11/27/09
In light of today news, I thought “Woolly Boogers” was worthy of reposting.
Oklahoma could keep an eye on uninsured motorists
Read more: http://newsok.com/oklahoma-could-keep-an-eye-on-uninsured-motorists/article/3420697?custom_click=lead_story_title#ixzz0Y8L9yIFW
Original Post Feb, 23, 2009
WOOLLY BOOGERS
In the Oklahoma State House?
What in the heck is a woolly booger?
A Real Live Woolly Booger
“In truth, they are the larvae of the Spotted Tussock Moth. More night fliers. Just what we need around here.”
Always Trust a Woolly Booger
Woolly Boogers are quite useful. People have their long-range forecasting models and their Doppler radars, learned meteorologists, and all sorts of ‘equipment’ to forecast the weather. With all that equipment, one would think they’d have the weather pegged, wouldn’t one? But, no, most of the time they say it will do one thing and it actually does quite another.
Goats, on the other hand, have a much more sophisticated and reliable means of predicting the weather. At least in the case of the winter weather. You see, the way it works is that in the Fall if one notices many Wooly Boogers crawling about , resting on latches, falling in the water tub, crawling up the side of the barn, or residing on that dried leaf you had your eye on from way across the pasture, it means we are going to have an ‘exciting’ winter.
In light of the useful nature of the much maligned Woolly Booger, I hereby name Representative Key, Reynolds, Ritze and any others who expressed their concern about the ramifications of this and similar measures, Honorary Woolly Boogers for their reliable forecasting as to the weather that lies ahead for the people of this state. Well Done! 2/23/09
Now we know what a woolly booger is.
That technical lingo that those highfalutin’ lawmakers use makes me feel so uneducated!
Woolly boogers and conspiracy theories are the terms used by Rep. Ken Miller (kenmiller@okhouse.gov (405) 557-7360) to characterize some House members and their concerns about HB2013.
Miller offers that he helped install a GPS device on a friend’s car and that it had nothing to do with a bar code (??) He says that the barcode on our new license plates are “empty” and he has bar codes on his groceries and of the concerns raised, Miller says that he heard a lot of things that “Frankly just don’t concern me at all,(snicker)” (30:55 on audio)
Bar Code! We Don’t Need No Stinking Bar Codes!
The audio file can be accessed here
http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/
select the date, Feb 19th then select track # 1008 (HB2013) to listen.
Go to 19:50 time on the audio file to get to the interesting part, the debate. The previous 19 minutes consists of Rep. Miller presenting bill 2013, ostensibly a bill designed to clean up the language of an earlier bill regarding insurance verification for motorists passed 1 or 2 years ago. *Yawn* And questions from Rep. Ritze, Rep. Key and Rep. Reynolds and Rep. Morrissette regarding the following opics
(note: I am paraphrasing the exchange)
*Is the bill a “requested bill” and who requested it?
Rep. Miller answers that, Yes. It was requested by DPS, the OK. Tax Commission, the OK.Insurance Department and “Industry” (
Which refers to InsureNet.)
*Why was the deadline for implementing the original bill (July 1 2008) missed?
Miller said some small companies had not achieved compliance due to not reporting properly.
Listen from 2:55 to 4:55 for Rep. Miller’s too-twisty-to-type reply when asked to name what small insurance company was out of compliance and why by Reynolds.
See this newsarticle dated Dec. 29, 2008
Oklahoma Electronic Insurance Verification System Not Reliable Yet
Excerpt:
A new electronic system to verify automobile insurance in Oklahoma is operational, but not yet reliable.
A law passed in 2006 takes effect Jan. 1, 2009, allowing law enforcement agencies and tag agents to check for up-to-date automobile insurance electronically through a database maintained by the Department of Public Safety.
The system is in place, but testing shows it is accurate only 60 percent of the time, Oklahoma Tax Commission officials said.
Because of that, law enforcement officials and tag agents are being told not to rely on the information it provides, said David Beatty, the department’s project manager for the Oklahoma Compulsory Insurance Verification System.. . .
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/southcentral/2008/12/29/96625.htm
*Had there been discussion between involved parties and InsureNet and is the new or altered language the result of that communication.
