSA checkpoint down the street from me as I go to work in the morning.

[ToughOmbre]

Killer, you are lost!

History will judge W, no one else.

One thing troubling me.

Every terrorist organization in the world hates George Bush.

And these same terrorists seem to be rooting for Obama. Does that bother anybody else?

Then there's always the Hanoi Jane "Fonda effect". She's for Obama. What does that tell you?

Obama wins? This country is F*cked!

I'm done talking!

TO