Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told a labor group he would ask Americans to make a big sacrifice: their sport utility vehicles.
The former North Carolina senator told a forum by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, yesterday he thinks Americans are willing to sacrifice.
Edwards says Americans should be asked to drive more fuel efficient vehicles. He says he would ask them to give up SUVs.
Only if Edwards promises to move into a 3,000 square foot home. I mean if we're all going to sacrifice, that seems fair, right? Talk about absurdities.
Then there's this:
Edwards got a standing ovation when he said weapons and equipment used by America's military needs to be made in the United States. He says tanks and ammunition for M16 rifles are being made in other countries.
He says jobs that provide equipment for America's defense need to be made in the United States.
So Lima, OH is another country? Because that's where our tanks are made. There are some tank kits (hulls, turrets, components, etc.) which are are part of a co-production program which are shipped to Egypt for final assembly, but as I undestand it, those are tanks destined for overseas markets.
The General Dynamics Land Systems Division is the system prime contractor for manufacturing and assembly of the XM104 “Wolverine” - Heavy Assault Bridge. Manufacturing and assembly during the EMD phase of Wolverine elements and components (except the engine/transmission) occurs primarily at GDLS, which uses two facilities: Lima Army Tank Plant (LATP), a government-owned, contractor-operated manufacturing facility located in Lima (Allen County), Ohio; and the GDLS Sterling Heights Complex (SHC), located in Sterling Heights (Macomb County), MI. The mission of LATP is to produce the M1 series Main Battle Tank (MBT). [...]
In its 2005 BRAC Recommendations, DoD would realign Lima Tank Plant, OH. It would retain the portion required to support the manufacturing of armored combat vehicles to include Army Future Combat System (FCS) program, Marine Corps Expeditionary Force Vehicle (EFV) chassis, and M1 Tank recapitalization program. Capacity and capability for armored combat vehicles existed at three sites with little redundancy among the sites. The acquisition strategy for the Army Future Combat System (FCS) and Marine Corps Expeditionary Force Vehicle would include the manufacturing of manned vehicle chassis at Lima Army Tank Plant. The impact of establishing this capability elsewhere would hinder the Department’s ability to meet the USA and USMC future production schedule. This recommendation to retain only the portion of Lima Army Tank Plant required to support the FCS, EFV, and M1 tank recap, would reduce the footprint.
All of that tells me we've been making our tanks in Lima, Ohio and we'll continue to make them there. As for our ammunition, you might remember two things. Remember the story about how police were running out of ammo because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? Well the story is false but what we all learned is the American manufacturers of military ammunition are cranking along quite well, thank you very much, and in fact, increasing capacity.
And the ammo for the M16? Well it uses a 5.56 x 45 standard NATO round. What that means is other countries, both in and out of NATO, use the round as well. So it stands to reason the "ammunition for the M16" may be manufactured outside the country considering other countries use the M-16 as well as the standard round.
Check it out - this is a list of those countries and weapons using the standard NATO 5.56 round:
* Australian F88 Austeyr assault rifle and F89 Minimi machine gun. (ADI Thales also supplies ammunition) * Austrian Steyr AUG assault rifle * Belgian FN FNC, FN SCAR-L and FN F2000 assault rifles and FN Minimi machine gun. * British SA80 family * Chinese QBZ-97 * Canadian Diemaco C7 * French FAMAS * German HK416, G36, HK33 * Indian INSAS assault rifle * Iranian Khaybar KH2002 * Israeli IMI Negev, Galil assault rifle and Tavor TAR-21 bullpup assault rifle * Italian AR70/90 * Japanese Howa Type 89 * Mexican FX-05 Xiuhcoatl assault rifle * Philippine MSSR sniper rifle * Polish Beryl wz.96 assault rifle * Russian AK-101, AK-102, AK-108 and KBP A-91 * Singaporean SR-88 and SAR-21 assault rifles and ultimax 100 machine gun * South African Vektor R4 series of rifles and carbines, Vektor CR-21 assault rifle and Mini-SS machine gun * South Korean K1, K2 assault rifles, and K3 machine gun * Swedish Ak 5 system, derived from the Belgian FN FNC assault rifle * Swiss SIG 550 series, with lesser performances than the round for which it was initially designed, the Gw Pat.90 cartridge * US M16 rifle series, M4A1 Carbine, and US/Belgian M249 Squad Automatic Weapon
So what's Edwards doing? Some obvious flag-wrapped pandering which is, it seems, a whole load of crap. He's addressing a labor group who probably has no more idea of what he's talking about than it appears he does.
Edwards says Americans should be asked to drive more fuel efficient vehicles. He says he would ask them to give up SUVs.
No sweat, Edwards can have my Eddie Bauer Expedition for a paltry 30k, he can even finance it and the monthly payment will be (forgive me, it’s just too easy) less than the cost of a hair cut.
I’ll make due with an environmentally friendly non-SUV F250 Super Chief (click the link, it’s worth it) ... that’s not an SUV.
Everyone knows that the gubment is subsidizing oil companies (because they just can’t make ends meet on their own), but here’s a novel idea, why don’t we subsidize an oil company behavior that we would like to see, that would improve national security, reduce inflation, and put more money on everyone’s pocket... subsidize the construction of refineries!!!
The current gas prices are not a result of anything related to oil, it’s the result of perfect cooperation between environmentalists who didn’t want any refineries built in sensitive coastal areas, and an oil industry that didn’t want any refineries built at until demand came closer to equaling production.
The only refinery built in the us since the 70’s was financed by Saudi’s (Aramco), US oil companies weren’t interested.
Am I being conspiratorial, or does it seem coincidental that not one American oil company built a new refinery in 30 years, and actually took lots of them offline?
Please, someone play the part of the industry shill and blame it all on tree huggers.
an oil industry that didn’t want any refineries built at all until demand came closer to equaling demand, and not far exceeding as it did for most of the last three decades, until recently, when, well, you know....
I assume the Captin’s sarcasm includes blaming the oil companies for the fact that every proposal to build a new refinery has been blocked by environmental NIMBYs.
McQ, you can’t fool me, I KNOW where Lima is....it’s in Peru, I just googled it! As if that would be really necessary, given the name of the plant where the tanks are produced "Lima Army Tank Plant". Lima, okay? I think, and I’m sure John thinks, that name speaks quite clearly for itself. He probably even has a plan to pay the Lima Army to stop producing tanks for anybody so the world will be a safer place.
And, what’s more, I’ll wager that further research will prove that young llama’s from Lima are conscripted, or possibly being paid mere pennies a day, to work on the dangerous tasks of creating our weapons of mass destruction.
John will fix this, once he’s finished modeling our health care system on the Cuban system (however that one works).
"an environmentally friendly non-SUV F250 Super Chief"
" enhanced frontal crash compatibility with cars on the road," " The system helps F-250 Super Chief and a car better share energy during a crash."
It is always good to share, and I guess if you have to crash, it is good to do it in a compatible, non-confrontational way.
"The second-row BeltMinder™ technology will now be able to alert the driver when second-row passengers have not buckled their safety belts."
Second ’row’?? Just how big is this thing? First stretch limos, then stretch Hummers, now stretch pickups. I can’t wait to see the new, 4 passenger stretch Harley.
"The pattern of the headlamps echoes the motif of the interior’s coffered ceiling," "While the F-250 Super Chief is an extreme example of interior indulgence,..."
Just what I need to take my trash to the landfill.
