How much longer?

[SHRED]

How much longer will the USA be bombing the shit out of, and overthrowing other countries for private sector corporate profit margins?
How many more miles will they get out of this phony "war on terror"?

Military contractors and other various corporate interests love our public paid-for military.
Corporate welfare at it's worst.


---

[Township75]

1. Pretty much forever.

Because Republicans are fine with it, and Dems are fine with it provided they are in power.

[SHRED]

2. as evidenced here with neg voting on this thread

This sucks.

How do we protest the war machine when over half of "our side" folds with a Democrat as President?

[Doctor_J]

4. The unrec's could be

because of the vanity post nature of the OP.

[Divernan]

5. There is nothing about the OP to merit you denigrating it as a vanity post.

It is an anti war, anti military industrial complex post. If you disagree with me, kindly provide your definition of "vanity post".

Of course, I did use the word "me" in my reply, so you may decide this is a vanity reply!

[Doctor_J]

8. I know, but the subject line sort of looks like one

and the post is long on familiar lament, and short on new solutions.

Just saying.

I didn't unrec, BTW, which I usually do with blatant vanity posts.

[Divernan]

10. It took years of familiar laments to finally get us out of Vietnam.

"Familiar lament"?!?! Look, as long as these trillion dollar wars continue, here on DU you will see laments that we need to get the hell out of said wars, and stop squandering our national wealth, not just tax dollars but more importantly, our youth/soldiers lives and health to further the profit margins of the MIC.

We got out of Vietnam only after years of "familiar laments" by anti-war protesters.

[Township75]

7. The OP's post has nothing to do with vanity.

What I see is someone, like myself, who realizes the Left doesn't do anything more than the Right when it comes to military action. Unless one really values talk and back-patting speeches about ending war, the actions regarding war are the same.

[Divernan]

6. Un-reccers continue. They must be pro war-machine/corporate welfare.

because that's what your OP criticizes. Maybe you should remind them that Obama often said we had to make him do the right thing. You know, keep the pressure up.

By my count, you've gotten the requisite 5 to make it onto the greatest page. The pattern seems to be that the un-reccers are poised to swoop down en masse, immediately, but eventually get overtaken by rec's as the day progresses.

[Divernan]

3. Sadly, through 2016, at least. We've learned campaign promises count for shit.

We know whomever the GOP candidate will be, he or she will be pro MIC, i.e, perpetual, profiteering war. I think whomever the GOP runs will pretty much be a sacrificial lamb because the GOP leaders are happy with the policies of the current administration. And we know the current administration's willingness to engage in and expand overseas military actions. There might be a little "chess-playing", i.e, promises to move the pawns out of Iraq "next year", which leaves the administration the options of (1) simply moving the pawns to another war OR (2) "regretfully" announcing that due to unforeseen developments in Iraq, we will have to delay removing the pawns.

Some call this smooth talking approach to governing "chess=playing". I think of it more as a carnie's shell game.
Definitions: A game involving sleight of hand, in which three inverted cups or nutshells are moved about, and contestants must spot which is the one with a pea or other object underneath; A deceptive and evasive action or ploy, esp. a political one.

Of course the beauty of pulling the pawns out of Iraq and re-assigning them to Afghanistan, Libya or an as yet to be determined war zone, is that the military HAS to destroy tons of weapons & equipment, rather than leave them behind, and then has to replace all that "stuff" with NEW weapons and equipment. My god, how the profits roll in!

And then with the push to voucher/privatize the school system, the parents who have managed to hang onto their jobs will be able to pay the difference between the vouchers and charter/private/parochial school tuitions and concentrate their kids in good schools, and the children of poor/marginally employed will remain in underfunded public schools, getting even shittier educations, leaving them with enlisting in the military as their only option other than the fast food market. One hand washes the other for the profiteers.

[Doctor_J]

9. By 2016 the USA of 1933-1980 will be long gone

Public schools, food stamps, unemployment insurance, and maybe even Medicare and SS, will be gone. Elections will be blatantly bogus. The media's last pretense of truth and fairness will be gone - replaced by Pravda-style cartoonish fascist propaganda.

It's remarkable how quickly this has happened - maybe that's the reason we never fought back.

[Divernan]

11. It's already gone.

With Obama's determination to raise $1 billion for the next campaign, the 2012 election will be bogus. Just saw my (progressive, liberal) internist/family doc last week. She & her doctor husband believe this country is on an irreversible downward path from the America in which we all grew up. We have been surpassed by China & India, and our quality of life is far below that in the EU.

[raouldukelives]

12. Our 401k's demand it

How else can we retire? Social security? I need to profit off death so I can buy an RV someday.

[lightningandsnow]

13. I find it hilarious that people get up in arms about "MAH TAX DOLLARS!111!1!"

going to any social services, when a much bigger chunk are going to military spending.

[CrispyQ]

14. Do you ever hear the teabaggers complain about the military budget?

There's your answer. TPTB have successfully tied nationalism, patriotism & the military in a tidy bundle that most Americans can't separate. We will continue to beat our chests & chant, "We're number one!" while the TPTB siphon off every last dollar from our national Treasury.