The US started the DOE to take care of our Energy Needs, not even sure how the hell you came up with that, from reading about this poor basturd in Cuba... he was setting up satelite tv,.... nothing to do with Renewable Energy.

And this is why we don't let Cuba join us at summits.

So kjunme, you would have no problem wasting the lives of our brave men and women for some knucklehead who played with fire not once but 5 previous times. What would you say should happen to someone that came from Cuba into the USA and was trying to form a group of pro castro sympathizers and wreak havoc with our form of government? Hopefully you would treat them like spies and arrest and jail them. No matter what we feel about that regime, they have every right to enforce their anti spy laws. It's easy to stay out of a Cuban jail. Don't GO!

Amazing that one poster condemns him for being a liberal and another condemns him for being a conservative, despite nothing in the story indicating his political affiliations. Truly pathetic that they can only agree on letting him rot in Cuba, since they assume he is part of the wrong political persuasion. It is sad that we are no longer just Americans.

HEY....if Obama can get involved in a shooting, then where's HIS take on this? OOPS....too hard, sorry.

Stupid people. I never would have aged to go to a hostile country. You live by their laws and rules, and if you didn't study them before going, then there's no one to blame but your own stupid azz for going there in the first place to set up tv satellite dishes.

Why are the American taxpayers paying for this dumbazz program anyway. These people are not our responsibility.

Bringing communications equipment into Cuba for a "USAID - Democracy building project". Really? That's like jumping off a cliff and then wondering why your not flying on your way down. How did he expect the Cuban government to react. Don't get me wrong I'm all for getting him back, but, people just have to think sometimes.

Hey, ya go there, ya take what ya get. Smart people stay away from these hellholes.

of course.... to build the USA is by far wiser then to spend any time in another country unless it's all about self greed.

Cuba is roughly 90 miles from Miami. A cruise missile can be there 9 minutes after launch. A drone can make it in about an hour. Harrah's could have a casino there in 3 months. Why don't we just payoff Raoul or something and send all the cheese and milk the federal government currently owns to Cuba. The people will have enough to eat for decades assuming adequate refrigeration is provided. (and we can get their sugar which we don't need). NSA (NCTC) will have a better listening post for their questionable intercepts (warrantless eavesdropping) from South America. Cuba may be the last hostile communistic country in our hemisphere. Chill out you Cubes, we're not your enemy, (the people know this)have a Pepsi, relax and we'll build you 20-30 Wal Marts so you can get a better deal on your Chinese goods. OK?

Hey Mike, Wake up, this guy was on some left wing liberation save the people fool thing, and completely against the laws of Cuba. I say, example is justly being served. You say left. I say right ... bottom line ... against the law, wake up.

i had a great aunt that travelled to cuba a couple of decades ago and again right before she died to bring medicine and computers. the second time the whole group was arrested in texas for attempting to take the goods through mexico on the way to cuba. this man was probably part of one of these types of organizations, and he has probably been left out to dry by the good people of the u.s.a. for being some sort of supposed conspirator. whether or not you agree with the left or the right is not the issue. democracy is for everyone. even socialism can be democratic. it isn't wrong to offer information, it isn't wrong to to believe that there can be peace, and it isn't wrong to assume that people can think for themselves to choose the most fitting form of governance. what is wrong is that anyone assumes to know what is better for another person. whether it be the government of casto or the u.s. government, when you limit the freedoms of any person beyond the few social laws that we all must adhere to (i.e. not murdering, stealing or taking advantage of those weaker than you), then you are creating something of an abomination. maybe the revolution in cuba was misguided or compromised, but to have no diplomatic relations with a nation 90 miles from our border is equally misguided and simply hard-headed rhetoric from an age almost gone.

USAID = US Agency for International Development = US Government jobs, with job opportunities all over the World. This is worse than spying - it is directly trying to influence people in other countries to revolt against their current leadership. Instead of the US sending in troops and weapons - they coerce the people to do the revolting for the USA through media infiltration. I doubt those TV satellites are broadcasting re-runs of I Love Lucy.

On the flip side - more and more Americans are watching Al Jazeera TV news because they get a more realistic picture of what the USA does.

The USA clearly bullies other countries - too bad the citizens of the US don't realize how much they bully us.

In 3 2 1 - the "Love It Or Leave It" sheep will arrive.

