What a debate! It is because of things like this that we do politics, events that make us do this work despite the little money we earn. For the first time, I was made to watch the debate with the rest of the ST team, and the 7 hours was worth it.

For the first time, the debate was very clean, civil. There were no unnecessary distractions. Characters shone through and others faltered. If ever people want an introduction to what the parties are about, tell them to watch the clips of this mammoth health-care session.

The only disappointment that initially pist me off was with Senate leaders, Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell. They had terrible body language and were behaving like 10 year old girls not talking to each other. Leader McConnell was sitting with his arms folded and Leader Reid had the stench of arrogance.

Because of them, I thought it was going to be ugly. How wrong I was! This session had the notion of a sporting event. The first half was exclusively Republican. All the Democrats did was to say, “We agree on this and that.” They were spineless and pathetic.

A character who really stole the “first half” was Senator Tom Coburn. I have been told by some member of the team that he was a wing-nut from the right, but that was not how he came off at all. This guy oozed sincerity, something nobody else in the room had. He was passionate and very real. He reminds me of people like Representatives Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, whose politics we do not agree with but we respect their sincerity in service to our country.

Senator John McCain deserves very special mention for his substantial input. He pointed out the flaw that there were many “special deals” in the Senate bill which had little or nothing to do with healthcare. The Democrats were caught with their pants down here.

I saw Representative Eric Cantor perform today, and he was outstanding. He was cool calm and even though we heard all the points being recycled, one could still be impressed with the way that Representative Cantor made his case. Mark my words, this guy is headed for bigger things. Senator McCain made a huge mistake not giving him the VP nomination.

The star of the Democrats was the President. He was the only one that actually put up a fight against the Republican arguments. I liked some of his logic. For example he rebutted the Republican talking point of regulation driving the cost of things up by saying that we could make food significantly cheaper, if we get rid of the meat inspectors. But would you want that? That was well done.

In the first half, the Republicans were very strong in their arguments, but they just could not kill the argument. The reason was that they kept hovering back to talking points which were obviously planned and lacked substance. They kept on harping about the mandate without going for the jugular early. They spoiled their arguments by keep on mentioning things like ,” The American people do not want this bill” and kept complaining about the bill being over 2000 pages long.

President Obama was enough to hold the Republicans off. The only one that he could not beat was the amazing Senator Coburn, so he absorbed some of Senator Coburn’s ideas. The attacks from the Republicans were relentless and they came thick and fast. The first half for the Democrats was so bad that VP Biden intervened in frustration, stating that the ideas weren’t that different, but the approach was.

So what would happen in the Second half? It was something that we would have to watch to believe. All this was thanks to a blunder from a very senior Republican, which game the Democrats with the ammo to attack….

For more, read the 2nd half!

The compromise has been made. The President is going to send 30 000 more troops to Afghanistan. The Generals have not voiced their dissent, but the right wing and the left wing nits have. To their credit though, they have not been as vocal as before.

This is more than the General Stanley McChrystal‘ initial minimum plan which required an additional 15 000 troops. This is also less than the safe plan that General McChrystal requested which was an additional 40 000 troops. The plan to add another 80 000 troops was not even discussed. It was flat out rejected.

Being in the Army before, I know that if Generals are not happy about it, they would voice things out. They have all the power to do so. The only other scenario is that there could be an order to maintain silence to the press but I think that this is highly unlikely.

I think the outburst by General McChrystal that happened before was something that was justified. I was also very against the idea of leaving the troop levels as it is when the Generals on the ground are asking for more troops.

I think 30 000 is a fair number for all parties. I think that Vice President Biden’s idea would also take into effect. While I do not think that cutting it down from 40 000 is necessary to save people’s lives, I also think there are financial implications if we increased it by 40 000 when we only required an additional 30 000.

As usual, there are wingnuts that see this differently. The far right claimed that the President’s unwillingness to increase the count to 40 000 is a signal that he is not willing to take on the base of his party and as a result, the troops pay with their lives. I think that this is absurd as he is taking on his base when he increase it by 30 000 and if the Generals are happy, so be it.

It is however, the far left that I am particularly pissed off with. They, as usual, are going all out with their no-war is good war stand. Have these people forgotten that it is not us that started the war, it was the terrorists when they attacked us on 9/11? Do these Liberals understand that if we do not get them today, they may kill us tomorrow? How many people should be dead before they understand that giving the other cheek is not the answer. We have got to smoke them out and finish the job.

However, I would be gracious enough, even to the wingnuts, to say that they have not made a big deal about this as they did before the decision was passed. It could be due to the Fort Hood tragedy or the health-care debate. They could be going for the issues that Americans are already aware of.

Either way, thank you guys. God bless America, God bless our troops!

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It was just earlier today when we mentioned that we have found a person that was as crazier Arianna Huffington, and Arianna then went on to prove her credentials. A few hours ago, she called for Vice President Joe Biden to resign in protest to President Obama “escalating” the Afghan war!

The reason that she is saying that the President is “escalating” the war, is because he approved an initial addition of 13000 troops to the front-line. For anyone who has visited this site, you would know that I am in favor of giving the generals whatever they need to finish and win the fight. I also do no mind President Obama thinking this over.

But this is not about that issue. You see, Arianna is so ideologue about her opposition to war, that she cannot even think straight. She has forgotten what the job of the Vice President is. The Vice President is not a person that dictates to the President what to do. That is not his job. He is supposed to take over the President should the President not be able to do his/her job or be the tie-breaking vote in the Senate which he presides.

