Panetta and the question of military retirement
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on August 30th, 2011 4:35 am by HL
Panetta and the question of military retirement
Less than two months on the job and Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has put his foot on a Pentagon third-rail issue by saying he is willing to look at reform of the 100-year-old military retirement system to save money.
A recent example: The first question to Panetta after a recent general talk at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., was from an officer in the business school. The officer referred to the threatened $600 billion in national security reductions and then asked, “Many of us have seen the Defense Business Board’s recommendation for retirement, what is your stance on the military’s retirement, sir?”
‘In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir’ by Dick Cheney
If this book were read by an intelligent person who spent the past 10 years on, say, Mars, she would have no idea that Dick Cheney was the vice president in one of the most hapless American administrations of modern times. There are hints, to be sure, that things did not always go swimmingly under President George W. Bush and Cheney, but these are surrounded by triumphalist accounts of events that many readers — and future historians — are unlikely to consider triumphs.
This is not surprising. The genre of statesman’s memoir rarely produces self-criticism, or even much candor. Apparently, the point is to redeem your large advance from the publisher with a brisk, self-complimenting account of your life and times, with emphasis on your moment in the limelight. There should, of course, be a dash of “news” and a few frank passages about your true feelings — about others, not yourself.
Hoyer: Stronger oversight of defense spending needed
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Monday that the country needs to strengthen its oversight of defense spending to prevent federal dollars from going to waste.
His comments came in response to a Washington Post op-ed by the co-chairs of the federal Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Report offers lessons on government reorganizations
The cover of a report about key government reorganizations in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks shows busy bees working in a hive.
It’s a curious pick for the cover because the hive represents what the new agencies were not — well-organized.
The report’s title, “Securing the Future,” clearly represents what the bees are doing. But the subtitle, “Management Lessons of 9/11,” more accurately represents what government leaders involved in reorganizations should do — learn from the many problems encountered when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) got started.
Perry and Bachmann have made conflicting statements on gay marriage
The tea party has backed Republicans into a corner when it comes to states’ rights and gay marriage.
The clash is between two converging branches of the conservative movement: the social conservatives who wants to outlaw gay marriage at all costs, and the newly in vogue brand of tea party federalists holding that, regardless of how you feel about the controversial issue, it’s a matter for the states.
Already, 2012 presidential contenders and tea-party favorites Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) have essentially taken both sides – supporting the idea that states should have the right to decide the issue but also backing a federal amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. That amendment, of course, would effectively take the issue out of the states’ hands, so it’s hard to marry (no pun intended) the two positions.
