SEARCH
One of the issues that most concerns working families is the ongoing war in Iraq. The United States has lost more than 3,000 lives, with thousands more injured, and the conflict has cost nearly $430 billion. How would you advise the presidential candidates to change the course in Iraq? |
32 Comments
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.




We owe the people of Iraq a great debt. Acknowledging that debt would go a long way
toward making our countyr safer, if, that is,
it obvious to the world that we were not reconstructing Iraq for our benefit.
We must restruture our tax base to pay down
our foreign debts.
We must come to terms with those super patriotic
corporations that leave America for foreign cheap labor while keeping the Unitied States as a market for their goods. If we are fighting for our life as a nation, than it is not unthinkable that we might close our markets to them.
We must restructure our industry so that we do not
become a producerless nation.
We muct not trade off the benefits of our Constitution for a (false) measure of security.
John M Giannone
The Bush admininstration was criminal to lead the American people into Iraq; the Congress was derelict in its duties to follow the administration.
There is no “right” way to win at an unjust war, just as there is no “right” way to starve the poor. The exit door is the only right course. Support the troops? Save them. Purchase plane tickets for all and evacuate every military base A.S.A.P.
My advice to any of the candidates is: LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE! The Republicans were defeated last November because the people of the United States are fed up with Bush and his corruption and the illegal, immoral, unjustified war in Iraq! If you do not have the cojones to stop this mad man from continuing to send funds and troops to Iraq, then you are just as guilty of war crimes as he is! DO THE RIGHT THING, BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
The Iraq war stem from a policy of the neocon strike first strategy when there is a percieved threat. This strategy justifies striking a potential adversary without credible evidence, much less a trail. The results has been a resurfing of angry and real terrorism aimed at western countries including Israel.
The worlds situation is very complicated. There is a need for skilled dialouge as well as strategic military intervention. The United States most however set a different example and begin to dialouge; which happily Condalezza Rice has began to do.
It should be clear by now the force and violence should not be a priority, but a tactic used very spariling at all. This administration should also be investigated for leading this country into a costly war based on false pretenses.
Since this is a war, it should be fought as such as we did in WW11. Tehre should have been at least 400,000 troops. I believe this was drug out because of profit for businesses such as Haliburton.
I’m surprised that the Democrats have yet to figure out Cheney and Bush; they represent and do the beckoning of the rich. Threatening that relationship is the only way for Democrats to force them to take a new direction in Iraq. You don’t need to impose timelines or bence marks or added spending to confront Bush. There are 2 things Democrats can do to get Bush to end his Cheney/Bush Iraq War; make him and his very rich pals to pay for it. The Democratic House and Senate should easily be able
to advance legislation creating a Cheney/Bush Iraq War Tax, with most of the burden on the richest of the rich [including “Big Oil’s” huge profits], to pay all war expenses retroactive back to March 2003; ending when US occupation ends. The 2nd thing they should do is approve resolutions in both Houses apologizing to the World Community for Bush and Cheney for how their nutty policies have compromised and weakened US global leadership and made the World more unsafe. Every effort should be made by the Democrats to discredit the Bums. This plan would end it! Have a nice Memorial Day Weekend!
Albert Colone
Oneonta, NY 13820
607/432-4057
Somebody mentioned wwII….according to wikipedia “Estimates for the total casualties of the war vary, but most suggest that some 60 million people died in the war, including about 20 million soldiers and 40 million civilians.[1][27][28] Many civilians died as a result of disease, starvation, massacres, genocide. Of the total deaths in World War II, approximately 85% were on the Allied side (mostly Soviet and Chinese) and 15% on the Axis side. One estimate is that 12 million civilians died in Holocaust camps, 1.5 million by bombs, 7 million in Europe from other causes, and 7.5 million in China from other causes.[29] Figures on the amount of total casualties varies to a wide extent because the majority of deaths were not documented.”
