@AlFullbright
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It doesn’t appear that way to anyone at the bottom and there are many many regiments of the disenfranchised working against the interests of government because they are not included in education, training, jobs or fair advancement in many government institutions. The poor kid on the street is usually disqualified from higher education & military service before he gets out of puberty.
A million kids are arrested every year for victimless crimes & the government marks them as outlaws. Kids from the higher classes are nurtured and if there is trouble they are lawyered up to keep those bad marks off their record while the minority kids are rousted and harrassed and labeled for life.
The middle class kid with a computer of his own, a monthly computer connection, clothes. pocket money, nurturing (Mother & Father) and living in a household with a steady paycheck is in a much more likely to enter the military and advance his training; not just military training, but any type of training or education.
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We already have a government culture made up of ex-military. Many of the people in government have never worked in the private sector. Consequentially, we are developing a MILITARY CLASS where the sons and daughters go to military service and then to government. The all-volunteer force is also perpetuating it. The military is not really composed of all segments of society and worse than that; they think their military service somehow is a boost – that it somehow makes them better prepared to serve in government.
I would argue that a government that is top heavy with Militarists might explain why we have been in so many wars since our inception. In my lifetime we have been involved in one war after another and we are apparently going to fight to the last dollars worth of ammo. The country is deeply in debt and we are putting money all over the world.
We should be choosing our leaders from our state universities (not the privileged halls of Ivy League schools) and we should be advancing the State University system with enough scholarships and loans to make sure we have an even cross section.
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It is not just about “Security. We just don’t like or trust people as a nation. Especially poor people; even ours. We also have enough laws and rules and regulations that the government can prosecute any one of us at anytime. We have more people in Prison per capita than anywhere that I know of. They are almost universally from the poor classes.
American citizens have to fill out a life history and be identified every where they go. Everything they say or do is analyzed or fed into someone’s computer. It will be impossible to conceal any past bad behavior in the future, and there are battalions of cops and investigators out there who are rated by how many arrests they make. Too bad if you get bum rapped or get charged with a crime that is far excessive to a small infraction you might commit. You are stuck with whatever they write down in your record. We are rapidly creating a whole sub-class of the “Shunned”- they have traits or characteristics or past missdeeds that keep coming up whenever they apply for a job or go to get credit.
Photographs are almost mandatory. Whatever you put on the net is yours, even if they really were somebody elses grey boxer shorts.
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I tried to find a mentor, or someone who had at least been through the process to set up a 501c with the eventual goal of buying a wheelchair van for use in our local area. I swap computer parts with seniors and deliver patients to their medical appointments now, but a 501c status would allow me to raise a little money to increase the scale of these activities. I tried to find someone to talk to at score and I felt that it was not geared to the layman. I never got any help there. I’ve never heard of MicroMentor.
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Education is fowled up in this country. The Ivy Leagues are supposed to be the gurus, but for the average guy they are overpriced snobs. We need a much stronger State University system that is affordable.
We also need to start building this country up. All of the great civilizations had great public works projects. Those had plenty of entry level positions. Those jobs fund large substructures of other trades, industry and employment. They also produce a monument of infrastructure that can be used for generations.
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Many, many thousands of disabled people are sitting alone in front of a tv. Active people tend to forget all about them at such times. With high costs and trying to live on little in tough times, there are many who dont have tv or cable. Its harder for them to cook and many don’t really have anything “special”. A great many dont have any relatives or anyone to visit them.
I’ve been on skype talking to shut-Ins, and I will visit several of them this weekend. I’m pretty broke, but I have enough to buy some candy bars and I’m going calling.
You all might find more satisfaction in visiting “Grandma” than sucking up forty gallons of beer with a bunch people who wouldn’t miss you if you weren’t there.
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We should be building Alliances in this Hemisphere instead of trying to rule the world and intercede in a religious struggle btween Jew and Muslim on the other side. Our pushy international posture just makes us part of the target. The war in Iraq is over – how many mercenaries were left there? We hire mercenaries to do things internationally so we can claim to have clean hands.
