tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post906124182557105850..comments2024-01-03T05:18:54.650-05:00Comments on CDR Salamander: Kill millions and ... we'll ... call a meeting at the UN?CDR Salamanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05981221786954902349noreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-79110879862809486882010-04-08T21:08:00.000-04:002010-04-08T21:08:00.000-04:00Ewok,
<span>"And I would feel more se...Ewok,<br /><br /><span>"And I would feel more secure without Russian nukes around, even if that would mean no US nukes around."</span><br /><br />Were it our Chief Executive's Constitutional responsibility to provide for the common defense of Poland, you might have a point. Exceot that I don't care how safe or unsafe you feel with Russian nukes. We are safer with ours, have been for six decades. We are foolish to give them up for any reason other than a more effective deterrent, which currently does not exist.UltimaRatioRegisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-8359830346309531182010-04-08T20:35:25.000-04:002010-04-08T20:35:25.000-04:00I believe that Barney Frank is quite complicit in ...I believe that Barney Frank is quite complicit in the affair. Is he solely responsible? Of course not. He drew attention to himself, however, like the Police Captain in <i>Casablanca</i>, by being among the loudest in trying to place blame. Frank is a socialist whose desire for government meddling knows no bounds. Has been his entire career in politics. And he isn't alone.<br /><br />There are a great number of very educated people who believe that the mortgage mess happened not because of lack of regulation, but because of too much regulation of the wrong kind. The post-Enron mania for "doing something" produced an entirely inappropriate set of regulatory requirements that made many of the problems worse, and still are. <br /><br />While there is too much for a comment block, the short version is that much of the "subprime" lending practices were not permitted until the Federal Government bullied lenders into a great many mortgages of questionable value because of threats by the CBC to haul them in front of Congress to explain their "racist" lending policies. In order to begin to get anywhere NEAR what was being demaned of them under the Fair Housing Act, subprime mortgages became the norm. <br /><br />Below is from the <a href="http://portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/topics/fair_lending" rel="nofollow">HUD website</a>: (Why isn't there a HSUD?)<br /><br /><span><b>"Subprime Lending</b> </span><br /><span>Subprime loans play a significant role in today's mortgage lending market, making homeownership possible for many families who have blemished credit histories or who otherwise fail to qualify for prime, conventional loans. A recent HUD analysis, based on HMDA and related data, shows that the number of home purchase subprime applications increased from 327,644 in 1997 to 783,921 in 2000. <br /><br />While the subprime mortgage market serves a legitimate role, these loans tend to cost more and sometimes have less advantageous terms than prime market loans. Additionally, subprime lenders are largely unregulated by the federal government. Data shows blacks are much more likely than whites to get a subprime loan"</span><br /><br />Don't believe it? HUD goes on to say:<br /><br /><span>"HUD is committed to increasing homeownership opportunities for all Americans. HUD is engaged in a special effort to boost the minority homeownership rate since the rate for black and Hispanic Americans lags behind that of others" </span>UltimaRatioRegisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-34256803389867324252010-04-08T18:05:51.000-04:002010-04-08T18:05:51.000-04:00you must be an educated person to serve in the mil...you must be an educated person to serve in the military, and read this blog, and post on it.........do you really believe that barney frank, for all his faults (which are many) is completely responsible for the economic meltdown as hannity and rush claim? i know those are the talking points....but do you really believe that? i do nothonunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-37655586751837570722010-04-08T17:49:00.000-04:002010-04-08T17:49:00.000-04:00My kind?- I was there in the middle of it not rela...My kind?- I was there in the middle of it not relaxing in kuwait or qatar or whereever.<br /><br />Ok then what was the reason? I sat in the BUA every morning and up to the 4 star level none if us knew. We did acknowledge that the civilian authorities sent us there and we had a mission to accomplish, but beyond that the reason for being there? all the way up to the top no one knew. was it saddam is a grave danger, was it saddam has WMD, was it we're here to lure all al-qaeda to Iraq so we can kill them, was it we're here to create a democracy in the middle east as an example to the neighbors, was it we need to fight them there so we dont have to fight them at home, was it etc etc etc.<br />the administration kept throwing one piece of b.s. after another against the wall to see what would stick. it would stick for a while, then fall, then they would throw another piece of b.s. face it, we (the military) got played, and the country is much worse off because of it.honunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-26557725700495268762010-04-08T16:21:18.000-04:002010-04-08T16:21:18.000-04:00honu,
I grew up in MA, and saw Barney Frank for w...honu,<br /><br />I grew up in MA, and saw Barney Frank for what he was long before there was a Fox News. So save the intellectual superiority stuff. If you understand the subprime mortgage issues like you understand Iraq, you have quite a bit of learning to do.UltimaRatioRegisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-79870570202567741292010-04-08T15:27:56.000-04:002010-04-08T15:27:56.000-04:00honu, so much ignorance so little time...
