Drat. Don't you hate it when you expend an enormous amount of time and energy making yourself sound really, really smart and then reality sticks its ugly head in the tent and you have to admit you were wrong?
How many of the National Association of Professional Pundits including those recently admitted as RMW (Retired Military Wing) members, have admitted they had no idea what the devil they were talking about when they assured us hour-after-hour, day-after-day that:
- America was mired in a quag;
- America would have to commit huge numbers of ground forces;
- The American public was losing its stomach for this entire adventure;
- With approaching winter we would likely have no new news for the next
four or five months;
- Northern Alliance forces had all the fighting capability of the original
Mouseketeers including Roy Williams - the Mooseketeer.
Weeeeeee'rrrre Waiiiiiiiitttting.
Phrases we never thought we'd hear: Those aid workers rescued from the Taliban "are now safely on the ground in Pakistan." Six months ago that would have been like saying they were safely on the ground in East Timor.
It is not generally known to those of us who fight our wars from the safety of our dens, but there is a provision in the tax code which exempts, from federal taxation, money earned by military personnel serving in a combat zone.
As an example, an E-4 (Corporal or Specialist-4) serving in Uzbekistan during October and November would not have to pay federal taxes on the $1,500 per month base pay for each of those two months.
Senator George Allen (R-VA) has introduced a bill which will have the tiniest possible impact on the U.S. economy from a macro sense, but could be very helpful to a few, very important, people on a micro-, if not a nano-level.
According to a "Dear Colleague" from Allen's office, the bill (S. 1466) would, "Exempt from federal income tax, on a month-by-month basis, of the basic pay that a uniformed civilian employee earns during time spent responding to the scene and supporting the security, safety, fire management, and medical needs of the scene, of a terrorist attack after that attack has been conducted."
Firefighters, police personnel, EMTs and other uniformed civilian workers who respond to a terrorist attack - fighting the war on US soil - would have the same small, but important, tax advantage as uniformed soldiers fighting the war overseas.
This is a great idea which focuses on the people actually in the middle of it all. It is the kind of thinking behind which the GOP would do well to rally.
The Senate Democrats tried to ram their version of an economic stimulus package through, but were thwarted by those same pesky procedural votes that those same pesky Democrats used against Republican legislation way back in the days when the GOP controlled the Chamber.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle was in full sulk mode after he got stuffed. Adam Clymer in Thursday's NY Times wrote that Daschle "had said repeatedly that he did not want to compromise once with Senate Republicans and again with House Republicans."
What. Is he too busy? What else is he doing? Is he tending his winter wheat crop? What does a U.S. Senator do except negotiate legislation?
On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: The definition of the word "quag" and a very good Catchy Caption. Plus win bar bets with the names of all the original Mouseketeers.
ABC is got into the spirit of November sweeps month with the following two public-affairs oriented programs last night: "Super Model Who Wants to Be a Millionaire." Followed by: "The Victoria's Secret Catalog Show."
How do those people look at themselves in the mirror? Then again, I did have a Mooseketeer line today.
With over 22,000 subscribers to Mullings, adds; changes; and deletes come in every day. A request to remove came from someone which got my attention: lostmyonepickle@home.com. Lord, I hated to lose that reader. Maybe not as much, however, as he must have regretted losing his pickle. At home.
� 
