I am who I am . . . I think

Lexis Nexis, Choice Point, Acxiom and now GM Mastercard have lost control of consumer data. By some quirk , or whatever, they have let our identities blow in the wind like parade confetti. Our identities are basically the property of banks and corporations.

If you say you are you and a computer says you are not, you lose. Someone has convinced the computer that you are not you. Who we are has been handed over to banks and corporations under the guise that they needed our personal information to protect us from fraud.

It's kinda creepy to me that your face and your fingerprints don't define your identity anymore. If you are face to face with a retailer and you show your driver's license and other ID, but the computer says you are not you the burden of proof is on you to prove who you are.

You do have an out to this if there is no other door. Bankruptcy . . .

THE GOP AND THE NRA

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Between our GOP-controlled Congress and this President the NRA seems to get whatever it wants even if it makes no logical sense at all. The market is flooded with more powerful guns that are easier to use and harder to trace. According to the GAO, someone on the terrorist watch list can walk into a gun dealership and legally purchase weapons such as an Uzi, Tec-9 or AK-47. In the first half of last year 35 different gun sales were made to people on the nation's terrorism watch list -- knowingly. So al-Qaeda can't board our planes or ships (well they're not supposed to be able), but they can buy guns. Not just guns, assault weapons. I mean, it didn't make sense to me to sell that to our own citizens let alone our known enemy, who we are supposed to be at war with. We're talking about armoured peircing assault weapons that can spray areas with multiple rounds of bullets. Just what ya need fer huntin' squirl.

There used to be a ban on clips that carried more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Not any more. So, if some Columbine situation should occur in the future we are guaranteed it will be more disastrous than Columbine or Red Lake. If you don't think Bush is in the pocket of the NRA, why would he have signed a bill last year requiring the destruction within 24 hours of all records from background checks of gun purchasers. Congress (those guys are sure doing their jobs for us) mandated that ATF data tracing weapons used in crimes be kept secret from the public. And nothing's been done about the so-called "gun show loophole" allowing unregulated sales of firearms at gun shows without background checks regulated dealers must conduct.

So with the NRA' s new muscle, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) and Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) are introducing a bill that wouldgive almost blanket protection to gun manufacturers and dealers. That's more than any other industry enjoys. Bottom line, if the sell someone a gun and a crime is committed and the dealer is proven to be careless and negligent, too bad. Every time I read something about what this administration is doing I feel safer and safer and safer.

Want to feel safer. This bill also adds the provision that would diminish the oversight authority of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives by barring "administrative proceedings" which is what ATF uses to investigate and regulate unscrupulous dealers.

This is so blatantly obvious, I can't understand why there isn't an uproar.

It Ain't Our Fault -- No Way No How

So this administration is going to let the intelligence agencies take the full blame for the Iraq mess. They did not cherry pick the intelligence they got from the FBI, CIA, etc. Let's try to go back and recall the way things happened.

August 6, 2001 -- Presidential Daily Briefing with the title Bin laden determined to strike within the United States. Dick Clarke warns the President that this is serious and should not be taken lightly. And I can't recall if it was Tenet or Clarke running around like their hair's on fire. But I would say the red flags popped up. No action taken . . . next thing 9/11.

Curveball (whoever he is) is coming to light now as a very unreliable source of intelligence. Ahmed Chalabi, a swindler from Jordan, is another source of intelligence on WMD. Here you've got some of your higher ups in intelligence telling you, and proving, that the uranium in Africa story is fabricated, that it would be better to let the weapons inspectors do their job and keep Sadaam contained while we think this thing out. It was cherry pickin' time in the White House. If you think different, I got a couple of towers in New York I'd like to sell you.
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Ecological Warning

jjd These are shocking words that we would do well to listen to: "Human actions are depleting Earth's natural capital, putting such a strain on the environment that the ability of the planet's ecosystems to sustain future generations can no longer be taken for granted."

