T, stop trolling, you know you are right, don't act like you are not.

don't see why israel gets 3 billion when they don't even respect US policy.

Let's see where cutting the really expensive shit that shouldn't be spent (Iraq, et al) gets us first. I can't imagine anyone serious being serious about cutting the Peace Corps as a substantial solution to the budget crisis.

^you mean like how they wanted to cut NPR funding? lol. yep. can't even imagine it.

Santa poses an interesting question that should not just be glossed over. And its not just Isreal, but lots of other countries as well. Whats up with that?

answer to the question:

jew lobby + apocalyptic christian lobby

answer to the question for pakistan - we fear losing our limited sphere of influence there to china

@Thucy: Hence why I said "anyone serious being serious." I don't take most of the Republicans seriously. Fucking bandwagon libertarian-lite assholes

As long as the CIA gets to keep their $15-per-muffin in tact, who gives a fucking Saudi rat's ass.

So why didn't the Peace Corps free Iraq from the murderous dictatorship of Saddam?

Because the Peace Corps wouldn't think to fabricate documents that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction?

Peace Corps is a nest of spies. They're a crypto-intelligence gathering outfit posing as "foreign aid". Sorry, but it's true. Look at the history of the organization. Look at who their leaders were and where they wound up. Look at their role in Latin America in particular.

China has much closer contacts with Pakistan, so we already "lost" that sphere of influence . China has never cut off its assistance to Pakistan, the US has. China built Pakistan's nuclear program. It's in the process of building the port in Gwadar. Ties are very very close.

We assist Pakistan because Pakistan has done the heavy lifting of the war on terror. Far more Pakistanis have died since the WoT started than any other country.

Honestly Putin... do you care to tell me how the Peace Corps of today gathers intelligence in any meaningful way lol.

I believe it may *have* happened, but I just don't see it now. And I'm not here to tell you the PC is the greatest thing ever but I do think it is a good thing despite numerous flaws.

Lopt, try to be original. I know it will be something entirely new for you.

@Sarg: But they are damn good muffins.

no thucy putin is right. all those reports they make you write in the corps? yeah they go straight to a desk in langley.

Answer to all problems: Cut Spending.

"Peace Corps is a nest of spies. They're a crypto-intelligence gathering outfit posing as "foreign aid". Sorry, but it's true. Look at the history of the organization. Look at who their leaders were and where they wound up. Look at their role in Latin America in particular. "

Which is why your application is automatically rejected if you are related to federal agents

I asked a witch doctor how to solve the debt crisis and he said "Ooh ee ooh ah ah ting tang walla walla bang bang, ooh ee ooh ah ah ting tang walla walla bang bang."
Then I asked the Republican presidential contenders and they said the exact same thing!

Which is why they helped run guns to the generals forces in Chile and why the director of the Peace Corps was the Ambassador to Chile, helping to coordinate the coup operation with peace corps volunteers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Davis
http://www.cia-on-campus.org/social/camelot.html
http://kiwidepia.com/kiwi/bS9pL2MvTWljaGFlbF9Ub3dubGV5XzZkZDk=

+1 Mafia, I feel that the marginalisation of the voodoo religion is to blame for much of today's social unrest.

lol mafia

anyway tell me what use a peace corps report is to the CIA

The same use Facebook is. Intelligence doesnt have to be juicy to be useful.
If you have a report of whats going on in [insert 3rd world country here] every day/week/month, you have... intelligence.

Sargmacher, so the Peace Corps would have left Saddam in charge until he died to be succeeded by Uday and Qusay.

What a great world the Peace Corps promised Iraq!!!!

What kind of blathering idiot doesn't think that Saddam and his sons being gone doesn't make the world a much greater place.
The example of Iraq holding elections and moving on after their dictator was deposed is exactly what inspired the Arab Spring.

Or, I'm sorry, the Peace Corps inspired the Arab Spring.
I like how the Peace Corps won the Cold War and caused the fall of the Soviet Union.

Well if that's the kind of intelligence one would be gathering, I would have no problem with that. Being less ignorant about other countries is not something I see as a problem.. lol.

