The Highest Stakes
OK, this time they've gone too far.

John Poindexter, the man who brought you Iran-Contra and Total Information Awareness (remember the "All-Seeing Eye" post from a few months ago), is at it again. This time, his organization, DARPA, which is sounding more and more like Marvel Comics' A.I.M. every day, has developed the Policy Analysis Market, a futures market where investors can buy contracts to predict the likelihood of events like a terrorist attack, assassination, or a military coup in the Middle East. The argument is that futures markets are good predictive instruments and it would be a way by which they could act preemptively.

Needless to say, members of Congress share my disgust.