Sen. Lott says war in Iraq has shift money away from shipbuilding

[sabra]

http://www.timesdaily.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050818/APN/508180713&cachetime=5

Sen. Lott says war in Iraq has shift money away from shipbuilding

The Associated Press

Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott says the war in Iraq has shifted money away from shipbuilding projects at Northrop Grumman in Pascagoula.

Lott spoke yesterday at a joint luncheon of the Pascagoula, Gautier and Moss Point Rotary clubs and the Pascagoula Kiwanis and Lions clubs.

The senator says the Pentagon has diverted a lot of money into protecting ground forces in Iraq. That includes money for armored vehicles, Humvees and other military vehicles.

Northrop Grumman recently announced its laying off 900 workers from shipbuilding yards in Mississippi and Louisiana. Yesterday, the company said an additional one-thousand jobs in the two states will be lost to attrition.

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. Is Lottie upset because Halliburton is monopolizing too much of that

rugged individualist public funding?

[BiggJawn]

2. Lott: "Support my PORK!"

Did he EVEN consider that we might need armoured Humm-Vees and small-arms ammo more than we need high-tech super Frigates and the like?

Geez, he really *IS* an idiot, isn't he?

[Brooklyn Michael]

15. KICK

:dem:

[hadrons]

3. boo-fucking-hoo hair helmet ....

[lonestarnot]

18. Damned I-D-I-O-T! Him and duya!

:spank: :grr:

[madmom]

4. I recently read were..

shipbuilding cuts could possible shut down Bath ironworks in Maine.

[ticapnews]

10. Maine faces the loss of BIW, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Brunswick...

Naval Air Station. Not to mention the uncertainty with MBNA.

We could lose 20,000+ jobs in the next couple of years, most of them union. I live 10 miles from BIW and the Orions practically land on my house as they approach BNAS. This is going to cripple us for decades.

Maybe we should have voted for Shrub and kept our jobs.

:sarcasm:

[indepat]

5. The war in Iraq is likely shifting money away from everything worthwhile

[TahitiNut]

6. So, Lott is accusing the Pentagon of misusing taxpayer funds, huh?

The Executive Branch is not allowed to redirect funds appropriated for one purpose to another purpose - particularly to funding foreign military operations. The Constitution limits Army appropriations to two years - it's one of the safeguards against abuse of military power by the Executive. This is a very serious accusation. Just what has Senator Lott done to prosecute the Executive Branch for violating yet another Constitutional limitation??

[punpirate]

7. About the same thing...

... Congress did when it was discovered that the Pentagon had diverted $700 million from Afghanistan to prepare for the Iraq invasion.

Nothing.

The larger problem here is that Lott has been shoveling large amounts of tax dollars into whatever defense firm is running the Pascagoula shipyard for many, many years. Every time there's a shortfall, the employer (now, it happens to be Northrup Grumman) lays off people. Neither the Pentagon, the company nor Congress will pay for a transition to civilian industry. Jobs are always the hook to get more money from the taxpayers, and they end up being extremely expensive jobs.

An example in another area of government spending: We're arranging loans (which will most likely be converted to grants at a later date) to a British subsidiary of Westinghouse to build reactors in China. The reason stated for providing this money is that this will save 5000 jobs in the US. The loan? $5 billion. That's a million dollars a job.

We can continue to pour increasing amounts of tax money into defense contractors for a decreasing number of jobs, and eventually, we'll have nothing but arms and debt and an economy which has collapsed.

Cheers.

[Frances]

8. Very interesting comments by Trent Lott (R Mississippi)

I just finished reading an interesting history of Alabama by Hardy Jackson. Jackson notes that while southerners traditionally criticized the federal government they were the beneficiaries of federal programs. The Democrats of the past upheld unjust racial policies but they brought home the bacon.

Now Lott is pointing out that Bush's war in Iraq means that there won't be bacon for the average person.

I think Lott is having second thoughts about the Republican party.

How can Democrats make the connection to the average person that Republican administrations rob them of jobs?

Mehlman just made a speech in West Virginia which has gone Republican in the last 2 presidential elections. The people in West Virginia admire FDR, but Mehlman used FDR's statement that we have nothing to fear but fear itself into an attack on the Dems. Mehlman says the Dems are now the party of fear.

We need some new slogans attacking the Republicans but also giving the facts.

[Javaman]

9. Translation: war in Iraq has shifted money from otherwise being paid to me

[msanthrope]

12. You got it--Lott wants to know where his cut is...n/t

[gasperc]

11. oops, your stupid ass decisions are biting you in the ass

dummy

[VegasWolf]

13. Yes, and other little things like education, feeding the poor, medical

insurance, etc. All those other things the Rubes don't
worry about.

[JPZenger]

14. Time to Start a War at Sea

I have heard the Navy as a whole has seen reduced funding and equipment because of the expense of the BushWar in Iraq. One career Navy man told me they are concerned that the Navy may not be in a good position to deal with China or North Korea because of these diversions.

[MrBenchley]

16. When racist Trent was Senate Majority Leader

He got the Defense Department to build a ship there that the Navy didn't want...

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/shows/1995/12/01_mpp.html

[SoCalDem]

17. Goodness knows we need a neverending supply of HUGE

ole "boats"..The hard part will be recruiting the military to serve on them...oh. and finding the MONEY to pay for them:puke:

Tough crunchies Trent:)

[mitchum]

19. "Waaah! Who stole my pork???!!!"

[Yavin4]

20. Well, Maybe We Could Start An Iraqi Navy And Then Declare War Against It?

against it? That way we'd have to build ships for both us and the Iraqis.

[TexasLawyer]

21. But Iran is on the Caspian

hint... hint....

[okieinpain]

22. don't mean to laugh, but haha fuckers. and not only are they getting

laid off for their support of the stupid iraq war. but *'s stupid energy policy's are going to kick their asses with high gasoline, home heating, and every fucking thing else under the sun.

Geez!! wonder how many of them would make fun of al gore's book now.

[The Sushi Bandit]

23. Pascagoula Shipyard needs to start building CRUISE ships!!

and get away from the navy shit..

[FreeStateDemocrat]

24. What is the real cost of war? How much is being hidden in Pentagon budget?