[lit-ideas] Lit-Ideas More good news

Hi,
Here is more good news [okay, I don't really mean that-it really makes me 
both worried, concerned and very sad] about how the current administration 
feels 
about research and whether or not it is healthy to have access to 
information--particularly if one has different points of view (that was the 
major reason 
the administration theoretically chose this particular company to do this 
rather than any of the other ones who are more qualified in terms of education 
[and 
librarianship].  There have been other articles written...but it might be 
important to be aware that the research people eventually will be pulling to 
read 
and write ... well, maybe it is a good thing, after all, that people tend to 
use the internet *as* a database rather than the ERIC database when they do 
their research...
Marlena in Missouri (librarian)
(hoping this post will come through...for a change!)


According to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher 
Education list-serv (3/31/04):

"The U.S.  Department of Education recently awarded Computer 
Sciences Corporation (CSC), along with its subcontractors, a 5-year, $34.6 
million contract to develop and implement a revised Education Resources 
Information Center (ERIC) database. The revamped ERIC will be a 
one-stop shop for educators, researchers, and the general public alike to 
search for journal articles, document abstracts, and full-text documents as 
available."

"The development process for the ERIC database will include a 
steering committee to recommend operational guidelines for the database. 
Groups ofcontent experts will recommend guidelines for identifying journal 
and 
non-journal materials for the database, followed by the organization 
of public forums to solicit ideas on how to make the redesigned ERIC 
database even more useful."

So who is the Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) who will 
ensure that all have open access to information in this time of Ashcroft, 
Bush, 
and Rice? A quick web check to their web site tells us that they are a " 
consistent performer in the global  information technology market for 
more than 40 years" 
[http://www.csc.com/aboutus/content/glance.shtml]. 
That is, they are a for-profit Fortune 500 business with revenues of $11.3 
billion and 
90,000 world-wide employees. The industries to which they provide 
services include retail, insurance, health services, government, 
financial services, consumer products, communications and high 
tech, chemical and energy, capital markets, banking, and aerospace and 
defense.

If you missed seeing education on the list, you didn't blink, it's not 
there. And if you did see defense, you saw correctly.

Last year, in fact, CSC purchased DynCorp. Who are they? 
According to CSC's web site, they are a major provider of "security-related 
services."

In fact, according to Van B. Honeycutt, CSC's CEO, ""Now that the 
U.S. Homeland Security Department is in place, the resources and 
security expertise of CSC, coupled with those of DynCorp, will position us 
extremely well as the federal government expands and accelerates 
its efforts to enhance U.S. national security" 
[http://www.csc.com/features/2003/7.shtml]. ; And what might those 
security services be? According to the web site for the "International Police 
Programs Information Source" website [http://www.policemission.com/iraq.asp], 
those services include recruiting security personel for Iraq. To quote, " 
DynCorp International FZ-LLC (DIFZ), a CSC Company, is seeking individuals with 
appropriate experience and expertise to participate in an international effort 
to re-establish police, justice and prison functions in post-conflict Iraq."

The pay, for police and other law enforcement officers, is at least 
$75,000 plus room and lodging, but candidates must not only be quite 
experienced, they need at least "two years experience in specialized 
skills"-what 
those specialized skills are remain unspecified. If that isn't enough, DynCorp 
is 
also the 
organization that provided contract personnel to Plan Colombia who 
participated in aerial spraying of Colombia's cocoa fields, this from the State 
Department's web site 
[http://usinfo.state.gov/regional/ar/colombia/fact09.htm]. They have been 
sued by the International Labor Rights Fund on behalf of Colombian peasant 
families reportedly harmed by aerial fumigation 
[http://www.ciponline.org/colombia/irlfdyncorp.htm].

So if you're wondering by now what does an organization that 
specializes in recruiting soldiers of fortune to drop poison spray on 
agricultural 
lands or  put down resistance to illegal occupations has to do with 
ensuring the free flow of information for education 
research...you're not the only one. But you should know who's 
managing that store...and what else they do.


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