Sen McCain: F22 Raptor may have to be cancelled to pay for Iraq war.

Yahoo ^ | April 11,2004 | Jim Wolf

[nicollo]

G.K. Chesterton... lol! I wish.

[familyofman]

"Unfortunately, old people like big government. They like government programs. They like free health care and free drugs. When Social security collapses after they are dead and their children are paying off their debt that won't be their problem."

You are exceedingly ungrateful. Guess who allowed yu the freedom to 'go off' on these great Americans? They paid for it with 'blood, sweat & tear'. You on the other hand can only gripe and act like the spoiled brat you are.

After you give something - then maybe you will have earned the right to complain about your 'betters'. Until then - STFU!!!!.

[familyofman]

"Since they are the richest class in the richest nation in human history at a time of its record prosperity, perhaps it isn't too radical a notion that they might instead just support themselves. What whiners."

What a total ignorant, ungrateful child you are. Grow up.

[Pukin Dog]

I'm afraid, once again, and darned it all because he IS a Navy guy, I have to side with Puken on this one.

That must sting, don't it? LOL.

Oh, and that's 'Pukin', mofo.

[familyofman]

"What I do know, is that 3 F-22s could wipe out a squadron of F-14s on their best day at any altitude, any speed. That kind of performance does not get swept aside for budgetary reasons. If you ever hear of the F-22 being canceled, the odds are strong that it only became a black program instead. The F-22 is going to production, period."

How will the F-22 help us defeat OBL & al Queda? What high performance aircraft do they have. The F-22 is the wrong weapon for the war we are fighting now.
It's a huge misappropriation of defense $ - when we are fighting assholes in caves.

[JasonC]

Bzzt, wrong answer. I'm chock full of graditude. I'm not the one demanding everyone else not only pay my upkeep, by extend that and pay for more and more stuff, in the middle of a bleeding war. I wouldn't bring up wartime sacrifice if I were you. It is poor salesmenship, when otherwise sane people are soberly proposing cutting vital weapon systems, in the middle of a war, to pay for larger handouts than ever.

[jwalsh07]

How will the F-22 help us defeat OBL & al Queda? What high performance aircraft do they have. The F-22 is the wrong weapon for the war we are fighting now. It's a huge misappropriation of defense $ - when we are fighting assholes in caves.

Cave dwellers have something in common with Luddites, they are both mostly in the dark.

Defense appropriations must be forward looking. We have all the technology we need to battle jihadist, we don't have all the technology we need to keep China at bay or missiles from landing in the continental America.

So which is it, cave dweller or Luddite?

[JasonC]

China's stated military doctrine is asymmetric warfare. Which includes distracting the adversary, using deniable proxies, avoiding direct confrontation with conventional military power until the political situation has been prepared, and the like. They are also meddling in Taiwan's politics, backing North Korea's nuclear program - and buying lots of advanced fighters from Russia. Advance fighters that the F-22 makes obsolete.

[Pukin Dog]

How will the F-22 help us defeat OBL & al Queda? What high performance aircraft do they have. The F-22 is the wrong weapon for the war we are fighting now.

Yours is a hard post to answer, because I go back and forth between wanting to give you a history lesson, or just calling you a nut and moving on. Instead of those options, I will just recall a few facts for you, OK?

The F-4 Phantom first flew in 1958. Duke Cunningham became the first ace of the Vietnam war in a VF-96 Phantom on May 10 1972. Diff = 14 years.

The first variant of the SR-71 Blackbird flew first in February of 1962. In 1968, the SR-71 first overflew North Korea during the Pleblo incident.

The first production A-10 Warthog was delivered in October of 1975. Who were we fighting then? Should it have been built? Ask a Marine grunt your stupid question, and you might want duck before you get an answer from him. How many lives is that airplane saving in 2004, 29 YEARS later?

How about one more?

Jimmy Carter agreed with you about the B-1 Bomber in 1978. You know that aircraft that we called in to bomb Saddam from over a two hundred miles from the target, and got to the IP ten minutes later AFTER tanking? Who were we fighting in 1978, pal?

I suggest you take that noise elsewhere.

