McCain Rejects GI Bill: I Said Support The Troops, Not Coddle Them

El_KabongEl_Kabong Posts: 4,141
edited June 2008 in A Moving Train
http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2008/05/31/mccain-rejects-gi-bill-i-said-support-the-troops-not-coddle-them/

McCain Rejects GI Bill: I Said Support The Troops, Not Coddle Them

WASHINGTON - Senator John McCain announced today why he is not supporting the GI bill originally introduced by Senators Webb (D-Va) and Hagel (R-Neb). “Those benefits are so rich that this bill is nothing more than an end run by the liberals to entice the troops to come home early from Iraq. It is also a distraction to the troops who should be thinking about killing insurgents, rather than killing on a college exam.”

“I agreeicate with that Senator McCann,” President Bush said, “I have been doing my part to un-entice the troops to stay in Iraq by making sure there are no jobs here when they get back, to make sure gas and food prices are too high here and that veterans hospitals are full of rats and mold.” “If we don’t put their lives on the line over here,” said Presidential Press Secretary Dana Perino, “then they won’t be putting their lives on the line over there.”

McCain mentioned that there was no way he could have his hundred year war if troops were “too busy shoving their lazy posteriors in cushy college chairs.” General Petraeus weighed in by saying he agreed with everything that Bush said and requested that the President return those photographs they had been talking about and that the negatives needed to be returned, too.
standin above the crowd
he had a voice that was strong and loud and
i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
eager to identify with
someone above the crowd
someone who seemed to feel the same
someone prepared to lead the way
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • g under pg under p Surfing The far side of THE Sombrero Galaxy Posts: 18,200
    ALL a bunch of war profiteering warmongers. Has anyone noticed that we're occupying a country with the second largest oil reserves in the world yet still gas on average in the Nation's capital is $4 a gallon?

    Makes ya wonder what this war/occupation was really about???

    Peace
    *We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti

    *MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
    .....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti

    *The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)


  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    I see this as a good thing. After all, if we make it too attractive to be in the military, then we'll have a very large military. And a large military makes it much easier to make war.

    I'm in favor of making it a miserable job, then it won't be so easy to attack people.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • g under pg under p Surfing The far side of THE Sombrero Galaxy Posts: 18,200
    know1 wrote:
    I see this as a good thing. After all, if we make it too attractive to be in the military, then we'll have a very large military. And a large military makes it much easier to make war.

    I'm in favor of making it a miserable job, then it won't be so easy to attack people.

    What? The people in the military aren't the ones who make or start wars it's the policy makers here in Washington DC. The people in the military ARE the ones who fight these wars.

    How many politicians children do you see in the military or in Iraq fighting these wars, not many? Politicians makes these decisions for war and not wise as we can now see in Iraq.

    Peace
    *We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti

    *MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
    .....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti

    *The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)


  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    g under p wrote:
    What? The people in the military aren't the ones who make or start wars it's the policy makers here in Washington DC. The people in the military ARE the ones who fight these wars.

    How many politicians children do you see in the military or in Iraq fighting these wars, not many? Politicians makes these decisions for war and not wise as we can now see in Iraq.

    Peace

    How many wars could a politician start if nobody was in the military?
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • g under pg under p Surfing The far side of THE Sombrero Galaxy Posts: 18,200
    know1 wrote:
    How many wars could a politician start if nobody was in the military?

    A politician would never be in power if we had no military. That's why hardly ever go 10 years without a war, this country thrives and is driven by war. bankers and policy maker rake in huge somes of money not GI Joe & Josie in the military.

    Politicians manipulate situations to get us to war plain and simple.

    Checkout this book....
    AMY GOODMAN: It’s good to have you with us. The Pornography of Power—why pornography?


    ROBERT SCHEER: Because it’s not the real thing. It’s a trick. It’s like—I liken it to a lap dance. You know, you’re promising something that doesn’t exist. They’re promising security. These defense contractors, lobbyists, politicians, they pretend they’re dealing with real issues in the world, and they’re not. They’re just getting your money, and they’re deceiving you. And at the end of the day, you wonder, how did I end up in this grimy, dangerous place, and forking over ever more money, and it has nothing to do with making me happy. So I use the pornography symbol as example of what they’re doing.


