hell’s handmaiden

Lets start with the light stuff.

There is Lonelygirl15, a curious bit of corporate sponsored false reality– perhaps. ((Be sure to read comment #1))

Lonelygirl15 appears to be an innocent, home-schooled 16-year-old, pouring her heart out for her video camera in the privacy of her bedroom. But since May, her brief posts on the video-sharing site YouTube and the social networking hub MySpace have launched a Web mystery eagerly followed by her million-plus viewers: Who is this sheltered ingenue who calls herself “Bree,” and is she in some sort of danger — or, worse, the tool of some giant marketing machine?

Making Orwell Proud

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has released an analysis of some of the files its recieved concerning the EFF suit against AT&T for its involvement in the US government’s domestic spying program. There is a synopsis of the report at wired.blogs. Of interest is…

The internet surveillance program covers domestic traffic, not just international traffic. Marcus notes that the AT&T spy rooms are “in far more locations than would be required to catch the majority of international traffic”; the configuration in the San Francisco office promiscuously sends all data into the secret room; and there’s no reliable way an analysis could infer a user’s physical location from their IP address. This, of course, directly contradicts President Bush’s description of the “Terrorist Surveillance Program.”

The Cheney/Libby Lie Machine

Cheney wrote on the article, “Have they done this sort of thing before? Send an ambassador to answer a question? Do we ordinarily send people out pro bono to work for us? Or did his wife send him on a junket?”Libby told the agents and the grand jury that he believed he had learned from reporters that Plame is married to Wilson and had forgotten that Cheney had told him that in the weeks before Wilson’s article was published.

Cheney May Be Called in CIA Leak Case

Also…

Just because there is no evidence…

Well, creationism isn’t the only bit of quack science chewing at the entrails of civilization.

Says Prince Charles:

“The proper mix of proven complementary, traditional and modern remedies, which emphasises the active participation of the patient, can help to create a powerful healing force in the world.”

BBC NEWS | Health | Doctors attack ‘bogus’ therapies

He continues to defend the “ancient traditions that intuitively understood the need to maintain balance and harmony with our minds, bodies and the natural world.”

Yes, oh?

Is this what Bush means when he says “We don’t spy on Americans”?

In 2003 AT&T built “secret rooms” hidden deep in the bowels of its central offices in various cities, housing computer gear for a government spy operation which taps into the company’s popular WorldNet service and the entire internet. These installations enable the government to look at every individual message on the internet and analyze exactly what people are doing. Documents showing the hardwire installation in San Francisco suggest that there are similar locations being installed in numerous other cities.

AMERICAblog: Because a great nation deserves the truth