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For more info on the FISA court, see the FAS page on FISA

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 prescribes procedures for requesting judicial authorization for electronic surveillance and physical search of persons engaged in espionage or international terrorism against the United States on behalf of a foreign power.

Requests are adjudicated by a special eleven member court called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

Chances are, these things are going to end up in ultra high-tech weapons for US Special Forces to assist them in pillaging third-world countries for their natural resources in this "War on Terrorism" long before we ever see them in civilian use. The only thing keeping them from using such terrible weapons are power sources, and now that it's being addressed, we could see them being used in Arab countries very soon.

Their applications?

Pulse Rifles, as seen in Aliens, Land Warrior systems, and Exoskeletons

Of course, now I'm just feeding you.

They've used metal mining as a cover story before ...

But ofcourse, one must judge yourself before [2] one can judge others.

The PSLV technology has capabilities similar to our [Russian] Kosmos booster ( see this for details), which has the same payload costs as PSLV, but because of being a proven system, the insurance costs are much lower. Insurance costs are a considerable part of all the money spent on injecting anything into orbit. Kosmos has been around since 1962. We're still ahead of the pack when it comes to rocket science and technology.
Too bad, the Russian economy is approaching third world standards at a breathtaking pace. These democracy and capitalism things are great, indeed...

If they can put a weather satellite up this cheaply, then they can probably get nuclear missiles up there for not much more. Or maybe they already have.

India is not a concern against attacking the US (or Europe) because there is no motivation to (just like there is no motivation for France, Germany, Japan, UK, Brazil or a few others with nukes to attack the West).

Threats need three things:
* weapons
* delivery system
* motivation

Most western democracies have the first two, but lack the third.

Ships and subs? Yep, also using diesel-electric. (and done so for a very long time.. think WW2)

Buzzzz...wrong. Ships of any significant size use steam turbines (oil or nuclear fired). Of course, nowadays, they're using gas turbines, but even those are gear driven (ref).
Conventional subs are diesel electric (except on the surface, where the diesels are usually directly coupled (through gearing) to the shaft). Of course, all of the United States' subs and all nuclear subs that I'm aware of use steam turbines as well.

So, if you're going to bitch somebody out, try and do it right.

Considering that Australia has a population of 20 million, and the U.S has a population of 280 million, that is _alot of tapping. Over here the phone lines are not well maintained, so if you detect a degrading in the quality of your phone calls chances are your being tapped.

It seems to be that Pine Gap is facing the wrong way.

Okay, here's how HEAT rounds work.

You've got a shaped charge of HE surrounding a metal liner that's usually copper. In this picture, you can clearly see the copper liner surrounded by the shaped charge.

When the HE blows, it turns the metal liner into a slug traveling at mind-boggling velocities. This slug is what penetrates the armor.

To replace the liner with a non-conductive material is easier said than done, since the non-conductive material will have to behave similarly enough to a metal to deform appropriately when the shaped charge blows; a ceramic probably won't do the trick. It will also have to be dense enough to matter; polystyrene probably won't do the trick.

And finally, there's a tremendous amount of surplus RPGs floating around. Nullifying those as a threat is a good idea, even if armsmakers develop new kinds in the future.

For the truly adventurous, here's the FSB's home page

Note that the figures at
fas.org indicate that the speed of the Minuteman III at burnout is approx. Mach 23.

What you do have the potential for (given significant further progress) is very fast cruise missiles, not ICBM's.

If Nixon had been able to put these changes in place, we never would have had access to those tapes. In fact, if he were alive now, he could get them all back.

Any idea how much a M1A1 tank weighs? Neither do I, but I can guarentee you that you won't get more than 1 (if that) in a 747.

Well According to this Googlish page, a M1A1 wights about 68 tons.

So if we're just speaking in weight, it might be possible to transport 2 of them on a 747 (given enough space of course).

Murphy(c).

