Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

[unofan]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

**** it, let's just order the remaining troops to cordon off the area around the massive rare earth metals deposit that supposedly exists over there and start mining it. As long as we're maintaining a military presence, we may as well profit from it to some degree. Then we can tell the Chinese to go **** themselves for hoarding their rare earth metals.

Or we could just throw the funds towards mining the rare earth mineral deposit discovered in BFE Nebraska. Supposedly the largest cache of the stuff ever discovered.

 

[Foxton]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

Already saw that. Jon Stewart apologized on the air last night and pointed out his mistake.

Then he listed all the lies that FOX News has told over the years (using Politifact, the same site).

Politifact actually posted this in response since readers took em to task for primarily looking at sites that polled for factual knowledge.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...21/readers-sound-about-our-false-jon-stewart/

"If I tell you, ‘Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the House, is trying to pass legislation which will send troops to your house to murder you,’ I have been spreading misinformation, and if you believed me, you would have been misinformed. It doesn't matter that you know Nancy Pelosi was the Speaker of the House -- that doesn't negate your status as ‘misinformed.’"

 

[Bakunin]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

Or we could just throw the funds towards mining the rare earth mineral deposit discovered in BFE Nebraska. Supposedly the largest cache of the stuff ever discovered.

Hey, there's nothing that says we can't have both caches.

 

[Bob Gray]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

Or we could just throw the funds towards mining the rare earth mineral deposit discovered in BFE Nebraska. Supposedly the largest cache of the stuff ever discovered.

Now that's something that would have real strategic long term value to develop. So I'm sure it won't get any funding from the feds.

 

[LynahFan]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

Why don't the Afghans build an economy out of that instead of the damm heroin exports?

Price of rare earth metals = roughly $1,000 per pound and requires massive investment in mining operation
Price of heroin = roughly $50,000 per pound and grows itself for free

I wonder what the honest-to-goodness markup on heroin is as a result of the stuff being illegal... War on Drugs FTW.

 

[Craig P.]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

Price of rare earth metals = roughly $1,000 per pound and requires massive investment in mining operation
Price of heroin = roughly $50,000 per pound and grows itself for free

I wonder what the honest-to-goodness markup on heroin is as a result of the stuff being illegal... War on Drugs FTW.

The poppies grow themselves for free, but there's still extraction and processing necessary to convert into the various opiate drugs.

 

[Kepler]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

I wonder what the honest-to-goodness markup on heroin is as a result of the stuff being illegal... War on Drugs FTW.

Here's a pretty interesting analysis of Prohibition which suggests the markup might be less than we assume. All sorts of other effects are in play, of course. Quality, Time, Money -- pick any two.

http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/miron.prohibition.alcohol

 

[walrus]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

The poppies grow themselves for free, but there's still extraction and processing necessary to convert into the various opiate drugs.

Cargill or ADM could get that down to pennies, Heck, they could probably get Congress to subsidize it

 

[joecct]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

Cargill or ADM could get that down to pennies, Heck, they could probably get Congress to subsidize it

But as a additive / substitute for gasoline?? Could you call it super high test?

 

[Priceless]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

OK, I see Republicans now saying that the Taliban/AQ can just wait until 2013 and take over Afghanistan once we draw down troops. My question is what we're supposed to do, because it seems there are only two options...
1) Never leave. No matter how much it costs in blood and treasure, no matter if Marines come home from deployment only to see their children (and eventually grandchildren) deploy to Afghanistan as well.
2) Not announce that we're leaving, just leave. One morning Hamid Karzai goes to bed snug as a bug and when he wakes up - poof! - the American military is gone.

Anything else is just giving the terrorists a "timetable" to take over the country. You know, like they did in Iraq.

 

[Bakunin]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

The only hope for Afghanistan is to have enough security over there to start up a mining industry to take advantage of that massive rare earth metal deposit. That could provide the country with a long-term source of revenue and jobs. Does the country currently have a major revenue source beyond heroin?

At least with Iraq, they had an established (though degraded) oil industry which can fund their government and a somewhat functional military that could serve as a means of maintaining security.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

OK, I see Republicans now saying that the Taliban/AQ can just wait until 2013 and take over Afghanistan once we draw down troops. My question is what we're supposed to do, because it seems there are only two options...
1) Never leave. No matter how much it costs in blood and treasure, no matter if Marines come home from deployment only to see their children (and eventually grandchildren) deploy to Afghanistan as well.
2) Not announce that we're leaving, just leave. One morning Hamid Karzai goes to bed snug as a bug and when he wakes up - poof! - the American military is gone.

