We Can't Give You Anything But War, Baby

We "can't afford" national health insurance.

Better schools are too expensive.

Expanding and fixing Amtrak is too expensive.

Taking care of the soldiers we used like Kleenex is too expensive.

Just about everything is too expensive for these fiscally-responsible Republicans except war and more war:

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates asked Congress yesterday to approve an additional $42.3 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, bringing the Bush administration's 2008 war funding request to nearly $190 billion -- the largest single-year total for the wars so far.

Comments

[mommadona]

Here's some soldiers doing something about it...

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=7ee_1190476904

[StatingTheObvious]

I'm against all war. In the modern era, Free Trade with all nations is the only hope for Peace.

That being said, we can't really fix any of these things by throwing money at them.
We already spend almost as much per student as the rest of the world.

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_spe_per_sec_sch_stu-spending-per-secondary-school-student

The real problem with education is the Teachers Union, bad parents, and the mistaken belief that anyone can become a doctor or lawyer. If little Jimmy is 10 and he can't read, he will not be a doctor ever.

In Germany and elsewhere, poor academic students get sent to technical schools where they can excel.

Healthcare costs are skyrocketing because the cost of dying is going up.

Does it make sense to spend $100k to keep an 87 year old woman with terminal cancer alive for an extra month?
How many children could be treated with that $100k?

How can Healthcare be fixed when no one understands why the costs are going up so quickly?
Everyone wants First Class healthcare but they want it at Walmart prices. Not going to happen. You have to pick one or the other.

The Baby Boomers will bankrupt this country if we don't require them to retire at 67 like I will be forced to. ( I'm 33 ) Why does no one talk about that?

[holliwoodinc]

"In the modern era, Free Trade with all nations is the only hope for Peace."
Free trade isn't about bringing any real peace to the world, it's just the marketing slogan for the effort to privatize the world's resources for elite corporate interests. By using a false framing implying global unity, politicians use the phrases "globalization" and "free trade" to advance the objectives of their corporate sponsors and allies.

[StatingTheObvious]

Most wars seem to stem from desire for Power.
Your comment was full of so much rhetoric that I couldn't understand it.

I do know that "globalization" is happening. Witness the outsourcing of labor from places where it is expensive to places where it is cheap.

I guess you think that the people in these foreign lands are being exploited. If that where the case, then why would the workers continue working there?

They're not victims, they are people that are making the best financial choices they can. In return, they are able to improve their lives.

You can't look at other cultures from your own point of view. Emerging countries don't yet have the luxury of feeling entitled.

Free trade and capitalism are the reasons you have your computer and Internet connections. Think about it.

No one is entitled to anything.

[outnow]

The "neoliberal" trade policies are not in favor of workers in this country or in others. Please Google the term. It is the other side of the neoconservative coin.

Globalization is a boon to wealthy elites who rob countries with their privatization schemes. Just 'cuz Clintons were for it doesn't make it good. Check out who Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan really serve - the wealthy elites and multinational corporations of the world.

[freshpavement]

A junkie can't afford anything but the next fix.

[bethinCary]

And yet no matter how bad things get here at home-we still dole out plenty in foreign aid to other countries.
Why is this?
Why can GW NOT pass any healthcare for kids here in the US-when Israel is getting money from the US to the tune of $14,000 per every Israeli citizen there?
Why are Israel or other countries behaving like welfare countries to the US?
Why is this funding not the first to be stopped-when our war debt is so great.
I say end it now. NO MORE US welfare for other countries who don't need it.

[seawolf77]

The Party of NO. No abortions. No you can't tax me. No you can't say that, it's unpatriotic, doesn't support the troops. No drugs for you. No stem cell research. No you can't have WMD, even though we do and have used them. No you can't get your jimmie waxed in the Oval Office (the shame!!!!) and then lie about it to protect your marriage which is what 99% of us would have done. No health care. No child left behind. Yes you can have guns. No alternative energy. Yes you can pollute to your heart's content. No privacy. No sodomy. No homosexuals. No agnostics or atheists (all of you MUST love Jesus). No singles. No fuel efficiency. No conservation. Yes you can consume to your wallet's content and after that we have credit to help you along. No banruptcy (Only for us). No welfare. Yes Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter.

[holliwoodinc]

Good post, but you forgot the one they can't mention anymore but wish they could - "No Coloreds".

[ljsfolly]

The War has a much bigger cost than just the health and care of ourselves, our children. But who is going to call the republicans to task and now the democrats who would steal from kids healthcare to give to Iraq?

[StatingTheObvious]

The Military budget is only 4 billion more than Medicare:
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/index.php

[sedalia066]

Calling that entire crowd to task is the responsibility of the voters. And to that end it is our chore to educate the voters. Those of us who see the light and oppose the current course need to take action. We can march on the streets. We can write letters to newspapers. We can call talk radio. We can talk to our friends and neighbors. In the end if we are lucky the voters will use their power to remove the whole lot and put in real progressives who care about the people of this nation.

[mhnicholson]

Don't forget that corporate subsidies seem to be "affordable" even when schools and soldiers are expendable. Talk of class warfare may be out of vogue, but the practice seems all the rage in DC as much now as the reckless foray in ignoring the demand-side of the economic situation.

[pros54]

Hillary Clinton voted for the IRAQ war and is yet to apologize, she votes to designate the army of a country that has not attacked us a terrorist organization and Senator Obama punts taking a stand and these are the Democratic front runners.

