Republican Party, Teabag Party and the Libertarian Party absolutely SUCK!

[The Troll]

      I heard about the money it is going to cost for the President to go to India.  Since he does happen to be the President Of The United States Of America.


  Tell me how does he do his job of being POTUS.  Stay in the White House and lock the door.  I am serious how does he carry on business of the United States.  Phoning a friend doesn't work.

[Lester Sasquatch]

      I heard about the money it is going to cost for the President to go to India.  Since he does happen to be the President Of The United States Of America.


  Tell me how does he do his job of being POTUS.  Stay in the White House and lock the door.  I am serious how does he carry on business of the United States.  Phoning a friend doesn't work.

Send Hillary, that's her job anyway. That's why he has what they call representatives, to represent him.

[Henry Hawk]

      I heard about the money it is going to cost for the President to go to India.  Since he does happen to be the President Of The United States Of America.


  Tell me how does he do his job of being POTUS.  Stay in the White House and lock the door.  I am serious how does he carry on business of the United States.  Phoning a friend doesn't work.

why is his wife and kids going?....3,000 people are going, WH staff, journalists, security....all so we can do MORE business with another foreign country?  I thought you and the dems was fed up with that stuff?
I'm telling you this is crazy crap, with our economic hardships right now, I'm thinking there could be a more effecient way of doing business right now....

[LOsborne]

Send Hillary, that's her job anyway.

Not to mention the fact that she's better at it than he is.

[Palehorse]

Voters have given Republicans a mandate to cut government and roll back the Obama administration's health care "monstrosity" in the next Congress, the incoming speaker of the House of Representatives said Wednesday.
Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, is poised to lead the House following the GOP's massive gains in Tuesday's midterm elections. He told reporters that he and President Barack Obama have agreed to work together but called the results a vote for "a smaller, less costly, more accountable government." And the administration's hard-won overhaul of the U.S. health care system ultimately will be on the block.. . .

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/11/03/election.main/index.html?hpt=T2



HERE WE GO!

[Palehorse]

Not to mention the fact that she's better at it than he is.

Hillary is the fixer, the hard line messenger that represents this country in situations where few others dare enter. She is damned good at it too, I agree, but certainly not the one to open into discussions that may be of a more diplomatic nature. You send her into situations like this one and you damned well better be ready to deal with some pissed off people.

The diplomatic community sees her as the final solution surrounding a given situation, and if they see she is coming they are either stoked for battle or drizzling into their boots. Neither of these conditions are conducive toward dialog of any sort. She's the ultimatum!

You guys are worried about what this is going to cost? Hah! You had better set your sights a little closer to home my friends, because the billions our elected officials are going to spend in stalling and the verbal diarrhea storm they are already starting over healthcare, is going to cost this country and its citizens far more than this diplomatic effort ever could!

Voters have given Republicans a mandate to cut government and roll back the Obama administration's health care "monstrosity" in the next Congress, the incoming speaker of the House of Representatives said Wednesday.
Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, is poised to lead the House following the GOP's massive gains in Tuesday's midterm elections. He told reporters that he and President Barack Obama have agreed to work together but called the results a vote for "a smaller, less costly, more accountable government." And the administration's hard-won overhaul of the U.S. health care system ultimately will be on the block.. . .

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/11/03/election.main/index.html?hpt=T2



HERE WE GO!

[LOsborne]

.... not the one to open into discussions that may be of a more diplomatic nature.

What's so sensitive? From what I read, all that is being discussed is letting India buy dual-use technology. (That's technology that can be used for both military and business purposes, for those of you who don't care to google.) C'mon, guys, either we sell it or they steal it. What's to discuss? Except price. I really think Hillary holds a sharper pencil.

[Palehorse]

What's so sensitive? From what I read, all that is being discussed is letting India buy dual-use technology. (That's technology that can be used for both military and business purposes, for those of you who don't care to google.) C'mon, guys, either we sell it or they steal it. What's to discuss? Except price. I really think Hillary holds a sharper pencil.

Are you really believing that this is the ONLY thing on the agenda? Surely not. Especially when the POTUS is personally getting involved. It may be the reason given to the press and general public, but you can damned well be certain there are other more insidious topics to be broached. . .

