U.S. Senators in Firefight Over Full Spectrum Warrior

U.S. Senators in Firefight Over Full Spectrum Warrior

July 18, 2007
A dust-up between a pair of U.S. senators has expanded to include the popular 2004 military-themed video game Full Spectrum Warrior.

As reported by the Omaha World-Herald, the battle between Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)  and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK)  is over earmarks, the practice of appropriating federal funds for projects favored by members of Congress.

The Nelson-Coburn spat began last week when Coburn tried to eliminate a $7.5 million earmark which Nelson (seen at left) hoped to steer toward Omaha defense contractor 21st Century Systems Inc. As reported by the World-News:
A Coburn spokesman compared 21CSI military computer software to video games and criticized the project as classic pork barrel spending.

Nelson defended the 21CSI earmark as important to national defense and fired back by digging up a $5 million earmark which went in part to fund development of Full Spectrum Warrior.
The earmark... involved the Institute of Creative Technologies, which has received millions through federal earmarks over the years... One product of the funding was a video game called Full Spectrum Warrior that proved commercially successful but of limited military use...

A spokesman for Sen. Nelson said:
Senator Coburn's derided the research and development work done in Nebraska by mischaracterizing it as 'video games' and deemed it unworthy of funding, while ignoring and tacitly approving a $5 million earmark for his home state that actually does fund video game development.
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Comments

Submitted by E. Zachary Knight - July 18, 2007 at 8:16 am -0500
Wow. Senators fighting over who's video game gets funding. Now that is comedy.

But seriously, federal military funding is an important thing to consider and we don't want this money going to frivolous means. But if it is for more serious and better simulation software then I am all for it.
Submitted by Korrd - July 18, 2007 at 8:23 am -0500
It's like listening to children bicker...

You're both idiots. Please retire.
Submitted by MaskedPixelante - July 18, 2007 at 8:51 am -0500
They should spend their money on more important things... like getting the troops OUT of Iraq.
Submitted by Terminator44 - July 18, 2007 at 9:00 am -0500
Once again, politicians can't seem to tell the difference between military simulators and commercial video games. Except this time, it seems to be the other way around.
Submitted by Brokenscope - July 18, 2007 at 9:26 am -0500
Um...

They don't need to add funding to get our troops out of Iraq.
Submitted by Gameboy - July 18, 2007 at 10:34 am -0500
Here's a better idea. Make earmarks illegal. Or at least limit them. That's the real issue I have with this case. It' be hilarious to see how many earmarks such a bill would have tacked on if nothing else.
Submitted by Ace of Sevens - July 18, 2007 at 12:25 pm -0500
This is ludicrous. It seems liek the current political system is all the states pool their money, then each representative tries to get the money to their state at the expense of all the others, meaning the best strategy for voters is to get the guy who will funnel the most away from other ststes to theirs, not do what's best for the country. I think some sort of new rule restricting earmarks is in order.
Submitted by rpboyer - July 18, 2007 at 12:53 pm -0500
I'm a little confused...

How was this supposed $5 Million dollar earmark for Coburn's home state? ICT is in California not Oklahoma.

That aside, as I remember Full Spectrum Warrior came out a while ago and was derived from a larger, purely military project. Perhaps this is merely a case of using hind site to see that funding these type of projects is a waste of money, as it was probably not known what the end result would be when ICT received that earmark.

In any case, earmarks are a classic form of government pork. Sadly, since it would be up to congress to make them illegal, and they all use them to help get reelected, then the chance of such practices becoming illegal are slim to none.
Submitted by ZippyDSMlee - July 18, 2007 at 12:57 pm -0500
Gameboy
but without the prok he piggies go to Washington to fight for what reason is there for them to go? surely not to help govern the people!
Submitted by Verbinator - July 18, 2007 at 12:57 pm -0500
Obviously that was money that could have been spent sending congress persons and their families (or whatever) on official junkets to investigate conditions along the beaches of Carribean nations, or to the capitals of Western Europe to investigate the fine restaurant and shopping district trade.
Submitted by Dustry Joe - July 18, 2007 at 5:44 pm -0500
FSP didn't even become a success until THQ got their bloody lil' fingers in on it. If they didn't want in, it wouldn't have even gone anywhere near as commercial.
Submitted by Dave - July 18, 2007 at 7:37 pm -0500
Its pretty easy to attract attention to your fight when you say tax dollars are being spent on video games. It might not be true but it makes for a great sound bit.
Submitted by Kaex - July 20, 2007 at 7:12 pm -0500
The current system that dictates how government departments get funding is the root cause of all of this. Currently, if something comes up that a department wants to spend money on, they have to factor it into their next year's budget. Congress then has to meet to decide whether or not they can get the money. It then takes time to actually get the money to the department. Earmarks are used as a fast track through this system. Without the use of earmarks, almost all independant government contractors would go out of business waiting for payment. If there were no earmarks, it would be almost impossible for the government and military to get their hands on innovative products in a timely manner. This is widely known to contractors as the "Valley of Death". You can read more about it here:

http://www.iriinc.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home&CONTENTID=5226&TEMPLATE=...

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