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["David R. Matusiak" <dave AT matusiak.org>]

Registration Starts This Friday (August 1, 2003)!!!  So Get Involved!!!

< http://www.policyanalysismarket.org/pam_home.htm >
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i guess my question is two-fold.  maybe a few more folds and i'll have 
a binder.

1. do all of you /actually/ believe the reports that this whole 
initiative is being "called off"??  did you swallow it when they told 
you the TIA (Total Information Awareness) plan would NOT be used 
against US Citizens??  do you really think for a second that the US 
Govt. will not simply clobber along its intended path without due 
regard for its citizens or people around the world?

    i don't.  i think they have demonstrated so vividly that the 
American Public
    no longer matters (and that non-US Citizens NEVER mattered) that i 
cannot
    even begin to believe the crap that comes out of Washington and its
    publishing division (i.e. all large media outlets in the USA).

    we will continue to be monitored.  we will continue to watch our 
personal
    freedoms evaporate.  we will all be suspects until we are proven
    angelic (by some means involving Birth into Wealth or Religious 
B.S.).

    whenever one of these cockamamie plans meets with harsh public 
criticism
    all they do is drive the project further underground.  which makes 
it
    even harder for the few watchdogs to investigate and uncover.  they 
come
    out public with the "teaser plan," then go back to the labs once the
    media storm has died out.

    i mean, seriously folks, President Idiot and his cronies over at the
    Dept. of Watching Americans Securely had already allotted $8 Million
    cash to this stupid on-line video gambling parlor and now they are
    gonna take that $$$ away and give it to the tree-huggers??  no way.

2. but here is WHY they did it:

from < http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/07/29/terrorist.market.ap/index.html >

"DARPA said markets could reveal "dispersed and even hidden 
information. Futures markets have proven themselves to be good at 
predicting such things as elections results; they are often better than 
expert opinions."

honestly, i always thought /my/ opinion was much better than "expert 
opinions" anyway, so here goes.

The Middle East will continue to be a fucked up wasteland where people 
would rather blow themselves up (to kill their opponents) than take any 
serious, mature adult actions that might lead to a better outcome.

Their fervent religious hatred for any person NOT involved in their 
group will continue to work in the ways they have celebrated for 
centuries.  They will send their wives and daughters out to murder 
other innocent civilians instead of working towards peace.  To them, 
this is honorable behavior.

The inability of the Middle Eastern mind to accept compromise will make 
sure that the USA has a place to practice its "War Games" for centuries 
to come.  Everyone visible is a target.  Anything valuable is a target.

Soldiers will die.  Families will weep.  Talk show hosts will make 
asinine statements about how "these numbers are really quite small if 
you compare them to other conflicts."  I'm sure the families of the 
dead will appreciate that sentiment.

It will cost the USA unimaginable amounts of money, effort and 
resources to simply play puppet master to a region doomed to failure.  
They will still harbor their hatred, deep deep inside, where it can 
fester just long enough for that individual to gain access to something 
important.  They will still hate the United States and its citizens 
(even those of us who feel we are being held captive by a Tyrannical 
Despot and his band of Evil Men).

This isn't about odds, or statistics, or gambling, or anything else 
you've read today.  This is about people who will NEVER admit they are 
wrong, who will NEVER accept others and their differing beliefs, and 
will NEVER be trustworthy.

you wanted chips thrown on the table.  there are my fucking chips.
/drm