Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (82291)	10/31/2004 8:47:14 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793851

Article on CBS re their Nov 1st hit piece: Did they say anything about Kerry voting against the measure to provide equipment to the military....? Here's an article on CBS, but not the transcript of the clip from CBS...... cbsnews.com Buried in the middle to end of the article: >>>>>>>>>>Winslow Wheeler, a long time Capitol Hill staffer who spent years writing and reviewing defense appropriations bills, thinks he knows one reason why those shortages exist, after looking at the current Defense budget. Army accounts that pay for training, maintenance and repairs are being raided by Congress to pay for pork-barrel spending. Wheeler says $2.8 billion that was earmarked for operations and maintenance to support U.S. troops has been used to "pay the pork bill." Wheeler, who has written a book called "The Wastrels of Defense," says congressmen routinely hide billions of dollars in pet projects in the defense bill. And buried in the back of this one, Wheeler found a biathlon jogging track in Alaska, a brown tree snake eradication program in Hawaii, a parade ground maintenance contract for a military base that closed years ago, and money for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial celebration. By law, these projects can't be cut, so Pentagon bookkeepers will have to dip into operations and maintenance accounts to pay for them. "They do all kinds of things that adds up to: 'We're basically eating our own young to support the war,'" he says. According to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a member of the Armed Services Committee who speaks out against pork-barrel spending, there is a total of $8.9 billion of pork in this year's defense bill, which would go a long way toward upgrading all the equipment used by the National Guard. "I don't think that this war has truly come home to the Congress of the United States," McCain says. "This is the first time in history that we've cut taxes during a war. So I think that a lot of members of Congress feel that this is just sort of a business-as-usual situation." "The least sexy items are the mundane - food, repair items, maintenance – there's no big contract there," says McCain. "And so there's a tendency that those mundane but vital aspects of war fighting are cut and routinely underfunded." <<<<<<<<< And at the very end: >>>This weekend, Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee wrote to 60 Minutes saying, "The Army has made great strides in improving the capabilities of all units deploying to Iraq as the nature of the conflict has changed." He noted the president approved spending $840 million to improve the armor on Humvees in Iraq.<<<<<

To: Sully- who wrote (82291)	11/1/2004 12:23:46 AM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 793851

It seems that CBS was trolling for trouble for tonight's October Surprise ("In Harm's Way") on 60 Minutes.... The Cockburn concern Powerline blog Last month our reader Sharon Johnson was contacted by the notoriously leftist CBS/60 Minutes producer Leslie Cockburn with respect to the segment that aired tonight. Ed Morrissey at Captain's Quarters previewed the message that Sharon received in his post "Sixty Minutes trolling for left-wing political groups." Here is the email message that Sharon received from Cockburn: <<< As per our conversation, I am producing a 60 Minutes piece (with Kroft) which addresses the following: In light of our recently passed 416 billion dollar defense appropriations bill, I am disturbed to hear stories of lack of the most basic supplies among the troops in Iraq. These include out of date weapons, lack of radios, inadequate water supplies, problems with vests, humvees, troops forced to purchase their own equipment etc. I would like to hear from any family who knows of such problems. I am particularly interested in shortages within the last few months. I am also interested in maintenance problems...backlogs of repairs on vehicles and helicopters that may put troops in danger. In looking at the stories from the field, I am trying to determine whether the Guard is experiencing more difficulties than other forces and also whether these problems continue regardless of promises to fix them. If any of the families have documentary evidence of problems, photos from the field , home videos and letters etc, I am of course interested. My email is [email address and phone number omitted]; I am based in Washington DC. Many thanks, Leslie >>> Sharon responded to Cockburn's email on September 14. Today she comments: <<< If you're wondering about the timing of the 60 Minutes story on troop equipment, here is an email I sent to Leslie Cockburn...on September 14. That would be approximately one and a half months ago. You would have thought that with such big news as under-equipped troops, they would have rushed the story to the air. Surely, the sooner the public would know about it, the better. >>> Here is Sharon's September 14 message to Cockburn: <<< I read with interest your solicitation to Guard families to offer instances of under-equipping our family members serving in the Guard overseas. Well, I will say, yes, there have been problems in the field for my son. One of the things that stood out for me is that I had to send him sheets for his bed. However, what concerns me is the attempt by CBS to somehow make victims out of these (in your minds) hapless Guardsmen who somehow just ended up in a war into which President Bush sent them. There are difficulties for the troops, certainly. And yet, they overcome them. My son was trained in personnel records management in the Minnesota and New Hampshire National Guard. In December 2003, he received notification of his activation. In January 2004, he left for training in New Jersey. His unit received military police training. However, because of his computer skills, his training focused on administrative tasks. In February 2004 he was sent to Iraq. When he arrived in Iraq, he was at first assigned office duties. Then he was moved to more common military police duties including convoy security and guarding the prisoners at Camp Bucca. About three weeks ago he was involved in a prisoner transfer between Abu Ghraib and Camp Bucca. You may recall that Abu Ghraib is still a dangerous place and was attacked by a car bomb this weekend. Two weeks ago, he was on patrol, and received permission to enter an home in Southern Iraq. Here is what he found in the home: powerlineblog.com It's quite clear to me that they were not intending to play patty-cake with these. Last week, my son was hit in the face with shrapnel from a grenade. He went to Kuwait to have it taken out and returned to work the next day. The Guard members who are serving in Iraq are not victims of a bumbling President and military commanders. The Guard members are serving proudly and bravely, despite the complete lack of effort on CBS's part to support the troops. Making victims of the brave men and women is not supporting them. Your efforts disgust me and I am delighted to watch the demise of CBS in this scandal of the forged documents. You reap what you sow. >>> Posted by The Big Trunk powerlineblog.com

To: Sully- who wrote (82291)	11/1/2004 9:32:31 AM
From: carranza2	Respond to of 793851

I saw the 60 Minutes piece,and disagree that it was a hack piece. Acknowledged something lots of people know. However, it didn't blame the Administration so much as Congress for dipping into supply and maintenance contracts to fund pork. The piece did make the point that the Administration got supplemental funding which should take care of the problems. Obviously, the fix can't happen overnight. A more balanced piece than usual. I expect that the Rather fuss had something to do with this.