Deadzone… think you make my point for me. Do you really think its simply a matter of blaming the deficit on the military effort? C’mon – don’t let your politics cloud your vision.

Certainly there is a huge cost there and I’m hardly suggesting that the the GWOT and methods employed to fight it have been beyond reproach, but our fiscal problems are much more complex.

The seeds were laid long ago; simply look at the amount of manditory spending in the budget. Used to be ~30% but is now about 2/3 and growing (and wait until ’08 when the boomers start retiring!). THAT is where the money is going – we can certainly debate whether that is good or bad or in between, but the DoD is not the primary cause of the debt.

On the income side – we got a reprieve under Clinton for a number of reasons – not the least of which was an artifically inflated tax stream. Again, this is not an indictment of him – but to imply that “all was good under Clinton” is far to simplistic.

We’re not going to get anywhere by letting this dissolve into a “we” vs. “they” debate that picks absolutes.