Not man...honu, so much ignorance so little time...<br /><br />Not many of us can say as a president "he tried to kill my dad" and be referring to the leader of one country actively planning and trying to execute and assassination attempt on the ex-president of another country.<br /><br />So that being said, it was more than a personal vendetta. And while you're playing loosey goosey with the facts, we were still at war with Iraq. They were firing on our pilots in the no-fly zone. They were paying people $25k to blow themselves up in Israeli pizza parlors. <br /><br />Oh... why bother... your kind doesn't care about what really was going on...DeltaBravonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-62849838681933334312010-04-08T12:28:32.000-04:002010-04-08T12:28:32.000-04:00Not shanghaied, but also didn't think I would ...Not shanghaied, but also didn't think I would go to war for someone's personal vendetta- (when asked why he was so obsessed with Saddam, GWB said- "he tried to kill my dad"). We would be done with Afghanistan now if we hadnt wasted our time Iraq. <br /><br />Have no problem with the free market, I would not have bailed out wall street as GWB did.<br /><br />Good to see you are keeping up with the fox/rush Barney Frank talking points. honunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-57807181944173876652010-04-08T11:05:58.000-04:002010-04-08T11:05:58.000-04:00You poor thing, Honu. I bet you were even shangha...You poor thing, Honu. I bet you were even shanghaied into joining the military. If you are so concerned with budget deficits, you don't seem too concerned that they have tripled in the last 14 months. <br /><br />Yes, government oversight. Like "mark to market" and Barney Frank's fine work with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae as Chair of Financial Services. Don't let market forces work. That would be capitalism, something you seem quite opposed to.UltimaRatioRegisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-81477672254126993922010-04-08T10:35:26.000-04:002010-04-08T10:35:26.000-04:00ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES,
Indeed, thats why we...ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES,<br /><br />Indeed, thats why we went from a budget surplus to massive deficits; and I got my ass shot at in Iraq for a year (why were we there again?); and we are still in Afghanistan because we took our focus off it (was it because Saddam tried to kill Bush's daddy?); and we abandonded Americans in need because it was only a bunch of black people in New Orleans; and the economy went to hell because the leader did not believe in any oversight of wall street; Yes, elections have consequences.honunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-30939791623411119992010-04-08T03:38:32.000-04:002010-04-08T03:38:32.000-04:00Cancel Poland for most of the time we were the TAR...Cancel Poland for most of the time we were the TARGET... simply because we went to the Stalins spoils of war stash in 1945. I grew up aware at least 1 Minuteman is targeted to my city - a cluster of bridges, railroad nexus, major shipyard, full mechanized division and engineers brigade were enough targets to make it really nuke magnet. And there was nothing we wanted more than getting Russians out for all the time.<br />I think Obama is really pushing for the nuclear-weapon-free world now. And I would feel more secure without Russian nukes around, even if that would mean no US nukes around.<br />In fact US conventional might is such that N.Korea or Iran could be destroyed without using nukes, their regimes joining Saddam in the gallery of hanging dictators. All it would take would be serious resolve on the side of US public opinion and serious mobilization WW2 style.<br />Out of other nuclear states, French and UK would be happy to get one more costly position from the budget out. Chinese actually would be happy to see their conventional strength free of nuclear deterrence. India and Pakistan can be trickier but still possible to influence into giving up nukes, especially if China lets go of theirs. There is one state that can be very difficult to make into giving up nukes: Israel, and it has every reason to keep them - horribly outnumbered, encircled strategically and object of intense hatred. I would go as far as to keeping them as a special case outside of any global nuke-free pact.ewok40knoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-84710635574135787312010-04-07T18:47:11.000-04:002010-04-07T18:47:11.000-04:00>The "ambiguity" that the NYT speaks ...>The "ambiguity" that the NYT speaks of is not ambiguous at all behind closed doors. <br />I would so love to have been a fly on the wall during that phone call between Richard Armitage and Perez Musharaf on the night of 9/11.Andrewdbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-26527601296164561232010-04-07T16:37:52.000-04:002010-04-07T16:37:52.000-04:00The same as their reaction when the 9-11 jets cras...The same as their reaction when the 9-11 jets crashed into the Pentagon. The same as when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.<br /><br />Complete outrage.DeltaBravonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-40329017331811960672010-04-07T16:20:02.000-04:002010-04-07T16:20:02.000-04:00You answer your own question, Ewok. And take this...You answer your own question, Ewok. And take this from the point of view of someone who finds nuclear war horrific and who is aghast at the legacy that could come from nuclear fallout in a city or region. (See my other posts.)<br /><br />Having said that, if a country's leader is sane or not, for 65 years the spectre of a nuclear counterattack has served as a deterrent to those who would wipe (fill in the blank) Israel, Pakistan, India, South Korea, USA, Poland... off the map. Those who might consider such a strike if they knew it would go unpunished have held off because of what might happen to them within 5 minutes of a first strike.