USA ...AM I stupit or is this a Joke? This is the HEADLINE on AOL. July 29, 2003 - GoFuckYourself.com

DeadFidel · 07-29-2003, 10:12 AM

WHAT Abandon Plan!!! WHAT the Fuck are the talking about!!!!!
THIS IS RIGHT FROM AOL!!!

WASHINGTON (July 29) - The Pentagon will abandon a plan to establish a futures market to help predict terrorist strikes, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Tuesday.

Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said he spoke by phone with the program's director, ''and we mutually agreed that this thing should be stopped.''

Warner announced the decision not long after Senate Democratic Leader Thomas Daschle took to the floor to denounce the program as ''an incentive actually to commit acts of terrorism.''

Warner made the announcement during a confirmation hearing for retired Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, nominated to be Army chief of staff.

''This is just wrong,'' declared Daschle, D-S.D.

Warner said he consulted with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, and Appropriations Committee chairman Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and they agreed ''that this should be immediately disestablished.''

He said they would recommend that the Pentagon not spend any funds already in place for the program and said they would pull the plug on it during House-Senate budget conference committee negotiations later on this year.

The little-publicized Pentagon plan envisioned a potential futures trading market in which speculators would wager on the Internet on the likelihood of a future terrorist attack or assassination attempt on a particular leader. A Web site promoting the plan already is available.

When the plan was disclosed by two Democratic senators Monday, the Pentagon defended it as a way to gain intelligence about potential terrorists' plans.

Earlier, Warner had said that his staff was looking into the program and would report on it later Tuesday. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said she was appalled to hear of plans to set up ''a futures market in death.''

Other Democrats expressed similar alarm.

''The idea of a federal betting parlor on atrocities and terrorism is ridiculous and it's grotesque,'' said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., one of two lawmakers who disclosed the plan Monday.

The program is called the Policy Analysis Market. The Pentagon office overseeing it, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, said it was part of a research effort ''to investigate the broadest possible set of new ways to prevent terrorist attacks.''

Traders would buy and sell futures contracts - just like energy traders do now in betting on the future price of oil. But the contracts in this case would be based on what might happen in the Middle East in terms of economics, civil and military affairs or specific events, such as terrorist attacks.

Holders of a futures contract that came true would collect the proceeds of traders who put money into the market but predicted wrong.

A graphic on the market's Web page Monday showed hypothetical futures contracts in which investors could trade on the likelihood that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would be assassinated or Jordanian King Abdullah II would be overthrown. Although the Web site described the Policy Analysis Market as Middle East market, the graphic also included the possibility of a North Korea missile attack.

That graphic apparently was removed from the Web site hours after the news conference in which Wyden and fellow Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota criticized the market.

Dorgan described the market as ''unbelievably stupid.''

''Can you imagine if another country set up a betting parlor so that people could go in ... and bet on the assassination of an American political figure or the overthrow of this institution or that institution?'' he said.

But in its statement Monday, DARPA said markets could reveal ''dispersed and even hidden information. Futures markets have proven themselves to be good at predicting such things as elections results; they are often better than expert opinions.''

According to its Web site, the Policy Analysis Market would be a joint program of DARPA and two private companies, Net Exchange, a market technologies company, and the Economist Intelligence Unit, the business information arm of the publisher of The Economist magazine.

DARPA has been criticized by Congress for its Terrorism Information Awareness program, a computerized surveillance program that has raised privacy concerns. Wyden said the Policy Analysis Market is under the supervision of retired Adm. John Poindexter, the head of the Terrorism Information Awareness program and, in the 1980s, national security adviser to President Reagan.

The Web site does not address how much money investors would be likely to put into the market but says analysts would be motivated by the ''prospect of profit and at pain of loss'' to make accurate predictions.

Trading is to begin Oct. 1. The market would initially be limited to 1,000 traders, increasing to at least 10,000 by Jan. 1.

The Web site says government agencies will not be allowed to participate and will not have access to the identities or funds of traders.

