To the credit of Great Wealth, we are on the eve of a "close" mid-term election. We are also witnessing the end of representative republican democracy (a poor means of conducting government, but which is superior to all alternative forms).
Unprecedented amounts of money (during a depression!) are pouring into this mid-term election. Because of a Supreme Court appointment by the previous administration, by one Judge's vote, we now have a system which permits corporations, and unidentified "persons", to electioneer. We have no idea who is funding the political ads, and MOST of them are factually misleading.
This de-regulation and privatization of public elections will live in infamy along other Bush era catastrophes:
(1) Appointing inexperienced and "political" judges.
(2) Tax cuts to the Super Rich - with ZERO economic benefit for anyone else. The fact that the rich are richer while the middle class has collapsed, is the single achievement of the neo-Conservative take-over.
(3) Changing the laws so that "investment bankers" could destroy banking system. Glass-Steagal Act passed in the 1930's prevented banks from taking savings and putting money into investments with risk. The "new" (actually resurrected 1920's products) mortgage-backed securities, negative default swaps, and fraudulent investment "products" (literally toxic), destroyed the financial system.
(4) Oct 2008 tax payer bail-out for Wall Street -- unprecedented transfer of the risks to the public, providing yet another splurge of billion-dollar commissions to the bankers who had destroyed their institutions.
(5) Selling WMD to Iraq, then ignoring the UN inspection and attacking Iraq without a plan, leaving us with an un-winnable war, and the spectacle of rising religious intolerance and mass migration of refugees.
(6) Ignoring bin Laden in Afghanistan - repeatedly, and in spite of his large family, known relationships, and his control of a network of
(7) Ignoring terrorism until after 9/11,
(8) Ignoring deterioration of infrastructure with results such as the Katrina disaster,
(9) denying Global warming,
(10) destroying the civil justice system,
(11) making our schools the most expensive and least effective among nations,
(12) making our health care the most expensive and least effective among nations.
(13) starting with an income surplus, creating the biggest debt in history.
(14) Creating a hostility to independent journalists: Is it coincidence that in the Bush decade, journalists were increasingly singled out and killed by organized crime? This global rise of tyranny reached its apex in 2009, with the murder of 76 journalists killed in connection with their jobs. Organized crime and right-wing militias became the biggest threats. After Obama took over, the murder rate plummeted. In 2010, the death toll was down 25% to 57. Reporters without Borders, annual report from Paris.
(15) destroying the military - exhausting the Forces, and crippling the National Guard concept by pulling the citizen-soldiers out of their civilian employment for year-long war duty tours.
(16) privatizing the military and support services - Halliburton black no-bid "contracts" which guarantee huge profits to short-term fortunes while soldiers facing more risks have less to gain.
(17) Indifference to infrastructure - what utilities were not "sold" with corrupt discounts to private enterprises which promptly raised rates, were left languishing without maintenance and repair. Bridges, dams, highways, parks, water and power are all collapsing and deteriorating.
For the past couple years, many people have been working on this large hole which the Bush-Cheney-Rove Enron Halliburton cabal placed us into.
Showing posts with label terrorism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label terrorism. Show all posts
Friday, October 15, 2010
Friday, August 10, 2007
IT - can we plug historical data into algorithms to predict future?
Software developers have long been offering "tools" for a broad range of issues. For example, we are offered programs which prepare taxes, assure compliance with regulations, route shipments, or even predict outcomes given different scenarios.
The Government (Bush administration) now claims it has software that can even predict terrorist strikes. In 2004, the Government Accountability Office revealed that our Administration was running over 199 "data mining projects", many of which involved private sector information provided by private aggregators. The National Security Agency has amassed a database upon which it supposedly performs pattern-based analyses to hunt for terrorists.
There is no doubt among the marketing cognicenti that mathematical algorithms can identify trends and patterns of consumer shopping habits. In addition, IT experts can match voter proclivities, and even reveal financial fraud and crime. However, can running algorithms through consumer data predict where a terrorist strike will occur? Of course not. The NSA is using an enormously expensive tool -- data mining of every citizen's private data -- which will never provide the results needed. The people supposedly assigned to "hunt terrorists" are now sidelined in unproductive but almost infinitely time-consuming endeavors.
Specifically, instead of learning Arabic or interviewing Bin Laden's relatives, huge truckloads of numbers are being "analyzed" for patterns that will never reveal who will hit what target with what type of destruction. The NSA does not need to analyze the phone calls of 300 million Americans, for any reason, ever. The fact that they admit they are doing so is an admission that they have lost their way. They need to analyze the phone calls of a few thousand "fund-raising" religious fanatics -- and again, they HAVE to learn Arabic. The fact that the Government has populated its database with information about every citizen in the United States, and is not accountable for what it is doing, raises serious concerns about "abuse of power".
Remember how Nixon compiled Tax Information concerning his "enemies". What precautions have been taken to prevent private information from being used by people in positions of power to harass their personal "enemies"? Has Rowe used the "data-mining" to compromise his enemies -- by threatening to disclose the fact that they have visited Porn Sites, etc. What safeguards against manipulation of IT by people in power are in place? Do you think Rowe has any kind of restraint that prevents him from using Consumer Information against Senators who might otherwise be troublesome if they spoke out?
