The Paddock

From the article I read the other day, I thought this was the case. However, in the article you posted it seems to say that existing service members and retirees are grandfathered.

Regardless, don't you think "rape" is a little strong. The example in the NY times applies to retirees earning $45k + from their retirement. The military will be asking them to pay (after the full phase in) an extra $150 a month (to total about $200 a month, for a family) for one of the best health care plans there is.

I'm sure I'm cherry-picking, but do you know any retired military officers who did not have an extremely successful second career? I can't think of any. They generally have good jobs and in our screwed up system of health care payments, the current employer is responsible for health care. I

Sure, it's a sacrifice and yes, they may have already sacrificed a lot. But it's an extremely sweet deal either way

Ok, about this burning the Koran business, I don't know or care if it was the right thing to do or if Obama should have apologized for it, but how in the hell did people find out about it?! That's where the stupidness lies!

Where does Ron Paul stand in this race?

I honestly don't know where that is.

It's my understanding it was one Koran that was confiscated from a library because it was being used to scrawl notes as coomunication among militants. Full disclosure: heard previous information from Sean Hannity.

if that's the case, one book being thrown in the incinerator surely wasn't done at a press conference.

In last place.

My eyes are starting to open. Take that however you like. I'm starting to see a need to follow politics. My main problem though is I can't distinguish the trustworthy from the straight loons. Everybody seems to have an agenda. All I know at this point is that some things are going on within the government and our current president that just flat out needs to stop and some ideologies need to change.

If you don't follow politics--how do you know that the problem is with the president?

You've identified that there are loons, but if you've already come to a conclusion, then how do you know your conclusion isn't influenced by a loon.

There are three Obamas--the right's distorted version, the left's distorted version, and the truth. Fact is--President Obama is a trustworthy man. He has a set of beliefs which he has fully explained and he's trying to work toward improvement of our country in his image.

Here's another fact--President Bush was a trustworthy man. He has a set of beliefs which he has fully explained and he was trying to work toward improvement of our country in his image.

And I'd say the same about every president we've had since Gerald Ford, with some exception for Reagan who was, in my view, fairly opaque but still certainly had the best interests of the country at heart.

So if you really want to know what's going on the government, listen to them. Especially with the media available today, there's no reason to filter what the president or congressional leaders are saying. They'll tell you and they don't usually lie (I'm talking about people sitting in office not lying about what they're doing...candidates lie and all politicians lie about what somebody else might have done...but they generally don't lie about themselves and what they're trying to do).

If you need some additional help, and we all do, I highly recommend Politifact.com.

So I guess ALL the CIA reports everyone in Congress supposedly read.... and the fact that a MAJORITY of Dem's voted to support Bush's plan of attack, was complete BS? The Dem/Libs get a pass... and Bush (AS USUAL) gets all the damn blame. SMDH

"You" MUST be 100% correct about everything though.... proof or no proof. SMDH (still)

You might as well have typed blah blah blah blah.

I'm pretty particular about my dog, too.

You've basically outlined poor leadership, faulty reasoning, and acting on prejudices--all of which are accurate. But I don't think it involved lying. If you were paying attention, it became obvious Bush was going to take us to Iraq soon after 9-11, unless somebody stopped him.

I'm not saying truthfulness and trustworthiness are necessarily a great thing. Anybody will say that Santorum and Paul are known commodities. You can trust what they say. They clearly articulate their positions, whereas nobody has any idea what Romney is really like. Yet, I'd take my chances with Romney over two nut jobs. That's not to say that, once elected, Romney will do whatever he says he's going to do--it's just that his history has made that impossible to predict.

And this tidbit was brought to you by The Flat Earth Society. The Flat Earth Society; making sure you go nowhere.

I don't remember the Illinois state senate ever voting on hostilities against Iraq.