These people need to realize that only in America can a foreigner come in and break laws and get away with it.

lee - Unfortunately it's really against human nature to have total "peace." It's human nature to take advantage of the weak. It's really a symbiotic relationship. The weak take advantage of the strong as well, just in a different way. That's why there are societal hierarchies, both spoken and otherwise. By trying to make everyone equal in a cookie cutter society you're really attempting to hold the pioneers and revolutionaries back so as not to offend the less intelligent and motivated...but that doesn't really fit in this scenario. In this case, by blatantly challenging a commie leader on his turf you are begging him to react. When you do that, you can get burned, and no wishy washy talk about world peace and a democratic earth is going to change that.

Ray el Viejo

For someone pretending to not speaka de engles too good, you sure have a grasp on some big words there.

Imbroglio? Really? How many people you think know the meaning of that word without looking it up first you pontificating a$$?

Yep, we americans "brake" the law of "another countries" and CIA send people "out" there.

Try foolin someone else you anal orifice.

@kjunme: So you're suggesting that some of the troops guarding our gulag take five to go break someone out of their gulag?

HandsomeAndTruthful

These people need to realize that only in America can a foreigner come in and break laws and get away with it.

Please tell me you are joking. When did a foreigner try to change the laws or "undemocraticize" the USA? They got away with this crime too? Imagine that. I must have been in Cuba at the time.

If it is on youtube it has to be true! That is why everybody should get their news and information only from youtube. Do not listen to reputable news companies they only mislead you. Thanks for this valuable information care-for-everybody.

Was he actually raised and educated by a pride of lions in Kenya before Harvard?

Wade, Tampa, Fl: good job putting this up.

I have a feeling the birther will be back with some form of "yes, but...."

They are nuts.

Damn Wade, that's a lot of arguments the Birthers will continue to conveniently ignore. Apparently there are no reading lamps under the sand...

Great job Wade!

How much rebuttal do have to the rumor that after almost 3 1/2 years and spending $5 Trillion - Obama has yet to create ONE NEW NET JOB?

Still better than Bush’s net negative 9,000,000 jobs.

It's way back upthread at this point, but Cuba is ninety miles from Key West, not Miami.

Another SCANDAL using taxpayer money ?

USAID Missiion: ".....to build a peaceful, prosperous, and democratic state."

http://www.usaid.gov/missions/

Yep, that certainly worked in helping those "Arab Spring" countries to build a better DEMOCRATIC State.

Then there is the problem with a report provided by The DMP Group which USAID REFUSES to release pertinent information concerning the Cuban USAID program:

Federal records identify the auditor as The DMP Group, located at 2233 Wisconsin Ave NW, Suite 405, in Washington, D.C.

USAID paid the company $2,534,418 from 2008 to 2011, according to the website USAspending.gov. At least $1,473,417.55 went toward the audit of Cuba programs managed by USAID's Bureau of Latin America and the Caribbean, records show. USAID's contract with The DMP Group ended on Sept. 29, 2011.

USAID quote: "Proprietary business information contained within the report is being withheld…The type of information that is being withheld in this instance is: business strategies and the results of financial review."

The agency said it withheld the names of the companies because disclosure would amount to "a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy".

http://cubamoneyproject.org/?p=3783

Yep, I just love the way this Administration and it's cohorts in crime have a complete and total TRANSPARENCY of their operations.

Wait a minute....Fast and Furious ring a bell ?

Dennis, Columbus, Ohio: Still better than Bush's net negative 9,000,000 jobs.

Are you kidding? Do you not know the meaning of the word "net?"

Total employment in 2000 (Clinton) was 131,785,000.

Total employment in 2001 (Bush) was 131,826,000.

Total employment in 2008 (Bush) was 136,790,000.

Total employment in 2009 (Obama) was 130,807,000.

Total employment in 2010 (Obama) was 129,874,000.

Employment numbers are annual averages.

ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/suppl/empsit.ceseeb1.txt

So where is that net minus 9 million under Bush?

Btw - You do realize that the crash was a credit issue in the housing market that threatened the financial sector - that it was not precipitated by any Bush "tax" policies or "cost of the wars" or other legislation under Bush?

bob,

150,000 jobs per month to keep up with population growth for 8 years = 14,400,000

Jobs added only 5,000,000

Thus a net -9 million jobs

Putting his replacement in a deep, deep hole

I understand how people entering the work force would effect the unemployment rate, but really ... someone entering the job market that can't find a job ... counts as a job lost for a job that he never had?