As a matter of fact, Why is the Senate so silent? Recall that when Hoover took over the FBI, we now know that he maintained "files" on all of his enemies, and collected information to compromise them. He went so far as to plant "communist" agitators in Martin Luther King Jr.'s churches, and then accuse MLKJ of being a communist! Did any Senator or Congressman question Hoover's budget? There were Journalists who spoke out, only to be suppressed -- they lost their jobs, because their Editors were threatened.
There is virtually no institutional criticism from any person in any part of our Government who is questioning why we are spending billions of dollars probing into the private information of citizens, while Al Quada is still actively and successfully training terrorists all over the world. The CIA has not bothered to learn Arabic or engage the Mullahs on the subject of what the Quoran does nor does not say! All over the world, people are cheering Bin Laden -- while we seem to have elected a President who is incapable of understanding, much less directing, actions appropriate to the circumstances.
I have to go farther: Does it not appear true that the Terrorists who are penetrating our "soft" and exposed parts with the most potent and portentious threats to our safety and security are not Arabs, or Islamicists? Those people seem to be largely occupied with their own problems. The Arab warrior, blessings upon him, is a model of restraint, fairly and openly expressing himself and his intentions. The Islamicist, assuming some have read the text, is living for a hereafter, and the Quoran specifically proscribes suicide, homosexuality, and killing of innocents. Clearly the world has little to fear from Arabs or Islamicists as a whole -- a few idiots aside, who can be found in every region and under every Religion.
The group which can clearly be seen actively grabbing our stuff, and threatening our future, is the cadre gathered about the person of George W. Bush. The waste is criminal, but there is more going on than mere "waste of public resources". There is a deliberate plunder -- the billions going into "IT" is simply pouring into the coffers of these pirates -- there is simply no expectation that "analysis" of consumer data will ever pin-point a terrorist strike. The billions are being spent to enrich the Bush family, the secret Cheney corporations, and the "legacy" institutions set up to provide for Rowe and his minions.
The Government (Bush administration) now claims it has software that can even predict terrorist strikes. In 2004, the Government Accountability Office revealed that our Administration was running over 199 "data mining projects", many of which involved private sector information provided by private aggregators. The National Security Agency has amassed a database upon which it supposedly performs pattern-based analyses to hunt for terrorists.
There is no doubt among the marketing cognicenti that mathematical algorithms can identify trends and patterns of consumer shopping habits. In addition, IT experts can match voter proclivities, and even reveal financial fraud and crime. However, can running algorithms through consumer data predict where a terrorist strike will occur? Of course not. The NSA is using an enormously expensive tool -- data mining of every citizen's private data -- which will never provide the results needed. The people supposedly assigned to "hunt terrorists" are now sidelined in unproductive but almost infinitely time-consuming endeavors.
Specifically, instead of learning Arabic or interviewing Bin Laden's relatives, huge truckloads of numbers are being "analyzed" for patterns that will never reveal who will hit what target with what type of destruction. The NSA does not need to analyze the phone calls of 300 million Americans, for any reason, ever. The fact that they admit they are doing so is an admission that they have lost their way. They need to analyze the phone calls of a few thousand "fund-raising" religious fanatics -- and again, they HAVE to learn Arabic. The fact that the Government has populated its database with information about every citizen in the United States, and is not accountable for what it is doing, raises serious concerns about "abuse of power".
Remember how Nixon compiled Tax Information concerning his "enemies". What precautions have been taken to prevent private information from being used by people in positions of power to harass their personal "enemies"? Has Rowe used the "data-mining" to compromise his enemies -- by threatening to disclose the fact that they have visited Porn Sites, etc. What safeguards against manipulation of IT by people in power are in place? Do you think Rowe has any kind of restraint that prevents him from using Consumer Information against Senators who might otherwise be troublesome if they spoke out?
As a matter of fact, Why is the Senate so silent? Recall that when Hoover took over the FBI, we now know that he maintained "files" on all of his enemies, and collected information to compromise them. He went so far as to plant "communist" agitators in Martin Luther King Jr.'s churches, and then accuse MLKJ of being a communist! Did any Senator or Congressman question Hoover's budget? There were Journalists who spoke out, only to be suppressed -- they lost their jobs, because their Editors were threatened.
There is virtually no institutional criticism from any person in any part of our Government who is questioning why we are spending billions of dollars probing into the private information of citizens, while Al Quada is still actively and successfully training terrorists all over the world. The CIA has not bothered to learn Arabic or engage the Mullahs on the subject of what the Quoran does nor does not say! All over the world, people are cheering Bin Laden -- while we seem to have elected a President who is incapable of understanding, much less directing, actions appropriate to the circumstances.
