What's your opinion? Does that describe it pretty well?Three military adventures, two of which have proven futile and extremely expensive. The loss of blood-treasure is incalculable. Yet, neither the Democrats nor Republicans proposed cuts to the bloated Pentagon budget. One trillion dollars. No cuts. Apparently the citizens of the United States, through their congressional representatives, feel that a strong military is essential to the functioning of this nation. National Public Radio, no; bombs, yes. Odd priorities. School funding, cuts. EPA, Amtrak, National Endowment for the Arts, cuts. Job-training programs, National Institute of Health, Center for Disease Control, cuts.
Is this what the citizens of this nation really want? Do we want cuts to our quality of life, our safety, our health and culture so that we can build more submarines? If so, we are a pathetic people.
Please leave a comment.
Frankly, The facts prove that we can have a competent superior military force and take care of social responsibilities.
ReplyDeleteI've pointed out that each Tomahawk Missel costs $569,000. In this little intervention in Libya, we've fired almost 200 now. Do the math. That's the 'funding" for almost 10 years of NPR in a few hours.
This debate should net be about the present intervention in Libya, no matter if you think it was justified or not. That obscures the base issue which is the control of the Pentagon and the Defense Industry Lobbyists over the Congress and it's effect on the economic priorities of America.
Unfortunately, this discussion on Mudrakes blog was highjacked by the resident Toledo troll.
As I commented at Mudrake's place, the loss of Govt funding wouldn't hurt those NPR shows that conservatives have heartburn with--that programming enjoys full private funding.
ReplyDeleteWhere the loss of Govt funding hurts is in rural areas where they would lose stations and programming that emphasizes training and education and shows of local interest such as farm reports. Those would go bye-bye.
National Public Radio, school funding, cuts. EPA, Amtrak, National Endowment for the Arts, cuts. Job-training programs, National Institute of Health, Center for Disease Control, Planned Parenthood,cuts.
ReplyDeleteI would like to add ATF cuts.
Congressional staff cuts.
Dump the Executive branches Czars, cut.
But I would not have gone into Libya.
Ahh, but that's another one of Baldricks clever plans!
ReplyDeleteLet Fox and Clear Radio put all info on auto pilot...Rush and his buds on 24 hours a day.
When I was young in Detroit, the radio was my gateway to the world. I built crystal radios, I had shortwaves...I could tune into alien civilizations, like Nashville Grand Ole' Opry or the Great Chicago Blues Stations of the early 60's. I also was addicted to the CBC...Canadian Radio....
Too bad about the BBC, I used to listen to the World Service, but now it also is getting defunded and is on auto pilot...Soon, the only way I will be able to hear broadcast for Europe is if I go out and invvest in a digital radio...or restrict my radio time to the internet....
That's another issue altogether...in America, soon your internet usage will be severely restricted by the major servers...
More info access denied...
Dannythegunzman:
ReplyDeleteWhy stop at the ATF? Let's defund everything. No public anything, all private. It will make it so much easier to sort the haves and havenots. Of course that might lead to civil war, a usually quite messy business--oh, that's right, your side already lost one of those, my bad.
I wish we would drastically cut the military budget. Close all of our foreign bases, and bring all of our ground troops home from any foreign countries. We do not need the ability to invade another country. There is no need for tanks, armored vehicles, and other traditional Army type equipment. America should not be in the business of invading countries and trying to occupy land. We should maintain a strong Navy and Airforce and let countries know that any attack against us or our Allies will result in large scale bombardment from us.
ReplyDeleteThat said, Libya did not attack us, so we should have staid out of it.
Also, even if you completely defund the military, it would not solve our current budget issues, so other programs are still going to be cut and should be cut.
"Also, even if you completely defund the military, it would not solve our current budget issues, so other programs are still going to be cut and should be cut.
ReplyDeleteMarch 21, 2011 4:16 PM"
You are truly delusional.
Depending on how the math is done, the U.S. Military budget is somewhere between $.5T & $.7T for 2010.
Here's another clue for the clueless. Bombs alone will not win any war--unless they're nukes.
I agree with Jim and Dannytheman.
ReplyDeleteIf this keeps up, maybe we'll soon be agreeing on the gun issues too.
I doubt it, but it is comforting to note that we can agree on some things.
Demo - the budget deficit for 2010 was something like $1.29 Trillion. That is more than the Defense budget.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I am all for a drastic cut in our defense spending. The point would not be to "win" a war, it would be to kill the leader that decided to start the war in the first place. If everyone understood that starting a war would lead to their immediate death, then I would expect alot fewer wars would be started. Again, I see no need for us to be able to invade another country with ground forces, why would we want to be in the position we are in now with Iraq and Afghanistan?