Republican Rhetoric

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xbow
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Post by xbow »

DocHill

Honestly having experienced the entire Clinton era from inside the USMC I may have a perspective that you don’t have. During the Clinton Era the UMC lost a tank battalion all of our self propelled artillery and several infantry battalions. The introduction of new weapons systems and upgrades of existing ones suffered greatly. The very worst thing that happened during the Clintoniesta era was that our training budgets were cut by nearly one half. Still compared to the Army the USMC survived the era unscathed. The Army active duty force was reduced by 1/3 and a great deal of the heavy combat units were transferred to the National Guard. What this caused was a heavy reliance on weekend warriors to fill in during time of war (reference IRAQ.)

The deed was accomplished by the Clinton defense department, we saw things like a national guard water purification unit in bum fuck Georgia suddenly become a tank battalion. An attempt was made to train these reassigned and re-flagged units but how much experience can a unit get when the personnel receive a maximum of 38 days of training a year? And not all of those 'training' days are spent training, half of that active duty time is spent on administrative concerns like bringing a units dental health up to a deployable standard, or making sure a soldiers SGLI insurance has the correct recipients on the form, The soldier needs a will and a power of attorney so time has to be made for that, naturally the Guardsmen needs to have his RED’s updated (Record OF Emergency Data) the list could continue almost to infinity. The end Result is that the units from the guard are by and large out of shape poorly trained and absolutely undisciplined. Some are even self serving assholes that have no intention of answering a call to arms and try to weasel out of their duty.

If you examine the IRAQ war a bit and cast an eye to just who is committing most of the acts of particular stupidity (friendly fire, the abuse of prisoners as an example) you will find that the National Guard is over represented in the undisciplined dumb ass category.

Even with all that bullshit Combat Line Units of the active duty USMC, ARMY, and AIR FORCE are head and shoulders above the military standards of Western Europe. This is true even though the US military lags far behind the EUROS in terms of pay and retirement benefits and of course after service health care. Just so no one has a heart attack I will state clearly that on average the best troops in NATO are the British (by a long shot) and the Canadians to a lesser degree.

One thing Doc Don't sell the US military so short just to stay in lock step with the leftist mindset. Remember its members have defended this country faithfully and effectively for over two hundred years. All bullshit aside the military forces of YOUR country do quite well in any theater of operation. The military organizations of the USA are far from perfect nepotism and graft are common place in the higher ranks. a good number of our generals know less about war fighting than they do about how to posture themselves to get the next star and if they wont be getting another star then they search for a golden parachute from the defense contractors to line their nests with gold. (Actually that’s a pretty common practice in most military organizations the world over. )

Clinton a great president? he could have been. I voted for him on his second run for office, I just couldn’t vote for Bob Dole the man was so obtuse that he could barley wipe his own ass. I also didn't care that Bill was getting a little ass on the side, hell if you were married to a shrew like Hillary you would want some outside action yourself. I was far more concerned with Al Gore selling face time with the president to Chinese agents as a method of raising cash for the reelection campaign. And I didn’t care for the Clinton administration allowing Chinese personnel to tip toe through the halls of Los Alamos National laboratories at will. Hey the Chinese loved the Clinton administration!
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Post by xbow »

I live in California

I have to disagree it is the small elite nature of the Canadian forces that make them special and such a close knit organization. Another factor is that being so small allows the Canadian Military to be much more selective in its recruitment policies and standards.

I would have to say that the skill set of the average Canadian foot soldier is somewhere between a well trained USMC grunt and a US Army Ranger. Thats pretty damn good in my opinion.

The canadian army has about 19, 500 troops
with another 15, 500 in the reserve force. The USMC has about 173,000 active duty personel its almost nine times the size of the canadian army. With a much larger force it is impossible to pay the same ammount of attention to the individual.
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Post by Doc Hill »

First, never said CLinton presidency was perfect, no presidency ever was, not even Washingtons. However, he handled miltary situations rather well. And part of creting that nift y surplus was cutting military budget. Second, I will never look down on the brave men and women of the armed forces. Tey've been fighting since it was just a bunch of minute men and militia mena gainst the most powerful armyed force on earth. I'm not in lock step with anyone. Clinton did a good job, not a perfect one, but he WAS president, and deserves respect for serving his people. I have trouble giving the same to Bush, who represents the people who fund him.I'm and idependant in Democrat clothing, I'd rather my vote count for something. I see deep flaws in both parties. But the Dems are, at least superficially, more for the comman man. Clinton certainly was.

