Politics As Usual

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by sgtclub
You (and I mean all of you) that don't think we couldn't easily cut 4% of a $10 trillion budget are out of your minds.

Ty had better google-fu, but you're off by nearly an order of magnitude on federal spending.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Sidd Finch


As an aside -- serious question -- since the right always likes to hold out the postal service as the sine qua non of government inefficacy, is there any law or regulation preventing the Fed Exes of the world from offering a service to compete with First Class Mail? I suspect there is not, and that the only reason they don't is that the private sector cannot compete with the post office at this price point (even though -- I believe -- the postal service is entirely self-financed)..... even though it's had since the times of the Pony Express to try. I really would like to know, though, if there is some legal obstacle present.

There is a law. I forget the exact text, but it does make illegal the use of expedited courier service for delivery of mail that does not need expedition. Or something like that. The postal inspection unit I believe subpoenaed records from companies using fedex requesting proof that a bunch of fedexes were truly necessary. obviously the case went nowhere.

there's a significant barrier to entry, too. I believe the law prevents the use of mailboxes by anyone other than USPS. If you have a slot in your door, then you're home free. But most people pick up their mail from a box, either at the street, the entrance to their planned community, or their apartment lobby.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Ty had better google-fu, but you're off by nearly an order of magnitude on federal spending.

I know. I got budgeted numbers confused with the size of the economy.

[sgtclub]

Citizens Against Government Waste’s (CAGW) Prime Cuts 2001 is the blueprint for a smaller, more efficient and stronger government that can protect Americans and their wallets. Prime Cuts catalogues 543 recommendations throughout the government that if enacted, could save taxpayers $159 billion in fiscal 2002 and $1.27 trillion over the next five years.

http://www.cagw.org/site/FrameSet?st...000/intro.html

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by sgtclub
You (and I mean all of you) that don't think we couldn't easily cut 4% of a $10 trillion budget are out of your minds.

Hmmm .. now that you put it that way . . . a 4% cut in spending would balance the budget? By jove! Sign me up!

S_A_M

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by sgtclub
I know. I got budgeted numbers confused with the size of the economy.

Tough day at the office, pal.



S_A_M

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
Tough day at the office, pal.



S_A_M

We all have them.

[the Spartan]

Originally posted by sgtclub
We all have them.

Yes, its inevitable, like death and taxes :sobbing: :sobbing: :sobbing:

[the Spartan]

An open letter from a US Marine to al Qaeda that was read on Sean Hannity's radio show today. Good stuff as to what the eventual fate of these nuts is, when CinC Bush and Co. get through with them.


This letter is for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, ''Islamic Response,'' and the rest of the so-called "insurgents" in Iraq. I obviously do not have an e-mail address for these vermin, so I am forwarding this letter to my entire address book in the hope you good people will forward it to as many people as possible, and that eventually through the miracle of the internet it somehow ends up in the hands of the intended recipients. Thank you all for your assistance.
To the terrorists currently operating in Iraq,

I see that you have captured a U. S. Marine, and that you plan to cut off his head if your demands are not met. Big mistake. Before you carry out your threat I suggest you read up on Marine Corps history. The Japanese tried the same thing on Makin Island and in a few other places during World War Two, and came to regret it. Go ahead and read about what then happened to the mighty Imperial Army on Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. They paid full price for what they did, and you will too.

You look at America and you see a soft target, and to a large extent you are right. Our country is filled with a lot of spoiled people who drive BMWs, sip decaf lattes and watch ridiculous reality TV shows. They are for the most part decent, hard working citizens, but they are soft. When you cut off Nick Berg's head those people gasped, and you got the media coverage you sought, and then those people went back to their lives. This time it is different. We also have a warrior culture in this country, and they are called Marines. It is a brotherhood forged in the fire of many wars, and the bond between us is stronger than blood. While it is true that this country has produced nitwits like Michael Moore, Howard Dean and Jane Fonda who can be easily manipulated by your gruesome tactics, we have also produced men like Jason Dunham, Brian Chontosh and Joseph Perez. If you don't recognize those names you should. They are all Marines who distinguished themselves fightin! g to liberate Iraq, and there will be many more just like them coming for you.

Before the current politically correct climate enveloped our culture one of the recruiting slogans of our band of brothers was "The Marine Corps Builds Men." You will soon find out just how true that is. You, on the other hand, are nothing but a bunch of women. If you were men you would show your faces, and take us on in a fair fight. Instead, you are cowards who hide behind masks and decapitate helpless victims. If you truly represented the interest of the Iraqi people you would not be ambushing those who come to your country to repair your power plants, or sabotage the oil pipelines which fuel the Iraqi economy. Your agenda is hate, plain and simple.

When you raise that sword over your head I want you to remember one thing. Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun is not alone as he kneels before you. Every Marine who has ever worn the uniform is there with him, and when you strike him you are striking all of us. If you think the Marines were tough on you when they were cleaning out Fallujah a few weeks ago you haven't seen anything yet. If you want to know what it feels like to have the Wrath of God called down upon you then go ahead and do it. We are not Turkish truck drivers, or Pakistani laborers, or independent contractors hoping to find work in your country. We are the United States Marines, and we will be coming for you.

