Author: spiderleaf

Welcome to the new America where the Pentagon pays private firms to provide aggregate personal information on your kids, collects it via No Child Left Behind, as well as outsources the datamining to a private firm… all with the intention of marketing their product… join the military… to children deemed “high prospects”.

And guess what… you, as a parent, can’t “opt out” of this data collection project. Oh sure, your kids info will go into a “suppression file”, but they’ll continue to collect the information and maintain the data… and still provide it to recruiters…

Welcome to George OrWell’s America.

Parents cannot remove their children’s names from a Pentagon database that includes highly personal information used to attract military recruits, the Vermont Guardian has learned.

The Pentagon has spent more than $70.5 million on market research, national advertising, website development, and management of the Joint Advertising Market Research and Studies (JAMRS) database — a storehouse of questionable legality that includes the names and personal details of more than 30 million U.S. children and young people between the ages of 16 and 23.

The database is separate from information collected from schools that receive federal education money. The No Child Left Behind Act requires schools to report the names, addresses, and phone numbers of secondary school students to recruiters, but the law also specifies that parents or guardians may write a letter to the school asking that their children’s names not be released.

However, many parents have reported being surprised that their children are contacted anyway, according to a San Francisco-based coalition called Leave My Child Alone (LMCA).

Quite interesting choice for the database name, eh? At least they are being upfront about its purpose. To provide the military/ the government, demographically and psychographically targeted profile information on the youth most likely to be persuaded to become cannon fodder.

So what if you disagree with this approach and feel it is the government invading your childs privacy? Well, you can contact the Pentagon…

Parents must contact the Pentagon directly to ask that their children’s information not be released to recruiters, but the data is not removed from the JAMRS database, according to Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

Instead, the information is moved to a suppression file, where it is continuously updated with new data from private and government sources and still made available to recruiters, Krenke said. It’s necessary to keep the information in the suppression file so the Pentagon can make sure it’s not being released, she said.

Krenke said the database is compiled using information from state motor vehicles departments, the Selective Service, and data-mining firms that collect and organize information from private companies. In addition to names, addresses, Social Security numbers, and phone numbers, the database may include cell phone numbers, e-mail addresses, grade-point averages, ethnicity, and subjects of interest.

She said the Pentagon spends about $500,000 annually to purchase the data from private companies, and has paid more than $70 million since 2002 to Mullen Advertising — a Massachusetts firm whose clients include General Motors, Hooked on Phonics, XM Satellite Radio, and 3Com — to target recruiters’ messages toward teens and young adults.

The children will of course be broken down by criteria for the highest bang for the advertising buck in the blitz that is sure to come as they refine their data and develop their campaigns…

What might some of the categories be?

1. Minority, urban, gpa below 2.0, suspended from school, interested in hip hop and fashion, no college fund.
2. White, rural, gpa below 2.0, DUI convictions, interested in football, no college fund.

Well, that’s just two right off the top of my head… and those are the easy targets. But they will have many an algorithm and matrix that will show influences and connections that will make nearly ALL the children who are not on track for Wall Street or the CIA potentially lucrative targets.

The JAMRS program “provides the services with contact information on millions of prospective recruits annually … Beyond list management services, DM outreach initiatives include targeted fulfillment pieces directed at influencers,” according to the program’s password-protected website.

In real terms, what that rhetoric looks like at the other end can stack up to harassment, said Crush. “Kids have been relentlessly harassed,” she said, “things like persistent phone calls — and you can’t remove your phone numbers from their list because it’s the government; people being called on numbers that have been listed as private, or for emergency only; kids under 17 called at home, night after night, and not being given a realistic picture about life in the military, particularly during a time of war.”

In real world vs. ad speak: they are sending out direct mail pieces and promotions to individuals identified as being an influence on their peer group. Standard marketing tactic applied to your children to encourage them to join Uncle Sam in his Middle East adventure.

And if that doesn’t work they’ll harass you on your cell phone.

So what does Senator Leahy have to say about all this?

Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT, said he had grave concerns about the legality of the database. “I think this is absolutely wrong,” he told the Vermont Guardian. “You have the law, and then you have an administration that says we don’t like the law so let’s find another way of doing it.”

