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Common Sense vs. the Military-Industrial-Political-Complex on the Floor of the US House Today
The more things change at the polls, the more they apparently stay the same in Congress. The Defense bill that the House Armed Services Committee is presenting today on the House floor is the first opportunity for this Democratic Congress to turn the page on the Bush administration's disastrous approach to national defense. Instead, it is poised to authorize more of the same, or worse.
For starters, the Democratically-controlled House Armed Services Committee (on which I once served) will authorize billions of dollars MORE for the national defense budget than George W. Bush ever requested from Congress. That's right-the Democrats want more military spending than George W. Bush ever thought necessary.
Turns out that the Defense bill Congress takes up today is less about meeting the national defense needs of the United States and more about meeting the pork-barrel political needs of Washington politicians. Or, as Yogi Berra would put it: "It's Deja Vu all over again!"
Take the F-22 fighter jet, for example. It's what I like to call the "plane-to-nowhere". Much like the heralded bridge in Alaska, the plane is an embarrassing waste of federal money at a time when providing health care security for all Americans is being called "unrealistic". It was designed to fight an enemy that no longer exists, the Soviet Union. We now have 187 of them, and that's 187 too many when comes to fighting actual wars. Not one of them flew in either Iraq or Afghanistan because commanders found them totally useless.
No sooner had Secretary of Defense Gates announced that it's time to cancel, that the military-industrial-political complex, and their massive lobbying and public relations machine, went into action. The Democratically controlled House, all too willing to cave to that pressure, decided to use today's Defense Authorization bill to authorize 12 new planes not requested by the Pentagon at a cost that will ultimately exceed $2 billion.
This one was actually easy to see coming: The F-22 is a classic example of expert design. That is, expert political design. The production of the F-22 has been spread out over forty states making it as wasteful and inefficient economically as it is highly productive politically. Before the very first week of the new Congress ended, two hundred House members had already signed a letter calling for more of these planes-to-nowhere to be built. Almost all of them had a piece of the plane being built in their Congressional District.
Of course, the Iraq war has wreaked havoc on our soldiers. They've been forced into back-to-back deployments with less and less recovery time in between, and when their commitments are up, they've been forced to continue military service whether they wanted to or not. So, what to do?
How about resolving that the US is going to repudiate the Bush Doctrine that made the U.S. not only the world's policeman, but the world's military dictator, accountable only to itself? How about reducing the demand on our overstretched and broken Army by declaring no more unilateral invasions of countries that pose no threat, that we will respect international law, will engage in military actions only as a last resort and will work through the international institutions that we led the way to create, like the United Nations Security Council?
Nope.
Secretary Gates took the supply side approach, spiking the size of the U.S. Armed Forces by 65,000 over two years to 547,000. And the approach of the Democratically-controlled House Armed Services Committee? Check and balance, maybe? Nope again. The House Armed Services Committee decided to do one better than Secretary Gates. Or rather, 30,000 better-calling for that much of an increase in the size of the U.S. military above and beyond the just-completed increase the Defense Secretary has said was sufficient. That's right: the Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee want to give the U.S. military 30,000 troops that it says it doesn't want or need! I hope someone asks in the floor debate today how many new Iraq-style adventures we are preparing for with this massive increase in troop levels.Congressman Jim McGovern will try to squeeze a bit of common sense into the bill with a floor amendment that actually calls for what the President told a national television audience that the US needs: an exit strategy from the war in Afghanistan. So far, he has been able to collect 89 co-sponsors for his bill. The Win Without War coalition has been working closely with Congressman McGovern and other Congressional allies on this important amendment. Coalition member and allied organizations have stepped up: MoveOn.org, USAction/TrueMajority.org, Peace Action and United for Peace and Justice all sent alerts last week to their membership asking them to call Members of Congress in support of this bill. With any luck they will, increasing pressure on Congress to provide a badly needed check and balance to a very imbalanced defense bill.
