Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court of "Review"

So, let me get this straight. The FISC, which "considers surveillance and physical search orders from the Department of Justice and US intelligence agencies", already of questionably broad powers, has itself been circumvented by the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review and John Ashcroft.

In May of this year, the FISC concluded that proposed actions designed to "intensify the use of secret surveillance in the United States", "...are NOT reasonably designed, in light of their purpose and technique, 'consistent with the need of the United States to obtain, produce, or disseminate foreign intelligence information' as defined in §1801(h) and §1821(4) of the [Federal Intelligence Surveillance] Act."

The FISC released declassified material regarding this ruling in August of this year, which specifically includes reference to 75 instances of abuses of surveillance warrants under the Bush and Clinton administrations.

So, just to nutshell it, here, this Court rarely turns down requests for warrants, yet dug in its heels this year against the motion that the Court "rescind all 'wall' procedures in all international terrorism surveillances and searches now pending before the Court, or that has been before the Court at anytime in the past".

They said no. More specifically, they said,

"Under the normal 'wall' procedures, where there were separate intelligence and criminal investigations, or a single counter-espionage investigation with overlapping intelligence and criminal interests, FBI criminal investigators and Department prosecutors were not allowed to review all of the raw FISA intercepts or seized materials lest they become defacto partners in the FISA surveillances and searches. Instead, a screening mechanism, or person, usually the chief legal counsel in a FBI field office, or an assistant U.S. attorney not involved in the overlapping criminal investigation, would review all of the raw intercepts and seized materials and pass on only that information which might be relevant evidence. In unusual cases such as where attorney-client intercepts occurred, Justice Department lawyers in OIPR acted as the 'wall'. In significant cases, involving major complex investigations such as the bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Africa, and the millennium investigations, whem criminal investigations of FISA targets were being conducted concurrently, and prosecution was likely, this Court became the "wall" so that FISA information could not be disseminated to criminal prosecutors without the Court's approval. In some cases where this Court was the "wall," the procedures seemed to have functioned as provided in the Court's orders; however, in an alarming number of instances, there have been troubling results."

So, of course, if the judges you're in front of say something you don't like, well, go get some different ones. Empanel a Federal Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, and let them say "yes" to you. Which is exactly what happened.

Great.

Huh. Neat.

Faz sent this my way over the weekend...Beliefnet.com has something called the Belief-O-Matic. That is, hands down, the best name for a religion quiz ever. But, man, it was weird taking it. I mean, for me, so many of the questions just had no relevance. That doesn't mean it wasn't worth taking, just that I wasn't too surprised by the prevalance of Buddhism of one flavor of another at the top of the results list.

An interesting exercise.

Chamber of Secrets

Janis has already written a review that shares several of my perceptions, I almost hesitated to add anything of my own. But I'll try. I'll also try to not actually spoil, or much.

1. I loved Professor Sprout and the mandrake babies.

2. Quite possibly, and I know this is silly, my favorite part of the movie may have been the 2-cart pileup when Ron and Harry couldn't get to the platform. There was just something so, so perfect about it. The way everything goes flying and attracts Muggle attention. It's just one of those little moments to treasure.

3. Gilderoy Lockhart -- Kenneth, you were perfectly cast and perfectly played. Thank you. And thank you to the costume department! His outfits! In fact, well I've got that a number of its own, farther down.

4. I'm somewhere between Ron and Harry's reactions to spiders, and I just loved Ron's escalation of fear during their traipse through the Forbidden Forest.

5. Polyjuice Potion.

6. Costuming. Harry, having access to money after a fashion now, still dresses pretty dowdy as a Muggle, but it fits better. Quite appropriate. Every knitter I know is dying to do some of the work seen ALL OVER THE PLACE in these movies. Mrs. Weasley's outfit -- the crochet sleeves when we first see her, perfect, the little froth of whatever at her throat when she was in robes, everything she wears and does places her so perfectly as Molly Weasley it is really a joy to see her anytime she's onscreen. (I am overjoyed that we get to see more of all the Weasleys as a rule, as the books go on.)

