Free Republic

In a decade, federal spending to pay for the interest on America's debt will exceed total spending on the defense budget by $125 billion, or 20 percent, according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Budget Management. The projections are based on President Barack Obama's current budget plan. Here's a chart from the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee that shows 2022 national defense spending vs. net interest payments:

Obama's response regarding cutting the "military budget" last night was insanely wrong. But one has to a) have been involved with or seen technology "projects" and b) not been asleep and c) pinched oneself last night to engage one's brain while Obama was talking so one could remember a little place I like to call 'realityland". Instead being in realityland, many are getting wrapped up in Obama's sarcastic bayonet remarks. Sensible, informed people know that bayonets - and even horses - are still in use, while leftists experience a mental "whiteout" from glee whenever anything sarcastic or vile is said...

........Of all the waste by the Federal government and with all the other Federal agencies that could be moved to privatization, Obama selects our space program. This detracts from the progress of our missile technology that is shared with our military, it inhibits our national defense, and it damages our national identity.Space X is Obama's choice for supplanting NASA. It appears Obama has picked another loser. Move over Solyndra.Let's begin with the performance to date of the ersatz space program called Space X....."Thus far, NASA has awarded at least $2.1 billion in SAA money to private space companies,including a total...

A U.S. Navy Aegis cruiser collided with a nuclear-powered submarine during exercises off the East Cost on Saturday, collapsing the sonar dome on the cruiser and possibly causing other damage, but no injuries, U.S. Navy officials said. The collision between the USS San Jacinto and the nuclear-powered submarine USS Montpelier occurred about 3:30 p.m., the Navy said in a statement. The Navy declined to say where off the East Coast the accident occurred. A Navy official said the watch team aboard the San Jacinto saw a periscope rise from the water about 100 to 200 yards (meters) ahead of the...

Corruption: Our lawless president tells defense contractors they can break the law requiring politically inconvenient layoff notices caused by sequestration defense cuts, and the taxpayers will pay their legal bills. When President Obama took the oath of office, he swore to uphold the Constitution and see that the laws of the United States were faithfully executed. He lied, and that lie was exposed in the administration's weekly document dump last Friday. It included a memo from the Department of Labor telling defense contractors not to obey the law and that, if they don't, U.S. taxpayers will foot their legal bills...

Below is an extraordinary, heart-stopping and historic letter. It is a letter SSG Matthew Sitton sent to U.S. Rep. C.W. "Bill" Young after his commanders in Afghanistan told him to "quit whining" about orders to lead patrols without objective "through, for lack of a better term, basically a mine field on a daily basis," as Sitton wrote. Twice daily basis, in fact. On August 2, 2012, Sitton and another US soldier were killed in one the IED-riddled field he spoke of. Eighty-one-year-old Rep. Young, who attends the same church in Florida as the Sitton family, this week announced he no...

The U.S. Army and Marine Corps awarded Oshkosh, AM General and Lockheed Martin 27-month contracts to compete in the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle competition — the last round before a winner is selected to build the Humvee replacement fleet. Service officials surprised many by choosing AM General and Oshkosh over BAE Systems’ and General Dynamics’ bids considering BAE Systems and General Dynamics had taken part in the technology development phase of the program. AM General announced it’s independent bid from General Dynamics just days before bids were due to compete for the EMD...

Although President Obama's current defense cuts are so drastic that even Rep. Nancy Pelosi is scared they might cost Democrats more seats in the House, State Dept. advisers are reportedly encouraging further cuts and even the all-out elimination of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. A State Dept. report addressing this issue justifies the suggestion on the grounds that possessing nuclear weapons drives other nations to "acquisition and/or use of nuclear weapons." In other words, as long as nations like the U.S., Israel, and Russia have nukes but rogue nations like Iran and North Korea don't Iran and North Korea will continually...

I agree with George Will that it’s okay to reduce Pentagon spending. After all, the United States accounts for almost one-half of the world’s military outlays, about twice as much as the combined total of possible enemies. But I also agree that national defense is one of the few legitimate functions of the federal government, so I want to make sure we get the most bang for the buck (no pun intended) from every penny.That’s why I get especially irritated when I read horror stories about Pentagon waste.But in many cases, it’s not the fault of the Generals and Admirals....

The Army has decided to cut the XM806 Lightweight .50 Caliber Machine Gun program. The XM806 was a scaled down version of the 25mm XM307 Advanced Crew Served Weapon, which was also cut before it went into production. The XM806 was originally going to be deployed this year, but delays pushed the expected deployment date back to late 2013 or early 2014. Military Times reports that the money allocated to the XM806 will be used to upgrade the Army's .50 M2 Browning machine guns to the M2A1 version. Earlier this year the Army announced plans to upgrade every M2 to...

