>> http://progressive.org/mag_rothschild0308
> <b>Finally... an alert...</b> > Have a look at InfraGard -- the FBI's program to > develop a quasi-secret network of private businesses > that are shielded from normal transparency by trade > secrets laws, to assist in guarding national > infrastructure... and to get oligarchic privilieges, > in return. Yes, the Progressive is lefty and biased. > But the facts, alone, are utterly chilling. > http://progressive.org/mag_rothschild0308 Not sure I believe everything the article claimed, not without more verifiable data points, but it appears that the FBI's secretly created another way for Elites to separate themselves from regular people. But not even just any Elite, only Elite's among the Elite, those that hew to the proper ideology. What makes it worse is that a large part of the program is essentially a corporate TIPS/Stasi system, where perverse incentives allow corrupt members to turn in non-corrupt people / members in order to get ahead. Like all Conservative/Libertarian systems, the Corrupt rise to the top. > It makes you wonder: > 1) Are distractions like this the reason why the > professionals of the FBI have let us down? Running > around frantically obsessing on an amorphous > terrorist¢ foe that virtually doesn't exist.... and > to the extent that it does, is controlled by friends > of the administration and is being pumped up, around > the world by administration actions? Where are the > smart professionals who should be following REAL > leads... e.g. between domestic power brokers and > genuinely hostile foreign powers? Doing insipid BS > like <i>this?</i> > 2) Just how much of this can the next president > dismantle? Constituencies and agendas and terrible > momentum have already built. Things like InfraGard > cannot be dismantled without accusations of tearing > down our defense. Perhaps. But this system was built based on the principles of Opacity. It's still relatively unknown to the general public. Can what is built in the dark be more easily dismantled in the dark? > These is a way to neutralize the threat WHILE keeping > the aspects of these things that actually do some > good. It is called transparency. KEEP all these new, > paranoid endeavors. But strip them bare. Make clear > that there is <i>no need for levels of secrecy far > higher than we had when the enemy was a powerful and > insidious Soviet KGB! The very nature of the ¢terror > threat¢ is one that is best countered with light. > Secrecy is pointless, meaningless, counter productive, > stupid. > Ah, but secrecy and paranoia are the <b>objectives</b> > of this entire exercise. They are the goals, not the > means. Exactly. Secrecy, Elite Cronyism, Paranoia, conspiracy, and greed, these are some of the Principles of what I dub "Opacity", really the opposite of transparency. Whenever conservatives/libertarians/aristocrats gain power they will always try to subvert/suborn/create systems to implement opacity. Conservative/libertarian/aristocratic systems do not work well in the light of transparency. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
