Ann Althouse links this WaPo piece about bugs.

Not just any bugs, but bug bugs. (Meaning tiny government listening devices disguised to look like dragonflies, which contain tiny cameras and transmitters to spy on and harass demonstrators.)

The bugs have so upset activist Mara Verheyden-Hilliard that she's filed FOIA requests with several agencies:

Three people at the D.C. event independently described a row of spheres, the size of small berries, attached along the tails of the big dragonflies -- an accoutrement that Louton could not explain. And all reported seeing at least three maneuvering in unison.

"Dragonflies never fly in a pack," he said.

Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice said her group is investigating witness reports and has filed Freedom of Information Act requests with several federal agencies. If such devices are being used to spy on political activists, she said, "it would be a significant violation of people's civil rights."

For many roboticists still struggling to get off the ground, however, that concern -- and their technology's potential role -- seems superfluous.

"I don't want people to get paranoid, but what can I say?" Fearing said. "Cellphone cameras are already everywhere. It's not that much different."

Here she is, angrily addressing a rally to protest "Israeli aggression."

If you look closely, you'll see Ramsey Clark standing behind her and applauding.

Kewl!

Bill Ardolino calls her "the screamer," but I notice she has a degree in law from Columbia.

Something about those bugs though. They almost remind me of Salvador Dalí's flying lobster machines.

If you look closely, you can see tiny men in parachutes jumping from them!

MORE: Regarding Mr. Louton's contention that "dragonflies never fly in a pack," I'm wondering what he thinks about this:

Several species of dragonfly are known to collect in large swarms. In most cases this appears to be due to very favorable feeding conditions in the area. It may also be a "courting" group with males actively searching for females. This is less likely as males are much more aggressive to each other when looking for a mate.

Some dragonflies gather in swarms before moving to a new area (like a bird migration). The reasons for this are unclear but may be due to population pressures. There are records from the US of migratory swarms.

How about the photo here?

And unless I'm mistaken, Jerry Louton appears to be the author of a book which states that dragonflies...

"...can form feeding swarms. Males hover periodically while patrolling."

Maybe a pack is not a swarm.

But many dragonfly swarms have been reported.

MORE: Here's a cool picture:

And the caption:

You never know what you are going to see when you go to a State Park. On this day I walked right into a swarm of peaceful dragonflies floating in the warm salt air.

Hah!

More like war robobugs practicing to malevolently swarm over peaceful demonstrators -- brought to you by mad scientist Bush-Cheney Homeland Security Operatives at Halliburton!

Now that the sinister flying Rechimplicans have been caught right in the act, if this doesn't bring about the long-awaited impeachment, I don't know what will!

MORE: Dragonflies fly in tandem:

It's also common to see dragonflies flying in a tandem position, but once again, there's little romance in it. In reality it's every dragonfly for himself in the insect world, and the male dragonfly is basically making sure no other male can mate with the female before the eggs he has fertilized have been deposited.

"So it's a very competitive world out there," Abbott says, "and what you see is the male doing all sorts of behaviors to guard the female, to keep an eye on his investment."

...when it is time to select a mate, dragonflies can be as crude as frat boys at a keg party.

"They'll mate as often as they can grab a female," he says of Common Green Darners. "Most are pretty rough when it comes to mating. They just grab a female. It gets pretty ferocious," he says.

The genteel exception, he says, is the "polite" male Eastern Amberwing which "escorts" its mate to a cozy spot on the ground for a tryst.

AND MORE: Here's what I think may really be going on (the photo has been edited in the interest of reader sensibilities and out of concern for modesty):

No more dragonfly monkeyshines, please!

(Such flight routines are exhausting.)

BOTTOM LINE: Flying Rechimplicans from Halliburton, you're busted!