About Us
Mission Statement
Rules of Conduct
 
Name:
Pswd:
Remember Me
Register
 

Executive Decision
Author: BobR    Date: 2014-01-29 11:52:54

Leading up to last night's State of the Union Speech, the President's office had stated that if Congress wasn't going to work with him, he was going to use Executive Orders to do what he legally could to get things done. Naturally, the Republicans in Congress are angry. They are angry because their only goal in life is to prevent the president from succeeding, regardless of how detrimental it is to the country. They are tacitly threatening impeachment (despite the fact that he has done fewer executive orders than nearly all of his predecessors).

The president, however, is calling their bluff. During his speech last night, he pointed out numerous ways he was going to get things done, whether they helped or not...
Continue reading...

70 comments (Latest Comment: 01/29/2014 23:26:24 by livingonli)

SOTU 2014 Live Blog
Author: Raine    Date: 01/29/2014 02:07:19

###FOLD###
HIT IT!
 
Continue reading...

65 comments (Latest Comment: 01/29/2014 04:00:13 by Raine)

Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 01/28/2014 11:10:48

Good Morning.

Today is our 4,496th day in Afghanistan.

We'll start this morning as we always do; with the latest casualty figures from our ongoing war, courtesy of antiwar.com:

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 2,307
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,108

We find this morning's Cost of War passing through:

$ 1, 509, 057, 075, 000 .00

Continue reading...

66 comments (Latest Comment: 01/29/2014 01:59:13 by Scoopster)

May the odds be ever in your favor!
Author: Scoopster    Date: 01/27/2014 14:02:33

There’s been a lot of talk about income inequality in recent months and years, and its impact on the economic health of the world. And for good reason – the revelations from Oxfam’s report are staggering.

Oxfam is concerned that, left unchecked, the effects are potentially immutable, and will lead to ‘opportunity capture’ – in which the lowest tax rates, the best education, and the best healthcare are claimed by the children of the rich. This creates dynamic and mutually reinforcing cycles of advantage that are transmitted across generations.
Given the scale of rising wealth concentrations, opportunity capture and unequal political representation are a serious and worrying trend. For instance:
• Almost half of the world’s wealth is now owned by just one percent of the population.
• The wealth of the one percent richest people in the world amounts to $110 trillion. That’s 65 times the total wealth of the bottom half of the world’s population.
• The bottom half of the world’s population owns the same as the richest 85 people in the world.
• Seven out of ten people live in countries where economic inequality has increased in the last 30 years.
• The richest one percent increased their share of income in 24 out of 26 countries for which we have data between 1980 and 2012.
• In the US, the wealthiest one percent captured 95 percent of post-financial crisis growth since 2009, while the bottom 90 percent became poorer.

Continue reading...

83 comments (Latest Comment: 01/28/2014 00:19:47 by Will in Chicago)

Who Said That?
Author: velveeta jones    Date: 01/26/2014 15:34:06

Lately we have been talking about Mike Huckabee's statement about horny women who demand birth control from "Uncle Sugar" who we assume is what he believes is Obama's pimp name.

But can you guess these other famous quotes that belittle minorities? Today's blog is Guess the Quote: American Politician or Brutal Dictator. Good luck. Answers are below.
Continue reading...

2 comments (Latest Comment: 01/26/2014 20:14:05 by Raine)

Civil War
Author: TriSec    Date: 01/25/2014 11:51:39

Good Morning.

I've got a double today - I'm off for a snowshoe walk with the Bean this morning, then I'm headed directly to BSA Camp Sayre in the Blue Hills to work on some Woodbadge training.

But before I do, I have two brief stories about Civil War. We'll start almost 8,000 miles from where I sit on a little island called Mindanao. Most people have never heard of the place, but you should all recognize the name from me - it is my true ancestral homeland, as Grandpa Mac left there as a young man for the West Coast about a century ago.
Continue reading...

6 comments (Latest Comment: 01/26/2014 15:23:54 by Raine)

Blood Money
Author: BobR    Date: 01/24/2014 16:14:53

War is Hell. So sayeth men wiser and more experienced than I. For most of the planet, it is an abhorrent last resort. For a small minority, it is a means to an end. Most Americans believe it is something that should never be entered into lightly, because those we send into that meat grinder need to believe that their sacrifice means something. They will never be the same afterwards, so they deserve our support before, during, and after their service fighting against an enemy we have deemed it necessary to engage.

The military used to be self-sufficient. Sure they needed manufacturers to provide them with supplies and weaponry, but setting up camps, repairing equipment, feeding the troops - everything used to be done by the soldiers. When they left the service, they had training and experience that could be translated into "civilian" employment prospects.
Continue reading...

36 comments (Latest Comment: 01/24/2014 22:28:38 by Mondobubba)

Morning Headlines
Author: clintster    Date: 01/23/2014 13:32:21

Good morning everybody. It's been a while since I've done this, and I was asked to sub in at the last minute, so please forgive me if I am a bit rusty. So, why don't we start off with a few headlines just for kicks?
Continue reading...

40 comments (Latest Comment: 01/24/2014 01:10:09 by Will in Chicago)

A Sorry State of Affairs
Author: BobR    Date: 2014-01-22 12:08:01

For all the attention that we pay to National/Federal politics, the "scandals" and posturing are nothing compared to what goes on at the state level. We normally don't pay much attention to politics in other states, but boy, do things go off the rails there. The Sopranos-esque shakedowns and abuses of power taking center stage in New Jersey are certainly juicy, mainly because Governor Chris Christie was being considered the front-runner for the Republican presidential candidate in 2016. That seems to be lost at this point. Still - there are other stories that are just as amazing.
Continue reading...

58 comments (Latest Comment: 01/22/2014 22:02:51 by Mondobubba)

Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 01/21/2014 11:23:33

Good Morning.

Today is our 4,489th day in Afghanistan.

We'll start this morning as we always do; with the latest casualties from our ongoing war, courtesy of Antiwar.com:

US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 2,307
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,108

We find this morning's Cost of War passing through:

$1, 507, 165, 225, 000 .00

Continue reading...

95 comments (Latest Comment: 01/21/2014 23:44:07 by Raine)

<<  371  372  373  374  375  376  >>
Order by most recent comment   Complete Blog Entry List