Posted by
Hemos
on from the removing-things-from-the-domain dept.
SnapShot writes "There's a very scary article at slate about the revision and reclassification of public, U.S. Government documents made available over the last thirty years. This is supposedly to protect us from the terrorists. Do you feel safer?"
-- "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Anyone else worried?
by
Richie1984
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
a growing number of these sources are now barred to the public as "sensitive but unclassified" or "for official use only."
For a start, what does "sensitive but unclassified" actually mean? Does it have any legal status? Or is it simply there because of the connotations? The subtle purposes of the phrase are easily explained; the government isn't hiding the material, but it's in everyone's best interests that you don't and anyone who says otherwise could be dangerous.
-- I'm not stressed. I'm just terribly, terribly alert.
Who really cares?... nobody
by
ka9dgx
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Flamebait? Hmmmm.... maybe.... you decide.
I'm done caring about it... we're now firmly in the shoes of the Germans circa 1935, we're not stopping the cult that siezed power. Protesting on a weekend doesn't count, nor to buttons. (I've done both, too).
If we really cared, we'd march to the Capital Mall, in DC... and stay, until we got our troops home, and had an honest election, for a change.
You're disgusting. Suggesting the US is Germany 1935 is an egregious overstatement and shows little regard for those unfortunate enough to actually suffer throught that period.
Did you think maybe the reason the democrats can't win an election is because you actively promote hatred of those who's votes you wish to capture? Until you learn that a vast majority of the US citizenry is on the same side you will continue to be blasted in "fair elections."
I live in germany , a couple of my inlaws were alive during that time.You know why most of them did nothing,It was because it sliped in slowly , most of the changes were great for the standerd of living and the demonisation of the jewish people was not highly promoted at first so it slipped by most people. The thing is back then to these people Hittler was a hero , he brought them wealth and rebuilt the nation , it was not untill far too late that some people saw his true nature , he marched into checkoslovakia not fighting an oposing army , but to a parade. He was a very evil monster , but a very evil monster who was a hero to the people
The Bush administration may well be a problem or perhaps it is not ( i wont state my opinion here as i dont want to bias people against my point) This in most ways is very very diffrent to Germany 1935,
-- The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
And what evidence do you have of any attacks on American citizens or property by Saddam Hussein or any individual or group under his direct influence since we kicked him out of Kuwait?
Or do you believe that he is somehow linked to the 9-11 attacks and Al-Qaeda.
Replace American with Israeli and you'll then have a case for Israel to have done the job instead of us.
Saddam Hussein did not start the war. We were attacked by a fanatic group supported by oil-rich Saudis who hold a similar fanatic world view.
If feeble-minded Americans continue to believe whatever their mass-media and government spoon feed them we will be worse off as a country than Germany in May of 1945.
George wants to be seen as some sort of conquering hero. A 'hero of freedom' throughout history. Such megalomania by anyone in power is extremely dangerous in any age.
-- Fantasy and superstition should be used for entertainment purposes only.
Build Your Own A-Bomb
by
Hinkkanen
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Perhaps they are already searching out and destroying copies of Analog Science Fiction, April 1979, which included George W. Harper's fine article "Build Your Own A-Bomb and Wake Up the Neighborhood". It had useful information on how to convert a small house to a nuclear facility for building your own nuclear devices.
The current administration doesn't want to help compile their own "I messed up..."-list.
For example, if they disclose the former environmental data from the Environmental Protection Agency, nobody can easily compare actual data with the old data.
-- Grundgesetz * 23. Mai 1949 - 30. November 2007 - http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/
A long history of information hiding
by
ClosedSource
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
The US government has a long history of hiding information and even classified documents aren't always classified to protect the country.
A lot of classified documents are classified to avoid embarrassing the military or the current administration. The most famous example was the so-called "Pentagon Papers" which were a secret history of the Vietnam War. They proved that several Presidents had lied about the war (sound familiar?).
Amazon (like) Link
by
NoSuchGuy
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
-- Grundgesetz * 23. Mai 1949 - 30. November 2007 - http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/
Democrats are still destroying themselves.
by
AtariAmarok
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
"Until you learn that a vast majority of the US citizenry is on the same side you will continue to be blasted in "fair elections.""
Things are not looking too good for those of us who think that America is best served with at least two viable parties. The Democrats are diminishing themselves even further under the leadership of Howard Dean. A few weeks ago, he called Republicans and those who support them "evil". Just recently he called them "brain dead". I'm sorry, it is just not a winning strategy to go out of your way and attack and write off HALF of the U.S. population.