…

“Data mining and proliferation of using databases are all concerns because it represents an administration that does not believe in checks and balances,” said Leahy. “Can you imagine our country if a Joseph McCarthy or J. Edgar Hoover has the electronic power these guys have today?“

Good start, but oh my dear buddha, what the hell are you talking about “can you imagine McCarthy…” I can imagine a hell of a lot worse sir and he’s currently in the White House. Where the fuck have you been for the last 5 years?

So some Dems sent Rummy a letter back in June asking him to stop. He hasn’t. Nothing else is going on up on Captiol Hill. Local government and school boards are going to have to be the way to go on this one. Outraged parents from across the country unite and kick ass.

To add further fuel to the already smoking fire, the firm that the Pentagon has contracted does not have a Privacy Policy and “The main commercial vendors that sell students’ data, American Student List and Student Marketing Group, were both pursued recently by consumer protection authorities for setting up front groups that tricked students into revealing their personal information,”.

Good to know your childs life history is in such competent hands.

As for who exactly they are targeting first…

Today and tomorrow every 8-year-old in the state of New York will take a test. It’s part of George Bush’s No Child Left Behind program. The losers will be left behind to repeat the third grade. Try it yourself. This is from the state’s actual practice test.

“The year 1999 was a big one for the Williams sisters. In February, Serena won her first pro singles championship. In March, the sisters met for the first time in a tournament final. Venus won. And at doubles tennis, the Williams girls could not seem to lose that year.”

And here’s one of the four questions:

“The story says that in 1999, the sisters could not seem to lose at doubles tennis. This probably means when they played

A two matches in one day
B against each other
C with two balls at once
D as partners”

…

My kids go to a New York City school in which more than half the students live below the poverty line. There is no tennis court.

There are no tennis courts in the elementary schools of Bed-Stuy or East Harlem. But out in the Hamptons, every school has a tennis court. In Forest Hills, Westchester and Long Island’s North Shore, the schools have nearly as many tennis courts as the school kids have live-in maids.

Now, you tell me, class, which kids are best prepared to answer the question about “doubles tennis”? The 8-year-olds in Harlem who’ve never played a set of doubles or the kids whose mommies disappear for two hours every Wednesday with Enrique the tennis pro?

Is this test a measure of “reading comprehension” — or a measure of wealth accumulation?

If you have any doubts about what the test is measuring, look at the next question, based on another part of the text, which reads (and I could not make this up):

“Most young tennis stars learn the game from coaches at private clubs. In this sentence, a club is probably a

F baseball bat
G tennis racquet
H tennis court
J country club”

Helpfully, for the kids in our ‘hood, it explains that a “country club” is a, “place where people meet.” Yes, but which people?

The results of this loaded and class-based test will find their way directly into the JAMRS database where professional marketers will segment and aggregate and draw correlations before flagging the record as “high potential” for recruitment.

Or how about these records… I’m sure they will be classified as “low probability for success/ high probability target for military life”… and btw, sell it to the parents as being good for them to help “straighten them out” and PLUS they’ll learn a skill and get money for college too! I can see the DM pieces in my mind right now… and I’m already writing the script for the recruiter…

More black students than ever are getting the boot from public schools. Things are so bad that the NAACP plans to hold public hearings nationally on the racial disparities in school discipline. It’s none to soon. In a report on school discipline, the U.S. Dept. of Education in 1999 found that while blacks made up less than twenty percent of the nation’s public school students they comprised nearly one out of three students kicked out of the schools.

Five years later nothing had changed. In a report the Children’s Defense Fund branded “Educational Apartheid in America’s Public Schools,” it found that black students are still expelled and suspended in disproportionate numbers to whites. And that’s not all. A recent study by the Advancement Project and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on school discipline procedures in Denver, Chicago and Palm Beach County, Florida found that black students are getting expelled or suspended in high numbers, and many of them also wind up in police stations and courtrooms after being expelled.

In the past year black students have gotten dumped from classrooms or hauled off to jail for using a cell phone, talking in class, or simply calling names. And those being severely punished are getting younger. The arrest and manhandling by police of a five year old in Florida earlier this year ignited a firestorm of protest.

So what can you do, right now, as parents and concerned  Americans?

