It's About Liberty: A Conservative Forum
Topics => General Board => Topic started by: jpatrickham on September 17, 2011, 01:26:43 PM
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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... (http://www.examiner.com/law-enforcement-in-national/air-force-gener...)
Deja Vu all over again! ::gaah::
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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.
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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 (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/09/15/general-reportedly-said-was-pressured-to-change-testimony-on-white-house-backed/)
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.
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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.
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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 (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?
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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 (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 (http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/470061-Hill_Hearing_on_LightSquared_Scheduled.php)
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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/ (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/)?63728.html
However, at the clicked link http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63728.html (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0911/63728.html) search words "waiver" and "coveted" yield no results.
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Here a waiver, there a waiver, hard to sort out these days what's being waived -- Obamacare -- and by whom.
Thanks, CO.
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Chicago politics are alive and well....and relocated to DC.
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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.
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Chicago politics are alive and well....and relocated to DC.
And covering a LOT more territory. ::rockets::
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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.
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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 (http://hotair.com/archives/2011/09/20/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]
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Ah ha, good move IDP...but if this keeps up maybe we'll be able to move it Judiciary Crime & Courts next!
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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!
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Soon as the jailings begin happening, we will. I guaran-damn-tee it.
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Ah ha, good move IDP...but if this keeps up maybe we'll be able to move it Judiciary Crime & Courts next!
::guillotine::
::thumbsup::
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Soon as the jailings begin happening, we will. I guaran-damn-tee it.
::praying::
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Guidance.......my ::mooning::.
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.
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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. (http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/article/soros-turns-obamas-lightsquared-imbroglio)
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.
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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!?!
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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!
::outrage::
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As we know, calling for the death of public officials cannot happen here. That said, I have no problem calling for the execution of George Soros. He is a traitor to the United States and the free world.
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Good article here at ZH -
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/preparation-solyndra-2-aka-lightsquared-humiliated-phil-falcone-gets-wells-notice#comment-1962926 (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/preparation-solyndra-2-aka-lightsquared-humiliated-phil-falcone-gets-wells-notice#comment-1962926)
Make special note of comment by "Gene Parmesan" and follow the link, the picture and the comments thatb follow, they're a hoot!
I'm sad to say this douchebag leftist crook is a product of Minnesota! (He better not have any more ties to the Minnesota Wild!) Another Harvard jackass to boot!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Falcone (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Falcone)
::mooning::
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More taxpayer "stimulus" money down the Obama donor rathole. This has the reek of scandal all over it. Between Solyndra, LightSquared, and Gunrunner, there should be enough to impeach.
LightSquared disrupts 75% of GPS receivers in gov’t testing (http://hotair.com/archives/2011/12/10/lightsquared-disrupts-75-of-gps-receivers-in-govt-testing/)
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More taxpayer "stimulus" money down the Obama donor rathole. This has the reek of scandal all over it. Between Solyndra, LightSquared, and Gunrunner, there should be enough to impeach.
LightSquared disrupts 75% of GPS receivers in gov’t testing (http://hotair.com/archives/2011/12/10/lightsquared-disrupts-75-of-gps-receivers-in-govt-testing/)
Don't forget about MF Global. Apparently that scandal also has George Soros' hands all over it.
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Soros shouldn't be above ground and Obama shouldn't be in office any longer.
No doubt I will continue to be disappointed on both counts.
Until people wake up and act it will be just more and more of this BS going down, it will not end...
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[blockquote]
execution (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/execution)
noun
1. the act or process of executing.
2. the state or fact of being executed.
3. the infliction of capital punishment or, formerly, of any legal punishment.
4. the process of performing a judgment or sentence of a court: The judge stayed execution of the sentence pending appeal
ex·e·cute
verb (used with object)
1. to carry out; accomplish: to execute a plan or order.
2. to perform or do: to execute a maneuver; to execute a gymnastic feat.
3. to inflict capital punishment on; put to death according to law. [/blockquote]
Here come da judge, here come da judge!
::guillotine::
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A Minnesota twist added to this sordid story...it just gets worse and worse...
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/12/14/lightsquared-lobbyists-pushing-mn-legislators-to-demand-action-from-klobuchar-franken/ (http://hotair.com/archives/2011/12/14/lightsquared-lobbyists-pushing-mn-legislators-to-demand-action-from-klobuchar-franken/)
::facepalm::
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Funny how one of the commenters is regurgitating the talking points verbatim that the Lobbyist are laying on Senators Klaus and Frankster.
(Yossarian)
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Yossarian!
::laughonfloor::
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First, in September, General Hugh Shelton is pressured to lie during a briefing to congressional members: (http://hotair.com/archives/2011/09/15/bombshell-general-accused-wh-of-pressuring-him-to-change-testimony-for-democratic-donor/)
The four-star Air Force general who oversees U.S. Space Command walked into a highly secured room on Capitol Hill a week ago to give a classified briefing to lawmakers and staff, and dropped a surprise. Pressed by members, Gen. William Shelton said the White House tried to pressure him to change his testimony to make it more favorable to a company tied to a large Democratic donor.
