Politics & Government - 28 August 2006

I would say Ancient Greece because i love greek culture.

2006-08-28 15:29:24 · 13 answers · asked by The King of Games 3 in Civic Participation

Is there intelligent life in outer space and if they should come to earth then perhaps could they bring a more just society as well? Could they bring a society based on true democracy and a form of government that works for the betterment of society? Like a space flick will the aliens land, and put the politicians in their right places? What do you think, what can you add? Will it happen? They are out there, we are waiting!

2006-08-28 15:28:05 · 9 answers · asked by Mr. PDQ 4 in Other - Politics & Government

I was driving my rusty 1982 Ford pickup down the road and I saw this guy in a pinstripe suite, weighs about 250 with chest and stomach stuck out into the tilt stearing wheel, smoking an El Rushbo cigar. There was a "I hate abortion" sticker on his bumper in the rear and the window said "Republicans are the only Americans." So I took my truck and drove about 60 miles per hour right into the back of the car. It burst into flames as it ran off the road into a phone pole. Then the explosion came and he was catapulted out of the car across the road into a pile of manure. It was so funny I could hardly stop laughing all the way home.

2006-08-28 15:28:02 · 17 answers · asked by New Jersey Steve 5 in Politics

This is not for liberals or people who will never vote for a Republican.

What do the Republicans have to do to get your vote? I want specifics. Topics to cover: tax reform, illegal immigration, fighting the terrorists. You can add any other topic you want.

2006-08-28 15:25:19 · 9 answers · asked by Chainsaw 6 in Politics

I don't mean your personal opinion. I could care less, and you're not in power. Heres the chance to really educate some people. Don't blow it !!

2006-08-28 15:25:05 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics

was it an an inside job... by our own government? the two buildings both collapsed at an impossible speed. those planes should have only harmed the top floors of those buildings and the main support beams of the building had not been touched. did the buildings actually fall with the help of explosives that were used to take out the main support beams? some say that the building just burned at inncredible speed but the buildings were burned at a temperature higher than jet fuel can burn, by at least two thousand degrees... is this true?

2006-08-28 15:25:03 · 6 answers · asked by haha183 2 in Politics

Why don't you go stand in front of them for awhile?

2006-08-28 15:23:28 · 32 answers · asked by sdraterasbil 2 in Military

I have a school assingment on illegal immigrants and i cant find info, how do they get hereand what happens to them?

2006-08-28 15:23:14 · 15 answers · asked by Homeless 1 in Immigration

ok, who thinks a woman president sounds good? not some one who will take away guns, or make everyone hug the first person they see at noon, or some other stupid stuff that guys normaly think would happen with a woman in office. i've heard all the stupid stuff like if a woman was in office then we would be at war every month because a contry "clashed". when i tell people that if she was like me would it be ok? ( for the record, i have no proplems with guns, as long as the person agrees not to use it unless a life depended on it, and if they broke that rule than they should rot in a cell. and i also think that we should try every possible way not to go to war, and i think that it is stupid to worry about what every fat, lazy, over paid scum bag thinks about what i have say or what i would do to better my contry.) honesy ideas, because i want to hear the good, bad, and ugly. but if you plan on telling me to shut up and make u a sandwich ( GUYS!!! ) then i really don't want to hear from u.

2006-08-28 15:23:09 · 20 answers · asked by u2crazy4meh 2 in Other - Politics & Government

Print view




Billions at stake in border contract
By Dave Montgomery

McClatchy Newspapers

PREV 1 of 3 NEXT









Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.





Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff sees a mix of technology and manpower.


WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is expected next month to choose an industry consortium to erect a high-tech security shield along the U.S. borders, launching one of the federal government's most ambitious public-works projects in years.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) calls the proposed Secure Border Initiative Net (SBInet) the "most comprehensive effort in the nation's history" to gain control of more than 6,000 miles of border with Mexico and Canada, and 2,000 miles of coastline.

