|
Korean Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
bacasper
Joined: 26 Mar 2007
|
 Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:47 am Post subject: |
 |
|
| Adventurer wrote: |
| Well, the Pentagon spends over 630 billion dollars. That is double what used to be spent in 1989 as far as I can recall when the Cold War was still going on. Has inflation been that high to wear the budget needs to be that high for the Pentagon? I prefer some of that money go to paying off the deficit, investing in technology, investing in alternative energy, giving tax payers tax breaks if they use alternative energy sources to heat their homes etc... Why is the budget so high? I suppose because of the two wars we're involved in at the moment. Well, at least, then, the Iraqi Government needs to start spending more on itself, and the US needs to reduce its spending there. I am not sure why the budget is extremely high, but it seems ridiculous to spend 630 billions dollars i.e. more than double what was spent in 1989 or so. |
The $630 billion does not even include the amounts for Afghanistan and Iraq, which are funded by supplemental appropriations outside the regular defense budget. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
|
| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 6:09 am Post subject: |
|
|
We can't afford these wars.
And why aren't we winning in Iraq and Afghanistan?
For one thing, the locals don't really like us, or our ideas. For another, military power is not enough to win the war.
These are the reasons we lost in Vietnam. But McCain did not have a television in his cell, so he missed the real lessons of Vietnam.
Declare victory and leave. That seems to be what the Iraqis want us to do. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
|
| Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2008 6:47 am Post subject: Re: Barack Obama |
|
|
| Gatsby wrote: |
| Both candidates promise change, both candidates have talked about ending partisan squabbling. |
Hmm...McCain talks about change, but where is it? How? All of his policies are exactly the same as Bush?
Partisan squabbling...McCain tried to represent himself as nonpartisan in 2000 when trying to wrestle the nomination to go up against Gore. HOWEVER, if that existed then, it certainly doesn't exist now. Choosing pitbull partisan Palin who is about as vicious as it gets with partisan politics represents the direction McCain is taking his administration with this. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
Joined: 25 May 2003
|
| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:58 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Adventurer wrote: |
| Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee wrote: |
| Gatsby wrote: |
Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee
| Quote: |
| I thinik Mr. Obama plans to cancel most of the Pentagon's future weapons projects |
Let me give you a bit of advice, Joo Rip Gwa Rhhee:
Don't thinik.
You might hurt yourself. |
Well I was smart enough to know about Iran and Al Qaeda and you were ignorant enough not to know about it.
By the way if you were really smart you would have come up with a better joke than that.
Obama said he slow our development of future combat systems . I am not making it up
See for yourself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COl4soeox6Y
No it is not a good idea.
US airpower didn't break Serbia
Israeli airpower didn't break Hezzbollah ( which could a small scale model of a US - Iran war )
Intel reports say US airpower would not break Iran.
So we can conclude that the US needs something better than it has now.
Under Obama the US won't get that.
He is wrong. and his policy will not improve the US negotiating position via Iran.
Mr. Obama is wrong here, and it is right to point it out.
Sorry Gatsby. |
Well, the Pentagon spends over 630 billion dollars. That is double what used to be spent in 1989 as far as I can recall when the Cold War was still going on. Has inflation been that high to wear the budget needs to be that high for the Pentagon? I prefer some of that money go to paying off the deficit, investing in technology, investing in alternative energy, giving tax payers tax breaks if they use alternative energy sources to heat their homes etc... Why is the budget so high? I suppose because of the two wars we're involved in at the moment. Well, at least, then, the Iraqi Government needs to start spending more on itself, and the US needs to reduce its spending there. I am not sure why the budget is extremely high, but it seems ridiculous to spend 630 billions dollars i.e. more than double what was spent in 1989 or so. |
These charts l show US defense spending as a % of GDP
http://www.permanentrevolution.net/files/us%20defense%20spending(1).jpg
http://www.truthandpolitics.org/military-relative-size-graph.php?meas=GDP
http://www.heritage.org/research/features/BudgetChartBook/images/fed-rev-spend-2008-boc-S7-Despite-War-Costs-Defense.gif
http://www.factcheck.org/demos/factcheck/imagefiles/Image/2007.07.05%20Mitt%20Missteps/Defense_Spending_GDP.GIF
Many nations spend more than 4- 5% of their GDP on defense.
And US spends far more on each soldier than other nations do. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
|
| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:41 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Don't miss this segment from Countdown: Best Persons in the World, #1:
Walter Schneller.
Schneller invited Barack Obama to speak to Olbermann's high school for Black History Month.
In 1991.
Interesting story.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/#27287182
. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
|
| Posted: Thu Oct 23, 2008 11:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Happy Days are here again!
| Quote: |
Andy Griffith's Sheriff Taylor resurfaces in Obama endorsement
http://www.newsobserver.com/
By RYAN TEAGUE BECKWITH
McClatchy Newspapers
Does the road to the White House pass through Mayberry?
A Web video posted online Thursday features iconic North Carolina actor Andy Griffith praising Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Though Griffith has been a mainstay of Democratic campaigns in North Carolina, the video is his first endorsement in a national race and the only one he's done in character as Mayberry's Sheriff Taylor.
In the three-minute video, director and former child star Ron Howard transforms himself into Opie from "The Andy Griffith Show" and Richie Cunningham from "Happy Days." He talks about Obama, first with Griffith in a black-and-white fishing scene reminiscent of the old show and then with Henry Winkler as "The Fonz."
In the Mayberry segment, "Opie" asks "Sheriff Taylor" why more people aren't voting for change.
"Well, Ope, people are funny," Griffith responds. "Sometimes change scares them, and they'd rather keep doing the same ol' thing that's been messing them up than change to the thing that can help them."... |
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/738837.html
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b65485_ron_howard_wigs_out_obama_in_latest_film.html
This just might win Obama North Carolina. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Gatsby
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 6:50 pm Post subject: |
|
|
This clip from youtube of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is worth revisiting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5kA31rV6sA
The film was made in 1967, 41 years ago. A year after the film was released Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. It is very moving for those who can recall these events to ponder how far the nation has come in four decades.
But it is a little sad that, in the 21st century, it has not come farther, that a politician could actually still believe that playing to race could still gain votes. "Things are changing," Poitier remarks. They will continue to change, I hope for the better. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
|
| Posted: Mon Oct 27, 2008 7:25 pm Post subject: |
|
|
OPIE and ANDY are voting for Obama? 
That settles it.
Thanks for posting that. It was wonderful. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
