The Deep State

[Dave Roberts]

I read this today, and it's one of the more frightening political realities in a long time. It takes about 15 minutes to read, but it's well worth considering.



I will be interested in your reactions, and it's not a partisan piece at all.

[Dave Roberts]

In a commentary on Bill Moyers Journal, the author of this piece reported that the actual cost our military is paying private contractors for delivery of gasoline to our troops in Afghanistan is averaging $480.00 per gallon.

[Tim Bonney]

[Dave Roberts]

[Sandy]

[Dave Roberts]

The best American general of the last century, Dwight Eisenhower, warned us correctly about the "military-industrial complex." His warnings have largely gone unheeded, but after two fruitless wars, one has to wonder. And, too many of my generation died in Vietnam, another endeavor that changed nothing except the lives of the families of 44,000 Americans.

[Mrs Haruo]

Regarding the present state of our government: Let me off! There are bozos driving the bus and its careening down a road out control

[Dave Roberts]

[Ed Pettibone]

[Dave Roberts]

[KeithE]

[Sandy]

[Dave Roberts]

I received three emails in just over a week from my Congressman screaming that we might reduce some parts of the military when the drawdown from Afghanistan is complete. He is screaming because it will take active duty personnel and jobs from the eastern end of the district (which is his base). Rather than considering alternatives to military employment, he is screeching the old song of "We must make our military bigger and stronger than anyone else's in the world." He is the perfect example of a scripted politician.

[Mrs Haruo]

This country was so divided over the Viet Nam war that by the time I enlisted in 1972 as a devoutly patriotic girl, ready to follow in my father's and brother's footsteps-- Mom said she wanted to join the WACs or the WAVES during WWII when Dad got drafted, but she was too short-- my cousin told me I was "Copping out on society and joining the Military Industrial Complex" ( Her anger shocked and hurt me, as we had been close growing up, but I didn't take her too seriously, she rarely had an original thought in her head, she had learned that phrase at the state "hippie college" ) and even some kids in my own Sunday School class were muttering "Baby Killer" behind my back, yet so many adults were patting me on the back saying things like "I wanted to join up when I was your age, but Mom and Dad said "Nice girls stay at home" Well, after 4 years I had seen the truth. Wars are fought by well fed old guys in Washington D.C. who send other parents children-mostly poor parents children, off to die for their country. Most of the ones who returned came home with a chunk of their hearts or minds or both back in those stinking jungles. For what? This last 10 years has mangled so many young lives and devastated more families, left my son with the "Thousand mile stare" and a broken marriage. I still fly the flag from my yard, but that doesn't mean I am not nauseated by what has been passing for congress and the senate for the past several years. And the vast majority of television news media are worse. The major channels and FOX in particular pander to the lowest common denominator.

[Dave Roberts]

I have always considered myself patriotic. However, being a patriot does not mean that I accept everything my country does as being the right thing. I became pastor of a church in 1972 that was located close enough to Fort Bragg that we got an occasional plaster crack from artillery practice on overcast nights. I dealt with many who were returning from Vietnam in that era. In the early 1980's, my next-door neighbor's son was one of the Marines blown up in Beirut, and the costs of war came home in new ways as I shared in his funeral service. In 1984, I went back to the Fayetteville area and served a church whose steeple was used as a visual landmark for helicopter flights off the base. Again, I was dealing with men and women who were part of the cast-off refuse of war. I especially experienced the families left behind for long overseas deployments of soldiers. In 2012 and 2013, I served an interim pastorate situated in a triangle among Fort Eustis, Langley AFB, and Naval Station Norfolk. I saw more than one former soldier being treated for PTSD and talked often with homeless veterans who had never been able to return to society or even to families they knew were still out there. I never saw any politicians coming to eat with these returned soldiers and sailors. They might have gone for photo-ops at Walter Reid, but not to the trenches of homelessness.

I have a good friends who is the former national director of VA Chaplaincy. He is working now to train pastors in local churches on how to deal with vets with PTSD. Unfortunately, his program gets only miniscule funding from Congress because it isn't splashy. I think it may be the most necessary thing we could have.