So, today on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, the so-called "People's House", it is common sense vs. the Military-Industrial-Political-Complex. Call your House member today at (202) 224-3121 and demand that he or she help the underdog. Who knows, maybe then other underdogs like a health care system that is worthy of the name will have a fighting chance.
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23 Comments so far
Show AllProffessional wrestlng at its' best. And we the people have to pay to watch. Our heroes are dead. The CIA killed them all. No, I'm not being sarcastic. Terror works. That's why our government uses it on us.If you make enough money to be taxed, you are making too much. The only way to fight this monster is with extreme, morals based frugality. Your tax dollars are used to kill people and undermine freedom here and abroad.
Sioux Rose
I am no engineer, but the way I see it, if these factories made to supply the MIC exist in every state, than they should be retooled to build greener infrastructure. I would LOVE to see all these troops enter U.S. ghettos and teach the out-of-work young people real skills! How to rebuild their structures, how to install plumbing and electricity, and how to set up community gardens.
We have the factories and the manpower, what is insane, bankrupt, and immoral is using these resources only to destroy other lands, while our own enters into advanced stages of degradation. The priorities could not be worse if they were drummed up by Dr. Strangelove meets Genghis Kahn. Either we take down the MIC, and use it for more HUMANE purposes, or it will take down U.S.
Oh, come on. I'm sure that they're working on a 'green' fighter bomber. [rolleyes]
q
Imagine a world where we invested in life and living skills as Sioux Rose suggests... A wonderful world where quality of life actually means something beyond who has the most toys! Imagine young people taught needed skills and their communities enriched by their efforts! An economy of elders passing on what life has taught them in a way that improved the present and empowered the future...
Ah Sioux Rose I love these ideas and believe them absolutely doable if we simply stopped waiting for Government to lead! The tribe enhanced by passing on a workable life... and oh how the earth would smile!
Live Simply So That Others May Simply Live
Sioux Rose
MAINESTAY: I don't know if I, or others, do enough to seed/plant this dream, but there are some in this forum who are on the front lines of new initiatives and more simple, sanctified ways of living. It's said you teach best by example, and I know I try to do that. It's so painful when the vast majority still think the media has the answers and can deliver them through the temples of Mammon, as in, a shopping mall in every town. And now... some are going vacant. When the shopping comes to a stop, that is when the reckoning begins. And it is then that persons must come to remember what they are living for. Thank you for seeing what I do. I wish there were more of us. Edgar Cayce reminded that ideals were critical, they function for the soul much like the sextant that pointed the way to brave ancient navigators.
Mainestay, don't just imagine. Try it out. For example, I recently learned how switch grass ethanol can be used and am even considering experimenting with the idea. Try it out and keep at it. Imagine and dream no more but make it a reality. That's when Earth will smile. Who says you can't make even a gas guzzler more fuel efficient. It would be nice if the progressive blogosphere including CD would introduce such interesting articles even if they are do it yourself. The least they can do is motivate people to think differently and go for various going green experiments.
"I would LOVE to see all these troops enter U.S. ghettos and teach the out-of-work young people real skills! How to rebuild their structures, how to install plumbing and electricity, and how to set up community gardens."
I am not so sure that it is easily doable. One of my uncles is a retired Marine soldier while my dad retired from the Army. No matter which division of the military one serves in, there is a sense of being taught individualism as part of the strategies to fight and survive. The side effect is that individualism and aggression become tied together and engraved in one's mind even after they retire to civilian life. The time it takes to revert to sanity can vary troop to troop. Some of the troops might be willing to do what you suggested but even so we need to be sure that they have stable minds so that when they teach, they don't sound or feel too harsh to those they teach lest they spread the ideas of violence and aggression. My dad was not too unstable after he left but not my uncle. It would be better if the peace demonstrators and the anti-war crowds and groups took over the job of teaching and training the young and the poverty stricken.
