Setting the stage for hardball with North Korea. We're focused on Iraq and Iran right now but the DPRK is on the radar. The big difference here is China. They have considerable influence over North Korea and no solution is possible without them. They will not abide a unified, nuclear, democratic Korea on their border. On the other hand, Kim is a pain in the ass. He's always threatening and making demands. He is a master of brinkmanship and possibly a little unstable. China also wants to avoid a collapse of the North which would lead to a flood of refugees across the border. Many times more than they can handle. I think the US is going to have to keep the DPRK issue on the back burner until the Iraq and Iran situations are sorted out (not to mention Afghanistan).
Feds eye Stevens' home remodeling project
Feds eye Stevens' home remodeling project . Thank God they're going after this guy. He's been so brazen with his porkbarreling and the whiff of corruption around him has been ripe enough to smell from here. I'd rather have a 100% democrat run Congress if they were ethical. Term limits. One term for Senate, two for the House, one for the President. Some fear that would increase the power of lobbyists. Simple, ban any former members from being lobbyists and limit lobbyists to terms as well. (I'm not sure how that would work. Just a thought.) The other answer is transparency. No earmarks without a floor vote. No spending of any kind without a floor vote. All spending committees (intelligence aside) open to the public and recorded and available on the web.
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