The case has focused attention on just how much personal information is stored by popular Web sites like Google - and the potential for that data to attract the interest of the government and other parties.

Although the Justice Department said it doesn't want any personal information now, the victory would likely encourage far more invasive requests in the future, said University of Connecticut law professor Paul Schiff Berman, who specializes in Internet law.

    "The erosion of privacy tends to happen incrementally," Berman said. "While no one intrusion may seem that big, over the course of the next decade or two, you might end up in a place as a society where you never thought you would be."

Associated Press Article

This is such horse pucky. And it's only the first step into a more sinister situation. Big Brother wants to protect our children from the evils of porn? Yeah right, what a bunch of shit. This is only the beginning. If this crap persists five years from now the internet will be unrecognizable and privacy will be a memory.  And I must say how very distressing it is that the Justice Department says it doesn't want any personal information now but will still force open the door for others to dig deep into our personal lives. And although I doubt Google can win this battle I applaud them for standing up instead of bending over and taking it in the ass from the US Government.

Even as it defied the Bush administration, Google recently bowed to the demands of China's Communist government by agreeing to censor its search results in that country so it would have better access to the world's fastest growing Internet market. Google's China capitulation has been harshly criticized by some of the same people cheering the company's resistance to the Justice Department subpoena.

And while I was hoping that Google was worthy of my admiration they go and fuck up just to get the numbers in China. As if China needed more censorship and Google was desperate for dollars. What another bunch of shit.  Protect our privacy, protect your trade secrets but sell out to China? China? What kind of fucked up shit is that? What is Google trying to tell us: Privacy is good and censorship is good too? Huh? There's a very small spiteful part of me that hopes Google does get it right in the ass just for being such two-faced pricks. Serve 'em right.  

But according to the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, whose research is cited in the study, 75% of Americans believe news organizations care most about "attracting the biggest audience" compared with 19% who think the organizations' priority is "informing the public." And 72% saw the press as favoring one side, up from 66% two years earlier.

James Rainey LA Times article

So, it's official, the media sucks and more and more people are starting to realize it. Okay, maybe that's not fair. The media sucks compared to what it once was.  The question is: will it get worse before it gets better? When will it get better? Will it get better? Is there hope or is hope merely a foolish dream? Is the media, like our government, out for the buck and nothing else? What pisses me off most about the media in this country is the fact that nearly every outlet is owned by a parent company. It seems like no paper or news agency is autonomous anymore. As a matter of fact, it seems like nearly everything is owned by some parent company anymore.  Woe to the small business owner.  I've got alot of admiration for those folks, especially independent news people. They start from scratch and try to be honest and direct and informative and they are finally starting to catch on.  And yet, some people still believe whatever the major news sources tell them and don't ever doubt a word of it.  According to the above mentioned study 19% still buy into the shit that is erroneously called 'news'. Mindless moronic imbeciles who can't take the time to search around for the hard facts and insist on being spoon-fed their daily dose of pre-packaged reality. And I bet most, if not all, fundies and extreme right-wingers are included in that 19%.  Yeah, yeah, I'm generalizing, I'm promoting a stereotype. But damnit, it's my turn. I'm one of the bleeding-heart liberal pagan witch drug fiends and sometimes they really are the mindless, intolerant, homophobic, money grubbing, full of equal parts faith and bullshit conservatives. Hey, when did this become another conservative bashing rant? I guess when I started recounting some of the things wrong with this country.

The bill would make it a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless the procedure was necessary to save the woman's life. It would make no exception for cases of rape or incest. ...

 "In the history of the world, the true test of a civilization is how well people treat the most vulnerable and most helpless in their society. The sponsors and supporters of this bill believe that abortion is wrong because unborn children are the most vulnerable and most helpless persons in our society. I agree with them," Rounds said in the statement.

