Opinion A7
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THE DAILY HERALD
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WWW.HERALDNET.COM
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Editorial Board Josh O’Connor, Publisher Jon Bauer, Editorial Page Editor Neal Pattison, Executive Editor Carol MacPherson, Editorial Writer
MONDAY, 11.02.2015
IN OUR VIEW | Raytheon’s military ‘zombie’ program
Pull plug on costly blimp Long before the military’s blimp went AWOL last week, the aircraft, and its bloated program had been exposed as a $2.7 billion (and counting) failure. So entrenched is our military-industrial complex that such unkillable, ineffectual, money-sucking contracts have a name: Defense specialists call them “zombie” programs, the Los Angeles Times reported in September, in an exquisitely detailed investigation that shows the failed blimp-borne radar system lost its moorings long before it took off Wednesday on its little jaunt. The 17-year-old program has faced criticism since the beginning, but it’s been no match for the lobbying done by Raytheon Co., the private company in charge of creating and running the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor program, or JLENS, according to
the Los Angeles Times. The blimps are supposed to provide an early warning if the country were ever attacked with cruise missiles, drones or other low-flying weapons. The newspaper began its investigation after a “Florida postal worker flew a single-seat, rotary-wing aircraft into the heart of the nation’s capital to dramatize his demand for campaign finance reform” on April 15. Where was the blimp, where was the warning? Turns out the system was “not operational” that day, as the head of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, Adm. William E. Gortney, told a congressional hearing soon after. He had no estimate of when the system might be operational. The program’s failure has long been foreshadowed and documented: In 2012 and 2013, the Pentagon’s
Operational Test and Evaluation Office said the blimps were not meeting operational goals, Fox News reported, and in one case charging that JLENS “did not demonstrate the ability to survive in its intended operational environment.” Flaws were also found in the airships’ software and communications programs. So it was probably not a surprise to anyone familiar with JLENS when one of two blimps took off without explanation or provocation on a calm day. FOX News reported that Raytheon promotional materials insist that the tether, which “carries power up to the JLENS radar,” is made of Vectran and “has withstood storms in the excess of 100 knots.” However, in the “unlikely event” a ship becomes unmoored, according to Raytheon, “there are a number of procedures and
systems in place which are designed to bring the aerostat down in a safe manner.” In this case, the Pentagon confirmed that the wayward blimp was shot down. With this latest debacle, Congress is again questioning the program. Reps. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Elijah Cummings, D-Md., chairman and ranking member of the House oversight committee, sent joint letters to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx on Thursday seeking all documents and contracts relating to JLENS, to help them “understand whether JLENS is a worthwhile investment of taxpayer dollars,” FOX reported. After 17 years, it certainly is not a worthwhile investment. The program is AWOL, just like the blimp. Time to belatedly deflate it, permanently.
■ I-405 TOLL LANES
federal funds if they do not accommodate these students in ways that are gender fair.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR ■ MPHS
School not at fault for tragedy Regarding the article, “Marysville Pilchuck shooting victims’ families seek records”: I truly can’t imagine the pain these parents are going through because I haven’t lost a child, but I have lost love ones and that is extremely difficult and heartbreaking. What happened to their children is a horrible tragedy that not only affected them but the whole school and the community as well. Sometimes there is no good answer as to why these things happen because the person perpetrating it is not in their right mind to begin with. Most people don’t think that way. Why on earth are these parents having an attorney dig up school records as far back as 10 years? The school is not the problem. Jaylen Fryberg is the only one who knows why he did what he did. If you want to go digging for answers go dig back 10 years into Jaylen’s life. School bullying has nothing to do with this. Jaylen killed his own friends and family who he loved. Put the blame where it belongs, on Jaylen. This school is not to blame for someone bringing a gun in and killing innocent people. Their lawyer is after blame and money and Jaylen’s family doesn’t have enough money; so let’s go after the school where the money is. No matter how many old school records they read, they are not going to find an answer that will make them feel better or that will bring their children back. No amount of money is ever going to take away the grief. Hasn’t Marysville Pilchuck High School suffered enough? Shirley Mann Lake Stevens
■ UNITED STATES
Plutocracy does not serve us well Regarding the article, “Chamber of Commerce targets ultra-conservatives”: Some think the 1 percent are a conspiracy of investors, CEOs and political beneficiaries. I wish they were. If they were conspiring, at some point it must come up at one of their meetings that their continued funneling of money to the top would, at some point, result in the common folk having insufficient money to buy the goods and services that make them wealthy and pay the taxes that fund the necessary public services that they are avoiding. Instead,
Have your say Include your name, address and daytime phone number. E-mail: letters@heraldnet.com Mail: Letters section The The Daily Herald P.O. Box 930 Everett, WA 98206 Have a question about letters? Call Carol MacPherson at 425-339-3472.