SBInet is a centerpiece of President Bush's efforts to fortify the U.S.-Mexico border at a time Congress is locked in a struggle to revise the nation's immigration laws. Administration officials say they intend to proceed with the security net regardless of the outcome of the debate over immigration legislation.

The multibillion-dollar undertaking has ignited a contract battle among industry teams headed by four leading defense companies — Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon — and Ericsson, the Swedish-based telecommunications giant with U.S. headquarters in Plano, Texas.

Competitors diverse

Collectively, the teams are composed of nearly 40 companies in more than 15 states, a diverse lineup that includes global engineering firms, niche industries adept at biometric identification or surveillance, and aerospace corporations better known for churning out warplanes, tanks and missiles.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a branch of the DHS, is expected to announce a winner by Sept. 30.

As envisioned by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, SBInet would marry industry expertise with the 42,000-employee Customs and Border Protection to create a wall of technology, manpower and infrastructure in the next six years. The initial cost is projected at $2.5 billion, but the price could be much higher.

The shield is a dominant component of the Secure Border Initiative that Chertoff announced in November to stem the flow of illegal immigrants. More than 1.2 million illegal immigrants were arrested in 2005, nearly all on the southern border.

Although Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Michael Jackson told industry officials the project is "not about simply buying gizmos," much of the attention has focused on the potential mix of technology. Most of the proposals include state-of-the-art sensors, mounted cameras, unmanned aerial vehicles, radar and other surveillance hardware.




Calls for toughening the border have intensified with the approach of the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the recent alleged terrorist bomb plot in Britain. But the project has come under heightened scrutiny on Capitol Hill after a congressional report last month blasted DHS procurement polices.

The bipartisan report, released by the House Committee on Government Reform, identified $34.3 billion worth of DHS contracts marred by significant overcharges, wasteful spending or mismanagement. The troubled projects include a largely ineffective camera-surveillance system along the Mexican and Canadian borders.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., complained that SBInet could be exposed to the same problems, contending the DHS is giving industry too much latitude in determining how the system should be tailored. "That's not governing," he said. "It's utter incompetence, and it's going to cost the taxpayers billions."

From the bidders' vantage point, SBInet could create thousands of jobs and illustrate the defense industry's expanding transition into homeland security. Tools of war — such as radar and satellite surveillance — easily can be redirected into the campaign to guard the home front, industry officials say.

"We see it as an increasing market," said John Douglass, president and chief executive officer of the Aerospace Industries Association. "Many of the technologies that make you a successful aerospace contractor would also make you a successful homeland-security contractor."

Several of the team members started preparing for the project more than two years ago, when the DHS was considering a since-abandoned border initiative called America's Shield. Team representatives spent months on the border, and several bidders set up remote border-area test sites to evaluate equipment.

Nearly 60 potential bidders expressed interest in the project before the DHS winnowed the field to the five rival teams. Universities in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona are aligned with several of the teams, reflecting academia's growing expertise in homeland security and border demographics.

Bidders made oral presentations in the past two weeks and have until Monday to update their proposals.

While SBInet bristles with opportunity, the winning team will face immense obstacles in trying to create a leakproof "virtual wall" traversing rugged desert terrain in the south and mountainous, wooded landscape in the north. The challenges probably will include property-rights disputes and environmental issues.

Sensors and cameras have been operating along the borders for years; the SBInet team will be charged with building a system tying all the pieces together. In addition to technology, the industry team will provide contract personnel for non-law-enforcement jobs and train government agents to adapt to the new system.

Sensors popular item

In January, Jackson urged industry officials to be innovative without straying "onto the wacky edge of creativity." Most proposals call for a network of thousands of sensors that would detect movement, sound and, in some cases, odor.

The sensor then would flash an alarm on a computerized map in a command-and-control center, where an operator would train a long-range mounted camera on the site to determine whether an animal or a human intruder tripped the alarm.