Gosh, if you want to play that game, if you want to also count the millions that quit looking under Obama, if you want to count the underemployed under Obama - then Obama really, really sucks, right?

What does that make Obama's real unemployment ... 25%?

Want to compare that to Bush's unemployment rate?

bob,

No they do not count as a job lost – they never had one to lose. They might show in the U6 numbers.

Yes that makes the job deficit over the last 3 years worse than the BLS numbers indicate but at least over the last 7 months the job growth has averaged 190,000 a month. That is nearly 300,000 more jobs than the population growth. Job hiring is still slow but it is in a positive direction which is much better than we saw from 2007 thru 2009.

The real unemployment is near 18% not 22% like it was under Reagan.

bob,

[someone entering the job market that can't find a job ... counts as a job lost for a job that he never had?]

Actually they count as jobs that should have been created for them.

I'm not sure you have said it but many have, when the monthly BLS report comes out and is says that only 120,000 jobs were added … they say that is 30,000 less than is needed to keep up with the population growth (those entering the job market). Some even say the number is 175,00 a month but I believe it is near 150,000, maybe less.

Dennis, please explain the logic behind your statement that jobs "should have been created for them". Unless I missed something in school, no one in this country has to create a job for anyone.

Going by your logic, why didn't YOU create the jobs for them?

Chris,

Did you follow the entire conversation? You are attacking me for making a point. Perhaps I didn't word my point in wording that all understand so I'll try again …

I was simply saying that to maintain full employment (5% unemployment) that during the last decade our country needed to create about 150,000 every month, 1.8 million a year on average. We fell well short of that need and is the main reason an estimated 18 million people are out of full-time jobs.

The discussion was about how many jobs were created during the Bush administration and I made the point about how many jobs should have been created to keep full employment levels.

Your statement [Unless I missed something in school, no one in this country has to create a job for anyone.] is correct and I was, in no way saying or implying that it is the governments place to create jobs. The government can only pass laws that will aid in or prevent private sector job growth.

BTW I did create a few jobs - Thanks

Dennis, your failures when you try to be an intellectual are even worse than when you try to be oh-so-clever.

Bush created jobs during his tenure- and had the full employment levels to prove it. Full employment is and employment level between five and six percent- which accounts for frictional unemployment- or movement between jobs.

Obama has never, other than his first two weeks in office, had a unemployment rate under eight percent, despite spending almost a trillion dollars to fight unemployment,(for how that's possible, follow the trail of where the monies wound up- in the pockets of his big dollar donors.)

Moreover, the civilian labor force is down to 1982 levels- DESPITE steady population growth. Bush, you might remember, too office in 2001-or 19 years later. By contrast, (and, as is usual), the civilian labor force GREW each year he was in office- unlike the three years of Obama's term.

Guess those people all hit the lottery.

Subliminal & Greg-1238180 this guy worked for a company subcontractor of USAID, a cover up for our CIA, as many people know. He was setting very expensive electronic wireless equipment to allow certain Cubans to communicate off the communist grid, the Cubans call them spies and mercenaries working for an enemy power.

So, as most people know, communists are far left, so only a stupid person would think this poor dumb bastard could be a left winger. Left wingers like Sean Penn, Danny Glover, dead pastor Lucius Walker and others have no problems going to Cuba.

My advice to you both, don't go to Cuba, you are right wingers and ignorant.

No Joe,

You are clearly not intelligent enough to understand the simple math I used.

If we need to create (on average) 150,000 jobs every month to account for new people entering the job market then over 8 years 14,400,000 jobs would need to be created.

From 2001 thru 2008 there were a net 5,000,000 jobs created leaving a job deficit of 9,000,000 jobs.

Get it?

I mean you can add, subtract, multiply and divide can't you?

No Joe,

BTW since President Obama took office, using the same formula we have a net loss of another 11,000,000 jobs.

So since 2000 we have a job deficit of about 20 million jobs.

According to most data that number seems about right.

Dennis, We don't have a formula at all of your invention.

You have invented another oh-so-clever spin job, (like Ford being the Speaker of the House), on which, like your IT expertise, you are clearly out to lunch.

I will try this slowly- not for your sake, but for the sake of others you might be confusing-

Full employment is an unemployment level between five and six percent. How can that be? Because there are always those with marketable skills entering the labor force- whether or not they have been previously employed. These are known as "frictionally" unemployed- they have skills that will get them jobs relatively quickly. When unemployment rises above the full employment level, it indicates that even those with highly marketable skills are having difficulty securing employment- this is known as cyclical unemployment.

