My first blog entry!

For those of you visting my blog for the first time, thank you! I hope this will be a good experience for you and you may even learn something too...:)

As background, I am in the US military, but the views here are strictly my own, and in no way reflect the opinions of the branch of the armed forces I am in (this is commonly known as the "disclaimer" statement..:)

I've served for almost 10 years now, and of course, I am committed to my commander and chief, and his direction (or his subordinates) for the military. However, I do want to dispel one myth right now: We are NOT rich!LOL For those who think our health care is one of a kind, I've got news: DoD is looking to eliminate base hospitals (ref: Current News Early Bird Article, week of 25-29 April 2005). This would not only cause a huge inconvenience to military families, but also the booming number of military retirees, all fighting for the same service. It is amazing how hard it is to get a routine appointment, let alone to see a specialist.

I will admit, however, I do have a uncommon heart condition for someone my age (I'm 28), and the military has provided all my care and medicine for free. If I was in a poor income category, with the Medicaid program in most states being cut or eliminated all together, I would be in serious trouble. I'm not shocked at all by politicians who ignore a problem until it becomes totally beneficial for them and/or their party to step in and do something to garner them votes/money. What ever happened to the days of Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson, when it was about the country?

I'll sum up my Social Security take in one sentence:

If you are relying on that for your retirement, you are a fool and need to start saving NOW.

More politics tomorrow, now on to my random sports rumblings...

The Top Story: Isn't Baseball commish Bud Selig sipping on too much of the Kool Aid? He comes out to say that MLB's steriod policy "is a success in only the first few months of the baseball season.

His catches? A major leaguer with the 3rd worst all-time HR/AB ratio (you expect pitchers of course, but an outfielder??), and 2 minor leaguers who had no chance to make the majors anyway.

Bring me Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, or another big name player, and then start talking about your program being a success. I didn't hear him saying anything during the 1998-99 season when McGuire and Sosa hit over 130 home runs between them and raised baseball from the dead. Or when Barry Bonds hit 73 and then said that the "clear" stuff he put on his arms was "flaxseed oil".

That's like saying that you drank beer when you had a bottle of Jack Daniels.

And since this is my first blog, I should state I am a huge Pittsburgh sports fans (Pirates, Steelers and that other team...did they play hockey or something?)

Needless to say, if the Pirates were all I had, I would have been in the AF mental health ward.LOL I swear, if not for the Atlanta Hawks and Arizona Cardinals, the Pirates would be the worst run professional franchise PERIOD. This is a franchise that tried to keep their fans from bringing bottled water AFTER they lost 100 games in the first year of PNC Park. And for you non-Pirate (or baseball fans) here are some other noteable items the Pirates are known for:

1. Randall Simon and "sausagegate"...since he couldn't hit a curve ball he hit something that you would grill up at a barbecue. Needless to say, that was the end of his brief stint with the Pirates (never mind he was overweight and couldn't play the position...

2. Barry Bonds (PRE-steroids) unable to throw out the slowest man in the Major Leagues, Sid Bream, to prevent the Braves from advancing to the World Series. (for those who defend Bonds, hold up a pic of him in 1992 and 2003 and you tell me...

3. Signing Raul Mondesi, who then proceeded to "quit" and take the 1M the Pirates gave him along too.

4. "Operation Shutdown" Derek Bell, Pat Meares and giving Jason Kendall over 50 Mil. No, the Pirates don't have a farm system, if you were wondering.

Well, that's it for today's blog. More sports and politics tomorrow!

J.C.300