Thursday, September 15, 2011

Scary Stuff

Three items from the Usual USAF Source that should concern every American... the first is from this past Tuesday:
Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.)
Gutting US Military Capability: The Air Force is flying "at the ragged edge." The Marine Corps is not equipped to handle a contingency if it were to arise in the Pacific theater. And, the Army doesn't even have enough resources to fulfill some of its "most basic needs," warned Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), House Armed Services Committee chairman Monday. "These problems will rapidly intensify as projected budget cuts start to take their toll," said McKeon during a speech at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. "Even more dangerous is the sword that is hanging over the Congressional super committee," he added. The newly formed committee has until Thanksgiving to come up with $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion in savings or an automatic cut will kick in that will decimate the US military, said McKeon. "Fifty percent of the mandatory cuts associated with the [automatic] trigger are from the Defense Department. Fifty percent. That's a deeply unbalanced number with defense accounting for less than 20 percent of federal spending," he said. "If enacted, the trigger would not just cut our military, it would close it for business."
—Amy McCullough
And these two items from yesterday's AFA Daily Report:
Carter Goes Before SASC to Discuss Nomination: Ash Carter, current Pentagon acquisition executive, told the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday he'd be willing to consider relocating and re-stationing overseas-based US military forces, including moving some back the United States, if he becomes deputy defense secretary. This would include addressing the proposed realignment of US troops on Guam and Okinawa, Japan, he told committee members during his nomination hearing for the Pentagon's No. 2 post. He also said he'd work with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to find across-the-board savings for the Defense Department, including potential cuts to military personnel accounts and healthcare. Carter said the Pentagon would submit a plan to Congress this year outlining areas where DOD could absorb cuts so that the new Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction could take it under advisement. If that panel fails to reach a consensus and, instead, the Budget Control Act of 2011's automatic cuts kick in, Carter said those cuts would "devastate" the military. "Just the scale of it alone would lead us to have to consider truly draconian things—abandoning major weapons systems, furloughing civilian employees, and abruptly curtailing training because we couldn't pay for fuel, and so forth," he explained. (See also Carter's response to advance questions.)
Passionate about Defense: The Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said the fiscal situation faced by the Defense Department is so dire that he may even consider voting for a tax increase for the first time in his political career. "I have never voted for a tax increase. I don't ever plan on voting for a tax increase," Rep. Buck McKeon (Calif.) told an audience during his speech Monday at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. "But if it came down that I had only two choices: one was to make a tax increase, one was to cut defense over and above what we already are, I would go to strengthen defense." The six Republicans on the new Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction likely will press for cuts and stand against a tax increase, while the six Democrats on the panel likely will argue that one is not possible without the other. The challenge will be reaching a compromise before the automatic cuts outlined in the Budget Control Act of 2011 kick in and the Pentagon's budget is slashed beyond repair, said McKeon. (See also the joint committee's new website.)
—Amy McCullough
I don't think Rep. McKeon or Mr. Carter are being the least bit hyperbolic with their statements.  It is to worry, especially now that Obama wants the Joint Select Committee to fund his latest round of Stimu-less.   "Interesting times," as the frickin' Chinese say.

12 comments:

  1. Effin ass-clowns on the hill have never quite gotten the deal about an ounce of prevention. They'll take money from anywhere but their own pocket. Sacrifice is something that somebody else should do.


    v-word = joghot

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  2. Buck, you know what my views are on this subj, so I won't elaborate except to say it simply makes me want to throw up. OT--but on a happier note, I thought I'd regale you with a little expansion on the "Sharky's Reef theme back down-thread. My friend was such a fish-freak that he re-modeled his detached garage by installing massive fish tanks all around all three walls that were floor to almost ceiling. Then he put a swivel easy chair in the center with infra-red linked head-phones to a sound system so he could sit and "contemplate" Buddha-style while viewing the fish and listening to the sounds. Naturally his wife was a BIG fan of that, right? LOL. He'd spend HOURS out there, lol. And how did he feed them? He built a ledge above them all the way around upon which he laid toy RR tracks and put a model RR-train w. engine pulling those cars that dump sideways (remember those?) in which he'd load the fish-food and then remote-control the train around, stopping over each tank (he had 9or10 all contiguous in the U-shape along the walls) triggering the cars to dump the food. LOL!

