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Your statement that I know nothing about the military and/or foreign policy couldn't be more wrong. I've done many papers in college, admittedly 15 years ago, on such issues and I've never stopped paying close attention. Plus, I'm a veteran so don't even try to go there.
It's not necessarily the threat of the Islamofascists that I'm worried about. It's the inevitable conflict with China over resources and influence in Southeast Asia that concerns me. For anyone to think that we can drop our guard now is foolish in the extreme.
What is the primary function of the US government? Of course. It is national security. But as things stand now, most of the budget goes towards entitlement programs and if that fool Obama gets elected, it's only going to get worse.
Been a Vet doesn't mean you know more about budget and military issues than anyone else or me. Most of the time military wastes money of equipment that we don't need or doesn't work as it should. A lot of former military vets(now in congress like hagel, Mccain and kerry) were wrong on this Iraq war. A lot of military offices were wrong on their view of tough battle during first gulf war were wrong, while scholars predicted a easy victory based on facts. Of course, we should talk about facts and see if you are right or me.
You mention China and I agree that we are going to have conflict with china in the future but doesn't mean that we should waste billions of dollar on military equipment. We can continue to do reseach on military equipment and take the rest of that money to reduce our debt and then income tax. Dependence on chinese funding our debt isn't a good idea and neither is this current iraq war. Moreover, Chinese military budget is around $40 to 110 bilion(the most crazy number by neoconservatives), our budget is near $700 billion dollars.
Moreover, you talk about reducing the taxes by fixing entitlement programs. I agree with entitlements are going to cause problem but you make the same as as fred thompson and other republican do. Our current deficit and future deficit(at least until 2020) has nothing to do with our entitlments.
Consider these facts;
a) Entitlments have their own reveune sources.
b) Entitlment reveunes sources have been used to fund non-entitlment budget but never the other way around.
c) Reducing entitlment future liability and current cost will have no impact on FEDERAL INCOME TAX and reducing entitlment won't reduce our current deficit. Social securit taxes fund social security, medicare tax funds medicare. Income tax funds everything else and almost 70% of the federal income tax goes to military.
d) Yes, goverment primary job is to fund military but there is a difference between using money to protect U.S versus wasting money on useless projects or on stupid wars that don't make us safe. Military can't have unlimited amount of money during peace time.
Last edited by jessica1000; 05-30-2008 at 01:04 AM..
No, it's not an insult. It was a general comment to any person who thought along the lines I described, which were an exaggeration of the extremism suggested by the OP. Stupid is not an insult when it describes something that is illogical. "Loony", "kooky" and "naive" are insults when there's no substance behind them. The OP and I have made up anyway.
But to address the pacifism I feel... I know human beings are aggressive creatures, perhaps too much so. All this aggression is rooted in fear. I just don't see how a parabolic dependence on weaponry actually results in safety. If your enemy stood before you naked without a weapon would you kill him? Can people not see themselves in their enemies? How much damage do we need to create, to witness, and ultimately, to experience before we realize this method is counterproductive? I assert that I have no enemies. That is my right and I create no enemies wherever I go. If someone thinks I am their enemy, that's their thinking and doing, not mine. Why do I need to give their foolishness any of my time and energy? This is a tough issue that humanity must resolve quickly. There is no solution when both sides are always wrong.
This is a perfect example of the leftist thinking. And this is what Obama panders to when he says he wants to "talk" to our enemies.
May I ask the poster to think about the common schoolyard bully. This kid will pick on little, timid kids and be happy to continue this bad behavior.
....Until a bigger or braver kid punches him in the nose and tells him to leave the little kids alone or he is going to get a REAL beating.
I'm sure you don't see that the world is the schoolyard and there are real bullies out there that need to be punched in the nose and threatened...but this is indeed how the world operates. It's simple but true.
And, I disagree with your assertion that all aggression is rooted in fear. I believe in good and evil. Hitler's aggression was rooted in evil not fear.
If you don't believe in evil you will always think you can "talk" to everybody.
If I was there, I definitely would. And then I would proceed to demolish any argument that they could formulate to support voting for that socialist nitwit.
Did you even watch that video? Obama would happily disarm this nation as he tries to implement his insane "progressive" agenda. He would set this nation back 20 years with his leftist stupidity.
LOL.
Yeah, I watched it. I watched someone who doesn't want any more nukes that will kill us all.... like me. I watched someone who is the complete opposite of Dubya.
It doesn't matter if we have a trillion warheads.... it won't make the country any safer. That was proven on 9/11.... ANYTHING CAN AND WILL HAPPEN. The only thing you can do is hope for the best, not tell the world, "We can blow you up anytime we want." What would that make us look like?
Look, I don't care if your a hardcore McCain or Hillary supporter who's trying to scare everyone into not voting for Obama. It's the internet, where your safe from having to confront a young, pissed off Obama supporter who's tired of hearing, the same thing from Republicans and Obama haters. You can't say who will be a good president for certain.... just look at Bush.
