Police State is upon us?

The Pentagon will end its Threat and Local Observation Notices (TALON)
Program. The program collects reports of activities that are alleged to
be threats to the Defense Department. The program will be shut down as
of September 17, 2007....

The department admitted that it had maintained the information
after it was determined that there was no threat from the protests past
the 90 days its guidelines provided for. The department also monitored
student speech and e-mails at several universities across the country,
tracking students involved in protesting military policies.

Anti-war groups and other organizations, including a Quaker group — the American Friends Service Committee — protested after it was revealed that the military had monitored anti-war activities, organizations and individuals who attended peace rallies.

Pentagon officials have said the program was productive and had detected international terrorist interests in specific military bases. But they also acknowledged that some officials may not have been using the system properly.

The TALON reports — collected by an array of Defense Department agencies including law enforcement, intelligence, counterintelligence and security — are kept in a large database and analyzed by an obscure Pentagon agency, the Counterintelligence Field Activity. CIFA is a three-year-old outfit whose size and budget are secret.

U.S. Northern Command recently hosted representatives from more than 40 international, federal and state agencies for an exercise designed to provoke discussion and determine what governmental actions, including military support, would be necessary in the event of an influenza pandemic in the United States.

a 200-yard stretch along a nature trail has been blanketed by a sprawling spider web that has engulfed seven large trees, dozens of bushes and the weedy ground.

Lies, Lies, and More Lies, in History-Illiterate America

China Enacting a High-Tech Plan to Track People

At least 20,000 police surveillance cameras are being installed along streets here in southern China and will soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from an American-financed company to recognize automatically the faces of police suspects and detect unusual activity.

Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens.

“If they do not get the permanent card, they cannot live here, they cannot get government benefits, and that is a way for the government to control the population in the future,” said Michael Lin, the vice president for investor relations at China Public Security Technology, the company providing the technology...
Every police officer in Shenzhen now carries global positioning satellite equipment on his or her belt. This allows senior police officers to direct their movements on large, high-resolution maps of the city that China Public Security has produced using software that runs on the Microsoft Windows operating system.

“We have a very good relationship with U.S. companies like I.B.M., Cisco, H.P., Dell,” said Robin Huang, the chief operating officer of China Public Security. “All of these U.S. companies work with us to build our system together.”

Fred Thompson has a gift for knowing just what to say to anyone

The right has a crush on Fred Thompson, but his own papers suggest he is less conservative than they think.

Virginians Face $3,000 Traffic Ticket

Beginning Sunday, Virginia is adding new civil charges to traffic fines. They range from $750 to $3,000 and will be added to existing fines and court costs. The civil penalty for going 20 mph over the speed limit will be $1,050, plus $61 in court costs and a fine that is typically about $200.

Great post on Anthony's site

Gotta Love Mika.

I concur Mr. Evil Genius.

How To Not Hire An American

Thisis pretty outrageous. This is who we have to go after in this immigration debate. Nikki, you should be screaming right now.

Iran curses Ahmadinejad over petrol rationing

The protests, the most open sign of discontent with Mr Ahmadinejad's rule since he took office in 2005, were accompanied by a stream of text-messaged jokes, which often serve as a vent for Iranians' suppressed frustrations. "On the orders of President Ahmadinejad," read one, "those who are short of petrol can have a ride on the 17 million donkeys who voted for him."

For a man whose key election promise was to "put the oil income on people's tables", there could scarcely be a more symbolic failure than the imposition of fuel rationing. Heavily state-subsidised, petrol normally costs less than bottled drinking water at about 1,000 rials (5p) a litre, and most Iranians regard it with a sense of entitlement.

This is what is wrong withthe world today

California Mom Charged in Gang Shooting

Babies not as innocent as they pretend

Behavioural experts have found that infants begin to lie from as young as six months. Simple fibs help to train them for more complex deceptions in later life.

