Of Budgets, Blood and Bologna
Published December 16, 2004
I feel compelled to speak about this because it just continually pisses me off more and more. Regardless of where you see this entry heading please hear me out. Like all painful experiences you need to just see reality if only for a short time and then you can move on with your life - wiser.
Like your neighbors big ass, horse-like dog continually shitting in your front yard, the cost to the American people for the Bush administrations blunder(s) in Iraq just keeps on coming. Day after god damn day, they just keep piling up like shit in my front yard.
Today it has been announced that the total bill for the Iraq and Afghan wars could reach $200 billion dollars. Let it be said here that John Kerry was right. Whether he had inside information or not he said the war is going to cost us more than $200 B and the shit is still coming down heavier every time I read the news.
Earlier this fall, members of Congress said the Defense Department told them in private briefings the supplemental package would be between $70 billion and $75 billion. The budget request will be higher, sources said, because of the greater number of soldiers - temporarily boosted to 150,000 - needed to provide security around the time of the Jan. 30 Iraqi elections, and the loss of equipment due to the vigorous insurgency there.
This is the third FRIGGIN' supplemental request to fund this god damn mission that the right wing idiots keep claiming is "under control" and "making American safer". God damn their idiocy.. really.
"They ran out of the 2004 budget a month early [and] had to borrow [from] 2005," said John Pike, a defense specialist at the military think tank GlobalSecurity.org, a military think tank in Alexandria, Va. "They're already starting to suggest that the 2005 budget is going to be $100 billion for one year alone."
That's right people - one friggin year. That is 2,739,726 A DAY. Wrap your arms around that number for a few seconds? Do you really feel safer? Really?
Few analysts expect the Iraq mission to be wrapped up in a year, and many question why the Bush administration is continuing to budget its war costs through supplementals - usually reserved for one-time, emergency expenses - rather than include them in the annual budget request that is sent to Capitol Hill every February.Democrats and some fiscally conservative Republicans believe the administration is trying to hide the effects of rising war costs on the federal deficit, thereby justifying President Bush's calls for making some tax cuts permanent and spending more on education and other domestic priorities.
- Of Budgets, Blood and Bologna
- Published: December 16, 2004
- Type:
- Section: Culture
- Writer: Christopher Auman
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The first link is screwed up. Copy the link to your clipboard then remove everything before the http-news-yahoo part.
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=
story&cid=2027&u=/chitribts/20041212/
ts_chicagotrib/scroungingforiraqwar
putsgisinjail&printer=1
Alternatively, rebuild the link from the cut url above.
I just don't get the thinking that someone would vote for Bush when Osama shows up just before the election! That just reminds me that the administration has done such a shitty job so far -- not that we should re-elect the bastard! Again, you either have a logical mind or... well, you don't. :-)
Yes, you have a logical mind or you don't. See the thread about "Christmas is gone". A city or a business being all inclusive to all faiths and saying happy holidays has Christians up in arms that Christianity is under attack because it isn't being singled out as special. (not so much all the commenters there, but the links they provide substantiate this). If people sat down and thought about it, they would see they are wrong.
But they don't think. They believe what the Right tells them to believe and they become parrots, repeating without thought.
The article yesterday, that I cannot find said that Pakistani troops were abandoning the search for Osama because of resistance of the general populace in the areas where Osama was thought to be. No comment from the U.S. as of yet, but again, Osama is worth more to Bush free than caught. Also, when we have satellites that can read license plates from space, we don't have the technology to find that man? He can't spend 24/7 underground.
Yes, the appearance just before the election would remind people of the need for a strong leader. From equal rights for gay people destroying civilization and marriage, to terrorism and the fact that Osama is still out there, to the concept that Godless liberals want to take conservatives Bibles away, the whole thing is about keeping the populace in fear. Throughout history, it has always worked and it still works to this day.
>>That is 2,739,726 A DAY<<
Astonishing. That's not even double what the union spent per day during the final few months of the Civil War. That's some amazing bang for our buck when thought of in those terms. Of course it's also much more per soldier than the union was spending, but that's the nature of a modern army.
Oh, and the figure is also wrong. Based on the amount spent and requested and the time we've been there and the additional time money is already allocated for, the amount spent is only about $550K per day, but one doesn't expect leftists to be able to do math. BTW, that's 1/3 of what the Department of Health and Human Services spends in a day. Let's hear your proposed budget cuts for that bloated obscenity of a money pit.
Dave
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I love leftists who are passionate in their beliefs. I wish there was more of us.
One thing to consider about the war on terror is how it will change now that the election is over. I do not doubt that Bush wants to make us safer, but I did not doubt that about Kerry either. However it wasn't too hard to see that Osama being free was much more valuable to Bush as a reelection tool than if he was caught. The appearance of a video of a healthy Osama suddenly emerging just one week before election was pretty suspect to me.
I saw a headline yesterday that Pakistan was abandoning the search for Osama due to heavy resistance but cannot find the link now.
However I did find this in relation to your financial aspect of the war:
American soldiers put in jail for scrounging for armor for their vehicles
Bush's second inauguration to be most expensive in history and it's theme is going to be honoring service too.
(Watch middle America clap in approval).