The market is a project of a DARPA division called FutureMAP, or ''Futures Markets Applied to Prediction.''

''The rapid reaction of markets to knowledge held by only a few participants may provide an early warning system to avoid surprise,'' the FutureMap Web site said.

Dorgan and Wyden released a letter to Poindexter calling for an end to the program. They noted a May 20 report to lawmakers that cited the possibility of using market forces to predict whether Israel will be attacked with biological weapons.

''Surely such a threat should be met with intelligence gathering of the highest quality - not by putting the question to individuals betting on an Internet Web site,'' they said.

Wyden said $600,000 has been spent on the program so far and the Pentagon plans to spend an additional $149,000 this year. The Pentagon has requested $3 million for the program for next year and $5 million for the following year.

Wyden said the Senate version of next year's defense spending bill would cut off money for the program, but the House version would fund it. The two versions will have to be reconciled.

AP-NY-07-29-03 1148EDT

Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

tomax · 07-29-2003, 10:58 AM

It was a real plan, believe it or not.

The US is getting more screw up by the day.

Kanoealoha · 07-29-2003, 10:59 AM

I truly believe they smoked some good shit, someone brought it up jokingly and some idiot took it seriously...

Elli · 07-29-2003, 11:04 AM

How did they get funding for this?? What the hell?

Nimrods and dimwits. All of em.

robfantasy · 07-29-2003, 11:04 AM

that is fuckin unbelieveable

Kanoealoha · 07-29-2003, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Elli
How did they get funding for this?? What the hell?

Nimrods and dimwits. All of em.

oh and the funding...nah nothing went to it, they needed some stripper money, see making bets on terrorist attacks will completely cloud over $300,000 on strippers

Jeffery · 07-29-2003, 11:09 AM

Yep, I saw this on CNN.

Not a bad idea for an Internet gambling site but an actual government sanctioned market... holy hell, what dumbass thought that up?

PR_Dave · 07-29-2003, 11:10 AM

crazy stuff

Jeffery · 07-29-2003, 11:10 AM

I guess they expect all the terrorists to go place bets (or "buy futures" as they call it) right before they decide to attack something.

traffictrader · 07-29-2003, 11:11 AM

"Mr.President, are you high, or just
really really stupid?" "I assure you, I am not high."

/southpark

xxxdesign-net · 07-29-2003, 11:11 AM

pretty stupid... let say that I know ARafat will be assassinated tommorrow... I bet $5 millions that he will be assassinated tommorrow while telling US and Israel autorities to go protect him tommorrow.... and then lose my $5 millions! and risk of being traced...

Plus, Terrorist usually have already alot of money... or dont care about money at all...

69pornlinks · 07-29-2003, 11:16 AM

so if i was colin and i knew that we're about to bomb _____then i would bet on it...talk bout insider trading,lmao

SYNIKAL · 07-29-2003, 11:18 AM

KRL · 07-29-2003, 11:34 AM

Somebody was on drugs at the Pentagon to come up with that idea obviously.

Webby · 07-29-2003, 12:10 PM

Why not? That's what "Defense Departments" do in bouts of empire building.

Sheesh... tis almost perverse!!

Fabien · 07-29-2003, 12:13 PM

SexxxyChat-T · 07-29-2003, 12:15 PM

Out of this world, where do you draw the line?