And China isn't so horrible, cummunist, yes, but they've recently perfected the pebble bed reactor, the first melt-down proof nuclear reactor....we're talking world chanign event. Let me break it down, In a normal reactor, you have solid fuel rods, when they need to be cooled in water, or the whole shebang goes boom. In a pebble bed, dozens of fuel balls, about the size of a billiard ball, encased in a protective sheathing, turn of the coolant, and instead of a meltdown, they cool of naturally. This technology could change the very fabric of energy generation. Think about this too, a nuclear sub with a reactor that will NEVER melt down. Okay, so they are communist, and totalatarion. And yes, that was a massive leak, but it's not Clinton's jobe to protect los alamos, and he didn't open the door. Sorry about the dissertation on the pebble bed reactor, the possabilities have me excited.
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Post by xbow »

No problem DocHill

I am a proponent of SAFE Nuclear power myself if you liked that you will love these items of US technology.


Image
The old orion concept (1958) was to use small nuclear bombs to kick a space craft up to nearly absurd velocities but in todays world making thousands of beer pitcher sized .1kt (=100 tons of TNT) is just asking for trouble since they would make great weapons for trrorists. That is truly unfortunate because large orion Propulsion plants could signal the industrialization of Near Earth space (inner planets out to the asteroid belt) and make available the unlimited resources of the solar system to ALL the people of earth and in so doing remove most of the temtation to war with each other over resources.
Nuclear Pulse Propulsion

Image

A new spin and the old Orion concept is the MinMag Orion that uses a magnetic field to smash uranium fuel pellets made from non weapons grade material. The Bush administration has been funding this concept at a low level.

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Project promethius is the primary nucler power scheme proposed by NASA and funded by the bush administration.


promethius

Read more about MiniMag

More Orion Links
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Post by S4ur0n27 »

xbow, you really always have to go back on the military side of the question, eh?

I think you just fail to understand that maybe, MAYBE, having an army is just not what a country is all about. I'd be kind of interested to hear your views on health care and education instead of having you always go back to your awesome rifles and tanks and IFF systems.
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Post by MurPHy »

He just has a never-ending hardon for stuff that can BLOW U UP OMG ROFL LOL!

Granted, I like that kind of stuff too (who doesn't like blowing shit up with TNT?), but that is only one small part of the equation that tells whether a nation is "good" or not.
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Post by Doc Hill »

Despite my love for the Fallout games, I prefer my nuclear stuff NOT blow up. And they do have a point. You seem a bit military minded, considering you served, understandable. But lets go sociological now:D
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Post by xbow »

Xbow on health care

I think that we in the United States should ram force and push our government to adopt a system of public health care that is identical to the Canadian system. If the AMA doesn’t like it then that’s just too damn bad.

The time has come in the United states to realize that we are being victimized by the AMA and the American medical profession. Physicians in this country have unrealistic expectations of the amount of compensation they should receive for their time spent with a patient. The big drug companies also gouge us for medicine we pay twice as much as Canadians do for drugs.

Here is an example a few months ago I stepped on a nail while running around a construction site at work. It was nothing but it was deep so after work I headed to the doctors office and checked in. I knew that all I needed was a Tetanus shot and a bottle of antibiotic tablets to knock out any infection that might take hold. I saw the doctor for about 2 minutes but I waited 1.5 hours in the lobby where the main concern of the staff was what my insurance coverage was I filled out four lengthy forms in all.

Here was the personal cost to me:

1) Cost for the office visit 97.00 dollars
2) Tetanus shot 37.00 dollars
3) Antibiotic prescription 28.00 dollars
-------------------------------------------------
Cost 162.00 dollars

I talked to the blubber butt nurse for three minutes and the doctor for two minutes so that breaks down to me paying those clowns the equivalent of 1164.00 bucks an hour for their service. The Antibiotics would probably have cost me 6 bucks in Mexico. In the end my health insurance paid 75%
of the cost so I had the make a co payment of 40 bucks.

But remember I pay some stiff insurance premiums on a monthly basis about 250 bucks month for a family plan that includes both dental and medical. that’s 3000 bucks a year weather I we get ill or not and I still have to pay 25% to 50% of the final bill out of my own pocket. I have to maintain my coverage in case of a catastrophic illness or injury in the family. I would rather pay a couple of thousand extra in taxes a year for a socialized medical plan. If we paid that much extra everyone would be covered from piss bums to rich folks and it would be cheaper across the board.