<br /><br />Remove that possibility from the table. Then you could have the Ahmadinejads, who are busy weaponizing uranium as we speak, launch a warhead. Or send it through their proxies. A nuke or a biochemical one... either could devastate cities and turn them into perpetual dead zones like Chernobyl. Would you tell them or their proxies outright that the counterattack won't be so horrible they would regret it? <br /><br />Not every leader is reigned in by the laws of decency. And even a madman is surrounded, supposedly, by sane thinkers who might be able to intervene for their own protection if they think their leader has gone berserk. If they knew his actions would bring ruin on themselves and their families and their country, THEY might be able to stop even the most insane ruler by whatever means necessary. THAT is what deterrence is about.DeltaBravonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-64058556433407963872010-04-07T15:57:43.000-04:002010-04-07T15:57:43.000-04:00Even if someone holds America as an enemy, there i...Even if someone holds America as an enemy, there is enough US military targets across the globe to not attack US cities. I wonder what would be the world reaction if 9/11 jets have crashed into US aircraft carriers instad of twin towers?ewok40knoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-54581389707520519762010-04-07T15:51:46.000-04:002010-04-07T15:51:46.000-04:00What repulses me is the very idea of mass murder, ...What repulses me is the very idea of mass murder, conventional or nuclear, done in name of revenge... can you say exterminating whole population of N.Korea - assuming this is source of said bombs as deducted by NEST in the aftermath of attack - will make US look stronger or make it world pariah? Would a penetrator bomb down "Beloved leaders" bunker be better? In WW2 at least German and (to lesser extent) Japanese societies have willingly elected the regimes who led them to aggression and horrible crimes. Yet even then indiscriminate bombing of cities was at best questionable morally. North Koreans, a truly pitiable nation, have to endure famine, terror of secret police and have absollutely no control of their lives. Taking a nation hostage to influence a tyrant is certainly not a good way. Were supposed to be the good guys. And while we dont get inspiration from Tom Clancy, what is the guarantee AQ will not? After all 9/11 style airplane kamikaze attack was prophesized in the "Debt of honor"...<br />Plus I doubt any aspiring nuclear dictator wuld be swayed to join NPT, anyway so your options will be open still. Why you ask? Because nukes are their ultimate deterrent.And lesson number one from both Iraq wars is that: dont mess with US without having nukes.<br />Lesson from N.Korea antics is you can get away with anything short of open war without a single shot in your direction, as long you have nukes.<br />As to Brits pre-1939, Bomber Command was superior to Fighter Command in spending, just they were yet using more obsolete Hampdens and Wellingtons, and even Battles. The belief was indeed that bombers will always go thru, so Hitler would have to be crazy to start war resulting in certain doom for his cities. What they didnt foresee was that Hitler was really crazy...ewok40knoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-11679929389330364482010-04-07T14:23:42.000-04:002010-04-07T14:23:42.000-04:00Bit of a cognitive dissonance there, ewok. You say...Bit of a cognitive dissonance there, ewok. You say you're concerned about the "nuclear madman," but then go on to describe a carefully orchestrated (albeit implausible), complex operation which could only be designed & implemented by a sane, rational player. Your entire scenario is literally a fantasy in that you posit one fictional (i.e. not based on fact) assumption, build on that with another fictional assumption, end up with a tenuous construction which mentions no specific group or country, then draw conclusions from said fantasy.<br /><br />Domestic terrorism is a possibility, but can you name a specific group which has the money and connections to mount even a bio-attack? Most of those idiots are too chicken-**** to throw fake blood on Hell's Angels.<br /><br />As for the evidence-less attack, name me a group which wouldn't claim credit for a successful attack. And if it's a nuke, there are methods to determine the origin of the warhead. Yes, we can tell if it's a Nork nuke. (sorry. couldn't resist) By the way, I'm personal friends with the President for Life of Windia, and he said revolution was illegal in his country. And the Tchinians still think the AK-47 is "awesome cool" hi-tech. See, I can posit all sorts of results based on fictional countries, too. And mine are funnier. :) <br /><br />...And I have no idea where you got the silly idea that the Brits thought they could deter Hitler with a large bomber force, since it didn't bloody exist before the war. For one thing, Bomber Command didn't even have any four-engine bombers until after the war started. For another, the strategic concept wasn't derived from deterrence, but from the conviction that "the bomber will always get through," giving said aircraft an aura of inevitability similar to today's nuclear missiles. Maybe you were thinking of the V-series as a nuclear strategic deterrent after the war? Because, <i>yeah</i>, that didn't work. Whoops, silly me! There hasn't been a nuclear attack on Great Britain since then, so maybe it worked after all.<br /><br />Ewok, many of us have pondered. Quite deeply. Myself, I can ponder fifty feet down without breaking a sweat. But we don't get our strategic concepts from <i>The Sum of All Fears</i>. Heh.Casey Tompkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-20658420776438499822010-04-07T13:46:56.000-04:002010-04-07T13:46:56.000-04:00Um, cites, please?