Andy Bufalo
MSgt USMC

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by sgtclub
http://www.cagw.org/site/FrameSet?st...000/intro.html

Any prescription for "cutting government waste" that prominently features opening the Artic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling for oil is more than a little suspect in my book.

• New recommendations include opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) for drilling, saving $1.5 billion over five years. ANWR is a massive, 19.5 million acre chunk of land, roughly the size of Maine, in a forbidding far corner of Alaska above the Arctic Circle.
  
  Only a small portion of the refuge, called the North Slope, would be drilled. This 1.5 million-acre strip, roughly the size of Delaware, could have up to 16 billion barrels of oil. That represents more than 300 times the amount of the oil President Clinton released from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in an attempt to boost the Gore campaign in the fall of 2000. Based on December 2000 figures, drilling in ANWR could produce as much as 10 percent of the United States’ oil needs for 20 to 25 years, reducing dependence on foreign oil and vastly improving national security. For example, it would free America from 54 years of oil imports from Saddam Hussein and Iraq.

Perhaps opening ANWR would net that much money in new revenue, but that really doesn't have anything to do with cuting spending -- it's selling off a government asset to pay the bills. One can't avoid the suspicion that other parts of this agenda similarly mask policy goals behind the veneer of "rightsizing." E.g., they would propose saving $1.7 billion annually by "Eliminat[ing] drug interdiction and international activities to control the supply of drugs." Debatable, but hardly a simple question of "waste." Oddly enough, they seem to make it impossible to look through their agenda -- you can run a search, but you can't get much of idea an idea where the $159 billion would come from.

Poking around their site, it becomes apparent that there's very little money to be saved, relatively speaking, in cutting pork:

• This year’s total reveals that Congress porked out at record levels. For fiscal 2004, appropriators stuck 10,656 projects in the 13 appropriations bills, an increase of 13 percent over last year’s total of 9,362. In the last two years, the total number of projects has increased 28 percent. The cost of these projects in fiscal 2004 was $22.9 billion....

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by the Spartan

We are the United States Marines, and we will be coming for you, just like we were going to come after those your comrades in Fallujah when they strung up those ex-SEALs from a bridge, at least until our CIC told us to back off.

Sorry, that italicized portion wasn't really in there.

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Sorry, that italicized portion wasn't really in there.

Damn, Ty.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Shape Shifter
Damn, Ty.

I'm kinda tired of the concept that this macho bullshit cuts only one way, politically. They were all fully of this shit right up to the point when Bush (wisely) backed down and decided not to make the rubble bounce in Fallujah. Then, silence. If they really believed this crap, you'd think they would say that Bush is a pansy for backing off, but the silence tells you that it was just a line. Meanwhile, conservatives are lining up to piss on John Kerry, who actually risked his life in Vietnam, to help re-elect Bush, who spent the war in Texas and Alabama in a cushy gig where he could campaign for GOP senatorial candidates.

[SlaveNoMore]

Tyrone Slothrop
I'm kinda tired of the concept that this macho bullshit cuts only one way, politically. They were all fully of this shit right up to the point when Bush (wisely) backed down and decided not to make the rubble bounce in Fallujah. Then, silence. If they really believed this crap, you'd think they would say that Bush is a pansy for backing off, but the silence tells you that it was just a line. Meanwhile, conservatives are lining up to piss on John Kerry, who actually risked his life in Vietnam, to help re-elect Bush, who spent the war in Texas and Alabama in a cushy gig where he could campaign for GOP senatorial candidates.

Billmore gets a lot more surly after a few drinks.

Can you please check in after 2 more.

love,

David Ortiz' glove

[SlaveNoMore]

Sullivan, yet again, points out why I should stop drinking Rhone and eating foie gras:

If you want proof that Jacques Chirac would never, ever have acquiesced in the removal of his old buddy, Saddam Hussein, you only have to look at his decision to prevent any NATO cooperation in Iraq, now that sovereignty has been transferred. He has one central plank in his foreign policy: the obstruction of American power. If that means hoping for the failure of Iraqi democracy, so be it. If it means turning a blind eye to terror, so be it. But even Le Monde is beginning to see through his cynicism. Here's an extract from their editorial today, translated by my France-watcher:

• "For the 15 months since the beginning of the American-British [notice avoidance of the Vichy expression "Anglo-American" -- translator] intervention in Iraq, Jacques Chirac has been working on the solution to a difficult diplomatic equation: how to maintain his opposition to the war without seeming to be shamefully nostalgic for Saddam Hussein -- something the Americans have hinted at on several occasions -- and while also fulfilling his obligations as an ally of the US. . . . In Iraq, the United States has two goals: to give international legitimacy to its intervention and to replace a portion of its troops with NATO forces. France has conceded the first point in voting in favor of the recent UN resolutions. France still resists the second, but without having been able to block an involvement susceptible of leading, sooner or later, to the presence of the trans-Atlantic organization in Iraq. This is a rear-guard battle that illustrates Chirac's dilemma: he must not oppose the reconstruction of a "sovereign" Iraq while at the same time not appearing to give the lie to his own [anti-war] policies. This is also a position of watchful waiting, permitting cooperation with John Kerry, if he wins the Presidential election, and also permitting living with George Bush, if reelected.

But it's so nakedly self-interested it's self-defeating. Chirac is already being isolated within Europe, and is striking out at potential rivals in his own party. He's a tired, pompous, corrupt hack. Always has been.