[familyofman]

"I'm chock full of graditude."

Yeh - right. You wouldn't know gratitude if it bit your fanny. You seem to be a very spoiled brat.

Why do we need an F-22 , what great superpower will it be used against. It's a waste of money.

[Gunrunner2]

Goodness. . .I guess I've been told!

;-)

[nicollo]

Why do we need an F-22 , what great superpower will it be used against. It's a waste of money.

Ever hear 'bout the problem of bringin' a knife to a gunfight?

Our Spec Ops in Afghanistan are converting ex-Talibanis with B-1s. Meanwhile, magnificently expensive aircraft drop hugely expensive bombs on handfuls of jihadist in Iraq -- and don't forget the gazillions spent on those satellites that guide the bombs.

But that's just an obvious application of technological superiority, which we wouldn't have if we heeded your kind of idiocy.

I will repeat: the long game enhances the short game. I'll leave the obvious expletives to the reader.

[JasonC]

You smell funny and you seem to have molested your grandmother. Aren't ad hominems fun? Don't they settle everything?

China. Already asked and answered.

[familyofman]

"Ever hear 'bout the problem of bringin' a knife to a gunfight?"

Yes - I have. Have you ever heard of overkill, or using dynamite to blow your nose? It just might be wiser at this time to spend some of those $millions & $billions meant for the F-22, on better armor & more troops for the fight we're in now.

[nicollo]

Your kind of consistency is, as Emerson said, "the hobglobin of little minds." I'd add that the inability to carry two opposing thoughts is a sign of a very, very little mind.

Sure, let's buy better armor for the troops. If you're gonna spend all the money on that, you'd better buy them some serious umbrellas, too.

Meanwhile, you can hold a bake sale for education.

[Cloud William]

Actually, the gun is impressive and used quite extensively.

You bet it is. There was a brief film clip, only shown on the news once or twice, of an A-10 pilot firing his hawg's 30mm at some rooftop snipers in Baghdad. This was just before the statue of Saddam was toppled. That's one heck on an impromptu counter-sniper weapon. :-)

[Doc On The Bay]

Most of the "Disabled" derive Their "Disability" from Reports from Local 'Docs.

Most of the 'Docs are AFRAID TO "Tell the Truth" because a "Local Lawyer" will Haul them into Court-0-EVEN IF the Patient's Claim is Questionable.

The Problem is "LEGAL,"--NOT "Medical!!"

EVEN IF a Person has NO REASON to be "Disabled," a "Competent Disability Lawyer" can "Game The System" to SUCH an Extent that a PERFECTLY HEALTHY CITIZEN can receive Permanent Disability Payments FOR LIFE!!

The PROBLEM IS, There are Permanently Disabled Citizens who REQUIRE Ongoing Medical Care, Whose Ongoing Care should be AUTOMATIC. These People receive ongoing Automatic Care on a Regular Basis--& will Continue to Do So for the Rest of Their Lives. But there are "Citizens" Unqualified for "Permanent Disability" that the 'Docs are AFRAID To "Deny" a "Disability" to, because Such a "Denial" MUST BE FACED BY "The Doc."

A "Denial of Disability" HAS TO BE a Decision by a REMOTE, "Non-Involved" physician.

[Gunrunner2]

More of an "urban renewal" tool. . .

[CGTRWK]

You can't fight a major war while trying to balance the budget or making that an objective. That we're spending so much time on that simply shows that people aren't taking this war seriously.

This isn't a major war. By the standards of any other war worthy of the name, Iraq is a moderate intensity training exercise and Afghanistan isn't anything.

100 billion dollars a year of war and reconstruction spending is less than 1% of the economy. It is well under 5% of total federal spending.

In 1968, the Vietnam War was absorbing 7% of the economy and more than a third of federal spending.

[optik_b]

"You are exceedingly ungrateful. Guess who allowed yu the freedom to 'go off' on these great Americans?"

Old people consume far more resources than children do. The future of this country is it's children. I have to say that old people are demanding more and more government programs. Look at where the most growth in government is. It is not providing programs for kids, it is for more massive programs for the politically powerful senior population.