The Rude Pundit, the Debt Deal, and Ultrarunning

I've previously posted (here and here) about my love affair with The Rude Pundit, a secret vice, actually, where via using profanity and vulgarity and crude sexual imagery he makes political points that are right on the money.

His post for Monday about the debt limit deal was another great example.  At the bottom he gets more serious and asks the question about the linkage--or lack thereof--between the debt deal and the fact that our two three wars are kinda accepted as a budgetary given, some sacred off-limits nondiscretionary spending:

One thing the Rude Pundit can't get his mind around is that the wars continue. Aren't they the vestiges of a fallen empire, attempting to remain relevant in a world that wants to move on? That we prefer war to roads and health care and education here is unfathomably depressing.

Oh, and the connection to Ultrarunning?  Just this: even though I rail about how the U.S. is coming off the rails, we still have it good (at least if you are safely employed).  By that I mean that if I want to go trail running, I go.  It's safe, and there are no bands of armed partisans or rebels waiting to butcher me for trespassing on their turf.   That's not true everywhere on the planet.  for example, ultrarunning is a pure luxury in the Sudan or Somalia.