nap · 07-29-2003, 12:29 PM

the people who are in charge of our country scare me

07-29-2003, 10:12 AM	#1
DeadFidel Confirmed User Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: This was my wife circa 2002 Posts: 6,757	USA ...AM I stupit or is this a Joke? This is the HEADLINE on AOL. July 29, 2003 WHAT Abandon Plan!!! WHAT the Fuck are the talking about!!!!! THIS IS RIGHT FROM AOL!!! WASHINGTON (July 29) - The Pentagon will abandon a plan to establish a futures market to help predict terrorist strikes, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Tuesday. Sen. John Warner, R-Va., said he spoke by phone with the program's director, ''and we mutually agreed that this thing should be stopped.'' Warner announced the decision not long after Senate Democratic Leader Thomas Daschle took to the floor to denounce the program as ''an incentive actually to commit acts of terrorism.'' Warner made the announcement during a confirmation hearing for retired Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, nominated to be Army chief of staff. ''This is just wrong,'' declared Daschle, D-S.D. Warner said he consulted with Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kansas, and Appropriations Committee chairman Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and they agreed ''that this should be immediately disestablished.'' He said they would recommend that the Pentagon not spend any funds already in place for the program and said they would pull the plug on it during House-Senate budget conference committee negotiations later on this year. The little-publicized Pentagon plan envisioned a potential futures trading market in which speculators would wager on the Internet on the likelihood of a future terrorist attack or assassination attempt on a particular leader. A Web site promoting the plan already is available. When the plan was disclosed by two Democratic senators Monday, the Pentagon defended it as a way to gain intelligence about potential terrorists' plans. Earlier, Warner had said that his staff was looking into the program and would report on it later Tuesday. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., said she was appalled to hear of plans to set up ''a futures market in death.'' Other Democrats expressed similar alarm. ''The idea of a federal betting parlor on atrocities and terrorism is ridiculous and it's grotesque,'' said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., one of two lawmakers who disclosed the plan Monday. The program is called the Policy Analysis Market. The Pentagon office overseeing it, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, said it was part of a research effort ''to investigate the broadest possible set of new ways to prevent terrorist attacks.'' Traders would buy and sell futures contracts - just like energy traders do now in betting on the future price of oil. But the contracts in this case would be based on what might happen in the Middle East in terms of economics, civil and military affairs or specific events, such as terrorist attacks. Holders of a futures contract that came true would collect the proceeds of traders who put money into the market but predicted wrong. A graphic on the market's Web page Monday showed hypothetical futures contracts in which investors could trade on the likelihood that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would be assassinated or Jordanian King Abdullah II would be overthrown. Although the Web site described the Policy Analysis Market as Middle East market, the graphic also included the possibility of a North Korea missile attack. That graphic apparently was removed from the Web site hours after the news conference in which Wyden and fellow Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota criticized the market. Dorgan described the market as ''unbelievably stupid.'' ''Can you imagine if another country set up a betting parlor so that people could go in ... and bet on the assassination of an American political figure or the overthrow of this institution or that institution?'' he said. But in its statement Monday, DARPA said markets could reveal ''dispersed and even hidden information. Futures markets have proven themselves to be good at predicting such things as elections results; they are often better than expert opinions.'' According to its Web site, the Policy Analysis Market would be a joint program of DARPA and two private companies, Net Exchange, a market technologies company, and the Economist Intelligence Unit, the business information arm of the publisher of The Economist magazine. DARPA has been criticized by Congress for its Terrorism Information Awareness program, a computerized surveillance program that has raised privacy concerns. Wyden said the Policy Analysis Market is under the supervision of retired Adm. John Poindexter, the head of the Terrorism Information Awareness program and, in the 1980s, national security adviser to President Reagan. The Web site does not address how much money investors would be likely to put into the market but says analysts would be motivated by the ''prospect of profit and at pain of loss'' to make accurate predictions. Trading is to begin Oct. 1. The market would initially be limited to 1,000 traders, increasing to at least 10,000 by Jan. 1. The Web site says government agencies will not be allowed to participate and will not have access to the identities or funds of traders. The market is a project of a DARPA division called FutureMAP, or ''Futures Markets Applied to Prediction.'' ''The rapid reaction of markets to knowledge held by only a few participants may provide an early warning system to avoid surprise,'' the FutureMap Web site said. Dorgan and Wyden released a letter to Poindexter calling for an end to the program. They noted a May 20 report to lawmakers that cited the possibility of using market forces to predict whether Israel will be attacked with biological weapons. ''Surely such a threat should be met with intelligence gathering of the highest quality - not by putting the question to individuals betting on an Internet Web site,'' they said. Wyden said $600,000 has been spent on the program so far and the Pentagon plans to spend an additional $149,000 this year. The Pentagon has requested $3 million for the program for next year and $5 million for the following year. Wyden said the Senate version of next year's defense spending bill would cut off money for the program, but the House version would fund it. The two versions will have to be reconciled. AP-NY-07-29-03 1148EDT Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