I like to beat up on President...Um, cites, please?<br /><br />I like to beat up on President Barry as much as anyone else, but I prefer to remain in the real world while doing so. :)Casey Tompkinsnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-81947041188033989142010-04-07T11:25:42.000-04:002010-04-07T11:25:42.000-04:00Exactly, which is why the Japanese should have imm...Exactly, which is why the Japanese should have immediately attacked Japan in retaliation for the Aum Shinrikyo sarin attacks, since after all those dastardly Japanese must have known that they were hosting a group that would attack Japan.milprofnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-29442455233865264652010-04-07T07:53:42.000-04:002010-04-07T07:53:42.000-04:00Reid, Pelosi, et al. = Unindicted co-conspirators....Reid, Pelosi, et al. = Unindicted co-conspirators.UltimaRatioRegisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-40054235770487413742010-04-07T07:40:33.000-04:002010-04-07T07:40:33.000-04:00Congress should do some... oh er right... never mi...Congress should do some... oh er right... never mind...MR T's Haircutnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-77167729692537716802010-04-07T06:34:32.000-04:002010-04-07T06:34:32.000-04:00That's not true. Just as it is true that you ...That's not true. Just as it is true that you can do everything right and still not win.<br /><br />We will be attacked and blamed for the worlds problems just as a scapegoat for internal problems across the World. <br /><br />War's are not usually an outcome of black-white. I do this because you did that, affairs. 9/11 was not because of some blowback from American foreign policy. It was an ideological attack against one idea of how to live one's life.YNSNnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-15875535962924278982010-04-07T06:31:16.000-04:002010-04-07T06:31:16.000-04:00Only if you sign the NPT in the next 20 months!Only if you sign the NPT in the next 20 months!YNSNnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-7989014189757725252010-04-06T16:52:06.000-04:002010-04-06T16:52:06.000-04:00You want me to describe realpolitik to you in a co...You want me to describe <i>realpolitik</i> to you in a comment box? Plenty of other sources. But be thoughtful enough to share them with the Keystone Kops running the Executive and State Department.<br /><br />By the way, the Chief Executive's skills, motivation, political philosophy, character, and effectiveness are still fair game for criticism. So are his appointees. At least for now, until this or that "fairness doctrine" further impinges our Constitutional rights under the First Amendment. UltimaRatioRegisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-89688710928332545902010-04-06T16:47:19.000-04:002010-04-06T16:47:19.000-04:00Can I get a Fabulous Ginsu with that for no extra ...Can I get a Fabulous Ginsu with that for no extra charge?UltimaRatioRegisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7704146.post-29070684457634031802010-04-06T16:00:19.000-04:002010-04-06T16:00:19.000-04:00I typed my comment this morning. When I thought of...I typed my comment this morning. When I thought of it again this afternoon, the thought occurred to me that some posters here might think I was referring to something, well, unconstitutional.<br /><br />As a christian (though not the Bible-thumping variety), I want to make it clear - hand on my heart - that I MOST DEFINITELY did not have 'taking him out' on my mind. Like what happened to JFK if I'm not plain enough. I want to make this very clear, and it is the absolute truth.<br /><br />But Americans saddled themselves with this abomination in a democratic way (I have my doubts about his eligibility, but the electoral process and ensuing results were fair imho)... and they will have to get rid of him in the same manner.<br /><br />A good start would be reconquering at least the House in November.Outlaw Mikenoreply@blogger.com