Oh, it's the "no" we heard before.

[Safetykitten]

It's a big fat fucking no. He is adamant about that. Now that his punt to a commission that basically had lunch paid can't get anything done, which of course was part of the never-ending chess game, it's a victory lap! President Obama is so smart, now he has them where he wants them.

Well riddle me this. What do you think would happen, say when we decide to go take on Iran? Do you kids seriously think that the defense department budget will be cut? Do you think that in any way the defense department will be cut for anything? Like the budget battle and the who pays for the HCR issue, this Defense budget cut would happen when we will be colonizing Australia? How is this happening? Even the Bernank can't print that fast.

So no means maybe for the President on defense money. No means no on social programs and those nasty "entitlement" programs. He will cave, it's a fact. Defense will not be cut. Any manufactured conflict will do.

This is getting so tiresome.

[SidDithers]

1. pffffftttt...nt

Sid

[Fumesucker]

2. Definitely maybe..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXtR0GUcXz8

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. When is President Obama going to "take on" Iran?

:shrug:

Short of a direct attack by them on us, I don't see it happening under an Obama Administration. Almost any of the GOP candidates would if they win the WH next year though.

[Safetykitten]

4. Oh dear, so....compliant.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. Compliant?

What's that supposed to mean? :shrug: Do you have some kind of evidence of a master plot to get back Defense cuts by attacking/invading Iran or something?

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Just after colonising Australia, it seems

Announcing another overseas base, to add to the 100 or more already in existence, equals 'colonisation' with a huge effect on the US federal budget. In the world of the OP.

[Chan790]

16. Begs the question though...

Why on Earth would we want Australia?

It's about 2/3 desert in the Outback, 95% of the population lives within 20 miles of the coast, it has scant natural resources, no oil to speak of, the most poisonous snake, spider, lizard, insect, plant on Earth. The only reason I can think to take Australia would be to swap it to the Chinese in exchange for our outstanding debt.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. "scant natural resources"?

If you mean biological resources, perhaps; but it has huge mineral resources - one of the major mining countries in the world.

[Chan790]

20. I just can't get past the poisonous things.

We had an exchange student in college from Canberra that would not put on her shoes in the morning until she had taken them outside and rapped them against the railing upside down, a lifelong habit to evict scorpions. There are no scorpions within 50 miles of DC except maybe at the Smithsonian Institution.

That sold the "I'm never going to Oz" thing to me.

[Bonhomme Richard]

5. Nobody has the balls to cut defense, war or not. Except maybe Bernie....

and a couple of others.
Weapons is what this country does. Probably our only real manufacturing other than cars. It will be quite a legacy won't it?

[global1]

9. Just Curious As I Never Really Considered This Before But.....

Who are the major manufacturing companies in the U.S. that make these weapons and what weapons do they make? I don't think I've ever seen a comprehensive list of them. It would be interesting to know.

[Bonhomme Richard]

13. Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics to start. n/t

[Chan790]

19. Also United Technologies, Boeing, Northrop-Grumman, Honeywell & Raytheon..

A lot of other companies you don't think of as having a MIC role have off-label subsidiaries that are suppliers to the military. Apple, Ford, Microsoft and McDonald's come to mind. Being off-brand protects these companies from the PR fallout of being war-suppliers and maintain good public image. Want to guess who supplies the coffee for every Army facility in the world? (A subsidiary of Starbucks) Who produces the majority of military training films? (Disney). Make no mistake Apple makes great money off designing and selling missile-guidance computers same as they do on iPhones; those computers sell for millions of dollars apiece. Every smart missile, MIRV and bomb another computer.

[HereSince1628]

10. Yes, it's really pretty amazing...we're littoral warship building in Wisconsin

and everyone from Kohl to Sennsenbrenner loves the jobs.

Defense is tangled up with jobs and pork in very complicated knot.

[dionysus]

7. .

:rofl:

[emulatorloo]

11. "This is getting so tiresome." That's what I say about your OP

First, turn off the hyperbole setting on your crystal ball. Then take it to the garbage dump, unless it is recyclable.

[sufrommich]

12. Wow, reduced to "what if" outrage now. Must be hard to

keep it going.

[haikugal]

14. Kabuki...and not even good Kabuki

but then the American people are so malleable.

[Huey P. Long]

15. O.W.S. -eom

[JoePhilly]

17. Thanks ... I needed a laugh!!!!

Conventional wisdom on DU was that the Dems and Obama were going to use this committee to kill Social Security and Medicare because that was their secret plan .... ohhhh scary. Much hyperventilating.

The cry was ... "Stand firm!! No deal is better than a bad deal!!!!"

And now that the Dems and Obama stood firm ... we get some mock outrage about how we're definitely, absolutely, positively going to invade Iran and, then "colonize Australia".

:rofl:

[MilesColtrane]

21. That's some amazing prognostication.

You must be mental a mentalist.