Let's face it, Bill. No matter how many pieces you and others (e.g., William Hartung) write about the obscene, grotesque, outrageous US military spending, nothing changes. Well, not exactly, it changes....it keeps increasing!! Even a warning from a Republican (by today's standards, a mainstream Democrat) President some 60+ years ago about the MIC proved completely insufficient to stop the runaway train. Well, not exactly, because since that time more and more people have boarded the gravy train!! So, as painful as it might be to admit, the rot, the corruption, the greed, and the psychosis that has infected the US political class has only grown and metastasized in the last 60+ years. Just like a spreading cancer, the MIC has grown into the larger, more all-consuming MICIMATT, taking over more and more levers of power in our society. What will it take to stop this madness? As far as I can tell, no one really has a clue. Appeals to reason and common sense are useless. And certainly the likely choice before us in 2024 between a sociopathic war monger and an avaricious sociopath provides absolutely no relief from this insanity.
To paraphrase MLK, even if it seems that the arc of the moral universe refuses to bend toward justice, we can't give up or surrender. We have to keep trying to figure out a way to make it happen.
"The voters outside looked from sociopathic war monger to avaricious sociopath, and from avaricious sociopath to sociopathic war monger, and from sociopathic war monger to avaricious sociopath again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."
Nothing is going to change as long as so many in the public are propagandized into thinking that the military is doing good things, and that America is in constant danger from other countries. It is this childish belief in the goodness of US military actions that allows them to keep happening. So any key to getting out of this mess is to figure out how to reach people who only watch CNN, Fox, MSNBC or read the NYT, etc. As long as that is where many people (including congress people) get their "news" there is no hope. The disinformation bubble that most Americans live under is massive and resilient. Without a mechanism to break that bubble, we will continue to see endless wars.
If you think about it, JFK was the last peace president, and his murder put the CIA and military in charge of the government and we have been endlessly at war ever since. The news media have now melded with that beast, creating The Blob. There is no way to counter that behemoth unless you can crack the disinformation bubble everyone lives under. Bill, your writing would be very helpful if it could reach more of those who normally only watch the corporate-owned-news.
The words "peace" and "diplomacy" have been excised from the political discourse in this country. It's quite amazing how the use of these words is for all intents and purposes prohibited. Anyone who dares to utter them is a Putin apologist or worse. In the end, and as I have argued for some time, until the pathology known as "American Exceptionalism" is finally and completely eradicated from the DNA of this country--until it is rejected in its entirety--not a damn thing is going to change. It is the belief in American Exceptionalism which allows the bubble, as you describe it, to go unchallenged, except by a few of us on the margins. And of course we are denounced as the ones who are spreading disinformation. There are contradictory realities (or narratives, if you prefer) that are competing for the hearts and minds of the masses. And unfortunately, all the power to spread the gospel of American Exceptionalism rests in the hands of those who control the MICIMATT complex.
We have to admit that there has always been a social pressure that people acquiesce to. It comes from the top, which makes it totally artificial, but it is potent. Lots of people don't want to rock the boat, stand out as contrary, get put on a list, or labeled as anti-American. Most people would rather just accept the official story because it is self protective. I think that is perhaps the key psychology that The Blob really relies on. You could see it plain as day even back during the McCarthy era. The question is how to break through that? Most people would rather not go there because it is too uncomfortable.
Yes, it's extremely difficult to counter the culture of militarism, especially given the support I the media world, in sports, video games, even within Christian denominations.
Everyone (or nearly everyone) seemingly "supports our troops," which the MICC translates into awesome power and wealth for a few.
Once the news media became "entertainment" rather than a public service, and all entertainment venues including movies and sports were captured, it was only a matter of time before the narrative management funneled through them would inflict war fever on almost everyone. It even extends to bigotry now in the form of Russiophobia. If you take any of the sentences uttered about Russia or Russians in the corporate owned news and substituted the word "blacks" or "jews" you would have an obviously racist or bigoted statement. But because it is directed against the latest boogeyman, its just fine. That shows you the power of propaganda. I have trouble talking with lifelong friends now due to their extreme Russiophobia, something they never exhibited before.
