Here’s an article I ran across on whether the F22 fighter jet has been a big waste of 24,000,000,000 or if it’s a good idea still. I thought these two comments below were very intriguing to say the least

Comment by commander_k

Air supremacy is a necessity. There is no guarantee that we won’t be involved in another war sometime in the future. Keeping the enemy out of the sky above us is a good thing.

Who could that enemy be? Iran, North Korea? It’s not impossible, even if today it seems improbable.

Comment by Nick Bergseng

We sold Iran their jets. North Korea is busy parading. Neither country has the capability to make a tactical air strike against American targets, except for maybe the ones that we’ve moved in next door. Anywhere. Ever.

However, to humor you Mr. Commander, it is exactly that improbability that makes this kind of spending and military nut flexing irrational. Is it possible that tomorrow I will wake up to find a meteor has decimated the world’s population, leaving only me and my telepathic dog? Sure. But I won’t ever prepare for such an event because it is extremely improbable.

We as humans choose the worst things sometimes. We invasively screen children and elderly when they board a plane, yet don’t bother to force people leaving bars to take a breathalyzer. The odds of me dying in a plane crash from a terrorist attack or hijacking are about on the level of that meteor, yet hundreds of thousands die every year from drunk driving.

So, to you and everyone else who might happen to read this post, the next time your president or presidential candidate or senator or congressman or mom or dad or kids say “Cutting military spending will put our national security at risk!” please stop them for just a second to remind them that there is a risk that quantum physics may suddenly stick their own head up their own ass.

Today marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, a day to recognize our devastating effects on mother earth and celebrate the environmental movement. But, unlike 40 years ago when Earth Day was created in 1970 there are hidden agendas. That is, which company can profit the most and create personal gain and benefit. Earth day has lost its purpose over the years and has been turned around into “Which company can profit the most” by exploiting people and their confused notion of what Earth Day is all about. The concept of what this day is suppose to be recognized for has long been lost through cruel intentions.

Many New Yorkers saw this through an email sent by a prominent cupcake bakery who said that they were selling eco-friendly cupcakes with peace signs on them for today only. Who cares? It’s the same cupcake as any other cupcake they sell but with a peace sign on it. Why would they do this? To get customers in the door and profit on a concept which has been lost.

Earth day has turned into a popularity contest of who can get recognized better for doing the right thing. Many companies use this day to promote a better image for their company. Thus, you see many of them pledging a certain percentage of sales to donate to charity if you buy “green” or “earth friendly” products. One personal example of this is when I went into Albertsons today and proceeded to checkout. The cashier informed me that it was “Pay it forward day” and that the person before me had purchased this green Earth Day Every Day reusable bag, for Greener America, and that I have an opportunity to pay it forward by purchasing one for the person who comes to checkout after me. You know me, I haven’t done my “good deed” for the day and got suckered into purchasing it for the next person for a measly .79 cents. Now did I do this knowing that I would be putting more money in the pockets of Albertsons? Not intentionally, like most people I did it for personal gain – to help out mother earth. But did I really help out mother earth by purchasing this bag that is green? Not really. The only good thing that can possibly come out of this is that the person who checked out after me had a smile on his/her face (good, I got another thing off my list – make at least one person smile everyday).

Back to the point. So the question that has to be asked is, have we trailed away from what the true concept of Earth Day is suppose to be, just to reinforce the stigma of what our society represents – profit and gain, capitalism at its best.

Obama proposed a budget of $989 billion in new taxes (fuck my life), over the course of the next 10 years. This starting fiscal year 2011. To me, the hype of Obama has over extended its life and people need to stop being ignorant to the fact that he is just making things worse (possibly, I could be wrong will see in a couple of years). Whatever happened to being responsible in life? Many people in America live far beyond their means without foreseeing future consequences.

