Meanwhile, back at home...

Bush budget would bring record deficits
By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer
4 Feb 2008
WASHINGTON - The record $3.1 trillion budget proposed by President Bush on Monday would produce eyepopping federal deficits, despite his attempts to impose politically wrenching curbs on Medicare and eliminate scores of popular domestic programs.

The Pentagon would receive a $36 billion, 8 percent boost for the 2009 budget year beginning Oct. 1, even as programs aimed at the poor would be cut back or eliminated. Half of domestic Cabinet departments would see their budgets cut outright.

... and more on the Defense budget:
U.S. defense spending seen peaking in Bush budget
By Jim Wolf (Reuters)
Fri Feb 1,2008

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. military spending may soon hit post-World War II highs in real terms, but analysts expect this to mark the end of an 11-year buildup no matter who wins the White House in November.

President George W. Bush, in his final spending plan to be released on Monday, is likely to seek about $515 billion for the Pentagon for fiscal 2009, up five percent in inflation-adjusted terms from the amount provided by Congress in the base 2008 budget, these experts say.

In addition, the administration has said it will ask Congress for $70 billion to sustain operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere in the early months of the new budget year that begins Oct 1.

As argued previously, I wouldn't mind paying tons of $$ for Defense if I believed I was getting tons $$ worth of Defense... but all signs suggest the contrary.

We are losing two wars to third-insurgencies.
We continue to fund missile-defense: even if it "works" it fails to protect us.
The Pentagon is addicted to high-tech weapons systems that have proven incapable of winning hearts & minds (the wars we are likely to be fighting!).
The Rumsfeld Doctrine has been completely discredited, but be continue to underfund manpower, in favor of really cool weapons!

When we spend more on defense than the rest of the world, and have so little to show for it, something is wrong.

Stop the madness!