Gary Johnson looks better and better, with every passing year. IMHO, he was as solid a candidate as an actual, nationally ballot-qualified third party has ever run in my lifetime, and the only one with elected executive experience who pleased his constituents enough to earn re-election. But the same media that later co-operated with the DC power-players to censor views opposed to the "official" COVID-19 narrative, and picked sides to tilt coverage of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in favor of the latter, chose instead to focus on "What is Aleppo?" and Johnson sticking out his tongue within range of a camera. The media were, and remain, unserious and captured. With everything I have seen and heard since 2016, it is not hard to imagine that the US would be way better off if Johnson were finishing his second term, but after what happened to him that year, and to third-party and independent candidates in 2020, what do you think it will take to vote third-party en masse?
Excellent piece, Bill. One wonders if the NYT is still trying to make up for its indiscretion in publishing Ellsberg’s “The Pentagon Papers” 50-plus years ago.
In any event, a couple of things need to be added to the total bill for America’s “defense” besides just the NDAA and its homage and obeisance to the MICC. One must also include the cost of America’s Secrecy-Security-Surveillance-Spying Panopticon, aka the so-called “Intelligence Community”
And the cost of the militarization of law enforcement agencies at the federal and particularly, at the state and local levels must also be included.
Thus, America’s total national “defense” and “security” expenditures are already well past the trillion-dollar mark.
But, with the magic of Deficit Spending and the elimination of any actually functioning Limit on the Total National Debt that all those deficits add up to, who cares? Especially when there’s always The Fed [the 4th branch of the American federal government] available to print up more Greenbacks as they are needed.
What a waste of resources. We'll be needing world cooperation to get a handle on GHG and what do we want our good old wjite boys across the pond to do? Allocate our resources to the war machine. Our leaders are psychopaths.
Yeah, Dennis; that they are. But who keeps sending those psychopaths to office? And then keeps keeping them there?
A nation and a people get the government, the system of governance, and the governors they deserve; and for our sins, we Americans have the what and who we have now, and have had for a long, long time.
i find it very interesting, Bill, that every time since i’ve been hanging around BV that i have posted my “a nation and a people get the government, system of governance, and the governors they deserve” rant [at least 3-4 times, if not more], You have responded in exactly the same way: That i [and presumably, You, and every other American] “deserve better.”
What’s really interesting about that is that You have never explained exactly How and Why that is.
Given everything that the American People have gone passively along with and have done virtually nothing effectively that actually worked to stop what their nation and government has done [and is still doing], particularly since 9/11 with our “Forever War”... ;
And given well before the last 22 years as well, including what we did to the People of Iraq with our sanctions after OPERATION DESERT STORM, Ollie North’s Holy Crusade in Central America under Bush I and his mouthpiece Bozo, and of course, the whole Indochina GoatRope, starting with helping the French attempt to re-colonize back after WWII.
Given all that, You’ve never explained exactly How and Why We, The American People, somehow “deserve better” than what we have for the political leadership of the government of the United States, and the system by which our Ruling Political Class “governs.”
Perhaps You could do a BV/TomDispatch/etc piece on that.
An interesting start point would be to examine exactly what it means that Donald Trump and Joe Biden are the leading candidates to become the next President of the United States, and How and Why the only folks to blame for that are The American People.
In all seriousness, ponder this. We have a rotten, rigged, corporate-captured, money-grubbing government. Do ordinary, hard-working Americans truly "deserve" this?
Sure, we the people need to do more. But there are powerful forces arrayed against us to prevent change. We need to realize this and fight them.
But if we say we simply "deserve" this government, there's no incentive to change the government. It's fatalistic. What can I do -- I "deserve" it.
We don't always get what we deserve. That is part of life. Sometimes, good people get shafted and bad people profit. The 'good" people don't "deserve" to suffer.
I think you know this. That's why you protested before the Iraq War. You knew the American people didn't deserve Bush/Cheney and more war, nor did the Iraqi people deserve to be pummeled by U.S. military might. You did the right thing. But not neatly enough of your fellow Americans joined you.
Please forgive my delay in responding, Bill; i’ve been preoccupied with a string of personal health and family health, legal, and financial issues. But over that time, i’ve had ample opportunity to ponder at length Your response and, after all that, i must confess that i still do not really, actually know and understand what You are actually, really saying.
Are You saying that i, jeff, an American Citizen [and, OBTW, a retired US Army Master Sergeant and Peace Activist Wannabe, as my Wife PK once termed me back right after 9/11] “deserve” ~ whatever that means ~ a better form of government and system of governance more than do You, Bill, a retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, scholar, historian, and widely published polemicist?
And that’s based just on Your opening sentence: “No, Jeff, not I. Just you. YOU deserve better.”