I've been at sea with laptops and desktop machines. The only thing we've ever had to worry about is securing the machines so that they aren't tossed about (especially the monitors). Of course, if you have them on deck and there is a chance of spray, then I guess you'd have to waterproof them.

By the way, the coolest ride I took was on this.

Let's be reasonable here:

The Australian team being a small crew of academics and amateurs from a former prison colony obviously could not have developed anything so sophisticated as a scramjet and must therefore have stolen the secrets from the United States Government. This is prima facia evidence they are potential allies of Al Queda terrorists and should be monitored for any suspicious activity; after, of course, their facility has been put under 24 hour guard and surveillance by Homeland Defense.

Lets revive the microwave beam weapons while we are at it.

It's been done.

Bzzt--thanks for playing. Tritium is used to boost the initial fission yield; it's not used in the secondary stage.

A different set of compounds (lithium hydrides?) undergoes fusion, but this isn't the terminal stage of the nuke. The fusion is almost purely an incidental product--they're not looking to liberate energy from the fusion, they're looking to liberate neutrons. Specifically, real freakin' energetic neutrons which can induce fission in the U-238 shell surrounding the nuke. So essentially, there are three stages: a small fissile device at the core, then a small fusion stage, and then a really honkin' huge fissile stage which amounts for >90% of the liberated energy.

In fact, some of the early H-bombs used no hydrogen at all. If you get U-235 in the same shape as a softball, it'll spontaneously go supercritical; but if you get a cylinder of U-235 with a diameter slightly less than a softball, it can be arbitrarily long without going supercrit. To make it go supercrit, you use explosives to implode its shape, at which point it goes supercrit. The U.S. tested a 500kt "H-bomb" which was one of these purely fissile (i.e., "A-bomb") designs. ... Why do nuke designers prefer fission reactions to fusion ones? When uranium splits, it does so by breaking into big and heavy atomic fragments (+46 charge). These atomic fragments carry away the majority of the reaction energy and dump it almost immediately as heat. By comparison, when hydrogen fuses to helium, the end product is a very light atomic nucleus and the majority of the energy of the reaction is liberated as neutrons, which can travel for quite some distance before giving up their energy.

Basically, fission has a lot more bang for the buck.

If you really want to know more of the physical details behind nukes, check out FAS (here) and the Bremsstrahlung Effect.

check it out here

look at the "blast" heading -- this is mostly what we are concerned with. (i linked to a higher level of the hiarchy in case anyone is interested in the other effects as well.

anyway... you can see from the data that on earth, one megaton bomb can devastate a radious of ~3km -- which is already larger than the asteroid... but i digress, and will try to look at this systematically

1) delivery of the weapon

this is probabbly the most no-brainer of the whole deal. all current ICBMs go into sub-orbit already anyway, strapping a few boosters onto them for escape velocity should not be a big problem.

it is useful to note that the asteroid will be a threat even if no impact occurs on 2019; in fact it would be a much larger threat down the line. however, the frequent encounters with it in the near future gives up plenty of time to approach it and take action.

2) effective-ness of the weapon

this is somewhat harder to determine. see -- the problem is that all of our data on nuclear weapons is earth-based; i.e in a atmospheric environment. -- the 3km effective radius is based on this fact as well -- the destruction is not from the blast of the weapon -- but instead the sudden compressiong / decompression of the atmosphere that transmit the detonation energy to do the destruction. if the asteroid is indeed loosely packet -- much of the energy will just escape; while if the asteroid is solid-packet -- the bomb may not be powerful enough to break it all the way apart.

before we go further -- it is very obvious that the bomb(s) need to be deeply implanted inside the asteroid for maximum effective-ness.

the best scenario to hope for is that the asteroid have a large ice content. the vaporization of the ice would then be the medium of energy transfer -- breaking apart the asteroids into chunks that the earth's atmosphere can handle - which is probabbly the best we can hope for.

similar things can happen with solidified CO2 / methane / whatever. but we won't know about the asteroid's contents until later (more observations).

the good news is that if the asteroid was ever broken apart -- the gravitational force between the pieces should be small enough that they won't meaningfully get back together.

