Pentagon bloat, etc. thread

[neoplacebo]

I think I would also have to say they gave their lives for their country, even though it happened on a training exercise. This event could have just as easily happened during an actual battle as when it did, and likely more easily since down time and maintenance can be affected or even neglected during combat situations. Plus none of them would have been on that helicopter had they not been soldiers. So I figure they gave their lives for their country in this particular case.

[neoplacebo]

And I believe it was Chubby Checker who did "Twist and Shout" and then the Beatles. Opps! It was Phil Medley, not Chubby.

[Mr.B]

And I believe it was Chubby Checker who did "Twist and Shout" and then the Beatles. Opps! It was Phil Medley, not Chubby.

It was Vrede that came up with the name.....it's his copyrighted nature.

[neoplacebo]

And I believe it was Chubby Checker who did "Twist and Shout" and then the Beatles. Opps! It was Phil Medley, not Chubby.

It was Vrede that came up with the name.....it's his copyrighted nature.

Mr.B emulates illiterate, dishonest, crybaby Det.Thorn, quite well I'd say.

For the rest of my life, every time I might happen to see a chicken running, it will make me think of the illustrious Detective. This running chicken thing could also actually be the lead in to various movies as well. We owe the Detective.

[Mr.B]

"For the rest of my life, every time I might happen to see a chicken running.......

[O Really]

I'll disagree with you there, O Really. Helicopters are known to be inherently dangerous and their service which includes flying in them does mean that "they gave their lives". (whether there's a point to it is a different issue)

If I die from some disease as a result of a tragic accident at work or you're killed by some aggrieved legal opponent, I'd call it giving a life.

Plus, Mr.B did not call them "heroes".

OK, kewl. Playing football is inherently dangerous, which I did in the service Mediterranean League way back in the day. Some asshole Army guy from Turkey clipped me with a cheap knee shot, doing significant damage. Where's my Purple Heart? Look, I'm not disrespecting the dead, nor their service. But not everything that happens to you while you're in the service makes you a hero (my term, not Mr.B's). A cop who is killed trying to free a kid held hostage deserves a parade and much hoopla. A cop who gets killed in a traffic accident on the way home, maybe not so much. Unless you're going to hold a parade for everybody that gets killed in a traffic accident on the way home, or hold a parade for all the bodega clerks killed trying to make a minimum wage living.

[O Really]

Playing football with guys from Turkey is inherently dangerous.

Thank you for your service.

Well, these weren't real Turks. If they had been, and me playing from Greece - that would have been heroic. They were just Army guys stationed in Cigli. And they weren't really on an Army base. They just managed to make the team sponsored by the air base. Dirty players, though. Anyway, I do think there's a difference in getting killed/injured doing something "heroic" vs. just being in the way of bad luck or dirty football players.

[Vrede too]

Since this was discussed on page 1:

U.S. appeals court orders release of nun after overturning conviction

A U.S. appellate court on Friday ordered the immediate release of an elderly nun and two other peace activists a week after overturning their sabotage convictions for breaking into a Tennessee nuclear defense facility in 2012, their lawyer said.

In a 2-1 decision last Friday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed sabotage convictions against Megan Rice, 85, and U.S. Army veterans, Michael Walli, 66, and Greg Boertje-Obed, 59.

The panel majority found that the three lacked the necessary intent for a violation of the federal Sabotage Act for the break-in at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, an incident that embarrassed U.S. officials and prompted security changes.

... the court ordered their immediate release on Friday until a formal resentencing....

[O Really]

I think that was the right decision.

[O Really]

I don't remember where we discussed this before, but I wonder if they guy who went postal by flying his ultralight into the Capitol yard has now decided maybe that wasn't the best idea he'd ever had. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/man ... ar-BBk1Uqv

I don't think there's any chance he'll really get 9 1/2 years, but still...

[rstrong]

I don't think there's any chance he'll really get 9 1/2 years, but still...

I'm placing my bet on 15 months in jail, despite a longer sentence.

I toured Red Square and the Kremlin a few months after Mathias Rust landed there in 1987. He was sentenced to fours years, but was sent home after 15 months.

He then stabbed a female co-worker who had rejected him, and who barely survived. He was convicted of attempted manslaughter and sentenced to two and a half years in prison, but was released, again, after 15 months.

[Vrede too]

The GOP has no defense for its defense spending

... In the 2015 fiscal year, our defense spending will total approximately $600 billion. It is a staggering, sobering statistic. To put this in global perspective, when looking at a list of the top 10 defense-spending nations (a list we top), one sees we spend more than the next seven on that list combined. Yes, we outspend China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, France, the United Kingdom, India and Germany put together. China has a population almost five times the size of ours yet spends only about one-fifth of what we spend. And Russia, who, like China, is a militaristic culture engaged in steady conflict, with widely respected military might, manages to spend only about 12 percent of what we spend.

From a share-of-the-pie perspective, our defense spending is about 20 percent of all federal spending — roughly the same percentage as Social Security or as Medicare and Medicaid combined. We spend more on defense than we do on healthcare for seniors. (And no, the defense budget does not include veterans’ care.) ...

[Vrede too]

'One of the largest human experiments in history' was conducted on unsuspecting residents of San Francisco

... in 1950, the US military conducted a test to see whether it could be used to help spread a biological weapon in a "simulated germ-warfare attack." This was just the start of many such tests around the country that would go on in secret for years.

The test was a success, as Rebecca Kreston explains over at Discover Magazine, and "one of the largest human experiments in history."

But, as she writes, it was also "one of the largest offenses of the Nuremberg Code since its inception."

The code stipulates that "voluntary, informed consent" is required for research participants, and that experiments that might lead to death or disabling injury are unacceptable.