The rest of Your post raises a number of equally interesting ~ and challenging ~ questions that i will pass on for the moment, hoping that You can provide some insight as to How and Why i “deserve” ~ again, whatever that means ~ that “better” government, but You don’t.
And there were all kinds of Americans who joined me in protesting America’s War on Iraq in quest of our boy Saddam’s “WMDs” before it got started. The problem is that that protest lasted for essentially one weekend, and then died completely. Remember?
By the same token, virtually ZERO Americans joined me in protesting our post-9/11 ~ and obviously pre-planned and –programmed ~ War of Revenge, Retaliation, and Retribution against the People, Land, Country, and Nation of Afghanistan. Nor have they yet.
[Note: Anybody here at BV interested in details can go to minute 10:07 of the video at https://stupidtelevisionshow.com/media/nopeace/ for an extended interview with me on Day 6 of OPERATION ISAIAH 2:4, an originally projected 168-hour "Fast and Prayer Vigil for Peace, Justice, Truth, Repentance, and Reconciliation" ~ held on New Orleans’ Jackson Square in the French Quarter, right across from the Cathedral ~ which began at 7:46 am CDT on Tuesday, September 25, exactly two weeks to the minute after the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center, and continued until November 7, when cut short by illness. The interview was preempted for about five minutes by a genuine, traditional New Orleans Jazz Funeral, which made it even better.]
My opening line was meant in good humor. I guess I have a dry wit and it doesn't always translate in comments sections.
But the rest of my points are meant in all seriousness. We do "deserve" better (or, I think most Americans do). But we are fighting against a rigged system that constrains and denies meaningful change. You know this.
The idea we "deserve" this rigged system is fatalistic, even defeatist. If I "deserve" the MICC and all its corruption and all its killing, what is to be done? I deserve it -- I guess I just have to accept it. I got what I deserve.
HOUSE PASSES $886 BILLION NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT by Dave DeCamp / antiwar.com 071623
The House on Friday passed its version 2024 National Defense Authorization Act in a vote of 219-210, which largely fell along partisan lines due to amendments added by Republicans relating to social policies in the military.
The Republican amendments covered abortion, transgender surgery, and diversity initiatives. Only four Democrats voted in favor of the bill, and four Republicans voted against it. The four Republicans who opposed the NDAA are Reps. Thomas Massie (KY), Eli Crane (AZ), Andy Biggs (AZ), and Ken Buck (CO).
The Senate still needs to pass its version of the NDAA, then the two chambers will negotiate the final version that will go to President Biden’s desk. The Republican amendments packed into the House version will set up a fight between the two chambers as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other Democrats will reject them.
The 2024 NDAA is for a record $886 billion, the same amount President Biden requested. The debt ceiling deal reached between House Republicans in the White House did not limit military spending and put no caps on emergency supplemental funds, which is how the US has been spending on the war in Ukraine.
As the House was debating the NDAA, several amendments introduced by Republicans looking to rein in US support for Ukraine were voted down. One amendment sponsored by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) would have required the Biden administration to develop a strategy for the war in Ukraine. It was rejected in a vote of 129-301, with only Republicans supporting it.
One amendment introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene would have cut $300 million in military aid for Ukraine that’s packed into the NDAA, but it failed in a vote of 89-341. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) put forward an amendment to cut off all military assistance for Ukraine, which failed in a vote of 70-358. Only Republicans supported the two amendments.
Greene sponsored another amendment that would have prohibited the transfer of cluster munitions to Ukraine, although US cluster bombs have already arrived in the country. The effort failed in a vote of 147-276. It received support from 98 Republicans and 49 Democrats.
I think it's encouraging that so many Republicans voted against our war on Russia via Ukraine. The Democrats with their Maoist Party unity all voted NO.
Cornell West fans here at BV might enjoy Chris Hedges latest piece: “CORNEL WEST AND THE CAMPAIGN TO END POLITICAL APARTHEID; The Two Ruling Parties Have Destroyed Our Democracy. Voting For One Or The Other Will Not Bring It Back” at https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/cornel-west-and-the-campaign-to-end .
Not exactly on point, Bill, but in another forum a couple days ago, someone argued against severe cuts to the military budget by saying that VA benefits, including healthcare and education, plus pensions, account for a significant part of the Pentagon's expenses. Given that VA healthcare, for instance, is means tested, that argument sounded completely bogus to me. I mean, aircraft carriers, bombers, missile systems, and other assorted hardware must absorb the lion's share of expenses, right? What do you know about how the budget is doled out?