Yes, Tettleton, and Iraq has been such a peaceful, live-able country ever since ...

Remember back when Republicans were against nation-building? You know, before they were for it?

Baathist Iraq was the most advanced society in the Middle East behind Israel. Iraq actually won an award from UNESCO for its literacy campaign.

Oh I'm sorry Sarge, I forgot that you lefties ideological morons complain if whatever the US touches doesn't turn to gold.
How do you get through a day being such an idiot?

"The example of Iraq holding elections and moving on after their dictator was deposed is exactly what inspired the Arab Spring. "

Wow I didnt know a US invasion and subsequent decade-long occupation were such a source of inspiration and admiration. For some reason I thought the spark was tunisia overthrowing it's dictator (without the US? is that allowed?!?) and the spark for that was the self-immolation of a disenfranchised taxi driver, and the spark for that was years and years of totalitarian rule.

gee I am so misinformed, tettleton teach me please

can someone respond to my point i am curious as to your opinions - peace corps is something i plan to do

http://prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=02&year=2008&base_name=peace_corps_spies

Apparently despite the so-called prohibitions on any CIA operatives working for the Peace Corps and vice versa, this still goes on.

I wanted to join too a long time ago, freshman year of college. I mentioned it to a friend of mine from Ecuador and he said the Peace Corps has a bad reputation in Latin America. And I sat through sessions where PCVs tried to recruit people. The whole session was about your "experience" and had nothing to do with what you actually do to help people. After sitting through Teach For America (a horrible horrible program), the two seem a lot alike. It's all about building the resume of the individual involved, and the poor record of actually helping doesn't seem to bother people.

"The whole session was about your "experience" and had nothing to do with what you actually do to help people."

This does bother me too, but I don't think it's a reason not to do it and try to help anyway. Also, here in Senegal, people quite like the Peace Corps and I have myself been shown several projects that were set up by PCVs that are actually useful and still working.

The peace corps is absolutely rewarding. A friend served for three years in El Salvador back in the day. It changed his life.

Of course it is rewarding, I think we all agree on that.

TC are you in favor of the Peace Corps? I'm legitimately surprised, I'd have thought you'd see it as some kind of liberal pet project.

I think it's rewarding to the volunteers maybe, but so is any travel abroad. The 'service' it provides is agenda-laden and often not helpful. When French logging companies are coming in and destroying the community lands you depend on for your livelihood (as in Senegal), "service" isn't going to do a damn thing. And I fear people whose goal, whether they like it or not, is to make American policies seem more benevolent by putting a human face on them, is simply providing cover for the very things that are hurting African countries the most. Not to mention the fact that he develop human intelligence that is later used to determine, for example, what the public attitude is to countries considered enemies of America.

I don't have any problem with the Peace Corps.
You want to increase the Peace Corps budget astronomically.
I do have a huge problem with that.
The Peace Corps gets its strength from its volunteerism.
A huge budget would politicize, corrupt, and destroy that.

"You want to increase the Peace Corps budget astronomically. "

No not really, I just don't want it to be cut from where it is.

Also, yes, Putin there are negative examples - I would hope I would examine it critically.

But what I saw was a trash cleaning project - sorting biodegradable from non, then making compost and selling it for fertilizer giving the town revenue, clean streets, more tourism revenue, a better environment, and some extra income to boot.

Why does the government need to fund the Peace Corps Thucy?
Do you think it's model isn't capable of sustaining massive private donations.
I would submit to you that government funding is exactly what holds it back.
People think they've contributed because tax dollars fund it.
If it were privately funded it would be one of the most popular destinations for private donations.

if it were privately funded it would no longer be "from the american people" to quote USAID's slogan

Why does it have to be from the "American" people Thucy? You are a citizen of the world type. Why does "American" have to be attached to it. Why can't it simply be in the name of universal brotherhood? Why does it have to be in any name at all. Why can't it just be people helping people.

Of course it can't be those things because ultimately for the Big Government Statists on the left the Peace Corps isn't what's imporant. The Peace Corps is just another hypocritical vehicle that uses global suffering to advance a political agenda.

Hypocrisy is so easy to expose.