Sieg Heil

Can you tell who I'm NOT voting for? Yeah it's a cheap shot; I'll admit it.

Honestly, there are no perfect candidates. You can tell by the fact that they WANT TO become President. I figure the best candidate would be very qualified, and not want to be in office. I think for the next election I'll come up with a write-in campaign.

Now, there are good points to both sides, if you can trust either candidate. My biggest problem with both of them is that neither can do math. Then again, the GAO never has either. It must be a D.C. thing, perhaps in the water. I will be voting for Obama for only one reason. He is the best candidate for the time. Next election, it might be Republicans, but this year, I'm voting for a Democrat.

To give you an idea of how bad things are. My mother, who has been Republican since 1947, is voting for Obama. She was active in politics for years. Was part of the process back with Reagan. So when she votes for a Democrat, it's because she pretty much knows that the Republicans that are being offered are far from optimal candidates.

Finally, If you're only voting for McCain/Palin because there's a woman candidate, then you need to have your head examined. The same goes for voting for Obama just because he is black.

The only two questions we need answered are:
Who will get us out of these costly fruitless occupation campaigns?
Who will get our economy back on track, or at least not screw it up further?

There are initiatives that would make me happy.
1) Do what's best for America first; what is best for the world trade comes second (unless they want to become states and pay taxes like the rest of us).
2) Bring back the jobs that multi-national conglomerates have shipped overseas.
3) We need to go back to certain core-values, but at the same time, identify where we need to progress into the future.
4) Cut spending. CUT spending. CUT SPENDING. It would cause some unemployment, but if you bring back the jobs into the USA, then it won't be for long.
5) Don't give tax breaks yet. Don't give tax increases. Cut some of the tax loopholes that only the rich can afford. Business taxes should favor wholly american companies, and then mostly american companies, and the most taxes should be paid by foreign companies. We've got a $10 Trillion or so debt. Time to start paying back the credit card.
6) Trade Imbalance: This needs to be worked on. It's not only the fault of the government, but of American businesses as well. Take the big 3 automakers in the USA. They kept getting bigger and bigger engines. Toyata and Honda kept making more and more efficient and cost-efficient models. Guess which ones sell more world-wide. Chrysler got bought by a Euro-co and tried to sell that styling to Americans. Honestly, if we wanted that style we would have bought a BMW or Mercedes, etc. We need to get some old-style jeeps and VW bug style vehicles. Mind you, the transmissions need more gears and less electronics.
7) American English as the national language. I can't say this enough. The one thing that joined all our multinational ancestors into being americans is language.
8) No government sponsored parades for non-national reasons. I'm sure individuals and businesses will support these if they are popular.
9) No government grants to other countries. Loans are okay, so long as they aren't forgiven.
10) Get out of the world police effort. Give up most of our bases and just have visits at allied bases. The only time we should get involved in someone else's country is under 3 conditions:
1) They invade another country.
2) A UN sanctioned military operation.
3) If someone attacks us.
If one of these conditions occurs, then you beat them completely and install an OLD SCHOOL DEMOCRACY. An old school democracy is one where you hand all the adults a cheap bolt action rifle and a clip of ammo, and tell them, take care of the problems locally, don't make us come back, or we won't be nice.
The invasion of Kuwait would have ended Hussein back in the early 90's.
The Serb-Croation operation would have been okay.
The invasion of Afghanistan would have been okay.
Also we need to change the way our military is structured. It's very inefficient. We should also reduce the active component. Our forefathers said we shouldn't have a standing army for more than 2 years. The reason for that was, after awhile, to justify their costs and existance, they end up getting us involved in someone else's conflict.
11) All contract with companies should not have the ability to exceed their estimates unless it comes out of the company profits. They should not make deals they can't complete. They should not make estimates that are well below what they'll actually cost. Our Naval contracts with Northrop Grumman who never made ships before the current contracts and are way over budget are a single example. The F-35 could be used as another example (originally supposed to cost $35 million each are now up to $83 million each). Nasa and it's over-reaching ideas, especially in the face of an economic recession / depression.

This list just covers a tiny part of the basics and not all of them fully.

The value of a Dollar

Don't know about other parts of the world, but here everything has doubled or so in the last year. I look at the dollar compared to two things:
1) The Euro
2) The Canadian Dollar
Before this occupational fiasco, the US dollar bought roughly 1.50 in canada and around a euro. Now it buys roughly 1 Canadian dollar and 2/3 of a euro.

This isn't necessarily bad. Usually under such conditions, the Europeans and Canadians would be doing an above average amount of international tourism which would bring money back into the USA. Unfortunately, the overzealous Department of Homeland Security has made it a point to make it difficult and Harrassing to enter the United States. Thus stopping money from entering.

Now I might understand if they made it more difficult for people who are of middle-eastern lineage or are muslims. Obviously, regardless of how unfair it may be, they would have a much more intensive background screening. But the truth is, that it is impossible to keep out people who desperately want to enter. That's why we have a constant influx of ILLEGAL immigrants. If they can't keep them and/or drugs from entering the United States, what makes them think they'll be able to keep out a determined terrorist?

Nothing. It doesn't work. Ever. Just like an occupational force can't completely stop Guerrilla Warfare. The smartest thing to do is hand every adult a bolt action rifle with a clip of ammunition in each and every village, town, and city. Then you tell them "Don't make us come back. If you have problems with people who wish to go back to a non-democratic system then deal with them."

You see, only if everyone is committed to democracy that way, and is armed both against these brigands as well as any abusive government, will democracy work.

As to the detainees that were held in places like Midway and Guantamano, well, let's just say that most of the interrogation techniques are pretty primative.