MSNBC is reporting that the "Terrorism Information Awareness" program, until recently under the direction of that paragon of democratic integrity, John Poindexter, is finally being officially discontinued. Mostly. Earlier reports of its demise were, in my opinion, so heavily couched with qualifying language that any celebration was premature. I'm not holding my breath that this thing is going to stay dead this time either. It's just going to spread out and be harder to track.
I must observe that this used to be called TOTAL Information Awareness, and the the renaming effort (or did MSNBC just get it wrong?) is totally creepy. (Note to self: find good synonyms for "Orwellian.")
Editorial observation:
Why does MSNBC say:
"Poindexter, who was forced to resign as former President Reagan’s national security adviser over his role in the Iran-Contra scandal, quit DARPA last month under fire over the surveillance program."
instead of fessing up that the guy was freaking convicted of five (!) felonies, including conspiracy and lying to Congress about an unconstitutional governmental black-op, that was in fact a huge affront and threat to the governance of the US?
(Poindexter's convictions were overturned on appeal, prevailing in his argument that his trial was impermissibly tainted by his immunized statements. The witnesses that were tainted were Oliver North and Ronald Reagan.)
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