There are threats being bandied about that the Pentagon will lay off up to 200,000 civilian employees and contractors if more money is not forthcoming. Is this good news for the rest of the world or what? A peaceful holiday present from the most warlike state on the planet. And all unintended. We are not going to free those guys down in GITMO, but we’ll lay off all the people crunching numbers for the bombing of Iran, or maybe some other yet undisclosed military adventure brewing before Dick Cheney leaves office.
Surely the fine folks at Blackwater could not be among those to be furloughed, for how could we feel secure without their fingers on the triggers? Of course, the MainstreamMedia have not seen fit to ask that specific question and get the Pentagon’s non-answer, “Due to strategic considerations and national security interest at this time we are not able to answer….”
And all those former Pentagoners could do something productive. Pluck holiday turkeys, play Santa at the mall, join a greentech start-up generating electricity from old gift wrap,volunteer down at the soup kitchen. Hell, I would suggest they could do more good for the world if each volunteers to participate in his or her local Christmas Bird Count.
And think of the energy savings if we turn off 200,000 laptops and Blackberries, even if just for a few weeks until the Washington D.C. chickenhawks stop playing chicken with the military budget.
Tags: budget, employee lay-offs, Pentagon
December 6, 2007 at 4:07 am |
My dear Anza Towhee,
And why stop at the Pentagon? How many more billions of dollars of perfectly good taxpayer money would not be wasted, squanderd, & ill-spent if we laid off every single federal employee (sinecures all, I suggest to you) at the Dept of Education & the Dept of Energy? How many American public (or private) schoolchildren would not have their teachers tomorrow & how many school classrooms would not be cleaned because of these layoffs (none! — but you knew that), and by how much would the cost of energy in America rise (it would very probably fall — but you knew that, also!).
But, here’s the scary result of the “Pentagon proposition” for a person of the liberal/progressive persuasion such as yourself: there are only two (2) candidates who would certainly take immediate steps to devolve the so-called Dept of Defense (which you & I agree, I believe, is really a Dept of War) into an honest-to-goodness, really, truly “Dept of Defense.” Both of these candidates would most likely take action to minimize the aspirations of American hegemony-seekers to create an American Empire — and that person’s name is neither Hillary nor Barack, not Joe, not Chris, and not Bill. They are the ONLY 2 members of Congress who voted against both (a) going to war against Iraq & voting against funding the war as well as (b) voting against the Patriot Act. They are the only 2 candidates that I know of who would — without postponement, deferment or equivocation — not only bring the troops home from Iraq, but seek an honest rapprochement with the knuckleheads in Iran (although I’m quite so certain about the one who likes a weasel). Yes, as much as you cough, choke & sputter about these alternatives, my dear Anza Towhee, it’s a tough choice: Dennis Kucinich (who has forsworn learning anything about economics) or Ron Paul (who is — gasp! — a Libertarian!). Good luck on Election Day!