7. The Howler!! God, I loved it, including the polite aside to Harry and the message to Ginny.

8. Ron and Hermione at the end. Nice foreshadowing.

Some more general remarks:

1. The effects really stayed in the background this time -- not dull, just in the background. I'm kind of subtly amazed by that. See, the first movie [Sorcerer's Stone, or Philosopher's Stone, depending on your locale], just like the first book, spent a lot of time introducing the world to you, through introducing it to Harry. You expect a lot of gee-whiz moments, and rightly so. Now that we've been around a year, it's natural to take things for granted that were stunning and in the front of our minds when we first saw them. However, in movieland, it's very easy for sequels to fall into the "bigger, better, faster" trap. It is a pleasure to find that Secrets did not. Must be the distance from Hollywood. In addition, the CGI work was really natural and seamless. Nothing irritating leapt out at me.

2. Keeping the character's voices while they're transmogrified -- and thus actually played by others -- was absolutely inspired. It really keeps you aware as a viewer that you're still watching Our Heroes. Very, very finely tuned choice on that.

3. As a fan, I want to point out something before people get worked up about it. Two things, actually. One is that actors frequently play ages other than their own, and since Rowling says little on so-n-so suffering growing pains in any particular book or anything, there's no canonical reason Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Tom Felton, and the rest of the gang can't play these characters all the way through 7 films worth of books, spanning their school years. Shit, Hollywood has us watching people in their mid-20s play high schoolers all the time. So, don't go thinking you have to recast anyone just because they're gotten tall and gangly, or that they'll be 22 by the time they're playing some of age 17. Not a problem. Please. Please don't think you have to changing a winning team on my account. Number two is that it is very difficult for an actor to play the same person for years on end. Movie-making is grueling, and making 7 Harry Potter movies [assuming Rowling does write 7 books, one for each year], however exciting an experience, will also be a harsh one. I hope as many of the original cast as possible keep coming back -- I want the visual continuity of seeing the same people, and I love this group of actors -- but I can't scream my head off if someone were to decide at some point to walk away. For the record, I'm not responding to any rumors of recasting or actors not coming back for something, this is just related to a couple pet peeves I have about American perceptions of actors.

Hm! Guess I had some original remarks to make after all.

How To Shoot Yourself In The Foot

by the US Guvmint:

1. recruit smart people with a capacity for languages
2. train them in Arabic.
3. experience a shortage of Arabic interpreters and translators
4. dismiss the trained Arabic-speaking recruits.

Why fire these people? Because they're gay.

That's a pretty silly reason to fire a translator, don't you think? Does gayness mean your ears don't work, so you can't hear properly? Or that your tongue is unable to form words in English, the "destination language", in this case?

That's like dismissing these people because they have blond hair. Or wear colored contacts. Or are short. And what, I ask you, does that have to do with translating Arabic?


Thanks to Kim, for the tip.

4 a.m.

And the Insomnia Gods have blessed me. Yay. (wags flag listlessly)

Y'know the irritating thing about insomnia? You always feel so cheated. I should be asleep, not lying in bed twiddling my thumbs! All this sleep time, going to waste!

When I was a kid, I always thought it'd be kind of cool -- I'll study Greek at 3 in the morning! Yet, the actual study of Greek never seems to happen. So, now, a proverbial grown-up, I roll out of bed and read, or most recently, plot/write story(ies), or post meaningless entries to my blog.

I know why I have insomnia. I have insomnia because I'm an INTJ and had an important meeting today. That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

Would you like to know what that means? Of course you would. INTJ's are a temperment type rather rare in the US, though found in much higher percentages online, for reasons I'll probably go into in depth later, but, suffice to say, have to do with the distancing nature of the communication itself, and the ability to find communities of like-minded individuals with similar obsessions, modes of communication, and tendency towards obtuse jokes. Just accept it, and read a copy of David Kiersey's Please Understand Me to learn more.

