I was debating with my wife the other day and I said the exact same thing.  The DIMs do want us to lose.  They truly are the enemy.  To think we fought a Revolution over less than the agenda put forth by the DIMs. 

http://thelazytriathlete.blogspot.com/

So all of us who serve (or have served) were simply 'taken in' by some recruiter?  None of us are there on our own accord, for our own reasons?  Did you seriously just imply that the troops are so simple-minded as to have been duped by a recruiter, thus explaining the 13 consecutive months of exceed recruitment goals?

Actually we don't spend nearly enough on the military. We should never, ever spend less than 10% of GNP. War OR peace.

 Please, remind me of the last time your group solved a problem, with or without fire arms.

Your little rant is about as enlighting as a brick, congrats.

"Television is a freak show" Bernie Goldberg

maybe you have deep pockets and want to spend all your hard earned money financing the military machine, but not everyone does.

I don't like wasting my money on failing government schools, free birth control, keeping NPR on the air, or funding the DNC convention, but that's what happens when we live in a democracy.

its the tool some people use because they are incapable of solving problems without shooting, exploding and demolishing things.

Translation: I'm a pacifist who thinks the military has no right to exist, so I'm going to criticize it no matter what.

 the country's infrastructure, educational system, care for the elderly, sick (including war veterans) etc, is all hamstrung because tax $ are funneled into things like increased budgets for recruiting.

Ah yes, the old "we could all have free healthcare if we weren't in Iraq."

If you're really and truly concerned about government waste you need to look at places where money is actually wasted. Here are a few examples:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/09/14/meatball.justice/index.html

http://www.bi-bestpractices.com/view-cases/4774

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/health/20080710-9999-1n10health.html

So before you go on a rant about money wasted on the military I suggest you do some homework.

Oh, and if you'd like to continue to insinuate that we don't have the money for infrastructure, please get some facts about exactly how much money the state of MN had in excess of their budget, and how every dime of the profit was promised to special projects even as they blamed the bridge collapse on Bush. The MSM did a real fine job of hiding that story so "educated" people like you can sit around blaming it on the military.

Hey Beauty.  Here's a little experiment we can perform together in the real world.  We'll go to East LA.  We'll each take a $100 bill and fold it long-ways and put it in our shirt pockets.  Then you can take your bunch of flowers and I'll take my shotgun and we'll start down the street.  I'll bet you the $100 that I'll make it further down the street than you.  The shotgun is the thing that will determine who gets attacked first.  I probably won't have to use it, but knowing I have it will influenece any thugs.  Someone may end up with my $100 and my shotgun, given the sad state of affairs in our country today, but it take a fight and my shotgun will be empty.  When you decide to defend yourself, those flowers aren't going to be much of a deterient.  The military that safeguards the interests of our country, at great personal sacrifice, isn't some nice-to-have accessory, but a vital component in keeping the wolf at bay.  We wouldn't have an educational system or infrastructure to maintain without them.  You may not be able to see it through those rose-colored glasses, but the rest of the world contains a lot of bad people who look at what we have here with envy.   When you put your children to bed in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, have them say a little prayer of thanks to that military willing to put their lives on the line for us at a current rate of compensation nowhere close to what they deserve.

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."  - Sir Winston Churchill

...one key element of the charter of the US Government (you know, that entity that taxes us to death) is to protect and serve We the People. This means funding the military by the very taxes you don't want to go to the "military machine". Educate yourself before you post here erasing all doubt that you are a fool.

These same tax dollars were NOT supposed to be "wasted" on all the entitlement programs that the charlatan politicians (and those who think like you) champion day in and day out.

It just warms my heart that people like you are paying my mortgage, my kid's education, my farm, my sheep, my vacations...thanks a million.  I especially liked the last 2 tax free years you all gave my family.  Paid off the truck with that.  But please, let my husband do the job you all are paying him for. 

Oh, and did you know that in the off time of the military personel in Iraq, many of the medics volunteer to run free clinics for Iraqis.  Since Sadam decimated their hospitals to fund his mansions and his son's raping and murdering lifestyles they have not had good medical care and their hospitals do not have the medicine they need.  Thankfully the American soldiers and their families search out medication to send them for their clinics (can not use to troop medication, it all has to be donated).  We also build schools and orphanges and the smiles on those kids faces when they received brand new crayons and a new notebook and markers and glue and colored penciles and backpacks all donated by military families and those who love them...priceless.  The military families and troops make sure what we send them for the people get in the right hands and not to some tribal leader who will hold it hostage and not in some UN leader's son's hands to play with... Oh, and did I mention we kill bad guys too?  lots of them. 

Minnesota Army National Guard Family, full time, and damn proud of it.

"Always remember that you are unique.  Just like everybody else." --despair.com

Run away! Run away!

Cannot defend my positions...

Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!

You make some great points. I, too, do see the folly of uneducated petty criminals having the chance to do something positive with their lives. That's just plain silly.

"It has also increased the number of so-called “moral waivers” to
recruits with criminal pasts, even as the total number of recruits
dropped slightly. The sharpest increase was in waivers for serious
misdemeanors, which make up the bulk of all the Army’s moral waivers.
These include aggravated assault, burglary, robbery and vehicular
homicide.

The number of waivers for felony convictions also increased, to 11
percent of the 8,129 moral waivers granted in 2006, from 8 percent." (NYT )