Not too early for the money.....

Never mind that as of today there is well over a year before we elect another president, the process has started and will be a full court press. The almighty dollar is quickly falling into line to launch the bids of some really big names. Does this matter to the McUSA family? I say that it does if you are a realist.

Being a realist means that you get to have a philosophy or ideology, but you must keep them in the backseat as you look at the world around you. Red is still red even if your philosophy calls it blue. Realistically speaking we need to be concerned about who is going to run and why. Follow the money. Mit Romney for example:

In one day, he secured a jaw-dropping $6.5 million in contributions and pledges from others — and he still has at least a dozen fundraisers planned and nearly two more months to raise cash online and elsewhere before March 31.

Or, look at the current golden child of the DNC. Mr. Obama is hypercritical of the war and in order to look presidential has submitted a bill to pull out the troops. How much money is he getting? Well, what he (and Mrs Clinton) are doing is trying to look like they are above mere money in politics:

Obama, a freshman Democratic senator from Illinois, isn't accepting donations from political action committees and lobbyists. Following Clinton's lead, he also doesn't plan to accept public campaign financing for either the primaries or the general election.But he has asked the FEC if he can return donors' money later and still qualify for public financing should he change his mind. Jeffrey Katzenberg, a founder of the DreamWorks movie studio, is among his backers.

Now is the time to look at that and compare your personal philosophy to reality. Obama and Clinton are appealing to the voters who are offended that money plays such a big part, but in reality are setting themselves up via the FEC to rake in the ducats.

So far I cannot say I am for anyone. I don't like Mrs. Clinton and have barely heard of Obama. On the RNC side, I don't see a magic maker either. So I have to bide my time and see. If you have a similar quandary, I would suggest you go to a site like Votesmart and see how your philosophy matches up with the candidates. Also, you can write your reps and demand that they answer the questionnaire. I did, and I actually got back a letter that says "Mr (so and so)'s issues page on his website adequately addresses this issue." To me it is stuff and nonsense.

The world of message boards and blogs is chock full of prognostications and portents. For the realists among us, I think it is too early for to worry about the 08 elections. Better to study the 06 fallout and act on that in my view. Thanks folks.

Sources:
Candidates begin hunting for '08 funds

Dang Kennedys' are at it again.

If memory serves, didn’t the Democrats make a commitment to not add stuff into bills not relating to the title of the bill? I could be wrong, but I thought I read about it somewhere. I really do want them to succeed. Because they are what we have even if not what we want. But so far it’s just been more of the same crooked political shenanigans. Kennedy must not have gotten the word. But, true to his eternal apologist nature he has managed to slip Illegal Alien Amnesty into the Minimum Wage Bill. BTW the credit for bringing this to my attention goes to Little Acorn at USMB.

To see it for yourself go to Thomas at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00002: and check out the amendments portion. You are looking for SA187 and follow the links to the text. IF someone can answer two questions for me I'd sure be obliged. First is: Why is this process even allowed at all? Second is : What does this have to do with the minimum wage? In reality, the GOP did stuff like this before. I just don't remember them saying they wouldn't and then doing it.

Here is a bit of disinformation from the Wall Street Journal.

"In his new budget yesterday, Mr. Bush proposed some modest ways to restrain the wealth gap, particularly by offering new tax breaks to help the uninsured buy health insurance, but did little to fundamentally strengthen existing government efforts to alter the distribution of income. Included in his budget also was a proposal to extend his 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which Democrats say benefit the rich over everyone else." - Story.

The reason it is disinformation is that by proposing new tax breaks, it is implied that this will help the poor. In reality, if you cannot afford health insurance, you cannot afford it. All the incentives in the world will not give you money you don't have. Secondly they refer to "his" 01 and 03 tax cuts (cue the mantra) for the rich. IN reality all he can do is make proposals and lobby for it via the bully pulpit. Congress must draft, debate, consolidate, and submit all changes to the tax code. So in reality it's "Congress's tax cuts for the rich". Finally the line that scares me the most is:

"did little to fundamentally strengthen existing government efforts to alter the distribution of income."

This tells me that the WSJ favors a larger government that while discussing a minimum wage now, might be discussing a maximum wage down the road.

Stay tuned. Eventually I am going to launch an annual screaming hissy fit over the income tax. Even if you don't agree, you should at least laugh out loud at the vision of a two year olds temper fit posted on a blog.

Daily Kos Rebuttal

I missed this one. But it was caught by Stephanie at debate policy. Essentially the dummies at Daily Kos have leaped on the bandwagon to slam the military based on a story in the Washington Post. To them I say Get Real...

For starters you need to understand that slamming the troops merely demonstrates that you are idiots in the mold of the nutjobs who spit on troops in the sixties. Then you need to look at your general attitude, summed up in the second link...

n00161's diary

This, of course, is a point I have brought up many times and the Milblogs when crazy then. You, the military, are the servants of the people. That is what you signed up for. We send you to war and we bring you home. We tell you when to wake up and when to go to bed. If you do not like that, GET OUT. But, that is the life you chose.

In reality we are not servants of the people. You, the people, get no say in hiring, firing, employing, disciplining, using, or abusing us. IN fact: You the people are in general inferior to those of us who wear or have worn a uniform in service to our country.

Yeah, that's right, you the people are generally inferior. After reading the links All I could think of was: These idiots are thinking of the Military specifically as if they were simply "those people"

Well...

Those people are physically superior. They are physically superior to the American (and I suspect Canadian) norm. Your average American citizen simply isn't physically fit enough to chase anyone a quarter of a mile and still have the energy reserves to subdue him. Your average Canadian citizen simply isn't physically fit enough to march with sixty to eighty (or more) pounds of gear in extreme climates for a mile let alone the standard of forty klicks and and still have the energy reserves to dig in and fight if needed.

