Don't read AlterNet...

...if you like your bubble.

I'll skip the article about the drug war; anyone who cares to do a little research can see that it's a fundamentally bogus, for-profit institution serving the interests of the elite at the expense of the poor.

But here's some news:

70% of our intelligence budget goes to "private contractors," according to an article in The Nation (posted on AlterNet, thus). The list of companies who provide private intel operatives ( "mercenary spies," in the vulgar argot) includes Lockheed-Martin, one of the "defense" contractors that manufactures the weapons our government uses to fight the same "war on terror" our intelligence agencies investigate. So let's get this straight: the government is paying multinational corporations for intelligence about terrorist threats, and at least one of these companies makes the weapons that will be used to fight these terrorist threats. So what reason would this company have to ever STOP reporting terrorist threats, or in fact to not report any person or institution they didn't like as a terrorist? According to the Nation article, there is little or no oversight to stop this. Stephenson saw this coming back in the 80s, comrades. Welcome to corporate feudalism, please step to the next window to have your ID scanned.

From the, "What kind of idiot do you take me for? Wait, don't answer that" department: 56 counties in Ohio accidentally lost their 2004 election records. Accidentally. Fifty-six. Let those blend at high speed in your brain, then garnish liberally with the fact that Bush's second term came to us courtesy of the state of Ohio. Don't roll your eyes yet; yes, we all know that the Bush crew is fundamentally corrupt and will basically do anything they can get away with. What I'm telling you is: there is nothing they will not do. Any time their egregious violations of the law, they follow the same strategy: admit nothing, deny everything and make counter-accusations. They never have to prove their innocence, just to delay the process until they can commit another heinous crime that sends everyone spinning.


The people who shredded the election records belong to the same club as the people who sell intelligence and the people who use it. You can label them "Republicans," "capitalists," "criminals" or whatever else you like, but they are Our Corporate Masters and there is nothing they will not do to us to get what they want. Remember: during the early days of the labor movement, company bosses hired Pinkerton guards to machine-gun striking workers. They had no qualms about that and neither did the Pinkertons.


Someday we will have to stop talking and blogging and e-mail protesting about this shit, and put our bodies in harm's way to fight it.