This latest article by Andrew Coyne on the F-35 fiasco gave me chills, it’s a must read for anyone who still believes in honest, representative government. See this excellent article by Brian Stewart for more background on the growing secrecy in recent years surrounding the F-35 purchase and other activities at
Continue readingTag: f-35
Pop The Stack: Our Democracy is Leaving on a Jet Plane
This latest article by Andrew Coyne on the F-35 fiasco gave me chills, it’s a must read for anyone who still believes in honest, representative government. See this excellent article by Brian Stewart for more background on the growing secrecy in recent years surrounding the F-35 purchase and other activities at
Continue readingPolygonic: MacKay: We’re just as dodgy with our accounting as Sponsorship-era Liberals
Duhhhhr! Ooonnggg… errrrggg…. Out of the mouths of babes. It’s been an awkward delight watching Conservative spinmeisters trot out Plan A through Plan W in their Catalogue of Flimsy Excuses over the F-35 affair. Blaming bureaucrats didn’t cut it, even blaming the other parties hasn’t cut it. One waits with
Continue readingImpolitical: Pentagon ups #F35 costs again
From one of the leading aviation publications in the U.S., Aviation Week, the latest on the F-35’s increasing costs sees Canada in its headline: “Canada Concerned As F-35 Cost Estimate Rises.” The article’s main point is to highlight still more increasing costs of the F-35 program as announced by the
Continue readingTheSpec – Walkom: F-35s, robocalls and the erosion of Harper’s…
A great article by Thomas Walkom on the F-35 scandal and how the Conservatives have virtually no credibility to speak of.TheSpec – Walkom: F-35s, robocalls and the erosion of Harper’s…. I’d like to make a note that I for one felt any credibility they had was lost long ago when
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: More Hash April 11, 2012
So the real costs of the F-35 program continues to make news, while from the opposition we hear calls for the resignation and/or firing of the Defense Minister who is described by Liberal House leader Marc Garneau as being, “…either incompetent or not too bright!” I don’t see why it’s
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: More Hash April 11, 2012
So the real costs of the F-35 program continues to make news, while from the opposition we hear calls for the resignation and/or firing of the Defense Minister who is described by Liberal House leader Marc Garneau as being, “…either incompetent or not too bright!” I don’t see why it’s
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: More Hash April 11, 2012
So the real costs of the F-35 program continues to make news, while from the opposition we hear calls for the resignation and/or firing of the Defense Minister who is described by Liberal House leader Marc Garneau as being, “…either incompetent or not too bright!” I don’t see why it’s an either/or situation. It could be both. I’ll admit it also could be neither. Perhaps the Minister simply lied. Those numbers are pretty much the same as the ones the PBO announced them back in March of 2012.
So where are the media at currently on the issue of the over-priced F-35 First Strike Fighter Jets replacing the soon to be mothballed CF-18’s? Well, over at Canada’s National Newspaper, J.L. Granastein makes a really poor argument that these jets aren’t just shiny new toys for the military by… talking about all the neat gadgets we get if we buy the F-35:
We might be involved in coalition air operations, and the F-35 could fill that role, both as a strike aircraft and as an interceptor. Its stealth technology – and a host of additional high-tech wonders – make it potentially the best fighter available anywhere for the next quarter-century, and that explains why so many countries want to purchase it.
There’s a lot wrong with his argument for procurement of these first strike weapons, number one of which is (aside from spending exorbitant amounts of Canadian taxpayers money) the idea of always being at the ready to join the Americans in bringing war and destruction to the Middle-East instead of doing something useful like say, peace-keeping. Also the Canadian press is doing its standard crappy job of informing Canadians about the Tory wish list of other toys for the military over the next 6 years. That’s gonna’ cost upwards of $115 Billion. Health care anyone?
Vroooom Baby, Vroooom!
So yesterday I’m having sport at the Tories expense about their lack of a jobs for youths strategy, which they’ve gone and made worse during the current economic downturn by cutting funding for Katimavik. So I open the morning’s local fish-wrap and behold the Conservatives are announcing $27 million dollars worth of spending on… yeah, a youth jobs program. Well good, I think to myself. It’s something anyhow. Right? Wrong!
The $26.7-million, a mix of previously committed and new money, is earmarked for eight projects. The biggest beneficiary is the YMCA of Greater Toronto, awarded 90 per cent of the money. Nearly $9-million of this will be used over the next three fiscal years to bankroll and administer the Y’s youth exchanges program.
So most of this money (90 %) is going to be spent in Toronto. Students looking for a leg up in finding a job in other parts of Canada are on their own.Canada’s Tories are nothing if not short-sighted.
