COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, December 03, 2012

“Why the Pentagon needs its own spy agency is anyone’s guess. Maybe to keep an eye on its generals when the CIA and FBI do not? Meanwhile the CIA has been taking over Pentagon functions, conducting military strikes with drones all around the world. We have the CIA bombing people and the Pentagon spying on people. Who knows what the other DOZEN spy agencies are up to?





15 comments:

  1. Who knows what the other DOZEN spy agencies are up to?

    They are obviously keeping check on the CIA and FBI and, mutually, each other, as the CIA and FBI are doing to them, and each other.

    Queen Elizabeth I knew her business as to how to keep them all in line -

    http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=j64&sa=X&tbo=d&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1024&bih=598&tbm=isch&tbnid=eMbEIc3B59aX8M:&imgrefurl=http://polarbearstale.blogspot.com/2012/06/rainbow-portrait-of-queen-elizabeth-i.html&docid=gkXEWWF2TsxopM&imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Sig5C24I228/T9BHb_BltBI/AAAAAAAB6u4/ebAh9xk9uwA/s1600/Elizabeth%25252BRainbow%25252Bportrait-002.jpg&w=706&h=547&ei=3Gy9UM7HHsjo2AWH5YGYDA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=78&vpy=125&dur=8623&hovh=198&hovw=255&tx=133&ty=108&sig=112736873542327403342&page=1&tbnh=139&tbnw=169&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:90



    https://www.google.com/search?q=Queen+Elizabeth+1+in+eyes+dress&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=594&tbo=u&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ei=rG29UPqHFsK02gX3hID4DQ&ved=0CEIQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=598


    Somebody is watching you. Might be the Queen!

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    Replies
    1. Shakespeare knew enough back in those days to keep his opinions on contemporary affairs to himself, and wasn't above doing a little sucking up on the side. Thus, he was able to die in his own bed.

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  2. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today warned that expanding spy agencies expand the size and cost of the federal government while encroaching on the freedom of the American people. On the House floor, Kucinich challenged the plan to expand the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency and asked what our 13 other spy agencies are up to.

    ...

    “Big government leads to a big national security state which leads to Big Brother getting fat on tax dollars while we have less freedom.”

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. I am beginning to see a common concern about the size and reach and the intrusion of government.

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  5. But of course -

    Cops to Congress: We need logs of Americans' text messages

    State and local law enforcement groups want wireless providers to store detailed information about your SMS messages for at least two years -- in case they're needed for future criminal investigations.

    http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57556704-38/cops-to-congress-we-need-logs-of-americans-text-messages/

    We are all becoming suspects now.

    ((((in case they're needed for future criminal investigations))))



    Can the political parties be far behind? They must need their internal intelligence services too.

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  6. And the farmers are beginning to need their security service as well =

    ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - As if it’s not bad enough that Missouri farmers are trying to survive the worst drought in decades, now many of them are facing a new problem that’s costing them big bucks.

    Missouri Farm Bureau president Blake Hurst says thieves are actually targeting those big bundles of hay that are left out in fields prior to being harvested, hauling them off and selling the valuable commodity.

    “Of course, no one brands their hay so if you hook onto it with your tractor or your pickup and make it out the gate, then it’s impossible to prove where the hay came from,” Hurst said.

    With winter approaching and grass dying out, the price for fresh hay to feed livestock is on the rise, and Hurst says that makes unguarded bales a tempting target.

    Ironically, it’s because of the ongoing drought that fresh hay has become so valuable with the winter season fast approaching.

    And it’s not just Missouri. This trend is happening in farm states across the country, so much so that some are now putting global positioning trackers inside their bales, in case they’re stolen.



    Farm Bureau of Investigation - FBI



    (((( so much so that some are now putting global positioning trackers inside their bales))))

    heh

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  7. The DIA played an extensive and largely hidden role in JSOC operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, sending analysts into war zones and turning a large chunk of its workforce and computer systems in Virginia into an ana-lytic back office for JSOC.

    The head of U.S. Special Operations Command, Adm. William H. McRaven, who directed the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, has pledged to create between 100 and 200 slots for undercover DIA operatives to work with Special Forces teams being deployed across North Africa and other trouble spots, officials said.

    “Bill McRaven is a very strong proponent of this,” the senior Defense official said.

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  8. Obama publicly told the increasingly isolated Assad not to unleash the “worst weapons of the 20th century" in the 21st, capping a day of alarming American warnings on the Syrian regime's intentions.

    Too bad Obama isn’t alarmed by the shit going on here. Too busy gazing at 59 Xmas trees in the palace.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This whole issue would seem to me to be a winning issue for any politician to take up, whatever party. Once the people get it firmly in their noggins that it is they themselves that are being spied on they won't like it. It's alright to spy on the other guy for security's sake, but not my stuff. Even if people consider themselves totally beyond suspicion, no one wants their private stuff on file somewhere.

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  9. A blonde goes to the post office to buy stamps for her Christmas cards. She says to the clerk, "May I have 50 Christmas stamps?"

    The clerk says, "What denomination?" The blonde says, "God help us. Has it come to this? Give me 22 Catholic, 12 Presbyterian, 10 Lutheran, and 6 Baptists".

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    Replies
    1. That's high on the Presbyterians and Lutherans, low on the Baptists. No wonder she's called a dumb blond.

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  10. Movie review -

    Wife and daughter have been raving about this -

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_of_Pi

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  11. .

    Few really care about the growth in the surveillance capability of the US government or how it affects them.

    When we talk about the advances in data gathering, all people think about is how soon they will be able to get a 5G phone.

    The WaPo put out and expansive series last year on the growth of the octopus since 2001. The two-year investigation by Dana Priest and William Arkin pointed out

    Key findings

    The report states that in approximately 10,000 locations aross the United States, 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies are employed. Their work is related to homeland security, counterterrorism, and intelligence.

    More than two-thirds of these locations "reside" in the Department of Defense, where "only a handful of senior officials — called Super Users — have the ability to even know about all the department's activities."

    An estimated 854,000 people hold top-secret security clearances.

    The publicly announced cost of the U.S. intelligence system is "$75 billion, 2½ times the size it was on Sept. 10, 2001. But the figure doesn't include many military activities or domestic counterterrorism programs."

    Since September, 2001, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are either under construction or have been built. The total area is approximately 17 million square feet, equivalent to about three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings.

    Analysts within the agencies publish about 50,000 intelligence reports each year.[18]

    Every day, the National Security Agency intercepts and stores 1.7 billion phone calls, e-mails, and "other types of communications", but is able to sort only a "fraction" of these into 70 different databases.[3]


    The story lasted about a week or two, less time than the Zimmerman story down in Florida.

    This country is more interested in Facebook, the latest I-Pad, $4 gas, and the availiability of free condoms.

    .

    .

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