McCain to hassle DoD as Committee Chairman

"Mr. McCain will also be better able to use nominations, administration legislative proposals and programs as leverage to prod Mr. Obama toward his own views.

“I want the committee to be very active,” Mr. McCain said in an interview after the midterm elections set up Republican control of both houses of Congress. “That’s the beauty of the majority, as you know. Of course we can allocate and authorize certain programs, and we can cut others. The president proposes, and Congress disposes.”

Mr. Obama, as commander in chief, still has the final say in whether American ground troops will be committed to Iraq and Syria; whether the United States will do more to arm moderate rebels in Syria opposed to the government of President Bashar al-Assad; or even whether the United States will take a more muscular posture against Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin, over Ukraine."  NY Times

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Actually, Obama still has the only say about what existing forces will do.  The House of representatives initiates all funding for the armed forces.  The Congress determines the structure of the armed forces by law, but it has no power to order the armed forces to do anything.

Senator McCain has said he has no conficence in Martin Dempsey, the CJCS.  That is unfortunate but McCain cannot fire Dempsey.  He can't fire anyone except the poor devils who work for him in congressional staffs.

He will cut defense funding to "discipline" Obama?  Ha! Ha!

pl 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/us/politics/mccain-poised-to-press-obama-and-pentagon-at-armed-services-helm.html?_r=0

Comments

[JohnH]

Unfortunately, McCain also serves as the CEO of the International Republican Institute, which receives the majority of funding allocated by the National Endowment for Democracy, which is in turn funded by USAID. IRI is active in "democracy promotion" and regime change.

With his two hats, one in the legislative branch as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, member of the Armed Forces Committee and of the Homeland Security Committee, the second as a largely independent operator in the executive branch, he is well positioned to create a lot of mischief and lay traps that Obama will have to react to. The Ukraine and Syrian messes are partially a result of such "democracy promotion" efforts.

We can expect much more of the same with McCain's rise. While McCain cannot order the troops to do anything, he can force Obama's hand...something Obama has shown little aversion to.

[Matthew]

Col: President Obama needs to call McCain's bluff. Besides the Servants of Netanyahu, who is the constituency for proxy war with Russia and a hot war with Iran?

[VietnamVet]

Colonel,

There is no doubt that Senator John McCain nurtured and pushed the Sunnis in Syria to overthrow Assad. He reflects all the forces shoving America towards neo-feudalism; the love of war, hatred of others, and financial corruption supporting his campaign contributors. He is the Godfather of ISIS.

The Enlightenment changed mankind’s view of the cosmos. The sun replaced the earth as the center of our universe. Senator McCain and his ilk are intent to bringing us all back down into the muck, carrying an M-16s, starring at the tree line.

[Laura Wilson]

JohnH--It is almost impossible to believe that with all of the GOP "OLD white committee chairs" that NONE of them suffer from dementia…it is probably statistically impossible. What is WRONG with these people? Why would you want the guy who fought the last war…actually the 3rd war back…to be in charge of anything?

[curtis]

Follow the money as always.

[SteveG]

VV
Amen Brother. Semper Fi.
Veterans Day mañana.
Best to all.

[makosog]

On another front:

http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/219072.php

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is Dead! (update: Not Alive Yet Not Dead... Yet)

[confusedponderer]

re Neo-Feudalism:
"Senator McCain and his ilk are intent to bringing us all back down into the muck, carrying an M-16s, starring at the tree line."

Know your place.

I mean, dynasties you already have - the Bushes, the Clintons, the Kennedies and many more. Just a question of time until positions of power become formally inheritable. Typically, in history, they in time became a commodity to ultimately be sold.

[William R. Cumming]

Wondering what living members of Senator McCain's 1958 USNA class are up to?

[William R. Cumming]

YUP!

[William R. Cumming]

To the best of my knowledge McCain admitted to USNA only because he was a legacy appointment. NAVY nepotism?

[Castellio]

Pushing back is honorable and appropriate. Sometimes works.

[JohnH]

McCain as Ahab chasing the great white whale? I don't know about dementia, but I strongly suspect a loose screw...

[Thomas]

Looks like Caliph Ibrahim needs to lead Friday Prayers this week.

And the neo-Islamic State still hasn't solved the succession issue of the Original.

[Charles Dekle]

makosog,
So he is Schrödinger's terrorist? Sorry I can't help myself, nerd humor. :-)
Regards,

[Aka]

VietnamVet ,
"Senator McCain and his ilk are intent to bringing us all back down into the muck, carrying an M-16s, starring at the tree line."

McCain is happy if there is someone to shoot at.

[Medicine Man]

On the brighter side, it looks like McCain has staved off the mothballing of the A-10 squadrons again: http://www.airforcetimes.com/story/military/capitol-hill/2014/11/06/sen-john-mccain-vows-to-save-a-10-from-retirement/18604159/

Well, staved off until the next time the Airforce tries to rid themselves of their CAS squadrons. They just need to transfer those planes, pilots, and ground crews to Army Aviation already.

[Allen Thomson]

Indeed, the bra-ket quantum notation developed by Dirac is ideal for such situations:

([Ibrahim dead| + [Ibrahim alive| + [Ibrahim other|)(|Ibrahim dead] + |Ibrahim alive] + |Ibrahim other]) = 1 . He's gotta be somewhere in that superposition of states. (I use square rather than pointy brackets because typepad thinks the pointy ones are commands.)

Note that the "other" state is not necessarily orthogonal to the other two.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bra%E2%80%93ket_notation

[makosog]

ROLFMAO. Had a good laugh at that one.

[confusedponderer]

Some more nerd humour:

http://tinyurl.com/cec3rbe

There you go.

[Charles Dekle]

Allen Thomson,
I was a Physics major but when I hit Quantum Mechanics I switched to Electrical Engineering. That wave/partical thing just weirded me out.
Regards,

[Charles Dekle]

CP,
Thanks for the laugh. How about this one: http://www.splitreason.com/Product_Images/10822ad1917e-xl.jpg.
Regards,

[Babak Makkinejad]

There is a sensible account of QM in the book by David Cook, "Schrodinger's Mechanics", shorn of all the pseudo-philosophical and pseudo-mystical clap trap.

It assumes familiarity with QM, Stat. Mech., and Hamilton-Jacobi Theory.

[Charles Dekle]

Babak Makkinejad,
Thank you.
Regards,

[William R. Cumming]

Apparently the EBOLA deployment in W. Africa was active duty forces. Hagel has announced that NG and Reserves will replace them in December. All returnees will go through a 21 day quarantine. Does McCain have strong views on NG and Reserves usage?