    And that’s really what this hijacking of 9/11 is all about. These guys who did the hijacking, what we do know about it is they used $3 implements that you could buy at Home Depot. They didn’t use F-22s, F-35s. They didn’t use subs or anything else. So there’s no enemy in sight. The military-industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us about was in big trouble. George Bush’s father had cut the defense budget by 30 percent. It was going way down. We were finally going to get a peace dividend. And then they jumped over 9/11. They said, “Wow! This is our new opportunity. Let’s dust off all the ships and planes that are no longer needed, and we’ll build them now.” And we are going deeply into debt to building these things that have absolutely no use. We have this enormous arsenal that, according to the Reaganites, humbled the old Soviet Union. The Soviet Union doesn’t exist anymore. And we’re building, you know, two-and-a-half-billion-dollar-a-piece submarines to fight who?


    And every once in awhile they bring up China, and they’re even in trouble on that one now, because it turns out that China and Taiwan are getting along quite famously this week, and they’re talking about a new chapter of peace. And so, we don’t even have the China bogeyman anymore. And the idea that you need submarines to go get guys who are in caves in Afghanistan is absurd.

    AMY GOODMAN: You write it costs between $400,000 and $500,000 for Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda to pull off the 9/11 attacks, according to the authoritative estimate of the bipartisan 9/11 Commission appointed by President Bush. But within days of the hijacking, Bush demanded 50,000 times that amount: $20 billion in emergency appropriations from Congress.


    ROBERT SCHEER: Right. I think we—I think people have trouble. We all know that from school. What’s $1,000, what’s $1 million, what’s $1 billion, and what’s $1 trillion, you know? And people have trouble keeping track of the money. But the $20 billion that he got right away, that’s nothing. I say, we had a situation where Bush vetoed an extension of child healthcare that would have involved $7 billion, OK? That’s two subs that we don’t need that are built every year. Alright? We have the F-35, an airplane that’s a $300 billion program. Why do we need new planes? The F-22, a $65 billion program. So we are wasting trillions of dollars on this old-fashioned defense budget that benefits Boeing, benefits Lockheed. Everyone knows it’s a scam. Everyone knows there is no military function for this, there’s no national security. And what happened is they got a license to steal. 9/11 was their license to steal.



    I'd rather say Peace than War
    *We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti

    *MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
    .....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti

    *The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)


  • Staceb10Staceb10 Posts: 675
    I have to wonder how many people will think those "quotes' are actually real. :rolleyes:

    I'm not saying I agree with McCain but at least use a valid argument instead of this crap.
  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    g under p wrote:
    A politician would never be in power if we had no military. That's why hardly ever go 10 years without a war, this country thrives and is driven by war. bankers and policy maker rake in huge somes of money not GI Joe & Josie in the military.

    Politicians manipulate situations to get us to war plain and simple.

    Checkout this book....


    I'd rather say Peace than War

    This has nothing to do with my 2 comments.

    The fact is, it would be much easier to wage wars if the military enticements were so great that people were tripping over themselves to sign up. Make it a job nobody wants, and I'll bet we'd be a lot more peaceful.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • g under pg under p Surfing The far side of THE Sombrero Galaxy Posts: 18,200
    know1 wrote:
    This has nothing to do with my 2 comments.

    The fact is, it would be much easier to wage wars if the military enticements were so great that people were tripping over themselves to sign up. Make it a job nobody wants, and I'll bet we'd be a lot more peaceful.

    One has to wonder what the make up of the military is? I'm sure you won't see too many wealthy men and women signing up to get into the military. It's usually those from a poor environment, meager standards looking for a way to improve themselves. Many of the enticements that are offered upon recruitment aren't always followed through once these men and women have signed up.

    It's a job maintained by the poor and a job the wealthy certainly don't want.

    Peace
    *We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti

    *MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
    .....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti

    *The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)


  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    g under p wrote:
    One has to wonder what the make up of the military is? I'm sure you won't see too many wealthy men and women signing up to get into the military. It's usually those from a poor environment, meager standards looking for a way to improve themselves. Many of the enticements that are offered upon recruitment aren't always followed through once these men and women have signed up.

    It's a job maintained by the poor and a job the wealthy certainly don't want.

