The Bush administration has taken on a whole lot of expensive initiatives that I don’t think any of us here are in a position to know if they’re justified or not.  I’m not happy with the amount of spending we’re seeing either but I don’t know enough about what is necessary and what isn’t.  Is the Dept. of Homeland Security a good thing?  Should we be trying to defend ourselves from within at all and at what cost.  How smart is it to do nothing? 

I do like the idea of privatizing Social Security to the small degree it’s being proposed…that being I think 2% or some similar number.  I don’t understand why there is so much resistance to it when you look at the overall growth of the stock market when compared to that of the money earmarked for SS.  I mean, the money isn’t even there earning anything at all from what I know.

It’s easy to say you’d like to see more money spent on infrastructure and less on bloated military projects but both of us would be talking from a base of ignorance to try and say which is more important.  Is there waste in the military budget?  Absolutely, just as there is in the infrastructure budget. 

I’m not sure what you meant by “whimsical military adventuring”.  For all I know, you were referring to the war in Iraq.  I’m sorry you feel that way and only wish you could meet some of the Iraqi people who have benefited from that adventure.  Maybe your friend SP would do better to start mingling with some of the oppressed folk of that country and get a real feel for what needed to be done there. 

I don’t know enough about health care either to say much.  I think it’s obvious to everyone that we’ve got some major issues just around the corner which could break the economy and our world as we know it if they aren’t addressed now;   Social Security being the main one.  Nobody has offered a solution that I’m aware of but the privatization proposal is a step in the right direction I think.

I’m all for the alternative energy stuff.  At this point I don’t think we can spend enough money toward that end.  Could we also put in a little extra for raising people’s awareness about the benefits of adoption to help reduce the number of abortions in our country?

We’re miles apart on probably every issue here and I don’t even know why I’m responding to you as I’m sure you’re just shaking your head wondering how could I be so blind.  It must be a God thing as I think having this huge chasm of ideology is part of what makes the world spin.  The lunatic fringe on both our sides helps us find a balance that neither could find on their own.

Kevin g