God bless our troops. God bless our casualties in the Persian Gulf and the World Trade Center. But we need to cut our losses and start an ordered withdrawal of troops before this turns into another vietnam……Tremendous damage has been done to this country……Guantanamo and Abu Grayab are travesties and dishonor this nations past P.O.W. s. We should never cross the line or even touch the line on interrogation and/or torture because we open the door to the possible suffering of our own troops and citizens…How long before the government starts torturing and iterrogating it’s own citizens in the best “interests of homeland security”?….Do they want the world to look at us as Nazi’s?……….Doesn’t anyone remember what the Japanese did to our troops?…..Doesn’t anyone remember what they did to our troops in Vietnam?……..This government has gone absolutely insane…….It is very interesting that we have over 6,000 work related deaths “a year”and the government response is “limited” at best. Even OSHA and EPAs response the health hazards at the WTC disaster was “limited” at best and a failure. The contamination from dust was widespread and many workers and citizens were exposed, but response was slow and limited. What about the Katrina disaster? How many deaths? How much suffering because of lack of government support? THE WELL BEING OF THIS COUNTRY SHOULD BE THE PRIMARY CONCERN OF OUR GOVERNMENT! What about the development of alternative fuels and conservation of the environment? But, no we are forced by our government to worry about this corrupt and unjustified war……..WE DON’T WANT TO BE ISOLATIONISTS, BUT WE ALSO DON’T WANT TO BE CONSIDERED “WORLD TERRORISTS!” Yes, don’t you realize that there are people in this world refering to us as terrorists now? The government has placed every U.S. citizens, especially the troops, in danger. The WTC was terrible and the rest of the world understood that, but a knee-jerk reaction war in Iraq was highly inappropriate. Many people that were “on the fence” are now uniting against us.
Its no secret that the Bush administration has failed. We were attacked by terrorists and targeted a country in retaliation….Bush was flyin onto aircraft carriers like John Wayne, what a joke….its all ridiculous…….The mission has failed…..our prime objective should have been to dismantle Al-Queda (or at least damage them to a point of ineffectiveness) and we practically made them heroes to alot of people in the middle east……Bush ousted the Taliban, ousted Saddam, since when is it our foreign policy to conquer foreign governments we don’t like and attempt to setup our own puppet governments? Is this the fruition of George Bush seniors “New World Order” dreams of world domination? There is no way that the middle-east will stand for a western army occupying their region…..the crusades should have been a good example……Everyone should seriously ask the question of why Al-queda was granted a get out of jail free card and focus shifted to Iraq? What is the corruptioin there? Why didn’t they just use intelligence gathering and their high tech satellites and drop a bomb on Osama? It wouldn’t have anything to do with Osama’s relation to the Saudi Royal Family and the fact that he is filthy rich would it? It wouldn’t have anything to do with the Bush family ties to oil and the Saudi’s would it? How much money have the Bush cronies made in contracting money in the Persian Gulf. This is all the biggest “high-stakes” CON GAME in the country’s history! The corruption stinks up to high heaven……
I would really like to know why the government has over 400 billion dollars to wage war but we don’t have universal healthcare. Our medication costs have skyrocketed. Our governmental infrastructure has been stripped down to the bare minimum. Minimum wage has been moving like a snail. Our competetive countries have been allowed to come in and weaken our economy. Our middle class is deteriorating. Our people are suffering and struggling paycheck to paycheck.
It worries me very much that our focus has been pulled away from the suffering of this country to worries overseas……What could billions of dollars have accomplished overseas with intelligence and diplomacy. I find it very interesting that many of the terrorist leaders are highly educated and rich. I find it very interesting that our self-serving political leaders are educated and rich. But it always seems to be the poor that have to do their fighting for them…..Why is that? Could it be that the people are constantly being manipulated and oppressed for political agendas that do not serve the best interests of the people? Doesn’t our military commonly recruit in the ghettos and economically challenged neighborhoods? Don’t the terrorists recruit from the economically challenged also? The desperate, the weak, the people with no voice or choice in life………
I tell you what should be another primary concern……The rattling of sabers over “Iran”……All of the “WAR MONGERS” haven’t had enough, now we gotta go start trying to pick a fight with Iran also? Why don’t we just create another WW III while we are at it? Another Allied vs. the axis of evil world war…..while the rich continue to plunder this country and set up there own families for generations with blood money!!!!! We have had enough! SAVE OUR TROOPS! SAVE OUR COUNTRY! SAVE OUR WORKING PEOPLE! GET A GRIP POLITICIANS!!!!! WHILE YOU ARE SQUABBLING, SIDESTEPPING, AND SECOND GUESSING EVERYTHING PEOPLE ARE DYING!!!!!! But it’s not your sons and daughters right? Is that why your dragging your butts and dragging this country right down the tubes?