    Peace

    Right, and if the enticements are made more attractive, you'll have more of the wealthy signing up. Thus, a bigger army and easier to make war.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • flywallyflyflywallyfly Posts: 1,453
    El_Kabong wrote:
    http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2008/05/31/mccain-rejects-gi-bill-i-said-support-the-troops-not-coddle-them/

    McCain Rejects GI Bill: I Said Support The Troops, Not Coddle Them

    WASHINGTON - Senator John McCain announced today why he is not supporting the GI bill originally introduced by Senators Webb (D-Va) and Hagel (R-Neb). “Those benefits are so rich that this bill is nothing more than an end run by the liberals to entice the troops to come home early from Iraq. It is also a distraction to the troops who should be thinking about killing insurgents, rather than killing on a college exam.”

    “I agreeicate with that Senator McCann,” President Bush said, “I have been doing my part to un-entice the troops to stay in Iraq by making sure there are no jobs here when they get back, to make sure gas and food prices are too high here and that veterans hospitals are full of rats and mold.” “If we don’t put their lives on the line over here,” said Presidential Press Secretary Dana Perino, “then they won’t be putting their lives on the line over there.”

    McCain mentioned that there was no way he could have his hundred year war if troops were “too busy shoving their lazy posteriors in cushy college chairs.” General Petraeus weighed in by saying he agreed with everything that Bush said and requested that the President return those photographs they had been talking about and that the negatives needed to be returned, too.

    LOL. That was pretty funny !
  • orig_long redorig_long red Posts: 2,029
    whats McCain's actual argument?
    Jam out with your clam out.
  • Staceb10 wrote:
    I have to wonder how many people will think those "quotes' are actually real. :rolleyes:

    no one, it's clearly written for parody.
    Staceb10 wrote:
    I'm not saying I agree with McCain but at least use a valid argument instead of this crap.

    Here ya go

    http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-humes30-2008may30,0,4850795.story

    McCain is a colossal dickhead. If we elect him we are as fucking stupid as the world thinks we are.
    know1 wrote:
    I see this as a good thing. After all, if we make it too attractive to be in the military, then we'll have a very large military. And a large military makes it much easier to make war.

    I'm in favor of making it a miserable job, then it won't be so easy to attack people.

    I rest my case

    .
  • g under pg under p Surfing The far side of THE Sombrero Galaxy Posts: 18,200
    know1 wrote:
    Right, and if the enticements are made more attractive, you'll have more of the wealthy signing up. Thus, a bigger army and easier to make war.

    ....And what wealthy person do you know or is out there that wants go into the military knowing the possibilty that may go off to Iraq.

    Not any if any at all, not with what enticements the military will offer. Not too many enticements out there for the wealthy that they might need when they have the main one wealth!

    Peace
    *We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti

    *MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
    .....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti

    *The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)


  • know1 wrote:
    Right, and if the enticements are made more attractive, you'll have more of the wealthy signing up. Thus, a bigger army and easier to make war.

    wow.
  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    g under p wrote:
    ....And what wealthy person do you know or is out there that wants go into the military knowing the possibilty that may go off to Iraq.

    Not any if any at all, not with what enticements the military will offer. Not too many enticements out there for the wealthy that they might need when they have the main one wealth!

    Peace

    Everybody (or at least a whole bunch of them) has their price. It's a hypothetical example, anyway. I'll bet if they paid soldiers $500K per year, you'd see a lot of well-to-do people signing up. Not all of them, but then again not all poor people enlist now either.

    My point is this: I wish they would lower the enticements to the lowest they can be...heck, make it an all volunteer, no pay military for all I care. There wouldn't be much of a military and then we'd have trouble attacking people.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    no one, it's clearly written for parody.



    Here ya go

    http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-humes30-2008may30,0,4850795.story

    McCain is a colossal dickhead. If we elect him we are as fucking stupid as the world thinks we are.



    I rest my case

    .

    I get it - calling people stupid automatically makes you intelligent, right?
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • g under pg under p Surfing The far side of THE Sombrero Galaxy Posts: 18,200
    know1 wrote:
    Everybody (or at least a whole bunch of them) has their price. It's a hypothetical example, anyway. I'll bet if they paid soldiers $500K per year, you'd see a lot of well-to-do people signing up. Not all of them, but then again not all poor people enlist now either.

