There are 3 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. US plans massive data sweep
From: "norgesen" <norgeson@hotmail.com>
2. Are We Witnessing The Rise Of The Fourth Reich?
From: "norgesen" <norgeson@hotmail.com>
3. President Bush's State Of The World Speech
From: "norgesen" <norgeson@hotmail.com>
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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 08:46:17 -0500
From: "norgesen" <norgeson@hotmail.com>
Subject: US plans massive data sweep
US plans massive data sweep
Little-known data-collection system could troll news, blogs, even e-mails. Will it go too far?
By Mark Clayton | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
The US government is developing a massive computer system that can collect huge amounts of data and, by linking far-flung information from blogs and e-mail to government records and intelligence reports, search for patterns of terrorist activity.
The system - parts of which are operational, parts of which are still under development - is already credited with helping to foil some plots. It is the federal government's latest attempt to use broad data-collection and powerful analysis in the fight against terrorism. But by delving deeply into the digital minutiae of American life, the program is also raising concerns that the government is intruding too deeply into citizens' privacy.
"We don't realize that, as we live our lives and make little choices, like buying groceries, buying on Amazon, Googling, we're leaving traces everywhere," says Lee Tien, a staff attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "We have an attitude that no one will connect all those dots. But these programs are about connecting those dots - analyzing and aggregating them - in a way that we haven't thought about. It's one of the underlying fundamental issues we have yet to come to grips with."
The core of this effort is a little-known system called Analysis, Dissemination, Visualization, Insight, and Semantic Enhancement (ADVISE). Only a few public documents mention it. ADVISE is a research and development program within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), part of its three-year-old "Threat and Vulnerability, Testing and Assessment" portfolio. The TVTA received nearly $50 million in federal funding this year.
DHS officials are circumspect when talking about ADVISE. "I've heard of it," says Peter Sand, director of privacy technology. "I don't know the actual status right now. But if it's a system that's been discussed, then it's something we're involved in at some level."
Data-mining is a key technology
A major part of ADVISE involves data-mining - or "dataveillance," as some call it. It means sifting through data to look for patterns. If a supermarket finds that customers who buy cider also tend to buy fresh-baked bread, it might group the two together. To prevent fraud, credit-card issuers use data-mining to look for patterns of suspicious activity.
What sets ADVISE apart is its scope. It would collect a vast array of corporate and public online information - from financial records to CNN news stories - and cross-reference it against US intelligence and law-enforcement records. The system would then store it as "entities" - linked data about people, places, things, organizations, and events, according to a report summarizing a 2004 DHS conference in Alexandria, Va. The storage requirements alone are huge - enough to retain information about 1 quadrillion entities, the report estimated. If each entity were a penny, they would collectively form a cube a half-mile high - roughly double the height of the Empire State Building.
But ADVISE and related DHS technologies aim to do much more, according to Joseph Kielman, manager of the TVTA portfolio. The key is not merely to identify terrorists, or sift for key words, but to identify critical patterns in data that illumine their motives and intentions, he wrote in a presentation at a November conference in Richland, Wash.
For example: Is a burst of Internet traffic between a few people the plotting of terrorists, or just bloggers arguing? ADVISE algorithms would try to determine that before flagging the data pattern for a human analyst's review.
At least a few pieces of ADVISE are already operational. Consider Starlight, which along with other "visualization" software tools can give human analysts a graphical view of data. Viewing data in this way could reveal patterns not obvious in text or number form. Understanding the relationships among people, organizations, places, and things - using social-behavior analysis and other techniques - is essential to going beyond mere data-mining to comprehensive "knowledge discovery in databases," Dr. Kielman wrote in his November report. He declined to be interviewed for this article.
One data program has foiled terrorists
Starlight has already helped foil some terror plots, says Jim Thomas, one of its developers and director of the government's new National Visualization Analytics Center in Richland, Wash. He can't elaborate because the cases are classified, he adds. But "there's no question that the technology we've invented here at the lab has been used to protect our freedoms - and that's pretty cool."
As envisioned, ADVISE and its analytical tools would be used by other agencies to look for terrorists. "All federal, state, local and private-sector security entities will be able to share and collaborate in real time with distributed data warehouses that will provide full support for analysis and action" for the ADVISE system, says the 2004 workshop report.
A program in the shadows
Yet the scope of ADVISE - its stage of development, cost, and most other details - is so obscure that critics say it poses a major privacy challenge.