Russia lays claim to the North Pole - and all its gas, oil, and diamonds

The six-week mission on a nuclear ice-breaker claimed that the underwater Lomonsov ridge is geologically linked to the Siberian continental platform - and similar in structure.

The detailed findings are likely to be put to the United Nations in a bid to bring it under the Kremlin noose, and provide the bonanza of an estimated 10 billion tonnes of gas and oil deposits as well as significant sources of diamonds, gold, tin, manganese, nickel, lead and platinum.

Under current international law, the countries ringing the Arctic - Russia, Canada, the US, Norway, Denmark (Greenland) - are limited to a 200 mile economic zone around their coastlines.

Currently, a UN convention stipulates that none of these countries can claim jurisdiction of the Arctic seabed because the geological structure does not match that of the surrounding continental shelves

Suburbs need not fear school vouchers

When parents spend a king's ransom to buy a house, they understandably want to protect what is undoubtedly for most the biggest investment of their lives. Unfettered school choice poses a direct threat by allowing children from urban schools to enroll in suburban schools at the expense of local taxpayers. Too many of these outsiders bring huge deficits in socialization, motivation, and intellectual development through no fault of their own, which lower test scores and, in turn, house prices. Faced with that possibility, suburbanites have fought back, with remarkable success.

Maybe we need to punish those who abuse the people's trust more severely.

Whether it be a politician, bureaucrat, or a social program abuser.? Instead we want to stop paying taxes or cut programs. why must we throw out the baby with the bath water?

Climate change behind Darfur killing?

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that the slaughter in Darfur was triggered by global climate change and that more such conflicts may be on the horizon

If memory serves: the pentagon made this same assertion like 2 years ago.

Don't let it happen to you.

know your rights

You be the judge. Is this hype or genuine concern

A Drought for the Ages Spreads Across U.S.

Putin Issues Threat Over Missiles Shield Plan

Russian President Vladimir Putin , with words reminiscent of the Cold War, warned Sunday that his military would respond to a planned American missile defense system near its borders by aiming its missiles at U.S. military bases in Europe.

They want Vermont to secede from the United States -- peacefully, of course.

Disillusioned by what they call an empire about to fall, a small cadre of writers and academics is plotting political strategy and planting the seeds of separatism.

Immigrant Rental Rule in Texas Blocked

FARMERS BRANCH, Texas (AP) - A federal judge Monday blocked enforcement of a voter-endorsed ordinance preventing apartment rentals to most illegal immigrants in this Dallas suburb, opponents of the ban said.
The ordinance was to take effect Tuesday, more than a week after voters approved it. Opponents had filed three requests in federal court for an injunction to stop its enforcement.

The ordinance requires managers to verify that renters are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants before leasing to them, with some exceptions. Violators face fines of up to $500, and each day would be considered a separate violation.

Only the federal government can determine whether a person is in the United States legally, wrote U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay.

This is clearly an enviroMENTAList wacko

Man Accused of Setting Bike Path Traps in Texas

Naked man superglued to exercise bike

Is this a hate crime?A gang stripped a South African man before supergluing him to an exercise bicycle while they ransacked his house, according to a report Thursday.
The man was rescued about three hours later when his partner arrived home, SAPA said

dance the revolution

get up and dance

Climate change hits Mars

Scientists from Nasa say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the 1970s. This is similar to the warming experienced on Earth over approximately the same period.

Since there is no known life on Mars it suggests rapid changes in planetary climates could be natural phenomena.

For your consideration

Sobriety checkpoint yields 13 DUI arrests

622 vehicles were checked between 11 p.m. Friday and 4 a.m. today at the intersection of 34th Street and Broadway. In addition to the arrests for driving while intoxicated, officers also issued tickets for two hazardous moving violations, three other traffic charges and made two arrests for possession of marijuana.

Police also announced their next sobriety checkpoint will be conducted on May 5.

House approves more severe penalty for selling drugs in parks

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.

