Excellent point. When it comes to a scandalous wasting of taxpayer's money, it is truly remarkable the number of ignoramuses who have bought the notion that it is all attributable to money spent on the indigent, whether through well-fare or any other such programs...
Verne

I agree with this list. I would have actually put payment of interest on the Federal debt as number one in terms of wasteful spending.
The fact that we are now a debtor nation and would have to declare bankruptcy without foreign investment is one of the most under-reported stories of our time.
We literally owe more than we are worth!
I am planning on moving to Tortola before the bubble breaks...
Verne

p.s If you think those corrupt and despicable politicians don't have their eyes on the trillions in your pension funds, IRAs and other deferred compensation accounts you are dreaming. I advise everyone to take the tax hit and move it out of their reach at least five to ten years before your actual retirement. A word to the wise...

My fellow Americans, and Canadians   !

  It is quite true, as someone on this thread posted, that we don't get what we think we are getting when we vote either party.

  We think we are going to get a strict adherence to certain principles, but instead we get compromise.  I wouldn't call this "hypocrisy" because life in a pluralistic society necessitates some give and take.

  The fact that Bush does not face election means that he can avoid some of this compromise and try to get some of his principled positions into policy.  Still, all legislation will have to go through Congress, and as such some compromise.

  Christians will ultimately be disappointed as government can not make people reject abortion, support liberation of Iraq, make sound economic decisions, or anything else.  

  As to the deficit and the National debt:  The claim that we are facing bankruptcy because the dollar amount is the highest it's ever been is not a correct way to look at it.  

  You must look at the debt level as a percentage of the GNP (gross national product) and it is lower today than it was in the past (under Reagan, for example, the debt ratio was much higher than today).   Though we may decide to move with Verne to Tortola ( Can I come?  ) the nations ecomonic situation is very strong.

  If you fear a bubble bursting I would recommend buying gold (hit $434. on Fri. and heading to $450. soon.) vs. real estate in the British Virgin Islands. (Disclaimer: trading futures involves risk  )

  Our taxes are wasted in ways that would boggle our minds, if we only knew.  Did you know that there are more employees in the Fed. Agriculture dept. than there are farmers?!!  All this and they still can't produce an accurate report of how much grain we produce!!  (a present disgruntled grain trader  )

  As a middle class working guy (Teamster) I was very happy to get my tax rebate and the additional $100 every week in my check this past year.  The Union upped my dues, so you can probably figure where my affections may lie.

        God bless America (boy do we need it). The feeling very whimsical--------------------  Mark C.

Some of you may remember George Bush Sr. talking about how Managed Care (HMO's) was going to reform and "fix" the healthcare system in America.  George Bush Sr. took millions from HMO's and dutifully passed their agenda in his administration.

Here is what happened:

An HMO is NOT, repeat NOT and insurance company.  Therefore, they are not regulated by insurance laws, neither are they accountable to the Department of Insurance.  

In a brilliant, yet sneaky play,  Republicans passed tough INSURANCE legislation, while at the same time opening the doors for the HMO's to have an unfair advantage over insurance companies because they didn't have to follow the same rules.

HMO's are and were a total disaster.  No one raped the healthcare dollar the way HMO's did and still do.  It got so bad that I totally quit insurance in my practice....I won't play the game, neither will I deal with this sort of corruption.

I certainly do not agree with all of the many complaints the left has of the Republicans, but there certainly is merit in their claim that Republicans are the party of Corporate Greed, at least in the area of Healthcare.

The good news is that HMO's are so hated, and are so damaging our healthcare system, that there is a strong possibility that we will soon be returning to old-fashioned point-of-service healthcare, and pay with cash.  This is happening every where, and the trend is well under way.

Brent

Marines turn to God ahead of anticipated Fallujah battle
Sat Nov 06 2004 09:37:17 ET

NEAR FALLUJAH, Iraq, Nov 6 (AFP) - With US forces massing outside Fallujah, 35 marines swayed to Christian rock music and asked Jesus Christ to protect them in what could be the biggest battle since American troops invaded Iraq last year.

Men with buzzcuts and clad in their camouflage waved their hands in the air, M-16 assault rifles laying beside them, and chanted heavy metal-flavoured lyrics in praise of Christ late Friday in a yellow-brick chapel.

They counted among thousands of troops surrounding the city of Fallujah, seeking solace as they awaited Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's decision on whether or not to invade Fallujah.

"You are the sovereign. You're name is holy. You are the pure spotless lamb," a female voice cried out on the loudspeakers as the marines clapped their hands and closed their eyes, reflecting on what lay ahead for them.

The US military, with many soldiers coming from the conservative American south and midwest, has deep Christian roots.

In times that fighting looms, many soldiers draw on their evangelical or born-again heritage to help them face the battle.

"It's always comforting. Church attendance is always up before the big push," said First Sergeant Miles Thatford.

"Sometimes, all you've got is God."

Between the service's electric guitar religious tunes, marines stepped up on the chapel's small stage and recited a verse of scripture, meant to fortify them for war.

