It’s hard to get three-quarters or even two-thirds of Kansans to agree on much these days, but the Air Force succeeded: In a SurveyUSA poll sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12 in Wichita, 80 percent said the contract to build a U.S. military airplane should not go to the lowest bidder if it’s a foreign company, as it did in the case of the refueling tankers. Asked if Boeing’s loss of the refueling tanker contract will have a major impact on the local economy, 68 percent said it would. Plus, 62 percent said they thought such a plane would be less safe if built by a foreign company.
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45 Comments
Day late, dollar short. I’m done talking about it. what? Are we really going to change anyone’s mind? Obviously someone’s back was scratched and there won’t be any change unless we truly stand up…that won’t happen. We’ll just sign some petition that will mean squat.
We need to really look at April 15th as a day to do absolutely nothing. I’ve been saving all of my junk mail over the last year to “return to sender” on April 15th. I’ve got a trash bag full and that’s what I’ll mailing out on that day. I wish all Americans would do that.
It’s a done deal. McCain/Bush sold the American worker out and compromised National Security as well.
Vote Republican if you want to see America become a third rate nation.
Vote Democrat to bring America back from the downward spiral that Republicans have charted for the USA.
Got this from the Kansas Democrat website, it’s going to be tough for Roberts and Brownback to explain their partisan party line vote! Wouldn’t the Ammendment have needed to be approved by the House also? If so, I wonder if it was also along party line votes.
Yesterday, John McCain defended the Air Force decision to overlook Wichita-based Boeing Co. for a $35 billion contract to build airborne refueling planes, saying he would not work to overturn the decision and saying that military decisions should not be about creating jobs. [McCain Town Hall Meeting, Waco TX, 3/3/08; AP, 3/3/08] Unfortunately for American workers, McCain has the record to back his statement up.
In 2003, Sen. McCain authored an amendment undermining ?Buy American? rules requiring U.S. military equipment, defense systems and components to be manufactured in the United States. By allowing the Department of Defense to purchase American military equipment from foreign companies, the McCain amendment laid the groundwork for the Air Force?s decision to outsource the production of refueling tankers for the American military. The amendment passed along party lines with Kansas Senators Roberts and Brownback voting in its favor. [Vote 191, 5/21/03]
?McCain?s refusal to question the Air Force?s decision gives us a glimpse into the kind of economic policy we can expect from a McCain presidency.? asked Kansas Democratic Party Executive Director Mike Gaughan. ?His track record clearly demonstrates a lack of commitment to investing in the American economy. In fact, the only economic plan we?ve heard from John McCain so far is making George W. Bush?s tax cuts for the wealthy permanent in 2010.? Read on?
McCain?s amendment bolstered by GOP support cost some 44,000 jobs nationwide and took hundreds of millions of dollars out of the U.S. economy ? which has made a LOT of people VERY angry and Congress may be looking into the deal. If you look at the roll call on McCain?s amendment you?ll see that only one Democratic Senator voted for the amendment. Less jobs, more war, indeed?
It’s just fortunate for the Senators that you won’t read a word about their vote for Airbus in the printed edition. So the majority of Kansans will remain blissfully ignorant.
This issue will remain relevant through our next election. Just wish some reporter had the guts to question the Republican enabling of the award.
Wait a minute please did all three running for president of the usa right now vote for illegals? No one did not. mccain the co creator of the legal invasion of america by a foregin country mexiccain. So if we go back to last year we will see again all who voted to take america away to thier start of the world order. And we will talk about how almost all demacrooks voted for the aimnasty, so please see in this very rare case in our present times that replumdedcans voted against it and right now the demacrooks are bringing up the aimnasty bill agaIN THEY WON’T STOP TO GET THIS PASSED. SO PLEASE IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE WHAT YOU READ ASK SORRY YOU WILL NEED HELP IN FINDING THE INFO I HAVE RANTED ABOUT ASK YOUR AMERICAN LEADERS THEY SHOULD KNOW. semper fi.
Channel 12? Are they still around?
