Simple Man Politics

Welcome to Simple Man Politics my friends today we are going to discuss a topic I have been eyeing for some time, but haven’t had the chance or information to adequately address until now. Today’s topic is Obama’s Defense Budget. This has been a subject that has worried me for some time but there is no avoiding it now. The reason I am talking about it now is because it will go to congress soon.

It is no secret that Obama has been planning to cut a lot of funding from The Department of Defense especially since he made that promise during his campaign more than once. However he is facing some opposition and criticism regarding some of his proposed budget cuts even from within his own party too. However a lot of this opposition is due to job loss that will occur as a result.

For example one of President Obama’s proposed defense spending cuts involves the F-22 Fighter Program. This is a very expensive but important weapon in our national arsenal and one that most feel is necessary for the US to maintain our air superiority in the first part of the 21st century. The F-22 program will also be a stable economic platform for the nation as well considering our current economic, financial, and employment crisis’s we face at this time.

However Barack Obama is so adamant about cutting this program that he has even threatened to veto his own defense budget bill if the program is not cut. You almost have to wonder what kind of logic this very inexperienced chief executive of the nation is applying to his decisions on defense spending. The F-22 program is not the only potential cut, missile defense is another one. There are other important programs besides these two that are facing the knife as well.

Now that I have had the time to sit back and look at our Presidents plans in all areas for this nation, I can only assume that these decisions proves not only his lack of experience in national security, but his lack of intelligence and real life experiences as well. Unfortunately we are now obliged to live with these potentially fatal mistakes that Obama calls the right choices for us all. I am not just talking about national defense now; I am talking about his mistakes in the financial, economical, employment, healthcare, and climate arenas too.

That is all for now but I will be back with more real soon and I am sure of that. I hope you all have a fantastic night and a great day tomorrow CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Yesterday saw an extraordinary political event occur on the national stage and brought to all of us by our favorite news outlets. This extraordinary event that I am talking about is the back to back speeches made by President Barack Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney both of which were on national defense and the war on terror. Both of these speeches were in stark contrast to each other as well and immediately sparked sharp debate from both sides of the argument.

I found both of these speeches to be very well thought out and written by and for their respective speech makers. What I mean to say is that if you support the Obama position on the war on terror, closing Gitmo, and national security then his speech was just what you wanted to hear, and if you support the Cheney position then likewise he said just what you wanted to hear. As I said both sides of this argument will be talking about the speeches for a couple of days at least.

I applaud Obama for his choice of venues for delivering his speech, which was the National Archives where the Declaration of Independence, the US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights are enshrined, which are the three documents that he said in his speech he would defend. However I found the consensus that Obama was giving this speech from a position of weakness. On the other side Cheney chose to give his speech from the American Enterprise Institute and seemed anything other than weak from his position.

He also restated his intention to close down the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility stating that it was not only illegal but a sore point with our enemies and a recruitment tool for them also. He likewise stated his position on the Enhanced Interrogation Program and its termination saying that it was illegal, inhumane, and immoral. He also said that it was a recruitment tool for terrorists also. He further stated that bringing the Gitmo detainees to the US and trying them here with all of the rights of a criminal defendant was the right thing to do under the law.

On the other side of this argument Cheney said that the construction of Guantanamo was designed to house just these sorts of animals that attacked our homeland on September 11th, 2001 and was legally developed. He also staunchly defended the Enhanced Interrogation Program stating that it was not only extremely effective, but constitutionally legal as well. Cheney went on to say that Gitmo was there so that we wouldn’t have to bring these vermin onto US soil and implied that the detainees were not eligible for the rights our legal system affords its citizens.

Now I will give you my own thoughts on this subject. I agree with Obama that he has sworn to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America and likewise the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights and he should defend them. These documents are the very foundation, heart, and soul of our nation and its democracy, but there is little if anything else that he said yesterday, which I do agree with.

