perfidy

I see in this WaPo column that only $9M are being budgeted to the program this year, and about $20M next year. Though the article refers to this as "serious" cash, that's dead wrong--$9M is chicken change. Many members of Congress are against the program, and it looks like they want it to dangle quietly for a while and die.

Of course, the real question that paranoid types might ask is how many un-allocated funds will end up going to TIA, and whether the slim public budget is only a cunning ruse.

From various sources today I see this report which notes that, over the last five years, Republican legislatures have spent more than Democratic legislatures.

State legislatures controlled by Republicans increased spending an average of 6.54% per year from 1997 to 2002, compared with 6.17% for legislatures run by Democrats. State spending rose slowest -- 6% annually -- when legislatures were split, and each party controlled one chamber. Inflation averaged 2.55% annually 1997-2002.

Let's see... the Republicans spend like drunken sailors, don't like "the gays", are the party of Trent Lott, and are as a group socially conservative. They're my exact opposites!

Until the Lott affair, and the Santorum follow-up, I actually registered very briefly as a Republican (I live in New England, and I'm a contrarian by nature). I justified this decision by arguing that Republican legislatures support smaller government and more judicious spending of fewer funds. I now see I could not have been more wrong. No tent is big enough to hold both Rick Santorum and me.

Daniel Drezner and CalPundit agree with me about the Bush administration, which means I'm right. Or more accurately, it means they're right. I'm always right first.

For your information, as of about five minutes ago we moved to code orange. I discovered this when I found that one of the exits from my building was blocked, forcing me (and any terrorists) to walk an extra 20 yards to get a soda from the nice Eretrian vendor lady on the corner.

The Total Information Awareness network is now the Terrorist Information Awareness network. Riiight, because it was the NAME everyone had trouble with. 

[wik]  And now, meet "LifeLog." If the Pentagon ever get this idea (formerly known as Echelon- above criticism applies) off the ground, just forget about it, move to Tibet, and raise a glass in memory to the Constitution. The article is pretty puffy, and a little shameful. If the worst condemnation you can bring against a project like this is it might mistake Cory Doctorow for Osama bin Laden, you should probably spend some time sharpening your argument. 

[alsø wik]  Why does it worry me that the War people are the ones collecting all the information? Maybe because to a man with a hammer, everything looks like a bashy-thing. 
 

I must not think bad thoughts, or the person who writes under that name, has a post up about a supposed smear campaign by the US government against the French. It's interesting, especially in the aftermath of the Private Lynch: Daring Rescue, Or Street Theatre? flap the BBC perpetrated. Not to mention L'Affaire Blaine. The news is practically mental poison half the time anyway, and pretty much anybody can cite a statistic, couch it in a pungent turn of phrase, and throw it out there as "fact," whaver that is. Who believes the news anymore, anyway? Except for American Idol news. We like that.

In a related note, a couple weeks ago, I was out West* visiting some friends. These friends happen to be European and Europhiles, who have spent a substantial amount of time in France. We were arguing as people do these days over just who is the bigger a-hole, France or the USA. Both friends agreed that I would love France and the French, because, after all, I'm just like them.

After I regained my breath, I thought about it, and you know what? (shudder)

they're right.

Arrogant? Check!
Self-Important? Check!
Evangelical about (their particular) republican ideals? Check!
Certain they're right in all things? Oh, check! Check! Check!
Keen fashion sense and refined palate? Why, check, thank you!

Bottom line is, we might hate them, and they us, but it's only because culturally, we're more alike than most other peoples are. Kind of like brothers. They're the stinky ones who play in the band and collect bugs, and we're the good-looking atheletes who also volunteer time at the local shelter and excel at math. Yup, brothers.

*West, in New-England speak, refers to any locale from Worcester, MA, to Los Angeles or Seattle. I was out West.

That sound you hear? That's the universe spontaneously realigning itself to fit my wishes.

Antisocial contrarian that I am, I went with the wife to see the X-Men sequel this weekend, hoping all the fanboys, gamers, and backwards-hat mofos would be engrossed in the Matrix.

Everything really worth saying has already been said by Jacob Levy. I shall only add that it was wonderful to see another Marvel comic book movie succeed at balancing reverence for the material with the demands of the Hollywood script. It was just great, especially the human touches-- each character in the rather large cast was well-drawn, and acted with depth, panache, and a sense of fun. No Gnostic parables, just modern allegory, tight uniforms, and a whole lotta Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and fighting with knives.

I sure hope the bulk of this isn't true. Via Instapundit comes this front-line account arguing that things generally remain pretty crappy in Iraq, with power, order, and food still in short supply. More troops! More engineers! More food, water, and Humvees to carry them! And don't forget the X-Men action figures for the kiddies! Go!

Could it be that the MAGIC COLOR-ALERT TERROR WARNING RAINBOW SYSTEM is a-- no!-- political tool? This person sure thinks so.

I agree. I simply don't understand what is going on. This morning, watching the news with Goodwife Two-Cents, I sat through a featurette on the Saudi bombings that concluded with a note that "further attacks are expected imminently, possibly within the United States. The terror alert system is currently at yellow."

Call me nuts, but if Al Qaeda has just pulled off multiple successful attacks against westerners, doesn't that rate some renewed vigilance? After all, we raised the alert level to Tangerine when we libervaded Iraq, and Iraq isn't exactly sending terrorists out in waves against us. (Disagree? PROVE IT.) So why are we at Yellow, and why has Tom Ridge not yet gone on TV with that oddly cardboard avuncularness he's got and reminded us: a) we are winning the war; b) but buy duct tape anyway just in case; and c) look out for strangers?

Well, if the Terror Alert Rainbow isn't for alerting us about terror, what the hey is it for?

I can see a possible future where the President raises and lowers the Terror Alert every time he needs a campaign boost. Naw.... who would be that cynical?

nota bene: Even if Ridge is on the TV right now, comforting the nation even as I write this, I still don't take it back. I stand by my paranoid rantings, goldurnit!