Now bear in mind that an old gentleman from Mexico that has never paid a dime in US taxes can stumble across the boarder grab his chest and bam! he is at the hospital getting free care all the way up to a triple bypass. The reason why is because the hospital can gouge the state and the tax payers for providing service to an indigent. The cost could be over 100 grand.

What about our treatment of senior citizens that have paid into the system for decades but lack much of a retirement plan other than social security . Here is what happens in all too many cases in the peoples republic of California. A man and his wife own a home that they bought for 25,000 dollars in the fifties now the property has appreciated to 400,000.00. These seniors may not be in the best of health and have some constant medical bills they live on tight budgets. Should they falter and not make their property taxes that have shot sky high the county puts a tax lien on their home and if they can’t pay they are either forced to sell a home that they love or they are evicted by the sheriffs department and put out on the street. Then some punk asshole can buy their home for pennies on the dollar at a tax auction.

Neither the Democrats or the Republicans will ever fix these problems because the real powers that be do not desire them to be solved fortunes are being made. Remember when George Bush Sr. was amazed at what the inside of a super market looked like tell me he wasn’t out of touch with reality, Do you think John Kerry is any more a man of the people that George Bush Sr. If you do think again. The Democrats want to be seen as the peoples party but the behind that sham the powers that be are no different than the greedy Republican mongrels.

Yes this country has some problems some serious problems but the only way to solve them is to burn down the system that is in place and start fresh. The powers that be are just to well entrenched to be rooted out by legislation it is going to take something a bit more dynamic to change this lurching beast.
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Post by MurPHy »

That's why I say REVOLT! Grab your guns! We're heding to Washington! "The powers that be" will most certainly listen to us if they have 10,000 rifles pointed at them. I add my (soon to be purchased) M1 Garand to the number!
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Post by xbow »

MurPHy

For gods sake don't buy a B-Square scope mount for that Garand its a piece of unstable shit and you have to remove those wonderful adjustable rear sights to make it fit. Spend the extra cash and buy a real military mount. SWEEEET.

Caio
Last edited by xbow on Sun Sep 05, 2004 5:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by HappySuitcase Man »

Rock the vote? Fuck that! Vote with rocks, I say.

But seriously, I'm not going through of 11 pages of posts, unless they so happen to contain free Green Arrow-Green Lantern comics. Oh, man!
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Post by SDMVersion3 »

Socialized health care is not a perfect system. Right now, doctors are leaving Canada left and right, because they can make more money in the States. This means less doctors and less service, and doctors extorting the government for rediculous cash to keep them around, driving up the prices.

But hey, I like going to the dentist and giving them 10 bucks for $250 work.
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Post by xbow »

How about this most if not all medical universities are subsidized by the government in one way or another. With that being the case FORCE new doctors to work in public health care for a minimum of five years. Pay them well but demand that public service for the right to practice in the USA. No public service = no licens to practice. For the Canadian MD's that want to run off from their duty in Canada tell them to come on down and work in a public health clinic for five years before they can break free and go into private practice. Oh they can work somewhere else concurrently but they better show up ready to rock at the free clinic or a suspension of his/her licens is in order.
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Post by Kashluk »

Yes, SDM's right. Public health care does have it's problems, but I personally think the pros overcome the cons with ease.

EDIT:
"No public service = no licens to practice"
This has been taken into consideration in many countries with socialized health care. Even more have already adopted it as the normal procedure.
/EDIT

The biggest punch to the face of the Americans would only be the high rise in taxes. It may be too much for many to understand that they need to pay more taxes, even though they can get rid of their medical insurances and hospital bills. The money to fund health care has to come from somewhere.

The big problem with USA seems to be the "dynasty"-style ruling. Please feel free to put me down to sleep if I'm bullshitting again. Clans of wealth and influence send their youngest sons and daughters to run for different kinds of open positions to enforce their family's hold in business. Money pwnz in American democracy, because the small voice can not be heard under the whole "elect-me-I-got-money" show.

Maybe it's because America is such a big country? This same kind of problem (imo) exists in Russia, too, for example. But it seems to an outsider that in US only the richest can get to power. And if they aren't rich on their own, they've got some huge sponsors. Either way - money brought them power and now they use that power to gain more money / make their sponsors gain more money. It's all dirty capitalism to the very core, so many good ideas are left half-way through or completely ignored.

