In the weeks ahead, how many will lose their jobs or die in Afghanistan?

[WhiskeyGirl]

In the weeks ahead, how many will die in Afghanistan?  In the weeks ahead, how many will lose their jobs?  How many will face foreclosure and the loss of the their homes? 

In America today, the hospitals have to treat you in the emergency rooms.  There is no one forced to give you a job or make your mortgage payments.

"Remarks by U.S. President Obama and President Zapatero of Spain after meeting"

Finally, we discussed the economy and noted that obviously the United States and Spain are both working diligently to put our people back to work and recover from what has been the worst recession in decades.

What has Obama done to put people back to work?  What has he done to encourage the business climate?

How does driving up taxes and debt produce jobs?  A sustainable economy?

Is the collapse of the dollar a good thing for America?  Is the loss of retirement savings, education savings, and a home a good thing for Americans?

We noted that Spain is the third largest investor in the United States this past quarter, and the United States is the largest investor in Spain. And so we have enormous commercial ties between our two countries and we pledged to work diligently to strengthen them, particularly around key issues like renewable energy and transportation, where Spain has been a worldwide leader and the United States I think has enormous potential to move forward.

What is Spain investing in in the US?  Where can I get that date?  Who's buying America at the fire sale?

The US is a land blessed with abundance.  Why isn't the US using the resources available?  Oil?  Nuclear?  Coal?


Afghanistan

Q Mr. President, you said a while back that your job is to be the chief skeptic towards the idea of sending more troops to Afghanistan. Have you heard anything that would -- that's eased your skepticism so far? And when do you think you might be in a position to make a final decision on the way forward?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: We are going through a very deliberate process that is completely consistent with what I said back in March. At the time, I said we were going to deploy additional troops in order to secure the election. After the election I said it was important for us to reassess the situation on the ground, and that's what we're doing not just on the military side but also on the civilian side.

And I won't provide you a preview of what I've been seeing or hearing. I will tell you that our principal goal remains to root out al Qaeda and its extremist allies that can launch attacks against the United States or its allies. That's our principal mission. We are also obviously interested in stability in the region, and that includes not only Afghanistan, but also Pakistan.

And finally, we hope that the people in those areas are able to achieve peace and prosperity. The military security that's provided in our ability to train Afghan forces is one element of it. Another element of it is making sure that we are doing a good job in helping build capacity on the civilian side -- in areas like agriculture and education. And I would expect that we will have a completion of this current process in the coming weeks.

The mission/goals - secure the election, root out al Qaeda, peace and prosperity, fix agriculture and education.  Hmmm...it's all done in the next few weeks?  Are we leaving Afghanistan by the end of the year?  When do we depart South Korea? 

Who are our friends in this world, today?

Q (As translated.) I have a question for the Spanish President of the government. I would like to know about the closing down of Guantanamo -- this is for the Spanish President, for the government -- about how many of the detainees Spain would be taking, what nationality they would have?

PRESIDENT ZAPATERO: President Obama -- yes, we were talking about with in fact the closing down of Guantanamo and the detainees. It's something that we are assessing right now. President Obama welcomed the initiative of Spain, the offering of Spain. We are still assessing the exact numbers, but are resolved to support President Obama and back him in this -- is absolutely, absolutely clear for closing down, to make it possible.

As regards Afghanistan, we've thanked President Obama for his words of appreciation because we -- because of our commitment in Afghanistan have also suffered the loss of lives over the nine years we've been present there; casualties in our servicemen and women.

And President Obama has also acknowledged the important role that we are playing as trainers, as civil guard, Guardia Civil, in security training, where they have a brilliant record.

Wow.  Zapatero seems to be proud of the job his folks do, they have a brillian record.  Why does Obama apologize for America?  Isn't our record brilliant too?

read more here - http://www.isria.com/pages/13_October_2009_214.php#

With the dollar collapsing, massive deficits and new government spending, no jobs...

How long before bombings in the US are a daily part of the new?  Just like in other places of the globe?