There are too many people who are lazy out there and cannot pull themselves up and work. It is sort of demeaning to me, and everyone else who pulls their asses out of bed and goes to school / work full time. Doing this knowing they will pay their bills and live within their means. And then you see these freeloaders who walk around on government handouts with the latest technology, food stamps, and 22′ rims on their leased car they’re paying to much for monthly (which most middle class can’t afford to drive) and their system that ‘hits’ hard and gives them ear damage…

Back to the point…

The government has to stop being the “hero” and handing free money and gifts to the poor and teach them how to work and be self sufficient. We also need to get a hold of the illegal immigrant problem and stop providing for the irresponsible. The government needs to see the big picture and figure out why people just come here refusing to work just to live off the taxes of hard working people.

Can anyone honestly say the low income workers are low income through no fault of their own? They are the ‘working poor’ because of choices they made in life. If you’re that low, the only thing you can do is move up…Why don’t they? Because they are lazy. There are 24 hours in a day, not just the 8-10 hours the majority of the working poor spend at work. The guy working on the assembly line made the choice to take that job and chose not to save, beg, borrow, or do whatever it takes to get a better education and job. What they choose to do for the rest of their life is their choice, and shouldn’t be my problem.

You say spread the wealth? Why should they not take risks to create their OWN opportunity, and have a chance to create their OWN wealth. You may say that some people were taken advantage of, and I reply, of course, however it doesn’t mean the rest of us are responsible for making them whole again. Life is hard and shit happens. Pick yourself up and move forward. Be strong and you’ll overcome any challenge that comes your way.

Housing is just like stock. Prices will decline or increase, that is the risk you take. Obama may say soak the rich, but they have already carried their share and more in taxes. A Tax foundation report listed revenue trends in what the IRS collected. Total revenue received from the richest one percent:

2003: $256 billion
2004: $307
2005: $368
2006: $408

Share of total income taxes collected which were paid by the richest one percent:

2003: 34.27%
2004: 36.89%
2005: 39.38%
2006: 39.89%

Those who complain that the rich aren’t paying their fair share of taxes, you’re just ignorant to the fact. The rich became rich through a means of working hard. Why should we punish their success (and tax them more), just to fund people who are lazy? The wealthiest one percent pay about 37 percent of hte income tax, and the top ten percent pay 68 percent. The bottom 50 percent (below the median income level) and only pay roughly 3 percent of the taxes. If Obama keeps raising the taxes on the rich, pretty soon there wont be anymore rich, and they will move their assets to other countries, and won’t be creating jobs in this wonderful nation. Only delaying the possibility of stimulating the economy and putting money back into it. Also most people wont try to start businesses in hopes of becoming rich in the future (say good bye to the “American Dream”) because the government is just going to take most of it anyway.

Why shouldn’t they get the same tax breaks that everyone other taxpayer gets? Obamanomics and friends, please tell me what is unfair about that. For those who say give Obama’s plans a chance, I ask why? Because he is the first “Black” president? Because he speaks well? Because the majority voted for him? He deserves respect and nothing more. If we don’t like his ideas we have the right to voice our disapproval. He is not a God. He can’t “Change” everything, and bring “Hope” to everyone. Until the American people wake up and realize utopia is nothing but a dream and should never be attempted, we are going have a very hard time. Face it, there are achievers and losers in life, you can never change that. We need the working poor to do jobs, we “Middle Class” and “Rich” don’t want to do. How are you ever going to get your taco from taco bell, or get your cool gadget that was put together by assembly line workers? Or even eat, if no one will pick the food in the fields?

You may say the poor get poorer because of Republicans? They, the Republicans, are the ones who work, earn, and pay their share of the taxes. Democrats are the ones bloating the Welfare System and causes even a bigger mess. Once again, people are only poor if they CHOOSE to be poor. The poor have the EXACT SAME OPPORTUNITIES to be rich if they want. Education, hard work, and drive…Democrats expect handouts, and then whine when the ones who work hard have more than they. You hardly ever see (almost never; other than from Republicans) a Democrat saying he is losing in tax money or investments because of the Socialism Obama wants. Democrats only gain and not lose from this mess. Once again you say soak those who work and pay taxes? How about requiring the Democrats in Washington to pay their taxes sometimes. His cabinet refuses to, so why should I pay taxes if Democrats refuse to? Bull shit.

