The Poker Girl has an announcement to make. She has officially become somewhat of a libertarian. Observing Democrats, Liberals, Republicans, Conservatives, etc has caused me to reach the conclusion that they have one main thing in common- they are desperate. And what has caused their desperation? The answer is simple. They have all participated in bastardizing the Constitution of the United States. Instead of being a union of states, we are now in debt to the federal government. We have, with the help of Congress and the President, over many decades, become a nation of whiners, complainers and dependents as well as a nation of taxation. The participants in the federal government have urged us to become whiners, complainers and dependants. We have been in collusion with them- electing them, booing them, supporting them and hating them. But regardless of what side you, your parents or your great grandparents took, make no mistake- we allowed them to continue to use taxpayer money. We allowed them to continue to bloat budgets and pay for programs that benefitted the few but cost the many. We allowed them to even begin an income tax to begin with. And what have they done? They diverted our attention. Partisan bickering, name calling while pleading to the average American to continue to open their wallet for the poor and disadvantaged. And we, as a caring nation, have ignored the brutal reality that eventually the piper must be paid. And to furthur the ruse, the money is taken right out of our paychecks- so that we wouldn't notice the money was gone. Paid out of our futures, our children's futures, and paid out of our very deaths. We have lost control of ourselves. And now, the federal government faces the hand in the cookie jar moment. The money is gone. Used as "federal funds" as if the government did not take money from us but rather magically willed it to appear. Taxation is now done to appease the voracious monster that is the federal government, and it is about to punish the best and the brightest- the risk takers who run businesses-and it will, sooner rather than later, destroy the most magnificent experiment in the history of the world- the USA.
Poor people are no better off now than before politicians decided to use them as a smoke screen to grab your money. All the medicaid and free clinics has made them no richer and no healthier. There are legitimate arguments to be made that poverty will always exist and that welfare has created generations of dependency. So we are asked to provide more money. The expansion of these programs, despite any proof that they are of benefit or that they provide more than volunteer groups could do, has finally reached the wall. Rather than a nation of strong states that have balanced budgets and govern their own citizenry, we are a nation of weak states at the mercy of federal regulations and actions. The craftier congressmen and women have used "federal" money to pay for their own state deficits and projects. The states with stupider representatives never see their money back. They rob Washington to pay for California. Federal spending has always been a dead end road. But no one seemed to care that the end could happen. But it has. If our federal government had not become so comfortable with robbing its citizens, we would not be in this predicament. At all.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Obamacare ? Obama No Care.
When someone asks you what is wrong with Obama’s plan- point out to them that IF the inept government provides “cheap” (except to the taxpayer) health insurance, no employers in their right MINDS would offer a private insurance option. That means that PRIVATE insurers would go out of business then ALL of us are stuck on the government plan. Yesterday, I saw a radiation oncologist (the guy who does the radiation for cancer)who said that in those 1000 pages of health care “reform” is a provision to stop services like his in cases where the cancer has a poor prognosis. That means, no radiation therapy or chemo will be paid for if the cancer will be terminal anyway. Right now, chemo and radiation do provide pain management and shrinking of tumors giving people a longer life- most with more quality of life. Medicine has worked for decades to try to cure cancer. Part of CURING it is extending the lives of patients who have incurable cancer so that they can take new medications and be part of new protocols. Many patients volunteer for this, knowing it might save their children’s lives one day. It is my opinion that the Obama health care option, by denying terminal care, will essentially STOP the cures for many terminal diseases from being developed. And if that is not reason enough, then you need to think of the quality of mercy. Until you face the last year of your life, it is easy to say that a terminal diagnosis should be simply accepted without a fight. Most people choose the fight.
Find me one person who has read all 1000 pages of this bill. That should be the first question you should ask an Obamacare supporter- have they READ what this is? But I do know that the radiation oncologist HAD read the entire bill. And he thought it was frightening for patient choice and physician choice.
Then the commentator asked the best question- is medicine a BUSINESS or a SOCIAL PROGRAM? Last time I looked, there was no government sponsored coverage for legal service, technical services, repair services, etc., and I have to pay everyone who does anything for me. If the government (i.e. the taxpayer) wishes to reimburse hospitals and doctors for the amount of cash the insurance companies make them eat right now, then the citizens of the US cannot trust their congress people to do it for them. It needs to be on the 2010 ballot. Then go ask your doctor what would be best for YOU and your family.
