lol- the department of defense budget is 663 billion. The department of veteran affairs budget is 52 billion. The war spending until this year was off budget, and was running between 100 and 200 billion a year. This year it was included in the budget for dod, but dod's budget went up by 110 bn or so over last year.

Also as a random note, the vast majority of "disabled veterans" recieved their injuries running, or skiing, or playing basketball, or in car wrecks. Losing a leg in a firefight and losing it in a car wreck while on leave is treated the same way (well, mostly, they recently have started changing some things for combat related injuries, but the VA pay isn't affected by those).

Oh, DoD's budget is larger then the entire rest of the discretionary budget put together.

And I thought this article was interesting...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-12-10-federal-pay-salaries_N.htm

It has always been that way. Civil service making more money than the military equivalent, but not having to deploy away from their families for extended periods and or risk their lives.

Reducing the military budget will definately reduce the national defecit and I hope we will get there soon.

That's not about them making more then their military equivalent, but making more then non governmental employees.

I compared them because they were performing the identical work as I was, making more money.
As the equivalent to the civilian worker, it went like a roller coaster over the years, sometimes they were ahead other times behind. I guess today they are ahead.

No argument about it, we do have a trillion $ defense budget that needs to shrink.

The military is one branch of govt I don't begrudge their pensions. That said, I disagree that when you leave the military you have zero marketable skills. Many in the military are learning skills. Also, there's no guarantee that in the private sector there will be pay raises and job promotions. Especially when they are not earned. This is the case in many govt jobs that just get pay increases every year no matter what the performance.

if you are an optimist you may not want to read this:

http://home.comcast.net/~lcmgroupe/2010/Article-Extend_and_Pretend-Roadmap.htm

if it comes to fruition don't say you were never warned.

Yet more useless, hypothetical, armageddonist, unprovable, manipulative, trash. But with graphs to make it look like research when it is just designed to get you to buy and embrace the newsletters and forecasts and other equally useless toilet paper.

Yet more useless drivel from navarac. 2/3 of the facts in that article have already occured, and a far more educated and enlightened author is proposing one possiblity for an outcome.

I don't see any inaccuracies in this article - point them out to me if you see them. Anyone else for that matter because I sure hope this doesn't happen because we'll all be standing in line for food rationing if it does. Taxes will go to the moon to fund our unfunded liablities and govt. debt... and housing is toast.

btw, this year alone we have a projected 1.5 trillion (that's trillion with a "T") federal budget deficit (not counting the states). that's money being spent that we don't have and are borrowing. that's just this year. who do you think is going to pay that bill?

Here is someone with a different spin on "the end is near" in our paper today.

The end is not just nigh, it's in May 2011: Springs woman touts Armageddon's date
MARK BARNA
The Gazette
Marie Exley of Colorado Springs is convinced that Armageddon, the end of the world as written of in the Bible, will come next year.
Her conviction is so strong that, though unemployed, she’s paid $1,200 to buy advertising space on 10 Springs bus benches through October to get the word out. The ad says, “Save the Date! Return of Christ: May 21, 2011, WeCanKnow.com.”
“I want to do all I can to get the message out,” Exley, 31, said.
Exley got the idea for the ads from listening to Family Radio, a Christian broadcast heard on 55 stations in the United States, including KFRY, 89.9 FM, in Pueblo. It’s hosted by controversial Christian leader Harold Camping.
Camping predicts Christ will return on the date in Exley’s advertisement. Listeners in other states have also purchased outdoor ad space to proclaim the date.
The ads are written and designed by the creators of WeCanKnow.com, an Ohio-based web site devoted to reminding people of Christ’s return.
“We hope it raises awareness and sends people to their Bible,” said Robert Dunham, spokesman for WeCanKnow.com. “Time is running out, but there is still time for salvation.”
Predicting Christ’s return and how the world would end is a controversial subject within Christianity.
Camping teaches that it will happen with Christ’s return, followed by Armageddon, in which nonbelievers are destroyed by fire, and the Rapture, in which believers are taken up to heaven.
Christian leaders have predicted the imminent end of the world since the founding of the faith. Some who base their ideas on the Mayan calendar say the world will end in 2012.
But others say the time of Christ’s return and world’s end can never be known.
“It’s just wrong,” said John Fuller, pastor of Harbor Lights Church in Colorado Springs. “Those who make predictions are just trying to get recognition for themselves.”
Exley has bittersweet feelings about Camping’s prediction.
“There are things I felt I always wanted to do — get married, have a kid, travel more,” she said. “But it’s not about what I want out of life. It’s about what God wants.”

Schwartzenager declares fiscal emergency in CA, again:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2822176520100728

glad i don't live in CA. it would be interesting to find out what percentage of their tax dollars go to support illegal immigrants there.

as a citizen of CA, what are you going to do to help fix the problem(s) of your state? ... including illegal immigration and welfare abuse... what can you do?

We're going to take their jobs away, of course!

"Agriculture in the United States is dependent on an immigrant workforce. Three-quarters of all crop workers working in American agriculture were born outside the United States. According to government statistics, since the late 1990s, at least 50% of the crop workers have not been authorized to work legally in the United States.

We are a nation in denial about our food supply. As a result the UFW has initiated the "Take Our Jobs" campaign.

Farm workers are ready to welcome citizens and legal residents who wish to replace them in the field. We will use our knowledge and staff to help connect the unemployed with farm employers. Just fill out the form to the right and continue"
http://www.takeourjobs.org/