Category Archives: Military

UPDATED: DOD Is Killing Us (& On So-Called Cuts To Killer Spending/ers)

Debt, Economy, Military, Republicans, War

When the need to slash the military is raised, Republicans typically counter that their beloved Department of Defense is a small-ticket item. Blame Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

He who admits half the truth is still a wholesale liar. The DOD is a budgetary killer.

Via Fox News’ Bret Baier:

Each day during the month of November, the government brought in a little more than $5 billion of revenue. That’s a lot of money – but the U.S. government spent in that time more than $11 billion a day. The difference is roughly $6 billion.
Of that $11 billion, the top items were as follows: The Department of Health and Human Services, which goes through roughly $3 billion a day; Social Security, which shells out roughly $2.5 billion a day; the Department of Defense, which runs a $1.8 billion daily tab; and interest on the debt, which eats up $854 million every day.

MORE.

UPDATE (19/12/012): Finally, Republicans, and a couple of Democrats and their anointed experts, are framing all budget proposals out there as they should—and as these worse-than-useless efforts are habitually framed by libertarians (led by Ron Paul): “cuts to designated increases in spending.”

Bret Baier (archived here) has been tackling the structure of the debt:

At last check, it was approaching $16.4 trillion. Just four years ago, it was $10.6 trillion.
The skyrocketing number is, to say the least, reason for concern for every American.
Here’s why:
As of today, every household in the United States owes about $140,000 of this debt.
The country is borrowing roughly $6 billion every day, and $239 million every hour. Put another way, that’s $4 million every minute.
The country runs up so much debt for a fairly basic reason — it spends far more than it takes in. This year, for every dollar in revenue the federal government brought in, it spent two dollars and six cents. That shortfall over the course of the year adds up to the annual deficit. The national debt — or total accumulated debt — is the sum of all annual deficits, minus any surpluses. …

Bye-Bye Biology, Hello Androgyny (Unisex)

Gender, Military, Political Correctness, Sex, The State

Like any arm of government, the military is the playground of feel-good politicians and their playmates. As such, “It is manacled by doctrinaire mediocrity, multiculturalism, feminism, affirmative action (fem and other), and every postmodern pox imaginable.”

In their quest to rid the world of the reality of biology, progressives have now petitioned to welcome women into combat duty. In the tradition of political expedience, Uncle Sam is likely going to be bidding bye-bye to biological “inequality” in the military.

The women in combat issue has reared its head again with the recent lawsuit filed on behalf of four female military personnel by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN).
The suit claims that because of the direct ground combat exclusion policy (which includes infantry, armor [tanks], and close-in artillery), which has been in effect since 1994, women are denied access to “a number of critical assignments, schools, and positions” which in effect are a ‘brass ceiling’ that limits promotion opportunities.

The Israelis, every bit as liberal and libertine as we are, tried making “GUYS DO DOUBLE DUTY FOR FEMINIST DELUSIONS.” Thing is, they don’t have as many warm bodies to spare as we do, so they had to rethink. Men died. Why? Because it is in the nature of most men to protect females (although to a large extent this instinct has been bred out of the metrosexual male). They got taken out doing what was once second nature to men. They lingered/overcompensated for women and got picked off.

I’ve made my own Modest Swiftian Proposal on a related matter.

Go ape on affirmative action in [the military.] Not only should women and minorities be well-represented … they should be overrepresented. Adjust admission tests, physical and cognitive. Make the Police Officer Selection Test (POST) easier. Or admit the desired gender and race with still lower scores. Drop the IQ requirements by two standard deviations, if necessary! And a bull’s eye on the target be damned. Sharpshooters of the new, “improved” intake needn’t drop an attacker; they can settle for grazing him. Aiming the firearm in the general direction of the assailant will suffice. ALSO, support the super obese for the …

Go for it. Perhaps when men get fed-up about dying in combat to compensate for female megalomania, they’ll quit the military. A feminized, enfeebled military may net fewer wars.

Standing Armies Commandeered by Cowards

Barack Obama, Foreign Policy, Hillary Clinton, Israel, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Just War, Military, Palestinian Authority, Terrorism, War

The following is from “Standing Armies Commandeered by Cowards,” now on RT.

“In ‘Letters from Iceland,’ W. H. Auden reflected on ‘the cold controlled ferocity of the human species.’ The latest flare-up in the cold war between Hamas and Israel is ‘an extraordinary vision’ of that ferocity. …

…The locking of horns between Hamas and Israel cost 150 Palestinians and five Israelis their lives. The fight was started by Hamas. Hamas hides among unwitting civilians, who have no way of controlling its activities.

