Speak up, Alan!

Today, Alan Greenspan spoke about the fraudulent "retirement" scheme known as Social Security. Social Insecurity is nothing but a government-operated ponzi scheme. A bubble built on false promises. Like Enron, except that contributions are involuntary. Plain and simple. The system adds no value, so the benefits of people withdrawing from the system are paid for by the people paying into the system. The amount that you cough up for it is conveniently obscured by the fact that 50% of the money comes from your employer. The system works when the payers vastly outnumber the payees and the pyramind is growing. And just like every other pyramid, the system collapses when the trend reverses. That's due to happen in a decade or two.

One day, politicians are going to have to stop pussyfooting around this issue and deal with it. This is going to become a center stage issue in American politics, like Iraq is today. I don't know if it will be five years from now, ten, or twenty, but it will happen. Whatever happens, it's not going to be pretty. Ultimately, I expect the country to fall into two camps: those who want to reform or destroy the program altogether, and those who want to subsidize the program with federal income taxes to keep it intact. Politicians will have to start taking sides. Ultimately, I expect the "subsidize the program with taxes" side to win for one reason -- the payees vote at a much greater rate than the payers. Whatever happens, the solution is going to be very ugly and unfair for somebody.

Just once, I wish that a politician would communicate this issue to young people. The only politicians who ever court the young vote are Left Wing moonbats like Jerry Brown and Howard Dean. Politicians only visit college campuses to preach about saving the rainforest, socialized medicine, and putting dirty oil companies out of business. I'd like to see a politician visit a college campus and tell the students how badly they are getting cornholed by Social Insecurity instead.

Greenspan warns of abrupt and painful choices unless baby boomer pension benefits are trimmed

JACKSON, Wyo. - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Friday that the country will face ``abrupt and painful'' choices if Congress does not move quickly to trim the Social Security and Medicare benefits that have been promised to the baby boom generation.

Returning to a politically explosive issue that he has addressed a number of times this year, Greenspan said that it was wrong for the government to hold out the promise of more retirement benefits than it is capable of providing.

He said this issue was particularly critical given the impending retirement of 77 million baby boomers born in the two decades after World War II.

``As a nation, we owe it to our retirees to promise only the benefits that can be delivered,'' Greenspan said in opening remarks to a two-day conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City on the challenges posed by aging populations.

``If we have promised more than our economy has the ability to deliver, as I fear we may have, we must recalibrate our public programs so that pending retirees have time to adjust through other channels,'' Greenspan said. ``If we delay, the adjustments could be abrupt and painful.''

Greenspan, as he has done previously, suggested that possible changes would be raising the retirement age to receive full Social Security benefits, which currently is gradually increasing from 65 to 67.

For the Record

A transcript of John Kerry's testimony before the United States Senate, April 22, 1971, can be found here.

And the assault continues.

Can someone find out if this guy's daughter-in-law played softball with Jenna Bush's babysitter's cousin?



Col. George E. "Bud" Day, the man pictured to the left, is the most decorated officer since Gen. Douglas MacArthur, and was Senator John McCain's cellmate in the Hanoi Hilton. In John McCain's book, "Faith of My Fathers," McCain credits Day with saving his life (pg. 200). Col. Day is also one of The University of South Dakota School of Law's most prominent alumni, and gave the keynote address to the law school's class of 2004. The tale behind his Medal of Honor decoration is awe-inspiring.

Today, Col. Day weighed in on the controversy surrounding John Kerry and the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, firmly on the side of the latter

The major issue in the Swiftboat stories is, and always has been, what John Kerry did in 1971 after he returned from Vietnam.

Kerry cast a long dark shadow over all Vietnam Veterans with his outright perjury before the Senate concerning atrocities in Vietnam. His stories to the Senate committee were absolute lies.. fabrications.. perjury.. fantasies, with NO substance. That dark shadow has defamed the entire Vietnam War veteran population, and gave "Aid and Comfort" to our enemies..the Vietnamese Communists. Kerry's stories were outright fabrications, and were intended for political gain with the radical left..McGovern, Teddy and Bobby Kennedy followers, Jane Fonda, Tom Hayden, and the radical left who fantasized that George McGovern was going to be elected in 1972. Little wonder that returning soldiers from Vietnam were spit upon and castigated as "baby killers". A returned war hero said so....

Read more...

I guess ole Bud is lying too.

