* With the bulk of the U.S. active duty army marooned in the Iraq quagmire, pre-emptive (much less preventative) war is off the table. Syria, Iran and Hugo Chavez can all thumb their noses at the hegemon with relative impunity, secure in the knowledge that the 82nd Airborne won't come knocking on their doors any time soon.

   * Bush's inbred arrogance, Field Marshal Von Rumsfeld's moral cluelessness and the neocons' casual contempt for "soft power" have made the United States radioactive not just in the Islamic world but to public opinion in much of the rest of the world as well. Governments that might once have considered enlisting in Uncle Sam's army won't risk it now. Even our nominal allies can only do so much. Like Pakistan's Musharraf, for example. He can't afford to catch Bin Ladin and we can't afford to make him.

   * Without a sensible energy policy -- which might, just might, have been spurred by accession to the Kyoto Treaty -- the U.S. is in no position to threaten Iran with meaningful economic sanctions (i.e. an embargo on Iranian oil), even if the other members of the U.N. Security Council were prepared to let us try.

   * Likewise, the U.S. can't risk alienating or destabilizing the House of Saud, lest the kingdom fall into the wrong hands (or none at all) sending oil to $150 a barrel. This makes any talk of "democratizing" the Middle East into a cynical joke.

   * We're not even trying to squeeze Chavez, who appears to have a special friend in Condi Rice (or is it Chevron? Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference.)

   * The failure of the neocons' go-it-alone attempt to isolate North Korea has left Kim Jong Il with a half dozen more nukes, and forced the administration to make a humilating U turn towards appeasement.

   * The Republican regime's out-of-control fiscal policies have given the People's Republic of China a senior unsubordinated claim on the U.S. Treasury and unprecedented potential influence over the U.S. financial markets. This rules out any attempt to "contain" Beijing or counter its reach into traditional U.S. fiefdoms like Latin America, and could become particularly problematic if the Chinese ever move militarily against Taiwan.

   * The GOP's drive to steamroll opposition to free trade -- instead of looking for practical compromises on labor and environmental standards -- could soon make it just about impossible to pass any more trade deals, unless the Republican House leadership intends to start using stress positions on party dissidents and holding votes open for three days instead of three hours.

--Quoted from Billmon

Read your post again! All you did is carping, talking and complaining! You did not offer a better or an alternative solution to all your points! I could even smell hatred of own country coming out of your post!

Bitch, Bitch, Bitch, but no ideas of their own.

I guess we should be glad though, their idea of fighting terrorism would be to raise taxes on the evil Rich...

impeach Bush, AND Cheney, for adopting misrepresentation as a policy.

I'm pretty patient about lotsa things, but lies, unresponsiveness and reckless stupidity are 3 that  destroy your credibility the 1st time around.

Now where could I have picked up views like that?   Same place as Paul Hackett, maybe?

is that you're no brighter than Bush.  Maybe you can't remember anything long enough to write an answer.   That could be explained by substance abuse - speeding would explain the erratic paranoia.

Or maybe you're a traitor who wants us to rush into ambushes before we think about what we're doing.

Yeah, you're probably working for Osama.

is all the GOP ever does.  When will it end?  You think people like it?  What kind of sick perv does like being fed crap?  You must know.

The solution is simple:  throw the GOP out on their ass.  Convict the leaders for their various frauds, and send them to prison.  Put mid-mgmt in the streets on welfare, and then cut the welfare off.  

Peeance freeance Iraq, out.

Jack, read your posts again! you did exactly the same thing! CARP, CARP and CARP! You offered no viable solutions to zinaval's points, which I am not surprised at all! Democrats just carp and never offer a better solution!

when you read pieces that contains references like these:

"Field Marshal Von Rumsfeld's moral cluelessness and the neocons' casual contempt for "soft power" have made the United States radioactive"""

realize, you're not likely to learn anything of value except how yet another Bush Hating extremist views the world. My advise, unless you're retired and have all day to waste, move on.

Second, it seems to me you've been carping a little yourself-- judging by your posts (carps, that is) against liberals in recent posts.

