President Obama intends to recycle the TARP profits to convert the savings into “tax-cuts” for small businesses and other infrastructure projects. The tax cuts would be a disastrous mistake and it would be something that would be just adding to the debt that we have.

Let me make this clear, these kind tax cuts would not mean anything to the middle class or the small businesses. I am not saying that I would not appreciate a tax cut, but the fact is, we got so many things to pay for that we do not feel the tax cuts effect at all. It is not like the millions that we would save if we were rich.

To prove my controversial statements above, I would like to point you guys to one example. As part of the Economic Recovery Act, the stimulus package, more than $250 billion dollars was set aside for tax cuts for the lower and upper middle class. How many of the recipients do you think would experience a reprieve or appreciated tax cut? Even today, many years after President Clinton cut taxes for the lower income bracket, people are still asking : Where was my tax cut, President Clinton?

The tax cut does not seem real at all. But what would be real is the debt it brings along with it. Should President Obama carry out his plan to convert the TARP funds to tax cuts, we would see the President cut half a trillion dollars worth of taxes. This half a trillion dollars spent, I am sorry to say, is just a waste of money.

The $200 billion could have been used to pay off the debt; we need to do that. That could have brought the deficit for this year down from $1.4 trillion to $1.2 trillion. It could have meant billions of dollars worth of interest being saved.

Many would bring us back to President’s Reagan presidency to claim that tax cuts would work, less would associate themselves with President Bush’s policies. Yes it worked, at a cost of a trillion 1980 US$! That is when the problem of debt really started in America.

If there is a further need to stimulate the economy, the many can be used in better ways. The money can be invested in infrastructure. This can be used to ensure that all our buildings and bridges are save. Lets build levies all around flood prone areas.

We can invest the money in education. Our kids are falling behind the rest of the world. While there would be people out there that blame the government, I disagree. The countries that have excellent results as of late are China, Hong Kong, Japan,Singapore and South Korea. The governments of these countries are very involved with their systems, so should we. We should meritocratize our system.

We can use the money to develop green energy. It can be seed money to help new green businesses start up. I am sure many would be interested in starting up a green business today especially with the ridiculously rebates that the government is offering in the ACES bill. This would make us very much less dependent on foreign oil.

Use it for these stuff, but please do not use it on tax cuts. It is not beneficial at all. It would just increase the debt! My preference is to use it to lower the debt that we owe China…

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President Obama is going to send 30 000 more troops to Afghanistan. This is something that I support and have long stated so. However, the part about the deadline is something that confuses me. Is it the goal of the President to exit in 18 months like we did in the surge, or are we going to have to close shop within 18 months?
This is something that is rather complicating as the two scenarios have such different outcomes despite appearing to be similar. If we are going to get the hell out in 18 month regardless of the situation on the ground in Afghanistan, we are in trouble.

The President is going to allow, in his words, “ an unacceptable risk”, to be potentially around in 18 months. That would render all the blood and sacrifice of our troops in the next 18 months as fruitless.If he does that, he is failing America in a very fundamental way.

If this is the case, there is really no hope of extending the stay beyond 2012. If the troops are to draw down by July 2011; it would take 6-10 months for all of them to come home. The added incentive would be that President Obama would be viewed as the person who have brought back all the troops home, something that would go down well with his far left base.

On the other hand, if the President hopes to achieve all goals in 18 months, then that would be a good thing. We would only leave when our objectives in Afghanistan are met. That is a world away from leaving Afghanistan at a certain date by any means necessary.

As Iraq has shown us, it is very possible that we can meet our objectives in 18 months. If we could do it in Iraq, we can do it Afghanistan. This would be something very positive and something that I would support. I also like the idea of a very speedy troop surge. That is something that would be a logistical headache to the Officers and the NCOs, but I think it would boost the troop morale on the ground.

Now I do not know which one of those scenarios is right. The Republicans are claiming that the first scenario is right, while the Democrats are claiming that the second is. The President, in his speech yesterday, went both ways. Is he undecided? I wonder…

There is also the thing about the price of the war. The President has always promised that he would do everything in a deficit neutral manner. So how is he goi9ng to pay for the at least $30 billion that this war would cost? Is he going to go down the path of President Bush and leave the next generation with a $1 trillion dollar war burden? I hope he takes Governor Jesse Ventura idea seriously about a war tax.

I would also want to see do NATO her fair share of work. It is not only the United States that has suffered attacks that were being carried out by Al Qaeda which is supported by the Taliban in Afghanistan. I want to see that they contribute their very small share of 5000 men. I also hope that they go in with the desire to fight and not just be peace keepers, like they have done so many times.

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I do not like Governor David Patterson one bit. I think he is thoroughly unqualified to run the state. His record for that state is good enough. However, I think that picking on his disability is out right wrong and I am ashamed that this is happening in our America.

He is terrible, Governor Patterson. Say what you like about Governor Elliot Spitzer, he knew how to run a state. The only way Governor Patterson knows how to run a state is to run it to the ground! All the figures back that up. I hope, for New York state’s sake, he gets out as soon as possible!

However, that does not mean that we should be insulting the Governor because he is blind. It is one thing to make fun of the Governor, all comedians do that. We in ST too made fun of the President and the first yesterday in our article, and many have done so on President Bush’s term a year or so ago.

But scorning a blind person because he is blind? Come on! “(Governor Patterson)blind and can’t read Braille and doesn’t really know what’s going on” Rupert Murdoch. “He has people reading newspapers to him. He listens to tapes of staffers briefing him. All that takes an enormous amount of time” Democratic politician Diane Savino .

Basically, in the manner above, we have heard many people criticizing the Governor because he is blind. I think that this is very, very wrong. Would we criticize him for him being Black? No. Because we know that that is wrong. It is called racist. In the same way, we cannot insult him because he is blind. I think that utterly wrong.