On the flipside for the last decade, the rich got richer, and the poor stayed poor, or even got poorer. The rich have the opportunity and ability to help out their fellow Americans. There is probably a 75 percent chance that it was those Americans that made them rich in the first place. Let the rich help. They have to realize that they are just going to lose everything, if they don’t band together and do whatever they can to help out in this crisis.

We all can agree no matter who you are that something needs to be done. We need regulate corporations from trying to enslave us for their own personal gain, and regulate what is going on internally. These taxes Obama proposes will only hinder our chances of coming out of a recession because it will only slow economic growth. People don’t know their history, economics, and his failures will only be our failures as well. He is a smart man, but embraces stupid ideas. However, many younger people will be far more educated about what is happening in the future as they watch this turn of events (for the worse), and will actually vote WITH THEIR HEADS next time.

When the ‘limited’ cost ceiling for the “rich companies” goes up (i.e., taxes), then they must cut elsewhere (i.e., “poor jobs”). I guess will have to let democrats figure that one out themselves while they keep screaming louder than anyone else. What I have noticed is that it doesn’t matter what you show Democrats (e.g., facts and figures). The only thing they know is what they are told to know, and when they are faced with the truth, they point fingers and blame someone else (i.e., Bush). We have to become Socialist right now because of Bush, right Liberals? How about trying to get the rich Democrats in Washing to pay their taxes and you’ll see why the common Liberals don’t understand the system. For some reason our laws don’t pertain to them, so why should they have to understand them.

I saw this somewhere and thought it was interesting. It said to imagine if you spend 1 million dollars a day starting from day one of 0 AD, and at the end of this year you would have only spent 733 billion (That’s 2009 years). You could keep spending a Billion a day through 2099 and still not reach 787 Billion. The “Stimulus Package” congress just passed is 787 Billion. No matter who you are, Repbulican/Democrate, Left/Right we are all screwed together.

Here are our choices…

Capitalism: “I make money and you make money.”
Fascism: “You make money, I take your money.”
Socialism: “You make money, I lose money, give me some of your money.”
Communism: “Your money is my money.”
Imperialism: “Get back to work!!”

It’s only logical to choose the first. What is mine, is mine. Not yours, or anyone elses.

In parting words I say:

“The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened.”

– Norman Thomas, American socialist

After you read my last post about Obama, you probably think that I am a hard core republican who is against everything that Obama represents. You’re wrong, I like Obama and think he will be a very good leader for this nation and will represent us well. And if you already didn’t know I was kind of bitter with all the things George W. Bush was doing in office (running up national debt and not pulling out of Iraq). However, after reading Lone Survivor my views drastically changed.

If many of you don’t know already everything is liberal–whether it be our news at 9 at night, to movies we watch, or newspapers we read in the morning. Everything is one sided and skews the way we think and perceive things. One of the main topics of this book was that people don’t really understand what is going on with the war and think we are murdering people without reason or cause. Another point that is pointed out is that many people think that there were never weapons of mass destruction. This is all wrong. We are in war, and innocent people die no matter what. Regarding the weapons of mass destruction, what people don’t understand and realize is that they may have had a nuclear program going on underground somewhere which we couldn’t locate. You may be asking yourself what does that have anything to do with what is going on right now. This would mean they were trying to produce weapons-grade uranium-235. This you get from spinning uranium-238 from a machine which drives the heavy neutrons outward. It is a long process and takes up to seven years to complete, and with no mistakes all trouble free, you can cut off the outside edges of that uranium which you can now call uranium-235. Once you cut that in half and put the two pieces together with high explosives, you have bombs. And it is Hiroshima all over again.

I would rather go to war now to prevent a nuclear war from occurring in the future, which could be started by some crazy nut case like Saddam Hussein or Osama Bin Laden. Marcus Luttrell, also points out that SEALs, along with other people enlisted in the army, navy, marines, and other special forces teams are afraid of being charged with murder. This is because of the rules of engagement which basically says that you aren’t allowed to shoot unless they have a weapon on them. They have to be actively engaging you. Which means that Taliban or people who hate the United States, could be carrying AK-47s and explosives hiding them while walking their camels or mules and the next thing you know you’re dead.

