January 10, 2012
Michael Ramirez is even more of a hack than Glenn McCoy, though they’ve been fighting for the title for years. secotm: Yes, yes, yes. Incremental cuts to the bloated defense budget are exactly like crippling the entire military. I’m trying to think of a workable analogy for the way conservatives idolize and idealize the military, but the only thing I can think of is the realm of religion. In the eyes of cons the military is blameless and perfect, is entitled to demand great sacrifice of us (in the form of cuts to things like education or environmental protection to grow the defense budget), and should be allowed to operate without any interference from the government (ie. the President should be ever-subservient and deferential to the generals and admirals and other officers, while pederast Catholic priests are outside the rule of law). And above all we should always be looking to spread the Holy Word of America’s Might in godless foreign lands like Iraq, Iran, Syria, and North Korea. All must be told of the military’s greatness! Look at how people like Stantis, Ramirez and (in my next post) Varvel react to the very idea of reining in military spending by going to the most extreme nightmare scenario possible (America will be overrun by North Korea and al Qaeda within days!). It perfectly mirrors how evangelicals and other right-wing Christians leap to the wildest conclusions about something as innocuous as Obama skipping the National Day of Prayer breakfast (Oh my god! He’s a Muslim sleeper-agent who’s going to ban the Bible and make the Koran required reading in all preschools!). Because while nobody - nobody - plays the helpless victim card so often (and so in conflict with reality) as American Christians, military boosters come a close second. Here’s the reality: defense spending makes up one of the largest portions of the federal budget, and is bigger than the military spending of the next several countries combined, and we don’t even need it. Not at our current rate. It is perfectly rational to have a military ready to defend the country from threats external and internal, but that is a case of readiness. What America’s current military is for is less about defending the nation and more about defending national interests, by which I mean financial interests. I’m not going to go on a rant about how America’s business leaders control the government, and through that the military, but here’s a pair of facts: with the help of a complicit media America was led into invading the third-most oil-rich country on a flimsy rationale that evaporated under the least bit of scrutiny, yet the problems that plague Somalia only occasionally get a bit of notice from the media and government and are quickly forgotten. Draw your own conclusions.

Michael Ramirez is even more of a hack than Glenn McCoy, though they’ve been fighting for the title for years.

secotm:

Yes, yes, yes. Incremental cuts to the bloated defense budget are exactly like crippling the entire military. I’m trying to think of a workable analogy for the way conservatives idolize and idealize the military, but the only thing I can think of is the realm of religion. In the eyes of cons the military is blameless and perfect, is entitled to demand great sacrifice of us (in the form of cuts to things like education or environmental protection to grow the defense budget), and should be allowed to operate without any interference from the government (ie. the President should be ever-subservient and deferential to the generals and admirals and other officers, while pederast Catholic priests are outside the rule of law). And above all we should always be looking to spread the Holy Word of America’s Might in godless foreign lands like Iraq, Iran, Syria, and North Korea. All must be told of the military’s greatness!

Look at how people like Stantis, Ramirez and (in my next post) Varvel react to the very idea of reining in military spending by going to the most extreme nightmare scenario possible (America will be overrun by North Korea and al Qaeda within days!). It perfectly mirrors how evangelicals and other right-wing Christians leap to the wildest conclusions about something as innocuous as Obama skipping the National Day of Prayer breakfast (Oh my god! He’s a Muslim sleeper-agent who’s going to ban the Bible and make the Koran required reading in all preschools!). Because while nobody - nobody - plays the helpless victim card so often (and so in conflict with reality) as American Christians, military boosters come a close second.

Here’s the reality: defense spending makes up one of the largest portions of the federal budget, and is bigger than the military spending of the next several countries combined, and we don’t even need it. Not at our current rate. It is perfectly rational to have a military ready to defend the country from threats external and internal, but that is a case of readiness. What America’s current military is for is less about defending the nation and more about defending national interests, by which I mean financial interests.

I’m not going to go on a rant about how America’s business leaders control the government, and through that the military, but here’s a pair of facts: with the help of a complicit media America was led into invading the third-most oil-rich country on a flimsy rationale that evaporated under the least bit of scrutiny, yet the problems that plague Somalia only occasionally get a bit of notice from the media and government and are quickly forgotten. Draw your own conclusions.

12:00am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZucrbyEYOTMi
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  1. swanksalot reblogged this from secotm and added:
    hack than Glenn McCoy, though they’ve been fighting for...title for years.
  2. secotm posted this