Afghanistan war supplemental bill needs to be passed this month, Reid says

Fingers crossed on them getting to unemployment benefits, too.

(italics and bold-face mine)

of this. The suffering we've inflicted on the Afghan people is inexcusable, President Bush. We know of the special ops who murdered civilians and then tried to dig the bullets out of the corpses to cover up the crime. No more, President Bush. Your right to commit crimes in our name is over. No more killer drones murdering women and children, President Bush. We are done with it. We are better than that, President Bush. We--what? He isn't? You're sure? He lost the election? Wow. Serious? Who won? No! We did? You're kidding me. We won? Obama won? Obama is President. OMG! Yes!!! Gobama!!! USA! USA ! The Taliban have met their match. Surge on, dudes!!! Pass that supplemental or be primaried. No cowards in Congress. Fight! Fight! Fight! Support our troops with all the funding they need! Fight until we win and there is democracy for all in the Middle East! Fight for the City on the Hill!

with several billion left over:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8293333&mesg_id=8293433

or what it would almost buy for the state of Ohio:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8293333&mesg_id=8293646

Read that in the context of that OP, in which there is this:

"In 2009, one out of four Michiganians were on assistance, either in the form of food stamps, Medicaid, state disability or child development and care assistance."

Maybe they should remember why there's a Memorial Day in the first place.

bring our troops and our money home where they belong.

this country can no longer afford corporate imperialism.

And when he tells, Pres Obama and Harry Reid listen.

Reid, on the Senate Floor in the middle the Finance Reform debates Friday night:

"We were at a meeting today, and we were told that we had to pass the war supplemental before we leave here…”

well, that says it all!

Twas bizarre. He cut off proceeding to the vote on The Audit The Fed without explanation and then went on with all that about all the stuff they have yet to do:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=288796&mesg_id=289393

(we later found out why they didn't vote on ATF-- Bennett out of town.)

As above:

"Reid, in remarks on the Senate floor, said that Defense Secretary Robert Gates told lawmakers they need to pass the measure to help fund the war in Afghanistan by the time they leave for the Memorial Day break."


Three branches of government? pfffffffttt.

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/uscongress/a/congendswar.htm

How Congress Ends Wars
It always comes down to money
By Robert Longley, About.com Guide

<snip>

Drawing the Purse Strings to End Wars

Since 1970, the United States Congress considered 21 bills intended to restrict or totally cut off funding for U.S. military operations on foreign soil. Of those 21 bills, five were actually enacted, drawing the curtain on further military combat operations in Indochina (Vietnam War), and Somalia in 1993.

In some cases, the funding cutoffs were absolute and applied to specific military operations, like combat. In other cases, continued spending was allowed for limited military purposes, including combat related to the safe withdrawal of U.S. troops and civilians. In a few instances, the funding cutoff was contingent upon certain conditions or events taking place, such as the negotiation of a cease-fire or the release of U.S. prisoners of war.

In November of 1993, Congress passed an amendment to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act prohibiting the obligation of additional funds for U.S. military operations in Somalia after March 31, 1994. The amendment carried four conditions under which additional funding could be allowed after the cutoff date: 1.) The money was requested by President George W. Bush, Sr. and approved by Congress. 2.) The money was necessary to protect U.S. civilians. 3.) The money was needed for U.S. combat forces under the command and control of U.S. commanders. 4.) In the event President Bush, Sr. had decided to intensify efforts to have the U.N. deploy additional troops to Somalia to take over ongoing military efforts.

There seem to be three common threads to wars that are eventually ended by the U.S. Congress. First, a majority of the public wants the war ended. Second, the President of the United States believes the war can ultimately be won. And third, Congress ends up having to cut off further funding for the war to end it

then we can't afford to kill

Your Tax Dollars at War: More Than 53% of Your Tax Payment Goes to the Military

by Dave Lindorff

snip

.....The budget for the 2011 fiscal year, which has to be voted by Congress by this Oct. 1, looks to be about $3 trillion, not counting the funds collected for Social Security (since the Vietnam War, the government has included the Social Security Trust Fund in the budget as a way to make the cost of America's imperial military adventures seem smaller in comparison to the total cost of government). Meanwhile, the military share of the budget works out to about $1.6 trillion.

That figure includes the Pentagon budget request of $708 billion, plus an estimated $200 billion in supplemental funding, called "overseas contingency funding" in euphemistic White House-speak), to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, some $40 billion or more in "black box" intelligence agency funding, $94 billion in non-DOD military spending, $100 billion in veterans benefits and health care spending, and $400 billion in interest on debt raised to pay for prior wars and the standing military.

The 2011 military budget, by the way, is the largest in history, not just in actual dollars, but in inflation adjusted dollars, exceeding even the spending in World War II, when the nation was on an all-out military footing.

Military spending in all its myriad forms works out to represent 53.3% of total US federal spending.

It's also a budget that is rising at a faster pace than any other part of the budget (with the possible exception of bailing out crooked Wall Street financial firms and their managers). For the past decade, and continuing under the present administration, military budgets have been rising at a 9% annual clip, making health care inflation look tiny by comparison.
US military spending isn't just half of the US budget. It is also half of the entire global spending on war and weaponry. In 2009, according to the venerable War Resisters League, US military spending accounted for 47% of all money spent globally on war, weapons and military preparedness. What makes that staggering figure particularly ridiculous is that America's allies--countries like France, Britain, Germany, Italy, and Japan--account for another 21% of the world's military spending. Fully 12 of the top-spenders among big military-spending nations are either allies of the US, or are friendly countries like Brazil and India. That is to say, America and its friends and allies account for more than two-thirds of all military spending worldwide.

snip

Just to give one an idea of how small $4.8 billion is in comparison to the $1.6 trillion that the US is spending each year on war and planning for war, that number is roughly what the Pentagon plans to spend over the next year on childcare and youth programs, morale and recreation programs and commissaries on its bases! It's about what the Pentagon will spend acquiring replacement Seahawk, Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters this year.
For the average American, what all this means is that of every dollar you send to the IRS, 53 cents will be going to pay for blowing stuff up, fattening the wallets of colonels admirals and generals, bloating the portfolios of investors in military industries, and of course funding the bonuses paid to executives of those companies, and the campaign chests and expense accounts of the members of Congress who vote for these outlandish budgets. Your money will also be going to pay for the salaries and the bullets of those brave heroes over in Afghanistan who are executing kids, killing pregnant women (and then digging out the bullets and claiming they were stabbed by their families), and for the anti-personnel weapons that are creating legions of legless Afghani kids.

Next time you hear that the government needs to cut funds for providing medical care to the children of laid-off workers, or that supplemental unemployment funds are running out, next time you hear that federal funds that are needed to fund extra teachers at your school are being cut, or that Social Security benefits need to be cut back, or the retirement age needs to be increased to 70, next time you hear that your local post office has to be shut down for lack of funds, next time you hear that Medicare benefits need to be reduced, think about that 53% of your tax payment that is going to finance the most enormous war machine the world has ever known.

snip

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/04/13-4

Next time you hear that the government needs to cut funds for providing medical care to the children of laid-off workers, or that supplemental unemployment funds are running out, next time you hear that federal funds that are needed to fund extra teachers at your school are being cut, or that Social Security benefits need to be cut back, or the retirement age needs to be increased to 70, next time you hear that your local post office has to be shut down for lack of funds, next time you hear that Medicare benefits need to be reduced, think about that 53% of your tax payment that is going to finance the most enormous war machine the world has ever known.



Good article.

What a f'ed up place we live in.

Not another dime for these imperial wars.