Thanks, Dubya. $1,600,000,000,000

Whatever happened to the real Republicans who claim to believe in smaller government and lower taxes?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071113/...o_co/war_costs

WASHINGTON - The economic costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are estimated to total $1.6 trillion — roughly double the amount the White House has requested thus far, according to a new report by Democrats on Congress' Joint Economic Committee. The report, released Tuesday, attempted to put a price tag on the two conflicts, including "hidden" costs such as interest payments on the money borrowed to pay for the wars, lost investment, the expense of long-term health care for injured veterans and the cost of oil market disruptions.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Just think what that amount of money could achieve in the education or health system... But no, it's for acquisition of oil resources to keep the country guzzling away.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

This has to be one of dumbest most ignorant comments I have heard. I an not a Bush fan, nor am I a Republican, but let's get real as the sound bites go nowhere and make us liberal or moderate dems look ignorant.

Actually, I am pretty embarassed to say that most of what I hear coming out of the Democratic Party these days is off the wall. It makes us look amazingly ignorant and out of touch.

We need to stop with the MoveOn.Org activism and get back to grass roots democratic principals.

You know the country is ****ed up when $60B is spent on education and $200B is spent on useless wars and nearly $500B on non-war military expenses.

The neocons are going down the same road the Soviets went down. They are so intent on funding the military and expanding their empire that they are slowing overall economic growth and letting the country's infrastructure decay. One day they will wake up and realize that Asia has passed them by.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

How so? It is a simple truth. The country has limited resources and we have to decide how to spend them. Dubya and his supporters would rather pour hundreds of billions of dollars into the Iraqi desert than spend the money on services or capital investment that would improve the lives of the Americans.

What are those principles? Electing someone from the leftwing fringe who is masquerading as a moderate and has the sole accomplishment of being married to an ex-president?

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Sorry dude, but it is my democratic brothers in Congress and the Senate that are doing the destructive bidding. I voted for a change, we put dems in the government and they have let us down. I am sick and tired of both parties, they lie, cheat and steal.

More whining rhetoric will not change things. We need solutions and real folks rather than politicians like Nancy Pelosi. As yourself, what has Nancy done for you?

For the most part I have to agree. With nearly 75% of the American public NOT voting, our politicians on both sides have no reason to fear us. All Americans who want to make a difference should "Walk the Walk" and get out and VOTE.

Those who say it makes no differerence are the part of the idiot silent majority of millions and millions who could make a difference if their vast numbers would simply use the power of their vote. It wouldn't take long for our politicians to sit up and take notice when many of them were forced to leave due to an awakened giant... the American Silent Majority.

As far as the DEMs not making progress...this is true in large part to a stubborn Lame Duck President with an effective if not reasonable veto power.

Just my opinion I could be wrong (JMOICBW)

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My single: Aegis Aro Svelte
Our tandem: Cannondale RT3000
Our triplet: Santana

Any democratic system where 97% of incumbents get reelected is sham. Encouraging people who don't follow the news and have no clue what is going on to vote will not improve things. It will make them worse. They will end up being more grist for the parties' propaganda mills.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Without knowing the factualness of that number, it's an interesting point.

One style of corporate management requires a 10% annual churn of staff to keep the organization performing at its peak. It's quite a contrast to 3% churn every 3-4 years. I would have thought that death, illness and intern affairs was at a much higher percentage.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

In the 2000 Congressional election, 98% of incumbents were reelected. That is a typical figure for Congress. It does not include open seats due to death or retirement, obviously, because there is no incumbent to reelect. Basically, if you get elected you can keep your job until you decide to retire, you die, or you get caught in a corruption scandal.

It would not surprise me if single party communist systems have lower reelection rates than the U.S.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Absolutely not, and that is my point. The left wing fringe is very loud and vocal. They are making the rest of us more centrist moderates look as foolish as they do.

What the Democratic Party needs are real, concerned, centrist/moderate and intelligent candidates. And I have to say, that Hillary Clinton does not fit the bill. We have real problems in the US that need fresh new solutions from candidates who are not affraid to do what is right rather than get relected. Hillary's only goal seems to gain power.

Unfortunately, the next election may be no different then the rest. If Hullary wins the Democratic nomination and goes up against Rudy, I think we will again see a Republican president, although Rudy is a lot more moderate and centrist then the current administration.

My only hope is for the Democratic Party to take the party back from the likes of John Edwards and the other left oriented politicians and remember that most of us in the US play football between the 35 yard lines.

Good luck on that.

The Dems should have had a sure thing for 2008. All they had to do was nominate a centrist who was charismatic and did not have much of record that could be attacked. Instead they are going to nominate the polar opposite. Hillary won't even be able to attack the Repubs on corruption because it will be thrown right back in her face. Wait until the Repubs start hitting her on Marc Rich and the gift list she passed around after Bill left office.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Oye, something to look forward to......can't wait!

Right on. Can't wait till the day when neocons would get out and stop their meddling in foreign countries. The rest of the world doesn't care about the US Govt wasting their tax payers' money, but screwing up the rest of the world at the same time is another matter.

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Morphed Bianchi Camaleonte IV 2006, Ridley Damocles 2006, Garmin, Mac

Ya know, in one sense I agree, in another......well time will tell.
The world is a very screwed up and dangerous place right now. I wish as a Democrat I could blame the Replublicans in the US as seems to be the flavor of the day. But to tell you the truth, I think that is a convenient cop out.

We (the world) has always been crewed up and I don't have a lot of faith that this will ever change.