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This post about not having enough National Guard is a good place for me to start. The National Guard, to my knowledge, are the low people on the military totem pole--practically no benes, lower pay, all for exchange for some education. We need them at home. Seems to me that if we are paying Halliburton and its subsidaries to help support the troops, then the National Guard can come home to help with one of the worst disasters in our history. They will need some R & R and a trip home for FREE, then hopefully, they will be helping those in need in the Gulf Coast of the USA--not in the M.E.
Secondly, I think about all of the legislation passed and signed by W in the recent transportation bill. Seems to me that each state rep, together with their 2 senators, should pick three items that are the top priority for their state, then re-appropriate the rest for rebuilding the infrastructure lost on the Gulf highways--such as Hwy 90, I -10, etc, overpasses, leevies, etc. This re-appropriation should be done because the damage is causing national security problems, as well as internal security problems. It is not necessary to us to spend more taxpayers dollars than we have to; we can rearrange resources without touching SS, medicare, medicaid, and other HHS items.
Thirdly--speaking of tax dollars--the tax cuts on the top 2% must be recinded, again to support our troops, FEMA, other folks such as police, fire, emergency services, hospital employees, schoolteachers, and shelters which will have to house folks for perhaps months. The revenues raised are to pay investors-- bondholders or t-bill holders who have invested government bonds we will need to raise to repair these areas, and perhaps some other areas could be fixed too that have been affected by acts of nature. (I would gladly invest in government bonds, but pay for domestic debts).
Fourthly, we need our faith-based organizations out to remind our poverty stricken folks that stealing out of stores does not do anyone good and harms the masses. There are plenty of folks who need basics.
Sixth--any celebrity or millionaire should be donating lots of money and doing fund-raisers for our citizens. Period.
Lastly, in connection with poverty, I see an opportunity to do something about it, once the rebuilding begins. Those without work can help work on rebuilding--and do not give Halliburton, Brown & Root, etc ANY of the bids. There are plenty of civil engineering firms around, and professors of that field who know students who would love to study and help develop better concrete structures for bridges, etc. A good chunk of FED money should be given to firms who employ labor unions. Maytag and Whirlpool should be supplying small businesses with appliances, get a write-off for charity, and laid off workers could install the appliances.
Those are my thoughts at the moment. Benny
PS I gave money to the Humane Society's Disaster Relief fund, as pets need to be found and saved too. I was never so glad to see one woman and her pooch rescued today--and shown on TV.
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