Defense budget fight begins
The Stars and Stripes reports this morning that the arrival of the 2010 defense budget has triggered a battle that the Obama Administration may not have anticipated;
Virginia Democratic Sen. Jim Webb expressed deep concerns about reductions in Navy shipbuilding. Another group of senators lead by Alaska Democrat Mark Begich sent a letter criticizing proposed cuts in missile defense.
House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member John McHugh of New York called the budget cuts too drastic for a nation still fighting overseas. Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma called it a plan to “disarm America,” adding “never before has a president so ravaged the military at a time of war.”
Even supportive lawmakers, who praised Defense Secretary Robert Gates and the White House for making tough fiscal decisions to rein in military spending, emphasized that now they’ll be the ones to determine which programs actually need to be funded.
Yeah, seein’s how the world has become more dangerous in the last few months and Obama has decided we’re going to kiss everyone’s ass instead of kicking them in the ass, the least he could do is make sure we can still kick their ass four years from now. Think we’ll get help from Republicans in the Senate? I wouldn’t count on it;
Gates and President Barack Obama may have an unlikely ally in their effort to convince Congress to uphold the cuts: Sen. John McCain.
The unsuccessful Republican presidential candidate, still the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Monday’s budget plan “a major step in the right direction” and said he strongly supports the decision to restructure the way major defense programs are handled.
Yeah, we’ll cut future weapons system development and cut personnel costs in defense while adding billions to the coffers of ACORN with the money we save on essential defensive measures and that’s a step in the right direction? Thanks, McCain – keep that in mind when you wonder why you got beat in 2000 and 2008.
Added: Great opinion piece at Wall Street Journal on the subject.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, John McCain/Sarah Palin, Terror War, Usual Suspects
I thought several countries were patrolling these waters? How did the pirates mae to travel 240 miles in open waters to hijack this ship??!
Jonn wrote: This may be the only time I ever defend Southern Democrat, but the reason he posted his comment on this subject is not his fault. The blog hiccupped and deleted the first post and, for some reason, put his comment here.
So Dem,
First… did you read the post? Is this some type of anti military/liberal version of Turret’s?
Second… To respond to your question. Do you have any idea how big the ocean is compared to a few fishing trawlers like the pirates use? Add to the mix that there are a LOT of fishing trawlers out there (quite a few of which are actually fishing). This is not like a DUI roadblock.
OK… It just made me laugh when I read it Jonn.
Jonn wrote: Yeah, he emailed me and asked me why I was making him look stupid. Like he needs my help for that.
You have to admit this makes perfect sense from Pres Obama’s point of view. Why spend money on a military he has no plans to use?
He firmly believes that diplomacy, good will and engraved Ipod’s loaded with his speeches will take the place of a strong military.
Gnomes To Pilot New Unicorn Squadrons
Wednesday April 8th, 2009
Washington DC (AP) – The Obama administration is cutting the F-22 program, but the good news is that production of unicorns is ramping up. “Estimates state that we’ll be fielding at least two operational unicorn squadrons within the year”, officials say, but admit that the delay is directly related to the lower than average birth rate of gnomish unicorn pilots. Investigations support the assertion that the a huge contingent of gnomish females were being held by Bush administration operatives at the Gitmo torture factory in Cuba, contributing to the low conception rates. Experts on the subject are quick to note that the number of gnomish male “civil unions” skyrocketed during this troubling period. Gnome leadership, located in their headquarters facility in Vermont, stated that they were attempting to convince many of the male gnomes to return to their traditional families to help get more unicorn squadrons up and spreading hope all over the globe, but they were meeting resistance from several “gnomosexual” groups that flourished during the exile period. Obama officials are currently examining the situation and have suggested some sort of bailout may be necessary to get the gnomes back in the unicorn saddles. Estimates on the project crest somewhere near 1.5 trillion quatloos, with some experts saying that it’s closer to 5 trillion bars of gold pressed latinum. There was no comment on these estimates from the teleprompter of Obama’s Secretary Of Fairies, Contrails, Boogeymen & Space Aliens, Dennis Kucinich.
ROTFLMAO, Claymore, you’re too, too much, man.
It seems to be a horrible time to have budget cuts. I feel like if there is a war going on, cutting defensive spending is just a BAD idea. http://www.newsy.com/videos/u_s_debates_defense_budget/ has clips from a couple of different news sources. Their input is interesting.
My understanding is that they are cutting the Raptor because there is another aircraft in production to replace it. Can anyone explain how either of these make sense?
The Raptor was just introduced in 2006, so why was another aircraft being put into production and what makes it better than the Raptor?
HM2, no the other aircraft is the F-35, another “joint strike fighter”. The reason it may have been saved, over the Raptor, is that there are European companies involved in the production of the F-35. It’s ok to dump on aircraft workers here in the US, but we’ve gotta keep those Euros happy.
It is not better than the F-22, mof it’s not even in the same category, it’s not an air superiority fighter.
All I know about air cover is that they come screaming in when we called ’em. (I used to know how to call for air support, but not so much anymore.)
Seriously, how are the two air craft to be used, I understood you to say that they are both Joint Strike Fighters.
What is an air superiority aircraft?
Wow, I had to google it because when the show was on, I was busy sleeping with women…
Gold Pressed Latinum?? Are you really exciting about a star trek reference from one of the less popular shows??
No wonder you’re a die hard republican…you believe in crap like that I’d bet, and are easily swayed towards lazerbeams and spaceships…
Uh, Stupid Dipshit, as to sleeping with women, how did that compare to the boys you go for?
HM2, the strike fighter is used for airstrikes, air superiority is used to shoot down the other guys airplanes. The F-35 was not designed to be an air superiority aircraft. Remember what the fighter community said about the F-15 when it was designed, “not a pound for air to ground”. That changed with the F-15E, later in the service life of the aircraft.
Thanks Up North:
Is it possible to create an aircraft that can fill both roles?