The episode—confirmed by The Daily Beast in interviews with administration officials and the chairman of a congressional oversight committee—is the latest in a string of incidents that have given Republicans sudden fodder for questions about whether the Obama administration is politically interfering in routine government matters that affect donors or fundraisers. Already, the FBI and a House committee are investigating a federal loan guarantee to a now failed solar firm called Solyndra that is tied to a large Obama fundraiser.
Now the Pentagon has been raising concerns about a new wireless project by a satellite broadband company in Virginia called LightSquared, whose majority owner is an investment fund run by Democratic donor Philip Falcone. Gen. Shelton was originally scheduled to testify Aug. 3 to a House committee that the project would interfere with the military’s sensitive Global Positioning Satellite capabilities, which control automated driving directions and missile targeting, among other things.
According to officials familiar with the situation, Shelton’s prepared testimony was leaked in advance to the company. And the White House asked the general to alter the testimony to add two points: that the general supported the White House policy to add more broadband for commercial use; and that the Pentagon would try to resolve the questions around LightSquared with testing in just 90 days. Shelton chafed at the intervention, which seemed to soften the Pentagon’s position and might be viewed as helping the company as it tries to get the project launched, the officials said.
Then, on January 23rd, this news broke from Senator Charles Grassley's office (http://hotair.com/archives/2012/01/23/grassley-lightsquared-offered-me-a-political-win-in-exchange-for-backing-down-on-probe/):
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today asked the principal behind the LightSquared wireless project to explain a questionable contact to Grassley’s office that intimated benefits for Grassley if he softened his inquiry of government approval of the project.
Grassley wrote to Philip Falcone of Harbinger Capital Partners, expressing concern that two separate incidents implied a desire to have Grassley “pull punches” in his investigation. Grassley said he “won’t be a part of that.” One contact came in an email from Falcone to Grassley’s office, saying that since LightSquared is already in the political “arena,” it could be made a “win” for Grassley, LightSquared, and the consumer.
The second contact was from someone who intimated that he represented LightSquared in a call to Grassley’s staff. The individual, Todd Ruelle, said he “only gets paid if this deal goes through” and hinted that if LightSquared were allowed to proceed, Grassley’s home state of Iowa could get a “call center.” Grassley’s office advised Ruelle not to contact the office further and called the Senate ethics committee regarding the contact.
Amazing.
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. . .
Amazing.
. . . or business as usual.
TEA PARTY NOW.
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Something NOW!
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If these numerous scandals are mentioned in the news at all, it is only obligatory. A story breaks after all, and must be mentioned. But at the first justifiable moment, they move onto something else and leave these things for the memory hole. I think they've even done it to F&F to an extent. It only pops up because new evidence continues to emerge, and it keeps working its way through the investigative office. But there is no national "scandal", and there should be about a dozen at least. The media malfeasance is just unconscionable.
And genteel Republicans wonder why the base gets so worked up when Gingrich takes it to the media.
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Yeah, just having someone exhibit a will to fight back is filling a void that has been empty far far too long.
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HT: HotAir...
Lights out for LightSquared (http://hotair.com/archives/2012/02/15/lights-out-for-lightsquared/)
National Journal calls it “a colossal fall from grace,” but it comes only as a political surprise that the FCC acted yesterday to kill off the LightSquared proposal. After an extraordinary one-year grace period to resolve the interference issues of its network with existing GPS systems, the FCC reluctantly admitted that “no practical way” to fix the basic problem of high-powered terrestrial broadcasts on a spectrum slice intended for low-power satellite communications (via Instapundit):
[blockquote]The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) moved to reject LightSquared’s planned wireless network on Tuesday after the president’s top adviser on telecom issues said there is “no practical way” to prevent the network from disrupting GPS devices.
Philip Falcone and his investment firm Harbinger Capital invested billions of dollars in LightSquared’s plan to build a nationwide high-speed cellphone network, which now appears dead. …
On Tuesday, Lawrence Strickling, the assistant secretary for communications and information at the Commerce Department, said government testing showed LightSquared’s network would cause widespread problems with GPS devices, including ones used by pilots to prevent their airplanes from crashing.
“We conclude at this time that there are no mitigation strategies that both solve the interference issues and provide LightSquared with an adequate commercial network deployment,” Strickling wrote in a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.[/blockquote]
The action by the FCC would not only end the waiver process, it would force LSQ off of the terrestrial towers it now uses on those frequencies, ending all of their operations:
[blockquote]As a result of Strickling’s recommendation, the FCC will propose revoking LightSquared’s conditional waiver and and indefinitely suspending its authority to operate cell towers.[/blockquote]
Much more deliciousness at HotAir...
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More billions of taxpayer and investor money pissed away...
How do you not know your system interferes with another? ::speechless::
I hope Falcone and his ilk are tracked down by angry mobs of investors!
Oh, and The Regime can earn its share of the punishment anytime! ::outrage::
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I imagine Philip Falcone as Sosa to Barack Obama's Tony Montana....
