The Defense Department’s “Most Wanted” playing cards of Iraqi war criminals was a huge public relations success. It was only a matter of time before someone (like the Ruckus Society) turned the idea into anti-establishment agitprop.
For now let’s assume that our masters heed your hearty
recommendation that they grab all the surveillance and
data-collection powers they can. What will that future be
like? As we all know, it is the children that are our future
– and sure enough, the government’s latest “Connexions”
campaign has been introducing young adults to the chumminess
of joined-up, data-hungry government right now. First,
there’s the Connexions Card. Run by famously competent and
discreet Capita, this smartcard lets teenagers gain points
for attendance and attainment, as well as store useful
health information. It also gives Capita a profile of the
young person (via the Card’s accompanying Website), which
they can resell to advertisers. Capita is paying schools one
quid for every child they sign up for the card. Meanwhile,
more confidential data is being captured by the card’s
sister project, the Connexions “Personal Advisors”. Answers
to questions about the young persons’ parents, trouble
they’re having at school or work – can be shared with social
services, youth offending teams, schools, LEAs, health
authorities, local authorities, the police and probation
offices. Kids as young as thirteen will be asked to give
consent to such data-sharing, by Advisors who will drop into
their schools once a week for a little chat. All information
collated will stay in the system until the child is twenty -
and then kept by the government for another three years, for
“auditing purposes”. After all, you should never throw away
stuff that might come in useful…
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In 1965, the the Infrastructure Intelligence Coordination and Exploitation Structure (ICEX) or “Phoenix” Project was created by the CIA as an effort to disrupt the Viet Cong infrastructure through a series of civilian assassinations and systemic torture. They build torture facilities in all 44 provinces of South Vietnam, murdered disruptive citizens, and blackmailed or extorted information from South Vietnamese citizens to root out Viet Cong sympathizers. The CIA’s responses to Freedom of Information Act requests suggest that they would prefer to forget the whole thing. They would prefer that everyone else forget it, as well: after Saigon fell, most of the Phoenix documents were destroyed. The only remaining documents are now safely ensconced at Langley.
Fortunately, Neil Brickham was responsible for a good part of the program, and saved all of his material. Douglas Valentine (who’s writing a book on the subject, and seems dedicated to implicating the Department of Homeland Security in the matter) got his hands on Brickham’s library and passed it on to the good people at the Memory Hole, who have posted the documents for all to see.
WorldCom was fined $500 million by the SEC for inflating its worth by about $9 billion. That might sounds like a big fine, but it’s about a week’s revenue. In any case, the company was doing so poorly that it went bankrupt, and left thousands of investors out to dry. They even changed their name back to MCI, since the WorldCom name was so tainted.
Strangely, someone forgot to tell the General Services Administration. The GSA continues to spend about $1 billion a year with MCI, and just days after the SEC fine, awarded MCI the Iraq telephony contract.
For those keeping score at home, MCI defrauded investors to the tune of $176 billion, resulting in $3 billion in lost pensions. The Bush Administration was so impressed that they fined MCI $500 million, and then promptly handed them a license to print Iraqi dinars. It’s enough to make you want to boycott MCI. Too bad you can’t boycott the GSA.
BCRA SUPPORTERS REQUEST STAY OF CAMPAIGN FINANCE RULING
Authors of last year’s campaign finance law have asked a three-judge panel to stay its decision regarding
the landmark Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act until the Supreme Court can rule.http://www.rollcall.com/issues/1_1/breakingnews/1509-1.html
VACANCY COULD DOOM BCRA
The possibility that one or more Supreme Court justices could retire prior to the high court’s
consideration of the new campaign finance law is sparking concern among legal experts that such a
development could leave the high-profile case one judge short.
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/48_89/news/1507-1.html
HOUSE ADMINISTRATION ACCEDES TO THOMAS’ COMMITTEE FUNDING REQUEST
Giving Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) the additional money he wanted, the House
Administration Committee again brought up the biennial committee funding resolution Thursday afternoon \227
a day after Republican leadership pulled the bill because Thomas objected to his panel’s allotment.
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/1_1/breakingnews/1513-1.html
BCRA OPPONENTS URGE CAUTIOUS APPROACH BY SUPREME COURT
Speaking at a CATO forum today, supporters and opponents of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act found few
areas of agreement other than their hope that the Supreme Court will reach a more concise decision than the
mammoth opinion recently released by a U.S. District Court panel.
http://www.rollcall.com/issues/1_1/breakingnews/1544-1.html
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030420/ap_on_go_co/renting_from_religion_5
Also, Harper’s
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This is somewhat afield of the usual OnePeople fare, but we’re living with a former Henson employee so we’re delighted to report that the Jim Henson’s family has bought Kermit back from the German licensing company / criminal organization EM.TV.
EM.TV is the film rights arm of KirchMedia, and was a star of Frankfurt’s now-defunct Neuer Markt exchange when it bought the Jim Henson Company from the Henson family. After a time, the Haffa brothers who ran EM.TV were found to have decieved their investors and inflated EM.TV’s stock price. There are reports that the brothers can’t even walk down the streets in Germany for fear of being assaulted by investors. EM.TV tanked, and a furious bidding war began between a number of companies, including Disney and Sony, for control of the Henson properties.
In the end, the family was able to buy the company back for US$89M, a far cry from the US$690M that it sold for in February 2000. Don’t think that the family suddenly made half a billion dollars, though — much of initial deal was in EM.TV stock, which is now less than worthless.
Here are some common turns of phrases translated from Farsi…..
Man-uh chap chap negah nakon.
literally: Don’t look at me left-left
means: Don’t give me that look
Zameen khordam, pedaram dar omad.
literally: I ate the ground and my father came out.
means: I fell and it hurt like hell.
Eingushtam khord, sedam dar omad
literally: My finger ate, my voice came out
means: I hit my finger and I hollered.
Havod roh doram
literally: I have your weather/air
means: I’m looking out for you
Khoded roh beh koochehyeh Ali chap nazan.
literally: Don’t hit yourself to Ali Left’s street
means: Don’t play dumb.
Yeh tockmee doreh megzoreh.
literally: He’s planting an egg
means: He’s up to something.
Pedar sookhteh
literally: Burnt father
means: Little rascal
Chesmam ob nemeekhoreh
literally: My eye doesn’t drink water
means: I really doubt it
Cheshmam roshan
literally: My eye is bright
means: “I’m happy to see you” or “Lucky me (often used sarcastically)”
Cheshmed zadand
literally: They hit your eye
means: You got done in by the evil eye
Obeh rooham reekht
literally: The water of my face spilled
means: I got embarassed
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I'm the Chief Technology Strategist for the Red Hat US Public Sector group, an open source and free culture advocate, a picky drinker, an amateur aesthete, and a dog enthusiast.
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