‘Cuban TV Airplane’ Report Reveals $36M US Boondoggle
Source: ABC News
Cuban TV Airplane Report Reveals $36M US Boondoggle
Jul 7, 2014 8:06pm
By Ali Weinberg
@AliABCnEWS
Remember Cuban Twitter, the ill-fated US test program that would have tried to get Cubans to text each other with subversive anti-government messages?
Well, then this is Cuban Television Airplane except it was an actual US-funded project, and existed for almost a decade, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars, before it was quietly canned in April 2014, a State Department Office of Inspector General report revealed today.
Called Aero Martí and purchased in 2006, the program included a single 1960s turboprop plane that tried to transmit US government broadcast signals to Cuba except for the fact that the Cuban government easily jammed its signal every day so it never really worked.
For several years, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees all US government media abroad (VOA, Radio Free Europe), called for Congress to end the program but vocal anti-Cuba members of Congress refused to cut funding.
Then the plane became the victim of budget sequestration, so it was grounded in 2013 but its storage and maintenance was still paid for, to the tune of $79,524 per year just enough money to do nothing, the Washington Post wrote last year.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/07/cuban-tv-airplane-report-reveals-36m-us-boondoggle/
Amonester
(11,541 posts)Kock bro$? BuelleR?
delrem
(9,688 posts)It long ago dropped any pretence of reasoned argument and has been ridiculed world-wide for decades.
Judi Lynn
(160,545 posts)From former Wayne S. Smith, U.S. head of its Interests Section in Havana, the leading US diplomat there:
If I am remembered at all (which isnt likely), it will probably be for having said in my first op-ed piece in the New York Times after leaving the U.S. Foreign Service back in 1982 that Cuba seems to have the same effect on American administrations that the full moon once had on werewolves.
zonkers
(5,865 posts)SamKnause
(13,108 posts)members of Congress should have all of their assets seized to pay for this wasteful
unnecessary nonsense !!!
They should have their wages garnished.
They should be impeached.
I am sick and tired of our tax dollars being squandered by insane politicians.
Judi Lynn
(160,545 posts)Mr. Diaz-Balart Goes to Washington
When an unsuspecting Colorado congressman tries to cut funding to Radio and TV Martí, the freshman lawmaker gives a taste of exile politics, Miami-style
By Jim DeFede
Published on July 14, 1993
As fourth-term Democratic Rep. David Skaggs walked to the podium on the evening of July 1, he was still bristling over the events of the past few hours. Cuban American politics had arrived with a vengeance in the halls of Congress, and it had just cost Skaggs's Colorado district $23 million in federal funds.
It had been a long, unpleasant day.
Right then, at a few minutes past 7:00 p.m., the House floor was empty; most members of Congress were already on their way home for the Fourth of July recess. But Skaggs was going to speak anyway, for the record. And standing a few feet away at a second lectern was Rep. Jose Serrano, a fellow Democrat from the South Bronx who was there to lend his moral support.
The trouble had arisen several weeks before. In a tough budget year, as a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee -- specifically, of the subcommittee that oversees funding for the departments of commerce, justice, and state -- Skaggs had been looking for programs to cut from the 1994 budget. In Radio Martí and TV Martí, he believed he had found two prime candidates. And indeed, in mid-June, at Skaggs's urging, the subcommittee had voted to cut all funding for both programs, a total of nearly $28 million.
A week later, though, when the trimmed budget went to the full Appropriations Committee, Miami Rep. Carrie Meek successfully argued to allow $8.7 million in funding for Radio Martí, in spite of Skaggs's objections. Before the appropriations bill went before the entire House of Representatives for consideration, Meek, along with fellow Miami representatives Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, had met with Skaggs to persuade him not to do anything that would endanger Radio Martí. But as Meek had told the congressional newspaper Roll Call, Skaggs was unwilling to compromise; he promised to fight against Radio Martí funding on the House floor.
So it had come about that on that fateful first day of July, the day on which the appropriations bill was coming up for debate, Diaz-Balart paid the Rocky Mountain State congressman a visit. While other aspects of the bill were being discussed, the freshman representative from Miami confronted Skaggs and admonished him to abandon his crusade against Radio Martí. (Diaz-Balart's actions are characterized by one congressional source as "a very angry outburst" during which the Floridian warned that if Skaggs didn't leave Radio Martí alone, he would see to it that every program the Coloradan held dear likewise was decimated.)
Skaggs stood his ground.
Although the final House vote on funding for Radio Martí was postponed until the second week in July, Diaz-Balart had wasted no time in making good on his threat. That very afternoon, in a parliamentary move known as a "point of order," he axed a $23 million construction project that was heading for Skaggs's district.
The Cuban American National Foundation wasn't wasting any time, either. No sooner had Diaz-Balart killed the Colorado construction item when the political exile group issued a press release gloating over the pre-emptive strike. The statement, faxed to every major newspaper in Colorado, was entitled, "Opposition to Cuba Initiative Costs Boulder Rep Pet Project." (The foundation was keenly interested for several reasons. Not only do they believe the Martí broadcasts are vital to keeping the Cuban people informed, but foundation chairman Jorge Mas Canosa is also chairman of the President's Advisory Board for Cuba Broadcasting, which has been the unofficial governing board for both Radio and TV Martí.)
Of course, the fact that Skaggs was about to decry the day's events for the congressional record would not go overlooked.
More:
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1993-07-14/news/mr-diaz-balart-goes-to-washington/
delrem
(9,688 posts)why it is that these sociopathic right-wing extremists always win, in the USA?
In other forums I've been wondering how it can be possible that Dems accept PNAC leadership in European and Eurasian affairs, but the absolutely massive majority of those I've discussed this with seem to find no problem whatsoever. As to how this is possible, none of them give any indication of even processing the information.
The only explanation that seems to fit is that USians are the cumulative product of a "dumbing down" program taken to an extreme.
Judi Lynn
(160,545 posts)There has been so much desensitization going on for so long, a total lack of concern about the well being of other people. I can't really understand it. There's no sense of connectedness at all.
It's the opposite of civilization, I'm sure.
They have had the upper hand a very long time, haven't they?
merrily
(45,251 posts)NAFTA, TPP, etc.
Follow the money.
And, remember, the founder of the Progressive Policy Institute, as well as of the the DLC, was also a signatory of PNAC letter, urging Bush to invade Iraq. (What a fucking joke. As if he needed urging to invade.)
(One of many reasons I have to laugh when DUers hasten to point out that the DLC no longer exists, as though the DLC philosophy were confined to just that one corporation. Please, Louise.)
merrily
(45,251 posts)chalk up the behavior of my adversary to the stupidity of my adversary.
If I did that, I might very well be helping him or her to outsmart me.
Believe it or not, I often got that reply from my superiors, when I would ask, "Why is the other side doing XYZ?'' The frequent reply? "Because they're stoooopid."
Soon or later, it often turned out that the other side was busy putting one over on us, while we were busy calling them stupid.
merrily
(45,251 posts)Hard to tell sometimes.
Well, at least $46 million of our hard-earned money is peanuts these days.
But add up this stupid program with a lot of other equally stupid programs and you could be talking real money.