Miller said (paraphrasing) that Yes. There had been communication and while InsureNet submitted suggestions, none of their language was used.
Rep. Key expressed concern over system glitches that might show a motorist is uninsured when, in fact they are and then their car is impounded disrupting the person’s livelihood.
Rep. Ritze at 11:16 asks if this is a proposed online database shared with DPS and had DPS’s database ever been hacked or breached. (Later it is revealed by Reynolds that, in fact DPS computer database security was recently was breached. I have not located a news story on this but will find out more.)
UPDATED
Breach puts information in peril
http://newsok.com/article/3110406/1187986334
August 25, 2007
Someone hacked into computers at three Oklahoma law enforcement agencies and may have stolen private information meant only for police use, the state Department of Public Safety announced Friday”
The breach involved information used by the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Telecommunications System, (OLETS)a statewide computer network used by dispatchers to obtain instant access to all types of local, state and federal law enforcement databases.
Police dispatchers typically use the system to verify the status of driver licenses, vehicle registration and to check for outstanding warrants and criminal history
Any information accessed by dispatchers that was displayed on their computer screen may have been sent to a third party by a computer virus found on the three affected computers. Both driver license numbers and Social Security numbers are listed in the database along with names and addresses, Thaxton said
How it happened
The security breach was the first discovered in the computer network, which has been in use since 1986. West said computers law enforcement agencies use for the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (OLETS, OK Nlets)often serve a variety of other functions, including unrestricted Internet access.
Also SEE InsureNet False Claims
Rep Miller states he had no idea and continually reintegrates that the intent of HB2013 is simply to “clean up language.”
*Had there been discussion between involved parties and InsureNet and is the new or altered language the result of that communication.
(15:50) Miller said (paraphrasing) that, “Yes,” there had been communication and while InsureNet submitted suggestions, none of their language was used.
Reynolds asked what would be InsureNet’s interest in changes. Miller says because they (InsureNet) would like to be the carrier.
I’m sure you are catching the drift of this back and forth by this point so I’ll skip any further blow by blow.
The audio file can be accessed at
http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/ . Select the date, Feb 19th then select track # 1008 (HB2013)to listen.
At 30:47 you can hear Rep. Miller speak to the issue of “woolly boogers.”
So, I began to tear up the web searching for info that will illuminate this issue. Are private companies driving legislation in our state, promising heaps of revenue to other companies (in this case insurance) and to state agencies and is this revenue to be ill-gotten by devising more and more intrusive ways of “catching” us? Is this what is driving the apparent burning need for umpteen plus forty databases all interconnected, gleaning every smidge of personal, biographical and biometric info possible AND hooking our virtual selves up with foreign countries? From my scrutiny of AAMVA, the reigning masters of private industry driving legislation for the sole purpose of endlessly milking the American people, the ultimate cash cow for these companies, I’s say at the very least we ought to look into this. I can say with all certainty that AAMVA works exactly this way and I am sure they are spreading the good news to all of their associates. This is NOT good old privatization! This is Public Private Partnerships or PPP’s. You would not want to confuse the two ideas because they don’t remotely work the same. Public Private Partnerships make deals with governmental agencies so that they have the benefit of government taxing and enforcement to secure their companies fortune. These companies present their wares showcasing how it will bring in heaps of revenue to the government. They help to create laws and policies to justify and implement schemes that support these products. In a nutshell, what we get is corporate government. Not government by and for and of the people. This was the genesis of Real ID.
Here is a good explanation of why Public Private Partnerships should not be equated with the simple notion of privatization, which we associate with smaller government and more efficiency.
Excerpt:
It is little understood by the general public how public/private partnerships can be used, not as a way to diminish the size of government, but in fact, to increase government’s power.
Slowly, the whole comes together. By the time people realize the truth, it’s already in place. Policy is set. [. . . ]
And Public/Private Partnerships are becoming the fastest growing process to impose such policy. State legislatures across the nation are passing legislation, which calls for the implementation of PPPs.
Beware. These bonds between government and private international corporations are a double-edged sword. They come armed with government’s power to tax, the government’s power to enforce policy and the government’s power to enforce eminent domain.
