The Daily Parker

Politics, Weather, Photography, and the Dog

Plame sues Cheney, Libby, and Rove

Excellent. I hope she takes them for millions, because in the immortal words of Billy Ray Valentine: "You know, it occurs to me that the best way you hurt rich people is by turning them into poor people."

The Washington Post also has the story:

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Valerie Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador, accused Cheney, Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby of revealing Plame's CIA identity in seeking revenge against Wilson for criticizing the Bush administration's motives in Iraq.

Update, 20:30 UTC: Talking Points Memo has the entire complaint online.

No computer security secretary yet

The President (922 days, 4 hours remaining) still has not yet appointed an Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Cyberterrorism, despite computer security problems up the ying since before the post was created:

Critics say the year-long vacancy is further evidence that the administration is no better prepared for responding to a major cyber-attack than it was for dealing with Hurricane Katrina, leaving vulnerable the information systems that support large portions of the economy, from telecommunications networks to power grids to chemical manufacturing and transportation systems.
"What this tells me is that [Chertoff] still hasn't made this a priority," said Paul Kurtz, formerly a cybersecurity adviser in the Bush administration and now a chief lobbyist for software and hardware security companies. "Having a senior person at DHS...is not going to stop a major cyber-attack on our critical infrastructures," he said, "but [it] will definitely help us develop an infrastructure that can withstand serious attacks and recover quickly."

Just to expand on the notion that computer security is a big problem right now, the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has estimated that 88.9 million identity records have been compromised since Choice Point announced its security breach in February 2005. That's just in the United States, by the way.

For my part, I nominate Bruce Schneier to be our top cyber-security official. I wonder if he'd even take the job, given its total lack of administration support.

Long live the Mule Day Parade!

This is too funny, and too sad:

It reads like a tally of terrorist targets that a child might have written: Old MacDonald’s Petting Zoo, the Amish Country Popcorn factory, the Mule Day Parade, the Sweetwater Flea Market and an unspecified "Beach at End of a Street."
The National Asset Database, as it is known, is so flawed, the inspector general found, that as of January, Indiana, with 8,591 potential terrorist targets, had 50 percent more listed sites than New York (5,687) and more than twice as many as California (3,212), ranking the state the most target-rich place in the nation.

Now, don't you feel more secure? By the way, Illinois has only 2,059 assets listed, which list presumably does not include the Lincoln Park Zoo Farm. Too bad, because those moo-cows are sitting ducks! Or something like that...

Climate change talking points

The New York Times on Tuesday ran an excellent summary (sub.req.) of what we know about global climate change. Strange that they put it in the Opinion section.

Also, a thought cheered me this morning: throughout history, political groups have always seemed strongest right before collapsing. I believe there is a correlation between effots to appear strong and a loss of true strength. I'll have to think about this some more.

St. Louis today, Chicago in 2050

At the moment, I'm experiencing the weather of Chicago's future. I'm sitting outside at a St. Louis Bread Co. (aka Panera) in St. Louis while Anne does a 10 km (6 mi) run at Forest Park. The temperature has risen 2.8°C (5°F) in the past hour and promises to rise another 5°C (9°F) in the next two. It should hit 32°C (90°F) today, as it does most days in the summer down here, with the possibility of cooling down to 27°C (80°F) by bedtime.

St. Louis is warmer than Chicago, and will probably always be. But the weather people find normal in St. Louis (mild winters, hot summers) is becoming normal in Chicago. By 2050, St. Louis may have frost-free winters, and Chicago may have double or triple its current number of 32°C (90°F) days every summer.

At least Chicago has the lake, which helps.