Wonkette
- Senators rehashed a bunch of tired old arguments at the opening of confirmation hearings for a new Supreme Court justice. [AP]
- The latest update on the “CIA had plans to do a thing it never did, and also didn’t bother telling its new director about until a couple weeks ago” story is here. [New York Times]
- You know what President Obama hates, more than Mondays? F-22 warplanes. [Washington Post]
- Pakistan’s Swat valley is (allegedly) back open for business after the Taliban took over and nearly two MILLION people left very quickly and then maybe the government got all the Taliban guys out, again. But would you want to be the first returning resident to discover that the Taliban didn’t leave after all? [Reuters]
- Ban Ki-moon is a sad sack who has failed to reform the UN into a more vigorous governing body. [Wall Street Journal]
- After Friday, Hilzoy shall blog no longer. Good luck with “actual life” in the “real world,” quitter! [Obsidian Wings]
Meanwhile, in business news, Goldmine Sucks, with a little help from its many friends at the Treasury Department and elsewhere in government, reports a small quarterly profit of 3.44 billion dollars. Hell, most people don’t even make that much in a full year…
Yeah, Ban-ki- screw you - nothing is encouraging about Burma except you ass kissing the junta.
Yeah, the F-22 needs 30 hours of service for each hour it spends in the air, but guess what - this is a service economy nowadays. It’s what we do. Plus, the pilot gets a free loaner Cessna while his plane is in the shop, so no big deal.
Maybe if the Taliban or AQ ever get their hands on Sukhoi 35 Flankers and spend billions learning to fly and maintain them, then maybe just maybe the F-22s might be useful in the War on Terruh. And at cost of $44K an hour to fly these things, better hope for short missions.
LockMart and Boeing will adapt. Goodbye F-22, air superiority fighter. Hello F-22, drug intradiction, anti-global warming and community organization fighter.
Happy Bastille Day, Wonkette!
The best part of the Sotomayor hearing was Lindsey Graham telling her “Unless you blurt out blow job, you’re going to get confirmed.”
We get all mad because we own GM, but everyone loses their stiffie if we’re 100% on the hook for buying killa airplanes?
The hourly flying cost for an F-22 is $49,808? Think of all the Nieman Marcus tracksuits and Appalachian hikes you could get with that kind of money. For Chrissakes, Nobama, wake up! Why do you hate America?
Todd Mecklem: I really wanted to smack ol’ Lindsey upside her head after that stupidass remark. Like he’s saying “don’t worry, dear, the mighty & powerful here, me and the other fellas, we’re gonna let you in. It’s just us old queens need the people to see us putting the cleaning lady in her place. We can’t show you too much respect. You understand.”
“…Come missuh Taliban, Tali mi banana…”
Like Mel Gibson, I was injected with “Brain Gravy” and waterboarded by Dr. Cheney out in Queens. But that was MKULTRA, another one of those wacky CIA plans that never got off the ground.
Responding to criticism that the plane has never flown over Afghanistan and Iraq, [Lockheed] said, “The best weapon may be the one that isn’t used but instead deters a conflict before it begins.”
Ah, so we’re in Iraq and Afghanistan and and the 9/11 happened because we spent to LITTLE on weapons systems. Got it.
I really, really, REALLY hate the fuckin’ Air Farce.
Since it’s inception in 1947, every other branch of service has had to make huge sacrifices to cover the costs of the Air Farce’s excessive staffing (and their cozy accommodations), the increasingly expensive toys, and (to maintain a tough-guy image) their blatant intrusion into the missions of the other branches.
What is logical about building and maintaining an aircraft you can’t afford to lose in combat?
What is logical about using a fighter aircraft for close air support? On that note, almost any grunt will tell you that an Air Farce bird arriving for close air support scares the hell outta them, due to their track record of shooting at friendlies. Imbeciles.
I remember an AP reporter describing the Air Farce personnel in Afghanistan whining about the fuckin’ laundry.
I remember a senior Air Farce general stating: “The way to win the war against the insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan was through air superiority.” Huh? Since when have the Taliban been flying Su-27s or MiG-29s? Nice try, General Douchebag.
Fuck the Air Farce! Fuck ‘em in their fat, lazy, narcissistic asses by dissolving them into the Army, Navy/Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.
That swearing therapy works.
Servo:
Hey now, the Sky Blue boys think they can win wars by their lonesome. Don’t need no grunts or tankers or Gyrenes out on patrol taking shit from the locals. Just an F-22 armed with JDAMs orbiting at 24000 feet can do the same job for 44-50K an hour. As soon as a neighborhood erupts in violence, have one of these gold plated fly toys drop a couple of JDAMs and problem solved, no neighborhood.
In all seriousness, the new way to go is unmanned aka drone aircraft or UCAVs in Pentagonese. Most attack missions can be done with UCAVs already. In about 10-15 years, we won’t need the Sky Blue Boys even for dogfighting. Imagine a 2050s version of History Channel’s Dogfights?
#Terminator 3044 - “I. Had. The. Chinese. Drone. In. My. Sights. I. Sent. The. Activation. Signal. To. The. Missile. It. Died. On. That. Mission. I. Lost. My. Best. Friend. Terminator. Number. 4022. War. Is. Hell.”
Mahousu: And contrary to what some Senators are saying, said Cessna is all that’s needed to keep the Chinese at bay. Heck, we took out one of their supersonic fighters with an unarmed P-5!
Guppy06: Check that, P-3.
Lindsey - that’s kind of a girl’s name, isn’t it?
ManchuCandidate:
Still, UCAVs must be flown by pilots who understand troop movements.
They should also explore motor-glider or blimp UCAV design. Cheap and stealthy.
Packherd:
I’ll be happier when I see Mitch McConnell on la guillotine.
Why does it seem like the MSM (excluding Rachel) is trying to walk this thing back under the rock it slithered out from under? The CIA under Tenet, carried a whole lot of water for Cheney and Rummy and this is just one drop in the entire bucket, to mix metaphors.
Ah, Jeff Sessions is a very distant kinsman of mine by marriage, a fact one confesses only anonymously. We cannot choose our family — or our senators.
The nuts Cosigning Palin at the bottom of here article are truely special. For example…
OhTheHumanity wrote:
You gotta Love Sarah Palin …
She is the fly in the Lib-tards’ collective Vaseline.
The fact that Liberals can’t stand her (and are afraid to admit the real reson they must destroy her) makes her the most important person in America.
7/14/2009 11:05:21 AM
Please. F-22s are so last year.
Servo: Don’t forget the large number of evangelical xtians polluting the air farce while you’re at it. Not only can they take out a neighborhood from 24,000 feet, they have god’s blessing for doing it as well.
I have to hand it to the Senators, they really stepped up to the plate. No way were they going to let the loss of star blowhard, Babbling Joe Biden, prevent making this thing as excruciatingly cringe worthy as ever!