Boeing was so busy screwing their workers that they didn’t notice they were screwing the pooch.
They were too busy counting beans. They fell down in R&D. That is why they lost this contract.
And so, as usual, working folks will suffer for the stupidity of management.
Sears … Druyan … remember them? Remember the back room deal they struck for a tanker leasing deal for Boeing? No bids; no real negotiations? Corruption through and through.
If Boeing and Tankerless Todd had focused on hammering out a good and fair contract proposal Boeing would have gotten the deal. Instead, they tried their sleight-of-hand maneuver and lost. They have nobody to blame but themselves.
Got news for you folks. There isn’t going to be a tanker. The country is broke. That is unless the Republicans win, and can convince people that tankers are more important than bread lines.
Again with the left/right crap. The country is broke because we let the wolves shepard the sheep. Criminals now run the highest positions in government ON BOTH SIDES. We will never get it together unless and until we get together. You all and myself have been trained to take these alleged opposing sides, divide and conquer. I’ve woken up, millions of others have woken up. Wake up, pretty please, or the worse is yet to come. You think lil’ terrorists are bad? Think about fighting each other over food. Thses criminals that hijacked our government are not your friend’s and feel no love or empathy for you. The sooner we all realize this, the sooner we can get our country back. Have we all forgotten who the government is? Is it still us? Absolutely not.
Phantom your comments show your incompatence.This issue is only big in Wichita. Just so you know , Bush has never had an economic plan. This issue only plays in Sedgwick COunty. It is already a non-issue nationaly.
Sometimes you guys are so funny…
The “buy american” horse has done left the barn when it comes to federal procurement. It left the barn almost 20 years ago.
Now is a little late to be bringing it up. There are so many exceptions to the “buy american” act that almost ANY product produced anywhere qualifies.
And getting a local, foreign, experienced and/or minority subcontractor on the bid to get around any remaining stumbling blocks is also a practice that is over 20 years old.
They just figure the cost into the bid.
And guess who pays? You got it. Taxpayers.
But I’m sure, as Pmom noted, this is nothing the free market and a few tax cuts on the upper end wont cure…
And speaking of the free market…
My favorite line from Wednesday?
Someone said they wanted to vote for Obama, but the invisible hand of Adam Smith pulled the lever for Hillary.
Bada bing!
Phantom- for a guy who doesn’t trust politicians, you’re putting an a lot of trust into a political party’s press release. Notice there is no mention of what this amendment does. Sounds fishy, like maybe a political ploy. No, not the Democrats!
Joe Six pack doesn’t give a shit about buying American why should the government? At the same time everyone is trying to figure out why our economy going down the tube. Maybe this will lead to a strengthening of the Buy America Act? And Boeing isnt innocent either they outsource a lot of work oversees also and I beilive would on the tanker deal also.
“And Boeing isnt innocent either they outsource a lot of work oversees also and I beilive would on the tanker deal also.”
About 50% of the 767 is outsourced overseas. Sure, the Mod work would be done here in Wichita, but the Mod work for Airbus would be done in Alabama. So far I still dont see a reason Boeing should have been picked as the winner.
I can see Boeing getting beat out on a couple of the required criteria, but to lose all but one criteria, for a company used to winning bidding wars routinely, has a “smell” to it. This situation definitely bears further investigation. IHMO
Well, Pleefer, the all politicians are evil horse might be a good one to beat, but the Democrats did not lead but only abetted the current crisis. They did not lead us into the war, they did not support for the most part the tax cuts for the rich, nor do they swallow the current response to the housing crisis, which was abetted by banking deregulation. Each cut in the interest rate, which only props up the stock market, further erodes the buying power of the consumer. As for taking back the country, just how do you suggest we do that?
Twisty,
You don’t have to tell me about the economic situation, I buy gold and silver. I see the prices. As for the Democrats “abetting” the Republicans, as was said long ago:
“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”.