This issue is too huge to push through in a couple of months. It is being forced on the taxpayers by their "representatives". Don't stop the fight. Until your "representative" can explain it all to you and make it easily available to you, don't let them make you a worse victim of an all ready bad, but NOT broken, system.
Find me one person who has read all 1000 pages of this bill. That should be the first question you should ask an Obamacare supporter- have they READ what this is? But I do know that the radiation oncologist HAD read the entire bill. And he thought it was frightening for patient choice and physician choice.
Then the commentator asked the best question- is medicine a BUSINESS or a SOCIAL PROGRAM? Last time I looked, there was no government sponsored coverage for legal service, technical services, repair services, etc., and I have to pay everyone who does anything for me. If the government (i.e. the taxpayer) wishes to reimburse hospitals and doctors for the amount of cash the insurance companies make them eat right now, then the citizens of the US cannot trust their congress people to do it for them. It needs to be on the 2010 ballot. Then go ask your doctor what would be best for YOU and your family.
This issue is too huge to push through in a couple of months. It is being forced on the taxpayers by their "representatives". Don't stop the fight. Until your "representative" can explain it all to you and make it easily available to you, don't let them make you a worse victim of an all ready bad, but NOT broken, system.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
On The Economic Enslavement of the Working Rich
The pokergirl loves to send letters to editors on the internet. It's every citizen's job to have input and interest in what is happening to their country- not only how it affects the individual personally, but also how it affects the fellow citizen. I sent a brief posting out using the phrase "enslavement of the working rich". Now, of course, I have to explain myself!
Nothing in this world is easier than annointing oneself as a humanitarian- particularly if it doesn't cost one any personal time or money. Nothing is easier than demanding that SOMEONE do SOMETHING. And in the United States, it has been decreed that those people be the working rich. Not the trust fund babies who are protected from the great tax grab by the thoughtful and expensive planning of their progenitors. But the WORKING rich. Those people who will also lose their homes and cars and jobs and money if they don't GET UP and go to work every day. The work they do is usually highly skilled in terms of requiring a specific set of abilities- either organizational or intellectual or both- and usually involves a high degree of interaction with others involving a sphere of influence and responsibility unknown to the working poor or middle class. There is a REASON why some workers become rich. And with very little thought, anyone can figure that one out. Resentment of the most successful starts very early in life. People who are not and will never be capable of great financial success learn that resentment is an easier way to deal with it than the self-realization that they simply aren't as good at it. It is easy to pick on the "rich". But rich is, and always has been, relative. If I have 500K a year (don't worry, I don't), and your house payment and maintenance expenses and personal expenses are 450K a year- you aren't rich, you just LIVE rich. There is nothing wrong with that- because in our nation, we are rapidly losing the concept that it is OUR money. We have become victims of the rapidly evolving policy of economic enslavement of the working rich. And the working not so rich. Obama, who has never run a business or issued a paycheck, as well as Biden, who has never run a business or issued a paycheck or worried about his employees, now, with a liberal and punitive Congress, feel they have a right to play Robin Hood. To rob the working wealthy. In their insulated world, they have become God-like in their omnipotence. They choose to steal what is not theirs for a form of political humanitarianism that is purely self promotional. They have taken a problem created by Congress (lack of credit regulation and promotion of bad mortgage policies through freddie and fannie) and turned it into a golden opportunity to produce a constituency of sycophants who will continue to vote for policies that keep them as the benficiaries. This is not only devastating to the core of American capitalism, but will eventually demoralize any one with intelligence and ambition. Ironically, a secular government is now placing itself in the world of "tending to the poor" that should be the primary role of organized religion. Evidently "we" are not the richest country in the world- "we" are determined to become reliant on the richest PEOPLE in the country. And there is a difference. What is happening under the incompetent and bizarre watch of Pelosi and Frank is no more than a political grab to keep the poor under the burden of government subsidy that will suck initiative out of them for generations. Don't believe it? Take a LONG, hard look at the culture of government dependency that has crippled the African American population in such cities as New Orleans. It is a city of 4 generations of welfare, and to be better or work harder is not a concept that is even taught. It is a welfare program that so crippled its recipients that when they were told to evacuate, they didn't even bring their babies formula or diapers with them, let alone a canteen of water. Why? Well, that was the government's job.
