Our Military Industrial Nightmare

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has done the unthinkable: he's had the gall to recommend cutting military programs that aren't needed and shifting money to ones that are. The horror.

Here's how Gates sums up his view:

"When programs are out of control, when they're six years late, when they're twice the cost that they were originally forecast, something has to be done. Something has to give," Gates said.

That makes sense, to normal people, but the same article provides a clear example of how messed up Washington thought is:

"There are certain policy decisions Congress has a say so in, and we are going to have a say," Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who wants to buy up to 60 more of the F-22 fighter jets, said Tuesday.

That's 60 planes the Pentagon doesn't want, at $150 million a piece. Now, our Representative Scott Garrett and both Senators Menendez and Lautenberg have been guilty of getting money for programs the Pentagon doesn't want, but never to the tune of $9 billion dollars.

The problem is Congress as a whole ignores the Pentagon all the time. We need body armor, Congress gets us a new plane. What's going to make this fight even more bizarre than normal is the fact Gates's proposal isn't even cutting the budget. He's telling Congress we're changing what we're buying to what we need.

The early criticism just reinforces that Congress has been sucked into buying what they're told by lobbyists we need as opposed to the Pentagon. It's tragic that Congress will borrow whatever it takes to make their campaign donors happy.

It wasn't even 50 years ago that Eisenhower coined the phrase Military Industrial Complex. For those that forgot his prophetic warning, here it is:

Habeas Quote of the Day

From the AP story detailing the first of what is to be many court rebukes of the logic for holding prisoners without charges at Guantanamo Bay:

"Lewis Carroll notwithstanding, the fact that the government has 'said it thrice' does not make an allegation true," the court wrote.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit also had this to say:

"The government insists that the statements made in the documents are reliable because the State and Defense Departments would not have put them in intelligence documents were that not the case," the court wrote. "This comes perilously close to suggesting that whatever the government says must be treated as true."

Part of the reason Representative Scott Garrett and Senator Frank Lautenberg should have their commitment to the Constitution brought into question this Election were their votes to suspend Habeas Corpus via the Military Commissions Act of 2006(Garrett, Lautenberg).

It has been nearly two years since the MCA passed. Nearly two years that individuals who may have been falsely accused of terrorist ties have been locked up unjustly. These are years of life we cannot give back to the people we stole them from.

We're coming up on 232nd birthday of our Nation. When we declared our independence, we cast aside many things of British rule. However, one we kept was Habeas Corpus. As the light of the free world, it's been nearly two years since the world saw our own Congress take away one of the fundamental rights of free people everywhere.

As more and more of these wrongful detentions come to light, these votes will look worse and worse.

Shulman for Lautenberg

As promised, here's what I got from Dennis Shulman's campaign.

Dennis Shulman's Statement of Support for Senator Frank LautenbergDemarest, NJ –

"Senator Frank Lautenberg is a strong leader who understands the challenges facing New Jersey – be it our endangered economy, the war in Iraq, or our environment – and is helping lead the charge in Congress against the failed policies of Bush and Cheney.

When I was deciding whether to seek public office, I sought role models who had served their communities admirably before seeking federal office. Senator Frank Lautenberg's legacy of service to New Jersey as both a private citizen and as a Senator served as an inspiration to me, and I am grateful that he is running for re-election and will be honored to run alongside him this fall."

Dr. Dennis Shulman has gained international recognition for his 30 years of work as a psychologist, educator, and author. An ordained rabbi for five years and blind since childhood, he has lived in New Jersey's Fifth District for more than 25 years with his wife, Dr. Pamela Tropper, an obstetrician. They have two adult daughters.

Additional background on Dr. Dennis Shulman and his challenge to Scott Garrett:

DCCC Targeting Garrett: http://www.dccc.org/page/content/races_northeast"

General Clark Ready to Do Battle for Shulman," Roll Call, http://www.rollcall.com/issues/53_98/atr/22241-1.html

"Political History in the Works," Northern Valley Suburbanite, http://www.nvsuburbanite.com/NC/0/87.html "

'Time to take a stand,' and Friends Join In," Worcester Telegram,
http://www.telegram.com/article/20071204/COLUMN01/712040605/1010/NEWS02

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