Stupid Wisdom

So much for an all volunteer military

With our troops being stretched to there limits in Iraq & Afghanistan many of our brave men & women are choosing not to volunteer for repeated tours of duty. It seems the days of enlisting for a four year term and getting out are over for now. Many call this a backdoor draft which is somewhat accurate. Although all who serve do agree to the option of being called up from inactive reserves once completing their active obligations, I doubt many would have seen this as actual reality until recently. This will just add to the short falls on new enlistments in the long run. Today’s reality is that a new recruit knows going in that the four year tour of duty is a thing of the past. Nobody likes to enter into a contract with an unknown term, which is what this amount to. The negative impact on troup moral will gradually spiral downward as more and more are forced to serve beyond their original active obligation. Recruiting numbers will be severly impacted which will continue the need for involuntary recalls.

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Less than 3 months until midterms

I think the Lieberman defeat in Connecticut primary will set the stage for media coverage as well as campaign stradegy. Everyone is always looking for a sign of things to come, and this one had everyone’s attention. How this should be interpreted will surely be the center of discussion among campaign managers and the cable talking heads. My interpretation is that it indicates the anti-war issue is strong enough to motivate people to actually go to the polls and vote. I believe much of Lieberman’s support came from the more loyal democrat who would be typically more likely to vote than the balance of the party. The fact that loyalists lost to the anti-vote tells me the anti-war issue is a strong factor not only in terms of who you vote for but will also push voter turn out numbers upward. Even though a slim margin is enough for victory, Large turnouts speak with a much louder voice and tend to have a lasting influence over lawmaker’s positions. The prospect of a large voter turnout for the midterms is exciting to me. I hope people turnout in record numbers to have their voices heard.

Minimum wage as a standard

I think most would agree that minimum wage should not be so excessively high as to hurt business but enough to allow the workers some level of protection against exploitation. Currently congress seems to use it as a political opportunity rather than a legitimate issue on it’s own merits. My solution would be to use minimum wage as a component of all government employee pay rates. That is let all government pay rates be some multiple of the current minimum wage. So if congress wants a pay increase for itself it would be required to raise minimum wage to affect their pay. Of course setting the multiplier would be an initial source of contention and provisions would need to be made for adjusting the multiplier. But once set the multiplier should have more hurdles to make an adjustment, perhaps a 2/3’s majority or someother measure such as adding to an election ballot. All factors that affect pay for government workers could be keyed from the minimum wage including, promotions, bonuses, annual increases etc.

Mel Gibson claims to not be a bigot

How can he admit to the bigot comments and make the claim to not be a bigot at the same time. The arrest seems to have been handle properly despite initial reports to the contrary. Alchohol brings out the worst in some people. I think he must have at least some of these feelings or they would not have come out of his mouth. Some say alchohol brings out the truth, I woudn’t go that far. But I would say his comments did have some degree of truth to them. Maybe this will get him to rethink his true feelings towards jews. I would hope so at least. He has nobody (or nothing including alcohol) to blame but himself. He needs treatment for the drinking and more. This has got to be a nightmare for him from a PR point of view. But he made his bed and now he has to sleep in it.