Be very careful, America, how you punish the people whose initiative has not only made them peronally successful but also has made the economy successful. It is unfortunate that some of the complainers are people of great intelligence and education who have chosen the easy way out. They employ no one, work in areas that they feel are "critical" to society but that produce no employment and little income and could easily be done by others. Those people have chosen NOT to put themselves into the grinding world of producing jobs and managing people. They simply don't count. They are the excuse makers. And for them to complain about the rich simply reminds us that there is no cure for self-indulgence.
We are always only a step away from an economy that creates dependency of 50% of the citizenry while punishing the most successful. That will FAIL, and it will take us with it. Use your common sense. If you want humanitarianism, get off your rear and go work at a shelter or in an ESL class or through your church. That WORKS. There is another irony in all of this- we have a true African president. He can really say he is African American. He is not a slave descendent. But he now proposes to enslave the working rich to his government- to use them and steal from them and punish them for simply being better. How weird is that?
Nothing in this world is easier than annointing oneself as a humanitarian- particularly if it doesn't cost one any personal time or money. Nothing is easier than demanding that SOMEONE do SOMETHING. And in the United States, it has been decreed that those people be the working rich. Not the trust fund babies who are protected from the great tax grab by the thoughtful and expensive planning of their progenitors. But the WORKING rich. Those people who will also lose their homes and cars and jobs and money if they don't GET UP and go to work every day. The work they do is usually highly skilled in terms of requiring a specific set of abilities- either organizational or intellectual or both- and usually involves a high degree of interaction with others involving a sphere of influence and responsibility unknown to the working poor or middle class. There is a REASON why some workers become rich. And with very little thought, anyone can figure that one out. Resentment of the most successful starts very early in life. People who are not and will never be capable of great financial success learn that resentment is an easier way to deal with it than the self-realization that they simply aren't as good at it. It is easy to pick on the "rich". But rich is, and always has been, relative. If I have 500K a year (don't worry, I don't), and your house payment and maintenance expenses and personal expenses are 450K a year- you aren't rich, you just LIVE rich. There is nothing wrong with that- because in our nation, we are rapidly losing the concept that it is OUR money. We have become victims of the rapidly evolving policy of economic enslavement of the working rich. And the working not so rich. Obama, who has never run a business or issued a paycheck, as well as Biden, who has never run a business or issued a paycheck or worried about his employees, now, with a liberal and punitive Congress, feel they have a right to play Robin Hood. To rob the working wealthy. In their insulated world, they have become God-like in their omnipotence. They choose to steal what is not theirs for a form of political humanitarianism that is purely self promotional. They have taken a problem created by Congress (lack of credit regulation and promotion of bad mortgage policies through freddie and fannie) and turned it into a golden opportunity to produce a constituency of sycophants who will continue to vote for policies that keep them as the benficiaries. This is not only devastating to the core of American capitalism, but will eventually demoralize any one with intelligence and ambition. Ironically, a secular government is now placing itself in the world of "tending to the poor" that should be the primary role of organized religion. Evidently "we" are not the richest country in the world- "we" are determined to become reliant on the richest PEOPLE in the country. And there is a difference. What is happening under the incompetent and bizarre watch of Pelosi and Frank is no more than a political grab to keep the poor under the burden of government subsidy that will suck initiative out of them for generations. Don't believe it? Take a LONG, hard look at the culture of government dependency that has crippled the African American population in such cities as New Orleans. It is a city of 4 generations of welfare, and to be better or work harder is not a concept that is even taught. It is a welfare program that so crippled its recipients that when they were told to evacuate, they didn't even bring their babies formula or diapers with them, let alone a canteen of water. Why? Well, that was the government's job.
Be very careful, America, how you punish the people whose initiative has not only made them peronally successful but also has made the economy successful. It is unfortunate that some of the complainers are people of great intelligence and education who have chosen the easy way out. They employ no one, work in areas that they feel are "critical" to society but that produce no employment and little income and could easily be done by others. Those people have chosen NOT to put themselves into the grinding world of producing jobs and managing people. They simply don't count. They are the excuse makers. And for them to complain about the rich simply reminds us that there is no cure for self-indulgence.
We are always only a step away from an economy that creates dependency of 50% of the citizenry while punishing the most successful. That will FAIL, and it will take us with it. Use your common sense. If you want humanitarianism, get off your rear and go work at a shelter or in an ESL class or through your church. That WORKS. There is another irony in all of this- we have a true African president. He can really say he is African American. He is not a slave descendent. But he now proposes to enslave the working rich to his government- to use them and steal from them and punish them for simply being better. How weird is that?