Clinton was successful, and helped the Democrats, because he knew it was important to appeal to the middle, including those who nominally sympathized with Republicans and their causes. Clinton won only due to "Clinton Republicans", just like Reagan only won with "Reagan Democrats". Howard Dean is problematic not because he is a "left wing extremist" or any other sort of extremist. He isnit. However, he is problematic because his mean and divisive manner turns off a lot of people. It is no surprise that Rush Limbaugh loved him. While Dean fires up "the base", he tends to turn off way too many outside the base with insulting language.
When you attack half of the people as "evil", you are automatically making sure that 50% will not vote for you. Since you can't get everyone in the 50% you have left, you have ensured that you will lose.
-- Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Secrecy - because we are at War
by
dpilot
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Most of the nation, including for instance the Supreme Court, accepts that the nation is at War. Not really Iraq, but the War on Terror.
How does the War on Terror end?
From whom do we accept surrender? Osama Bin Laden? What if Bin Laden were to surrender, but other terrorists disagree and want to continue fighting the US.
How and when can a War on Terror possibly end? If you really want to consider this a War, then the answers have to be, "no way" and "never". Terrorism only requires people willing to be terrorists in order to continue, and I forsee no shrinkage in that pool of people in either near or distant futures.
So we'd probably better get ready for the "temporary restriction of liberties during Wartime" to become permanent, because there is no forseeable way to end that war.
-- The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
Re:Secrecy - because we are at War
by
SpaceLifeForm
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
The 'War on Terror' will only end when the
real war against the citizens being orchestrated
by the government ends.
So, figure 20 years or never. It all depends
upon when the sheeple wake up.
-- You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
... that when confronted with a highly skilled enemy who's ghouls and spooks rivaled our own during the peak of the cold war... we didn't really have this issue.
--
help me i've cloned myself and can't remember which one I am
Re:Welcome to Nazi Germany.
by
Jeremiah+Cornelius
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Who needs emblems?
US can pick outthe dark ones already. They have more than 10% of their black males in prison already.
-- "Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
...can we please grow up and stop harkening to Nazi anything? If Slashdotters get any faster at Godwining themselves, they'll violate causality and do it before the fact.
This is nothing new under the sun. During the 80s the USSR sent physicists here to discuss information on nuclear fusion which was directly generated by the USSR. The USSR declassified it. They were giving the data on USSR government orders. The USA saw it differently and decided that since similar information generated by the USA was still classified, this information was also classified. Their reasoning was shallow at best regarding
Anyone who's done any time working for the government expects this inane nonsense anti-thinking. The concept that you should not bother closing the barn door once the horses have all left is firmly rejected by almost any government composed of humans never mind the USA. In their minds, closing the door will cause the horses to do a Casper and float right back through in the barn as if they never left.
This has nothing to do with Nazi, fascist, or any other tinfoil hat paranoia serving puerile fantasies of fighting some uphill struggle or whatever it is that drives people to think that way. I tell this to raving rightists as well as leftists. Grow up. They're too busy being incompetent to spend energies on hassling you personally. Any hassles they give you are merely SOP for everyone.
Illogical idiot non-thinking is what this reclassification is. Par for the course. Did you really think that prior to George W. Bush that the US government was some brain trust under Bill Clinton? Wow. Between the IRS during the 70s, USPS since inception, and the Hoover years of the FBI, I didn't think anyone could miss it. You want a better and more troublesome conspiracy? Ask why hot dogs and buns never seem to come in the same number at the same time at the store.
-- If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
Slashdot Mirror
It seems like McCarthy was a liberal by current standards. Land of the free my ass. Maybe if you're a corporation.
a growing number of these sources are now barred to the public as "sensitive but unclassified" or "for official use only."
For a start, what does "sensitive but unclassified" actually mean? Does it have any legal status? Or is it simply there because of the connotations? The subtle purposes of the phrase are easily explained; the government isn't hiding the material, but it's in everyone's best interests that you don't and anyone who says otherwise could be dangerous.
I'm not stressed. I'm just terribly, terribly alert.
I'm done caring about it... we're now firmly in the shoes of the Germans circa 1935, we're not stopping the cult that siezed power. Protesting on a weekend doesn't count, nor to buttons. (I've done both, too).
If we really cared, we'd march to the Capital Mall, in DC... and stay, until we got our troops home, and had an honest election, for a change.
