Soldiers Sue Hometown Over Pay Cuts

Two military reservists from Kearney, New Jersey, Scott Paulson, and John Pedegrue decided to sue their hometown, where they work as firefighters, when the town cut their pay while they were overseas serving their country. In 2004 the town of Kearney drafted a resolution which states that after a reservist ships out they get 90 days full pay after which they get a pay cut for not being on the job. In the past between 1996-2003 this was not the case. The Mayor of the city, Alberto Santos, insists that it is an equity issue. He believes that it is unfair for reservists to recieve two full time salaries while they are serving overseas. The mayor further argues that the long deployments have put a strain on the city's finances and that this fact forced the change in city policy.

Future Of Coupon Clipping Is Online

Forget about getting out a pair of scissors and cutting your coupons out of the paper because the future of coupons involves clicking them instead of clipping them. Supermarket chains nationwide are trying to take much of the paper out of it and going electronic to save money and paper and the cost of printing and circulating coupons. You will now be able to load the value of your coupons electronically onto a plastic card from your home computer and then when you get to the supermarket checkout line simply swipe the card and get full credit for all the value of your coupons in just one quick movement. A scanning machine will have the amount of each coupon loaded into its memory and when you show up and swipe the full value will be deducted from your total bill. The nationwide chains believe that this new and improved way of going about things will help build customer loyalty because you will only be able to use certain coupons at certain predetermined stores in addition to saving them the cost of printing coupons the old fashioned way. They are also hoping to take advantage of the increasing number of individuals who are logging on and going online these days who are looking for bargains. There would also be no more losing coupons or the need to organize them in any kind of order or category before you head out to the store.

Air Power

Any Military strategist will tell you that in order to win on the ground you have got to have supremacy in the air. The most powerful countries in the world know this and dedicate a great portion of their annual Gross Domestic product to the development of newer and more advanced air weapons and then build as many of them as they can in order to gain an advantage at least on paper over any potential enemies they may face in the future. here now is a list of the top 5 nations in the world in terms of the number of aircraft they maintain in their air forces. Most coutries in the world have significantly fewer than 1000 planes in their arsenals but there are only 3 exceptions.

1. Russia -----3252
2. U.S. --------2658
3. China ------ 2643
4. India ------- 849
5. N. Korea --- 590

The Illusion Of Choice In The Presidential Election

Before you run out to cast your vote for the next president of The United States just keep in mind that the only choices that you get in terms of candidates are the choices that the corporate powers that be will allow you to have based on what it is they want. Have you ever noticed how every time any candidate comes up that threatens to make any real kinds of changes to the way things operate in Washington they always just disappear into the fog and we are always left with people who have been part of the system for decades and have been running things in Washington forever and have no real vested interest in changing anything but rather in the maintenance of the status quo. John McCain has been a senator for decades, Hillary Clinton has been around for decades, Barak Obama is new which is the biggest reason for his appeal with potential voters. He has no political history to tarnish his name yet. He is playing that to the hilt though. The notion that he is a new breath of fresh air and that he will go in there and change the way things go on in Washington. The truth is he wont because he cant. In order to run for president you need the sanction of the corporate elites who really run this country and in order for them to provide you with the money you need to run your campaign they have to be assured by you in private that at the end of the day you are not going to do anything that will seriously upset the way they go about doing things. After a candidate runs for office and succeeds he is so in debt to the people that payed for him to get there that he basicaaly is in a position where he cant say no to them about anything that they might want to do and thats how the systems ends up working against people like you and me. This country is a democracy in name only at this point. It is a democracy on paper and in reality rich people run it and they are not going to let go of power as long as they live i would guess. Even if barak Obama wins and becomes president you should not expect anything to change really because the people that really run things dont want anything to change. Big Oil, Big agriculture, big pharmaceuticals, big insurance, big real estate are the indiustries that really run things and at the end of the day they are only interested in having candidates that bend to their will about what they want done and the laws they want created to benefit them. They would never be interested in anyone like Ralph Nader, or Ron Paul or any kind of candidate who if he ever actually became president and had any real power would be going after them first. They always want a lap dog who will do their bidding and keep things going in the direction that they have been in this country. A direction that has been benefitting them first and the most. Barak Obama's posture as a candidate of change is just a pose to get you to give him his vote. If he wins he wont make any real changes he will be busy paying back the big wigs who got him there in the first place and those people are not everyday Americans.

Its Hard To Tell Football Players Apart Sometimes

Kind of an interesting thing happened the other day on The View. The two guests for a segment were 2 of the players from the champion New York Giants Football team, Michael Strahan and Amani Toomer. Whoopi Goldberg, who was actually at the parade that was given 2 days after the game was won in new york, kept on going on to Amani Toomer about how amazing the catch was that he made during the game that set up a score for the Giants and helped them win the game. One little problem was that Amani Toomer did not make that catch. That miracle catch was made by his teammate David Tyrie. The Giants gained about 30 yards on the play and it set up a situation just minutes later where Amani Toomer caught what turned out to be the winning touchdown when Eli Manning lobbed a throw into the corner of the end zone and Toomer just cradled it in his hands for the easy score. Surprisingly enough Toomer did not say anything to her about it and neither did fellow teammate Strahan when Whoopi was clearly getting it wrong, They just kinda went with the flow. It was kind of an interesting, awkward moment to watch.

Why Not An Obama/Clinton Ticket? I'll tell you why

There are some people out there who have been thinking that perhaps an Obama Clinton ticket would be just the ticket for the democrats this year to propel them to victory. It is not likely. First of all Hillary would not do it. She has been around for thirty years in politics and government and would not frankly lower herself to being in a junior position to someone like Barak Obama who has been around for about 5 minutes and is about 20 years her junior in age and has far less experience than she does. Consider it from Barak Obama's position he likely would not do it either. He has all these years ahead of him as both a senator and a perpetual presidential candidate if he does not make it this time around so accepting a position to be a vice presidential nominee is likely a step down for him already in his career. He has got his eye on the top job and he is going to spend at least the next two election cycles trying to get that top job if he cant get there this time around. It is a great idea however and it would really be something if it happened but the reality of the situation is that neither one of them at this point in their careers would take the step down it would require of them to fit into a vice presidential position. Obama and Clinton in politics are basically two alpha males and they are both looking to lead the pack. Neither is at all interested i would think in being the door mat for the other that being a vice presidential nominee would require of them. It is not in either of their natures.

Tanks A Lot

The frontline battle tank has long been a symbol of military might for well over a century around the world. All the worlds major powers possess them but some have more than others. Here now is a list of the top ten nations in the world in terms of the number of battle tanks that they have in their military as of the end of 2007.

1. Russia ----------22830
2. U.S. ------------- 7620
3. China ----------- 7580
4. Syria ------------ 4950
5. Turkey ---------- 4205
6. India ------------ 3978
7. Egypt ----------- 3885
8. Ukraine ---------3784
9. Israel ----------- 3657
10. N. Korea ------ 3500

P.S. While many of the battle tanks in the U.S. and Israeli arsenals are state of the art and technologically advanced this is not usually the case in the armies of the other nations listed. In some cases their tanks may be over 40 years old and not state of the art equipment. This would provide a decided disadvantage on a battle field. The Russians have decided to make up for this technological disadvantage by maintaining larger numbers of tanks in general.