3) possible hiccups

the fact is that simply not enough is known about the behavior of nuclear weapons in vacuum -- which is both very cold, and lack the aforementioned energy transfer medium. so it may be that the weapon is actually quite in-effective in space. furthermore, depending on nuclear bombs to vaporize a whole asteroid is only a dream -- nuclear weapons destroy via shockwaves, and the thermal energy is actually comparatively low for what we need to accomplish.

this basically lead to the fact that if we press the red button, the bomb goes off, and nothing happens to the asteroid except a shockwave rings through its structure but it remains intact.

moreover -- drilling 1km down on an asteroid in as un-proven technology at best -- so there may be tons of problems there.

4) some alternatives

besides straight-up disintergration of the asteroid, there can be other things to try, for example, if you insert bombs in a planar fashion - it *may* be possible to break the asteroid into two or more chunks -- and if it is properly calculated -- it should be possible to get the thing either crash into mars, or get into earth orbit. (on a side note -- this would be very cool -- space elevator baby) and the smaller chunk can be much more easily broken down by nuclear means. (this is assuming the asteroid is a fairly rigid body of iron, etc etc.

i had some other points -- but since this *might* be the end of the world after all -- i am going to go out and try to get laid now.

Also, can anyone confirm if OSA is the name of the referenced ADA software project (1.7 million lines etc...)

Gmanske.

GEODSS is rumored to have the ability to illuminate its targets with a laser. (A USAF site in Maui is known to have such capabilities.)

GEODSS was the first major computerized telescope system. It's an old system from the late 1970s, modernized in the 1990s. Back then, it took a huge military project to build something like this. Now, it wouldn't be that big a deal. With computer-controlled CCD telescopes widespread, this could be a good amateur project.

Most of the work is in the back-end data processing. The goal is to take all the images coming in, compare them with star maps and satellite ephemeris data, and see what new stuff turns up. Track satellites. Find space junk.

Doing this standalone could be fun, but the real payoff would be a network of amateur sites that cooperated over a peer to peer network. As soon as one finds something interesting, it should immediately communicate that to other sites so they can point at the same target if in view.

As the article says, the Federation of American Scientists says that this facility is like GEODSS.

As the article says, the Federation of American Scientists says that this facility is like GEODSS.

As the article says, the Federation of American Scientists says that this facility is like GEODSS.

The M998 has a Diesel 6.2 Liter V8.
IIRC, some were prototyped with a much smaller engine (4.2-4.3 liter) for more efficency, but they wouldn't get out of their own way (not like a HMMWV is a Corvette to begin with)

Throw another bomb, it's a hell of a lot easier!

The MICLIC does just that. Fires a rocket that tows behind it 350 feet of C-4 at 5 lbs per foot (line charge). The line charge goes off, and whatever doesn't detonate gets thrown aside.

Even better, the Mongoose, which fires a rocket that tows behind it a net of explosives.

From what I know, most anti-personel (and I'd assume, anti-vehicle mines) are burried a few inches underground for concealment. If at all, the only part that is above the ground is the pressure plate that activates the mine. Perhaps adding focused sound waves or other suitable technology can distrupt the ground nearby enough to allow the laser to reach the entire mine. This device is therefor only suitable for mines strewn about by helicopters or low-flying aircraft.

But that's the type of minefield that the U.S. is concerned about quickly defeating. An enemy force can use a surface-laid expedient minefield in order to protect their flank during a retreat. U.S. forces train to use the Volcano Mine Dispenser in such a situation. While the MICLIC can quickly clear a lane through such a minefield, a system like this laser makes it possible to quickly and safely clear the majority of the minefield without putting soldiers at risk. There are other devices in development like Mine Flails for quickly clearing buried minefields. But even these take a while to clear a large area, and usually require dismounted soldiers with metal detectors sweeping the area locating the mines.

