Dashboard Widgets on you Desktop

Global warming is real. Let me know if you get any good data on how much man is responsible for. Conversions of statements of uncertainty using the techniques of the “uncertainy cops” does’t count. That would be like using the data from the Pentagon Office of Special Plans as justification to go to war.

I think the cost of the war and other costs incurred by the current administration was done for the obvious reasons as well as one less obvious one and that was to create a debt that would make it impossible to sustain entitlement programs for the poor and elderly as well as to ensure there would be no money for new programs like health care.

I think you guys are the best mac reseller in the world and I love your spunk and attitude. When it comes to selling Macs you’re the best.

That said, you should stick to what you know best. Geopolitics and global warming are different matters.

Al

Ditto to Al. I’ve said this before as well.

But since you brought it up…

The War:
I would like to remind you that the likes of Kerry, Kennedy, Pelosi, and Clinton ALL have stated that regime change in Iraq was imminent and necessary, and that they had WMDs and were a threat. No, they were not “misled” by GW Bush. This was WELL BEFORE he even took office! So who “misled” who here?

So we went in and we accomplished the mission of getting Saddam Hussein out. Now we are trying to get the country on it’s feet but are encountering foreign interference and sabotage. And it doesn’t help that our very own senators and congressmen are parading the globe putting down our government and their mission, solely for political gain! If they had the welfare of or soldiers in mind, they wouldn’t go around the world encouraging our enemies. They did this in Vietnam and they’re doing it now… both times to the detriment of our soldiers and our country. A brand new generation has reason to hate Jane Fonda now!

After years of looking the other way under Clinton, we had to take a stand. We didn’t start it, but if we’re smart, we’ll finish it.

Global Warming:
Selective fact picking makes things look dire indeed. However, if you look at ALL the fact, you will find that the world is indeed getting warmer (no dispute there), but that it has been going on for CENTURIES, long before we became an industrial nation with a “carbon footprint.” In fact, right when we were becoming MORE industrial and according to the gospel of Al, things were supposed to be getting hotter, the COOLED DOWN! FOR ABOUT THIRTY YEARS!

Believe it or not, the world has been warmer than it is now. And cooler as well.

All this data, which is largely ignored by the glitterati, points to one thing. The warming is CYCLICAL. And NORMAL. And mark my words, it’ll get cooler again too.

Don’t get me wrong. We still should be seeking to reduce emissions and go more “green,” but not for the reasons which Algore says.

Health care and other entitlement programs:
I am a firm believer in “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and for a large portion of American’s, it ain’t broke. The idea here is not to redesign health care so that everyone is under the same, government-managed umbrella. This simply will make matters worse, create a brand new government bureaucracy, and funnel more of the money that should be going into care into (mis)management.

I am all for health care for all. If you want this, build more clinics, and staff them by the equivalent of free “legal aid.” In essence, doctors will have to put in X amount of days a year in clinical medicine. Interns will need to do the same to graduate (under the auspices of the more experienced doctors, of course).

Oh, and to make this all practical (and those tort lawyers will hate me for this), put some serious limits on malpractice cases to bring the cost of health care health insurance down.

The solution to government is NOT “more government!”

I’ll get my Mac stuff from Small Dog, but I’m with Joseph on pretty much everything he says. Joseph, are you busy in ‘08? You would get my vote over pretty much everybody else who is a possability. 🙂

I pretty much agree with the political angle presented in the newsletter, but as important as the Iraq War debacle is, I really don’t want to read it in the weekly newsletter. I subscribe to the newsletter because I want Mac information and offers from Small Dog. If you want to write about politics, start a separate newsletter and make it available through subscription. I think you guys run the risk of losing subscribers to your current newsletter if you choose to mix your politics with business. That’s my two cents.

” Our taxes have not gone up in proportion to the cost of the war which is approaching one trillion dollars”

The IRS just had a record setting April tax revenue. Liberals believe that lower taxes means less revenue. Since Democrats are in control, have them send the unexpected windfall to the war effort then fund all the other normal services with the expected revenue.

“The Bush administration keeps the minimum payment down so the negative impact of this foolhardy venture will be passed on to someone else after they are long out of office.”

How can the smartest women in the world be mislead by the dumbest president ever? As for WMDs: I have talked to a co-worker on leave who was personnally involved in the destruction of chemical munitions.

“Do we really want to put our sons and daughters in the middle of a deadly civil war where neither side want us there? Do we want to continue to be the catalyst for violence and the breeding ground for the terrorists of tomorrow? Are we solving any problems by continuing to devote our hard earned resources, our common resources, to this war?”

All Iraqi schools and hospitals have electricity and a lot more infrastructure improvements are occuring with our funds and hands. Sadaam was only concerned with infrastructure to his palaces. Elevating a population above 3rd world conditions can result in less terrorist recruitment but would lead to increased global warming. Hmmm…that’s a hard choice. How is it that Al Quada had a presence in every country but Iraq?

