C-SPAN Archives, and How Government Does it

Drudge linked to news that C-SPAN is making their entire archives available online — this is good stuff, and kudos to Brian Lamb for his outstanding vision. On the other hand, Drudge is not linking or reporting articles about Michael Furlong, the Senior Executive Service guy who has been hiring contractors to go and “do” intelligence outside of regulation and policy. One report of the situation is here. Furlong’s official Air Force biography fails to mention he was fired for the utter incompetence of his Voice of America work in Iraq in the summer of 2003. Furlong did receive a Pentagon award for his work in “strategic influence” as an SAIC contractor — possibly working in the ill-fated fifth floor Office of Strategic Influence. In any case, Furlong is clearly an overpaid hack, and a model case study in how the government does “information.” Old-boy networks, staffed by dummies, with no accountability and unlimited taxpayer and FED-funded budgets — that is the trademark of the state. C-Span may not be a completely market-based enterprise, but I’ll take Brian Lamb’s honest approach anytime.