- BUT AREN’T THESE WARS FINANCED BY JESUS? Interesting that it only took certain members of our Congress eight years of multiple lost wars to even consider proposing some sort of personal financial incentive to finish them off: “History shows that wars financed heavily by higher taxes, such as the Korean War and the first Gulf War, end quickly, while those financed largely by deficits, such as the Vietnam War and current Middle East conflicts, tend to drag on indefinitely.” [Bruce Bartlett]
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Authors
Wonkette Jr. (623)
Kirsten Boyd Johnson (796)
Jim Newell (5418)
Kaia Mursi (43)
Garrett Quinn (13)
Liz Colville (94)
Ken Layne (6695)
Blair Burke (170)
Matt Langer (40)
Arielle Fleisher (385)
{ 56 comments }
Saint Ronald of Reagan didn’t need no fuckin’ taxes.
What’s that? He did?
Nevermind.
“Shared sacrifice.” The GOP will tolerate neither.
What about wars that pre-empt snoopy?
I’m sick of this war thing. I wanna curl up under my grease stained Snuggie, with a bucket of KFC resting on my freedom tray and watch the Charlie Brown Christmas Special until Jesus comes to get me in The Rapture.
[re=472179]comicbookguy[/re]: Yeah, well that’s just WRONG.
#noshitsherlock
Bomb China now.
It’s about-fucking-time someone remembered the other half of that hoary-ass aphorism.
What’s next, a bill proposing that we arm our troops with horseshoes?
Who’d this fucking mensa member that just came up with that? Shit, I’ll go one better, send the sons and daughters of rich, white Republics and it’d be a blur watching all this crap end.
[re=472178]chascates[/re]: Well, shit. Bernanke already called dibs on Medicare and Social Security for the banks. I guess the M/I Complex will have to make due with the Education, Arts and Medicaid budgets.
[re=472181]PrairiePossum[/re]: Sorry about that, He (Jeebus) already came, and you’re Left Behind.
At this point, Republicans are probably nodding in agreement. If it takes wars to end ill-conceived social programs, then that’s another argument in favor of continuing the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns.
Gee, it’s almost as though the idiots who got us into Iraq and Afghanistan without any kind of plan wanted to curtail civil rights, checks and balances, and any sort of social progress we could make as a nation.
I’m already displaying a magnetic yellow ribbon on the trunk of my car, the antenna’s got a tattered mini US flag on it and my “These Colors Don’t Run” bumper sticker is in great shape. Sacrifices? I’ve already made them.
[re=472181]PrairiePossum[/re]: Throw in a few bong hits and I’m with you. Or better yet some good old Merikan Shrooms!
I’m going to finance these wars by converting liberals on convert-a-liberal day. Hippo-crits.
Those giant Merkin flags on my monster truck lowered my gas mileage to 6mpg. Isn’t that enough of a sacrifice?
Yeah, apparently the new pundit/White House Press Corp meme is to show concern about the cost and to ask everybody how we’re supposed to pay for all of this what with the deficits so high. Which is great of them to ponder such questions now but maybe they should have taken some time away from whacking of to images of W in a flight suit to concern themselves with that question, oh, when the wars first started
Jesus can make us money, like he did with the loaves and fishes…..except he has to talk to China first.
But, but, war is good for the economy…
..is what I would be saying if I owned any stock in Lockheed/Martin or Discount Artificial Limbs LLC.
“During most of America’s wars, parochial desires–such as tax breaks for favored groups or generous spending for influential constituencies–have been sacrificed to the greater good.”
Been watching too many old movies. The first thing the US did to defend itself form the ‘Japs’ was round up Americans of Japanese decent and steal their property.
It is true that during WWII both the military and weapons contractors made a decent attempt to get the job done. But that spirit had nothing to do with sacrifice and more to do with work ethic, and a general fear of losing.
Wars cost money? That’s unpossible!
what’s this “paying for stuff” shit? that’s so 19th-century. if any group of people knows we don’t pay for stuff anymore, it’s congress. don’t let them try to claim otherwise, they practically fucking invented it.
charge it!
where do i sign?
charge it!
show me the dotted line!
The other problem the Repub’s are having is that if you exlude the pay for the war with taxes or cuts, the only other way to pay is the old fashioned way, looting the counquered territory. However, the current evil shmucks who got us involved in these Wars refused to go all the way and nationlize Iraq’s Oil fields. We didn’t have these problems back in the day when our leaders had real gumption and took the land, killed everyone on it, and declared it US of A property.
The Korean War ended quickly? The Interwubs say it “started on 25 June 1950 and paused with an armistice signed 27 July, 1953.” That’s over three years of shootin’ ‘em up, not counting decades of M.A.S.H. in syndication. That counts as a quickie these days?
The Marine Corps new ‘Stan offensive is code named “Cobra’s Anger”.
Seriously: Cobra’s. Fucking. Anger.
AMERICAAAFUCKYEAAAHHH!!1
[re=472191]V572625694[/re]: Explains those children who have gone missing.
[re=472239]Extemporanus[/re]: Summer offensive: Destro’s Revenge
[re=472189]freakishlystrong[/re]: When the war in Viet Nam was fought by drafted intercity Black folks, it went on for years. When white students just out of college (with expired student deferments) began to get called up (Hey Dick Cheney! I’m talkin about YOU!) and then shot up, we managed to end things PDQ.
The American Civil War, by the way, was in part financed by the first income tax. And that one was four years long.
