Short Takes

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There are interesting reports all over the place, so I'll try to consolidate some of them.

Prisoner abuse is back in the public eye as a variety of reports are released:
Final Report of the Independent Panel to Review DoD Detention Operations done by a panel picked by Rumsfeld..

AR 15-6 Investigation of Intelligence Activities At Abu Ghraib - The Fay Report which focuses on "civilian" involvement.

And here is one from detainees Composite statement: Detention in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay.

Not surprisingly, the Pentagon opposes independent abuse probe. And while there is blame to go around, few are being held accountable. However, if the public won't accept no leadership accountability, Lt. General Sanchez is being floated as a fall guy. The CIA came up as a culprit in the various investigations - Agency Is Faulted On Practices in Iraq, Secrecy Amid Probe, but it is a secret agency remember, so whatever is found out we aren't likely to hear about.

One of the irritating things about all this is that it seems the administration, and the press, is largely trying to confine abuse and torture to Abu Ghraib, and if that fails, to Iraq. The problems is that it is not localized, but systemic. While they may sacrifice Sanchez for torture in Iraq, what about, Afghanistan? What about Guantanamo? Will we start at the beginning again with a "few bad apples?" Surely I'm not the only one looking askance at this.

Of course, the GAO is going to get on somebody's xxxxlist with the their new report that the government spent $6.5 billion to keep the public in the dark in 2003. But wait, that doesn't count the CIA because even their budget is secret. We may never know how much we are paying to not know what the CIA is up to.

I'm sure you were not too surprised by the news that that there were more people in poverty and uninsured in 2003. Yep, for the third straight year the numbers grew and the gap between the top and the rest of the population grew. The official poverty rate was up to 12.5% last year, while those who are uninsured grew to 16%. Of course, both numbers are significant under counts.

In yet more switch and bait techniques, since the CAPPS II datamining and security program has come under fire, we are now going to get a program called "Secure Flight". The new program will compare airline passengers identity against government databases to generate the "no fly lists." Hmm. As I understood the CAPPSII program, the government created a list and supplied it to the airlines so when a customer came to check in they would be run against "the list." Now when someone checks in it will be run against the government database. I'm sure there is something I'm missing here, because it seems hauntingly the same thing to me.

And boy do the databases grow like kudzu these days. MATRIX, the interlinked police/FBI/DOJ database is growing rapidly - Mining the Matrix: Government Still Salivates Over Big Brother Database Created by a Cocaine Smuggler, and the question is being raised whether the Pentagon is keeping tabs on political websites (not a doubt in my mind). And with political decisions on who and what is sane or represents a "threat," we can all look forward to Compulsory Mental Health Screening For Adults and Children Preschool and Up. I'm sure that I probably won't pass that screening (along with many others) and Glaxo-Kline will laugh all the way to the bank.

We won't even go to the NY City Parks Department decision that demonstrators can't gather in Central Park. Why? It might damage the grass. Now I am a big supporter of green spaces in urban environments, but this seems a bit of a false excuses to me. Now I might have banned the entire protest on public health grounds. After all, where are the estimated 250,000 demonstrators going to relieve themselves hmm? Oh, I get it, maybe that is the concern about Central Park's grass.

And one last thing, just because it irks me. As costs for college have sky rocketed, and the availability of financial aid has decreased, it really irks me that the private companies are raking in about $1 billion a year in government interest rate guarantees. Yes fellow student loan holders and student loan receivers, a "loophole" is allowing private student loan lenders to charge the government the difference between current loan rates and a 9.5% interest guarantee. I was ticked when the student loan program was privatized, but this is truly galling. You just have to wonder who crafted the legislation loophole. I don't know, but my guess is it was the banking lobby.

Please feel free to share your news leads. I know that I missed a bunch.

Posted by rowan at August 27, 2004 07:34 AM | TrackBack | Printable Version | [eMail this article!] |