For the full eight years of the Bush presidency, beginning with 2001, and ending with 2008, unemployment was :4.7%,5.8%,6.0%,5.5%,5.1%,4.6%,4.6%,5.9%. You will note that three years of the Bush presidency actually saw labor shortage levels of unemployment-below five percent.

The employment/population ratio for those years was 63%, which had been the norm since the late 1980's, when women entered the workforce in droves.

The employment/population ratio has dropped each of the three years of the Obama presidency- to 58%.

No amount of spin and drivel will alter the reality.

Bush had jobs created during his tenure. Obama has not.

No Joe,

Nice try but you got the facts wrong again …

The United States is, as a statutory matter, committed to full employment (defined as 3% unemployment for persons 20 and older), the government is empowered to effect this goal, and a job is a right. The relevant legislation is the Employment Act (1946), initially "Full Employment Act", later amended in the Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act (1978).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_employment

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment_Act

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Full_Employment_and_Balanced_Growth_Act

You are trying to make something political out of a statement that is not political. The only argument is what the average number of new entries into the workforce is. Some claim it to be as low as 120,000 others as high as 175,000. I chose the middle of the road.

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/19/jobs-and-population-keeping-up-with-americas-population-growth/

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/the-jobs-deficit/

Now if you want to talk political, President Bush 43 created, on average, fewer jobs per year than any President since WWII. Now before you say it, President Obama is on track to break that sad record especially if he only has 1 term.

But what we should be more concerned with is that over the last 12 years job growth and pay has been awful. We need both Parties to get real and figure what must be done to turn this around. Right now both sides believe their ideas are the only way to fix the problem when both have good ideas and the other side will not accept (vote for) them. Sad !!

Dennis, stick to telling the people in you imaginary bar that you are an IT expert.

They're dumb enough to continue to believe it- all evidence to the contrary.

Wiki is not a good source for an education in economics. See, that 3% full employment number? Outdated. It was once, indeed, the full employment level- then, skills changed, productivity changed, and the velocity of movement between jobs changed. The labor force, itself, underwent an enormous change- reflecting the skill set most sought after, which opened opportunities for women that had not been known before.

Since the 1980's the full employment number has been between 5% and 6%.

At least you credited your source this time, rather than cutting and pasting from Hot Air without attribution.

Actually, this entire exchange is evidence of what is wrong with liberals- they concoct cockamamie ideas, then doggedly defend them, despite all evidence that they are wrong.

Thus, they defend Obama's hideous level of spending- adding more than FIVE trillion dollars to the debt in three years- with nothing to show for it but the monies stuffed in the pockets of his donors.

They defend his actions on the economy, which have failed by any measure, including unemployment- over 8% and rising- and a staggering GDP growth rate.

They defend, against all sanity, let alone logic, his foreign policy- which seems to consist of antagonizing allies, and appeasing antagonists.

They defend the corruption within the federal government, which has run amuk during this benighted regime. The GSA scandal is a good case in point- Neely, the rotten apple who organized the Vegas trip, trip to Napa Valley, multiple trips to the Carribean- was indicted and convicted of embezzling government monies in 2010. Why on earth did Obama's appointee to run that agency not fire him? You telling me convicted thieves are so protected by their government unions they cannot be terminated under that circumstance?

Then, there's Jon Corzine- another thief with a get out of jail free card. After embezzling over a billion dollars from his firm, he's not even under indictment. Why? He's one of Obama's biggest bundlers. One imagines Bernie Madoff, sitting in his cell, regretting that HE was not smart enough to bundle for Obama. He'd be a free man today.

Even the idiocy about Obama eating dog is something they defend. Facts mean nothing, but here they are: the Soetaro family was NOT poor, so poor little Barry was not forced to eat dog, or starve. Indonesia is a Muslim country- while there is one little island,hundreds of miles from where the Soetaro's lived, where dog is eaten legally, in Jakarta, it was illegal. And, yes, Obama was a boy when he was "introduced" to it- but he was a grown man when he bragged about it in his book.

He seems to think it makes him "special". Unique. Worldly.

Most people think it makes him a sick bastard. Not because he ate it as a boy- because he BRAGGED about it as an adult.

That's just sick.

So are all those left in the cult.

No Joe,

[Dennis, stick to telling the people in you imaginary bar that you are an IT expert.] You have me confused with someone else - Don’t have any, never claimed to have any – I am just a savvy user and educate myself with the software and functions available to every user.