[re=472209]Paul Tardy[/re]: And Harry S Truman’s “Little Hoover Commission” that actively investigated war profitering – and got results. He’d have a field day today, wouldn’t he?
Logic based on positive correlation rather than cause/effect is no logic at all. It could lead to a conclusion that wars that include the use of nuclear weapons end the most swiftly of all, therefore we should drop the big one on Bin Laden and the Taliban. Or that the quickest way to end the war is to declare it on Spain… Bruce Bartlett tries to dazzle with statistics, always a bad sign, and his column is an unsuccessful search for an insight. It beats what goo-goo brains like Rush offer, but winds up an intellectualized version of the same emptiness.
[re=472243]uncletravelingmatt[/re]: Cobra’s Anger will ultimately prove ineffectual in the face of Riki Tiki Tavi’s Rage.
[re=472283]lawrenceofthedesert[/re]: TITS OR GTFO!
We could make some porno like that couple in England is doing to pay for their wedding
[re=472239]Extemporanus[/re]:
Did Hasbro do some kind of cross-promotional deal with their summer movie? If it did, the movie was crap so I hope they have a decent plot for this new one.
[re=472300]Citizen Kang[/re]: Perhaps Cobra’s Anger is a health insurance nod inferring that the terrorists only have six months left before theirs runs out and they all die because the Public Option has been so severely weakend by Blue Shield’s relentless attacks.
The obvious, the war was financed with inflation. Did you notice milk costs twice as much as before compassionate conservatism?
[re=472283]lawrenceofthedesert[/re]: I think he made a pretty good case for cause and effect in his article. It’s not like physics or biology where you can run an experiment to sort it out.
I think we should run the experiment anyway and institute a war tax and draft (with no deferments for the rich) and see how quickly these foreign wars end.
That was a head-nodder start to finish. Seems like that kind of common sense has gone awol, probably to Canada, and we’re stuck here in Crazytown.
[re=472317]Paul Tardy[/re]: Funny, gas does too. Was that what the Iraq war was about? Cheap gas?
[re=472264]Tundra Grifter[/re]: too bad there’s nobody like Harry Truman around today.
Credit where it’s due — the Republicans did quite a bit to keep costs down.
HMMWV armor is expensive shit, so we avoided a lot of that cost. The fuel bill would have been a lot higher if we were constantly rotating troops every year; extending their tours solved that problem. Training new combat soldiers is spendy; stop-loss allowed veteran troops to be recycled.
The Bush crowd seemed to go out of their way to minimize costs.
pass a new law that says whenever we’re in a war, the families of govt. officials- including senators, lobbyists, etc. – anybody with his hand in the pot- they are the first to serve in the military, on the front lines. and this includes deferment-freaks like Cheney.
I know how much you folks hate those “fact” thingies . . . but . . . technically, the Korean “War” STILL is not “over.”
An armistice was declared in 1953. But, technically, a state of hostilities as remained since that date up to the present.
Which is why, once we establish a link, we can nuke the hell out of North Korea for JOINING THE HEATHEN CHINEE IN THEIR GODLESS COMMIE PLOT TO KIDNAP BUTTERSTICK!
["[E]stablish a link” = “Get Colin Powell to lie about the data.”]
[re=472338]Neilist[/re]: Technically, Al Gore won the 2000 election. But it also doesn’t matter.
SNOOPY COME HOME!
[re=472191]V572625694[/re]: He only took Strom Thurman. The rest of us are doomed.
[re=472235]sad tortoise[/re]: Perhaps, you haven’t been watching, but we’ve been in Iraq since 2003 and Afghanistan since 2001, both of which are longer than 3 years. I know, I know; I too was like “what?” when I looked at the calender and realized it was almost 20-fuckin-10, but, verily, it is.
[re=472206]Gopherit[/re]: “Jesus can make us money, like he did with the loaves and fishes…..except he has to talk to China first.”
That is a MASSIVE win.
[re=472392]NYNYNY[/re]: I just read “Strom Thurman” as “Strong Throbbin’” lol
Probably not cause and effect, howevers. It’s more likely selection bias. Responsible people in charge when the war starts versus irresponsible people in charge when it starts. Responsible people say: “we’re paying for this war as we go and we’re getting out as soon as we can.” Responsible people also less likely to start wars with no purpose and therefore no end game.
[re=472260]Tundra Grifter[/re]: The American Civil War, by the way, was in part financed by the first income tax. And that one was four years long.
Trouble there was, we were fighting teh stupid.
And technically, that wars not over either.
[re=472235]sad tortoise[/re]: and technically, it’s not even over. It’s not over until the short ugly dictator with the platform shoes and troll hair sings. Or perhaps croaks.
[re=472338]Neilist[/re]: you beat me.
Bush’s version of the Health and Wealth Gospel didn’t work.
[re=472192]SayItWithWookies[/re]: I doubt most of them could plan anything more complicated than going to lunch early. But they are quick to jump on opportunities that come along.
Luke 14:25, 31-32
25. … And He [Jesus] turned and said to them….
“Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
“Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.”
[re=472219]red sky[/re]: Cheney at least probably had ideas along those lines, but they handled the occupation in a totally incompetent way. E.g., firing the entire army? What did they think the ex-soldiers would do? After a couple weeks of sitting around, brooding, and feeling angry, they started a revolt. Even I expected they’d start trouble, and I’m not a student of politics, management or anything save ancient history!
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