Troops overseas might not be paid is a LIE

[Mark75H]

I think you are right, many Americans today are like the French during WWII ... they would rather just roll over to the enemy than fight. Its a good thing that its not ALL or MOST.

On the other hand ... if some country wants to invade those liberal lilies in NYC or LA ... they can have them ... just don't try messin' with AZ, Idaho, Jersey or Vermont. Likely to get a butt kickin' there.

[aleconthelake]

Hey hey LOL easy on the NY! LOL nyc you are right about but there are an awful lot of us real people left up here in upstate NY LOL! Even lots of good ole boy redneck mountain folk way up state! LOL

[Mark75H]

That's why I called out the 2 cities and not their states

[aleconthelake]

yep! I see that now LOL Makes you wish we could rewind to the fifties and early 60's ! We were sure of who we are, Didnt put up with panty waist BS and had great cars and great race boat motors!

[aleconthelake]

and thunderboats sounded totally awesome!

[Original Looper 1]

Why are we in Iraq? If you recall, they sold it to us as protecting us all from Weapons of Mass Destruction. Not freeing the Iraqi people - at least not at the beginning of the sale of the war to uninformed Americans.

Remember the Bush admin selling of the WMDs to us: http://rense.com/general38/lying.htm

The road to the Iraq war was paved by the CIA and the Pentagon. If you read nothing else about what lead to the 2nd war in Iraq, read this story - The Man who Sold the War (John Rendon). Here’s a link to the story http://www.twf.org/News/Y2005/1120-Propaganda.html

The article includes the following 2 important paragraphs:

Although Rendon denies any direct involvement with al-Haideri, the defector was the latest salvo in a secret media war set in motion by Rendon. In an operation directed by Ahmad Chalabi -- the man Rendon helped install as leader of the INC -- the defector had been brought to Thailand, where he huddled in a hotel room for days with the group's spokesman, Zaab Sethna. The INC routinely coached defectors on their stories, prepping them for polygraph exams, and Sethna was certainly up to the task -- he got his training in the art of propaganda on the payroll of the Rendon Group. According to Francis Brooke, the INC's man in Washington and himself a former Rendon employee, the goal of the al-Haideri operation was simple: pressure the United States to attack Iraq and overthrow Saddam Hussein.

As the CIA official flew back to Washington with failed lie-detector charts in his briefcase, Chalabi and Sethna didn't hesitate. They picked up the phone, called two journalists who had a long history of helping the INC promote its cause and offered them an exclusive on Saddam's terrifying cache of WMDs.

The article goes on to state that the CIA hired the Rendon Group to do anti-Saddam propaganda. They knew, and the White House knew, that the WMD claims were lies.

Rendon’s work in Iraq actually started in 1990, before the 1st Gulf War, when he was hired by the rich oil sheiks to create a fake front organization, Citizens for a Free Kuwait, to cover for the partying, nightclubbing royal family in exile. After Iraq withdrew from Kuwait, it was Rendon’s company that moved in quickly to make sure the people had plenty of flags to wave to show their support for their “liberators” in front of the cameras for the American consumers.

The National Iraqi Congress was created by Rendon, with the help of lots of CIA dollars. During the Iraq war under W. Bush, $326,000 a month was being paid to Rendon’s company by the CIA through various front companies. According to some reports, the company made nearly $100 million on contracts during the five years following the Gulf War.
Here’s one more very important paragraph from the article:

Three weeks after the September 11th attacks, according to documents obtained from defense sources, the Pentagon awarded a large contract to the Rendon Group. Around the same time, Pentagon officials also set up a highly secret organization called the Office of Strategic Influence. Part of the OSI's mission was to conduct covert disinformation and deception operations -- planting false news items in the media and hiding their origins. "It's sometimes valuable from a military standpoint to be able to engage in deception with respect to future anticipated plans," Vice President Dick Cheney said in explaining the operation. Even the military's top brass found the clandestine unit unnerving. "When I get their briefings, it's scary," a senior official said at the time.

Never before in history had such an extensive secret network been established to shape the entire world's perception of a war.


Here’s a quote for everyone regarding the “War on Terror:”

The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al Qaida. And any informed intelligence officer knows this. But there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an identified entity representing the 'devil' only in order to drive the TV watcher to accept a unified international leadership for a war against terrorism. The country behind this propaganda is the US . . ." -- Former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook

Just comments from another “liberal,” huh?



Other links worth reading to FOLLOW THE MONEY:

http://rense.com/general73/dollars.htm

Pipeline-istan, the real reasons we‘re in Afghanistan: http://www.bushstole04.com/Obama_Pre...ma_oil_gas.htm


All of the above, and our borders to the north and south of our country are for all practical purposes, wide open. This for a country that’s supposed to be at war for over 10 years against the evil ragheads.


Yesterday, in this great country we live in, I had to get a routine blood test. They demanded I provide a photo ID, preferably a driver’s license, to prove who I was and where I lived. They then proceeded to tell me I had to pay for my test, which I did in cash, because I don’t have health insurance. I also read a story last night that appeared on most of the right wing web sites that stated Obamacare, which is being partially instated now, would not require proof of status (ie citizenship) at the health centers being set up to provide health care for migrants. Which means, illegals get free health care paid for by me and other taxpayers, while at the same time, I must pay cash for my own health services because I can’t afford health insurance. What a great country we live in!

I would be interested in aleconthelake’s comments if the bought and paid for Congress wipes out most of his socialistic, government paid for health care and retirement pension in the name of austerity and freedom. That’s what members of Congress (on both sides of the aisle) would like to do to our Medicare and Social Security, which I and millions of others have paid into for many years.


Regards,

Paul

[Mark75H]

Social Security was supposed to support you for a few years after you could no longer work, not DECADES after you felt like quitting but could still work if you wanted to. The full benefit age should have been increased as life expectancy started increasing dramatically in the '60's.

In the 30's almost no one lived to be 70+

[Original Looper 1]

Right now, military personnel can retire after 20 years of service and collect 1/2 of their salary for the rest of their lives. Someone 38 years of age could "retire" and collect for another 50 years, including health benefits.

Many in the public unions, ie our public servants, can collect retirement starting at age 55, or younger in some states, for the rest of their lives. That includes health care benefits.

Members of Congress are vested in their pension plan after just 5 years of service. They can start collecting at age 50. They also qualify for access to cadillac health care plans for life, payed for by us taxpayers, after just 1 term of service.

We taxpayers in the private sector are paying for all of these groups to collect early benefits. Maybe that's why they're looking so closely at SS and Medicare -- because somebody has to pay for the generous benefits the above all collect.

Who's the public servant here?


regards,

Paul

[Mark75H]

There are about 500 congress critters and senators ... their benefits aren't even a drop in the bucket ... way less than a billion ... the debt problem is in trillions ... it might be a good place to start, but it is less than 1/10,000 th of the problem

[Original Looper 1]

The federal payroll is currently over $450 BILLION a year. That' s not counting the billions we're paying in benefits & healthcare for retired federal workers. Add in state and local municipality workers, and you've got a huge hole that can't be filled by us as a nation consuming 50% more than we produce, with borrowed money. We as a nation are headed towards economic disaster and neither party is serious about fixing or stopping it.

By the way, it's not just 500 congress members. There are a lot of people that serve 1 or 2 terms and leave. We cover them. They all have staff members. We cover them.

Again, I ask you - who's the public servant???

Same as always, the private sector, tax paying, little guy and/or gal that nobody in Congress seems to want to actually represent.


Regards,
Paul