The high humidity made my morning run and bike ride difficult. After lunch I decided to stay inside. We have the AC running full blast. The beauty of being retired is that if you feel like you need at nap in the afternoon, you take a nap.
At 4:30 PM Nancy and I headed for Meijers Garden for a volunteer picnic. Nancy was on the committee so we had to arrive early. I read the newspaper while Nancy worked. The picnic went off without a hitch.
I have always been interested in politics. I watch many of the cable political shows. Two shows that I regularly watch are:
Morning Joe: 0600 on MSNBC. I really like the show when the 2 stars Joe and Mika are not on. Mike Barnacle and Pat Buchanan are really good together.
I watch Chris Mathews in the evening. Although lately I think that Mathews is too self absorbed.
Although I am a Republican I think Bush and his gang have ruined the party. I am for limited government and fiscal responsibility. If I were king:
- the USA would not belong to any alliances like NATO.
- We would have no US troops on foreign soil.
- We would place a tax on all imported oil (Canada and Mexico would be excluded).
- A draft would be used to fill the ranks of the military.
- After completion of 2 years service all draftees would be give a free education.
- A special tax would be used to pay for any war.
I am still trying to figure who I will vote for president. More on this on subsequent blogs.
2 comments:
I'm having difficulty following the logic of our military presence and a few other suggestions to your wish list.
1. Isn't a draft usually precluded by a crisis of sorts and more troops are needed? If that's the case, wouldn't the US fare better if they had servicepeople who had been trained a bit longer? Are you also saying that the military would be active only on a 'as needed' basis? (I think we should have a military.. for national security purposes but their core mission would be to help on US soil the towns and businesses in dire need - like the National Guard. But they can also help during harvest time to help US farms, etc.)
2. College is 4 years. If education is to be free for servicepeople, they should serve at least four years.
3. I thought NATO originally served the purpose that members were discouraged from attacking each other. If the US withdraws (and essentially becomes an isolationist), we sadly put ourselves in a vulnerable position. Being as it is that we have basically depleted our military resources and funding, an attack on the US by one of the 189 countries is all too plausible. Plus, we haven't exactly maintained friendly relations with most that I doubt they would come to our defenses if attacked.
4. Special taxes to pay for war. Since Congress hasn't called our presense in Afghanistan and Iraq a war.. I would take it a step further saying a special tax for anytime troops are sent to foreign soil with armed weapons.
5. I'd also add: NO ENGAGING IN GOVERNMENT OVERTHROWS. What the heck were we doing in Panama.. and has Noriega ever been tried?? And the Quaddafi fiasco. Evidently he's a friend of the US now. And the Sadaam stuff was baloney. Now that we not only overthrew him and killed him, we're in deeper doo-doo. Where the eff is bin Laden?
I noticed a buttload of typos. Oops.
I still have problems with the free education bit. I definitely think if you served our country you should get an education. HOWEVER, there are some people such as myself and my brother who would never be drafted, which in turns mean no free education. So it's discriminatory in nature. I would like to see a draft open to all citizens. I have skills that could be used during combat time (such as writing those thousands of letters of condolences to greiving families, writing press releases so full of b.s. that it'd make your head spin, etc.)
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