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The
United States has had a standing presence in the skies around the world
since the Cold War began. The division of the Air Force that has that
responsibility was Strategic Air Command - that was the case until the
Berlin Wall went down. Since that time it is unclear who is in charge of
this vast nuclear fleet of global bombers that always kept a full third of
their forces in the air, around the world, at all times prior to the end
of the Cold War. (1)
Those B-52's were armed with
nuclear weapons, because they were part of our forward defense shield to
deter the communist regime of the USSR from a pre-emptive attack upon the
USA or on any of our military bases scattered all over the planet. We also
had Trident submarines that also encircled the seas - and they too carried
nuclear weapons, theirs were in the form of ICBM's. What remains unclear
today is who now controls our nuclear bomber fleet - and what will happen
to them on September 14, when the US Air Force grounds all its planes
because of this 'incident.' (2)
Today there are 190 nations in
the world and we have military bases on this planet in 130 other nations (3):
If we do not have a WAR department, why do we need so many bases? We call
the military-the Department of Defense-yet how can this be considered a
Defensive department - when so many of our bases are still located in 130
other countries?
During the Cold War we needed
these satellite bases to rearm and refuel the bombers and the submarines -
but after the collapse of the USSR -that 'continuing treat' was largely
neutralized-until of course we conveniently acquired the "new"
War on Terra.
All of this has cost the
taxpayers one hell of a lot of money-just to maintain those bases;
never-mind what it costs to provide armaments for the planes, the ships
and the troops that are stationed there. All of this is in addition to
what we're currently spending in Iraq and Afghanistan ($3 billion a week).
This does explain why this
government has chosen to fail to fund so many social programs here at
home. They need the money to feed the US Military's world-wide budget: a
fixture that is strangling every other need that Americans might
encounter, from Hurricanes to Health-care -the needs of the American
Military obviously trump all other concerns.
The Congress is the branch of
government that has absolute control over the power of the purse-and yet
this colossal waste has only continued to expand: apparently with no
oversight at all.
"Anyone who spends 10
minutes to Google and read Articles 1 and 2 of the U.S. Constitution
cannot mistake where the real power lies in the federal government. In the
system the Founders designed for us, Congress not the President is the
real power. Congress makes all laws, raises and designs all taxes, funds
or refuses to fund all and any actions of government, and their decision
to fund anything that government does, or not, is final.
Congress declares war, not the
President; and they can undeclare it or terminate it or limit its scope at
will by declaration. The President has no say in the matter. He is the
Commander in Chief only of our operational military, not of the entire
country, and he commands operational military forces only within the sphere
allowed to him by Congress and the Constitution.
With respect to the rest of the
government, the President merely presides, i.e. he is a figurehead with some but
not much influence over the process of day to day governance; and he
labors even then under the Constitutional mandate to "Take care
that" the laws are complied with.
With respect to the public, The
President has of course a good deal of persuasive power--what Teddy
Roosevelt once described as the "Bully Pulpit". And our modern
timid Congresses generally fear this power of persuasion; but Congress
through its leaders could no doubt match or exceed him even in public
persuasiveness if they chose to do so.
All modern Congresses have been
bought and kept, however, by various corporate, foreign and financial
entities; and so they choose to represent those entities rather than us.
They refuse to exercise OUR power on OUR behalf, choosing instead to
encourage the President to Act in support of these other entities, while
Congress pretends to be involved and
pretends sometimes to object."
Dennis Morrisseau dmorso1@netzero.net
The last time that the U.S. Air
Force was absent from the front lines in defense of the United States, was
on the morning of September 11, 2001.
The world all saw what happened
on that day, and if the Air Force had not remained on the ground, or away
from their targets - then everyone and almost everything after that first
tower was hit, could easily have been saved: because that was all part of
why the North American Air Defense System (NORAD) had been created. (4)
The question now is "What
will happen on September 14, 2007 - when no US Military aircraft will be
allowed to fly on that day?" (5)
Jim Kirwan
NOTES:
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