So I gotta wonder who the good men are. The Dems joined lock-step with the Reps on EVERYTHING that is systematically destroying our country. Maybe they were playing politics and didn’t want to seem like they weren’t concerned with Iraq or terrorism. But When Pelosi said upon becoming Speaker, “impeachment is off the table” (after all of the precepts to war were proven false) she became as crooked and treacherous as any of the Reps. There are a few good men left in our system…or better yet, their system. Kucinich and Ron Paul are two that come to mind. But they are treated as cooks and pariah simply because they are not bought and paid for. And when the Dems take office, THAT will be the test of where they stand…either with We The People or with globalist bankers. I’ll bet my house and life that NOTHING will change when Clinton takes office. And there will be an inaugural terrorist attack so that everyone will fall in line with her and her fight against terror. Everything the “Dems” are against NOW will be deemed acceptable when she has sanctioned it.
As for “taking back the country”, hopefully Bill the firefighter, or Susan the day care provider will start running for local offices (my hope would be a Ron Paul type person) and change things locally at first. Ousting ALL incumbents in the House and Senate (nationally and statewide) would be a big step. We need to remind these people who the bosses are. The hubris that these people possess needs to be rattled. Eliminate all lobbyists jobs, put everything that a company would like to be done to a vote. Everything. And make sure that our elected officials actually read the documents that they sign.
And if this stuff doesn’t work…that would be precisely the reason for the SECOND AMENDMENT. I’d hope it wouldn’t have to come to that, but I’m ready and willing to fight to get the country back in our hands. There are millions of us that have awake now and are ready. Remember, it only took 3% of the colonists to beat the British.
…are awake..
So Pleef file and run for office
I’m actually deeply considering it. Just researching the prospect right now.
I can just picture all of the junkets that I’ll go on…heh.
You’d get my vote Pleef.
Sweet!
I’ve seriously talked with my wife about it, she says she would be all for it. But reading this blog over the last several months, I don’t think I could run as a Rep or a Dem. And Libertarians/Independents unfortunately get zilch for respect that is deserved.
Pleef,
Start off with local gov’t then work up. It should take you 4-5 seats (working up from city to county to state) before you have to declare. Give a shot. What can it hurt?
What office and against who? Lots of Libertarians win local offices,most of them lose because they wont raise any money. Plus as a libertarian theirs less chance that you would have a primary opponent, as they have differnent rules in selecting candidates. Where as the Dems and reps anyone can file and run but if you run against an incumbent as the same party in a primary you have more of a battle as the party will support an Incumbent 99% of the time. As for being an independent the roadblocks for doing that are many which is why you rarely see one.
Execpt this year there arent any local offices up, Federal, state and county
Soon we’ll be able to buy our tankers from China! Will W-Mart be their outlet?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080306/bs_nm/usa_economy_funds_dc_3
I’m sure a good reporter could find out how our Senators/Congressmen voted on the Ammendment stripping out language that would have otherwise disqualified Airbus. Might ruffle some feathers but would be interesting.
Lou Dobbs would tell you Americans are interested in the Outsourcing of America, especially when it comes to our govt. doing the outsourcing!
http://www.kssos.org/elections/elections_upcoming.html
Thanks all, kinda scary to actually try and step up. But I did handily win one of the class representative seats a few times whilst in school!
Lou Dobbs is a beacon of journalistic hope.
Oops my bad, the link above does not go to the article about China announcing they’ll be a state run project to build their own passenger aircraft.
The ‘wealth effect’ coined during the Clinton admin., is giving way to the ‘poverty effect’, investments are going down.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080306/bs_nm/usa_economy_funds_dc_3
It all comes down to the conundrum all Cons face when what they advocate butts up against practical reality.
Yeah, there’s a good Con argument that the government should pay the least amount of money for the task at hand, thereby saving taxpayers’ money. But if all of our money goes overseas to pay for the best bargain, nobody will be left to be taxpayers.
Is it America’s role to be Policeman of the World and/or the Arsenal of Democracy? Well, that’s one way to approach the problem.
