US Air Force General Claims He Was Pressured to Alter Testimony About White House Backed Sattelite Communications Network

The Commander of the United States Air Force Space Command told House members that he was pressured to change prepared testimony before Congress to benefit a communications company that had a major Democrat donor as one of its main investors.

Republicans have raised questions about whether the project pursued by the company, LightSquared, is being unduly expedited by the Obama administration, which has pushed for national wireless network upgrades.

The Virginia-based satellite and broadband communications company has plans to build a nationwide, next-generation, 4G phone network that many, including Shelton, think would seriously hinder the effectiveness of high-precision GPS receiver systems, a product used most commonly by the United States military.

General William Shelton testified before Congress last week that interference with the military's GPS satellite system due to activity from LightSquared's proposed satelite-based 4G and wireless communications network could not be mitigated.

He did testify that testing done by various agencies responsible for military GPS positioning "demonstrated empirically that the LightSquared signals interfere with all of the types of receivers in the test."

He added that mitigation would not be possible because redesigning the equipment to filter out interference from LightSquared "would involve substantial financial cost and likely degrade the accuracy of high performance receivers, which is critical to many key GPS users."

Military training that relies on precision GPS, such as dropping ordnance, potentially could cease to exist in the United States. Many farmers who also rely on the systems would also be affected. It's estimated this system is used by as many as 1 million people.

The Federal Aviation Administration has also expressed worry about the LightSquared project. The FAA is in the process of moving from a radar based positioning system to a required GPS system for all aircraft, and it has “serious concerns” about how LightSquared may interfere with that, according to FAA spokesman Laura Brown.

Since the General's testemony, another witness has come forward to claim that he was pressured to modify his testimony to rflect more favorable on LightSquared.

General Shelton's allegations come less than a month after heavily subsidised solar panel manufacturer Solyndra shut down, leaving taxpayers on the hook for $500 million in loan guarantees.

The Obama Administration reportedly pressured regulators from the Department of Energy to expedite loans to Solyndra, sat in on company meetings and touted the solar company's activities as an indication that the 2009 Stimulus was working as intended, with President Obama visiting the company's Fremont, CA facilities in May 2010.

Pentagon Releases Names of US Servicemen Killed in Afghanistan Helicopter Crash

Funeral service for SEAL Team member Rob Reeves at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Shreveport, LA on Saturday August 14- Henrietta Wildsmith/Shreveport Times

On Thursday, the Pentagon released the name of all 30 American servicemen killed when their CH-47 Chinook was shot down by Taliban fire during a nighttime mission over Wardak province on Aug 6th.



The following SEALS have been identified as among the dead:



*Lt. Cmdr. Jonas B. Kelsall, 32, of Shreveport, La.

*Special Warfare Operator Master Chief Petty Officer Louis J. Langlais, 44, of Santa Barbara, Calif.

Special Warfare Operator Senior Chief Petty Officer (SEAL) Thomas A. Ratzlaff, 34, of Green Forest, Ark.,

*Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer Brian R. Bill, 31, of Stamford, Conn.

*Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer John W. Faas, 31, of Minneapolis, Minn.

*Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer Kevin A. Houston, 35, of West Hyannisport, Mass.

*Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer Matthew D. Mason, 37, of Kansas City, Mo.

*Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer Stephen M. Mills, 35, of Fort Worth, Texas.

*Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer Robert J. Reeves, 32, of Shreveport, La.

*Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer Heath M. Robinson, 34, of Detroit, Mich.

*Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class Darrik C. Benson, 28, of Angwin, Calif.

*Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class Christopher G. Campbell, 36, of Jacksonville, N.C.

*Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class Jon T. Tumilson, 35, of Rockford, Iowa.

*Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class Aaron C. Vaughn, 30, of Stuart, Fla.

*Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class Jason R. Workman, 32, of Blanding, Utah.

*Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 1st Class Jesse D. Pittman, 27, of Ukiah, Calif.

*Special Warfare Operator Petty Officer 2nd Class Nicholas P. Spehar, 24, of Saint Paul, Minn.



The five Navy special operations troops were:



*Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician Senior Chief Petty Officer Kraig M. Vickers 36, of Kokomo, Hawaii.

*Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technician Chief Petty Officer Nicholas H. Null, 30, of Washington, W. Va.

*Information Systems Technician Petty Officer 1st Class Jared W. Day, 28, of Taylorsville, Utah.

