Fuck its silent in here.......

[Bort]

Is this thread about UFOs?

[R-V]

Is this thread about UFOs?

I'm sure we have multiple agencies in place to deal with intergalactic threats.

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.

* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

* In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings - about 17 million square feet of space.

* Many security and intelligence agencies do the same work, creating redundancy and waste. For example, 51 federal organizations and military commands, operating in 15 U.S. cities, track the flow of money to and from terrorist networks.

* Analysts who make sense of documents and conversations obtained by foreign and domestic spying share their judgment by publishing 50,000 intelligence reports each year - a volume so large that many are routinely ignored.

[CBStew]

Is this thread about UFOs?

I'm sure we have multiple agencies in place to deal with intergalactic threats.

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.

* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

* In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings - about 17 million square feet of space.

* Many security and intelligence agencies do the same work, creating redundancy and waste. For example, 51 federal organizations and military commands, operating in 15 U.S. cities, track the flow of money to and from terrorist networks.

* Analysts who make sense of documents and conversations obtained by foreign and domestic spying share their judgment by publishing 50,000 intelligence reports each year - a volume so large that many are routinely ignored.

There are 14 agencies whose only function is to monitor Desipio.

[CT III]

Is this thread about UFOs?

I'm sure we have multiple agencies in place to deal with intergalactic threats.

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.

* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

* In Washington and the surrounding area, 33 building complexes for top-secret intelligence work are under construction or have been built since September 2001. Together they occupy the equivalent of almost three Pentagons or 22 U.S. Capitol buildings - about 17 million square feet of space.

* Many security and intelligence agencies do the same work, creating redundancy and waste. For example, 51 federal organizations and military commands, operating in 15 U.S. cities, track the flow of money to and from terrorist networks.

* Analysts who make sense of documents and conversations obtained by foreign and domestic spying share their judgment by publishing 50,000 intelligence reports each year - a volume so large that many are routinely ignored.

There are 14 agencies whose only function is to monitor Desipio.

Yeah, but Gil is on vacation, so from 1:45pm to 3:38pm CST its like we're practically unsupervised.

[ChuckD]

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.
* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

854,000 people holding the nation's highest security clearance makes it seem not so exclusive -- nor secure. That's about 2 out of every 300 employed persons in the US. I would hate to see what the numbers for "Secret" look like.

[Canadouche]

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.
* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

854,000 people holding the nation's highest security clearance makes it seem not so exclusive -- nor secure. That's about 2 out of every 300 employed persons in the US. I would hate to see what the numbers for "Secret" look like.

Are there not -- minimally -- six different levels of "top secret" clearance?

I'd assume that some of those top secret employees basically only have privileges to get into their places of work....

[PenPho]

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.
* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

854,000 people holding the nation's highest security clearance makes it seem not so exclusive -- nor secure. That's about 2 out of every 300 employed persons in the US. I would hate to see what the numbers for "Secret" look like.

Are there not -- minimally -- six different levels of "top secret" clearance?

I'd assume that some of those top secret employees basically only have privileges to get into their places of work....

I know the key code to get into my building, does that mean I have top secret clearance?

[Canadouche]

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.
* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

854,000 people holding the nation's highest security clearance makes it seem not so exclusive -- nor secure. That's about 2 out of every 300 employed persons in the US. I would hate to see what the numbers for "Secret" look like.

Are there not -- minimally -- six different levels of "top secret" clearance?

I'd assume that some of those top secret employees basically only have privileges to get into their places of work....

I know the key code to get into my building, does that mean I have top secret clearance?

Is your building in Area 51?

[Canadouche]

So it appears as though there are three levels of secure, with Top Secret being the highest, although there are still various levels of clearance.  So, Joe Security at the Top Secret Tech Development Base isn't privy to Barry O'President's data on upcoming terrorist strikes, but I'm assuming that there are way, way more than "six levels" of clearance as I ignorantly assumed there to be.

So ... a lot of people have top secret clearance.  Big fucking deal.

[CT III]

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.
* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

854,000 people holding the nation's highest security clearance makes it seem not so exclusive -- nor secure. That's about 2 out of every 300 employed persons in the US. I would hate to see what the numbers for "Secret" look like.

Are there not -- minimally -- six different levels of "top secret" clearance?

I'd assume that some of those top secret employees basically only have privileges to get into their places of work....

I know the key code to get into my building, does that mean I have top secret clearance?

The only thing more secretive than the codes are the deals.