MTV Squashes Dissent

Rock the vote.

Dancehall star Beenie Man, who has recorded anti-gay songs in the past, was yanked from a concert associated with the MTV Video Music Awards this weekend after gay groups planned a protest, the network said Wednesday.

MTV pulled the Jamaican singer from the roster Tuesday after South Florida gay activists announced plans to protest Saturday's concert in Miami over some of his past lyrics, including "I'm dreaming of a new Jamaica, come to execute all the gays" and "Queers must be killed."

MTV Bars Beenie Man As Gays Plan Protest

Sometimes What Seems Important Really Isn't, eh?

Glenn Reynolds over at Instapundit reported 260,000 page views on Monday.

I was probably fifty of them.

I love that site. I think it's the best place on the web to find what i want to read about, although his obsession with nanotechnology bores me.

Anyway, this evening, in the midst of opining about Kerry and Bush and Vietnam and Radical Islam, he linked to a blog entry that is likely among the best pieces of writing I have ever encountered. You can read it here, and then read all about Caroline here.

Perspective.

From John Kerry's Book...

...comes this excerpt:

"in our opinion, and from our experience, there is nothing in South Vietnam which
could happen that realistically threatens the United States of America. And to attempt to
justify the loss of one American life in Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos by linking such loss
to the preservation of freedom, which those misfits supposedly abuse, is to us the height
of criminal hypocrisy."

That sounds isolationist to me. The "freedom" of any man or woman is worth fighting for only if it impacts the United States. It's reasonable, I guess, and directly at odds with what is commonly termed "The Bush Doctrine", which states that oppressed people turn violent while free people turn productive, so American security benefits from the spread of freedom.

I wonder what Senator Kerry's opinion about that passage above would be today. It always puzzles me when American Leftists try to claim a deep caring for human rights when they oppose using our huge military might to provide those rights to people who aren't American.

The New Soldier - Intro

Reiteration of Priorities Regarding Flipper's Past Behavior and Future Plans

If John Flipper Kerry hadn't blatantly prostituted his previous military service, it would not be an issue. As he has, and people who suffered his crap in the past have taken him to task on the specifics of his chest pounding, I see nothing wrong with watching and commenting upon the spectacle. However, I find his lying self-serving show trial style testimony before members of the U.S. Senate in 1971 far far more relevant to the Kerry of today. He is still a braggart. What's worse is that he is just as much a war politicizing traitor today as he was over 30 years ago. There is absolutely no excuse for using his status as a veteran of the Vietnam war to malign those whose lives were still at risk in the cause of defeating great evil. When we pulled our troops out of the region, the enemy took over. When they did, much blood was spilled and many people suffered. A couple-few million human lives were lost in Cambodia. Horrific! Kerry's allegations did not exist in a vacuum. The enemy used his rhetoric to demoralize and torture our captive soldiers. The American public suffered similarly as star power shadowed political machination. Kerry being a willing tool of the later as he cloaked himself as one of our heroes while painting them with demonic brush. Those same elements have found new blood and a new cause, rising to challenge our resolve in the conflicts we currently face. And look who's riding on their shoulders. I maintain that Saddam Hussein knew his options. He stood no chance against our military. He hid. He waited. For what? A free Iraq was Hussein's undoing, but Iraq in chaos held hope. Thugs killing American soldiers and Iraqi civilians in mass. Ungrateful cowards back seat driving the war effort. If only they kill more of our brave men and women. If only they prevent peace and prosperity for the country of Iraq. Then maybe the Americans will elect a dove. They'll pull our troops out of the region forsaking all they've bled and died for. They'll choose expedience over stability. Then as now, our challenges are an enemy in theater working in concert with an enemy within our ranks. In Vietnam, our enemy didn't have to defeat our military at their doorstep. Kerry was doing their job for them when he lied about his fellow soldiers in public spectacle. A few million people died, but look where it got him.

The Usamas of the world target the leaders of their own people who fail to fall in line as well as any outsiders who threaten their designs. Make no mistake. If they are victorious, those who sat idly by or attempted to thwart those who fought against them will either fall in line with their demands or suffer our fate as well. These are their terms. How many of our soldiers and how many of those depending on us for a chance at freedom have to die in order to further Flipper's career this time around? After November 2nd....hopefully none.

Did John Edwards "Betray" his Country?

