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Department of Defense Gadget Show
blackp writes "DefenseLINK has an article about Force Protection Equipment Demonstration IV. This year they had over 2,600 gadget and equipment for defense and government agencies. The list includes kevlar suits, body heat camo, a RoBoCop Suit, even biometric identification. Some pictures are available, although somewhat limited. This show seems perfect for the geek with a big budget." Or the government with a big budget. Still, some neat things on display.
Does that mean the first one will be really good, but the second and third one would be shit?
Fist Sport!
"Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
Got to spend money to make it. Go to the moon or expensive toilet seats... All the same... Generates jobs.
Damn, I thought, a RoboCop suit already! Wow! Then I read:
Ugh... yeah. That's cool. Damn impressive even... but ROBOCOP?!? These guys obviously didn't watch the movie... :-)
Did anyone else see that MATILDA robot and think of it as only a slightly more advanced Dobie-O-Matic?
Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
This year's one day seminar on Integrating Speech Technology in Language Learning has been cancelled. The InSTIL seminar was all that had been left of what was once a funded U.S. research program to use speech recognition to help people learn to read. However, over the past few years the budget of the Interagency Educational Research Initiative has been slashed and the Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnership program has been ZEROED. The IERI and LAAP programs were created to deal with DARPA funding deficencies, but DARPA has not taken up the slack for speech recognition in language instruction. Fewer U.S. polyglots will have a far greater impact on intelligence-gathering efforts than bandaids like Project Babylon or any of the DARPA advanced speech recognition programs can possibly provide. Please join me in asking John Poindexter and his advisory board and NIST to help get this vital funding back in the budget.
Also, the Linguistic Data Consortium sent their catalog update out yesterday. As usual, there are no new corpi of people attempting to read a language as they are acquiring it, at any age.
paging mister gates, blue light special...
Now, this truely shows off technology at its best. I mean where the hell are its bionic limbs, or it's thermal imaging, or even it's fricking lasers. Its a goddamn gormless bloke being led by a dog. Pathetic.
Is it just me or does it seem like the same technology year after year. It gets refined a bit but I don't think that we get the fruits of any new ideas.
Brought to you by the Artificial Idea Factory.
This one was invented catch white-collar criminals off-gaurd.
Very interesting stuff. Check it out!
Check out the power point presentation:
Pigeons
Pigeons will be available on a first come first served basis in the Hangers.
Plastic sheeting will be available to vendors in the hanger areas.
Shooting of pigeons, even with non-lethal weapons, is not allowed.
and of course...
Marines at the FPED are not an on-site Labor Force. Attempting to use them as such is at your own risk
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
Luckily they're just misusing the term to refer to a bomb squad blast armor that's also a biological/chemical suit. Nothing really new, just the combination of two old technologies.
Now, when they take that same suit, add in hydraulic strength multipliers and an advanced HUD, I'll be worried. Unless I get there first.
Good old military... where the art of killing people is refined. At least they give us cool infra-red headsets and depleted-uranium covered tanks... now, if only i liked to hunt...
Back in the 'good old days' of warfare, either side was equally equipped to take on the other. This resulted in long, bloody wars that finally ended when either of the sides was exhausted and horrified at the death and destruction. Following these wars (from the Punic to the American Civil War) a long period of peace followed until the horrors of war were forgotten and the fools in power became ambitious. This type of peace is sometimes called "balance of power" because both sides are deterred from battle by the knowledge of the other's equal ability to wreak damage in return.
However, as modern times have arrived and technology growth quickens for those who have it and lags for those that do not yet it is becoming clear that the balance of power has been broken and the United States has become the sole military superpower in the world. During the Cold War there was a deterrent to war which was called MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). The Soviet Union provided a balance of power to the United States through it's ability to rain an equal amount of world-ending nukes on the U.S. as the U.S. could do on the USSR. With this knowledge, neither side was too willing to jump at the chance at sneak attack though the possibility was wide open with the introduction of ICBMs.
Now the USSR is no more and the U.S. has risen to the top of the technological ladder. As the rest of the world crawls slowly towards the fulcrum of the Balance of Power, the U.S. quickly moves away from it. The technological prowess of the U.S. military is unmatched and continues to improve, which in turn continues to make the balance of power tilt more steeply in the U.S. direction.
