According to Fred Thompson, George W. Bush has been derelict in his duty as commander in chief. How else to explain Thompson's latest policy initiative?
On Tuesday, Thompson unveiled what he has dubbed his "Four Pillars of a Revitalized National Defense." You might ask, why must the national defense of the United States of America be revitalized after nearly seven years of the Bush administration? And remember that for most of this time, Bush's GOP controlled Congress. Yet Thompson is saying that on Bush's watch, the military has not been properly managed. He is essentially calling Bush a devitalizer.
His Pillar No. 1: boosting military spending. Apparently, Bush's 60-percent hike in Pentagon expenditures since 2001 (in real terms) hasn't been enough--even though U.S. military spending now represents almost two-fifths of the world's total military tab. And at $626 billion, the U.S. military budget is about seven times the size of the military budget of China, the second largest military spender on the planet. It also is much larger than the combined military spending of Iran, North Korea, Syria, Sudan, Libya and Cuba (about $15 billion). But still, six-tenths of a trillion dollars is not enough for Thompson. So he must believe that Bush has imperiled the nation by spending too little during the previous six years.
For Pillar No. 2, Thompson wants to increase the size of the military to create a "million-member" ground force. Right now, the Army has about half a million troops, and the U.S. Marines Corps has about 180,000. Bush has called for increasing the Army to 550,000 and the Marines to 202,000. But yet again, Bush--as Thompson sees it--is not doing enough. Thompson advocates boosting the Army to 775,000 troops and beefing up the Marines to 225,000. Will there be a draft? Thompson doesn't say so. By the way, CBS News on Tuesday reported that Iraq war veterans have a suicide rate two to four times higher than civilians the same age. How's that for a recruitment pitch?
Moving on to Pillar No. 3. "The U.S. must modernize its Armed Forces," Thompson insists. That's obviously one more important task Bush did not get to while he was busy with the Iraq war.
Pillar No. 4: "The U.S. must take better care of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines....We must also take care of our veterans by fixing the VA system." Is Thompson implying that Bush has not done all he can to support the troops and our wounded warriors? (See the suicide stats mentioned above.)
It would appear that Thompson has a low regard for the current military status quo. And who's to blame for that?
Of course, Thompson doesn't point a finger directly at Bush. Now that would take guts, for the GOP presidential contenders don't want to criticize the president and possibly piss off Republican voters. (John McCain wimps out by blasting Donald Rumsfeld, not Bush, for the mismanagement of the war.) Thus, we have the spectacle of Thompson calling for revitalizing a military establishment that has been run by his own party for seven years and holding no one accountable for doing a lousy job. (By the way, Thompson is crashing in recent polls--for instance, placing sixth in New Hampshire.)
In a speech on Tuesday at The Citadel, a military college in South Carolina, Thompson promoted his four pillars and proclaimed, "We can either build up and deter war, or we can allow our forces to wither and risk conflict." That is a false either/or. He left out one option: use well the extensive resources already committed and pledged by the Bush administration to the military. But from Thompson's perspective, sticking with what we got would put America at risk. And that makes Bush, in the world according to Thompson, the weakener-in-chief.
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Comments
Thompson (as I posted before) is just a flash in the pan. When Ron Paul out polls and raises more money than you it is over.
It is a hard sell that the GOP has messed up everything so we need the GOP to fix it.
Just more of the "get-your-war-on" mentality.
Thanks for all of your work.
Posted by: capt
| November 14, 2007 9:18 AM
"weakener-in-chief"
It's been a while since I've heard a new nickname for President Shrub.
Flash in the pan is right. I can't see Thompson staying as a serious contender. He has nothing to offer besides his acting celebrity.
Off topic, this is something that has bugged me for a while
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Pronunciamentos: Saying It Right
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4994862
'... Dropping Aitches Everywhere...'
Charles Everest notes that NPR reporters and newsreaders regularly misuse the aspirate "h."
Please let all of your reporters, commentators etc. know that words that start with H are not prefaced with an, as in "an historic setting" or "an historic event". The only H words that use "an" are: an hour, an herb (only in the American pronunciation) and an honor etc.... A historic, a history, a hysterical, etc. are correct. Almost every announcer on NPR and WUNC says "an historical" etc.
It really grates on my nerves, and it is not correct use of the language or common parlance.
Mr. Everest's complaint underscores the fact that a spoken language is, as mentioned, a dynamic process, and language does change over time. Checking a number of reference guides and one reference librarian, here's what I found:
The use of "an historic" is in fact, not technically incorrect but is now considered archaic and pedantic. According to Fowler's Dictionary of English Usage:
A is used before all consonants except silent 'h' (a history, an hour); an was formerly usual before an unaccented syllable beginning with h (an historical work), but now that the h in such words is pronounced, the distinction has become pedantic, and a historical should be said and written...
NPR's reference librarian uses a more journalistic source to back Mr. Everest's concern. According to Kee Malesky:
The AP Stylebook 2005 agrees:
Use the article a before consonant sounds: a historic event...
(As we discussed, this is just a personal affectation. It should be discouraged.)
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Posted by: eyes_open
| November 14, 2007 12:02 PM
English - more exceptions to the rule than the rules themselves.
How about the people that never add the "ly" to predicate adverbs? i.e. "I never do things different, I do things differently"
Posted by: capt
| November 14, 2007 12:35 PM
eyes, capt - its a absolute annoying pet peeves
corn - probing Thompsen's policy proposal is like shooting ducks in a barrel.
Thompson wants to increase military spending by A LOT, not to fix the broken military but to fix it and double it, and then have them stay at home - US and Iraq - and scare other countries into complying with our foriegn policy objectives.
Posted by: Neil
| November 14, 2007 12:48 PM
I get the feeling the Thompson real proposal is to go back to making TV shows and movies.
