Greetings from another former military officer, probably not very awakened, but have a similar world view as yourself. Found your comments interesting and I may be back in Bangkok for an extended period now and would like to spend my free time with some civilized, entrepreneurs with a world view for occasional, stimulating, fine dining and discussions. Of course, if you don’t reside in the region, we would only be crossing paths while traveling, but I feel occasional contact with positive, forward-looking people is still preferable to steady contact with individuals less interesting. At a minimum, if you need a contact or information about Thailand, I might be able to assist down the road.
In the interest of brevity, I will close and let you consider whether a few more emails might interest you. This is not a business contact (not that there is anything wrong with those), but a handshake from a like-minded person. I wish you all the best.

Regards,
Steve

Of course, it comes down to Simon’s point about there being no clear military objectives. I disagree with Simon here — the objectives are the pipelines and the pipeline route. Of course this isn’t spelled out to the American people and may not even be made perfectly clear to the military commanders, although I can’t believe they are THAT naive.

It is, after all, about terrorists. Remind me again how many Afghans or Taliban were involved in 9/11?

Just because the Terrorists will always persist means we should actually go the opposite to show them and their supporters no quarter or mercy in every circumstance that arises. Targeting innocent civillians to kill in numbers via cowardly methods of sneak attack on the most unsuspecting and unprotected who are not even engaged in conflict and are not geared for it … civillians, women and children … cannot and must not be tolerated. Even if fully eradicating it is impossible, making those who perpetuate it pay in the worse way would be the best method to keep it minimized.

I concur on all counts. My oldest is in the Air Force and my youngest in the Navy. They are in for two reasons.

Military discipline
To learn system… just in case

David

Your lender side usury tax idea is brilliant. It would certainly stop banks lending willy nilly to those who can least afford to borrow. And of course it would generate a huge amount of revenue, because banks are so badly managed that they would forget to drop the interest rate and then pay the 100% tax.

Again, your Captains of Industry Plan is spot on. The important wars being fought to preserve our freedoms need to be paid for and those lazy managers sitting in their corner offices firing people should be in the front line paying for them. With 10% unemployment, an extra 30% should be a huge windfall and show the world that we Americans can manage our finances competently.

The Full Interest Deductions is another great way of changing the market mechanism to funnel money to the people who banks forced into debt. This would absolutely increase the sale of TVs and appliances, which is the backbone of our economy.

Return to Hydro: Again, green and cheap. Privately run power companies obviously don’t know how to make their own decisions: some DEFINITELY need to be made for them.

Healthcare reform: Nice one. Employers should live up to their responsibilities. In fact, I’d go one step further, and propose that employers should guarantee lifetime employment with full health benefits for their families. This would definitely encourage more employment.

Minimum savings rate of 4%? I think it should be even higher. Let’s say 6%. That would still allow banks 2% profit and encourage savings. Of course, banks might not want to take deposits, so we’d have to introduce a law enforcing compulsory deposit taking by banks.

Uniform Closed Captioning: I think you fell short of what really needs to be done. America is an English speaking country. All shows not in English should be either dubbed into English or banned. You are correct in your assessment that North Korean and Arabic shows being broadcast in the US contain triggers and hidden messages.

In addition to the above, one more solution would be to have a one off tax on all Americans for 30% of their net worth. This would force the tax dodgers such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to pay their share and we’d have the national debt paid off in no time!!

Ah, yeah, like voting in George W? Or is it that John McCain would have used a different teleprompter when talking about freeing Iraq and Afghanistan?

Lender Side Usury Tax: John Dillinger said he robbed banks because that is where the money is. When asked recently about credit card profitability, a banker said they were not making huge profits but obscenely huge profits. This is being done at the expense of those who can least afford it and affects their ability to pay mortgages and health care expenses. No wonder we have mortgage default and health care expense problems. The lender side usury tax would tax all consumer debt interest revenue from credit cards, department stores, gasoline cards, etc., at a rate of 100% for all interest and all other fees in excess of eight per cent annual percentage rate. This will provide the government revenue to pay off the bailouts, fully fund social security, and pay off the remaining national debt quickly. And smart lenders would decrease their rate to eight percent, or less to be competitive, to avoid the whole red tape mess. No changes in banking regulations would be needed. This tax would be much more effective.

Captains of Industry Incentive Plan: The management of the private sector and the government sector have both become lazy and over paid. This program would provide incentives for productively retaining and increasing people resources. For each one percent of annual maximum national unemployment or portion thereof, all line managers (anyone with direct reports) and up in private and government sectors would pay a three percent tax against all forms of their personal compensation. For each additional direct report hired in a tax year, the there would be a three percent reduction in the tax, down to zero. For each direct report lost, there would be a three percent increase in the tax, with no maximum. Both would be based on average daily balance of direct reports for the tax year. Management would once again “find a need and fill it”(Henry Kaiser) to produce returns on investment. With the resulting near full employment, the world’s best and brightest along with those mentioned on the Statue of Liberty will again be welcomed to legally cross our border and become citizens of the United States.

