[quote]Mikeyali wrote:
Then there is the issue of body armor. Have you ever worn a SAPI plate? Then shut up about it! They are terrible and weigh a ton. [/quote]
I loved my SAPI and interceptor, and it’s lighter than the shit PASG flak jacket. Now, if you’re talking about the arm shields, leg protection, and side protection, then yes, it is getting silly.
vroom,
the house ways and means and the whips determine topics for debate on the floor, right? not citizens, at least not directly anyways.
f
[quote]coloradosteve wrote:
Don’t forget the cool war movies! Oh the VA. They didn’t get my certification for this semester, so guess what, no Fucking rent money for me! They’re just like, “oh, sorry about that, sucks to be you.” Anyway, I pawned some stuff and hope to cover rent this month but jesus. The VA is so slooooooooooooooooooooow!
Not to mention people equate GI Bill recipients to crack whore moms on welfare.
[/quote]
That sucks. You must have a shitty VA rep. I haven’t had a single problem since coming to school. The GI Bill kicks ass! No one has made me feel like a welfare recipient for it. I mean, we pay money into it, though not much, but it is a part of our pay in my eyes. It’s part of the deal when you go in.
That said, what sucked was watching the GI Bill double for the reserve guys for doing a 6-month pump in Iraq. I volunteered to go with them and didn’t get squat. I don’t care too much though because I went to get in the fight rather than to get money.
With the welfare thing though is the idea of vets disability. They want to put me on disability for my ankles, guts and hearing. I can’t bring myself to take it though. I don’t feel disabled, I just hurt. Taking that money would feel like welfare for me. I don’t feel bad going to a VA hospital or getting pain meds but taxpayer money seems like too much.
mike
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
JeffR wrote:
Another telling quote that screams “former-military.”
Hey JeffR, I hope that isn’t sarcasm. I have a DD-214 with an honorable discharge from the USMC and a stamp of approval from the Commandant of the USMC. What do you have? What have you done to REALLY support this country that you claim to love other than going to visit some dead vets? Try going down to your local homeless shelter and find a living vet.
You are ALL talk.[/quote]
Hey, liftus.
You strain all credibility. You believe in socialism. Make comments like “One day is plenty for celebration and remembrance–more than that is overkill. Ok, we get it–bravery, honor, etc…yawn.”
Sorry, pal. I just don’t believe a word you say.
Oh, as far as my contribution to the country, I’m always there when asked. I’ve been in some tough situations helping my fellow American.
JeffR
[quote]JeffR wrote:
Sorry, pal. I just don’t believe a word you say.
[/quote]
That’s fine! I don’t need your affirmation to inflate my ego. The US Armed Forced could care less who waves flags for them when they’re just sitting around and “arm chairing” a war they will never have to see or experience. You paying homage to a dead vet doesn’t help in any way, shape, or form other than allowing you to pat yourself on the back and feel good about yourself. Hooray for jeffy!
BTW, the military is socialism at its finest but you wouldn’t know or understand that having never served. The last I checked political ideology wasn’t a prerequisite to joining the military though I know all you fascist conservatives think you own the right to patriotism.
[quote]Mikeyali wrote:
With the welfare thing though is the idea of vets disability. They want to put me on disability for my ankles, guts and hearing. I can’t bring myself to take it though. I don’t feel disabled, I just hurt. Taking that money would feel like welfare for me. I don’t feel bad going to a VA hospital or getting pain meds but taxpayer money seems like too much.
mike[/quote]
I maintain that the federal government should have almost one sole purpose, which is Defense. With that duty comes the power to tax so that it may field a professional military. Take the money, if you chose, without any regrets. There’s no contradiction with mainstream Libertarian or fiscally conservative ideals here.
Don’t mean to poke into your business here. Was just concerned that one our vets might be hesitant to make use of benefits rightly offered to him.
[quote]JeffR wrote:
LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
JeffR wrote:
Another telling quote that screams “former-military.”
Hey JeffR, I hope that isn’t sarcasm. I have a DD-214 with an honorable discharge from the USMC and a stamp of approval from the Commandant of the USMC. What do you have? What have you done to REALLY support this country that you claim to love other than going to visit some dead vets? Try going down to your local homeless shelter and find a living vet.
You are ALL talk.
Hey, liftus.
You strain all credibility. You believe in socialism. Make comments like “One day is plenty for celebration and remembrance–more than that is overkill. Ok, we get it–bravery, honor, etc…yawn.”
Sorry, pal. I just don’t believe a word you say.
Oh, as far as my contribution to the country, I’m always there when asked. I’ve been in some tough situations helping my fellow American.
JeffR
[/quote]
How can you question one’s credibility when you have none yourself?
And what the hell does believing in socialism have to do with anything? You’re such a tool. Anything an individual says or does all goes back to politics.
Do you have the slightest clue what socialism is?
Dustin
[quote]Sloth wrote:
Don’t mean to poke into your business here. Was just concerned that one our vets might be hesitant to make use of benefits rightly offered to him.
[/quote]
Yes, absolutely. Remember, you paid for them. Finishing school would not have been an option for me had I not paid into the GI Bill.
[quote]Dustin wrote:
Do you have the slightest clue what socialism is?
Dustin[/quote]
Lots of days celebrating military might and jacking off to flags and parades and phallic display of power?
Endless lines of goose stepping soldiers carrying flags and pictures of your all-knowing Fuehrer…
Come on JeffR, you know you want it…
Open your heart for national socialism…
As a neo-conservative you are allmost there anyway…
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
JeffR wrote:
Sorry, pal. I just don’t believe a word you say.
