When is his contract up again?

There you go again. Thanks, Tbogg, my week is complete.

Sounds like that small government bullshit and tax cuts yap yap is just to con the rubes.

“You might then suggest spending a good chunk of the stimulus on national security — directing dollars to much-needed and underfunded defense procurement rather than to fanciful green technologies, making sure funds are available for the needed expansion of the Army and Marines before rushing to create make-work civilian jobs.” (my bold)

Huh? Now Bill’s suggesting we build armored humvees? And after funding two wars without end, we need to expand the Army and Marines further? What, Bill, you wanna attack China next, or Russia, or maybe just some little third world country needs to have its ass kicked so you can feel better about yourself?

Fuck you, Kristol.

Many studies have shown there is a larger return on investment for small buisness loans than the military machine.
And to think, those fuckers in congress couldn’t pass Welstone’s bill that closed the tax loophole for the off-shoring defense contractors. All it said was that if you want to get federal money, you have to pay federal taxes.

That loop of ”pie meets Billy” is my screen saver…and the reason I no longer need anti-depressants.

Every time I read a Kristol article I start giggling and babbling incoherantly until someone walks me to the Quiet Room to make the elves go away.

Although I suspect the hallucinogenic effect of anti-logic particles is exactly why the NYT keeps this buffoon around.

“You might then suggest spending a good chunk of the stimulus on national security — directing dollars to much-needed and underfunded defense procurement rather than to fanciful green technologies,…”

Actually, I believe Kristol was thinking more along the lines of the V22 Osprey:

A total of 458 V-22s are expected to be built for the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy, at an average cost of $110 million per aircraft, including development costs.[1] The V-22 had an incremental flyaway cost of $70 million per aircraft in 2007,[2] but the Navy hopes to shave about $10 million off that cost after a five-year production contract starts in 2008.[16]

The V-22’s development process has been long and controversial. When the development budget, first projected at $2.5 billion in 1986, increased to $30 billion in 1988, then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney tried to zero out its funding. He was eventually overruled by Congress.[14] As of September 2007, the Osprey program spent $20 billion over 25 years of development, and will require another $35 billion from the Pentagon before the program is completed.[13]

In 2000, there were two further fatal crashes, killing a total of 19 Marines, and the production was again halted while the cause of these crashes was investigated and various parts were redesigned.[14]
V-22 in flight.

The V-22 squadron’s former commander at Marine Corps Air Station New River, Lieutenant Colonel Odin Lieberman, was relieved of duty in 2001 after allegations that he instructed his unit that they needed to falsify maintenance records to make the plane appear more reliable.

The aircraft is incapable of autorotation in the case of engine failure, a fact that led a director of the Pentagon’s testing office in 2005 to say that if the Osprey loses power while flying like a helicopter below 1,600 feet (490 m), emergency landings “are not likely to be survivable”. But Captain Justin (Moon) McKinney, a V-22 pilot, says that this will not be a problem, “We can turn it into a plane and glide it down, just like a C-130″.[13] A complete loss of power would require the failure of both engines, as a drive shaft connects the nacelles through the wing; one engine can power both proprotors.[19]

It was planned in 2000 to equip all V-22s with a nose-mounted gatling gun, to provide “the V-22 with a strong defensive firepower capability to greatly increase the aircraft’s survivability in hostile actions.”[12] But the nose gun project was cancelled, leading to criticism by retired Marine Corps Commandant General James L. Jones, who is not satisfied with the current V-22 armament.[13]

With the first combat deployment of the MV-22 in October 2007, Time Magazine ran an article condemning the aircraft as unsafe, overpriced, and completely inadequate.[13] The Marine Corps, however, responded with the assertion that much of the article’s data were dated, obsolete, inaccurate, and reflected expectations that ran too high for any new field of aircraft.[20]

“You might then suggest spending a good chunk of the stimulus on national security — directing dollars to much-needed and underfunded defense procurement rather than to fanciful green technologies, making sure funds are available for the needed expansion of the Army and Marines before rushing to create make-work civilian jobs.”

Well, since the economy tanked WHILE we are already spending huge sums on military equipment and adventures, exactly what will more of the same do? My logic says bankrupt the country a la USSR, but the military parades will be fabulous!