Besides the Congressional (House and Senate) members of the DNC being spineless and borderline traitorous, U.S. civilian leadership in business is amock with greed, these two main ingredients have severly weakend the U.S. politically and now militarily. Following story from Military.com:
The Coming Crisis in Naval Aviation
Sea Power | John A. Panneton | December 11, 2006
Five years of combat have taken an awful toll on the equipment of U.S. naval forces. Marine Corps vehicles and battle tanks are being ground to dust, new types of weapons and small craft are needed, and equipment for the Navy Seabees must be replaced quickly.
The cost of re-equipping, or “resetting,” the Marine Corps is about $12 billion, some of which is being provided in the annual supplemental appropriations for the war in Iraq.
The Navy will require at least $7 billion.
But that is only part of the story. Looming behind the immediate needs of the naval forces is a coming crisis in aircraft procurement. The average age of the 3,880 planes in the Navy and Marine aircraft inventory is about 18 years, making it the oldest aircraft fleet in the history of the naval services.
Symptoms of this crisis already abound:
- Navy electronic attack pilots have been told not to maneuver their planes aggressively;
- The Marine Corps for months had weight restrictions on its 40-year-old CH-46 helicopters;
- Fatigue cracks and other deficiencies probably will shorten the service lives of Navy P-3C Orion patrol planes;
The Marine Corps is rotating older F/A-18 Hornet strike fighters from reserve squadrons into the active-duty force because many of the newer F/A-18C versions have reached their maximum number of catapult launches and carrier landings -- about 2,000 per aircraft.
That's just part of the whole story, I just want you dear reader to get a drift of what IS taking place within our military. What's my mantra of late:??? Save Our Military From Our Politicians.
Another factor in our decline is our own culture. There is a good reason behind this latest Zogby poll that finds Arabs more negative towards the U.S. Get a clue America, it's not because of George Bush!!!! It's because of Paris Hilton, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Hollywood, and that entire generation and culture of hip hop/partying/Entertainment Tonight that has seized so many of the Gen Xers and Gen Yers. From CNN: Poll: Arabs more negative toward U.S.
Survey underscores need for shift in U.S. Mideast policy, expert finds
Reuters
Updated: 5:54 p.m. CT Dec 14, 2006
WASHINGTON - A new survey shows Arab attitudes toward American people, products and culture grew increasingly negative last year, a finding that underscores the need for a change in U.S. Mideast policy, a leading expert on the region said on Thursday.
There is much more in that report which trys to switch blame to the Iraq War, George Bush, the Israelis, that's when the report takes the typical liberal socialist leftist slant that is rampant among our mainstream (drive by) media. But the opening sentence does capture the truth, the American culture. Sometimes because of our drug-alcohol-sex-without-consequence society, it's hard to argue against a mad tyrant like Ahmandinejad when he restricts American culture in his country, or when Communist China limits the kind of internet content from the 'West'. It's our lifestyle that is immortalized on nightly TV shows that shows how decadent, sloppy, we are becoming as a society. With all these stab and slash movies, Texas Chainsaw 4,5 whatever, Saw 3,4,...ya think there might be a problem deep inside going on here?? Video game violence (Grand Theft San Andreas) which consumes our teens. As a Nation we do need to step back and try to take a look from the outside at how we look to them, it just might help improve ourselves. Much of what I talk about here is pre-inclusive factors to the coming Third World USA.
Then there's the story about the Saudi's reading VP Cheney the riot act:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has warned Vice President Dick Cheney that Saudi Arabia would back the Sunnis if the United States pulls out of Iraq, according to a senior American official.
The official said the king "read the riot act" to the vice president when the two met last month in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
The New York Times first reported the conversation Wednesday, saying Saudi support would include financial backing for minority Sunnis in the event of a civil war between them and Iraq's Shiite majority.
Asked about the meeting, a senior Saudi official -- who spoke on condition he not be named -- ruled out using terminology such as "warning" or "threatening." He said, "I believe the Saudi position was clear, that things might deteriorate or drift in Iraq, and then the kingdom will find itself forced to interfere."
It's been since the end of the Vietnam War that the World has known that politically, the U.S. can be bullied, bought, or outright, told what to do. Militarily, the World knows better, but that too is coming to an end as well. As our War Machine gets worn down more and more due to being a WORLD POLICEMAN or in the Clinton's case, a giant Meals On Wheels Social Experiment, our military is as the General said today, almost stretched to the breaking point. They know, they are the ones wearing the uniform, not the politicians that sit at computers and read memo's and look at unrealistic optomistic graphs.
The very life of this Nation will be determined within the next four years. The next two on how Iraq/Iran are handled, the following two depending on how informed the American people are of their candidates and how those politicians carry out the duties of their offices. I myself am feeling more pessimistic about our future each day I hear any Democrat talk, or see another Republican brought under indictment or cower from a fight. I honestly think our Fore Fathers would march the entire political body of today's government behind a barn.
I heard a report that California is losing it's population. More people are moving out than moving (legally) in. Even our own American people are trying to get away from the grime and crime of the decendence of the pop culture, the growing socialist laws that infringe upon a family and or individual, and the insane cost of living due to the twin vampires of insurance and greed. The Roman Empire fell from within, so will we if we don't reverse our course which we are on, right now! One does have to do with the other. How we are within our borders does impact what happens outside our borders....oops, forgot, we don't have borders.