07-29-2003, 10:58 AM	#2
tomax Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 95	It was a real plan, believe it or not. The US is getting more screw up by the day. __________________ tomax

07-29-2003, 10:59 AM	#3
Kanoealoha Confirmed User Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Happy Valley Posts: 1,261	I truly believe they smoked some good shit, someone brought it up jokingly and some idiot took it seriously... __________________ Strong Bad Rocks!

07-29-2003, 11:04 AM	#4
Elli Reach for those stars! Industry Role: Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 17,991	How did they get funding for this?? What the hell? Nimrods and dimwits. All of em. __________________ email: [email protected]

07-29-2003, 11:04 AM	#5
robfantasy Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Medellin, Colombia Posts: 6,445	that is fuckin unbelieveable __________________ Looking to speak w/ high volume nutra CPA affiliates or networks... msg me

07-29-2003, 11:09 AM	#7
Jeffery Confirmed User Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Awgtrade Posts: 485	Yep, I saw this on CNN. Not a bad idea for an Internet gambling site but an actual government sanctioned market... holy hell, what dumbass thought that up? __________________ icq: 20427689 AWGTrade - Free C-coded traffic management system

07-29-2003, 11:10 AM	#8
PR_Dave Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Italy Posts: 2,792	crazy stuff __________________ www.PIMPROLL.com

07-29-2003, 11:11 AM	#10
traffictrader Confirmed User Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: ICQ# 93507395 Posts: 1,331	"Mr.President, are you high, or just really really stupid?" "I assure you, I am not high." /southpark __________________

07-29-2003, 11:11 AM	#11
xxxdesign-net My hips don't lie Industry Role: Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 10,129	pretty stupid... let say that I know ARafat will be assassinated tommorrow... I bet $5 millions that he will be assassinated tommorrow while telling US and Israel autorities to go protect him tommorrow.... and then lose my $5 millions! and risk of being traced... Plus, Terrorist usually have already alot of money... or dont care about money at all... Last edited by xxxdesign-net; 07-29-2003 at 11:18 AM..

07-29-2003, 11:16 AM	#12
69pornlinks Confirmed User Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Heranus Posts: 5,560	so if i was colin and i knew that we're about to bomb _____then i would bet on it...talk bout insider trading,lmao __________________ It IS what it IS

07-29-2003, 11:18 AM	#13
SYNIKAL Confirmed User Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 1,795	__________________ ...........

07-29-2003, 11:34 AM	#14
KRL Entrepreneur Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: USA Posts: 31,429	Somebody was on drugs at the Pentagon to come up with that idea obviously. __________________ If you would like to develop your domains, you can lease inexpensive foreign labor from the leaders in the field at iWebmasters.com TO LOWER YOUR COSTS AND INCREASE YOUR PRODUCTION! * * * * * * * * * * * * Domains Adult News KRL's Newsletter Biz Tips Just Listed Domains

07-29-2003, 12:10 PM	#15
Webby Too lazy to set a custom title Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Far far away - as possible Posts: 14,956	Why not? That's what "Defense Departments" do in bouts of empire building. Sheesh... tis almost perverse!!

07-29-2003, 12:13 PM	#16
Fabien Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Jul 2003 Posts: 4,787

07-29-2003, 12:15 PM	#17
SexxxyChat-T Confirmed User Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 697	Out of this world, where do you draw the line? __________________ Need more cowbell? Then offer SexxxyChat live webcam feeds to your customers! Make up to 35% of all sales, $30 on first purchase, or $10 per signup

07-29-2003, 12:29 PM	#18
nap Confirmed User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: midwest Posts: 2,765	the people who are in charge of our country scare me