"We just don't know enough about this technology, how it works, or what it is used for," says Marcia Hofmann of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington. "It matters to a lot of people that these programs and software exist. We don't really know to what extent the government is mining personal data."
Even congressmen with direct oversight of DHS, who favor data mining, say they don't know enough about the program.
"I am not fully briefed on ADVISE," wrote Rep. Curt Weldon (R) of Pennsylvania, vice chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, in an e-mail. "I'll get briefed this week."
Privacy concerns have torpedoed federal data-mining efforts in the past. In 2002, news reports revealed that the Defense Department was working on Total Information Awareness, a project aimed at collecting and sifting vast amounts of personal and government data for clues to terrorism. An uproar caused Congress to cancel the TIA program a year later.
Echoes of a past controversial plan
ADVISE "looks very much like TIA," Mr. Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation writes in an e-mail. "There's the same emphasis on broad collection and pattern analysis."
But Mr. Sand, the DHS official, emphasizes that privacy protection would be built-in. "Before a system leaves the department there's been a privacy review.... That's our focus."
Some computer scientists support the concepts behind ADVISE.
"This sort of technology does protect against a real threat," says Jeffrey Ullman, professor emeritus of computer science at Stanford University. "If a computer suspects me of being a terrorist, but just says maybe an analyst should look at it ... well, that's no big deal. This is the type of thing we need to be willing to do, to give up a certain amount of privacy."
Others are less sure.
"It isn't a bad idea, but you have to do it in a way that demonstrates its utility - and with provable privacy protection," says Latanya Sweeney, founder of the Data Privacy Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University. But since speaking on privacy at the 2004 DHS workshop, she now doubts the department is building privacy into ADVISE. "At this point, ADVISE has no funding for privacy technology."
She cites a recent request for proposal by the Office of Naval Research on behalf of DHS. Although it doesn't mention ADVISE by name, the proposal outlines data-technology research that meshes closely with technology cited in ADVISE documents.
Neither the proposal - nor any other she has seen - provides any funding for provable privacy technology, she adds.
Some in Congress push for more oversight of federal data-mining
Amid the furor over electronic eavesdropping by the National Security Agency, Congress may be poised to expand its scrutiny of government efforts to "mine" public data for hints of terrorist activity.
"One element of the NSA's domestic spying program that has gotten too little attention is the government's reportedly widespread use of data-mining technology to analyze the communications of ordinary Americans," said Sen. Russell Feingold (D) of Wisconsin in a Jan. 23 statement.
Senator Feingold is among a handful of congressmen who have in the past sponsored legislation - unsuccessfully - to require federal agencies to report on data-mining programs and how they maintain privacy.
Without oversight and accountability, critics say, even well-intentioned counterterrorism programs could experience mission creep, having their purview expanded to include non- terrorists - or even political opponents or groups. "The development of this type of data-mining technology has serious implications for the future of personal privacy," says Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists.
Even congressional supporters of the effort want more information about data-mining efforts.
"There has to be more and better congressional oversight," says Rep. Curt Weldon (R) of Pennsylvania and vice chairman of the House committee overseeing the Department of Homeland Security. "But there can't be oversight till Congress understands what data-mining is. There needs to be a broad look at this because they [intelligence agencies] are obviously seeing the value of this."
Data-mining - the systematic, often automated gleaning of insights from databases - is seen "increasingly as a useful tool" to help detect terrorist threats, the General Accountability Office reported in 2004. Of the nearly 200 federal data-mining efforts the GAO counted, at least 14 were acknowledged to focus on counterterrorism.
While privacy laws do place some restriction on government use of private data - such as medical records - they don't prevent intelligence agencies from buying information from commercial data collectors. Congress has done little so far to regulate the practice or even require basic notification from agencies, privacy experts say.
Indeed, even data that look anonymous aren't necessarily so. For example: With name and Social Security number stripped from their files, 87 percent of Americans can be identified simply by knowing their date of birth, gender, and five-digit Zip code, according to research by Latanya Sweeney, a data-privacy researcher at Carnegie Mellon University.
In a separate 2004 report to Congress, the GAO cited eight issues that need to be addressed to provide adequate privacy barriers amid federal data-mining. Top among them was establishing oversight boards for such programs.
Some antiterror efforts die - others just change names
Defense Department
November 2002 - The New York Times identifies a counterterrorism program called Total Information Awareness.
