This will give the conspiracy theorists something to sink their teeth into; Google is providing search technology to the nation’s intelligence agencies.

Now, before you pull the plug on your Google Toolbar, there’s no need to panic…yet. Google is simply selling the federal government its Google Search Appliance product.

In addition to the intelligence agencies, Google’s government customers include the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the state of Alabama and Washington, D.C.

Many of the contracts are for search appliances – servers for storing and searching internal documents. Agencies can use the devices to create their own mini-Googles on intranets made up entirely of government data.

Oh, and Google’s also selling the feds it’s Google Earth mapping tool.

Whenever Google’s services don’t quite work the way they’re supposed to, we typically accept it as the downside of getting so many great services for free, right?

Well, what about the Google services we actually pay for? Shouldn’t we hold Google to a higher standard for such services?

The answer is a resounding "yes" judging by the number of complaints Google has received regarding Google Calendar’s performance issues over the past week or two.

I expressed my dismay on Twitter last week–Google Cal just simply would not load, instead showing a "try again later" message–and, according to Computerworld, I’m not alone in this experience.

Most of the users trying to access their calendars said they get an error message that reads, "One or more of your selected calendars could not be loaded at this time. You can try to re-select the hidden calendars in a few moments."