That is the conclusion of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the United Nations' four year analysis, the broadest ever of the environment, with 1,300 public and private contributors from 95 countries. And the general trend is to not be concerned about the environment. The feeling that it's a long way off and not our concern.

Let's face it if you poison and ocean, you can't just go produce another one. If you poison the atmosphere, you can't just vacuum it clean. When endangered species are gone, you can't just wish them back. There are indicators . . . the polar ice caps are melting, rainforests felled, fisheries fail, the ozone layer has thinned and is fraying.

The future isn't a sure bet. We don't know the carrying capacity of the biosphere, but it could suddenly collapse. We eventually will get to a point of no return and we seem to be racing towards that end and not away from it.

When I saw the movie The Day After Tomorrow I thought it was a little far-fetched with how quickly, within weeks, things went from 'not so bad' to horrible. I don't think we're looking at weeks, but I fear it could be within my lifetime or someone's who I care about.

CURVEBALL

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So, in its final report on the intelligence snafu in Iraq an unknown "curveball" is responsible for the erroneous information on wmd's. And Bush announces so matter-of-fact-ly that intelligence must be improved upon.

Look at it this way. If Bush had no idea that his intelligence community was so incapable of performing its job, but relied on that intelligence as if it were gospel (these would be his words) to take us into war, why is he the leader of the free world. We didn't know seems to be the Bush administration mantra.

What happened to 'the buck stops here'? It became 'the bush stops here' when there's somebody to take responsibility, stop that responsibility at Bush. Abu Ghraib -- we had no idea that was going on. Guantanamo -- we had no idea that could be happening, we will have a full investigation until we find a suitable fall guy. Halliburton overcharging to beat the band in Iraq -- Cheney has nothing more to do with this company.

The Pope died today. He was a good man and died with dignity and grace. Unfortunately the media coverage of his death, funeral, burial and the election process for his successor will keep Bush news on the backburner for a while. The Pope would not want to overshadow the antics of this administration.

Recommended Current Movie Releases

First of an occasional recommendation list of current movies and videos.

THE UPSIDE OF ANGER -- Joan Allen, Kevin Costner as neighbors in a romantic comedy with Allen living with her four daughters whose husband just left her and Costner as an ex-ballplayer.
Three and a half stars

OFF THE MAP -- Joan Allen and Sam Elliott as a couple and their daughter living as a couple of hippies in the early seventies. They're living off the land when an IRS agent shows up to find out why they haven't been filing taxes. Three and a half stars

MILLIONS -- Story about two brothers 7 and 9 years old and what they do when a bag containing a large amount of cash falls from a train and onto their cardboard clubhouse. 4 stars

GUNNER PALACE -- A documentary that observe soldiers in Iraq, in a half destroyed palace, as they work, play, talk and play games amid the daily bursts of sudden violence. 4 stars

OLD BOY -- Korean vengeance film. Pulp Fiction meets China Town. Very original. 4 stars

VIDEO

WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW? -- Semi-documentary starring Marlee Matlin who takes us through, quantum physics to the meaning of life and religion. 3 stars

THE CORPORATION -- You probably never thought of a corporation as a person but legally it is. This is a pretty objective look at what a corporation is and how it is programmed to function. An eye-opening documentary. 4 stars (due out April 8)

Pictures (or cartoons) Worth A Thousand Words #1

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WHO GET'S TO LIVE?

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Who Get's to Live?

This whole ordeal with Terri Schiavo is so obviously political. This woman suffered from bulemia and from a lack of potassium suffered a heart attack and wound up where she's at. My understanding is that this is irreversible. So she will be as she is through her life. Her wishes to her husband was never to be on life support. At least, and I know it was more, 16 judges have heard this case and judged on it. So, the victims wishes are not important in this issue.

Remember, this is happening in Florida, Bush needs to pander to the religious right who were responsible for him being in office. They want some of that political capital he's spending. Let's say you, John/Jane Q. Public, were in this same situation; and in this country, unscientifically, I believe there are many similar situations. Would there be a fight to spend a spot on the medical treatment tray on someone who is existing in a manner she rejects.

