Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Rangel is Right

In this Post article Kurtz discusses Rangel's proposal to reinstate the draft. Kurtz writes that the notion of implementing a draft so that lawmakers will withdrawal troops based on fears that their on families will be sent "has to be weighed against the broader impact on millions of young Americans whose lives, studies and fledgling careers would be disrupted by such a policy. Why resort to a draft when we can fill the military ranks with those who, for reasons ranging from financial incentives to patriotism, are willing to sign up on their own?"

Take a look at this DOD report that looks at trends in enlistment propensity. In 1996 almost 60% of recruits stated they joined for educational funding and job training while only 1 in 10 cited duty to country as their reason for joining. So we aren't filling military ranks with patriots we are filling them with people who can't afford education and believe the military is their only option for getting ahead.

If college education was made affordable to the people who join the military then I wonder whether recruitment would drop 50%. That aside, Rangel's draft proposal is a good idea. It's about time that young Americans be forced to stand behind our foreign policy. If they aren't prepared to support it then it needs to change, which I think is Rangel's point...

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Just a thought...

Watching Cops tonight it was all about the DEA taking down some dealers. In four hours, ten cops arrested three different black guys selling $280 of drugs. The police spent most of the time congratulating each other on their “success”. The dealers were all driving pieces of crap; one even had a baby seat in the back. It just wasn’t right. First, what a waste of tax payer money. I’m sure it cost a lot more to put the operation together than $300, on top of that society now has to shelter and feed these guys in jail. If it’s too hard to go after the drug lords and police need to justify their existence with small time arrests then it seems the system is a little broken.

Legalize drugs and make them a public health issue? Build social policy so that a guy doesn’t have to sell crack to buy his baby formula? All way too hard, especially when we could be doing some real good -- like banning gay marriage and making sure women can’t get abortions.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Not impressed

Pelosi needs to get her act together. Why Murtha is claiming he is being persecuted by right-wing democrats is beyond me. Now is a time for the democrats to show what that can accomplish over the next two years, not a time to start in-fighting. Murtha should back off and let Hoyer run the house and Pelosi should get a brain. She needs moderates as the voice of the house not representatives that are going to advocate a total policy reversal. Iraq is a fuck-up but leaving it now is only going further destabilize a chaotic situation. I hope James Baker comes up with some good ideas, perhaps he can sell the war to Saudi Arabia.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Booyakasha

I really won't have much to complain about until Lieberman starts supporting Republican Iraq policy and the Democrats get the blame for not moving things forward.

It really is nice to know that Americans are taking notice of how screwed up the GOP has become. It's also nice to be able to count on Bush's stupidity. I'm not sure that the Dems would have had the same result if Rumsfeld was booted last week.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Weird...

I'm folowing the VA race and this is what CNN is reporting with 99% counted:
Webb: 1,141,052
Allen: 1,138,676

But the state of VA website has this with 99% reported:
Webb: 1,139,885
Allen: 1,141,753

I don't get it. Not that it matters they will be recounting anyway.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Ted Haggard saves John Kerry and...

Democrats win the house and tie the senate. That's my prediction and the last thing I will say until after Tuesday.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Irrelevance and Fallacy: My Letter to Michelle Malkin

Let me begin by saying John Kerry is the biggest opportunist ever and I wish he never ran for President.

Let me continue by saying that Michelle Malkin is really unintelligent in every capacity as a "political pundit" and a "writer"- I quote 'political pundit' and 'writer' because the fact is, and I say this with utmost honesty (and arrogance): the fact that she is loaded off the idiocies she spews tells me that someday I should have my face on the one dollar bill. I have never ever ever ever read anything she wrote, or heard an argument she posed that doesnt contain a fallacy. Never. I am not exaggerating. My favorite one ever was her talking to Bill OReilly about Liberals being so racist because she has been called a gook before in response to something she wrote. Yes, all liberals must be racist then.

I frequent townhall.com and like anywhere you go, you encounter some boneheads and some smart people. Today, I counted at least 8 articles about Kerry's stupid quote. Are you kidding me? Suffice it to say, the people I expected would beat this with a stick are the ones who did. The people who provide meaningful writings haven't. People may argue that this is as horrible as the Foley scandal- which I dont think needed to be covered for over a week and would not swing every election in the country in the Democrats favor (and it didn't)- but no one here committed a perverted act, and no one tried to (allegedly) cover it up. If there is any meaningful article about what Kerry did, here it is.

I read what the folks had to write about Kerry. Presidential candidate, yes, there is reason for it to be covered. But every "conservative" having to write their opinion about it? Don't they get together and say "Hey, how about one or two of us say our piece, and not everyone?" It was mostly a bunch of rambling nothings to me, but nothing that pissed me off. Then I came across Malkin's writing. Now, whenever I have read anything she writes, there are many, how do I say this, retarded arguments- she makes David Limbaugh intelligent. I mean, anything she ever does is like ipecac to me, but this was cholera.

In response to what I equate to a bad political campaign advertisement- her article is titled "The Democrats' military disdain"- I composed a lil letter to Ms. Malkin. I dont even know what she is arguing- she is all over the place and nothing she wrote makes any sense given what her ultimate argument is (see headline):

Wow, John Kerry said that? Because I haven't heard about it anywhere, thanks for writing about it. Our liberal media sure has made no mention of it.

You know, John Kerry is a jerk, but you and everyone else (it seems at least 7-8) of you on Townhall should focus on why we should vote for the Republican party as opposed to why we shouldnt vote for Democrats. I am not going to be voting for Democrats, but you wont find me voting for the Republicans who took their majority standing and completely abused it, failed in their mission and have pretty much handed it back to the Democrats. The Republicans have become as or even more reckless than the Democrats- I can prove it to you if you want me to.

Kerry's statement was stupid, but so are the people who write opinion columns on it as if you people are educating us. Why the hell does it matter what Kerry said? He is not up for election and people act like its going to swing everything back to the GOP. If it does, I'll write you an apology email.

We saw it and read it- yesterday. It was a ridiculous thing to say. Is there really that little to write about that a handful of people on the same website needed to give Kerry's statement any more attention? You could have written about something important instead of this. Then again, maybe you couldn't have... I mean, look at the illogical headline of your article. Kerry, Durbin and Murray did/said ridiculous things. So the Democrats all have disdain for the military? But of course Dick Cheney, Tom Ashcroft, Tom DeLay and George Bush supporting, and chickening out of Vietnam is acceptable I am sure. I mean based on that premise, using your logic, Republicans have disdain for the military too! So I guess both parties share that disdain. Man, we are screwed!

So, you covered a boring, stupid topic about some moron who I cannot wait to not vote for, that really wont change anything (really it wont) and your writing is one enormous fallacy. If you titled it "Kerry's military disdain" or "Some Democrats military disdain" I would have found it acceptable. But like anything I find that you write, it lacks any substance, logic or meaning. Way to go. Take a philosophy class on logic.

Hit me back,
Danny




I am such a jerk (this statement was not part of my email).