Topic: LightSquared

[jpatrickham]

Eh, no conflict of interest here...

 

Air Force General blows whistle on Obama, but media deaf

Jim Kouri, Law Enforcement Examiner

September 17, 2011

"A United State Air Force general is blowing the whistle on another alleged White House scandal, but few in the news media seem to be listening.
 
According to General William Shelton, the commanding officer of U.S. Air Force's space command, he was told to alter his testimony before the House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Strategic Forces regarding an Obama White House attempt to award a defense contract to the Lightsquared firm.
 
Lightsquared is a high-tech company doing business in Virginia that's owned by billionaire Philip Falcone, an Obama friend and campaign contributor.
 
According to the National Legal and Policy Center, Phil Falcone had visited the White House and made large cash contributions to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Soon after, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted his LightSquared a highly unusual waiver that allows the company to build out a national 4G wireless network on the cheap.
 
Republican lawmakers say that after Falcon's visit, the Obama White House allegedly tried to push through a Lightsquared's proposed wireless network regardless of the objections emanating from military commanders who believed the project could disrupt key U.S. satellite systems.
  

General Shelton told lawmakers that he was pressured to be less than honest by the White House when he gives testimony before Congress"

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LINK TO FULL ARTICLE AND RELATED ARTICLES:

http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-in-national/air-force-gener...




 Deja Vu all over again!

[Pandora]

Republican lawmakers say that after Falcon's visit, the Obama White House allegedly tried to push through a Lightsquared's proposed wireless network regardless of the objections emanating from military commanders who believed the project could disrupt key U.S. satellite systems.

One give-away after another -- they've another 90 Billion already loaded in the pipeline for more "green" projects.

What they're doing is systematically looting the country's remaining wealth and giving it to Friends Of Obama, laundering it right out of the country.

[IronDioPriest]

I would think that by this time, military brass would be getting the sense that the constitution they swore an oath to defend against all enemies foreign and domestic, and the man occupying the role of Commander in Chief, have come to an absolute impasse. They can no longer serve both their oath and this enemy with a clear conscience.

General Reported He Was Pressured on Testimony About White House-Backed Project

Gen. William Shelton, head of the Air Force Space Command, told House members in a classified briefing earlier this month that he was pressured to change prepared congressional testimony in a way that would favor a large company funded by Philip Falcone, a major Democratic donor, congressional sources told Fox News.

[charlesoakwood]

An ex-CIA man, talking on Fox, said we have the worst generals in our history.
His logic: we have not won a war since WWII and have been promoting politicians since then
and with every generation of promotions the gene pool of real military generals has been diminished.
Today we have generals with political genes not military genes.

[Pandora]

At the House subcommittee hearing Thursday, which focused on strategic forces and sustaining GPS for national security, Republican Chairman Michael Turner lashed out at the Obama administration for its acceptance of LightSquared proposals. He took aim at FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, a longtime basketball buddy of President Obama, for not showing up at the hearing and for granting a waiver to LightSquared on Jan. 26.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/15/general-reportedly-said-was-pressured-to-change-testimony-on-white-house-backed/#ixzz1YLGY6D7P

Anyone know what waiver they're talking about?

[charlesoakwood]

At the House subcommittee hearing Thursday, which focused on strategic forces and sustaining GPS for national security, Republican Chairman Michael Turner lashed out at the Obama administration for its acceptance of LightSquared proposals. He took aim at FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, a longtime basketball buddy of President Obama, for not showing up at the hearing and for granting a waiver to LightSquared on Jan. 26.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/15/general-reportedly-said-was-pressured-to-change-testimony-on-white-house-backed/#ixzz1YLGY6D7P

Anyone know what waiver they're talking about?

Here's some:

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/470061-Hill_Hearing_on_LightSquared_Scheduled.php
...
FCC granted a waiver to allow LightSquared to test the system and resolve interference issues with GPS that have concerned, among others, the Department of Commerce, and Homeland Security.

Interestingly at Bing search words - LightSquared hearing waiver -  the third option is:

LightSquared executives fire back at critics  1 day ago

A House Armed Services subcommittee hearing on Thursday became an ... Falcone’s, behalf and granting his company called LightSquared one of those coveted Obama waivers …
www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/?63728.html

However, at the clicked link http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63728.html  search words "waiver" and "coveted" yield no results.

[Pandora]

Here a waiver, there a waiver, hard to sort out these days what's being waived -- Obamacare -- and by whom.

Thanks, CO.

[Predator Don]

Chicago politics are alive and well....and relocated to DC.

[Pandora]

Chicago politics are alive and well....and relocated to DC.

I'm hard pressed to decide if I believe Shelton should have resigned in protest OR did well by sticking it in their hair and testifying truthfully.

[AlanS]

Chicago politics are alive and well....and relocated to DC.

And covering a LOT more territory.

[Libertas]

An ex-CIA man, talking on Fox, said we have the worst generals in our history.
His logic: we have not won a war since WWII and have been promoting politicians since then
and with every generation of promotions the gene pool of real military generals has been diminished.
Today we have generals with political genes not military genes.

