Copy Link
Add to Bookmark
Report
Politics Online Magazine Volume 1 Number 2
/#######################################################################\
| |
| P o l i t i c s O n l i n e M a g a z i n e |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| Volume 1, Number 2 |
| |
| Head Editors ..................................... David Killoren |
| ..................................... Josh Renaud |
| |
| Contributing Editor/Consultant ................... Mark Waelterman |
| |
| Columnists ....................................... J. Thomas Martell|
| ....................................... |
| |
| Contributing Writers ............................. Shai Sachs |
| ............................. Gary Brown |
| ............................. Shawn Hayes |
| ............................. Joe Antonucci |
| |
| Publisher .............................. GrossWorld Publishing Co. |
| |
\#######################################################################/
/#######################################################################\
| |
| P o l i t i c s O n l i n e M a g a z i n e |
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
| Table of Contents |
| |
| |
| Introduction to Politics Online Magazine |
| Family Values .................................... Josh Renaud |
| The New Political Landscape ...................... Joe Antonucci |
| Spreading the Military ........................... Joe Antonucci |
| |
\#######################################################################/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Introduction |
\==============/
Welcome back! This is the December issue of Politics Online Magazine! Yes,
this is our second edition, and we are glad to get it out! Though we are still
a little writer-deficient, we are managing. We were glad to see some of you
taking advantage of out Reader's Write. Many of you contacted us and gave us
kind comments and offered suggestions. We do consider all of them carefully.
For further information on the Reader's Write, skip to the end of this issue.
In further news: The Republicans swept the Congress away in the 1994
elections. We've got several articles relating to that issue.
That's about it for this month. Just remember, wherever you found THIS copy
of POM, rest assured, there will be another next month (Or should I say next
year?). Have safe and happy Holidays!
... The Editors ...
%************************************************************************%
+============+
|Rap City BBS|
+============+
Sysop: Dr. Dre
Co-Sysop: Quarth
SOLARnet @1 (NC) | WWIVlink @13495 (314)963-7960
WWIVnet @2132 | TerraNET @3450 (AC) WWIV v4.23 - Heavily Modified
IceNET @3454 | EliteNET @3451 (AC) Since April 8, 1992
=============ASSnet @1004================ 213 Megs/Over 150 Message Bases
%************************************************************************%
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Family Values Update |
| |
| Josh Renaud |
\======================/
Family values. I'm sure you've heard that term countless times before.
You're probably tired of hearing the same old "our familes are breaking down.
What can we do?" articles. Well, in case you were wondering, this isn't one of
those.
The Republicans now control Congress, plus they have the majority of the
governorships. How will this affect the family? Positively, I hope. The
Republicans are notorious for their support of the family. Remember Dan Quayle
and Murphy Brown? I'm sure you probably do. They have already promised to get
prayer back into schools. How does this affect the family? In several ways: 1)
Over the past few years, religious activity (all religions) has been on the
delcine. Humanism has been on the rise, along with substance abuse and high
school dropouts. Because religion of all types has been taken out of school,
children (who spend most of their time in school anyway) are having less of a
religious background. Because of this, religion at home is weakening, and this
eventually weakens the family unit.
Another point: The Republicans are going to be changing the crime bill. How
does this affect the family? Inner city gangs would be the number one answer.
Although most kids aren't part of these gangs, every school has cliques and
little groups. Every school has one group notorious for it's roughness, their
stealing, cheating, et cetera, et cetera. The updates to the crime bill will
hopefully begin solving the problems of crime, taking away the fear, and making
kids turn from gangs back to their families.
What about abortion and other services like that? Abortion is a very
controversial topic. Families are split apart by both of the arguments
concerning it. Take the girl who gets pregnant and doesn't want her familt to
know. She has an abortion, then her family gets mad at her. Or what about the
family that tries to support a pregnant teen. The teen wants an abortion, but
the family wants the babyto go to adoption. Fights ensue. What can the
Republicans do to remedy these problems?