September 2003 - After terminating TIA on privacy grounds, Congress shuts down its successor, Terrorism Information Awareness, for the same reasons.
Department of Homeland Security
February 2003 - The department's Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announces it's replacing its 1990s-era Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS I).
July 2004 - TSA cancels CAPPS II because of privacy concerns.
August 2004 - TSA says it will begin testing a similar system - Secure Flight - with built-in privacy features.
July 2005 - Government auditors charge that Secure Flight is violating privacy laws by holding information on 43,000 people not suspected of terrorism.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0209/p01s02-uspo.html?s=hns
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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 10:46:49 -0500
From: "norgesen" <norgeson@hotmail.com>
Subject: Are We Witnessing The Rise Of The Fourth Reich?
Are We Witnessing The Rise Of The Fourth Reich?
By Chuck Baldwin
February 7, 2006
Without a doubt, comparisons to Hitler have been overdone. It
seems that when a writer disagrees with the policies of a sitting
president, be he Republican or Democrat, there exists a ubiquitous
temptation to compare him with the ignoble German leader. Some
will no doubt charge this author with having succumbed to this
temptation. Perhaps I have.
However, as a student of both the Bible and history, I believe we in
America are living in times that are eerily reminiscent of the days
leading up to the rise of the Third Reich. If after reviewing this
thesis, the reader wants to dismiss its conclusions as insipid and
irrelevant, he or she is certainly free to do so.
On the other hand, it would do the reader good to heed the words
of George Santayana who said, "Those who cannot remember the
past are condemned to repeat it." If America is truly flirting with
any semblance of the fallacious and fallen Reich (which I believe it
is), it is incumbent upon each and every true American (especially
Christians) to renounce, reject, and repudiate such flirtations as
early and as vociferously as possible!
There are many facets and aspects of the Third Reich which could
and should be analyzed. For the purpose of this column, however, I
want to focus on the attitude and actions of the ministers and
churches of Germany at the time of Hitler's rise.
My focus upon the German church is predicated upon the fact that
as a Christian pastor (I have been the pastor of an Independent
Baptist Church for more than 30 years), it is my studied opinion
that any western nation will rise or fall according to the attitudes
and actions of its Christian leaders and churches. Scripture says,
"Judgment must begin at the house of God." Therefore, while any
nation might survive corrupt politicians, greedy merchants, and
sinful citizens, it cannot survive cowardly, compromising
churches! As the churches go, so goes the country!
In the case of Nazi Germany, it was the German churches first and
foremost that failed their country. It was the churches that provided
Hitler with moral and spiritual cover. It was the ministers and
churches that allowed Hitler to seduce the nation. Some ministers
were no doubt deceived themselves. Many others, like Adam,
partook of the forbidden fruit with their eyes wide open. Either
way, without the help and assistance of Germany's churches, the
Nazi Party could never have become such a horrible leviathan.
Therefore, let's examine the attitudes and actions of Germany's
ministers and churches and compare them to America's ministers
and churches today to see if there is any similarity.
As we delve into this material, I want to strongly recommend that
the reader purchase and devour a book to which I will repeatedly
refer. The book is entitled, "Hitler's Cross." It is written by Erwin
Lutzer and published by Moody Press. The book is absolutely
phenomenal! If you do not read any other book this year (beside
the Bible), read "Hitler's Cross."
Now, let's examine the evidence.
It is a fact that when Adolph Hitler began his ascent to power,
many, if not most, of Germany's Christians believed he was an
answer to their prayers. Lutzer says many Christians replaced
pictures of Christ in their homes with pictures of Hitler. They truly
believed Hitler was "God's man" for Germany. They believed that
to resist Hitler was to resist God. And why not?
As Lutzer notes, Hitler revived Germany's collapsed economy. He
eradicated the shame of Germany's defeat in WWI by reclaiming
the Rhineland. He gave generous vacations to the German people.
He created numerous trade schools that trained and equipped
Germany's workers. Thus, almost overnight, Germany's vast
unskilled labor force was replaced with highly skilled workers. In
fact, under Hitler, Germany had virtually no unemployment.
Furthermore, Hitler brought crime under control. He built freeways
and highways that were the envy of Europe. He literally brought
the German people out of poverty and despair and made them a
great and proud people once again. As a result, the German people,
including German Christians, loved him!
