Day: January 24, 2014

Speaking Of The NSA

We all have been outraged by the NSA’s program of violating our right to privacy…..we all have our reasons…none of us will agree….but we are all that much more miffed…..miffed even though retail businesses have been invading our privacy for decades…but that is somehow okay as long as they do it on the up and up……and that defies definition, BTW…….

This Snowden dude to some he is a hero and to others he is a traitor…..does not matter which camp you fall in…….anyway I have heard people talk and ask the question ….how could this happen?

Well to answer that question let us look at the company that vetted this person……

If giving a thumbs up to Edward Snowden and US Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis didn’t get US Investigations Services kicked off the federal government’s Christmas card list, it’s definitely off now. The Justice Department yesterday accused the contractor, which handles roughly 45% of federal background checks, of fraudulently submitting more than 660,000 investigations, the Wall Street Journal and New York Times report. That’s roughly 40% of all the work it did for the government over a four-year stretch—and doesn’t even appear to include Snowden or Alexis. In a practice known as “flushing,” the company would simply mark investigations as complete when they weren’t, according to the feds. “Flushed everything like a dead goldfish,” one USIS official is quoted as saying in the complaint. In another email, an employee wrote, “Have a bit of a backlog building, but fortunately, most people are off this week, so no one will notice!” The Justice Department is accusing former executives of encouraging these practices, which, according to whistleblowers, were designed to meet financial quotas. The company was paid per investigation it completed. The allegations first came to light in a 2011 whistleblower suit, which the government yesterday joined. The company says it has “acted decisively to reinforce our processes” in the years since.

It happened because of privatization!  You can thank the God of the Right, Reagan, for starting down this path…….his big idea was to save money by letting the private sector do some of the chores of the government……the vetting process is one of those sectors.

Privatization has done more harm than good….the only good thing is making lots of cash for the contractors.

Speaking Of 9/11

We all remember that faithful day in 2001….when the dastardly deed was done…..and after many years and many setbacks the museum dedicated to that day will be finished soon and open to the public……a memorial to those that lost their lives on that day……a place of remembrance and reflection…..

But if you plan on showing up to see the place or offer your prayers or just to cure your curiosity…..then be sure to bring your wallet!

(Newser) – A somber visit to New York City’s planned Sept. 11 museum will also be an expensive one. The board of the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum yesterday voted to charge adults a $24 admission. That places it among the city’s priciest museums (the Guggenheim is at $22, MoMA at $25), and the New York Daily News points out that unlike places like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it’s not a suggested donation, but a required fee. Memorial president Joe Daniels cited the lack of government funding to pay for operational costs. “A Museum admissions [charge] will also ensure the Memorial, which has had more than 11.5 million visitors since opening two years ago, will be free,” as it currently is.

The AP reports that the museum is scheduled to open this spring; the total annual cost of operating the museum and memorial is estimated at $63 million. Families of Sept. 11 victims won’t be charged, and there will be a three-hour free window each week. Philip Kennicott at the Washington Post writes that the price tag “just doesn’t feel right,” and worries that the museum will feel pressure to be entertaining to justify it. He predicts that many people looking to pay their respects will skip the museum and do so at the free memorial. (Read the intriguing story of one of the items being prepped for inclusion in the museum, the “Angel of 9/11.”)

Now I have a problem with that…..how much public money was used to construct this massive mausoleum?  what does the cash go for once I have paid my entrance fee?

Questions!  I have questions!

How about you?

9/11 Made Us Do It!

Since that day in infamy, 9/11, there seems to be an endless supply of articles, scandals, analysis and some total BS…..you know we have a wealth of opinions and a real pile of condemnations….and those actions of that faithful day made the NSA scandal possible….but that is for another post (check back at a channel near you)……..

But I want to touch on the words that were uttered directly after the attack……words to and from Congress…..now no matter what your opinion of the attacks are we all can agree that those actions were cowardly and devastating at the same time….but the result of those attacks are that we are engaged in a war without end….there is absolutely NO way this perceived war can ever be won……

The attacks started the process and our prez and Congress put the finishing nails in the coffins…..

In the haze of 9/11, lawmakers empowered the US president to fight back—and may have given him more power than they bargained for, writes Gregory Johnsen at BuzzFeed. Congress overwhelmingly approved a 60-word law called the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, which empowered President George W. Bush to retaliate against anyone behind the 9/11 attacks. Interpretation of the law has since expanded to include all military action, including capture and detention, against “associated forces” of the 9/11 attackers. The law “is like a Christmas tree,” said a former Bush administration official. “All sorts of things have been hung off of those 60 words.” Johnsen’s article looks at the AUMF’s tangled history, from its hurried drafting to its 420-1 House vote and its surprising resilience under President Obama—despite his pledge to repeal it. Lawmakers have questioned the AUMF, as Politico reported last year, and now Obama really does plan to kill it off, a top administration official tells the Wall Street Journal. But a dozen years after 9/11, Obama is still ordering drone attacks and secret raids—often against people who were children when the Twin Towers fell. “Let the congressional debate begin,” said Rep. Barbara Lee, the one lawmaker who voted against the AUMF. “If people think it’s worth it, for whatever reason, then let their member of Congress vote for it. That’s the point.” Click for Johnsen’s full article.

Your children and your children’s children will be fighting this so-called “war”……..those words gave the NSA, in essence, the go ahead to do what they have been doing….spying on….well….just about everyone.

Okay, now that I have waxed poetic….I would truly like to hear your views……we all have an opinion……right or wrong…..let yours be heard.

Could You Be A Terrorists?

With all the hoopla over the NSA and its practice of keeping tabs on Americans, both good and bad, one might ask….just what could I do to be thought a terrorist after all I am a loyal American?    I have played this game with the government in my younger days…..so none of this stuff that has shocked America is all that surprising to me…….

I bet you think it is silly to say that YOU might be thought a terrorist, right?

Do you really want to know?

Fine!  Take a gander at this criteria……

The following actions may get an American citizen living on U.S. soil labeled as a “suspected terrorist” today:

This may be or sound a bit absurd……but then……. is it really?  Think COINTELPRO!

Granted some of the points may seem just silly…..but I for one do not take any of this as silly….I have a personal relationship with the government spying on me…..and I thank COINTELPRO…if you think this was just paranoia then I suggest you ask someone who the program f*cked.