Is Rand Paul Stupid Or Just Lying ?

Those are the words of Rand Paul (the leading candidate right now for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016). He's talking about the greed of the victims of Hurricane Sandy, and how their greed is keeping the American military from having enough money to defend this country (because he's mad at the New Jersey governor).

Frankly, I'm amazed that he can say such a stupid thing without hanging his head in shame. Up beside our bloated military budget, the money spent to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy are a drop in the bucket. Let's look at that defense budget that doesn't have enough money.

According to defense spending figures from the Swedish International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the United States spends nearly $700 billion a year on its military budget. That's more than four times what the nation spending the second most spends (China at about $166 billion). In fact, it would take all of the nations from 2nd place to 12th place added together to equal the spending of the United States -- because the United States spends about 40% (or more) of all the money spent in the entire world on military matters.

If there's one thing the United States doesn't need to do, it's spend more money for the military. We spend too much as it is, and no one can convince me all that spending is necessary just for self-defense. Consider this. According to Global Research, the United States has between 700 and 800 military bases in other countries (several times the number of countries in the world (and since those are 2007 numbers, the number is probably larger now).

We simply don't need anywhere near 700-800 foreign military bases to defend ourselves. In fact, half that number would be too many. Those bases aren't for self-defense. They are for intimidation, to force the rest of the world to bow to our corporate power -- and let those corporations rape those nations to enrich a few hundred people who already have too much money (and don't pay nearly enough in taxes).

And we don't need to be spending nearly as much as we do to keep the military-industrial complex running. Many times the money spent is on items the military doesn't need or want (like continuing to spend money on two engines for the F-35, after the military has already decided that it only needs one and has decided which one they want). We are throwing money away on military spending -- money that could be spent helping the people in this country.

But spending money to help hurting Americans offends Republicans like Rand Paul. He and his cohorts would much rather throw more money at the military -- because it is easy to scare voters into thinking it is needed (even though we long ago passed the amount that's really needed). The only people stealing and wasting taxpayer money is the U.S. Congress, not the victims of hurricanes (and other hurting Americans). And it's people like Paul doing it.

In fact, Paul's statement is so outrageously untrue that I doubt even stupid people would say it in public, and liars would be embarrassed to tell that big a whopper. That makes me think he must be both stupid and a liar. Nothing else would explain it.