Why is it we are forced to only vote for the corrupt politicians with enough campaign money to run for office. Isn’t that setting the stage for corruption? What about the popular vote being countered by the electoral college? Doesn’t our vote really count? Or are we gonna have some more manipulated DIEBOLD voting machines choose our leaders for us?!!!! Why isn’t political office like a job interview? Where are the resume’s? Where are the qualifications? Why are televised political debates considered our nations leaders “proving ground”? Where are the job interviews? lol ….There is alot more to leadership than hot-air and empty words……..Empty promises that are forgotten after elections…….
Maybe we need some more boston tea parties in america? What happened to the true patriots? Oh yeah, I’m sorry they are all too busy trying to scratch together a living off what the rich have left for us……or sweating their life away in the scorching heat of the Persian gulf……POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!!!! LOL ….GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY WE ARE GONNA NEED IT FROM THE LOOKS OF THINGS!!!
……
The victory declaration is now overdue in Iraq. The military objectives of: 1) Verifiable inspections for weapons of mass destruction 2) Removal of Sadam 3) Supervision of Free Elections 4) Establishment of Democratic Government 5) Execution of Sadam 6) Rebuild workable infrastructure; have been acheived, already. Much has been asked of our troops…and they have delivered all that has been asked. What else do they need to do in order to get a hero’s welcome back? Declare victory, return most of the troops, redeploy the others, and celebrate their accomplishments. Let us redirect our military assets and refocus our attention toward the perpetrators of 9-11. If I were one of those responsible for 9-11, Iraq is the last place I would be looking to go. The baddest military force the planet has ever known is located there. The War on Terror needs to continue in places other than Iraq. Should our withdrawal cause terrorists to fill the vaccum; then I say good. We can redeploy the troops that are already in the nearby theater to re-engage. Surely, there are brighter minds that have thought out all the conceivable possibilities.
The sentiments put forward by Brian R. are essentially the same as mine. What bothers me the most, besides the enormous debt that we have been saddled with and funds unaccounted for, are the huge cuts made to domestic programs, (education, health, infrastructure etc) that we cannot now fund as we should and at the same time pay off the national debt. Plus low skilled jobs that went to blacks and poor whites, who are now being laid off and the jobs given to Mexicans at a lower wage level with no benefits. Where are we headed, and when are we going to bring the jobs sent out back. Remember Halliburton (Dick Cheney) is moving to Dubai.
Working class and poor people must understand that this so-called war on terror is fundementally a war against all those who are not a part of the ruling and pose a threat to the hedgemony of the radical right wing corporate interest.
Quite a few democrat who recieve compaign contributions from this corporate interest have been bought and as a result owe their allegence to this corporate interest instead of to the American people.
Taking back our government demand that the citizens of this country put all politicians on notice that the system of selling out the people as prostitutes to this corporate interest will no longer be tolerated. The people must demand clean elections.
We then must demand that lobbying groups like the Israeli lobby AIPAC; not exercise an exadurated influence on our elected representatives on behalf of the Israeli government. America is fighting this war mainly because of the lobbying efforts of this group.
Iraq is worse then Vietnam, it is causing the whole middle eastern region to take sides and from the looks of things none of them are on ours.
We are stuck in the middle of moving armies from all sides, which is going to eurpt into a Holy War. This volcano of religeous discord has been bubbling for centuries and thanks to Our stubborn President and gutless congress it is going to explode. We need to get out now.
