Indefensible?

Hadn't really intended to do much in the way of posts this week .. the puffy political punditry is in full swing elsewhere, and am certainly not sufficiently "informed" to make much in the way of comment. It's all bullshit* - mostly.
[*warning-video - relating to USA 2008, but just as applicable here ;).]

One of the things that bothers me, though, is that there are some issues that don't - or haven't yet - seemded to have been given much MSM airtime or critical analysis. One of those is "Defence" disasters.

There was a time the Howard mantra was "Who do you trust(?) to Defend Australia" which now seems to have been swamped by the Health and Education "bidding wars".

There is, of course, an enormous amount to be learnt about the monumental stuffups in the "Defence" Department during the HoWARd years .. and this story, from the ABC's Four corners program last Monday night, is but one of them.
Transcript here.
Video links here.

It seems that our GWB clone bypassed the "normal" tendering process, forgot to consult with the "Air Strategy" blokes in the Airforce, managed to do a "private deal" with Lockheed for some "kamikazi*" aircraft and WASTED 6 Billion Aussie dollars (that's six BILLION folks) and everyone is scratching around for some money for Health and Education??).

And for a rather more comprehensive and concisely written earlier account of the fiasco see here at New Matilda.
[Defence: Nelson's Toys By: Ben Eltham
Wednesday 14 March 2007 ]

It's all quite disgusting, really, and makes me wonder if there isn't some sort of secret Swiss bank account set up by the Wanks at Boing Boing, just waiting for the "retirement" of John Winston H. (either that, or "OUR DEAR LEADER" JWH is completely bonkers).

At least the Navy had some sense, managed to break the yankee stranglehold over Howard govt thinking - and acquire a "real" Air Warfare destroyer instead of a fantasy American paper warship that would suck Aussie dollars into a black hole for as long as Aussies had grandchildren.

* from transcript ..
[ANDREW FOWLER: Some of the Super Hornets will get through, but on their way home, the refuelling tankers will prove their Achilles heel.
WING COMMANDER CHRIS MILLS (RTD), DEFENCE AIR WARFARE STRATEGIST 2001-07 (in war room): If I can get the tanker and drop the tanker, I also get as a by-product the Super Hornets because on the way home those aircraft don’t have enough fuel for a diversion, they go into the water.
AIR VICE-MARSHAL PETER CRISS (RTD), AIR COMMANDER AUSTRALIA 1999-2000 (in war room): Yeah, this is the hurt point, you know ... ]

Techie sort of stuff about the SEA 4000 Program.