Maybe the problem is that your president has so much power? I mean, Hitler got his idea of combining the power of the head of the senate and the chief political executive from US of A. Oh well, spank me if I'm completely on the wrong tracks here.
Last edited by Kashluk on Sun Sep 05, 2004 6:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by MurPHy »

xbow wrote:MurPHy

For gods sake don't buy a B-Square scope mount for that Garand its a piece of unstable shit and you have to remove those wonderful adjustable rear sights to make it fit. Spend the extra cash and buy a real military mount. SWEEEET.

Caio
I don't plan on ever adding a scope to it. The iron sights will do fine for what I intend for it (a damn good wall-hanging). I will also use it for Sunday afternoon plinking at my local firing range.

However, if I do come across an original M1C or M1D (sans scope and mount of course), I will heed your advice and use an original mount. I could probably rustle up something at eBay.
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Post by Franz Schubert »

X-bow wrote:The big drug companies also gouge us for medicine we pay twice as much as Canadians do for drugs.
Know why big drug companies always donate to conservative campaigns? Because legalization of marijuana would sink them.
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Post by xbow »

kashluk made an excellent insight when he said that "dynasty"-style ruling is a problem in America IT IS A PROBLEM.

Poor politicians are backed by the rich and the rich backers jerk the strings when the want their bought and paid for punk to vote a particular way. Politicians have one main concern and that concern is how to garner in the cash to get reelected, the day they step into office they start the process of raking in the cash to build a reelection campaign. They spend more time doing that than anything else.

The ultra rich seldom go into politics because it is much easier to buy politicians that will carry out their instructions to the T for what amounts to peanuts to the ultra rich.

shit bags like John Kerry, George Bush, Ted Kennedy, and dickhead cheny are all members of the rulling dynasty and as such should be sent back through time and handed over to Vlad the Impaler, All professional politicians SUCK bar none.

Another problem is pork barrel politics. a classic example of pure pork is the V22 osprey this 30 million a copy hermorphidite was part plane and part helicopter. NASA tried to make that tilt wing concept work for twenty years and failed after 20 billion bucks down the drain and the osprey is still a death trap. The states where the components were to be built jumped up and down and fought tooth and nail to get a piece of the action. The states hired retired generals to lobby congress to push the thing through .it was supposed to reveloutionize the short haul passenger business but no one wants a piece of shit like that. 16 years in development and the V-22 is still not safe to fly and it never will be!

I wonder how many kids could have gotten decent clothing to wear or some decent food to grow on for that 20 billion that was wasted on that one failed project? How powerful are the forces of pork barrel politics? well Dick Cheny tried to kill that program when he was the secretary of defense and he failed.
Last edited by xbow on Sun Sep 05, 2004 7:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by MurPHy »

I wonder how many kids could have gotten decent clothing to wear or some decent food to grow on for that 20 billion that was wasted on that one failed project? How powerful are the forces of pork barrel politics? well Dick Cheny tried to kill that program when he was the secretary of defense and he failed.
This is why I think that ALL retired generals should automatically lose their government pensions if they get on the payroll of any company even REMOTELY involved with Defense contracts. They would stop that shit real quick if money was on the line. Greedy self-serving sons-a-bitches.

The vast majority of those "generals" are such in name only. They are careerists, with little to no experience in leading men into battle. Or leading men, period. Hell, I would bet that they wouldn't even know what the buisness end of a rifle looks like, even if it was pointed straight at 'em! Cocksuckers.

Bring back the warrior leaders. Like Patton. He was one of the best leaders of men in combat, but a real pain in the ass in peacetime.
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Post by xbow »

thats a damn fine idea murPHy and you are so right about those assholes being careerists and not warriors. That reminds me of something a French writer of the late 19th century wrote about the failure of the French Army to stop the german invasion during the franco prussian war.

"The reason we lost the war so miserably is because our generals are more intrested in how to secure a field marshals batton for themselves than they are in the art of warfare"
There are alot of those assholes that have their arms fused into a permanent coctail hold position because thats where they spend their time hob nobbing with their subordinates and the higher brass in an effort to suck enough dick to get a good assignment or quick promotion.
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Post by Doc Hill »

What we need in a sneaky bastard. Someone who takes the money, makes the promises, get elected, then tell big business to go screw themselves. I nominate myself for president. I promise to kick big business ass all over the place. On another note, there is a clause in the constitution that allows the american people to dissolve the current government and start from sratch, But I highly doubt we'd get the millionsn of Americans to agree :confused2: AS for the Garand, fine peice of military hardware. The clip design was a bit fo a pain in the ass, but it was, and is, a fine rifle. Sorry, just like the rifle.
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