Meanwhile, asked what parents could do about the Pentagon database, the ACLU’s Steinhardt said, “This is as much a political issue as anything else; it’s an issue to be decided in the Congress. A state like Vermont could take it up. It’s a perfect issue for a town meeting … calling on your senators to pass some legislation. [also good idea to speak out at a school board meeting, bring it up to your local city and state councillors, etc. etc.]”

Information and action

Parents seeking to determine whether information about their children is contained in the JAMRS database system should address typewritten inquiries to:
The Department of Defense
c/o JAMRS, Direct Marketing Program Officer
Defense Human Resources Activity
4040 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 200
Arlington, VA 22203-1613
Requests should contain the child’s full name, date of birth, current address, and telephone number. Do not include a Social Security number.

To ask that your child’s name be added to the suppression files of the database, send a typewritten request to:
Joint Advertising and Marketing Research
& Studies Office (JAMRS)
Attention: Opt Out
4040 North Fairfax Drive, Ste. 200
Arlington, VA 22203-1613
Include the child’s full name, street address, date of birth, and telephone number. Do not include a Social Security number.

For more information: www.leavemychildalone.org, www.jamrs.org/

It seems apropo at this point as the abolishment of Roe v. Wade seems to be a stark possibility with the Alito nomination, and Chief Justice Roberts already installed, to share a story of what it is like to be a woman in Canada and how your right to your own body is treated.

Having lived in the States for almost 12 years and having friends and myself go through this process in both countries, the contrast is shocking. And as I watch a friend go through an unplanned pregnancy now, in Canada, it saddens me to no end what my sisters to the south have to contend with.

So here is a hypothetical tale of what you would experience if you were in a situation in Canada where abortion may be an option for you (if you didn’t realize at the time you were at risk and didn’t just walk into a pharmacy and buy Plan B over the counter…):

1. Go onto the web for the city government (lets use Toronto as an example). Open the pdf that talks about “Abortion Options”
2. Call the hotline to find out where there is a clinic near you. Speak to very nice woman or man who is more than happy to help (in language of your choice) & advises you to ask questions re: the type of procedure, if it is fully covered by OHIP or if there is a clinic fee of $60 as a few of the clinics charge over and above the OHIP coverage (yes folks, our health care pays for abortion procedures)
3. Call clinic, speak to other nice woman or man and tell them that you would like to schedule a procedure. They ask requisite questions concerning when you last had your period and schedule you for an appointment for an ultra-sound, blood work and counseling on the procedure with a nurse for a week from the day you called. Also discuss the different types you can have (i.e. asleep/ not asleep)
4. Have appointment. Get appointment for the hospital procedure. Get low cost birth control or counseling on birth control options.
5. Go to hospital. Have procedure. Get some pain meds. Go home & rest.
6. If needed, call the counselor at the clinic with any concerns post-procedure

No stigma. No shame. No pressure. No payments. No nutjobs screaming or shooting at you. No ‘notifications’. Just you, your choice and a network of health professionals & your government ready to assist you and let you know what your options are.

Your body. Your rights. Your tax dollars at work. Because you are a full citizen and not property, or full of sin.  

Contrast that with the US and… well… I’m sorry. Fight on. And on. Don’t give up. For all the future generations of women.

Yes folks, just as I suspected, a new rationale for a new war has been floated.. this time by Israel. The missing WMD’s are alive and well in Syria.

This dovetails nicely with what my husband heard on talk radio last weekend during a trip through upstate New York… the WMD’s were in Iraq and it was the damn anti-war Democrats (ummm… Wellstone & Feingold??) who were responsible for them not turning up by giving Saddam too much time to hide/ move them.

Saddam Hussein moved his chemical weapons to Syria six weeks before the war started, Israel’s top general during Operation Iraqi Freedom says.

….

The Israeli officer, Lieutenant General Moshe Yaalon, asserted that Saddam spirited his chemical weapons out of the country on the eve of the war. “He transferred the chemical agents from Iraq to Syria,” General Yaalon told The New York Sun over dinner in New York on Tuesday night. “No one went to Syria to find it.”

Well, maybe Bush will now eh… just in time for the 2006 elections perhaps?

