It's Official, The National Guard Is Broken.

This bit of news from the Washington Post is just damn near enough to make me stand in the street and scream.

While I am not exactly at a loss for words, the ones that come to mind are very, very bad ones.

Bush and some lackies in Congress are using FEMA money to put our own troops on the ground inside the Continental United States with the excuse of using them to "Bolster National Security".

Not two thousand, not five not ten but TWENTY THOUSAND ARMED TROOPS.

Of course it's because no one is safe and it's for your own good and don't you dare say a fucking word about it because Nanny Congress thinks it's a good idea and JUST WHAT IN THE FUCK IS THE NATIONAL GUARD FOR?!

Oh yeah, Bush had to pillage and plunder the National Guard for his little pet war in Iraq.

I especially loved this little gem.

"Gates gave commanders 25 days to propose changes and cost estimates. He cited the work of a congressionally chartered commission, which concluded in January that the Guard and reserve forces are not ready and that they lack equipment and training. "

No shit?
Is that maybe because all their fucking equipment and personnel are over in the Big Motherfucking Sandbox in the Middle East?

Who the fuck could have foreseen that the National Guard really isn't up to the task of their primary objective?
I dunno, maybe every fucking Governor of every fucking state in the nation?
I'll pass on the urge to single out Caribou Barbie, that shit is just too easy.

The Governors have been complaining about this very situation for SEVERAL years now.

Oh and about that Posse Comitatus Act?

They somehow see fit to completely ignore that trifling inconvenience.

This is directly attributable to George Bush and those weasels in Congress who can't see our hands in front of their faces because they are too busy doing any damn thing except taking their responsibilities seriously.
But ya gotta have those Congressional hearings into steroid use in Baseball, now don't ya. Or maybe you need to change the official name of some Goddamn Post office in Podunk Oklahoma, they are all over that shit.

I know there is a lot of important stuff that needs to get fixed but the National Guard people have done their duty in spades and we should be rebuilding their inventory and getting them the hell out of Iraq would go a long ways towards being able to fund them properly.

I dunno, maybe it's just me but I sure as hell don't see a need for ground troops to be used for the exact same reason the National Guard exists for in the first place.

The justifications and the excuses given do not pass the smell test.