I cannot see such a high value target putting his life on the line to sell some dual use technology to another country. That may be the cover story but while you are busy bitching about it he'll be a lot busier taking care of this country's real business.

And by the way. . . this kind of deployment goes on all the time. It's really not that unusual given the global terrorist threat levels out there. It wouldn't matter where he goes, if it outside the US it involves this level of deployment of resources.  Do you really think he'd spend all that money and place himself and his wife at risk if it weren't in the best interests of this nation?

It really seems obvious to me that the reason Hillary isn't going is the delicate nature of the real business to be accomplished here.

Come on! Everybody isn't George Bush yah know! 

[LOsborne]

It really seems obvious to me that the reason Hillary isn't going is the delicate nature of the real business to be accomplished here.

With India? Get real.

[Palehorse]

With India? Get real.

India has an ongoing dispute of one source or another with China and Pakistan. Additionally, its logistical location makes it a natural corridor for potential terrorist initiatives, as well as human trafficking . . .

. . .since China and India launched a security and foreign policy dialogue in 2005, consolidated discussions related to the dispute over most of their rugged, militarized boundary, regional nuclear proliferation, Indian claims that China transferred missiles to Pakistan, and other matters continue; various talks and confidence-building measures have cautiously begun to defuse tensions over Kashmir, particularly since the October 2005 earthquake in the region; Kashmir nevertheless remains the site of the world's largest and most militarized territorial dispute with portions under the de facto administration of China (Aksai Chin), India (Jammu and Kashmir), and Pakistan (Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas); India and Pakistan have maintained the 2004 cease fire in Kashmir and initiated discussions on defusing the armed stand-off in the Siachen glacier region; Pakistan protests India's fencing the highly militarized Line of Control and construction of the Baglihar Dam on the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir, which is part of the larger dispute on water sharing of the Indus River and its tributaries; UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) has maintained a small group of peacekeepers since 1949; India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964; to defuse tensions and prepare for discussions on a maritime boundary, India and Pakistan seek technical resolution of the disputed boundary in Sir Creek estuary at the mouth of the Rann of Kutch in the Arabian Sea; Pakistani maps continue to show its Junagadh claim in Indian Gujarat State; discussions with Bangladesh remain stalled to delimit a small section of river boundary, to exchange territory for 51 Bangladeshi exclaves in India and 111 Indian exclaves in Bangladesh, to allocate divided villages, and to stop illegal cross-border trade, migration, violence, and transit of terrorists through the porous border; Bangladesh protests India's attempts to fence off high-traffic sections of the border; India seeks cooperation from Bhutan and Burma to keep Indian Nagaland and Assam separatists from hiding in remote areas along the borders; Joint Border Committee with Nepal continues to examine contested boundary sections, including the 400 square kilometer dispute over the source of the Kalapani River; India maintains a strict border regime to keep out Maoist insurgents and control illegal cross-border activities from Nepal

current situation: India is a source, destination, and transit country for men, women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation; internal forced labor may constitute India's largest trafficking problem; men, women, and children are held in debt bondage and face forced labor working in brick kilns, rice mills, agriculture, and embroidery factories; women and girls are trafficked within the country for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced marriage; children are subjected to forced labor as factory workers, domestic servants, beggars, and agriculture workers, and have been used as armed combatants by some terrorist and insurgent groups; India is also a destination for women and girls from Nepal and Bangladesh trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation; Indian women are trafficked to the Middle East for commercial sexual exploitation; men and women from Bangladesh and Nepal are trafficked through India for forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation in the Middle East

tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - India is on the Tier 2 Watch List for a fifth consecutive year for its failure to provide evidence of increasing efforts to combat human trafficking in 2007; despite the reported extent of the trafficking crisis in India, government authorities made uneven efforts to prosecute traffickers and protect trafficking victims; government authorities continued to rescue victims of commercial sexual exploitation and forced child labor and child armed combatants, and began to show progress in law enforcement against these forms of trafficking; a critical challenge overall is the lack of punishment for traffickers, effectively resulting in impunity for acts of human trafficking; India has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008)

world's largest producer of licit opium for the pharmaceutical trade, but an undetermined quantity of opium is diverted to illicit international drug markets; transit point for illicit narcotics produced in neighboring countries and throughout Southwest Asia; illicit producer of methaqualone; vulnerable to narcotics money laundering through the hawala system; licit ketamine and precursor production

