Free Republic

The Sudden Disappearance of The Popular Quinn and Rose Morning Talk show from Clean Channel's lineup this morning is troubling!!

In the past decade, millions have come to depend on the seeming magic of the global positioning system (GPS) to guide them to their destination. The navigational gadgets in cars, cell phones and other hand-held devices can even be a lifesaver. Now the system may be undermined by a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decision last month to allow a well-connected company to exploit a slice of the airwaves in a way that potentially blocks GPS signals. The FCC bent the rules so the Reston-based firm LightSquared could offer a new wireless Internet service that fulfills President Obama‘s high-profile push for...

FCC bending the rules for obama's internet service. Throw your GPS's in the trash.

A new, ultra-fast wireless Internet network is threatening to overpower GPS signals across the U.S. and interfere with everything from airplanes to police cars to consumer navigation devices. The problem stems from a recent government decision to let a Virginia company called LightSquared build a nationwide broadband network using airwaves next to those used for GPS. Manufacturers of GPS equipment warn that strong signals from the planned network could jam existing navigation systems. A technical fix could be expensive — billions of dollars by one estimate — and there's no agreement on who should pay. Government officials pledge to block...

A warning for night drivers: If your GPS navigator gives out on you this week, don’t despair. What you’re experiencing is only a test of the emerging broadband system. Starting Monday, broadband developer LightSquared will start testing its planned 4G speed wireless network in the Las Vegas area. The test will run after midnight for several hours for 10 days, and if it works, Las Vegas could become one of the first U.S. cities to get on a super-high speed Internet grid that’s independent of any particular service provider. But if it fails, government agencies warn that it could compromise...

Wireless broadband firm LightSquared has admitted that its original plan would have knocked out most GPS sat-nav kit, but argues that its new plan will only leave 200,000 users lost. Reporting on the results of several months of testing, involving 130 different GPS receivers, LightSquared admits that operating in the neighbouring band to GPS satellites will knock out a significant proportion of location-finding kit. But the company reckons its revised plan, announced last week, avoids interfering in all but the most-sensitive GPS kit: which LightSquared pegs at 200,000 devices around the USA. Those are important devices, installed in aircraft to...

When the Federal Communications Commission granted LightSquared Inc. expedited approval to launch a new wireless Internet service, some powerful voices in Washington expressed alarm, including the Pentagon and one-third of the U.S. Senate. LightSquared’s bold $14 billion plan, its detractors said, could cripple GPS systems and threaten aviation safety, disrupt military and rescue operations and interfere with high-tech farming equipment and the everyday navigation devices used by millions.

The Pentagon has worried for months that a project backed by a prominent Democratic donor might interfere with military GPS. Now Congress wants to know if the White House pressured a general to change his testimony. The four-star Air Force general who oversees U.S. Space Command walked into a highly secured room on Capitol Hill a week ago to give a classified briefing to lawmakers and staff, and dropped a surprise. Pressed by members, Gen. William Shelton said the White House tried to pressure him to change his testimony to make it more favorable to a company tied to a...

To Protect Obama Donor, White House Pressures General to Alter Testimony Diane Ellis, Ed. In January, the Federal Communications Commission granted a license to a satellite broadband company in Virginia called LightSquared to build tens of thousands of ground stations for a wireless network. However, the Pentagon has since raised concerns that the proposed wireless service could interfere with the military's GPS capabilities, which have not only replaced maps for millions of drivers, but also serve a crucial role in missile targeting and other defense-related tasks. Gen. William Shelton, a four-star Air Force general who oversees U.S. Space Command was...

With the White House already reeling over the Solyndra collapse, a new scandal may have erupted today that could make the disappearance of $535 million in taxpayer funds look like a paperwork glitch. Eli Lake starts off his new gig at The Daily Beast with a huge bombshell — an accusation made to members of Congress from a four-star Air Force general that claimed the White House pressured him to change his testimony to boost a big donor to the Democratic Party: ... Rep. Mike Turner told Eli that this was definitely an attempt to influence Shelton, bias his testimony,...

