Sarah pointed me in the direction of Avery’s blog. It looks pretty interesting.
Think I’ll keep an eye on what he has to say. This post is a take on the “Blacks must be Democrats” theme from a different perspective.
August 4, 2004
Firing Time
According to an NPR report this morning, members of the 9/11 Commission, and the Victims Families Steering Committee are scattering around the country to campaign for the Commission’s recommendations. This is a “bi-partisan” effort. Personally, I would prefer an non-partisan effort.
The main thing they want is for Congress and the President to implement all their recommendations. In other words, the Commissioners want control. No debate. Just accept what we said and do it. Now. If there was any doubt about the political nature of the commission, this should end that doubt.
Congress, for their part, want the proposed Intelligence Chief to have budgetary power. In the words of several senators and congressmen in the 88 committees and sub-committees that oversee Homeland Security, he or she would have no authority without it. I can’t believe it even after writing it down! And they all want better congressional oversight. Funny, I don’t see anything in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution which gives them “oversight” authority over the Executive Branch. They control the budget, but prefer to have the President submit one each year.
Please save the politics for the campaign trail and simply do the job we hired you to do. Remember, you are our employees, not the other way around.
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August 3, 2004
GIs
DS Rob and Birdie have been going back and forth through email and the Drill Sergeant’s blog. Birdie has finally started spelling correctly.
Birdie’s assignment to Ft Sill got cancelled. Apparently the 82nd can’t do without his talents for at least another year. He’s taking it out on the Drill Sergeant–HA! Who in their life ever took out anything on a DS?!
Freedom!
Zeyad documents the growth of blogs in Iraq. His blogroll is up to 45.
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Karpinski
This woman is no general. How she ever got a star is beyond my comprehension.
Warning
Newsday, along with others, report on the terror threat which caused the increase in threat level advisement.
Something most people really don’t consider is the cost of putting together a plan for such an attack. When the attack is foiled, that money is still just as gone. In this case, we may have a situation where terrorists have spent a lot of time and money trying to put together another large attack, and they’ve had to change their plans.
Now, I’d say that’s a success. Those resources are no longer available to them. They need more funding to go back and set things up once again. And money is a resource we’ve been squeezing dry for the last three years. I doubt the Saudis are as eager to provide funds as they once were. Saddam no longer can. The Taliban is gone. Boy Assad in Syria is reluctant to get his hands dirty right now. Arafat has his own problems.
This war is fought on many fronts, most of which we never hear about. The invasion of Iraq put the fear of Allah and Dubya in some folks who previously weren’t really sure about an afterlife, and kinda liked the one they have here on Earth.
You want peaceful change? This is how the game is played for real. Peace comes through strength, not talk.
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Sales Tax
The really wealthy in this country pay no income tax. The Democrats like to point that out, even though many of them fall into this category. What they don’t tell you is–why. The really wealthy have little or no income. They live off savings and trust funds and perqs (like our senators and congressmen) and have no need for income.
But they do spend. And they spend big. Let’s use the favorite adjective of “antis” everywhere to describe them: BIG SPENDERS. Kinda goes along with Big Oil, Big Tobacco, and Big Personal Injury Lawyers.
Just an example that’s been floating around recently–John Kerry’s $8000 bike. And let me clear, this isn’t a slam at Kerry, but of everyone like him. Is a 10% sales tax to replace the income tax a good idea? His bike would then cost him $8800. I think he could afford it. “But sales tax hurts those who don’t have much money.” Only if they buy things. Right now, they pay no income taxes at all. If we restrict a sales tax to limit its application so that things like food and medicine aren’t taxed, there is no suffering involved. It puts you in charge of how much you pay in federal taxes.
Our Curmudgeon has an interesting piece on Hastert’s proposal and its repercussions. Democrats won’t like it even though it taxes the rich in proportion to their spending habits, or maybe because it does so. They also won’t like it because the people they count on to remain in office will end up having to contribute something to “provide for the common defense and promote the general welfare.”
This country operated for more than a century without an income tax. When created, it was supposed to be a temporary measure. Nothing in the Federal Government is temporary.
***UPDATE***
Neal Boortz has more.
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