Paranoid White House sends NSA to spy on US government agencies

From The Register:

“Not content with spying on other countries, the NSA (National Security Agency) will now turn on the US’s own government agencies thanks to a fresh directive from president George Bush.

Under the new guidelines, the NSA and other intelligence agencies can bore into the internet networks of all their peers. The Bush administration pulled off this spy expansion by pointing to an increase in the number of cyber attacks directed against the US, possibly from foreign nations. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) will spearhead the effort around identifying the source of these attacks, while the Department of Homeland Security and Pentagon will concentrate on retaliation.

The Washington Post appears to have broken the news about the new Bush-led joint directive, which remains classified. The paper reported that the directive – National Security Presidential Directive 54/Homeland Security Presidential Directive 23 – was signed on Jan. 8. Earlier reports from the Baltimore Sun documented the NSA’s plans to add US spying to its international snooping duties.” more

“Canadian” a code word for blacks among American racists

Here is an interesting bit of news that I (being a Canadian) found a bit stirring. Apparently ‘Canadian’ is the “new derogatory term that racist Southerners were using to describe persons they would have previously referred to [with the N-word.]” according to an article in yesterday’s National Post.

Petraeus next to lead a nuke happy NATO?

General Petraeus, whom Admiral Mike Mullen called a “politically ambitious sycophant and boot licker”, may be next in line to head the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This is particularly worrying given the recent calls for NATO reforms from ex-commanders that highlight the need for nuclear “first-strike” options.

update: My apologies to Admiral Mullen and General Petraeus and my readers. I attributed the quote to a very dubious source at Op-Ed News and I hastily retract the statement. Obviously I will try to use more legitimate sources in the future rather than ones that are provocative.

Brazil protects its citizens from obsolete PC games

Pentium 3’s must have just hit the market in Brazil and now the government is banning sales of Counter-Strike and Everquest, two popular games from waaaaay back.

From The Register

“Since January 17th, the games “Counter-Strike” and “Everquest” have been banned from sale in Brazil. The order comes into effect following an October 2007 Brazilian federal court decision, which ruled the games encourage “the subversion of public order” and are an “attack against the democratic state.” more

Why high gold prices indicate something far more troubling

The MSM in America tends to ignore indications that we may be heading into something much worse than a recession but the mainstream British media continues to impress. The Telegraph has an excellent article on the importance of the gold price as an indicator of the real worth of money and the health of the economy.

“The price of gold tells us a lot about ourselves. It holds up a mirror to the way we are governed, our economy and its prospects. It reflects not only the physical dangers of floods, famine, terrorism and war, but also the financial perils of systemic addiction to debt and budgetary incontinence.

“The modern mind dislikes gold,” said Joseph Schumpeter, “because it blurts out unpleasant truths.” With gold trading at about $900 an ounce – more than 200 per cent higher than it was at the turn of the millennium – today’s message from the bullion market is not comforting.” more

Dutch govn’t braces for Islamic protests

From The Guardian

“The Dutch government is bracing itself for violent protests following the scheduled broadcast this week of a provocative anti-Muslim film by a radical right-wing politician who has threatened to broadcast images of the Koran being torn up and otherwise desecrated.

Cabinet ministers and officials, fearing a repetition of the crisis sparked by the publication of cartoons of Muhammad in a Danish newspaper two years ago, have held a series of crisis meetings and ordered counter-terrorist services to draw up security plans. Dutch nationals overseas have been asked to register with their embassies and local mayors in the Netherlands have been put on standby.”   more

Canada bows to pressure, removes US and Israel from torture watch list

Days after the Canadian diplomats’ list of torturing states which included the US and Israel was exposed by CTV news, it was quickly amended and the offending names removed.

from Reuters

“Canada’s foreign ministry, responding to pressure from close allies, said on Saturday it would remove the United States and Israel from a watch list of countries where prisoners risk being tortured.

Both nations expressed unhappiness after it emerged they had been listed in a document that formed part of a training course manual on torture awareness given to Canadian diplomats.” full article

UK imposes “invisible and opaque censorship of the internet”

Britons may not know it but the internet they are accessing today is censored by the government. According to Frank Fisher at The Guardian, this is how it works,

“The technical approach was simple enough, based on a system devised by BT and known as Cleanfeed. A list of IP addresses is drawn up by the industry watchdog, the Internet Watch Foundation, supplied to and then augmented by the Home Office, and then handed to ISPs with the simple instruction “block traffic to and from these addresses”

Even though there is no legislation, ISP’s are forced to ‘voluntarily’ sign on to the system. The truly nefariouos element of this process is that no one save the Home Office can see which addresses are blocked.

Frank continues  “As of December 31 last year, all UK ISPs duly agreed to adopt the system. You’re now viewing a state-mandated subset of the internet. How do you feel about that? Like to vote against it? You can’t. Like your MP to sit on a committee to oversee implementation? He can’t. Like to know if the Google results you’re seeing are a full representation of Google’s actual results? You can’t. Censorship at this level – above even ISPs, is all but invisible to the end user. It’s a secret that they’re keeping these secrets from you. “

read the rest of the article here

Second Life blocks free enterprise, brings the bureaucracy

Pissing away a perfect opportunity to see a truly free market in action, Second Life has buckled under pressure to clamp down on In-World Banks. This must be an effort to enhance realism by making enterprise as strangled by regulations as it is in the real world. You can fly but don’t try to start a business.

from the SL blog

“As of January 22, 2008, it will be prohibited to offer interest or any direct return on an investment (whether in L$ or other currency) from any object, such as an ATM, located in Second Life, without proof of an applicable government registration statement or financial institution charter. We’re implementing this policy after reviewing Resident complaints, banking activities, and the law, and we’re doing it to protect our Residents and the integrity of our economy.

Since the collapse of Ginko Financial in August 2007, Linden Lab has received complaints about several in-world “banks” defaulting on their promises. These banks often promise unusually high rates of L$ return, reaching 20, 40, or even 60 percent annualized.” continued

What reasonable person logs onto a game and expects these ‘banks’ with ludicrous promises to hold up their end of a bargain? It’s the wild west in MMORPG’s and that’s why it’s fun. ‘Legit’ banks will rise through reputation as they always have and the loan sharks and con artists will get run out of town or will only service ‘fringe’ clients. There is a fantastic opportunity here to study economics in a petri dish and it’s unfortunate that Linden Labs has shirked it.

DHS wants Real ID checks at pharmacies

Under the guise of making it “much harder for meth labs to function in this country” Homeland Security bulldogs want to force pharmacy customers to produce the federal Real ID card to buy prescription and over-the-counter drugs.