“Is this war really more important than providing health care for all Americans?”

Canadians and Britons are coming to US for major surgeries because that cannot get them under their govt provided health-care system. Canadian travel companies offer sugery/vacation combos to Hawaii. Cuba has the best health care system in the world yet Fidel Castro had to pay a Spanish doctor to come and treat him. Also, I heard a quote from an ABC cameraman that the pharmacy shelves were empty when he was there covering a story. Recent medical survey stated that US had lower cancer mortality rates than socialized health care countries due to better access to cancer drugs.

“Is this war really more important than combating climate change and global warming?”

I think that being able to grow crops again in GREENland like the Vikings did when they discovered it would be great. There was a reason that they did not call the new land Glacierland or Snowland. Retreating Alpine glacier revealed an ancient silver mine. Apparently the world was warmer then it is now. Is it man’s fault for Mars global warming? No, it is George Bush’s fault, somehow.

My soapbox: We bring the troops home, liberals will keep appeasing the Islamo-facists until Islam is the national religion. No more political correctness. No more abortions. No more gay or feminist rights. No more liberal issues, period. Man talk about an ultra conservative country! Allah Akbar or have your infidel head cut off.

As much as I deplore the deficit spending behavior of the current crop of “conservatives in name only,” I find it hypocritical for liberals to point fingers. They are more than willing to spend the country into a hole on their own pet projects, which are somehow OK and different because they are liberal projects. The Tennessee Valley Authority. The Massachusetts Turnpike bonds. Social Security. Medicare. The Great Society.

It’s nice to pretend to care how the money is raised, but the real bone of contention is always how it is spent and by whom.

Too bad that neither party today is willing to let the citizens decide how to spend the money by letting them keep more of it in their own pockets to use for what is important to them.

As for your pie chart, take each section of the pie and list it on a piece of paper. In the next column, write the section and article of the Constitution that authorizes the federal government to dabble in that area. “The Pentagon” is pretty trivial to find. You may be a while puzzling out where the federal government is granted authority to address “world hunger,” “health,” “housing,” “job training,” or many of the other money pits that you seem to feel it is their destiny to fund. Just remember that a government big enough to do everything that you want is big enough to take everything that you have.

I want to echo what others have said, and what I myself said last time you guys went off on a political rant. My relationship with Small Dog is technical, not political. Let me be somewhat more explicit than I was last time: your political opinions frankly annoy me. If it’s your goal to annoy your customers, that’s well and good. I just don’t know many merchants who want to go out of their way to do that.

I agree with Joseph, Mike, Dave’s view on your newsletter, and – Henry. I have no desire to read about your liberal, socialist politics or misinformed science in your newsletter on Macs. Please refrain from spewing your nonsense and stick to Mac info.

Global warming is a theory, healthcare is not a guarantee nor should it be a taxpayer supported give-a-way.

We are in Iraq because we need to be. Funny how Don does not bring up that the UN gave permission and supported the US going in. What about the 10 years of UN mandates that Hussein did not follow.

As usual Don’s thinking is a bit skewed and very selective.

Don, you want healthcare for all americans at taxpayer expense? You’re a businessman, maybe you are just trying to get out of paying your employees enough to afford decent care?

Better yet, you want the US Taxpayer to be a gravytrain, how about we cut out the middleman and you just strat sending me a check?

Smalldog is a company I have bought from since you were smalldoggy.com, you’re backwoods Vermont leftists beliefs are directly from the cheap-seats of a minor league team. Stick to providing me quality products at a a fair price and you keep me as a customer. Keep spewing leftist socialistic messages and I can spend my money dozens of places.

On company time and customer time, it is probably best if you not chat up politics and religion. Your feel good politics may sound good to some, but to others it smacks too much of naiveté. Even Bush doesn’t want war, but events have unfolded that have required it. We have to draw the line somewhere as we did in Viet Nam. Sheeesh, now you got me soapboxing. Stop both of us before we hurt ourselves.

We need to remember that this WAS a war of choice – Saddam did not have serious WMDs (he may or may not have had a bit of World War 1 era mustard gas), he had nothing to do with 9/11, and the Bush administration had targeted him LONG before 9/11. HE WAS a nasty military dictator, but there are at least 20 of those in the world (including the present Chinese leadership and our allies in Pakistan) that the US did not try to remove. There are two major differences between Saddam and Hu Jintao of China or any other nasty dictator. One is that he was sitting on a LOT of oil, which he was going to sell to the French and the Russians as soon as the embargo was lifted. The other is that his intelligence agents DID try to assassinate the elder George Bush (fortunately, the Iraqi assassins were incompetent). Shrub went to Iraq for some combination of oil and wounded pride, not because of 9/11 or democracy

We have no business in Iraq, and George Dumbya Shrub is paying the price (least popular president ever, and deservedly so). This president has done precisely nothing good for the country, and many of the most informed critiques of his Iraq policy are written by American military officers (our military has borne the brunt of W’s misguided neoconservatism).