All Quiet on the Wasatch Front

Haven't written for two weeks! Will remedy that tomorrow once I've set the house to rights. I am still reading though and the current book on my shelf - The Watchers by Shane Harris - comes with a caveat. Do not pick this book up unless you want to educate yourself on the subject of government surveillance - ignorance is bliss after all. Harris has a good handle on his subject, he went and talked to the architects of the system 'the watchers'. This reads like fiction but oh boy it is not. I now know more than I ever needed to about wire-taps, data mining, IDC, NSA etc and why a serving US President with alzheimers is not a good thing.

In other news one of my galley grab requests arrived - The Whisperers by John Connolly which I can't wait to read.

7/8 Update on The Watchers, I'm split down the middle on this one. I understand the need for more data to track terrorists but the misuse of that data or even the numerous false positives such a system can generate mean that it needs to be carefully regulated and that removes the teeth from the watchdog. I also have a new acronym for the mode US politicians - doesn't matter if they have an R or a D next to their name - use and it's not SUABC (Stand Up And Be Counted) Instead they use CYOA or FE (Cover Your Own Ass or Forget Everything)