TARGET SELECTION

Atrios links to two interesting stories that do serve to emphasize a characteristic of the conservative mind.  The first one is about the horrid Joni Ernst, the second one about our new addition to the military-industrial complex, the private/public intelligence complex.

Ernst deplores the fact that some people "rely on the government to provide absolutely everything for them."  and these people just by chance happen to be The Poors.  Ernst is silent on people who really are dependent on the government for their very comortable ife style:

The NSA, whose operations are almost entirely secret, has long been criticised for its close corporate ties. One long-serving official, William Black Jr, left the agency for Science Applications International Corporation, before returning in 2000 as deputy director.

While Black was in his senior position, SAIC won an NSA contract to develop a data-mining programme, called Trailblazer, that was never implemented, despite a cost of over $1bn. Whistleblowers have charged that Trailblazer killed a more privacy-protective system called ThinThread.

Compounding the potential financial conflicts at the NSA, Buzzfeed News reported that the home of chief of its Signals Intelligence Directorate, Teresa Shea, has a signals-intelligence consulting firm operating out of it. The firm is run by her husband James, who also works for a signals-intelligence firm that Buzzfeed News said appears to do business with the NSA; and Teresa Shea runs an “office and electronics” business that lists a Beechcraft plane among its assets.