Comments on: Initial Hill Reax to Gates Budget

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 11:06:44 +0000

What about CSAR? What about existing CSAR? No reaction at all from anyone? Did we need the discrete capability? Does it exist now?

By: B-ME

B-ME — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 05:18:18 +0000

If spending 750B a year on ‘defense’ related activities does not buy you supremacy, then maybe we are doing something wrong. No one even comes close to the US, now, or in the future. No one can or will ever project and sustain power like the US.
Being the US is not as easy is we think, and that is why no one really want to replace us, even though the Chinese are not living up to their repsonsiblites and letting the US do their dirty work; but they do pay our bills, so it is win-win.
(Amusing Side note-the US spends 750B SLF gov, on ‘education’ and the results are suspect also)

By: Sachin

Sachin — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 01:23:56 +0000

Obama needs to think logically here. Russians are no friends of ours. They know missile defense works. That’s why they ask us to remove it from Europe. If missile defense didn’t work they wouldn’t be saying that. BO needs to wake up.

By: Valcan

Valcan — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:15:25 +0000

I have to agree with sooner keith olberman is about the last person id call “finly honed”..or sane..or logical..
of course then there whats his name who has orgasims who obama talks.…
With the MSM CNN,MSNBC,CNBC, you name it even fox its not so much what they say as what you dont say.
You can lie easier by omitting the part of the story that makes the story work better to your ends.

By: richardb

richardb — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:59:46 +0000

Here is another recent story on the left’s push to cut defense spending more than Obama and Gates intend.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/left-fires-back-on-budget-2009–03-25.html
The people quoted in that story are on the left wind of the democratic party. These people won’t like this Obama-Gates budget and I predict, rather than attack Obama, they’ll go after Gates and use their finely honed left wing attack machine such as Kos, MSNBC and far left bloggers to do the heavy lifting.

By: Maxtrue

Maxtrue — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:53:49 +0000

Sorry. I suggested Dems were thinking a ending the Wart Hog (Bush tried that too) and I wondered if the Air Force would like the F-16 or another air craft to take on its role. Didn’t this blog report problems with F-15s? I did see Gates discuss why he cut FCS, but where is the rush for a better idea?
As long as Russian air defenses which the Raptor is designed to penetrate is sold to our adversaries, the F-22 sounds like a reasonable idea. And I wonder why cutting edge products are not sound thinking. What is the concept to production time frame as China and Russia announce new advanced fighter programs? Of course, yes, there IS limited capital, but then why isn’t the DOD funding a “stimulus”?
No, it doesn’t look like Obama is investing much more in missile defense which is rather important considering our becoming sitting ducks. As Americans watch Obama increase spending in most areas, they will note the drop in defense spending now that Iraq and Afghanistan have been added to the baseline.
And why the slow going on refueling and air and sea lift capacity.
No, I’m not an expert…lol, but many more Americans are becoming aware of our dunbious direction and even Liberals don’t exactly swallow Biden’s telling us, don’t worry, we are all a lot safer than we were Novemeber 1, 2008.

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:41:17 +0000

While Barney Frank may be an idiot, let’s measure defense spending as a percentage of THIS year’s GDP.
Sorry your failed pet program got axed.

By: Recon-Team

Recon-Team — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:16:40 +0000

Barney Frank is an idiot who has no idea what he is talking about. Defense spending is only some 4% or so of the GDP. Yet apparently some idiot congressmen would take that too and waste it on welfare or some other nonsense.

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:15:35 +0000

VERY cool piece, imo that talks about this subject from a different perspective.
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2009/04/07/will-the-military-industrial-complex-save-american-foreign-policy/

By: soonergrunt

soonergrunt — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:08:52 +0000

Ok, so you’ve shown you can cherry pick a quote from Barney Frank.
Here’s what he’s talking about, and a little bit of context from Wikipedia:
As of the 111th Congress, Frank is advocating a 25 percent reduction in the overall Military budget of the United States. “The math is compelling: if we do not make reductions approximating 25 percent of the military budget starting fairly soon, it will be impossible to continue to fund an adequate level of domestic activity…,” wrote Frank. He claimed that such a significant reduction would have no effect on the United States’ ability to defend itself. “If,” he said, “beginning one year from now, we were to cut military spending by 25 percent from its projected levels, we would still be immeasurably stronger than any combination of nations with whom we might be engaged.” The U.S. military budget is almost equivalent to the rest of the world’s defense spending combined, and is over eight times larger than that of China, the next biggest spender.
Now, while I don’t necessarily agree with the Congressman, I can see where he’s coming from. Of course, one guy stating his belief about the necessity of doing something does not mean an entire group of people who number in the millions happens to like the idea, or dislike the institution to which the idea applies.
The plural of anecdote is not data.
And on a side note, I don’t give a tinker’s damn how you feel about my service.