Statue of Liberty

Have you ever got misty-eyed when the National Anthem was played or the stars and strips unfurled? There is so much to be proud of in this country. We, a strong nation with a cultural diversity of legal and illegal immigrants [smile], have always pursued being number one in everything because we are America damn it! This has always been something to be proud of. Well, fellow Americans, we certainly are number one in many important categories. Blog4Brains wants to remind everyone just how much we have to be proud of in this nation. Check it out…

Thanks to Alternet.org, they have provided the list of Number Ones for America. So, stand tall and be proud of America and what we stand for. Without further ado, here they are:

First in Oil Consumption:
The United States burns up 20.7 million barrels per day, the equivalent of the oil consumption of China, Japan, Germany, Russia, and India combined.

First in Carbon Dioxide Emissions:
Each year, world polluters pump 24,126,416,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the environment. The United States and its territories are responsible for 5.8 billion metric tons of this, more than China (3.3 billion), Russia (1.4 billion) and India (1.2 billion) combined.

First in External Debt:
The United States owes $10.040 trillion, nearly a quarter of the global debt total of $44 trillion.

First in Military Expenditures:
The White House has requested $481 billion for the Department of Defense for 2008, but this huge figure does not come close to representing total U.S. military expenditures projected for the coming year. To get a sense of the resources allocated to the military, the costs of the global war on terrorism, of the building, refurbishing, or maintaining of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and other expenses also need to be factored in, you get a grand total of $647 billion for 2008.

First in Weapons Sales:
Since 2001, U.S. global military sales have normally totaled between $10 and $13 billion. That’s a lot of weapons, but in fiscal year 2006, the Pentagon broke its own recent record, inking arms sales agreements worth $21 billion. It almost goes without saying that this is significantly more than any other nation in the world. [Might I add that a lot of those weapons that we have sold other countries over the years have been turned against us.]

Antiaircraft defense rockets.

First in Sales of Surface-to-Air Missiles:
Between 2001 and 2005, the United States delivered 2,099 surface-to-air missiles to nations in the developing world, 20% more than Russia, the next largest supplier.

First in Sales of Military Ships:
During that same period, the U.S. sent 10 “major surface combatants” like aircraft carriers and destroyers to developing nations. Collectively, the four major European weapons producers shipped thirteen. (And we were first in the anti-ship missiles that go along with such ships, with nearly double (338) the exports of the next largest supplier Russia (180).

First in Military Training:
A thoughtful empire knows that it is not enough to send weapons; you have to teach people how to use them. The Pentagon plans on training the militaries of 138 nations in 2008 at a cost of nearly $90 million. No other nation comes close.

First in Private Military Personnel:
According to the bestselling author Jeremy Scahill, there are at least 126,000 private military personnel deployed alongside uniformed military personnel in Iraq alone. Of the more than sixty major companies that supply such personnel worldwide, more than 40 are U.S. based.

From all of the above accomplishments of the United States, we should be the most proud of our sales of military weapons. Through aggressive lobbying for relaxed standards and regulations, our military-industrial complex has seen enormous growth and profits [applause and cheers from the Neocons]. But what about this policy of unbridled weapons exportation? Do you think that there could be a downside? Well, from an organization called the World Policy Institute’s Program on Collective Security and Preventive Diplomacy, they have reported that perhaps America needs to be reined in. But, here’s what Bush had to say about the rise of tyranny and terror:

The only force powerful enough to stop the rise of tyranny and terror, and replace hatred with hope, is the force of human freedom…[and] America will stand with the allies of freedom to support democratic movements in the Middle East and beyond, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.

These words came from President George W. Bush in his 2005 State of the Union address, and when spoken, everyone cheered and applauded. But what have we actually done to support freedom and end tyranny as Bush so proudly states? According to the World Policy Institute, “with a decades-long policy of selling weapons and providing military aid to some of the world’s worst tyrants and dictators, we have proven to be the worst contributors to conflict all over the world”.

They report that under President Bush’s leadership, this trend has accelerated, and freedom and democracy have suffered as a result. According to the latest report from the World Policy Institute, they have a very sober analysis of what our being Number One means in regards to weapons sales. Here is what they had to say:

The greatest danger emanating U.S. arms transfers and military aid programs is not in the numbers, but in the potential impacts on the image, credibility and security of the United States. Arming repressive regimes in all corners of the globe while simultaneously proclaiming a campaign for democracy and against tyranny undermines the credibility of the United States in international forums and makes it harder to hold other nations to high standards of conduct on human rights and other key issues. Arming undemocratic governments all too often helps to enhance their power, frequently fueling conflict or enabling human rights abuses in the process. These blows to the reputation of the United States are in turn impediments to winning the “war of ideas” in the Muslim world and beyond, a critical element in drying up financial and political support for terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda.

I know this sounds like America bashing, but it’s not. It’s a wake up call to all you fellow Americans out there who may still think that America stands for what is right in the world. What the above represents, and the reality on the ground in the Middle East, is that we have dangerously lost our way. We need to start educating ourselves on what we are doing to the rest of the world and become better world citizens calling on our leaders to stop the madness. Let your Congressman or woman know that we need to stop the unbridled military-industrial complex from its uncontrolled growth and stop ruining this country. Now!