And lest we think Sharon doesn’t think the same thing…

An article in the Fall 2005 Middle East Quarterly reports that in an appearance on Israel’s Channel 2 on December 23, 2002, Israel’s prime minister, Ariel Sharon stated, “Chemical and biological weapons which Saddam is endeavoring to conceal have been moved from Iraq to Syria.” The allegation was denied by the Syrian government at the time as “completely untrue,” and it attracted scant American press attention, coming as it did on the eve of the Christmas holiday.

[From the diaries by susanhu, a finely written diary by Spiderleaf. FP’d with prayers and hope. I’ve been heartened that so many Muslim leaders — including one in the UK who’s in prison for his Al Qaeda connections — are calling for the hostages’ release. Please keep us posted, Spiderleaf.]

I have refrained from posting about the four hostages being held in Iraq as it not only hurts me to the core, but I have held out hope they will be released soon. But time is running out. The deadline is now hours away.

The hostages are members of the Christian Peacemakers Team and are two Canadians, an American and a Brit. They were in Iraq to document human rights abuses and to help the Iraqis. They were all adamently opposed to the occupation.
I apologize if this post focuses mainly on the Canadians, but hey, that’s where I live and who I am and it’s the news I’ve been following. Unfortunately, it appears at this point that their nationality may be what saves them vs. the American and Brit. The most recent videos released by the kidnappers showed the Brit and American bound and blindfolded and the Canadians were not shown at all. According to journalists following the story, that does not bode well for the non-Canadians. My heart hurts for that. I know we stayed out of the war but these people were all just there to help.

The international outcry has been inspiring. From the streets of Palestine to the mosques of Canada and Iraq people of good conscience have been asking for their release.

This story has cut to the core of so many in Canada. We oppose this war. We oppose Bush. We stand for peace and freedom for all. But we understand why these men were there and we do not want better treatment for them than for the British and American peacemakers. We just want the madness to stop.

I can only hope that the pleas reach the kidnappers and they find it in thier hearts to release them unharmed.

This war needs to end. The Iraqi people deserve their country back. And the families of these men deserve them back too… although the family of James Loney said recently that he would probably be back in Iraq within weeks of being released because that is his calling. Peace & stopping injustice is his life.

Please light a candle today for these men and for all around the world who live with death and destruction around them.

Namaste.

Iraq War Grief Daily Witness

Hi everybody! My name is spiderleaf and I am forming my own clique here at BooTrib… why you may ask? Well because currently I am not a member of any of the multitudes of cliques on this site and it’s pissing me off… so I figured it’s best to just take the initiative and start my own… be the change you seek and all…

So… what are some of the benefits of joining my clique? Ummmm… hmmmm… not quite sure yet, but I do promise to always hand out 4’s… well… unless you piss me off and then I’ll just not rate you at all… this may not seem like much of a benefit, but trust me, you’ll thank me when I just respond to one of your comments and not give you a 0, call you an asshole and walk away…

Other than that, I’ll have to work on it and get back to you…

Now on to the responsibilities and rules associated with the clique of spiderleaf…

1. I am always right… except when I’m wrong…
2. If I’m wrong, please argue with me… but don’t call me a name or I will be forced to respond in kind… or just walk away and go watch some hockey or move into a different thread… depends on the Maple Leafs schedule actually… maybe I’ll post that too so you can all know what to expect
3. You must recommend all of my diaries… unless you don’t think they’re very good (not likely, but just in case)
4. You must respond to all my comments with a “thank you oh wise one”… unless all I’ve posted is a picture of Damian Marley and a bottle of Red Stripe… in which case a 4 is the more appropriate action
5. If I ask you to troll rate me DON’T DO IT (well, unless you are Anomalous… always an exception to the rules you see…)
6. When referring to Markos, you must call him “Kostradamos”… but put a smiley face beside it and be glad we aren’t forced to post on LGF or FreepRepublic… and that no one forces anyone to post on the Orange site… (especially not if you’ve been banned, which I am sorry about, but as I’m not all powerful I can’t really help you out…) or here (well, except for members of the clique of spiderleaf…)
7. Conspiracy theories are your friend… especially ones involving the Illuminati (well, that’s just my own personal obsession, you are free to find your own of course…)
8. Ductapefatwa is our patron saint… unless he’s being cranky in which case please just read his words, take them in and then move on… we all have something to learn from those who speak uncomfortable truths
9. Bushco is the enemy… our fellow posters are not

And the last, but the most important one is this…

Read these two diaries and take them to heart… or don’t… not really a hard and fast rule or anything… just a suggestion… (darn, it’s hard making up rules for my clique, maybe I should have given this all some more thought…)

The Two Wolves Within and Tumbling Waters

And while you’re at it please consider reading On Community Conflicts as well.