My take is that we are finished as a country if all we can do is look up to he democratic corporate lapdogs to save us from the nightmare we are in. There has to be a way of getting Edwards and Richardson or some independent person to run this country. If Clinton wins the democratic nomination I will not vote in the general election as for Obama the count is not yet out but it is slip sliding away.

[Doofus]

You get the government you vote for.

The business of the government is now only
national defense. All else is 'entitlement'.
Also known as 'welfare' or 'socialism'.

Don't like it? ELECT MORE DEMOCRATS.

[Independent_voter]

Elect more Democrats!

Like who, Hillary Bush?

[Doofus]

'ELECT MORE Demos!' is strictly
a short-term strategy, in that
for maybe 4 years it's so much
better than the other, 'ELECT
More Repos!'.

Long term, they're both terrible ideas.

There's not a day that goes by that this
truth doesn't become all the more obvious.

[mgloraine]

But we DIDN'T get the government we voted for! The Republicans cheated us out of some results, then the Democrats who DID get elected spit in our face and joined the Republicans!

If we can just get Ralph Nader to step down, maybe the Green Party would be a viable alternative. Everyone who has been burned by the Rs and Ds has reason to seek a third path. I know I'm sick of hearing from the Dems why they can't do anything and refuse to even try! And watching H. Clinton (my former candidate) and D. Feinstein (my state's Senator) vote to go ahead and start that war with Iran was the last straw.

I'll vote for Communists before I'll vote for these liars, cheats, and back-stabbers ever again (assuming there will ever be any more elections).

[Doofus]

Unfortunately, the deck is stacked.

The only way out is MORE Demos.

But if we put a stake in the GOP,
perhaps we can make a new party
more to the left of the Demos.

[Purple Girl]

It's not that they can't. They are showing they WILL NOT.
They are running this long black train down the tracks. WHY?
Frankly I have given up trying to figure out why. I've decide to do what I can to derail the bastards.
I've written the UN and have asked them to consider moving ahead with War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity against this Administration and all tha thave supported an dharbored them. I have notified The DNC, Leven & Kildee of my actions. E are no longer in control of our
Gov't and the resources they have at their disposal.Yesterdays "non binding 'resolution has proven there is a mindset in motion that has no intentions of hitting any brakes. This is an INTERNATIONAL PROBLEM.And we must be strong enough to ask for help. Then we can begin the journey back to the laws, freedoms and rights that have made our country strong an dable to help others in the global community.
We're beyond the 11th hour. Times Up.
P.S. the Dem debate was useless- Just Repugs in Blue.
Cave Adsum

[PADDYWHACK]

Purple,there's nowhere to turn,an Independent with America's welfare at heart may show up like a Messiah,but the Messiah didn't fare too well last time.Iran will be turned into another smoking pile.There's a lot of anger but nowhere to channel it.Watching last night's debate was alarming,they're all on the same page.

[RickO]

Trying to "figure out why" is an exercise in futility if you are attmepting to use logic. You'll hear the various arguments on one end about spreading democracy and the other end about going after oil, but there are still too many inconsistencies to fit within a logical explanation.

Enter religion. Irrational, illogical, mind-blowingly destructive and the root cause of almost everything bad about humanity. Nothing has caused more death and suffering. Nothing has been a greater barrier to peace and human prosperity. Nothing has ever been so forcefully influential with less evidence of its validity of efficacy.

For example, in this country we condemn abortion, homosexuality, embryonic stem cell research and many other things based on the premise that God would not approve, yet would the god defense ever be effective in a US court? (God told me to kill that infidel. It says so right there in the Bible.) Of course it wouldn't. However, this irrational mass psychosis is the the basis for some many of our most stupid decisions.

Hitchens said "Anything one asserts without evidence can as quickly be dismissed without evidence".

[mgloraine]

RickO, you are mostly correct. Bush ("The Evangelical President") is delusional, as are all the other Christianists, Zionists, and Islamists dominating the world stage. They may as well be praying to or fighting for the Great Pumpkin, Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy for all the moral guidance they appear to be receiving.

We should, however, suspend condemnation of Buddhists (we could use a few thousand monks & nuns like those in Burma - genuine vertebrates who walk the walk!) and Taoists (I can't find any reference to Taoist violence anywhere and know of no conflict with which they've been associated).

Maybe their philosophies are less violent and self-righteous due to the absence of an anthropomorphic God as the Commander-In-Chief of an Army of the Faithful, which is a common factor in the "big three" Western religions.

[CaptainObvious]

"Trying to "figure out why" is an exercise in futility if you are attmepting to use logic."

But it's pretty easy if you "follow the money".

[Sundialsvc4]

Quite true. "'Ike' was right." (Why isn't that slogan plastered on every car-bumper in the nation?)

Gen. Grant said, "generals don't start war ... politicians do."

Today we must say, "... BUSINESSMEN do, and those politicians are the businessmen."

This country is not-only pursuing war at the exclusion of every other potential legislative or economic pursuit ... it is also doing it with supreme and utter hubris. And we know where "pride" goes... we should remember what comes next.

[BufoAmericanus]

Can't buy love,
But war is a racket.

[flatus]

War! Ooohng! What is it good for? Stuffing your pockets!

Say it again, now

War!, Ooong! ...