Without a balance of power, other countries get antsy. They do not and can not have the expectation of a fair war, nor can they assume that the sole superpower is benign. So they turn up their rhetoric criticizing the U.S. Every little diplomatic faux pas is taken as a grand gesture of disrespect and threat of military aggression. No peace can possibly exist in such an atmosphere. What may seem like peace is only a thin veneer covering a boiling cauldron of dissatisfied lesser powers waiting to boil over or destroy the peace from within.
What the U.S. needs to do is placate our allies. The U.S. would be seriously hurt if allies were to turn against it because of the balance of power issue. Even now France and Germany and Russia have turned their collective backs on the U.S., this after enthusiastic support only 2 years ago. We cannot afford this kind of desertion of allies. It would be wise to simply give up this development of new weaponry and concentrate on making the existing technologies cheaper and more reliable. Even regressing several decades in technology would help bring about a better balance of power.
I have been pwned because my
...is an ED-209. Sure it has a little problem with stairs, but I'm confident they'll lick that in the next revision. Plus it's got enough firepower to blast a RoboCop into itty bitty pieces! :)
"What about Kenny?"
*shrug* "That's life in the big city."
CowboyNeal writes:
"Some pictures are available, although somewhat limited..."
You could say that. There is one picture of a treaded robot/tank, a picture of a girl with a standard ATM-ish card reader and finally, to really show off the state-of-the-art, a picture of a guy with a dog.
My
Limekiller
No, he thinks it shouldn't be much stronger than it needs to be, as it is now, and I hope it thinks that it shouldn't be wasting money trying to keep track of all your purchases at the neglect of building better systems to help all people learn additional languages.
2,600 gadgets ? I didn't know there were that many new boxes, phone phreak tools and kiddie scripts out there! I need to get back on IRC and USENET to see what I am missing :(
Eve Fairbanks says I drive a hybrid!LOL
[quote]For example, one company, Med-Eng Systems, Inc., showed off its "RoBoCop"-like suit made of thick layers of Kevlar for protection against heat, flames, blast fragmentation and impact. It weighs about 40 pounds and comes with a special undergarment, boots and gloves to protect wearers against chemical, biological and radiological exposure.
...as far as i can tell it's just really good at taking abuse
"It's an all-in-one," said Danny Crossman, product line manager for blast systems, explained. And another company representative, technical adviser Ray James, added, "It's the only bomb suit in the world that integrates adequate protection against a explosive device with biological and chemical protection." [/quote]
how can they call it a RoboCop suit with a clear conscience, given that this thing kicks absolutely NO ass?
RoboSufferer jacket... RoboMartyr overcoat maybe.
Incredibely offtopic, this has nothing to do with defense technology.
FFS guys, your .mil just took over an entire contry in a month... do you realy think it needs more power?
That so many technological improvements are pushed by the 'defence' industry to come up with new and exciting ways to kill people...
Oh to live in a world where the prime driving force for innovation is a desire to improve living conditions, feed more people, educate the masses rather than killing them.
*sigh*
Couldn't they just mod an AIBO to do that job? Especially for the Bunker Buster job: Strap some C4 to it, "Woof! Woof! Time to die.. BOOM!" (Okay, I'm joking about the AIBO, but haven't we seen oodles of home robot Slashdot articles in the last couple of months that could probably do the job for less, and be controlled by a cell phone?)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
If ridiculous platitudes were all it took to keep the peace, we wouldn't have anything to worry about, I guess.
From the article:
"Not every force protection device was mechanical, computerized or high tech at Force Protection Equipment Demonstration IV at Marine Corps Base Quantico, Va., in early May. Buddy Eanes with Ace, his bomb-sniffing dog, also took part in the demonstrations."
Damn! And I thought that having a dog that constantly sniffed at your crotch was inconvenient...
From the story, in the section on sandbags: ... said, "can be used for flood-fighting, terrorist activities or any type of security situation."
Al Arellanes
Is he supplying terrorists with advanced weapons of mass sandbagging?
-Zipwow
I don't know which is more depressing, that 2/3 didn't care enough to vote, or that 1/2 of those that did are crazy.
--
Donate Pizza [pizzaidf.com]
Is this for real, or am I that gulible?
I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
No, you're looking for kuro5hin.
