Magpie

Friday, July 27, 2007

Good news creeping under the radar.

My radar, anyway.

The US Congress is on the verge of approving a bill to implement the recommendations of the 9/11 commission. (You remember them? The commission whose security and policy recommendations Dubya completely ignored?) A little-noticed provision of that bill will require the Director of National Intelligence to disclose the size of the intelligence budget at the end of each fiscal year.

Not later than 30 days after the end of each fiscal year beginning with fiscal year 2007, the Director of National Intelligence shall disclose to the public the aggregate amount of funds appropriated by Congress for the National Intelligence Program for such fiscal year. [H.R. 1, section 601]

The bill requires the first disclosure at the end of fiscal year 2007. This would be the first time that the size of the intelligence budget has been made public since 1997 and 1998.

The 9/11 bill has already been passed by the Senate and is expected to pass the House any day now. Although Dubya opposes making the intelligence budget public — face it, he opposes making anything public — the prez probably won't veto the bill.

Via Secrecy News.

Labels: 9/11 commission, Congress, Intelligence

| | Posted by Magpie at 9:27 AM | Get permalink

Ooooooh, shiny!

The folks in charge of the Mt St Helens volcano cam have turned on their new high-definition camera. The image quality is vastly better than what came from the old camera.

Volcano geeks (like this magpie) should definitely check it out.

Labels: Mt St Helens, Shiny things, volcanoes

| | Posted by Magpie at 9:07 AM | Get permalink

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

15,000 new pairs of eyes.

All of them spying on you and me on behalf of Alberto Gonzales and Dubya.

The FBI is taking cues from the CIA to recruit thousands of covert informants in the United States as part of a sprawling effort to boost its intelligence capabilities.

According to a recent unclassified report to Congress, the FBI expects its informants to provide secrets about possible terrorists and foreign spies, although some may also be expected to aid with criminal investigations.... The FBI did not respond to requests for comment on this story.

The FBI said the push was driven by a 2004 directive from President Bush ordering the bureau to improve its counterterrorism efforts by boosting its human intelligence capabilities.

The aggressive push for more secret informants appears to be part of a new effort to grow its intelligence and counterterrorism efforts. Other recent proposals include expanding its collection and analysis of data on U.S. persons, retaining years' worth of Americans' phone records and even increasing so-called "black bag" secret entry operations.

To handle the increase in so-called human sources, the FBI also plans to overhaul its database system, so it can manage records and verify the accuracy of information from "more than 15,000" informants ...

Via The Blotter.

Labels: 'War on Terrorism', Civil liberties, Spying, Surveillance

| | Posted by Magpie at 1:29 PM | Get permalink

Come visit the USA!

On second thought, maybe you should forget about it.

Via The Sideshow.

Labels: 'War on Terrorism', Air travel, Police state, Tourism

| | Posted by Magpie at 12:35 PM | Get permalink

Adding insult to injury.

In its continuing quest to discover new ways of making life miserable for people who already have a world of trouble, Dubya's administration decided to cancel thousands of disaster loans to people affected by Hurricane Katrina.

Wrongly. And without notice.

The agency canceled nearly 8,000 loans without calling the borrowers or mailing them a notice, according to the audit by the agency’s inspector general. The homeowners did eventually receive a letter contending that they had voluntarily given up their loans, the report says, even though many told auditors that they actually needed the money.

The loans were canceled last year, after the agency had come under fire for being slow to give out rebuilding money, according to the audit. Former agency employees have complained that they were pressured to withdraw the loans to cut the number of applicants whose loans had been approved but not paid out.

A spokeswoman for the agency declined to comment on the report. [Emphasis added]

Like I always say, every time I figure that Dubya and his cronies couldn't sink any lower, they do.

Via NY Times.

Labels: Dubya, Housing, Hurricane Katrina, Incompetence

| | Posted by Magpie at 11:29 AM | Get permalink

Sorry for missing yesterday.

I was handed my two-week notice for my current job, so my mind was occupied with a few other things besides blogging.

On the up side, I guess I'll have lots more time to blog Real Soon Now.

Labels: Housekeeping

| | Posted by Magpie at 10:57 AM | Get permalink

Monday, July 23, 2007

Great news!

I just heard over the radio that four of the five polyps removed during Dubya's colonoscopy the other day have turned out to be non-cancerous. The fifth turned out to be the prez's head and apparently doesn't count.

I'll go back to my room now.

Labels: Attempted humor, Dubya

| | Posted by Magpie at 12:03 PM | Get permalink

Losing faith in religion.

In today's LA Times, reporter William Lobdell tells why, after eight years of covering religion, he asked the Times to assign him to a different beat. It's a very powerful, and personal, story.

Via Romemesko.

Labels: Hypocrisy, Journalism, Religion

| | Posted by Magpie at 10:03 AM | Get permalink