*Master-at-Arms Petty Officer 1st Class John Douangdara, 26, of South Sioux City, Neb.

*Cryptologist Technician Petty Officer 1st Class Michael J. Strange, 25, of Philadelphia, Pa.



The five soldiers killed were identified as:



*Chief Warrant Officer David R. Carter, 47, of Centennial, Colo., who was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment in Aurora, Colo.;

*Chief Warrant Officer Bryan J. Nichols, 31, of Hays, Kan., who was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment in New Century, Kan.

*Sgt. Patrick D. Hamburger, 30, of Lincoln, Neb., who was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 135th Aviation Regiment in Grand Island, Neb.

*Sgt. Alexander J. Bennett, 24, of Tacoma, Wash., who was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, New Century, Kan.

*Spc. Spencer C. Duncan, 21, of Olathe, Kan., who was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment in New Century, Kan.



The three airmen who died were:



*Tech. Sgt. John W. Brown, 33, of Tallahassee, Fla., who was assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Field, N.C.

*Staff Sgt. Andrew W. Harvell, 26, of Long Beach, Calif., who was assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Field, N.C.

*Tech. Sgt. Daniel L. Zerbe, 28, of York, Pa. who was assigned to the 24th Special Tactics Squadron, Pope Field, N.C.



[Hat tip: And So It Goes in Shreveport]

Not Another New England Sports Blog! Wishes You a Happy Memorial Day Weekend

(Steve Breen- San Diego Union-Tribune)

Just wanted to take this opportunity to wish everybody a good and safe Memorial Day weekend from Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Some of the more astute observers of this blog might recognize the above image as the same one I had up for Memorial Day weekend last year. Although I'll cop to being a fairly lazy individual, it wasn't laziness that prompted me to post the same image for a 2nd year in a row. I thought it was a well done piece by editorial cartoonist Steve Breen of the San Diego Union-Tribune and I figured I'd like to share it with some of the newer visitors to this blog who may not have had a chance to see it before.

If you're a veteran such as myself or just a big supporter of the troops in general, I thought I'd leave you with a couple of links to some veterans and supports organizations for your perusal.

Wounded Warrior Project

Operation Homefront

Home Base Program

Semper Fi Fund

SUDS- Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba

Project Healing Waters

Happy Armed Forces Day from Not Another New England Sports Blog!

Just a quick reminder that today is in fact Armed Forces Day here in the USA. And as demonstrated in Abbotabad earlier this month, they are pretty awesome- aren't they?

9 Americans Killed After Afghan Air Force Officer Opens Fire at Kabul Airport

A veteran officer in Afghanistan's Air Force opened fire on American and Afghan troops during a meeting at Kabul's airport on Wednesday, killing 8 US troops and an American contractor.

The Afghan officer, who was a veteran military pilot, fired on the Americans after an argument, the Afghan Defense Ministry said.

All nine killed were American, according to a senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the information has not yet been made public.

The shooting occurred in an operations room of the Afghan Air Corps at Kabul airport.

"Suddenly, in the middle of the meeting, shooting started," said Afghan Air Corps spokesman Col. Bahader, who uses only one name. "After the shooting started, we saw a number of Afghan army officers and soldiers running out of the building. Some were even throwing themselves out of the windows to get away."

It was the seventh time so far this year that members of the Afghan security forces, or insurgents impersonating them, have killed coalition soldiers or members of the Afghan security forces.

Before the airport shooting, the coalition had recorded 20 incidents since March 2009 where a member of the Afghan security forces or someone wearing a uniform used by them attacked coalition forces, killing a total of 36. It is not known how many of the 282,000 members of the Afghan security forces have been killed in these type of incidents.

Epic FAA-IL Update- First Lady's Plane Involved in Near Miss

A Boeing 737 carrying First Lady Michelle Obama had a closer call than intially reported with a military cargo flight approaching Andrews AFB earlier this week.

The close call on Monday night left 2.94 miles of distance between the Obama plane and the 200-ton C-17 jet as they both approached landing at Andrews Air Force base just outside of Washington. Air traffic controllers at Andrews directed Obama's plane to abort a landing, the board said in a statement Friday.

Obama's plane, a Boeing 737, was considerably smaller than the 200-ton C17 ahead of it. Federal regulations require five miles between planes to avoid dangerous wake turbulence when the plane in the lead is significantly larger than the one trailing.

