AES is secure Also Re Dave
Rijndael is AES
Rijndael was the name of the cypher before it began a standard, the standard name being AES.
Although I do agree with your comments about it being insecure becuase the government uses it. Its an open source algorithm, which has been round for many years (I know I bought the book detailing the algorithm many years ago whilst at uni). As computing power increases it will become easier to break as DES and triple-DES the previous standards did. But as that happens it will be improved and replaced.
If you are worried about the security of any algorithm go and get a copy of the cypher, and if its not available in the open market its not secure. AES is available, many very bright and independant experts have validated it, and if you dont trust them do the maths yourself.
Of course specific implementations may not be secure becuase they can have backdoors and bugs in them, but hay you have the algorithm write your own.
Alan