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Tuesday, May 9, 2006 |
MSNBC: "An informal panel of senior Pentagon officials has been holding a series of unannounced private meetings during the past several weeks about how to proceed with a possible merger between the Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA), a post-9/11 Pentagon creation that has been accused of domestic spying, and the Defense Security Service (DSS), a well-established older agency responsible for inspecting the security arrangements of defense contractors. DSS also maintains millions of confidential files containing the results of background investigations on defense contractors' employees.
The merger was initially suggested by a government commission set up to recommend military base closures last year."
GNN: "CIFA is little more than an excuse to get the military back in the business of 'investigating' (subverting the Constitutional rights) of Americans. 'The [Bush stacked] commission urged that CIFA be given authority to carry out domestic criminal investigations and clandestine operations against potential threats inside the United States,' including the threat of 'treason'."
The recent nomination by Bush of Hayden, a military officer, as head of the CIA points to an increasing militarization of 'intelligence'. And there is a link between CIFA and Hayden.
CorpWatch: "Hayden, President Bush's pick to replace Porter Goss as head of the CIA, contracted with MZM Inc. for the services of Lt. Gen. James C. King, then a senior vice president of the company, the sources say. MZM was owned and operated by Mitchell Wade, who has admitted to bribing former Rep. Randy 'Duke' Cunningham with $1.4 million in money and gifts. Wade has also reportedly told investigators he helped arrange for prostitutes to entertain the disgraced lawmaker, and he continues to cooperate with a federal inquiry into the matter.
Before joining MZM in December 2001, King served under Hayden as the NSA's associate deputy director for operations, and as head of the National Imagery and Mapping Agency.
As an MZM employee, King was involved in a number of controversial projects. In 2002, he was a key adviser to the team creating CIFA, the Pentagon's domestic surveillance operation. In 2004, he was one of three MZM staffers who worked on the White House Robb-Silberman Commission, which recommended expanding CIFA's powers.
NSA is home to its own controversial project, of course - the post-9/11 warrantless domestic wiretapping operation known as the 'terrorist surveillance program'."
Guardian: "Hayden, who is now the deputy director of national intelligence (the number two man in the office overseeing the entire US intelligence community), ran the NSA when Bush authorized domestic warrantless wiretapping of American citizens and residents."
AmericanSamizdat: "Spying agencies like the NSA can leverage its massive computing power to mine data collected by these private firms. The result is a mind-boggling domestic surveillance capability with access to nearly any information imaginable. Phone calls, email, video as well as finicial, criminal and other personal records can all be searched at the same time. The NSA's powerful computers can mine the data to find otherwise imperceptible links for profiling groups and individuals.
The surveillance programs are a dramatic departure from what the public has come to believe. It's easy to see why the Bush Administration has avoided legislation and oversight."
12:43:28 PM 
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Scotsman: "A gang of anarchist Robin Hood-style thieves, who dress as superheroes and steal expensive food from exclusive restaurants and delicatessens to give to the poor, are being hunted by police in the German city of Hamburg.
The gang members seemingly take delight in injecting humour into their raids, which rely on sheer numbers and the confusion caused by their presence. After they plundered Kobe beef fillets, champagne and smoked salmon from a gourmet store on the exclusive Elbastrasse, they presented the cashier with a bouquet of flowers before making their getaway.
The latest robbery is part of a pattern over the past several months, suggesting that the thieves deliberately set out to highlight what they perceive as the inequality inherent in German society."
In New York there is also a Robin Hood organisation targeting poverty in New York City.
Last year, the United Nations child welfare organisation UNICEF presented a study showing a rise in child poverty in advanced capitalist countries.
12:14:20 PM
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PakTribune: "The fact that U.S. troops are pulling out of southern Afghanistan in the coming months and handing matters over to NATO peacekeepers - who have repeatedly said that they are not going to fight terrorists - has given a boost to the insurgents and increased the fears of Afghans.
Insurgents resume command.
Uruzgan, the province where President Hamid Karzai first rallied support against the Taliban in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, is now in the thrall of the Islamic militants once more, and the provincial capital is close to falling, local and U.S. officials acknowledge.
Uruzgan is not the only province teetering out of control. Helmand and Kandahar to the south have been increasingly overrun by militants this year, with large groups of Taliban reportedly moving through the countryside, intimidating villagers, ambushing vehicles and spoiling for a fight with coalition or Afghan forces."
In the meantime, George W. Bush is again lying about his 'best moment' ever, the 7.5 pound perch he caught in his lake.
11:52:28 AM
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