Oh… one final thought… since this is a “kinder, gentler” clique, please add your own suggestions for rules (or benefits… I actually think I need the most help with those…) in the comments (keeping in mind of course that this is my clique and I’d appreciate if it had something to do with me… or not, I’m a benevolent dictator you see… 😉

All this talk about “hurting the morale of troops” & therefore undermining the mission by calling the war a ‘mistake’, calling for withdrawl, and the larger fact that the war was based on lies for profit, misses a larger point… of course it does. How could it not?

Because obviously not one of them wants to be the last person to die for a lie.

It’s basic psychology and nothing to do with “staying the course”… no one (well, no one who doesn’t get off on killing people for no reason) wants to know that they are putting their life on the line, watching their brothers and sisters die and ruining their lives because their President lied to send them there.

Come to think of it, perhaps their morale is a bit bruised by knowing that while Osama is running around Pakistan, evidently under the protection of the government, they are open targets in a desert far, far away… and for no reason other than a) Halliburton/ Lockheed, etc wanted them there or b) Bush is delusional and really thinks this was ‘God’s Will’.

That would hurt a lot don’t you think?

Perhaps they will continue to deny reality and blame those who want to bring them home “before their job is done”. That would be natural too… because what is the other option? Acknowledging that you are so easily deceived by mom, pop and apple pie speeches? The “Axis of Evil” was just a nice turn of phrase to get others to do their fighting for them… that they are not “liberators” but bringers of death and destruction to a country that was not a threat to them… that kind of acknowledgment could be really dangerous for someone who is still getting shot at and blown up in Iraq… and who is still shooting and blowing up Iraqis.

Hell, I worry about how they will cope with reality when they finally do come back state-side.

So yes, Americans may very well know deep down that it does hurt the morale of the troops… but not for the reasons the GOP would want you to believe.

It hurts morale because they know that they are expendable to those with money and power… same as it ever was.

They are the cannon fodder for use at the pleasure of King George.

So which one of them will be the last to die? And how many Iraqis will be joining them?

And that question doesn’t just hurt their morale, it hurts the American “we’re the good guys” psyche too.

Yeah, that’s right you piece of shit excuse for a Supreme Court Justice. Fuck you.

Strict constructionalist? My ass. Fuck you.

(in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m a bit pissed off here)

Why the venom you may ask? Because he has decided to re-write history AGAIN and has just declared the process by which elections are decided, as outlined by the Constitution & the US Code, basically, unconstitutional when he wants it to be.

Was Bush v. Gore a “one time ruling”, or does he think SCOTUS should be the deciding factor in disputed elections?

Scalia said: “The election was dragged into the courts by the Gore people. We did not go looking for trouble.”

Really? Who filed the first lawsuit to block the recount? Ummmm… that would have been Bush. You know, ’cause a manual recount was automatically triggered by how close the original count was… oh never mind, you’d actually have to read the law to figure that one out.

“The issue was whether Florida’s Supreme Court or the United States Supreme Court [would decide the election.] What did you expect us to do? Turn the case down because it wasn’t important enough?”

No, how about following precedent and the LAW, oh wise one? Florida’s votes were the jurisdiction of the FLORIDA Supreme Court, not SCOTUS.

And how about the fact that esteemed legal scholars, from both the left and the right, completely disagreed with you and your rightwing minions?

The conservative justice… contended there would have been a difficult transition had the court not stepped in.

Okay, I’m about to blow a gasket here… I’m having flashbacks now and my blood pressure is rising… I need to be talked down and QUICK.