One spoke of their Old Testament hero, a shepherd who would become Israel's king, battling the Philistines some 3,000 years ago.

"Thus David prevailed over the Philistines," the marine said, reading from scripture, and the marines shouted back "Hoorah, King David," using their signature grunt of approval.

The marines drew parallels from the verse with their present situation, where they perceive themselves as warriors fighting barbaric men opposed to all that is good in the world.

"Victory belongs to the Lord," another young marine read.

Their chaplain, named Horne, told the worshippers they were stationed outside Fallujah to bring the Iraqis "freedom from oppression, rape, torture and murder ... We ask you God to bless us in that effort."

The marines then lined up and their chaplain blessed them with holy oil to protect them.

"God's people would be annointed with oil," the chaplain said, as he lightly dabbed oil on the marines' foreheads.

The crowd then followed him outside their small auditorium for a baptism of about a half-dozen marines who had just found Christ.

The young men lined up and at least three of them stripped down to their shorts.

The three laid down in a rubber dinghy filled with water and the chaplain's assistant, Navy corpsman Richard Vaughn, plunged their heads beneath the surface.

Smiling, Vaughn baptised them "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit."

Dripping wet, Corporal Keith Arguelles beamed after his baptism.

"I just wanted to make sure I did this before I headed into the fight," he said on the military base not far from the city of Fallujah.

I am glad these men are finding Christ. As the saying goes, there are no atheists in foxholes.
I am more than a little uncomfortable with the idea that this is some sort of holy war sanctioned by God Himself, and that America has some sort of moral imperative to achieve its ends, whatever they may be. I am praying for our troops.  
I am however, not prepared to take God's name in vain.
Verne

Check out the governmental regulation in the form of "capping" the profits by Hillary Clinton.

www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_101404/content/institute.guest.html

Yep, this is exactly why the government should stay out of healthcare.

First of all, the flu-shot, at best, is 14% effective in preventing the flu.  At worst, you will die from your flu-shot.  It is senseless for the government to mandate flu-shots, as they could be made available to those who "really" need them, as any other drug is.  (It is a worthy debate as to whether anyone should get a flu-shot, but it really doesn't matter in our context here.)

Secondly, by interfereing with the market, the government made it very unattractive for any company to get involved with making a flu-shot----hence our current shortage.  (Again, I actually see the shortage as a blessing...but that's another story.  Please don't believe that you need a flu-shot....you don't)

Here's another little HMO/Insurance/Pharmaceutical story.  Did you ever wonder why persciption drugs are so expensive if you have to pay cash, but can be had on the cheap if you have an HMO with a persciption drug benefit?  

The Pharm guys sit down with single malt Scotch, and some good cigars with the HMO guys and they talk.  The Pharm guys say,  

"If you agree to only authorize the use of our drug,  IE Celebrex instead of Vioxx,  or Lipitor instead of Zocor, we'll let you have the drugs for cheap.  This means you can increase your membership by selling a small co-pay for perscription drugs, which will scare people into buying your HMO product.  Since we'll be giving you the drugs so cheap, you save money....but you must only use our drugs.  Deal?"

The HMO guy then says,  "sounds good, but it won't increase our membership that much unless the benefit seems really important.  Our satisfaction surveys tell us that most of our members hate us.  Wait, I know....inflate the price of the drugs so high that no one can afford them unless they have our HMO product...then they have no choice, they will have to join up."

Both guys shake hands and say,  "Deal."

Then one guy gets nervous and says,  "Is this legal?  Couldn't this be interpreted as unfair practice, or a violation of some law or something?"

One of the Pharm lawyers says,  "Well, we have some good contacts in congress, and a few paragraphs were added at the tail end of an education bill a few months back that make it OK for us to do this.  We can change the price depending on who's buying, and we won't be in violation of HCFA, as everyone else would be, so yes, we've got this covered."

"To Evil, gentlemen!  The Deal is done!  When are those girls coming over?"

Some of you may know that doctors can't charge one person one fee, and another person a different fee for the same service.  It is a federal offense for me to charge a senior citizen more money for an adjustment that a person who is only 64.  However, an HMO can charge one person 250 dollars for a drug, and another person 11 dollars for the exact same perscription, due to republican legislation.

Am I saying the Democrats are going to "fix" this?  Nope, not at all.  Their solution is to loot money from the HMO's and insurance companies, and then institute socialized medicine, which would be even worse.

The whole thing would calm down and start working again, if the government kept its filthy hand off and let the market regulate itself.

The epitome of this can be seen with Laser Eye Surgery, and Plastic Surgery, which are both elective, non-insured procedures.  The price has gone down for these services, while everything else in medicine has gone up.  Furthermore, people are able to finance the procedures which make them even more affordable.  There is no reason this couldn't happen in the rest of medicine, but it would mean that people could no longer loot and mooch off the system.

Much more could be said about this, and it is this first hand knowledge that I have that worries me about republicans.  Of course, I am not worried, but horrified by Dems...they're worse, make no mistake about it.

Brent