
 |
|
May 20, 2013
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
July 23, 2009
/ 2 Menachem-Av 5769
Boxer and Feinstein Play Military Hawks
By
Debra J. Saunders
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
In a speech to the Economic Club of Chicago this month,
Department of Defense Secretary Robert Gates laid out the case for
discontinuing the F-22 Raptor: "The F-22, to be blunt, does not make much
sense anyplace else in the spectrum of conflict." In English that means that
plane has not been used in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Gates wants to slay the beast, but he understands you have to
feed the beast before you can kill it. So the administration supports ending
the F-22's long $65 billion flight after seven new planes budgeted for
2010 bring the total fleet number to 187, which would be a good thing if
America ends up in war against a superpower with high-tech planes.
Gates' last boss, President George W. Bush, wanted to kill the
F-22, but could not. So President Obama upped the ante and put his political
capital on the line by threatening to veto a $680 billion defense-spending
bill if the Senate did not blue pencil $1.7 billion the price tag for the
seven Raptors.
The gambit paid off Tuesday as the Senate voted 58-40 to delete
that funding proving that on rare occasion, Congress can do the right
thing. At least after the right thing is larded and watered down.
While 15 Republicans voted with Obama, 14 Democrats including
California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer voted instead to
spend $1.7 billion on F-22s, which the Pentagon never asked for. At least
when it comes on spending on defense, Boxer and Feinstein are no doves.
I asked the senators' offices: What were they thinking?
"As Sen. Boxer said in her statement, there are compelling
arguments on both sides," spokeswoman Natalie Ravitz explained. And: "Sen.
Boxer believes that, given the significant investment we have made in the
F-22 program and the fact that we have not seen a conclusive study
indicating that 187 F-22s are enough, this is not the time to shut down
production of these aircraft."
Feinstein's office released a statement that voiced Boxer's
belief that 187 F-22s are not enough and warned that the "closure of the
F-22 line would also cost California 6,500 direct jobs and 14,000 indirect
jobs."
Where did those numbers come from? I didn't hear back.
But I think Obama got it right when he said, "At a time when
we're fighting two wars and facing a serious deficit, this would have been
an inexcusable waste of money."
A key vote in support of Obama came from former rival Sen. John
McCain, R-Ariz., who argued that the F-22 controversy "has to do with how
fundamentally disconnected Congress has become from those who sent them to
Washington to begin with, and at what cost is Congress willing to have the
American people continue to subsidize its spendthrift ways. It has to do
with whether Congress serves as a trustee of the American war fighter and
taxpayers or the military-industrial-congressional complex."
Now the big question is whether the 58-40 Senate vote will
prevail. Or will it become a brief shining, showboat moment, easily undone
by a House vote or behind-closed-doors conference committee?
More is at stake than the $1.7 billion. As Gates put it so well,
"If we can't get this right, what on earth can we get right?"
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Comment JWR contributor Debra J. Saunders' column by clicking here.
Debra J. Saunders Archives
© 2009, Creators Syndicate
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|