A lot of what we say and do becomes habit-forming. Groundhog Day 2013 could serve as a reminder that some political habits should be kicked. Here are a few:
** "Defense budget "
No, it's not a defense budget. It's a military budget.
But countless people and organizations keep saying they want to cut "the defense budget" or reduce "defense spending."
Military funding, not defense. by Rob Shenk
Anyone who wants to challenge the warfare state should dispense with this misnomer. We don't object to "defense" -- what we do oppose, vehemently, is military spending that has nothing to do with real defense and everything to do with killing people, enforcing geopolitical control and making vast profits for military contractors. And no, they're not "defense contractors."
President Eisenhower's farewell address didn't warn against a "defense-industrial complex."
The fact that there's something officially called the Department of Defense -- formerly the Department of War, until 1947 -- doesn't make its huge budget a "defense budget," any more than renaming the Bureau of Prisons "the Bureau of Love" would mean we should talk about wanting to cut the "love budget."
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