US Aircraft Carriers

Since 1968 the United States had built 14 aircraft carriers; ten of those named for Presidents of the country. There were the Kennedy Eisenhower, T. Roosevelt, Lincoln, Washington, Truman, Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Ford and a second JFK.  The next one (you know there will a next one) should be named the Bush W. Bush.  It could be the first all-drone naval vessel.  It could be programmed to fire automatically whenever something got in its way.  

Iraq War

Iraq War question should be did you oppose the war from the get go, not this bullshit about "knowing what we know now, would you have opposed it".  I said from day one that the war was the worst mistake we could have made in over 50 years of foreign policy.  I believe that has proven to be correct.  If a candidate for president didn't know what I did they should not be in the running to lead this country.

US Economic System

Our economic system seems to have it all wrong.

We drive down wages by destroying unions, refusing to raise the minimum wage, and shipping jobs overseas.  Those workers make so little they don't owe-or pay very little-income taxes, while also getting government benefits in the form of food stamps.  On one hand that results in less revenue coming into the federal treasury while at the same time more money going out to make up the difference from what companies are refusing to pay their workers.  All in all less revenue to pay for the services and programs people need.

On the other hand we allow more and more wealth to accumulate into the pockets of the very wealthy or almost very wealthy.  We then create a  tax structure that limits the amount of revenue the government can acquire from the rich.  We allow those making just under half a million dollars a year to pay a Bush II era tax cut rate.  We tax capital gains at a lower rate than regular income, we tax unearned income (interest and dividends) at a reduced rate than earned income and are about to approve a plan to eliminate inheritance taxes on the extremely wealthy.

If that's not bad enough already, the corporations owned by the very wealthy  take their headquarters off-shore to avoid paying income taxes.

Could we possibly have created a system that is more ---- up?  The reality of an economic system is the average citizen and the spending they do is what keeps an economy strong; the rich have the money but they don't spend enough of it to make up the difference of the paucity of spending by the average person who only had enough to afford the bare necessities.  All of this and we continue to spend for defense like we were still fighting World War II.  

This country-if we keep this up-is heading for a major fall.

Life of a Nation

Life of a nation is a constant conflict between two opposing forces.  One force consists of those business interests who are motivated by monetary gain and maybe a general idea of what they want is also good for the nation as a whole.  This force is never ending and constantly renewed with new believers in private gain.  There will always be a force of this nature and it requires no new motivation to exist or keep active.

The other force is composed of those who believe a policy is wrong or unethical on moral grounds so they organize to oppose it.  This force needs constant re-birth as the causes or evils change and people lose interest or  die away.  There is not an immediate supply of believers.  This force will be plagued by the reality that most people will get worn down by the scale of their opposition, will just say "what the hell" give up and go home.  They cannot possibly present a organized consistent opposition to the force of business interests-especially when those interests control government policy.

TPP

The Senate democrats have agreed to go along with the trade deal President Obama and the republicans want.  It seems the debate will continue but a formal vote has not been taken.  I thought it of interest that the democrats went along when they "...reached agreement with republicans for votes on other enforcement measures to protect workers who lose jobs as a result of exports".  Doesn't that agreement mean that the trade deal-TPP-will result in the lose of American jobs, and if so, why in the hell has the Senate agreed to it?

(The Virginian Pilot on 5/15/15).

Guns

Congressman Scott Rigell of the 2nd CD in Virginia, a republican, has proposed legislation to allow wives or husbands of sailors and other service members to be allowed to  buy a gun outside their home state.  Current law requires those purchasing a gun must buy it in the state in which they live.  Rigell believes that service members are required to move from base to base, thus they need to buy outside their home state to protect themselves "from Islamic extremists, foreign and domestic and lone wolves" (what about other wild animals?).  Considering the number of military personnel who return from overseas duty with post tramatic stress disorder or feelings of suicide, this does not sound like a great idea to me.  (VP 5/14/15).