Arkady's Thoughts

CBO released their estimate on Baucus' chairman's mark and claim 81 billion dollars will be "saved".  However estimating the bill in this particular phase is an exercise in futility because after all the amendments and merging with the house bill, the costs can be and will be significantly higher.  Still, CBO claims that in the next ten years we will enjoy an 81 billion dollar "saving" assuming of course that the current version of the bill is implemented as is.  CBO should know better than anyone this will never happen and releasing these numbers simply gives the liberals more ammunition in convincing liberal Republicans to get on board.   CBO also made specific mention that 94% of Americans will be insured up from 83%, or about 29 million Americans at the cost of 829 billion dollars.  Wow, those are some very expensive Americans, but what happens to the rest of us?  - Those with excellent insurance providers will have to pay more, because "gold&quo

Obama indicated to Congress that he is undecided on troop buildup in Afghanistan, but at the same time pledges no reductions.  A man with no experience what so ever has found himself in a tough situation and can't decide, which is fine when it comes to buying a dog, not so fine when it comes to American lives.   Military situations cannot exist in a state of inaction, inaction leads to paralysis which leads to death.  Obama is close to committing a crime here, this is akin to a general trying to decided whether to pull his division out of deadly fire or send help and ultimately making no decision.  A recipe for removal.  There are two options in Afghanistan and while one is more obvious both make more sense.  First option is to withdraw soldiers out and leave an invisible special operations presence to disrupt the Taliban from making progress.  If that combination worked to remove them from power it could certainly prevent them from obtaining it again. Doing so will give us two imm

Outrageous?  Afraid not, according to Stratfor two leaks to two very reputable papers have established a disturbing piece of information;  Russian scientists are assisting the Iranians with nuclear weapon creation.  If these leaks are credible and they appear to be so, the situation with Iran has dramatically worsened.  While Iran was a mere nuisance in the Middle East, they have now catapulted themselves as a credible threat and a threat that must be dealt with.  There are several explanations and outcomes in the next year that could give us clues as to what might transpire. First, Russians were always wary of American presence in the region and understand that American bases tend to be built and seldom dismantled.  They also understand that Iraq was fought to gain dominance in the region and put pressure on rogue states to deal with their radical elements, arguably this is proving to be very effective and the Russians are worried.  What better way to destabilize the American domin