Transparent Government

For however many godawful eternities Dick Cheney was vice president, his mansion on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory had been digitally obscured on Google Maps. This kind of dickish, ineffectual (we all know where the vice president’s mansion is, for Christ’s sake) secrecy was just another in a long line of similar moves by Mr. Cheney, and no one was really surprised. However, Google claimed that the government had nothing to do with the blurry blob of pixels that replaced the home. Their map images come from independent third parties, and the mysterious photograph of the Cheney’s house was provided by the U.S. Geological Survey. But in a suspicious “coincidence”, the pixelization seems to have cleared up with the arrival of Vice President Joe Biden. Another promise of transparent government made good on the part of the Obama administration? Or, as Google claims, a simple correction made by the new satellite provider, DigitalGlobe, Inc.? The world may never know. But at least the world may now peer into Biden’s sunroof and laugh at an aerial view of his hair plugs. More details here.