Thursday News Bucket

13 Comments

1. 

   CabinGirl on September 27, 2007 at 8:30 am

   to explain to reporters why they shouldn’t report on their super-secret illegal spying programs: NY Sun

   Frustrated by press leaks about its most sensitive electronic surveillance work, the secretive National Security Agency convened an unprecedented series of off-the-record “seminars” in recent years to teach reporters about the damage caused by such leaks and to discourage reporting that could interfere with the agency’s mission to spy on America’s enemies.

   The half-day classes featured high-ranking NSA officials highlighting objectionable passages in published stories and offering “an innocuous rewrite” that officials said maintained the “overall thrust” of the articles but omitted details that could disclose the agency’s techniques, according to course outlines obtained by The New York Sun.

   Dubbed “SIGINT 101,” using the NSA’s shorthand for signals intelligence, the seminar was presented “a handful of times” between approximately 2002 and 2004, an agency spokeswoman, Marci Green, confirmed yesterday. Officials were pleased with the program, she said.

   “They believe they were very successful in being able to talk to journalists regarding our mission and the sensitivities of our mission in an unclassified way,” Ms. Green said.

   Just how big a lunch did they have to serve at these seminars to buy off our lapdog press?  I’m betting all it took was punch and cookies and a pat on the head.

2. 

   CabinGirl on September 27, 2007 at 8:41 am

   but war, baby.  Jesus’ General has the illustrated summary here.

   I am so sick of this administration.  The thought of 16 more months of this shit is almost more than I can stand.

3. 

   CabinGirl on September 27, 2007 at 8:47 am

   still sucks.  This time, for their anti-choice stance: NYT

   Saying it had the right to block “controversial or unsavory” text messages, Verizon Wireless has rejected a request from Naral Pro-Choice America, the abortion rights group, to make Verizon’s mobile network available for a text-message program.

   The other leading wireless carriers have accepted the program, which allows people to sign up for text messages from Naral by sending a message to a five-digit number known as a short code.

   Text messaging is a growing political tool in the United States and a dominant one abroad, and such sign-up programs are used by many political candidates and advocacy groups to send updates to supporters.

   But legal experts said private companies like Verizon probably have the legal right to decide which messages to carry. The laws that forbid common carriers from interfering with voice transmissions on ordinary phone lines do not apply to text messages.

   Since a person has to sign up to receive the messages, why is this problem?  And why do I get unwanted spam e-mail about penis pumps and enlargers via my Verizon email account, and Verizon feels no need to put a stop to that?

   • 

     CabinGirl on September 27, 2007 at 2:00 pm

     it seems Verizon had a sudden change of heart today and reversed their decision.  Wonder why?

4. 

   CabinGirl on September 27, 2007 at 8:54 am

   in shooting Iraqis: NYT

   The American security contractor Blackwater USA has been involved in a far higher rate of shootings while guarding American diplomats in Iraq than other security firms providing similar services to the State Department, according to Bush administration officials and industry officials.

   No wonder the Iraq “government” wants them out.  However, the article also notes that Blackwater is also highly ranked in terms of collecting its percentage of that $300 million a day the US is spending to stay in Iraq, and is very generous with its donations to the GOP, so we won’t be seeing any forward movement with that in this lifetime.

   • 

     dada on September 27, 2007 at 10:29 am

     but they’re so good at their job cg…

     Not one diplomat has died while being guarded by employees of the politically connected company based in the swamplands of northeastern North Carolina. Experts say that success — combined with the murky legal world in which Blackwater operates and its strong ties to Republicans — has allowed the company to operate with impunity.

     the safety and security of all those fine young regent university grads, and heritage foundation fellows is more important than a bunch of iraqi civilians…or american soldiers, for that matter.

     and with connections like these, and CONdi covering their backsides:

     Blackwater’s ties to the GOP run deep. Company founder and former Navy Seal Erik Prince has given more than $200,000 to Republican causes, a pattern of donation followed by other top Blackwater executives. The company’s vice chairman is Cofer Black, a former CIA counterterrorism official who is serving as a senior adviser to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romne*y.

