Farm bill vs. Afghan broadband
Big Apple of the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group asked this question in relation to the following story: "$1.4 Billion for Afgan broadband but rural US and the farm bill?"
Here is the story from BizJournals.com
A Taunton-based defense contractor reports it has landed a U.S. Army contract that could be worth more than $1 billion. General Dynamics C4 Systems Inc. has received a $78.3 million order from the Army as part of an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity contract worth up to $1.4 billion for providing broadband network and satellite communications capabilities to soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Delivery of equipment, including networking hubs, network nodes and network management suites, is set to begin in May 2008. General Dynamics C4 Systems Inc. is a division of Virginia-based General Dynamics Corp., which employs 83,000 people and reported a 2006 profit of $2.6 billion on revenue of $24 billion.
TK: Guns are guns and butter is butter and never the twain shall meet... or maybe not. You may hear heightened criticism of the Administration's hundreds of billions (one estimate I read said $1.6 trillion over six years) for the Iraq war/nation building compared with mere billions for farm policy and other social priorities in the U.S.
Labels: Apples, Big Apple, Farm Bill, FDA, Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group
posted by Tom Karst @ 9:41 AM
2 Comments:
This is yet another example of priority confusion. It is becoming more and more difficult to have compassion for people so far away when our own neighbors are suffering every day right here in our own country. Our less fortunate again will be paying the price. If we need to use less oil, there are ways to do that.
Do we really need mail delivery six days per week? How much fuel would be saved by giving those postal workers weekends off! How many of us really need or read our mail on Saturday’s. Certainly most businesses would not be affected by that as most of the mail delivery just sits there until Monday mornings anyway.
It seems that many of us are not sacrificing anything. Yes we complain about the cost of fuel, but are most American’s driving less, or just complaining at the pumps? There are ways to cut fuel usage. Demanding better gas mileage on new cars is a good start, but what about existing cars... when is the last time any of us tuned up our car to make sure they were running at the top fuel efficiency? Perhaps that should be mandatory before we can receive our license plates. Some states require emission testing, why not all states? How about no commercial air travel on say one day per month or better yet two days? Would that make a difference? There are many things we can do, but it seems like many (not all) existing leaders are not willing to step out on the limb to push for that type of change. I liked one recent presidential candidate’s comments during a recent debate (and I am paraphrasing): “we’re all going to be okay, as the candidate pointed to other fellow candidates on the stage”, “but what about the countries less fortunate? What about our children, will they be okay”? It was a good reminder that the need for change is way past due.
Granted internet access for our troops is a great idea, but come on, a billion dollars? What are we doing? This week, there are some talks of no passage of the Farm Bill. Yes, there would surely be some extensions of the old bill, but are those levels adequate to take care of current needs? It reminds me of companies that count paper clips while millions of dollars in profits walk out the door in many other ways.
Remember when flying they ask you to “put on your own mask first” before assisting those around you; let’s to that at home too. How can we advise and assist others while turning our back on our own neighbors? Here are some statistics to think about during this time of Thanks and these are not meant to damper anyone’s holiday, but it is good to really realize that most of us, if we are reading this blog will have some food to eat this week on Thursday, some of your neighbors may not:
• As we enter the season of giving, 1 in 10 Americans is facing hunger.
• Donations of food and funds are needed now more than ever to meet the immediate needs of hungry children, seniors and working poor.
• While demands continue to grow, our member network of food banks is moving more and more food each year.
• In order to continue moving nutritious food that we can rescue form our generous food donors into the hands of hungry Americans, we need funds to transport it to our member locations.
• We encourage people to support their local network food bank so together; we can provide the more than 35 million Americans experiencing hunger with a chance for a better tomorrow.
Happy Thanksgiving - Rick Bella
It's not really "broadband for soldiers" in the way they spin it. Like our troops can surf the web and shoot emails around the world. Not likely for security reasons. The underlying issue is the more strategic control of the landscape and the ability to enable even better targeting for our military, not to mention enriching the military industries at home. Plenty of pork to go around. I'm sure there are rural communities begging for broadband. There's a bill in congress to funnel money to some rural hospitals via the FCC under the mantle of terrorism. It's all too ridiculous. Personally I like Saturday delivery and the oil issue is just to broad to dump on here. Now the Secretary of Defense is trying to through a scare into America with talks of base closings if the congress doesn't give the White House what it wants. He needs to get real and understand the free ride is over. Stop being a mouth piece for an administration whose the epitome of fail both domestic and international policy, and successful enrichment of cronies.
The farm bill is being held hostage to the arms bill. A familiar picture.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home