Following up on Tim's post below, If George W. Bush "betrayed" his country by joining the National Guard, taking time off to work on a campaign, and requesting that he end his committment to the Guard early....then what does that say about John Edwards?

Christmas in January. Or was it February?

Instapundit has a nice sample of the every changing Christmas in Cambodia story. SEARED! SEARED! The newest retelling of this tale has "Christmas" occuring in "January or February".......I guess that makes it easier to end run around Kerry crew mate Stephen Gardner. It sure as hell doesn't make Nixon President in 1968. SEARED! I snicker every time I hear a donk talking head cry out for Bush to silence the swifties or blubber about sticking to the issues. That must be why they questioned Bush's service record over and over again. That must be why they threaten to do so again if the Swifties don't stop beating on poor little Flipper. That must be why Flipper "Reported for Duty" at the DNC convention, why he constantly surrounds himself with those few who served with him and can stomach his lies, that must be why he mentioned his service every freakin' time someone put a camera in his face. Want to discuss the issues, Flipper? Let's discuss your position on abortion, your vote against the partial birth abortion ban, your vote against increased penalty for killing a pregnant woman. Let's talk about your 35 minutes of not being able to "think" or "act" after the second tower was hit. Let's talk about your vote against funding for our troops after you voted to send them to war. Let's focus on whether you would or would not have taken out Saddam Hussein. Let's discuss Libya's decision to disarm. Let's discuss your record of trying to slash programs essential to America's security. Let's discuss your desire to kill economic growth by raising taxes. Let's discuss your total disconnect from those living on....well....less than the Heinz fortune when you sponsored raising the gas tax by 50 cents per gallon. Let's discuss Iran's nuclear weapons program. Let's discuss your idiotic remarks about bringing troops home within 6 months and how it gives our enemy a light at the end of their tunnel. Let's discuss whether that means more to you than the success of our mission. I know. I know. "Well when I was in Vietnam...." Save it.

Sure is quiet without Dave here

Which reminds me that:

- even though Dave is prolific when around, and

- The Valiant Elephant just totally rips when he's here,

- I am way too busy with work and other things to get in here and get to opining.

We need another wacko.

Surely there is someone out there who hits the Comment sections of blog frequently, or someone who started their own blog but cannot handle it alone, or someone who lurks here and thinks they might want to take a stab at bloggery the way we do it here.

Surely there is.

Is there?

Bush vs. Free Speech

The President is taking his lumps out there from the right regarding his call for 527 ads to end. I think I see the political gambit though:

a) Kerry folks will WAY outspend Bush partisans on 527 ads in the next 60 days, and hence

b) Bush wants to harangue Kerry into denouncing the 527s on his side. (as if...)

So I find myself not wanting to get into the President's kitchen about this, though I agree with most right of center opinion I have heard, which is that there should be NO RESTRICTIONS on political speech.

American RealPolitik: Bush vs. Free Speech

Flipper's Biggest Fans

A quick chuckle awaits you as you flash back in time and read some Partisan Media commentary on the Kerry Convention speech. It's retro, but worth the click.

"George Bush betrayed his country by not fighting in Vietnam."

John Kerry has yet to denounce.

Protein Wisdom

"Fancy lad"

Oy!

Democrats Set to Steal Election

Over 31,000 Democrats are registered to vote in New York and Florida. Reckon they figure if they take a shot at two ballots, they're bound to get one right.

Meet the Peeping Tom worm

What will they think of next?

"If your computer is infected and you have a webcam plugged in, then everything you do in front of the computer can be seen, and everything you say can be recorded," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "It would be like having a regular Web cam conversation except you wouldn't know you're taking part in it."

Man, what I'd pay for a .MPG of Howard Dean surfing SovietPlumpers.com.

The Register

DANEgerus must chew up some serious bandwidth...

...as he has one of the best collections of images and cartoons around, where Election 2004 is concerned. A veritable plethora, I dare say.

Here's my favorite at the moment:



Oy!

Click and starting scrolling: DANEgerus. Look for the Bandaids! And read some of the words, if you are so inclined.

John Kerry Has Friends...

...in Pyongyang.

North Korea called President George W. Bush an imbecile and a tyrant who puts Hitler in the shade, unleashing a stream of insults Monday...

Fine!

With an eye on U.S. vote, North Korea rails at Bush

Questioning Dole

You may have noticed two chuckleheads of the Leftist punditcracy named David Corn and Katrina vanden Heuvel out there in the past weeks questioning why Bushtypes are questioning Kerry's war record. Corn and venden Heuvel are editors at The Nation magazine.