The unsuspecting residents of San Francisco certainly could not consent to the military's germ-warfare test, and there's good evidence that it could have caused the death of at least one resident of the city, Edward Nevin, and hospitalized 10 others....

Even today the causative pathogen is not always IDed for hospitalized patients, let alone ones that were not hospitalized or that died without hospitalization. It's certain that more were sickened and killed by our own Navy, likely the very young, the elderly and the immunocompromised.

[O Really]

Maybe it's not Pentagon, but the official scapegoat has been named in the Office Personnel Management data breach.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/ ... ar-AAcOvjL

The primary reason for the breach was obsolete systems and hardware. I wonder if anybody asked for money to upgrade. I wonder if Congress, focused on chopping, refused that request. I wonder if anybody in Congress actually asked "have we upgraded system security at the OPM lately"? If money was available for upgrades and the director didn't bother, then she should not only be fired but should be flogged at noon in downtown Salem, MA. But if she knew there were risks, and she asked for more money, and the requests were turned down, then who should be flogged?

[Vrede too]

US Leads World in Credulous Reports of ‘Lagging Behind’ Russia

... So here we have it: Pro-NATO think tanks and military brass feed a narrative to the Times, the Times prints it with little skepticism, then these very same forces turn around and use this reporting to justify its military buildup. The crucial question as to whether or not America is objectively “lagging behind” is never really approached critically....

This is nothing new, of course. Ominous warnings about “gaps” with the Russians are a decades-long tradition in US and Western media. Over the past few years alone, the US has “lagged behind” the dreaded Russians in the following departments:

Cyber security

Online and traditional propaganda

Space race

“Military tactics”

Nuclear technology

Now let’s remember: Russia’s military budget is one-eighth the size of the US’s—and 1/14th as large as NATO’s cumulative $1 trillion in annual military spending.



But we’ve been here before. During the Cold War, the public was constantly told the US was “lagging behind” Russia in developing enough nuclear weapons.

A combination of uncritical press, military Chicken Little-ism and policy wonk groupthink spread a fear that we later learned was largely false. There’s little reason to think—based on the one-sided nature of these reports—that this round of military posturing and Russia-baiting should be any different.

The article doesn't even mention Reagan's imaginary "Window of vulnerability" nor the subsequent massive and wasteful military buildup.

[Vrede too]

This declassified US intelligence report from 1990 is one of the most terrifying things you'll ever read

Yep, "By 1983, the Soviet Union was already an empire in decline" (Reagan didn't do it, wingnuts) and still the clueless Insane Anglo Warlord (perfect anagram of Ronald Wilson Reagan) wasted trillions of dollars and nearly got us all killed.

This report proves the the Nuclear Freeze Movement and other peace people were correct about how dangerous he was.

[Vrede too]

Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding S. 1356, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2016. I appreciate hearing from you.

As you may know, on November 10, 2015, the Senate agreed to the House passed version of the Annual Defense Authorization bill by an overwhelming majority of 91 to 3. The passage of the NDAA is vital to the security of the nation, ensuring our men and women in uniform are properly trained, equipped, and ready to defend our freedoms at a moment's notice.

The NDAA contains comprehensive compensation and benefits reform for active duty servicemembers and veterans, including a 1.3 percent pay raise for uniformed servicemembers and an expansion of the TRICARE health plan, which would provide military families access to urgent care facilities while on leave. Under the current 70-year-old military retirement system, 83 percent of servicemembers leave the service without any retirement assets. However, the FY16 NDAA would modernize the military retirement system, such that more than 80 percent of servicemembers would now receive some retirement benefits after leaving the service.

I am pleased my colleagues came together to pass this essential piece of legislation, which included my amendment to save the C-130 presence at Fort Bragg. Our men and women in uniform risk their lives each day and, as we face increasing national security threats, both foreign and domestic, our troops need access to the top resources and tools available. On November 17, 2015, the bill was presented to the President, and he is expected to sign it into law in the coming days.

Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. Please do not hesitate to get in touch with me again about other issues that are important to you.

Sincerely,
Thom Tillis
U.S. Senator (R-NC)

I'm not sure what the cutoff is, but unlike private sector and other government workers, it sounds like as little as 4 or 6 years employment will earn "some retirement benefits", and pork barrel politics is deciding where C-130s are best stationed. Ain't socialism grand!

[O Really]

Depends on the definition of "some retirement benefits" but most larger (and a lot of smaller) private industry companies might say the same thing if they chose to. Not counting employee contributions, most employers add some funding to a 401(k) and that employer contribution is vested in maybe 3 - no more than 5 - years. So a person could go to work for Acme Anvils and leave after 4-6 years with "some retirement benefits."

"Some retirement benefits", however, could be a significant percentage of final or average pay, or free/reduced cost for TriCare, or permanent access to shopping on base, etc., in which case 4-6 years in the military could get more appealing to some. Unless of course you consider the number of lost limbs, burned bodies, and altered minds - along with those who get killed.

[O Really]

Oh, big whoop.
Subtitle D—Disability Pay, Retired Pay, And Survivor Benefits
PART I—RETIRED PAY REFORM

SEC. 631, et. seq. MODERNIZED RETIREMENT SYSTEM FOR MEMBERS OF THE UNIFORMED SERVICES.

The "modernized retirement system" is a "Thrift Savings Plan" with a max matching annual contribution of 5% of base pay.

[Vrede too]

Ah, thanks. I was too lazy to look it up, especially with you around. To your first post I would have asked, "Who in the private sector does pensions anymore?" but your second post sounds similar to the 403(b) most of us have, if anything at all.

There are still the pork barrel C-130s.