I voted for the party I thought would have the guts to get us out, instead, they buckled to this mad man that is our President.
If we get out of this with our skin still intact our President, Vice President, Rumsfelt and others should be brought up on war crimes. Bush has the mind set of a dictator and he needs to be stopped by someone.
Several Points Must be Understood by Both Politicians as well as
“WE THE PEOPLE”. First: Go To Congress.org and Read the “OATH
of OFFICE” Each Elected Politician Must SWEAR to UPHOLD and then determine IF They have BEEN OBEDIENT TO THAT SWORN OATH. Then Read the Terms for “IMPEACHMENT”, “RECALL”,
“CENSURE” of Elected Political Representatives, Senators, Executive and Appointed OFFICERS. Also Read The “Articles of
IMPEACHMENT” Already FILED BY and FOR The HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES By a Member of the House against the VICE
PRESIDENT several Months ago. Look at The RECALL Of the Governor of California and Removal from OFFICE and Resulting ELECTION of a NEW Governor. Look at The Process Used by the
CONGRESS against the “Then Serving President” prior to OUR
PRESENT PRESIDENT. ALL This haveing Been Done, and with the
“TERM”, ( DUE DILAGENCE ), Proceed
The Bush administration,,,including the Democrats had no idea of what they were getting America into. The Bush administration would make a good bunch of USED CARS SALESMEN,,,,,,,they sold us a lemon and neither the Republicans or the Democrats know how to turn that lemon into a cherry. Good luck to the next president however he or she may be,,,,,they are going to need the luck and a lot more. HOPEFULLY THE NEXT PRESIDENT WILL BE AN “INDEPENDENT”
We cannot end the war in Iraq. We were led to believe the Democrats would end the wat but, as we found out, they are more interested to keep their jobs. Bush is using the troops as the pawn. If funding is withheld he says we put the troops in more harms way. If we bring the troops home, Iraq will fall into the hands of the Insurgents, namely al Qiada. Both excuses freighten the public and make them feel guilty. There are still too many Republican’s that will stick with bush, overturning his Veto can’t be done.
This leads us to removing bush and cheney from office via Impeachment. Bush and Cheney must be removed from the equation.
Asking the Presidenial candidates what they should do to end the war in Iraq, are we not conceding to extend the war until January 2009?
The war can be ended sooner. Impeach Bush and Cheney now, remove them from office. With both gone, the Veto is also taken out of the equation.
Impeachment will take care of Two situations, we can end the war sooner and make Bush and Cheney accountable for all their crimes against the State.
If a CEO of a major corporation spent unlimited funds, could not insure the safety of the participants and had no time line for reaching goals–if he had goals, he would be out of a job in short order. Why does this ‘ceo’ in the whitehouse get a blank check for money and human lives? He has used 911 sympathies and misplaced patriotism to back this fiasco. His failure to serve the people of this country in his foreign and domestic policies is worthy of impeachment.
It is past time for the US to bring all troops out of Iraq and that means closing military bases there as well. Resources that are now being squandered in that war need to be brought to bear on the pressing social needs in our country rather than lining the pockets of Halliburton and the other war profiteers. We ought to be providing real concrete support to the Iraqi trade unions, a real force for establishing civil society in that country. A good place to start is support for the oil workers, who struck this week against the proposed oil law which was written in the interests of the multinational oil giants, not the Iraqi people.
“The Bush administration was criminal to lead the American people into Iraq; the Congress was derelict in its duties to follow the administration.”
That’s what Haywood !!!
I think Haywood was right on the money. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Gonzales, and Military Leaders that turn a blind eye to the the war Profiteering,Contractors like Haliburton and Blackwater and all the Mercinaries SCUM that work for them reaping 3 and 4 time what our Troops earn, building Torture Camps and Murdering and Torturing Iraqis( Some who are so preverted they made Videos of their carnage.) This whole lot should be tried by International Courts as War Criminals for Crimes against Humanity .