Speaking of which, guess what government department is getting hit hardest by Harper’s budget cuts: …the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Agriculture Canada will be among the hardest-hit departments as Ottawa rolls out where it will cut 19,200 jobs across the country. What could go wrong with that?
David Suzuki writes about the Gulf of St. Lawrence, its importance to our Canadian identity and the legislative changes made by the governing Tories that will have serious repercussions for the health of marine environments in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. (i.e. ‘…gutting the Fisheries Act by stripping down habitat protection provisions, and it plans to amend the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act in a way that would make it easier for mining and oil companies, for example, to jump through regulatory hoops and get projects up and running faster than the time required to evaluate all their impacts on nature.’)
And wrapping this up this wee post, here in Quebec, students are holding rolling protests today in their latest salvo against planned tuition hikes. They hope to finish the day having held 12 different demonstrations in various parts of Montreal. I wonder who blinks first, the premier or the students?
Cheers!
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Of Fifth Generation Warplanes That Aren’t
No country, none, is going to get anything remotely like 50-years frontline service out of the F-35. It won’t be 20 years, maybe not even 10-years before its obsolete. Like any radical new technology system, it will be superceded, rendered obsolete sooner than the wise men today claim. That’s because
Continue readingDavid Climenhaga's Alberta Diary: Explaining the F-35 fiasco: the ‘Yes Minister Defence’
Yes Minister! Senior civil servants advise Defence Minister Peter MacKay, holding the Globe and Mail at right, on the F-35 purchase: “Confidentially Minister MacKay, everything you tell me about the F-35 is in complete confidence, so equally, and I am sure you appreciate this, and by appreciate I don’t actually
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: News Hash April 10, 2012
Figured I should drop by and post some… stuff. You know, for the fun of it! Okay, let’s start today with the difference between climate and weather, trends and vagaries… How about the difference between people who put effort into thought and conservatives? No really. Here’s a link to a
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: News Hash April 10, 2012
Figured I should drop by and post some… stuff. You know, for the fun of it! Okay, let’s start today with the difference between climate and weather, trends and vagaries… How about the difference between people who put effort into thought and conservatives? No really. Here’s a link to a
Continue readingNEW MEDIA AND POLITICS CANADA: News Hash April 10, 2012
Figured I should drop by and post some… stuff. You know, for the fun of it!Okay, let’s start today with the difference between climate and weather, trends and vagaries…How about the difference between people who put effort into thought and conserva…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: More Questions Than Answers And That’s No Way to Buy a Warplane.
A common failure of military types is that they’re forever preparing to fight the last war instead of the next war. It’s human nature. They know the last war, they lived through it. They know where they had trouble, where they made mistakes, what they might have avoided, if only…
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: A New Kind of Warfare – Computer Code, Not Missiles
Military history going back to the very beginnings of civilization has been an endless succession of technological advancement as each side tries to get ahead and remain ahead of its perceived adversaries. “Measure and Countermeasure” would be an apt name for this time honoured game. Rock. Rock tied to stick,
Continue reading350 or bust: A Sane Response to Collective Insanity
My version of the old adage nothing is certain but death and taxes is that the only thing we know for sure is that things will change. That’s true for this blog, too; I’m still undecided on what direction, if any this blog should take in the future. This reflects
Continue readingThe Disaffected Lib: Achilles’ High-Tech Heel(s) – F-35 Must Read
There’s no KISS when it comes to the F-35. Keep It Simple Stupid is not on the menu. The F-35 is all about complex, state-of-the-art complex. It may be too complex for its own good or ours for that matter. A report from Computer Security Organization online looks at hacking
Continue readingSaskboy's Abandoned Stuff: Proud 50 Year Conservative Tradition: Fighter Jets
Bungling Canadian fighter jet development: A proud Conservative PM tradition for over 50 years. #AvroArrow #F35 #Dief #Harper Canadian Military Journal (Vol. 10, Num. 4) (2010) (with bold added): Debate over the F-35 may make the debate over the NFA/CF-18 pale by comparison. When the dust settled on the CF-18
Continue readingImpolitical: Impetus for the push on the #F35
Dave at Galloping Beaver is going to work, picking apart the Harper government’s tales over the years on the F-35 acquisition. Go there to read the entire post, which I take it is part of a coming insightful series. Here is an excerpt that speaks to the political backdrop motivating
Continue readingLeDaro: Peter MacKay: F-35 Purchase Fiasco
Rex Murphy once in a while gives great commentary. This is one of those commentaries. Peter Mackay an Honoury Defence Minister or not so honoury. “Is anyone in charge? Or is Peter MacKay a kind of honorary Defence Minister?” Murphy asks. “A real minister would resign after this week’s sad
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