Yearly Archives: 2007

Dump Duhbya

The Rising TIDE

Terror Database Has Quadrupled In Four Years, By Karen DeYoung, Washington Post Staff Writer

Each day, thousands of pieces of intelligence information from around the world — field reports, captured documents, news from foreign allies and sometimes idle gossip — arrive in a computer-filled office in McLean, where analysts feed them into the nation’s central list of terrorists and terrorism suspects.

Called TIDE, for Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, the list is a storehouse for data about individuals that the intelligence community believes might harm the United States. It is the wellspring for watch lists distributed to airlines, law enforcement, border posts and U.S. consulates, created to close one of the key intelligence gaps revealed after Sept. 11, 2001: the failure of federal agencies to share what they knew about al-Qaeda operatives.

But in addressing one problem, TIDE has spawned others. Ballooning from fewer than 100,000 files in 2003 to about 435,000, the growing database threatens to overwhelm the people who manage it. …

TIDE has also created concerns about secrecy, errors and privacy. The list marks the first time foreigners and U.S. citizens are combined in an intelligence database. The bar for inclusion is low, and once someone is on the list, it is virtually impossible to get off it. At any stage, the process can lead to “horror stories” of mixed-up names and unconfirmed information, Travers acknowledged.

The watch lists fed by TIDE, used to monitor everyone entering the country or having even a casual encounter with federal, state and local law enforcement, have a higher bar. But they have become a source of irritation — and potentially more serious consequences — for many U.S. citizens and visitors.

In 2004 and 2005, misidentifications accounted for about half of the tens of thousands of times a traveler’s name triggered a watch-list hit, the Government Accountability Office reported in September. …

Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said last year that his wife had been delayed repeatedly while airlines queried whether Catherine Stevens was the watch-listed Cat Stevens. The listing referred to the Britain-based pop singer who converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. The reason Islam is not allowed to fly to the United States is secret. [mjh: As long as Ted Stevens is suffering, I’m OK with this.] …

TIDE is a vacuum cleaner for both proven and unproven information, and its managers disclaim responsibility for how other agencies use the data. …

Every night at 10, TIDE dumps an unclassified version of that day’s harvest — names, dates of birth, countries of origin and passport information — into a database belonging to the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center. TIDE’s most sensitive information is not included. The FBI adds data about U.S. suspects with no international ties for a combined daily total of 1,000 to 1,500 new names.

Uncategorized

Other Blogs

I have several blogs because I like to keep some topics separate. I also post photos on flickr (some call that a photo-blog). I appreciate you taking the time to look at these sites:

Wilderness and Chaco — www.mjhinton.com/wild/
Computers and the Web — www.mjhinton.com/help/
Photos by mjh — www.flickr.com/photos/mjhinton/

I also host several blogs and other websites. These can be reached by www.edgewiseblog.com.

I read a lot of blogs now and then, especially on computer topics. Here, I will identify just a few general blogs I think you’ll find interesting and thought-provoking (but that’s redundant, isn’t it). mjh

Albloggerque
http://albloggerque.blogspot.com/

Cocoposts
http://cocoposts.typepad.com/

Duke City Fix
http://www.dukecityfix.com/

jfleck at inkstain
http://inkstain.net/fleck/

Judy’s Jottings
http://judysjottings.wordpress.com/

loco

The Million Dollar Coach

I truly could NOT care less about sports. I have zero interest in professional, academic or amateur sports. No interest at all in sports. None the less, I believe physical activity is vital. By all means, get out and be active, including participating in sports. I play volleyball every week with my friends.

My revulsion is in sports as a religion and business. My disgust is over sports for money and the corporate welfare that benefits sports. It sickens me that people get rich through sports — especially people who are not athletes themselves. It saddens me that fanatics know everything about sports trivia and less about the condition of the world. Our society squanders huge amounts of money, time, attention, focus and brain-power on corporate sports (in which I include anything involving pay).

Am I suggesting that a gifted athlete who works very hard to improve himself or herself deserves no money for that effort. Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. Do it because you love it. Do it because it makes you healthier, stronger, more attractive. You want to get rich in the process?

Oh, but how can anyone become the world’s greatest [insert sporting position of your choice] without compensation. Well, frankly, I don’t care, but I suspect love and devotion will take you pretty far. You want a dump truck full of money, too?

My bile has risen because UNM just hired a coach for nearly ONE MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR. A coach, someone who “loves the game.” Countless people believe one coach can easily be worth so much money. People who won’t make one million dollars in their lifetimes still believe one person is so much more valuable than they are themselves. That’s some self-esteem.

