THIS IS A PARTIAL REPRINT FROM...:'The Tolucan' community paper column by Greg Crosby....

As our Democratic friends try to argue what good friends they are of the military,veterans, and in general, the armed forces...remember these facts....

CAN YOU NAME THIS COUNTRY BASED ON THESE STATISTICS?

*709,000 regular (active duty) personnel.
*293,000 reserve troops.
*Eight standing Army divisions
*20 Air Force and Navy Air wings with 2,000 combat aircraft.
*232 strategic bombers.
*19 strategic ballistic missile submarines with 3,114 nuclear warheads on 232 missiles.
*500 ICBMs with 1,950 warheads.
*Four aircraft carriers and 121 surface combat ships and submarines plus all...
Suport bases, shipyards, and logistical assets needed to sustain such a Naval force.

Is this country......(A)Russia (B)China (C)Great Britain(D)France-(what a laugh!)(E)USA?


OK....USA...sort of..These are the American military forces that were eliminated during the administration of Bill Clinton and Al Gore. And (their elimination) 100% supported by John Kerry-these he did vote on.

Here's:WHAT'S GOOD-WHAT'S BAD? Riddle.....:

*Clinton awards Halliburton no-bid contract in Yugoslavia- good.
      Bush awards Halliburton no-bid contract in Iraq- bad.

*Clinton spends77 billion on war in Serbia- good.
      Bush spends 87 billion in Iraq- bad.

*Clinton imposes regime change in Serbia- good.
      Bush imposes regime change in Iraq- bad.

*Clinton bombs Christian Serbs on behalf of Muslim Albanian terrorists- good.
      Bush liberates 25 million from a genocidal dictator- bad.

*Clinton bombs Chinese embassy- good.
      Bush bombs terrorist camps- bad.

*Clinton commits felonies while in office- good.
      Bush lands on aircraft in jumpsuit- bad.

*Clinton says mass graves in Serbia- good.
      Entire world says weapons of mass destruction in Iraq- bad.

*No mass graves found in Serbia- good.
      No WMD found in Iraq- bad.

*Stock market crashes in 2000 under Clinton- good.
      Recession under Bush-bad.

*Clinton refuses to take custody of Bin Laden- good.
      World Trade Centers fall under Bush- bad.

*Clinton says Saddam has nukes- good.
        Bush says Saddam has nukes- bad.

*Clinton calls for a regime change in Iraq- good.
        Bush imposes regime change in Iraq- bad.

*Terrorist training in Afghanistan under Clinton- good.
        Bush destroys training camps in Afghanistan- bad.

*Milosevic not yet convicted- good.
        Saddam in custody- bad.


     

That was great!  Especially the good-bad one where we found no mass graves in Serbia and not a single democrats said a word, but no WMD's in Iraq.  Well then, Bush should be impeached.  Great post.

Single sentence soundbites- no depth-how very right wing, and how very unrepublican of you

Suport bases, shipyards, and logistical assets needed to sustain such a Naval force.


During my time in the Marines (1983-1993), I was stationed at 7 different bases.

Out of those 7 bases, 4 of them are closed.  That is over half!  And all of them were closed during the Clinton administration.  Of the 4 closed, 3 of them were in California.

This is not a statistic, it is a fact.  When 4 out of 7 bases are closed, that just shows how much things have declined.

During my time in the Marines (1983-1993), I was stationed at 7 different bases.

Out of those 7 bases, 4 of them are closed.  That is over half!  And all of them were closed during the Clinton administration.  Of the 4 closed, 3 of them were in California.

This is not a statistic, it is a fact.  When 4 out of 7 bases are closed, that just shows how much things have declined.






Military bases started closing in 1988-under the first Bush. There was also many people who were getting discharge at that time. I saw it daily because part of the "out-processing" proceedure, they had to come to my office.


This article describes how the base closers were supposed to take 6 years to do (which would include Clinton's year in office) but took longer. But it was "Daddy" Bush's tenure when it started.


http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/article.cfm?Id=684



Cat

Military bases started closing in 1988-under the first Bush. There was also many people who were getting discharge at that time. I saw it daily because part of the "out-processing" proceedure, they had to come to my office.

This article describes how the base closers were supposed to take 6 years to do (which would include Clinton's year in office) but took longer. But it was "Daddy" Bush's tenure when it started.


That is true.  Bush did start the base closures.

But Clinton vastly increased the number of bases to be closed.

One of the bases closed that I served at (Forth Sherman) was closed because of the return of the "Canal Zone" to Panama.  That was ordered by Jimmy Carter.  That was obviously known long in advance.

The other bases were Mare Island, Seal Beach, and El Toro.  2 Navy bases, and 1 Marine base.  And none of those bases were on the Bush Sr. closure list.  Along with Seal Beach was the slosure of Terminal Island.