That’s fine! I don’t need your affirmation to inflate my ego. The US Armed Forced could care less who waves flags for them when they’re just sitting around and “arm chairing” a war they will never have to see or experience. You paying homage to a dead vet doesn’t help in any way, shape, or form other than allowing you to pat yourself on the back and feel good about yourself. Hooray for jeffy!
BTW, the military is socialism at its finest but you wouldn’t know or understand that having never served. The last I checked political ideology wasn’t a prerequisite to joining the military though I know all you fascist conservatives think you own the right to patriotism.[/quote]
Yeah, it cracks me up when people say we don’t live in a socialist country. I know you didn’t say that and that you only allude to the fact that the military is socialist, but when you talk to these fascist conservatives they fail to relise without government the way it is we wouldn’t have roads, electricity, police, jails, street lights, parks, the post office, the military, college, schools, subsidized food, unemployment insurance, banks insurance. We had a true free market economy before Keynes in the 1930s and it sucked.
[quote]coloradosteve wrote:
LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
JeffR wrote:
Sorry, pal. I just don’t believe a word you say.
That’s fine! I don’t need your affirmation to inflate my ego. The US Armed Forced could care less who waves flags for them when they’re just sitting around and “arm chairing” a war they will never have to see or experience. You paying homage to a dead vet doesn’t help in any way, shape, or form other than allowing you to pat yourself on the back and feel good about yourself. Hooray for jeffy!
BTW, the military is socialism at its finest but you wouldn’t know or understand that having never served. The last I checked political ideology wasn’t a prerequisite to joining the military though I know all you fascist conservatives think you own the right to patriotism.
Yeah, it cracks me up when people say we don’t live in a socialist country. I know you didn’t say that and that you only allude to the fact that the military is socialist, but when you talk to these fascist conservatives they fail to relise without government the way it is we wouldn’t have roads, electricity, police, jails, street lights, parks, the post office, the military, college, schools, subsidized food, unemployment insurance, banks insurance. We had a true free market economy before Keynes in the 1930s and it sucked.
[/quote]
sigh seriously man, does NO ONE care about liberty? If even my fellow vets aren’t in the game then we’re screwed. I need to go clean the rifles again. We do live in a socialist country, but I’ve dedicated my life to correct that. Socialists to the left of me and totalitarians to the right.
mike
[quote]coloradosteve wrote:
and remember that soldiers, seamen, marines and airmen didn’t get a day off in Iraq today. [/quote]
Let me think of something equally witty and insulting and get back to you.
[quote]coloradosteve wrote:
Yeah, it cracks me up when people say we don’t live in a socialist country. I know you didn’t say that and that you only allude to the fact that the military is socialist, but when you talk to these fascist conservatives they fail to relise without government the way it is we wouldn’t have roads, electricity, police, jails, street lights, parks, the post office, the military, college, schools, subsidized food, unemployment insurance, banks insurance. We had a true free market economy before Keynes in the 1930s and it sucked.
[/quote]
Yup, because all these things need to be provided by the government.
No private company would have ever figured out how to build streets, power grids or a postal system.
Thank god the best and wisest among us are magically drawn to work for the government to better the living conditions of all human kind out of pure love for their fellow men.
[quote]orion wrote:
No private company would have ever figured out how to build streets, power grids or a postal system.
Thank god the best and wisest among us are magically drawn to work for the government to better the living conditions of all human kind out of pure love for their fellow men.
[/quote]
I don’t trust private companies–I trust the government even less but the government can only charge so much for its services. A measly 40% of my income goes to taxes. Thats a bargain considering I live in a halfway decent country. I guarantee you if I had to pay a private company for all the services provided by the government it would be far more expensive.
Do you seriously think every service should be privatized?
[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
orion wrote:
No private company would have ever figured out how to build streets, power grids or a postal system.
Thank god the best and wisest among us are magically drawn to work for the government to better the living conditions of all human kind out of pure love for their fellow men.
I don’t trust private companies–I trust the government even less but the government can only charge so much for its services. A measly 40% of my income goes to taxes. Thats a bargain considering I live in a halfway decent country. I guarantee you if I had to pay a private company for all the services provided by the government it would be far more expensive.
Do you seriously think every service should be privatized?[/quote]
No, in some cases it makes no sense.
You either defend a country as a whole or you dont. Whenever you cannot exlude people fron services they do not pay for it might be a public good that needs to be financed by communitiy or it wont be financed at all.
Those are rare though.
In some cases I am even for the state to finance some things though it is not necessary, like education and health care until you are 18.
However, I do not want the state to provide those services, give them vouchers and let competition work its magic.
The idea that government can only charge you so much is true, once you are dead they are usually done with you. Until then they can allways take more.
Why you think that governments provide goods cheaper than the private sector I do not really know, there might be cases though where you could not afford something and yet the government gives it to you.
If you look closely you might still be able to see the blood, sweat and tears
of the person the government took it from.
In the long run it is more complicated than that, because public spending allmost allways means misallocation of resources i.e stunted economic growth.
If all the money re-distributed in the US, and that includes subsidies and corporate welfare in general, only slows down economic growth by 1-2% a year the consequences are enormous after a decent amount of time.
11,03^50=4,38
11,04^50=1,71
1*1,05^50=11,47
So if redistribution means an average growth rate of only 3% rather than 5 %
people 50 years from now could have been 3 times better off than they would be.