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Marriage and Politics
What is marriage? Well, if you ask most people they will give you a long and personal account of what THEIR marriage is or their parents marriage is. They won't think much broader than that. But they certainly won't use history to define what the parameters of marriage are. The moment a state approves homosexual marriage the dictionary changes its definitions, so the dictionary is of no help. But marriage is probably as old as mankind's entry into civilization. In prehistory, we know it existed even without glossy photographs and ugly bridesmaids dresses. Though, the dress part might have been the same. Marriages were made in many societies with little regard to whether or not the couple loved one another. Marrying for love was a novelty. Marriage was made to strengthen families and their bonds with other families. Marriage was made to form alliances between countries. Marriage was made to produce heirs. Marriage was done to keep inheritances safe. But throughout history, marriage has been a word of great and undeniable significance and was defined by heterosexuality. If a child was conceived (and in colonial America, that was usually the case), a marriage followed. Raising a child was a function that relied on marriage for its success. Rather than upholding marriage, we have allowed society to degrade it. No longer to we encourage marriage. We have loosened the laws to the point that there is socially and legally acceptable cohabitation, loss of common law marriage, and a general attitude that "marriage is a joke- everyone gets divorced". And now, the very word "marriage" and all of its historic, social, legal and religious meanings is being challenged and changed. What IS in a word? Well, I doubt there is a word with a longer heterosexual lineage than the word "marriage". To wish to preserve the very word is not a crime. Now, fewer than 1 percent of the population wants to claim the word for a union between two men or two women. Whether or not one believes that that is right seems to depend on their age. Teens and younger adults tend to not see it as a problem. And why should they? Their generation has never heard of common law marriage, or heard the history of marriage in world civilizations. To them, it is just a word. Just like the word divorce. And the phrase "everyone gets divorced". And who should we blame? You know the answer. But just because heterosexuals get divorced doesn't mean the word marriage should be used for homosexual unions. There is no social, political, or legal history for that. Do I care if gays have every right that a married couple does? No. I don't. In fact, I have written this before. GO ahead, gay friends and family, get legally committed and share your house and money and dog and bed. And make SURE all those laws you get for yourself include the right to spend A LOT in alimony and on divorce because you will get divorced, too. I WANT you to have that. But you aren't really married- you are in a civil union. Because you are gay. Marriage is such a special word and it has meant, until the last few years in a few countries or states, a man and his wife. Thousands of years of marriage between a man and his wife. Make your own history. Get your own words. But you cannot change the history of an institution that has been special and really doesn't describe what homosexuals are doing. And if you do, somehow, manage to take the word, then guess what? We'll still know you are gay. It's not like it will make you "like everyone else". And that has to be the only reason you would look another guy in the eye and call him your husband. Because you desperately want to be like us. And you don't care how much hate you start to do it. People who don't agree with gays using the word marriage are described as being HATERS. Interesting. I don't hate anyone. I just want to have the word marriage reserved for heterosexuals. That's all. That is the sad part. Marriage has always meant man and wife. No confusion. It will be decades and generations before that history will be lost in the minds and hearts of people who believe it.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Instead of a tea bag....
Dear Mr Obama
I am not mailing a tea bag as it would be thrown away when it went through security. I doubt you’d care any way.
I am equally sure that since this letter does not praise you OR whine about my Aunt Minnie not having all the money she thinks she is owed, that you will not read this. So- to the mail screener at the White House – this is for you.
If I make 250K, but have bought a bigger house or a new car or something to celebrate, I will now have more expenses- expenses that PUT MONEY in someone’s hands who runs a business or sells me gas or gets my property taxes (for children I do NOT have who will never use the school system).
Why does that make me a target? Why do I need to owe YOU any more of my expendable income just because I have that bottom line on my W2.
You are stealing my money and the financial future of the next generation, despite what your teleprompter tells you to say. And if someone does NOT pay any tax, then THEY ARE ON WELFARE- because they are using the roads, schools, projects and things that MY taxes pay for. Why is THAT a good thing? As any landlord can tell you, when housing is cheap to rent, pretty soon the renters do not respect it. The same is for the country- when you don’t sacrifice a dime, it’s all cheap to you.
I am ashamed of what you have let Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi do.
I am ashamed that so much faith was put in your abilities, despite your glaring inexperience, and that you have abused the tax paying citizens so badly.
