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Originally posted by dieder:[..]

Strongly disagree about the SP as the most fair party. 'Social' is not fair anymore, they want to subsidize everything (from tax money, and especially from rich citizen) instead of people learn how to stand on their own feet without help from the government. What they do right is noting the problems we have in this country, but the solutions they offer are old-fashioned and unfair. Not handling major issues like reforming the labor market and housing etc. is not social, because they're sliding the problems and our shortage on to the next generations.

Agree, but they are the most down to earth (thats all I meant). Their plans wont work though.

Risto

13 years

Originally posted by Yogi:yadayada

Fact is that all we hear from you is criticism on the USA, the EU, aka everyone else.

I still stand by what I said. If the people in Africa unite, there is nothing we can do to stop them even if we wanted to. That said we shouldnt have medled in Libya, same as we shouldnt have in Kosovo or any other 'civil war'. There is a fine line between rebels and freedom fighters, its hard enough for the civilians to distinguish, let alone some foreign force.

So in the end I tend to agree with your opinion on the USA foreign politics. But I wont blame them for every problem in the world. Thats just to easy and a sign of weakness.

stj0691

13 years

Originally posted by Yogi:Interesting fact:

Since 2003, The U.S. spent $980 billion in Iraq, enough to wipe out world poverty for 10 years.

Note: If Bush had done what his father had done with the previous Iraq war, the US wouldn't have paid as much.

stj0691

13 years

Originally posted by Yogi:[..]

Yeah, great comparison, man. Croatia has one of the strongest and biggest armies in the world so it's totally ok to compare it to USA od Russia. LOL

Biggest issue of the third world is the West - Europe and USA. It's in their interest for Africa to stay weak. Look what happened in Libya. Libya was one of the richest countries of the continent with very high life standard. And now - it's in ruins.

Western governments are financing both governments and opposition in their ex-colonies to keep fights going so they could take their resources. It's a circle that will never end because that's how the system works.

The rich stay healthy
The sick stay poor

Just look what happened with the 'Kony' thing. That 'documentary' appeared and suddenly the whole world was worried for Africa. And then you do a little bit of research and find that Kony isn't even active anymore and hasn't been in the last 6-8 years.

And then you see a video of creator of Kony documentary masturbating in the middle of the street.

And then Wikileaks release documents that show that the guy was just doing some spying for USA government.

So, yeah, Africa could be great, we just have to keep our hands away from them.

While I don't know much about the Croatian army, I'm sure they don't have a missile defense system as advanced as the US.

The West's intervention in Africa isn't the only intervention, you forgot China.

Risto

13 years

Think you forgot the sarcasm goggles when reading the croatian army part

Yogi

13 years

http://gawker.com/5905954/economically-depressed-greece-plagued-by-rash-of-suicides?tag=greece

Before the financial crisis began wreaking havoc in 2009, Greece had one of the lowest suicide rates in the world — 2.8 per 100,000 inhabitants. There was a 40 percent rise in suicides in the first half of 2010, according to the Health Ministry.

Risto

13 years

Maybe they were fraudulating with those statistics before as well. I mean I would expect a lot of suicides on the 'isle of the blind', at least well above the average.

Even it the 40% were true its still WELL below the average. Maybe their life is now just as 'carefree' as hard working countries.

stj0691

13 years

Originally posted by Risto:Think you forgot the sarcasm goggles when reading the croatian army part

Whoops, just looking back now you're right, haha.

Yogi

13 years

http://rt.com/usa/news/coroner-arsenic-death-breitbart-456/

The unexpected death of conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart just got a whole lot more mysterious. Only two months after Breitbart’s passing, the coroner that investigated the cause of death may have succumbed to arsenic poisoning.
(...)
Speaking to the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. only weeks earlier, Breitbart claimed he had videos that would end the political career of US President Barack Obama.

“I have videos, this election we’re going to vet him,” Breitbart said back in February “We are going to vet him from his college days to show you why racial division and class warfare are central to what hope and change was sold in 2008.”
(...)
Although investigators would go on to call Breitbart’s March 1 death the result of heart failure, even some of his personal friends put forth the notion that it was an inside job. “He told me RECENTLY he had big dirt on Obama… MANY believe it's murder!” radio host and pal Mancow Muller tweeted after his death, adding in a similar micro message that he had his doubts about the initial reports of natural causes.

wtshnnfb01, what do you think about this?

wtshnnfb01

13 years

Don't care, I was never much a fan of Breitbart in all honesty. I'll keep my opinions till myself till there is more info.

stj0691

13 years

http://www.politicolnews.com/romney-son-investigated-for-8-billion-ponzi-scheme/#ixzz1txS9dRwg

Romney & Son Investigated for 8 Billion Ponzi Scheme

Mitt Romney and his son Tagg Romney have been implicated in a 8.5 billion dollar ponzi scheme with Wall Street investors Allen Stanford and James M. Davis.

The pair are not cleared including their three partners in a court document verified, ongoing legal proceeding involving selling fraudulent CD’s to potential investors.

The statement of fact, includes SIBL, Stanford International Bank, SGC Stanford Capital Management and the associates R. Allen Stanford, ( Allen Stanford) and James M. Davis stole money from investors through fraud. The group bilked investors by diverting funds to their own lifestyles through bonus money, salaries and compensation packages.

