CIA gives up the ‘Family Jewels’

The Central Intelligence Agency violated its charter for 25 years until revelations of illegal wiretapping, domestic surveillance, assassination plots, and human experimentation led to official investigations and reforms in the 1970s, according to declassified documents posted today on the Web by the National Security Archive at George Washington University.

CIA director Gen. Michael Hayden announced today that the Agency is declassifying the full 693-page file amassed on CIA’s illegal activities by order of then-CIA director James Schlesinger in 1973–the so-called “family jewels.” Only a few dozen heavily-censored pages of this file have previously been declassified, although multiple Freedom of Information Act requests have been filed over the years for the documents. Gen. Hayden called the file “a glimpse of a very different time and a very different Agency.” The papers are scheduled for public release on Monday, June 25.

Download the declassified documents | Read more

Viral video infecting political landscape

For the second time in three months, a voter-generated political video about the presidential race has made it past the million-view mark on YouTube. First came Phil de Vellis’ “Vote Different” mashup of Apple’s “1984″ ad with an unflattering message about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). That video took about three weeks to percolate online, hitting around 300,000 views before the mainstream media paid attention and vaulted it skyward. (read more…)

Hillary Clinton Sopranos Parody (Video)

Michael Bloomberg Leaves GOP

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday switched his party status from Republican to unaffiliated, a stunning move certain to be seen as a prelude to an independent presidential bid that would upend the 2008 race. The billionaire former CEO, who was a lifelong Democrat before he switched to the GOP for his first mayoral run, said the change in voter registration does not mean he is running for president. (read more…)

Kim Dae Jung

Kim Dae-jung (Born December 3, 1925) is a former South Korean president and the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. He is the first Nobel laureate from Korea A Roman Catholic since 1957, he has been called the “Nelson Mandela” of Asia for his long-standing opposition to authoritarian rule. Kim Dae Jung was the President (succeeding Kim Young-sam) from 1998 to 2003. (read more…)

Tillie Olsen, feminist author

Tillie Lerner Olsen (January 14, 1912–January 1, 2007) was an American writer, associated with the political turmoil of 1930s and the first generation of American feminists. Though she published very little, Olsen was enormously influential for her treatment of the lives and thoughts of women and the poor and for drawing attention to why women have been less likely to be published authors (and why they receive less attention when they do). The extent of her centrality to American feminist fiction has caused some critics to be frustrated at simplistic feminist interpretations of her work. In particular, several critics have pointed to a greater role than is traditionally seen for Olsen’s Communist past. (read more…)

What the fuck is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is an online network of more than 11 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 industries.
When you join, you create a profile that summarizes your professional accomplishments. Your profile helps you find and be found by former colleagues, clients, and partners. You can add more connections by inviting trusted contacts to join LinkedIn and connect to you. Your network consists of your connections, your connections’ connections, and the people they know, linking you to thousands of qualified professionals.

Through your network you can:

* Find potential clients, service providers, subject experts, and partners who come recommended
* Be found for business opportunities
* Search for great jobs
* Discover inside connections that can help you land jobs and close deals
* Post and distribute job listings
* Find high-quality passive candidates
* Get introduced to other professionals through the people you know

Check out LinkedIn

The Gaza Strip

The Gaza Strip is a coastal strip of land along the Mediterranean, bordering Egypt on the south-west and Israel on the north and east. It is about 41 km long, and between 6 and 12 km wide, with a total area of 360 km². The territory takes its name from Gaza, its main city. It has about 1.4 million residents, all Palestinians.

The Gaza Strip is not currently recognized internationally as a de jure part of any sovereign country. The Strip itself and its population is currently governed by the Palestinian Authority, while Israel controls its airspace and offshore maritime access. The Gaza strip is still internationally considered to be Israeli-occupied territory.

The Strip’s borders were defined by the armistice lines between Egypt and Israel after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which followed the dissolution of the British mandate of Palestine. It was occupied by Egypt (except for four months of Israeli occupation during the Suez Crisis) until it was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1993, after the Palestinian-Israeli agreements known as the Oslo Accords, much of the Strip came under limited Palestinian Authority control. In February 2005, the Israeli government voted to implement Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan for unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip beginning on August 15, 2005. The plan required the dismantling of all Israeli settlements there, and the removal of all Israeli settlers and military bases from the Strip, a process that was completed on September 12, 2005 as the Israeli cabinet formally declared an end to military rule in the Gaza Strip after 38 years of control. Israel also withdrew from the “Philadelphi Route” that is adjacent to the Strip’s border with Egypt after an agreement with the latter to secure its side of the border. (read more…)

Bill Clinton Made $10 Million for Talks

Former President Clinton made more than $10 million in paid speeches last year, according to new filings that show he and his presidential-candidate wife have at least $10 million in the bank, and may have closer to $50 million.

According to financial disclosure forms made public Thursday, Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton hold two accounts, each valued at somewhere between $5 and $25 million. One is an old-fashioned bank account; the other is a blind trust.

The reports indicate that when it comes to family wealth, Clinton is the wealthiest of the members of Congress running for president. Of all the presidential candidates, only Mitt Romney, whose assets are between $190 million and $250 million, may lay claim to being more affluent.

Amber Lee, Obama Girl has a crush on Obama

Amber Lee Ettinger digs Barack Obama. “Hey, ‘B,’ it’s me,” Amber Lee Ettinger calls herself “Obamagirl” in a new video. The newest video burning up the views on YouTube is an incredibly saucy, err, steamy new video “I Got a Crush … on Obama” by Amber Lee Ettinger and a new Web site, barely political write Kate Phillips of the New York Times. The song and video took the Obama campaign by surprise and further demonstrates how the Internet – specifically Internet video on sites such as YouTube – is affecting the democratic nature of the politics in unpredictable ways.