Day: July 22, 2009

It Was Inevitable — Day of the Gamer/Soldier Arrives

Buck Banks

What do you get if you combine an electronic Roomba vacuum cleaner with an X-Box video game? The next generation of military weaponry, operated by 20-something gamer/soldiers with big thumbs, lightning reflexes and a knack for remote-controlled combat.

It’s been a standing parental joke for decades: If only Junior could turn his skills at Halo 3 honed over hundreds of hours to good …. Well, now he can — in the Army.

According to NextGov, for the past year the U.S. Army has been testing robots, unmanned airplanes, sensors and other gear at the White Sands facility in New Mexico, and plans to deploy the high-tech weaponry to combat troops as early as 2011, when it’s likely we’ll still be fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The high-tech systems the Army is testing and refining at White Sands Missile Range are both the remnants of its ambitious and now canceled $160 billion Future Combat Systems program and the core of a new battlefield modernization program the service plans to develop to replace it.

The Army intends to spin out systems developed for FCS as part of the brigade combat team modernization program headquartered at Fort Bliss, Texas, which adjoins White Sands, said Jerry Tyree, director of integration for the program. These include the tracked robot, an aerial robot, tactical and urban unmanned ground sensors, a missile system, and a battlefield network to link them all together.

The service plans to field these systems to seven infantry brigade combat teams between 2011 and 2014 at a cost of less than $2 billion, said Paul Mehney, an Army spokesman.

Of course, first the Army will have to figure out how to provide a battlefield broadband network to operate and coordinate the new systems. Today, communications-equipped Humvees can only deliver about 1.5 megabytes per second while the average speed of a residential broadband connection is 7 Mps.

Breaking: Sen. Lindsey Graham to Vote to Confirm Sotomayor

Trish

We’re looking for MSM confirmation now…

Got it:

Washington, D.C. (WLTX, AP) – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham says he intends to vote for Sonia Sotomayor for the U.S. Supreme Court.

The South Carolina Republican made the announcement Wednesday afternoon on the Senate floor.

Graham said he felt compelled to vote yes, because of his belief that elections have consequences. He says he and Senator John McCain made it clear to the American public that selections to the U.S. Supreme Court were at stake in the 2008 election, and that the public chose to go the way it did.

Whatever that means. Mostly, I think it means Graham is tired of hearing how bigoted he and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) came across during the confirmation hearings.

The Difference Between Retiring from Office and Running for One

Trish

“Judge Sotomayor is knowledgeable of the law, would be a fair and impartial judge, and seems to have a good understanding of the limited role the judiciary plays in our democracy. Judge Sotomayor’s rise to the Supreme Court is testimony to the fact that the American dream continues to be attainable. As an Hispanic American, I take great pride in Judge Sotomayor’s historic achievement. Given her qualifications and testimony this week, I intend to vote in favor of her confirmation.”

— Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), who is not running for re-election, announcing his intention to vote to confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court.

“I have reviewed and reflected upon her testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and come to the conclusion that I cannot support her appointment to the United States Supreme Court. Judge Sotomayor is worthy of respect for her many accomplishments and her remarkable story of success. However, I have strong concerns that Judge Sotomayor would not strictly and objectively construe the constitution and lacks respect for the fundamental right to keep and bear arms. For these reasons, I cannot support her appointment to the highest court in the land.”

— Gov. Charlie Crist (R-Fla.), who is running for the seat currently held by Sen. Mel Martinez, and whose primary opponent, former House Speaker Marco Rubio (R-Miami), went on the record opposing Sotomayor’s confirmation the day before Charlie’s announcement. Crist’s statement left Floridians wondering when they’d ever heard the governor mention his support for gun rights in the past.