From what I know, most anti-personel (and I'd assume, anti-vehicle mines) are burried a few inches underground for concealment. If at all, the only part that is above the ground is the pressure plate that activates the mine. Perhaps adding focused sound waves or other suitable technology can distrupt the ground nearby enough to allow the laser to reach the entire mine. This device is therefor only suitable for mines strewn about by helicopters or low-flying aircraft.

But that's the type of minefield that the U.S. is concerned about quickly defeating. An enemy force can use a surface-laid expedient minefield in order to protect their flank during a retreat. U.S. forces train to use the Volcano Mine Dispenser in such a situation. While the MICLIC can quickly clear a lane through such a minefield, a system like this laser makes it possible to quickly and safely clear the majority of the minefield without putting soldiers at risk. There are other devices in development like Mine Flails for quickly clearing buried minefields. But even these take a while to clear a large area, and usually require dismounted soldiers with metal detectors sweeping the area locating the mines.

A minority at NASA would probably be happy to see the metric system used more consistently...

If you fear bin Laden or Al Queda I think you're taking the threat a little too seriously. Since the attack on Tora Bora there simply haven't been any new bin Laden videos with actual new footage of the man himself.

On the other hand, America's enemies are not simply limited to crazy Arabic peoples bitter about America's hegemony. They include a very wary China, a not quite mentally stable North Korea, and a beaten but not cowed Iraq. The thing is, though, that they likely already have our secrets. So basically, it's way too late to worry about the possibility that this game is going to give away military secrets.

Also reminds me of the YB-49 http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/bomber/b-49.htm I remember watching a show where they though about using it for a commercial passengar jet.
I saw one of those Vulcan's at Duxford once. Pretty cool looking aircraft. If you ever get a chance to go to the Duxford Air Museum I highly reccomend it.

http://www.fas.org/irp/crs/95-815.pdf

NAZI s! We have NAZI s! Here at crazy uncle Sam's project Paperclip, we have the finest NAZI s your taxpayer money could buy!

We've got big name NAZI super-scientists like Wernher von Braun, who single-handedly built the US space program when we couldn't get even a mouse into space without blowing up on the pad! And don't you believe those who would cast aspersions on his character! He used concentration camp slave labor to build his V1s & V2s that he blew up innocent Londoners with!

If you're looking to beef up your intelligence services, Reinhard Gehlen is the NAZI for you! He's the NAZI that can make those commie bastards talk! He comes with a vast cache of intelligence documents on the USSR compilled by the pain-staking tourture and interrogation of red commie-bastard prisoners. Why do your own legwork when it's already been done for you?!! This man would be a great addition to any spy agency, and a sterling influence upon your junior agents!

If you're a US presidential candidate, and want to ensure that you crush your ineffectual, peanut-farming Democratic competitor, Heinrich Rupp is the NAZI for you! With strong ties to the Arab community, he can manage complex three-cornered schemes that will ensure that those hostages aren't released while there's a Democrat in the Oval Office. As a bonus, you can use the proceeds to fund anti-communist fascists in Central America.

We also have such all-stars as Arthur Rudolph, Kurt Blome, Walter Schreiber and Licio Gelli! We have everything you need to build an enlightened, democratic new world order! So hurry on down to crazy uncle Sam's before all of our NAZI s are gone!


(One of our most notorious NAZI s now works for Microsoft where he continues to commit crimes against humanity.)

NAZI s! We have NAZI s! Here at crazy uncle Sam's project Paperclip, we have the finest NAZI s your taxpayer money could buy!

We've got big name NAZI super-scientists like Wernher von Braun, who single-handedly built the US space program when we couldn't get even a mouse into space without blowing up on the pad! And don't you believe those who would cast aspersions on his character! He used concentration camp slave labor to build his V1s & V2s that he blew up innocent Londoners with!

If you're looking to beef up your intelligence services, Reinhard Gehlen is the NAZI for you! He's the NAZI that can make those commie bastards talk! He comes with a vast cache of intelligence documents on the USSR compilled by the pain-staking tourture and interrogation of red commie-bastard prisoners. Why do your own legwork when it's already been done for you?!! This man would be a great addition to any spy agency, and a sterling influence upon your junior agents!

