Military Cuts... Right for the Economy and Defense

Curently the United States is geared to fight World War Three. We still have a Cold War mentallity towards our weapon systems. The United States "cannot expect to eliminate national security risks through higher defense budgets, to do everything and buy everything," Secretary of Defense Gates said. He basicly nailed it right on the head.

Cutting for the military budget is obviously easy because roughtly one third of our tax dollars are funding the military.

An F-22 or F-35 as cool as they are do not have the capabilities to fight against insurgencies. Developing new Destroyers does not kill al Quida. What we need are systems like the Styker System. Basicly what it does it networks the battlefield with communications and centralizes it into one vehicle, the Stryker Vehicle, so the decisions can be made and also so friends know were other friendlies are. This reduces friendly fire and also increase the effectiveness of each soldier and vehicle on the field. Increasing programs for UAV's is a vary popular idea as well however if we do this I would caution against a UAV that is only for survaillance. It would be more prudent to have a UAV that either resupplies soldier in addition to spying or, like the Predator Drone, also kills what it finds.

However what really needs to happen is the simple citizen needs to realize that war isn't pretty. We need to realized that when we fight they die and we die. Normally its more of them then us but still we die. Even though its very sad that our soldiers die we need to carry through to the end and finish fights that get involved with.

Why does Europe think that they can run America better than Americans

I read a blog today by a man from Norway by the name of h4XxXl0rd186. It bought out a mentality that I have dislike in Europeans for quite sometime. He directly attacks American citizens for the problems abroad. He doesnt even really blame the government that implimented the policies.

One line that really got me was "He (George Bush) actually provoked war with some countries in the Middle East and for one single reason, MONEY." Okay, first I'm going to say that I am not the biggest fan of old Mr. Bush. But I bring this point to the table. If we started war in the Middle East why do we not see any of it now? And why would we deal with reconstruction if were just interested in money. Ingorance, I have a hard time stomaching it. "Yeah they captured Sadam Hussein, big deal," the blogger h4XxXl0rd186 says. Is he insane? Really removing a totalitarian nut job wasn't a virtuous move? What is a virtous move it that isn't? Why is it that Europe skips the good and beams straight to the negativity?

On a side note there was one spot were he refered to our Air Force as a "1 billion dollar" Air Force. Man needs to get his facts right first off. We spend half of his nations GDP on our Air Force.

Lastly says this "But we’re willing to give you another chance since you finally chose an honest and sincere president." As if he is a governing factor. "we are willing to give you another chance," excuse me, this implies superiority. Another chance for what, for us to appease you. No we should worry about people like this because they do not realize the importance of America. They fail to realize that without the United States entities that are love so much by the Europeans, such as the United Nations and NATO would have no teeth at all. It is because of us that they are who they are today. I am sick of Europeans verbally pissing on Americans in this way.

Read the full blog here

College Cost Savers

Saving money is always a must. Saving is especially important for average people like me. These are some ideas that I have found to save me a lot of money.

• Get a meal plan that fits. I made the mistake of getting a meal plan that was bloated. It was to big for me and cost me more money than I needed to spend.
• LIVE OFF CAMPUS. A lot of the time you can find more financially viable deals off of campus. This is especially true if you have roommates. I know two people that are renting a decent apartment in a good part of town and they pay about $250 per person per month. Do the math that is $750 per quarter opposed to the $1500 that I was once paying. The other advantage to this is that you have more freedom than if you were in the dorms. Some of the rules that school dorms impose are intrusive and personally I hate intrusive rules.
• Buy your own food. If you don't have too, don't get the schools food. You will find that it is generally crap and that it is drastically overpriced.
• Trade Books. If you have a textbook try and trade it with a friend. This way you both get the book you need for free. This is really easy on small campuses.
  Use online bookstores. One trick that I found works really well is to find out what book is required for a class. By that I mean go to the bookstore and write down the ISBN number located on the bar code. Then go to a place like Abebooks.com, type in the ISBN and buy a used book for nice low price. I did this with a calculus book that was over $100 dollars and I got a functional copy for about $20 in the current edition.
• Get involved and I don't necesarily mean sports. If you are thinking of going Greek or are already greek try and move into the chapter house. The rent can be less than living in a rented house or apartment. I live in a chapter house and I pay $600 for an entire quarter. In addition its a really fun time being part of the Greek college system. I don't only mean the parties. It provides a lot of oppertunites to meet many interesting people. If you are interested in student government do not hesitate because they are normally compensated. For example, the president of my school gets free tuition for the year. A lot of lower level possitions get tuition assistance.
• DON'T BUY IT UNLESS YOU CAN AFFORD IT. Stay out of credit card debt. I'm not going to beat a dead horse. Just don't do it.
• Network, Network, Network. The more people you know the better. You will find out about job openings in advance and plus in business its not what you knw so much as who you know. So network, network, network. On that note do not do all your networking at parties it because that defeats the purpose. The idea is that they will remember you, be impressed by you and then want to hire you.

I hope these tips will help you out. I know they have helped me pinch the pennies.

Fast Facts

All college students should know that:

• The average student can expect to graduate with an debt of $25,000.00 in student loans according to the Washington Student Lobby
• Between the 1995 and 2005 the cost of tuition nearly doubled
• A new edition (of a textbook) usually costs 45 percent more than a used copy of the previous edition according to the Boston Globe
• A Government Accountability Office report found that in the last two decades, college textbook prices have increased at twice the rate of inflation
• Look at more than the cost of tuition. A lot of times the cost of living and books, especially for in state students, is more than the cost of tuition. Take me for example, tuition per quarter is about $1,50o. If I decide to live in the dorms I would be paying about $1,200 per quarter. Books cost about $300 and then you have to count food. If you get a meal plan through your school are generally expensive as well.
• FAFSA or Free Application for Federal Student Aid needs to be done ASAP. January 1st is the first day that you may apply. If miss the priority deadline of feburary 15th don't worry. Check the deadlines here.
  

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Tuition is Going UP Next Year... Find Out Why

What’s going to happen next year once the Legislature passes the new budget? This is what should be on every student's mind. November 18, 2008 the Seattle Times reported that there could be as much as a 20% cut ($600 million) from Washington States Higher Education Budget. In the article it showed several frightening numbers such as a "trimming $300 million over two years" in technical and community colleges. The reason that cutting funding to community colleges and technical schools is that they are one of the two traditional safe havens for the unemployed. The other is the military.

For four year institutions this also means a hefty hit. For the University of Washington a 20% cut would mean "Trimming $167 million over two years." For smaller regional schools such as Eastern Washington University it means staff cuts, an estimated 9.6 million dollar cut over two years, and the possibility of cutting courses. Cutting courses could potentially mean that students would need to stay in school longer because they would not have the necessary courses open. Longer enrollment times obviously mean more money out of the student’s pocket.

Budget cuts will have to be made and tuition will almost definitely be raised by at least 7% however we need to remind legislators that the education system plays a very important role in the economy. In Washington especially we have a very technically based industry set which ranges from aerospace to software development to agriculture. We need to maintain expertise in these areas even in a record 8.6 billion dollar deficit. A well educated populace is the key to getting out this financial hole.