The Andrews controllers immediately ordered the 737 pilot to execute a series of turns to increase its distance from the cargo plane. When the distance continued to narrow, the controllers directed the 737 pilot to abort the landing and circle the airport until the cargo jet cleared the runway.

The incident involving the First Lady came a few days after a controller at the Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center in Oberlin, OH inadvertently left his mic open, transmitting the soundtrack to a movie he was watching on a portable DVD player over the assigned frequency for that airspace.

The FAA said that the controller and a manager have been suspended in the wake of the most recent incident [but, hey! At least he was staying awake! -NANESB!]. Reportedly the movie in question was Cleaner (2007) Starring Samuel L Jackson and Ed Harris.

But what can I say that this Taiwanese animation hasn't already said?
[Hat tip- Death by 1000 Papercuts; Next Media (Taiwan)]

Libyan 'Kinetic Military Action' Update, Now with Kung Fu Grip!- Downed US Pilots Rescued by Marines; Ghdaffi Arming 'Volunteers'

We're bombing a new Muslim dictator with a smaller coalition and no Congressional approval. This is, indeed, change we can believe in.
- Jim Geraghty, National Review

You thought this was a war with Libya? Don't be silly! It's a 'kinetic military action'. Then again, one man's 'kinetic military action' is another man's 'man caused disaster'.

BENGHAZI: Two Aviano, Italy-based U.S. Air Force Pilots were uninjured after their F15E crashed in rebel held territory outside of Benghazi earlier this week. Within a half hour, Marines on the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge deployed two Harriers, two CH53E Super Stallion helicopters and two V22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft (pictured above) to rescue the downed pilots in what the USMC called a 'tactical recovery of personnel'. At least one of the pilots had reportedly made contact with some of the Libyan rebels before the Marines showed up.

The cause of the crash is thought to be a malfunction, as the F15E was reportedly well beyond the range of ground fire. The two pilots, who's names haven't been disclosed, are undergoing evaluation in Germany.

TRIPOLI: Libyan leader Mummar Ghdaffy is said to be distributing arms to 'volunteers' in the capital city of Tripoli, according to a Pentagon report.

"We've received reports today that he has taken to arming what he calls volunteers to fight the opposition," Vice Admiral William Gortney said on Friday.

"I'm not sure... if they are truly volunteers or not and I don't know how many of these recruits he's going to get, but I find it interesting that he may now feel it necessary to seek civilian reinforcements."

Advertisement: Story continues below The official said Gaddafi "has virtually no air defence left to him and a diminishing ability to command and sustain his forces on the ground" following seven days of coalition air raids.

"His air force cannot fly, his warships are staying in port, his ammunition stores are being destroyed, communications towers are being toppled, his command bunkers rendered useless," Gortney said.

ELSEWHERE : Call it a coalition of the unwilling, I guess. NATO has tentatively agreed to take over part of the multinational operations against Libya, but attacks on ground targets will continue to fall under the command of the USA- which has indiacted it eagerness to relinquish that role.

Meanwhile, rebels in Eastern Libya have appeared to borrow a page from Ghdaffi's playbook, arbitrarily detaining and interrogating suspected Ghdaffi loyalists.

For a month, gangs of young gunmen have roamed the city, rousting Libyan blacks and immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa from their homes and holding them for interrogation as suspected mercenaries or government spies.

Over the last several days, the opposition has begun rounding up men accused of fighting as mercenaries for Kadafi's militias as government forces pushed toward Benghazi. It has launched nightly manhunts for about 8,000 people named as government operatives in secret police files seized after internal security operatives fled in the face of the rebellion that ended Kadafi's control of eastern Libya last month.

"We know who they are," said Abdelhafed Ghoga, the chief opposition spokesman. He called them "people with bloodstained hands" and "enemies of the revolution."

Any suspected Kadafi loyalist or spy who does not surrender, Ghoga warned, will face revolutionary "justice."

The roundup by the Libyan rebels seems to primarily target black immigrants in Libya, as there were reports of the Libyan dictator hiring black, french-speaking mercenaries from sub-Saharan Africa to crush the protests and uprising that began several weeks ago.

However, long before the uprising many West Africans had also found work in Libya as construction workers and day laborers.

Libyan Evacuation: Ferry Bring Americans to Malta, USAF Flying Egyptian Nationals Home.

