In light of the political season and all of the policy talk I will pose a question. What are the most ignored issues so far during this campaign season that you believe really effect the US taxpayer and or you believe should be discussed more? The issue can be big or small.

Ill start:

US - Isreali relations: Why does the US continue to give Isreal between 1.5 - 3 billion dollars a year of taxpayers money when Isreal has the 44th largest economy in the world and one of the strongest (top 10) militaries in the world. Especially considering we, the US, have such poor relations with the Arab world. Isnt it time to cut ties with Isreal after 60 years and allow them to function on their own? I think this is a huge issue and has alot to do with the (Iraq war-Arab relations-energy costs) going on into the future.

EDIT: The questions I pose are more or less what I would want answered by the people running for president. But please respond to those questions if you have an opinion about it.

Honestly if we left them alone and let them do it themselves. I think they would be wiped off the planet in a few short years. Part of the reason they are so big econ wise and military wise is because of us.

Now i would much rather fix the USA first then worry about the world later. But our government has gotten us so imbeded in foriegn countrys that we cant jsut pull out and say. Ok we are done.

we need a foothold to get to the oilfield during the next world war thats why we help israel

what about the ban on mini, sealable plastic baggies? I would like to see this issue addressed by our politicians.

Have you ever heard of AIPAC ?

They are the most powerful foreign policy lobby in the world.

No politician in America wants to be on their bad side.

Democrats and Republicans alike fall all over themselves trying to appease them.

(all 3 remaing presidental candidates fall into this category)

They have joined with the religious right to provide more than unconditional support

for Israel. Two recent examples include this admistrations mistake in advocating for a

a sustained air campaign that would cripple Hezbollah in Lebanon (it did not) and most recently

the revealation that the Bush adminstration was active in promting a civil war in Palestine

(another failure, Hamas is still in power).

This is one campaign issue that none of them want to have anything to do with.

If anything they will simply try to outdo each other in maintaing their support for the current govt .

You are correct though, ending the occupation and having peace in Palestine and Israel would be

a watershed event in history. But it's just too risky a proposition .....could lead to political

suicide...no pun intended

Absolutely I have heard of the group. And yes they are a very powerful group, but I believe they will lose power in the upcoming years. I recently read a book called The Isreal Lobby (great read) and it has powerful insight to he AIPAC and US-Isreal relations. At the beginning of Isreal as a state much of the support came as sympathy for the Holocaust (rightfully so), but now 60 years later Isreal has been built into a powerhouse miliary wise and business wise. The sympathy will always be there, but the Holocaust generation is almost no more and there is now a new generation of Jews who have turned Isreal into a country who has the 2nd most start-up companies int he world. And because America has always played both sides in the middle east(jews and arabs) it has completely fractured relations with the Arab community, which we need because of oil.

And the Palestine thing, well, no one condones their terrorists actions, but you are talking about hundreds of thousands of "refugees" and from the day they are born they are taught to hate jews. The palestinians have no official "home" its such a touchy issue. But personally I think its time to let Isreal fend for themselves. Isreal aint no joke, there military is amazing. They can handle themselves. Plus there have been so many times Isreal has ventured on there own to handle their business without US support.

we can't just tell them to fend for themselves AND ask for our nukes back so we need to stay there. If we left they'd just nuke the surrounding countries.

The real question is why would it be politcal suicide? That is where the real question is. Because if someone believes that then they are saying Jews run the country of the United States. And thats where it sets off a firestorm and brings up thoughts of Jewish ppl have been hurt throughout history. These are the hard ass questions about US-Isreali policy. And it aint pretty. Man its such touchy issue, but an issue that must be dealt with head on, imo

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=t16red vAlign=top colSpan=2>Gunmen enter yeshiva dining hall, open fire </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD class=t18B vAlign=top colSpan=2>At least seven killed in terrorist attack at Jerusalem yeshiva </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD class=t11B vAlign=top colSpan=2>By Jonathan Lis, Yair Ettinger and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents </TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2></TD></TR><TR><TD colSpan=2 height=1><SPAN dir=ltr><SPAN class=tagTitle>Tags: </SPAN><SPAN>Israel</SPAN><SPAN>, Palestinians</SPAN> </SPAN> </TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=t13>At least seven people were killed and seven others were wounded Thursday evening when terrorists infiltrated the Merkaz Harav yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood in Jerusalem, a senior police official said.

At least two terrorists infiltrated the yeshiva, possibly armed with explosive belts, and began firing in every direction.

Some reports suggested the terrorists were shot and killed, while other reports from the scene said the incident was ongoing and shots were still being fired.
</SPAN> <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD rowSpan=2></TD><TD class=t9>Advertisement</TD></TR><TR><TD align=right><IFRAME marginWidth=0 marginHeight=0 src="http://dclk.themarker.com/html.ng/site=Haaretz_Eng&adsize=300x250eng&hpositi on=99&hlayer1=&HaaretzCatgory=&hlang=E NG" frameBorder=0 width=300 scrolling=no height=250 BORDERCOLOR="000000"></IFRAME></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><SPAN class=t13>A large number of police and emergency medical personnel had either arrived or were en route to the scene, with some 20-30 ambulances summoned.

Police and Israel Defense Forces troops were searching the complex in order to determine whether one of the terrorists was still holed up inside the yeshiva, and were also going house to house in the immediate area in search of a terrorist who may have fled.

Rescue personnel evacuated two people who were wounded, one of which was in serious condition and the other was in moderate condition. MDA declared the incident a "multiple casualty event."

Police are having a difficult time keeping crowds of onlookers away from the scene, despite concerns there are still explosive belts at the scene that have yet to be neutralized.

Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski told Channel 2, "It's very sad tonight in
Jerusalem - many people were killed in the heart of Jerusalem.</SPAN> </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

I'm sure Belichick has a couple of camera operator's positions he can give them.

Medicare and Social Security and the incredible amount of debt we carry.

Another issue would be individual credit card debt. Everyone is talking about the subprime mortgage crisis and bad home loans, but nobody wants to acknowledge that the reason for so many bad home loans is that people have been trying to get out of their credit card debt by taking out bad second mortagages and refinancing with bad terms. 10% is better than 30% right?

While they talk about bailing out lenders and borrowers and foreclosure moratoriums they allow exhorbitant credit card interest and make it more difficult to file bankruptcy to discharge credit card debt when credit card debt is the root of all evil.

If government is going to be the one we look to to solve our problems, at least they could go after the right problems. If government really wanted to help people it would ban unsecured debt transactions.