Eisenhower, the last honest Republican, called it very clearly

[RaulVB]

He saw the future and had the decency to speak up:

"A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.

Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."

A vision of the present, indeed.

[ailsagirl]

1. Chilling words and so prophetic

[Must_B_Free]

2. Say Ta

Eisenhower saw the thing
oh
oh
He said this is sickening
oh
I swear I saw the very thing
oh
I saw it in America

Let's play safe
I never knew how
How to play safe
You told me how
How to play safe
A thousand times

I don't believe in fairies any more

Today I saw a very very thing
But that's another song
You're too simple minded
Let's play it safe

What do we have in common?
(it was a real thing)
Play it safe

What do we have in common?
Play it safe
I'll tell you something safe

I want to be a criminal
Play it safe
Oh I wanna be a criminal

I want to be a criminal
Play it safe
well it's that real thing inside a criminal mind

What do we have in common?
Play it safe
that keeps me goin' all the time

What do we have in common?
Play it safe
that very very thing I find so sublime

I want to be a criminal
Play it safe
and I wanna know

I wanna know

I want to be a criminal
Play it safe
and I wanna know

I wanna know
I wanna know

What do we have in common?
Play it safe
rockin' and reelin' like Al Capone

What do we have in common?
(slippin' and slidin' like Joey Gallo)
and I wanna know

I wanna be a criminal
(movin' and groovin' with a Son of Sam)
Play it safe

I wanna be a criminal
(splish splash I was Jim Jones)
Play it safe

Iggy Pop / David Bowie

[Doc_Technical]

3. If Ike was around today, the MSP would....

..be calling him a flaming liberal.

[Karenina]

4. Kick!

:kick:

January 17, 1961

http://www.eisenhower.utexas.edu/farewell.htm

[Vidar]

5. Amen. I remember Ike fondly.

[The Stranger]

6. "A republic, if you can keep it."

[MadHound]

7. I've always been puzzled about this speech of his,

I honestly think that it was more of an apology than anything else. Ike was heavily involved with starting the US Cold War military build up(for more info on this, read "Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA, and the Hidden Story of America's Space Espionage" by Phillip Taubman<http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookSearch/isbnInquiry.asp?sourceid=00412886786232448008&ISBN=0684856999&bfdate=12-14-2004+10:28:22&popup=0>), and I don't think that he realized the dangers of what he had unleashed until it was too late. Having let the genie out of the bottle, and a bad case of buyer's regret, I think that Ike was both apoligizing to the nation and trying to warn us. Sad to say though, no body took heed at the time, or since.

To call Ike honest is streching the truth to the breaking point. Though he hid it behind an amicable veneer, Ike was just as political, dishonest and ruthless as any other politician. You have to look no further than his record of foreign intervention to discern that.

[tinanator]

8. so why did he edit his famous line?

military-intelligence-industrial complex?