Remember Admiral John M. Poindexter, a man who can make Dick Cheney seem almost warm and fuzzy? Do you wonder what ever happened to him? So does Ted Rall, as the cartoonist/commentator worries for all of us about Poindexter and his ilk -- unbridled spies peering through our windows, listening to our conversations, picking through our trash, all in the name of protecting us from enemies that conveniently will always be out there, somewhere.
"Civil libertarians relaxed when, in September 2003, Republicans bowed to public outcry and cancelled Total Information Awareness. TIA was a covert 'data mining' operation run out of the Pentagon by creepy Iran-Contra figure John Poindexter. Bush Administration marketing mavens had tried to dress up the sinister 'dataveillance' spook squad -- first by changing TIA to Terrorism Information Awareness, then to the Information Awareness Office -- to no avail. 'But,' wondered the Electronic Frontier Foundation watchdog group a month after Congress cut its funding, 'is TIA truly dead?'"
Click here to read The Return of Total Information Awareness.
Since 1985, in various formats, SLANT -- an independent voice based in Richmond's Fan District -- has offered its readers original commentary on politics and popular culture, including cartoons and selected sundries. Warning: Sometimes that means satirical content. All rights are reserved.
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