We have all these suits and higher ups giving the people fighting for us orders, and then charging them with murder. Most of these people have never experienced war or even killing a human being. Most of the people making it worse are the people on the news. These douche bags don’t do anything but blame everyone and over exaggerate the little shit (I’ll get to this later). It’s not them in the front lines fighting for their country face to face with a gun. What they don’t get is that your LIFE is on the line. Why would I wait to shoot someone if they had a gun pointed at me? That is ridiculous.

Now, the reason why Marcus Luttrell’s men all died was because of these rules. They were camped out on a mountain waiting for their target to leave. Out of no where three people came up on them with all their sheep. They were debating on killing them because they knew it was the right thing to do. You never know if these people are part of the Al Queda or Taliban, and most cities over there are under their rule. So most of the time people have to report anything suspicious even if they aren’t Al Queda or Taliban. Long story short, they let these three people go (even though they saw the hatred in their eyes) because they were not murders, and didn’t want to be portrayed as murders with the liberal media, when the plain fact was that they were saving their lives. Next thing you know, there are 150+ men walking down the mountain behind them looking for them. If Marcus Luttrell and his men would have killed these three sheep herders, most likely than not they all would still be alive today. However, the fear that the liberal media would exaggerate and skew things out of proportion is what lead them to let sheep herders go.

More behind the scenes view is that the Al Queda and Taliban know all our rules of engagements and exploit them. If anything happens such as “3 sheep herders” found dead, they would quickly release to the middle east press that “American soldiers murdered 3 innocent people”. The thing is, they may have looked innocent, but in this case weren’t. But the American Liberal media wouldn’t know any better, pick up on this “BREAKING NEWS” and report something along the lines “SEAL team of four brutally murdered three innocent sheep herders, and now should be convicted of FIRST DEGREE MURDER”. And they would go on having this discussion how the republicans let our military run around like wild animals killing everything in sight, when in reality they aren’t. They are just saving their OWN lives.

In the end, we can’t let the liberal media run our lives. We also have to do what is best for ourselves. This is probably just one story out of hundreds which are told. I would probably hate George W. Bush still as much as I did about a year ago unless I had read this book. I know he may not speak very well in public, and I know he has probably made some mistakes in office. But when it comes to our own people, I know he wouldn’t put their lives in danger unless it was necessary. George Bush did what was necessary to protect our nation. And most people are to illiterate or dumb to understand the complexity of what is going on around the world today. George Bush has to make decisions on things that are harder than anyone could imagine, and which the majority of us could probably not make in a lifetime. He does this knowing that he could be affecting the future of this nation, as well as millions of people around this world. He has the toughest job in the world, and I applaud him. Only he and 43 other people know what it is like to make decisions like this.

Just like in the Dark Knight, George Bush is the Hero the United States deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we’ll hunt him because he can take it. Because he’s not our hero. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector. He takes all the blame, and most people will understand later, just not now.

While watching the presidential election on November 4, 2008 I realized the country I live in is occupied by individuals who don’t completely understand what is going on half the time. The fact of the matter is that their ability to understand what is going on is blurred and skewed with the overpowering liberal media mainly ran by one person – Rupert Murdoch. One vision, one view. I go to an overran liberal school which is filled by professors and younger adults that can’t get their heads out of their a** and back into reality. While most people I know at school are liberals, there are some that take it to the extreme. Those are the ones I hate the most. The ones who turn their ears the other way and aren’t open minded to other peoples opinions.

These people think that Barack Obama means change. If by what you mean is that the middle and upper class society donating money to every other bum out on the street who is to lazy to find a job, then yes there will be change, but not for the better. One of Obama’s biggest arguments he concentrated on during his presidential election was that the poor will be poor no more. What? The poor will not be poor? What does that mean? Republicans understand this by working hard and donating more of our hard earned money to lazy individuals and illegal immigrants. On the other side of the spectrum, the Liberals believe that government action is the way to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all, and that the government should guarantee that no one is in need. What this means is that they will do anything to help anyone. Why should those who work hard (blood, sweat, and tears) have to give away part of their hard earned money to those who don’t have the motivation and determination? Or even to those who abuse and use the system? These people want government funding to help people who don’t have the access to certain institutions and facilities that the general public does. We have to face the fact, and that is that there will ALWAYS be a separation of classes – poor, middle, and upper. If we didn’t have the poor, you would have to be doing all the minimum wage dirty jobs you never imagined doing. If you are poor, you have to ‘change’ the way you live your life, not receive freebie handouts that the government gives you monthly. In the end there will always be the poor and the rich. The world we live in is not egalitarian. If it was, we would all be living in a world of sameness.

