posted February 04, 2010 12:38 PM         

per soldier

To fan the flames
of Anti-American sentiment
in the Middle East.

It's always enlightening to consider
how your tax dollars are being spent,
and who your real enemy should be.

Some interesting thoughts
from our fellow Americans here:

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Excuse me for asking this, but I don't understand:

In 2008, according to the IRS, the U.S. government spent $596 billion on war and the military. That's for wars in Iraq & Afghanistan plus regular military budget.

How much money is that? It’s almost $2,000 from every living person in the U.S. – whether they’re one minute old or 100 years old – every year. It is a stack of $100 bills that towers 470 miles high (756 kilometers).

According to people who study this stuff, the U.S. accounts for more than 40% of the world's total military spending. At number one on the military-spending list, it spends more than the next 40+ countries that fall behind it on the list, all put together.

For that kind of money we should have a huge, invincible military that can conquer the world without even breaking a sweat. Yet they cannot defeat enemies who use home-made bombs made from $25 of recycled junk. We hear from the Pentagon that it does not have enough troops to do the jobs that misters Bush and Cheney sent it to do.

Why not? Where is all that money going? If someone is stealing it or wasting it during war-time, when our troops are being shot at and blown up, isn’t that treason? What’s the punishment for that?

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As people's homes are taken from them while bombs drop on others, as the materialism of corporations robs people of their jobs and their savings.
We must link the urgent call to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the call to help solve the current economic crisis by dramatically cutting military spending and instead investing in our communities. To some this link is clear, but to others it must be made more visible.
Comparing the $700 billion bailout to the $700 billion Pentagon budget,by fueling corporate profits, jobs, and private-sector growth for two generations with massive over-investment in the military, has the United States gutted the real worth of its economy?
One needn't be an economist to know that spending money on warplanes, missiles, and exotic weapons systems, not to mention combat operations, creates far less social capital than spending on education, bridges, mass transit, new forms of energy? Once exploded, a bomb has no investment return potential.

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The 28 nations that make up NATO include the world’s only military super-power (US) and 6 of the G8-richest nations in the world.

We are fighting against an enemy that has no computers, no jets, no tanks, no spy satellites, no predator drones, no missiles, no body armor, no Oakley sun-glasses, no flag, and no uniforms.

We are fighting that enemy in one of the poorest nations on the planet, with a total population less than the state of California, and where the median age of the nation is 17.6 years old. (Source-CIA World Fact Book)

With the proper commitment to TOTAL victory, this campaign shouldn’t have taken more than a year to accomplish, completely, and all by ourselves.

Right or wrong, good or bad, legal or not; there is no reason in the universe for us to still be fighting.
(Especially on money we keep borrowing from communist China)

On Oct. 7th, the U.S. entered its 9th year of occupation of Afghanistan, equal to the time the U.S. was involved in World War I, World War II and the Korean War combined.

If we are not there to win.....we must be there for some other reason.

Our government just has never told us what THEIR real reason is.

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You hit it on the head. The money is being wasted on $10000 toilet seats and similar gold plated devices. The procurement system is designed not to get the items the military needs on time for a reasonable cost but to make the contractors, the congressmen who receive campaign funds from them rich. In WWII we produced 50,000 tanks in four years, today we can't produce 2000 armored vehicles in the same time. The criminals who run the system have no interest in reducing cost as that would cost them money. Bush fed these criminals for eight years so nothing was every done to actually win the war because then the gravy train would stop. I hope Obama has more sense before throwing money at these crooks while our soldiers die.

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posted February 04, 2010 01:30 PM         

the fact that we borrowed that money from china who now virtually own the US is another tiny problem created by these wars.

it still appears possible that obama is playing chess and check mate may be a ways down the road!! that is the optimistic view of course. presidents don't get elected purely on their own merits, but largely due to who will invest in them, and the recent supreme court ruling on the rights of corporations...well!

the fact that it has EVER BEEN THIS WAY does not make it right, but it does make it hard to imagine how or if it can be changed. thru the ancient civilizations to feudal europe, and ever since, the military has been governments first priority! the better to secure your future, my dear!

posted February 04, 2010 07:33 PM         

but once you have a lethal body in place that does not want to be euthanized, how do you stop them just taking over when you try to dismantle them? it's a delicate task and while i agree with you i think it takes more than knowledge to reverse the situation.

some really good plans are needed...and who has them?

posted February 08, 2010 02:09 PM         

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while i agree with you i think it takes more than knowledge to reverse the situation.

