Good news: Navy chief believes in submarines
6:42 PM Wed, Oct 22, 2008 | Permalink
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The Navy's top officer today gave a ringing endorsement of the submarine program, calling it a ``killer arrow'' among the weapons available to commanders. ``I love submarines,'' Adm. Gary Roughead, the Chief of Naval Operations, told a convention of submariners, contractors and others close to the industry, joking that some of his colleagues in the surface Navy ``think I have gone over to the dark side.'' But Roughead, a rare CNO who has commanded both the Atlantic and Pacific fleets, observed on a serious note that some people ``think that submarines are a thing of the past.'' He said skeptics view submarines as ``cold war relics'' that have outlived the usefulness. ``I am not in their camp,'' Roughead told the annual symposium of the Naval Submarine League in Northern Virginia. Roughead went on to allude in general terms to the versatility of submarines, which are uniquely able to operate without detection on missions of intelligence-gathering, special forces warfare and long-distance missile attacks. As a commander in the Pacific, Roughead suggested that he relied heavily on submarines, calling them ``the killer arrow in the quiver,'' that offers ``options and capabilities that exist nowhere else.'' Roughead offered particular praise for the small, new class of former ballistic missile subs that have been overhauled in recent years to accommodate large payloads of conventional missiles, as well as special forces units. The Navy leader spoke at a moment of growing challenges for the Navy, which faces heavy budgetary pressures even as such potential adversaries such as China expand their undersea fleets. 
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Personally, I don't believe in submarines. I'm pretty sure they're just a myth.
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"The high unemployment rate in this State comes as no surprise and is a tell-tale sign of a very unfavorable business climate in the State of Rhode Island. As individuals we are among the highest taxed in the nation at the State and Local level. State Income Tax, Property Tax, Inventory, and Tangible asset tax rates are among the highest in the nation and discourage new business. State and Local tax coffers support a legion of public employees and retirees far in excess required by a population of this size. Consolidation of school districts, police, fire departments, municipal public works employees to perhaps no more than 4-5 regional districts would cut out a lot of duplication that we currently tolerate particularly at the executive and administrative pay grades, at the expense of the taxpayer. By lessening the overall tax burden, more businesses would be attracted to set up shop here. There are many states that don't levy inventory and tangible asset taxes, and their public services are run more efficiently and as a consequence provide a more attractive climate for businesses and investment capital wanting to come in to the state to conduct their enterprise, and with it provide jobs. The current cycle of public employee largesse is short sighted and in reality shortchanges the very people who argue in it's favor. It is no surprise then that there are not enough businesses in the State to absorb the 8.8% reported in today's Providence Journal, and sadly, many are leaving."
Let all of em leave and wine such as yourself. This governor got elected on his being a supposed financial guru. Get this bum out of here. Where are all the companies that by now should be waiting at "Don's" footsteps by now. Again, this governor already is and will forever be reminded as the most ineffectual governor to have ever served the State of Rhode Island. If he does not get what he wants, he simply destroys it and hopes that somehow something good will come out of his disastrous decisions. Can't wait to see you go "Don". Hey, buy the way Don, why dont you reveal exactly how many departments have already brought back their retired employees under the 75 day rule.. Hint, hint, maybe the Projo should look into this sound decision. Stay tuned.
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