Full Interest Deductions: As encouragement for consumers and with the Lender Side Usuary Tax providing significantly more revenue than this gives back, Americans should be able to deduct all interest paid not just mortgage interest from their taxable income. Car sales and other consumerism would increase.

Return to Hydroelectric: Thousands of sites with huge hydroelectric potential are being ignored while other technologies are being developed at higher cost and higher environmental impact.

On The Move Electric Vehicle Charging: Electric Vehicles ascending hills and traveling long distances need on the move charging. Thus overhead or guardrail mounted electric lines should be available to charge vehicles and help them over hills and mountain passes. Such lines would also more quickly advance the use of long haul electric freight hauling trucks. Mountain passes are also places where hydroelectric plants used to be located for rail use. Let us get them generating again.

COBRA Reform: COBRA health insurance coverage has been turned into a profit center for corporations laying off workers in my opinion. The coverage should be available at the same price as employees pay, with the same corporate participation. And it should be available for ten years. Lazy employers would try a little harder to retain productive employees if this pricing model was used. And Health Care Reimbursement Accounts should cover an entire tax year, not just to the last day worked. Money is being orphaned in these accounts that should be available for paying medical expenses when people need it most…when they have no job.

Minimum Savings Account Interest Rate: Four percent should be the minimum interest rate for no minimum balance savings accounts. This should be true for banks, credit unions, brokerage accounts and all other cash type accounts. It should also be possible to over pay credit card and other charge accounts and obtain this rate so consumers get paid interest.

Uniform Closed Captioning: This is already scheduled for Jan 1, 2010. All television broadcast in America must have at least English closed captioning available. Any additional international closed captioning is welcome. This would help international immigrants assimilate into American culture. Current international broadcasts that do not have English language closed captioning are only prolonging the isolation of international populations that live in the United States. And in the last few days, international language broadcasts are also being encrypted so Americans have no chance of listening even if they read the international language. This looks like international entities putting command and control capabilities in place for a takeover of the U.S. government.

Sincerely,

Robert D. Moore, 1971X
rdmoorecs@hotmail.com
719 481-9347

Such a person or animal would come across as a psychopath, someone who gives lip service to doing the right thing but in the service of doing the wrong thing. http://www.psychologytoday.com/…/the-invincible-man-intentions-are-pure-disconnected-behavior

I hope one day members of both Houses would think like you do. Then the quality of our laws might begin to benefit this nation again the very same way the creators of these United States were able to accomplish.

The United States started out with a collective, unselfish love that evaded self-aggrandizement and entitlements for which today’s politicians have a proclivity in their thirst to keep themselves in power. There is no clear thinking as to what would strengthen the nation as a whole. Most of the recent legislation pander to special groups, e.g. what’s good for the labor leaders is not necessarily good for the laborers. As a result we are headlong into socialism that will not diminish the defense of this nation. “I don’t think abortion (killing our young) is wrong but I will resist and vote against it’s inclusion in healthcare bills because in my state (or my region) I am up for reelection this year and I have a constituency that is pro-life.”

The President thinks he can please both sides of the liberal-conservative divide by agreeing to McCrystal’s surge but lowering the requested number by a third. If the Allies did not assemble a most formidable landing force in Normandie, don’t you think Eisenhower might have had to publish his “…all my fault and no one else’s..” failure apology. Quibbling with military numbers and, of all the idiotic notions, of setting a withdrawal timetable gives justifiable hope to the other side. War is obliterating the enemy so completely he cannot get up from the floor before the bell.

On the other hand this Commander-in-Chief might be really smarter than the obvious. To be fair his intent could be to motivate Karzai to clean up corruption by setting a short leash and then after eighteen months keep the surge in place and disappoint the Taliban. But knowing how the cavemen are, I liken it to Yamashita’s troops carrying meager rations in Malaya and overpowering the larger British force.

I pray for the smaller force because it will be more vulnerable than an overwhelming one. It is an expensive proposition either way for the nation and if Madame Speaker gets her way, here comes her War tax.

Lastly, seeking dual citizenship is selfish. It doesn’t solve the problem. If you have that attitude, pick another country, move there and give it your complete allegiance. I came to ths country to make a difference. I turned my back on the land where I was born because in my lifetime I would never see improvement, where corruption was top to bottom and the slow stain of the Catholic hierarchy’s venality was spreading. The patrimony of the nation was placed in the hands of the oligarch to the detriment of the people who owned the land. Power truly corrupts, in the Philippines and here in these United States but everywhere else.

methinks Sire Black has less stress than most upon accepting human nature eliminates potential wide social changes as described.. hence me fanship of his ‘individual freedom combined with control of one’s destiny and privacy’ perspectives.

here here i say lads.. ;]]

I’m afraid you haven’t done your historical homework. This concept of Jihad against Western Culture did not begin in the Middle East or because of the existence of Israel. The location of its Genesis was actually 1947 Greeley Colorado, where an exchange student from Egypt studying at Colorado’s school of Education was so repulsed by seeing what he referred to as “the animal like mixing of the sexes”, our societies preoccupation with materialism, music and sports that when he returned to Cairo he began penning manifestos that called for not just the end of colonialism in his part of the world but for the actual destruction of western culture and replacing it with a misogynistic world wide caliphate. One of his best students was Ayman al Zawahiri OBL’s second in command. His name was Sayyid Qutb. He was hanged in 1966.