Anything else is just giving the terrorists a "timetable" to take over the country. You know, like they did in Iraq.

"the only winning move is not to play. "

WE NEVER LEARN.

 

[Bakunin]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

"the only winning move is not to play."

So after 9/11 happened, you'd propose we not retaliate against Afghanistan for harboring the people that orchestrated the attack against us?

Unless you're referring to long-term occupation - but even that was justified until we killed OBL. Without the Afghanistan base to launch that operation, it would've been much more difficult to accomplish that mission - if not completely impossible.

 

[Tundra]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

So after 9/11 happened, you'd propose we not retaliate against Afghanistan for harboring the people that orchestrated the attack against us?

Unless you're referring to long-term occupation - but even that was justified until we killed OBL. Without the Afghanistan base to launch that operation, it would've been much more difficult to accomplish that mission - if not completely impossible.

Wasn't this on yesterday on Charlie Rose. one guy made the same argument you're making and the retort from the other guy was... we defeated Taliban/AQ in 2001-02 with special forces advising/supporting Northern Alliance.

I had to agree with the guy making the case that nation building hasn't worked in 10 years and our interest in that area isn't worth the cost. ($150billion/yr or 15%-20% of military budget) Several guys mentioned that most of the Afghan troops (80%) are from a different tribe from Pashtun and they need translators themselves in the south. And these guys are mostly the same Northern Alliance (tribes) that defeated the Taliban in 2001-02 with our (air) support.

 

[LynahFan]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

Wasn't this on yesterday on Charlie Rose. one guy made the same argument you're making and the retort from the other guy was... we defeated Taliban/AQ in 2001-02 with special forces advising/supporting Northern Alliance.

I had to agree with the guy making the case that nation building hasn't worked in 10 years and our interest in that area isn't worth the cost. ($150billion/yr or 15%-20% of military budget) Several guys mentioned that most of the Afghan troops (80%) are from a different tribe from Pashtun and they need translators themselves in the south. And these guys are mostly the same Northern Alliance (tribes) that defeated the Taliban in 2001-02 with our (air) support.

The problem - no, among the MANY problems - in Afghanistan is that even for nation building, you have to start with some raw materials, and there are none. Iraq at least had a tradition of a centralized government and rule of law (corrupt and oppressive though it was) plus the the oil infrastructure. Afghanistan is a tribal sand pit with some poppy fields. Trying to build a nation there is like putting a base on the moon - you're starting from absolute scratch.

 

[Slap Shot]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

oh heavens, some people think that wasted stimulus money will cost jobs long term, Obamacare will increase the deficit, and that the economy (even with it being weak while the feds pump money into it like there is no tomorrow). yup, no reason to think anything like that might be going on. everyone go back to sticking your heads in the ground.

You forgot to mention $5 gas this summer.

 

[XYZ]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

Trying to build a nation there is like putting a base on the moon - you're starting from absolute scratch.

It's less than scratch. The moon just has nothing whereas Afghanistan not only has that, but a variety of historical traditions (some of which you mention) that work counter to establishing anything resembling a legitimate central government and national identity. It's one thing to start from nothing -- and it's another to have to figure out a way to clean the slate first. At this point, it's probably an impossible task.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

So after 9/11 happened, you'd propose we not retaliate against Afghanistan for harboring the people that orchestrated the attack against us?

Unless you're referring to long-term occupation - but even that was justified until we killed OBL. Without the Afghanistan base to launch that operation, it would've been much more difficult to accomplish that mission - if not completely impossible.

He's one dude. If they can cost America that much treasure and lives so we can kill one dude, then they've won. By any measure.

 

[5mn_Major]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

The problem - no, among the MANY problems - in Afghanistan is that even for nation building, you have to start with some raw materials, and there are none. Iraq at least had a tradition of a centralized government and rule of law (corrupt and oppressive though it was) plus the the oil infrastructure. Afghanistan is a tribal sand pit with some poppy fields. Trying to build a nation there is like putting a base on the moon - you're starting from absolute scratch.

A related problem is that the dollar is and has been frightfully weak. Every dollar spent overseas is worth very little. What's that flushing sound?

 

[LynahFan]

Re: Obama XXI: Kenyan Muslins are ruining this country!

A related problem is that the dollar is and has been frightfully weak. Every dollar spent overseas is worth very little. What's that flushing sound?

Don't remind me. I get paid in dollars, and you know where lots of investors like to put their money when things are uncertain? Safe, reliable, Swiss Francs. The Dollar is down 30% vs. the Franc since I moved here. Ouch!