This fact does not give Israel the right to kill innocent non-combatants, not even unintentionally.

Besides, murder is not ‘unintentional’ when you know it is inevitable.

… Israeli commandos such as the ‘Sayeret Matkal’ are trained in surgical strikes, including modern urban counterterrorism operations. ‘Sayeret’ soldiers can trace and neutralize the source of an attack against Israeli civilians sans ‘collateral damage.’

Yes, what’s the matter with Israel’s Special Operations capabilities? Where are Israel’s precision Pac Men?

Did the Israel Defense Forces rain bombs, willy-nilly, on the civilians at the Entebbe Airport—in Uganda, on July 4, 1976—where the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine held 100 hijacked Jews and Israelis hostage?

Not on your life.

Led by Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, Bibi Netanyau’s late great brother, 100 members of the ‘Sayeret’ traversed 2,500 miles to rescue their brethren. They killed only those who needed killing….”

The complete column is “Standing Armies Commandeered by Cowards,” now on RT.

If you’d like to feature this column, WND’s longest-standing, exclusive paleolibertarian column, in or on your publication (paper or pixels), contact ilana@ilanamercer.com.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION, AND DO BATTLE FOR LIBERTY BY:

• Using the content-sharing icons on Barely a Blog posts.

• At the WND and RT Comments Sections, and on Facebook.

• By clicking to “Like,” “Tweet” and “Share” WND’s “Return To Reason” , and RT’s “Paleolibertarian Column.”

UPDATE II: How Hard Is It To Stay HOT? (The Market Will Help, Not The Military)

Addiction, Aesthetics, Democrats, Feminism, Free Markets, Military, Sport

How hard is it for a “mature” lady to look beautiful?

Ask Ann Romney.

Granted, Mrs. Romney is a natural beauty. Still, she is not a healthy woman. At her age, she would have to work hard at looking like this:

We ladies know that as we age, it’s harder to look fine and stay fit. It takes an effort. We all face the same aging process, although some, like Ann Romney, have genetics on their side.

Given America’s veneration of the victim, I expect that what I am about to say next will draw ire.

Understand: No one here disputes that Holly Petraeus has a hideous husband. It should be stressed too that Mrs. Petraeus is not to be faulted for her husband’s whoring.

Nevertheless, Holly herself, who can’t be much older than Ann Romney, looks like Mrs. Romney’s grandmother.

Why is it that so many American women—so often Democratic—conflate the greying, fat and unfit look with a statement of individual authenticity? It’s as though the less feminine and more unkempt a woman appears, the more she is said to be comfortable in her own skin.

Why does Mrs. Petraeus wear those Mao suits? Why not dye the salt-and-pepper hair and get it styled? What about a lick of lipstick?

And yes, the idea that a woman should make an effort to look nice contradicts all feminist strictures, but then I’ve never professed feminism.

UPDATE I (Nov. 17): This Facebook thread is fun. Some good and funny points. My point: you are not responsible for your genes. But you can honor yourself above all by taking care of yourself. Mrs. Mao is not old. She was pretty as a younger woman. It’s my non-feminist opinion that to let your body go, above all, is to dishonor yourself. However, you honor yourself and you show respect to those around you by dressing and making up nicely. That’s all. (I’d be grey without hair color too. ..)

I have a neighbor who was an elite-unit army man. I have never seen this man (in his 60s) walk his dog looking less than spiffy. The carriage, the fitness level, the care he takes with himself—these all show a respect for self and others. When I walk around the shops, some of the girls are dressed like whores (white, dimpled flesh oozing out of short pant, crotch and cleavage for all to see). This to me shows disrespect for what nature (or G-d) gave you and for humanity. For such a vision assaults the eye and offends the sensibilities.

Mrs. Mao doesn’t work; she fiddles with charity on base. She is part of “Rome’s marching camp.” She has time to get fitter, color her hair, and dress less like a commie official.

UPDATE II (Nov. 18): The market, not the military, will help you look hot into middle-age, and beyond. Reply on Facebook thread:

Looking good is tiring? Rubbish: Stay out of the sun (Tampa tarts will look like crocodiles in a couple of years). Use a good skin cream. Get your hair cut and colored. Buy a couple of nice items online. You can find great items (made in the USA), dirt cheap. Get glorious service to your door step, b/c of the MARKET, MRS. Mao, NOT THE MILITARY.