Following appeared on the open Internet today, 30 May 10. De ja vu. As you can tell, they been hanging around for a while. Even in exiled death, Philip Agee appears to live on.)
Radio Netherlands show “The State We're In” segments about 300-700 Vietnam MIA's & POW's left behind + Skiptracing & Personal Data Access.
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Comment: In regards to personal data, of interest here would be campaigns promoting the idea and legal process of “owning” our data, or, “owning our own data” while redefining “ownership.” We may see a day (hopefully not) when everyone has an i.d. webpage showing profile info and other data that can be brought up by anyone. Your URL will be asked for along with your social security number. Yes, researchers/investigators can cultivate information on people but having a mandate for webpage profiles is another matter.
(from Rawstory.com citing NY Times 2009 article) Elena Kagan, President Barack Obama's latest nominee to the Supreme Court, helped protect the Saudi royal family from lawsuits that sought to hold al Qaeda financiers responsible in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. The suits were filed by thousands family members and others affected by the Sept. 11 attacks. In court papers, they provided evidence that members of the Saudi royal family had channeled millions to al Qaeda prior to the bombings, often in contravention of direct guidance from the United States. But Kagan, acting as President Obama's Solicitor General, argued that the case should not be heard even if evidence proved that the Saudis helped underwrite al Qaeda, because it would interfere with US foreign policy with the oil-rich nation. She posited “that the princes are immune from petitioners’ claims” because of “the potentially significant foreign relations consequences of subjecting another sovereign state to suit.”
One of the better points of this video:
How serious is the Federal government about justice in regards to the largest financial crisis in American history? Look at the number of persons investigating and prosecuting mortgage fraud and securities fraud. And until those numbers increase, we will not have justice.
Interestingly, Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio stood on the House floor and encouraged citizens to not leave their homes when they were being forced out.
30 Leading Experts from HAF/A2, OPNAV/N2/N6F2(ISR), Army G2/DCS-I, OUSD-I, USJFCOM, USAF 480th ISR Wing, AFWC, AFMC, NGA, USNORTHCOM, USAF 950th ELSG, Army EW Div., USAF Space AE, GAO, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Microsoft, SAIC, Mercury, Booz Allen Hamilton examine:
* Government ISR Strategy, Plans, Roadmaps, Needs & Initiatives
* Developing/Deploying Integrated ISR (DCGS-based) Networks
* Platform and Payload Needs, Challenges and Capabilities
* Next-Generation Intelligence Collection, Analysis & Dissemination
* Developing the ISR Enterprise
About The Conference:
Dealing with the New Realities, Opportunities and Challenges in Global ISR. Continuing gaps in intelligence information sharing capabilities post 9/11, emerging requirements for new “ISR surges” in Afghan and Iraqi operations, ISR challenges associated with new counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations, increased roles for ISR assets across a broad range of new and evolving missions (space defense, maritime domain awareness, global surveillance/global strike, etc.) – these and many other critical issues are driving the ongoing reassessment of our current ISR forces.
Good quotes from the movie:
+ Jack Abramoff was the “perfect marriage of idealism and corruption.”
+ “Campaign finance is a system of legalized bribery.” What also comes to mind is Danny Schecter saying “I used to think of Wall Street as a financial center, now I think of it as a crime scene.”
One interesting part of the movie mentioned a court order that was issued just to force the Bush administration to hand over copies of photos of Bush & Abramoff in Malaysia. Video clips of George W Bush show him lying about not knowing Jack Abramoff.
Conclusion:
Corruption has become normal in Washington DC politics. Parasitic behavior of lobbyists such a Abramoff (despite him being “one of a kind” as far as his deceptive charismatic mastery was concerned) are the result of relationships with “willing hosts,” politicians open to bribery and betrayl of public service, perpetually seeking more money and more power.
On an interesting note, this documentary has a segment on the Mariana Islands when they were a loophole for textile manufacturers. Abramoff had links to their government and industry and became a bridge between them and US politicians willing to deny inhumane treatment of workers. The day I saw this documentary (May 7) I received a text message from the twitter feed of the Government Accountability Office mentioning the Mariana Islands immigration issue.
Interview where she responds to the following questions/issues:
+ Social media and extreme views
+ How our ideas about privacy have to change
+ How failure to share information leads to more failure
+ Why previous attempts to share intelligence have failed
+ The way government adopts technology is broken
+ Can we crowdsource intelligence gathering?