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Me too. As I've repeated countless times, the first step is never enough. But it is crucial. Unfortuneately, most people are still in the process of intellectually grasping these things, so, the first step, -- intellectual awareness, breaking down prejudices and culturally imprinted values and ideas which inhibit the understanding of partnership principles, etc. -- all of this, is still very necessary. We all have our strengths, and my strength is that I can persuasively and forcefully convey the foundational ideas of this "new" paradigm, even in the face of tremendous opposition from people who are not uranian, neptunian, or plutonian enough to receive it. I welcome the contraversy, and I make elaborate explainations to individuals who would otherwise take no interest whatsoever in this subject matter. Anyone active in this capacity deserves respect, whether they are working in the foundational realm of ideas, or with institutions. The point isnt to get them (or me) to be more active in a worldy sense, but, to appreciate the fact that they (or I) do contribute to the cause, while so many others do not; -- indeed, while so many others, so proud of their more active and earthly dispositions, are using those gifts they have to place stumbling blocks in the way of true progress. Something to think about.

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some really good plans are needed...and who has them?

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I'm glad you asked.

And glad I got you to ask.

posted February 08, 2010 04:25 PM         

but the other one is - when this is accomplished, what will the pioneers - you, for instance - do with themselves??

as i said on the other side, all systems develop their parasites, manipulators and repressions. the other side of the coin syndrome frequently prevents us from seeing the good that is currently available.

i have been trying to address the "eternal dissatisfaction" in you...after all there is so much that could be done with what we have! and a lot of our problems are directly CAUSED by the desire to IMPROVE on WHAT IS.

posted February 08, 2010 06:11 PM         

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I have asked basically that question in almost every thread you have posted!

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LOL. And you were waiting for me to answer it?
A little "pioneering spirit" and you might have
discovered a few good answers for yourself by now.

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but the other one is - when this is accomplished, what will the pioneers - you, for instance - do with themselves??

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I'll quote from an ealier response to you today:

Good question, kat. It's a dilemma which I will welcome with open arms, lol. I suppose it will be the same things that light my fire now. The difference, I suppose, is that I won't be a revolutionary, fighting just to be heard, but, a leading voice in the prevailing movement. When the culture has learned to follow this path, I'll still be one of the people leading the way. I just won't feel so alone. And it won't be such an uphill battle. But it will go on. "Eternal vigilance" and all that.

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as i said on the other side, all systems develop their parasites, manipulators and repressions. the other side of the coin syndrome frequently prevents us from seeing the good that is currently available.

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That's a real possibility, and its very psychologically astute. Just the same, if it were such a powerful force, you'd think my ideas (my alternatives) would receive a warmer reception; that Knowflakes would be elated at the possibilities, and eager to believe in them. The opposite appears to be the case. Perhaps there is another psychological principle which takes presidence? Might it not be that cynicism, being a form of disappointment, cannot be disappointed? Might it not also be that people feel secure when they think they know, and when they are aligned with popular opinion? Aren't those dual states of questioning and finding yourself at odds with popular belief extremely disconcerting for most people? Isn't it comforting to find the good in what is, especially when you convince yourself that there's no other, better, possibility? Isn't it scary to imagine a better way, when it seems so far away, and such a gamble? Well, I suggest that, while you count your blessings, consider the people who would benefit most from a change, and who have very little to be thankful for. They're mostly located in third world countries. They're the real cost of the way of life you've come to love and call your own. In fact, it wouldn't be far from the truth to suggest that you yourself are one of the parasites and manipulators in this system. But I won't go so far. I'll let you figure it out.

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i have been trying to address the "eternal dissatisfaction" in you...after all there is so much that could be done with what we have! and a lot of our problems are directly CAUSED by the desire to IMPROVE on WHAT IS.

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How shall I respond to this, so as to satisfy you, kat? Haven't I been trying to address your "eternal dissatisfaction" with me, and my posts? After all, there is so much that could be done with what I have already provided you. Perhaps a lot of your frustration is directly caused by your desire to improve on what is? I dare you to stop and consider that one for a minute.

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when we have this sharing society you will still want to change things, i guarantee you!

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posted February 09, 2010 03:26 PM         

Sorry I didn't live up to your more
enlightened expectations for me.

Way to deal with what is.

Take care!