JAWOHL!

The very same The Nation that appears below:



Read more here: NRO.

Yes, Virginia, there was a time when questioning a Presidential nominee's war record was permissible.

Blogs for Bush: Web of Connections

Meanwhile, I don't know if you saw the information The New York Times published connecting the Swiftboat Vets to the Bush Administration, you know, Texas oil money and all that jazz. I fouind is perpelxing that no one had ever drawn a web of connections between John Kerry et al. and the purveyors of that Bush Is Nazi MoveOn Org AWOL jazz that Big Partisan Media felt the need to parrot a few months back without commentary about the source of such ads and accusations.

Well, someone has traced the web.



Click to learn more: Blogs for Bush: Web of Connections. CAUTION: what you read there may shock you, as you surely never read about it in your local BPM rag.

Dole Questions Kerry's Vietnam Wounds

Now the charges have gravitas, as they say.

Former Republican Sen. Bob Dole suggested Sunday that John Kerry (news - web sites) apologize for past testimony before Congress about alleged atrocities during the Vietnam War and joined critics of the Democratic presidential candidate who say he received an early exit from combat for "superficial wounds."

Dole also called on Kerry to release all the records of his service in Vietnam.

Oy!

This is problematic for Democrats for two reasons:

a) Big Funded Media cannot ignore Dole the way they ignored those Nam-vets-turned-on-the-Bush-payroll-alkies, can they?

b) All those Left of Center folks who suddenly feel the need to support a decorated veteran over a service dodger have to reconcile their vote for Clinton over Dole eight years ago. Or, , they would would, if they had a conscience, but, as we know, a conscience is optional on all makes and models of American Leftist.

Yahoo! News - Dole Questions Kerry's Vietnam Wounds

Head East, Young Man!

The girlfriend and I are getting on a plane late tonight and flying to The People's Republic of Taxachusetts for a week. The cause? The marriage of my one and only brother. This is one of the weddings I've been talking about. It's sucking up every last bit of cash I have, but you DO NOT miss your brother's nuptuals, and you DO NOT skimp while you're there!

It's just not done.

So I have the cigars and the booze stowed away, bags packed, the girlfriend's brother watching the dog for us and a friend and neighbor willing to shoot any strangers he might find around the house while we're gone. Burglers be warned, he's more bloodthirsty than I am. That's why I asked HIM to watch the house. I'll be back in a week. To make this story short, don't expect anything from me while I'm gone. Family trumps the 'net every time without exception. Luckily, you still have Tim, TVE and Bayou to keep you informed!

I'll see you all in a week!

Old Guns and Cheap Ammo

Just to make sure people know where I'm coming from, I've never bought a new gun.

Part of the reason is finances. New guns, especially good guns, cost bookoo bucks. The other part is simply the fact that I like older guns. You will not find a new Springfield M1903. They stopped making them years ago. The only ones out there are used. You will not find a brand new SKS. They were replaced by the AK-47. So if you want an SKS, you have to buy it used.

However, buying used guns has it's disadvantages, wear and tear being formost among them. My old SKS is a Yugoslavian model, and it's probably 50 years old. I have no idea how many rounds have been put through that barrel. Hell, I've put over 5,000 rounds through my Marlin .22 since I got it, and I got it used.

And, of course, one of the side effects of putting that many rounds through the gun is that your accuracy eventually starts to degrade. And that's what I thought had happened to my SKS. I had put quite a few rounds through it, and I couldn't get any kind of decent shot groups. Hell, I had my girlfriend put rounds through it and she couldn't do any better. No matter what I tried, I just couldn't get any kind of consistancy in my shot groupings. And I know that I'm not that bad a shot, as my other shot groups with different guns can attest.

However, I never once thought about the ammo I was using. Analog Kid handed me two stripper clips of ammo, and I produced this:



You can count 'em if you want, that's twenty holes. I put my hand there to give you an idea of what the shot grouping was like. A twenty round shot group that fits under the palm of my hand.

Hot damn, there's life in the old gun yet! AK, you gotta let me know what kind of ammo that was. I'd say those are pretty good results.

Someone did their research!

Reader Rocky send me a link to this video, in which John Fonda Kerry describes his positions on Iraq. It's a big'un, so unless you have broadband I'd click on it and then cook dinner. But oh, it's worth it.