    At one point in 1995 Jack for some reason had captured a juvinal gator and was growing it in a pen in his back yard (wife LUUVEDDD THAT!) In early May we had 19 inches of rain in ONE HOUR that flooded half the city with several feet of water (I have ANOTHER story about that ) and out in Metairie where Jack lived near several canals the flood waters brought snakes & alligators into many neighborhoods and people had to flee to higher ground to escape the critters. With Jack it was JUST THE OPPOSITE! The flood waters in his back yard (didn't flood the house) allowed the gator to float free out of his pen, so Jack was out there at the height of the storm wrestling with the Gator trying to keep him IN the yard and from escaping! LOL!. IIRC the news media already had known about Jack's "mania" as he was a semi-famous local celeb and they knew about the Gator as, iirc, he was raising it to donate to some charity function (I think( At any rate, they came by after the storm to interview him and when they published the story they noted that, while most people were fleeing the Gators, Jack was busily "embracing" them "up close and personal." When his collage-age kids read the news story when it came out they commented: "And the point is?" LOL--as in: "What else is new?" They knew their Dad--NOTHING could phase them at that point~

    (BTW, he ran Varsity track at LSU and continued to compete in the Senior Olympics into his mid forties. He won a Gold Medal at AGE 40!!! in the 100 meter Dash by running a 10.1 time!!!!)

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  3. **"...nothing could FAZE them..." Dementia creeping...

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  4. Buck, I just had a long post disappear as I screwed up and didn't enable NScript. Let me know if you can fish it out or not. It was an OT further humorous expansion about the guy who owned "Shark[s Reef"--A REAL FISH STORY! LOL. I'll re-tell if it's lost--should l be under "Anonymous"

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  5. I second what Ivan said.

    Does anyone have pics of that fish-tank-lined garage? It sounds fabulous. I love tropical fish. Not that I would want the responsibility of feeding them and cleaning the tanks, and forget about that alligator. That Jack guy sounds like an incredible character.

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  6. o/t -
    1)what's happened to your weather?
    2)there seem to be two astute observations missing.


    V-word = inginesk

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  7. Ivan: Yeah, about sacrifice for everyone BUT congress. In re: the WX... it's gone to hell in a hand basket. But we have gotten some considerable rain in the past 12 hours.

    Virgil: I have NO idea what it is about you or your IP address, but your comments wind up in my spam filter more often than not. Great follow-up stories about Sharky!

    Red: Thanks!

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  8. True Non-Hyphenated American15 September, 2011 17:43

    I'm a big fan of declaring victory in World War II, and bringing the troops home from Japan, Germany, and Italy.

    People talk about an exit strategy for Iraq??? What about Japan??? What's our exit strategy for the troops we have in the Sinai??

    Don't even get me started on Korea. We should have moved all the troops out of Korea and into Afghanistan in 2001.

    As you can tell, I am not much for spending billions on troops, and billions on nuclear weapons. Pick one, shit-can the other.

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  9. I don't know what to say about the DoD being in dire straits, except it stinks.

    But I loved the fish/alligator story, although I'm not big on fish watching. I think kittens are more entertaining.

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  10. Non-Hyphenated: I sense a recurring theme in your comments. ;-)

    Lou: It really depends on the fish. ;-)

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  11. No one seems to be willing to discuss budgetary ramifications for Tricare and TFL.

    Perhaps we should just nuke most ofvthe middle east and southwest Asia and call it a day.

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  12. Perhaps we should just nuke most ofvthe middle east and southwest Asia and call it a day.

    I've been known to voice similar thoughts, Moogie. About TriCare... I DO read stuff from time to time about how much medical care is costing DoD and how it's breaking the budget. That doesn't bode well for the troops and us retirees.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.