via Politico...
And in the middle of it all was a man whose last day at work at the Project on Government Oversight, a non-profit determined to root out government waste, coincided with news that the Pentagon would ask for an increase of 19 F-35s in next year’s budget at $100 million or more apiece.Love him or hate him, Wheeler made it fun and sparked debate. And for that alone he should be missed by all.
But Winslow Wheeler was not in a despairing mood. Emotional, yes, but still feisty.
Spinney and Sprey, he said, “have gotten me into lots of trouble — but no trouble I didn’t enjoy.” And he took several parting shots at the F-35 program.
“It keeps embarrassing itself,” he said. “At some point, the weight and momentum of all those problems and all those costs are going to pass a threshold in our political system.”
When are you going to prove you were in the Marine Corps?
ReplyDeleteChuck Spinney is still hanging in there at his blog The Blaster. Recently he took on the Air Force and one of its (sick) generals: (excerpt quotes)--
ReplyDeleteGeneral Post recently told Air Force officers that any A-10 pilot communicating the virtues of the A-10 to a member of Congress is committing “treason.”....
General Post’s outburst suggests that PTSD may be too narrowly defined. His behaviour suggests a form of PTSD could also result from the stress one is subjected to in the Pentagon's budget battles. This possibility would open a vast new field of mental research. If true, perhaps Post would be able to increase his retirement pay by retiring on a disability, and not have to go thru the revolving door to the makers of the F-35 in the defense industry to augment his retirement.
A life wasted:
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“My whole philosophy is it’s useless to appeal to the intellect or reason of Congress,” he said. “They’ll thank you politely and go do whatever they f—-ing please.”
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Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/02/winslow-wheeler-114795.html#ixzz3QXei2mZp
This is more than a Jaded Cynic speaking it is someone who failed to come to terms with the reality of what moves D.C. politics: Power.
Politicians fear power greater than their own, costing them what they have accumulated. They do nothing that is morally correct on their own which does not correlate with that One Rule of Allegiance to what sustains owned Power.
The truth then becomes that if you scold them, they may placate or laudate or ignore you but they will only act to /disarm/ and obfuscate your arguments if you operate from the Beltway rather than the centers of power. Had Winslow known this when he started, perhaps he would have stayed closer to the game and gotten together another Mafia of insider experts service and industry to counter bid on EVERY program or capability out there with the intention of supporting ONE MAN whose status as a seated SASC/HASC member might make his reputation worth building.
As is, it is unfortunate that we do not acknowledge that this nation cannot run without deep reason as intellect convergent upon a National Good that is separate from Personal Power.
It would be easy to humiliate and disenfranchise the stupid who run Washington like a cross between a Popularity Contest and a Roman Orgy if someone would first realize that you cannot deal with, intimidate or shame those who are stupid and corrupt. They don't have the long term view to recognize the ruin they cause and they lack the internal conception of what is morally right as a guiding philosophy to push for an alternative on the basis of building rather than tearing down, a useful body of State.
Ashton Carter's hearings as the next SecDef start Wednesday, with more complaining about sequestration. Some news today:
ReplyDeleteDays before the Pentagon is slated to release its fiscal year 2016 budget, defense spending analyst Todd Harrison highlighted the fact that the department has been "explicitly" moving funds from the base budget into overseas contingency operations coffers in an effort to sidestep budget caps, pointing to steep increases in cost-per-troop dollars and the nearly $800 million requested for the European Reassurance Initiative as examples.//
Eight hundred million, about twelve percent of the money wasted on buying useless F-35 prototypes this fiscal year, about four planes out of the 34 that will sit on airfield tarmacs under severe flight restrictions because of a faulty engine that requires redesign. Money shifted from operational funds necessary for our defense because the Pentagon is wasting money on corporate welfare for Lockheed-Martin.
That was Winslow Wheeler's fight, in a most productive life.