BottleOfBlog

Well, Maybe It Was More Of A Guideline To Keep

George W. Bush at the Republican National Convention, in Philadelphia, August 3, 2000:

"Little more than a -- little more than a decade ago, the Cold War thawed, and with the leadership of President's Reagan and Bush, that wall came down.

But instead of seizing this moment, the Clinton-Gore administration has squandered it. We have seen a steady erosion of American power and an unsteady exercise of American influence. Our military is low on parts, pay and morale. If called on by the commander-in-chief today, two entire divisions of the Army would have to report, "Not ready for duty, sir."

This administration had its moment, they had their chance, they have not led. We will.

The world needs America's strength and leadership. And America's armed forces need better equipment, better training and better pay.

We will give our military the means to keep the peace, and we will give it one thing more: a commander-in-chief who respects our men and women in uniform and a commander-in-chief who earns their respect.

A generation shaped by Vietnam must remember the lessons of Vietnam: When America uses force in the world, the cause must be just, the goal must be clear, and the victory must be overwhelming."

George W. Bush, delivering:

The Army reportedly has a shortage of 3,000 captains and majors this year, and recently began offering them bonuses of up to $35,000 if they'd agree to remain on duty for another three years. The shortage was forecast to rise to 6,000 by 2010 as the Army tries to grow by 65,000.

Even with the offer of the cash bonus or free graduate school or their choice of assignments, the exodus of young officers continues to grow at a pace that worries commanders. The U.S. Military Academy at West Point was founded to educate career officers for the Army, and upon graduation each officer owes Uncle Sam five years on active duty. The hope is that most will remain for a full career, and historically just 28.8 percent have opted out after five years.

A total of 35 percent of the West Point Class of 2000 left the Army in 2005; 46 percent of the Class of 2001 left in 2006, and a staggering 58 percent of the Class of 2002 left active duty when their obligation expired this year.

Those figures are mirrored among officers who are commissioned through university ROTC programs, with attrition rates now at a 30-year high. The Army Reserve reports that the situation is even worse for critical ranks and specialties: The Reserve has only 58 percent of the sergeants first class it needs, 53 percent of the needed captains and 74 percent of needed majors...

[The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael] Mullen told the junior officers that his service dates back to the Vietnam War, and he remembers vividly how our military was broken at the end of that war, and how hard it was to repair the damage. He said he doesn’t want to see the current wars break the force again.

Hughes Unveils The Wheel; Republicans Gasp In Awe

WASHINGTON - Karen Hughes, who led efforts to improve the U.S. image abroad and was one of President Bush's last remaining advisers from the close circle of Texas aides, will leave the government at the end of the year.

Hughes told The Associated Press that she plans to quit her job as undersecretary of state and return to Texas, although improving the world's view of the United States is a "long-term challenge" that will outlast her…

[White House Press Secretary Dana Perino] praised Hughes' performance, despite persistently low opinions of the United States globally, particularly in the Muslim countries where she was supposed to concentrate her efforts…

"She has done quite a great job of transforming public diplomacy at the State Department ...," Perino said of Hughes. "We are making progress. I know that we have a long way to go."

Announcing Hughes' decision to leave the department in mid-December, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she had accepted the resignation "with a great deal of sadness but also a great deal of happiness for what she has achieved"…

…Rice said, “She has done just a remarkable job…"

Polls show no improvement in the world's view of the U.S. since Hughes took over.

She was completely ill-suited and utterly ineffectual. She often made bad matters worse.

And she wasted an assload of money and time doing it.

No wonder the Bush administration can't stop talking about what a great job she did! Rice could only dream about rising to that level of incompetence.

But here's why they paid Hughes the Big Money:

Hughes said she advised Bush and Rice two years ago that U.S. help in ending the six-decade old fight over Israel would probably do more than anything else to improve the U.S. standing worldwide.

She's a fucking genius, isn't she?

It's like we squandered three trillion dollars to send an entire Republican administration to Washington so that they could spend eight years to figure out shit your average college bound seventh grader picks up from idle conversation at the dinner table.

Graham Spanier Addresses Fan And Alumni Concerns

Here's a quarter, call someone who cares.

Short, Sharp, and Shorter

I don't know where he goes, but when he feels like coming back, the dude is fucking awesome.

Joe's Going To Tear His Playhouse Down

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Ladies and gentlemen, I simply have to share with you the scene I’m witnessing here.

I’ve been in my share of loud stadiums (Florida, LSU), I’ve seen my share of pageantry (Notre Dame, Ohio State) and beautiful backdrops (Air Force). I can honestly say I’ve never experienced as much electricity in a stadium as I have these last few moments before kickoff of tonight’s Ohio State-Penn State game.

The “White Out”-ed student section was full nearly an hour before kickoff, the entire 107,000 in place by 7:45. With “The Pennsylvania State University” awning facing me and miles and miles of cars and RVs out the window behind me, with flashbulbs popping everywhere and some well-chosen tunes (from Living on A Prayer to Don’t Stop Believing -- did JoePa really approve this playlist?) pumping up the crowd, the anticipation just keeps building and building.

