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Forget all the demagoguery out there on the Left and check this out... "No changes go into effect until 2028." "Nobody over the age of 55 will be affected by this plan" "Individuals will have the ability to look at a list of coverage plans -which also includes the traditional Medicare option- and they can decide for themselves what best fits their needs" "It empowers the individual, but also forces the businesses to compete for customers... when you have competition,  price goes down/quality goes up." "Medicare right now is failing, it's going to be falling apart- something needs to be done,...

Here is a look at some of the key provisions of Ryan's plan: -- Medicare: Ryan proposed leaving the current structure of Medicare in place for people now 55 and older, while substituting a different program for younger Americans. Instead of a government-run program that pays directly for the medical services that Medicare recipients get, the Ryan plan would give people a subsidy they would use to pay their health insurance premiums. -- Balanced budget: The long-term reductions in Medicare spending help get the Ryan plan on paper to a balanced budget around 2040 -- Savings: Much of the 10-year...

President Obama explained to a group of supporters in Ohio this afternoon that more government investments in infrastructure would help the economy grow again. Pointing out that if government continued to invest in roads and bridges, it would put more money in people’s pockets to spend. “That’s how we grow our economy.” Obama said, “If we’re investing in roads and bridges, putting some hard hats back to work, getting our steel workers back to work, they got some more money to spend, maybe they buy a new computer, maybe they decide to take a little vacation.”

Hi Folks: When this came in to my inbox this evening and I gave it a quick once over, it was obvious that he has put on paper, the very things I've been preaching about for some time now. I did find that he's left out a couple of major issues, which i've added in blue at the end. Regards, Allan To Americans everywhere.... I was sitting at my keyboard halfway through my writing a letter to you about how Barack Obama was fulfilling his pledge to "Transform America" by "Changing the fundamentals of America", so that our government would...

During an event Obama admits that Obama's economic plan is to help Americans buy a "Thingamajig" (June 1, 2012).

China readies new missile corvette LATEST TYPE:Defense analysts believe that the new missile boats will be perfectly suited to meet the challenges that China is facing in its South China Sea disputes A new type of Chinese missile corvette, the principal role for which might be to project power in the South China Sea, could be launched “within days,” military watchers said on the weekend. Talk of a Type 056 class first emerged in late 2010. So far, little technical information has been released about the corvettes, which are believed to lie in the 1,400-to-1,700-tonne category. Two shipyards, Hudong Shipyard...

The Chinese Navy Is Betting Big On Its New Submarine Hunting Drones Tackling the long-time nuisance of American submarines off its coastal waters China is deploying drones to its Navy ships. While not a new development on its own, there are reports of increased drone deployment to the PLA's ships, and a heightened attack against U.S. drone contractors. UPI reports Chinese hackers have ramped up their barrage of infected emails to glean as much information about the Pentagon's UAV strategy and development as they can. It's no secret that the Chinese military is in the habit of copying foreign hardware,...

In the middle of the battle for this year's Republican nomination, a curiously irrelevant diversion has appeared. Suddenly, we're told, a "Hillary 2016" bandwagon has sprung up out of nowhere. Senator Gillibrand proposed the idea, Nancy Pelosi endorsed it, Bill Clinton has coyly denied it (but given it his blessing), and a Google search discloses over 300 hits about it. In Hollywood, they say that if a starlet gets on a magazine cover, she's lucky, if she gets on two, she's good, but if she gets on half a dozen, all at once, she's got a good agent. Those 300...

As many of you know, I have been tracking the growth and modernization of the Chinese Navy (PLAN) for a number of years. Particularly their acquisition and refit of the former Russian Varyag which they launched last August. I also have a hobby for building 1/350 scale model military vessels and recently decided to build modern carrier strike groups (including the carrier and all of their escorts) for each major power. Trumpeter, a well known mode company announced the release of the new Chinese Carrier in January and I was able to get one directly from Hong Kong before they...

China usually holds its military hand very close to the vest--that, or things “mysteriously” leak that it doesn’t (does) want the world to know about--so we’re left to wonder why the People’s Republic has decided to publish this in the journal Advanced Materials Research. Nonetheless, it’s pretty interesting. Chinese navy researchers have plans for a new submarine hunting scheme that uses ship-launched UAVs running genetic algorithms. Genetic algorithms narrow down a range of possibilities to an optimal solution much the way evolution does (at least in a simplified sense)--by weeding out the weaker offspring and mating the best with the...

THE RISING SEA DRAGON IN ASIA - 2012 UPDATE (Click on any of the following images for a larger picture) 2011 has seen significant increases in major combatant shipbuilding by the PLAN across the board. From the PLA Navy's first carrier being launched and in trials, to continued testing and production of J-15 Fighters for that carrier's airwing, to the increased tempo of serial production for the PLAN's Type 071 LPD, the Yuzhao Class (with a second and third unit launched and a fourth being built), to increased serial production of the PLAN's premier stealthy, area-wide anti-air/multipurpose destroyer, the...

