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Oddity
Author: Raine    Date: 08/09/2012 12:39:22

Whilst I craft today's post, I leave you with this....
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20 comments (Latest Comment: 08/09/2012 16:15:06 by Raine)

Open Thread
Author: BobR    Date: 08/08/2012 12:58:33

Open thread while I work on the blog...
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46 comments (Latest Comment: 08/09/2012 01:16:13 by TriSec)

Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 08/07/2012 10:17:22

Good Morning.

Today is our 3,957th 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: 2,071
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,048

We find this morning's cost of war passing through:

$ 1, 360, 111, 600, 000 .00


I've got a mishmosh of things today with no real coherent thread, so we'll just dive right in. Starting with the economy....June and July were a mixed bag on the national front, although the surprising July jobs report resulted in a bump in the stock market (right into the 1%'s pocket!). Veterans have always lagged behind the rest of us in the job hunt, but there is some encouraging news
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35 comments (Latest Comment: 08/07/2012 22:00:28 by TriSec)

Hate is Deadly
Author: Raine    Date: 08/06/2012 15:01:51

Another week, another shooting... This time it was a military veteran, discharged in 1998 after having been part of a Psy-Ops, serving in both Fort Bliss and Fort Bragg before being discharged. He was never deployed, according to this report.
According to sources in the U.S. Army, Page enlisted in April 1992 and was discharged from the Army in 1998 "under honorable conditions," which is less than honorable discharge. While not as negative as a dishonorable discharge, such a release would preclude one from reenlisting or entering another military service, sources explained to Fox News.

Page served at Fort Bliss, Texas, in the psychological operations unit in 1994, and was last stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., attached to the psychological operations unit. He was an E4 psychological operations specialist, but was never deployed. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct award, the National Defense Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal and Parachutist Badge.

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35 comments (Latest Comment: 08/06/2012 23:45:08 by livingonli)

Curious!
Author: Raine    Date: 08/06/2012 12:56:56

Let's start this Monday Morning with something to celebrate... Curiosity has landed on Mars!


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16 comments (Latest Comment: 08/06/2012 16:32:23 by Raine)

Gay Chickens
Author: velveeta jones    Date: 08/05/2012 14:21:04

Apparently while I was busy watching the Olympics there was some large bruhaha over a fast food chain that makes crappy, yet addictive, fake chicken and waffle fries. Really? Has it come to this?

Seems the president of said crappy chain, Chick-fil-A, Dan Cathy told a North Carolina Baptist website that he supported the "biblical definition of the family unit." When the story was picked up in mid-July by the Baptist Press, it quickly became the religious publisher's most-read article of 2012.
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12 comments (Latest Comment: 08/06/2012 12:49:36 by BobR)

The Printed Page
Author: TriSec    Date: 08/04/2012 12:14:56

Good Morning!

It's been a whirlwind week for one convalescing from life-changing events. I started Monday back in the hospital for an outpatient procedure, then went right upstairs for chemotherapy. Wednesday it was back again to finish the treatment, and somewhere in there I got all my paperwork in order so I could go back to work.
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3 comments (Latest Comment: 08/06/2012 12:43:02 by BobR)

Give the Economy a Jolt
Author: BobR    Date: 08/03/2012 12:50:53

With the upcoming election, the choices being proffered generally revolve around 2 economic models. The Republicans are doubling down on their trickle-down economics, rebranded as "job creators". The Democrats are proposing a more bottom-up approach, assuming that creating jobs in the public sector will result in more jobs in the private sector as those new workers spend their paychecks.

But there are other differences besides economics, and one in particular plays into both economic models: energy. The Republicans are clinging to the old-school polluting technologies of oil and coal. They reason that more drilling will mean more jobs in the private sector and cheaper gas at home (which could stimulate the economy). I've written before why gas prices won't go down (hint: refinery capacity). There is also the Keystone pipeline project with the new jobs created working on that bit of infrastructure ranging between a few hundred and tens of thousands, depending on who you talk to (and who you believe).
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65 comments (Latest Comment: 08/04/2012 01:43:35 by livingonli)

Jumping off the Cliff.
Author: Raine    Date: 08/02/2012 12:57:46

On July 9, I wrote a post about the President coming down strongly in favor of extending the tax cuts for Americans making less than $250,000. In that post,I stated:
We will see tax fairness this year. I believe the GOP has run out of excuses. Obama gave them the tax cut extension 2 years ago, in return for DADT being repealed-- and the economy reacted exactly as many suspected. While some may criticize President Obama for not doing things fast enough, perhaps the long game is worth it in the end.
Two and a half weeks later, the Senate voted to reject the GOP Tax Plan and passed the Democratic plan. As I stated then, it is what the President has been proposing all along.
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32 comments (Latest Comment: 08/03/2012 00:05:24 by TriSec)

Greed
Author: BobR    Date: 08/01/2012 13:12:29

There's a seminal scene in the 1987 movie "Wall St." where character Gordon Gekko says "Greed is good... greed works". The message he is trying to deliver is that greed drives the desire to succeed and overcomes the "weakness" of empathy that might cause one to have second thoughts about a business decision that hurts others.

It seems strikingly apt when looking back on the arc of Mitt Romney's career. Empathy is a handicap in the business of making money from other people's work and pain. The numbers on the page are what matter, not the lives of the those who worked hard to build a dream, only to have the life sucked out of it by corporate vampires looking for a quick buck.
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52 comments (Latest Comment: 08/02/2012 01:23:12 by TriSec)

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