scoutingagain

I can understand the sentiment of not celibrating death. But I agree with OGE. This more than anything demonstrates US resolve. Should an ObL wannabee consider future actions against the US, they should know full well they will be found, no matter how long it takes and what the consequences will be. Would have been nice if he could have been taken alive. I would have loved to been able to broadcast to the world ObL shuffling in chains, wearing an orange jumpsuit in front of US justice, civilian or military. But I certainly don't feel sad at his death. SA

Suggest some folks check the date on the news story that broke the Barry S. story. April 1, 2009. SA http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthers/occidental.asp

I have to put my faith in the so called, "Republican Dirty Tricksters" or whatever they are called these days. If there was a shred of made up evidence that Obama was not a legitamate candidate, I have to believe there would be a movie about it. Websites don't count. And that doesn't even give credit to the Clintons, who I have no doubt would have put the issue to the courts if they could have during the primaries. SA

"Apparently, you have to be a little bit weird to win in Minnesota, and I wonder in what way Pawlenty meets that standard. " Would one also apply that standard to Rep. Bachman as well? Another one who didn't make the list. SA

"Major spending reform is going to involve a grand compromise involving both political parties in which both defense cuts and entitlement reform will play their part. Democrats can't cut entitlements by themselves and Republicans are as likely to cut military spending. Together they can impose compromises on each other. That will probably include tax increases as well. " LOL. And what on what planet or alternate reality is any of the above likely to happen? I have to admit I'm with Pack. No one in government has gotten the "wake up call". The two major parties have had ample opportunity to demonstrate responsible government in the last 20 years or so. Neither has done so. Both continue to govern in response to their respective special interests, and in many cases they are the same special interests and it's not the American citizen. They can't compromise on $30 Billion in cuts and what needs to be done somehow is cut over a $Trillion Dollars in Federal spending and somehow magically not effect what little economic recovery is occuring. Just don't see how it can happen. We're through the looking glass on the other side fiscally speaking. We can only hope Dick Cheney had incredible genius and insight when he said, "Deficts don't matter." SA

OGE, At this point the answer to all those questions seems to be, " Anybody other than Khadaffi." SA

Sherm, I chew the fat with a lot of the construction trades in my business. Many of them grew up in Southie. (See "The Departed" ) They're generally good hardworking guys, but they would feel right at home with Pack's neighbor in SC that flies the Star and Bars in his front yard. To paraphrase GWB, they don't do nuance. Reminds me. Happy St. Pat's Day All. Off to the pub for a pint. SA

"The Wisconsin Republicans have stirred up a hornet's nest, and that may be a political mistake." You can say that again, Scott Brown in Massachusetts was largely elected because of white, blue collar, predominantly union guys voting for him instead of the classic Massachusetts "elite" liberal. Without those votes he doesn't get re-elected. Prior to this, he'd be a shoe-in for re-election. This definately tips the scales a bit and put's that senate seat back up for grabs, depending on who the Dems would nominate. Saw the same thing happen back when Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers. Had union guys tell me they'd never vote Republican again. Until the Dems ran a black guy from Harvard. SA

"Second, public service is not the place to become wealthy. " Agree with that 100%, which is why I don't think public employees should be vilified if other folks don't feel like their getting their fair share. "It is not the place of the government (i.e., the voter) to force the taxpayer to grant you what you failed to achieve on your own. " Agree with this as well. If you feel your not getting your fair share based on your efforts, doesn't mean you should take back the promises you made to public employees when you hired them. They signed on based on the market rate at the time, which included an assumption of certain benefits when they retired. To do otherwise is untrustworthy and unscoutlike. "If you want a bigger slice of the pie, invent the post-it note or the personal computer or facebook." Agree with this as well. Investment bankers havn't done any of this though. They are money changers. SA

A Tea Party member, a Wall Street Banker and a Public Union employee walk into a coffee shop for coffee and share a dozed cookies. The Banker takes 11 and tells the Tea Party member to watch it, the Public Union worker wants a piece of his cookie. Virtually all wealth created in the last decade has been accumulated by those in the top 10% income. 70% of that wealth has been accumulated by the top 1%. In the mean time, middle class taxpayers, bicker with middle class public servants for scraps. Public emplyee unions are not the problem. Anyone that they are, probably also believes that Iraq has weapons of mass distruction, Obama was borne in Kenya, Global Climate Change is a hoax, and the moon landing was a hoax. SA

Fret not all. The Supreme Court has ruled that corporations have the same rights as people. I have no doubt they'll soon rule individuals will not be allowed to freely associate and bargain collectively. All workers will be evaluated individually by an all knowing and scrupulously fair and subjective supervisor/or manager. SA

'72 Chevy Vega hatchback. 4 cylinder, aluminum block engine, 4 speed stick. Great on gas, but burned a quart of oil every 1K miles or so by the time I got rid of it. For car guys and non car folks, if you want a laugh check out Top Gear on BBC America some time. My kids turned my on to this show and it's a riot. My wife even likes it. SA

Or f. It would work, Obama would take credit and get re-elected. The problem with the deficit commission plan is that it was too non-partisan. Too many sacred cows gored from both of the major parties of special interests. SA

Mubarak must have read Beavah's post. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110211/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt SA

Unless congress extends the debt limit the issue will come forward in a manner of weeks. Even a partial shut down of government payments could result in the kind of rating change on US debt Beavah describes causing the house of cards to come down. SA

