Pass Democratic Club: News

Welcome to the Pass Democratic Club!

Serving Democrats in Banning, Beaumont, Cabazon, Calimesa and Cherry Valley
Riverside County, California

Talk About Iraq

Misc Diogenez Wednesday 23 July 2008 - 05:09:12

The question is whether we withdraw in victory or withdraw in defeat,” says John McCain.

If this is the question, then who is likely to answer “defeat”? But is this the question? Ask your G.O.P. neighbors if they think we should stay in Iraq until they have a democratic system of government exactly like those in North America or Europe, or would they settle for something less.

This points out two important ideas. First, victory and defeat are meaningless choices because there is no definition for either and reality will, no doubt, cover a lot of possibilities between those two. Are they willing to leave if there is no fighting, but Iraq’s people cannot agree on a government that represents all factions in Iraq? How about, if they agree on a government, but the fighting continues? Ask them if we should institute a draft so we have the troops to spend 100 years in Iraq or if they want to continue to spend about $140 billion dollars there every year for those 100 years.

And second, and also important, they need to tell you what the various costs for staying in Iraq are and if they are willing to pay those costs. Are they satisfied that we have done what is needed in Afghanistan or will we be too busy in Iraq to avoid “defeat” there? Are they satisfied that as U.S. taxpayers their money is building schools and roads and bridges in Iraq while ours are falling apart here? If our military is degraded to the point that we cannot deal with China if it decides to attack Taiwan, will staying in Iraq have been worth it? And what if our economy continues its collapse because we have had to borrow so much money?

In other words, make your G.O.P. neighbors THINK about what it really means to stay in Iraq instead of taking sloppy slogans as thoughtless gospel.

Comments 0

What to tell your GOP neighbors

Misc Diogenez Wednesday 16 July 2008 - 18:23:26

Aside from dispelling GOP lies that Obama is a Muslim who will raise everyone's taxes, there are three areas we will cover here in the next few days: His strategy for Iraq and Afghanistan, fixing the economy and health care. Even in California, every vote counts. Talk to your friends and neighbors, many of whom will vote Democratic if they think they can trust Obama. They know he's smart, but wonder if he can be trusted.

Comments 0

Obama on future threats

Misc Diogenez Wednesday 16 July 2008 - 18:11:55

The gravest danger we face -- nuclear terrorism. One of the terrible ironies of the Iraq War is that President Bush used concern over this threat to invade a country that had no nuclear weapons program. In the meantime, Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan was spreading to hostile nations the technology to produce nuclear weapons and the warheads to deliver them. I'll lead a global effort to secure all loose nuclear materials around the world during my first term as President. But we need to do much more. It's time to send a clear message to the world: America seeks a world with no nuclear weapons. As long as nuclear weapons exist, we'll retain a strong deterrent. But we'll make the goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons a central element in our nuclear policy. We'll negotiate with Russia to achieve deep reductions in both our nuclear arsenals and we'll work with other nuclear powers to reduce global stockpiles dramatically. We'll seek a verifiable global ban on the production of fissile material for weapons.

Just as we must guard against the spread of nuclear terrorism, it's
time for a comprehensive effort to tackle bioterror. We have still failed
to solve the anthrax attacks that killed Americans on our soil in 2001.
We know that Al Qaida was attempting to develop biological weapons
in Afghanistan. And we know that the successful deployment of a
biological weapon -- whether it is sprayed into our cities or spread
through our food supply -- could kill tens of thousands of Americans
and deal a crushing blow to our economy. As President, I will launch an effort across our government to stay ahead of this threat. To prevent bioterrorism, we need to invest in our analysis, enhance our information-sharing, and give our intelligence agencies the capacity to identify and interdict dangerous bio-weapons around the world. To strengthen our efforts with friends and partners, I've proposed a Shared Security Partnership that invests $5 billion over 3 years to forge an international intelligence and law enforcement infrastructure to take down terrorist networks. Making these changes will do more than help us tackle bioterror -- it will create new jobs, support a healthier population, and improve America's capability to respond to any major disaster.

And just as we'll find additional benefits to our action against bioterror, we can -- and must -- strengthen our cyber defenses in the 21st century. Every American depends -- directly or indirectly -- on our system of information networks. They are increasingly the backbone of our economy and our infrastructure; our national security and our personal well-being. But it's no secret that terrorists could use our computer networks to deal us a crippling blow. As President, I'll make cyber security the top priority that it should be in the 21st century.

Comments 0

Go to page [1] 2 3