No Peace for Militarized U.S.

[midcan5]

War Immemorial Day By Bill Quigley


"The U.S. spends over $600 billion annually on our military, more than the rest of the world combined. China, our nearest competitor, spends about one-tenth of what we spend. The U.S. also sells more weapons to other countries than any other nation in the world.

The U.S. has about 700 military bases in 130 countries world-wide and another 6000 bases in the US and our territories, according to Chalmers Johnson in his excellent book Nemesis: The Last Days Of The American Republic (2007).

The Department of Defense (DOD) reports nearly 1.4 million active duty military personnel today. Over a quarter of a million are in other countries from Iraq and Afghanistan to Europe, North Africa, South Asia and the rest of the Western Hemisphere. The DOD also employs more than 700,000 civilian employees."

http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley05262008.html

[Yurt]

and that keeps this country free so idiots like you can bash the military for securing your way of life

[midcan5]

and that keeps this country free so idiots like you can bash the military for securing your way of life

And that sort of thinking show clearly how primitive most men are, it is why so many families are suffering the loss of loved ones in a senseless, illegal war. Pure stupidity your name is Yurt among others.

[Monkeybone]

And that sort of thinking show clearly how primitive most men are, it is why so many families are suffering the loss of loved ones in a senseless, illegal war. Pure stupidity your name is Yurt among others.

so we should just deband the military and leave it a draft if we need to fight?

[midcan5]

so we should just deband the military and leave it a draft if we need to fight?

Of course not, but sense dictates we stop pretending we are the controller of the universe. Hubris can be a bad thing, our women and men are dying for it.

[Dilloduck]

Of course not, but sense dictates we stop pretending we are the controller of the universe. Hubris can be a bad thing, our women and men are dying for it.

Are you claiming that the mere existence of the US military is dangerous ?

[Monkeybone]

Of course not, but sense dictates we stop pretending we are the controller of the universe. Hubris can be a bad thing, our women and men are dying for it.

so just close our bases in other countries? i can understand not being the World's Police, that just goes without saying.

[theHawk]

War Immemorial Day By Bill Quigley


"The U.S. spends over $600 billion annually on our military, more than the rest of the world combined. China, our nearest competitor, spends about one-tenth of what we spend. The U.S. also sells more weapons to other countries than any other nation in the world.

The U.S. has about 700 military bases in 130 countries world-wide and another 6000 bases in the US and our territories, according to Chalmers Johnson in his excellent book Nemesis: The Last Days Of The American Republic (2007).

The Department of Defense (DOD) reports nearly 1.4 million active duty military personnel today. Over a quarter of a million are in other countries from Iraq and Afghanistan to Europe, North Africa, South Asia and the rest of the Western Hemisphere. The DOD also employs more than 700,000 civilian employees."

http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley05262008.html

Its always funny to hear liberals complain how big our military is by pointing out how many dollars we spend compared to the rest of the world. It never enters into their mind those costs are that much because we are at the top of the economic latter of the world. Our soldiers' pay and costs of training is much more than any other countries because our cost of living is so much higher. Maybe libs like midcan want to propose our soldiers get paid $100 a month like other countries troops.

Also, most of the money spent in the DoD goes right back into our own economy( and is thus taxed again, again, and again). The big bucks go right back to companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Of course, only a shitbag liberal like midcan can't see what good our military does around the world. :fu:

[theHawk]

And by the way, if you libs are so upset about how much money we are spending, why not bring up the fact that our military budget is dwarfed by entitlement spending?



2008:

Mandatory spending: $1.788 trillion (+4.2%)
$608 billion (+4.5%) - Social Security
$386 billion (+5.2%) - Medicare
$209 billion (+5.6%) - Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)
$324 billion (+1.8%) - Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending
$261 billion (+9.2%) - Interest on National Debt