The US Military folks are mentally superior. Your basic average citizen (of either nation) isn't trained or equipped to respond well to crisis. It requires a mental fortitude to not surrender to hardship that is lacking in most of the citizenry. The problem is that they are not trainable. It's fundamentally a lack of the needed will to dominate a situation.

Military folks are more adaptable. Mr or Mrs average American/Canadian doesn't adapt quickly or well. The adage "adapt or die" normally means that Mr./Mrs. Average will die. The public servants consistently adapt faster and more effectively. Failure to adapt is what lets the enemy win.

Those people are morally and ethically superior. Our CanAmerican citizens don't score high on morals or ethics in most cases. It's not that they are evil, it's that they get what mom or dad teaches them with a smattering of whatever they pick up here and there. "Those people" you tend to start with a higher set of values and then they receive additional and ongoing training.

On any given day of the week you pick a hundred average citizens and a hundred of "those people" and test em. You will find that they are physically fitter (the reason is not relevant), and they are mentally sharper. If you check the demographics on crime you will find that "those people" are about the same on minor crime such as traffic citations but far less on felonies. The demographic search should include courts martial as well.

You, the people, will argue that if you had the training then .... I agree that the training they get, and the application of it in daily life, and the continued (in many cases) application of it makes them in general better than the folks they serve.

Take physical fitness for example: I am forty-two and holding (till June anyway). I can still run over five miles and I am holding at my ideal weight. Check the demographic information on Americans and you will find that society is becoming fatter and more lethargic. So, it doesn't matter whether you give credit to genetics, or to training, I am still physically superior to most Americans.

The same applies to mental fitness. The average American isn't trained in critical observations skills (ala the cops), or rapid problem solving (ala the firemen and .mil), or immediate actions in emergencies (ala the EMT). That same training will allow me (as a retired military man) to observe, orient, decide, and take action faster and more effectively on my civil job than the untrained counterpart. Most of the folks who wash out of recruit training (.mil) or entry level academy (cops/emts) fail training because they are not mentally able to continuously deal with the stress of training. They are not accustomed to being held accountable without being allowed an excuse. They have grown up being conditioned that "it isn't really your fault" when they fail. IF you look at our current educational process there is less stress applied to the students than ever before. Perhaps it helps the learning environment, but it doesn't keep thier heads cool during an auto crash.

If we try to put it together I have an example to share: About three months ago a ford expedition t-boned a Saturn coupe as me and my wife were making a turn. She stopped our car and began dialing 911 as I ran to the car. He was bleeding from three places and was going into shock. Other citizens gathered around. I applied a tourniquet to his worst bleeder using a belt, I cut away his seat belt to improve his breathing and one of the non-panicking citizens helped me calm him (the victim) down. His leg was obviously broken and had we allowed him to move, it would have been worse for him. His screams were agitating those who were gawking. Within five and a half minutes of the call the EMS arrived. I exited stage right as the real professionals took over. I gave my name to a cop in case they wanted to talk later.

The point is that I believe my training in combat first aid (severe trauma), as well as the mental discipline imposed in the service, allowed us to help that guy. The other citizen who stepped up instead of being frozen? He was an Army reservist. The rest of the onlookers likely were not callous people, they were simply (for whatever reason) unable to perform.

Then we can look at ethics and morals. But, let me ask you (the people) this: What are your Core Values and can you articulate them? Any member of the services can. Because the services core values are imprinted on them and reinforced throughout the entire career. Again, it is training, and reinforcement of both positive and negative types.

Finally, I have to say that there are those wearing a uniform that don't deserve it. Approximately ten percent of any group does not deserve to be there. Demographics again. I was speaking of the faceless groups. Individually there are awesome citizens who are highly moral, mentally and physically fit and disciplined. But they are not the norm. There are fat, lazy, and dishonest Marines or Cops as well, but they are not the norm. What is the norm is that the civil leaders of both parties are corrupt and society is easily manipulated with bread and circuses.

Oh, and we are better educated than you (the people) as well. Don't take my word for it either. Look up the stats for number of folks who graduate HS and College and compare it to the US Military.

So, when you can honestly prove that I worked for you then you can run your mouth. Until then shut up and let your betters do what they need to do.

Superbowl and not super politics

The superbowl is underway and I must root for Chicago because the coach is from Texas. IF not for that, I would not even watch this years game.

This weekends politics news is so boring I am almost afraid to put it out there. None of it has anything that a realist will worry about because it won't trickle down. For instance, in the thin skinned department: Bush adds the IC to Democrat to sooth the new majority. Stories. Then of course we have to applaud as the majority ties in it's first 100 hours (which took how long?) to diversity and panders to the black vote. Story. In other words it is politics as usual.

Prince is on for the halftime show. That kinda tells me the state of the NFL. No wonder I am not really following the game.

Drowning and Driving....

In Illinois a woman got ten years for drowning her kids. Her boyfriend got life. I don't know if the land of Lincoln has a death penalty, but they should. I hope that thier time in prison is happy and filled with cavity searches. Story.

In other law news...... Down Louisiana way a judge has ruled that a state law banning illegal immigrants from driving is unconstitutional. I Have to hand it to the folks in LA. At least they are trying to do something. I would say that the lawmakers need to get together and fix this issue. My take is that it won't happen. Our current pols are not interested in working for the people anymore than they are interested in turning down campaign contributions. The reality is that you and I need to work more in our local communities to keep the bigger brothers out of them. Story

I'm really not up for the news lately. After moving and weather and jury duty, I am happy just to be hanging out with my family. Give me another day or three and I will be back to reality.