More information has emerged about Google’s relationship with the government and spook agencies (see PR Newswire below). The revelations should come as no surprise.
Consumer Watchdog, formerly the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights is a nonprofit, nonpartisan consumer advocacy organization with offices in Washington, DC and Santa Monica, Ca. Consumer Watchdog’s website is www.consumerwatchdog.org. Visit our new Google Privacy and Accountability Project website: http://insidegoogle.com.
Phi Beta Iota: Goggle has accomplished a great deal, aided in part by CIA and NSA, but also in part by being able to get away with stealing Yahoo's search engine in the early days and hiring the Alta Vista people when HP foolishly killed off that offering. They have emulated Microsoft in achieving first-rate marketing with second-rate services, and continue to spend $10 million in fantasy cash for every dollar they actually earn. They are now the Goldman Sachs of the software industry, and that is not a compliment. It is not possible to understand Google without reading the three deep analytic books on Google by Stephen E. Arnold:
Review Deleted By Amazon, Reconstructed from Memory
July 20, 2010
C. D. B. Bryan
I read and reviewed this book when it came out in hard-copy, and I continue to be very annoyed with Amazon for its policy of deleting best in class reviews from the past so as to encourage new reviewers–they would be better off deleting the least useful review, but they seem motivated by a desire to give the new reviewers a chance to achieve rankings (hence, deleting least useful reviews does not meet the need, but deleted high value reviews of high performance reviewers does).
What I remember most clearly from the book is CONSISTENCY. Across all the encounters, all the accounts, all the investigations, there was a distinct, scientifically-validated consistency in all of the descriptions, effects, etcetera. This was the first book I was able to find that combined reputable scientific inquiry with a massive cross-section of stories from around the world, and that impressed me greatly.
Syria: For the record. Female students wearing a full face veil will be barred from Syrian university campuses, the country's minister of higher education has said. A government official said the practice ran counter to the secular, academic values and traditions of Syrian universities. The ruling, published on the All4Syria website, was said to be in response to requests from students and parents.
Phi Beta Iota: This is vastly more significant than the French initiatives. It marks a recognition by Syria that Indonesia, Malaysia, and Turkey are on the right track toward a mix of secular government and religious piety, and is the first step toward an end of the lunacy and atrocities against women that begin with their being forced to cover themselves in a manner more characteristic of slaves under the total control of men who have no idea how to deal with an intelligent woman.
More than a trillion dollars has been appropriated since September 11, 2001 for U.S. military operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. This makes the “war on terrorism” the most costly of any military engagement in U.S. history in absolute terms or, if correcting for inflation, the second most expensive U.S. military action after World War II.
A newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service estimated the financial costs of major U.S. wars from the American Revolution ($2.4 billion in FY 2011 dollars) to World War I ($334 billion) to World War II ($4.1 trillion) to the second Iraq war ($784 billion) and the war in Afghanistan ($321 billion). CRS provided its estimates in current year dollars (i.e. the year they were spent) and in constant year dollars (adjusted for inflation), and as a percentage of gross domestic product. Many caveats apply to these figures, which are spelled out in the CRS report.
In constant dollars, World War II is still the most expensive of all U.S. wars, having consumed a massive 35.8% of GDP at its height and having cost $4.1 trillion in FY2011 dollars. See “Costs of Major U.S. Wars,” June 29, 2010.
MILITARY CONTRACTORS IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN
The Department of Defense has more contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan than it has uniformed military personnel, another newly updated report from the Congressional Research Service reminds us.
“The Department of Defense increasingly relies upon contractors to support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has resulted in a DOD workforce that has 19% more contractor personnel (207,600) than uniformed personnel (175,000),” said the CRS report — which forms a timely counterpoint to this week's Washington Post “Top Secret America” series on the tremendous expansion of the intelligence bureaucracy, including the increased and often unchecked reliance on contractors.
The explosive growth in reliance on contractors naturally entails new difficulties in management and oversight. “Some analysts believe that poor contract management has also played a role in abuses and crimes committed by certain contractors against local nationals, which may have undermined U.S. counterinsurgency efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan,” the CRS said. See “Department of Defense Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan: Background and Analysis,” July 2, 2010.
The potential benefits and limitations of using unmanned aerial vehicles for homeland security applications were considered by the Congressional Research Service in yet another updated report. See “Homeland Security: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and Border Surveillance,” July 8, 2010.
The “secret history” of unmanned aircraft was recounted in an informative new study published by the Air Force Association. See “Air Force UAVs: The Secret History” by Thomas P. Ehrhard, July 2010. _______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the Federation of American Scientists.
Acting Director of National Intelligence, David C. Gompert, reaction to the Washington Post series
This morning, the Washington Post began a series of articles on the growth of the Intelligence Community following the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The reporting does not reflect the Intelligence Community we know.
This conference will bring together antiwar and social justice activists from across the country to consider what we can do together to end the U.S. wars, occupations, bombing attacks, threats and interventions that are taking place in the Middle East and beyond. Attend and voice your opinion on where the antiwar movement is today and where we go from here.
We demand the immediate and total withdrawal of U.S. military forces, mercenaries and contractors from Afghanistan and Iraq. Instead of trillions for wars and occupations, we demand those funds be spent for jobs, health care, education, the environment, infrastructure and other human needs, and that compensation be paid to the peoples whose countries the U.S. attacked and occupied for the loss of lives and massive destruction they suffered.
The conference will decide on any other demands it believes should be added.
Our goal is unity in action while respecting our diversity and differences in political program and orientation.
Conference Site: Albany Crowne Plaza Hotel, Ten State and Lodge Streets, Albany, NY 12207.
Review Deleted By Amazon, Reconstructed from Memory