Are we going to criticize a cripple because of his or her disability? How are we going to treat special people with Down’s syndrome as second class citizens? Then why are we treating the Governor in the same manner. Haven’t we forgotten that one of our best Presidents died a paralyzed man?

Again, I state that I do not like this guy. I think he is to New York State as what George W Bush was to the whole country : trouble! There is very little that he did right in his term so far. I agree with that.

In fact that made me more sad as I feel that he has enough faults already for the world to criticize. Enough! Why criticize his blindness? Why not criticize the manner he is running the state? Everything is worse since Governor “I like hookers but you can’t have them” Spitzer. Why not criticize his statements where he claimed that President Obama is racist and does not want to see a Black governor? This guy has a treasure trove of attacks.

It is amazing that this is still going on in our America. Is this the liberty for all mentioned in the Pledge of Allegiance that we took every morning in our schools? It really stabs the heart of what America stands for.

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Ever since the decision by the Attorney General Eric Holder to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and four others in New York, the right wing exploded into a rage of frenzy. It is the craziest thing in the world for me and I want to see Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and company hung.

For one, I am delighted with the move by Eric Holder to finally get this done. I think that we should get back to American justice as fast as possible, rather than the world of enhanced interrogation techniques, aka torture. However, we must have the death sentence for these terrorists. We cannot allow them to have life sentences as that would risk terrorists holding up hostages in return for their release. Ask any Israeli and they would tell you that this is true.

That being said, I stress that it must, it must take place. I think it is absolutely crazy not to let it happen. What are we going to do: keep them in Guantanamo Bay forever? Does the far right really want to make that our concentration camp? Come on!

What are they afraid of : an acquittal? This is from former George W Bush’s Attorney General Mick Mukasey “The question with him (Khalid Sheikh Muhammad) was not about getting a confession, it was about getting intelligence.” They already had a confession! There is ample amount of proof that these terrorist murdered 3000 people. The chances of these guys not kissing the noose or staying in jail is as much as Adolf Hitler’s if he were alive to face the tribunals.

Are they afraid of a media circus? You know what, I want the world to see that America is back! That we can hang this piece of crap. If Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and others want to spew their bull-crap, we can get throw them out of their courts. The Conservatives fear that these people would be able to change their defense and that would increase the length of the trial. My question to them back is : How many murderers do we send to prison even though they have the very same rights? It does not make sense.

There are also many Conservatives who fear that this would mean that the President Bush’s policies would be put on trial. I am a person that clearly thinks that Enhanced Interrogation Techniques are an excuse for torture. However, the legal system would not be so stupid to confuse torture with this. The case is about the evidence, not some external issue.

They know these facts! They are just acting so scared. They are just being crazy and paranoid. There is absolutely nothing to be worried about! Nothing! I think that they know it and they are doing this just to gain attention. Just like how the liberals do to get our troops out of Afghanistan.

Lets be the bloodhounds that smell blood. Lets be equally interested in justice. Lets make sure that more than 3000 people not die in vain. Lets hang those basta**s.

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He may not know how to run a state, but boy, isn’t Governor Jesse Ventura right on the issues. Though it is a couple of days old from Larry king Live, I think what Governor Ventura said was tremendously important. He also exposes American politics at its core.

Larry king asked Governor Jesse Ventura : “ Whats your read on tonight? Is this a national implication from result here” in Virginia? Governor Ventura fired back : “I just think it is the pendulum swinging, around between the Democrats and the Republicans. The thing I find most interesting is the lemming mentality of America and how they can be sold the ‘fact’ that the economy is bad and it is President Obama’s fault. Excuse me, it is George Bush’s fault.”

Had the Democrats campaigned anywhere as close to the manner that an Independent can in this clip, they would have won handily! The economy was always the number one issue in all the races. ALL! If they could have pinned the blame on the Republicans, they would have won.

He added : “The other interesting thing for is what David Gergen talked about how this could cost Democrats to back off from health care and all this because of (the) fear of losing. What you notice is that Democrats and Republicans; its not about standing for what they believe in, its about what I have to do to win or lose!.. And these guys hold their finger up to the proverbial wind to see which way it is blowing so then they can decide where they are going to sit politically.”

So damn true! I also would add that to the Republicans and the Democrats, it is also about their ideology. This is particularly so for the Republicans. They do not care about American values as much as they care about their Conservative or Liberal values. It is a fact!

Later, he completely ignored Larry King’s question and attacked the point that James Carville made, regarding Democrats being uncomfortable about health care after the election results. Governor Ventura fired, “Larry, why is that the election results has such have such a bearing on how other Democrats would vote on health care? Why they don’t stand up for what they believe in, instead of holding their finger up to the proverbial winds? That the whole problem. Democrats are spineless. They do not know what they believe in!” Wham-bham thank you ma’am!

Again how right is Governor Ventura! Democrats are really a spineless bunch. They have no idea what to go for and what to go against. They control the House of Representatives and have 60 votes in the Senate. Yet, they still kow-tow to Republican demands. That is why they suck and would not win elections.

The best part of the interview was when Governor Ventura suggested that politicians come in NASCAR like uniforms so that we know who their sponsors are. I think that it is funny, but at the same time I think it is so true! Voters have a right to know who is paying the person that they are voting for!Else we have buy-outs like we have right now.

Next, he went after odd yearn elections. Now this is true. I would rather have all elections in even years. To make it simple, all local and state elections (gubernatorial, mayoral etc.) happen on a year would be followed by Federal elections two years later ( Senate, Congress, Presidential). Isn’t this much cheaper and easier for the voters to follow?

Though he ended up about withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, something I do not agree with, I sill stay that Jesse Ventura is the man. He should be a Senator some day. He is really that good.

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