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Supporters of building more F-22 fighters have their backs against the wall. The President, the Secretary of Defense, the Air Force leadership and the Senate's top military experts have all declared that the U.S. needs no more than the 187 of the $350 million fighters it has already bought. So the F-22's backers are changing their tactics in demanding more planes, relying on arguments from second-tier officers, citing imaginary threats and introducing the most potent argument of all these days: preserving 25,000 well-paying jobs...
...looming Senate vote over the F-22's fate is shaping up as a test of whether the U.S. will develop a cogent and balanced military force as championed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates or whether his quest will be derailed by an ad hoc coalition of entrenched interests and lawmakers whose priority is protecting the jobs of their constituents rather than the needs of protecting the nation. (See pictures of military aircraft...
...Senate is expected to vote soon on an amendment offered by Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and John McCain of Arizona, its ranking Republican, to eliminate $1.75 billion that the committee added, over their objections, for seven more F-22s (the price includes only the hardware, not the R&D, to design the planes). Those calling for an end to the plane's production note that the F-22 was designed to fight Soviet warplanes - aircraft never built by a country that no longer exists. (See pictures of Russia celebrating Victory...
...F-22s have flown over Afghanistan or Iraq. That's because they were designed for long-range air-to-air duels with similarly advanced militaries. Fighters that might emerge in the future, probably flown by the Chinese, are the only prospective challengers the F-22's backers are able to cite, and President Obama believes that 187 of them are sufficient. He has pledged to use his first veto if next year's defense authorization bill contains funding for extra F-22s, knowing that losing this dogfight would doom Gates' effort to retool the Pentagon. "We do not need these...
...started something on Twitter called the "F___ It List," a series of things you don't want to do before you die. What's on it? Well, I almost broke one of them, which was, "See the reunited Phish." I went to Bonnaroo and they were performing, but I was fortunate not to have to see them play...