If you're a US presidential candidate, and want to ensure that you crush your ineffectual, peanut-farming Democratic competitor, Heinrich Rupp is the NAZI for you! With strong ties to the Arab community, he can manage complex three-cornered schemes that will ensure that those hostages aren't released while there's a Democrat in the Oval Office. As a bonus, you can use the proceeds to fund anti-communist fascists in Central America.

We also have such all-stars as Arthur Rudolph, Kurt Blome, Walter Schreiber and Licio Gelli! We have everything you need to build an enlightened, democratic new world order! So hurry on down to crazy uncle Sam's before all of our NAZI s are gone!


(One of our most notorious NAZI s now works for Microsoft where he continues to commit crimes against humanity.)

NAZI s! We have NAZI s! Here at crazy uncle Sam's project Paperclip, we have the finest NAZI s your taxpayer money could buy!

We've got big name NAZI super-scientists like Wernher von Braun, who single-handedly built the US space program when we couldn't get even a mouse into space without blowing up on the pad! And don't you believe those who would cast aspersions on his character! He used concentration camp slave labor to build his V1s & V2s that he blew up innocent Londoners with!

If you're looking to beef up your intelligence services, Reinhard Gehlen is the NAZI for you! He's the NAZI that can make those commie bastards talk! He comes with a vast cache of intelligence documents on the USSR compilled by the pain-staking tourture and interrogation of red commie-bastard prisoners. Why do your own legwork when it's already been done for you?!! This man would be a great addition to any spy agency, and a sterling influence upon your junior agents!

If you're a US presidential candidate, and want to ensure that you crush your ineffectual, peanut-farming Democratic competitor, Heinrich Rupp is the NAZI for you! With strong ties to the Arab community, he can manage complex three-cornered schemes that will ensure that those hostages aren't released while there's a Democrat in the Oval Office. As a bonus, you can use the proceeds to fund anti-communist fascists in Central America.

We also have such all-stars as Arthur Rudolph, Kurt Blome, Walter Schreiber and Licio Gelli! We have everything you need to build an enlightened, democratic new world order! So hurry on down to crazy uncle Sam's before all of our NAZI s are gone!


(One of our most notorious NAZI s now works for Microsoft where he continues to commit crimes against humanity.)

NAZI s! We have NAZI s! Here at crazy uncle Sam's project Paperclip, we have the finest NAZI s your taxpayer money could buy!

We've got big name NAZI super-scientists like Wernher von Braun, who single-handedly built the US space program when we couldn't get even a mouse into space without blowing up on the pad! And don't you believe those who would cast aspersions on his character! He used concentration camp slave labor to build his V1s & V2s that he blew up innocent Londoners with!

If you're looking to beef up your intelligence services, Reinhard Gehlen is the NAZI for you! He's the NAZI that can make those commie bastards talk! He comes with a vast cache of intelligence documents on the USSR compilled by the pain-staking tourture and interrogation of red commie-bastard prisoners. Why do your own legwork when it's already been done for you?!! This man would be a great addition to any spy agency, and a sterling influence upon your junior agents!

If you're a US presidential candidate, and want to ensure that you crush your ineffectual, peanut-farming Democratic competitor, Heinrich Rupp is the NAZI for you! With strong ties to the Arab community, he can manage complex three-cornered schemes that will ensure that those hostages aren't released while there's a Democrat in the Oval Office. As a bonus, you can use the proceeds to fund anti-communist fascists in Central America.

We also have such all-stars as Arthur Rudolph, Kurt Blome, Walter Schreiber and Licio Gelli! We have everything you need to build an enlightened, democratic new world order! So hurry on down to crazy uncle Sam's before all of our NAZI s are gone!


(One of our most notorious NAZI s now works for Microsoft where he continues to commit crimes against humanity.)