The official full employment has never been updated no matter how much claim the official number is outdated.

Say things about people you know nothing about and cannot prove … sad even for you.

That’s all you got … very sad indeed

Dennis, both you and I know what I'm talking about. Little situation brought to your attention March 17,2010? You, the expert, giving confident advice on what was NOT wrong-when it was?

I digress.

Here is the epitome of what is wrong with both Obama- and his cultists

http://www.michiganview.com/article/20120418/MIVIEW/204180451/Payne--Obama-schmoozes-Oakland-One-Percent--ignores-Detroit-99-Percent

So, Obama completely avoids the very place in this country where the end result of his policies are on display for all to see.

Is it any wonder he got booed at Fenway Park.

Do those of you in the cult even begin to comprehend what it means that he got booed in Fenway Park?

It means- the end.

Dennis, no joe, is being deliberately obtuse in order to wear you down and shut you up, I have had no joe, on ignore for over a year. If no joe, doesn't want to play fair then I say f- the closed minded jerk. I like what you post. Don't let anyone silence you. If the hard right can get to you they will.

No Joe,

I have no idea what that is/was supposed to be about.

BTW in his budget plan Paul Ryan uses an unemployment rate of 3%, to justify his revenue numbers. So are you saying his budget doesn’t add up since we have not seen unemployment that low in decades?

Dennis? Tell me, what, exactly, are the ramifications of congress setting the full employment rate? Do they jail people when unemployment exceeds that number? Fine them? No?

No. It's an outdated number based on a Father Knows Best, pencil and paper world. You've latched onto it because somehow or another you've both managed to convince yourself that you know anything at all about economics- and you, as Obama's chief acolyte, have the solution to the country's economic problems.

In fact, all your posts- both last night and today- do nothing but showcase your complete ignorance of the subject. Your 11 million,or 9 million, or 20 million jobs not created is the stuff the keeps psychiatrists busy for years.

I believe they're called "delusions".

How about you do yourself a favor and started studying the idol of your cult? Take some NoDoze, and read his books. The last hardy soul to actually do that made an amazing discovery- Obama eats dogs. And brags about eating dogs. Not as a child- but as an adult. In fact, he conveyed his pride in that passage so well he was given a Grammy for reading his book about eating dogs- which is a thing Obama does, and about which he is mighty proud.

Who knows what else is n there. Could be a chapter on drowning kittens. Do us all a favor and go find out.

Dennis,

Wade put up what ... 2,500 - 3,000 word rebuttal to a totally bs, nebulous issue that in no way relates to anything relevant, to any standard of achievement or accomplishment as president or state of the economy.

I responded sarcastically with an issue that will ultimately probably decide the election. I did so in the most simplistic, elementary and basic terms .... one new net job.

Simply put Dennis, one job more than when you took office.

I gave you the number when Bush took office - when he left office.

Simple number of an extremely low, pathetic threshold that Obama has simply not been able to match. If it related to football ... it would not be a championship, it would not be a winning record, it would not be winning a game .... it would be tantamount to simply kicking a field goal - to get on the board.

I did not mention that Bush inherited a recession, I did not mention that the number of employed dropped to 130,341,000 in 2002 and to 129,999,000 in 2003. I did not mention Bush's tax cuts in 2003 that appeared to turn the economy around, helping to produce over 8 million jobs by 2007!

The financial collapse occured while Bush was president - not because he was president. It was a bomb planted years before that had nothing to do with his policies. Bush discovered the bomb, tried to defuse it in 2005 and was throughly stopped by the Democrats. You can blame Bush for not going to war with the Dems to defuse the bomb if you want, but you can not blame Bush for building the bomb.

Regardless, I didn't get into all this .... I kept it simple ..... just one pathetic new job from Obama.

no joe is absolutely correct .....

Actually, this entire exchange is evidence of what is wrong with liberals- they concoct cockamamie ideas, then doggedly defend them, despite all evidence that they are wrong.

We are in the midst of the worst recovery in modern history. Record number of Americans on food stamps, in the ranks of the poor, biggest loss in home equity, worst long term unemployment ..... on and on .... doubling of gas prices .... and you guys wantonly create manipulations and distractions to defend the indefensible as so many millions of Americans needlessly suffer.

What is wrong with you guys?

Whats wrong with them?

Well, the idol of their cult is not just an abject failure- he eats dogs.

They're having. A hard time with that one.