The scoreboard to my left currently scrawls: “Welcome to the Greatest Show in College Football,” as a Penn State highlight reel plays on the video board. And meanwhile, I’m enjoying a cup of ice cream straight from the famous Penn State Creamery here in the press box.

Now, the Nittany Lion mascot is standing at midfield leading alternating cheers from each section as the band begins to march on the field. I can’t even imagine what’s going to happen when actual players run on to the field.

And it's like that every time they play at home. Every time. It's the best student section, the loudest crowd, and a spectacle no other sporting event--not even the Super Bowl--comes close to matching.

Well, what did happen when the players took the field?

If The Aliens Get Here On A Saturday

They're going to think Earth is called Penn State.

(Unfortunately, if they got here last Saturday, they're going to think it's ruled by a people called The Buckeyes...)

One Hundred And Eleven Thousand Twelfth Men

We Determine What The Snap Count Is

A White Out is pretty impressive...

But nothing beats The White House.

Your Congress Thinks You're Too Stupid To Handle How Stupid Your Congress Really Is

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and anti terrorist efforts abroad could cost the country $2.4 trillion over the next ten years, according to a report Wednesday.

The money, over 70 percent of which would go to support operations in Iraq, includes the estimated $600 billion spent since 2001, Congressional Budget Office Director Peter Orszag said in testimony before the House Budget Committee. That estimate includes projected interest, since the government is borrowing most of the funds required.

The $2.4 trillion would pay to keep 75,000 troops deployed overseas from 2013 to 2017. About 210,000 troops are currently deployed. It does not include the Pentagon's normal spending, which in 2007 is estimated to be about $450 billion.

Why is the Congressional Budget office studying how much it would cost to keep seventy five thousand troops in Iraq and Afghanistan until 2017???

Who asked for that??? Who's curious???

2017???

We were told four years ago that we liberated Iraq. We were told three years ago that we successfully turned over sovereignty to Iraq. We've been told every six months since then that, within the next six months, either the Iraqis will take over their own security or the American people will demand an end to this stupid war. In either case, we'll start withdrawing from Iraq.

Last year, Democrats ran on ending the war in Iraq. And they took back both houses of Congress.

Meanwhile, the Iraq Study Group issued a report consecrated by holy bipartisanship telling us that the United States needed to withdraw from Iraq.

Just this year, we were told the President had one last chance--to surge to victory or withdraw from Iraq. And we were told the surge was working before it even got started. Then, when the surge wasn't working, we were told it wasn't finished yet. Then when the surge was finished, we were told that it wasn't really clear whether it worked or not, but we were going to end the surge and see what happened.

In the next six to nine months.

And while this was going on? Congress was looking into how much it would cost to keep seventy five thousand troops in Iraq and Afghanistan until 2017.

Why does Congress want to know this? Is this the real debate? The debate the plebes don't have to know about? Every two years, we'll have an election, everyone will run on ending the war in Iraq--either withdrawing or surging to victory!--the we'll stall the rabble you and I call The American People for four short Friedman Units until the next election.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

And before you know it? It'll be 2017! And maybe something will happen in between.

Why is Congress investigating the cost of keeping American troops in Iraq for another ten years? Why isn't Congress spending its considerable amount of free time investigating how to bring all of our troops home within another ten months???

People we are being lied to.

And they are gearing up to make it more palatable.

But in relation to the nation's overall economy, it's been noted that the war is relatively cheap.

The entire Defense Department budget, including funding for Iraq and Afghanistan, is about 4.5 percent of the nation's economy. During the Vietnam War it was about 7 percent, and during WW II it was 25 percent.

I imagine that's something that will get noted more and more.

Does anyone or everyone get why that is such a grotesque lie to foist on the American People in support of a more grotesque lie?

Never mind pointless, this war is outrageously expensive.

Right now, according to the CBO, there are currently about 210,000 troops deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Their deployment, along with the normal "more than the rest of the world combined" defense budget of the Pentagon amounts to 4.5 of our GDP.

There are less than two million Americans in our active duty armed forces.

At the height of World War II, there were eight million Americans in the Army alone. There were about sixteen million Americans in uniform and millions of them were overseas, fighting every day. Eisenhower alone had forty nine divisions under his command in the spring of 1945 battling Hitler's Wehrmacht.

While Clark slogged it up the Italian boot. And MacAuthur and Nimitz island hopped through the Pacific.

At the height of the Vietnam War, the United States had 500,000 Americans in the Far East, while protecting Western Europe from the Red Army. Not to mention we had SAC in the air twenty four hours a day. And that was only 7 percent of our GDP.

If this modern military had had to fight the Second World War, it would have taken half our GDP to pay for it.

If it had had to fight Vietnam, it would have taken a quarter.

Relatively, this is an outrageously expensive war. Fought with nothing to gain. So don't believe that crap when you hear it.

And all of this, this two point four trillion dollars of your money that Congress is thinking about spending, while never telling you about it, all of this is a response to less than two dozen guys with plastic knives.

That's it.

That's what we're going to spend two point four trillion dollars to combat: nineteen crazy guys with plane tickets.

Is It Just Me

Or has anyone else noticed that Penn State's lock down, shut down, cover corner Justin King stinks?