A “Difficult transition”? Really? Man, those Founders must have been on crack and not known what they were doing when they laid out the process for handling disputed elections… right? Hmmm… but how does that jive with your view that they knew EXACTLY what they were doing and the courts shouldn’t try to INTERPRET the Constitution/ law but to follow it to the letter…. changing times be damned… it doesn’t of course and you are full of shit.

So let me get this straight… Scalia has just said that SCOTUS’s job is to step in and decide cases based on what they THINK would be “easiest” for the country vs. the actual LAW. No wonder he’s Bush’s ideal justice.

Let me ask you a question oh esteemed nutbar… ever heard of Title 3 of the US Code? You know, the law which governs those “difficult transistions”… of course not, that would mean your OPINION wouldn’t matter.

And finally, the man just isn’t smart enough to be on the Supreme Court…

He also pointed out that studies by news organizations after the election showed Bush still would have won a Florida recount.

Really? Or is it still up in the air based on which votes were counted? And let alone the racist tactics used by the President’s brother in disqualifying voters… which in and of itself was AGAINST THE LAW.

And hey, we wouldn’t have had to rely on the news organizations to count the votes if you and your fellow brownshirts hadn’t STOPPED the legal recount by the ELECTION OFFICALS.

Which leads me back to… Fuck you Scalia. History will not treat you well.

There seem to be a lot going around the site lately and I am no exception.

I don’t have a purpose for this diary other than to share and let you know how much I’ve appreciated the support and encouragement I’ve received from all of you these last 6+ months (has it really been that long since I hopped over to the frog pond?).

I’ve learned so much from each of you and am so happy you came into my life, even if it has been virtually.
Last night my husband of 11 years and I decided to separate. We will be making our transition in the next couple of months and deciding all the usual, who keeps which dogs (I have 3 and neither one of us can afford to take all of them), which books, the computer, etc. (I’m pretty sure I don’t have to worry about my CIV IV game though although I should probably get that in writing… 😉

It’s been something that has been in the works for years now and neither of us has been strong enough to tell the other we needed more. He’s my best friend and one of the most wonderful people I have ever known so we will continue to share our love with each other for the rest of our lives. It hurts, but it had to happen. Surprisingly we are both on the same page… funny how you find things out when you actually communicate honestly with each other… We will both come out of this better for it. And who knows what life holds ultimately? But it is time to take a chance and let fate decide.

Add to that the fact that I am currently unemployed and the stress is a bit compounded 😉 but I’ll be okay, at least that’s what I keep telling myself…

So bootribbers, it’s been a rough year, politically, personally, and emotionally, but I have the one thing no one can take away from me… Hope for the future. And a belief that I can be the change I seek.

So if I drop in and out of the frog pond as these changes happen (I promise I won’t stay away too long… especially if Fitzmas comes sooner rather than later ;), don’t worry about me, I’ll be back.

And I really have to finish a piece I’m working on one of these days so I’ll probably be stopping by more frequently until I find gainful employment and have to move.

Anyway, it’s been an emotional weekend for me with catnip leaving, Boo sharing his divorce and Susan’s mom and brother, all while I’m going through almost the exact same situation.

I lost both parents a few years ago, my dad was out of my life when I was 13 and I found out he died on the streets of Toronto when I was still living in LA and my mom is mentally ill and I had to remove her from my life around the same time so I could keep going in mine. All that to say, it’s been tough. So if I’ve lost my snark and offended anyone (leezy I’m thinking specifically of you here), I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to, it’s just been rough.

Ugh, this is way too sappy and serious… and I’m going to stop before I totally ruin my rep 🙂

Namaste
~ spider

Okay, I’ve not gone batshit loopy, but ever since O’Reilly opined that al Qaeda should blow up San Fran (without censure by the WH or Fox News as far as I can tell since his “enemies list” is alive and well… and dontcha know he was just joking…), it’s been on my mind and I’m a bit worried. So I’m throwing this out there just so we can all keep this in mind…

Because O’Reilly wasn’t the first to mention that it wouldn’t be so bad if San Francisco ceased to exist.

Jeb Bush was.

Almost 2 years to the day before O’Reilly’s comments.
AP :

Gov. Jeb Bush joked during a Florida Cabinet meeting Wednesday that the people of San Francisco may be endangered and, “That’s probably good news for the country.”