America, Conservatives and Republicans. We must support Newt Gingrich. He is a man of many accomplishments who gave us Welfare Reform, A Balanced Budget, and Reduced Taxes. Further, he brought us a Republican Majority when we were lost in the desert and the GOP establishment said it couldn't be done. Newt is the only candidate who thinks of big ideas, studies the challenges in achieving very difficult goals and then through, his leadership, explains how we are going to do it and then marshals them into eventuality. Newt helped us achieve the above through his plan known as the Contract...

China Takes Aim at U.S. Naval Might . The USS Gerald R. Ford was supposed to help secure another half century of American naval supremacy. The hulking aircraft carrier taking shape in a dry dock in Newport News, Va., is designed to carry a crew of 4,660 and a formidable arsenal of aircraft and weapons. But an unforeseen problem cropped up between blueprint and expected delivery in 2015: China is building a new class of ballistic missiles designed to arc through the stratosphere and explode onto the deck of a U.S. carrier, killing sailors and crippling its flight deck. Since...

Your Move, Beijing: Big Year Ahead for Chinese Navy At a meeting in Beijing in December, Chinese president Hu Jintao had a powerful message for officials from the People's Liberation Army Navy. "Prepare for war," Hu said, using a Mandarin term -- junshi douzheng -- that means "conflict in general." Amplified and misrepresented by the foreign media, Hu's words echoed across Asia and the Pacific Ocean, alarming observers in Japan, India and other nations and eliciting a cool response from the U.S. Navy. "Nobody's looking for a scrap here," Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, told AFP. "Certainly we wouldn't...

China's first aircraft carrier starts second trial (AFP) – 6 hours ago BEIJING — China's first aircraft carrier began its second sea trial on Tuesday after undergoing refurbishments and testing, the government said, as tensions over maritime territorial disputes in the region ran high. The 300-metre (990-foot) ship, a refitted former Soviet carrier called the Varyag, underwent five days of trials in August that sparked international concern about China's widening naval reach. "China's aircraft carrier platform, after successfully completing its first sea trial in August, returned to the shipyard as planned for further refitting and testing," the defence ministry said...

Bold tax reform is front and center this campaign season. First Herman Cain made waves and poll headway with his 9-9-9 tax plan, which involves national 9-percent taxes on personal and corporate income and a 9-percent national sales tax. Now Rick Perry has followed suit with a 20-percent flat-tax plan, and Newt Gingrich has gone 5 better, with a 15-percent flat proposal. And these ideas certainly haven't fallen flat: tax reform is immensely popular among the Republican base. Yet there has been criticism, too — at least of Cain's plan, the only one around long enough to be criticized. Many...

The new Chinese aircraft carrier, which conducted its first sea trials in August, has emerged from dry dock and is apparently at sea once again for more trials. While in dry dock her hull was scraped and painted, her deck received a new non-skid coat, and she may have had arresting wires installed, though that last is not confirmed. The former Russian carrier, Varyag, purchased from Ukraine and towed to China in 2003, has spent over 7 years being refit and refurbished and is now undergoing sea trials. THE NEW CHINESE CARRIER OUT OF DRY DOCK AND DEPARTING THE TRANSFORMATION...

After Herman Cain began making a big splash with his 9-9-9 plan, boldness seemed to be the recipe for this cycle’s presidential election. Ron Paul delivered his own bold plan this week to reform the federal budget and “Restore America,” as Paul titled his new plan. In my column for The Fiscal Times, I take a look at Paul’s blueprint and find some provocative and intriguing concepts — but very little explanation, and even less common sense.Paul proposes to immediately zero out funding for five Cabinet-level agencies: Energy, Education, HUD, Interior, and Commerce. Conservatives have long wanted to eliminate the...

On September 12, the pioneering Rep. Thaddeus McCotter introduced trailblazing legislation providing workers the freedom to choose personal savings and investment accounts to finance half of their future Social Security benefits. This legislation would completely solve the future Social Security financing problem, without cutting benefits or raising taxes, as officially scored by the Chief Actuary of Social Security. Indeed, because standard, long-term market investment returns are so much higher than what Social Security even promises, workers with personal accounts will enjoy higher rather than lower benefits. Moreover, the legislation would result in the greatest reduction in government spending in world...

Obama Plan: Teacher Jobs One Year OnlyAfter a year, there’s no federal funding for the added jobs By Don Carrington Oct. 3rd, 2011 RALEIGH — President Barack Obama stood before thousands of screaming supporters at North Carolina State University Sept. 14, urging Congress to pass the American Jobs Act, his $450 billion plan to create jobs and stimulate the economy. “Pass this jobs bill, and there will be funding to save the jobs of up to 13,000 North Carolina teachers, cops, and firefighters,” he said. But he didn’t say that his bill would fund the jobs only for one year....