My company was there this year and a couple years ago (we do risk management software). The show is quite interesting because it's a good mix of technologies, from Jersey barriers to bullet-proof glass to software. It's also not just a cheesy trade show, but some serious display by both commercial companies and Gov't agencies. The site for the show is here.
The coolest technology was a compressed-air powered bullet for training. Police and military can use their service weapons to basically play paintball. It's nice because the feel of the weapon is exactly what it would be in real-life situations instead of them having to use a fake training weapon with different characteristics.
--- witty signature
Take one of these to Battlebots and you're sure to win. :-)
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
I bet that you could get your hands on this if you know the right people, and knowing how well connected Bill Gates is to our federal goverment... "mr gates, we've idenified another linux user!" "good..." "the cordnates are..." (rambles on a series of #'s" "fire at will" *cruise missle slams into my house...*
... after you attend, they have to kill you.
-pyrrho
Considering the U.S.'s behaviour, don't you think the so called Department of "Defense" should consider a name change?
Malike Bamiyi wanted my assistance.
If ridiculous platitudes were all it took to keep the peace, we wouldn't have anything to worry about, I guess.
Are Murphy's Laws of Combat trite aphorisms? Sure. But that doesn't mean that they don't contain some important nuggets of truth.
For example, the statement that "there's no such thing as a fair fight" is paramount in U.S. warfighting doctrine and has been for some time. The only thing that a soldier, sailor, or airman cares about as much as accomplishing the mission is bringing himself and his unit home as intact as possible. War is by nature a risky business, but the fewer casualties that our soldiers and allied forces incur, the better.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think any sane individual wants to see civilians hurt, but soldiers in the opposing military knew what they were getting into when they decided to mess with Uncle. Besides, the faster and more efficiently we can decimate a country's military command-and-control structure, the faster we can restore peace and stability.
They that would sacrifice their
Finally, the complete flame proof suit, complete with undergarment and no aesbestos!
Ahhh, but I didn't say completely get rid of defence did I? Nup. What saddens me is that so much money is spent on it... Now what are the main reasons for the need for defence? Leaders deciding they should invade other countries, impoverished nations being taken advantage of by the rich and violent, Holy crusades against those not of the same beliefs...
... so... let's see... if we have HALF of the current US defence budget to spend on feeding people... we could feed... let's see... 4.056 BILLION people... and seeing as though the entire world population is around 6.3 Billion (source)... and not all of them are starving.
How about, let's say... 1/2 of their current budget is spent on some worthwhile things, like... feeding those who are starving, educating those who have no schools, giving people the information and the ability to stand up to these types of things...
Now if you're thinking "That money won't make a difference", think about this...
The current US defence budget is $US359 billion, with it possible reaching $US480 billion in the next decade (source). Now, the World Food Programme fed 77 million people in 82 countries at a cost of $1.74 billion in 2001 (source)
So, we could feed 2/3rds of the world's population using just HALF of the current US defence budget.
Now, surely, that's got to make a difference to the amount of anger and suffering in the world, and conversly reduce the amount of violence? Surely.
...from Raytheon's Stinger page:
The Stinger Family of Weapon Systems is combat-proven, fire-and-forget, lethal, lightweight, and multimission. That's the "Stinger Advantage."
I wonder if this trade show has booth babes...
The pigeon slide was a great find. The first item, "Pigeons will be available on a first come first served basis in the Hangers." is great, military humor. Notice it only says you can't shoot them -- even with a stun gun. That's what the plastic sheeting is for. Create a plastic net and "shoo" them out (non-lethal arms merchants) or snare them and make a nice soup.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
goodluck finding a candy flavored robot
i can see the date approaching when Really Impermeable Raincoats will pass for "RoboCop suits"
so... let's see... if we have HALF of the current US defence budget to spend on feeding people... we could feed... let's see... 4.056 BILLION people...
You mean well, but are naive. We can feed them now, but what about in the decades to come when these 'saved' people have children and so on. Or will the food come with strings attached that require population control and cultural changes? Or will it just be laced with contraceptives? Your proposed solution merely delays things; it sets the stage for an even greater human catastrophe in the not-so-distant future.
Get over the idea that throwing money at a problem will solve it. That's failed many times. Hunger will be with us until people's behaviors and attitudes change (zero or negative population growth in some 'western' nations). Or until people live under repressive regimes that force change (China).