we have a bunch of independent wheeler-dealers who are concerned solely with their own income growth giving no thought to the collective carnage they are creating. At some point, they will have no choice but to notice that this process is playing out now, in the homeless camps of the streets, the market place, and the Congress. Indeed, the conservatives of Congress are feeling the pain right now. Their patchwork constituency of these various entities, social conservatives, anarchists and self-seeking wannabees is coming unglued over their differences. This congressional disintegration can’t heal itself because that is not the function of a Congress, nor is the healing of an economic system that is dysfunctional by design. After 239 years, it is high time we noticed a big oversight in the making of a nation. We didn’t select an official economic system. Into that void stepped the default system of ever failed country in history –– plutocracy. Until that’s fixed we will have more of the same until, ultimately, collapse. Harold R. Pettus Everett
Taxes for ads go right down drain Does anyone care about the fact that WSDOT is spending our hard-earned tax dollars to promote the Good-to-Go pass with those ridiculous TV commercials? What a waste of toll money! Mary Ann Monty Arlington
■ SCHOOL DISTRICTS
Transgender kids already here Regarding the letter, “Need specifics on transgender kids”: Paula Deter asked about the number of transgender students who might enroll in Snohomish County schools. They’re already there. An estimate based on annual health risk surveys conducted in San Francisco and Los Angeles Unified school districts and other districts around the U.S., Canada and New Zealand, would be about 1 percent. In a high school of 1,000 students there are about 10. Small in number, but at high risk of dropping out without graduating, of being expelled from their family home, of being physically or sexually assaulted, of engaging in self-harm, and of engaging in dangerous activities in order to survive. Nearly half of the homeless youth in New York City are gay or trans youth. These bad outcomes disproportionately burden taxpayers in dealing with the aftermath. There is strong evidence that these bad outcomes can be reduced by schools and families engaging in activities that are accepting of these students, and by the availability of appropriate health care services. Schools risk losing their
Jill Davidson Poulsbo
■ THE HERALD
Comics do need humor infusion I hesitated, at first to not complain about this latest development, but since I agree whole-heartedly with Michael Neeley’s letter, “Why so many unfunny comics?” I decided to throw in my two cents worth. I too, am disappointed at Stone Soup not being in the daily, but glad this is a decision of the writer and not the folks at The Herald. I was raised reading The Herald, since 1933, born in Everett and graduated from EHS, and have continued with it since. We have spent a few years out of the area, but it has always been our paper of choice when we returned. Since turning into a morning paper, I’m sure there are more adults reading the paper than children. Do we really enjoy a bratty girl and her narcissistic pet unicorn or a nerdy little kid and his science projects, to mention others? Thank goodness we still have Pickles and Mother Goose and Grimm. We enjoy Charlie Brown and his gang, but the writing is so tiny and close together, we oldsters have to get out the magnifying glass for that one. I know reading comics might be considered a bit inane, but with all the bad news in the paper, these days, we need something to put a smile on our face in the morning. I can only hope you will seriously consider Mr. Neeley’s advice and get someone to manage The Herald comics, that has a sense of humor. Thanks for the rant. Sharon McFarland Lynnwood
Prayers that Congress lets its speaker lead
T
he speaker-elect walked down the center aisle Thursday morning, accepting hugs, kisses, handshakes and applause. Then he did something unexpected: He turned left. Paul Ryan, the young Wisconsin Republican who in minutes would accept the speaker’s gavel, walked through the Democratic side of the well. He accepted a bear hug from Rep. Gene Green of Texas and handshakes from Rep. John Conyers of Michigan and a halfDANA MILBANK dozen other AfricanAmerican Democrats. He reached in to greet Rep. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois in her wheelchair, shook hands with Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, a frequent critic, and hugged Georgia Rep. John Lewis, the civil-rights icon. “If you ever pray, pray for each other: Republicans for Democrats and Democrats for Republicans,” Ryan told the House. To laughter, he added: “And I don’t mean pray for a conversion, all right? Pray for a deeper understanding, because — when you’re up here, you see it so clearly — wherever you come from, whatever you believe, we are all in the same boat.” There was rapt silence when, a moment later, Ryan said: “Let’s be frank. The House is broken. ... And I am not interested in laying blame. We are not settling scores. We are wiping the slate clean.” Just about everybody — even, after some hesitation, Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi — rose and applauded. I felt goose bumps watching from the gallery, for a most unfamiliar sense of hope had admitted itself to the bitterly divided chamber. In this dark hour for the House, there was a tantalizing glimpse that the institution, which has strayed so far from what the Founders created, could heal itself. Only an ingenue would believe all will be different now. But only the most hardened cynic would dismiss the possibility of what Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Washington, in her speech nominating Ryan, called a “fresh start.” For a day, the ideological freak show was shut down. Only nine Republicans voted against Ryan, a far more unified showing than in January, when 25 opposed John Boehner. For the moment, the Republican speaker was overtly courting Democrats. And for once, Democrats and Republicans were rising in unison to applaud. “How reassuring it would be,” Ryan told his colleagues, “if we actually fixed the tax code, put patients in charge of their health care, grew our economy, strengthened our military, lifted people out of poverty and paid down our debt.” It may not be long before Ryan winds up in the same position Boehner was for five years: forced to bring up pointless abortion bills and Obamacare repeals and otherwise placating hardliners. But he may be the only one who has a shot at repairing the chamber, because of his youth (he’s 45), his renown, and his popularity. Pelosi, handing the gavel to Ryan, offered “the hand of friendship” from Democrats, and said: “This is the speaker’s house.” She corrected herself: “This is the people’s house.” But her misstatement was apt: For now, at least, this is Paul Ryan’s house. Ryan benefits from a big parting gift from Boehner, who in his final days infuriated conservatives one last time by negotiating a bipartisan deal that will postpone budget and debt-limit fights until 2017. The outgoing speaker waved a box of tissues to his chuckling colleagues before his farewell speech, and he dabbed his eyes as he pleaded for reason. “Yes, freedom makes all things possible,” he said, “but patience is what makes all things real.” The departing speaker was still wiping his eyes when, standing in the back of the chamber, he heard Pelosi celebrate him as “the personification of the American dream,” and Ryan accurately call him “a man of character.” Boehner gave a final salute and walked out. “Now I know how he felt,” Ryan said, confiding that the weight of the office makes him feel that “the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me.” He suggested his colleagues should feel the weight of their offices, too. “At bottom,” the speaker said, “we vindicate a way of life. We show by our work that free people can govern themselves.” That proposition is now seriously in question. Let’s all — Democrats, Republicans, liberals and conservatives — pray for Ryan’s success in defending it. Dana Milbank is a Washington Post columnist.