Also, We as American who support the Democratic Principle of Justice cannot stand by and allow Bush and his cronies to go unpunnished for their many violations of our own laws and our Constitutional Rights. We must Impeach these criminals and if their term end before this is done, we must be ever vigilant and continue to bring to Justice everyone of these Scoundrels.
We must also recover every red cent that these scoundrels got from our taxes.
AT THIS MOMENT AS YOU ARE READING THIS, TOP EXECUTIVES OF “BIG OIL ” AND “OUR” DIPLOMATS ARE USING THE TACTIC OF GANGSTERS AGAINST MEMBERS OF THE IRAQI PARLIMENT !
They have been offered Bribes, and their lives have been threatened if they fail to agree to a proposal that turns the IRAQI
NATIONILIZED OIL TRUST INTO A SWEET DEAL FOR BIG OIL !!!
OUR TROOPS ARE BEING KILLED NOW, AND WILL CONTINUE TO BE KILLED…. Because the IRAQI’S HAVE REFUSED TO ACCEPT THE OFFERED BRIBE’S
DEMAND NO BASES ! HANDS OFF THEIR OIL
TROOPS AND CONTRACTORS OUT
JESSBOY
We should have never allowed our President to take our Military and use it for the Corporate take over of Iraq.
The problem is that we now have a Fascist Federal Government that is looking out for its Rich Constituents and doesn’t give a damn about the general population of the U.S.A. or Iraq.
The Bush/Cheney Administration is simply in it for the Money (Oil).
We need a complete overhaul of the Federal Government, as President Dwight Eisenhower said “Beware the Military Industrial Complex”. It may be too late, I’ll be happy if I can just hold on to a good career ’til I retire, since I’m in no position to change the B.S. in the White House or Congress or the Pentagon, etc.
The only thing I can do is Vote and hope that it counts for someone that still has personal integrity enough to change the pile or crap that our Federal Government has become.
Can we really trust any of them to the Office of President?
Why are you guys trying to reinvent the wheel?
This has all been worked out already by Dennis Kucinich.
See: http://kucinich.us/iraqplan.
If you are waiting for war supporters/flip-floppers/apologists to come to your rescue, don’t hold your breath!
The U.S. should never have gone to war against Iraq. I say bring the troops home. Money for jobs, education and health care. Reparations to the people of Iraq for the damage the U.S. did in the name of Oil and Power.
Americans sure like to feel victimized. As I recall, back then a vast majority of Americans supported invasion of Iraq. To oppose the war was to be “unpatriotic.” Now many of those same people complain that they’ve been duped and exploited by their elected representatives, big business, and even the Iraqis. Why didn’t people take the time to do the work of citizenship by investigating such things as the admistration’s claims about Iraqi WMDs, our history in the region, the history of Iraq - including Saddaam’s relations with Islamic groups like Al Qaida, and especially, how many troops it would take to occupy a country like Iraq after its armies were defeated. Skimming Newsweek would have provided all the information a person needed to see that the war was going to be a horrible mistake. Unfortunately, Americans seem to think of invasions as an event to make us feel good about being an American and don’t want to puncture our sense of national pride and solidarity with facts.
Please learn from this. Imperialism and miltarism aren’t just government policies; they are ways of seeing the world that exist in the hearts and minds of most Americans. We need to change so that tragedies like the one that we’ve inflicted on the Iraqi people won’t happen again.
Haywood hit the hammer on the nail. But let me go farther by stating that the whole deal going to war with Iraq was a sham. We saw 9/11, we saw and heard Bush accused Alkaida. We heard and saw an investigation into the 9/11 threats and heard that Ashkroft or Condo Lisa Rice did not want to hear any threats and dropped the ball. We saw and heard Colon Powell say that there is no reason to attack Iraq and changed his mind. Who made him change his mind. I don’t believe it was Bush Jr. Now Bush wants to take away our civil rights in the name of terrorism. No thanks. I think he should be impeached or turn out in a vote of no confidence. Thank you. P.S. Whatever personal wealth Bush has promised people in Congress, he will not get it nor would anyone else in his cabinet.