Unfortunately, as Hitler was building Germany's economy and
strengthening its military, he was also taking away the rights and
liberties of the German people. Remember, Germany was a
republic before Hitler came along. The principles of individual
freedom and constitutional government were at one time precious
to Germans. However, most German people were willing to gladly
trade their liberty and freedoms for Hitler's promise of security and
strength. It was a bad trade then. It is a bad trade now!
Lutzer documents the fact that at the time of Hitler's rise, there
were some 14,000 evangelical churches in Germany. To win the
support of these churches, Hitler literally wrapped himself and the
Nazi Party in the Cross of Jesus Christ. Even today, one can view
photos from Nazi parades showing the Cross of Christ highlighted
in the heart of the Nazi Swastika.
In short order, Germany's pastors and churches were convinced
that the Nazi Party was God's party and Hitler was God's man. By
the time Hitler consolidated power and became Germany's Fuhrer,
the Nazi Swastika was displayed proudly on the walls and halls of
Germany's churches, both Catholic and Protestant.
Germany's pastors often preached sermons supporting Hitler and
the Nazi Party. They told their congregants that to support any
other party or any other potential leader was to "fight against
God." Very soon, congregants who refused to swear loyalty to
Hitler were denied last rites and Holy Communion by Catholic
priests, while Protestant pastors excommunicated such members.
Romans chapter 13 was often quoted from Germany's pulpits as
scriptural justification for demanding loyalty to Hitler.
Even the famous Canadian pastor, Oswald J. Smith (Pastor of the
People's Church in Toronto), was taken with Hitler. In 1936 Smith
wrote, "What, you ask is the real attitude of the German people
toward Hitler? There is but one answer. They love him. Yes, from
the highest to the lowest, children and parents, old and young alike,
they love their new leader. They trust him to a man.
"What about your elections? I asked. 'We don't want another
party. We are satisfied with Hitler.' And that feeling exists
everywhere. Every true Christian is for Hitler. I know, for it was
from the Christians I got most of my information, and right or
wrong, they endorse Adolph Hitler." (Source: "Hitler's Cross" by
Erwin Lutzer, pp. 109, 110)
One German pastor, Julius Leutherser gushed, "Christ has come to
us through Hitler. [T]hrough his honesty, his faith and his idealism,
the Redeemer found us." (Source "Hitler's Cross" by Lutzer, p.
101)
Lutzer writes on page 102 of his book, "[I]n Hitler's day being a
good Christian involved being a good German nationalist. God and
country were practically one and the same."
Germany's Christians forgot that Christ's kingdom "is not of this
world." Their desire to restore Germany's greatness and their
patriotism somehow dwarfed their commitment to Christ and their
fidelity to republican principles. Accordingly, their trust in God
was supplanted with trust in Hitler, and their allegiance to
principles of freedom was replaced with allegiance to the Nazi
Party.
Of course, Hitler knew exactly what he was doing. He knew he
needed the support of Germany's churches and pastors and he
played the role of Christian leader magnificently. Privately,
however, he despised Germany's clergymen. He said, "The
parsons will dig their own graves. They will betray their God to us.
They will betray anything for the sake of their miserable jobs and
incomes." How right he was!
Out of 14,000 German ministers, all but 800 gave Hitler their
unequivocal and unflinching loyalty. Among the 800 was the great
Christian patriot Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was later assassinated
by Hitler's henchmen. Virtually all of the 800 courageous pastors
who refused to support Hitler were sent to concentration camps.
What would have happened had 10,000 ministers in Germany
resisted Hitler? What would have happened if 10,000 ministers
would have refused to compromise their loyalty to Jesus Christ,
their commitment to republican principles, and their devotion to
sacred duty? What would have happened if 10,000 Christian
ministers had not allowed the National Socialist Party to supplant
their loyalty to God's Word?
It seems clear to me that the attitudes and actions of Nazi
Germany's ministers and churches are being repeated in the United
States today. To a large degree, Evangelicals have wrapped the
Cross of Christ in the banner of the Republican Party. They quote
Romans chapter 13 to justify their unflinching, yes, even blind
support for President Bush. They are willing to surrender their
freedoms and liberties so that President Bush might protect them.
Pictures of the president almost universally line the halls and walls
of our churches, Christian schools, and pastors' offices. They
castigate and denigrate in the most caustic terms anyone who dares
to challenge or even question President Bush. They are willing to
let the president lead them into multiple wars, even wars of
aggression, based solely on Bush's word. They refuse to hold the
president accountable to the principles of our Constitution and Bill
of Rights. It seems to me that President Bush has taken on the aura
of an American Fuhrer in the minds of many Evangelicals.
