It's an interesting parallel- our soldiers are at risk of gaining weight in a wartime situation, and our defense department is bloated beyond recognition.

I don't deny the need for a military. It is a necessity. But the crapulent state of the DOD is not something that I see the need for. And privatizing something that was traditionally done by our own military- that creates a host of problems- the cost becomes enormous and the military itself is put into a compromised position wherein it cannot effectively function in the absence of private, external corporations. Keeping the US military dependent upon an entity like KBR creates a dangerous conflict of interest both at home and abroad.

"On Jan. 28, 2009, KBR announced that it had been awarded a $35.4 million contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the design and construction of a convoy support center at Camp Adder in Iraq. The center will include a power plant, an electrical distribution center, a water purification and distribution system, a waste-water collection system, and associated information systems, along with paved roads, all to be built by KBR."

Remember those campaign promises about getting out of Iraq? Based on the above quote from the article, it doesn't seem like Obama is in a hurry to leave, now does it?

With due respect to Mr. Horton, it is my sense that responsibilities like food and latrine duty would create a common sense of purpose. When these duties are taken up by others it lessens the spirit of responsibility and camraderie. I also agree that the occasional creature comfort gives needed sanity- but this is warfare and I question the need for my tax dollars to buy X Boxes in the middle of a war zone. This is the Army, not a college dorm.

The treatment by KBR and Halliburton of its drivers is unacceptable and appalling. It is unfair that workers who are desperate for a living should be risking their lives for such meager pay and taking on the risks soldiers themselves should be taking. These contractors represent an enormous hidden cost to the American taxpayer- not only in regard to financial costs, but also in regard to personnel who often act as hidden members of our military.

With the gargantuan cost and burden of a bloated defense department it is no wonder that our domestic infrastructure is failing so dramatically. Why do we put up with this?

This article has its heart in the right place, but misses the overarching question- Why do we need to act in this way? And more specifically- Why do we now feel the need-not to fight wars and leave once stability has been attained-but to invest in bases and infrastructure which hold us there indefinitely and tax and stretch us all further?

I do not resent the military, nor the need for it. But I do resent the fact that our tax dollars are being pissed away year after year in backroom sweetheart deals to war profiteers. I resent the hell out of the fact that the DOD can have as much funding for anything that it desires, but our educational system is an absolute joke in comparison to the rest of the industrialized world. I resent that Americans have an atrocious healthcare system in comparison to our allies. We need to take a hard look at ourselves and ask ourselves why, year after year, we find it more important to feed our imperial ventures rather than care for each other and our homes.

"Weimar Germany and one to "the Soviet grain quotas of Stalin's time."

Despite the fact that the governments of both countries were radically different.

It's the same ignorance in people who try to conflate both Communism and Fascism as if they were the same thing, which they are not.

she means that the media demonstrated her complete ignorance and total lack of qualifications in regard to the office she was seeking, then yes, I guess they did "destroy" her.

The thing about unqualified, self-serving egotists is that you don't have to set out to "destroy" them- only give them enough rope.

There is no use wondering whether Madoff "feels badly" about screwing thousands of people out of everything they have- he doesn't.

The ability to "read what people want" and manipulate them is sociopathic behavior. Plain and simple. The complete lack of remorse is sociopathic. Just because he didn't kill people and bury them in his basement doesn't mean he doesn't have antisocial personality disorder.

Personally, I think a group of people should visit him at that plush penthouse cell and throw him out the goddamn window.

From Marilyn "Defense of Marriage Act" Musgrave...to Amendment 2 in the early 90's and the resulting "Hate State" moniker...to the excessive and unnecessary influence of evangelical megachurches and political/religious hate groups like Focus on the Family...

Man, I'm glad I got out of there when I did.

Don't get me wrong, I think the state of Colorado certainly has its positive side, and they appear to be slowly realizing the benefits of some progressive concepts, BUT the state is a notorious hotbed for all kinds of gay bashing bigotry and homophobia. It is no surprise to me that, with all of the genuine and pressing concerns facing this nation, some Colorado legislators just can't help but to bash gays and thump their bibles.