[BAW]

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air has uncovered information that Obama was an early invester in LightSquared. Morrissey has request O’s financial disclosure forms. Also, apparently O did not have a blind trust . . .

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I don’t see this in the same context as SatinDoll upthread. There is a National Security implication, but IMO it is not a deliberate act of sabotage. It is arguably a stupid, greedy, Chicago thuggish act with sabotage as a byproduct.

IMO it is just a variation on the Solyndra deal...payback for early or late favors. The difference here is that Solyndra was just money. This would (not could, WOULD) cost lives. And thus it is even more scurrilous than Solyndra (and Solyndra’s four or five fraudulent compadres)

[MindBender26]

The General Aviation community has been warning pilots about this LightSquare fiasco for months.

[opentalk]

From: LightSquared scandal explodes

...LightSquared is owned by the Harbinger Capital hedge fund, headed by billionaire investor Phil Falcone. He visited the White House and made large donations to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Soon after, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted LightSquared a highly unusual waiver that allows the company to build out a national 4G wireless network on the cheap.

[rawhide]

Why hasn’t Lightsquared done a long-term trial test to see if this would interfere with GPS?

[cmj328]

That means GPS can be jammed. So we need a new military navigation technology anyway.

[tutstar]

Bfl

[Notary Sojac]

If a tree falls in the forest and NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, CNBC, the NYT, the WP, and the LAT don’t hear it, does it still make a sound?

[BobL]

I really don’t know what the big fuss is with GPS. Our family has never used it for navigation and we’ve always assumed that the government could shut it off on a second’s notice (as Iranian and North Korean missiles use it for navigation).

So, no direct effect on us...maybe some indirect effects, such as UPS drivers not being able to make their rounds to deliver stuff to our house, etc. But, overall, a good exercise for Americans to learn how to read a map again.

[GraceG]

Someone say Mayhem and GPS?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZXM_g3mqew

[txroadkill]

Is this the same guy that Obama set back the digital switch over for TV signals when he first took office costing us a couple of billion?

[Clairity]

Here is some specific info from the tests:

“In testimony before the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday, General William Shelton, head of Air Force Space Command, detailed the results of tests from earlier this year intended to quantify the effect of LightSquared’s forthcoming network on GPS.

“Aviation receivers operating as far as 7.5 miles from LightSquared transmitters completely lost GPS and were degraded out to distances of more than 16.5 miles,” Shelton said. “High precision GPS receivers such as those used for surveying and geological study requiring precise measurements were adversely affected out to 213 miles and totally lost GPS out to 4.8 miles.”

Shelton noted that the State of New Mexico believes the LightSquared network could “jeopardize 911 and public safety.”

He cautioned that Air Force Space Command’s testing was modeled from the results of a single transmitter. However, that modeling showed that the complete network of high-powered base stations envisioned by LightSquared would degrade or completely kill GPS “at distances out to dozens of miles and even extending out to operations in space.”

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/09/16/amid-lightsquared-controversy-att-unveils-new-wireless-data-network/?test=faces

The Obama administration is willing to destroy the use of the GPS system, on which civil and military navigation is critically dependent. THAT IS TREASON. Crippling our military systems for $$$$ for Obama campaign. This is an impeachable offense.

[Clairity]

I think most people do not realize the seriousness of the impact of the L2 network on the GPS system, that our military systems are highly dependent on it and the magnitude of the offense of an administration trying to influence a general’s testimony in such vital matter.

[Monorprise]

Ill be honest our GPS system already have other MAJOR problems that need to be addressed. In China they manufacture a box that can jam the GPS signals for an entire city, effectively shutting down a large part of the same.

Lightsquare is the least of my concerns for our GPS network security. The GPS technology both needs to be improved(perhaps with some sort of frequency hoping?) and our technology needs to be less depended upon it.

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

Falcone characterized email communication between LightSquared employees and White House staff — which mentioned political fundraisers while trying to coordinate a meeting — as business as usual. The emails were first reported by the Center for Public Integrity’s iWatch News. “How LightSquared operated, and how LightSquared will continue to operate, is no different than what everybody else does,” Falcone said. “It’s completely appropriate and was within the guidelines of how business is conducted.”

Business as usual. That sounds about right.

[Raven6]

Now... Ya'll put on your tin foil hats for this if you wish... I'm going to put forth a theory here that some will find laughable and that's okay. I'm putting it out so that everyone can add to it, tear it apart, or whatever... It is not an absolute on my part - just something to kick around. So don't come at me like I'm promoting some whacked out idea, okay?

So, take into account the fact that many, many people own GPS units, and the fact that many of those units are truly portable (as in can be carried in your pocket and powered with AA batteries). I have a unit that sits on the dash of my truck that is of this type, and it is as accurate as those unit we had in militery usage 20 years ago (within about 3 feet using the WAAP satellites). Because it can be set for any type of usage (nautical, topo, highway, even aviation) it would represent a truly valuable tool in the event of any civil unrest in which a defender of the constitution might need to navigate without benefit of map, or might need to locate a specified target or cache.

Now... Consider the fact that we know that Washington has the power to shut down landline comms, internet, cell comms, and to some extent radio comms (even that can be eliminated over time through triangulation and arrest of the operator of said equipment, or via jamming)... Why wouldn't Washington welcome the idea of being able to shut down and/or interfere with GPS? Sort of a "The peasants are on the rise? Call up LightSquared and tell them to max out the power... We can't have the commoners going cross country on us- they might get around a checkpoint..."

For those that know how to use one properly, a GPS can perform an awesome amount of tasks. Have at it folks, but let's keep it grounded on earth and leave the alien abductors out of it, okay? :-)