Terminal Island has the distinction as being one of the few military bases to actually show a profit!  It performed a lot of work for both civilian companies, and the navies of foreign countries.  And for this work, it made money.  The money made was actually more then the annual operating costs.  But over the protests of both the Navy and the local community, it was closed.

Interestingly, Clinton then tried to turn the former Military Base over to COSCO, the "China Overseas Shipping Company".  This is a company that makes inexpensive items and sells them internationally, inclusing the US.  It is owned by the Communist Chinese government.

http://www.dailyrepublican.com/housebilloutlawschina.html

While Seal Beach is not "technically" closed, it is.  It has been a Naval Weapons Depot since the 1940's.  With the closure of Terminal Island, it's original purpose (holding munitions for ships ported at Terminal Island) is through.  But unlike the other bases, it also has the distinction of being a "National Wildlife Refuge".  Because of this, the Navy is not allowed to dispose of it.  But there have been efforts to remove this status and sell the land to developers.  The Navy currently uses it as a "Naval Reserve Center".  In effect, it is mothballed.

El Toro is also hotly contested.  A huge Marine Air Base, it occupies some of the most valuable land in Southern California.  When the Marines turned it over, it was with the idea of moving John Wayne Airport from it's current location to the base.  But the residents who own the local $500,000+ homes are now complaining of the noise this would cause.  Never mind the fact that the Air Base had been one of the busiest airports in the region for over half a century.  On top of that, the local community now wants the Navy/Marines to pay for "cleanup" of the land that is being GIVEN to them.

The Marines have threatened that unless the squable over the base ends, they will close the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) in San Diego may be closed and take over the base.  Personally I hope this happens, if for no other reason then it will give them a much larger training area.

Mare Island was the primary shipyard in the South West US.  With huge drydocks, it could handle any ship in the Navy short of an aircraft carrier.  It was also totally self-sufficient.  It contains many buildings of historical interest, and because of this it is also much in limbo.  The buildings can not be torn down, so nobody else can use the facility.  Other then the occasional use in movies ("Metro" with Eddy Murphy), it is largely abandoned.

In addition, almost every other major military installation in California has been closed.  Tustin, Oakland, The Presidio, George Air Force Base, Fort Ord, Castle Air Force Base, March Air Force Base, Hunters Point Naval Base, and 21 other bases statewide.  That's right, 29 bases in just one state!  In addition, other satellite facilities (Carson Naval Hospital, Oakland Naval Hospital, Presidio Army Hospital, etc) have been closed.

Personally, I do understand the need to close bases not currently needed.  But in the past, they were "mothballed".  The base would be largely deserted and placed in an inactive status, with a small caretaker detachment left to maintain the facilities.  But now, the bases are totally scrapped, and sold to civilian interests.

My fear is that someday this may bit us in the rear.  With a mathballed base, it can be renovated and used again in the future for another reason.  But when it is demolished and sold, it can never be recovered.  If a war on the scale of World War 2 was ever to happen again (God forbid), we would be unable to meet the needs.  I seriously doubt that the people who have moved onto these former bases would leave just because they were asked.

There are other problems here.  Tustin Marine Helicopter Base was built largely to support the Marines at Camp Pendleton, about 45 miles South.  El Toro (10 miles away) was largely built for the same reason.  But now, those units were moved to Edwards Air Force Base, and Yuma Arizona.  This means helicopters and aircraft that used to do training runs of a few hours, now have to fly an additional 200-400 miles in addition to the flying required for the training missions.  I can only wonder how this will affect the accident rate and maintenance costs in the long run.

THIS IS A PARTIAL REPRINT FROM...:'The Tolucan' community paper column by Greg Crosby....

As our Democratic friends try to argue what good friends they are of the military,veterans, and in general, the armed forces...remember these facts....

CAN YOU NAME THIS COUNTRY BASED ON THESE STATISTICS?

*709,000 regular (active duty) personnel.
*293,000 reserve troops.
*Eight standing Army divisions
*20 Air Force and Navy Air wings with 2,000 combat aircraft.
*232 strategic bombers.
*19 strategic ballistic missile submarines with 3,114 nuclear warheads on 232 missiles.
*500 ICBMs with 1,950 warheads.
*Four aircraft carriers and 121 surface combat ships and submarines plus all...
Suport bases, shipyards, and logistical assets needed to sustain such a Naval force.

I don't know, but I've turned the matter over to my staff statistician, Hugh K. Ayers.

This cr*p grows tiersome - and very boring.  When will you repubs begin addressing the issues?  Time to get beyond "sound bites" and into substance.  Oh, and by the way, and if you forgot, Lil' Georgie isn't running against Bill Clinton.

That was great! Especially the good-bad one where we found no mass graves in Serbia and not a single democrats said a word, but no WMD's in Iraq. Well then, Bush should be impeached. Great post.