Discretionary spending: $1.114 trillion (+3.1%)
$481.4 billion (+12.1%) - United States Department of Defense
$145.2 billion (+45.8%) - Global War on Terror
$69.3 billion (+0.3%) - Health and Human Services
$56.0 billion (+0.0%) - United States Department of Education
$39.4 billion (+18.7%) - United States Department of Veterans Affairs
$35.2 billion (+1.4%) - US Department of Housing and Urban Development
$35.0 billion (+22.0%) - State and Other International Programs
$34.3 billion (+7.2%) - Department of Homeland Security
$24.3 billion (+6.6%) - Energy
$20.2 billion (+4.1%) - Department of Justice
$20.2 billion (+3.1%) - Department of Agriculture
$17.3 billion (+6.8%) - National Aeronautics and Space Administration
$12.1 billion (+13.1%) - Department of Transportation
$12.1 billion (+6.1%) - Department of Treasury
$10.6 billion (+2.9%) - United States Department of the Interior
$10.6 billion (-9.4%) - United States Department of Labor
$51.8 billion (+9.7%) - Other On-budget Discretionary Spending
$39.0 billion - Other Off-budget Discretionary Spending


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget%2C_2008


Thats over $1.5 TRILLION in entitlements versus $626 billion DoD and war spending.

And most countries out there have absolutely no entitlements at all for their citizens. Why don't we hear comparisons of how much more we spend on entitlements versus other countries?

[Yurt]

And that sort of thinking show clearly how primitive most men are, it is why so many families are suffering the loss of loved ones in a senseless, illegal war. Pure stupidity your name is Yurt among others.

sure thing yoda :poke:

[midcan5]

And by the way, if you libs are so upset about how much money we are spending, why not bring up the fact that our military budget is dwarfed by entitlement spending?

But entitlements do good for Americans, and entitlements may be the wrong word, how about we call it 'money well spent within the family.' But bullets and bombs have no good return as Iraq proves. Hey, you see OBL lately?

[namvet]

But entitlements do good for Americans, and entitlements may be the wrong word, how about we call it 'money well spent within the family.' But bullets and bombs have no good return as Iraq proves. Hey, you see OBL lately?

your taking this at face value from a fuckin' lawyer?????


Bill Quigley is a law professor and Director of the Law Clinic and the Gillis Long Poverty Law Center at Loyola University New Orleans. Bill has been an active public interest lawyer since 1977. Bill has served as counsel with a wide range of public interest organizations on issues including Katrina social justice issues, public housing, voting rights, death penalty, living wage, civil liberties, educational reform, constitutional rights and civil disobedience. Bill has litigated numerous cases with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., the Advancement Project, and with the ACLU of Louisiana, for which he served as General Counsel for over 15 years.

Bill teaches in the Law Clinic and teaches courses in Law and Poverty and Catholic Social Teaching and Law. His research and writing has focused on living wage, the right to a job, legal services, community organizing as part of effective lawyering, civil disobedience, high stakes testing, international human rights, revolutionary lawyering and a continuing history of how the laws have regulated the poor since colonial times. He has served as an advisor on human and civil rights to Human Rights Watch USA, Amnesty International USA, and served as the Chair of the Louisiana Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights. Bill received the 2006 Camille Gravel Civil Pro Bono Award from the Federal Bar Association New Orleans Chapter. Bill received the 2006 Stanford Law School National Public Service Award and the 2006 National Lawyers Guild Ernie Goodman award. He has also been an active volunteer lawyer with School of the Americas Watch and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.

Bill is the author of Ending Poverty As We Know It: Guaranteeing A Right to A Job At A Living Wage (Temple University Press, 2003). In 2003, he was named the Pope Paul VI National Teacher of Peace by Pax Christi USA and is the recipient of the 2004 SALT Teaching Award presented by the Society of American Law Teachers.



no qualifications for the military. useless text. move on

[Dilloduck]

But entitlements do good for Americans, and entitlements may be the wrong word, how about we call it 'money well spent within the family.' But bullets and bombs have no good return as Iraq proves. Hey, you see OBL lately?

Actually bombs and bullets are exactly why we haven't seen OBL lately and why we won't see Saddam and his sons ever again.

[ranger]

Actually bombs and bullets are exactly why we haven't seen OBL lately and why we won't see Saddam and his sons ever again.

Actually, they used a rope on Saddam...........best pinata I've ever seen. No candy when you hit though but he swung on the rope real well.