I am ashamed that we are letting YOU and your cronies and the idiots in the Senate bring our great country down and saddle it with debt because you believe in theoretical economics rather than giving our country a chance to regroup.
As for health care- I am a RN with a Master’s degree. I have been an assistant professor. I have worked in charity hospitals. You should be talking to people like ME for advice- not some academicians and economists who truly have never worked in a hospital a DAY in their lives.
It is useless to send you this as you are protected by the savvy remnants of the Clinton machine. I thought you had more sense than that.
You will go down in history as the worst president since Jimmy Carter. And yes, I was alive and a voter when Carter’s sorry self was voted in. We are still paying the price for his stupidity. We are a nation of states- not just a nation. I don’t want to pay for things in other states unless they are for federal use- like the interstate system, disaster relief or defense sites. NOTHING ELSE. I don't see a purpose in sending money abroad any more. We are no longer a world power with money to spare. Besides, we drain money into dictatorships where no one benefits but the rulers.
Shame on you for punishing the hard working people who start businesses and take the risk and expense of actually HIRING people. You undermine the heart and spirit of America by doing so.
I am just bereft over the loss of America. You and the arrogant nitwits in Congress are destroying us more every day.
What a shame that you will be remembered in history with such a sad legacy. You could put in a flat tax where everyone pays something. You could put in a VAT. BUT NO- that would be too easy. Too simple for everyone. It would put the tax lawyers and CPA’s out of business- and those lawyers are your friends, no? And when do we get LEGAL INSURANCE for free? Guess you and your buddies wouldn’t want that either. Just screw the doctors instead. And every day, you sign bills with pork in them.
A person who is a concerned citizen,...(I signed my real name).
I am not mailing a tea bag as it would be thrown away when it went through security. I doubt you’d care any way.
I am equally sure that since this letter does not praise you OR whine about my Aunt Minnie not having all the money she thinks she is owed, that you will not read this. So- to the mail screener at the White House – this is for you.
If I make 250K, but have bought a bigger house or a new car or something to celebrate, I will now have more expenses- expenses that PUT MONEY in someone’s hands who runs a business or sells me gas or gets my property taxes (for children I do NOT have who will never use the school system).
Why does that make me a target? Why do I need to owe YOU any more of my expendable income just because I have that bottom line on my W2.
You are stealing my money and the financial future of the next generation, despite what your teleprompter tells you to say. And if someone does NOT pay any tax, then THEY ARE ON WELFARE- because they are using the roads, schools, projects and things that MY taxes pay for. Why is THAT a good thing? As any landlord can tell you, when housing is cheap to rent, pretty soon the renters do not respect it. The same is for the country- when you don’t sacrifice a dime, it’s all cheap to you.
I am ashamed of what you have let Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi do.
I am ashamed that so much faith was put in your abilities, despite your glaring inexperience, and that you have abused the tax paying citizens so badly.
I am ashamed that we are letting YOU and your cronies and the idiots in the Senate bring our great country down and saddle it with debt because you believe in theoretical economics rather than giving our country a chance to regroup.
As for health care- I am a RN with a Master’s degree. I have been an assistant professor. I have worked in charity hospitals. You should be talking to people like ME for advice- not some academicians and economists who truly have never worked in a hospital a DAY in their lives.
It is useless to send you this as you are protected by the savvy remnants of the Clinton machine. I thought you had more sense than that.
You will go down in history as the worst president since Jimmy Carter. And yes, I was alive and a voter when Carter’s sorry self was voted in. We are still paying the price for his stupidity. We are a nation of states- not just a nation. I don’t want to pay for things in other states unless they are for federal use- like the interstate system, disaster relief or defense sites. NOTHING ELSE. I don't see a purpose in sending money abroad any more. We are no longer a world power with money to spare. Besides, we drain money into dictatorships where no one benefits but the rulers.
Shame on you for punishing the hard working people who start businesses and take the risk and expense of actually HIRING people. You undermine the heart and spirit of America by doing so.
I am just bereft over the loss of America. You and the arrogant nitwits in Congress are destroying us more every day.
What a shame that you will be remembered in history with such a sad legacy. You could put in a flat tax where everyone pays something. You could put in a VAT. BUT NO- that would be too easy. Too simple for everyone. It would put the tax lawyers and CPA’s out of business- and those lawyers are your friends, no? And when do we get LEGAL INSURANCE for free? Guess you and your buddies wouldn’t want that either. Just screw the doctors instead. And every day, you sign bills with pork in them.
