realitytrumpsbull's Comments (3938)

“But, do you think they're going to start changing duty assignments for women on that basis?
I think biology is biology, and one reason that people join the military is so they can have some job security, and have families. Is that a wise choice? What other options are really open to people that are going to otherwise be unemployed? Maybe what they need to do is ask some defense contractor to come up with a ballistic child seat for the back of the HMMWV, and not let pregnancy be an excuse anymore. You're pregnant? Great! So, order those junior MRE's, here's your baby backpack, and a little 'uniform' for junior(ette). The military still has field hospitals, right, so, put an obstetrician in Army boots and send em along with the rest of the convoy.

Is parenthood/motherhood a decision not in keeping with military service? Should military contracts be reworded so as to have a pregnancy clause, including repayment of any/all bonus monies paid, or to be paid? What should be the government position on this? I say order toy rifles.”

“You get paid thousands of dollars a month in salary from the military, why don't you use some of your money to buy what you want or need, instead of panhandling the public? I'm sorry, there comes a point when 'support our troops' has become a crass excuse to whine and wheedle. The military has a trillion-dollar annual budget, now, so if you're really short supplies and materiel, then see your requisitions officer, and if that doesn't work, then go see the staff judge advocate, and find out where all the money is going that's supposed to be used for supplies.”

“Would Sen. Healthcare T. Industry please come to the podium..

What, exactly, is there to debate about? Healthcare is a multi-billion dollar annual industry, institution, whatever you want to call it. I take the view that any 'reform' that results in the public being eligible for a fine for NOT buying a health insurance policy and dutifully making their low, low monthly payments kind of amounts to some strong-arm kind of business. If their finances are so rickety that they cannot afford to operate their hospitals, then some of them need to close, maybe even permanently. Some of the folks in the general orbit of 'healthcare' make FAT 6 figures in annual salary, maybe even 7, if you include the health insurance execs and specialty surgeons and so on, and I'm just trying to understand why the public is supposed to cough up 100 bucks a month or more to pay for their greens fees or whatever. You're a doctor/whatever. You wear P.J's to work, for Deity's sake. But your stethoscope doesn't make you a magical person, nor automatically entitled to a millionaire's salary. Nor are you the government, to pass taxes or legislation. That's my view.”

“I'd say that the military is a unique profession, and that those that raise their hands should consider the old saying: "If the Army wanted you to have a family, they would issue you one". Once you get sworn in, commenced your military service, you're sort of getting on a flying saucer, in a sense, on your 4 year 'mission' to seek out new civilizations and so forth. I think the military does more to accomodate families, but the bread n butter of the military is still combat, warfare, hazardous duty, mars ain't no place to raise a kid, so to speak, and there's probably material for several country and blues albums per year detailing the trials and tribulations of military families due to separation and stress. I figure, you join the military, it's about like getting married, in a way, or maybe being sent to a foster home, you really aren't in control of your life in some ways, and maybe people should wait 'til they get out to get married and all that. But, the military is also made up of people, and people are human, and one thing that people do is have kids under trying and challenging circumstances. Should there be battlefield maternity wards? Doctors are doctors, they can just as soon deliver a child as they can repair a bullet hole. Multi-family foxholes? Just keep the wee tykes away from the howitzer when it's being operated. Ah, the Army with the condos..”

“Air travel has never been perfect. Things happen, the cargo doors won't close, the engines won't start, the food service is late, some other delay, overbooking, crowded terminals, if you're flying long-distance, you can end up feeling like Tom Hanks in that movie, 'The Terminal'. Air travel lets you go really far, really fast, and places that you just couldn't possibly drive to, like a trip overseas or something. But, at the end of the day, even your best airplane, with the cushiest seating, is still a big long metal tube with chairs in it, and wings on it, and once you're in it, you're stuck until your arrival time, whenever that happens to be.

I love the view out the window, though, but I do wish they still had a smoking section on board, I figure with all that air whipping by outside, there must be a way to still accomplish that, if you've got nothing else to do for 5 hours, being able to have a cigarette sure takes the edge off.

I don't fly anymore, unless I flat have to, which is rare. Airports have become like confinement facilities, the concessions know they have a captive audience, for me, frankly, the thrill is gone. Then there was that whole business with British Airways and fuel prices, yeah, flying is a have-to thing, otherwise forget it.”

“I think that, given their circumstances, they should all be paid federal wages, since they are getting money from the federal government anyway, and not compensation in the millions. Essentially Freddie and Fannie are failed companies, on life support from the taxpayers, therefore it should follow that they be using store coupons when they do their grocery shopping like the millions of people in this country who are at or below the federal poverty line. You don't get to mismanage your institution into the ground AND drive a Rolls, sorry. Not on the American taxpayer dime. If they can't get their act together this year, or the next, then shut em down. Same goes for any other financial institution where the people that run it seem to think they're royalty with some kind of extralegal immunity or whatever.

If we're not willing to insist on 'YOURE FIRED!!!!'-grade reform in matters of federal finance, then we're going to see 13,14,15,20+trillion in debt, in our lifetimes. We should, in my view, be able to expect more, expect better, of our government, and our country. I can type 60WPM if they need help preparing the pink slips..”

“If there's really proof behind all this bad business at Goldman, then close the place, and auction off the furniture, and sell the building where they used to operate. Apply the proceeds from the auction towards their debts.”

“Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
And I in my kerchief, and mom in her cap
had just settled down for a long winter's nap

When up on the roof
there arose such a clatter
I sprang from my bed
to see what was the matter..”

“What atrocities? Bernanke presses the 'print' button, and it's all taken care of. Right? Right? Hello? Is this thing on? Why can't I access my email, now?”

