The Latest News on the Troubled F-35

Things just keep getting better and better in this sad little tale. First we have President Obama threatening to veto a defense authorization bill to develop a second engine. This has been bandied about for some time now, with various arguments for and against, but Defense Secretary Gates has come out firmly against it as wasteful.

Then there's the news that Japan is rethinking its plan to purchase the F-35 in light of the delays that keep cropping up in the program. They're considering the F/A-18 Super Hornet and the Eurofighter Typhoon as alternatives.

Or the news that the F-35's operational range falls short of estimates and program requirements. Fantastic, so the plane that Canada will need to maintain Arctic sovereignty has a range that falls 15% below the original estimates? I should note that carrying external fuel tanks does seriously degrade the vaunted "stealth" capabilities of the F-35, rendering it just as visible as any of its competitors (which, far from being six years from operational testing, are already operational with numerous countries).

I think my favourite piece of news to crop up of late is this one: Lockheed doesn't actually have an estimate of the cost of the F-35 program. They claim it will be less expensive than the estimates others have advanced, but when asked for a number, they reply "insufficient data". Come on, guys, at least have the courtesy to lie. You could always state later that "our estimate was made with too little information, but on further testing cost estimates are being revised upwards."

Even I could come up with some convincing weasel words there, and I'm just one of the plebes. You lot are the largest supplier of the United States Military (and, let's remember, the worst and most notorious war profiteers) and the best you could manage was "insufficient data"? That's really just sad. I expect better from the crowning beacon of the Military Industrial Complex. It's like you're not even trying.

Finally, just to round up this set of links: the U.S. Senate and the Department of Defense are in agreement that the F-35 program is going to cost too much. Lockheed of course claims they can bring costs down (any takers for THAT particular bet?) and that they can build them and run them more cheaply. They just need more time for testing.

While the meter is running, of course.

It's really quite simple: Canada has been sucked into the U.S.A's most expensive (or is that costly?) military acquisition ever, along with numerous other countries that have fallen for the hype. The F-35 development has been a morass of unanswered questions, extended delays, cost overruns and diminishing expectations. Other nations are starting to see the writing on the wall, but extracting themselves from this whirling vortex of failure promises to be quite a challenge.

I've said it before and I'll say it again - Canada needs to start over from scratch with a completely open and competitive bidding process. Replacing our CF-18's isn't a question, it needs to be done to protect our men and women in uniform. What we choose to replace them with, however, remains to be determined. Throwing our money into the black hole that is the F-35 is just folly.

In spite of what our glorious, dead-eyed leader and his cronies would tell us, there ARE other options. Most of them cheaper, already tested and ready for delivery.

It's really just that easy.

The Election is Tomorrow...

And in my riding, John Baird is running for reelection for the Conservative Party of Canada.

This is a man who, in his time in the House of Commons, is best known for shouting down his party's political opponents and carrying water for Stephen Harper. He is, quite frankly, odious and vile. He is a thug, and his presence as Ottawa West-Nepean's representative in Parliament lowers the tone and the standard for all those he speaks for.

He was the MP who introduced the "Accountability Act." I'll pause a moment while you savour the irony of that. This act has failed systemically and entirely to render a scandal-ridden government anything close to accountable. I would suggest reading Democracy Watch's summary for a series of examples of the failure of the Conservative government to address accountability.

In the five years he has worked in the House of Commons, John Baird has been responsible for cuts to social programs including medical marijuana, the Status of Women, employment for youth and more. He has supported a lackluster environmental policy that saw Consevatives fighting the Kyoto Protocol and Clean Air Act and been personally criticized by such luminaries as David Suzuki and Al Gore.

His presence in the House of Commons is an insult and a joke to every rational citizen of my riding. His policy failures are a matter of public record and his party's policy decisions are crippling Canada's reputation internationally. Tomorrow I have hope that he will find himself out of a job.

Because he's a thug and a toady, because he puts the CPC ahead of local interests, because like the CPC he works to make Canada worse instead of better.

So cast your votes tomorrow, and let's toss Stephen Harper's lapdog out on his ear.

Aaaand the latest News on the F-35

CBC News - Stephen Harper claims purchase will remain within budget

Well of course you can remain within budget, Mister Harper. Just steal the money for the purchase from the billions set aside to maintain the planes. Sure we won't be able to fly them because there's no money for parts and maintenance, but they'll be very shiny.

