Bury the F-35 jet

QUOTE:

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The F-35 fighter jet, set to replace a large part of the US warplane fleet, has become the most expensive weapons program ever, drawing increased scrutiny at a time of tight public finances.

Following a series of cost overruns and delays, the program is now expected to cost a whopping 382 billion dollars, for 2,443 aircraft.

…

But there is now the potential for competition from China, which this week unveiled its first radar-evading combat aircraft and fueled a sense of a military rivalry between the two powers.

:UNQUOTE.*

Know when to say “when”

If a person drinks, yet doesn’t know when to say “when,” he is an alcoholic. If a country spends foolishly, money it doesn’t have, well…that’s another kind of addiction.

As the next US President, I will bury the F-35 project, because I know when to say “when.” At $150 million per plane (so far), we are staring into the face of an obscenity. And there’s absolutely no reason for this. We again seek to go further into debt in the name of obtaining greater security – haven’t we yet learned that won’t work? There’s a gigantic scam being foisted upon us, which goes something like this:

“The US government knows the F-35 can only have limited effectiveness against insurgencies. The only force that might hold the line is (as candidate Obama put it), being able to put ‘more boots on the ground.’ In the eyes of the US ruling class, masses of armed and highly mobile troops must be available to impose our will on the rest of the world (or at least that part of the “rest of the world,” which excludes our allies/stooges). Well…maybe them, too, though indirectly.

“However, in order to obtain those troops, the US will either have to reimpose the military draft or else create an economic climate which will encourage enlistment. Or a combination of the two. If we spend ourselves to the poorhouse, by financing projects such as the F-35, that will help create the necessary economic climate.”

And, of course, having such an arsenal will only serve to encourage us to use it. And, again, I ask “why?” China will not prove to be a threat – and our Oligarchs know that. The big over-the-horizon threat, at least in their estimation, is the potential rise of an African/Middle Eastern Islamic caliphate. The recent events in Tunisia haven’t exactly escaped the notice of our intelligence community – after all, they are at least somewhat intelligent. In fact, they even saw this coming. And they see huge potential for a general uprising against Hosni Mubarak, our puppet ruler of Egypt.

In a worst-case scenario, weaponry like the F-35 is intended to induce shock and awe and to cover a large land mass, which is what the Caliphate could well encompass.

However, when the history of our miscalculations is written, we will look back and ask ourselves, “Wouldn’t it have been easier (and cheaper, and most humane) to simply have lent a helping hand to the recently-liberated Tunisians? Wouldn’t it have been better to allow nature to take its course, rather than weaponize Mubarak (for decades) so he could suppress his own people?”

The man in the street in Egypt isn’t stupid. He knows the US pays for the clubs wielded by Mubarak’s “security” forces. Clubs which are used quite liberally to beat him over the head.

Enamored of high tek

I will now speak from the perspective of a Buddhist, and invoke the lesson of a movie: The 1956 sci-fi milestone, Forbidden Planet.

The long-gone inhabitants of a distant planet, Altair IV, had managed to build a technological infrastructure that could materialize any of their thoughts. Talk about the ultimate labor-saving device!

However, the Krell were wiped out in one single day after they activated this mechanism. They forgot about the subconscious evil, which lurks in most minds, which would also materialize its thoughts in addition to whatever their conscious minds were trying to conjure – the so-called monsters of the id. These monsters went on a rampage and killed every last one of them.

Even though the Krell had mastered a technology which offered a chance to create a heavenly paradise, they themselves turned out to be their own worst enemy.

So much for technology, which I personally minimize in importance. The truest clue to our overall state of advancement is our longevity. I suppose we can feel superior to have increased our average lifespan well beyond what people in the Dark Ages had enjoyed. But, again, that’s nothing more than technological advancement.

I’m talking about a lifespan of 1,000 years and more. In fact, the Lotus Sutra speaks of average life spans, in certain Buddha lands, lasting millions of years. However, in those societies, there wasn’t any technology. There wasn’t any need. These beings were able to create reality with their thoughts – without (as the Krell had tried) by means of a machine.

They had other attributes as well – such as the ability to be in several places at once and the ability to shape-shift. They had no need of any type of food except: dharma joy and meditation delight.

They attained these wonderful abilities by opening the door of compassion and by engaging in practices suitable for the attainment of enlightenment. Mostly, by caring about the spiritual welfare of their fellow man.

Don’t look too much upon the marvels of our technology, look instead at the extreme brevity (relatively speaking) of our life spans. That’s the truest measure of our progress. And then ask yourself, “How advanced are we, really?”

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

Founder of The Independent Contractors’ Party

“New weapons systems are a cesspool which is (literally) sucking the life out of all of us” – Steve.

  * SOURCE: Article by Mathieu Rabechault – Jan. 13, 2011