So how is throwing so much money at Defence supposed to be a good idea then?
I was only using the 'feeding' people as an example... I'm actually more for educating people moreso than feeding them really... as a more highly educated populous is more able to improve their own standard of living and are less likely to be violent to themselves or others.
Plus, you also forget that this kind of expenditure isn't a 'one off' thing... the US spends this EVERY year on their defence... now the US isn't the only country that is overboard on this count... there are plenty of others, it just happens to be the biggest spender, and stages wars on the global arena to justify further increasing its budget... it's a scary thing to watch the US effectively 'create' a war, increase its budget... 'create' another one, increase the budget again... all the while this Defence budget is being deducted from the Social Security and education of the nation...
Scary, scary stuff... take money away from educating and feeding your own people to build more weapons... urgh.
Don't bring a knife to a gunfight
:-)
Always, always, bring the knife! You are not limitted to one weapon. Check out modern grunts. Lightweight assault weapons with hundreds of rounds of ammo, body armor, night vision, etc. and they still carry a knife. Why? As explained to many a grunt: "it is the most reliable weapon you will carry, zero moving parts, zero electronics".
... who's annoyed that we hear about this a month after the event, and not a week before so that we could actually make plans to attend?
Witold
www.witold.org
witold.org
I saw something like that on R Lee Ermy's Mail Call on History channel.
USMC is taking regular weapons, hooking them up to compressors and feeding them strips of firing caps and then let them fire on screens with situations projected on them.
Everything is hooked up to computers so the refs can see where the bullets are going and the trainies are getting used to the weapons going off with the recoil and sound.
Let's see what kind of percentage of the USA's total budget is spent on defence...
Budget:
revenues: $1.828 trillion
expenditures: $1.703 trillion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1999) (source)
So, taking the previously mentioned $379 Billion... that's 22% of the State's total budget, including capital expenditures, spent on the defence force!
That's ridiculous!
You don't have kevlar undies yet? Huevos on teflon, it's all the rage.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
It's for package management, a very important part of force protection.
We've got a long way to go before terminator or robocop. Can't they at leaste put some plexiglass up infront of that camera?
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
So how is throwing so much money at Defence supposed to be a good idea then?
... N. I doubt a longer list would be change additional opinions.
... as a more highly educated populous is more able to improve their own standard of living and are less likely to be violent to themselves ...
... stages wars on the global arena to justify further increasing its budget ...
1. My safety and freedom is greatly enhanced by doing so.
2. Dual use technologies. Microwave ovens (WW II radar), the Internet (Cold War DARPA), etc. It's like the space program, it spurs practical basic science. Not every dollar of course, but enough that an honest evaluation has to factor this in.
3
As you say less likely, think Nazi Germany and Iraq (high by Middle Eastern standards) for minority examples where educated is not followed by peaceful and non-threatening.
Plus, you also forget that this kind of expenditure isn't a 'one off' thing... the US spends this EVERY year on their defence
Were you planning on only feeding the needy for one year?
I'm beginning to think I was too generous when I said you mean well. Afghanistan and Iraq are results of 9/11.
Dude, once we own the middle east, we are going to buy France or at least those services we want. It's not worth much if we have to flatten it and we sure don't need the administrative hastle of owning them.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
...I know because I've gone to it before. I went while I was stationed at Quantico. They hold every year at the airfield (home to HMX-1, the President's helo pilots and the only experimental helo squadron in the Marine Corps, thus the "X" in their name).
To understand the purpose of the show, you need a little context about what happens at Quantico. It's the home to all Marine Corps doctrine, experimentation, and development. Yes, those may be done in other places, but the commands that control them are all in Quantico. It is also home to the FBI and DEA Academies. Many of the other services have similar setups around the D.C. area. So, Quantico is the ideal location for this sort of thing.
The show's purpose is to let the people who make R&D and purchasing decisions to see what's coming down the pipeline from various companies. Some are things that companies would like to see the military or law enforcement test (and eventually adopt) others are things that are in the military pipeline for deployment and are being showcased. The show let someone see a new product and decide that it is something they'd like to test. They can then acquire some, give them a whirl, and recommend the product if they like it. It also lets you see what's crap. I remeber a Tawainese company that was making a futuristic rifle and had it at the show. The thing looked freaking awesome, until you picked it up. It was heavy as hell & shoddily made ("Should the upper reciever be rattling on this thing?" "Ah yes - that is because our rifle is so flexible!").