When it rains, it pours. And there ain’t a big enough umbrella for all President Obama’s cronies and fixers to crowd under these days. While the Solyndra BGB (big green boondoggle) continues to blow up on Capitol Hill, the White House faces another pay-for-play backlash — this time from his own left flank. The liberal Daily Beast reports on a broadband project backed by a frequent Obama White House visitor and donor that has Pentagon officials concerned over potential military GPS interference. The Obama FCC took the lead in intervening on the donor, billionaire hedge fund manster Philip Falcone’s, behalf...

This did not just come up out of nowhere - This from last January: In his State of the Union address on January 25, President Obama held up the Global Positioning System as a prime example of government providing “cutting-edge scientists and inventors with the support that they need” to create world-leading, job-creating innovation. The following day, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) International Bureau approved a conditional waiver allowing LightSquared Subsidiary LLC to build tens of thousands of terrestrial transmitters for wireless communications in frequencies on either side of the GPS L1 band. Reportedly, the transmitters are authorized to operate...

“GPS receivers were quite purposefully designed to operate in a portion of the radio frequency spectrum deliberately maintained as a “quiet neighborhood,” with neighboring frequencies primarily occupied by signals of comparable power levels, all based on widely accepted understanding of previous FCC rules and intent. The proposed LightSquared transmitters will produce received signal strengths five billion times stronger than the GPS received signal.” "Some have suggested GPS equipment can be redesigned for greater filtering to mitigate the interference, but even if this is possible, we believe it would involve substantial financial cost and likely degrade the accuracy of high performance...

Presidents put their investments into blind trusts when they take office in order to avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest. Well, most modern Presidents do, anyway. It seems that Obama considers himself an exception to this rule, or at the very least he did until April 2010. The Washington Post’s Michael Shear reported at that time that Obama had refused to establish a blind trust . . . snip . . . The records are not on line, but the White House website does have a request page, which promises to send a PDF of the financial disclosure forms...

Earlier this week there was the case of Solyndra, the hi-tech solar panel manufacturer that went bust last month, despite receiving more than $500m in federal loan guarantees. Yesterday it was the turn of LightSquared, mired controversy over its use of satellite frequencies for a national 4G mobile network, which critics say could disrupt the Global Positioning System (GPS) that operates millions of navigation devices, including those used by the US military and for hurricane and tornado tracking. LightSquared's plans have been opposed by GPS users, including an industry group named Coalition to Save Our GPS, whose members include consumer...

Watch this Lightsquared video accusing commercial GPS manufacturers of infrining on their frequency allocations

A United States Air Force general is blowing the whistle on another alleged White House scandal, but few in the news media seem to be listening.

Scandal: The Air Force's Space Command chief was pressured to alter testimony about the danger of a wireless project developed by a Democratic donor's company. Are lives as well as money being put at risk? Crony capitalism, which has been rampant in President Obama's push for green energy, is one thing. Rewarding donors with stimulus dollars is merely the "Chicago Way" brought to Washington, D.C. But when ideology combines with cronyism to place American lives and the nation's security at risk, it's quite another thing. At issue is a plan by Reston, Va.-based satellite broadcast communications company LightSquared to build...

The recent revelations by Eli Lake at The Daily Beast that a four-star Air Force general was pressured to alter his testimony to favor Light Squared revealed a new case of cronyism in the White House. Now a second individual has now come forward to say he too was urged to parrot OMB suggested text in his testimony - that the OMB wants expedited testing for frequency interference. He refused to do so. From The Daily Beast: "The four-star Air Force general who oversees Air Force Space Command walked into a highly secured room on Capitol Hill a week ago...

Wireless startup LightSquared claimed Wednesday to have found a solution that will prevent its network from interfering with Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, even especially sensitive precision devices. The company said it worked with Javad, a GPS manufacturer, to develop a system that will adapt precision GPS devices so they can operate in the presence of LightSquared's network. Martin Harriman, LightSquared's executive vice president of ecosystem development and satellite business, said the fix is affordable and "relatively simple. The company plans to test a batch of prototypes alongside additional tests required by the Federal Communications Commission. LightSquared intends to...