So, I'm an INTJ, uber-rational and uber-rationalizing type, and I had an important meeting today. So, NATURALLY, I will spend the next week -- including all night tonight, apparently -- obsessing over what was said, what I did or did not do well, how I could have done better, what other people might have been thinking, what the overall outcome of the meeting was or was not, why or why not, and basically critiquing my performance up one side and down the other. INTJ's can be characterized by an immense self-confidence in their chosen field of expertise, and no one who knows us realizes how much we agonize over, basically, everything else. Agonize. No, really, I'm not exaggerating. INTJ's are the people who relentlessly rehearse phone calls. No wonder we're attracted to email and blogs and other delayed-message communication, with their capacities for soul-revealing introspection combined with opportunities for endless editing before publication. Not that we're the only type finding that attractive, that's more of an NT trait than one reserved just for INTJ's.

And the fact that I know all this about why I have insomnia doesn't actually help me get to sleep. No, no, it just gives me fodder for a rambling blog. Not quite the desired outcome, though useful at times. It's like knowing you're an alcoholic when you're standing in the corner store getting ready to buy a bottle of Mad Dog 20/20. Knowledge of your own nature doesn't necessarily change your nature. That's a different journey.

Interesting Somebody Else's Sig: Those who say a thing cannot be done should stay out of the way of the person doing it.

Oh, All Right

I wasn't going to buy it. I generally prefer theatrical versions of films. A good half of the time, if not more, they are superior to the Director's Ego Cut™. And I go a long, long time (sometimes forever) before viewing "supplementary material". For someone more than passingly interested in the film industry, its history, and the art-n-craft of screenwriting, it's a little odd. But then, I'm a little odd. Some things, I'm just not ready to deconstruct yet.

The review over at Amazon has convinced me.

"...the changes--sometimes whole scenes, sometimes merely a few seconds--make for a richer film. There's more of the spirit of J.R.R. Tolkien, embodied in more songs and a longer opening focusing on Hobbiton. There's more character development, and more background..."

You got me. The magic words. Richer film. More of the original spirit. OK. You got me. Sold, or at leasted "added to Wish List".

But you know what I really want? Really, really, deep down*? I want those Argonath bookends from the Collector's Gift Set. Everytime I watch FOTR, the sheer awe I feel when the Fellowship passes these magnificent statues -- it's chilling. It brings home such a sense of the history of the world Tolkien created, my jaw just drops every damned time.

[*] I mean, aside from absolute power.

More Books

*smacks lips*

• Don't Make Me Think, by Steve Krug
• Homepage Useability: 50 Websites Deconstructed, by Jakob Nielsen, Marie Tahir
• Art of Human-Computer Interface Design, edited by Brenda Laurel.

What's with all the HCI/UI/fluffy stuff, Sid? Well, it was brought home to me again and again when I was still working for OpenSales/Zelerate on OpenMerchant and AllCommerce, that our biggest problems weren't, though some might disagree, the usefulness of our product, but the usability. Oddly enough, I've had this realization on every project I've worked on, for every company, since then. That includes the bookstore gig.

It doesn't matter if you write the coolest piece of software on earth, the alpha and omega, the remote control toaster-GPS locator-Ecommerce website frills, whistles, and bells, if no one is going to USE IT because it doesn't make sense.

And since I, like so many other software developers, particularly dislike my time and effort going to waste, I must remember not just the requirements document (if I'm lucky enough to have one), and all the irritating things the client said in our meetings, but that I am not the user of the product, and I never will be. And, horrifyingly, that I'm working on a product, for users.

War on Abstract Concepts

War, by definition, involves a contest or struggle between people and tangibles. You know, stuff.

war:

A contest between nations or states, carried on by force, whether for defence, for revenging insults and redressing wrongs, for the extension of commerce, for the acquisition of territory, for obtaining and establishing the superiority and dominion of one over the other, or for any other purpose; armed conflict of sovereign powers; declared and open hostilities.

How do you actually wage war on drugs? Or terrorism? Or poverty? Who is the enemy? Where are they? Where is their territory, or state? It's too ephemeral. Even a modern, mobile, and highly-trained fighting force like, oh, an army, can't wage war when there's nowhere to wage it and no one to fight.

It's like declaring war on dangling participles. An attractive idea at times, but a logistical nightmare.

Want people to stop dangling participles? You need to convince everyone -- civilians, "combatants", etc., -- that it's a Bad Idea™ to dangle participles.