If necessary, agents would be dispatched. Several, if not all, of the teams would augment the protection with unmanned surveillance aircraft and, in some cases, high-altitude surveillance balloons

2006-08-28 15:22:50 · 24 answers · asked by Anonymous in Immigration

What has happened to make us care so less?

2006-08-28 15:22:42 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics

2006-08-28 15:20:23 · 7 answers · asked by HEY boo boo 6 in Politics

2006-08-28 15:19:55 · 29 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics

I started reading the Koran recently to try and figure out what shapes Muslim psychology.

The Koran, Chapter 4:
{If they withdraw from you, and do not fight you, and offer you peace, then God assigns not any way to you against them.}

That means if we stop Western imperialism against Muslims in their lands, then Allah does not authorize them to strike us in any way! This may be why Bin Laden (a Saudi) hasn't attacked the U.S. again. One of Bin Laden's demands was U.S. withdrawal from Saudi Arabia. President Bush withdrew the U.S. from Saudi Arabia in April 2003, one month after he invaded Iraq.

Source: The Koran Interpreted by A.J. Arberry (Head of the Department of Classics at Cairo University).
Comparable inerent source to see for yourself: http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/k/koran/koran-idx?type=DIV0&byte=114839 Chapter 4.90

2006-08-28 15:19:12 · 13 answers · asked by ideogenetic 7 in Politics

i think hes an idiot and oppose virtually every decision hes made........its sad that any americans view him as a leader

2006-08-28 15:18:57 · 30 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics

Nixon did.

Whats bush waiting for?

2006-08-28 15:17:12 · 20 answers · asked by ast5792 1 in Politics

2006-08-28 15:16:08 · 3 answers · asked by bob t 2 in Law & Ethics

2006-08-28 15:13:39 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous in Immigration

And what they would think of modern America?

Most of the FF owned slaves. They didn't think women or men without property should be able to vote. They created the Electoral College that most everyone wants to get rid of.

And I seriously doubt they would support things like gay marriage and abortion.

So why the big deal from liberals about what the FF would think of modern America? They'd be nearly as opposed to your beliefs as they would be to the neocon ones.

2006-08-28 15:12:29 · 14 answers · asked by usarocketman 3 in Other - Politics & Government

2006-08-28 15:12:21 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Law Enforcement & Police

I mostly want to enlist because of the great benefits I can recieve. Plus being that it would change my life forever (Im 25 yrs. old).

2006-08-28 15:10:39 · 16 answers · asked by Marlena V 1 in Military

I think going to war was a good idea. I think the "Why when will it be over. whaaaaa....whaaa..." people can just get over it. If it were not for war we wouldn't have our freedom today. If you want to be in sissy nation your in the wrong one. Who agrees?

2006-08-28 15:10:10 · 26 answers · asked by a 4 in Military

He says that they won't send him over cuase he'll be repairing helicopters? We know that they may send him over there to do the repairs but could they send him after bootcamp? or would he have to do his training first then go overseas?

2006-08-28 15:08:15 · 21 answers · asked by Haylie06 2 in Military

2006-08-28 15:07:31 · 11 answers · asked by Tom Fry 2 in Law & Ethics

make sure you take me to East Los Angeles,California since thats my birth place...

2006-08-28 15:05:32 · 18 answers · asked by (((((K!NG))))) 3 in Immigration

It seems like when any President is in the media's eye over certain events (like New Orleans for example) then we see them going to church on Sunday. Does the President really go that frequently? Do all Presidents go to church often? I'm curious.

2006-08-28 15:03:23 · 17 answers · asked by lizzey_in_pink 3 in Other - Politics & Government

just asking

2006-08-28 15:00:48 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Law Enforcement & Police

2006-08-28 14:59:49 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Other - Politics & Government

2006-08-28 14:59:30 · 14 answers · asked by Anonymous in Government

concerns from a logically based factual report the liberals only address the issue with vague evasive remarkes that neither answer the question nor present a firm point of view on the basis of fact or responsible order

2006-08-28 14:59:24 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Immigration