I have to go farther: Does it not appear true that the Terrorists who are penetrating our "soft" and exposed parts with the most potent and portentious threats to our safety and security are not Arabs, or Islamicists? Those people seem to be largely occupied with their own problems. The Arab warrior, blessings upon him, is a model of restraint, fairly and openly expressing himself and his intentions. The Islamicist, assuming some have read the text, is living for a hereafter, and the Quoran specifically proscribes suicide, homosexuality, and killing of innocents. Clearly the world has little to fear from Arabs or Islamicists as a whole -- a few idiots aside, who can be found in every region and under every Religion.
The group which can clearly be seen actively grabbing our stuff, and threatening our future, is the cadre gathered about the person of George W. Bush. The waste is criminal, but there is more going on than mere "waste of public resources". There is a deliberate plunder -- the billions going into "IT" is simply pouring into the coffers of these pirates -- there is simply no expectation that "analysis" of consumer data will ever pin-point a terrorist strike. The billions are being spent to enrich the Bush family, the secret Cheney corporations, and the "legacy" institutions set up to provide for Rowe and his minions.
Friday, October 29, 2004
1000 Points of Fright - Strategic Terror
1. Unarmed "civilians" have always been targets of violent force. Women have often been the "prize", and children to be raised as slaves, the booty of warfare. In WWI and WWII, entire cities were flattened and torched. As the Iroquois annihilated the Hurons, they kidnapped their women and children. The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans held child-princes as hostages, and sold entire people into slavery. In the Sudan today, Islamic janjaweed warriors are enslaving the Bantu and slaughtering the Darfurians who are also Islamic - wiping out entire villages. Perhaps the reason homo sapien is alone on the "family tree", with all of our nearest hominid relatives being extinct, is that we killed the others off. The Pattern is that for as long as some life forms have thrived, some have not. It is the weaknesses of a person or a group which are the targets of the overcoming or the strength which is used to annihilate. The Point is this process is long-lived -- a tradition of millions of years.
2. The Internet is the essential tool used by al-Qaeda. 75% of the Web sites aligned with terrorrists and al-Qaeda have been registered in or supported by service providers in the US. {2004/10/24 LATimes citing Middle East Media Research Institute.} In fact, criminal syndicates are usually the first to adopt or apply new technologies -- for example, the clipper ship by rum-runners, the cell phone by drug-dealers. The Internet actually dictates and enables the anonymity and structure of the organization. It is the single most powerful weapon used against the civilization which created it.
3. The Bush Administration is not Addressing the Source or Weaponry of the Attackers. The Bush Administration has attacked an Arab "WWII - type" army in Iraq -- destroying its tanks, and leaving millions of small arms and tons of HMX and high explosive powder in the country. WMD left over from the collapse of the Soviet Union, including fissle materials and biological cultures, have been ignored. Nothing has been done to curtail the use of weapons by al-Quada which they have clearly selected in causing harm. The unarmed populations which are the al-Quada target, remain completely exposed, from Darfur to New York.
4. The Unarmed Populations know what al-Quada is doing even though the Bush Administration does not. Significantly, the Darfurians can recognize that the Arabs hate them and are trying to extinguish them, and that "religion" is not the basis of the assault. It is a "land grab", a struggle over limited resources and power. Significantly, the continental American areas most likely to be targeted by al-Quada attacks -- the coastlines of California, Chicago, and New York -- and the over-seas embassies, are ALL overwhelmingly in support of Kerry in seeking to replace the Bush Administration. As the "exposed" people, as the targets, we know we are being attacked. We need leaders who can protect us. We need intelligent, brave leaders devoted to the Public Interest instead of to their private greed.
2. The Internet is the essential tool used by al-Qaeda. 75% of the Web sites aligned with terrorrists and al-Qaeda have been registered in or supported by service providers in the US. {2004/10/24 LATimes citing Middle East Media Research Institute.} In fact, criminal syndicates are usually the first to adopt or apply new technologies -- for example, the clipper ship by rum-runners, the cell phone by drug-dealers. The Internet actually dictates and enables the anonymity and structure of the organization. It is the single most powerful weapon used against the civilization which created it.
3. The Bush Administration is not Addressing the Source or Weaponry of the Attackers. The Bush Administration has attacked an Arab "WWII - type" army in Iraq -- destroying its tanks, and leaving millions of small arms and tons of HMX and high explosive powder in the country. WMD left over from the collapse of the Soviet Union, including fissle materials and biological cultures, have been ignored. Nothing has been done to curtail the use of weapons by al-Quada which they have clearly selected in causing harm. The unarmed populations which are the al-Quada target, remain completely exposed, from Darfur to New York.
4. The Unarmed Populations know what al-Quada is doing even though the Bush Administration does not. Significantly, the Darfurians can recognize that the Arabs hate them and are trying to extinguish them, and that "religion" is not the basis of the assault. It is a "land grab", a struggle over limited resources and power. Significantly, the continental American areas most likely to be targeted by al-Quada attacks -- the coastlines of California, Chicago, and New York -- and the over-seas embassies, are ALL overwhelmingly in support of Kerry in seeking to replace the Bush Administration. As the "exposed" people, as the targets, we know we are being attacked. We need leaders who can protect us. We need intelligent, brave leaders devoted to the Public Interest instead of to their private greed.
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