The Bob Herbert op/ed set me off this morning and yesterday it was the preposterous article about the "vast" wealth of minerals, etc. "discovered" in Afghanistan. NY Times The GDP of Australia is $1 trillion with the population of both countries being about equal. A trillion dollars ain't what it used to be. The vast mineral riches article was obviously a paid advertisement by the Pentagon. How do I know? They mentioned lithium, laptops and Blackberries in the same sentence and everyone knows that acquiring resources by any means to "support our way of life" is a slam dunk, because, "they hate us for our freedoms." LOL Consider for a second the Vietnam War:
Resources in Vietnam
Take rubber and oil for instance, South China Seas estimated reserves of oil, high Chinese estimate is 213 billion barrels (About $15 trillion at $75 a barrel) and a huge quantity of natural gas. Whereas, Saudi reserves are 267 billion barrels. The French exploited Indochina for it's rubber and who knows what else? Well, actually, the French and Americans knew as early as the 1930's. The market for tires is mind boggling, of course the number one producer of rubber is Thailand and their army doesn't carry AK-47's, they carry US M-16's. In Vietnam gold, chromium, tin, rare earth, etc. are in abundance. They are the number one producer of coffee and the Mekong Delta is capable of supplying all of Asia with rice.
Earth to Republicans:
Cut the defense budget and save your states and your country. Not counting the regular defense budget, we have spent $125 billion a year on Iraq and Iran for the last 8 years. Because of that, how many Einsteins, Ghandis, Kings and Kennedys have we lost? How many teachers have been laid off? How many music and arts programs cut? How many veterans and active duty military personnel have suffered at Walter Reed and Veterans hospitals? I'll put it in George Bush terms so that you can clearly understand the severity of the situation. You are with us (The American people) or you are against us. You can't have it both ways, show your allegiance to the Constitution and the welfare of the American people or continue down the primrose path laid before you by the military industrial cabal.
Primrose Path- A course of action that seems easy and appropriate but can actually end in calamity. MC
Oath of Office:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."
Preamble of the Constitution:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
NY Times
June 14, 2010
Unfazed by Reality
By BOB HERBERT
Imagine that you’ve got the gas pedal to the floor (or almost to the floor) as you try to get your vehicle to the top of a mountain, where the road will level off. You’ve made real progress, but the vehicle is straining and wheezing. You’re not there yet.
Why in the world would you lift your foot off the gas and risk rolling back down the mountain?
Something like this is happening in the fight to haul the United States out of the depths of the worst recession since the Great Depression. The deficit hawks — policy makers from the very same crowd whose crazy theories and rampant irresponsibility got us into this terrible fix in the first place — want the United States to step off of the stimulus gas, a move that might very well stall the current, extremely fragile recovery.
NY Times Op/Ed