Although there are 174 pages of text to wade through, isn't the military exempt from deficit cuts?

The US spends 40% of all military spending in the world. If you include the military budgets of US allies, military spending jumps to 75%. The US military budget is six times what is spent by China. Our nuclear capability is still numbered in the thousands of warheads. Remember we won the cold war?

The military-indust rial complex has the political influence and power with Congress that was foretold by Eisenhower. We can only hope that people electing Congress are not fear mongered into continuing the military largess and elect progressive politicians. This recession may well degrade into a depression if Congress chooses guns over butter and jobs.

It seems that our energy policy is dominated by the Pentagon. Instead of asking people to drive less and maybe pay a dollar a gallon tax they are planning to invade countries that have oil. They spent two trillion in Iraq and got 480 billion in oil...5th grade math says that is not a good policy..

This author references the Center for American Security and the Heritage Foundation as authorities. I see no reason to read past that point. The article is trash. The fact is that any effect on the military will be minimal. This is just spin to keep eyes off what's really happening - the destruction of all the safety nets of the people, transfer of yet more wealth to the wealthiest, and the destruction of any chance of pulling out of the recession.

It is true that the Pentagon budget has been bloated for a very long time and even major players in Defense have admitted this. However, it is another Republican game play, and many of the Republicans get money from Lobbyists for big corporations who make tons of money on our war-mongering. We MUST end the two wars we are still fighting, and THEN we must "Just say no" to these war-for-oil manipulations that crop up as a solution to our energy crisis. Heaven forbid that we should try something else. NO...as long as there is oil out there, we will fight for it. THAT is the American Way, right? OIL drives our war motives. Just gotta have it....Love the stuff! --- So we send our young men and women to die and/or be crippled for life...and for what? For oil! We should be ashamed of ourselves. We should be rising up and marching on Washington EVERY DAY to end these wars. Maybe we should ask Jane Fonda to lead us once again.

This American's worst nightmare is that the Pentagon will continue to glut itself on the wealth of the world and offer little in return but arrogant threats of death and destruction. This is the essence of the so-called "Carter Doctrine".

my understanding is that the "cuts" being proposed will simply slow the rate of growth of the defense department but that even this growth rate will still be greater than the projected rate of inflation which still means a net increase in defense spending in which case this talk of "cuts" is a total sham...anyone know anything different?

The Pentagon and Office of Homeland Security need to engage their forward-thinkin g analysis to examine the very real national security and homeland security threat posed by the Tea Party and its rigid, absolute doctrines.

This is not political thinking, it is reality. Plug in their approach to our nation's attempt to both re-strengthen our economy and and national being and you will detect a great and most horrid unraveling. The big question, of course, is whether it is through ignorance or intention.

May the day soon come when the Pentagon has to depend on bake sales to raise money for their many unnesasary brutal war efforts. Or maybe this would be better, the only funded wars will be where the politicians who endorse the war effort also pick up weapons and head to the front lines. The Pentegon would have to close in 6 months. Hey, and these corporations that have the military at their beck and call, yet pay their CEO's far more than they pay in taxes, let them hire mercenary warriors. Yes, manditory investigations of the easy coallescence between Pentegon officials and the Bush boys. Bring the soldiers home. Create jobs and tend to our own damned business.