William Arkin needs to have a reality check.

This steaming pile is one of the worst things I have seen written in a long time. I was not in favor of the Iraq war, nor have I been happy with the way it has been handled. Mistakes have been made.

However, there is no excuse for the pile of inhuman waste DNA that is William Arkin of the Washington Post. Yes, there is freedom of press. This is not the press though. This is hate speech. It is also an attack on the troops by calling them mercenaries. Now if you want to go after military contractors with that term, I have no problem. To apply that to the rank and file troops is just vile. I have no use for idiots like Arkin and he should be fired post haste.

What should the question about global warming/climate change be?

It seems that there is now a consensus that something is happening to the climate. Shouldn't the question now be "what can we do about it or how do we prepare for it?" Personally, I lean towards human caused warming; but I am not completely sure. I actually hope it is human caused. If it is not, what are we going to do next??

If this is truly a cycle increase, where are the programs that are studying how we are going to mitigate the losses? Where are the climate models to show us what the non-human caused warming is going to do?

Assuming you accept that it is not human caused, I guess there is nothing we can do to stop it. Historically, we know that large land masses have been submerged in the past. Therefore, it is safe to say that natural warming will lead to submersion of some very major and populated cities. We need the non-human warming group to come forward with models so we can try to understand how much climate change is going to happen. How much is the mean sea level going to rise? How much is rainfall distribution going to change? Should we start to consider banning further development in low coastal areas? Should we even bother with rebuilding New Orleans? Do we need to begin developing relocation programs?

If the administration really feels that there is change, why are they not addressing these questions? Or is it really human caused and their claims are just a smokescreen to put off having to act? I really don't know.

As I said before, I hope it is human caused, because we would still have a chance to do something about it. If its not, the ultimate result is going to cost a heck of a lot more than anything we can imagine.

Restart the engine...lets talk SOTU

I thought the President had good presentation on the speech. However, I found the substance lacking. I will be the first to say that my foreign policy ideas and the Presidents do not mesh. I personally feel that we need a smaller military with more special forces and covert ops for the WOT. More bang for the buck. I dislike the idea of 92,000 more troops and the Civilian Reserve Corp. The first sounds like a budget buster and is counter to my own feelings on military direction. The second is a big UHHH?

What the heck is this Civilian Reserve Corp? Is this suppose to be a new level of contractors/mercenaries? Are we just going to give another excuse for some of our own loony militia groups to exist? I need a lot more details on this before I can even start to give it serious consideration.

Lets talk about oil and alternative sources of energy. First off, scrap that doubling of the SOR. Another budget buster and only serves to increase oil demand. I suspect the idea alone will drive oil prices up a couple of bucks a barrel today. The President needs to match his deeds to his words. I never saw any effort after last years comments on alternative fuels. Until I see an actual proposal, I am a skeptic. If he actually tries to push CAFE standards up, I might give him more credibility on the issue.

Health care now. Interesting ideas, but I think it has about as much chance as a lead balloon does of hitting an altitude record. I need to see hard numbers before I think it can work in reality. He mentioned payroll tax. Does that mean that it won't count against Social Security? That will help the Social Security solvency problem. Once again, I need to see the details because I am skeptical.

And now - the budget. I don't know. I know what he said. However, I hold the current budget numbers in contempt because the WOT should no longer be funded outside the budget. With the WOT and the other items proposed last night, I see it as hollow and impossible to balance the budget without tax increases and maintaining the minimal level of services that should be provided. I am not a fan of privatizing government services. That is the only way I can see these goals being met. Sell items off for a short term gain. Similar to the idiot states that sell off roads and lotteries for money now. Their kids should rise up and attack them now. Heck, I would not be surprised to see the current generation of teens pass mass euthanasia against their elders because of the idiocy of their actions in search of short term satisfaction.


The speech was good. The content was useless. I heard nothing that I can get behind the President on. I decided to sleep on it to see if my initial opinion changed. It only got worse.

Until the leaders of this country come to grips with the foolishness of their actions, I suggest the youth of this country take some Chinese lessons. It may come in very useful about 30 or 40 years down the road.

sotu