Our Military and Military Contractors have grown so bloated and corrupt that the only ones I have any confidence in anymore aren’t wearing Brass. Our young men enlist for financial reasons (decent pay and benefits) and just hope they dont get killed. There is little respect for democracy in our Officers Corps as evidenced by senior officers criticizing civilian leadership. Lots and lots of money is missing, confirming the corruption. We need more civilian control of some of this military extravagance. How about some serious audits and head-rolling.
In fact, the only real reason that I can see for these overseas adventures is to keep the money flowing into those contractors pockets.
The problem with the all Volunteer Army is that it encourages the creation of a Military Cult . In WWII all kinds of Americans Went to war. In these middle east wars, the Contractors and
“Specialists” go to war and seven years later we are still trying to figure out how much money is missing.I’m more worried about the plight of Americans right here. I’m trying to find volunteers to clean puke for cancer victims – there is no money. People are thrown out of their houses – there is no money. The shelves of our food pantry are almost empty – there is little money. Kids can’t go to college, and many have trouble competing in school because education has taken last place in this country. No money? They had to spend it on the war. Is Osma Bin Ladin in jail?
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Nice Plan, Henry, but you are singing to the Left Bank Quior. The Insurance company just denied a thousand dollars worth of charges on my Ana’s health Insurance for pre-existing comditions. She was laid off from her job until the COBRA expired, then she went back to work. They are treating her like a new insurance enrollee and refusing to pay for pre-existing. They were the insurers for the original condition?
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Wow Charlie you want it all. Thats the best platform I’ve heard of. If it were possible, it could inspire hope for the next generations of America.
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He usually surprises me with the in depth view of the subjects we discuss.
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Well, I believe that if the peoples (and by that I mean the people on the street) can vent their frustrations at the problems, at least a minimum correction will be made. It wont do any good to lock them out, lock them up, burn their books, or destroy their computers. If they can ring a bell in somebodies head then it resonates. If it is spite and vindictiveness then people can judge for themselves.
The real problem is that there are so many ways that the government is working around the will of the people and trying to carry out policies contrary to the American People that there must be a forum for them to express their views. There will be a forum for them somewhere.
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Censorship? Is that the American way. Who fired the first shot in the American Revolution. Was it Ben Franklin or some Irate Minuteman?
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These natural resources belong to all mankind. It is unconscionable the way they allocate the wealth of nations to priveleged individuals who have done little except be born rich. With things the way they are, decisions that affect everyone are being made based on a few men;’s greed.
I really think we’ve made socialism such a dirty word in this country because of our cold war competition with the communists that we completely forget about the populist ideals of our democratic system. Collectively, the majority of Americans need to control those resources – Not the very small wealthy minority of rich people.
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Most of the Latino people at the border are hardworking people. They take advantage of the loopholes that our businesses have created. When they are hungry and have no jobs they do whatever they can to stay alive. Because we do not have a real policy against hiring illegal aliens that works, they come across the border to work.
We could stop all this by imposing a $1,000 per day fine against anyone who hires an illegal alien plus an addittional $10,000 fine per day against employers who hire more than one illegal alien. Obfuscating employment records in such cases should even draw another criminal penalty. Perhaps jail. The legal workers could pick up a registration permit to work after they were properly identified by the existing employment offices. Even if some people slipped through it would put a huge damper on illegal workers. No corporation would risk that kind of financial penalty. Even day-labor hiring would be very risky.
Existing people who are illegal, but working and paying taxes, are registered at the employment offices and wouldn’t even come into play unless they wereto get another job or file for unemployment – at that time they should be identified.
Consider that a huge amount of the best readily available Pot comes from Canada, and the new varieties of indoor pot that are speading across the west coast are basically a hybrid developed in Canada. The Canadians do whatever they want to too.
