Our Stupid Prez is at it again.
Dec. 16th, 2004 03:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ambitious_wenchFrom: http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?id=2004121521290001739682&dt=20041215212900&w=APO&coview=
*blink*
Wait. Just hold on a minute: So, let's say another terrorist attack happens. Bush would *shut down GPS*? So the terrorists couldn't find their way around?
*Shut down the world's navigational system*?
We aren't talking about those folks who play "find the geo-thingy in the woods", here, folks. We're talking about oil tankers at sea. Commercial aircraft in flight. Hell, the Geo-finder in your LandRover. Arctic explorers. Anthropologists in the jungles. All without global positioning systems that they have come to rely on in order to know *exactly* where they are, and how to get where they need to be?
But wait, there's more:
*GAH.*
It hasn't even been built yet, and Bush wants us to be able to shut it down? Is he fucking nuts? Or is it something else? Think about the kind of power you'd have if you could shut down the GPS satellites. Think about the threat such power would have on the world economy. The of the humanitarian harm it could do.
Oh. Right. We wouldn't do that. We're the good guys.
Yep. The same sort of good guys that brought you Abu Graib.
What kind of monster is this man? And just how did he get into office, again?
In an effort to allay fears, here's another quote:
Oh, like that really calms my fears. Not.
More:
Yeah, like he told us about WMD in Iraq? Bullshit. I smell something really fishy here. Anyone else?
Bush Prepares for Possible GPS Shutdown
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush has ordered plans for temporarily disabling the U.S. network of global positioning satellites during a national crisis to prevent terrorists from using the navigational technology, the White House said Wednesday.
Any shutdown of the network inside the United States would come under only the most remarkable circumstances, said a Bush administration official who spoke to a small group of reporters at the White House on condition of anonymity.
The GPS system is vital to commercial aviation and marine shipping.
*blink*
Wait. Just hold on a minute: So, let's say another terrorist attack happens. Bush would *shut down GPS*? So the terrorists couldn't find their way around?
*Shut down the world's navigational system*?
We aren't talking about those folks who play "find the geo-thingy in the woods", here, folks. We're talking about oil tankers at sea. Commercial aircraft in flight. Hell, the Geo-finder in your LandRover. Arctic explorers. Anthropologists in the jungles. All without global positioning systems that they have come to rely on in order to know *exactly* where they are, and how to get where they need to be?
But wait, there's more:
The president also instructed the Defense Department to develop plans to disable, in certain areas, an enemy's access to the U.S. navigational satellites and to similar systems operated by others. The European Union is developing a $4.8 billion program, called Galileo.
*GAH.*
It hasn't even been built yet, and Bush wants us to be able to shut it down? Is he fucking nuts? Or is it something else? Think about the kind of power you'd have if you could shut down the GPS satellites. Think about the threat such power would have on the world economy. The of the humanitarian harm it could do.
Oh. Right. We wouldn't do that. We're the good guys.
Yep. The same sort of good guys that brought you Abu Graib.
What kind of monster is this man? And just how did he get into office, again?
In an effort to allay fears, here's another quote:
The military increasingly uses GPS technology to move troops across large areas and direct bombs and missiles. Any government-ordered shutdown or jamming of the GPS satellites would be done in ways to limit disruptions to navigation and related systems outside the affected area, the White House said.
Oh, like that really calms my fears. Not.
More:
``This is not something you would do lightly,'' said James A. Lewis, director of technology policy for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. ``It's clearly a big deal. You have to give them credit for being so open about what they're going to do.''
Yeah, like he told us about WMD in Iraq? Bullshit. I smell something really fishy here. Anyone else?