Friday Linkzookery – 20 Jun 2008

June 20th, 2008 | Author: Murdoc

First, a couple tanker links:

GAO: Boeing was Right, Scrap the $100 Billion Tanker Deal

Tanker Ruling Shows Air Force in Disarray

And on to the regularly scheduled linkzookery:

U.S.: Israel military sends message to Iran
3517th verse, same as the first. But still worthy of scary headlines. Next thing you’ll know, we’ll be getting alarmist news stories that claim Israel has even “drawn up plans” for an attack. And just wait until we rotate the next carrier to the Gulf…it will be proof of a coming attack, just like the past fifteen times we’ve done it.

“Gas Has Gotten So Expensive, We Can’t Afford To Sell It!”
Credit card fees burn away most or all of a station’s profits on gasoline.

Baghdad Base’s New Generators Run on Trash
There’s no shortage of trash in Iraq.

AeroCam Turbine First to be Blowin’ in the Wind for Under $1 Per Watt
I have long been skeptical of both wind and solar power on a large scale, but I’ve said before I wouldn’t mind being proven wrong.

The 38 state Union
Someone’s 1970s proposal to redivide the US into new states.

Caged boy ’skinned, eaten by family’
A neighbor put up a video monitor to monitor his baby and instead got images from a similar monitor the wackjob mom had to keep an eye on her son/food. I take this to mean that his receiver just picked up the signal, though I’m not sure.

More on the Tokyo Stabbing
Not all the bystanders stood by and did nothing at all. Plus a creepy bit of info concerning the killer.

Teen ‘pregnancy pact’ has 17 girls expecting
One of the fathers “is a 24-year-old homeless guy”. Smart move by these girls.

One Easy Piece
Are you man enough to fill it?

New York in Black and White
Lots of old school pictures.

Oh, and Vote for GUN PUNDIT Already
Register yourself to go with if you’d like.

Posted in Linkzookery

No Responses to “Friday Linkzookery – 20 Jun 2008”

Vitor:

June 22, 2008 at 2:38 am

The states division on the USA looks exagerated to me, I mean, Brazil with a similar sizer has 26 states…I guess 38 would be enough for you guys.
James R. ummel:

June 22, 2008 at 7:50 am

The link to your Gunpundit post concerning the Japanese stabbing is faulty. James
Murdoc:

June 22, 2008 at 3:49 pm

James: Thanks. Fixed.
Dfens:

June 22, 2008 at 7:29 pm

The auditors’ ruling has also cast light on an overlooked aspect of McCain’s crusade: five of his campaign’s top advisers and fund-raisers–including Tom Loeffler, who resigned last month as his finance co-chairman, and Susan Nelson, his finance director–were registered lobbyists for EADS. Critics, including some at the Pentagon, cite in particular two tough letters McCain wrote to Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England in 2006 and another to Robert Gates, just prior to his confirmation as Defense secretary. In the first letter, dated Sept. 8, 2006, McCain wrote of hearing from ‘third parties’ that the Air Force was about to redo the tanker competition by factoring in European government subsidies to EADS–a condition that could have seriously hurt the EADS bid. McCain urged that the Pentagon drop the subsidy factor and posed a series of technical questions about the Air Force’s process. ‘He was trying to jam us and bully us to make sure there was competition by giving EADS an advantage,’ said one senior Pentagon official, who asked for anonymity when discussing a politically sensitive matter. The assumption within the Pentagon, the official added, was that McCain’s letters were drafted by EADS lobbyists. ‘There was no one else that would have had that level of detail,’ the official said. – Newsweek

McCain did such a damn good job of saving us money that he took the original $24 billion price tag and jacked it up to $35 billion. You can be sure it will be even higher the next time around. This is much like the money he ’saved us’ on C-130J, where development costs used to be Lockheed’s responsibility. Now they’re ours. Lockheed also used to provide a guarantee on the reliability of the airplanes too. In fact, that was the only cost concession the government could get out of the earlier commercial contract. This guy is totally full of crap, yet he gets pass after pass, be it on defense or immigration. Meanwhile the last conservative to be in a prominent position within the Republican party was Dan Quayle. Not a single conservative lifted a finger to stop him from being destroyed by the coalition of Rockefeller Republicans and liberals, but after Bush 1, Dole, Bush 2, and now McCain we’re told voting for anyone else is ‘throwing our vote away.’ For once I’d like the opportunity to not throw my vote away.
Dfens:

June 24, 2008 at 2:30 pm

One setback for EADS if the bidding is reopened involves the European company’s plan to assemble the tanker in the U.S. — in Mobile, Ala. The U.S. presence would ease EADS’ key exposure to its euro cost base, even though assembly represents only about 10% of the production cost of an aircraft. That’s important for EADS because, although the company has hedged 90% of its dollar requirements in 2009, the figure falls to 55% for 2010 and 30% for 2011. So shifting any costs to dollars while the currency remains weak against the euro would mean an additional boost to the company’s earnings — a boost that is now threatened. – Barrons

All this tanker competition is, all it has ever been, is a US bailout of Airbus. They want to put a plant here, and they want you and I to fund their new plant. Period. End of story. The sad thing is, we’re so stupid, we are more than willing to do that for them. After all, it’s not McCain’s money they’re spending, but you can certainly be sure McCain and a host of other politicians, Republican and Democrat, will get plenty of kickbacks from this deal. Keep voting for the same idiots, each time expecting a different result. See where that gets you.