Some days, it doesn't pay to get out of bed
Not if you're going to read things like this, anyway.
"According to U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA), chair of the House Subcommittee on Procurements, one-third of U.S. tactical-strike aircraft will be unmanned within the next 10 years."
Please tell me I'm not the only person that thinks robot killing machines is a bad thing--and not just for 2001 and Twilight Zone style reasons, either. The application of force with no possibility of immediate retaliation--doesn't that sound like a bad idea? That's the sort of thing bullies do. On another note:
"The budget request for fiscal 2005 is $401.7 billion, a 9.7% jump, but there are a host of programs hidden in other budgets. For instance, the $401.7 figure doesn’t include $18.5 billion for nuclear weapons, because that expense is tucked away in the Department of Energy budget. Homeland Security, and related programs in Transportation, Justice, State, and the Treasury, add another $42.5 billion. What should also be included are the Department of Veterans Affairs ($50.9 billion) as well as the interest on defense-related debt ($138.7 billion).
The administration has already informed Congress that it intends to ask for a $50 billion supplement for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (it got $62.6 billion last spring and $87 billion in November).
Hit the add button, and the military budget looks more like $702.3 billion. That’s real money."
Seven hundred billion dollars. I can't even begin to comprehend what that means. I once read that you could provide clean drinking water to the 50% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa who do not have it for $25 million. And that you could vaccinate every child in the world for about $4 billion. But seven hundred billion? And for "defense"? Holy cow.
How do these people plan to pay for these fancy guns? I mean, with tax-cut mania still in place, most US corporations paying nothing in taxes, and lots of high-income (and therefore upper-income bracket) jobs going overseas, where they don't provide revenue to the US government, where's that money going to come from? Iraqi oil wells? Please.
The last two paragraphs of the FPIF article (the first link) are really important. Happy Thursday, all.
Not if you're going to read things like this, anyway.
"According to U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA), chair of the House Subcommittee on Procurements, one-third of U.S. tactical-strike aircraft will be unmanned within the next 10 years."
Please tell me I'm not the only person that thinks robot killing machines is a bad thing--and not just for 2001 and Twilight Zone style reasons, either. The application of force with no possibility of immediate retaliation--doesn't that sound like a bad idea? That's the sort of thing bullies do. On another note:
"The budget request for fiscal 2005 is $401.7 billion, a 9.7% jump, but there are a host of programs hidden in other budgets. For instance, the $401.7 figure doesn’t include $18.5 billion for nuclear weapons, because that expense is tucked away in the Department of Energy budget. Homeland Security, and related programs in Transportation, Justice, State, and the Treasury, add another $42.5 billion. What should also be included are the Department of Veterans Affairs ($50.9 billion) as well as the interest on defense-related debt ($138.7 billion).
The administration has already informed Congress that it intends to ask for a $50 billion supplement for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (it got $62.6 billion last spring and $87 billion in November).
Hit the add button, and the military budget looks more like $702.3 billion. That’s real money."
Seven hundred billion dollars. I can't even begin to comprehend what that means. I once read that you could provide clean drinking water to the 50% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa who do not have it for $25 million. And that you could vaccinate every child in the world for about $4 billion. But seven hundred billion? And for "defense"? Holy cow.
How do these people plan to pay for these fancy guns? I mean, with tax-cut mania still in place, most US corporations paying nothing in taxes, and lots of high-income (and therefore upper-income bracket) jobs going overseas, where they don't provide revenue to the US government, where's that money going to come from? Iraqi oil wells? Please.
The last two paragraphs of the FPIF article (the first link) are really important. Happy Thursday, all.
posted by Jude at 8:05 AM