A person who is a concerned citizen,...(I signed my real name).
Monday, March 23, 2009
The value of war
I've said it before- someone in my family has fought in every war since the American Revolution. In the current war, my niece was in the Air Force serving in the Pentagon. So, it's not like my family, on BOTH sides, hasn't made some sacrifices for this country. In fact, every generation has served in the military somewhere. The Pokergirl would have been in VietNam as a nurse had the war not ended before she enlisted. I have watched a million demonstrators, and once, in 1969, I was one of them. The sadness I felt watching college classmates be shipped off was immense. During my high school years, my brother spent 3 tours of duty in Viet Nam. The injuries he suffered probably led to his early death. So it is a war I know something of. At the time, it seemed horrible. A huge waste of young men and women. A carnage. It had the byproduct of keeping young men in college studying hard. No one wanted to be draft eligible. No one could see any purpose to a stupid war that cost us the lives of our young men. The price was immense- well over 50,000. A trip to the Viet Nam War memorial in D.C. reduced me to tears for days. Those weren't just names, but solemn etchings of lives of people my age summed up in letters. No real need to read them- we knew them all.
Now in Iraq, far, far,far fewer have died and none drafted- but all belonging to someone who loves them. Each with a mother, some with a wife and children. And the loss is as painful as if there was a generation of pain as in Viet Nam.
But with hindsight, I can look hard into the history I know and believe that not one of those lives was in vain. Despite what we believed at the time. And I have my reasons.
By being in VietNam, the United States kept its mortal enemy, the USSR, very busy. In fact, so busy that we put enormous strain on the economy of Russia. The communist Chinese also were dragged into war. A long, drawn out, brutal war -purported to prevent the domino effect of all countries in southeast Asia falling into the hands of the Communists. It was tiring and expensive for every country that touched it. The French handed it over to us, and after we poured our blood on it, it was eventually over. But had we not been there, had we not stood in Viet Nam and showed we would make those horrible sacrifices, where would the Russians and Chinese have gone? What would have happened to the south Pacific islands? What would have happened to India? Who knows. And would the Russians have allowed Germany to reunite unless Russia had been exhauted and broke? That is unlikely. So now, I look back on the VietNam war with a different eye. Was it worth the deaths and maiming of so many young people who never wanted to go? Maybe not. But that is no longer the point- what's done is done. But to find some purpose in the loss is consoling.
As for Iraq- it was a now or later scenario, wasn't it? Were the people of Iraq better with Saddam? I am sorry Bush used the defense of Saddam's repeated UN offenses and his suspected weapons of mass destruction. Saddam was worth taking out all by himself. Saddam Hussein was his OWN weapon of mass destruction. Ask the Kurds. A country that used to house most of the educated elite of the mid East became a place of rape and terror and murder. But to look for a purpose in that war, aside from allowing a republic to now exist in the middle East, one only has to ask, what if we HADN'T gone in? Well, the invasion of Iraq did do one very important thing- it showed the middle East that we were fully capable of ending ruthless dictatorships. FULLY capable. It certainly got Iran to shut the hell up. And no one has come over here to hurt us since. Until Obama sent his whining missive to Iran, we had the grudging respect of the other middle eastern countries regardless of their sword rattling and shoe throwing. I would have liked to have seen that protestor throw his shoe at Saddam. It is easy to have false bravado when you are free. So have those 4400 soldiers died in vain? I think not. The history of the future is not written yet. Perhaps one day we will look back and be amazed that 4400 lives made the world a far safer and better place by establishing a fact that the US has the backs of so many people in the world.
There is a scene in the series "Weeds" when the youngest boy is sent to a new school. On his first day there, he asks who is the biggest bully in the school. The kids point to a certain boy sitting at a cafeteria table. The boy walk over to the bully, taps him on the shoulder, and then, with all his might, hits him square in the face with his cafeteria tray. He walks away knowing the bully will never single him out for humiliation. Sometimes, that is what it takes. We do not live on Sesame Street.
So maybe there is a value to war after all.
Now in Iraq, far, far,far fewer have died and none drafted- but all belonging to someone who loves them. Each with a mother, some with a wife and children. And the loss is as painful as if there was a generation of pain as in Viet Nam.
But with hindsight, I can look hard into the history I know and believe that not one of those lives was in vain. Despite what we believed at the time. And I have my reasons.
