where'd the money go?

this is the second time this has happened that i can remember.

once before, during the clinton administration, and while i was active duty, it seemed the government had misallocated its funds, and was threatening to not pay the military. that lasted a couple days before they figured it all out and everything proceeded on as normal.

at the time, i did stand up comedy, and made a joke about how they were going to make sure the postal workers got paid because they were known to go off with semiautomatic weapons when stressed, but the government was forgetting we had jets, bombs, and tanks.

there is a similarity between then and now: both of these seeming lacks of money (i say seeming, because congress and the senate are still getting paid--or, not to put to fine a point on it, they are making sure they pay themselves!) occurred when there was a democratic president and a majority of republicans in the house.

one big difference this time around is we are still recovering from one of our worst economic slumps in history. nearly as bad as the great depression.

and they are talking, even more now than i remember then, about making mission-essential military members work without pay.

here's the thing: thing 1) if the military isn't getting paid, what is to keep them doing the job they signed up to do, namely protecting the country (to and including the politicians who repeatedly fuck them in the ass)? what is keeping young guys who haven't seen their families in months in trenches in afghanistan from just tossing down their guns, and leaving for home? thing 2) with the government in an obvious shambles of late, and the country not doing so hot right behind it, and in this age of separatism and right-or-wrong and never any gray area, what is stopping a group of military folks from doing just exactly what i joked about when clinton was president, and effectuating a military coup?

and most importantly, how on earth to rich, fat, corrupt politicians expect to continue getting away with the shit they have for however long, if the military isn't getting paid? that's like telling your personal bodyguard, "i'm sorry, dude, i spent all my extra money on cocaine and whores this week, but you've got a contract with me, so you need to keep people from harming me, all for no pay."

i am already learning korean, i should add mandarin and cantonese to the list.

darth sardonic