When the littoral combat ship Freedom needs scheduled maintenance overseas, the workers who step onboard had better be Americans. U.S. law bars foreign shipyard workers from doing such tasks as preventive and corrective maintenance, deep cleaning and corrosion control — crucial work for a ship manned by only 50 or so Sailors, meaning it will rely more on shore-based support than other U.S. Navy ships. And as more LCS hulls come into service, that foreign-based support will become ever more important. The U.S. plans to base four ships in Singapore — Freedom will sail there next year — and another...

Posting articles from the following website apparently isn't allowed due to copyright issues. So here's nothing but a link, which you can see below.

The Obama Record: In pursuit of a world without nuclear weapons, the president finalizes plans to decimate our nuclear deterrent and reduce our warhead count beyond even treaty commitments. (snip) President Obama has decided that indeed we are going to tempt them with weakness. According to an Associated Press report on conversations with current and former administration officials, Obama is finalizing plans, perhaps to be released later this month, to cut the U.S. nuclear arsenal to between 1,000 and 1,100 warheads with the goal "in the longer term, (of) eliminating nuclear weapons."

China’s nuclear warhead stockpile is more than twice as large as U.S. intelligence estimates and could include as many as 3,000 warheads, according to a retired Russian general and former strategic forces commander. Col. Gen. Viktor Yesin, the former head of the Strategic Rocket Forces, revealed in a May 2012 article that based on estimated stocks of up to 70 tons of uranium and plutonium, Beijing has enough material for 3,600 nuclear warheads. Based on the fissile material, “there are probably 1,600 to 1,800 warheads in the Chinese nuclear arsenal,” Yesin stated. “According to assessments, 800 to 900 warheads...

The Army is changing clothes. Over the next year, America’s largest fighting force is swapping its camouflage pattern. The move is a quiet admission that the last uniform — a pixelated design that debuted in 2004 at a cost of $5 billion — was a colossal mistake. Soldiers have roundly criticized the gray-green uniform for standing out almost everywhere it’s been worn. Industry insiders have called the financial mess surrounding the pattern a “fiasco.” As Army researchers work furiously on a newer, better camouflage, it’s natural to ask what went wrong and how they’ll avoid the same missteps this time...

Forty-five years ago, American cargo ships filled this vast harbor, unloading supplies day after day for U.S. troops fighting the Viet Cong. Today, the bay’s azure waters are largely empty, except for local fishing boats. The once-bustling U.S. airbase here, formerly home to fighter squadrons and a combat hospital, is abandoned, a reminder of the U.S. military’s exit from most of Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War. But the Pentagon is plotting a return. On Sunday, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta flew in to Cam Ranh Bay, the first Pentagon chief to come to this deep-water port 200 miles north...

PLEASE READ CONGRESSMAN WEST'S LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA! http://west.house.gov/images/stories/Letter_to_President_Obama_re_Daqduq_-_16_MAY_2012.pdf

Fresh on the heels of yesterday’s announcement by the Air Force that it thinks the hypoxia-like symptoms suffered by F-22 Raptor pilots may be caused by the jets high-altitude performance, reports are emerging that ground crew are also suffering from similar ailments when they stand near the jet while it’s engines are running. Interesting. At least five ground maintainers complained of illness between September and December, Air Combat Command spokesman Lt. Col. Tadd Sholtis said in an Air Force Times article that hit the newsstands Monday. The maintainers grew sick after breathing in ambient air during ground engine runs, a...

General Dynamics Electric Boat yesterday delivered the nuclear-powered attack submarine Mississippi (SSN-782) to the U.S. Navy 363 days ahead of contract schedule and more than $60 million below target cost. Electric Boat is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics . John Holmander, vice president and Virginia program manager for General Dynamics Electric Boat, noted that Mississippi was at the most combat-ready state of any Virginia-class submarine at delivery. He credited the Navy, the shipbuilders and the supplier base for achieving significant shipbuilding benchmarks with the delivery of Mississippi. Mississippi is the ninth ship of the Virginia Class, the most...

Dear Chairmen and Ranking Members: Your Committees have repeatedly questioned the utility and effectiveness of the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program—which is expected to cost taxpayers more than $120 billion over the life of the program[1] and constitute as much as half of the Navy’s surface fleet.[2] Your Committees have repeatedly been assured by the Navy as well as by the ships’ manufacturers that the program is delivering quality ships. Unfortunately, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), a nonpartisan independent watchdog that has championed responsible weapons procurement for more than three decades, has learned that these assurances about one of...