"That's built in to da law when the fictional trust fund runs out." Keep in mind, when the trust fund runs out,(and that assumes the government makes good on all it's IOUs) if left as is Soc. Security will still be collecting 13% of the national payroll. This will be enought to pay some 70 - 75% of promised benifits. Small changes, like eliminating the cap on earnings as suggested, combined with limiting future increases to some fraction of the CPI and/or raising the retirement age would be enough to put Soc. Sec. back in the black for the foreseeable future. It's not rocket science. All that's needed is leadership. It's simple, take in a little more money, pay out a little less. Now as I said, this assumes the government makes good on it's IOUs. If congress doesn't extend the debt limit that will be reached soon, the government will not have enough money to pay it's current obligations, forget increased spending. It will have to decide who to pay and who not to. In line will be: The Chinese and other foreign govts that loan us $$ and expect it back. Soc. Security Recipients Treasury Bond holders Savings Bond holders Government contractors(including defense contractors and everyone who works for them.) Government employees including the military Medicare providers etc., etc, etc. And that will happen within weeks, if not days. At that point to get cash to run the government, we will have to pay interest rates probably 2 - 4 times what we're currently paying, increasing our deficits and debt load even more if anyone will even lend the govt. money. Without the ability to borrow money, government expenditures would drop to probably 60% or even half of what it spends now. Cutting that much money out of the economy cold turkey would likely create the kind of economic disaster we all would feel and Soc. Security will be the least of our worries. SA

"replaced with worthless IOUs." Well they are IOUs, backed by the US government. If one has no faith the government will pay back its bonds, don't let the Chinese know or anyone else that invests in savings bonds, or US treasury notes. Borrowed money is the only thing keeping the govt afloat these days. Back in the early 90's when Soc. Sec. was racking up large surpluses Democrat Patrick Moynihan suggested that the payroll tax be sigificantly reduced to avoid the surpluses and help boost the economy. President Bush pretty muched nixed that idea because it would have made the deficits he was running at the time look that much worse. Both parties have used the former surplus to hedge the governments accouting practices and deceive the electorate. If one expects fiscal responsibility from either one of the two major parties, well hows that been working out for yah in the past 50 years? Why would anyone expect either party to change? It's tax and spend or tax cut and spend. But its spend either way. SA

I think what interesting about the Tunisian uprising is that it seems to have truely bubbled up from the grass roots, similar to what we saw in Eastern Europe in the early 80's. It is not the same as the Iranian revolution where Islamists took advantage of the situation to sieze power and impose their own theocracy. And yes, seems like both parties have made their share of foreign policy blunders. If only they would at least learn from their own and each others mistakes. SA

"The idea of President Palin, et al, scares the bejeezus out of liberals. " So true, but the idea of Presidential candidate Palin makes them smile. Head to head virtually every pole shows Obama beating Palin by double digits. Granted, it's still early and anything could happen. SA

"start bar coding every child at birth" Except those of illegal immigrants. Only true citizens should get the bar codes. SA

Lest anyone think this phenomenon is limited to the south or rural areas I can say I've seen an increase in traffic enforcement here in New England and in the urban areas of Cambridge and Boston. I have no illusions that a sudden interest by local law enforcement in public safety is the prime motivator for this activity. SA

" Basic fireworks in states where they're legal (wouldn't yeh like to make sure kids learn to handle such things safely, since we know they're goin' to use 'em?) " Well that could be said about alot of things. What's wrong with "Just say no". But generally I agree with what others are saying. SA

John, Given the current status of DADT, whats preventing the gay troop member that's currently in the infantry and not telling from reacting with more hormones than brains now? While I'm sure the response from an unwanted advance would be the same, given that gays are currently in the military, just not openly serving, why would one expect an increase in unwanted advances with open service allowed? SA

I notice the list of moochers doesn't include bankers borrowing money from the Federal Reserve at near zero interest rates and lending it out to the US Government at 3 and 4% and giving themselves 7 figure bonuses for their incredible financial wizardry. Wonder how many big screen TVs, yachts, vacation houses etc. they own. Oh but maybe their OK. Don't see the wealthy that park assets in offshore accounts to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. Wonder what they own. Don't see the politicians and "public" servants that game the system to double dip and increase their pensions when they leave office. Seems like the list focuses on one "class" of offenders. The wealthy complain that many "liberal" policies are based on class conflict. Well that goes both ways. A few poor folks aren't the only ones gaming the system as Beavah puts it. There are plenty or wealthy moochers out there too. SA

Yes there are the moochers out there. But with an unemployment rate of nearly 10% there are millions of productive individuals out there that would jump at the chance to do productive work if it were available. I've seen good families who have done the right things pull their kids from college because they have lost their job through no fault of their own. Others are wondering day to day, week to week if they will be able to stay in the house they've lived in for the last 10 years. Are they starving in the streets? No, but these families are hurting. Sure had they been able to see into the future they may have done things differently financially, but how many of us saw this coming. My son, recently graduated with honors in engineering. He applied to over 100 positions, heard back from a handful. Interviewed at a few less. Finally landed a job and he is one of a handfull of his classmates that have found work. Most have stayed in school because there just are not enough jobs available. And this is a field supposedly in demand in a part of the country where the unemployment rate in less than the national average. Only a couple of years ago they would have graduated with several offers in hand. He is grateful for the work. If you are working this season, be grateful for the priviledge. Help those in need. Worry less about how others live their lives and provide assistance to those who need it. I suggest people look harder for those who need charity and don't go seeking the moochers to justify self rightousness or judge others. This is not directed at anyone in particular and I appoligize if anyone takes offense. It is not inteneded. This hits home. I know close friends and relatives who have worked all their lives, done the right things, and find themselves this year on unemployment, taking fuel assistance and food stamps. Things they never would have believed they would have done only two years ago. If anyone is having difficulty finding people to help this season they are not looking very hard. SA