looseheadprop

From the London Times: Customers in shopping centres are having their every move tracked by a new type of surveillance that listens in on the whisperings of their mobile phones. The technology can tell when people enter a shopping centre, what stores they visit, how long they remain there, and what route they take as they walk around.

May 11, 2008 was the deadline for implementation of the Real ID Act. So far, not one state is in compliance and some states are openly defiant. The Real ID Act would turn our state issued driver's licenses into de facto national identity cards. EPIC, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, has issued an analysis of the Department of Homeland Security's national ID program. Let me tell you, it ain't a rave review.

The Center for Democracy and Technology has issued a scathing report on the FBI's attempts to self police with regard to compliance with regulations associated with the issuance of National Security Letters (NSLs). This comes as a result of two successive DOJ-IG reports showing systematic failures and abuses by the FBI in the management of these disclosure devices. In October 2001, the PATRIOT Act dramatically weakened the standard for issuing NSLs.

Marcy is on vacation, so I'm carrying the pixie dust ball a few meters down the field towards the goal line until she gets home. It seems there are even more secret memos........

Here is a direct quote from a letter sent on Department of Justice Stationary and signed by Brian A. Benczkoski, Principal Assistant Deputy Attorney General: The Honorable Richard B. Cheney, President, United States Senate, Washington, D.C. 20510. Yeah, I did a double take. Then a triple take. Then I read that third line in the address more slowly--and after a brief interlude to defibrillate my heart--went on to read the rest of the letter. Yeah, I did a double take. Then a triple take. Then I read that third line in the address more slowly--and after a brief interlude to defibrillate my heart -- went on to read the rest.

NPR is reporting that FBI agents have raided both the home and office of Scott Bloch. This looks a bit like a mafia turf war--bad guys fighting with bad guys? Or did Bloch start out as a loyal Bushie and get to a point where he could no longer go along to get along and decided to draw a line in the sand over the Lurita Doan/Karl Rove matter because it was JUST TOO BIG?

How are Gitmo Show trials like retroactive immunity for the Telcoms? Both are being used to insulate Bush-Cheney and compatriots from prosecution for their acts.

The other day the New York Times reported that the President is asserting that he has the unilateral right to decide on a case by case basis whether or not a particular interrogation method constitutes torture. While the Geneva Conventions prohibit “outrages upon personal dignity,” a letter sent by the Justice Department to Congress on March 5 makes clear that the administration has not drawn a precise line in deciding which interrogation methods would violate that standard, and is reserving the right to make case-by-case judgments.

SDNY USA Mike Garcia is at it again.First there was the leak from Garcia's office that ended the career of Dem Governor Elliot Spitzer, who Garcia did NOT indict. Now his office is leaking about a Dem City Councilwoman in Yonkers, NY, who has NOT been indicted. Is Mike Garcia morphing into Leura Canary?

The other day, I pointed out that the tortures inflicted upon detainees at Gitmo were performed on American soil. The Supreme Court agrees with that interpretation and said so, in Rasul v. Bush. The Administration seems to think torture is hunky dory and makes a big distinction about the detainees not being given civil rights because they are not American citizens.