BRAC: Red States v. Blue?

There was much local consternation and gnashing of teeth last week on the question of whether the BRAC commission would deliver a killing blow to Hill AFB -- a very mighty economic engine in Northern Utah, indeed. Our local daily newspaper went darned near apoplectic about it, publishing dire daily front-page articles designed to stir up the emotions of the reader public, create public anxiety, and sell more newspapers.

A sage friend of mine reminded me of a few facts when I spoke with him about this problem a few days ago. He reminded me that Hill AFB is on the edge of the western desert, and is an ideal test range for a nation that's hellbent to wage continuing war in desert regions. He reminded me that the base personnel in the "beehive state" are very culturally dedicated to the work ethic and extremely efficient, compared to other bases. He also reminded me that the policies of the current Presidential administration are now being run by a very smart fellow from Utah named Karl Rove... a graduate of Olympus High School in SLC (and very devout in his religion, I understand) ... and that the national government is now firmly under "local" control.

What he forgot to mention was plain old partisan party politics.

Seems he was right, at least as far as his predicted result. In that connection ... check this out. Interesting "bar-chart," by the way.
So much for the story that the BRAC process is politically unmotivated; and so much for the story that HAFB will be sacrificed in the political bickering that will occur down the road.

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