Woo Fucking Hoo

[unhappycamper]

The F-35B dropped an inert bomb in the Atlantic Ocean last week. And the cost of the F-35 has risen from $243 million each to over $300 million a pop. Along that same line, Canada is trying to find a firm who can audit f-35 costs accurately. Sounds like they are having problems with Lockheed's and DoD's books, color me surprised.

FYI, there were NO positive articles in the military rags last week about:

* the $40 billion dollar CVN-78, aka the USS Gerald R Ford
* the $5+ billion dollar DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer (Yup, you read that correctly - $5+ billion dollars for a fucking destroyer. That's almost what a Virginia-class submarine costs.)
* the $500+ million dollar Littoral Combat Ships (Previously the DoD admitted they will need to increase the number of bodies on these 3,000 ton POSs by 50%. LCS-class ships still have a 57mm gun as primary protection AND the Mission Modules are not-ready-for-prime-time.)

The above goodies represent only weapons systems that are being developed. It does NOT include 'stuff' We The People have already bought. Things like:

* the $100 million dollar MV-22 Osprey (I'll bet Bell Boeing is pissed that the Japanese will not let the MV-22 fly in Japan until somebody proves to them they are safe to fly over residential areas.)
* Landing Dock Pad (LPD) ships built at the Avondale shipyards in Mississippi are crap. (But here's a smackdown coming your way --> http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/lpd17-reliability-issues-surface-again-03235/)
* Congress keeps pushing M1A1 tanks at the Army who does not want them. (You and I own 3,000 of these things sitting in the Arizona desert. And we keep building them in Ohio; go figure.)
* we learned last week that our $418 million dollar F-22 air superiority fighter (s) got waxed by a German Typhoon in a war games exercise. http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=journals&uid=166578

And then there are the crybabies about sequestration. Here's a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny few; google "sequestration and a politicians name" to see where s/he stands on military spending :

* Sen Lindsey Graham (Too many to count - google "lindsey graham sequestration&quot
* Rep. Paul Ryan (same as above - google "paul ryan sequestration&quot
* Rep. Buck McKeon (same as above - google "buck mckeon sequestration"

Even the Cato Institute sez "Don’t overdramatize sequestration". (Sorry - couldn't get the link to work correctly) -->
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/think-tanked/post/dont-overdramatize-sequestration-says-cato/2012/08/07/7fe42da4-e0b0-11e1-8fc5-a7dcf1fc161d_blog.html


When was the last time you took a 5% cut on your salaries, benefits, stock market holdings, standard of living or aid from Uncle? Have your Public Transportation costs risen? Are your roads and bridges turning to shit? Guess where that money goes? Hint - look in discretionary spending.

All we are talking about here is an additional 5% budget cut for the military.

Five fucking percent.

[xchrom]

1. DoD & the MIC are why we can't have Nice Things.

[spanone]

2. our country struggles financially so the MIC can grow yearly by leaps & bounds

fucking obscene

[Auggie]

12. +1

Perfectly put

[Scuba]

3. Yes, but all that hardware is necessary to protect us. Just think of the countries .....

... that would want to take us over.

After all, who wants a nation full of poor people, with no health insurance, social security or jobs?

Who would want that? China? Nah, they're not gonna attack their largest market.

Al Queda and/or the Taliban? We have more Admirals and Generals than they have total fighters.

Maybe France will attack us. If they win and we become part of France then we get healthcare, early retirement, social security, maternity leave, shorter workweeks, etc. C'mon France, please.

[The Wizard]

4. If we were

a moral people, military spending would be more in line and proportional with what the rest of civilization spends on death and destruction with far more dollars spent on infrastructure and raising living standards for the vast majority.
But our legislature is under the undue influence of the military industrial media complex.
Any politician who comes out against military bloat is labeled soft on the ism or bogyman of the day and smeared in the corporate media.
Legislators who go along with the insanity are very well paid shills for defense contractors. How many have Cayman Islands bank accounts to conceal bribery?

[RVN VET]

5. But America is a moral Country

I mean, we imprison a larger percentage of our male population than any other place on Earth -- making them pay a stiff price for their immorality. We villainize the poor and disabled and cut funding for programs that help them get a leg up, forcing them to stand on their own feet or die -- die because they are lazy and immoral, right? And of course there's torture -- "fraternity hazing" as Rush A-pimple calls it -- to punish our enemies and possible enemies for immorally being not-us.

(You remember A-pimple, of course, the RVN war supporter who just couldn't qualify for the draft because of a pimple on his fat butt? The fat tub of suppurating lard who called me and you and the rest of us disgruntled and disheartened veterans "phony soldiers" because we refused to continue drinking the goddam kool-aid?)

Seriously, The Wizard, what you say here is absolutely (and horribly) true. Right on, brother. Salud!

[The Wizard]

9. Thanks and welcome to DU

It's disturbing at the number of vets who vote against their own best interests because they believe the Repube line that the Democrats wouldn't let them be war heroes. They are frightened to challenge the propaganda as they believe they will be labeled unpatriotic. War is not the answer.

[DainBramaged]

6. Good research, thanks

[99Forever]

7. The MIC..

... is the festering boil on America and will become fatal if not reined in.

The MIC IS the reason we can't "afford" medical care for ALL of our citizens.

The MIC IS the reason we can't house the homeless.

The MIC IS the reason we are hated around the world.

The MIC IS the reason we "can't afford" to repair our decaying infrastructure.

[patrice]

8. Most of our resources go into bloated MIC<1% which then "creates":controls whatever jobs there are.

Why else would the Pentagon not have listened to certain ones of its own retire elders who opposed the War on Iraq?

[marble falls]

10. The numbers are numbing. Compared to our "bloated" foreign aid - its more than astounding. A .....

couple of hours of defense spending could save lives if applied to national healthcare alone. I knew the figures were bad but THAT bad? Thank you for posting this.

Five fucking percent isn't enough.

[SHRED]

11. DOD Contracts HERE:

http://www.defense.gov/contracts/

--

[woo me with science]

13. We are fucked. We are bought and sold.

And our lives are being sold to spread blood and death across the world, for profit.