It appears that despite the Bush Administration being ushered out of office business as usual has continued for more than just the bankers. Sadly, not one banking regulation has been re-instated and now it appears another Bush-era company is continuing its outrageous practices too. Albeit under a cover name, Blackwater has continued its lucrative snatching up of contracts for training American soldiers. Now, Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri is taking issue with that fact.
New York Times WASHINGTON — The Taliban’s top military commander was captured several days ago in Karachi, Pakistan, in a secret joint operation by Pakistani and American intelligence forces, according to American government officials.The commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is an Afghan described by American officials as the most significant Taliban figure to be detained since the American-led war in Afghanistan started more than eight years ago.
While I have been disappointed with and ripped into President Obama on occasion the Republican response to his new budget completely defines hypocrisy. Before saying anything, they should consider exactly who got us into the mess we are in- THEM. Their control of our government was a disaster for our country.
At a time when Americans are suffering and jobs are scarce we are being told that we will have an across the board cut in domestic programs. At the same time we are being told that we can still afford to blow up and rebuild other countries in a continuation of the failed policies of the last Administration. Yes, when it comes to fiscal responsibility it seems that everything and everyone but war will be asked to sacrifice.
WASHINGTON, Dec 30 (Reuters) - The eight American civilians killed in a suicide bombing at a military base in southeastern Afghanistan on Wednesday were all CIA agents, U.S. officials said. CIA officials were not immediately available to comment, and the U.S. officials said they could not provide details pending notification of the agents' families. The explosion, at a military base in Khost province near the border with Pakistan, caused one of the highest foreign civilian death tolls in an insurgent strike in the eight-year war.
Man, Dick Cheney is like Herpes. No matter what you do he just keeps coming back. It seems after leaving Washington D.C. in utter disgrace after allowing the worst attack in American history on her soil, failing to capture Osama bin-Laden, dropping the ball in Afghanistan, lying about Iraq to get us into a failed war there which cost trillions of dollars off the books as well as tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of lives, and allowing his greedy, fat-cat buddies to pick our economy clean crashing it, ole "Shotgun" would be wanting to hide under a rock. Of course when you have no conscience or sense of morals, why hide??
As soon as we learned there was a failed terror act I am sure many of us suspected that pretty soon the Republicans would be trying to score cheap political points off what had happened. Instead of being happy that the plot did indeed fail and lives were not loss, they must try and find ways to frame it to their advantage in the all too eager media. Now, I have been as disgusted as anyone with some of President Obama's leadership on Afghanistan and healthcare but I honestly believe the attacks that are coming are being made by hypocrites who have nothing else to offer.
TMP Senator Claire McCaskill On Afghanistan Contractors: "If we are hiring them to peel potatoes, and they are declining to go take up arms for their country because of that -- because they can make more peeling potatoes -- that's a huge problem and we've got to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible"
We are halfway through a story that is about to turn winter in one of the most beautiful places in the world profoundly ugly.
Just like in a Cecil B. DeMille movie, we have a cast of millions, we have epic scenery, and we have made acquaintance with someone who will go on to perform a heroic act.
Unlike your typical Hollywood production, however, this movie is not going to have a happy ending—in fact, you could make the argument that it’s not over yet.
So wrap yourself up in something comfortable, grab something to drink...and when you’re ready, we’re packing up and heading to the Alps.
We have been hearing for some time now how enacting Universal Healthcare must be "deficit neutral". However the very same hypocrites who make this demand seem to forget that we have spent a trillion dollars on failed wars that were part of the "War on Terror". Now some sensible folks are beginning to wonder just how we will pay for it and worry it could hinder the much needed attention on the domestic front.
Many of us for a long time have believed that Osama bin-Laden was given a free pass to get away and never be caught by American forces. This was not only because of the business relationship of the Bush family with the bin-Ladens, but with Osama bin-Laden caught and brought to justice we would have had no War in Iraq, or "War on Terror" for Conservatives to steal away generations of Constitutional protections and allow their Corporate pals to fleece the American taxpayer with hundreds of billions of dollars in no-bid contracts.
While many of us were very disappointed in the decision to escalate in Afghanistan by 30,000 troops officials are saying that their will be some kind of exit "envisioned". Before getting to excited however, other details sound much less promising, bringing out both Democrats and Republicans in response.
It is now simply a foregone conclusion that America will soon see a huge escalation in troops in Afghanistan. Despite eight years of throwing away money and lives there it appears as if it simply has not been enough. What is really disturbing is that if we start talking about spending some money to help our own people, Conservatives and Corporate Democrats throw kicking, screaming hissy fits about "fiscal responsibility". However, it appears as if no price is too much to them to keep our troops away from their families and in harms way.
It is no secret to many of us that this country has needed a Progressive direction to correct many of the problems it faces for some time now. I was born in 1970 and have seen exactly three Democratic Presidents in my life. The damage done by Conservative Presidents has been disasterous, and the Democrats elected have seemed to only keep us running around in circles while no real change is imminent to repair the damage.
The consensus among many Progressives is that we have wasted too many lives and treasure in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq which were mismanaged from their beginnings during the Bush Administration. Now, over eight years after the inception of the wars in the American conscience and with a myriad of problems with our own ecnonomy such as healthcare and job creation that need investing in again, it appears as if the President will not join his war-weary Progressive colleagues in calling to an end to the Afghanistan War and will instead ask for yet another escalation and yet more hundreds of billions of dollars invested there.
Hey Tea Baggers, you might not want to giftwrap that Rolex, it's time to pay for the Iraq And Afghanistan wars.
Wikipedia PAYGO (pay-as-you-go) is a term used to refer to financing where budgetary restrictions demand paying for expenditures with funds that are made available as the program is in progress.
Cost of wars. Cost of Bush Tax Cuts. I realize it's popular for the politicians and rich folks to give themselves big fat tax cuts, start wars without worrying about accumulating more debt and then proclaim their patriotism while raking in their tax cut dough. However, when it comes to saving saving 44,789 American lives the politicians and rich folks could care less. Why? Could it be there's nothing in it for them? I suggest if there was a big tax cut for rich folks in the Health Care bill, the bill would pass faster than you can say Tea Party.
