TH3

Wouldn't a real party like the GOP have a viable alternate plan developed, put in the spotlight of the public to generate support, put it on the floor for debate, vote on it and send it to the Whitehouse? Why doesn't he call? The GOP has NO designs to do anything about immigration - in fact the GOP has no designs to do anything that involves collaboration with BO - after all he is "not their President"....remember? Still waiting for Congress to act on POTUS request for approval and financing to fight ISIS...it is a threat to the Republic and world stability....!

The problem with this email is that it is completely representative of the TP/Con/RWGOP. It is full of idealistic talk, based on fear and mostly not true. 1. I don't think you know what liberal means. The US is the most liberal country in the world. We have the most liberal policies on guns, religious association, press, free speech...as a previous poster said - get it right - you mean leftist. 2. Illegal immigrants do not get social services SS, welfare, food stamps - per welfare reform in the 1990's you have to have proof of citizenship to get those - but hey your email says its true. But when they work and live they pay ALL ranges of taxes - so show us where you get they are a net negative. 3. Who - in this country- en mass - is pointing to the economic policies of other countries? I DO point to the health care systems...we get our ARSE kicked in health care - we pay twice as much and we burden our employers with provision. By having our employer provide health care we increase the cost of all exports and provide imports with a huge price advantage since they do not have HC built into their costs. 4. What is with the gun community? I get part of gun ownership is being against the government - but gun ownership rights have hardly been threatened - but apparently its more fun to think they are. 5, Your email rails on elected officials - but now they are for the most part GOP - so again - your email is wrong. 6. What leftists (you are now getting something right) are saying the poor are getting poorer? This is called hearsay and you know where that goes in court... So your email has pretty much be dismantled - full of fear and divisiveness - you asked to have the email critiqued. I am sure you will think I am some leftist mouth breathing liberal....I am not - I am for the truth....

I will give it a shot: 1. The US has some of the most LIBERAL gun ownership laws in the world. I see you are enjoying this aspect of our liberal country. 2. What is your definition of subsidized? I would say that 100 percent of the US enjoys some level of subsidy. Much of the 47 percent is SS which people have paid into - as well as Medicare and Medicaid. As well much of the 47 is EITC which is a conservative favorite. 3. Where are all the people saying they are victims? Pointing to other countries? It appears to me that the most vociferous complainers are actually tea party/conservatives - you guys howl all the time - in fact this list is one long complaint. 4. Pretty sure the poor are not getting poorer - in fact they aren't. 5. We could learn some things from other countries - we hardly lead the league in every category - in fact we lead in very few - except incarceration... 6. I think the gun owners/Islam aspect is actually pretty good. We all seem frustrated by the lack of backlash by the Muslim community to the atrocities of a few - I think many non gun owners look the same way at the NRA...when the horrible gun incidents happen - the NRA seems to offer no relevant help to stopping them in the future (that makes any sort of sense that is). 7. Illegal immigrants do not get benefits (SS, Food Stamps, Welfare) - children do though. They do pay all levels of taxes though. AFA cutting benefits to Vets...your GOP congress blocks most pushes for increased benefits to our Vets. 8. The congress is GOP, most governors offices and state houses are GOP - so not sure what elected officials you speak of. Seems like you didn't get much.... 2008 called and wants its viral email back!

Maybe our difference is this: why bother looking for BO to lead. He has not yet. I look for the GOP for vision and they have come up small for years now. Immigration - no plan. Tax reform - nothing. Foreign policy - too scared. The GOP has congress in control and what have they done other than vote to overturn the ACA, and complain about BO. Talk about leading....the big problem I see is this lack of direction could very well mean 8 years of Hillary.

I still have no idea what "progressive" means. You seem obsessed with Obama - so much so you seem unable to unable to form your own proposal - pretty much like congress. POTUS is supposed to protect the US - our homeland has not been attacked or threatened in his presidency. No one is for the murders of anyone - people are murdered all day every day - the question is - where do you draw the line? So 20-50-100 people have been horrifically murdered - These murders are not a threat to the US - so do we put in harms way tens of thousands of our young men, hundreds of billions of dollars and the aftereffects of debt and the burden these soldiers come home with - as well as the casualties that we will incur that probably outnumber these murders? BTW - Didn't vote for BO, don't think he is a very good president, he ran on platform on getting out of the ME, got elected, and pulled out - which is what the clear majority of the US wanted. I just wonder where the GOP is on any of this....They are hiding under a rock because there is no good answer. All the GOP candidates refuse to address this subject. I can predict that the GOP will not even bring to the floor the ISIS authorization bill.

