Dougherty Arts Center
Where Are the Good Congress People?
RECEIVED Mon., Jan. 21, 2013
Dear Editor,
Having averted the fiscal cliff, certain Republican Party neocons are now insisting that not only can we not cut Pentagon spending (I won’t dignify it by calling it “defense spending”), but that we should increase it. These clowns give the reason that we need to meet Red China’s expanding sphere of influence in the Pacific region.
So here we give the ChiComs most-favored-nation status so they can build up their economy, thus enabling them to expand their military, and at the same time causing the export of American jobs to them, which weakens us – but at the same time, we borrow money from them, at interest costs to us and enrichment to them, to expand our already bloated military (so-called “defense”) to counter ChiCom expansion in the first place.
That makes about as much goddamned good sense as an ashtray on a motorcycle.
I saw Dennis Kucinich on the tube not too long ago stating that there were all these reports gathering dust, detailing how we can cut the fraud, waste, abuse, and pork from the Pentagon without harming our defense in the least.
So, Dennis, where are you now? You should be forming a caucus in Congress to bring about these reforms in a very public way.
But don’t hold your breath that anything like that will ever happen. During the Reagan years of Pentagon waste, I did not see Teddy Kennedy, who sat on the Armed Services Committee, try anything to counter that testy, reactionary, and ignorant high priest of Pentagon waste, the pin-striped scalawag John Tower from Texas. I did see the right-wing senator from Iowa, Chuck Grassley, try to do so and fail miserably. How about you, Lloyd Doggett? Veterans for Peace? Anybody?
Having averted the fiscal cliff, certain Republican Party neocons are now insisting that not only can we not cut Pentagon spending (I won’t dignify it by calling it “defense spending”), but that we should increase it. These clowns give the reason that we need to meet Red China’s expanding sphere of influence in the Pacific region.
So here we give the ChiComs most-favored-nation status so they can build up their economy, thus enabling them to expand their military, and at the same time causing the export of American jobs to them, which weakens us – but at the same time, we borrow money from them, at interest costs to us and enrichment to them, to expand our already bloated military (so-called “defense”) to counter ChiCom expansion in the first place.
That makes about as much goddamned good sense as an ashtray on a motorcycle.
I saw Dennis Kucinich on the tube not too long ago stating that there were all these reports gathering dust, detailing how we can cut the fraud, waste, abuse, and pork from the Pentagon without harming our defense in the least.
So, Dennis, where are you now? You should be forming a caucus in Congress to bring about these reforms in a very public way.
But don’t hold your breath that anything like that will ever happen. During the Reagan years of Pentagon waste, I did not see Teddy Kennedy, who sat on the Armed Services Committee, try anything to counter that testy, reactionary, and ignorant high priest of Pentagon waste, the pin-striped scalawag John Tower from Texas. I did see the right-wing senator from Iowa, Chuck Grassley, try to do so and fail miserably. How about you, Lloyd Doggett? Veterans for Peace? Anybody?
Steve Mason
[Editor's Note: Dennis Kucinich is no longer a member of Congress. Having been redistricted out of his seat, he was defeated in the 2012 Democratic primary by Rep. Marcy Kaptur.]