[PenPho]

* Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.
* An estimated 854,000 people, nearly 1.5 times as many people as live in Washington, D.C., hold top-secret security clearances.

854,000 people holding the nation's highest security clearance makes it seem not so exclusive -- nor secure. That's about 2 out of every 300 employed persons in the US. I would hate to see what the numbers for "Secret" look like.

Are there not -- minimally -- six different levels of "top secret" clearance?

I'd assume that some of those top secret employees basically only have privileges to get into their places of work....

I know the key code to get into my building, does that mean I have top secret clearance?

The only thing more secretive than the codes are the deals.

Well, they are GREAT deals.

We're not just going to offer them to everyone.

[MikeC]

More JournoList fun...

Others went further. According to records obtained by The Daily Caller, at several points during the 2008 presidential campaign a group of liberal journalists took radical steps to protect their favored candidate. Employees of news organizations including Time, Politico, the Huffington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Guardian, Salon and the New Republic participated in outpourings of anger over how Obama had been treated in the media, and in some cases plotted to fix the damage.

In one instance, Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent urged his colleagues to deflect attention from Obama's relationship with Wright by changing the subject. Pick one of Obama's conservative critics, Ackerman wrote, "Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists."

Seems to be a favorite tactic of Democrats since Obama has arrived on the scene. Call everyone racists....the latest being the NAACP towards the Tea Party movement, and Think Progress putting together a highly edited and totally fabricated video proof of all those racist Tea Party people that no one can find. There is still a $100,000 reward for proof of when Democrats said racial slurs were hurled at them the day health care was passed.

[Chuck to Chuck]

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Seems to be a favorite tactic of Democrats since Obama has arrived on the scene. Call everyone racists....the latest being the NAACP towards the Tea Party movement, and Think Progress putting together a highly edited and totally fabricated video proof of all those racist Tea Party people that no one can find. There is still a $100,000 reward for proof of when Democrats said racial slurs were hurled at them the day health care was passed.

How about the guy who wrote the following?

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/07/a-final-thought/59924/

Dear Mr. Lincoln

We Coloreds have taken a vote and decided that we don't cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand that it stop!

In fact we held a big meeting and took a vote in Kansas City this week. We voted to condemn a political revival of that old abolitionist spirit called the 'tea party movement'.

The tea party position to "end the bailouts" for example is just silly. Bailouts are just big money welfare and isn't that what we want all Coloreds to strive for? What kind of racist would want to end big money welfare? What they need to do is start handing the bail outs directly to us coloreds! Of course, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the only responsible party that should be granted the right to disperse the funds.

And the ridiculous idea of "reduce[ing] the size and intrusiveness of government." What kind of massa would ever not want to control my life? As Coloreds we must have somebody care for us otherwise we would be on our own, have to think for ourselves and make decisions!

The racist tea parties also demand that the government "stop the out of control spending." Again, they directly target coloreds. That means we Coloreds would have to compete for jobs like everybody else and that is just not right.

Perhaps the most racist point of all in the tea parties is their demand that government "stop raising our taxes." That is outrageous! How will we coloreds ever get a wide screen TV in every room if non-coloreds get to keep what they earn? Totally racist! The tea party expects coloreds to be productive members of society?

Mr. Lincoln, you were the greatest racist ever. We had a great gig. Three squares, room and board, all our decisions made by the massa in the house. Please repeal the 13th and 14th Amendments and let us get back to where we belong.

Sincerely

Precious Ben Jealous, Tom's Nephew
NAACP Head Colored Person

Black people sure are a bunch of lazy layabouts on welfare, amiright?

And the NAACP... They're the real racists!

[Yeti]

THIS (and I would link to the WSJ article, but I can't remember how to circumvent the subscriber only content there. I thought there was a way.)

These tax rules—because they result in the loss of revenue that would otherwise be collected by the government—are equivalent to direct government expenditures... If Congress is serious about cutting government spending, it has to go after many of them.

        Neither party has focused on controlling this kind of spending...Many tax expenditures are refundable, so the government sends the individual a check for the benefit even if he owes no tax. Democrats can thus cleverly avoid the traditional accusation of being the party of "tax and spend."

        Republicans also are reluctant to cut these tax perks, because they regard the additional revenue collected by the federal government as a "tax increase"—even though the increased revenue is really the effect of a de facto spending cut. A Republican who would vote to cut or eliminate an ordinary spending program therefore won't do so if it is packaged as a tax benefit.