I think that I'd like to be a liberal. Being a liberal is considered "cool." Being a conservative is so old-fashioned. Conservatives are old, uptight, moralistic, boring. Dick Cheney! Liberals are young, hip, good-looking, fun. George Clooney! Like the commercial featuring the two guys as a Mac and a PC. The Mac is young and cool: liberal; the PC is fat and uptight: conservative.
Actually I think I mean I'd like to live in the world that liberals THINK we live in. Do you follow what I mean? Liberals have all these great intentions; peace, love, dope! If WE, meaning the United States, would only stop being so selfish and mean; the whole world would get along and be peaceful and prosperous.
Unfortunately we don't live in a world where most of their ideas are possible. It would be cool, for example, if we could solve the terrorism problem with "dialogue" and understanding. But I don't think it matters how well we understand Muslim culture; or how much we want to help people in third-world countries overcome poverty, disease and oppression. THEY don't care what our intentions are.
It would be great if every working person in the U.S. could be paid $10 per hour or more. Liberals seem to believe that it's as simple as passing a law. Mandate what everyone is to be paid and eliminate poverty! Of course this doesn't take into account the reality that there would be far fewer jobs overall because business owners, making the same amount of money as they did before the law was passed, wouldn't be able to hire as many workers.
This seems so simple to me, so logical, that it boggles my mind that so many people in America don't get it.
Like I said, it would be great to live in that world. But that world just doesn't exist.
You Need Me On That Wall! A blog about military service, gear, leadership, politics, motorcycles, watches and whatever else strikes me.
Sunday, October 29, 2006
Friday, October 27, 2006
Off day
I'm off work today so that time I usually spend in the car or on my motorcycle thinking about things I want to blog about didn't happen. If something comes up I'll post it. Who knows I'll be going out later so something might trigger a rant.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
The Snow
On my way to work this morning the power was out at two gas stations I tried to get gas from. Does Excel not understand that we have snow every year here. Here's a clue, it will snow again at least one more time this winter!!
How hard would it be to go out in the middle of the day on a nice bright sunshine filled summer day and check the power lines to see if they will hold up to the snow? Put a little tension on the line and see if it breaks. Yeah, sure some of them will break and then people will be out of power. I'm sure if you explain that the power is out on the beautiful summer day so that it won't go out in the middle of the night in the dead of winter, folks will understand.
Some PHB probably fired the guy with common sense for coming up with pain-in-the-ass suggestions like this.
How hard would it be to go out in the middle of the day on a nice bright sunshine filled summer day and check the power lines to see if they will hold up to the snow? Put a little tension on the line and see if it breaks. Yeah, sure some of them will break and then people will be out of power. I'm sure if you explain that the power is out on the beautiful summer day so that it won't go out in the middle of the night in the dead of winter, folks will understand.
Some PHB probably fired the guy with common sense for coming up with pain-in-the-ass suggestions like this.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Rich Liberals
Here's what I don't get about rich liberals:
Why don't they all put their money together and start a big charity to give the money to poor folks?
It seems every left-leaning politician runs on a platform of sticking it to the rich. (Nothing like punishing success.) Barack Obama was in Denver today and one of the quotes they used on the news was Obama saying he would fight to roll back the "tax cuts for the rich." Well he's rich, so I started thinking: Why don't they cut out the middle -man and start a charity to give THEIR OWN money directly to the poor?
They could set a limit on the amount of money that they think each person should make. Anything they earn above that amount, they donate to this charity. Then the charity would give the money to anyone who makes below a certain amount. I think they would gain a lot of credibility with people like me who think it's okay to make as much money as you can. (I'd probably still disagree with them, but I would respect them more.)
I'm comfortable with the idea that some people are willing to work harder than I do, or spend years in school, so that they earn a lot more money than I do. I also am comfortable with the idea that I earn more than other people. We all make choices. I don't have a problem paying taxes and having some of those taxes used to help the people who, for whatever reason, CAN'T earn enough to live on.
But there is a huge difference between someone who CAN'T earn enough, and someone who is capable of going to school or working longer hours, stop spending more than they earn, etc... and CHOOSES not to.
And as long as I'm sending my money into the government, I want to know that I'm not just subsidizing some loser who would rather sit at home smoking dope than go to work. Some people need help, they should get it. Some people need education, and they should get it too. Some people are looking for a free ride.
Here is another thought: If rich liberals think the federal government is the best place for their money, why don't they just GIVE their money to the government? If the tax cuts are so unfair, don't claim them! Just do a straight 1040 with no exemptions and no deductions. How hard is that?
That way the entrepreneurs and small business people could still get the cuts that allow them to grow their businesses; and the regular folks like me can still afford to sink money into my 401K (actually Thrift Savings Plan in the Army), which drives the economy.
