Tuesday 21 June 2005 - Happy First Day of Summer!

Google Drops Bombshell - Will Compete With U.S. Treasury

Markets Close Early and Troops Activated; eBay Said To Be Dumping PayPal

A day after news leaked of the 'Google Wallet', a pay system said to rival eBay's PayPal, Google late yesterday afternoon dropped a bombshell when they announced they will begin a new monetary system for the United States and compete with the U.S. Treasury.

Wall Street, and markets around the world, racked by the news, closed early, causing some investors huge losses.

President Bush, called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice back from her Mid-East trip and had the rest of his cabinet report to the White House immediately. Also, on the advice of Treasury Secretary John Snow, and as a precaution, the President activated National Guard outfits and U.S. Marshalls to stand guard of the Treasury buildings around the country.

Industry executives and Google's chief competitors, such as Microsoft, Yahoo, and Amazon, had only just begun to analyze the news of Google's new "Wallet' system when this new announcement hit them.

"This could be the beginning of an effort by Google to, essentially, pull a corporate coup", offered Microsoft Chairman, Bill Gates.

"It's very troubling", said Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO.

Yahoo offered no comment but reports say they went out and secured, with six-figure retainers, the top lawyers in the country and may mount a legal challenge to Google.

Or, as one veteran speculated, "maybe they're going to come out with Yahoo Dollars".

eBay, reeling from the news of the pending Google Wallet, made a series of moves following Google's announcement that may indicate they are positioning to dump PayPal, who, along with 72-million accounts, took in over $6.2-Billion in the first quarter this year.

In a memo provided to The Garlic, by a person close to Google who wishes to remain anonymous, or would otherwise be terminated, shows that Google's money units will be called "Googlets" For higher denominations, a hyphen and Roman Numeral is added.

Ten Dollars in Googlets will be known as 'Googlets-X', $20, as "Googlets-XX, and so on. For odd denominations, a combination of Roman Numerals and regular numbers will be employed, such as $7 as 'Googlet-V2 or $23 as 'Googlet-XX3. There will be no metal coins in the Googlet Monetary System.

The memo goes on to show that thousands of Google Ad Word clients have agreed to transact business in the new Googlet money system and, for up to two-years, will also be allowed, without penalty, to also accept U.S. Treasury-issued money.

A unique aspect of the Googlet Monetary System is that Google is implanting sensors in their Googlets and users of Googlets can track where their Googlet goes after they spend it on the new Google Maps feature, but only to a general location of city and street - no private identity information will be given to someone that searches their Googlets

Secretary Snow, red-faced with anger, emphatically stated that "Googlets is not legal tender and will not be accepted by any U.S. or Federal Reserve Bank".

The White House late last night issued a statement that seemed to show more of a 'wait-and-see' attitude.

When questioned about the statement, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said that "The President and his staff are examining this very carefully".

"While, at first, it is very startling, however, the President wants to look at all angles and, if there is an application for this new money with the President's plan for Private Social Security Accounts, it may be something he will look at".



F.B.I. Finally Gets Photos, Files On Terrorism

Senior Agents in Counterterrosim Thought Osama bin Laden was Illinois Senator

As a follow-up to the bombshell news released yesterday, that F.B.I. Officials in charge of counterterrorism lacked training, CIA Chief Porter Goss copied photos and files and sent them to F.B.I. Director Robert Mueller to "get his guys up to speed".

Lawyer Stephen Kohn, interviewing top level F.B.I. Counterterrorism officials in connection to a lawsuit, wrote in a letter to three senators, that these official - both current and former members - lacked training and understanding in terrorism and had been, more-or-less, routinely promoted to their positions despite the lack-of-experience.

Goss, yesterday, announced that he knows, or has a "pretty good idea" where Osama bin Laden is hiding.

"If I had known", said Goss, "that they didn't know very much about terrorism, I could have shared the files and photos earlier. Mueller should have said something - he knows I have a huge, big files … actually rooms-and-rooms full of files on terrorism".

One person close to the F.B.I. Indicated that in a survey of top agents, 67% of the agents thought September 11th was the start of the National Football League Season and 87% thought Osama bin Laden was the freshman senator from Illinois.

Kohn's interviews uncovered that F.B.I officials had little knowledge as to basic links between Al Qaeda and a Southeast Asian terror group, Jemaah Islamiyah. Or the connection between Osama bin Laden and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind sheik already convicted of terrorism.

"Wow" was Mueller's reaction. "I guess we got a lot of catching up to do"

Pasquale J. D'Amuro, a former F.B.I. Official who recently retired, stated that "experience in counterterrorism was helpful for managers but added that it was one of a number of leadership qualifications that were important in filling crucial posts"

"Filing reports on time, filling out paperwork properly, staying on top on new fingerprinting and check forging techniques are important also".

Cassandra M. Chandler, assistant director for public affairs at the F.B.I., said in response to the charges that the F.B.I. Agents in charge of terrorism, knew little about terrorism;

"The F.B.I.'s post-9/11 transformation involves nothing less than the complete reshaping of our work force"

Asked if the reshaping of the work force involved gaining knowledge in terrorism, Chandler said that she "doesn't know" and that "You'd have to ask Director Mueller that question".

"We do know the different colors for when they elevate the terrorism threats", she added