Right. The NDAA that just passed the House is for $886 billion. Basically, it's the Pentagon budget. The VA budget for 2023 is $379 billion and is separate from the NDAA.
Thanks for the clarification, Bill. Evidently, then, the commenter I read doesn't know any more about the budget breakdown than I did! I just thought that what he said wasn't logical, on the face of it. Now I know---thanks!
We have to keep our markets open so we can have low prices. Ignore the huge costs we incurr protecting those markets; the only thing that matters is the sticker price.
Listing military spending by only the *largest* NATO economies, that graph excludes what I’m pretty sure is the top spender percentage-wise: Greece, 3.9 percent of GDP in 2021.
Now, do you think the Greek government is more worried about the Russian troops massed across its nonexistent border with Greece, or about historic foe and NATO “ally” Turkey?
Recall Augustine's Law XVI: In the year 2054, the entire defense budget will purchase just one aircraft. This aircraft will have to be shared by the Air Force and Navy 3-1/2 days each per week except for leap year, when it will be made available to the Marines for the extra day.
Norman Augustine (Under Secretary of the Army) wrote these tongue in cheek laws in 1984.
But in reality that "law" would need to be amended to be: In 2054, The entire budget of the United States will purchase one aircraft, one ship (aircraft carrier) and one tank. All domestic programs will be canceled to fund campaign contributions to make this possible.
Let's face it, Bill. No matter how many pieces you and others (e.g., William Hartung) write about the obscene, grotesque, outrageous US military spending, nothing changes. Well, not exactly, it changes....it keeps increasing!! Even a warning from a Republican (by today's standards, a mainstream Democrat) President some 60+ years ago about the MIC proved completely insufficient to stop the runaway train. Well, not exactly, because since that time more and more people have boarded the gravy train!! So, as painful as it might be to admit, the rot, the corruption, the greed, and the psychosis that has infected the US political class has only grown and metastasized in the last 60+ years. Just like a spreading cancer, the MIC has grown into the larger, more all-consuming MICIMATT, taking over more and more levers of power in our society. What will it take to stop this madness? As far as I can tell, no one really has a clue. Appeals to reason and common sense are useless. And certainly the likely choice before us in 2024 between a sociopathic war monger and an avaricious sociopath provides absolutely no relief from this insanity.
I know. I've been a miserable failure with all the articles I've written. But I have not yet begun to fight.
To paraphrase MLK, even if it seems that the arc of the moral universe refuses to bend toward justice, we can't give up or surrender. We have to keep trying to figure out a way to make it happen.
To quote Peter, Paul and Mary, "We may be fighting a losing battle but we're having a lot of fun trying to win."
Paraphrasing George Orwell's "Animal Farm":
"The voters outside looked from sociopathic war monger to avaricious sociopath, and from avaricious sociopath to sociopathic war monger, and from sociopathic war monger to avaricious sociopath again; but already it was impossible to say which was which."
Nothing is going to change as long as so many in the public are propagandized into thinking that the military is doing good things, and that America is in constant danger from other countries. It is this childish belief in the goodness of US military actions that allows them to keep happening. So any key to getting out of this mess is to figure out how to reach people who only watch CNN, Fox, MSNBC or read the NYT, etc. As long as that is where many people (including congress people) get their "news" there is no hope. The disinformation bubble that most Americans live under is massive and resilient. Without a mechanism to break that bubble, we will continue to see endless wars.
If you think about it, JFK was the last peace president, and his murder put the CIA and military in charge of the government and we have been endlessly at war ever since. The news media have now melded with that beast, creating The Blob. There is no way to counter that behemoth unless you can crack the disinformation bubble everyone lives under. Bill, your writing would be very helpful if it could reach more of those who normally only watch the corporate-owned-news.
The words "peace" and "diplomacy" have been excised from the political discourse in this country. It's quite amazing how the use of these words is for all intents and purposes prohibited. Anyone who dares to utter them is a Putin apologist or worse. In the end, and as I have argued for some time, until the pathology known as "American Exceptionalism" is finally and completely eradicated from the DNA of this country--until it is rejected in its entirety--not a damn thing is going to change. It is the belief in American Exceptionalism which allows the bubble, as you describe it, to go unchallenged, except by a few of us on the margins. And of course we are denounced as the ones who are spreading disinformation. There are contradictory realities (or narratives, if you prefer) that are competing for the hearts and minds of the masses. And unfortunately, all the power to spread the gospel of American Exceptionalism rests in the hands of those who control the MICIMATT complex.