Chet Brokaw article

I dare say I'm not the only one who posted about this today here in blogland. My main bitch involves this idea of protecting the unborn child from suffering and death.  Sounds fine, sounds good, right? But unless I'm totally misunderstanding the nature of genetics a baby born of incest will suffer unimaginable pain and suffering.  Not only is there the possibility of serious, lifelong, debiliatating physical abnormalities as well as mental problems there is the awful fact that they will suffer excruciating emotional pain if they learn their parentage.  Of course, I imagine the information will be kept from the child, much in the matter that adoptions records are sealed. But those records are kept open in some states and, last I checked, there was no legislation on the table pertaining to children of incest and their rights to know their parentage. So, what's the plan for those situations?  And regarding physical or mental and emotional problems, is the medical field prepared to handle children of incest? I just don't get the logic in these anti-abortion arguments. In order to protect a baby from suffering a painful death Rounds and the rest of the pro-life folks want to force this being to suffer for a full lifetime? Seems to me that mercy and cruelty aren't always so clearly recognized.

He also received gifts and sexual favors lavished on him at a special villa in Baghdad.

But it didn't stop there.

Robert Stein admitted to stealing $2m from reconstruction funds.

BBC story by Adam Brookes

I guess I should be a little bit pleased, this guy managed to get caught. Busted. But when I try to add it all up, and there's a lot of room for error, it's obvious that Mr. Stein's actions can only account for a small fraction of the greater problem. Is this just the beginning?   Will more of the crooks and thieves and liars and other evil bastards of this war be held accountable? I know we can't possibly expect to get them all, or even many. But at least it seems possible for one guy to get what's coming to him, and in this life too.  

In the case of Sgt. Ryan Kelly, who lost his leg in Iraq, he had just finished going through rehabilitation when the Army sent a letter threatening to ruin his credit and call in debt collectors.

He had been overpaid by $2,200 while in the hospital, but, like most, never realized it.

It took Kelly almost a year to cut through the red tape and get the debt forgiven.

 ABC article by Brian Ross

First, let me register my near-disbelief that some actual news was reported by the mainstream ABC News company. Now let me get to the bitching. How did this happen? What the fuck kind of army are we talking about here? A soldier gets wounded, winds up spending time in the hospital and gets threatened with financial ruin because of it? I can understand a payroll s.n.a.f.u. I'm sure it happens all the time so I can almost forgive it. And I'm glad that at least now the problem is being addressed. But to harass wounded soldiers who obviously have no means of paying? Shit, that's low. That's lower than low. Can you imagine trying to do your duty for your country, being fed lies about the reasons for being over there, getting wounded in a war that lines fat cats pockets, and while recuperating being hounded by the Army for money mistakenly paid you? Talk about adding insult to injury, damn.

In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Mr. Bush plans to recommend a variety of steps to help people obtain health insurance and cope with rising health costs. But the bill, the Deficit Reduction Act, written by Congress over the last year with support from the White House, could reduce coverage and increase the number of uninsured, the budget office said....

Over all, the bill is estimated to save $38.8 billion in the next five years and $99.3 billion from 2006 to 2015, with cuts in student loans, crop subsidies and many other programs, the budget office said. Medicaid and Medicare account for half of the savings, 27 percent and 23 percent over 10 years....

 "In response to the new premiums, some beneficiaries would not apply for Medicaid, would leave the program or would become ineligible due to nonpayment," the Congressional Budget Office said in its report, completed Friday night. "C.B.O. estimates that about 45,000 enrollees would lose coverage in fiscal year 2010 and that 65,000 would lose coverage in fiscal year 2015 because of the imposition of premiums. About 60 percent of those losing coverage would be children." ...

"About one-third of those affected would be children, and almost half would be individuals with income below the poverty level," the report said in addressing co-payments for prescription drugs.