FIRST: Better Manage Media, The 430 Billion IS NOT ALL dumped into Iraq. 50% is Spent Inside the US with Defense Contratcors, Manufacturing Vehicles, Ammunitionm Arms, Medical Supplies– House Appropriations IS a JOKE. The 50% Spent Inside Us Goes to Payroll of US Companies and Busineses, with
SS with held/ IRS Income Tax, Medical Insurance Premium,
UnEmployment Compensation Tax. and Then To Raw Material Suppliers and Factory Construction, Security, Clerical etc. SO
GET THE PICTURE ! !. The Aircraft, Tanks, Humvees, Supply Trucks, Equipment for Individual Soldiers, Communications which
Will remain AFTER THE WAR— A N D There Will be AN AFTER–
Are Assets that REMAIN Useable and Necessary to keep and bring back to the US, SO THE 430 BILLION IS a BOGUS Amount of Direct Cost of the WAR. THIS Promotes Deception, DisTrust, False Association, BIAS, Predjuice, BY Congress, Administration, Department of Defense, Branches of SERVICE, Waste and Squander, as well Undue Influence by Civil and Crimnal Action.
Sorry for Calling a SPADE a SPADE, but Politicians are NOW Thought of as The Lowest Level of Human Endeavor even below
Car Salesmen, Teachers, School Boards, Lawyers, Judges, LA Police Department, Illegal Immigrants, Diplomats and More.
Every Viewer that Follows this PAGE of Blogs and Thoughts MUST GO and Look at House RES HR 333 It is the HOUSE
Documentation OF the FILED IMPEACHMENT OF Vice President
Richard Cheney as FIled by House Representative Dennis
Cuscninich (?)sp Look Him Up at (( Congress.org )) Page. and
Look for HR #333 He Authored That Document A MUST SEE
it is only about 3 pages Long But Suggest PRINT IT OUT make a dozen Copies and give to Every One you Know– To Include School Children to take to school as HISTORICAL PUBLIC DOCUMENT. The House must Endite and The Senate TRY– DO YOU REMEMBER What Happened to Pres Bill Clinton– Less we Forget BUT LONG Remember Depends on what “IS ! — IS?”
I think it’s important to show the American people and the rest of the world that our national leadership will once again stand for all the things that people want us to stand for. Bush and Cheney aren’t going to do it, but candidates should show their intent, with the understanding that they will be held to task. The Bush policies are in the latrine (I’m a vet and that’s a military term, but y’all know what I’m talking about) so it’s time for candidates to show that they have a vision to solve problems that affect the whole planet. You think a big car or an SUV burns a lot of gas? How about a jet fighter or an aircraft carrier !
Bring ‘em home, take care of them when they get here. Conyers Universal Health Care HR 676.
……blah blah blah…….i just hope i live to retire considering there are approximately 50,000 to 60,000 deaths related to occupational diseases every year……..but yeah thats all good……whatever………maybe we would be alot happier if we were just a bunch of mindless lambs being led to the slaughterhouse…..we just keep on and do the best we can right?……..all this b.s. is never gonna change……..they gonna keep screwin us over bottom line……why?…….because they can and have for a long time……….yeah there might be a few sacrificial lambs from the elite ranks to sate the public occasionally…….but its gonna keep happening……thats what trips me out about all this impeachmen grandstanding and cries for justice……..is it really gonna make a big difference now?…shoot half the country is brainwashed and misinformed/disinformed anyway…..and the other half is workin to hard to freakn worry about it………..who cares?…..i deployed to the persian gulf twice and to be honest i m really just glad i m not sweating my butt off over there right now………yeah so what what if i have witnessed firsthand the billions of dollars we have poured into keeping troops deployed in the gulf for years and years and years……what do i know?……….even bein a union rep feels like a losin battle most of the time……..half the time the same members you try to represent are selln out, tryn to make their own little side deals and stabbn you right in the back…….we gotta swim thru an ocean of redtape and b.s. alot o times just to get a fair shake……….i think the saddest thing is that there are alot of good and nice and friendly people in the gulf and in this country who are suffering because of all the b.s………i dont know, ya know you see a blown up car in a street in iraq on the news with a beautiful innocent little child looking outside the house….and it just strikes you that nothin about any of this could ever be right….
