Morning News: Whether to Laugh or to Cry?

You can’t say that the top brass never learns. After the failure of the Deepwater project, in which eight cutting-edge patrol boats were hauled out of the water because they were riddled with design and structural flaws, the Coast Guard decided to take an unusually early look at its new line of ships, called “national security cutters.” It was not pleased with what it found. Eric Lipton’s update, “Early Flaws Seen in New Coast Guard Cutter,” of a story scooped the other day by Wired is not his most lucid, but it does convey the man in the street’s dilemma. Ought we to be pleased that problems have been detected before billions have gushed into Lockheed Martin sinkholes, or should he lament the American soi-disant “advanced technology company” is supporting our troops and our nation with vessels compromised by “design flaws and improper installation of cables for its classified communications systems”?

Half full, or halp empty?