One thing that really blew my mind was that everyone would receive free health insurance even those who are not citizens. I’d be down to give these people insurance, if they want insurance they need to have English as their secondary language. What blows my mind is that these first and second generation immigrants live in the United States for three years and still don’t even know how to say a three word English Phrase. At least try and adapt. These immigrants are using up social security, government grants, and other ways of getting money that we all have worked hard for and look to for when we get old. Liberals only want to help these people out, but they have to look outside the box and actually think for themselves instead of having someone else think for them (yes, you have to finally open a book and understand what is going on).

To get to the main point of writing this post, I will turn to Barack Obama. Yes that black guy who is going to change the WORLD! Maybe. There are all these posters portraying Obama as some sort of ‘God’ and that he is the ‘Hope’ that our society has, in order to ‘believe’ in the ‘change’ he is going to bring. Let’s face it. This election was based off color and race. It was reported that all registered black individuals, 97% voted for Obama (Ummm..). That is outrageous. Just wonder if 97% of all white people registered to vote, voted for McCain – people would be yelling “Racism!”. That’s is exactly what happened. Let’s face the fact, this election was based off race and color!

You may argue that it wasn’t based off race and it was based off the fact that Obama would “change” a lot. But, in my opinion I think that people saw change with color. People voted for Obama because he was black and black was different from white. That is the change they saw. Now what we have to look forward to is higher taxes and fees for unknown things I have to pay for to help other lazy individuals or people who don’t deserve the money. Even though every president promises to lower taxes, it’s not true. Are economy is pretty much in the pooper. If Obama really wants to change things he should have started by donating half of his $1.7 billion he spent for his campaign to charities and programs. This is up from what Bush spent in the 2004 presidential campaign which was $740.6 million.

In the end, all the African Americans who voted for Barack Obama only got trixed (yes, trixed, because Trix are for kids), thought they were voting for the “first black president” when in fact was only voting for a white president who is also part Asian hiding behind a different colored mask. His mom is white. Yes, that is right; white. You got tricked admit it. All in all, Barack Obama is only a means to an end from some higher up who has his own agenda (probably the whole democratic party who saw a weakness in the public and an opportunity to elect a democrat as president). People are only sick of what has been going on the past eight years; the war, conflict, corruption, and lies and they want it all to ‘change’. What is funny is that people want change, but aren’t willing to change themselves. That deceiving slogan Obama used to appeal to the people is only an illusion. Let’s face it, you were only lying to yourself and in a couple of years we will see the dream (I mean nightmare), that we as a society elected into office.

I believe he has some good points and some bad. First of all, universal health care? At first I was for universal health care, however, I believe it should not be given to illegal immigrants, or people without US citizenship. Why should we, the people, be paying for people’s health care with our hard earned money? Immigration is a big deal, and without making a standard or baseline for regulating immigration, it is only going to hurt us more.

I agree with his flat tax rate of 10% for everyone, however, Mos Def’s idea to make mandatory community service hours for people earning over $500,000 is ludicrous. And on top of that, if they don’t perform any community service then their tax rates increase to 20%. I seriously don’t believe hard working people should be penalized for making more money than others. I believe people who do earn that money, are the special ones with the drive and motivation to work hard and perfect what they do. Punishing them because they work hard and don’t do any community service is stupid.

The most important topic here is eliminating the electoral vote and base it only on the popular vote. Also voting day shuold be made longer instead of limited on just one day. I can write a huge post on this, which I will later. But, these are just some thoughts of mine after I watched this video.