We didn’t win WW2 because we could make more toys. We won because we made the “other poor dumb son of B___H die for his” country and beliefs an masse. The only rules of engagement were destroy the enemy with great prejudice. Now a soldier can return fire only when the enemy first empties a clip at him and even then only with his superiors permission! How absurd is that.

If these Muslim nit wits possessed collectively just half a brain they’d cease fire sit back and just wait for they’re eventual victory. Just based on birth rates alone, which are three times that of the west, we are breeding our self’s into impotent minority status and they are breeding themselves in dominance.

To those who think that they have only a snow balls chance in hell at achieving their goals I would point out that such despicable social systems such as Nazism, Communism, and Fascism all began with manifestos preached by small groups of nut that were also given little chance of success.

Also if they can establish cells here what makes anyone think they can’t do the same in Costa Rica. I certainly hope I go there from time to myself. Hope however is not a useful plan.

I’ve always likened them to the Grachi brothers of ancient Rome.

If America is broken, then it needs good, honest, hardworking and intelligent people to roll up their sleeves and start working out a way to fix it. The ship may be listing badly, but it can be saved if enough people are determined to do it and not resigned to abandoning ship.

Peace …

I’ll throw out another reason that we’re in Afghanistan. We’ve turned it into the largest narco-trafficker on the planet. All those billions of drug dollars pay for endless, lawless Black-Ops programs that are kept off the books and scrutinized by no one.

Kudos for a wonderful essay today.

As for a reply to Gilles Daquin:

If I hear this “thanks for your service” garbage one more time i will scream. Can’t you see the propaganda purpose of that inane statement? Being in the military of this illegitimate regime is every bit as much a crime as the crimes of the regime itself. It is not some spiritual calling. It is the filthy, blood-thirsty job of carrying out their evil plans. Without the dupes and pure tax-feeders signing up for military dole, these endless wars would not be possible. Thanks for your service BALONEY. It is far better to say, “Grow up and get a real job.”

1) Make a strong one term limit for any government position. And I’m talking about one term in any and all offices. In other words if someone runs spends one term as dog catcher he/she would no longer be able to run for Governer. One term in any position. This would make it much more likely that elected officials don’t waste their time in working toward the next election. It might even open some doors to let the average citizen spend time in public office. When/why did politician become a profession.

2) Another radical Idea I’d like to put forth is, doing away with elections at all levels of government. Perhaps we could use something like the system to choose jurers. If that system is good enough to determine life or death it should be ok to choose a president. Heck, it couldn’t be worse than our current system.

Your comments are correct. But your parameters
need to be widened.

The purpose of this war is not to win. It is rather

(1)to give employment and capital to the military
industries of this country and any other interna-
tional corporations that service this war.

(2) In addition, it is in combination with interests
in Pakistan and Iraq, to deny any meaningful
volume of cheap energy ( oil-Iraq) to current
and future economic competitors to the US
( China especially, India) and to capture
usage of Iraq oil reserves for the Western
financial cartel, since the value of the dollar
is tied to control over oil. Lose control over
cheap oil and you will lose the dollar as the
reserve currency. I believe that is happening
and that is why the US and Europe are trying
to accelerate the idea of world government
through the accelerated transfer of national
privileges and authority to international
organizations such the World Bank, IMF,
UN, WTO. And the introduction of a virtual
currency- the fiat currency to end all
fiat currencies.

You are correct. Nothing can be done to fix the errors of the federal government.

The very best thing to do is to leave the country behind. America is reaping the consequences of 95 years of central banking, fiat currency, fractional reserve banking, deficit spending, and the politics of envy and covetousness.

It can’t be fixed or repaired.

Afghans want security and our forces are providing that where we can. The extra troops will permit that security to expand.

Afghan vets with who I talk are convinced that the Taliban can be defeated and they tell me there are three levels of Taliban. The die hards who will die for their cause, the middle group which supports the idea of a Taliban regime and the third group are paid henchmen.

Whether that will play out will depend on the intelligence of the command structure in Afghanistan.

AS for the argument that the Afghan government is hopelessly corrupt, what country in that part of the world is not corrupt?

I have no illusions about the outcome, it all depends on whether Karzai can recreate the Loya Jirga structure that served previous Afghan governments well.

Thank you for your insight into our military adventures. I served in Vietnam with the Special Forces and MACV. I know what working with indigenous folks is.