It is a persistent Republican myth.....well, more of a fantasy really...... that Democrats steal elections. In point of fact, over and over, it is the conservatives that get caught in election fraud and illegal dirty tricks. It is a persistent Conservative myth that they are fiscally responsible and conservative, for small government and small spending; they aren't.
The manufacture of the second, unnecessary second - as in additional, as in gathering dust and filling up warehouses, not instead of, not replacement - engine for every F35 plane is made in a number of locations, but notably it is in John Boehner's home district where the workers who make that totally pork barrel superflous engine live and work. So these developments directly affect the future elections of Speaker of the House Boehner.
And it's not like conservative corruption is liimited to our side of the border with Canada either. I've written here earlier about the imitation of corrupt conservative election fraud and suppression in Canada, corruption and fraud which are directly attributed to our U.S. GOP as tactics.
There is an interesting corrupt political disaster in a summary of from PRI/ CBC's "As it Happens" from March 27, 2012 (just after the intro):
COUNCIL OF CANADIANS ROBOCALL LAWSUIT Seven Conservative ridings. Seven robocall-related lawsuits. The Council of Canadians asks the Federal Court to annul election results in seven ridings based on fraud and other irregularities.
From part 1:
| TUESDAY BILLS | Duration: 00:01:40 | |||
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| CoC ROBOCALL LAWSUIT | Duration: 00:06:38 | |||
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But it is also in the corrupt military industrial complex, the one that the mid-20th century war hero president, Dwight Eishenhower warned about, that we see the boondoggle of the F-35 corruption spilling over into Canada as well. Now they are having to deal with their own part of our boondoggle.
So THIS is what the Tea Partiers are promoting in Congress? THIS is what they have accomplished - to agree to get rid of projects like this, as part of reducing our debt, only to attempt to renege on the agreement? Sure looks like they are as corrupt as anyone, maybe more than most.
From the CBC's 'As it happens' radio show, aired in the U.S. by PRI (the applicable segment is at aprox. 29 minutes ):
| F-35 RECRUITMENT RULES BROKEN | Duration: 00:07:22 | |||
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HYPOCRISY IN DEFENSE CUTS
In an agreement between President Obama and the Congress last year, massive cuts will have to be made to government spending, including our bloated "defense" department, although most of our government leaders agreed to this part of it kicking and screaming all the way.You can take the last crust of bread from any starving child without so much as a raised eyebrow, but nobody touches the holy Nuclear Mafia.
What is the 'Nuclear Mafia', you may ask?Two reports in British news this morning unintentionally expose the hypocrisy. The first mentions
"The Pentagon said on Thursday it expected hundreds of thousands of layoffs across the defense industry if lawmakers did not take action to avert the looming $500 billion in defense budget cuts."
But why is it that hundreds of thousands of people must lose their jobs?
The second piece headlines "Exclusive: U.S. sees lifetime cost of F-35 fighter at $1.45 trillion."
Not long ago we thought of that much money in terms of the entire national debt, not just the cost of one weapons system." Defense" people are obviously not as important as the multimillion dollar salaries of Nuclear Mafia executives and the billions in profits going to Nuclear Mafia investors from taxpayers. The Nuclear Mafia finances our elections and has more power over our mass media than any other consideration.So, if it benefits John Boehner, and other hypocritical Republicans and Tea Partiers.......any amount of debt, including well over a trillion dollars for a piece of crap, and all that bullshit about not burdening the backs of our children and grandchilren is a bold faced lie.
How bad is it? This is the article that just came out an hour ago, from the Canadian Conservatives - that would be the party that is emulating our crooked conservatives - is shutting down funding for it.
From the Canadian National Post:
Tories freeze F-35 funds and open door to alternatives in wake of scathing AG report
Apr 3, 2012 – 12:06 PM ET | Last Updated: Apr 3, 2012 1:33 PM ET
By Lee Berthiaume
OTTAWA — The Tories have promised a complete and public review of the stealth fighter program and opened the door to potential competitors after a scathing report found defence officials twisted government rules, misled ministers and Parliament, and whitewashed cost overruns and delays in a determined effort to ensure Canada purchased the F-35 jet.
Auditor-General Michael Ferguson’s scathing assessment, released today, puts the military’s own cost estimates for Canada’s involvement at $25 billion — instead of the publicly stated $16 billion — and questions assertions that Canadian industry stands to benefit from $12 billion in contracts.Hey! So Canadian industry doesn't only lie to the U.S. about proimsed jobs, as in the Keystone XL pipeline; they do it to their own country too! (Yet another special interest corrupt process, or boondogle.)
Potential Commander-in-Chief Romney is advocating for more military spending.
ReplyDeleteWhat needs to be considered is which plane will serve our needs … admittedly, each does a different job but consider these alternatives :
F/A-18E/F Super Hornet Block II Cost: $53 Million
F/A-18E/F Super Hornet International Cost: $60 Million est.
F-16E/F Fighting Falcon Block 60 Cost: $80 Million
F-15SE Silent Eagle Cost: $100 Million
F-22A Raptor Cost: $150 Million
F-35A Cost: $172 Million
F-35B Cost: $291.7 Million
F-35C Cost: $ 235.8 Million
The Pentagon is now proposing to postpone orders for 179 F-35 planes for five years, a move that U.S. official say will save $15.1 billion through 2017.
For every 1 F-35C we could make 4 Super Hornets. For every 1 F-35B we could make 6 Super Hornets.
The Super Hornet only took 3 years from the moment someone suggested it in 1992 to make a prototype, which ran through testing quickly and easily in 1995. The F-35 has been years in development.
Voters need to be reminded that the House Republicans have approved a budget that will increase military spending (after the vote, Paul Ryan retracted his claim that the Pentagon was not telling the truth in agreeing to President Obama’s budget.)
Lastly, voters need to recognize that when candidate-Romney complains that the Navy has a smaller fleet under President Obama, that he does not acknowledge that “old” ill-equip ships were replaced with larger state-of-the-art ships.
IMO, military spending will continue until all taxpayers pay a surtax to pay for America’s defense … once the millionaires start paying the same percent on gross earnings (no exceptions for form of income - the dividend is equal to the working wage) then people will question whether American taxpayers should maintain 2,443 fighters for 50 years ?
And speaking of American taxpayers monies being spent for defense … did you read the Constitutional justification for providing Iron Dome funding to Israel … HR 4229 is based on implied authority (http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/cas/getdocument.action?billnumber=4229&billtype=hr&congress=112&format=html)... so Congress believes that it is implied for them to use our taxdollars for other countries rather than asking them to pay for their own defense.