Monday, September 10, 1034
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Daily Nebrsskan
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Doffemise ' 3smirimM. meed's ti wmlse mp
The U.S. Department of Defense's
bias toward high-tech, high-cost
equipment i3 costing taxpayers
billions of dollars.
This bias clearly is illustrated by the
Pentagon's drone program.
Last December, 28 U.S. Navy jets flew
over the Shouf Mountains near Beirut to
strike at Syrian anti-aircraft positions,
Newhcuse News Service reported in the
Sept. 4 Lincoln Star. Two planes were shot
down; a third plane barely made it back
to its aircraft carrier.
A similar attack by Israeli aircrafts a
year-and-a-half earlier wiped out 19 mis
sile batteries and lost only one plane. The
difference Israelis used drones; un
manned aircraft used to locate targets
and draw enemy fire.
The United States and Israel began
drone programs at roughly the same
time, Newhouse reported, but the U.S.
program has yet to get off the ground,
while Israelis have been using their cheap
er, effective drones for years.
After the Israeli attack, an Israeli offi
cial briefed the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff
on the use of drones. The official menti
oned the $50,000 price tag and the gen
erals began to laugh. The official said the
generals wouldn't believe the drones
would work unless they added another
zero to the cost, Newhouse reported. The
Pentagon's drone program has a stagger
ing $2.4 billion budget.
The U.S. drone, named Aquila, is prob
ably years from being flown. Costs have
escalated, the technology has changed
since the program began in 1974 and
Aquila is not scheduled for field use until
1987.
Newhouse said Israeli officials claimed
that "just the interest costs on Aquila
would have paid for our entire project."
The Pentagon could take a lesson from
the Israelis. Aquila might be easily rede
signed to follow in the footsteps of Israe-
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ii's cheap, effective drone. Eut the mil
itary mentality seems too ready to spend
money and to avoid help from "outsid
ers." In this case, the taxpayers could be
saved millions, maybe billions of dollars
by mimicking the Israeli drone. Why not?
The Israelis also point out that the Pen
tagon's approach to Aquila b wrong
headed. Instead of quickly producing a
prototype and testing it in the field, the
United States is putting all its egjs into
one basket, so to speak If the hih-tech,
computer-laden Aquila doesnt perform
the way the generals want it to perform,
the whole thing may have to be rede
signed. If it was tested and modified over
the years, a more effective, cheaper wea
pon could be produced.
The defense program has grown more
than any ether recipient cf U.S. tax dol
lars ever the years. A lot of that money
has been thrown away on $500 hammers,
$300 screws and $2.4 billion drones.
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gs, pigs
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, st1 ling people
evvy
orn dogs and lemonade, pork chops and corn
on the cob, elderberry jelly, quilts and friendly
people these are a few cf my favorite things.
It's nice to sit down at a picnic table and have
someone pass me the barbecue sauce and paper tow
els, and order more in case I need it.
Iv t ii Daily ti
'3lM4aMcaEi
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ALL &,tATCFt!AL CCPYHICHT 1234 DAILY
Christoph
1
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An easily recognizable division separates the down
home and the down-the-drain sections of the Neb
raska State Fair. I could almost feel the difference as I
walked through the fairgrounds Saturday.
Caustic jeers from carny barkers, metallic whines
and clouds of diesel smoke from rides and pokes with
a sharp financial stick assaulted me as I walked
through the midway. Just watching those machines,
like whirling centrifuges separating their victims'
innards from their bodies, made me feel a little
queasy. And watching sharpies at "games of skill"
separate people from their money made me a little
angry. .
I tried a basketball game you're right, I should
have known and won a miniature stuffed straw
berry for two bucks and three straight baskets.
"C'mon, win a bigger prize for the lady," my tormen
tor grated.
When 1 asked him to point out the next largest
prise I could win (large is a relative term here, folks),
he declined, he just doesn't do that. I think I can
understand why the nest prize was probably a
stuffed rutabaga.
. Ail that merely lurks like a sideshow in the shadows
of the real State Fair, at least for us fuddy-duddies.
The main attraction is the food, the big pis, the horse
shows, the arts and crafts, the marching bands, the
pickles, the people.
Farmers, bankers, fat kids, skinny kids, cowboys,
urban cowboys, folk with funny, fuzzy antennae on
their heads and barbecue sauce on their shirts
smiling.
I crossed the midway good life border and encoun
tered a marching band and drill team frcm Ralston,
tooting and sweating. I followed around the band a
woman who pulled her child behind her in a wooden
wagon complete with mattress, modern-day pioneers.
In safe territory, I chowed down a com dog (I ate
six last year) and chased it with some freshly squeezed
if sugary, lemonade. The food was expensive, but it
delivered some satisfaction, unlike the games of skill.
I walked on to find the pigs with a little ketchup in one
of my dimples and a little mustard in the other.
Big, beautiful horses pranced around in the coli
seum under the rein of riders in polo shirts, T-shirts,
jeans, some in traditional riding gear, but all in boots.
There were a few 4H kids, somebody's mom, a city boy,
and they all belonged together on their horses.
So did the quilts, the photographs and the other
crafts that were created ail over Nebraska to hang at
the fair. The quilts were particularly pleasing. My
favorite was a rather plain piece decorated with deli
cate, daintily embroidered flowers. Functional art,
toiled over and shered with fellow Nebraskans
much nicer than a stuffed strawberry.
v I finally made it to the pig barns, but the beautifully
obese cervines had already left town. That was a
major disappointment, only partially abated by the
goats, lambs and horses which remained. I never
liked goats. Anything that would est Ma Kettle's
underwear is no friend cf mine.
These things are the spirit of the Nebraska State
Fair. These things we have to celebrate our herit
age, our ways of life, our work, our leisure, each other.
These thing3 make the State Fair a good experience, a
tradition worth continuing. Especially the com dogs.