The fact is, liberals presented things that could have been better, and I did that here during the election: like concentrating on the rebuilding of Afghanistan rather than attacking Iraq; like not tearing up the ABM treaty and enforcing the treaties based upon it to stop nuclear proliferation and instead strengthening it; like working with the Kyoto protocol, and altering it where necessary; like changing NATO int to a pan European anti-terrorist alliance;  like negotiating with Russia and China to bring about an Asian anti-terrorist alliance; like bringing back apportionment and letting the States control the collection of taxes rather than the Feds; like treating terrorism like a problem of international law rather than as a war; like enforcing human rights so that we have some credibility in our fight against terrorism; like ending the drug war, like leaving Iraq now and helping when the dust has settled; like rooting out the denied racism that is really what's poisoning this country...

The list of proposals to the liberal agenda goes on and on.  The ideas are out there, and I've put a lot of the ones listed above right here in this forum.  However, when we're faced with conservative obstinence and ridicule against these ideas, it's true, liberals like me then carp about it about the mess that conservatives make refusing them.  Many of the proposals are self-apparently realistic, no brainers really, and it is entertaining to watch the mess conservatives make denying them.

person you want to respond to.  I know, carping about technical skill, like how nice it is if you can GET THE BALL OVER THE PLATE!!!!!  Sorta like your idol, it'd be nice if he could get some basic facts right 1st, like whether he's got a record, or not.   I know, y'all expect to get by on your good looks.  OK, family connections.

Obviously, you don't understand democracy, that the party out of power is expected to keep the party in power honest - and that is like cleaning the Aegean stables when it's the GOP.  Because historically, that's what works.

Now I realize that no Republican EVER carps about anything, NEVER makes a problem where there isn't one, and NEVER lies through his/her teeth.  Still, I'd feel a whole lot better if they could demonstrate some BASIC COMPETENCE.

So if you don't understand democracy, how do you expect to teach the Iraqis?  

Oh, I get it:  you're gonna label it, put a little yellow ribbon on it, and try to smear anybody who says, 'the emperor has no clothes'.   Or, you could talk to the Democrats, and see if you can agree

I understand the Republican frustration with schools, since so few of them ever learned to read or reason.   Nevertheless, it should be crystal clear to you what the  solution is:  since we don't seem able to get rid of stupid politicians, we can at least cuff one of each party to the other, and thus neutralize them.  Ted Kennedy would be cuffed to Cheney; Bush 2 would get Dukakis; and Karl Rove would be cuffed to Donna Brazile.  Anybody who justifies their actions in terms of their religious faith gets medicated until they STFU.  

We do not need, and cannot tolerate, the incompetent fundamentalists who are driven by hatred rather than facts, and do nothing more than stir up wars.   Yeah, that's you and your buddies.

sift thru the, ah, hyperbole.

dyslexia or whatever it is - you talk to me while posting to somebody else, asking me to provide "solutions" to what is essentially a critique of your position.

Everybody should wonder if Bush 2 actually thinks the way he speaks.  It's a reasonable assumption; and if that's true, it's obviously a major problem.  I've seen drunks who expressed themselves more coherently - get my drift?

could find with Clinton was that he liked BJs.

Now I didn't see any Republican offering to fund plastic surgery for Hillary, or even a ball-gag.

i.e., somebody who wants to suppress criticism without providing any justification or explanation.

Of course it's un-American, unconstitutional, stupid and terrible policy.  Why else would a Cyber Republican do it?

Or it could be that reading > 1 paragraph blows his brain cells right out.  That would make him just a pissy lightweight, not a traitor.

Hate to say it, but I think that may be a Texas thing.  I've known a few of them that are just not coherent.  Funny, they were also wealthy and liked to drink.  Sheesh, I hope it's not really a pattern.

it wasn't the BJ, it was lying under oath to a US court in direct violation of his oath to the office.

Gee, that seems like a problem to me.

it wasn't the lie, it was the party affiliation.

Clinton was prosecuted by people who had done the same damn thing, eg Henry Hyde.

or perhaps you just don't think he should be held accountable because he is a Democrat...

party affiliation.

Because you impeached a guy claiming he was a liar, and turned around a nominated a liar.

I know, lies don't matter to Republicans as long as they aren't under oath, have their fingers crossed, secretly whisper their incantation, or whatever.

(shrug) I'm not a Republican.  Lies matter to me.