You are mighty quick to label me - what have I said that identifies me as a "progressive" - I don't know what that even means. You "conservatives" on this board seem mighty quick to liberally use our military and mold the rest the world into our vision of conduct - but on the other hand you seethe when this happens in our own borders....so which is it? Has anyone on this board served in the military over there? I would consider actions in the ME if I saw them as having a chance to succeed. I don't. I have been to the ME a handful of times on business and the hatred these people have for each other is palpable - bear in mind that is a purely anecdotal observation. Parts of various religious sects and countries literally want to just kill each other. It appears that the only way to run a country like Iran is the manner in SH did - with an iron fist. We speak of the thousands that died under his rule - but what has happened in his void. The only way to avoid the horror of what is happening there is a generational military presence - the countries and people there are not motivated to work together to stop ISIS. This military presence would cost trillions - who is going to have the temerity to propose such and action AND ask the taxpayers to pay for it. Again - this would be a go alone event - the world has not shown motivation to assemble such an effort let alone the countries in the ME. Someone asked me: - The US is energy positive at $100 per barrel - US corporate values and assets are now more than our entire economy - that has never happened - ISIS massing at our border? Pretty sure they are not. Are they planning something like 9-11 - probably - them and Al Qaida too - I am also quite positive that the DHS. CIA, FBI, and our military have mobilized to monitor, seek, look for, investigate etc. planning for such and destroy these efforts in an ongoing manner - that is the threat ISIS poses - and from what I see - we have been successful at defending ourselves. You guys seem disappointed by the current state of affairs. BO has sent congress an authorization bill for further military action in the ME and as it pertains to ISIS. Has congress done anything with it? Have the compassionate conservatives reviewed this and either added to it or clarified what they would do, write a bill, and pass it? Nope - because they are all paper tigers - full of blow - but simply to small to actually do something.

What dark journey would that be? Is ISIS massing at our borders? Are we not energy independent? Are our industries and corporations as rich and healthy as ever? What threat do you see? It is ugly to watch...but not a threat to our borders....

Maybe you should talk to my buddy who has lived in NoCal for 25 years...golf courses/farms/nursery's etc are giving up....

You guys kill me - you are sooooo easy to get riled up - Include a link? ....a simple google would reveal several "sources" referencing this story - take your pick - why not include one? Because your "MO" is to simply say the source referenced is not believable, has an agenda, is political....so why bother? Ever see that that "MO" pervades your entire strategy on PPP? Come out with a "take" and then dispute/deride differing opinions by disputing the source of information. My two faves are Cliven Bundy and GW. People here stuck with that arsehat Bundy long after he was shown to be a total fraud on every level - but he was against Obama - yeah! GW - yup - its an amazing hoax perpetrated AG the left, greedy scientists, to get what? You realize that the US and probably Russia are the only countries on the 3 percent side - nice company. In Russia - Putin controls the media - here - there is enough well funded media to attract the lemmings... Have to go blow my nose Oh - and if that doesn't work - just break out the name calling.

As Elaine Benes would say "Fake, Fake, Fake, Fake, Fake...." Don't be embarrassed - many other like minded citizens got taken along for the ride too....

Yes - because everything on the internet is true...just like story the blogger made up. Making the story up just makes the blogger a bigger idiot....

Story has been verified as fake.

I get that you guys are more interested in critiquing than proposing....but I just like pointing it out. I think roughly 10-15 percent of electricity goes to lighting - AC and appliances chew up a bigger percentage. How to power a source at night - really? Energy storage - which I pointed out is the primary hurdle to electric dominance. If electric production via solar gets cheaper than FF then you have to be able to store it to make it simply take over - the market will take care of that - given time to overcome the inertia of FF. I actually think that solar panels on homes does not make sense - we don't have our own generators - the same principle in action - no scale and homes are rarely positioned to be optimally efficient. I think the future is solar farms and localized (in your basement) energy storage. That would be cool - you could buy and store energy on futures or when the price falls - I work in the building industry - all buildings - residential and commercial are undergoing HUGE reductions in energy consumption. Houses built today are 30 percent more efficient than ones built 10 years ago. This of course though is offset by energy needed for internet and cell devices and infrastructure. SO get off the internet and save a polar bear. Then you would be #3 - AGW is not happening.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-30/seven-reasons-cheap-oil-can-t-stop-renewables-now http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-11/what-apple-just-did-in-solar-is-a-really-big-deal A couple of pages back I asked where people were: 1. AGW is real and should be attended to. 2. AGW is real but oil/coal supports the 7 billion people on this earth and we don't want to go back to the 1800's. 3. AGW is a hoax 4. GW is simply not happening. Of course no one really chimed in. I would say its all moot and it shouldn't matter what box you check. As one can read the smartest guys in the room are investing heavily in solar and as the costs come on par/below FF - all the arguments go away. No matter where you stand - if renewable clean energy can be had that makes our - and every - country self sufficient - and costs less - isn't that a proposition that you can't argue with? That is unless you have something to lose by that situation. I think the only real last hurdle to solar's inevitable predominance is the next leap of energy storage.

