Friday, September 26, 2003
Congress refuses to fund TIA
Privacy and civil-rights groups have hailed Congress' decision to effectively kill a controversial Pentagon program to construct a powerful computerized surveillance system that critics feared would lead to unprecedented spying into the private lives of U.S. citizens.
The program, whose name was changed from "Total Information Awareness" to "Terrorist Information Awareness after an initial outcry late last year, was the brainchild of ret. Admiral John Poindexter, former President Ronald Reagan's national security adviser who was convicted of five felony counts of lying to Congress about the Iran-Contra affair in the mid-1980s.
In a bid to save the program, Poindexter resigned his position in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) last month, but a conference committee of House and Senate members agreed to delete funding for TIA when it met earlier this week to finish reconciling the two houses' versions of the 2004 defense appropriations bill. The conference committee said it was "concerned about the activities of the Information Awareness Office (that had been headed by Poindexter) and directed that the office be terminated immediately." The final bill also banned the government from using the technology envisioned by TIA in any other program.
The House of Representatives voted 407-15 to approve the conference committee's bill on Wednesday, while the House approved it Thursday by a vote of 95-0.
Fantastic.
posted by chris at 5:23 PM
Bush's America
Nearly 1.7 million people fell into poverty last year, ticking the official poverty rate up to 12.1 percent from the 2001 rate of 11.7 percent, the second straight year that poverty has increased in the United States, the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.
The annual report, which also showed a decline in median household income, comes at a politically charged time, when President Bush's approval ratings have hit the lowest levels of his term and Democratic presidential candidates have focused their criticism of Bush on his economic stewardship.
Moreover, the poverty increases were particularly concentrated last year in politically sensitive populations: African Americans, suburban residents and Midwesterners. Poverty levels rose precisely in many of the states that are likely to determine the next president: Arkansas, Florida, Illinois and Michigan, as well as Hawaii, Maine, Mississippi, South Carolina and Utah.
The numbers.
posted by chris at 1:36 PM
The fight contines
A federal judge in Denver ruled late yesterday that the government's effort to curb unsolicited telemarketing calls was unconstitutional, another blow to plans to implement a national do-not-call list next week.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Edward W. Nottingham was announced just minutes after Congress, in a rare display of speed and bipartisanship, voted to overturn an earlier federal judge's decision to nullify the list on different legal grounds.
Since late June, consumers have registered more than 50 million phone numbers on the Federal Trade Commission's anti-telemarketing list. Under the agency's plans, enforcement was slated to begin Oct. 1, with telemarketers risking an $11,000 fine each time they called a number on the list.
But Nottingham, ruling in favor of telemarketers who had challenged the registry, said it was unconstitutional on freedom-of-speech grounds because it would have allowed telemarketers for charitable organizations to continue to call numbers on the list even though commercial firms would be barred from doing so.
Please stop calling me . . .
posted by chris at 1:20 PM
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Thursday, September 25, 2003
Bowling for Wackos
Michael Moore responds to a whole truckload of wacko criticism that's been flying at him lately. And he responds very, very well. Thanks to August for the heads-up.
posted by chris at 5:57 PM
US arming the world
The United States maintained its dominance in the international arms market last year, especially in sales to developing nations, according to a new Congressional report.
The United States was the leader in total worldwide sales in 2002, with about $13.3 billion, or 45.5 percent of global conventional weapons deals, a rise from $12.1 billion in 2001. Of that, $8.6 billion was to developing nations, or about 48.6 percent of conventional arms deals concluded with developing nations last year, according to the report.
Russia was second in sales to the developing world last year, with $5 billion, followed by France with $1 billion.
Guns for everyone!
posted by chris at 5:41 PM
Nothing. Zip. Nada. Zero.
An intensive six-month search of Iraq for weapons of mass destruction has failed to discover a single trace of an illegal arsenal, according to accounts of a report circulating in Washington and London.
The interim report, compiled by the CIA-led Iraq Survey Group (ISG) of 1,400 weapons experts and support staff, will instead focus on Saddam Hussein's capacity and intentions to build banned weapons.
A draft of the report has been sent to the White House, the Pentagon and Downing Street, a US intelligence source said. It has caused such disappointment that there is now a debate over whether it should be released to Congress over the next fortnight, as had been widely expected.
"It will mainly be an accounting of programs and dual-use technologies," said one US intelligence source. "It demonstrates that the main judgments of the national intelligence estimate (NIE) in October 2002, that Saddam had hundreds of tonnes of chemical and biological agents ready, are false."
A BBC report yesterday said that the survey group, which includes British and Australian investigators, had come across no banned weapons, or delivery systems, or laboratories involved in developing such weapons.
More, or rather, Nothing more.
posted by chris at 4:43 PM
So there!
The House of Representatives voted today to reinstate a do-not-call telemarketing registry that was blocked by a federal judge earlier this week.
The House voted 412 to 8 in favor of the legislation and lawmakers from both parties criticized the judge, who ruled on Tuesday that federal regulators had overstepped their authority in establishing the registry, which is aimed at preventing unwanted telemarketing sales pitches.
