YOUR CHILD IS SPYING ON YOU

hursday, December 29th, 2005
YOUR CHILD IS SPYING ON YOU

So apparently the NSA spied on all our computers here at Michael Moore headquarters. Don't get us wrong, they're not spying on us specifically -- they're spying on everyone.

The AP today reported: "The National Security Agency's internet site has been placing files on visitors' computers that can track their web-surfing activity despite strict federal rules banning most of them."


So anyone who's been to the NSA website recently might well have been spied on. That includes us, not that we're complaining. Being spied on by the Bush administration is totally the next big craze, like an iPod for your permanent record.

Of course anyone can say with a fair degree of certainty that George and his buddies spied on them. But to know he really is spying on you is flattering.

Daniel Brandt, the good soul who got into the NSA's cookie jar, explains the exclusivity of this club: "Relatively few people use the CIA's search engine — the CIA is not in the habit of declassifying anything particularly revealing. Even fewer use the NSA's search engine, which is more boring than the CIA's. But the interesting thing is that it's against the law for the NSA to do this."

So what were we doing on the NSA's website if it's so boring? Hacking national secrets? Spying on George?

Don't be ridiculous. We were training for service (WARNING: once you click the below you will be transferred to the NSA's website where you may or may not be spied on):

Get to Know Crypto Cat™ and Decipher Dog™

Maybe you want to play along? If so, here's an email we received proposing a public intelligence gathering mission:

[Original Message] Date: 12/26/2005 1:41:15 PM Subject: Freedom of Information Act requests

If the government is swamped by Freedom of Information Act requests brought on by the government's illegal spying on its citizens, it may take seriously our concern about this violation of our rights. I suggest we all submit requests for all available information gathered, stored or disseminated by all government agencies, including but not limited to the National Security Agency, the FBI, the CIA and any other agency holding any such information on our personal lives, including all medical, financial, marital, parental, and any and all such information.

Here is a link that will take you to a list of people you can contact, by state, to begin this process. If everyone concerned about this intrusion into our privacy requests all available information the government is holding on us, they might get the message.

The ACLU is also interested in learning more about our trustworthy President's spy campaign.

And finally, a small bit of reassurance:

Phone giants mum on spying
"In the 1960s, I worked for an international telex and telegram carrier in their Washington office," said Bob Atkinson, policy research director of the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information. "Every day a government agent stopped by to pick up copies of all telegrams that were sent overseas."


THE NEWS

$100,000 Vietnam-era Jeeps
The Marine Corps is paying $100,000 apiece for a revamped Vietnam-era jeep as part of its program to outfit the hybrid airplane-helicopter V-22 Osprey, Pentagon records show.

GAO Cites Army's Sloppy Record Keeping
Looking at data from two inventory control points, GAO investigators estimated that 15 percent - or $68 million - of the unclassified shipments they analyzed "could not be confirmed as being received."

Most Sept. 11 loan borrowers unhurt by attacks, report says
Most companies interviewed about the government-backed Sept. 11 loans they received have told investigators they weren't hurt by the suicide attacks and didn't know that the loans they were receiving were terrorism assistance, an internal government investigation found.

Audit cites US Homeland Security management issues
Nearly three years after it was created, the sprawling U.S. Department of Homeland Security still faces management problems that were partly accountable for the flawed federal response to Hurricane Katrina, according to an internal audit released on Wednesday.

'Massive problems' tracking Iraq oil
The board also is waiting for the U.S. government to collect $208.5 million in "questioned costs" from a Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) contract and turn the money over to the Iraqi government.

A struggle over military recruitment of students
As efforts by US military recruiters to meet regular goals are beginning to show some positive results, more school boards across the country are taking steps to give parents of high school-aged students detailed information about how they can withhold their children's personal information from the military.

Pakistan's Islamic madrasa schools
Pakistan's madrasas, or Islamic schools, have a Dec. 31 deadline to register with the government and expel all foreign students as part of a drive to stamp out terrorism and religious extremism.

Private Sector Response by Quality Inn Hotel Called 'Best-Organized Katrina Relief Organization in Dallas'
"I knew I could speak for my wife and our business partners when I said that," Dave Peterson explained. "Did I know how we'd pull it off? No, not a clue, but I've always been inspired by a quote I had heard at a Landmark Education seminar: 'Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now'. And that's what we did. We simply began." (*)


Kenya's Hippo, Tortoise Mark Year Together

Polar bears drown as ice shelf melts
Researchers were startled to find bears having to swim up to 60 miles across open sea to find food. They are being forced into the long voyages because the ice floes from which they feed are melting, becoming smaller and drifting farther apart.


Thad Wins the Lottery

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