No mass graves in Serbia??? Who are you trying to kid?  There have been tens of thousands of bodies taken out of unmarked holes in the ground.

and this one:
Clinton bombs Christian Serbs on behalf of Muslim Albanian terrorists- good.
is just plain sick, especially in the implication that bombing Muslims would somehow be more acceptable than bombing Christians... let alone the absurd accusation that the Muslim Albanians who were getting wiped out in the former Yugoslavia were terrorists.

Once I'd got as far as that one, I didn't reckon any of the others would be worth reading, either.

is just plain sick, especially in the implication that bombing Muslims would somehow be more acceptable than bombing Christians... let alone the absurd accusation that the Muslim Albanians who were getting wiped out in the former Yugoslavia were terrorists.

Once I'd got as far as that one, I didn't reckon any of the others would be worth reading, either.


Ditto

I am wondering why so many people consider the closing of an unnecessary military base as a bad thing, period???

If we don't need it, we don't need it, plain and simple. We can definitely use the money elsewhere. And here's another good/bad situation for you...

Clinton leaves office with a stable economy and a balanced budget - good'
      Bush squanders a surplus on gratuitous tax-cuts for the wealthiest Americans - bad.

Now there's a little something for Billy-Boy's 'No-Spin Zone.'

You want to play compare and contrast?  Fine.  Let's play.  I'll even try to put some of it in tiny little text bytes.

Bush:   Test kids
Kerry:   Teach kids
Blame it on the teachers unions, blame it on the liberals, blame it on the sixties, blame it on "government," and remember, "just throwing money at it won't solve the problem, but retracting money will."
No child left behind....on the way to the rendering plant!
:o

Kerry:   Tax and spend
Bush:   Spend and spend (and tax the working class)
Don't forget "Borrow and Spend....and blame it on the liberals."


Bush:   If it's made or provided cheaper outside the US,  it's stupid to make or provide it here.
Kerry:   End the tax breaks for companies that move overseas and use the savings to cut domestic corporate taxes for 99% of American tax paying corporations by 5%.
U.S. corporations are very patriotic.  U.S. workers are not.  They won't work for $1.00 a day, and some even have the temerity to join unions.  The American worker just wants to sit fat and happy in the wagon while the American executive does all the pushing.  How do you expect God-fearing businessmen to compete in a global economy?  And after all they done for you, you even expect them to pay taxes.  You wanna confiscate their hard earn profits just to stuff your spoiled rotten faces! They've been forced overseas by YOU, you lazy bums!

Jobs created under Bush pay an average of 9 grand/year less than the jobs lost under Bush
The average household has lost about $1500 in income under Bush  
That's 'cuz he inherited the Clinton-Gore recession!  Bush created 150,000 jobs last month.  Can you count to 150,000.  Go ahead and try!

In the wake of the tax cut, my household's gross income had gone down from the previous year (about 20 grand less... without a change or loss of job.)  
In the wake of the tax cut, the dollar amount Uncle Sam got to keep of my household's significantly decreased income actually went UP slightly from the year prior (the IRS kept about $35 more than the year prior.)
See? The IRS just takes your $35 and gives you nothing back.  You could invest that in the stock market and make a wheelbarrow of chas in return.  That's why we all gotta get behind House speaker Denny Hastert and abolish the IRS!

Bush:   Lost 1.6 million jobs
Clinton: Created more than 11 million jobs.
Kerry: Promises to focus not just on job creation, but on the creation of higher paying jobs.
 
Bush:   Inherited the largest budget surplus in US history, turned it into the largest deficit in US history within the first 2 years of his term.
Clinton: Inherited the (then) largest budget deficit in history and turned it into the largest budget surplus in US history.
Oh yeah, well, 9/11 changed EVERYTHING.  (Except for certain greedy impulses among business executives, bankers, and politicians)
Don't you know there's a war on?

Kerry:   Flip-flopper
Bush:  Back peddling flip-flopper
Uh....hold on, I'm thinking...uhhhhh....

Kerry:   Volunteered to serve in the war zone, during Vietnam.
Bush: Got a cushy stateside weekend-warrior garrison post.
It's not what Kerry did during the war, it's what he did after the war as Hanoi John.  And are you trying to say the National Guard is for bums?  Huh?

Kerry:   Reported for duty.
Bush:   Didn't.
More lies by the Liberal Media, with Dan Rather.

Kerry:   Rescued a fellow soldier under military fire.
Bush:   Flew a fighter plane that never saw action.
No, Kerry ran away under fire.  John O'Neill saved that guy, and Kerry took credit for it!

and so on and so on and so on!

Maxwell asked:


And are you trying to say the National Guard is for bums?  Huh?




Gracious no!  The bums got drafted and had no choice in where they went or what they'd be doing there. 

Maxwell asked:


Gracious no!  The bums got drafted and had no choice in where they went or what they'd be doing there.   


That's right, if by "bums" you mean average working and middle class kids who couldn't get deferments.  I once got upbraided for refering to them as "grunts", the cannon fodder of the elite.  Don't they always send "other men's sons" to die?

Yes, Maxwell, was it?

MooRocca, great job!

Tanya