How do you do that? Probably not by tossing bombs at them. Because, really, you don't know they're going to dangle a participle until they actually do it. And, equally really, duct-taping someone's mouth shut and calling it a "pre-emptive defensive strike" is not going to fly at most cocktail parties.

And that's kind of the problem, you don't know who the poor are, who the terrorists are, who the participle-danglers or drug addicts are, until they've already dropped below the poverty line, or joined a methadone program, or tangled their grammar.

So, too bad. There are people on this earth who don't have the same point of view as you. It happens. So, unless you're at a cocktail party and a fellow guest announces they're going to dangle a participle, in which case you may be justified in notifying them that they're violating international treaties and you're going to toss your drink in their face should they proceed, you may just have to live with the fact that, somewhere, out there, are people with no regard for the English language. Sad, but true.

All you can do is try to educate everyone around you as to the beauty, compassion, loyalty, trustworthiness, and inherent goodness of Not Dangling Participles. A longer, more arduous task, but one worth pursuing.

Rant At Non-Voting Americans

Non-citizens, if you enjoy watching me froth, read on. Otherwise, you might want to just wander away.

Dear Apathetic Non-Voting American Slob,

You didn't vote, did you? You thought your vote wouldn't matter, wouldn't make a difference, you couldn't be troubled to read up on the proposed law(s)/candidates, you slept in and didn't want to miss work, the dog ate your ballot pamphlet --

Whine, whine, whine. Give it a rest. You want to know what's wrong with this nation? I'll tell you. You not voting. That's what's wrong.

America is a participatory democracy. That means "government BY the people". Your vote matters because it's your vote. Patriots marched, agitated, and people have died for that vote. That one. RIght there, the one in your grubby little paw. The one you threw away.

And you're telling me you don't care? Can't be bothered to haul your pimply ass off the sofa for 20 minutes to go to the polling station? Can't be bothered to actually, like, read anything about, y'know, issues and stuff? Can't spare a single godamned brain cell for actual thought because you're too busy watching Access Hollywood?

Oh, but Sidra, there's no one to vote for that I like --

Welcome to the club. Vote anyway. Vote for deadlock. Vote for the lesser of evils, if that's all you see. Don't let a tiny segment of the population run away with your country. It's YOUR country, but if you don't act to claim it, it'll just slip through your fingers. When you don't participate, the nation ceases to exist.

So fucking vote. And if you can't be bothered, don't go calling yourself an American.

Sidra's Book Report

Recently (re)read:

• All 4 of the (UK) editions of the Harry Potter books
• Brokedown Palace, by Steven Brust. The preface on Hungarian made much more sense this time.
• Guilty Pleasures, by Laurell K Hamilton

AND just finished before packing my bag to get on a flight, The Small House at Allington, which I enjoyed greatly -- and was very pleased to find that The Last Chronicle of Barset revisits, at least somewhat, two characters whose loose ends were not completely tied at the end of Allington.

Back to Dickens, though, first. I love books. Books, books, books, be they large or quite dinky! How can you not love books? They're a cheap way to travel the world, and the only way to travel through time. What's not to love?

As if you care. But, it's my blog, so I get to pretend you do! Wheee!

The writing one of my own is coming along well, thanks for asking. Though the travel and the being sick has put a crimp in my style, I expect to recoup shortly.

Great Hiatus Excuse

I went to Tennessee for 6 days and stayed in a hotel with limited business facilities, and didn't pack my laptop anyway.

I met many relatives and learned quite a few things about them:

1. There's a lot of churchgoing in "midstate" Tennessee, i.e., Dickson and Hickman Counties.
2. Stick around for more than 20 minutes and you'll get offered food, wherever you go.
3. Both counties, and specifically both families on my mother's side (Harrington and Hutchison/Hutchinson/Hutcherson) are a hotbed of Dupuytren's Contracture and/or "Trigger Finger" (stenosing tenosynovitis). Anyone interested in surveying hereditary aspects of either one should start in Hickman and Dickson Counties, Tennessee and pin these people down. I kid you not.
4. There are a heck of a lot of moonshiners in my family tree.

What?

Tell me this is a joke. This is a joke, right? My joke-o-meter must be off. This is a joke, right? Right?