Sing it, Brother Charlie!
We have to admit that there has always been a social pressure that people acquiesce to. It comes from the top, which makes it totally artificial, but it is potent. Lots of people don't want to rock the boat, stand out as contrary, get put on a list, or labeled as anti-American. Most people would rather just accept the official story because it is self protective. I think that is perhaps the key psychology that The Blob really relies on. You could see it plain as day even back during the McCarthy era. The question is how to break through that? Most people would rather not go there because it is too uncomfortable.
True. If you're critical, perhaps the 1st question to you is: Why do you hate America?
Yes, it's extremely difficult to counter the culture of militarism, especially given the support I the media world, in sports, video games, even within Christian denominations.
Everyone (or nearly everyone) seemingly "supports our troops," which the MICC translates into awesome power and wealth for a few.
Once the news media became "entertainment" rather than a public service, and all entertainment venues including movies and sports were captured, it was only a matter of time before the narrative management funneled through them would inflict war fever on almost everyone. It even extends to bigotry now in the form of Russiophobia. If you take any of the sentences uttered about Russia or Russians in the corporate owned news and substituted the word "blacks" or "jews" you would have an obviously racist or bigoted statement. But because it is directed against the latest boogeyman, its just fine. That shows you the power of propaganda. I have trouble talking with lifelong friends now due to their extreme Russiophobia, something they never exhibited before.
It's time to unzombify.
Vote 3rd party. The 2 party system is broke beyond repair.
Gary Johnson looks better and better, with every passing year. IMHO, he was as solid a candidate as an actual, nationally ballot-qualified third party has ever run in my lifetime, and the only one with elected executive experience who pleased his constituents enough to earn re-election. But the same media that later co-operated with the DC power-players to censor views opposed to the "official" COVID-19 narrative, and picked sides to tilt coverage of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in favor of the latter, chose instead to focus on "What is Aleppo?" and Johnson sticking out his tongue within range of a camera. The media were, and remain, unserious and captured. With everything I have seen and heard since 2016, it is not hard to imagine that the US would be way better off if Johnson were finishing his second term, but after what happened to him that year, and to third-party and independent candidates in 2020, what do you think it will take to vote third-party en masse?
We are one hell of a war machine. God bless America.
Praise the Lord and sell the cluster munitions.
And the best part of it is that that "hell of a war machine" has not won a war in 78 years.
Excellent piece, Bill. One wonders if the NYT is still trying to make up for its indiscretion in publishing Ellsberg’s “The Pentagon Papers” 50-plus years ago.
In any event, a couple of things need to be added to the total bill for America’s “defense” besides just the NDAA and its homage and obeisance to the MICC. One must also include the cost of America’s Secrecy-Security-Surveillance-Spying Panopticon, aka the so-called “Intelligence Community”
And the cost of the militarization of law enforcement agencies at the federal and particularly, at the state and local levels must also be included.
Thus, America’s total national “defense” and “security” expenditures are already well past the trillion-dollar mark.
But, with the magic of Deficit Spending and the elimination of any actually functioning Limit on the Total National Debt that all those deficits add up to, who cares? Especially when there’s always The Fed [the 4th branch of the American federal government] available to print up more Greenbacks as they are needed.
What a waste of resources. We'll be needing world cooperation to get a handle on GHG and what do we want our good old wjite boys across the pond to do? Allocate our resources to the war machine. Our leaders are psychopaths.
Yeah, Dennis; that they are. But who keeps sending those psychopaths to office? And then keeps keeping them there?
A nation and a people get the government, the system of governance, and the governors they deserve; and for our sins, we Americans have the what and who we have now, and have had for a long, long time.
You deserve better, Jeff! (Sorry, couldn't resist.)
i find it very interesting, Bill, that every time since i’ve been hanging around BV that i have posted my “a nation and a people get the government, system of governance, and the governors they deserve” rant [at least 3-4 times, if not more], You have responded in exactly the same way: That i [and presumably, You, and every other American] “deserve better.”
What’s really interesting about that is that You have never explained exactly How and Why that is.
