"While we may be out of an economic depression"

we have just begun our decent into the depression. we have a very bumpy ride ahead. the house of cards is coming down.

tell that to those who order drone strikes on their own citizens with out so much as a grand jury inditement.

and they will be incapable of doing another simple daily task.

i love technology, but i shudder to think how bad a collapse will be.

that sucks!

getting the info off the devices and back to the DOD does not always happen. i know of numerous times an entire missions worth of data was never uploaded to a computer and/or never sent any further up the chain. it may be collected, but it's not all getting where they want it.

and from what I saw in two tours, the data that does make it up never amounts to anything actionable. a waste of money and resources right now.

i think you're right. it is a good place to beta test and will be much more useful here at home, where people are much easier to identify and track.

sign me up. i can get more than that many neighbors to agree to those terms. alas, we don't even have that option. we'd pay many times more for the chance.

it's all relative.

we have not followed the law of the land for some time. why start now?

more meaningless proclamations.

which would of been picked up by the next, possibly innovative, auto company to come along an buy up all the union heavy, bloated, bureaucratic, bankrupt companies assets at rock bottom prices. there is/was no need to bail the industry out. people like/want cars. somebody will always be around to make them and people move were the jobs are. you don't stop being valuable or employable because the company you work for goes out of business. it's called a free market. which we haven't had for some time.

as for moving to Detroit, no thank you. too many union types lurking around up there.

you sure can.

the branch dividians purposely didn't pay the tax on their weapons in order to instigate a standoff with the Feds. if you pay the proper tax, you can legally own any of the weapons they were killed over.

the FBI/ATF did not have to step in and stop it anymore then they have to enforce any other failure to pay taxes.

the Man wanted blood and the dividians gave them an excuse. just remember, all those people died because they didn't pay the tax. money == freedom and in this case life.

i have yet to see one dire prediction from the 70's on that has come to pass regarding the environment, global climate charade, and population.

burn me at the stake.

good thing we didn't cover the poles with dark soot, like they were calling for in the 70's to stop the impending ice age.

"This was mostly like one drunk teenager. "

i wish you were right on this. this attack was no drunken stunt. it was deliberate and calculated. i advocate hardening our vital infrastructure and i don't get any piece of the pie. the power grid goes down for any length of time, people are going to die.

ignore and hide from the facts all you like it won't change the fact that people around the world wish to do us harm and are working to do so.

The attacks crippled the economy, not the president.

Iraq was already draining resources pre-war. No fly zones are expensive and protecting Kuwait is/was as well.

I doubt there would be any president who wouldn't have invaded Afghanistan after 9/11.

However, I will admit the war is taking too long. Play to win or don't play at all.

After the invasion of Iraq, Kadafi got in line and played ball, and did everything we demanded. Look where that got him under Obama. Now, there is zero incentive to do what the US tells you.

You will never find an army that goes to war with everything they want. NEVER. You will never find a army that is 100% ready to go to war. NEVER. If the commanders say they are, they are covering their asses. There are just degrees of readiness.

Would you prefer we not use the Reserves and just keep a larger standing army? Using the Reserve is a great way to save some money and great for the Reserve.

PTSD does exist, but not in the numbers the press would have you believe. Deployments do not automatically cause PTSD and having PTSD does not necessarily make you incapable of doing multiple tours.

Veteran care is as good as it's ever been. It sucks, but you can't expect government agencies to provide any level of service or care worth a dam in the first place.

Yes, they did lower the standards to get in. That's what you do when you need people and don't want to draft. You'd rather serve next to somebody who fits the perfect standard but does not want to be there and does not give a damn if the guy next to him dies, or serve next to somebody who isn't perfect but would give his life to watch your back?

"* Got our troops out of Kuwait, and anywhere else too close to Mecca"

um no, US troops have been and will continue to be in Kuwait. not to mention Qutar.

"*... and showing other tin-pot dictators that the US should be feared."

the only thing Bush did that Obama has undone.

i like an inefficient government. i shudder to think how much faster they could stick it to me if they were competent. we never want an efficient bureaucracy, the only way to win, is not to let them play. defund, disintegrate, and disregard them.