Offering constructive criticism to the social cripples in our midst since early 2005.

[J. Fred Muggs]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
2. The admin costs should be born by the person who holds the investment, rather than an employer. If the business was not manging a pension, it would have ZERO expenses, right? You got an option that beats $0.00 in admin expenses?

I hate to wonk*(no I don't) but the point wasn't that admin costs are borne by company but that the pooling of all of that employee money together leads to decreased per capita administrative costs.









*The best is wonking without scrolling and making the same point that 5 people made 5 hours ago.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by sgtclub
Compete yes. But the President sets the agenda, and if it was such a high priority, Clarke should have been able to compete more successfully. The problem is that it was not the highest priority to say the least.

All you are saying is that it could have been a higher priority, and that is true. We all see that now. But no one -- with the possible exception of Richard Clarke -- thought at the time it should have been the highest priority.

Please remember, too, that Clinton's Administration was one in which power was less centralized than the current one. Republicans back then liked this, because they did not like Clinton. For example, the FBI was tight with GOP Senators, and had its own agenda. The GOP was hardly inclined to give Janet Reno and Bill Clinton more control over the FBI. Likewise, the military was not exactly prepared to march lockstep behind Clinton, and the GOP supported them in this. So, when Clarke ran into opposition from the Navy when he wanted to station submarines off Pakistan to be able to launch cruise missiles on short notice, he had a relatively hard time getting this done. This was the entire point of the conservative efforts to weaken the Clinton presidency through schemes like the Arkansas Project and the Starr investigations, so let us not hear conservatives complain about it now.

Fictive? Go back and look at the WSJ editorial page in the mid-1990s (pre-Lewinsky). I'm not saying that the entire GOP congress was pushing, but there was a loud group that was.

Pushing for what? And cite, please.

Contra Hank, invading Afghanistan was on no one's agenda until after 9/11.

Incidentally, the timing of the bombing was very coincidental, wasn't it?

As I recall from one of those books (The Age of Sacred Terror, maybe?) others like Defense Secretary William Cohen, a Republican, offered to speak publicly to make clear that they received usable info just then, and Clinton said, no, he was the president and would take the heat.

Clinton may have taken it more seriously than Bush, but not by a lot or at least his actions didn't reflect it.

If you would read one of these books, you would actually know what actions he took.

You also have to remember that Bush was only in office for 9 months when 9/11 occured, so to the same extent it's not fair to judge by hindsight, it's also not fair to judge a guy who was on the job 8 years with one on the job for 9 months.

You can judge him by what he did with those nine months: nada. Does the billions spent on missile defense make you feel safer?

And yes, I know, Burger et all met with Bush and stressed terrorism, but frankly, if I was Bush, I'm not sure it would have meant all that much to me.

You may think Bush is stupid: I don't. I just think he had other priorities, and doesn't want to hear facts that don't fit with his priorities.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Contra Hank, invading Afghanistan was on no one's agenda until after 9/11.

As your kids get older you'll find lying to them will get harder. YOU said that Clarke toldBush to help the NA take over Afghan and Bush fucked up because he didn't.

Are you lying to us Ty? Is there anything you say we can beleive?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
As your kids get older you'll find lying to them will get harder. YOU said that Clarke toldBush to help the NA take over Afghan and Bush fucked up because he didn't.

Do you not understand the difference between (a) invading Afghanistan and (b) giving more support to the Northern Alliance? Or are you only pretending to be stupid?

[SlaveNoMore]

Tyrone Slothrop
You can judge him by what he did with those nine months: nada. Does the billions spent on missile defense make you feel safer?

From North Korea and - for that matter - China, absolutely.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
SCUDs are Soviet-made. ....

One thing that 's never been satisfactorily explained for my liking is Clinton's 1969 student trip to the old Soviet Union. I don't believe that Clinton was ever formally on any State Department security risk lists but as far as I am concerned he has never fully explained his travel to the Soviet Union. Enquiring minds and all that.

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Since you and bilmore are the only people here who read that site, and he seems to be busy working on Minneapolis's bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics, you tell us.

Dissent. Hate to break it to you but I post over there. Under a variety of ideological covers. I never promised this board fidelity. Nttawwt.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
One thing that 's never been satisfactorily explained for my liking is Clinton's 1969 student trip to the old Soviet Union.

Natalya. She was nineteen. And those lips . . .

[spookyfish]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
I believe, naively perhaps (likely... who am I kidding?), that everyone should aspire to be his own boss. I don't buy the wiring in of the worker/boss relationship. And I've put my money where my mouth is. I recently walked from a cushy slot to a dangerous slot for the promise of more money and freedom. People think I'm insane. But if I had to wake up for the rest of my life realizing there'd never be a day where I'd eventually be my own boss, I'd probably have to shoot myself. I can't think of a horror worse than accpeting being "worker" forever.*

* Well, unless the cash was ungodly. We're tlaking the sort of cash where the word "pension" wouldn't even enter your vocabulary.

Don't even come near my house with that Amway shit, got it?

[bilmore]

Tomorrow.

Rehnquist and Stevens.

(God, I love rumors.)

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
From North Korea and - for that matter - China, absolutely.

But. It. Doesn't. Work.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by bilmore
Natalya. She was nineteen. And those lips . . .

Ah! Betelgeuse!

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by bilmore
Tomorrow.

Rehnquist and Stevens.

(God, I love rumours.)

Cite please?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Penske_Account
Cite please?

Were you the one who posted that at DU?

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Were you the one who posted that at DU?

No, but I did post about Natalya at www.hillary.org