Nobody knows the answers yet. Hopefully voluntary prayer will be put back
into schools. Hopefully scientific creationism will be taught as a theory along
side evolution. Hopefully crime will begin to break down. And hopefully answers
will be found to the pressing health care issues. Everything affects the
family. TV and movie violence and sex, gangs, peers, all those sort of things.
Answers must be found before it's too late. Do you and your family a favor.
Write or call your Congressmen and tell them what YOU believe. That is the only
TRUE way to make a difference.
%*************************************************************************%
/\/ Flash BBS /\/
-= Running on an Atari ST with FoReM ST software =-
Over 45 subboards on the Xnet and CrossNet, with nodes ranging all
over America! 15 online games, like Space Trade Elite, Space Empire,
Football Pool, and Assassin. Megs and Megs of files for your
downloading pleasure!
[314] 275-2040
14.4 USR modem
%**************************************************************************%
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| The New Political Landscape |
| |
| Joe Antonucci |
\===============================/
With a flip of a switch, the voting populace changed the workings of the
American political machine, from one of Democratic supremacy to a more
conservative base, by engaging the cams of Republican directions.
For the first time, in 8 years the GOP now has a senate majority. For the
first time since 1954, they have taken control of the House majority. And for
the first time since 1970 do they hold a majority of state gubernatorial
positions. The Republican party, having always had a stronghold in the midwest
now found itself strengthening it's foothold, on what were once predominantly
liberal Democratic regions. Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, and the
southern states offered up little or no resistsance to the changing of the
guard.
This change of political demography offers many scenarios to the balance of
the present administrations agendas. The president may focus more attention to
foreign affaiars, as a retaliation to congressional friction on domestic
issues. Foreign policy, offering less of a congressional overstructure, would
still not be without it's conflicts or obstructions, whereas in concerning
countries with blue chip interests,( i.e. Iraq, Israel, etal), he will find
little or no contention. He may be faced with a certain degree of resistance
to "nation building" on purely humanitarian interests. New Senate Foreign
Relations Commitee Chairman Jesse Helms ([R] N. Carolina) has already expressed
his mistrust with this administrations handling of foreign affairs, and is
reassessing the outlook of future programs in this issue as well as the whole
of it's programs. The Serbian peace treaty, should there be one, may find no
U.S. troop involvement to enforce the ratifications and agreements to their
desired conclusions.
The domestic policy of the coming years, as with foreign policy, will find
many conflicts of interest, stemming from taxation, and health care on through
to welfare and gun control, with some of the programs enacted by the former
Democratic congress actually being reversed or ammended to. Governmental
downsizing may offer the biggest stumbling block to the health reform act, as
will the reviewing of the newly emplaced tax rates, such as sin taxes and this
administrations tax hike of 1992. Gun control once again will take a front seat
in both house and senate hearings, with new ammendmants to the Crime Bill
actually nullifying or reversing some of it's underlying constraints and a
possible reassessment of the second ammendmant resulting in
unconstitutionalizing many of the restrictions enacted since 1954.
The changing profile of the political landscape leaves many questions to be
seen answered. For instance, how will foriegn policy hold up under world wide
scrutiny, could it cause worldwide ramifications? How many of the previous
programs will be challenged or reversed? Can the new Republican congress not
only hold their current footing but add to their foundation on a more
overwhelming scale come the 1996 elections ? The next two years will hold many
answers and many changes, and although with change comes hope, there also comes
learned uncertainty. The only course that remains for us, is vigilance, and
although with change comes hope, there also comes learned uncertainty. We will
see what happens.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Spreading the Military |
| Joe Antonucci |
\=========================/
Over the last few years, extensive budget cuts, accompanied by increased
responsibilities, have put a great strain on the workings of the U.S. Armed
Forces. In September of 1994, the first year of the Clinton budget, the
United States Military ran out of money. Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. William
Owens says that despite the budget cuts, "We've gotten better since 1991
and can get even better with surveillance and smart technologies to offset
manpower losses.", however if you look at the areas that the cuts have hit the
hardest you will notice that the R and D, and Procurement budgets just can't
allow for the amount of aquisitions that would offset such losses.
