That being said my views on gay marriage have “evolved” over my life.  The older I have gotten the less gay marriage has bothered me.

I think this issue should largely be left up to the fifty states.

If civil unions where put on the ballot in Indiana I would vote in favor of them.  There is no doubt in my mind that gay marriage nor civil unions would win; however, I often vote for the losing side…

Mike Sylvester

Stories like this just sadden me.

What are the odds that these kids will grow up and live normal productive lives?

Mike Sylvester

Next Tuesday Hoosiers will vote in the Republican Primary for US Senator.  I will be voting for Richard Mourdock.  It has been a long while since I have voted for Lugar.

I sincerely hope that Lugar loses next Tuesday.  There are several reasons I would never vote for Lugar:

1. He has not lived in Indiana in 36 years.
2. I believe in term limits and he has been in office far too long.
3. He supports Earmarks.
4. He supports bailouts.
5. He is a big government Republican.

The unemployment insurance system in this country is broken and needs to be fixed.  First off the Federal Government has NO BUSINESS being involved and needs to get out of this system entirely.

Next each of the fifty states needs to start from scratch and make their own system.  I would think a few states would abolish the program entirely, most would have a system similar to what they have now, and a few might have an even more generous system.  That is how it should be.  Each state should establish the unemployment system the majority of their citizens want.  The idiots in Washington DC should not be involved at all…

In 2006 and 2008 the Democrats did everything they could to tell the American people how bad the economy was in order to get elected.  In 2010 and 2012 the Republicans are doing everything they can to tell the American how bad the economy is so they can get elected.  I am sick of this…

Why don’t the Democrats and Republicans in DC work together to fix some of the problems in this country. I think there are a lot of glaring problems that a strong majority of Americans could get behind including:

1. Slightly downsizing the US military and closing at least 1/3 of our bases overseas.
2. Eliminating all refundable tax credits.  No American should be subsidized through the tax code.  Many families in American pay no Federal income tax and in fact are paid by the IRS $5000 or more per year.
3. 49.5% of the population listed on a Federal income tax return paid nothing in Federal income taxes or worse were paid money through refundable tax credits.  Please realize than many of the poor do not even file income tax returns.  We are at the point where a little more than half of the country pays no Federal income tax.  Historically speaking the bottom 20% have paid no Federal income tax; this has now increased to 50%.  So lets change the tax code so the bottom 20% pay zero and the rest pay something.
4. The tax loopholes the wealthy use to pay lower tax rates that the working upper middle class need to be abolished.  They are absurd.
5. Large corporations pay significantly lower taxes than small corporations pay.  This needs to change so the playing field is level.
6. The Federal Government has spent TRILLIONS of dollars to ensure everyone has access to affordable housing.  They helped create a bubble that was almost big enough to put the world into a recession.  The Government “Projects” are dangerous places were no one wants to live.  HUD is an absolute failure.  Fannie and Freddie are horrible and inefficient organizations.  The Federal Government needs to get entirely out of the housing business.
7. The Federal Government is broke.  A majority of Americans believe we should not be giving foreign government aid while we are broke.  We should stop ALL foreign aid until the National Debt is paid off.

Interestingly enough all of them have been white males.  In one case it was a white male, his wife, children, and dog.

They have all appeared to be in reasonable physical condition.  They have appeared to be between the age of 25 years old and maybe 50 years old.  They have been fairly well dressed.

They seem to like and use electronics.  One had a I-Phone.  Several have had cell phones.

Has anyone else noticed the large number of beggars?

Mike Sylvester

The proposed budget continues the fiscal train wreck that George W. Bush started and President Obama accelerated.  The truth of the matter is that all this budget does is SLIGHTLY limit the continual growth of the US Government.

The Pentagon will spend 530 billion dollars this year.  This is an absurd amount of money and every veteran I have ever talked to agrees that we could cut military spending significantly with no reduction in military capability.

Our combat involvement in Iraq has ended.  We are slowly (supposedly) drawing down in Afghanistan. Considering these two things the truth of the matter is that the Pentagon budget is still growing since some of its operations have ended or are being limited.

The United States of America is going broke.  The last honestly balanced Federal Budget was in 1958.  There is no proposal on the table right now that would EVER balance the Federal Budget.  There is no doubt in my mind that we could easily cut military spending to maybe 400 billion dollars per year over the next five years with little real reduction in military might.  We could get to 400 billion dollars by:

1. Pulling all troops out of Afghanistan over the next six months.  The government is corrupt and is not salvageable.
2. Stop using drones to kill a few supposed terrorists and a larger number of innocent civilians.  We should stop using our military overseas unless Congress declares an actual war.
3. Cutting the nuclear submarine fleet in half.  I served on a nuclear submarine and they are cool weapons.  That being said they serve little purpose today.  They were a product of the Cold War.
4. Down size the military to the number of troops Panetta already proposed.  This is a small and reasonable reduction.
5. We should close most of our overseas military bases.  We should keep the few that are truly needed.  The rest should be closed unless the host country agrees to foot HALF of the costs.  We are defending the rest of the world and the rest of the world damn well should pay us to defend it.
6. We should hire a large number of auditors and we should aggressively audit the defense contractors.  All that are found guilty of fraud should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

I could go on and on.

What REALLY gripes me is the Republicans who are whining and claiming that we are “hallowing out” the military.  I am not sure what illegal drugs these Republicans are utilizing; however, they do not have a clue…

Mike

1. A few months ago there was no rate increase of any kind being considered.
2. City Council approved a large bond issue last year to fund new equipment.

One of the main reasons I have not been posting is I am not sure that we can fix the financial mess that the Democrats and Republicans have created from Washington DC.  When I look at the long term fiscal outlook of our Country it truly depresses me.

My kids are 9 and 10 and I they will be inheriting a much weaker country than the one I dealt with.

Mike Sylvester