Enough for this rant.
Why don't they all put their money together and start a big charity to give the money to poor folks?
It seems every left-leaning politician runs on a platform of sticking it to the rich. (Nothing like punishing success.) Barack Obama was in Denver today and one of the quotes they used on the news was Obama saying he would fight to roll back the "tax cuts for the rich." Well he's rich, so I started thinking: Why don't they cut out the middle -man and start a charity to give THEIR OWN money directly to the poor?
They could set a limit on the amount of money that they think each person should make. Anything they earn above that amount, they donate to this charity. Then the charity would give the money to anyone who makes below a certain amount. I think they would gain a lot of credibility with people like me who think it's okay to make as much money as you can. (I'd probably still disagree with them, but I would respect them more.)
I'm comfortable with the idea that some people are willing to work harder than I do, or spend years in school, so that they earn a lot more money than I do. I also am comfortable with the idea that I earn more than other people. We all make choices. I don't have a problem paying taxes and having some of those taxes used to help the people who, for whatever reason, CAN'T earn enough to live on.
But there is a huge difference between someone who CAN'T earn enough, and someone who is capable of going to school or working longer hours, stop spending more than they earn, etc... and CHOOSES not to.
And as long as I'm sending my money into the government, I want to know that I'm not just subsidizing some loser who would rather sit at home smoking dope than go to work. Some people need help, they should get it. Some people need education, and they should get it too. Some people are looking for a free ride.
Here is another thought: If rich liberals think the federal government is the best place for their money, why don't they just GIVE their money to the government? If the tax cuts are so unfair, don't claim them! Just do a straight 1040 with no exemptions and no deductions. How hard is that?
That way the entrepreneurs and small business people could still get the cuts that allow them to grow their businesses; and the regular folks like me can still afford to sink money into my 401K (actually Thrift Savings Plan in the Army), which drives the economy.
Enough for this rant.
Letter to Mom
I sent this to my Mom in response to an email. I thought I'd post it up.
I believe many, many people on the left want us to lose in Iraq. It's the only explanation for the complete lack of acknowledgement for any of our accomplishments there. Can you name a single "hero" from this 3 year old war? Or seen a single movie/documentary that portrays the troops in anything but a negative or sympathetic way?
Now CNN shows terrorist snipers killing our troops. Would they show a video of our snipers killing terrorists? They haven't. What does that tell you? It's hard not to think that the country is against the soldiers when you see this.
It's easy to get into an "us v them" mindset. In this case the "us" are the soldiers and the "them" are the civilians who don't understand the danger they are in if we don't succeed.
I believe many, many people on the left want us to lose in Iraq. It's the only explanation for the complete lack of acknowledgement for any of our accomplishments there. Can you name a single "hero" from this 3 year old war? Or seen a single movie/documentary that portrays the troops in anything but a negative or sympathetic way?
Now CNN shows terrorist snipers killing our troops. Would they show a video of our snipers killing terrorists? They haven't. What does that tell you? It's hard not to think that the country is against the soldiers when you see this.
It's easy to get into an "us v them" mindset. In this case the "us" are the soldiers and the "them" are the civilians who don't understand the danger they are in if we don't succeed.
Monday, October 23, 2006
First little rant
Chaos and negativity, it drives me nuts. You would think that every soldier that ever went to Iraq has been killed. People want to see the caskets of soldiers coming back to the states, in the name of truth, they say.
That's bullshit.
You want the truth? You want balance? How about showing pictures of troops coming home safe and sound? How about showing footage of all the convoys arriving safely at their destinations every day in Iraq? Boring... No drama...
No one is interested in truth or balance anymore. All we want are weapons to beat our opponents over the head with. That's fine if our opponents are the terrorists. The problem is we are fighting each other. No one outside the administration is interested in winning this war. They want to win in November, not in Baghdad.
Bush and Co. obviously don't have the right tactics. They need help, but they won't get it because no one in opposition wants Bush to look good. And Bush wouldn't take help anyway because he doesn't want to look like he needs the help.
We Soldiers are stuck. Prisioners of our political system.
That's bullshit.
You want the truth? You want balance? How about showing pictures of troops coming home safe and sound? How about showing footage of all the convoys arriving safely at their destinations every day in Iraq? Boring... No drama...
No one is interested in truth or balance anymore. All we want are weapons to beat our opponents over the head with. That's fine if our opponents are the terrorists. The problem is we are fighting each other. No one outside the administration is interested in winning this war. They want to win in November, not in Baghdad.
Bush and Co. obviously don't have the right tactics. They need help, but they won't get it because no one in opposition wants Bush to look good. And Bush wouldn't take help anyway because he doesn't want to look like he needs the help.
We Soldiers are stuck. Prisioners of our political system.
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