My OperaWhat living in a surveillance state means.
Friday, March 21, 2008 2:36:23 PM
Two State Department contract employees have been fired, and another one reprimanded, for what department officials say were three separate incidents of snooping into Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama's passport files since January. Making the case even more puzzling is the fact that none of this came to the attention of top officials at State until Thursday afternoon, when a spokesman for the department was told about it by none other than a reporter. They had been dealt with at the "office level," said Patrick Kennedy, undersecretary of state for management. "I will fully acknowledge that this information should have been passed up the line."
Oh. My. God! FBI and State department officials plus contractors - abusing their unrestricted, unoverseen and uncatalogued spying powers? Hold the motherfucking press.
(...)Officials said that there are thousands of contract employees working for the State Department, and that when they are hired, they are given basic background checks — for instance, looking at whether they have a police record. The department, however, asks no questions regarding their political backgrounds or activities.
Exactly. They need to be screened and put under surveillance - before they can be trusted with unrestricted access to the other surveillance! Well done - why isn't the government spying more!
(Headline tomorrow - government employees are in fact not angels, and should not be trusted to replace the law with their own "traditional" morals. In other news, secret sources claim up is not down - and investigations suggest the pope does sometimes read out loud from the bible.)