At the same time, the private corporations use their wealth and extensive advertising budgets to entrench the policy into our national conscience. Cute little jingles or emotional commercials can be very useful tools to sell a government program.
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2007/deweese081507.htm
How about InsureNet?
Well, InsureNet is an associate of AAMVA. Judging from the 35 page long document-who isn’t an associate of AAMVA’s?
Yes, life is good for AAMVA!InsureNet provides the wold’s only accurate and non-invasive vehicle insurance verification system. It embraces all states, every jurisdiction inside each state, every insurer and is intrastate, interstate and
international in operation.
It is currently connected to
every state in the nation and has been recognized as
the national standard for law enforcement.
More on AAMVA:
From the Stop Real ID Coalition blogspot
Aside from First, Fourth and Tenth amendment issues, the Real ID Act has another major downside. DHS has named AAMVA (American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators) the “backbone” of the Real ID Act. AAMVA is an international organization. AAMVA is promoting the Driver’s License Agreement. The agreement calls for the United States, Mexico and Canada to share all drivers’ information stored in each country’s respective DMV databases. Grant money from the federal government has been available to States to participate in the DLA. http://www.aamva.org/aamva/DocumentDisplay.aspx?id=%7BC600908E-2538-4135-8166-1B25BB682698%7D This is the precursor to the North American Union otherwise named the Security and Prosperity Partnership. If we want to stop the NAU or SPP we MUST repeal the Real ID Act. I have the actual DLA paperwork. Scary does not do it justice. It threatens State’s rights and U.S. sovereignty.
Then there is
this
article from 2006
Excerpt:
InsureNet has developed and owns a patented automated system and method for providing accurate, on-the-spot insurance status verification by officers responding to the scene of an accident or a routine traffic stop. “The parts are now in place for the first-ever national vehicle insurance verification system that will allow law enforcement to immediately, at the scene, accurately determine the insurance status of a vehicle,” said Nlets’ Executive Director, Steve Correll. “This no-cost service
(Oh, someone will pay. Guess who?!) by Nlets and InsureNet intended to enable those who protect our society to do their jobs more effectively and safely.” Securely housed within Nlets’ national data center in Phoenix,
OK-SAFE
Inc. asks some very good questions;
-InsureNet or DragNet? Apparently Oklahoma is entertaining ideas of adopting a vehicle surveillance system called InsureNet to target “uninsured vehicles,” and which is linked to such international organizations as AAMVA (model of the REAL ID requirements)
Utilizing ALPR (Automatic License Plate Recognition) cameras and other technology, the system can scan a license plate in 2 seconds and verify if the vehicle is insured or not. In one 8-hour shift, thousands of unsuspecting drivers could have their vehicle insurance status data checked electronically. (A money maker for the insurance companies and stockholders?)
Calls to Representative Ken Miller about HB 2013
would be in order
-Couple a vehicle surveillance system with the current pending Oklahoma legislation attempting to expand the reasons to collect DNA from Oklahomans, the question has to be asked - just what is going on in Oklahoma?
OK-SAFE, Inc. thanks you for your prompt action on these important topics and, as always, encourages you to “read the bill” before making decisions to support or oppose.
Here
is a brochure from 3M on their Digital License Plate System-These are our new plates.
And This One on Electronic Vehicle Registration
Here is some info on ALRP and how it is used.
Source
http://www.comptonasap.com/public_ASAP.pdf
Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) Technology
The ASAP system will utilize “Automatic License Plate Recognition” (ALPR) technology. The ALPR software utilizes advanced optical character recognition (OCR) in order to read and record vehicle license plates in day or night conditions. All vehicle license plates are then automatically run through a “wanted” system. This system will automatically notify the Command Center of any “Hits” and the current location of the vehicle. (emphasis added)
Do we no longer subscribe to the notion of Probable Cause? I thought that there needed to be a darn good reason to search a person in this country. This IS a
dragnet!
And couple that tech with this tech.
Mobile Wireless Surveillance Cameras
A mobile surveillance camera located in a parked vehicle would replace a traditional surveillance crew. The vehicle would be parked next to targeted locations and monitored via a wireless link. The risk of compromise is minimal since decoy vehicles would appear unoccupied. This system offers a substantial cost savings to the Sheriff’s Department as only one deputy would be needed to conduct surveillance from a safe location versus utilizing a team of deputies in the field.