Two Towers Protest. Because Tolkien's title isn't sensitive to the delicate feelings of a post-9/11 American audience.

Wha?

Funny, Hollywood doesn't normally go around changing film titles when a car bomb exploads in Bali, or Israel, or Ireland. Which leads, regardless of the joke (or not) stature of the preceding, to this question: What makes the US's pain so damn special?

Me and Maps

I'm a nut for maps. Don't ask why, although, I think I get why, now, after all these years. Wanna hear it? Being as you're my captive audience I'll just nod your head for you..."Oh, goody, you do? That's so sweet." Here goes. I love maps because they do two things that are integral to how I deal with the world:

1. They provide [literally!] a birds-eye view of a set of information.
2. They do it all in a little-itty-bitty package! So compact, so neat, so tidy! Just metric OODLES of information waiting for my fingers to come a-questing way-o.

And I, personally, am all about expressing the highest layer of understanding in the minimum number of bytes. Perfect match.

So, Faz puts up a link to these map collections at the Library of Congress, and I just about died. Seriously, tunnel vision, white light, Edgar Cayce yelling "the water's fine", I kid you not.

So, wondering what to give the El Sid as a gift? Wonder no more! Maps! Topo maps! Reproductions of antique maps! Street maps! Tube maps! Surficial Geology of Alaska maps (oh, wait, got one of those already)...Karta Ledovitago moria i Vostochnago okeana, from 1844, which includes the Russian Far East and Alaska, Diego Gutierrez's 1562 Map of America, Rio Colorado of the West..., drawn by F.W. von Egloffstein, 1858... Maps, maps, be they large or quite dinky!

Excuse me, I need to go lie down.

You're Joking. You're Not Joking

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/30/national/main523711.shtml

"The TSA was created in response to the terrorist attacks. Congress set a Nov. 19 deadline for the agency to hire, train and deploy screeners to replace those working for private security firms."

"Federal screeners are now working at 160 of the nation's 429 commercial airports, the TSA said. Some of the 160 airports have federal screeners at all checkpoints and some have them only in some terminals."

"The federal screeners are [magically - sidra] supposed to be more attentive than the private screeners, Stempler said, and the remaining private screeners probably are doing better work because they hope to get better-paying jobs as federal screeners."

How condescending can you get? Oh, yeah, private screeners have a goal to work toward now. Now they have motivation. So, they'll work "better" and no more bomb-carrying idiots will get on a plane. All because they have a god-damn goal. Wups, I'd better re-check that bag, the scout from the Feds is supposed to be in the terminal today! Gotta look good, this could be my big break into the majors!

Give me air. Not that these people should want to a good job because they have, like, a work ethic, y'know?

The Right Words

"Their names we cannot list,
so many they are that lie
under the eternal guard of granite.

But know you who hear this,
No one is forgotten,
Nothing is forgotten."

-- Olga Berggolts


SINGAPORE: Three Singapore-based expatriates dead and five missing.
AUSTRALIA: Thirty dead, 113 with serious injuries and at least 160 missing.
BRITAIN: Nine dead, eight yet to be identified and 13 missing.
INDONESIA: Nine dead, 195 wounded.
BRAZIL: Two missing.
CANADA: Three wounded, one missing.
CHINA: One injured.
DENMARK: Two hurt, three missing.
ECUADOR: One dead.
FRANCE: Seven hurt, three seriously, and four missing.
GERMANY: One dead, 10 wounded and seven are missing.
GREECE: One hurt and one missing.
HONGKONG: Two British members of a Hong Kong rugby team killed, seven other team members missing.
ITALY: Six hurt.
JAPAN: Nine injured and several missing.
THE NETHERLANDS: One dead, two hurt and four missing.
NEW ZEALAND: One dead.
PORTUGAL: One missing, two hurt.
SOUTH AFRICA: One hurt, 19 missing.
SOUTH KOREA: Two missing.
SWEDEN: Three hurt, 10 missing.
SWITZERLAND: One dead, five hurt, two critically.
TAIWAN: Four missing.
UNITED STATES: Two killed, four hurt and five missing.