08 March 2010

Are you angry yet?

Hello good people.
Well, here I go with another rant. Please read the article at the following link.
http://amconmag.com/article/2010/apr/01/00030
After you read it, ask yourself this question. Are you angry now? Are you pissed off at these obscene amounts of money are being spent on this? Do you think these people will actually land a drone aircraft on a rolling, pitching deck of an aircraft carrier without crashing over 95% of them? Are you disgusted with the fact that since 2001 the military contractors have suckered us, the tax payers, for more than 295 Billion dollars? That is 295 Billion dollars just since 2001 alone! In less than 9 (nine) years we have over paid that much and more. That alone should get every American tax payer highly pissed off. 
We continue to pay ever more money for fewer and less useable weapons and weapon systems. In short, we now get even less "bang" for our bucks. Sounds to me like we are being ripped off here folks.
What to do? Well, write your Congress critters. Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper, if you still have one. Talk to everybody you know. Hell, talk to people you don't know about this rip off. Then, go read another article by an email friend of mine. She always has a very good article for us all to read. She has not suffered a close personal loss from the current idiotic wars. She did lose a nephew to the Iraq disaster, close enough in my book for it to be personal. I stated her loss was not a "close personal" one because it was her nephew who was killed in Iraq. I know that some folks don'e see nephews or nieces as "close" and "personal", but some of you may see it as close and personal. To me, any loss in some damn stupid war of choice is personal. Nobody should have to fight and die for the damn lies we were told to drum up support for the current wars of choice.
The article I am directing you to is at; http://www.counterpunch.org/beattie03052010.html
After you read her latest, ask yourself another question. Ask yourself if YOU are awake yet.
We need to wake up to the scam that is being pulled on us here at home folks. The super rich, the top 1% of the people in our country are very greedy. As much as they have, they want even more. It seems that they can never be satisfied. They never get to the point where they have "enough". Always, they want, demand even, more. They are taking our money to build over priced weapons that do not deliver the goods per the specs. They take our money, and even borrowed monies, to fight idiotic, useless wars of choice. They take our kids and grandkids to fight and die in those damn fool wars. They take ever more of our monies to fund worse than useless "health" insurance. They have the best of everything that money can buy. Yet, we, are supposed to tighten our belts ever further and "make do" with what little crumbs from their tables they "allow" us to have.
The monies that have been, and are being spent on the useless wars of choice could fund true Medicare for all Americans. Those monies could rebuild our old, decrepit infrastructure. Our highways, streets and bridges are in serious need of repairs. So little of that work gets done because the money is not available. The levees in America are in very sad shape. Not just here in Louisiana, but all the levees in the entire country. Just look at Sacramento, California and see how bad the levees there are. Some are in even worse shape than those in Louisiana. Other states have similar needs for infrastructure repairs. The states have very little money for that work. The Federal government doesn't have much more money for it either. The money that could be used for the repairs is being wasted in the bottomless pit of war. The money needed for education is also being dumped into that same pit.
We need to wake up folks. We are being screwed by our own government. This country is using borrowed money to fund the goddamn wars! If that doesn't get you pissed off, well, I have no idea what might. Borrowing money to fight a goddamn war. That has to be a new high in stupid. 
We should bring all the troops home from every foreign country. We have more than 700 bases in foreign countries. The only US troops that should be stationed overseas would be the Marine guards at our embassies. The Marines have a long tradition of guarding our embassies and when I was in the Marines, I was told that it was very good duty. 
We call it the Department of Defense. OK, bring our troops home and have them defend America. Let every other country defend itself. It is way past time for America to stopplaying at being some sort of global cop. Wake up people. We are running out of time.
semper fi

3 comments:

john francis lee said...

It's worse than "just" the money...

Unnatural Acts: Breaking the Fever of Militarism

Thus our American militarists exult in the advanced hardware that allows "soldiers" to slaughter people from thousands of miles away, with missiles, bombs and bullets fired from lurking, unreachable drones high in the sky.

(A recent study shows that even by the most conservative reckoning of who is or isn't a "militant," at least one third of the hundreds killed in the Bush-Obama drone campaigns on the "Af-Pak" front are clearly civilians.)

The drone "warriors" -- often living in complete safety and comfort -- see nothing but a bloodless image on a screen; they face no physical threat at all.

This is assassination, not combat; it reeks of cowardice, and dehumanizes everyone it touches, the victims and the button-pushers alike.

Yet our militarists -- most of whom, of course, have somehow never found the time to fight the wars they cheer for -- wax orgasmic about this craven weaponry.

In the transvaluation of values that militarism produces, cowardice becomes a martial virtue.

charlie ehlen said...

Mr. Lee,
I agree with you on this. I was using the money that is wasted on the wars and weapons for this post. The idea of using drones and what that means for the future of our country is, I think a topic for a whole other post.
You bring up an excellent point regarding the "stand off" killing of other human beings. If I had included that in this last post, it would have gone on much longer.
As a former Marine and a Vietnam veteran, I have a lot that I could say about the "brave" warriors who sit in air conditioned comfort as they remotely kill people.
Again, a topic for another post here at the corner.
I appreciate your comments and I do agree.

Kulkuri said...

Back in the 80s I think it was Northrup that was having problems with the guidance systems they were making for the cruise missles. Their solution?? It doesn't matter as the missles will probably never be used. Right!!