The Million-Dollar-Coach will make $400,000 more than the new President of the University. You might think that says enough about the priorities of our state educational institution — the coach of a handful of athletes is worth almost twice what the leader of the entire university makes. But don’t ignore that there is very limited money for everyone else at the university. The University is a community of students, teachers and other staff (and our families). Everyone in this community is important. We all need some support, some give and take, a share of the pie. In comes a big pig and there’s less for the rest of us. Simple, isn’t it? I have to go vomit now.
mjh

PS- I’ve been “temporary part-time faculty” at UNM for almost 20 years (without common benefits). The pay for all my colleagues at the Division of Continuing Education was drastically cut some years ago; we’ve never quite come back. Even if none of this were true, I’d still hate sports more than religion.

Daily Lobo – Alford to rake in $975,000 a year by Steven Fernandez

[Steve] Alford, officially introduced as the new UNM men’s basketball head coach on Friday, will be making an annual salary of $975,000 – nearly twice the amount of former head coach Ritchie McKay, who was fired Feb. 22. …

David Schmidly, UNM’s next president, said Alford is a great hire for the basketball team.

Schmidly will make more than $500K, by Caleb Fort

The Board of Regents approved the five-year contract for Schmidly, UNM’s next president, on Friday.

Annually, Schmidly will get a $380,000 salary, $120,000 deferred compensation, a $42,000 car allowance and a $45,000 housing allowance. [mjh: $587,000-a-year, about 60% of the coach’s salary.]

Louis Caldera, UNM’s former president, had a salary of $293,000.

Bill to increase pay for part-time faculty by Bryan Gibel

The best-paid instructors in the sciences make about $8,000 per course on Main Campus, while instructors at UNM’s Valencia County branch earn less than $2,000, Niame said. … [mjh: I make about $400 for a workshop; I made about $4000 in 2006.]

Niame said there are about 1,200 faculty members who teach part-time in the UNM system, but they aren’t specifically included in the budget.

“We do not exist in UNM’s budget, and we’re not considered when the Board of Regents looks at the budget,” she said. “We’re not considered true employees. We work semester-to-semester, which means we get no benefits, and we have no job security. We’re nonentities in a lot of ways.” …

Jamie Koch, president of the Board of Regents, said the University will not increase wages for part-timers out of its own budget.

“We’re not increasing salaries for part-time faculty,” he said.

Uncategorized

The New World Order in Darfur

A Darfur Village Bears Up Under Janjaweed Yoke By Stephanie McCrummen, Washington Post Foreign Service

The story of Kuteri is in many ways emblematic of a conflict that is slipping from crisis into a more chronic state of dysfunction.

Now in its fifth year, a military campaign by the Sudanese government to crush a rebel movement in Darfur has almost completely reordered the region’s demographics. The conflict is complex but comes down to one in which the government has armed and supported certain nomadic Arab tribesmen against the region’s farming villagers, who are predominantly black Africans.

At least 450,000 people have died from disease and violence in the conflict, and more than 2.5 million — around half the area’s entire population — have fled to vast displacement camps whose numbers continue to swell. …

Since the Janjaweed came in early 2003, some families have fled Kuteri for what seemed like the relative safety of the camps, but others could not or did not want to leave. …

Even as humanitarian organizations remain focused on helping the millions of displaced people, there is growing concern that some of the vast camps encircling towns in Darfur are becoming semi-permanent settlements of people dependent on aid and increasingly alienated from village life.

In many camps, people have begun to build mud-brick homes, fences, gardens and other structures in a sign that they are settling in for a long stay. There have also been reports of youth gangs forming in the camps and other quasi-urban problems developing, aid workers said.

In that context, a few relief groups are attempting to help people who have expressed a desire to stay in their villages. …

So far, about 50 families from Kuteri … have packed their bags, loaded their donkeys and headed for a camp near Zalingei. And one day last week, another few families — totaling about 30 people — decided they had finally had enough of making nice with militiamen and wondering whether they would have enough food tomorrow.

In a scene repeated perhaps millions of times across Darfur, the families went house to house in the early morning, saying goodbye to their friends and relatives, who gave them cooking oil, soap and food to help them get through the first few days in the camp.

“All the families leaving are feeling sad,” Ismail said. “We tell them to go stay in the camp, and if you don’t like it, then you can come back.”

But not one family has returned, except for occasional visits, he said, and the village’s population is dwindling.