Marco, soldiers can be helped from their family members. I have seen this from a couple of my neighbors whose spouses helped them after returning. Even my older remote business friend who a lot of us in the company miss had a lot got a lot of help from his family. He so badly wanted to commit suicide after losing his limbs back in the Vietnam War but his family wouldn't let him give up his life and years later he even became an inspiring teacher helping students get through college when even their own professors thought they were failures. He even used to post on this site and if you go back to the archives from last year and early this year and look through the comment archives, one of them is JWVerez. I saw the archived post where his wife posted from last month while I was in the hospital and I pray that he makes it. I was very touched by her post but would beg her not to worry about me because he means more to so many in this world. Not all troops are mean and if given the correct tender loving care, most of them will once again open their hearts and will gladly help others out and never allow them to suffer the same fate. Since you reminded me of JWVerez, my eyes are filled and need to be cleared. :.(
To get our fossil fuels needed to supply our daily fuel, wars for oil has been rigged to be cheaper so that alternative fuels and efficiency which would force the MIC to make a run for their money would be kept from the public as long as possible. There are better ideas such as biofuel but the one that's used is corn and that's the worst biofuel. Since corn saps up the most, no wonder MIC loves it. If we switched to switch grass, alcohol, and sugar can for better ethanol, we wouldn't be so desperate for oil. Plus, we need to lower the prices of those way too pricey fuel efficient vehicles.
A lot of people work directly or indirectly for the MIC whether they like it or not. I like your ideas of redirecting those factories and manpower towards greener infrastructure. That way, people can keep their jobs and yet no longer feel guilty about who they're working for. Cool.
Peace
Obviously common sense loses. It doesn't give out bribes for short-term gain at the expense of long term viability.
If our favorite 3rd parties and candidates don't unite, there will be no pressure, none at all for real peace, truth, and justice. The seesaw corrupt system will continue to hold us in contempt because we don't even have the brains to at least unite.
I find it hard to believe that people who regard themselves as intelligent and activists don't get the fundamentals of political power so far.
We need a Common Sense Revolution to have any chance at all.
Here's what really, really going on:
Our "reps" and "leaders" look out of their windows, and what do they see?
They see that they can do whatever the hell they want, because if The People haven't risen up in violent revolt by now, they never, ever will.
If I knew I could walk into a room, steal everyone's wallet, and leave without anyone even raising their voice or suffering any legal consequences - my 'common sense' would tell me to visit that room at least once-a-week...
Violence will get you dead or in prison. No peace, no common sense.
Violence is last resort... organizing is the first step if you want to win.... But it takes work.
Well put.
These people in congress understand "things" all too well. Their common sense applies to them, their offspring and spouses as future lobbyists and anything else is not their problem. Greed rules and we are fools. This is our true moral compass; the immoral compass.
I never had my head bashed in by police but I was next to my best friend who did. It was 1970. Thousands would show up to demonstrate within hours if the news was bad enough, and that was with no cell phones, no texting, no twitterdeeing or twaddledumbing. Where is everyone now? Seems the revolution moved on to raising families, careers, and mortgages.
So maybe that's it. We're all just too damn comfortable.
Nietzsche said in effect that the end of humanity is when it reaches comfort and complacency. I don't know if it's the end but there sure is a hell of a lot of complacency.
http://michaelparenti.org/Imperialism101.html
If it's production is spread out over 40 states, than everone can take a smaller hit in cutting this from the budget.
'Common Sense' is an Oxymoron. There is no Sense, whether common or uncommon.
At least not when it comes to 'National Security', a phrase that lines up everybody from the Grannies to the testosterone leaching
youngsters.
That is the reason why it is called 'Defense Department' where in reality it is a 'War Department'.
The United States has become the biggest military dictatorship in the world. The Dictators get to be elected by the same people that are bled to oblivion by the militaristic Nation. Happened before and it happens right now in (with) the US.
Militarism in any fashion is blasphemy towards the Energy that has not spared any 'expenses' to come up with a planet full with life to serve our very evolution.
