Curated knowlege, trenchant insights & witty bon mots
The FBI is sending out over 30,000 national security letters per year, asking for financial, telephone and Internet records of ordinary Americans. That's a 100-fold increase over historic norms, says a Washington Post story. Americans who like this practice can thank the Patriot Act. Some excerpts: ”National security letters,” created in the 1970s for espionage [...]
Sun, November 6 2005 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page » 4 Comments
In 1961, Daniel Schorr, then with CBS, and his cameraman got morning footage of East German troops laying barbed wire in Berlin on that night's 11 p.m. news. That was considered blazingly fast back then — paradigm-shifting, even. Consider how things have changed. Some excerpts from the NYT story: Those days seem as distant as candlelight and clipper ships [...]
Sun, November 6 2005 » Main Page » Comments Off
Cambodians were shocked to learn that their government had privatized Cheung Ek, the most notorious of the “killing fields” of the autogenocidal Khmer Rouge. This NYT piece suggests they shouldn't have been — that corruption and greed are driving a firesale of Cambodia's public assets. An excerpt: There is little to see here but gaping pits [...]
Sun, November 6 2005 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page » Comments Off
The NYT reports that an important al Qaeda suspect captured in 2002 was identified as a probable liar by the Defence Information Agency when it came to his claims that Iraq had taught al Qaeda operatives how to use biological and chemical weapons. The report is based on newly declassified documents. An excerpt. The document, [...]
Sun, November 6 2005 » * Big Picture Stuff, Main Page » Comments Off