Health Care-Social Programs? NOPE: A Blank Check for the Pentagon

[democratus]

It's worth noting, however, that they're not angry about everything -- and that the Washington clock, barely moving on a wide range of issues, is still ticking away when it comes to one institution. The good citizens of Massachusetts may be against free rides and bailouts for many types, but not for everybody. I'm speaking, of course, about the Pentagon, for which Congress has just passed a record new budget of $708 billion (with an Afghan war-fighting supplemental request of $33 billion, essentially a bail-out payment, still pending but sure to pass). This happened without real debate, much public notice, or even a touch of anger in Washington or Massachusetts. And keep in mind that the Pentagon's real budget is undoubtedly close to a trillion dollars, without even including the full panoply of our national security state.

The tea-party crews don't rail against Pentagon giveaways, nor do Massachusetts voters grumble about them. Unfettered Pentagon budgets pass in the tick-tock of a Washington clock and no one seems fazed when the Wall Street Journal reveals that military aides accompanying globe-hopping parties of congressional representatives regularly spend thousands of taxpayer dollars on snacks, drinks, and other "amenities" for them, even while, like some K Street lobbying outfit, promoting their newest weaponry. Think of it, in financial terms, as Pentagon peanuts shelled out for actual peanuts, and no one gives a damn.

It's hardly considered news -- and certainly nothing to get angry about -- when the Secretary of Defense meets privately with the nation's top military-industrial contractors, calls for an even "closer partnership," and pledges to further their mutual interests by working "with the White House to secure steady growth in the Pentagon's budgets over time." Nor does it cause a stir among the denizens of inside-the-Beltway Washington or the citizens of Massachusetts when the top ten defense contractors spend more than $27 million lobbying the federal government, as in the last quarter of 2009 (a significant increase over the previous quarter), just as plans for the president's Afghan War surge were being prepared.

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http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/23738

[SlingBlade]

1. Change You Can Believe In :)

[cliffordu]

3. You kids working a tag team tonight??

Still getting more irrelevant by the minute.

Didja see the polls concerning the Democratic Base??

[NYC_SKP]

16. .

checkitout:

Reply 14 to my reply 12 is written as if by the op, as if they are one in the same person.

tag team fersure.

:tinfoilhat:

no, nothing exotic in my coffee or donut. :donut:

[JeffR]

2. Aren't you the busy little bee?

My, my, my...

[cliffordu]

4. Yep - that one and his echo are all abuzz this eve, eh??

Howeareya, JeffR??

How's NG???

[JeffR]

5. Just happened to notice this one. Interesting.

OK here, thanks.

And she's good. Sparing herself the spectacle hereabouts.

[cliffordu]

7. She always has been a lot smarter than me.

Tell her I sez howdy from the wasteland.

[JeffR]

8. Done.

And thanks.

[democratus]

9. So you are for warfare

and against healthcare? Don't know what you are saying. If it's some inside thing I apologize but I've always been in favor of social programs. How about you?

[JeffR]

10. The only war I support is against the people who are trying

to destroy this site, actually.

[democratus]

13. So you don't

support the war against the Iraqi people, against the Afghani people and against the working class american people?

Tell me more about what you are doing to protest these wars which I assume you are against?

Hopefully an internt forum is not the sole or even primary focus of your efforts. There is real life.

[SlingBlade]

6. Reality Sucks Doesn't It ?

[Foo Fighter]

11. Have you ever noticed that when they state the figure for the Defense

budget, for instance, it's the expenditure for one year. But if it's a social program, they state the figure for 10 years. The Medicare Part D is a prime example. It was reported on the news as costing 400 billion dollars over 10 years. People don't hear the "over 10 years" part. What registers is 400 billion. Can you imagine if they had to state the Defense budget in the same way? It wouldn't stand.

Now I realize they are different things and thus budgeted differently. One is an "entitlement" and the other is, well, WAY WAY WAY more than any other country spends on defense. By a long shot. By stating the budgets for the different programs in different terms, they are misleading the public as to the actual cost. And that needs to stop.

[truedelphi]

15. Ah but the Powers that Be find the ploy effective,

so I doubt it will stop

[Foo Fighter]

17. You're definitely right.

It's just one of the many ways they deceive us but since it achieves the desired effect, they will never stop using it. But hey, I can dream, can't I. ;)

I just wish more people paid attention to things like this. Or, better yet, that we had an actual news media that would point out things like this. IOW, when they report on the passing of the Defense budget, state the annual cost AND the 10-year cost, like they do for "entitlement" programs.

[truedelphi]

18. Something I noticed the other night, when

Attempting to watch something/anything other than the State of The Union. (I did try to watch it, but the part about Nukes providing safe power and coal being so nice and clean was too much too take.)

So I turn to the old movie channel, and every single movie there was from early to mid fifties and had titles like "My neighbor - the Commie under the bed" or "My FBI nightmare" about G men that were all Commies.

I think they were trying to let people reflect on some type of parallel between our current President and Communism. How they arrive at that thinking, Dog only knows, but it was pretty horrid.

[Foo Fighter]

19. Interesting observation regarding the movies.

Gee, I guess that means Obama will have to move to the right to counter-act the impression that he's a Commie. (I didn't add the sarcasm tag because, sadly, I'm not really sure if it's sarcasm or just a description of what will actually happen.)

BTW, I didn't even attempt to watch the SOTU. I knew I would last about 3 nanoseconds so I didn't even bother.

[NYC_SKP]

12. Boy, that Outstanding State of the Union Address Really Pissed you Right Off, Didn't It???

:rofl:

[SlingBlade]

14. I actually Loved It ....

Brought a Tear to me eye, But Then....All of a Sudden..Reality set in.

Yep,It happened about the time they centered the camera on Lieberman's ugly head
which also happened to be about the time Obama started talking like a reborn Corporate Clintonite

Like I said, Words are cheap and Reality Sucks, Deal with it !:nopity: