It’s fun to watch Cheney argue against his current positions with this film clip fom the past…. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9a8_1186873756
August 14, 2007
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It’s fun to watch Cheney argue against his current positions with this film clip fom the past…. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9a8_1186873756
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
There’s not much to say about the VP’s comments without getting sarcastic again so I’m just posting a little information for anyone who’s interested.
I recently heard how much it would cost to provide health care to all US children, though I can’t recall now. However, the Senate Finance Committee has approved a bill that would expand state health insurance coverage for children (S-CHIP) to include 3.2 million kids who are not now covered (but leaving about 6 million still uncovered.) Bush has promised to veto this bill, on the grounds that government should not be involved in health coverage.
Anyhow, here’s how the President and Congress is spending some of the money they collect from taxpayers. Do you think it’s wise? I don’t think so, but let me know what you think because I’m just not so sure.
Ths following is an excerpt from the article:
http://www.afa.org/magazine/aug2007/0807bomber.asp
The 2007 National Defense Authorization Act orders the service to maintain a fleet of 44 combat-coded aircraft. Pending legislation instructs the Air Force to keep an overall fleet of 74 B-52s, but Keys said even a requirement for 44 combat tails could be met with an overall fleet of 56.
Additional aircraft come at a price, however.
When it comes to maintaining old airplanes, the cost curve is “not linear,” noted Clary. It is accelerating. In the case of the B-52, the average operating cost per aircraft has increased from $5.5 million in Fiscal 1996 to $13.6 million in FY06 (in then-year dollars, not adjusted for inflation). Officials said taking the fleet down to 56 B-52s would save taxpayers roughly $200 million per year.
US Strategic Command requirements are always a part of the equation for figuring out how many B-52s the Air Force needs, and demand for nuclear cruise missiles has declined as well.
The Air Force currently maintains an arsenal of 1,140 AGM-86 Air Launched Cruise Missiles and 460 newer and stealthy AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missiles. The B-52 is the only platform for these missiles.
Recent plans call for USAF to retire all of its ACMs and cut the ALCM fleet by more than 500 missiles, leaving 528 nuclear cruise missiles. Maj. Gen. Roger W. Burg, director of strategic security, said the ALCM force would be consolidated at Minot AFB, N.D., and all excess cruise missile bodies would be destroyed.
“These cruise missile force structure changes are part of a balanced force reduction that supports both Presidential direction” and the Moscow Treaty requirement to get below 2,200 deployed nuclear weapons by 2012, he said.
Comment by Brian — August 17, 2007 @ 9:26 pm