Vance - I'd quote that, but it would look ridiculous.
I think McCain would be more Bush. In light of our current situation, I don't think that's such a bad thing. The completely fubar'd part of it is that we had to vote for the lesser of two evils, getting kicked in the face or kicked in the nuts, it still sucks.
I voted for Huckabee. The only reason being the way he ran his campaign. Mitt romney spent 200 million. Mike Huckabee spent 20 million and beat romney. That's the kind of guy we needed, not some wet-behind-the-ears PR stunt.
On Abu Graib, funny you mention it. The main whistle-blower on the investigation is a friend of mine who was a guard there when it all went down. One of the top 5 Marines I know. He was actually on a USMC commercial a few years back. Anyway, Abu Graib shows a complete breakdown in discipline among a few soldiers that has left an indelible black eye on the American military. I agree. I also believe that political prisoners or insurgents have rights according to the Geneva Convention. Okay, I think we're in agreement that what happened at Abu Graib is wrong! You have to be more specific about Gitmo. I'm guessing "waterboarding"? Terrorists deserve worse.
I am an army interrogator. There is not one piece of official doctrine that approves of anything that happened there. This is fact.
(This is off topic. I'm going to tell you a story. When I was in Iraq during my first tour, Nov. '05 - May '06 during the first elections, it was the bloodiest month in the war's history. When we captured an insurgent, and there were many who we caught planting, making, or detonating IED's, I took what was called a "money shot". That was an excruciatingly incriminating photograph of the insurgent with all of his supplies, guns, bombs, timers, detonator, etc. displayed around him. I posed one in the hole he was digging with the bomb located strategically between his legs, his AK-47 before him. When we interrogated him, things were very simple. "Either you tell me what I want to know, or I give you and this photo to the Iraqi Police." They gave us hours of information, because they knew that if we gave them to the IA's or IP's, they would be dead in three days. That's it. Three days. What we have here in the U.S. is a travesty.)
You won't like my story then. In addition to the money shot, you now need official reports and witnesses to roll someone up. And yeah, just the threat of turning them over will start them talking. If I had it my way, to be honest, I'd much prefer to kill them on the spot. It deters much more than putting someone in jail for 30 days, affording them all the benefits of a U.S. Soldier, and then releasing them because they never talked, even though you saw them shoot your buddy. The way we are running things in Iraq sickens me. I'm at a strategic level right now, I see the bull**** generals spend their time doing. It's gross. If they brought the decision making a few echelons lower, I guarantee we'd be done by now.
Back to the discussion, there's a difference between political prisoner and terrorist. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the shoe bomber (those to whom I was referring) are terrorists, because they used: (military definition here) the calculated use of violence (or threat thereof) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature; this is done through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear.
And therefore have no rights.
A political prisoner is someone who is imprisoned because of his political views.
So, the U.S. should be above executing terrorists? I disagree, and I believe the heads of state of every country in the world would disagree with that statement. The Dalai lama would disagree with that.
Aldous Huxley on democracy? I'm Old School.
"A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit."
Thomas Jefferson
or
As our enemies have found we can reason like men, so now let us show them we can fight like men also.
Thomas Jefferson
Terrorists are not people. Hypothetical: Guys breaks into your house, ties you up, rapes your wife, locks you inside, releases you, and stands outside the window.
Are you going to get up, look at the carnage around you, and say, "hey man, no worries, it wasn't your fault" ?
No, you are going to jump out of bed the second you hear someone break into your house and go for the nearest weapon, and in my case, I live in WA state, where Castle Law applies, if someone breaks into my house, I will kill them, I don't care if they were stealing a TV or a fork, they will be shot dead, and when the cops come, they will ask me what happened, I will tell them, and they will clean up the mess and leave. Castle Law and gun control is why I will live in WA my whole life.
What you said justifying the government spending spree is one-long-slippery-slope-fallacy commonly parroted by Gibbs, Biden, yada, yada, ad nauseum. Please learn to recognize them, to protect yourself from the MSM.
Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.
Thomas Jefferson
My opinion on the "spending spree" i.e. quadrupling of the national debt is:
A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.
Thomas Jefferson
Basically, if "Big Auto" "fell", it would have FINALLY given them the opportunity to restructure and become profitable. Imagine that, American automakers finally retaking their places as the leaders in innovation and quality. But, unfortunately they are still saddled with as much debt as before, except GM and Chrysler are owned by the UAW. Oh well, life goes on. Maybe next time.
That's free enterprise, friends: freedom to gamble, freedom to lose. And the great thing -- the truly democratic thing about it -- is that you don't even have to be a player to lose.
Barbara Ehrenreich (not bad but like I said, I'm Old School)
“Contrary to the vulgar belief that men are motivated primarily by materialistic considerations, we now see the capitalist system being discredited and destroyed all over the world, even though this system has given men the greatest material comforts”
Ayn Rand
Don't even get me started on economics. Our fearless leaders economic policy is the most backwoods piece of crap I have EVER seen. I'm in Iraq right now, you want to know what I am driving? 2009 Ford Explorer with power everything. You want to know where it came from? Some Chinese trading company contracted by the US. You want to know how much we pay for them? I have no clue, but considering the fact the junkyard is full of 2009 vehicles with 25-30k miles on them, I would bet we paid an overpriced lease, + the purchase costs of the vehicle. I eat a chicken breast and some rice or noodles several times a day. Every time I eat I scan my ID card. Guess what a meal costs the US? 20 dollars or so every time I swipe that card. My base has 2 chow halls. One is getting shut down soon, despite the fact that BOTH have people turned away at the doors for being at capacity inside during the day. Whats that? That's the contractors who own the chow halls deciding they want to make more money. You know how they plan to offset that? Make 600 to go meals per day. I have 6 people in my department. I am required to run 24 hour operations. I have workd 13+ hours per day for 125 days now, without a day off. My first day off will be when I go home, because I do not get R&R because the date I chose for leave happens to be the date I am getting sent home a month early (I can't choose an earlier date, because we don't have the manpower to have more than one gone at a time) You know what my morale is like? I'll tell you I probably won't volunteer for another deployment ever again.
Trillion dollar spending plan that was supposed to jump start the economy? Clearly that didn't work.
Trillion dollar healthcare plan that doesn't really change anything?
-Well, a few more people are required to pay for healthcare now.
-But this healthcare will NEVER WORK unless it is public HC. Leaving private corps. in charge of it = failure. You can't force healthcare on your country and not enforce a pricing standard. The HC companies are free to charge what they want, which is the ONLY reason our healthcare failed in the first place, because pricing is out of hand.
I'm all for socialism, go for it, if you think it will work Mr. O, then do it. But I think all of us know the saying, "Don't ever do anything half-assed" which comes from everyy father in existence. The Gov owns some banks, and some auto-makers. They control who has healthcare. If you are going to make us a socialist economy, then do it right, redistribute wealth, take control of all industry, control everything. Oh right, that won't work, because you would have rebellion. So instead lets try and do it slow, so we cripple our country, and then when it's in its death throes, we can change, and spend the next 200 years making it good again. Don't think so. Sorry for the huge rant guys, but being a soldier, and being an intelligent human being, and being the most patriotic person I know, Obama just makes me want to cry sometimes, and that people actually bought his crap makes me want to move to Canada.
or they truly are as "high as a kite" 