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html

Natural resources: Coal, iron ore, manganese, mica, bauxite, chromite, thorium, limestone, barite, titanium ore, diamonds, crude oil.
Agriculture: 17% of GDP. Products--wheat, rice, coarse grains, oilseeds, sugar, cotton, jute, tea.
Industry: 28.2% of GDP. Products--textiles, jute, processed food, steel, machinery, transport equipment, cement, aluminum, fertilizers, mining, petroleum, chemicals, and computer software.
Services and transportation: 54.9% of GDP.
Trade: Exports (FY 2009 est)--$164.3 billion; engineering goods, petroleum products, precious stones, cotton apparel and fabrics, gems and jewelry, handicrafts, tea. Services exports $101.2 billion in 2008-09, represent more than one third of India's total exports.

Software exports--$35.76 billion. Imports (FY 2009 est)--$268.4 billion; petroleum, machinery and transport equipment, electronic goods, edible oils, fertilizers, chemicals, gold, textiles, iron and steel. Major trade partners--U.S., China, U.A.E., EU, Russia, Japan.

. . .

President George W. Bush concluded a landmark U.S.-India strategic partnership framework agreement on July 18, 2005. In March 2006, President Bush visited India to further the many initiatives that underlie the new agreement. The strategic partnership is anchored by a historic civil nuclear cooperation initiative and includes cooperation in the fields of space, high-technology commerce, health issues, democracy promotion, agriculture, and trade and investment.

. . .In late November 2008, terrorists killed at least 164 people in a series of coordinated attacks around Mumbai. Prime Minister Singh promised a thorough investigation and Home Minister Chidambaram pledged significant reforms to improve India's counterterrorism agencies.

The Congress-led UPA coalition gained a more stable majority following the May 2009 elections, riding mainly on the support of rural voters. Manmohan Singh became the first Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full 5-year term. In July 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to India to launch the "Strategic Dialogue," which called for collaboration in a number of areas, including climate change, trade, education, and counterterrorism. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is visiting Washington, DC in late November 2009 for the first state visit of the Obama administration.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3454.htm

There is far more to this whole deal than meets the eyes. . .

And by the way - You think there was any less spent for Georgies little field trips over there?

[LOsborne]

India has an ongoing dispute of one source or another with China and Pakistan. Additionally, its logistical location makes it a natural corridor for potential terrorist initiatives, as well as human trafficking . . .

And I should care because....?

I'm sick of my country playing hall monitor to the world. On my dime. Let's tighten our borders, make it f*cking hard to enter this country, and let the rest of the world have at it. When a clear winner emerges, we can deal with them. Right now we have way too much hunger, homelessness, joblessness, and general hucksterism going on to worry about the condition of the rest of the world. I believe there is a passage in one of the more well-thought of books of philosophy that says something about removing the plank from your own eye before worrying the splinter in your neighbor's eye.

[Palehorse]

And I should care because....?

I'm sick of my country playing hall monitor to the world. On my dime. Let's tighten our borders, make it f*cking hard to enter this country, and let the rest of the world have at it. When a clear winner emerges, we can deal with them. Right now we have way too much hunger, homelessness, joblessness, and general hucksterism going on to worry about the condition of the rest of the world. I believe there is a passage in one of the more well-thought of books of philosophy that says something about removing the plank from your own eye before worrying the splinter in your neighbor's eye.

It goes back to the whole "we're all connected" theory, and as distasteful as it may be to have to deal with pigs, sometimes it is necessary to do so in order to get to the snakes.

Buschco severely damaged our diplomatic credibility, and because of this we are now forced to take above normal risks in order to repair the damages done. Or try to.

