"Dr. Livingston I presume."

Yes it is I, like MacArthur's return to the Philippines ... well, maybe not that grandiose, nevertheless ....

Titus and I recently somehow devolved into the original Bund thread via emails and whilst I was typing a response I realized I might as well force this discussion into the 21st century (emails are sooo 20th century you know) and make it a post.

A quick synopsis:

I was furious at what I originally took as Murtha swapping the House rules in his committee at the last minute during the super tanker bid which allowed a French based company to build our new super tankers for the USAF. And given Murtha's deplorable and unpatriotic actions while in Congress - namely trying and convicting fellow Marines of "cold blooded murder" in the Haditha incident for partisan reasons - then having NOTHING to say later when, to the man, the charges were either dropped due to lack of evidence or flat out exonerated, I was apt to believe this report.

However, after discussing it with Titus in which he pointed out that Murtha merely was screwing a fellow Representative (& that his past political actions are "unfortunate") whom had a Boeing plant in his district, and that 3000 plus jobs were going to our neck of the woods (AL), and subsequently researching on my own that the EADS/Northrop plane model (the KC-45A) was simply bigger, meaning more fuel and material in one load, we pick up with this response to Titus .....

**
Alright, we're on the same page about Murtha (political fecile matter), and yes he is a foot note to this it appears.

I understand about the Boeing scandal, and I read into what the Northrop/EADS Air Bus was capable of - namely surpassing Boeing in 4 out of 5 of the USAF criteria. So to that end & the AL jobs, fine. However, according to the Trading Markets online magazine, an apolitical business report, this marks the first major military aircraft construction project given to a foreign based entity. Even with the 40% of the total project it's much more the Beretta's etc, or apparently anything we've ever "outsourced."

The $40 billion deal will create 179 new tankers, which will be known as the KC-45A, and mark the first major aircraft contract the U.S. military has given to a foreign company, EADS. It will also mark a big blow for Boeing's St. Louis-based defense unit, which was widely favored to win the contract.
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1181446/

Remember our discussions on how it was at the very least concerning, if not dangerous to "allow" our automobile construction plants to be closing at an alarming rate in favor of Japanese imports because those assembly lines are what were converted to assembling tanks, jeeps etc during WWII and would be again were it necessary? Well this is a step further then that. Now 40% of this deal is moving from actual military oriented assembly lines to foreign sources. Perhaps it's that small strain of Pat Buchanan conservatism sounding alarm bells inside of me. I'm no isolationist, and I understand we are in a global economy but I'd rather not wake up one day to a report that shows flaws in our military gear in the same vane that saw contaminated toothpaste comig to us out of China. It just doesn't sit well.

Alright, now to read the back logs ensign ... and get caught up on all the hub-bub, bub.