While some 200 Americans being evacuated from Libya had to wait for a ferry to Malta last week, President Obama dispatched US Air Force C130s to Tunisia in order to aid in the evacuation of Egyptian workers trapped in Libya since an uprising against the Gahdaffi regime and ensuing crackdown

President Obama announced today that he had approved the use of military planes to transport Egyptian refugees from the Tunisian border back to Egypt.

Defense officials says the operation will be run by Africa Command (Africom) which is based in Stuttgart, Germany. One of the officials says Africom will use between two and four C-130 aircraft based in Germany to carry out the flights between Tunisia and Egypt. C-130’s are smaller aircraft compared to C-17’s so it looks like they could be making a lot of trips.

The flights will operate between Tunisia and Egypt. A Department of Defense official said that USAID would charter additional civilian aircraft to evacuate foreign nationals who are fleeing strife-torn Libya via the Tunisian border. Spain and German are sending aircraft and warships to aid in the evacuation of foreigners (mostly Egyptians) while India and South Korea have dispatched Naval vessels to evacuate their citizens.

You know what? I hope I don't come off like I'm against using US Air Force aircraft and personnel to evacuate foreign nationals from the escalating and increasingly bloody clusterfuck in Libya, because I'm not....

Simply put, It's the right thing to do......

I'm sure there were some logistical concerns as well. But with that said, how come these assets weren't made available to the American citizens who needed them first?

Food for thought.

Two US Airmen Killed by Gunman at Frankfurt Airport

A gunman opened fire on a bus carrying US Air Force personnel outside the passenger terminal at Frankfurt International Airport on Wednesday, killing two airmen and wounding two others before being subdued while trying to flee.

The four airmen were stationed at RAF Lakenheath in England and being deployed to either Iraq or Afghanistan.

German police had identified the shooter as Arid Uka, a Kosovar citicizen from the northern village of Mitrovica. The gunman reportedly shouted 'Allahu Akhbar!' before opening fire on the bus and attempted to flee after his gun jammed.

Kosovo unilateraly decalred its indepedence from Serbia in 2008, becoming one of the last former Yugoslav republics to break away from Belgrade. 8700 NATO troops are still stationed in Kosovo as part of the KFOR after a series of airstrikes against Serbia in 1999.

The US Air Force maintains a number of bases around the Frankfurt area including Ramstein Air Base, which was reportedly targeted by the Islamic Jihad Union terrorist group in 2007 before German authorities their plot.

Maryland Man Arrested in Attempt to Bomb Recruiting Center

Federal authorities alleged that a recent convert to Islam attempted to blow up a military recruiting station in Catonsville, MD in what turned out to be an FBI sting operation.

Federal authorities said Antonio Martinez, a recent convert to Islam who called himself Muhammad Hussain, watched videos of Osama bin Laden and mused about "dying for the cause" by joining militant forces overseas.

Unable to afford to travel to Pakistan or Afghanistan, Martinez instead proposed hitting local military installations to send a message. Officials say those plans culminated when he parked an SUV equipped with a dummy bomb in a suburban parking lot not far from his home.

Martinez was described by authorities as a 'lone wolf' with no known ties to terrorist groups.

The Wednesday arrest comes only a few weeks after a Somali immigrant attempted to blow up a van parked near a crowd gathered for a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in Oregon in a similar sting.

The Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month

While I'd like to think that my Army service wasn't that long ago, it predated the advent of the Stryker APC, pixelated BDUs or widespread implementation of the berets as part of the uniform (they were previously only issued to airborne and special ops units). In other words, it might as well have been a lifetime ago.

For those of you wishing to show your support beyond the occasional words of encouragement, I highly reccomend getting involved with groups like anysoldier or Soldier's Angels where you can 'adopt' a soldier, sailor, airman or Marine....or even a whole platoon for that matter.

For those of you who have served or are presently serving, you have my sincerest thanks and I hope that you are able to enjoy this day with your loved ones.

Illinois Inmates Get Ballots Hand-Deliverd; 35 Counties Failed to Send Off Military Ballots in Time

Good to know they've got their priorities straight in Chicagoland.

In an election year where both unelected incumbent and Blago replacement Pat Quinn and failed Broadway Bank head loan officer turned Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias are facing uphill battles in their respective races

the Chicago Board of Elections hand-delivers ballots to inmates in Cook County Jail. The board doesn't even wait for the inmates to apply — it brings the applications with the ballots! More than 2,600 inmates have cast ballots — strikingly similar to the 2,600 soldiers who will likely not receive a ballot for Tuesday's election.