I think this is a mixed bag...the statement seems more true than not...I think there are some officers of good character...but the majority do realize that once you reach Major/Commander level and are considered for advanced officers training (War College's) you are being deemed worthy of possible flag officer status and it is a bit of an old boys club...those who are doing the selecting were once selectees themselves...so once you hit Colonel/Captial level you know if you are going to be considered for further advancement or if you maxed out and are looking at retirement.  Usually boat rockers (hardly ever) and ass-kickers (rarely) get advanced, it's the political critters and savy leaders who get that shot.  All we are left with is hoping savy and competent out number the pure political critters...

In WWII/Korea we had some ass-kickers...MacArthur, Patton & Halsey most notably...

That type of leader is mostly a thing of the past.

We had Go Big commanders like Schwarzkopf and Go Lighter/Faster commanders like Franks that didn't seem to lose their kick-ass gene, but they were savy leaders who knew how to play the game...the boat-rocking ass-kicker who developed the Light/Fast doctrine was an old Air Force major named John Boyd, if not for him and Cheney who knew his work, Franks could have been screwed and likely would have lost a lot more troops in battle.

[IronDioPriest]

I moved this from the Military forum because it has now expanded to include the administration pressuring other government officials to lie on behalf of "LightSquared" - the Obama donor that seeks to expand broadband into frequencies currently used by military GPS systems.

White House offered “guidance” to second witness in LightSquared inquiry

[blockquote]...The issue of LightSquared and the OMB’s interest in testimony came to light last week when The Daily Beast reported that Gen. William Shelton, the four-star general in charge of the Air Force Space Command, told House lawmakers in a classified briefing that he felt pressured by the White House to change his testimony on LightSquared. Shelton ultimately rejected the White House suggestions and delivered his own testimony last week.

On Monday, a second witness, Anthony Russo, director of the National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing, told The Daily Beast that he too was asked by the OMB to insert the 90-day timeframe into his testimony before the House Science Committee, but he refused...[/blockquote]

[Libertas]

Ah ha, good move IDP...but if this keeps up maybe we'll be able to move it Judiciary Crime & Courts next!

[LadyVirginia]

Ah ha, good move IDP...but if this keeps up maybe we'll be able to move it Judiciary Crime & Courts next!

If only we could have a topic for JAILED!

[Pandora]

Soon as the jailings begin happening, we will.  I guaran-damn-tee it.

[charlesoakwood]

Ah ha, good move IDP...but if this keeps up maybe we'll be able to move it Judiciary Crime & Courts next!

 

                     

[Libertas]

Soon as the jailings begin happening, we will.  I guaran-damn-tee it.

 

[Predator Don]

Guidance.......my .


Another reason I'd vote for a blind squirrel before I see this guy with 4 more years. He has made a mockery of America.

[Pandora]

As Republican lawmakers begin to dig into the White House's cozy relationship with a startup wireless company and the wealthy Democratic donor who owns it, a new character has appeared on the story's edges: liberal superdonor, conservative bete noire and controversial investor George Soros.

Soros reportedly invested in the telecom company LightSquared through a hedge fund, and many of the nonprofits he finances have backed LightSquared in regulatory and policy disputes.

...

In the LightSquared affair, Soros shows up repeatedly.

First, Soros is reportedly an investor in LightSquared. The Wall Street Journal reported in November 2010: "In 2009, while some investors were asking for withdrawals, others were lining up to put money into Harbinger. They included Soros Fund Management, which during the past year became a significant new investor, say people familiar with the matter."

I asked about this, but a Soros spokesman emailed me, "As a matter of policy, we don't confirm or deny information on our investments."

Additionally, the telecom- and tech-related liberal nonprofits Soros funds have gone to bat for LightSquared in its various policy fights. In April 2010, the Public Interest Spectrum Coalition filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission backing Harbinger's business plans and met with an FCC commissioner on the matter. Four groups that belong to that coalition received six-figure gifts from Soros' Open Society Institute the year before.

Six months later, those four Soros-funded groups -- Free Press, Media Access Project, the New America Foundation, and Public Knowledge -- filed a joint comment backing LightSquared in a related regulatory matter.

Donations from a politically interested billionaire, of course, do not make an activist group a "front" for the billionaire's business interest. In fact, the unseemly fundraising-cum-lobbying emails were unearthed this year by the Center for Public Integrity, which Soros funded early last decade. And one profile, by liberal writer Jane Mayer, painted a picture of Soros almost as a rich sucker rather than a scheming moneyman.

Still, as Congress begins looking into the politics behind LightSquared's regulatory victories, it's worth asking if Soros, the Left's leading donor, played a role in the affair.

Gee, YA THINK!?!

[Libertas]

I keep harping that that evil bastard can be traced to much of the evil perpetrated in the world!

I really want something bad and hopefully fatal to occur to this minion of Satan, and damn soon for the good of us all!