Cheney/Bush would end their Iraq War tomorrow if they knew the bill for their nutty war would be charged to America’s richest; the people they’ve represented for the past 6 years. These 2 lunatics have based every policy issue, foreign and domestic, on what would be best for their very rich backers. To that end, the
Democrats should unite behind a plan to create a Cheney/Bush Iraq War Tax, to pay all war costs retroactive back to March 2003; the greatest burden falling on the very rich. I think the Democrats could find enough Republican support to get the legislation through and indeed, be able to ward-off a Bush veto. The Iraq War
is not about winning or losing, Shiites, Kurds or Sunni, not about spreading democracy, it’s about the rich making money on death and destruction. In that Democrats are not committed to cutting-off war funds, while also recognizing that Cheney/Bush can drag this out through the end of their term, the least the Democrats can do now is to produce legislation to put this endless fiasco on a pay as you go basis. Can you imagine the Congressional debate, particularly in the Senate?
Albert Colone
Oneonta, NY 13820
607/432-4057
The US should leave Iraq within the 2007 year making sure that our toops are protected as the disengagement proceeds. That we help to forment the current situation should not be the criteria for this disengagement. We cannot in any way predict what the end results will be. Thusly using specters of doom and gloom only serve to keep us bogged down in a situation for which we have little to no understanding.
The real patriots are those that continue to question why and what we are doing there. It’s time to get over the trauma of 9/11 for which we, the American people, allowed the current Administration to use to launch a disaster. No, everyone didn’t believe their initial premise about WMD and Al Qaeda nor have we believe the subsequent changing rationales.
We cannot predict the outcome in Iraq any better than a parent can predict the life of a child. Disengage post haste and bring our young people home.
FOR NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE? BEWARE OF THIS DISTINCTION!
Most of the front running Democrats are making a big deal about being for “universal health insurance”. Obama, Clinton, etc. want to keep a “role” for private insurance companies. Private insurance companies are the reason why the existing PRIVATIZED HEALTH is such a failure and unaffordable for tens of millions of people. The profit-greed of all the insurance,drug companies, etc. is what destroys the health care availablility for American working people.
SINGLE-PAYER NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE eliminiates the profit-inflation out of health care. IT CUTS THE PARASITIC GREED DRIVEN INSURANCE COMPANIES OUT COMPLETELY. Instead it establishes an agency such as Social Security, Medicare to administer the national health program. NOTHING LESS THAN THIS WILL WORK FOR AMERICAN PEOPLE. LET THE COMPANIES THAT ARE CUT OUT FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO DO. Let the employees of these companies find employement in the new national program (i.e. don’t dump the employees who need a job.)
The AFL-CIO in making it’s endorsement of candidates MUST MAKE THIS DISTINCTION VITAL. DON’T ALLOW CANDIDATES TO TAKE MONEY FROM INSURANCE COMPANIES AND TURN AROUND AND EXPECT MONEY AND ENDORSEMENT FROM LABOR MOVEMENT.
DON’T FALL FOR THIS CORRUPTION!
Single PAyr Healthcare may sound good on the surface, but one underlying feature is that it pays for illnesses based on their frequency (how many peolle get them) rather than how severe the illness may be. So if what you have is relativley rare (compared to the common flu, for instance) you may find yoursle fon the outside looking in for treatment. But don’t blame just the mediacal insurance companies for not making a reasonable reimburment to physicians and hospitals. Medicare has been cuttig both by 7% per year until the cuts reach 22%. Every doctor I have talked to is on the verge of closing his or her door (and access the health care they provide) due to not being able to make ends meet. And this is happening in Hawaii, a State whose commitment to healthcare is surpassed by no other.
You can put a stop to much of this by joining a Union, paying Union dues and voting for the candidates screened by your political action committees.