America at War III

Full moon on the rise in the evening, on its way down when I start my route, big, full moon set as I finish delivery. Bella luna.

I see that Congress is upset with President Obama's decision to commit United States forces in Libya. Citing the War Powers Resolution, many republicans and democrats want their say in who we bomb. Strangely, I get the impression that they want their say, not becasue they believe that we shouldn't be involved, as most republicans faulted Obama for not acting more quickly in the early days of the Libyan people's protests, but to merely have their opinion asked. Again, while our elected officials engage in political battles for power, even more money and resources are being expended in military conflicts.

If you haven't checked out costofwar.com please so do. It gives a running total of the cost of the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. A total for each and a total total. Staggering!

I googled "cost of bridge repair". There were umpteen articles listed from newspapers around the country discussing the growing crisis in repairing our aging bridges a big percentage of which are in their mid 40's. One of the articles, using 2009 data, said that the cost to our states to repair its bridges had increased dramatically up to over $70 billion, but that the federal aid to help with this cost had increased only slightly, to a bit over $5 billion. It also said that much of the federal aid was generated from the gas tax, 18.4 cents per gallon, and that this tax hadn't been increased since 1993.

So assuming that an increase in the gas tax is out of the question, how many fewer bombs must we drop to divert $70 billion to the states to repair our aging infrastructure. Or, how many fewer stealth bombers must we manufacture? Or, to be positive, how many thousands of troops must we bring home from Iraq and Afghanistan? How about how many military bases must we close?

The more I research, the more I read, the more I "google", the more I believe that the war on terror is bankrupting America and that the terrorists have taken our strengths, our belief in democracy and freedom and the rights of individuals, and are using them to win the war, not through battles on the field or taking plots of land, but by causing us to divert our resources away from the welfare of our citizens into the bottomless pit of military conflict.