02-10-2008, 09:54 PM | #31 | |
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02-10-2008, 10:08 PM | #32 | |
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Furthermore, the budget for Iraq and Afghanistan has historically been lowballed in the initial president's budget for each fiscal year, with additional funds coming through "emergency" bills. As for other threats we are facing, those include, obviously, the large influx of Islamic radicals into Pakistan which is destabilizing that country (a nuclear power), the denigration of stability in Afghanistan, a haven for terrorism, and others. |
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02-10-2008, 10:10 PM | #33 |
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02-10-2008, 10:17 PM | #34 | |
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Chechnyans are training the Afghanis and the Iraqis, particularly in explosives and sniping. They are deadly good at their job. Funding and arms for the Iraqi insurgents comes from Iran (who is already an ally of the insurgency) and many other nations, some have speculated including France and Russia. Meanwhile, you have within Iraq a population that is heterogenous and bent on destroying any group within Iraq that isn't just like them. We aren't drafting people now, but we can't possibly continue long term without a draft or a substantial influx of new enlistees in the military (which isn't happening). Right now, many people are on their third tour in Iraq/Afghanistan, and those tours have been extended to 15 months (rather than 12) to keep us at sufficient staffing levels. How long can that go on for? |
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02-10-2008, 10:52 PM | #35 | |
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Entitlement spending included Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP and Unemployment/Welfare. Anyway you slice it, IMO, military spending never even remotely comes into the neighborhood of entitlement spending. We are not serious about reducing spending. If we were, the military would be WAY down the list. That is my primary point here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_...l_budget,_2008 PS you are right that the Iraq war is not part of that number. It says so right on that page. I missed it.
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02-10-2008, 11:00 PM | #36 | |
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"Have we been commanded not to call a prophet an insular racist? Link?" "And yes, [2010] is a very good year to be a Democrat. Perhaps the best year in decades ..." - Cali Coug "Oh dear, granny, what a long tail our puss has got." - Brigham Young |
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02-10-2008, 11:05 PM | #37 | |
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Yikes. If this is how the GOP thinks, the GOP is dead. |
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02-10-2008, 11:21 PM | #38 | |
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I'll add parenthetically, it shouldn't be the job of the US government to see that the elderly are "taken care of" in retirement.
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"Have we been commanded not to call a prophet an insular racist? Link?" "And yes, [2010] is a very good year to be a Democrat. Perhaps the best year in decades ..." - Cali Coug "Oh dear, granny, what a long tail our puss has got." - Brigham Young |
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02-10-2008, 11:24 PM | #39 | |
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It's funny that the commanders in Afghanistan are complaining they don't have enough troops to do the job. I wonder why. |
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02-10-2008, 11:28 PM | #40 | |
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It also depends on what you are using for comparison purposes. SS, while it could be characterized as an "entitlement program" by some, has its own source of revenue. It isn't part of the budget for the use of income tax (which is what the budget is really addressing). The president began incorporating SS into the budget to make military spending appear to be a smaller percentage of the budget during Vietnam. It has stayed that way since. |
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