It is counter productive to the well Being of Humankind. It is mutual paranoia and schizophrenia that makes people BELIEVE that we need a Military in the first place to protect a soon to be wasteland from 'terrorists' or Aliens'.
Our BELIEFS create our reality. This is the 21st century and it is about time to relax and open up. Both cannot be achieved through militaristic violence.
Two days ago I received an e-mail, first from Michelle Obama, something about Father's Day,
then Mr. President himself wrote me an e-mail. It was the most disgusting letter I ever received. It started with "It is time now to roll up the sleeves...".
Now that's some George Orwell for You right there. The very same people that have ruined this Nation by bleeding it out for the sole benefit of the MIC and the people that pull its strings, tell me now to roll up my sleeves.
Hypocrisy doesn't cut it anymore. Even Idiocy cannot provide answers to shed light on this utmost disgusting propaganda. It feels like Goebbels all over again. The renaissance of fascist principles, paired with some handy dandy slick appearance. People are afraid of 2012 for a very good reason. They believe they will get the 'comes around' part of the equation. Nothing is further from the truth, with wich the sheople have obviously no problem, as long it is distributed digitally on LCD or plasma screen. The 'comes around' is a shift in energetic frequency.
The Universe is Energy and with it anything in it. There is no differences amongst the people if You pan out into space and look back to earth. Now this Energy follows different rules than all the religions on the planet try to sell You. The fate of The US is sealed. Was sealed a while ago, when ~300 million humans did decide not to interfere in their governements business of terror, injustice and global exploitation. Ah, I remember it is called 'Exceptionalism'.
My advice to anybody that fancies a descent live is to finetune one's Energy frequency. The lower one's vibrational frequency, the more likely one will not get through the upcoming 'Comes Around Event'. If and that's a rethorical 'if', if one continues to support the 'Death Squads' called 'Armed Forces', the lights will go out for some people much sooner than anybody can imagine.
Look into the night sky tonite (if can) and find the answer instantly.
You Call It Reality. I Call It Belief.
Unresponsive (...to the public that is!) elected officals.
No surprise there.
Increases in military spending.
Have we ever witnessed anything else in our lifetime?
Corporate henchmen pulling their strings in strategic districts to push over-priced, useless weapons of mass destruction at taxpayers expense for the promise of a few, elusive jobs and all in the name of 'national security'.
That's as old as America.
Until Americans learn to recognize corporate America's political choices (from those politicians who actually represent the public interest!) & subsequently stop electing them to the White House, Congress and the Supreme Court, nothing will change.
Its the weapons that propagate the crazy's in our democarzy lot.
Why do we need to spend on weapons?
There was a chance back in 1944 to end the building of weapons, of course it was after the Hirosima and Nagasake Nuclear explosion just above these cites that instantly annihilated anything living. But somehow, there was money to be maid for the weapons builders. And our society was worked up by suicidals in our society to support such waste of productivity to kill. Suicidal s are people taking out everyone around them when they decide to go to heaven.
Example of a suicidal. Cigarette makers.
toophat for you!
Great and timely article by Tom Andrews. However, there is one point I would want further clarified - how this legislation slides through greased with pork lard.
A legislator has a state or district they represent and if you want to gain and retain the vote of your constituents, you try to keep them employed. So if Boeing or Lockheed have factories in your state or district, it doesn't matter that the plane or tank they are building is actually NOT needed. It keeps your constituents employed, so who cares if it is in reality a total waste of taxpayer money and other resources.
What if the same size contracts were given, for example, to green companies building low cost wind turbines or solar panels? Or any job creating endeavor focused on rebuilding the American infra structure?
And this should be a bipartisan issue, as it was Republican President Dwight D Eisenhower that was the first to warn us about the military industrial complex.
Bring America Back !!!!.........There's not much Common Sense on Capitol Hill===I hope this coalition finds some.
****Obama promised us He would Change the DC culture of corruption, which largely is the MI Complex, but he has been absorbed by it, instead in 5 short months!!