Clinton budget cuts 1994
budget area.............%cut...precut...post cut
maint. and operations .. 10% 103 blln. 92.9
Personell ...... 23% 91.2 70.5
Procurement .. 54% 93.7 43.3
Research and Develop. .. 14% 42.1 36.2
other .. +1% 9.21 9.29
TROOP DEPLOYMENT AND MORALE
While the cuts affected the area of procurement hardest monaterally, the
affect upon personell cuts has had a harder impact upon morale and deployment
capabilities. The swapping and shifting of troops has caused fatigue and
disorientation among the service men and women.
This shifting has meant less hometime for our troops, and as this has
a direct influence on the reenlistment rate of a volunteer military we can
expect less reenlistment of veteran personell and more new recruitment.
That means more training and less experience, for a smaller force.
The 10th mountain divis.,currently in Haiti barely had enough time to change
their gear,(from the desert camoflauge they used in Somalia to the greens
they are using now), before they were redeployed to aid the Haitian conflict.
Many of the troops now deployed in the Persian Gulf were taken with little
or no leave from the Bosnian Herzgovenian conflict.
Troop Deployment as of Oct. 1994
Hemisphere Troop deployment
under 3000 over 3000
Western (exc. U.S.) 1000 trps 5 countries Guantanamo Bay 7,700
Panama 10,400
Eastern (exc.europe) 8100 9 Persian Gulf 40,000
Japan 45,000
S.Korea 36,900
Europe 6000 7 Germany 102,000
Italy 12,700
Spain 3,100
Turkey 4,700
U.K. 14,700
READINESS VS. SIZING DOWN
In the United States, American troops are used in various forms other than
their major role of defense, some are implemented as drug enforcement units
assisting the DEA, while others are operating in more domesticated purposes,
such as fighting the forest fires in Idaho, and California to checking the
borders for illegal immigration. Worldwide our country men are in over
100 nations in the capacity of military trainers, or as peacekeeping forces.
In Haiti and the Sanai desert they are involved in"nation building", in
Rawanda they're part of the humanitarian relief force,and they are currently
overseeing the peace talks in the middle east. Now as these may be generally
safe areas of utilization, some of the forces are deployed as deterrants
against at least two heavily armored armies, one being North Korea,
the other Iraq, both being potentially viable situations. When asked about
the problems of facing two areas of potential conflict,
Chmn. J.C.o.S. Gen. John Shalikashili said, "although we are stretched we are
not stretched too thin. We are better, in command control and communications,
than we were in desert storm, and can handle the situations in N.Korea
and Iraq without much difficulty," but he added, "any more cuts to the budget
could cause significant shortfalls".
Now while Shalikashili's answer tends to put us at ease Gen. Sullivan's
comments seem to be a little less comforting when he states,"smaller is not
better..better is better...at some point, when you cut enough back, we just
get smaller and ineffective". Though we are still the strongest fighting
force in the world, the role as super cop coupled with extensive cuts
to the budget, seem to be fatiguing the beams, and without the money in
r and d and procurements, then expanding the high tech to compensate for
personnel loses and increased usage does not calculate to a winning
proposition.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Editorial and Writing Staff here at Politics Online Magazine wish you
and yours a very merry Christmas. Thanks for downloading this copy of POM, and
stay tuned for our first issue of 1995! Have safe and happy holidays...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Reaching Politics Online Magazine |
| |
\=====================================/
To write a letter to the writers at POM, send us a Reader's Write letter,
or just to make comments or suggestions, please call the following BBSes and
EMail the Contact listed.
If you are interested in becoming a writer or an advertiser in POM, use the
Flash BBS instructions.
In Area Code 314
Rap City BBS ........ (314)963-7960
Contact: Captain Kirk
House of Texaco ..... (314)963-9374
Contact: Captain Kirk
Flash BBS ........... (314)275-2040
Contact: Josh Renaud
%************************************************************************%