Given everything that the American People have gone passively along with and have done virtually nothing effectively that actually worked to stop what their nation and government has done [and is still doing], particularly since 9/11 with our “Forever War”... ;
And given well before the last 22 years as well, including what we did to the People of Iraq with our sanctions after OPERATION DESERT STORM, Ollie North’s Holy Crusade in Central America under Bush I and his mouthpiece Bozo, and of course, the whole Indochina GoatRope, starting with helping the French attempt to re-colonize back after WWII.
Given all that, You’ve never explained exactly How and Why We, The American People, somehow “deserve better” than what we have for the political leadership of the government of the United States, and the system by which our Ruling Political Class “governs.”
Perhaps You could do a BV/TomDispatch/etc piece on that.
An interesting start point would be to examine exactly what it means that Donald Trump and Joe Biden are the leading candidates to become the next President of the United States, and How and Why the only folks to blame for that are The American People.
No, Jeff, not I. Just you. YOU deserve better.
In all seriousness, ponder this. We have a rotten, rigged, corporate-captured, money-grubbing government. Do ordinary, hard-working Americans truly "deserve" this?
Sure, we the people need to do more. But there are powerful forces arrayed against us to prevent change. We need to realize this and fight them.
But if we say we simply "deserve" this government, there's no incentive to change the government. It's fatalistic. What can I do -- I "deserve" it.
We don't always get what we deserve. That is part of life. Sometimes, good people get shafted and bad people profit. The 'good" people don't "deserve" to suffer.
I think you know this. That's why you protested before the Iraq War. You knew the American people didn't deserve Bush/Cheney and more war, nor did the Iraqi people deserve to be pummeled by U.S. military might. You did the right thing. But not neatly enough of your fellow Americans joined you.
Please forgive my delay in responding, Bill; i’ve been preoccupied with a string of personal health and family health, legal, and financial issues. But over that time, i’ve had ample opportunity to ponder at length Your response and, after all that, i must confess that i still do not really, actually know and understand what You are actually, really saying.
Are You saying that i, jeff, an American Citizen [and, OBTW, a retired US Army Master Sergeant and Peace Activist Wannabe, as my Wife PK once termed me back right after 9/11] “deserve” ~ whatever that means ~ a better form of government and system of governance more than do You, Bill, a retired US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, scholar, historian, and widely published polemicist?
And that’s based just on Your opening sentence: “No, Jeff, not I. Just you. YOU deserve better.”
The rest of Your post raises a number of equally interesting ~ and challenging ~ questions that i will pass on for the moment, hoping that You can provide some insight as to How and Why i “deserve” ~ again, whatever that means ~ that “better” government, but You don’t.
And there were all kinds of Americans who joined me in protesting America’s War on Iraq in quest of our boy Saddam’s “WMDs” before it got started. The problem is that that protest lasted for essentially one weekend, and then died completely. Remember?
By the same token, virtually ZERO Americans joined me in protesting our post-9/11 ~ and obviously pre-planned and –programmed ~ War of Revenge, Retaliation, and Retribution against the People, Land, Country, and Nation of Afghanistan. Nor have they yet.
[Note: Anybody here at BV interested in details can go to minute 10:07 of the video at https://stupidtelevisionshow.com/media/nopeace/ for an extended interview with me on Day 6 of OPERATION ISAIAH 2:4, an originally projected 168-hour "Fast and Prayer Vigil for Peace, Justice, Truth, Repentance, and Reconciliation" ~ held on New Orleans’ Jackson Square in the French Quarter, right across from the Cathedral ~ which began at 7:46 am CDT on Tuesday, September 25, exactly two weeks to the minute after the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center, and continued until November 7, when cut short by illness. The interview was preempted for about five minutes by a genuine, traditional New Orleans Jazz Funeral, which made it even better.]
Hope things are going better for you, Jeff.
My opening line was meant in good humor. I guess I have a dry wit and it doesn't always translate in comments sections.
But the rest of my points are meant in all seriousness. We do "deserve" better (or, I think most Americans do). But we are fighting against a rigged system that constrains and denies meaningful change. You know this.
The idea we "deserve" this rigged system is fatalistic, even defeatist. If I "deserve" the MICC and all its corruption and all its killing, what is to be done? I deserve it -- I guess I just have to accept it. I got what I deserve.
If I think that way, shouldn't I just give up?
So, who are the War Mongers? Here’s who… :
HOUSE PASSES $886 BILLION NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT by Dave DeCamp / antiwar.com 071623
The House on Friday passed its version 2024 National Defense Authorization Act in a vote of 219-210, which largely fell along partisan lines due to amendments added by Republicans relating to social policies in the military.
