Pull out or stay in Iraq.

Have you been following the dialogue between the Democrats and the Republicans over the pull out of Iraq debate? Have you ever seen so much nothing made out of something before? Take the troops out today, tomorrow, next year, slowly, quickly, now, later. How ridiculous do the politicians sound?

Every Democrat is seeking the public eye to say what? To say they agree with continuing to stay the course, and agree with the President, Lieberman. To the other end of the spectrum, we have to get out now, Pelosi, Kennedy. Others are on the fence untill the New Hampshire primarys, Clinton.

Democrats are all over the map but are the Republicans taking advantage of the Democratic mixed message.? No! They have the President making a short speech saying we are listening to the commanders on the ground and we will pull out the troops when we have won the war. Many Democrats say, "How do we know when we have won the war"?
Many citizens are asking the same question because they simply do not understand. But you can bet the Democrats are explaining and confusing the public even more.

The President should do an FDR style weekly fire side chat with the weekly updates of the Military. The President should be saying things like, "Look folks we said after 9/11
that the American people would pursue the terrorists to what ever hole they are hiding in. We will not allow any country to provide safe haven for the terrorists. We will not allow any country to aid and provide comfort to any terrorist. Today, three plus years later, we are still engaged in eliminating those terrorists. They can be found in Iraq making there last stand.

The President needs the people behind him and re-assure them. The Democrats are out in front of the media every day, in large numbers,undercurrentg him. They want their power base back and the Presidents passiveness seems to be giving it to them. The occasional impassioned speechs in front of the clapping military academy is not going to cut it. A frequent chat and update of the war is what is expected. If that chat comes from the Oval Office or by the fireplace it would be more to the point. He would be speaking to the American people, not to the military.

FDR knew how to effectively communicate during equally difficult times. The president needs to find his voice.

What is AARP's Agenda?

Can someone explain to me AARP's agenda on Social Security? I'm a sixty five year old disgusted member. They bragged in their latest issue of their magazine that they had been successfully promoting the idea that Social Security just needs some tweaking with thousands of ad spots that reached millions of people. They are making a supreme effort to beat back the president's idea of private accounts for people under fifty five by saying that this is a terrible, ruinous idea. I believe that the AARP's lobby for senior citizens interests and programs in Washington is for the most part a good thing. I know that they count among their membership only people over fifty. I would be willing to bet that the majority of their membership is well over sixty and problably averages my age. Then just who is AARP speaking so vociferously for? The president has already said that his recommended changes to Social Security would not effect anyone over fifty five. I suspect that AARP has and ulterior motive for embracing the current Social Security so lovingly though what it is I'm darned if I can figure out.

The average recipient of a Social Security check gets $955.00 per month. That is less that poverty level income. AARP and many Democrats are intent on preserving that poverty level of income for it's senior citizens. Twelve and a half per cent of all wages comes out of each paycheck for the purpose of providing a decent respectable retirement income for forty five years. The government thinks the current payout is something worth bragging about. If you die before you are sixty five your heirs get nothing for all the money you have paid into the governments little ponsy system. If a private insurer offered that retirement deal you would laugh in his face.

The Thrift Savings plan offered to government employees pays instead, five thousand dollars per month at retirement and over a million cash settlement at age sixty five. Now I could live quite nicely on that. Which would you take, but, too bad, you have no choice.

There are currently eighteen workers for every retired Social Security recipient. There were, only a few years ago, over thirty, soon within my son's lifetime their will be only three. How long do you think the government will be able to continue to send me my check? Will they be able to send my son, who is in his fortys, a check when his turn comes to collect his poverty level stipend, with only some minor tweaking to Social Security as AARP suggests?

No my friends. methinks that AARP has some other agenda, they have too. Membership be dammed. Their spirited cause seems to insult the very recipients of Social Security membership they claim to represent. We know how much Social Security pays us each month. Can any one of us stand up and bragg about how much we are getting back after forty five years of paying in?
I didn't think so.

Hurricane Politics

With all the politics surrounding Katrina and New Orleans, a minor amount of real hard news has come out about the corruption within the city limits and the Mayor's and city council's domain. Why? Trying to learn what and to where that corruption extends one is left to only surmise. Gambling aboard all the ships within the city limits for sure points to some kind of paid favors. But how has that and other sorts of crime contributed to the vast amount of poverty that has existed within the city limits which, by some counts, is estimated to be one third of the population? Has the mayor been held accountable? Will he be held accountable buy some fact finding reporter? This condition of welfare and poverty and a seriously substandard school system has been around for many, many generations. Now is the time for exposure, but the media is to caught up in writing picture captions and sound bites. What have the city's elected officials been doing all these generations?

The levy commission was spending money on roads to casinos, on a casino, on construction projects but not on the levy. Four out of five major pumps were not in working condition when they were called on. Twenty five of one hundred and fifty small auxiliary pumps were all that worked when called on. The levy commission was not prepared to repair any of the four breaks in the levy under emergency conditions, it was left to the Army Core of Engineers.

The presidents ambitious plans to restore the area with money, job education, and tax breaks for entrepreneurs is all well and good but if the money is put into the hands of the mayor or any of the city council you can kiss the taxpayer money good by and expect substandard results.

To build and improved wall around the city of New Orleans that will hold against a future category five hurricane would cost in the prohibitive billions. I say let the rest of the country assimilate the poor that have already moved out or have nothing to come back to. Those that have something to come back to or had insurance to replace what they lost should come back. The government should repair the infrastructure where they can but there should be limits. No one really wants it to go back to the way it was, a poverty zone..