They spent 15 minutes of the 30 minute show discussing this one. To be technical about it, they were discussing requiring women to register for the draft, the way men are required to do. All the obvious arguments pro and con were advanced.
Actually, Nixon ended the draft back some 40 odd years ago. Because the government can never shut anything down, they left the requirement for men to register, just to give Selective Service something to do and avoid massive layoffs of bureaucrats.
Nobody really expects to start up the draft again. The all volunteer army seems to attract enough recruits to fight things like the Iraq war. Nobody expects to do a World War III with 10 million men under arms. So to my way of thinking we might as well drop the requirement for men to register for the draft and then we have full sexual equality about the draft.
I remember going back to my old high school for alumni day many years ago. I ran into a few students all hot and bothered about the requirement to register for the draft. This might have been sometime in the 1980's. I laughed at them. I told them when I was a senior there we had a real draft and we wound up carrying M-16's thru the rice paddies of south east Asia. I went and my two brothers went. All these kids had to do was fill out some paperwork.
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Maggie Hassan on the Sunday Pundits show
Maggie Hassan, incumbent NH governor, and candidate for US Senate. WMUR's "Closeup" show with Josh McElvane gave her 15 minutes of pretty much un interrupted air time. This is fairly important coverage in NH, WMUR being the only real New Hampshire TV channel.
And, in fifteen minutes of happy talk, Maggie managed to say exactly nothing. Pols must go to school somewhere to learn all the happy talk words that mean nothing, don't commit them to anything, but sound good. Maggie used them all, and gave no hint as to what she might do in the future, what she wants to accomplish either as out going governor or newly elected senator.
And, in fifteen minutes of happy talk, Maggie managed to say exactly nothing. Pols must go to school somewhere to learn all the happy talk words that mean nothing, don't commit them to anything, but sound good. Maggie used them all, and gave no hint as to what she might do in the future, what she wants to accomplish either as out going governor or newly elected senator.
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Where is George Orwell when we need him?
Actually Orwell has been dead since 1950, but we need him back. In Orwell's time Communism was a virulent ideology spreading world wide and fast. Communism was so compelling as to cause people to risk their lives spying for the Soviet Union. The Rosenbergs were caught passing secrets of the Manhattan project to the Soviets and were executed for it.
Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 did more to kill off Communism as any other event during the Cold War. The two novels spelled out the evil at the heart of communism in simple terms clear to the average reader. Anyone who read either book could never be a true believer in Communism ever again.
Today we are afflicted with two dangerous ideologies. Communism, which I had thought really dead since 1989, is making a come back in the US. The Bern is preaching communism. He calls it "democratic socialism" but it's Communism. And ISIS and company is preaching a horrible fanaticism that leads people to massacre innocent bystanders, Christians, Kurds, Yazidi's, anyone not a Shia Muslim.
We need another Orwell to point out the evil at the heart of both these dangerous and horrible ideologies.
Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 did more to kill off Communism as any other event during the Cold War. The two novels spelled out the evil at the heart of communism in simple terms clear to the average reader. Anyone who read either book could never be a true believer in Communism ever again.
Today we are afflicted with two dangerous ideologies. Communism, which I had thought really dead since 1989, is making a come back in the US. The Bern is preaching communism. He calls it "democratic socialism" but it's Communism. And ISIS and company is preaching a horrible fanaticism that leads people to massacre innocent bystanders, Christians, Kurds, Yazidi's, anyone not a Shia Muslim.
We need another Orwell to point out the evil at the heart of both these dangerous and horrible ideologies.
Friday, February 12, 2016
Who should vote in the NH Primary?
Howzabout limiting participation to real New Hampshire citizens? Let's not allow busloads of out of staters showing up on election day to vote. Out of state college students should not get to vote in New Hampshire, they can jolly well vote by absentee ballot in their home states.
And for that matter, the primary is how the parties choose who the party will support with money, publicity, and workers. Primary voters should be party members. If a voter cannot bring him/her self to simply declare their party affiliation when they register to vote, then they should not get to vote in party primaries. It's not like the parties ask members to do anything, like contribute money, attend party meetings, post yard signs. They just ask the voter to express an interest in the party, verbally. I'm thinking that voters who cannot say "I am a Republican" or " I am a Democrat" are so turned off by American party politics that they should mot be allowed to mess up candidate selection by voting in the primary.
Speaking of which, NH voters should be required to register, in person, at town hall BEFORE election day. Voters so unmotivated as to not get down to town hall and register at least a week before election day, are too lackadaisical to cast intelligent votes. And requiring registration in advance will make it harder for out of state shills to vote, they will have to come up twice, once to register and once to vote. To register the voter needs to show a NH driver's license, out of state licenses make him an out of stater. And they need to show a real NH address, an apartment or a house, college dorms are temporary and don't count.
And for that matter, the primary is how the parties choose who the party will support with money, publicity, and workers. Primary voters should be party members. If a voter cannot bring him/her self to simply declare their party affiliation when they register to vote, then they should not get to vote in party primaries. It's not like the parties ask members to do anything, like contribute money, attend party meetings, post yard signs. They just ask the voter to express an interest in the party, verbally. I'm thinking that voters who cannot say "I am a Republican" or " I am a Democrat" are so turned off by American party politics that they should mot be allowed to mess up candidate selection by voting in the primary.
Speaking of which, NH voters should be required to register, in person, at town hall BEFORE election day. Voters so unmotivated as to not get down to town hall and register at least a week before election day, are too lackadaisical to cast intelligent votes. And requiring registration in advance will make it harder for out of state shills to vote, they will have to come up twice, once to register and once to vote. To register the voter needs to show a NH driver's license, out of state licenses make him an out of stater. And they need to show a real NH address, an apartment or a house, college dorms are temporary and don't count.
The Bern and Hillary debate
I turned it on at 9 PM. First question was to The Bern. "The Federal government takes up 21% of GNP right now. How much will it take under a Sanders administration?" Not a bad question. The Bern refused to answer it, instead he went off on has rant about income inequality and a rigged economy. I went to bed.
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Cannon Mountain Ski Weather
We got two inches of snow this morning. Better than nothing, but still pretty measly. It's cold, 20 F.
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