Fair warning to any who wants to start that “if you aren’t doing anything wrong” line of reasoning-Don’t! I am not “Human Being Under Glass-a modern art exhibit! Are we all under suspicion all the time like naughty school children? And who presumes to monitor us day and night? Our superiors? Our lords, our masters? These officials are my peers, my equals-they are public SERVANTS. They have no right to mass surveil us without suspicion!
But wait, there’s more.
ALPR Equipped Sheriff Radio Cars
The Automatic License Plate Recognition system can be applied to Sheriff radio cars. As the radio car drives throughout its jurisdiction, the ALPR system is continuously reading and checking the license plate of vehicles against a “wanted” list. The ALPR system will automatically notify the deputy of any “hits” it receives such as a stolen vehicle, vehicle wanted for a shooting, etc.
ALPR Equipped Mobile Vans
ALPR technology could also be utilized to equip surveillance vans. The vans would utilize a bank of digital surveillance cameras with nighttime capability and ALPR software. The vans could be utilized in a visible or undercover surveillance mode. The
ALPR vans could be deployed as needed at checkpoints, airports, shipping ports or any other number of special details. The true strengths of these vans would come out when they are deployed on freeway overpasses or freeway on/off ramps throughout Los Angeles County. This can be especially useful when a specific vehicle is being sought
Source link
http://www.comptonasap.com/public_ASAP.pdf
Somebody sure did a good job selling the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department on this setup, I swear I can hear the author breathing hard as I read.
***
I have looked at documents and read up on this issue for the last 20 hours and I will be posting more on what I have found but for the sake of ever getting this posted, I have to stop here. There is so much to tell yet so little time.
Here is the bottom line as far as I am concerned;
This is just one more avenue leading us to a total surveillance society.
Take a look at this freshly released
Surveillance: Citizens and the State
ordered in 2004 to be undertaken by The House of Lords, UK. On the effects and concerns about the effects on “the impact that government surveillance and data collection have upon the privacy of citizens and their relationship with the State.”
I have yet to read this lengthy report but, I am confident that it will put Rep. Miller’s unbearably witty rhetoric on “conspiracies” and “woolly boogers” firmly into proper context. Tactics like ridicule are losing sway with the public who is beginning to become familiar enough with the intrusive technologies and schemes already in place to sense and see for themselves the danger inherit in them.
The UK is only a step or two ahead of us and what is taking place there is a harbinger for the US. I predict that this report marks the beginning of a furious degree of utterly impotent back peddling as the tangible results of this folly become undeniable.
We should take a lesson from our British cousins in this as well as the consequences they suffer from their inclusion into the European Union. Some things, once established, cannot be undone.
And as for the Woolly Boogers-the
wise goat
tells us just what it is they are good for;
Always Trust a Woolly Booger
Woolly Boogers are quite useful. People have their long-range forecasting models and their Doppler radars, learned meteorologists, and all sorts of ‘equipment’ to forecast the weather. With all that equipment, one would think they’d have the weather pegged, wouldn’t one? But, no, most of the time they say it will do one thing and it actually does quite another.
Goats, on the other hand, have a much more sophisticated and reliable means of predicting the weather. At least in the case of the winter weather. You see, the way it works is that in the Fall if one notices many Wooly Boogers crawling about , resting on latches, falling in the water tub, crawling up the side of the barn, or residing on that dried leaf you had your eye on from way across the pasture, it means we are going to have an ‘exciting’ winter.
In light of the useful nature of the much maligned Woolly Booger, I hereby name Representative Key, Reynolds, Ritze and any others who expressed their concern about the ramifications of this and similar measures, Honorary Woolly Boogers for their reliable forecasting as to the weather that lies ahead for the people of this state. Well Done!
****Last comment***Under irony, a publication like this one
intended for companies that intend to make a fortune by siphoning off our personal data for profit issuing this disclaimer might suffice. From now on, I’m going to using it for my own. Just substitute “person” for “publication” and you are set!
© 2002 Smart Card News Ltd., Brighton, England. No part of this publication person may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, optical, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Christopher Beckman, 34. 
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