here we go: Panetta: Cuts via debt deal's trigger 'unacceptable'

[spanone]

Washington (CNN) -- Vowing that he "came into this job to fight," Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said he intends to make sure "some common sense prevails" as Congress works to find more ways to reduce the national debt.

Panetta, just a little over one month on the job since replacing Robert Gates, held his first Pentagon news conference Thursday.

Most of the briefing centered on questions about the debt-ceiling deal hammered out last weekend and signed into law Tuesday by President Barack Obama.

The deal requires nearly $1 trillion in cuts right away. The Pentagon's share of that is about $400 billion according to a senior defense official.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/08/04/panetta.briefing/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

[DJ13]

1. Grandma can starve, we need more weapons!

[gateley]

2. We also need to pay our troops and take care of our Veterans. nt

[DJ13]

4. Fine, then buy fewer weapons

[gateley]

14. I think there are better ways to slash zillions from defense other

than taking away what our servicemen and women may need to defend themselves. The crazy cost of weaponry that is faulty but is being financed because of pork, for starters.

Of course, ideally we wouldn't be deployed all over the fucking planet and have embassies the size of small towns in some locations.

I just know that when Biden was a Senator, he fought like hell to get approval for MWRAPS (I think they were called) which were Humvees to protect the personnel (the Humvees they were using had no protection!) from roadside bombs. After getting the bill passed, they did a follow up and they weren't receiving the new vehicles! I can only imagine where the funds where sent instead. It's stuff like that I think is WRONG.

Plus, it would be helpful if we didn't lose pallets of a billion dollars here and there, too. :eyes:

[joshcryer]

6. I do not believe that 90,000 of them are being taken care of being deployed to a warzone...

...but that's just me, maybe.

[gateley]

15. Yeah, it's just you. The rest of us think it's just peachy that

we're all over place in "wars" that are aren't winnable and/or illegal. :eyes: They're all unnecessary in my opinion, and a betrayal to our service people.

The reality is, we're there (and there and there), and until we're not, we have to do the very best we can for them -- it's the LEAST we can do.

[villager]

3. Choose Death then, so that you and your loved ones may perish.

Scripture according our ruling elites

[bananas]

5. Give Grannie a gun and send her to Iraq!

No useless eaters allowed!
We're at war with Saddam Hussein, we can't let him win!

[azul]

7. Yea, saw that this morning in the paper.

He said that too big cuts would imperil our troops overseas and threaten our national security and business interests' security.

The obvious answer to this continuing blackmail gambit is to bring the soldiers home and keep the military out of the business of propping-up failing business ventures abroad. This ain't open market democratic capitalism that the MIC is practicing, it's empire.

[frazzled]

8. Get out the popcorn

Defense contractors are going to send armies of lobbyists in to make sure the trigger isn't pulled: their cuts will be huge under the enforced program.

Medicaid advocates and lobbyists from the provider side of the health industry representing them, on the other hand, will want the committee to fail and the trigger to be pulled, since they are cordoned off from any cuts. Ditto for advocates of Social Security.

Medicare will be conflicted: it's who gives them the better deal, the Committee or the Trigger.

My prediction: total gridlock. And then the next Congress will throw the whole thing out in January.

[Newest Reality]

9. Bless our bombs!

Bless them thrice!
Let the poor make sacrifice
The opulent must not endure
What might make them worry, insecure

Let the useless eaters wail
Rather than this Empire fail
Let the old go homeless, die!
Let the sickened children cry

We must protect the better class
Duty! Fill their coffers with our cash
Labor hard, grow frail and drop
So that the empire never stops

This is the time, tbe best they say
For the rich to acquire, own and play
We exist to obey, serve and build
the machines that enforce their blessed will

[azul]

10. Bless my soul, dearest Newest Reality, did you write this?

Thinking it would make a great song, set to martian melody.

[Newest Reality]

11. Why, yes I did, azul

Thanks for your response.

Yes, the poem could be lyrics for a song.

[flamingdem]

12. Careful, Repukes are pivoting to Health Care Reform to get cuts, as seen on CNN

They can't talk medicare, social security... and certainly not defense so....

This has to be fought just as hard as Medicare or you'll be paying 1,000 month at age 55+

[ClarkUSA]

13. Well, of course he's going to say that. He doesn't have to really mean it, though.

After all, Leon is an old political hand and a loyal Democrat who just happens to be heading the DoD at this critical time.

Isn't that a coincidence??

[MattSh]

16. Critical Time?

Did I miss something??

:shrug:

[fujiyama]

17. I saw the press conference earlier.

Some of it was understandable - obviously the troops shouldn't have to worry about losing their income and taking care of their families back home while they're fighting overseas.

But other parts of it was meaningless blather, casting worries on the long term cuts. Cuts, which this country badly needs to make. But a lot of the blame cannot go to the Pentagon. Congress is in many cases, funding programs that the DOD isn't even asking for or has no real need or application.

What pisses me off about congress is how unwilling they are to change the procurement and spending process. Competition among contractors is a joke, since most have consolidated into a massive few. Why is it that EVERY single large scale program since Kennedy has been over budget? The estimates are pathetic and these companies face no penalties. What do you expect though? They know that they'll be paid regardless. Meanwhile the CEOs of these companies have been making a killing.

The $400 billion or so is a very modest cut and a good start. The F-35 is a good example of a program that has spiraled out of control. Now, a replacement for the F/A-18 and F-16 is arguably needed, but someone made a good analogy - if you're going broke and can't afford to feed and shelter your family, you don't run out and buy a fucking Masarati! And at the same time, you don't run and get into expensive fights around the block (Libya). Hell, a lot of the more expensive toys aren't even proving to be very useful in modern conflicts. The UAVs (ie predator drones) are used more frequently and are considerably cheaper. Of course, the reason and need for the conflicts is the even larger question. If the President is serious about making cuts to the deficit, we need to seriously look at expediting his draw down plans. Especially with bin Laden dead, staying in Afghanistan is making even less sense. And staying in Iraq, well that's a given. Libya is not a conflict we can afford either, and closing bases around the world is well past due. I don't know the numbers, but I'm sure we can save a few hundred billion right there.

[Enthusiast]

18. If we know anything for certain,

in this nation, it is that the current level of military spending is obscene.

There is absolutely no justification for the size and scope of this military.

A military one quarter its present size would be more in line with the reality of threats to the nation.

Most every U.S. military action today exists to protect the interests of multinational corporations anyway.

[marmar]

19. Leo needs to get his war on !!!!

Surely the seniors and the poor can sit on the street corner and beg for food a few times a week.