Additionally, wasn’t it like yesterday when she was claiming that Vice President Dick Cheney has too much power? She used to be grumbling and ranting about it, calling it unconstitutional. But now, she is advocating that the President listen to the VP or have the VP quit?

Okay, I agree that this is nowhere as compared to the amount of power VP Cheney abused, but it is the right of the President to take the advice of his Generals over his Vice President. If VP Biden quits, it would make the President look like a clown and set the precedent for the future where there would be too much power in the hands of the VP.

With Democrats like Arianna Huffington, who needs Republicans to sink the Democrats? Doesn’t she get it that this is the best thing that could happen for the Republican party? Are all Democrats really that dumb? Maybe that is the reason why they lose elections all the time!

She also claimed that it has happened again and again in history where the subordinate would follow orders even though (s)he knew that the orders were wrong. This could be a result of my couple of years in the military, but I think that there is a reason for that. If the person below you does not do what they are told, how can a company or state function?

She mentioned her example of General Colin Powell involvement in the My Lai fiasco; but I would tell her that I would still do what I am told and I do not like the order , I would bring it up with higher command later. We should obey first, question later. Unlike Senators and Representatives who are not part of the executive branch of government, the Vice President reports directly to the President. He is the subordinate of the President.

Anybody who has no partisan support and has any brain in their skulls would know that Arainna is outright wrong! Furthermore, with her being the Rush Limbaugh of the blog world, she should know that her words could make people act crazy. She has the leverage to really spark this to life. I hope she does not do that… or in another sense I hope she does. I get to write more about her!

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After the open demands of General McChrystal was made before the whole world, and his apparent “talk” with President Obama later, there are rumors the US might actually take troops our of Afghanistan. There was also talk of a plan by Vice President Joe Biden, which involved more special operations and drones rather than soldiers.

I get the fact that the President is delaying this so as weigh the options. I do not think that it shows indecision, I think that it shows intelligence. If only we had this before we entered Iraq in 2003! So, I think that we should give him the time to think. I fully support him on that.

What I do not agree with is the weak-knee Liberals’ idea this is to cut and run from Afghanistan. I think that it would be the gravest error since Vietnam should we just leave Afghanistan. Granted, there are some conservatives that are also supporting this, but this is an issue that is very much discussed by the far left in America.

This is not Vietnam. Firstly, it is a legal war. We did not go out and attack them, Al Qaeda declared war on us! Vietnam was not the same. We have an obligation to finish the terrorists that are responsible for the death of thousands of our citizens’ lives. Vietnam had nothing like that. So please stop comparing this war with that of Vietnam!

Yes, the surge worked in Iraq. Would a surge in Afghanistan work like it did in Iraq? Is it the best method or the only method? I really do not know. I was not an Officer in the army. But my Army experience tell me that, the surge is a tactic that gives us a chance that a pull out would not.

What I know is that sending in drones and special operations alone just would not work. We still need the boots to hit the ground. Ask any soldier; and they would tell you that to get Al Qaeda, you still need the infantry (Army). You cannot just use the special forces. The Vice President’s plan is just not feasible.

So far, we have Press Secretary saying moments ago that the President would not leave Afghanistan. That is something that I liked. However, he was still brushing away comments relating to the troop surge and General McChrystal.

Come on America! Lets finish this job. We have been killing lots and lots of terrorists and lets finish Al Qaeda! There were Senators that said that there were only 100 Taliban leaders in Afghanistan. Can’t we deal with that? Can’t we finish off 100 people? Can’t we secure Afghanistan? Why is it that we can work out Iraq, but not Afghanistan?

Please President Obama, lets kill the terrorists and finish the job. It is only then that we should leave. We should be incorporating the “Yes We Can” spirit that got the President elected. This is also part of the job description of President Obama : to keep our country safe.

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President Obama is fighting fire that was caused by Vice President Joe Biden’s remarks yesterday. He has clarified the Vice President’s statements, saying that he does not agree that Israel should attack Iran, but US may not be able stop Israel from doing so.

This is a position of common sense. If the Israelis want to do it, who is there to stop them? That does not mean that America would agree with Israel’s actions. The clarity of this statement that came out of the Presidents mouth was great and nobody could argue with that.

There are also unconfirmed reports coming from blogs (not news agencies) that Israeli leaders would not seek American approval should they want to bomb Iran. The Israeli leaders are not confident that they would get the response they want from President Obama and his administration.

That may spell some trouble at home. We can guarantee that this would become an issue that the Republicans would take up with. They would claim that the President have pushed friends away to get his enemies closer to him. I think that Israel would not by any means want to be on the wrong side of Washington, especially since we give them a lot of aid every year.

President Obama also clearly stated that the policy with Iran is, and has always been during his administration, one of engagement. That should soothe some nerves in the Middle Eash where America may not be that loved, but President Obama is.

I do think that the President is opening himself up to some controversy here. There would definitely be some people that would entertain the thought of President Obama not letting Israel defend herself. This may not be true, but there sure would be some allegations of such from whack-jobs such as Representative Michelle Bachman of This is seriously why America needs more common sense and Vice President Biden must learn to control his mouth. As I said yesterday, VP Biden is right more often than he is wrong. But at times what he say can be taken wrongly and can cause a commotion.

Other non-important news relating to this is that Israel has released former Congresswoman and Independent Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney. Representative McKinney was on a ship that trespassed Israeli waters with aid to Gaza.

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