BOHICA! Rep. Frank Wants to Gut the Military

Barney Frank (D-MA), the clown a lot of people have been pointing fingers at for bringing us this crippling economic crisis, is attempting to prevent people from storming his residence with torches n' pitchforks by dishing out "free money" to Americans. By "free money" I mean the "healthcare expenses, food stamps and extended unemployment benefits" that he wants to hand out after the 2008 election to ensure the Democrats stay in power with a parasitic class of cheetos-eating loafers who just have to show up to the polling station once every two years. Of course, that money has gotta come from somewhere, and he has mentioned a hefty 25% cut in military spending [South Coast Today]:

In a meeting with the editorial board of The Standard-Times, Rep. Frank, D-Mass., also called for a 25 percent cut in military spending, saying the Pentagon has to start choosing from its many weapons programs, and that upper-income taxpayers are going to see an increase in what they are asked to pay. The military cuts also mean getting out of Iraq sooner, he said.

Greyhawk crunches the defense spending numbers on what a 25% cut would mean and it ain't looking good for America:

Eliminate 100% of procurement - eliminate every American job making armor and bullets and "fancy new weapons" in multiple House districts across the country - and you've reduced that budget by 20% - five short of Frank's goal. Of course, there's no further need for that R&D spending (15%) any more (or that silly "personnel" and "operations" waste...)

It should also be noted that the most recent Defense Authorization Act allocates ~$10B/month for both Iraq and Afghanistan. Assuming we stopped all operations in both conflict zones and magically teleported our troops home tomorrow (at no cost) we would still only be looking at about a 20% decrease in military spending (with the total DoD budget at ~$600B/yr). So the Frankonomics aren't adding up and he needs to be honest about what a 25% cut would entail. But at least our troops will be well-prepared to wait in DMV-like lines for state-run health care programs when they get forced out early. Is this what Obama was talking about when he said America needed to restore its "Higher Purpose". Pass the fucking cheetos.