*Language*
Don't f**k me Tony - Quote - Scarface version (original) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugTwbS24ZAQ#)
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This seems troubling to me.
We know the LightSquared story: Huge Democrat donor and Obama supporter Philip Falcone is the CEO of LightSquared. LightSquared gets stimulus funds and a promise from the administration to open up new frequencies for LS to implement a new, nationwide wireless broadband network, presumably to create the infrastructure for a government-controlled wi-fi entitlement for the po'. The technology will use the frequencies used by GPS satellites to operate consumer devices, and the administration is prepared to tell consumers to pound sand. LightSquared spends hundreds of millions on moving forward with the implementation of the network, and consumers who've spent hundreds of dollars apiece on personal GPS devices wait for the government to f*** them.
But then the military steps in and says no way. We use those frequencies too, and our testing shows that the satellites will be overwhelmed and all GPS devices risk being rendered inoperable. Our navigation and missile guidance systems, surveillance.... LightSquared and the Obama regime's FCC have no choice but to back off, tail between their legs, Philip Falcone being royally screwed in the keister.
But now comes this report. Seems the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration has issued new guidelines for in-vehicle electronic devices. They are attacking "dynamic, continually moving maps" as a distraction and safety hazard. They are suggesting that these devices should display only static or near static images, which would render them useless - or at least no more useful than a paper map.
Yet their claim of GPS devices causing driver distraction is based on - NO RESEARCH.
Is this a backdoor effort to render consumer GPS devices useless, thereby freeing up satellite bandwidth for LightSquared? Is this the first step in the government making consumer GPS devices illegal via fiat regulation, so that Obama's promise to Philip Falcone can be fulfilled, and the broadband entitlement implemented?
I put nothing past these people. Nothing.
Fed driver distraction guidelines make navigation unusable (http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-57401786-48/fed-driver-distraction-guidelines-make-navigation-unusable/)
...Buried among equations for determining optimal display viewing angles and testing procedures is the recommendation that navigation devices should only show static or near-static images, which would essentially eliminate their usefulness.
Section V.5.b of the document titled Visual-Manual NHTSA Driver Distraction Guidelines for In-Vehicle Electronic Devices says that "Dynamic, continuously moving maps are not recommended."
The section, which deals with photographs or videos, says that static or near-static maps for the purpose of driving directions are acceptable. Near static is defined as being updated every few seconds.
Every current installed navigation system uses the car as a fixed point, and shows the map moving around it. NHTSA wants that changed so as to keep the map fixed. Even showing the position of the car moving on the map could be considered a dynamic image. The recommendation seems to suggest that the position of the car could only be updated every couple of seconds. Likewise, the map could be refreshed once the car has left the currently displayed area.
This recommendation would essentially make navigation unusable. The system could still give an auditory warning for the next turn, but without being able to glance down at the map and see how close the next street is would likely lead to a lot of missed turns and resultant frustration.
And although NHTSA includes the results of driver distraction studies in the guidelines, it has no testing directly related to using a navigation system. Instead there are more general conclusions against any tasks that require looking at a device for periods of more than 2 seconds, or a series of glances that amount to more than 12 seconds at at time....
More @ link....
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Duh. When do people use navigation systems? Oh right! When they don't know where they are going.
I travel for work to strange cities. Once upon a time I would have hand written notes and maps which I would constantly look down at while driving. Then came mapquest, and you would print those out, but you still had to look at them while driving. Then came the first GPS navs-- I would pay a premium to get them with my rental car.--because they would speak to me , and if I had to glance at a map I could and I would know it would be centered right and I could quickly get the info I needed off of it instead of trying "to find where I was" - now the talking systems are built right into my Android phone, and now they want to take that away because they think I may be distracted by pretty updating pictures? Even if the system doesn't talk, its those pretty updating pictures that minimize the time you are not looking at the road.
We have GPS NAV no because it is better and safer than the alternative. Oh wait. You want to take away my car and make me live in a mud hut, don't you? Neanderthal throwback Dem Luddites.
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If it was just the consumer market with their Nuvi's it would be "screw you guys" and a done deal. But someone pointed out the massive commercial and civic market with everyone from the po-po and firefighters to Fed-x and everyone in between. You can't un-ring a bell and you can't destroy this market without catastrophic consequences.
That said, lahood is positively unhinged and I wouldn't put it past him to pull the trigger out of spite. The Øbongo regime is truly evil.
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If it was just the consumer market with their Nuvi's it would be "screw you guys" and a done deal. But someone pointed out the massive commercial and civic market with everyone from the po-po and firefighters to Fed-x and everyone in between. You can't un-ring a bell and you can't destroy this market without catastrophic consequences.
That said, lahood is positively unhinged and I wouldn't put it past him to pull the trigger out of spite. The Øbongo regime is truly evil.
Correct on both counts.
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When the lawyers circle like buzzards...you know there is blood in the water...
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/full-lightsquared-org-chart (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/full-lightsquared-org-chart)
Like Corzine, Falcone should be in manacles too...
::)