Eideard

Hundreds greeting Salah on his release from an Israeli prison
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

The Home Office’s hi-tech passenger data centre sent an alert to Terminal 1 at Heathrow about the impending arrival of Raed Salah, a “preacher of hate” who had been barred from the country by order of Theresa May, the Home Secretary.

However, he was on a plane heading for Terminal 5, a UK Border Agency source said. The mistake meant the immigration officer who checked his passport was not fully aware of the passenger’s significance and waved him through…

“There were a series of cock-ups in terms of getting information to the front-line,” said the UKBA source…

The Home Office has launched an investigation into how Salah was able to enter the country despite a travel ban, but last night refused to offer a “running commentary” on the inquiry.

Mrs May is likely to face tough questioning on the bungle when she appears before the Commons’ Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday.

The National Border Targeting Centre opened 15 months ago as part of the Home Office’s “e-Borders” scheme, which is behind schedule after the IT company hired to deliver the project had its contract terminated.

The Wythenshawe centre receives “passenger name record” information, which airlines flying into Britain are required by law to provide, and analyses the data in a bid to spot terrorist suspects, known criminals and illegal immigrants.

Salah was banned from Britain on the grounds that he holds hard-line anti-Semitic views. However, the UKBA mistake meant he was able to enter the country on June 25.

He delivered speeches in London and Leicester in the early part of last week and was later due to speak on the Israeli-Palestine conflict at the House of Commons at the invitation of three Labour MPs.

He was detained at 11pm on Tuesday and is now believed to have been deported.

Phew! Sounds to me as if the Brits are living up to all the standards established by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. From inept programming to boundless fear.

Raytheon developing 13-lb smart bomb for drone delivery

Under mounting pressure to keep its massive budget in check, the Pentagon is looking to cheaper, smaller weapons to wage war in the 21st century. A new generation of weaponry is being readied in clandestine laboratories across the nation that puts a priority on pintsized technology that would be more precise in warfare and less likely to cause civilian casualties. Increasingly, the Pentagon is being forced to discard expensive, hulking, Cold War-era armaments that exact a heavy toll on property and human lives.

At L-3 Interstate Electronics Corp. in Anaheim, technicians work in secure rooms developing a GPS guidance system for a 13-pound “smart bomb” that would be attached to a small, low-flying drone.

Engineers in Simi Valley at AeroVironment Inc. are developing a mini-cruise missile designed to fit into a soldier’s rucksack, be fired from a mortar and scour the battlefield for enemy targets…

These miniature weapons have one thing in common: They will be delivered with the help of small robotic planes. Drones have grown in importance as the Pentagon has seen them play a vital role in Iraq, Afghanistan and reportedly in the raid on Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan…

This comes at a time when expensive weapons programs, like Marine Corps amphibious assault vehicles and Navy cruisers, are being eyed for trims…

“There are a lot of weapons in the military’s arsenal,” said Lt. Col. Brad Beach, an official who coordinates the Marines’ drone technology. “But what we don’t have is something small.”

The military is flush with multi-ton bunker-busting bombs designed to reduce fortified buildings into smoldering rubble. But Marines on the front lines in Afghanistan say there is an urgent need for a weapon that is small and powerful enough to protect them from insurgents planting roadside bombs.

Marines already have small spy drones with high-powered cameras, but what they need is a way to destroy the enemies that their drones discover.

Looking to fill the need, the 13-pound “smart bomb” has been under development for three years. The 2-foot-long bomb is steered by a GPS-guided system made in Anaheim. The bomb is called Small Tactical Munition, or STM, and is under development by Raytheon…

The idea is that the small bomb could be slung under the spy plane’s wing, dropped to a specific point using GPS coordinates or a laser-guidance system, and blast apart “soft” targets, such as pickup trucks and individuals, located 15,000 feet below.

With budget cuts, how will members of Congress maintain their accustomed scale of kickbacks, lobbying contracts post-retirement and trips to golf courses near manufacturers of death and destruction?

Cripes – if Raytheon is funding research on a baby smart bomb all on their own what might be next?

Less than nine months after beginning production at its new Albuquerque facility, Schott Solar this week announced the expansion of its photovoltaic (PV) module production line. PV production will double, from two shifts to four shifts on a rotating schedule, effectively creating a 24 hour-a-day, 7 days-a-week production capacity at Schott Solar’s flagship facility.

In order to meet this increased production schedule, Schott Solar has been hiring up to 10 new employees per week since the first of November. The majority of the new positions have been PV Production Technicians.

These 60 new employees will bring the PV production lines to full capacity of 160 employees by the end of December.

“Creating jobs in today’s economic environment is a tremendous achievement for any company,” said Dr. Gerald Fine, CEO & President, Schott Solar, Inc. “To be able to almost double our PV workforce in such a short time is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the people who have been with us from the start. They put in the work that allows us to grow.”

In industrial states this wouldn’t be a big deal. But, this reflects first of all a process that started with a Democrat governor who isn’t anything more than liberal – but, has enough of a brain, enough foresight, to see what committing to alternative energy solutions, green energy means to our economy.

I think we’re the poster child – on the small scale that reflects our population size and, frankly, mediocre education level – for what Obama’s jobs and green energy program means to America.