eglamkowski's Journal: CONGRESS PENNY-PINCHING THE WAR ON TERROR

From Boortz:

The United States Senate got upset yesterday about President Bush's request for more money to fight the war on terrorism. Senators such as Robert Byrd howled "our forefathers would have scorned such arrogance as has been demonstrated by this request." Oh really? I think our forefathers have been rolling in their graves for decades. So why is it that Congress always balks at additional expenditures for defense, but gleefully spends infinitely more money on the failed welfare state? Robert Byrd would never raise an opposition to a request for some grand new program to subjugate more millions of Americans to government.

It's an amazing contradiction, isn't it? The left will spend trillions (that's right, with a T) on the war on poverty, with no exit strategy, no plan and no end in sight. All while the federal government spends astronomically more on social welfare spending than they ever have on defense. Yet, when the White House asks for more money for our troops, for equipment, for weapons, Congress suddenly turns into the most tight-fisted bunch in Washington D.C. Maybe you can't buy votes with defense spending like you can welfare dollars.

Which would you rather pay for: guns, bullets, tanks, humvees and body armor for the troops fighting the war on terror, or more get-out-of-work-free coupons for able-bodied, lazy wastes of oxygen? Think about it.

The war on terror can not be lost. It costs what it costs. Period.

Byrd quote so out of context its almost humorous

[Cy Guy]

The Byrd quote Boortz gives is in reference to the WH requesint $25B WITH NO STRINGS ATTACHED!

That is not how the ANY government except a dictatorship works. If the WH wants the money all it has to do is say how and when it will be spent - they don't get a $25B slush fund which as requested could be used for anything from building a gold-leafed palace for the new Ambassador to Baghdad, to buying a new Gameboy Advance for every soldier who promises to vote for Bush.

What Byrd wants is a spending plan that

Re:Byrd quote so out of context its almost humorou

[limpdawg]

Having watched some of the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on this issue on CSPAN-2 yesterday, I agree with the administrations desire for flexibility. The point that they made was that they don't know exactly how much money will be needed for different things. Given the discussion on CSPAN-2 they were NOT asking for no strings attached funding. They want flexibility while at the same time allowing Congressional oversite. I don't know the details of the proposal but it certainly seems in light of th

Re:Byrd quote so out of context its almost humorou

[NeMon'ess]

Bush spent $700 million planning war in Iraq from money meant to go to Afghanistan. [yahoo.com]

Wolfowitz denied the Pentagon had secretly diverted $700 million to planning for Iraq in the summer of 2002, telling senators hundreds of millions of dollars were not moved to such preparations until after Congress voted in October of 2002 to authorise the use of force "if necessary" in Iraq.

My translation: Its a good thing we went to war. Otherwise Bush would have diverted $700 million and wasted it on a war that didn

Bush

[Stargoat]

Bush is looking for 25 billion to do whatever he wants with it. Now, as Bush has been proven in the past to be in possession of dubious honesty, it is very appropriate for the US Congress to demand that it is explained to it what Bush is going to do with the money.

And who the fuck is this lying sack of shit Boortz? Lying about Abu Musab al-Zarqawi? al-Zarqawi came in, with the CIA's best guess, from Syria. He wasn't in Iraq when the war began. He came in because Bush's war de-stabilized Iraq.

And at

Interesting

[Iamthefallen]

Sins? Does Michael Berg mean the sin of liberating over 10 million Iraqis from the brutality of Saddam Hussein? Saddam had rape rooms. In these rooms people weren't stripped naked and arranged in piles. They were raped, they were electrocuted, and they were murdered

Sins? Let's see, US troops showed light sticks up the asses of prisoners. Prisonerswere told they'd be electrocuted if they stepped of the box he stood on. There are also several "incidents" leading to the deaths of inmates that are now under i

What drivel

[ces]

It's an amazing contradiction, isn't it? The left will spend trillions (that's right, with a T) on the war on poverty, with no exit strategy, no plan and no end in sight. All while the federal government spends astronomically more on social welfare spending than they ever have on defense.

The Federal government spends vastly more on the DoD than it does on almost anything else. The defense budget is the 3rd or 4th biggest chunk of the federal budget. True, Social Security and possibly Medicare are larger

Re:What drivel

[eglamkowski]

The thing is, "defense" spending covers a gigantic amount of stuff, including VA hospitals, GI Bill and many other things not directly related to combat, killing people or destroying things. And other stuff comes out for civilian use later on much to the benefit of everyone (can you say "Internet"?)

In order to properly compare budget items, you should compare "defense" spending to "social" spending. That'd include social security, medicare, education and many other programs. Those program make up ~50% o

Re:What drivel

[ces]

The thing is, "defense" spending covers a gigantic amount of stuff, including VA hospitals, GI Bill and many other things not directly related to combat, killing people or destroying things. And other stuff comes out for civilian use later on much to the benefit of everyone (can you say "Internet"?)

If I remember the breakdown of the "defense" budget correctly the 2 biggest line items were military retirement and payroll. Still I don't think anyone sane would advocate eliminating military retirement, VA, o

Re:What drivel

[eglamkowski]

I'd be in favor of a grand-fathering system with social programs - those people on them or about to be on them still get the promised benefits, but the programs won't be there for others, though their tax burden will shift downwards as the numbers of people using those programs decline over time.

As to whether that includes FICA, it isn't clear from the budget. Receipts are listed as:

Individual income taxes
Corpration income taxes
Social insurance and retirement receipts
Excise taxes
Estate and gift taxes
Cus