NAZI s! We have NAZI s! Here at crazy uncle Sam's project Paperclip, we have the finest NAZI s your taxpayer money could buy!

We've got big name NAZI super-scientists like Wernher von Braun, who single-handedly built the US space program when we couldn't get even a mouse into space without blowing up on the pad! And don't you believe those who would cast aspersions on his character! He used concentration camp slave labor to build his V1s & V2s that he blew up innocent Londoners with!

If you're looking to beef up your intelligence services, Reinhard Gehlen is the NAZI for you! He's the NAZI that can make those commie bastards talk! He comes with a vast cache of intelligence documents on the USSR compilled by the pain-staking tourture and interrogation of red commie-bastard prisoners. Why do your own legwork when it's already been done for you?!! This man would be a great addition to any spy agency, and a sterling influence upon your junior agents!

If you're a US presidential candidate, and want to ensure that you crush your ineffectual, peanut-farming Democratic competitor, Heinrich Rupp is the NAZI for you! With strong ties to the Arab community, he can manage complex three-cornered schemes that will ensure that those hostages aren't released while there's a Democrat in the Oval Office. As a bonus, you can use the proceeds to fund anti-communist fascists in Central America.

We also have such all-stars as Arthur Rudolph, Kurt Blome, Walter Schreiber and Licio Gelli! We have everything you need to build an enlightened, democratic new world order! So hurry on down to crazy uncle Sam's before all of our NAZI s are gone!


(One of our most notorious NAZI s now works for Microsoft where he continues to commit crimes against humanity.)

NAZI s! We have NAZI s! Here at crazy uncle Sam's project Paperclip, we have the finest NAZI s your taxpayer money could buy!

We've got big name NAZI super-scientists like Wernher von Braun, who single-handedly built the US space program when we couldn't get even a mouse into space without blowing up on the pad! And don't you believe those who would cast aspersions on his character! He used concentration camp slave labor to build his V1s & V2s that he blew up innocent Londoners with!

If you're looking to beef up your intelligence services, Reinhard Gehlen is the NAZI for you! He's the NAZI that can make those commie bastards talk! He comes with a vast cache of intelligence documents on the USSR compilled by the pain-staking tourture and interrogation of red commie-bastard prisoners. Why do your own legwork when it's already been done for you?!! This man would be a great addition to any spy agency, and a sterling influence upon your junior agents!

If you're a US presidential candidate, and want to ensure that you crush your ineffectual, peanut-farming Democratic competitor, Heinrich Rupp is the NAZI for you! With strong ties to the Arab community, he can manage complex three-cornered schemes that will ensure that those hostages aren't released while there's a Democrat in the Oval Office. As a bonus, you can use the proceeds to fund anti-communist fascists in Central America.

We also have such all-stars as Arthur Rudolph, Kurt Blome, Walter Schreiber and Licio Gelli! We have everything you need to build an enlightened, democratic new world order! So hurry on down to crazy uncle Sam's before all of our NAZI s are gone!


(One of our most notorious NAZI s now works for Microsoft where he continues to commit crimes against humanity.)

NAZI s! We have NAZI s! Here at crazy uncle Sam's project Paperclip, we have the finest NAZI s your taxpayer money could buy!

We've got big name NAZI super-scientists like Wernher von Braun, who single-handedly built the US space program when we couldn't get even a mouse into space without blowing up on the pad! And don't you believe those who would cast aspersions on his character! He used concentration camp slave labor to build his V1s & V2s that he blew up innocent Londoners with!

If you're looking to beef up your intelligence services, Reinhard Gehlen is the NAZI for you! He's the NAZI that can make those commie bastards talk! He comes with a vast cache of intelligence documents on the USSR compilled by the pain-staking tourture and interrogation of red commie-bastard prisoners. Why do your own legwork when it's already been done for you?!! This man would be a great addition to any spy agency, and a sterling influence upon your junior agents!

