Why We Need MOPs

No, not the floor polishing kind either. I'm talking about this bad boy:

Massive Ordinance Penetrator. heh.

That there is a 15 ton bomb the US Military has designed to penetrate underground facilities. The bomb will be the largest yield non-nuclear bomb in our arsenal and have the ability to penetrate up to 10,000 pounds of reinforced concrete and explode up to 200 feet below ground. We need more of these and I'll tell you why.

The MOP may be called just another part of the United States' "military-industrial complex" by some people, but I do believe spending millions of dollars on something that can destroy the uranium enrichment facility in Qom, Iran is a far more worthwhile expenditure of our tax dollars than, say, the cash for clunkers program, spending $4,500 on $300 plane tickets for congresspeople, or just about any amount of the billions in foreign aid we so kindly give out each year. That kind of spending really irks me. Did you know we provide aid to both North Korea and Iran every year that amounts to billions of our tax dollars? Why waste our money when we have a terrible economy, unemployment rate through the roof, and a rising poverty level right here at home?

Now, before you start, I am well aware that million dollar bombs don't feed people, but guess what? They do employ them. The MOP program began at Northrop Grumman and expanded to include Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Since the program had a start date back in 2004, I'm quite sure the project has helped the bottom line here at home quite well. That's what our tax dollars need to be doing. No, they don't have to be defense related projects, but it's a better alternative than throwing our tax dollars down the drain on countries and peoples that mean us harm as well as ineffective welfare programs here at home.

Even the aborted Comanche helicopter program did more for this country in terms of job and wealth creation than the money we throw into food stamps, disability, and aid to hostile states.

I can fly 100 mph. Sideways! Really!

The $7 billion program began in 1981 and was cancelled in 2004 after just a few Comanches were actually produced. No result? Not necessarily. The program led to numerous innovations in the area of rotary flight. This included upgrades and improvements to the armoring, weapons platforms, and avionics of our entire fleet of helicopters. So, we did get something for that money after all. Which is more than I can say for most of our existing welfare programs.

Perhaps that's the bottom line in all of this. Take tax dollars, fund a public program that creates new jobs right here at home, and reap the benefits of such in more tangible means than just another large, ineffective beauracracy. Here's looking at you health care reform.