Well... sarcasm, if witty and relevant, is pretty effective. The dems on this board seem to have trouble with the witty aspect. Painful to read.
And as far as relevant...it's usually not terribly.
The dems should stick to arguing facts and logic. Oooops. Guess they don't do that very well either.
As a Real American my ideal wittiest American is Ann Coulter, however it is difficult for me to live up to her legacy since I only post earnest pro-America propaganda, which I feel is my best way to be patriotic. If I were really witty I could say something funny and true that would make my heroine proud like "Obama may not be a Muslim but just like Muslims he secretly wants to bring down America," or "We should send the libs to Guantanamo and torture them to un-brainwash their liberal media-molded minds," or "What's the difference between public goverment school teachers and the homosexual mafia? Not much, they obviously both want to corrupt and destroy the souls of our children," or "Who cares how many Iraqi 'civillians' die? Hello, it's war, they're all potential terrorists, and the fewer of those the better, plus the liberal media is trumping up the numbers by including women and obviously the Muslims don't consider women to be people so why should the tolerant libs, since they're so tolerant of that culture, or I guess hypocritical liberal 'tolerance' doesn't extend that far" or "Liberals are like cats--they're both spoiled, tiny-brained ******* who need to be put down when they get too out of line," but unfortunately I am not in possession of such faculties.
Last edited by fishmonger; 05-30-2008 at 10:13 AM..
Been a Vet doesn't mean you know more about budget and military issues than anyone else or me. Most of the time military wastes money of equipment that we don't need or doesn't work as it should. A lot of former military vets(now in congress like hagel, Mccain and kerry) were wrong on this Iraq war. A lot of military offices were wrong on their view of tough battle during first gulf war were wrong, while scholars predicted a easy victory based on facts. Of course, we should talk about facts and see if you are right or me.
You mention China and I agree that we are going to have conflict with china in the future but doesn't mean that we should waste billions of dollar on military equipment. We can continue to do reseach on military equipment and take the rest of that money to reduce our debt and then income tax. Dependence on chinese funding our debt isn't a good idea and neither is this current iraq war. Moreover, Chinese military budget is around $40 to 110 bilion(the most crazy number by neoconservatives), our budget is near $700 billion dollars.
Moreover, you talk about reducing the taxes by fixing entitlement programs. I agree with entitlements are going to cause problem but you make the same as as fred thompson and other republican do. Our current deficit and future deficit(at least until 2020) has nothing to do with our entitlments.
Consider these facts;
a) Entitlments have their own reveune sources.
b) Entitlment reveunes sources have been used to fund non-entitlment budget but never the other way around.
c) Reducing entitlment future liability and current cost will have no impact on FEDERAL INCOME TAX and reducing entitlment won't reduce our current deficit. Social securit taxes fund social security, medicare tax funds medicare. Income tax funds everything else and almost 70% of the federal income tax goes to military.
d) Yes, goverment primary job is to fund military but there is a difference between using money to protect U.S versus wasting money on useless projects or on stupid wars that don't make us safe. Military can't have unlimited amount of money during peace time.
I appreciate you taking the time to iterate your viewpoint in an organized and non-belligerent manner. However, it doesn't make it any less misguided.
First of all, any estimates of Chinese military spending are incredibly suspect because the PLA is a master of deception, just ask US troops along the Yalu River in 1950 Korea. The Chinese government must be laughing itself silly at the prospect of Obama doing something that they could probably never do themselves, eviscerate the US military. Just typing that idiot's name makes me nauseous.
Secondly, while our military budget may be in the hundreds of billions, it's because we spend a huge portion of it, justifiably, on pay, benefits, and housing for our men and women in uniform. It's not just spent on R&D and weapons procurement. Contrast that with a nation like China that spends a mere pittance on such things and concentrates it's funds almost solely on buying new weapons systems.
The world, if anything, is a more dangerous place now than during the Cold War. At least during the Cold War, everyone knew where they stood. Now, with the insanity of Islamofascism and inevitable conflicts over natural resources, primarily due to the huge and expanding populations of China and India, God knows what may happen. And unilaterally disarming like that jackass Obama wants to do is foolishness of the worst sort.
Finally, you mentioned something about "stupid wars" in one paragraph and then "military can't have unlimited amount of money during peace time"
in your final paragraph. There's a definite and fatal contradiction in your argument We can never let down our guard and making sure that our armed forces stay at current levels of troop strength, at a minimum, and equipped with the latest and greatest weaponry, will actually save American lives in the long run. Peace through strength is a winning strategy that was first popularly espoused by ancient Chinese warrior-philosopher Sun Tzu.
So if you agree with the Master regarding the Art of War, you know this one is a great reminder of far we have strayed from the tacticians advise.
While you point out a fatal contradiction in your prior post, I am interested in your response to the current Administration's severing and crippling of the Military in 2005, as well as the manner in which they doggedly ignored the advice of the strategists when they first presented our forces into the theater.
The World is no more and no less dangerous than it has ever been. The cold war era was as much filled with unknowns as the one in which we live now.
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