Film at eleven . . .
Posted by: capt
| November 14, 2007 1:15 PM
A good article:
http://www.wiretapmag.org/stories/42848/
The Kids Are Still Alright
10 million young voters marched to the election booth. They set records, broke molds and helped progressives around the country land key positions in key places.
****
Short and sweet
Posted by: capt
| November 14, 2007 2:13 PM
File this under "Duh!"
FBI finds Blackwater Iraq shootings unjustified: report
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071114/ts_nm/usa_blackwater_probe_dc_1;_ylt=AhZIS8S7C7Ja3jUkYl1ATsoE1vAI
Now Mukasey's independance will really be tested.
Wiretapping probe revived under Mukasey
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071114/pl_nm/usa_security_mukasey_dc_1;_ylt=AvTjVQg1GZmt_rleLGdDdBcE1vAI
Posted by: eyes_open
| November 14, 2007 2:30 PM
Mukasey will make a very serious investigation and find everything on the up and up. Nothing to see here move along. Any call for further investigations or inquiries will be greeted with the standard call of partisans picking on the cry baby neocons.
No question about that.
Thanks DiFi and Chucky (grrrrrr)
Posted by: capt
| November 14, 2007 3:40 PM
House Democrats have postponed a vote until December on contempt resolutions against White House chief of staff Josh Bolten and former White House counsel Harriet Miers, delaying for now any constitutional showdown with the White House over the president’s power to resist congressional subpoenas.
from Politico via Common Dreams
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/14/5223/
*****
Seems like the Caucus Chairman has more clout than Conyers, Pelosi and Hoyer combined?
I have never been on board with the republican wing of the Dem party. UGH.
Posted by: capt
| November 14, 2007 3:51 PM
And on top of all the glowing news and uplifting stories I come across this:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/14/weapon114.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox
US plans new space weapons against China
*****
Will the time ever come that we plan for peace? Imagine we invested all that money into food, clothing or shelter?
Posted by: capt
| November 14, 2007 4:19 PM
"US plans new space weapons against China"
Cool, maybe we'll soon have Babylon 5 style Starfury fighters! (end sarcasm)
Posted by: eyes_open
| November 14, 2007 4:42 PM
I bet Russia love the idea, it will cement the Sino-Russian energy deals and lock the US and the dollar out of their business.
No surprise it is a lose lose - but we plan on winning the space war so . . .
Posted by: capt
| November 14, 2007 5:13 PM
How about a show of hands:
The web wizards have made URL's into clickable links so we don't have to cut and paste.
All in favor say AYE?
(aye)
Posted by: capt
| November 14, 2007 5:23 PM
Early Morning Jokes
by Tony Peyser
Luggage-sized nuclear bombs are now regarded as unlikely to exist. "24" devoted the entire last season to finding suitcase nukes. Producers of the FOX TV series blame the error on bad intel from skycaps.
Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto on Tuesday ruled out serving under President Pervez Musharraf in a future government but would consider serving as Vice President for John Edwards.
Bhutto has been trapped in a padlocked house surrounded by thousands of riot police, trucks, tractors loaded with sand and metal barricades. Vice President Cheney said he's a big fan of this Early Bunker architectural style and mailed Bhutto a traditional housewarming gift of cookies, candlesticks, and barbed wire.
He's reluctant to share power with a woman ... feeling isolated ... taking away constitutional powers ... and knows his political days are numbered. Is Pervez Musharraf destined to be Bush's new Best Friend Forever or what?
President Bush vetoed a spending measure for health and education programs prized by congressional Democrats. To further punctuate his feelings on this issue, he then snapped a wet towel at Nancy Pelosi and tried to give Harry Reid a wedgie.
A Canadian prosecutor will lead the UN investigation into the 2005 killing of the ex-Lebanese Prime Minister. Former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw had been considered until the Security Council realized that Rafik al-Hariri's name had too many Rs in it.
Republican Tom Tancredo defends his presidential TV ad that depicts a terrorist attack on an U.S. mall. He insists this is a real possibility while critics suggest he's just a long shot candidate who's playing the I Am Desperate And Totally Out Of My F***ing Mind card.
And finally: in Brownsville, Texas, local mayors want to widen and deepen the nearby river to more effectively keep out illegal immigrants. They plan to rename that body of water the Rio Mas Grande.
Tony Peyser provides daily poems and weekly cartoons for BuzzFlash and also writes the BuzzFlash column, "Blue State Jukebox." He was a daily cartoonist for the L.A. Times from 1994 to 1997. You can e-mail Tony at tonypeyser@yahoo.com.
Posted by: capt
| November 14, 2007 6:14 PM
http://www.kptm.com/Global/story.asp?S=7361109
Clinton says she doesn't back licenses for illegal immigrants
******
OMG, it is like she wants her opposition to bring out the flip-flopper meme.
Posted by: capt
| November 14, 2007 6:27 PM
We are in trouble:
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/11/is-the-ocean-carbon-sink-sinking/
Posted by: David B. Benson
| November 14, 2007 8:58 PM
http://blog.thehill.com/2007/11/14/van-zandt-promotes-rock-n-roll-education-with-menendez-lautenberg/
Van Zandt Promotes Rock ‘n’ Roll Education with Lautenberg, Menendez
Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and TV’s “The Sopranos” visited the Capitol Tuesday to promote his Rock ‘n’ Roll Forever Foundation’s new rock ‘n’ roll education curriculum, Little Steven’s Rock ‘n’ Roll High School.
Van Zandt met privately with New Jersey Sens. Robert Menendez (D) and Frank Lautenberg (D) before opening doors to reporters. Also on Tuesday, a Harris poll was released linking music education to higher SAT scores and salary.
Posted by: capt
| November 15, 2007 8:34 AM
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