re: Why is military spending ignored when its clearly the largest piece?

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Because it is one of the few things our federal government does that it's actually supposed to do. Now, don't get me wrong, we need to absolutely cleaver the military budget, but at least there is some Constitutional basis unlike our entitlement programs.

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Playing devils advocate here, but the permanent standing military of the size and scale that we maintain and its accompanying "permanent armaments industry" were little more envisioned by the framers than were SS or Medicare. Obviously our modern defense requirements and obligations require a permanent force capable of quickly responding to crises, but what we field and fund year in and year out isn't above examination (I know you weren't suggesting otherwise). I think we can all agree that if we're serious about controlling spending, Defense, SS, and Medicare (probably the three most popular programs in the budget, and also the costliest) have to be front and center.