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Friday, March 31, 2006 |
TomDispatch: "Under this administration, the Pentagon has been on its own privatization binge, turning what were once essential military activities over to Halliburton, its subsidiary KBR, and other private firms in a wholesale fashion.
In addition, the Pentagon and the Bush administration have been on another kind of binge, privatizing national (and international) security.
From New Orleans to Iraq, rent-a-mercenary companies are having a for-profit field day based on the woes of others.
Such private companies are above the law in Iraq, and their trigger-happy hirees don't hesitate to create mayhem.
Increasingly this sort of questionable 'security' is making itself felt at home as well. The premises of the Homeland Security Department are now guarded by the private security firm, Wackenhut Services, Inc. (hired through a contract with the U.S. Navy).
At Los Alamos, the University of California has already been replaced by a 'limited liability corporation'.
Nuclear laboratories are no longer to be intellectual institutions devoted to science but part of a corporate-business model where research, design, and ultimately the weapons themselves will become products to be marketed."
Finding a market for nuclear weapons only means promoting war. The whole purpose of privatization is to divert the taxpayer's money to the private sector. But don't expect security in return. They don't give a damn.
Guardian: "The Pentagon stalled efforts to clean water supplies contaminated by a carcinogenic chemical despite evidence that it posed a significant health risk to millions of people."
11:27:01 AM 
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Zdnet: "First it was China, now it's genetics; Google is in hot water with privacy advocates again.
Search giant Google has been accused of being the 'biggest threat to genetic privacy' for its alleged plan to create a searchable database of genetic information.
Biopiracy refers to the monopolisation of genetic resources. It is also defined as the unauthorised use of biological resources by organisations such as corporations, universities and governments."
Wired: "When Google began testing a payment system in February for Google Base, its virtual catalog product, Internet pundits assumed the company was moving ahead with efforts to go head-to-head with eBay, the online marketplace giant."
News.com: "Google is setting up a political operation in Washington and collecting big-name lobbyists with Republican connections faster than you can search the Web for Jack Abramoff."
While I was cleaning up my gmail account today I deleted a lot of large files and noticed that the space used did not diminish at all. So I did an internet search and my hunch was right.
"Google's privacy policy says deleted e-mail messages 'may remain in our offline backup systems' in perpetuity. It does not guarantee that backups are ever deleted." See also here.
So, in fact, Google owns your mail.
11:07:45 AM
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U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia denied he made an obscene gesture.
AmericaBlog: "Scalia lied in saying he didn't make an obscene gesture at church; Scalia also told reporter to 'go get fucked up the ass' in Italian."
The arrogance and the contempt for people of the Bush Mob is simply incredible.
Update BostonHerald: "A freelance photographer has been fired by the Archdiocese of Boston's newspaper for releasing a picture of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia making a controversial gesture in the Cathedral of the Holy Cross on Sunday."
10:56:22 AM
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