The Stanford Financial Group now in receivership headed by Allen Stanford sold investments described as a “well-diversified portfolio”. Instead Stanford diverted the money to finance his own lavish lifestyle which include: jet planes, yacht, pleasure crafts, luxury cars, homes, travel on a company credit card.

Tagg Romney

Allen Stanford, James M. Davis and Laura Pendergest-Holt through SIBL (the bank) Stanford International Bank) hid the fraud by continuing to buy CD’s (Certificate of Deposit) and fabricated the performance of their investments. (More court documents: HERE) More information on the legal procedures: HERE A court date was set for January 23, 2012 but according to various reports Allen Stanford is incompetent to stand trial.

Mitt Romney and Son Tagg in 2008 invested in Allen Stanford’s ponzi scheme to the tune of 10 million dollars initially in Solamere Capital a seed investment and received 1 million in returns. Tagg Romney joined in to help Solamere Capital located in Charlotte, North Carolina with three other prominent brokers.

Tagg Romney is quoted as saying he was proud of his investment with Solamere now run by former executives of Stanford, ” They’re friends of ours, they used the Solamere name, we own a piece of them”. “We helped them get started”

Despite claims by Tagg and Mitt Romney the investigation is still “ongoing” and the profits from Stanford and Solemere were unreported by Tagg Romney. He also did possess a minority stake in the business with Spencer Zwick and Eric Scheuermann.

Spencer Zwich is Mitt Romney’s Chief Fundraiser. Investors in Stanford have not recovered their money, and the assets are still in receivership and frozen until the case is resolved. A total of 8.5 billion dollars is still unaccounted for and the billion dollar Ponzi scheme lays at Mitt Romney’s feet for his and his son’s investment partners who were all involved.

Curated News

ABC News Politics – Romney Camp Dismissive of Ponzi Accusation

“But according to Think Progress, Tagg Romney’s account isn’t entirely accurate: “According to documents reviewed by ThinkProgess using the Pacer search engine, charges against Tim Bambauer, Deems May, and Brandon Phillips have not been dropped. A recent court filing shows May requesting the court for arbitration instead of going to trial.

ThinkProgress also spoke to the deputy clerk for the federal District Court in Dallas, and confirmed that the three men are still defendants in the lawsuit to recover the Ponzi scheme money.”

Why am I not surprised?

stj0691

13 years

And now, to the left:

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/reality-check-yes-president-obama-is-a-hawk/256674/

Reality Check: Yes, President Obama Is a Hawk

MAY 3 2012, 12:17 PM ET 30
Both parties have an interest in painting the president as a dove, but reporters should not allow that spin to skew their coverage.

President Obama delivers a nationally televised address from Bagram Air Force Base Tuesday. / Reuters

Hawk (noun): A person who favors military force or action in order to carry out foreign policy. -- The American Heritage Dictionary
In a New York Times article titled "A Delicate New Balance on National Security," White House correspondent Peter Baker unintentionally demonstrates why it's problematic to describe a candidate's foreign policy by presenting the rhetoric put forth by the man and his partisan opponents.

Says the article:
One moment he boasts about taking out America's No. 1 enemy, and the next he vows to bring home troops from an unpopular war. For President Obama, the days leading up to his re-election kickoff have been spent straddling the precarious line between hawk and dove, and possibly redefining his party for years to come.
Obama may be worried about the perception that he is dove. He may need to respond to Republicans who say that he has "a fundamentally weak approach to rivals and rogue states like Iran, North Korea and Russia," as Baker puts it. But let's not lose sight of his actual record.

Obama isn't straddling a line between hawk and dove.

He is a hawk.

It's terrifying that isn't clear to everyone, because it suggests the neoconservative desire for even more foreign wars is skewing the way that Americans conceive of hawkishness and dovishness. It suggests we're defining "warmonger" down.

Here are the facts:
Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan, adding tens of thousands of troops at a cost of many billions of dollars.
He committed American forces to a war in Libya, though he had neither approval from Congress nor reason to think events there threatened national security.
He ordered 250 drone strikes that killed at least 1,400 people in Pakistan.
He ordered the raid into Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden.
He ordered the killings of multiple American citizens living abroad.
He expanded the definition of the War on Terrorism and asserted his worldwide power to indefinitely detain anyone he deems a terrorist.
He expanded drone attacks into Somalia.
He ordered a raid on pirates in Somalia.
He deployed military squads to fight the drug war throughout Latin America.
He expanded the drone war in Yemen, going so far as to give the CIA permission to kill people even when it doesn't know their identities so long as they're suspected of ties to terrorism.
He's implied that he'd go to war with Iran rather than permitting them to get nuclear weapons.
In summary, President Obama escalated a major war and sent tens of thousands more troops to fight it, even as he joined in regime change in a different country, ordered drone strikes in at least three others, and sent commandos into Pakistan, a list of aggressive actions that isn't even exhaustive.

It's perverse for that record to be rendered, in America's newspaper of record, as Obama "straddling the precarious line between hawk and dove." In fact, he is a hawk. Republicans are misrepresenting his record and positions and some progressives are doing the same, because they are rightly embarrassed by the gulf between his campaign promises and the record he's amassed.

Aaron whatcha think?

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