     Members of Blackwater’s legal team have included former Whitewater *[clinton]

     prosecutor Kenneth Starr and current White House Counsel [consigliere] Fred Fielding. The company tapped a GOP-connected public relations firm after the grisly 2004 deaths of four Blackwater employees who were ambushed by insurgents in Fallujah. Their remains were strung from a bridge.

     ref: ‘Cowboy’ aggression works for Blackwater [http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070924/ap_on_re_us/blackwater_probe]

     not in this lifetime, perhaps never.

     lTMF’sA

     

     • 

       chocolate ink on September 27, 2007 at 5:45 pm

       Should have known Ken Starr was in the mix somewhere, that phony sanctimonious prick.

5. 

   Oui on September 27, 2007 at 10:38 am

   .
   Women’s World Cup played in China:
   Semi-finals Brazil – USA 4-0

   Brazil won on all fronts: agility, passing accuracy, tactics and field dominance.

   "But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

   • 

     CabinGirl on September 27, 2007 at 10:42 am

     It was the first loss by more than three goals in the 22-year history of U.S. women’s soccer.

     Congrats to team Brazil!

6. 

   dada on September 27, 2007 at 11:11 am

   here’s an interesting piece from Salon; a more realistic look at Ahmadinejad’s just completed visit to NYC, without the msm hysteria, by Hooman Majd, who has had an insiders view of the going’s on:

   ‘I’ve had the opportunity to attend events with President Ahmadinejad on his three trips to the U.S. (including serving as the interpreter for his U.N. speeches for the last two), and have spent time with his aides and Iranian diplomats during the New York visits.‘

   Ahmadinejad’s New York state of mind

   President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran wrapped up his trip to New York on Wednesday and headed south for Bolivia and Venezuela, where he will undoubtedly meet with a kinder reception than the one afforded him by Americans this week. Much has been made of the Iranian president’s proposed-but-thwarted trip to ground zero, his controversial appearance at Columbia University and his theatrical speech at the U.N. But lost in all the criticisms and caricatures of Ahmadinejad as statesman — which are often wildly off-mark in terms of gauging the president’s overall authority and influence in Iran — has been serious consideration of what his now yearly trips to attend the U.N. General Assembly signify for the Iranian political landscape and for the future of Iran’s foreign policy.

   […]

   …Ahmadinejad’s political savvy and strategic intentions in New York should not be underestimated.

   […]

   In the eyes of Muslims, his day at the U.N. served to show him as a world leader of great importance, and audiences watching throughout the Middle East undoubtedly noticed not only that the television cameras turning on him frequently as President Bush spoke, but that he politely sat and listened to Bush’s speech at all. In contrast, worldwide telecasts showed the U.S. delegation rising and walking out en masse, as they customarily do whenever an Iranian president takes to the lectern. Diplomacy, which is fundamentally about reciprocity, often means that if one party snubs another, the other responds in kind — but Ahmadinejad’s tactical refusal to play by those rules and to instead show respect to the leader of the U.S., begged the question, “Who’s the unreasonable man?”

   […]

   Salon

   whatever your personal opinion may be concerning the man and his positions, he has once again shown the ME audience that dimson, and the american political establishment, are fools of the highest order.

   recommended

   lTMF’sA

   

   • 

     chocolate ink on September 27, 2007 at 6:00 pm

     Yes, the US certainly came off pretty much as the ‘Ugly American’ concerning his visit.  Of course the general public almost can’t be blamed for their boorishness as they been told over/over these last few years that Iran and Ahmadinejad are the Great Satans. If I’d been listening only to MSM I’d certainly believe without a doubt that this was true. And of course all other leaders of our allies are as pure as the driven snow.

     Bush makes it too easy with his pettiness and non-diplomacy to make Ahmadinejad seem like diplomatic genius.

7. 

   on September 27, 2007 at 12:17 pm

   I had to “reboot” my wife’s cell phone as it had stopped functioning.  I explained to her that they were most likely listening in and that the mike open signal had messed the phone up.

   Sure enough the ten second battery removal procedure returned the phone to full working order.
   “How did you do that”, she said.

8. 

   on September 27, 2007 at 12:50 pm

   The miracle of not waking up to
   “The Cruise Missles are Flying in Iran”
   has me a bit baffled after yesterday’s Kyl-Lie-berman passage.  Dick, you sure as hell missed that opportunity.