How long before Americans cannot afford security?  Police?

Crime becomes a way of life?

[WhiskeyGirl]

Is Zapatero Anti-American? 

Not long ago in 2003 Mr Zapatero was in the Spanish Opposition when, during the Spanish military parade of October 12 (Spain's national day) he decided to not stand up when American troops were passing by. The gesture was representative of Mr Zapatero's strong opposition to Mr Aznar's support to former President George W. Bush in his presumably illicit invasion of Iraq. Mr Aznar was Spain's Prime Minister from 1996 to 2004.

Does Mr. Zapatero have any interest in keeping American troops safe?  Maybe the US will give California, Texas, New Mexico to Spain in the coming years?  A return to colonialism?

Mr Zapatero visits the White House seeking to increase his lowest marks among the Spanish electorate since he became Prime Minister in the aftermath of Spain's worst bombings of March 11, 2004. Spain is undergoing its worst economic crisis since the last recession of 1992-1993. It is the only European country that will not leave recession behind in 2010, its fiscal deficit is forecast to surpass the 10% mark in 2009 and 2010, and unemployment is about to reach 20%.

Is Spain our new best buddy as a nation?  Will unemployment in the US reach 20% this year?

Mr Zapatero's former economic advisors have left his government....Jordi Sevilla, a former Minister from 2004 to 2008 and Mr Zapatero's main economic adviser, resigned in September 2009, giving up his parliamentary seat and joining the ranks of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Where did I hear that name yesterday?  PricewaterhouseCoopers?

Spain's anti-americanism topped a maximum during Mr Aznar's support to George W. Bush, a move that 90% of Spaniards opposed. President Obama has perhaps inverted the trend. Mr Zapatero's apparent refusal to reach understanding with the United States has now shifted with a left-wing President dwelling the White House...

Certain strategic moves of Premier Zapatero are perhaps ignored or unnoticed by the Spanish press. After his speech at the United Nations in September 2009 Premier Zapatero acknowledged that "it is not what Obama can do for Spain, but what Spain can do for Obama"...

How many billions is Obama sending with the detainees?  How soon will Spain let them out?

The Spanish economy is sinking and Mr Zapatero has no clue...But it is likely that the severe economic slowdown will overshadow any other success in foreign policy.

How about 'The American economy is sinking and Mr Obama has no clue...But it is likely that the severe economic slowdown will overshadow any other success in foreign policy.' 

Perhaps the economic slowdown/recession/depression in the US is the purpose of the Obama administration?

If healthcare spending/Social Security/Medicare are unsustainable, how can debt for out of control government spending/borrowing/programs be sustainable?

It just doesn't make sense that the nation will go into debt, tax more, to fix a problem with debt.

Debt is debt.  It doesn't matter if government fines you, 'forces' you to buy insurance, or forces new expenses.  The money has to come from somewhere.  It leaves less in the pockets of Americans to enjoy.

Is this the new America?  Debt bondage, debt slavery, theft of labor?

What good does it do to earn equal pay for an equal days work when the governement takes everything?  Taxes?  Spends?  Drives up the national debt? 

Money on paper only?  What happened to enjoying the fruit of of one's labor?

read more here - http://blogs.cincodias.com/nuevo_modelo_crecimiento/2009/10/welcome-mr-zapatero.html

[WhiskeyGirl]

"...we hope that the people in those areas are able to achieve peace and prosperity..."

Is Obama planning to leave Afghanistan in the next few months? 

Rampant government corruption might derail the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan even if as many as 80,000 additional U.S. troops were sent to the war, the top military commander there has concluded, according to U.S. officials briefed on his recommendations.

The conclusion by Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal is part of a still-secret document that requests more troops even as he warns that they ultimately may not prevent terrorists from turning Afghanistan back into a haven.

read more here - http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/13/mcchrystal-troop-increase-afghan/

I'm not sure why we are in Afghanistan. 

Is Obama's kicking the can of Afghanistan into the future going to make a difference?  What could he possibly be waiting for?

The dollar collapse?