Stumble it!Blogs for a Reality Check
posted in Blogs4Bush by themaiden |Mark Noonan, one of Blogs for Bush’s top noisemakers, has offered us a Reality Check to counter the conventional wisdom that something is horribly wrong with the GOP. He suggests that rather than look at the polls, the news reports, the pundits and such, we look at what people are doing. Fair enough, but history has shown that when Mark starts talking about ‘reality’ it is a very good idea to look into thing a little deeper since for Mark, ‘reality’ seems to mean what he wishes to believe, or, perhaps, what he is paid to believe. I’d bet on the former, though, in all fairness.
First on Mark’s list, and I’d say this is his primary point, is that people are joining the military. 1.6 million people, he claims, have joined the military since 9/11 but, more significantly, recruitment numbers are actually up since 2005. This means, of course that war really isn’t unpopular at all, despite virtually all the evidence to the contrary.
This is something whcih would not be happening if the war were unpopular. Period. No, there is no other explanation other than the continued popularity of the liberation of Iraq and the larger War on Terrorism to explain not just the raw numbers of volunteers, but also the fact that more people joined the mliitary in 2006 than did in 2005.
Now, Mark neglects to mention the source of his numbers, but the numbers I’ve found show a 48,743 recruit decline between 2005 and 2006. This, despite a tremendous, and expensive, advertising push started several years back.
This triumphant stance conceals a more grim reality. In its 2003 Government Accounting Office (GAO) Report, the Pentagon stated that “convincing young adults to join the military has become more difficult.” At the same time, the Department of Defense’s budget for recruiting reached a record $4 billion for the fiscal year 2003 according to a Government Accounting Office report, and the portion of that budget devoted to advertising nearly doubled in the past five years, from $299 million in 1998 to $592 million in 2003. In the same period, the Army alone increased its advertising spending by 73 percent to $197 million, and the Air Force the same budget by 395 percent to $90.5 million. The advertising cost per new enlisted recruit has nearly tripled from $640 in 1990 to almost $1,900 last year.
Numbers are dropping despite 20,000 dollar signing bonuses that have been in place since 2005 or so, which, of course, make no difference to those wishing to join.
Pinkerton, 26, enlisted Friday and will leave Wednesday for basic training at Fort Benning, Ga. He received a $14,000 bonus for choosing an infantry job. He received another $6,000 for agreeing to leave for basic training so soon.
The numbers are dropping even though the Army now accepts less than upstanding citizens.
In February, the Baltimore Sun wrote that there was “a significant increase in the number of recruits with what the Army terms ‘serious criminal misconduct‘ in their background” — a category that included “aggravated assault, robbery, vehicular manslaughter, receiving stolen property and making terrorist threats.” From 2004 to 2005, the number of those recruits rose by more than 54 percent, while alcohol and illegal drug waivers, reversing a four-year decline, increased by more than 13 percent.
U.S. is recruiting misfits for army
Felons, racists, gang members fill in the ranks
I especially like the phrase “making terrorist threats”.
Perhaps staffing the military– that is, organizations whose missions require the carrying of guns– with thugs could have consequences?
One beneficiary of the Army’s new moral-waiver policies gained a certain prominence this summer. After Steven Green, who served in the 101st Airborne Division, was charged in a rape and quadruple murder in Mahmudiyah, Iraq, it was disclosed that he had been “a high-school dropout from a broken home who enlisted to get some direction in his life, yet was sent home early because of an anti-social personality disorder.”
U.S. is recruiting misfits for army
Felons, racists, gang members fill in the ranks
Yes, it seems that it does.
And, as if the picture isn’t already pretty poor, the military could be twiddling with the numbers.
Now, lets see what else “people are doing” that might shed some light on the state of things.
Hmmmm…..
Soldiers are bragging about the beating of prisoners held at Gitmo, while other soldiers are on trial for throwing an Iraqi citizen into a hole and putting “at least 10 bullets in his head and chest after growing frustrated in their search for an insurgent.”
Back at home, Republican leadership is in the midst of a gay sex with a minor scandal and is desperately trying to hide/cover-up/spin the fact that Republican leaders knew about the diddling well before it became news. I can imagine those behind the scenes meetings, “Hey, guys how would you cover up this gay pederasty thing? I mean sodomy is one thing but votes are everything.”
Another scandal– no surprise– reaches the White House. Remember that lobbyist with no connections to Bush?
A key aide to presidential political strategist Karl Rove resigned Friday after a congressional report listed hundreds of contacts between disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the White House.
And finally, Bush fights terrorism by not prosecuting a terrorist, and by harrassing innocent people. Is it any wonder that the President’s rating are at an all time low of 33%, that most Americans no longer trust the Republican party, and that rumors of impeachment ((Thanks for this one go to Mike the Mad Biologist, despite his horrible slander of rat-kind.)) just won’t go away?
Really, the cover of Time (( via CNN)) says it all. Now, that is a reality check!
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