The subject was environmental land and Bush was looking at a map showing locations with a lot of different wildlife.

“It looks like the people of San Francisco are an endangered species, which may not be a bad thing. That’s probably good news for the country.”

People in the room broke into laughter

“Did I just say that out loud?” the governor asked.

And then of course, O’Reilly:

www.newshounds.us :

” Hey, you know, if you want to ban military recruiting, fine, but I’m not going to give you another nickel of federal money. You know, if I’m the president of the United States, I walk right into Union Square, I set up my little presidential podium, and I say, ‘Listen, citizens of San Francisco, if you vote against military recruiting, you’re not going to get another nickel in federal funds. Fine. You want to be your own country? Go right ahead.’

“And if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we’re not going to do anything about it. We’re going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead.”

Probably not related. Probably nothing to worry about. But I’d rather put this out there than not. Because I certainly don’t think the destruction of an American city and American citizen’s is a laughing matter.

But then again, everyone is expendable to the neocons.

And they’re just joking right?

I think we need to take a look at the guy the lefty blogosphere has been painting as the white knight to Woodward’s dark lord of the sith… because his actions in the Plame story have not been completely above board either.

Pincus has definitely been on the case of the non-existant WMD’s, but perhaps he isn’t pursuing the same agenda as we would think?

Why would he have agreed to “keep Woodward out of the story”? Is that what a “reporter” would agree to if he was actually concerned with tracking down the truth? Especially considering October 2003 was when the Plame story really started to pick up steam…

But of course, no one is demanding Pincus answer that question as the spotlight is on Woodward.
I just happened to stumble across this tidbit at Rigorous Intuition today….

Guess where Pincus got his start?

US Army (Counterintelligence Corps 1955-57)

Now of course, one could say, okay, he used to be an army spook, but surely he left that all behind when he became a reporter…

Really? Then why would the CIA have paid for a few trips overseas in the 60’s to “attend conferences”?

www.nndb.com :

The Washington Post, 18-Feb-1967, DETAILS: How I Traveled Abroad on CIA Subsidy

And why would the Moonie Times have referred to him as such:

on 31 July 1996 described Pincus by saying that “some in the agency refer to [Pincus] as ‘the CIA’s house reporter.'”

And he just happened to be part of the character assassination of Gary Webb after the CIA/ drug dealing story broke… coincidence?

Then there’s the fact that he was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (where he supposedly received the “George Orwell Award”) along with the following “journalists”

1. Bob Woodward
2. Judy Miller
3. Thomas Friedman
4. Joe Klein
5. Irving Kristol
6. Jim Lehrer
7. Bill Schneider
8. Brian Williams (I just can’t get enough of Limbaugh…)

Coincidence that the above all parroted the Administration’s line in the lead up to war?

And of course, Bob and Walter’s old boss…

Katherine Graham

The list of who has been on the Council (they may actually be lifetime members vs. term members, but suprise, suprise, the Council website doesn’t list the members) reads like a neocons wet dream… sure there are some “progressives” represented (including Jesse Jackson), but for the most part, it’s neocon central.

Okay, I won’t leave you guessing… here are some other illustrious members:

1. Scooter Libby
2. Donald Rumsfeld
3. Douglas Feith
4. Condi Rice
5. James Baker
6. John Bolton
7. Kenneth Blackwell (ie. 2004 election fame)
8. Paul Bremer
9. Zbigniew Brzezinski
10. John Deutch
11. Bill Frist
12. Porter Goss
13. Jeanne Kirkpatrick
14. Henry Kissinger
15. Newt Gingrich
16. Joseph Lieberman
17. John Negroponte
18. Grover Norquist
19. Daniel Pipes

Yes America, these are the esteemed individuals tasked with advising the President on foreign policy.

So back to Pincus… are there any reporters at the WaPo who DON’T have a spook background? Or is that the main criteria for becoming a journo?

And I seriously want some answers as to why he agreed to Woodward’s ridiculous and unethical request.

Makes one wonder just who is being played here and if we really have any idea of what’s REALLY going on.

(oh, and just for giggles, check out the report on Chavez on the CFR homepage and tell me how “non-partisan” it is…)