Just how far are Evangelicals willing to allow Bush to go? They
already support unbridled spying on American citizens. They have
gladly surrendered their Fourth Amendment rights. Would they be
willing to support the imprisonment of fellow Christians who don't
support Bush if the Department of Homeland Security ordered it?
I believe many would. And if so, how is that different from the
attitudes of Christians in Nazi Germany?
Again, readers may dismiss my observations as inane if they want
to. However, please notice that the focus of this column was not so
much on Hitler but on the attitudes and actions of Germany's
ministers and churches.
If the reader can honestly and objectively look at the history of
Germany's ministers and churches and see no similarity to the
attitudes and actions of America's ministers and churches today, so
be it. To me, however, the similarities are striking!
� Chuck Baldwin
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Message: 3
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 10:44:45 -0500
From: "norgesen" <norgeson@hotmail.com>
Subject: President Bush's State Of The World Speech
President Bush's State Of The World Speech
By Chuck Baldwin
February 3, 2006
George W. Bush might be a Republican. He might be a Texan. He
might even be a nice guy. However, after listening to his State of
the World speech last Tuesday, one thing is for certain: George W.
Bush is not a conservative! He is plainly a globalist!
He was barely into his speech when he boldly asserted that
America is proudly leading a "world economy." Obviously, Mr.
Bush is not really interested in the U.S. economy. It may be that he
doesn't even think in those terms.
Of course, there is good reason for President Bush to focus on the
"world economy" (whatever that is) instead of the U.S. economy.
According to Paul Craig Roberts (quoting the January 19 issue of
Manufacturing & Technology News), "During Bush's presidency
the U.S. has experienced the slowest job creation on record (going
back to 1939). During the last five years, private business has
added only 958,000 net new jobs to the economy, while the
government has added 1.1 million jobs."
The "economic recovery" Bush speaks of is mostly the new jobs of
waiting tables and serving booze. In reality, America is in a job
depression, all the Bush-speak notwithstanding.
Furthermore, Roberts quotes McMillion as reporting that "during
the past five years of Bush's presidency, the U.S. has lost 16.5% of
its manufacturing jobs." The biggest culprit, of course, is
government-generated "free trade" deals and mass job outsourcing
which has skyrocketed under the Bush administration. In fact,
"free trade" outsourcing is so bad that the U.S. has run up nearly
$3 trillion in trade deficits during the Bush years.
Roberts properly summarized the impact President Bush has had
upon the U.S. economy by saying, "Globalization is wiping out the
American middle class and terminating jobs for university
graduates, who now serve as temps, waitresses and bartenders."
No wonder President Bush likes to talk about a "world economy."
But it doesn't stop there.
In the very next paragraph, Bush said, "[W]e seek the end of
tyranny in our world."
Not only is Bush a globalist, he is a utopian. Does he really believe
that one country can end tyranny and oppression all over the
world? If so, how will he do it? Does he intend to invade China,
Cuba, The Sudan, Zimbabwe, plus most Middle Eastern and most
African countries? Is G.W. Bush President of the United States or
king of the world? I wonder if he knows.
Mr. Bush redundantly promoted globalism and utopianism in his
speech with statements such as, "The U.S. will not retreat from the
world." We will "move the world toward peace." We will "lead the
world toward freedom." "We will compete and excel in the global
economy." Ad infinitum. Ad nauseam.
Moreover, while President Bush repeatedly told us that Iraq is
experiencing "the benefits of freedom," he boldly told the
American people that they were in the process of losing theirs. Of
course, he did not say it in those terms, but that is the net result of
his intention to continue to ignore the Constitution and rule of law
in turning the federal government's military and intelligence
apparatus against its own citizens.
Mr. Bush even had the audacity to say that immigrants (translated:
illegal immigrants) are necessary to America's well-being. He
went so far as to say, "[T]his economy could not function without
them." I suppose Mr. Bush believes that America could not
function without the Mafia dons, either!
All-in-all, the speech was laced with accolades for globalism and
utopianism and with calls for bigger and more intrusive
government. Yes, George W. Bush might be a Republican. He
might be a Texan. He might even be a nice guy. However, he is
anything but a conservative!
� Chuck Baldwin
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