The Republican amendments covered abortion, transgender surgery, and diversity initiatives. Only four Democrats voted in favor of the bill, and four Republicans voted against it. The four Republicans who opposed the NDAA are Reps. Thomas Massie (KY), Eli Crane (AZ), Andy Biggs (AZ), and Ken Buck (CO).
The Senate still needs to pass its version of the NDAA, then the two chambers will negotiate the final version that will go to President Biden’s desk. The Republican amendments packed into the House version will set up a fight between the two chambers as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and other Democrats will reject them.
The 2024 NDAA is for a record $886 billion, the same amount President Biden requested. The debt ceiling deal reached between House Republicans in the White House did not limit military spending and put no caps on emergency supplemental funds, which is how the US has been spending on the war in Ukraine.
As the House was debating the NDAA, several amendments introduced by Republicans looking to rein in US support for Ukraine were voted down. One amendment sponsored by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) would have required the Biden administration to develop a strategy for the war in Ukraine. It was rejected in a vote of 129-301, with only Republicans supporting it.
One amendment introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene would have cut $300 million in military aid for Ukraine that’s packed into the NDAA, but it failed in a vote of 89-341. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) put forward an amendment to cut off all military assistance for Ukraine, which failed in a vote of 70-358. Only Republicans supported the two amendments.
Greene sponsored another amendment that would have prohibited the transfer of cluster munitions to Ukraine, although US cluster bombs have already arrived in the country. The effort failed in a vote of 147-276. It received support from 98 Republicans and 49 Democrats.
Source: https://news.antiwar.com/2023/07/16/house-passes-886-billion-national-defense-authorization-act/
I think it's encouraging that so many Republicans voted against our war on Russia via Ukraine. The Democrats with their Maoist Party unity all voted NO.
Some might call this "party discipline." I call it brainless conformity.
Cornell West fans here at BV might enjoy Chris Hedges latest piece: “CORNEL WEST AND THE CAMPAIGN TO END POLITICAL APARTHEID; The Two Ruling Parties Have Destroyed Our Democracy. Voting For One Or The Other Will Not Bring It Back” at https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/cornel-west-and-the-campaign-to-end .
Not exactly on point, Bill, but in another forum a couple days ago, someone argued against severe cuts to the military budget by saying that VA benefits, including healthcare and education, plus pensions, account for a significant part of the Pentagon's expenses. Given that VA healthcare, for instance, is means tested, that argument sounded completely bogus to me. I mean, aircraft carriers, bombers, missile systems, and other assorted hardware must absorb the lion's share of expenses, right? What do you know about how the budget is doled out?
The VA budget is separate from the Pentagon's.
So it does NOT fall under the NDAA that just passed the House, then? Asking in all seriousness, because I don't know the technicalities.
Right. The NDAA that just passed the House is for $886 billion. Basically, it's the Pentagon budget. The VA budget for 2023 is $379 billion and is separate from the NDAA.
Thanks for the clarification, Bill. Evidently, then, the commenter I read doesn't know any more about the budget breakdown than I did! I just thought that what he said wasn't logical, on the face of it. Now I know---thanks!
379 Billions is one helluva lot of Billions, isn't it? ... in sight of half of those 886 Billions....
Yes, but much better spent. If we cut out all our war-making, that $379bn figure would start to fall in a few years.
We have to keep our markets open so we can have low prices. Ignore the huge costs we incurr protecting those markets; the only thing that matters is the sticker price.
Listing military spending by only the *largest* NATO economies, that graph excludes what I’m pretty sure is the top spender percentage-wise: Greece, 3.9 percent of GDP in 2021.
Now, do you think the Greek government is more worried about the Russian troops massed across its nonexistent border with Greece, or about historic foe and NATO “ally” Turkey?
NATO is permeated by so many lies.
Recall Augustine's Law XVI: In the year 2054, the entire defense budget will purchase just one aircraft. This aircraft will have to be shared by the Air Force and Navy 3-1/2 days each per week except for leap year, when it will be made available to the Marines for the extra day.
Norman Augustine (Under Secretary of the Army) wrote these tongue in cheek laws in 1984.
But in reality that "law" would need to be amended to be: In 2054, The entire budget of the United States will purchase one aircraft, one ship (aircraft carrier) and one tank. All domestic programs will be canceled to fund campaign contributions to make this possible.