By being in VietNam, the United States kept its mortal enemy, the USSR, very busy. In fact, so busy that we put enormous strain on the economy of Russia. The communist Chinese also were dragged into war. A long, drawn out, brutal war -purported to prevent the domino effect of all countries in southeast Asia falling into the hands of the Communists. It was tiring and expensive for every country that touched it. The French handed it over to us, and after we poured our blood on it, it was eventually over. But had we not been there, had we not stood in Viet Nam and showed we would make those horrible sacrifices, where would the Russians and Chinese have gone? What would have happened to the south Pacific islands? What would have happened to India? Who knows. And would the Russians have allowed Germany to reunite unless Russia had been exhauted and broke? That is unlikely. So now, I look back on the VietNam war with a different eye. Was it worth the deaths and maiming of so many young people who never wanted to go? Maybe not. But that is no longer the point- what's done is done. But to find some purpose in the loss is consoling.
As for Iraq- it was a now or later scenario, wasn't it? Were the people of Iraq better with Saddam? I am sorry Bush used the defense of Saddam's repeated UN offenses and his suspected weapons of mass destruction. Saddam was worth taking out all by himself. Saddam Hussein was his OWN weapon of mass destruction. Ask the Kurds. A country that used to house most of the educated elite of the mid East became a place of rape and terror and murder. But to look for a purpose in that war, aside from allowing a republic to now exist in the middle East, one only has to ask, what if we HADN'T gone in? Well, the invasion of Iraq did do one very important thing- it showed the middle East that we were fully capable of ending ruthless dictatorships. FULLY capable. It certainly got Iran to shut the hell up. And no one has come over here to hurt us since. Until Obama sent his whining missive to Iran, we had the grudging respect of the other middle eastern countries regardless of their sword rattling and shoe throwing. I would have liked to have seen that protestor throw his shoe at Saddam. It is easy to have false bravado when you are free. So have those 4400 soldiers died in vain? I think not. The history of the future is not written yet. Perhaps one day we will look back and be amazed that 4400 lives made the world a far safer and better place by establishing a fact that the US has the backs of so many people in the world.
There is a scene in the series "Weeds" when the youngest boy is sent to a new school. On his first day there, he asks who is the biggest bully in the school. The kids point to a certain boy sitting at a cafeteria table. The boy walk over to the bully, taps him on the shoulder, and then, with all his might, hits him square in the face with his cafeteria tray. He walks away knowing the bully will never single him out for humiliation. Sometimes, that is what it takes. We do not live on Sesame Street.
So maybe there is a value to war after all.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Fixing Your Economy
I've addressed it before, so what's new? Nothing. When I was growing up there were no credit cards. None. You paid for your gasoline with cash. You paid for everything else with cash or a check. And not a check that bounced either. Because the money came directly out of your account within a week of writing it, balancing your checkbook was a daily activity. You didn't write a check without making really SURE you had the cash. No cash, no purchase. It was simple. There was no internet banking. So if you had to have cash transferred, you had to go into the bank to do it. It meant you were bonded to your money. You KNEW what you had. Even if you were in denial, the numbers stared you in the face. If you couldn't afford something, but you really wanted it, you did something called LAYAWAY. You went in, explained you wanted to buy it on layaway, and you put some money down-they put the merchandise in the LAYAWAY section of the back of the store, and then you paid a payment on it every week until you paid it off. Then you got the merchandise. Today it is very different- you buy it, get it and THEN pay the layaway. To a credit card company at ridiculous interest rates. The bane of contemporary American life is the credit card company. It has made debt a part of your life. Banks, in fact, discourage your fiscal health by charging you for returned check. They prefer you use their bank issued credit card. So you charge things to your credit card that you normally would have paid for. Meanwhile, your bank balance looks great! It looks like you haven't spent a dime! lucky you. Credit card statements seem to have no relevance. Some of the line items don't even make any sense- they aren't even the name of the company you purchased from. Credit cards are convenient but very, very dangerous. It is time to tightly regulate the issuance of credit cards. If a bank wouldn't give you a 10,000 loan, it should NOT be giving you a credit card with a 10,000 balance. And NO ONE should issue you a second card if there is evidence of unpaid debt on another card. This "cutting back" theory of fixing your personal economy is a great idea, but it is a much better idea not to SPEND money you do not have. In other words, if you can't pay for it up front, don't get it.
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