ahem: (Reuters)
You know, I'd feel bad for le troops, but they tend to vote Republican fairly heavily, no?
First off, kindly go **** yourself.
You should have thought of whether shooting brown people in Iraq is truly "defending your country" before you signed the contract.
What are you on about? Is Reuters not a legit news agency directly quoting the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs saying he doesn't know if his folks are gonna get paid? If he doesn't know than who does?
You do understand that individuals don't get to pick which events they participate in, don't you? It's called following orders. Before you snap back with another witty retort, refer to your "poor black urban man" thread and understand that economic and social issues drive a large part of the current force to choose the military. In other words, don't blame the shooters with your "outrage" over who decided to go kill brown people.
Yes, they vote primarily Republican, mainly for the reason that Republicans have traditionally supported increases in military pay and benefits, the same reason (in my mind) that blacks are conditioned to vote Democrat, to ensure the continuation of entitlements to their section of society.
wait, what??
While Silver could have put it more... delicately, the fact remains that Republican voters have gotten the government that they voted for. I can almost guarantee that my parents are feeling the same way. They are Republican voters who kept saying "we need to cut government spending" last year without realizing that as a SS and Medicare beneficiary (Dad) and a public school worker (Mom), their own incomes were the ones that Republicans wanted to cut.
You must be new here.
Are you remotely familiar with a thing called the UCMJ??
by this logic, there can be no defense of this country through military service which can be respectable in your eyes.
You know, this a fair point, and I'm willing to grant it, given a condition:
Anyways, now that I'm not posting from a phone.
<Republican>He should have stayed in Colombia where he belonged. He was probably smuggling cocaine, and Jesus gave him cancer as punishment.</Republican>
I agree wholeheartedly. The hero tag is overused, not just for military but for all the "ribbon" clans. (firefighters, police, hell, I even saw one that claims electrical linemen are "heroes".) Speaking for myself, the decision to join the military wasn't an altruistic one but more of a "well, high school is over, I don't have the grades to get into college, what the heck, this looks cool.." Granted, some people join out of a sense of patriotism and a sense of service and that's fine. We made the same decision path to join the military as those who did not. Do we deserve any special treatment for that? No. Do we serve for less than ideal pay and under unique conditions? Yes. The payoff for me is not the public's admiration, but the bond of shared sacrifice and comradeship between me and those that did make the choice. I picked the life, I lived it, wouldn't change a thing. Joe American doesn't owe me sh!t other than my pay and benefits that I earned, just like any other worker, and frankly, I wouldn't take it they did.
when hurricane opal came through montgomery, it knocked down some branches at our dorms, so a few of us picked them up. result? humanitarian ribbon & recognition citation for showing 'initiative' & 'leadership'.
same
Debt deal agreement in concept reached. Nothing that I have read indicates that a vote has taken place, and it's still uncertain whether the caucuses will come into line and pass this as ordered
I stand corrected. But this seems like the kind of political bull**** that will pass.
I'm actually much happier with it from the reporters' casual summary of it than I thought I'd be. Perhaps the devil really is in the details, but this pleases me (emphasis added by me):
why do most west coasters jerk off to that altar of fast food?
I haven't read all of the details yet but I will just say at this point these are all long term promises that can be changed by any single future vote. There are a million minor events that can spur an increase in military. We can see decades of ****ty results in education, environmental and other regulations before seeing any changes. It wouldn't surprise me if all of the military cuts were based on reduced veterans benefits. 30 year old vets do not donate to campaigns. Boeing does.
I signed the contract well before we went over to "shoot brown people", and I knew full what what being in the military might bring.
My thoughts exactly. I am not a patriotic person myself and I also joined a little after high school after getting my A&P and not finding a job in the Northwest.
I signed the contract well before we went over to "shoot brown people", and I knew full what what being in the military might bring.
I truly feel sorry for people like you who feel they are entitled to everything in the world, yet feel that they don't have to sacrifice anything to get it.
I was doing my job and I still would, (if I wasn't medically discharged) and I would do it proudly even for people like you, as well as every member and ex member of the military on this forum.
But don't worry, we all still like you in the internet world!!!
i've always found this off-putting & uncomfortable to witness. i'm sure most of them would rather do their jobs & return to the shadows than have a random spontaneous crowd emotionally circle jerk their vomit of patriotism for all to see.
Note the distinction between Medicare as a whole and Medicare beneficiaries. That means I and my ilk are going to get squeezed… Later on it's made even more explicit: "Likewise, any cuts to Medicare would be capped and limited to the provider side."
$350B/10 years ==> $35B/year ==> less than 5% reduction per year based on this year's ~$800B budget. Despite this tiny amount it'll surely still provoke cries of outrage and despair from the war hawks within both parties.
Apparently Raging Boehner almost scuttled the deal over this part yesterday... Here's the full "Who got what" breakdown.
I prefer to call him the "Human Creamsicle".
I think you owe some eight year olds an apology. Good Day Sir!
Seems to be his milieu actually.
Pretty much. So, one of two things (a lot like the healthcare deal):