On the other hand I do agree with Cheney that 9/11 changed forever the way I look at our enemies and in particular those in the Middle East that support, harbor, fund, equip, train, or otherwise take part in terrorist activities against our country. I do not believe that they are eligible for Geneva Convention Protections because they are not a recognized national military. I will also tell you that I think we should leave them in Gitmo or put them in some more inhospitable environment where they could not survive without our assistance such as a place like ANWAR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or maybe Alcatraz Island, which is a federal military reserve.

As enemy combatants I also do not believe that they are eligible for habeas corpus rights or any rights afforded a simple criminal in our federal criminal court system including legal defense. I say a military tribunal is just what is needed for them. With regard to our Enhanced Interrogation Program and its apparent success in gaining intelligence from high value detainees I believe that it was not only a successful program, but legal as well and as far as water boarding in particular it was only used on three of those terrorists and with great effect. By the way their recruitment tools are nothing more than their hate of freedom and democracy.

I personally don’t care what we do to the detainees or what happens to them for that matter as long as it is extremely unpleasant. I don’t believe that animals and these animals in particular are deserving of the rights and protections of law abiding citizens of the world or of the United States in particular.

I would just as soon shoot them like rabid dogs myself personally and if I cannot then send them back to their countries of origin, but apparently we can’t do that because it would be a death sentence for most of them at least, but I don’t care if they are killed by us or their own kind. All I care about is that they never again have the ability to raise their hands against another citizen of the United States or any other democratic country.

Well that is my Friday rant for all of you to read and I hope it leaves no doubt where I stand on the issue of this nation’s defense and its enemies. I hope you all have an awesome weekend and I will be back again on Monday CIAO4NOW!!!!!

Wow so many screw ups and not enough hours in the day to accurately document them all. I must say that I am thankful to my President for one thing; he keeps me in subject matter to blog about, and there is so much to blog about to. I could blog about things like climate change or healthcare.

However today we are going to discuss our national defense, its budget, and the impact it will have on the US workforce and the economy. The reason for me going this route is that this will affect our country in more than one area. It also appears that most of these areas will suffer negatively if these policies are implemented.

National Defense:
In my opinion national defense is a very high priority to the United States in order to maintain our national sovereignty. Former President George Bush was a hawk on defense spending, realizing that in order for us to maintain our security and power around the world, we needed the latest in cutting edge technology to remain the lone super power in the globally.

Now we have an administration and congress that seems willing to give up our national security in order to pay for things like nationalized healthcare and global warming. One of these programs is financially impossible and the other one is an outright lie. I think we all know which I think is which.

Today Secretary of Defense Robert Gates proposed broad cuts in defense spending sparking debate and anger throughout both houses of congress. One of the most important examples of defense spending cuts that Gates broached was the F-22 Fighter program, which was designed to take the place of the F-16 program and some of the F-18 program as well.

The F-22 program is important because it replaces a fighter fleet that is nearly 20yrs old. The F-22 program was instituted under the Bush administration. The aircraft applies many of those cutting edge technologies that are necessary to maintain air superiority around the world. The loss of the F-22 program will seriously degrade our defensive and offensive capabilities during military operations.

Defense Budget:
The reason for making cuts to the defense budget involving new weapons programs such as the F-22 program and missile defense, which is another program on the chopping block is really quite simple. The administration and congress need to make these cuts to the defense budget in order to come up with the money to pay for social programs such as nationalized healthcare.

US Workforce and Economy:
The impact on our workforce if these programs are cut will be catastrophic. Cutting the F-22 program by itself will cost the US approximately 90,000 jobs. You can estimate job loss in the arena of missile defense at more than twice that number. There will also be massive job losses to peripheral businesses such as vendors and suppliers of materials that were required to sustain these tow programs alone. These are not the only defense program cuts on the chopping block either.

The impact on the economy especially with regard to the states that house defense manufacturing facilities will lose billions and perhaps even trillions of dollars in revenue and that is in the short term not just long term. You think unemployment is out of control, you just wait till these cuts happen. I can see unemployment up to at least 10% if this happens and that is a conservative estimate on my part.

That is all I have for you all right now, but I am sure there will be plenty to talk about tomorrow. Have a terrific evening my friends, CIAO4NOW!!!!!