--Mike--
Perhaps they are already searching out and destroying copies of Analog Science Fiction, April 1979, which included George W. Harper's fine article "Build Your Own A-Bomb and Wake Up the Neighborhood". It had useful information on how to convert a small house to a nuclear facility for building your own nuclear devices.
The current administration doesn't want to help compile their own "I messed up..."-list.
For example, if they disclose the former environmental data from the Environmental Protection Agency, nobody can easily compare actual data with the old data.
Grundgesetz * 23. Mai 1949 - 30. November 2007 - http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/
The US government has a long history of hiding information and even classified documents aren't always classified to protect the country.
A lot of classified documents are classified to avoid embarrassing the military or the current administration. The most famous example was the so-called "Pentagon Papers" which were a secret history of the Vietnam War. They proved that several Presidents had lied about the war (sound familiar?).
George W. Harper's fine article "Build Your Own A-Bomb and Wake Up the Neighborhood for US$ 20,00.
Grundgesetz * 23. Mai 1949 - 30. November 2007 - http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/
Things are not looking too good for those of us who think that America is best served with at least two viable parties. The Democrats are diminishing themselves even further under the leadership of Howard Dean. A few weeks ago, he called Republicans and those who support them "evil". Just recently he called them "brain dead". I'm sorry, it is just not a winning strategy to go out of your way and attack and write off HALF of the U.S. population.
Clinton was successful, and helped the Democrats, because he knew it was important to appeal to the middle, including those who nominally sympathized with Republicans and their causes. Clinton won only due to "Clinton Republicans", just like Reagan only won with "Reagan Democrats". Howard Dean is problematic not because he is a "left wing extremist" or any other sort of extremist. He isnit. However, he is problematic because his mean and divisive manner turns off a lot of people. It is no surprise that Rush Limbaugh loved him. While Dean fires up "the base", he tends to turn off way too many outside the base with insulting language.
When you attack half of the people as "evil", you are automatically making sure that 50% will not vote for you. Since you can't get everyone in the 50% you have left, you have ensured that you will lose.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Most of the nation, including for instance the Supreme Court, accepts that the nation is at War. Not really Iraq, but the War on Terror.
How does the War on Terror end?
From whom do we accept surrender? Osama Bin Laden? What if Bin Laden were to surrender, but other terrorists disagree and want to continue fighting the US.
How and when can a War on Terror possibly end? If you really want to consider this a War, then the answers have to be, "no way" and "never". Terrorism only requires people willing to be terrorists in order to continue, and I forsee no shrinkage in that pool of people in either near or distant futures.
So we'd probably better get ready for the "temporary restriction of liberties during Wartime" to become permanent, because there is no forseeable way to end that war.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
... that when confronted with a highly skilled enemy who's ghouls and spooks rivaled our own during the peak of the cold war... we didn't really have this issue.
help me i've cloned myself and can't remember which one I am
US can pick outthe dark ones already. They have more than 10% of their black males in prison already.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
...can we please grow up and stop harkening to Nazi anything? If Slashdotters get any faster at Godwining themselves, they'll violate causality and do it before the fact.
This is nothing new under the sun. During the 80s the USSR sent physicists here to discuss information on nuclear fusion which was directly generated by the USSR. The USSR declassified it. They were giving the data on USSR government orders. The USA saw it differently and decided that since similar information generated by the USA was still classified, this information was also classified. Their reasoning was shallow at best regarding
Anyone who's done any time working for the government expects this inane nonsense anti-thinking. The concept that you should not bother closing the barn door once the horses have all left is firmly rejected by almost any government composed of humans never mind the USA. In their minds, closing the door will cause the horses to do a Casper and float right back through in the barn as if they never left.
This has nothing to do with Nazi, fascist, or any other tinfoil hat paranoia serving puerile fantasies of fighting some uphill struggle or whatever it is that drives people to think that way. I tell this to raving rightists as well as leftists. Grow up. They're too busy being incompetent to spend energies on hassling you personally. Any hassles they give you are merely SOP for everyone.
Illogical idiot non-thinking is what this reclassification is. Par for the course. Did you really think that prior to George W. Bush that the US government was some brain trust under Bill Clinton? Wow. Between the IRS during the 70s, USPS since inception, and the Hoover years of the FBI, I didn't think anyone could miss it. You want a better and more troublesome conspiracy? Ask why hot dogs and buns never seem to come in the same number at the same time at the store.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)