On the other hand, the real difference between the Airbus proposal and Boeing merely boils down to a few more jobs in Mobile, Alabama instead of Wichita, Kansas. Airbus will build wings in England; Boeing would build their wings in Japan. A couple of thousand jobs in Wichita building the Boeing tanker turns into a couple of thousand jobs in Mobile assembling the final product.
Boeing’s past record of using bribes to win contracts probably poisoned the well for them. If the two proposals were basically a coin-toss (and it seems they were) why would anyone go with the proven crooks?
I don’t like the Airbus contract. I disagree with it on many levels. But Boeing got greedy and thought they could bribe their way to the contract.
Pleef, I only have three words for you.
ARE YOU INSANE?
hehehehehehehehehheheheh.
KFG, with thoughts like running for office…?? I guess I have to be. But at least I’m no lawyer, I’ve got that going for me…heh.
Don’t step on VT’s toes brother. I say go for it !!! Pick a seat you think you could help the community with and take charge!!! Get some real conservatives in office. Dethrone the neo-cons.
And I know you use the word “Conservative” in it’s original context.
hehehe, one of my wife’s good friends’ father is a good attorney over in El Dorado and he’s a really good guy. So I don’t REALLY have contempt for them…some still fight for rights and not just chase $$$$$.
(Thanks, Sol and Pleefer; most of us are good folks, regardless of what you hear.)
The local consternation over the tanker contract once again points out the need to diversify, diversify I say, our local economy. IMHO, this won’t be the last time something like this happens.
pleefer – running in the City? County?
Go for it!
We shall see…
Based on what I’ve read in recent days regarding the tanker contract, it’s now clear what the thinking is behind these comments.
We will entertain competitive offers from aircraft manufacturers with the decision to be made by Air Force experts, but no matter what, Boeing will get the contract. What a farce!
With the consolidation of American aircraft manufacturers, there is essentially only one American company which can build tankers, only one which can build fighter aircraft, only one which can build helicopters, only one which can build passenger aircraft. So, if we are only going to buy American, then it’s no longer possible to have competitive offers or choose the best design. Aircraft customers will no longer have a choice; just let the manufacturers decide which aircraft should be provided and how much it will cost.
And the statement that “Boeing makes the best aircraft in the world” is not exemplified by recent experience. The performance of the Boeing tankers recently delivered to Japan and Italy leave a lot to be desired in terms of performance and cost as the the Japanese and Italian customers can attest.
If the primary purpose of military contracts is to generate jobs then that should be stated, so that we can avoid being hypocrites. And if so, I’m quite sure the military will not be getting the best equipment for a reasonable cost and the taxpayers will be spending money on equipment the military doesn’t need or want.
Finally, Boeing seems to be happy to have a significant percentage of its commercial aircraft manufactured by Japanese and Chinese partners. What is sauce for commercial aircraft should be sauce for military aircraft.
Good post, “Sam Knecht” –
Especially when you said, “We will entertain competitive offers from aircraft manufacturers with the decision to be made by Air Force experts, but no matter what, Boeing will get the contract. What a farce!”
I’m struck with the madness of all the world’s military spending. Just why, for example, did Japan have to purchase air-to-air tankers? Is Japan planning on another long-range war? Is Italy?
Seems like a number of second-rate powers want a few first-rate war toys just for bragging rights.
Given America’s “policeman of the world” reputation (sensible or not), I can understand the need for tankers as, say B-2s deploy from Missouri to drop bombs on Iraq. But wtf does Italy need air tankers for?!
Bob Dole “saved” the B-1 bomber, which was obsolete the moment it rolled off of the assembly line. They’ve been crashing V-22 Ospreys (and killing dozens of Marines in test flights) for 20 years. The bird don’t fly good; it has a safety record that would make Evel Knievel pee in his pants.
Everyone whose ever had any first hand experience with the military can tell you stories of how the Pentagon spends money foolishly. From $1600 toilet seats to slower, smaller, less-reliable (but American made!) tankers to body armor that doesn’t, y’know, armor the body…
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