Please Attach the Word BOONDOGGLE to the word AFGHANISTAN where people can see please

[EPIC1934]

Im starting to see the word boondoggle a lot. It was a popular word implying pork spending. Was used a lot by Republicans against FDR even though there was remarkably efficient spending in the New Deal.

I am wondering why there are so little articles turning it around on War spending.

In WWII Harry Truman rose to promiance as a critic of wastefull spending for the War Effort. Now Harry was not exactly considered at the left end of his party, but compare him to Hillary Obama INC, todays Corporate Democrats who are to the right of Dick Nixon!

We need to make this comparison-- of the vigilance the Corporate media urges re stimulus spending-- vs the continued free pass to BOONDOGGLE NUMBER S 1 AND 2 Iraq and Afghansitan. It is a teachable moment that we need to Mainstream-- thats a verb folks. Post about it WHERE EVERYONE SEES IN NOT JUST ON LEFT SITES. Otherwise the left will be continued to be niched to death on their internet sites.

Now is the time to point out the lies of the Corporate Media.... not to the choir but to the people still watching it. There has never been a better moment to point out that their storytellers have been liars.

Post on big newspaper sites. Thats where its more dangerous for the liars. Then bridge folks here. For too long the internet has been a refuge. It needs to go on offense.

[MADem]

1. Gee, in the military, a boondoggle was a TAD assignment that involved almost no work.

Sort of like a paid vacation--you were there, on orders, ostensibly, to do work, but in reality you were goofing off and partying. For example, weekend trips to Cubi Point, PI were generally considered to be boondoggles.


This civilian explanation of the word does not convey the full military meaning of the term;
boon·dog·gle (bndôgl, -dgl) Informal
n.
1. An unnecessary or wasteful project or activity.
2.
a. A braided leather cord worn as a decoration especially by Boy Scouts.
b. A cord of braided leather, fabric, or plastic strips made by a child as a project to keep busy.
intr.v. boon·dog·gled, boon·dog·gling, boon·dog·gles
To waste time or money on a boondoggle.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/boondoggle

Afghanistan is not a "boondoggle." Those servicemembers who are there aren't partying, discoing, or going on shopping sprees. They're targets for Taleban bombs.

It's not a good word to use in the context that you wish to use it. If you want to say that the Afghan war is a money pit, say that. It's not a boondoggle, though.

[EPIC1934]

2. re boondoggle

Was not aware of this military use of term. That might well qualify my choice of words

However the more general sense of the term is a pork barrel project meant to bestow favor at public expense, and it was one of the most frequent of ammos used during the New Deal.

We are going to be hearing it a lot, so it is often good to be able to throw the same weapon back.

The term that will be used by the Republicans IS THE CIVILIAN USE OF THE TERM.

[MADem]

3. My point, though, stands. It doesn't do for the military personnel obeying the orders of their

Commander in Chief, President Barack Obama, by deploying to Afghanistan and risking life and limb to be told--by Democrats-- that their deployment is a "boondoggle" along the lines of going to a locale where the booze flows freely and the women are friendly and, er, inexpensive.

It's really a bad word to use in the context of a combat zone. "Pork barrel" or "money pit" or anything else will do. Boondoggle in the context of Afghanistan is just a clunker. Sorry.