    My point is this: I wish they would lower the enticements to the lowest they can be...heck, make it an all volunteer, no pay military for all I care. There wouldn't be much of a military and then we'd have trouble attacking people.

    Well you may already have your wish in Blackwater USA. More and more of the military is being privatized with many of the profits being gained from government contracts. Up to 750M much of it overcharged to the US Government. Many US citizens are discuss-ted with Blackwater USA and their over expenditures so I would find it very difficult to sustain any army/military paying a soldier 500K per year.

    There in turn comes the realization of another major problem with no military you and I would not be able to sit back type on computers in our homes. We would be in bunkers worried about when WE would be attacked again and again.

    I'll say it again the military doesn't attack any country it's those in charge *The Decider* Commander and Chief also Congress who makes those decision. The military, the soldiers are ONLY the ones who act and take those orders and missions.

    I should know I was one of them many years ago.

    Peace
    *We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti

    *MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
    .....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti

    *The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)


  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    Just making sure that you know I'm against war.

    If "The Decider" had no military to follow his orders, he couldn't attack. I'm in favor of encouraging people to avoid joining the military by lowering the enticements offered.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • g under pg under p Surfing The far side of THE Sombrero Galaxy Posts: 18,200
    know1 wrote:
    Just making sure that you know I'm against war.

    If "The Decider" had no military to follow his orders, he couldn't attack. I'm in favor of encouraging people to avoid joining the military by lowering the enticements offered.

    From the start I've understood and can see you're against war however it's the method to attain a peaceful resolution that I disagree with.

    With enticements or not this militaristic warmongering society of a country we live in WILL ALWAYS have a military. It's never EVER going away, what's needed is methods to curtail our leaders into NOT making foolish decisions like getting us into an unnecessary war in Iraq.

    One of the set of people who are extremely happy about these wars are the Banksters of The Federal Reserve: The Great Oil Swindle, How Much the Feds Really Know.

    Peace
    *We CAN bomb the World to pieces, but we CAN'T bomb it into PEACE*...Michael Franti

    *MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
    .....song_Music & Politics....Michael Franti

    *The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)


  • know1 wrote:
    I get it - calling people stupid automatically makes you intelligent, right?

    I apologize If I said you were stupid. I don't know you at all.

    many things you post however are not supported in any way by rational thought or historical example.

    I mean if you say that in some dream world having no army available would be nifty I agree, in theory, I guess, but come on...

    I am against the Iraq occupation and even I see the importance of a strong military.

    With rational leadership, a strong military stops wars.
  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    I know that we'll always have a military.

    All I was saying was that I feel it would be more difficult to wage war with a smaller or non-existent military. Therefore, I'm not really in favor of doing things that make joining a military more attractive.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • El_KabongEl_Kabong Posts: 4,141
    know1 wrote:
    I know that we'll always have a military.

    All I was saying was that I feel it would be more difficult to wage war with a smaller or non-existent military. Therefore, I'm not really in favor of doing things that make joining a military more attractive.


    what about the ppl already in it?
    standin above the crowd
    he had a voice that was strong and loud and
    i swallowed his facade cos i'm so
    eager to identify with
    someone above the crowd
    someone who seemed to feel the same
    someone prepared to lead the way
  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    El_Kabong wrote:
    what about the ppl already in it?

    We should honor what was promised to them, but not make it a better deal.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • Kel VarnsenKel Varnsen Posts: 1,952
    know1 wrote:
    I see this as a good thing. After all, if we make it too attractive to be in the military, then we'll have a very large military. And a large military makes it much easier to make war.

    I'm in favor of making it a miserable job, then it won't be so easy to attack people.


    But at the same time if you don't offer any benefits to being in the military you can only attract the most desperate people, either those who sign up because they want to blow stuff up or people who can’t find any other jobs (high school dropouts, ex-cons etc.). These types of people are going to be even less likely to think for themselves than your average recruit. At least if you offer money for college you can increase your odds of recruiting more intelligent people.

    Plus if you make the benefits too crappy and you fill your army with people who can’t find any other job (whether due to lack of skills or intelligence or whatever), you have to promote somebody, and eventually you are kind of forced into given people who might not be cut out for the job in command of people, and in turn making decisions about people’s lives.
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