While I can certainly agree with the philosophy you quoted, as well as your sentiment, sometimes the picture we see as citizens is incomplete, and there are dangers lurking that we do not see because of it. It is during such times that true leadership takes place, and rarely is it within the public eye until decades after the fact. Like it or not that is the way this world keeps from blowing itself into space dust.  And the reason individuals "out of the loop" can sleep at night. Those "in the loop" do not sleep much at all, believe me.

Yes, we should take care of the plank in our eye before our neighbors splinter - unless our neighbor owns the tools we need to remove our plank! 

[Lester Sasquatch]

Palehorse, I suppose there could be more than what meets the eye as reasons for his trip. But why all the fanfare, the entire family with the complete entourage? Let's face it, India is not a safe place just two years ago the terrorists attacks in Mumbia killed a bunch of folks in the very hotel the Obamas plan to stay in. I would think for security purposes the visit would be a low key event, with no public advance notice. They must be concerned about security with a US Navy armada patrolling the shore.

But one thing is pretty sure, Pakistan will not be happy with Obama's visit to their arch enemy. Pakistan is somewhat of a loose cannon, a cannon with nuclear weapons. We can see in the news the rift going on between Pakistan and the US all about the goings on over the border in Afghanistan. I think the only reason Pakistan makes an attempt to get along is because it gets billions of dollars in US money to be our "friends". But this well publicized trip will not help our relations with Pakistan. Of course that might be the whole purpose too, to get Pakistan riled up so India starts a war with them. It has come very close in the past. Maybe Obama is telling India that he will publicly condemn any action on their part but secretly back them. In any event, you know Pakistan will be having sinister thoughts about the purpose of Obama's trip. So I think the trip is ill advised unless we want another conflict to pay for and the potential for a nuclear war in the region. At the very least Obama should have scheduled his trip to spend a few days in Pakistan to assure them of his intentions.

They are all war mongers, even Obama, because they don't care about us. America is in a deep recession.  So many are suffering.  Budget cuts have been made to police, firefighters, teachers and schools.  Deep, painful cuts.  Yet President and first lady party on. Lavish parties at the White House with Filet Mignon and fine wine while more Americans are on food stamps than ever before in history. They seem to be oblivious to the plight of ordinary Americans. But the worst cut of all is the lack of funding for our wounded warriors and their families.  These brave men and women deserve our support. Many return from serving our country emotionally battered, missing limbs, blind, crippled, and unable to easily integrate back into society. Their families, in many cases, are overwhelmed by their needs. Most all of us know someone who is physically impaired and what suffering they go through without the worry over money, add that in and their lives are a living hell. So what is a billion dollars to spread diplomacy in foreign countries? It is one heck of a lot to me and even more to those folks who sacrificed their lives for this country and now they can't feed their families while the commander in chief spends the taxpayer's money like there is no tomorrow. Have you seen the TV ads where the wounded soldiers are begging for money? The Wounded Warrior Program with Trace Adkins as a spokesperson? It makes me sick to see these poor souls suffering.

The President should help his own people in need before globe trotting and enjoying opulent accommodations with money that we don't really have. He should say "No more US money to Pakistan" and get us the hell out of Afghanistan. Most people don't even remember why we are there in the first place. I will remind the readers what our original plan was: To disrupt Al Qaeda so they could not organize and carry out another attack on the USA. We weren't supposed to do any nation building. We are paying to build the infrastructure of another country while our own highways and bridges crumble around us. Those people have historically done one thing consistently - Fight. If not fighting an invading force, they are quite content fighting amongst themselves. They are corrupt and will sell their brother's life for a dollar. They are not trustworthy nor loyal. They do not value human life like we do and the treat women not unlike animals. I say let them fight and kill each other like they were doing before we intervened. Hell Obama can't even secure our own borders or solve the massive unemployment here, why anyone thinks he can solve Afghanistan's problems boggles my mind.

The above issues are why I disapprove of the President's trip to India.

[LOsborne]

Damned well told, Lester.

[The Troll]

  Guess what Mike Pence has done now and I told you he was out for himself.  He is stepping down from number 3 in the Republican Party to consider a bid to run for the presidency or governor of Indiana.

  Remember how he said he was going to work for us, the people of Indiana.  How much work do you think we will get out of him now, in congress the next to years.  He's such a pretty boy.