Dump Duhbya

Gore for President

I didn’t see anything about Gore’s testimony in today’s paper. (I didn’t watch TV news, so I don’t know what was shown on TV.) You can see Web-based video of various parts. In particular, see the first link below for Inhofe making an ass of himself and Boxer making a point he probably can’t really absorb. mjh

PS: Am I the only person disturbed by our society’s obsession with titles-for-life. Al Gore is NOT Senator Gore NOR Vice President Gore. He is former-Senator Gore or former-Vice President Gore or, hey, how about this, “Al” (I can live with Mr. Gore, if we need to be highfalutin’).

Think Progress » Boxer Slams Down Inhofe’s Global Warming Filibuster: ‘You Don’t Make The Rules Anymore’
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/21/gore-boxer-inhofe/

Think Progress » Gore: ‘If The Crib’s On Fire, You Don’t Speculate That The Baby Is Flame-Retardant’

Mocking global warming deniers, Gore said, “The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don’t say, well I read a science fiction novel that tells me it’s not a problem. If the crib’s on fire, you don’t speculate that the baby is flame-retardant. You take action. The planet has a fever.”

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/21/gore-barton/ [highlights]

Al Gore to Congress: “Today, the Honorable Al Gore testified before Congress saying, “I promise you a day will come when our children and grandchildren will look back and they’ll ask one of two questions. Either they will ask, ‘What in God’s name were they doing? Didn’t they see the evidence? … Or, they’ll ask another question. They may look back and they’ll say, ‘How did they find the uncommon moral courage to rise above politics and redeem the promise of American democracy?’”

http://www.speaker.gov/blog/?p=153 [three clips plus link to transcript]

Al’s Journal : Al’s Testimony Before the House of Representatives
http://blog.algore.com/2007/03/als_testimony_before_the_house.html [36 minute opening statement]

Poems

Happy Birthday, Billy Collins!

The Writer’s Almanac notes that today is Billy Collins’ 66 birthday. Time to re-read On Turning Ten or The Country (bottom of that page). Collins is one of my favorite poets — perhaps he and Frost share #2 and there is no #1 for me (though I could hardly imagine poets more different than Frost and Collins).

Time to trot out my tribute to Collins:

Billy

It doesn’t seem the least bit odd
that all the members of the orchestra
are dogs.
Some in tuxedos,
some in black gowns,
sitting, waiting — good dogs! —
for the conductor
to raise a long meaty bone.
Some clear their throats,
some drool,
none look away for a moment.

It doesn’t seem the least bit odd
that everyone in the audience
is in a tutu.
Men and women dressed for the
ballet, though this is a concert,
each holding a pen and pad
planning to pounce
to snatch some new idea.
As if Beethoven for Dogs
weren’t enough.

It doesn’t seem the least bit odd
in the end
when the conductor puts down his baton,
most of the meat shaken off
to the delight of the First Chair.
He turns and bows
and then I recognize him:
the poet laureate,
the old dog himself. mjh

8/13/02

PS: The WA includes a quote from Collins mentioning sex. I can’t think of any poem by Collins about sex. Maybe that’s why the poem of the day isn’t by Collins but is about sex, sorta.

PPS: Frost’s birthday is 3/26/1874.

Dump Duhbya

The Definition of Insanity

Bush Implores Nation, Congress To Show ‘Courage and Resolve’, By Michael A. Fletcher, Washington Post Staff Writer

President Bush asked skeptical Americans for additional patience as the Iraq war entered its fifth year yesterday, saying that the United States can be victorious, but “only if we have the courage and resolve to see it through.”

Poll Shows Dramatic Decline in How Iraqis View Lives, Future, By Cameron W. Barr and Jon Cohen, Washington Post Staff Writers

More than six in 10 Iraqis now say that their lives are going badly — double the percentage who said so in late 2005 — and about half say that increasing U.S. forces in the country will make the security situation worse, according to a poll of more than 2,200 Iraqis conducted for ABC News and other media organizations.

The survey, released Monday, shows that Iraqis’ assessments of the quality of their lives and the future of the country have plunged in comparison with similar polling done in November 2005 and February 2004.

Asked to compare their lives today with conditions before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the proportion of Iraqis who say things are better now has slipped below half for the first time. Forty-two percent say their lives have improved, down from 51 percent in 2005 and 56 percent in 2004. Thirty-six percent now say things in their lives are worse today, up from 29 percent in the 2005 poll, which was taken during a period of relative optimism ahead of parliamentary elections. Twenty-two percent say their lives are about the same. …

In November 2005, 27 percent of Baghdad residents polled said their lives were going badly; in the new survey, that percentage rose to 78. …

In the more comprehensive ABC News poll, conducted in partnership with the German television network ARD, the BBC and USA Today, Iraqis were asked whether the country was involved in a civil war; 42 percent said it was. Of the 56 percent who said the country was not in a state of civil war, more than four in 10 said such a conflict was likely.