NEW ORLEANS --Google's popular map portal has replaced post-Hurricane Katrina satellite imagery with pictures taken before the storm, leaving locals feeling like they're in a time loop and even fueling suspicions of a conspiracy.

If anything, Google should be rallying to present the latest, most accurate images available. To do anything less diminishes the value of their product, and clearly calls into question their motives.

How long before a time axis is added to the exist x, y, z of Google maps? When can I ask my Google lapel pin to show me maps of New Orleans from 1910 to 2010?

Labels: Google, Katrina, New Orleans, technology

I'm sorry, but as a taxpayer, I do not support individuals with Alzheimer's or other conditions which adversely effect memory or critical brain function serving in our government. The Bush Administration apparently disagrees.

Today, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing entitled: “Allegations of Misconduct at the General Services Administration.”

Once upon a time lying to Congress under oath was a big deal.

Labels: Congress, General Services Administration

Labels: fisa, nsa, patriot act, technology, warrantless wiretaps

"I'm not doing anything wrong, so let them monitor whatever they want," is a commonly heard mantra of Americans willing to forfeit their right to privacy for the perception of security. I heard it myself just yesterday when a politically minded grandmother called into a show on a major network regarding the crimes committed by the FBI.

If you encounter such an argument around the water cooler or at the dinner table, here are a few gems you can bust out to force some critical thinking on the part of your mark (Warning: Cognitive dissonance resulting from these tactics can produce unpredictable responses in some citizens who are already scared, manipulated, and entranced).

Set the stage by discussing the nature data-mining. Avoid the term "data-mining" because the word data scares people. It's techno-babbly jargon. Use terms like dragnet, it's folksy. Ask your mark if they're a criminal; this will get their attention immediately. Naturally they'll say "No." Then ask if anyone they communicate with via phone or email has ever committed a crime. Typically the truth will be yes, but your mark will say no as the scenarios start playing through their mind (you've just planted a seed...watch it grow). Now ask if any of the friends or family of people they communicate with have ever committed a crime. Hopefully the mark will start to see the problems with wide spectrum data collection. Use props if necessary - salt and pepper shakers work.

Here's a helpful tidbit if you're by a computer:

It's an analysis of the sexual relationships of a high school. Nearly everyone is connected. If this were an investigation of criminal or terrorist activity, everyone in the network would be put to the question. It's neither fair, nor just, but that's what we're buying into if we support unchecked powers of surveillance and data collection. In such an environment everyone is guilty.

Another important point to make clear is the aspect of time. Once data is collected, it doesn't go away...ever. If you haven't spoken to someone in ten years, and suddenly they re-enter your life, can you be sure they haven't engaged in some questionable activities that would draw the attention of investigators?

Finally, what does being investigated by the feds mean anyway? Why should anyone be concerned if they haven't done anything wrong? Guilt by association. Does your mark work with children? Do they work at a company with state or federal contracts? Do they themselves work with other people's sensitive information: financial, medical, educational records? When the FBI or another agency pulls you in for an "interview" consider yourself flagged. That promotion you were counting on? A choice transfer? A move to a more desirable shift? You might not get thrown into a gulag, but your life will be impacted just the same.

Write to your Senators and Representatives and respectfully request that Congress ask for the resignation of Robert S. Mueller and Alberto Gonzales (They've offered their resignations before, why not now?). The law has been broken under their watch. They have abused their authority and squandered public trust...again. It's time for them to step down.

UPDATE: Full DOJ OIG report (pdf, 36MB).
UPDATE: Senator Schumer (D-NY) Calls For Gonzales to Step Down
UPDATE: New York Times editorial blasts Gonzales

Labels: Alberto Gonzales, Charles Schumer, doj, fisa, nsa, patriot act, Robert S. Mueller, technology, tia, warrantless wiretaps

I have good days and bad. I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby has been convicted of obstruction of justice. Sure the justice he was obstructing has been taken out behind the wood shed and shot in the face, but still the conviction was a step in the right direction. The investigation into the dismissal or pressed resignations of several U.S. District Attorneys is moving forward. That's the good.

