Bezuinigen levert persoonlijk gevaar op

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Het nivo van discussieren in USA gaat fors omlaag de laatste tijd.
B.v. bezoekers die niet deelnemen aan een 'town-discussion,' maar wel
zichtbaar gewapend rondlopen en ophitsende taal uitslaan zijn al redelijk
gewoon.
Nu gaan wapenleveranciers ook al op de man spelen, als het op bezuinigen
aankomt!

Groet / Cees

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/the-dewline/2009/08/auvsi-northrop-grumman-attacks.html
AUVSI: Northrop Grumman attacks approps staffer -- by name! -- for RQ-4
funding cut
By Stephen Trimble on August 11, 2009 9:20 PM
A Northrop Grumman executive today stunned a small crowd of journalists by
criticizing by name a staff member for the powerful House Appropriations
Committee.

The staff member for the defense subcommittee is responsible for cutting
$415 million, or enough to buy seven RQ-4s for the US Air Force and Navy,
Ed Walby, Northrop's Global Hawk business development director, said
during a press conference.

Walby also says the funding cut will result in 14,000 lost jobs linked to
the program and more deaths of US soldiers in combat.

"It's a good cut if you want to save the taxpayers money, but I think
soldiers' lives are more important than $300 million or $400 million,"
Walby says.

Contacted by The DEW Line, the staff member referred questions about
Walby's comments to a press officer, who was not immediately available.
TDL is not disclosing the staffer's name.

The House appropriators specifically cut $270 million for procurement of
three RQ-4B Block 40s, and $50 million more for advance procurement of
three more, Walby says. The committee also removed $85 million to buy one
RQ-4N for the USN's broad area maritime surveillance (BAMS) program.

Northrop was scheduled to deliver the Block 40 aircraft in Fiscal 2012 to
start operational testing. But testing for a new version of the Block 20
system the US Air Force to delay the evaluation until at least FY2013,
Walby says.

Walby notes that both the vehicle and Block 40's wide area sensor
developed under the multi-platform radar technology insertion program are
ready to begin testing on schedule.

Some comments:
 -----------------------
Defense contractors now resorting to selling products by accusing
customers of "killing soldiers" by not buying them? Sweet. How about
Northrop Grumman "save some soldier's lives" by cutting the profit margin
on everything they make in half, thus making the government able to buy
more stuff?
 -----------------------
What Royce said. Looks like the anti-health-care-reform crazies' tactics
are "trickling up" to defense company executives. Very troubling indeed.
Such rhetoric has no place in this sort of dialogue. My guess is that the
unnamed, named staffer will still have a job next week, but this Walby
bozo may graciously contribute his own share to grow the unemployment
rolls by one...
 -----------------------
What Johnny said. A large part of the reason why the Global Hawk was cut
was because it has been very poorly managed, to the extent that the USAF
itself has singled out NG for criticism. It wasn't just a gratuitous cut
to save a "mere" $300 million to $400 million. Further, regarding SMSgt
Mac's comments, the problem with going down the "cut a defense program,
kill soldiers" approach of criticism is that it's a slippery slope and
little better than a cheap shot. Any defense company that sells any
product to the Pentagon can make the same argument, in which case NOTHING
should get cut, not even when the company in question is not delivering a
given product to specifications. And it is a rhetorical cheap shot
because, well, who wouldn't want to spend every last penny protecting
precious American lives, right? And if you don't, why, you're a monster,
of course! Give me a break. Most problematic of all is the fact that this
argument was advanced by a DEFENSE COMPANY EXECUTIVE and said of a
staffer, who is obviously rather influential with his boss, who happens to
be a member of the "powerful" (quite an understatement) HAC. It's
problematic because not only are we talking about an executive who works
for a company that's in the business of killing (sorry, but that's just a
fact) preaching about the sanctity of human life, but because if NG wants
to continue to get funding for anything in the future, you don't go around
pissing off your best customer, who's in the HAC, no less! I would be
interested to learn Walby's fate, as I am pretty certain he won't have a
job come next week. From a purely cynical, political point of view, what
he said was just extraordinarily, almost unfathomably stupid, which his
bosses at NG are unlikely to just brush off. Ethically and morally -
which, of course, NG could care less about - what Walby said was
irresponsible and reprehensible.

And to Five-sided Puzzle Palace (!), Steven is exactly right not to name
the staffer in question. The accusation levied against him is inflammatory
and potentially dangerous, and given that protesters are showing up at
town halls with loaded guns and others are painting swastikas on the
offices of congresspeople they disagree with, it could be persuasively
argued that to publish this staffer's name could put his safety in danger.
It is shameful what is happening in this country right now, the
inflammatory rhetoric being advanced and perpetrated by influential
talkers who are inciting a virtual civil war. Not even at the height of
the Iraq War debacle did the Left behave like this, and they had far more
reason to be incensed about what their government was doing in their name.
Now, the idea that a single penny could be used to aid someone other than
oneself is driving a small but vituperative portion of the population
veritably insane. God forbid the government tax me so it can provide
health care for anyone other than myself! What's in it for me!? And this
from a group that is traditionally religious. So much for the whole
brother's keeper spiel (sounds nice on Sunday, but not on any other day of
the week). Forget that whole love thy neighbor like thyself crap (instead,
arm thyself in case you have to kill him). What would Jesus do? Never
mind. What does Glen Beck say!? Let me tell you, John Edwards was right:
there are two Americas, divided less between the haves and the have-nots,
but between those who find it entirely normal to be taxed so that others
may live and stay healthy, and those who are appalled by the thought. And
you know what: I don't want to be among the latter. Have your half, and be
gone with you. Let the South secede and take your ilk with you. I'll take
New York, I'll take Chicago, I'll take Seattle any day. But the America,
and Americans, I know and love has no resemblance whatsoever to that
portrayed and spoken to and for by the Limbaughs and the Palins and the
Becks. And what's ironic is that these clowns who are most un-American
have the gall to accuse others of what they are most guilty of. Sorry
about the rant, but it saddens and angers me to see the spectacle this
country has become...
 -----------------------

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