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7 years?
Maybe they should fork over that money to the *current situation* and give the troops some bullet-proof vests NOW!

During the last election, the so-called "military vote" unanimously went to Bush.

I think that this quote, as much as anything, reveals your post as either a troll, or reckless. The military vote certainly was not unanimous for Bush.

As to the rest of it...

You say that " the difference between Democrat and Republican is mostly irrelevant", but then go on to say that most people in the military are conservative and therefore Republicans. The US doesn't have a Conservative party, and historically both parties have had both liberal and conservative wings. The Democratic party does seem to be trying to drive as many conservatives as possible out, though they may stay and simply vote Republican like the Reagan-Democrats until the Democratic party is bitch-slapped back to sensibility.

Your analysis also fails at the very center of the scandal - the lower enlisted ranks. Junior enlisted personnel, which oddly enough make up a majority of the military, have less pronounced political preferences.

You also overlook the strong ethic of being apolitical, in terms of party, in the US military. There are more than a few soldiers that won't vote due to it even though that is not a legal standard.

As to your attempt to paint this as Donald Rumsfeld's doing, that is nonsense. The reason he knew about it was because the reports of the abuse came to him. The investigations started within days of the reports. A number of people had already been punished before the current series of media reports.

You simply seem to be attempting to smear the Republican party and the administration.

The bible does mention the four corners of the earth suggesting that the earth is a four sided plane. But then again it also says stars fell down to earth suggesting that stars are little things in the sky. Finally it suggests that pi = 3 when describing the sea that god made.

Goes to show you should not go to the bible for your science or math unless you live in Montana

Don't move to Darby Montana if you want your kids to be educated. see here Of course you were not really planning on moving there anyway were you?

They've let a whole pile out of Gitmo since they started that thing up. Some of them are just getting sent to Saudi Arabia or wherever to get their nuts set on fire, but most of them were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course, none of them have ever been accused of terrorism, the only accusation anybody at Gitmo specifically gets is "you're the worst of the worst". The 13 year olds and the 15 year old Canadian they sent along for buttsex are still in there though, so don't worry.

And then there was this one. And of course, although Ashcroft wasn't in charge yet back then, I doubt he'd be more rational than the last guy.

i was hoping this thread might end :) But you're incorrect about pre-9/11 gate screeners. The whole situation is pretty complicated, but the largest airlines at a given airport (say, United and Northwest) would form a private company that did all the security screening. Other airlines would have to pay that company for the service. There were dozens of these partnerships, being run by whoever was the biggest players at any given airport. I'm not sure when this system came about, whether it was in the 80s with airline deregulation or later.

I agree that the government will give us gestapo in the name of protecting our freedom (it's already happening, esp. for all the Iraqis who's new freedom we're protecting). But I don't think the airlines ever envisioned an attack like 9/11 coming. The government knew but couldn't get their ducks in a row, and didn't mention it to anybody.

It is incorrect to assume "that asbestos problems had been mostly solved by removing it from all buildings, etc." Unfortunately, asbestos will be around for a long time. Consider the case of Libby, MT. For years this town's residents mined vermiculite contaminated with tremolite, a very hazardous form of asbestos. This vermiculite was used as insulation, potting soil, came home to families on miners' clothing, etc., and so almost the entire town is now contaminated. Rates of rare cancers have sky-rocketed. Also consider the World Trade Center's asbestos. Luckily it was only used on the first 40 floors of the North tower and half of it was later removed, but still the dust that coated lower Manhattan was contaminated with the stuff. Controversy still swirls around issues of the cleanup and its costs.