If you remember back in December, this planet had one of it's most horrendous disasters. It took George 3 days to acknowledge that it happened. It took him , what something like 10 minutes to break out of his stupor on 9/11 and start to act on the tragedy. Now, he blasts out of Crawford on a weekend, believe me it's unheard of, to do an emergency hearing on this.

This administration should be ashamed of doing something like this. It's basically using this situation for its own gains. What about the sanctity of marriage? Why don't they respect the wishes of the husband as related to him by his wife, his life's partner. How can you ever start to think about trusting this administration?

Iraq -- The Cash Cow

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Iraq -- The Cash Cow

The United States has charged a former employee of Halliburton and a Kuwaiti subcontractor with defrauding the US government of millions of dollars in a contract scam in Iraq. Two men -- Jeff Alex Mazon, a former employee of Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Halliburton; and Ali Hijazi, the managing partner of a Kuwaiti business, LaNouvelle Trading and Contracting Company -- were indicted on charges of devising a scheme to defraud the US of more than $3.5 million.

The subcontract specified that KBR was to pay LaNouvelle more than $5.5 million, nearly $5.5 million more than the KBR estimate of the job - about $680,000. Hijazi allegedly presented Mazon with a $1 million dollar check in exchange for Mazon's favorable treatment of Nouvelle.

Now most of the companies involved in the Iraqi reconstruction are US-based and most of those are tied to Halliburton. Considering the unemployment in Iraq and the fact that they can re-build their country cheaper than we can, even if there was not corrupt overcharging. The only reason US contractors seem to be there is to loot the coffers.

The international watchdog group Transparency International (TI) said in its Global Corruption Report 2005 that profiteering threatens to undermine the reconstruction of Iraq. Peter Eigen, chairman of TI said, "When the size of a bribe takes precedence over value for money, the results are shoddy construction and poor infrastructure management. Corruption wastes money, bankrupts countries and costs lives."

Authors of the report have said, "Funds poured into rebuilding countries such as Iraq must be safeguarded against corruption. If urgent steps are not taken Iraq will become the biggest corruption scandal in history." Attempts by donors like the World Bank (Wolfowitz will make sure that's under control) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to hasten the pace of reconstruction can heighten the chances of waste and fraud.

The report referred to how the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the US Department of Defense initially had only 80 people examining the largest reconstruction program in history, half the number needed according to the Association of Inspectors General, and eventually outsourced oversight to private companies, giving rise to potential conflicts of interest.

And the small contractor isn't even able to bid the contracts. A phenomenon of "contract bundling" which joins together two or more separate procurement requirements into a super-sized contract, effectively disqualifying smaller companies because only the very largest contractors are able to compete.

I wonder if this will keep that deficit going, and going, and going like the energizer bunny. Suck us dry George.

It's The Oil Stupid

According to Greg Palast in BBC News on Thursday March 17 the US had a secret plan for Iraq's oil once Sadaam had been conquered. It was a face off between neo-cons at the Pentagon, and a combo of big oil and the US State Department.

"Big Oil" apparently won. The latest plan, obtained by Newsnight from the US State Department was, they learned, drafted with the help of American oil industry consultants. Apparently there was going to be a coup to overthrow Hussein and insert someone else . . . the industry-favored plan was pushed aside fo a new plan to sell off Iraq's oil fields.

This fueled the insurgency . The insurgents mantra --"Look, you're losing your country, you're losing your resources to a bunch of wealthy billionaires who want to take you over and make your life miserable. They saw that privatization was coming and the bombing of oil facilities, pipelines, etc.

Philip Carroll ,former CEO of Shell Oil USA stalled the sell-off scheme and would have nothing to do with it while he was involved.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/4354269.stm

R We Confused?

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HAPPY SAINT PADDY'S DAY TO YA !!!!!

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The Big Fat Solution to Social Security Problem

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