“Another arrow to follow the last missive, isn't the idea to generate housing for people, so they can own their homes, instead of playing what amounts to tax money games with securitization of mortgages and all that B.S.? Who wants to pay payments to finance funny-paper anyway? Isn't the idea that you want to buy, as in 'own' a home? Even then, you're a sitting duck for property taxes. It never stops. But, Freddie and Fannie could be stopped, simply by shutting them down. Should the federal government be in the business of rewarding entities with flawed business practices with more money, or is that like giving $50 to a wino, and pretending he won't take it an go into the liquor store behind him?”

“What, Congress was going to say 'no'? They started Freddie and Fannie, which was how those two got into the atmosphere of welfare office/systemic gross negligence to begin with. When The Government will underwrite anything you do, regardless of the circumstance, you get that 'big bank' attitude. Hopefully, the federal funding will mean better management, and sanity-level home costs, but as soon as things start washing around again, I expect the housing speculators will be right back up to their old tricks. Where can you go in this country, if you've hit rock-bottom, to set up your tent sans hassles or government welfare-buddies trying to 'help' you?”

“Somebody already made up a fake magazine cover with Tiger in the picture: How To Hit 18 Holes(without your wife finding out).

Tiger Woods, for Larry's Auto Body And Repair: "Hi, my name's Tiger, and as you might know, I just had an accident, and Larry's Auto Body took all those golf club dents out of the back of my car in just two days! Good as new!(Gestures toward immaculate-looking Escalade, lifts beer with label facing the camera) And, what's more, the price for the repairs was great!"(Suddenly, lawyer in business suit rushes into scene, director yells, "CUT! CUT!) "Yes, Mr. Woods, I'm sorry, but in order to avoid litigation, you can't show the beer in the commercial, yes, it's a trademark thing, and I'm pretty sure that they don't want you representing their product". Suddenly, a second person rushes on-camera, covers up the car emblem with black masking tape. "Ok, Mr. Woods, from the top, ready, AC-tion!"”

“I don't know, the last person that did the 'foot on the piano' move and pulled it off was Jerry Lee Lewis, and everytime I see this picture, even though it's not him, I still expect "You shook my nerves and you rattled my brain!" Could she do that? Would she try? I'll bet there's enough 'retro' people out there that'd get a kick out of it..”

“Amen and the jeebulus and the whatever...what I want to know is, can Lady Gaga rip off some Jerry Lewis, is she good on the peeannoow...can she play? Whatever your stage act is going to be, if you can back it up with some REAL musical talent, it'll be that much better.”

“vive la France!”

“One of my silver screen faves..'toucha toucha touch-me'..that feature she did with future Queen Amidala kind of fell flat, though. It was a night..out..”

“Not to split hairs, but how do you reimport something? Once an item has been imported, it's here. Do they ship stuff in, only to ship it right back, or something, saying it can't come across the border the second time? Mexico's been importing drugs(illegal ones) into the United States for years, and it was illegal the first time they did it. Why's everybody need all these drugs? The pill business is lucrative, the companies that sell the stuff are already multinationals, does it really matter what country the pill factory is in? Point is, modern medicine is a big moneymaker. Do you really need half the drugs or the treatments, and when did we all become so constitutionally frail that we can't make it 20 minutes, apparently, without another quasi-hypochondriacal visit to a healthcare professional? Life lasts about 80 years, if you're lucky, and when it's over, it's over. People make a lot of money off lotions, potions and pills that promise otherwise, but the human body hasn't really improved all that much over time. Things like soap and water have done quite a bit more for humanity than entire banks of medical specialists, on balance, that, and public education. Patient, heal thyself, and keep thy wallet out of reach of those whose motivation for practicing medicine has little to do with genuine personal concern for the public, and honestly spoken has more to do with that nice boat/house/retirement/etc.”

“Isn't that why they call a lot of these places banana republics, produce, and machine guns, and tin pot of the week, kind of thing? The only REAL law is bribery, and who's got the guns, something like that.”

“If a wad of cash is enough to get someone to put their guns down, and maybe help you build something decent, maybe it's money well-spent? Someday, the Afghans are going to have to run their own country, again. If they get in the spirit of building things up, instead of blowing them up, then they'll have a better future. Are clean water and hot showers REALLY that evil?”

“Did you think it was going to be like Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, with the flying sub, or something?”

“Why not put pontoons and a propeller on the bus? Ask the engineers at Aston-Martin and Peugeot to work on the problem...amphi-bius.”

“Wherever you go, there you are, here's your hat, what's your hurry? We used to have higher-speed rail, entire country songs have been written about it, but the automobile became king of the road, and then came airplanes, and who wants to ride Amtrak for a day and a half, when you can catch the red-eye and be on the other coast in 3 hours or so?

Maybe someday, they'll make it happen, but people in this country just about let rail go to the Hot Place, and it'll be some time recovering...”

“They DO make seaplanes, and there's also the hovercraft-thing they used to have, or just a regular boat, or, for that matter, you could make like Jet-Man, and go strap one of those wing-things to yourself and travel high-altitude hypothermia-style and just glide across. Or, maybe the catapult? They used to have catapults in France, maybe they can develop one that seats four? It would have to be very big, though.”

“Yes, but from the polar bear standpoint, that would be a good thing, better walking, easier hunting, lots of frozen food laying around, vacation on the Riviera...”

“Take another chance at this response, from what you said it sounded like Sweden declined to give them any MONEY. I still think that since GM is on federal life support, they should 'pay it forward' and give the Swedes back their car company. Why not employee-owned? If GM's not using it anymore anyway, then start loading crates bound for Sweden...”