I have to say, I loved this video. It was great to see all those snippets of Julia. And the musical soundtrack is excellent.

Patrick Pexton, who served as The Washington Post's ombudsman until March of this year, has written an open letter to incoming Post owner Jeff Bezos in which he calls on him to make editorial page editor Fred Hiatt fire Jennifer Rubin, the paper's conservative columnist.

"Have Fred Hiatt, your editorial page editor -- who I like, admire, and respect -- fire opinion blogger Jennifer Rubin. Not because she's conservative, but because she's just plain bad," Pexton writes in the letter, which was published by Washington City Paper.

"She doesn't travel within a hundred miles of Post standards," Pexton argues. "She parrots and peddles every silly right-wing theory to come down the pike in transparent attempts to get Web hits. Her analysis of the conservative movement, which is a worthwhile and important beat that the Post should treat more seriously on its national pages, is shallow and predictable. Her columns, at best, are political pornography; they get a quick but sure rise out of the right, but you feel bad afterward."

While some violations are due to clerical error, others are just outright law-breaking on the part of the NSA. I'm not posting excerpts because you really need to read the whole story to get all the important info.

Suffice to say the NSA is careless with the information it accesses. The NSA also intentionally violates the law, and teaches its people how to hide this from those who provide oversight.

[FISC Chief Judge Reggie B. Walton] said the court lacks the tools to independently verify how often the government's surveillance breaks the court's rules that aim to protect Americans' privacy. Without taking drastic steps, it also cannot check the veracity of the government's assertions that the violations its staff members report are unintentional mistakes.
[...snip...]
"The FISC is forced to rely upon the accuracy of the information that is provided to the Court," its chief, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, said in a written statement to The Washington Post. "The FISC does not have the capacity to investigate issues of noncompliance, and in that respect the FISC is in the same position as any other court when it comes to enforcing [government] compliance with its orders."

Walton's comments came in response to internal government records obtained by The Post showing that National Security Agency staff members in Washington overstepped their authority on spy programs thousands of times per year. The records also show that the number of violations has been on the rise.

The court's description of its practical limitations contrasts with repeated assurances from the Obama administration and intelligence agency leaders that the court provides central checks and balances on the government's broad spying efforts. They have said that Americans should feel comfortable that the secret intelligence court provides robust oversight of government surveillance and protects their privacy from rogue intrusions.

The words "robust oversight" still lie there though.

Perhaps that's just an "oversight" from the administration.

There is also a secret photo gallery of secret mugshots of the judges of the secret court at the link. Although to give WAPO some credit clicking the photo gallery link forces you to sit through an obnoxious Goldman Sachs ad that makes you want to close the page, so the mugshots may remain secret. Oversight, you know...

Thanks to all who view the site and get some enjoyment out of it. Hopefully I can churn out a hundred more, since they tend to keep me sane better than any pill, tho I may take the weekend off since I'm broiling in SoCal heat. Peace, y'all.

Storm & Frisk.