<font color=blue>Who do you think is responsible for this absurdity......wolfie or rummie? Oh wait.......I know, it had to be Bill Clinton! <g> <font color=black>
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DORGAN WANTS TAXPAYER FUNDED WEB SITE THAT SETS UP BETTING PARLOR ON TERRORISM CANCELLED
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) called Monday for a Department of Defense Internet web site that claims it will be able to predict future terrorist attacks by allowing the public to place bets – with real money -- on when and where they will occur, to be shut down.
The site would allow anyone – including terrorists – to place anonymous bets on such potential terrorist actions as whether the King of Jordan would be overthrown, whether Yasser Arafat would be assassinated, and whether Israel would be attacked with biological agents. By watching the wagering levels, project planners say market levels in the on-line betting parlor will predict which terrorist action is most likely to occur.
Dorgan said the site is “incredibly stupid,” won’t produce useable information, and is a waste of taxpayers’ money.
“This is an appalling waste of taxpayer’s money,” said Dorgan, a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. “We need to focus our resources on responsible intelligence gathering, on real terrorist threats. Spending millions of dollars on some kind of fantasy league terror game is absurd and, frankly, ought to make every American angry. What on Earth are they thinking?”
The “Policy Analysis Market,” the first phase of the program, has already gone online with funds from a Federal grant and is scheduled to begin a test on Friday, August 1. The Defense Department has also requested $8 million for its “Futures Markets Applied to Prediction” (FutureMAP) initiative, which would expand on the Policy Analysis Market’s terror-wagering scheme.
In a letter to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA’s) Dr. John Poindexter today, Dorgan, who was joined by Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) said they would work to stop funding for such a program. They told Poindexter they want the Policy Analysis Market stopped now.
“The example that you provide in your report would let participants gamble on the question, ‘Will terrorists attack Israel with bioweapons in the next year?’ 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,” the Senators wrote to Poindexter. “Spending taxpayer dollars to create terrorism betting parlors is as wasteful as it is repugnant. The American people want the Federal government to use its resources enhancing our security, not gambling on it.”
The Policy Analysis Market and the FutureMAP program would work much like other financial markets, with investors buying “futures” in events they think are likely to happen, and selling off futures as they believe events become less likely to happen.
The Policy Analysis Market program is scheduled to begin registration for potential investors this Friday.
Further details of the Policy Analysis Market and FutureMAP programs can be found in the Senators’ letter, and on the Policy Analysis Market website itself at www.policyanalysismarket.org.
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