Someone did a LOT of research..... and the result is well worth it. Thanks, Rocky!

Military Medals

Time to be frank, if I may. I'm enjoying watching the Kerry camp spin and twist over John Fonda Kerry's Viet Nam service. Flipper knows that he can't run on his post-Viet Nam record, so he made his four months of service the major focus of his campaign. However, since he was an opportunistic slimeball from day one, the people who worked with him are ripping him to shreds.

And I'm loving every minute of it. Trust me, I'm sitting back and laughing my ass off as Team Kerry goes into a tailspin. From his lies to his flip-flopping on issues, every piece of news is turning out negative no matter how hard the fifth-column media tries to spin it. As for the mass media itself, it's loosing credibility every day. They've dropped the facade of non-partisanship and are openly attempting to get Kerry elected.

And they're failing. I love it.

However, I think that there's a whole lot of confusion regarding Kerry's service medals, how he got them, and what it means. So for those who haven't been in the military, here's a quick primer for ya.

Half of the medals awarded to service members are subjective. Bottom line.

The other half are medals that must be awarded for certain actions. The Army Service Ribbon for example. If you served in the Army, you wear it. The Army Overseas Ribbon is awarded to any Army soldier who serves a minimum of six months overseas. The National Defense Service Medal is awarded to anyone who served within specific time periods. All of these are examples of ribbons that must be awarded based on set standards. If you did x, you got the ribbon.

However, the other half of awards are more subjective. The criteria for the Army Achievement Medal reads:

The Army Achievement Medal is awarded to any member of the armed forces of the United States, or to any member of the armed forces of a friendly foreign nation, who while serving in any capacity with the Army in a non-combat area on or after 1 August 1981, distinguished himself by meritorious service or achievement of a lesser degree than required for award of the Army Commendation Medal. The Army Achievement Medal will not be awarded to general officers.

What is "meritorious service"? That can be anything the person writing up the medal wants it to be. Did you keep the crappers clean for a month? Did you completely revamp and overhaul the motorpool? Depending on who your CO is, whether or not your 1SG dislikes you, all of these things can have an effect on what award you can get. The criteria for the Army Commendation Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal are equally subjective. It's not just about what you did, it's about who put you up for the medal, and who approves the request. What one commander might consider worthy of an Army Commendation Medal, another commander might think worthy of only a Letter of Commendation, not even a medal.

And it is here that we get into the whole sticky mess about John Fonda Kerry.

Just to give you an idea about the subjectiveness of military awards, when I ETS'ed from my last unit, my team leader and squad leader put me in for a Meritorious Service Medal. In their minds, the work I had done, and the amount I contributed to the platoon and company rated an MSM. However, it was downgraded at the Battalion level to an Army Achievement Medal. Their reason? "Lower enlisteds don't get MSM's." My efforts and contributions to the unit were entirely subjective to the Battalion. Again, much of what decides an award is who writes it and who approves it. It was rare to see a lower enlisted soldier with an Army Commendation Medal. And yet it was just as rare to see an officer with LESS than an ACM. That was the way the politics worked at my unit. Rank and the buddy network trumped actual effort almost every time. It was a large part of the reason I got out of the active duty Army to begin with.

So, with that knowledge in mind, we need to find out who wrote up John Fonda Kerry's medal recomendations. We already know that Kerry wrote the after-action reports, but that doesn't mean much. He was the commander of the boat, he's SUPPOSED to write the after-action reports. However, as the commander of the boat, he's also in charge of writing up award recomendations, and he's the main link in the chain of APPROVING said medal requests. Did he embelish the reasons for the award? Did he out and out lie? Did the actions that the award is based on actually occur? This is the information that those of us who weren't there need in order to say whether or not the awards were based on fallacious merits.

Of course, we would be able to have this information if Kerry would fully release his military records, as President Bush did months ago. But Kerry still hasn't done that.

So where does that leave us? I myself can't say whether or not Kerry deserves a Silver Star, because I don't have the info I need. All I have is the story put out by John Fonda Kerry, and the statements of over 250 men who say he's lying.

250 to 1. Those aren't good odds for John Fonda Kerry.

So while I may not directly state that Kerry's medals are worthless, I will however defer to those men who worked with him, lived with him, and dealt with him for four months and twelve days.

And those men say that John Fonda Kerry is full of shit. I think that's all I need to know about Kerry's service.