If you're a US presidential candidate, and want to ensure that you crush your ineffectual, peanut-farming Democratic competitor, Heinrich Rupp is the NAZI for you! With strong ties to the Arab community, he can manage complex three-cornered schemes that will ensure that those hostages aren't released while there's a Democrat in the Oval Office. As a bonus, you can use the proceeds to fund anti-communist fascists in Central America.

We also have such all-stars as Arthur Rudolph, Kurt Blome, Walter Schreiber and Licio Gelli! We have everything you need to build an enlightened, democratic new world order! So hurry on down to crazy uncle Sam's before all of our NAZI s are gone!

NAZI s! We have NAZI s! Here at crazy uncle Sam's project Paperclip, we have the finest NAZI s your taxpayer money could buy!

We've got big name NAZI super-scientists like Wernher von Braun, who single-handedly built the US space program when we couldn't get even a mouse into space without blowing up on the pad! And don't you believe those who would cast aspersions on his character! He used concentration camp slave labor to build his V1s & V2s that he blew up innocent Londoners with!

If you're looking to beef up your intelligence services, Reinhard Gehlen is the NAZI for you! He's the NAZI that can make those commie bastards talk! He comes with a vast cache of intelligence documents on the USSR compilled by the pain-staking tourture and interrogation of red commie-bastard prisoners. Why do your own legwork when it's already been done for you?!! This man would be a great addition to any spy agency, and a sterling influence upon your junior agents!

If you're a US presidential candidate, and want to ensure that you crush your ineffectual, peanut-farming Democratic competitor, Heinrich Rupp is the NAZI for you! With strong ties to the Arab community, he can manage complex three-cornered schemes that will ensure that those hostages aren't released while there's a Democrat in the Oval Office. As a bonus, you can use the proceeds to fund anti-communist fascists in Central America.

We also have such all-stars as Arthur Rudolph, Kurt Blome, Walter Schreiber and Licio Gelli! We have everything you need to build an enlightened, democratic new world order! So hurry on down to crazy uncle Sam's before all of our NAZI s are gone!

"We don't hear about the scandals because there weren't any."

This is totally off-topic political ranting, so I'm going anon here. :) But you're getting so revisionist I just had to reply.

Here's the final report of the independent council. I've enclosed a little bit about Reagan for you; there's a ton of stuff there about a lot of Republican figures, and plenty of scandal to go around.

Fundamentally, it could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt that President Reagan knew of the underlying facts of Iran/contra that were criminal or that he made criminal misrepresentations regarding them.

President Reagan created the conditions which made possible the crimes committed by others by his secret deviations from announced national policy as to Iran and hostages and by his open determination to keep the contras together ``body and soul'' despite a statutory ban on contra aid.

In the Iran initiative, President Reagan chose to proceed in the utmost secrecy, disregarding the Administration's public policy prohibiting arms sales to nations supporting terrorism. He also chose to forgo congressional notification under the National Security Act and the Arms Export Control Act.

Having bypassed accountability to Congress, the President failed either to establish an effective system of accountability within the Administration or to monitor the series of activities he authorized. Working in a climate of extreme secrecy and operating without accountability, National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter, Lt. Col. Oliver L. North of the National Security Council staff and others associated with the initiative invited criminal acts including profiteering on the Iranian arms sales, the diversion of some of those proceeds to aid the contras, destroying documents, and lying to Congress to cover up their criminal activities.

That is, most definitely, a scandal.

Think again... Even if you overwrite it, someone with the right equipment (electron scanning microscope, etc) can still get it back. DOD standards require overwriting once with a fixed character, then that character's complement, then with another random character. There's a very good reason for that.

the F-111 is also noted as a product of a TFX program. has the TFX designation been given to more than one competition? becuase i am certain that the F-4 and F-111 were never tested against one another before production.

Gmanske.

Identify where the missiles are coming from and bomb it, or send fighters down a parallel path

Yes definitely. But you know, if it goes as planned the aircraft are already on their way home by the time the first of the missiles are spotted. They're all launched at pretty much the same time, and remember these are large cruise missiles we're talking about here.

