This is what is ruining the economy and this country

[Mari333]

until this changes, the elephant in the living room, nothing will change.
the vision of who we are must change.

[polichick]

1. It's sick alright - plus, we only lead in arms exports. Glory days! nt

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. My my what a large compartment of defense you have... pshaw. n/t

[indepat]

3. 'puke control of the national agenda because Dems are afraid they'd shit their pants if labeled

soft on communism, terra, crime or drugs or weak on national defense. Dems have thereby let the 'pukes set the national agenda and even a blind person can see where this has brought us. :P

[Angry Dragon]

4. No........

Until we change who we are this will not change in the way you would hope. We need to change we think and deal with life. We have to stop the intolerance, stop the greed, stop the hate, stop the mistrust. Until we change the underlying things that drive us apart in this country we can not look at the rest of the world any different than we look at ourselves.

[bemildred]

5. And for what?

It is not like they stopped 9/11 from happening, or that Iraq or Afganistan are changed in some fundamental way by our investment, or that we have not accelerated our decline as a global power by the effort, it's all just waste.

[AllentownJake]

6. It is the only thing that allows the multi-national corporations

Remain multi-national. Without the US Military and Military aid, a lot of countries would go the way of Venezuela and Iran.

[Mari333]

7. we created whats in Iran right now because of our stupid intervention

read some history. Iran was our little puppet government...it wouldnt be so fucked up now if it wasnt for our ridiculous empire building we did there.

[AllentownJake]

8. Exactly the point

A lot of those expenditures is support for our puppet governments.

[Mari333]

9. we dont need puppet govts.

they always always end up becoming totalitarian regimes after we have intervened , sticking our noses in everyone elses business.
the people will always revolt in those countries when we occupy them, because we have no business being there telling them how to run their countries.
How arrogant.

[AllentownJake]

10. No arguments here

[deaniac21]

17. Sure happened in Germany!

[Martin Eden]

11. Is the most powerful nation on earth ...

... also the most fearful?

[Mari333]

13. seems to me that we are going thru an 'adolescent chest beating phase'

as I read history, other empires eventually got their asses so kicked they had to end their empire. (France, Germany, Spain etc)
we still havent gotten our ass kicked. In a strange way, I think we are basically kicking our own ass right now, and yet people still havent reached the point where they are suffering enough to say STOP .
perhaps we need to end up being so completely bankrupt from empire building that the populace is eating grass and living in boxes before they wake up.
I would like to see empirical machismo end in my lifetime.

[Martin Eden]

15. If we don't learn from the empires of history ...

... we will end up on the same ash heap.

[deaniac21]

18. They had to end their empire.... there you go

[kenny blankenship]

12. Unfortunately that's pretty much what our economy is. It's a war economy

geared to maintaining an empire across all time zones. It has been little else since Reagan. How do you convert it without crashing it - particularly if it is already damaged and fragile. It's not enough to have a vision.

Outside circumstances and external actors are about to do for us what we cannot do -what we have long refused to do- for ourselves. It won't be pleasant at all for anyone, and the vindication of 20-30 years of righteous fury will not be much consolation to us on the Left.

[underpants]

14. SEE! See how much all their healthcare costs!!!

great point Mari

[TexasObserver]

16. but it's for DEFENSE! We must protect against ... everyone!

Until 100% of our spending is direct deposited into Haliburton's checking account, we're not doing enough.

[alittlelark]

19. Those $$$ are Necessary to protect our CAPITALISTIC system.

They Are Necessary because we know what is best for the rest of the world - OUR system of capitalism.

If we don't ignore the needs of our citizens in Lieu of our CORPORATIONS and Military our system will FAIL.


Our Military Might will explain to the rest of the world how they must live.


Then we will all live in PEACE!

All Hail The Corporate Overlords!!!!!

[eppur_se_muova]

20. It's down to 41%? What a huge improvement! nt

[Ardent15]

21. Thank you. The MIC has a stranglehold on America. nt

[Echo In Light]

22. "Generals gathered in their masses. Just like witches at black masses ..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roeDzHj9Q5A

[redqueen]

25. My best friend Shannon and I managed to get the teachers to play that

at a sixth grade dance. We were elated.

[Echo In Light]

27. It's funner playing it to a crowd of long hair'd, antiwar druggies who'd sooner die than enlist

[redqueen]

28. The crowd of confused kids & irate teachers in the heart of TX was

pretty damn satisfying.

[Echo In Light]

29. Playing in bar bands in the 90s, we did our own material, but always covered a Sabbath tune

War Pigs is great since its lyrics are so immediately recognizable to metal crowds, and especially when the audience is largely under the influence of various substances, are more likely to join in a Sabbath-Sing-Song.

Really though, the most stand out memory of that particular tune was when we did a show w/alternative rockers, Alice Donut, and they did their own version of it w/the vocalist and drummer switching spots, and the drummer covering the basic melody of Ozzy's lyrics w/a sliding trombone! Simultaneously hysterical and brilliant.

[redqueen]

23. Until the public stops buying into it, nothing will change.

Voters just love to hear leaders 'talk tough'... and if they don't talk tough enough, they're ignored.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

24. It takes a lot of dough to fill up that jockstrap America loves to parade around. K&R

[ohheckyeah]

26. Is this country paranoid or what? n/t