Kenneth C

Should the US get involved with Syria in helping the Rebels? If you are for supporting the rebels, or even Assad, what aid should be given? If not, then why. Personally, I think there are no good options available.

I am not trying to slam the conservatives or Republican party, but I am curious as to if it is the voice of the average republican person. To be fair, being a news junkie, I watch several foreign and local news outlets.

This whole dabate over health care will never be resolved until we answer that fundamental question. I think the American people are torn between someone getting a free lunch and helping people out. I have mixed feelings over health care. As much as I don't want to pay for welfare queens to get better medical care than I get, I can't see someone going bankrupt or homeless if they get into a car accident either. What does everyone think here? Please keep it civil. Thanks.

Social Security is really a glorified ponzi scheme and is unsustainable. Medicare and Medicaid are well intentioned but in it's current form is also unsustainable. Without being nasty and with no finger pointing, how would you resolve those issues? Would you dissolve those programs, change those programs and how would you change them, or maintain them and raise taxes? Just want to know what ideas there are from average people without the partisan soundbites.

Osama bin Laden has just been confirmed dead. What does everyone think of this?

Apparently, the wizards of wall street have found another way to make a huge amount of money using life insurance policies. Much like the debacle of mortgages which were chopped up and resold into securitized packages which included toxic debt, they would essentially do the same with life insurance policies. As per the news story, these firms would let you cash out on your million dollar policy for 400,000 cash money. These policies would then get hacked up into packages. The sooner the person dies, the bigger the payout. If the person lives too long, then these funds would make very little to no money and even lose money.

With that said, the idea of health care reform is to let people live longer and reduce costs over time. With the status quo, our costs are rising and we have lower life expectancies than many other industrialized nations. A healthier populace means these people couldn't make money off of this scheme. Thoughts on this?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/32707038

After 9/11, we had a clear purpose in Afghanistan. To drain the swamp so Islamic Fundamentalists could no longer use that as a training ground. After years of neglect, it is like we are re-invading Afghanistan with no clear way to win. The parallels to Vietnam are frightening. We are fighting increasingly better trained guerrilla troops who only needs to win by stalemate. Add to that us propping up a corrupt, weak, and discredited central Afghani government and voila! You have Vietnam. I am worried that we have lost our way in Afghanistan and there is not a solution to Afghanistan short of nuking the entire country to make it devoid of all life save the cockroaches. (I am not advocating nuclear war, just trying to make a point.)

In short, whether you are a lib or con, whether you hate or love Obama, this is a non-partisan question. Do we up and leave? If not, how do we win. Thanks in advance and please, no ranting. This is a grown up question for grown ups, not children or trolls.

This is a non partisan question here. Should we publicly support the Iranians or should we keep quiet and let the Iranians deal with this themselves?

Bruce Springsteen is about as Americana as you can get. I am curious as to which artists are similar to him in the UK? Thanks.

I am honestly looking for a non partisan purely economical view of the stimulus plan. Allegedly, it has a lot of pork in it. A billion for the census bureau, etc. I am curious as to whether or not it matters as long as money is circulated throughout the economy. We have done the top down approach to stimulus. What about a bottom up approach, as what the Democrats are trying to do with their social programs.

So to sum it up, does it matter how the money is spent as long as it is spent, or is it more effective to do tax cuts, infrastructure, target spending the money, etc.?

The news reports we get over here tells us that the UK is just in bad a shape as the US or even worse. I am curious as to how this translates to the common folk on the street.

As far as over here, things are getting really bad. I live in NYC and we alone are expected to lose about 181000 jobs. Crime is already starting to go up here. In New York state, our unemployment insurance funds are for all intents and purposes broke, so the state might have to get federal funds for it.

Is crime going up over there? Are unemployment lines getting longer? How about home repossessions? I might be getting a deal on a home for about $445000 (327,640 GBP) that was once listed at $725000. (533,858 GBP) How badly has the housing market been affected? What about your personal experiences?

The news reports we get over here tells us that the UK is just in bad a shape as the US or even worse. I am curious as to how this translates to the common folk on the street.

As far as over here, things are getting really bad. I live in NYC and we alone are expected to lose about 181000 jobs. Crime is already starting to go up here. In New York state, our unemployment insurance funds are for all intents and purposes broke, so the state might have to get federal funds for it.

