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North Vs South Korea - The Resurfacing War

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What some people do not know is that the Korean War has actually been going on since the initial war broke out between North and South Korea in 1950. It has never ended, albeit poor and not-so-eager attempts to stop it. Rather, there was merely a ceasefire that was never resolved. But whatever truce there was between them was not apparent, even to most of the rest of the world. There have been different versions as to the real cause for this conflict between the North and South Korea. Some say that it is just a cover-up for the real raging battle for political and economic power between the United States, which supported South Korea and the Soviet Union, which backed up North Korea. But the more accepted reason was the stern fight for democracy to prevail over communism, and vice versa, which was known to be the cold war between the once wartime allies. Indeed, aside from Russia under Joseph Stalin, North Korea also found huge support from its likewise communist neighbor China headed b

At Obama's side, Clinton backs tax deal

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WASHINGTON — Bill Clinton implored Democrats to back the tax-cut deal that President Barack Obama negotiated with Republicans as the former president made a surprise appearance at Obama's side in the White House briefing room Friday. Comparing Obama in '10 and Clinton in '94 "I don't believe there is a better deal out there," Clinton told reporters who'd been summoned at a moment's notice to see the former chief executive back the current one. Clinton and Obama had just finished a private meeting in the Oval Office. Obama said it was a "terrific meeting" and then turned the podium over to Clinton. The voluble former president took it away, and Obama left part-way through his remarks, saying he had holiday parties to attend. "Both sides are going to have to eat some things they don't like," Clinton told reporters. "We don't want to slip back into a recession. We've got to keep this thing going and accelerate its pace

It's Not Race, It's Longevity

I have a certain weakness for Charlie Rangel. He's a stone, flat-out war hero--his service in frigid Korea, during a terrible moment in that war, in an Army that was just learning how to integrate (in other words, an institution that was still racist in many ways)--has always earned him some extra tolerance from me, even if his brand of politics was classic, troglyditic inner city cronyism. I've also loved his gravelly New York accent--he's family!--and his flash dress and his sly sense of humor (and his insistence on the restitution of the draft, so that rich and upper middle class kids help bear the brunt of the fighting in America's endless wars--or, by using their class-based megaphone, end them). But he's a crook. No getting around it. And his brand of politics--the Harlem Clubhouse patronage and condescension machine--has, arguably, diminished the chances of success, and increased a culture of dependency, for many of his constituents over the pas