The ruling, which was made public on Wednesday by the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, found that Congress had not given authority to the F.T.C. to establish the national registry.
The bill approved today says the Federal Trade Commission may operate the list, which was approved by Congress last year and is scheduled to take effect Oct. 1.
The Senate was expected to pass similar legislation later today. But even if the bill is approved by both chambers and signed by President Bush, the Oklahoma federal district court judge who made the ruling on Tuesday must still dismiss the case in order for the do-not-call list to move ahead.
More.
posted by chris at 4:35 PM
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Wednesday, September 24, 2003
Say what you want . . . just do it over there
The American Civil Liberties Union asked the federal courts Tuesday to prevent the U.S. Secret Service from keeping anti-Bush protesters far away from presidential appearances while allowing supporters to display their messages up close.
The civil liberties group filed the lawsuit in federal court in Pennsylvania on behalf of four advocacy organizations that claimed that the Secret Service forced them into protest zones or other areas where they could not be seen by President Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney or be noticed by the media covering their visits.
"The pattern we found was at presidential and vice presidential appearances, protesters were restricted to areas where they were out of sight, out of earshot and often out of mind," said Vic Walczak, legal director for the ACLU's Greater Pittsburgh chapter.
Story.
posted by chris at 2:19 PM
Do Not Call list shot down
A U.S. District Court has knocked down the federal government's plan to curb unsolicited telemarketing calls through a national do-not-call list that was scheduled to start next week.
More than 50 million phone numbers have been posted to the anti-telemarketing registry; as of October 1, telemarketers were supposed to stop calling those numbers.
Judge Lee R. West in Oklahoma City issued a decision late Monday saying the Federal Trade Commission lacked authority to develop the list.
Although Congress gave the agency funding to run the list, it did not give the FTC specific authority to implement the list, West said. An administrative agency's power to regulate in the public interest must "always be grounded in a valid grant of authority from Congress," West said.
I still do not want to be called. Thanks to my lovely wife for the update!
posted by chris at 2:10 PM
The hit list
An excerpt taken from Gen. Wesley Clark's upcoming book:
I went back through the Pentagon in November 2001, and one of the senior military staff officers had time for a chat. Yes, we were still on track for going against Iraq, he said. But there was more. This was being discussed as part of a five-year campaign plan, he said, and there were a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia, and Sudan. So, I thought, this is what they mean when they talk about “draining the swamp.” It was evidence of the Cold War approach: Terrorism must have a “state sponsor,” and it would be much more effective to attack a state than to chase after individuals, nebulous organizations, and shadowy associations.
Yikes.
posted by chris at 1:58 PM
No WMD in the first place
From a new TV documentary, shown in Britian last night, called "Breaking the Silence" by Australian journalist John Pilger:
Both Colin Powell, US Secretary of State, and Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's closest adviser, made clear before September 11 2001 that Saddam Hussein was no threat - to America, Europe or the Middle East.
In Cairo, on February 24 2001, Powell said: "He (Saddam Hussein) has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbours."
This is the very opposite of what Bush and Blair said in public.
Powell even boasted that it was the US policy of "containment" that had effectively disarmed the Iraqi dictator - again the very opposite of what Blair said time and again. On May 15 2001, Powell went further and said that Saddam Hussein had not been able to "build his military back up or to develop weapons of mass destruction" for "the last 10 years". America, he said, had been successful in keeping him "in a box".
Two months later, Condoleezza Rice also described a weak, divided and militarily defenceless Iraq. "Saddam does not control the northern part of the country," she said. "We are able to keep his arms from him. His military forces have not been rebuilt."
So here were two of Bush's most important officials putting the lie to their own propaganda, and the Blair government's propaganda that subsequently provided the justification for an unprovoked, illegal attack on Iraq. The result was the deaths of what reliable studies now put at 50,000 people, civilians and mostly conscript Iraqi soldiers, as well as British and American troops. There is no estimate of the countless thousands of wounded.
So much more.
posted by chris at 1:49 PM
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Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Dude, where'd my vote go?
Kos excerpts a longer article from Salon about how friggin' easy it is to change the votes on the new Diebold electronic voting machines that will most probably be used in the next election. Scary stuff.
posted by chris at 2:56 PM
The Breakdown
The Associate Press got its hands on the Bush administration's breakdown of how they would spend the $20.3 million requested for Iraqi reconstruction. Some of the items include:
-Build and modernize 26 jails and prisons for 8,500 inmates, $99 million.
-Spend $9 million to modernize Iraq's postal system, including establishment of ZIP codes.
-Rebuild the country's badly damaged electrical system, install at least 11 40-megawatt gas turbine generation plants and several larger units, replace power lines and towers, $2.9 billion.
-Use $1 billion to provide drinkable water to 75 percent of Iraq's urban population, an additional 2.7 million people, up from 60 percent today. An additional $530 million would be spent to serve 75 percent of the rural population, an additional 1.3 million, many of whom now rely on water trucked in as infrequently as once every 10 days. Eventual goal: serve 90 percent of the population, $2.8 billion.
-Spend $130 million to construct 10 major irrigation and drainage projects.
-Use $125 million to rebuild railroad tracks.