Is crime going up over there? Are unemployment lines getting longer? How about home repossessions? I might be getting a deal on a home for about $445000 (327,640 GBP) that was once listed at $725000. (533,858 GBP) How badly has the housing market been affected? What about your personal experiences?

I supported Obama. However, I have the utmost respect for McCain. That man was a warrior who served our nation for half a century defending it. It bothered me a little that people made fun of his age because this man fought for our country and soldiers like him paved the way for Obama to become the first black president.

What could have McCain done to have won. I have my ideas, but I just want to see what McCain could have done to win, if it was possible.

If you are an Obama supporter, what would you have liked to see McCain do and if you are a McCain supporter, what do you think he should have done to win?

I have seen on YA here more crying and whining from those that voted for McCain then anything. It is ok to disagree with Obama on his policies. It is ok to have aggressive debates on policies here. To name call is silly however. Half of the people here probably have no idea what a Communist or a Socialist is.

I am an independent. It doesn't matter who is in office as long as they do a good job. I think that those that voted for McCain haven't even let a week go by without criticizing Obama. HE ISN'T EVEN THE PRESIDENT YET!

The US let Bush and the Republicans do whatever they wanted. Now give this new guy a chance. I can promise that I will criticize him as ardently as I have Bush if need be. Until then, let Obama have his chance.

To those Obama supporters that are gloating, don't. Obama could really screw things up as badly as Bush did. I hope he doesn't, but I am still very cynical.

Bill O'rielly has said that you can't trust government to do anything for you. We all pay taxes and I don't mind doing my civic duty and I pay my taxes on time every year. However, how much (or how little) should we expect from our government if we pay taxes? What services are the government obligated to provide for us? Should we just not pay taxes and fend for ourselves? Please, no attacks on any candidate or a political party.

I believe that no matter who is in office, our taxes will go up. Two wars that cost us 12 billion a month, 840 billion dollars and counting for our bailout. We may not pay directly through income taxes, but I believe that the Republicans and Democrats will both figure out a way to raise the money. (Maybe raising sales tax, fees on licenses, etc.)

Am I just being cynical or do people think that Obama or McCain will raise money using slick methods and explain it through double talk?

I provided a link to The Weekly Standard, and if you look at the advertisement banners, it only has Palin's face on it and not McCain's. It's like if Bush Senior was running for President and you only saw Dan Quayle's face. Or only having Biden's face on the advertisement. Last I checked, I thought McCain was running for President.

http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/...

I honestly don't believe that Obama is a Muslim. But does it matter? What if John McCain was a Muslim, Jew, Hindu, whatever? Should it really matter? Should it matter? Romney, who I believed could have been a fully competent President was drummed out because he was Mormon. McCain cheated on his first wife with his current wife, and nobody denigrates him for being a bad Christian. In the end, is all this talk about religion a way to sidestep real issues like the economy, the wars, health care, energy, infrastructure? I don't care if people criticize Obama for policy issues, because many of them are legitimate, but people constantly tossing around his religion (or at least the assumption of his religious beliefs) or his middle name HUSSEIN like that is supposed to be some sort of insult shows that people are devoid of ideas and can't tout the last 8 years as a success.

I just saw an article that states that 5000 teens a year are killed. In some states, it is 16 to drive. However, what about raising the standards to get one? In japan, you have to pay for something like 50 hours of class, pass the exam, and then pay to go to a drivers school for several more hours of instruction. They have some of the lowest accident rates in the world. Germany has something similar as well.

My personal opinion, raising the age sounds great, but if the standards are low and the cost of getting a license is low, then we will have adults that also drive unsafely. Maybe if a drivers license was worth more, people would treat it as such and be better and most importantly safer drivers.

I would like to take a little break from all the seriousness that is Yahoo answers Politics just to ask this question. I don't care about anybody's political views for this particular question. I don't even care if you think Palin would be a good VP. I just want to know if you think she is hot. I'm still not voting for McCain, but she does make for good eye candy. At least McCain has taste. I don't care if all the hairy armpitted feminazies out there hate me for this question. This is a question for the guys out there. (Or for the girls if you flow that way, nobody is judging you)