In New York, the case was being made that the state should obtain a waiver from the 2009 MOVE Act due to the fact that the primaries (September 14) were fairly close to the actual election day (Nov. 2nd).

Illinois on the other hand had their primaries all the way back on Feb 2nd. You'd think that even the slowest and most inept of bureaucracies could send off the required ballots and forms in 9 months.

Heading into election day, blogger RoboMonkey has amassed an even more detailed list of suspect and in some cases, blatant fraud and bogus registrations at early voting throughout the country in his Grand Theft Democracy series.

WTF, VFW!? Update: VFW to Dissolve PAC

At this point, all I can say is "about damn time". Habitually endorsing incumbents is not unheard-of by certain PACs. Endorsing incumbents that have showed nothing but disdain and contempt for the group you supposedly represent throughout their entire careers shows a staggering laziness and disconnect that cannot be reconciled.

From Blackfive:

I have reviewed the Political Action Committee (PAC) Board of Directors’ response
to our request to rescind this year’ s Congressional endorsements. I disagree with their assessment.

It is now evident to most of the VFW leadership, both National and especially the
departments, that the VFW has been subjected to extreme negative publicity throughout the nation, and the recent endorsement decisions have, in fact, harmed the VFW’ s reputation and future ability to fulfill our mission.

I cannot let this erosion of public support for our great organization continue. The
apparent lack of the committee to address these concerns will lead to a proposal by me, as Commander-in-Chief, to amend the by-laws at the 112th National Convention for the purpose of dissolving the PAC. Meanwhile, under the authority granted to me as Commander-in-Chief in section 619 of the VFW National By-Laws and under section 620 of the Manual of Procedure, I am withdrawing all PAC appointments effective October 15, 2010.

Accordingly, I’ m asking the council for a vote of “ no confidence” in the VFW PAC as
indicated on the enclosed ballot.

To: National Council of Administration
From: Richard L. Eubank, Commander-in-Chief
Date: October 14, 2010

Also from Blackfive comes word that the VFW Ladies Auxiliary withdrew funding from the PAC effective last week.

Better late than never, but one has to wonder how it got to this point in the first place.

[Hat Tip: Blackfive, Spin Strangeness & Charm]

New York, Illinois Elections Officials Fail To Send Off Mail-In Ballots for Overseas Military Personnel In Time

According to a letter sent to the Pentagon by officials from the New York Board of Elections, absentee ballots for servicemen from all five boroughs of New York City as well as Putnam, Westchester, Erie and Niagara counties were not mailed off by the October 1st deadline.

The delay means approximately 50,000 people from New York City now in the military could miss their chance to vote because it can take two weeks for the mail system to deliver ballots to troops overseas. New York State allows for absentee ballots to be counted up to 13 days after Election Day, which is Nov. 2.

The delay also affects overseas voters from New York City's northern suburbs as well as Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

New York had initially gotten a waiver from the 2009 MOVE act because their primaries were relatively late (September 14), but on Wednesday the Justice Department brought a suit against the state of New York after it became clear that at least four counties missed the Oct. 1st deadline.

The Justice Department is also looking into similar reports from Illinois after the Director for the Illinois State Board of Elections Director said that not all of the state's 110 jurisdictions were compliant with the MOVE Act. Without the waiver, the ballots were supposed to be mailed by September 18th.

Now keep in mind that service members tend to vote Republican most of the time while the local, state and federal lawmakers and officials in jurisdictions that have been delinquent in mailing out the absentee ballots are universally Democrat- unelected Democrats in the Governor's mansion in both Illinois and New York, to boot.

So this more or less comes down to two possible explanations- the more sinister being that this is an effort by Democrat officials to disenfranchise uniformed members of the United States military. This would not be the first time the Democrats went out of their way to disenfranchise military personnel serving overseas [Just ask Houston, TX mayor (and Democrat gubernatorial candidate) Bill White- NANESB!]

The other, more 'benign' and plausible excuse would be sheer and utter jaw-dropping incompetence on the part of officials. In either instance, do you think that they've earned your vote?

[Hat Tip: Weasel Zippers, Lonely Conservative, Realwest at Correspondence Committee]