Kerry Announces Sr. Military Advisory Grp of Retired Admirals & Generals (One is WEASEL CLARK!)

LURCH 2004 ^ | 6/3/04

[rdb3]

Don't waste your breath. Those who throw that term around like candy I find to be a loathsome, sorry lot.

They're not worth it. Let them relish in their delusions of grandeur.

[Poohbah]

I've been getting really, really confused over this "neo-con" term as of late. You are one of the very few FReepers to describe yourself as such. It seems as if most FReepers claim that there is no such thing as a neo-con.

"Neo-con" generally refers to those who believe that America should have a robust foreign and military policy, and are generally not greatly exercised about domestic issues. On FR, when used as a slam, it's usually intended to refer to those who don't favor letting the Arabs exterminate the Jews.

How would you define the term, especially with regards to domestic policy? I read an article by (I believe) Irving Kristol last week which was a bit unsettling. He claimed that neo-cons accept the growth of government as inevitable.

First: there is no canonical "neo-con" position on domestic policy.

Second: I think Kristol is a horse's a$$.

My own take on domestic policy: government is not a good or bad thing in and of itself. The questions revolve around (a) what are they attempting to do, (b) whether said thing SHOULD be done, and (c) whether government action is the best way to go about accomplishing things that should be done.

I think that taxes should be low, and so should domestic spending. I think we should be eliminating most government regulation of private enterprise, and what legimitate regulation there is should be accomplished via the lowest impact means available.

As an example: Factory A takes water from River B. The present regulatory environment mandates, in excruciating detail, exactly what systems Factory A will use to mitigate their impact on River B, how those systems will be operated, and how those operations will be documented.

My solution: the regulation would read "if you are taking water from a river for your production operations, then your inlet shall be downstream of your discharge."

At that point, Factory A has two choices:

1. Do nothing to the discharge, and ruin their factory machinery in very short order. This makes the pollution issue self-limiting.
2. Clean their discharge completely before it enters the river. No pollution? No problem...

Similar examples can be found for most regulatory problems.

Adherence to the "reasonably prudent man" standard in legal cases (which was defined in a COMSEVENTHFLT admiralty court my father sat on in the 1950s as "A reasonably prudent man checks for toilet paper BEFORE sitting down") would eliminate 90% of the regulatory requirements and stupid stuff (such as the steam hair curler marked "Do not use internally").

But that's me. Other "neo-cons" may have very different ideas.

[jmc813]

Thanks for the quick reply.

[RJS1950]

Absolutely, Merrill was the idiot who dictated among other things that all AF members within ACC would wear V-neck tee shirts to show their chest hair and look like "Manly men". Even other generals laughed about him and told jokes about him. He was a fighter jock who pulled too many G's and starved his brain (if he ever had one).

[Poohbah]

Absolutely, Merrill was the idiot who dictated among other things that all AF members within ACC would wear V-neck tee shirts to show their chest hair and look like "Manly men".

I imagine that the women looked...uh...womanly, showing off their cleavage?

We went through that phase in the USMC in the mid-1980s.

Try wearing a Charlie uniform (quarter-sleeve shirt, open collar), the overcoat, and a V-neck tee shirt.

You looked like a flasher!

[hosepipe]

Any Kerry supporter at this stage(June) should be documented and cross indexed. Because any that don't know Kerry is a virtual traitor by now is either a traitor themselves or political whores(enablers of treason and sedition).. and are suspect in ALL they do, forever. And if they convert and become neocons they are merely moles..

[jmaroneps37]

I hope lurch is dumb enough to let clark go out to speak for me. When I look at clark here's what I see:
He strikes me as looking like some guy named Barney who was a custodian at a ballroom where the rats would be have a primary debate. "Hey Barn, would you stand on the stage? That's it Barn just stand on the X.Now speak into the mic while we do a sound and lighting check, will ya?"
"Sure thing Mr.C but what should I say?"
"It makes no difference Barn, but hey please put down you mop - ok?"
"Hey that was good Barn. You got a suit and tie? Good come dressed up for the debate tonight. You're in the field now Barn."
Clark still looks like a custodian at the local Y to me.