-Start building at least 3,528 new houses next year as part of a $100 million housing initiative.
Much more.
posted by chris at 1:53 PM
Ashcroft widens his reach
Attorney General John Ashcroft today made it tougher for federal prosecutors to strike plea bargains with criminal defendants, requiring attorneys to seek the most serious charges possible in almost all cases.
The policy directive issued by Mr. Ashcroft is the latest in a series of steps the Justice Department has taken in recent months to combat what it sees as dangerously lenient practices by some federal prosecutors and judges.
The move also effectively expands to the entire gamut of federal crimes the attorney general's tough stance on the death penalty, which he has sought in numerous cases over the objections of federal prosecutors.
Story.
posted by chris at 10:44 AM
Now I know why things are so messed up
Bush said he insulates himself from the "opinions'' that seep into news coverage by getting his news from his own aides. He said he scans headlines, but rarely reads news stories.
"I appreciate people's opinions, but I'm more interested in news,'' the president said. "And the best way to get the news is from objective sources, and the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what's happening in the world.''
Objective . . . Riiiight . . .
posted by chris at 9:30 AM
BK does it your way
Burger King Corp. tried to jump out in front of the obesity debate yesterday, unveiling a new line of low-fat grilled chicken sandwiches and an aggressive marketing campaign targeted at consumers who are concerned about their waistlines.
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Their new grilled chicken sandwich, topped with grilled vegetables and one of three savory sauces, has only five grams of fat and 350 calories. In contrast, a Whopper with cheese has 780 calories and 47 grams of fat. Burger King's research suggests consumers are frustrated that they can't find healthy food to eat on the go, so ads promoting the new sandwiches focus heavily on the low fat content. The sandwiches will also be sold as a combo meal with a bottle of water and a side salad (or fries and a Coke).
Special orders don't upset us.
posted by chris at 9:26 AM
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Monday, September 22, 2003
For sale: One Middle Eastern country, slightly damaged
Iraq was in effect put up for sale yesterday when the American-appointed administration announced it was opening up all sectors of the economy to foreign investors in a desperate attempt to deliver much-needed reconstruction against a daily backdrop of kidnappings, looting and violent death.
In an unexpected move unveiled at the meeting in Dubai of the Group of Seven rich nations, the Iraqi Governing Council announced sweeping reforms to allow total foreign ownership without the need for prior approval.
The initiative bore all the hallmarks of Washington's ascendant neoconservative lobby, complete with tax cuts and trade tariff rollbacks. It will apply to everything from industry to health and water, although not oil.
But it is still likely to feed concerns that Iraq is being turned into a golden opportunity for profiteering by multinational corporations relying on their political connections.
100 per cent foreign ownership in all sectors except natural resources.
posted by chris at 12:41 PM
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Sunday, September 21, 2003
JetRedWhiteandBlue
Violating its own privacy policy, JetBlue Airways gave 5 million passenger itineraries to a Defense Department contractor that used the information as part of a study seeking ways to identify "high risk" airline customers.
The study, produced by Torch Concepts of Huntsville, Ala., was intended to be a proof-of-concept analysis for a project on military base security, titled "Homeland Security: Airline Passenger Risk Assessment."
JetBlue, whose terminal at Oakland International Airport is a major hub for the low-cost carrier's popular cross-country routes, insisted the data was not shared with any government agency and that Torch has since destroyed the passenger records.
New York-based JetBlue said it has taken steps so the situation will not happen again. "This was a mistake on our part," JetBlue chief executive David Neeleman said in an apologetic e-mail sent to angry customers.
Silicon Valley privacy activist Bill Scannell, who first posted details of the study and JetBlue's involvement on his Web site, Don't Spy On Us, said Friday the privacy of anyone who flew JetBlue from its inception until September 2002 was compromised.
Still more.
posted by chris at 10:28 PM
Gates fights a different bug
Touring a malaria clinic where they sat on reed mats while coddling babies, Bill and Melinda Gates announced a $168 million grant Sunday to accelerate research into malaria, a disease that kills over a million people each year, most of them young African children.
The grant, by the world's richest man and his wife, is the largest ever single donation towards fighting the mosquito-borne disease. Malaria is making a deadly comeback in Africa, the world's poorest continent, as strains of the disease become increasingly resistant to treatment.
Funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is for three research grants, with $100 million to go towards finding a vaccine, $28 million to use existing drugs to cut down the number of infections in babies and $40 million for the development of new medicines to combat drug-resistant strains.
It ain't Mefloquine.
posted by chris at 9:14 PM
White House suppressed global warming results
White House officials have undermined their own government scientists' research into climate change to play down the impact of global warming, an investigation by The Observer can reveal.
The disclosure will anger environment campaigners who claim that efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions are being sabotaged because of President George W. Bush's links to the oil industry.
Emails and internal government documents obtained by The Observer show that officials have sought to edit or remove research warning that the problem is serious. They have enlisted the help of conservative lobby groups funded by the oil industry to attack US government scientists if they produce work seen as accepting too readily that pollution is an issue.
Much more.
posted by chris at 9:08 PM
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