Our old friend U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler is expected to rule on a gag order protecting the identities of high profile clients of the so-called D.C. Madam. U.S. Scientists have in effect been told to watch what they say with regard to global climate change, receding ice caps, and the plight of polar bears when they travel abroad. An audit has shown that the FBI has improperly and illegally used provisions of the USA Patriot Act to obtain information on U.S. citizens. And the videotape of Pentagon officials' most recent interrogation of Jose Padilla - the last before he abruptly refused to continue working with his defense team - has been "mislaid." That's the bad.

It's been a hell of a week.

Labels: climate change, fbi, Gladys Kessler, Jose Padilla, patriot act, Scooter Libby, US Attorney firings

China Plans Big Increase in Military Budget!

The People's Republic of China - population: 1.6 Billion, with a standing army of approximately 2.3 million service members - is increasing it's annual national defense budget by almost 18%. The total expenditure? About 45 Billion US dollars annually.

Um...Big. Fucking. Deal. Let's have some perspective here:

Military analysts say that China’s public military budget actually reflects only a fraction of its overall military spending, and that the real figure is likely to be two to four times higher.

Even so, China's defense spending - and let's try to keep in mind that as a Communist state (*wink, wink, nudge, nudge) this budget is spent on everything from weapons systems to hotel chains to China's emergent space program (which threatens U.S. commercial interests) - doesn't come close to that of the U.S. (2006 defense budget: $419.3 billion, not counting 'emergency spending' authorizations) or other Western powers a fraction of its size.

Don't get me wrong, I think that any expansion of military spending by any nation at this point in human History is nothing short of pathetic. But this Yellow Peril race baiting has to stop. The U.S. media needs to take a long hard look in the mirror before even insinuating that another nation's increase in military spending is a threat.

Scare Americans, sell ads, profit!

Labels: china, media

Mars Melt Hints at Solar, Not Human, Cause for Warming, Scientist Says

"In 2005 data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor and Odyssey missions revealed that the carbon dioxide "ice caps" near Mars's south pole had been diminishing for three summers in a row."

Three whole years worth of data? "Abdussamatov's work, however, has not been well received by other climate scientists." Ya think?

Increased solar activity and theories of warming caused by cosmic rays are the Intelligent Design of climate science. Every hypothesis deserves exploration, but extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Shame on the National Geographic for packaging this story like a cut from the Drudge Report.

Labels: climate change, Mars, NASA

As I write this, the Extra Bold Sumatra is flowing and Ballroom Blitz (The Ark cover, thanks Ajay!) is pumping. Al Gore won a frikin' Oscar and is on track to pick up a Nobel Prize later this year. Congress has issued it's first round of subpoenas regarding "corruption and mismanagement allegations on everything from pre-war Iraq intelligence to the mishandling of the response to Hurricane Katrina."

Spring is coming to America, and not a moment too soon. From 9/11 fear mongering, to the dilution of American civil liberties, to the utter squandering of world-wide good will towards America, to lying to Congress and the American people, to unprecedented and unwarranted expansion of executive power to the detriment of our democratic system, to the criminal bungling and incompetence of the Katrina (NSFW) disaster, to illegal wiretapping, to government sponsored kidnapping, detainment, and torture of civilians around the globe without regard for human rights, due process, international or Constitutional law, this Administration has set the stage for the most significant social, cultural, and political change our nation has yet to experience.

Hold on to your hats kids, 'cause our country is barreling towards the looking glass, the hatter is at the switch, and the rails are greased. What happens when the richest, most technologically advanced nation the world has ever known wakes up, takes a swig of the morning brew and realizes just how surreal our world has become under the sway of fear, uncertainty and doubt?

Labels: Al Gore, Extraordinary Rendition, Katrina, operation lockbox