You're saying that gossip isnt protected? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Yes I am saying that it isn't protected if it turns to slander and gossip could very well do just that. The DMCA is a bad law and in my opinion has NOTHING to do with free speech (unless you say your speech is held back because you can't copy a movie or afford a DVD blank/burner because of the cost.....which is laughable.). You simply cannot go about saying stuff that is untrue without getting into trouble dude. Both with the law, and with the person. I say to you read the first amendment and thne THINK about what the authors went through. Even they had admitted that there can and should be limits (within reason). You impress me a slipery slope kind of person who says that once it happens once, it all goes down hill. I quite frankly never believed in the slippery slope. There is none. Our government was designed to prevent it. Also, I frankly DON'T agree with some of the anti terrorist things implemented since 9/11 and do believe they are unconstitutional. If the government would have actually had the manpower to actually enforce existing immigration laws, then 9/11 would never had happened or if it did have to happen, it may hve happened differently. Several of our high jackers were in the country illegally in the first place. If they were actually deported, sure, someone else may have done it or they may have done it a different way (like from a airline that is not US based), but the attacks would have been seen long before they happened and we may have had time to react.

Believe what you must about the first amendment. I agree that 99 percent of speech can be and shoud be free, but that 1 percent would cause a whole lot of people greif. Also, go an try and test this in your own life. Go and start dropping tips on some upcoming stock IPO and see if the SEC doesn't come after you if they turn out to be false. Go and tell your boss your cube mate smokes pot everyday. You will see how fast you get smacked with a lawsuit. Oh and as for references, search for them yourself. The court records are public you know. Also, I found a good PDF that logically defends my position here at this URL. Here is another page covering it as well. I mean really alot of this is common sense and to say ALL SPEECH SHALL BE PROTECTED is irresponsible.

I just watched the Discovery channel about the new weapons being developed now for the military in a few years.

The OCSW [slideshow] (Objective Crew Served Weapon). It's a newly developed weapon that fires 20mm specially designed air-bursting rounds. The weapon is designed like the .50 calibur M2 machine gun made popular in combat in the past few decades. Unlike the old M2, it can easily be carried and setup by two people, the gun box can be loaded on either side depending on who's loading.

What makes this gun so different and effective is that you can aim anywhere and make the rounds explode before it hits a wall or the earth. It does this when the soldier fires, the microprocessor in the gun electronically programs the bullet to explode in a certain amount of time based on the distance it'll need to travel based on it's discovered velocity. If that sounds trivial, you should know that shrapnel from the exploded round can be much more deadly than if the bullet did hit without exploding.

This can be very useful if a guy is behind a wall or window, the OCSW gun is set to a range to just after the wall and the bullet explodes right in their face.

They also make a regular assault gun, the OICW (Objective Individual Combat Weapon) that actually fires both the air-busting 20mm rounds and the 5.56mm NATO rounds that have been used in previous weapons. It combines the air-busting capability in the stationary gun, but you can take the 5.56 mm assault rifle part and you have the lightest machine gun ever made. which beats the AR-15 and it's derivatives like the M16-A2 used currently by the US military.

There are plenty of places to get information, HK has some good coverage with pictures of the gun, the ammo and some diagrams of how it's able to program it's mid-air explosions.

Go to google.com and learn something today.

> Iridium also provides secure encryption for the military and qualified governmnet users. A nice touch for those that need it.

Yeah, I'm sure the association with the government will assure your privacy.

Googling "ucav x-45" brought up the usual tons of hits. One of the more interesting was from the Federation of American Scientists' Miliraty Analysis Network.

An interesting feature, besides all of the usual high-tech stuff people talk about here, is the storage aspect. This is mentioned in several articles, but what this means is that the planes do not have to be designed with the same mission life that manned aircraft do. This is because about 80% of a military aircraft's life is training missions. The UCAV doesn't have this- the training is done in simulators, that aren't really any different from real life.

This is a big step toward reducing the costs.

Jason