In many ways it's very much like a computer trade show. You wander around & hear the sales pitch, try things out, and get lots of free crap. Except instead of getting a hard-on looking at IBM's newest server line, you get the hard-on playing with H&K's newest sidearm.
Oh wait, we failed it. Never mind.
Uhm, no not really, less power would do just fine. And still get it done faster.
The Iraqis actually resisted.
That's not "RoBoCop", that's "OverclockedCop" -- they need a case-mod.
Just leave the case open.
Moderate drunk! It's more fun that way!
Sorry, I'm not trying to lash back at you or anything... but watching the US government try and say that Iraq is due to 9/11 is laughable to say the least... It's purely in the interest of the government trying to deflect important local social issue by focussing everyone's attention on an external war effort.
Afghanistan? Ok... directly because of 9/11, yes... but what did they go in there to do? Get Bin Laden... did they get him? Well... umm... maybe... or maybe not... could've, but not sure... let's divert attention elsewhere... how about... hey, Saddam's a pretty nasty guy, let's go and bomb him.
First they said "We're going in there because there's direct links to Al-Qida(spelling off, but I pay little attention to the 'terrorist' news articles now). Saddam is directly linked to them, so this is to stop further 9/11s." Then, when they couldn't adequately show logical links there, they said... "He's... um... got weapons of mass destruction and is a threat to the world... so we, um, are going to do the right thing and get rid of him before he does."
So in went the US, and the UK, and us silly Australians, and killed thousands of civilians with 'collatoral damage', thousands more than 9/11 ever did... then they hunted around for anything to suggest 'weapons of mass destruction'(tm) and found a couple of barrels of what was probably hair dye or something, and someone's campervan which they said was a 'mobile chemical weapon's lab' and that's all we've seen.
So after all of that they're still in there, there's still firefights going on (But they've done their best to say it's all over now, cause a long war is a bad war publicity wise) and what have they really done? Not a great deal besides great a whole lot of money for American contractors who got the jobs to give the Iraqis things like mobile phones... weeee.
OK, yes, Saddam was(is? Who knows) a bad man, he ruled the country in a truely dictatorial way... I don't think anyone can say he isn't a cruel man who has killed thousands. BUT, what were the motives for the American/Allied attack? A non-UN sanctioned attack on a country in that way really does open up the gates for rogue countries to attack others and say "Well, we thought it was the right thing to do... you Americans did it... everyone said don't, but you did... so we can do"
Oh, and do you really believe that your safety and freedom are greatly enhanced by having an enormous military force? What about looking at the reasons why America thinks (Rightly or Wrongly) why everyone else wants to attack it... maybe if some of those things were changed there wouldn't be the need for such a HUGE force of armed men/women.
In deus ex we see thermoptic camo and sophisticated robots. In the force protection equipment demonstration we see thermoptic camo and sophisticated robots. Maybe not the political/social situation but the technology is sure coming closer... And I sure as hell am gonna grab one of those big bots and ride it around everywhere. Do YOU wanna mess?
"Guns don't kill people, bullets do."
I think its been capably demonstrated
recently that the current Administration
does not believe in talking as a way to solve problems.
I did pay for it after all 8:(
I went over for the last day, mainly for the demolition demonstrations. They set off 50lb TNT charges near blast doors, blast-proof windows, etc to demonstrate how well they worked.
For the record, 50lb of TNT leaves a smoking hole in the ground about 4 feet wide and 2 feet deep.
What does it do? Automatically and blindly defend Kevin Mitnick or something?
Plays violent online games as: Nerfherder76
2,600 differnt gadgets huh. 2600 of them, a coincidence? I think not Yep this is it. The government is bring back the blue box.
If a bad guy is continuously killing people, and I could stop it, and I do nothing, then how many deaths am I responsible for?
Many of the people who are blasting the US for invading Iraq are the same ones who blasted us for not doing anything in Zaire or Rwanda and for taking too long to act in the Balkans.
The simple truth is that the world is complex, and it is sometimes hard to know what is the right thing to do, or not do. Even if we could see into the future, would we be able to agree on the desired outcome?