New York Times article by Robert Pear

US government spending is out of control so the proposed, and likely to pass, solution is to take benefits away from those who need it most. What kind of fucked up shit is that?! The war is costing us billions of dollars and the poor folk get to suffer for it.   It seems to me that the poor are getting poorer, the number of Americans living in poverty keeps rising and few elected officials give a shit. And it's not just a small group of people who will be affected by these changes, it's millions of our most needy citizens who will be driven even deeper below the poverty line. What is the plan? Does the president want more individuals living on the street?  Is he trying to force more desperate people into a life of crime just to survive? Does he care about these millions of citizens who will be left with nothing? Of course, how silly of me, I'm thinking like a normal person. Our Holy American Emperor George has never had to decide whether or not to fill his prescritions. He's never experienced the terror of knowing that a car accident could beggar his entire family. He's never had to choose between groceries or inoculations for his children. He's never had to watch helplessly while his loved ones suffered from sickness or injury when nothing could be done about it because he couldn't pay for basic medical care. Goddamn he's such a fucking asshole. And the same goes for most of Congress, motherfuckers. I wish I could be erudite about this but it pisses me off so much I can barely think straight.

The CIA's failed Jan. 13 attempt to assassinate Al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman Zawahiri in Pakistan was the latest strike in the "targeted killing" program, a highly classified initiative that officials say has broadened as the network splintered and fled Afghanistan.

The strike against Zawahiri reportedly killed as many as 18 civilians, many of them women and children, and triggered protests in Pakistan. Similar U.S. attacks using unmanned Predator aircraft equipped with Hellfire missiles have angered citizens and political leaders in Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen.  ...

"In most cases, we need the approval of the host country to do them. However, there are a few countries where the president has decided that we can whack someone without the approval or knowledge of the host government."

Josh Meyer article

Well, isn't this just fucking fabulous? Once again, Holy American Emperor George made a bold presidential decision and used his post-9/11 powers as an excuse.  He decided that it's okay to promote, provoke and commit violence in other countries without telling anyone about it.  Why? 9/11 of course! It's all in the name of anti-terrorism.  I got news for you George, "remember 9/11" is not a battle call anymore, it's a shitty attempt to rewrite history and an insult to the dead.  I seriously doubt that out of all the people who lost their lives that horrible day few would want their murders used as a flimsy excuse to terrorize other countries in the name of anti-terrorism. Ya know what? It isn't even anti-terrorism that the US is involved in, it's terror from others that Bush and company are interested in stopping while, at the same time, promoting their own. Once again, I can't decide if this man and his administration are stupid or just evil.  It's as if they've decided that they're gonna get Al Qaeda no matter how many other enemies they create in the process.  Isn't that what's called 'patently stupid'? I think the word 'illogical' also applies.  What are these people thinking? That simply because a country doesn't have a massive military they don't deserve to be told about these attacks? Or that because they don't worship Ares the way many Americans do that they can't still raise hell and get a lot of people killed? I can't figure out this strategy. What are we trying to achieve? An end to the insurgency and an end to terrorism. How is that going to be accomplished? By killing alot of people from many countries and making the rest fear for their next breath. But wait, isn't that terrorism?

In one case, a US soldier gambled away more than $40,000 while accompanying the Iraqi Olympic boxing team to the Philippines. In others, "one contracting officer kept approximately $2 million in cash in a safe in his office bathroom", the report says, "while a paying agent kept approximately $678,000 in cash in an unlocked footlocker".

The lack of supervision had tragic consequences. A contract for $662,800 to refurbish the Hilla General Hospital was paid in full by a US official, even though the work was not finished. Instead of replacing a central lift, as demanded in the contract, workers only tinkered with the existing mechanism. Three months later the lift crashed, killing three Iraqis.

Tim Reid London Times article

This is the dumbest thing I've heard about all damned day.  Millions and millions and millions of dollars were being handed out and noone, not one single person, thought to keep track of it. How stupid do you have to be? All those people that must have handled the red tape and all the details that were dealt with and noone was appointed to write it down? It never occurred to anyone who handled the money that, hey, gee, we might need to know where this goes? A little money gone by the wayside I can accept but 9 billion?! Are you fucking kidding me? 9 BILLION, gone, pfft, just like that, never to be seen again.  I don't know which is more disturbing, the lack of accounting or the abject greed that this debacle spotlights. I wonder where all that money went? Could it be that the money was deliberately mishandled so as to make it easier for our Holy American Emperor George to line his handlers' pockets? Let the little people take what they can grab and don't keep track of any of it, that way noone will know that we laughed all the way to the bank, eh? Ya think?