Men At War

www.tujuhbelasan.com ^ | 17 December 2018 | Geoff Fox

[Ozguy1945]

The senselessness that sometimes overtakes men at war. Certainly not all the time. Lest We Forget.

[Ozguy1945]

We say "Lest We Forget" about war because it is a tragedy to be avoided at all costs.

Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul are intellectual heroes of mine because of their consistent opposition to what they believe are unnecessary wars.

When candidate Donald Trump stressed in his major foreign policy speech of 2016 that American “resources are totally over extended”, I saw him as a part of the same great peace loving Republican tradition.

One way I have of describing 2016, is to say that The Donald took Ron Paul’s constituency of 10% and turned it into a presidency.

I offer the following short no budget fictional film from Australia as a dramatization of what can happen once the gods of war are unleashed within us.

https://tujuhbelasan.com/2018/12/17/austral-indonesian-tujuhbelasan-5-men-at-war/

[Zhang Fei]

[When candidate Donald Trump stressed in his major foreign policy speech of 2016 that American “resources are totally over extended”]

---

On government-mandated civilian projects, not military spending. 90% of federal and local spending (a combined ~35% of annual domestic national economic output aka GDP) is on police, fire departments, social welfare, regulatory, pork barrel spending and so on. About 10% (3.5% of GDP) is spent on defense. To hear Ron Paul talk about it, you’d think defense came to 50% of what the national produced nationally and was climbing. The reality is that when Eisenhower spoke about the military industrial complex, defense spending was 10% of GDP.
https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/total_spending_chart
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/defense_spending

If we really want to cut government spending, the first thing we could do is decertify government employee unions, and sharply curtail civil service featherbedding. It would also help to eliminate affirmative action in government hiring, so that fewer, more competent workers can do the work that was previously done/undone by more numerous incompetents of favored skin colors and ethnicities. That will happen, of course, when pigs fly.

[Zhang Fei]

Erratum:
[To hear Ron Paul talk about it, you’d think defense came to 50% of what the national produced nationally and was climbing.]

The corrected version:
[To hear Ron Paul talk about it, you’d think defense came to 50% of what the nation produced annually and was climbing.]

[DIRTYSECRET]

I think we will find out how unnecessary much of government is soon. Shutdown coming.

[PIF]

800,000 ‘unessentials’ to be furlowed

[Vermont Lt]

And they get paid when they go back. Can you say extended holiday break? They might just vote for Trump after this.

[Hardastarboard]

My tag line used to be “Three most irritating words on the internet - Watch the Video”. That sure applies here.

[PIF]

I know ... and we are supposed to feel sorry for the lot. Sure ...

[MrEdd]

After the ‘90 to ‘91 war, Wrong Paul toured the morning talk shows presenting to the American people his belief that using armored bulldozers and tanks with plow attachments to clear Iraqi trench lines was tantamount to war crimes. Did he think we should charge them on foot, and jump in with trench knives?

Seeing him on those shows right after I got back from the war was the first time I had ever heard of the filthy scumbag, and I have never had any use for him.

[Chainmail]

Well, that was lame. Idiotic stuff.

Luckily for Australia, there were enough Aussie and American warriors to keep the Japanese out.

[Little Ray]

I used to be a hawk, but now I’m dove.
All our fighting has accomplished nothing - mostly because the State Department effs up whatever the military achieves.
Keep our troops home, tighten our borders, and invite the rest of the world to go to devil.

[Zhang Fei]

Ron Paul’s newsletter is a hoot, and not in a good way. On top of his loopy publicly-expressed views, it is one reason he never got close to the White House. And we are better off for it.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1923481/replies?c=208

[Old Teufel Hunden]

I liked a lot of what Ron Paul said concerning domestic policy. However, his foreign policy was straight out of 1820. Like it or not folks, the post WWII world order with us leading it has kept the world from falling into another massive world war and serves our national interests.

Our Navy assumed the mantle that the UK navy had for 150 + years. That is one that is the unquestioned supreme power on the high seas that keeps the worlds waterways free and open to world wide trade. Without it, have no doubt that we would go back to a world similar to the Barbary Pirates where regional hegemonists would control waterways and key choke points and we would be subject to their ‘taxes’ for transit.

It is true that our NATO allies can do more and Trump is pushing them to do so. He has also set in motion forces which could someday bring home a large portion of our forces from the Korean peninsula. There are many things that we should not get involved in. One is the disastrous toppling of Ghadaffi in Libya. Headed up by our erstwhile ‘allies’.

However, I have no problem with us going into Iraq and Afghanistan and I continue to believe our presence in Afghanistan is warranted. I also believe the small contingency that is in Syria is warranted as well. It is better to fight the crazies over there than over here.

[Does so]

Sometimes, War finds You!

[Little Ray]

Yes, sometimes it does.
But when it finds us, it should be an extinction event for the peoples and nations involved. None of this “understand why they hate us” ‘crap - just kill them all.

[central_va]

Like our founding fathers, I believe in a very strong Navy/Marine Corp and a weak an ineffective standing army. The Army should guard our borders and act as a training seed corn if there ever is a general conflict.

[Ozguy1945]

Old Teufel Hunden, thanks for your thoughtful detailed response ..... but I think The Donald has made the right act of peace approaching Xmas time in Syria.

[Ozguy1945]

Zhang Fei we should also consider what is happening in the name of gender at the expense of mums who just want to be mums: https://freedom-demokrasi-and-civilised-humanity.com/2018/08/31/gender-and-society-calling-out-hysteria/

[Ozguy1945]

A long feared shutdown is here now. What real effect is it having? To me, outside America, The Donald seems to be showing that he is the president who brings real change ...... I am a fan of him ....... https://freedom-demokrasi-and-civilised-humanity.com/2018/06/15/open-letter-to-the-leader-of-the-free-world-our-common-heritage-defending-freedom-today/