Bush Prepares for Possible GPS Shutdown

[donsu]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041216/ap_on_go_pr_wh/positioning_satellites


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

-snip-

"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."

-snip-

The White House said the policies were aimed at improving the stability and performance of the U.S. navigation system, which Bush pledged will continue to be made available for free.
-snip-
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they are "open" because they are giving a threat. saying: 'see what we can and will do'

[mark11727]

1. Just don't be lost in the wilderness when the sh*t hits the fan...

[madinmaryland]

2. I might want to be lost in the wilderness

when the s**t hits the fan. At least no one will be able to locate me.

[progressiveBadger]

3. Our out at sea, or flying a plane n/t

[MADem]

4. Dig out the sextant....

And hope like hell the bozo driving stayed awake in navigation classes!!!

[LaPera]

5. I'm always amazed how technologically advanced and

powerful these "terrorist" just recently (under Bush) are supposed to be.

And the corporate media just plays right along.

[Old and In the Way]

6. Lots of assets are tracked by GPS.

Lots of unintended consequences. Sorta like the Y2K concerns...

[DELUSIONAL]

7. Bush is the terrorist

The mere fact that he is threatening to disable GPS is a form of terroristic threatening.

There is an alternative or addition to the GPS used by the US aviation industry and many of the newer GPS receivers use it.

However commercial shipping and fishing relies on GPS --

The bush crime family has been tinkering with GPS -- boaters in the Pacific Northwest this summer reported that their GPS units went blank without explanation during day time hours.

[DireStrike]

8. Well, it's a LITTLE better than that "laser" story

YO, JOE! Cobra commandos are coming to shine light into your eyes!

[GregW]

9. Oh great - there goes geocaching!

I finally find a hobby that gets me outdoors and to places I've never seen before, and W^rong fucks me over once again.

[idiosyncratic]

10. Same here. I just got my GPS . . . and if I could ever drag myself

away from DU, I would get out there and find the geocaches near me.

This is terrible news if they do that . . . ever.

[jmowreader]

11. This shit will last about one day

You know what's gonna happen: A Bush Ranger is going to pick up his new 63-foot Bertram the morning Bush cuts off the GPS. He's going to put himself and his wife in the boat and drive it out to the Gulf Stream to fish for pelagic sharks. Then the sea is going to come up to small-craft warning levels. Most Bush Rangers ain't got the guts to stay out in 12-foot seas (and most women, no matter the quantity or quality of their guts, don't want to be out in this shit either), so naturally he'll want to get his ass back to port. But because the only way this man can navigate in open ocean is to plug waypoints into his GPS, he's kinda stuck out there.

The next morning, after he's raised the Coast Guard for instructions on how to get back to Islamorada and found out that yes, he really needs to add a few more bilge pumps to his $6 million boat, his wife is ready to leave his ignorant ass for getting her into this shit, the government wants $20,000 for all the fuel it used getting a cutter out there to lead him back to port (what? you didn't bring a CHART? And that funny thing on the dashboard with all the numbers on it is called a Compass, did you think it was just a good place to store your sunglasses?), his buddies at the Yacht Club are calling him Captain Peter Wrongway Peachfuzz to his face, the commodore of the Yacht Club asked him "look, since you were only a mile off the coast of Cuba anyway, why didn't you bring me some cigars?" our friend the Bush Ranger will call the White House, get his political benefactee on the line, tell him about his evening and sign off with "this WILL NOT happen again, WILL IT?"

And instead of doing the smart thing by conscripting our friend into the Navy for a trip to Boatswain's Mate school followed by a trip to the Persian Gulf (so he can learn how to drive boats in the ocean properly), Bush will admit that perhaps he was a bit too hasty in deactivating the GPS.