- A bi-partisan congressional report slams yet another part of our Department of Homeland Security. Lawmakers, and even recently retired Homeland Security officials, say they are concerned the department’s research and development effort is bogged down by “bureaucratic games”, lack of strategic planning and failure to use money wisely.

Why does this matter to you? Because S&T is the group responsible for developing detection technology for explosives like the ones that were to be used in the recent plot that was foiled by the British. So while the British are alert, what are we doing? The Bush administration was quietly seeking permission to take away $6 million that was supposed to be spent this year developing explosives detection technology and use it to cover a budget shortfall. The administration also was slow to start testing a new liquid explosives detector that the Japanese government provided to the United States earlier this year.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060811/D8JEG1O01.html

- Richard Viguerie, one of the architects of the Reagan Revolution, is calling on fellow conservatives to withhold support of the Republican Party establishment and no longer even call themselves Republicans.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=51421

- The head of the city council in Naples (Italy) tries to make nice with Matthew Godfrey, a tourist from Utah. Two men stole Matthew’s camera and fled on a scooter with Matthew in hot pursuit, until a group of bystanders intervened. Instead of helping him, they punched and kicked him, allowing the muggers to escape. Upon release from the hospital, Mr. Godfrey understandably decided to leave Naples.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4777263.stm

- The amazing story of how a couple of programmers learned to break in to Apple and code for them without permission.

http://www.pacifict.com/Story/

-Ted Lee had to send his 4 month old Apple MacBook Pro in for service a week before he was due to attend the Apple World Wide Developer Conference (which starts this coming Monday). The tech on the phone said it would not be a problem getting it back in time, but Wednesday he found out that it was waiting on a part. In a “fit of desperation” he fired off an email to Apple’s executive team, and the next day he gets a phone call from someone who identifies himself as “Steve Job’s personal assistant”. Jobs had read the email and instructed his assistant to fix the situation. Apparently, Jobs found the line about the banana funny.

http://www.tedlee.net/2006/08/03/when-bad-customer-service-turns-good/

- Larry Buss, who helps organize the Apple and Pork Festival in Clinton, Ill.

“I don’t know where they get their information. We are talking about a flea market here.”

- Angela McNabb, manager of the Sweetwater Flea Market, 50 miles from Knoxville, Tenn.

“I am out in the middle of nowhere. We are nothing but a bunch of Amish buggies and tractors out here. No one would care.”

- Brian Lehman, owner of Amish Country Popcorn in Berne, Ind., who speculates that his business might be on the list “Maybe because popcorn explodes?”

The Clinton Apple and Pork Festival, the Sweetwater Flea Market, and Amish Country Popcorn are listed on the Department of Homeland Security’s list of critical potential terrorist targets. Other items on the list include Old MacDonald’s Petting Zoo in Woodville, Ala., the Mule Day Parade in Columbia, Tenn., Nix’s Check Cashing, and the vaguely unspecified “Mall at Sears,” “Ice Cream Parlor,” “Tackle Shop,” “Donut Shop,” “Anti-Cruelty Society,” “Bean Fest” and the popular “Beach at End of a Street.” The list is so flawed that it lists only 2 percent of the nation’s banking and finance sector assets, which ranks it between North Dakota and Missouri.

Jarrod Agen, the Department of Homeland Security’s deputy press secretary, responds “We don’t find it embarrassing. The list is a valuable tool.” Indeed, the list is used to divvy up hundreds of millions of dollars in antiterrorism grants each year, which may explain why in May, money to protect New York City and Washington DC was cut by 40%, while money was significantly increased for other cities including Louisville, KY, and Omaha, NE.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/12/washington/12assets.html?
hp&ex=1152676800&en=6b0502da91a3d945&ei=5094&partner=homepage

My question is whether the list, and the resulting money, favors “red states”?

- Ken Lay, who died today, defending his purchase of a $200,000 yacht for his wife’s birthday despite being convicted of business fraud, bank fraud, and lying, and being over $100 million in debt. Lay died before he could be sentenced for his crimes, and indeed, was vacationing in Colorado when he died.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13715925/

- AT&T spokesman John Britton’s explanation of their new “privacy policy”, which now says that AT&T — not customers — owns customers’ confidential info and can use it “to protect its legitimate business interests”. The policy also indicates that AT&T will track the viewing habits of customers of its new video service — something that cable and satellite providers are prohibited by law from doing. Moreover, AT&T now requires customers to agree to the updated privacy policy as a condition of service. Ray Everett-Church, a Silicon Valley privacy consultant, said it seems clear that AT&T has substantially modified its privacy policy in light of revelations about the government’s domestic spying program. “It’s obvious that they are trying to stretch their blanket pretty tightly to cover as many exposed bits as possible.”

So if you have phone service or TV service from AT&T (including the former SBC) they own the records of who you call, what videos you watch, and who knows what else, and can use them however they want.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/06/21/BUG9VJHB9C1.DTL&hw=at&sn=002&sc=870

- The US Military double-speaks that the suicides of three detainees at the US base at Guantanomo Bay, Cuba, were actually acts of war. Detainees at “Gitmo” are being held indefinitely without formal charges, without legal representation, and without judicial review. Some have been held for more than three years. The UK constitutional affairs minister says the camp should be moved to the US or shut down. “If it’s perfectly legal and there’s nothing going wrong there - well, why don’t they have it in America and then the American court system can supervise it?”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5068606.stm

- Sam Harris, discussing how when it comes to faith-based violence, religious moderates are part of the problem, not the solution.

http://www.alternet.org/story/36195