For example, what if we knew that China would eventually take over all of Asia and subject it to a repressive dictatorship for 200 years? If our "crystal ball" showed us that by instead nuking China and killing a billion people, we would assure 200 years of peace and prosperity for the world, should we do it?
What if a criminal is holding a gun to the head of a hostage? What if he has already killed several hostages? If a police sniper "takes him out" did he just take a life or save a life?
...that could be far better spent saving itself from itself instead of the world from itself, which we kind of suck at of late.
c
I suggest you consider the reality that propoganda exists on both sides, some of your comments suggest you are deeply into it. Think a little more critically rather than blindly assuming 'Bush' equals 'wrong' and assuming that the first warm fuzzy caring action that comes to mind is the correct action. Things are far more complicated than you think.
Afghanistan and Iraq are results of 9/11 in that the attack forced the US into a more agressive posture. The basic idea being you take the war to the enemy, not wait for the enemy to attack you. Without this new posture we never would have been so aggressive in disarming Iraq. The Iraqi threat was that Iraq was a likely supplier of WMD materials to terrorists. They refused to prove such materials had been destroyed, the threat remained and had to be removed. Bush did not cause the war, the Iraqi regime did, the choice of war or peace was entirely in their hands. If they had actually cooperated with the UN inspectors, turned over materials or provided historical records of the material's manufacture/import and destruction, etc. there would have been no war. Unfortunately they chose hide-and-seek, thereby deciding war.
What no innocent until proven guilty? Correct. Iraq is not under the protection of the US Constitution. International relations, peace and war, have different rules than the US legal system. Pose a credible threat and you have endangered your regime. To use a cliche, waiting for a smoking gun is too late, better to make sure the gun is never possessed or used.
Your no WMD materials have been found arguments are so ironic given your stance on propoganda. Weren't the anti-war folks arguing that the experts in the field, the UN inspectors, needed many more months to properly do their job? And you expect the US Military, who does not control the whole country merely its population centers and some lanes of transportation, who is mostly focused on control and stability, who is only partly searching for WMD materials at the moment, and who is doing so with personnel less cabable than the UN inspectors, you expect them to do the job in weeks. Yeah, you thought deeply about this and didn't swallow someone's propoganda.
Regarding Afghanistan your focus on Bin Laden shows that you have a very shallow and unsophisticated view. It is a well understood concept of modern warfare that it is more effective to deprive foot soldiers of their support, food, weapons, bases of operation than to merely attack the soldiers. Destroying the terrorist infrastructure is more important and that is what has been taking place. Getting UBL is an extra. Dead, captured, or at large our interests can be served. Having him on the run, hiding, ineffective or much less effective, having his threats and predictions fail, etc. has it's own value as well. It degrades his image, destroys the myth.
Regarding not having a large military force. We tried that. In the 1920's and 30's our military was pitiful. Our approach to international relations was isolationism, ignore what happens on the other side of the oceans. The policy failed. Better to have reigned in Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany. Tens of millions of deaths could have been prevented. The nascent Hitler argument is that if we stomp on such rulers when thay are starting out, that even if we are wrong 999 out of 1,000 times, we have saved lives. Britain and France considered intervening in the 30's and enforcing compliance with the Treaty of Versailles, but 10,000 or so potential casualties led to the conclusion that it was not worth it. They meant well.
Some folks around the world want to attack the US, it is not because of our large military. They want to attack because of our commercial, political, and cultural dominance. UBL fears our ideas, he wants these ideas banished from his part of the world, that is his motivation and the motivation of others.
Apologies for the grammar and spelling, I should have had the coffee first.
To sum up:
Please note that the military is funded via the Discretionary spending while Social Security, Medicare, etc. are funded via the Mandatory spending.
For a lot of info about the US budget, look here.
That's precisely my point. The subtexts and themes of the original films raise it above the level of schlock-action movie into something approaching art.
But that's because Paul Verehoeven is such a good director. Hell, even Showgirls had some good moments.
"Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
What scares me is that somewhere, someone with a bit of power actually thinks their "hunch" is a crystal ball and that they really DO know what is coming. And acts accordingly.
my apologies "anonymous coward." i was just trying to get some info on something of interest. thought this might be some help. ill try to keep on topic.