N.D. delegation: BRAC lacks support in Congress
February 2, 2012 at 10:34 am in Grand Forks Herald
Berg, Conrad, Hoeven instead suggest closing overseas bases, trimming Department of Defense costs to find savingsNorth Dakota’s congressional delegation remains strongly opposed to a new round of domestic military base closures that could put the future of Grand Forks Air Force Base in jeopardy. Continue Reading
Election Year = Not In My Back Yard.
All of the service chiefs have asked repeatedly, on the record, for the ability to close unneeded and unwanted bases. They have been continually thwarted because of the economic affect these closures would have in their districts.
Yet, at the same time these same legislators decry the burgeoning national debt and the burden the present generation is passing on to their children. Do they honestly believe it will be easier to do what is necessary in the future?
People wonder why the American people are so cynical when it comes to politics when all anyone in Washington wants to do is survive the next election. I wonder what would happen if we accidently elected someone who took their job seriously? They would probably be recalled or impeached.
In a free society you get what you vote for. I feel ashamed.
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The air bases are obsolete. The Soviet Union no longer exists. Ask Obama, he will tell you the same thing.
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We need the air bases in Minot and Grand Forks. We may someday have to invade Canada and set that lawless socialist country on the road to Democracy. /sarcasm
Actually, we need to close those 800 some military bases we have around the world, stop meddling in the affairs of and the random killing of the citizens of other countries. Most of those other countries did not invite us in, in the first place.
We need to start worrying more about our own country and less about other countries before we go bankrupt with our self-appointed world policeman roll… How do we get off deciding who lives and who dies as national policy, anyway?
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Fgores: For the most part I agree. We need to keep some troops forward deployed because the world is not a nice place. As for being a tad more selective on who/when/why we choose to get involved: ABSOLUTELY.
We are not everyone’s babysitter. We also need to grow up. Not everyone wants what we have to offer. As long as they are not blowing up my subway, that is fine. If they are blowing up my subway, treat it for what it is: a police problem.
Israel has a very good track record of getting who is hell bent on harming them. They are not perfect, they oftentimes do things that are not in their best interest, but they are effective. That, and they have not invaded other countries in an attempt to spread democracy. We could learn a lesson from them.
I am much more concerned about the drug violence in MX spreading this way than I am about random acts of terrorism. Terrorism is not a country, it is a tactic. You cannot eradicate it. You can capture and kill those who choose to use it.
Terrorists are by and large people, not countries. We would do well to remember that.
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Terrorism is a crime. Vandalism grown large. You do not fight terrorism by being a worse terrorist they those you are fighting. You do not invade innocent countries – Iraq. You do not become Judge, Jury and executioner (star chambers), as national policy, as this country has done.
The more terrorist we kill, the more terrorist we make. There is big money in the war against terrorism. Win win for the war mongers making the money in this self perpetuating war against terrorism.
As for Mexico, legalize Cannabis, Marijuana or whatever you want to call it, (and hemp) and treat it as we do alcohol or tobacco. Take the money out of it.
Mexico is another country where US policy breeds death and destruction. We need to stop and apply common sense, instead of supplying guns and ammunition as the solution to every perceived problem. We cannot eradicate our problems by applying the same solutions as the fix that cause the problem in the first place. And yet we keep trying to do exactly that on a wide variety of problems,
Is that insane or what?
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Agreed. 80% of the border violence is marijuana related. Since we will not eradicate the demand — wherever there is a demand, a supply will always rise up to satisfy it (ECON 101) — legalize it, tax the manure out of it, and pay for healthcare.
Ron Paul believes in this and so do I. It is unfortunate that the only candidate in this race that makes sense can never win. America talks a big talk, but by and large it likes the nanny state. It keeps voting for it time and again so it must.
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I support our local bases, they create a lot of jobs within our community. Some of my employees owe their jobs to supporting these troops.
With that being said, I simply cannot get over the disparaging differences between what the Republicans state is their goal vs the actions that they take. Rick states he is for balanced budget, he says he is for smaller government, he says he is for less government regulation on small businesses. I have yet to see him do anything of substance for ANY of these issues.
He is for eliminating the Davis Bacon act. Which to those that are not in the construction industry, it requires that we pay our people a specific wage + fringe based on the county that the work is being conducted. What this in turn does is ensure that ‘Americans’ are staying employed. Not illegals. But he is for eliminating it. Can you guess what will happen if this is removed from Law? Some contractor will cut his labor projection to the bone, hire illegals to do the work.. When he starts winning a lions share of the work, other contractors will have to start following suit or shut their doors.
He has NO CLUE as to what he is doing.
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ND is one of the hand full of states that receives more from the federal government than it gives. The people of ND have become very accustomed to to suckling at this teat. Regardless of what anyone says, the first elected official who makes a point of drying up the milk supply will be recalled or impeached.
In this way we show our true colors. I refer you back to my earlier NIMBY statements.
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This is exactly what Hoeven and Berg swore to do…end ND’s pork! Maybe they just promised that because they knew they wouldn’t be able to bring it home anyway.
I’d feel a lot more comfortable if Dorgan and Pomeroy were still working for us.
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