Back From The Dark Side

Dick Cheney is taking a break from his retirement in the Dark Side to remind us once again that he’s totally oblivious what a disaster he and George W. Bush were to this country, and that we’re still recovering from it.

Cheney is criticizing the Obama administration, AGAIN, and this time it’s over cuts to the defense budget.  I mean should we always have a military ready to conduct needless wars built upon lies, where thousands of U.S. troops are killed, mortally wounded and tens of thousands of civilians killed?

Let’s talk about the defense cuts for a paragraph or two:  These cuts are not going to hurt us.  We still have the largest military in the world.  When it comes to spending, the United States spends $682 billion a year.  Our closest rival in that department is China who spends $166 Billion and Russia spends $90 billion.  They can’t come close to our dominance, even after our cuts.  Some people talk about North Korea and what a threat they’ll be now.  North Korea spends less than $10 billion a year on their military.  South Korea and Japan both spend more than North Korea.

Some people talk about China or North Korea attack us.  That’s really ridiculous.  Let’s talk about aircraft carriers (as an example).  The United States has ten aircraft carriers in service with two in reserve and three under construction.  Russia has one.  China has one.  North Korea is nowhere near having any sort of navy that poses a threat to anyone.  Yes, they have nuclear weapons but they’re not a threat to the United States.

Now about that food stamp statement:  Conservative love to blame food stamps and welfare for this country’s problems.  Never mind how much we give away to corporations.  Cheney and friends really want to support our troops?  Here’s a fact for the former Second in Command:  Military families spend $100 million dollars in SNAP benefits on site at military bases every year! In any given month, about 900,000 veterans live in households that use food stamps, or SNAP benefits.  Yes, the economy is in a sucky situation.  Maybe it would have helped if Cheney and Bush didn’t destroy it immediately upon coming into office.  Maybe so many of our troops wouldn’t be in such poor shape if they weren’t thrown into two wars, one I believe totally unnecessary, and both financed with tax cuts.  Hey, Cheney’s rich buddies at Haliburton made out OK.

If Cheney wants to lecture on how to rape and pillage a nation, waste billions of dollars, shoot your buddy in the face, how to be first on a heart transplant list destroy an economy while helping the richest one percent, he’s an expert and we should listen to him.  If Cheney wants to tell us how to help our country he needs to shut the Hell up and keep his ass in Wyoming.