Or perhaps we could simply stick with the "fly away" cost, the original 75 million dollar pricetag which fails to include engines, weapons or avionics? That would work nicely. No wear and tear on the airframes from unnecessary (and dangerous) long arctic patrols.

And who hasn't wanted a 75 million dollar paperweight? Or doorstop? Why, we could cut out the middleman completely and go right from purchase to turning them into monuments or placing them in museums.

*ahem*

To be perfectly serious: Stephen Harper is either ill-informed or lying to us. Or possibly both. He is, quite simply, colossally, stupendously full of shit. His government fell because he and his ministers (sycophants and toadies, the lot of them) would not own up to the lies they were spewing. Whenever he speaks publicly, one should keep in mind that simple fact.

And I think my Father has a point - before anyone votes, they should spend a few hours going through Hansard for the last day (link Here) of Parliament before dissolution and the election.

But back to the F-35. This is the most expensive military project undertaken in the history of the planet. Three hundred and eighty some billion dollars, I'll say that again because it's a number worth noting - three hundred and eighty two billion dollars. It has ballooned beyond all reason, was awarded to the corporation noted as the worst war profiteer (not one of, THE WORST) and the costs continue to mount while questions about its performance remain unanswered.

It's a bad idea, it does not serve Canada's needs, it's a white elephant in the truest sense of the term and we still haven't been told the full, unvarnished truth. Are there any doubts left that Canada's plan to purchase the F-35 needs to be revisited with a view to informing Parliament before they choose whether to go ahead or to place a call for open bids to replace our aging CF-18's.

I would like to see a VERY open bid. I'll bet one of the new Sukhoi's or Mikoyan-Gurevich's would be downright cheap in comparison.

The Stephen Harper Vision of Canada

Warren Kinsella offers a glance.

These fine folk offer a retrospective.

This is what my nation has in store for it, if Stephen Harper is given a majority mandate. Take a good long look and ask yourself if that is the kind of Canada you'd like to live in.

I love my country, but I really don't recognize it anymore. We've fallen so far from the ideals I always pictured when I thought of Canada. We are better than Stephen Harper would have us, and we can be better than he imagines us. He is a vile, petty, vindictive controlling man and his vision is so limited and so broken that it drives me to rage.

What maddens me all the more is that for all his lies, for all his crimes, Canadians seem blinded. It baffles me that people will still listen to him and support him, after everything that he and his people have done. What is wrong with these people?

And if he wins a majority, what will we do then? Will the Liberals and the NDP have the moral courage to stop their petty, useless sniping at one another and form a coalition with the Bloc?

Is any one of the so called 'leaders' willing to set politics aside and act not for their own power and gain but for Canada's benefit?

Have the lies and the rot set in so deep that Harper's vision for Canada is what we deserve?

The day after the election we'll know. If Harper wins, will Canadians fight back and prove that we deserve something better?

Or will we sink back into our chairs and settle our blinders more comfortably on our heads and hope that it will all pass us by without affecting us directly?

Lies and the Lying Liars who Lie Them

A note for Stephen Harper, a man both Wrong and Dishonourable, on his claim that he was not found guilty of contempt but was simply outvoted by the other three parties:

Acts of Parliament have the Force of Law!

A Non-Apology

Harper Apologizes for Rally Screening (courtesy of the CBC).

Except, you know, that he didn't. Nowhere did I hear him utter the words. Nor did he take responsibility for his people's actions. How odd. Watch the video, I did. In both languages he skirts the issue and fails to actually apologize.

In fact, I don't believe I've ever heard Stephen Harper say "I'm sorry". Or even "sorry". I wonder if he is even capable of pronouncing the words. Even worse, he lies right into the camera, ignoring the fact that his campaign has been limiting access to him very carefully from before the election was called. Campaigning in a bubble.

Here is what he should have said, if he were an adult:
"On behalf of my campaign staff, and on my own behalf, I apologize. I am sorry, for anyone who was denied access to my rally for any reason. Please understand that I have spoken with my staffers and we are adjusting our policies to ensure that there will be no recurrence of these incidents. Again, I apologize. I am sorry, and I will work to make certain that this does not happen again."

Wouldn't that be nice to hear? Just once?

And while you're at it, I'd like a pony too.