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Total Information Awareness, Disguised And Alive
unassimilatible writes "According to the AP, aspects of the controversial Total Information Awareness DARPA program, officially shut down by the U.S. Congress in September 2003 after a public outcry, seem to have survived. The article reports, 'Some projects from retired Adm. John Poindexter's Total Information Awareness effort were transferred to U.S. intelligence offices, congressional, federal and research officials told The Associated Press. In addition, Congress left undisturbed a separate but similar $64 million research program run by a little-known office called the Advanced Research and Development Activity, or ARDA, that has used some of the same researchers as Poindexter's program.'"
We'll break out the beer and guns then talk about overthrowing the government!!!
Woohoo!!!
Shit, living in Arkansas is starting to get to me.
Maybe he was just aware of a spelling troll coming around and kicking himself in the karmatic balls.
I saw that coming to.
Until Slashdot fixes the funny modifier, use insightful or interesting. The poster knows your intentions.
It would, unquestionably, take a Civil War to get the changes that should be done.
My favorite example is the fact that over HALF of my annual income goes to the government in the form of one tax or another.
I'm not sure I'll be able to retire, and my parents have the same worries. Had we not spent over half of our money supporting the government - that wouldn't be a concern.
My Father, as an example, often pays over 40% income tax alone - called Capital Gains Tax.
Like many Americans, I enjoy the freedom(s) and liberties we have in this country. However, just because we have many freedoms and liberties that others do not -- does not make it acceptable to have even one of those freedoms/liberties taken away.
Were some sort of revolution to take place, I and everyone I know would be right there. In fact, the one person I know who is the most upset with the government today is a former Vietnam veteran - a Marine Sniper. Today he's a very wealthy man - has been a CEO, President, VP, etc - in many companies.
He told me, on a multitude of occassions, that his last wish in life is to be alive for the revolution that 'must' be coming.
I, like many, would much prefer things be resolved peacably. Unfortunetally, those who have 'power' will 'lead' those under them to death before letting go.
A good start would be to make government agencies accountable for their day-to-day operations. Including budgets, business decisions, operations, safety & health regulations - everything. No government agency should operate outside of civil law. Any law that applies to a civil business should apply to any government agency.
Though, I think we all agree (whether we really like it or not) - the Military needs to have it's secrets. How we could leave the Military alone and hold normal government agencies accountable - I'm not sure - as I'm sure many government agencies would simply abuse loopholes by diguising operations as Military related.
*sigh*
I'd love to be around for a revolution - I'd say that for sure. I don't think it will happen in my lifetime. Our "democracy" has become a massive group of small dictatorships... I think we call them States? I suppose the difference is, we 'elect' (or atleast 'think' we do) our dictators.
Yeah, yeah -1 troll/flamebait. I see it coming.
But this is the way I feel, and a lot of other people do as well.
Tell me, when was the last time YOU made a difference in America? I don't feel like the people have control anymore. Not at all.
Example: I was just turned down from an IT Manager position - the HR Manager is a family friend. I was informed that I simply didn't have a chance at the job - I don't speak spanish and I'm white. The company is behind on their 'quota' (GOVERNMENT QUOTA) of black manager's.
The person who filled the position is a convicted felon. He was the _only_ African American person who applied for the position. I was told the only requirement he came close to meeting for the position was that he had an AAS degree in CS.
A friend of mine, graduated at the TOP of his class at the Police academy in Miami Florida. He had the second highest score in the physical tests. He was told, CLEARLY, that they could not give him a job a the Sherrif's Dept because he was white and didn't speak spanish.
I'm all for immigration (LEGAL Immigration), and civil rights. But this doesn't even seem like America anymore.
The re-pricing of oil in Euros might also work.
A bold approach -- but after Saddam switched from dollars to euros, America invaded Iraq.
See also The Dollar vs. the Euro for World Hegemony.
-kgj
-kgj
To start with, you forgot to note that the journal entries were not my own, just those of an informed resident of the UK.
I agree that the BBCBias website sounds more like whining than anything else. They have good reasons for it, but there are much better ways of going about getting something done, or at the very least there are better ways of saying it. I simply pointed it out as evidence that they do have a bias, like it or not.
Oh, and that TV license paid by the households? That is a required fee (where by fee I mean tax) that all houses must pay; it doesn't matter if they have a TV or not. If there is cable running to the building, the "fee" must be paid.
The BBC is government ordained. They are paid for whether they promote something or not. You are right about that; they have nothing to gain, but they also have nothing to lose. They are paid for no matter what. They can essentially say whatever they want about anybody they want, and not get their funding cut. They don't have to be fair or tell both sides of a story, they don't have to worry about getting anybody upset. If you want evidence of this, see their comments about Tony Blair/GWB.
Let's set a stage here. You are fighting with me, and we each have an army. You capture some of my spies who have been planting bombs in your local hangouts, and we keep fighting in public places getting nothing accomplished and getting bystanders killed. You and I have a meeting and agree to a cease-fire, but I add in a clause that says I can begin fighting again at any time until you release my spies. Then a reporter comes in and says you are being unfair to me because you won't agree to this wonderful peacekeeping agreement. That's why the BBC was kicked out.
And to answer your question, Al Jazeera is another news reporting agency that has its side of the story. Somewhere in between that and whatever Israeli tv is playing is the truth.
Work sucked, until it became unemployment, when it became slightly more tolerable. -Tet
But you're Plastic people.
Oh, Baby, now you're such a drag