Bravo!

So what is it? AGW is a hoax perpetrated by AG and birddog? AGW is happening but we shouldn't do anything about it? GW is happening but it is not caused by man?

You would never accept an opposing view from yours from a source with such credentials....so......

What separates me from you guys is I don't look for Obama to have the answers - I look for the GOP to have the answers - as that is the party I most align myself with. Is it not more substantive to come up with your own - realistic - executable - solutions rather than complain about what others are doing? The GOP led congress has not - and will not - give further authorization ($) for boots on the ground and scaled up military action in the Middle East. This position is mostly political (POTUS must fail) - but it is also because the GOP simply does not want to stick their fingers into this mess. The effect of this is that BO - no matter what he wants to do - has been limited by congress in his actions - and as such - has pushed the envelope as to what the US is doing now. John Boehner just indicated that further authorizations for expanded $ for military action in the ME was not going to happen. But of course you guys knew that.....

You seem clueless as to how to read - not my proposals... 1. Our borders are not secure to ISIS? 2. What potential ISIS attacks? Have they attacked? Do they show an ability to attack? Do you not think we have every intelligence operation tracking ISIS? Do you think if we identified an imminent attack we wouldn't use all our power to stop it? Pressers - who gives a crap...all the ideas? You guys are the ones who lay constant critique of the current administration (who I did not vote for nor support) but you offer no viable or REALISTIC alternatives

Here are some proposals to ponder: 1. Identify the enemy correctly, in this case Islamic terrorists. Are you saying this hasn't been done? Our national defenses don't know who these guys are - where they have come from - they are sitting on their hands waiting for POTUS to direct them to do so? 2. Identify allies with goals that are similar to ours, e.g., human rights, protection from homeland terror attacks. This hasn't been done? We aren't in an all out campaign to protect our homeland from ISIS? 3. Identify resources to address the problem, e.g., arming counter-terrorist forces in the theater of operations. Don't we have this - aircraft sorties from allies and airbases in and around Iraq? Deployment of intelligence and advisors? 4. Develop plans of action, rules of engagement, and progress assessments. Don't we have this for the last 6-9 months - haven't we been supporting efforts to contain and wipeout ISIS? 5. Inform the public of all of the above with the exception of those components that require secret planning and implementation to succeed. Have there not been press conferences? This is a fringe group in a far away land that poses no threat to invading and controlling our homeland. Yes - they are capable of terror attacks but I would have to think that our military industrial complex is actively tracking all threats - not just from these guys - but from everyone. The American people voted and voted to getting the hell out of there - which POTUS has acted on. Do you think further action and presence in the ME - in light of the fact that military presence and political actions have really produced no positive results for the last 100 years - is a good idea. These people wake up in the morning hating each other and there is no amount of interference that we can provide that is going to change that. It is horrible to watch -and US lives have been lost - but those lives went over there on their own risk knowing they could end up dead. But why exactly is this OUR problem? We strived to get energy independent - we are - lets enjoy the benefits. Or do you want a more liberal position that we should get involved? Things over there will never change unless the people who live there demand it and act on it. If the countries in the ME are going to let a group of 5000-10,000 extremists control things - WHY - WHY is it our burden to continue to be involved. I do not believe there exists a viable plan that involves the US that will result in long term stability in the ME. What in the past would lead you to believe that it would work now?

So you saying a candidate could run on this proposal in 2016 and the American people would elect this person....this policy would produce long term positive results for USA....

Ahhh yes...as I thought....no actual proposals to be found here....just criticizing the ones who actually have to do something...but have fun with the material

Ok- Now that the predictable witty comments about the current administration are somewhat complete....what do you guys suggest the US of A does in response to a fringe group in the Middle East killing someone from another country in the Middle East? While gruesome this happens every day there and the countries in the Middle East don't seem to care enough themselves to mount an effort to combat them - why should we? Bear in mind that the current POTUS said he was getting our troops out of there and was elected. Bear in mind that this hideous activity has gone on in this region for millennia and will likely continue.... I beg a candidate for 2016 run on a continued expensive military presence in the Middle East and see if that gets them elected....

Bonas not very well represented on this board

Ok - Where is the Tea Party platform or wonking work that show how they would reform the budget, the government etc....? The TP is quite confident we have all the money we need - maybe we do - where are their policy and budget stances and proposals? Where is their sponsored legislation in the house and senate? Where are the actual reform proposals - much harder actually doing something than sniping from the balcony....