The House voted 124-26 for legislation making it a Class A felony to sell heroin, cocaine, LSD, amphetamine or methamphetamine within 1,000 feet of city, county, state or private park.

Rep. Leonard Hughes said the measure targets specific people using specific drugs in certain parts of the state, and it would make drug offenses in urban areas a more serious offense than those committed in suburban and rural parts of the state.

"This is another attempt to fill more prisons with more youths of color," said Hughes, D-Kansas City.

But Republicans said opponents' arguments that the bill unfairly targets minorities and city-dwellers does not make sense because there are parks throughout the state.

"It's complete stupidity. If you violate this law, it applies statewide, it applies to everyone in the state," said Rep. Gary Dusenberg, R-Blue Springs.

State law already allows for up to life sentences for manufacturing and selling drugs within 2,000 feet of schools, colleges and school buses.

Rep. Darrell Pollock said his bill targets only those who are breaking the law.

"We need to send the message that we are tough on crime. We need to send the message that we are tough on drugs," said Pollock, R-Lebanon.

Let Sibel Edmonds Speak

It has been almost five years now since former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds first contacted the Senate Judiciary Committee to reveal the shocking tale of Turkish bribery of high-level U.S. officials. In that time span, Edmonds has been misled by members of Congress on several occasions: Numerous promises have been made to the whistleblower by the Senate Judiciary Committee that her allegations would be exposed in public hearings. Those promises have rung hollow.

Now, with the Democratic victory in Congressional elections, coupled with revelations that many of the tapes she translated were probably obtained illegally through FISA warrants , the Turkish translator's case has gained new relevance. Edmonds recently presented to Congress her petition of 15,000 individual signatures and the support of 30 organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), OMB Watch, Project on Government Oversight (POGO), Government Accountability Project (GAP), People for the American Way, and the Liberty Coalition, who have sponsored this petition and joined her campaign. Furthermore, Edmonds has received assurances that the House Government Reform Committee will hold hearings. And one would hope that with a very good public servant, Henry Waxman, chairing the Government Reform Committee, a full public airing of Ms. Edmonds' allegations would be a foregone conclusion.

Unfortunately, time and time again the Congress has proven that, absent public pressure, a case like that of Turkey's corruption of U.S. government officials will not automatically receive its due attention. And although the Democrats' recent rise to power brings new hope, it won't automatically guarantee justice. Unlike the numerous Iraq War investigations that Waxman and other Democrats in Congress are planning, the issues brought up by Sibel Edmonds may tarnish the images not just of the Bush Administration, but also of certain elements of the Clinton Administration. Further complicating matters is that members of both political parties in Congress were also allegedly the recipient of Turkish gratuities: When a country like Turkey decides to engage in illegal espionage and lobbying, it spreads its funds generously. And though Edmonds' case involves the nuclear black market, not even the potential of a nuke reaching American soil is guaranteed to motivate our public servants, especially when they fear some of the muck might splatter on their own Party.

Virginia 'sorry' for slavery role

Virginia's General Assembly has adopted a resolution, expressing "profound regret" for the role the US state played in slavery.

Somehow, I can hear a bunch of "patriots" going crazy because an American state has "given in" to "special interest" groups and are just "blaming America." But honestly, is it so terrible to acknowledge the wrongs of this nation's past? We wave flags and shout "we're number one" on a daily basis.

Very interesting

I don't remember this story. Thank god for Youttube.
Israeli connection to 9-11

www.gloryworks.net

Sunday

Why is the government handing out state grants?

The U.S. Department of Transportation has been handing millions of dollars to state governments for GPS-tracking pilot projects designed to track vehicles wherever they go. So far, Washington state and Oregon have received fat federal checks to figure out how to levy these "mileage-based road user fees."

Now electronic tracking and taxing may be coming to a DMV near you. The Office of Transportation Policy Studies, part of the Federal Highway Administration, is about to announce another round of grants totaling some $11 million. A spokeswoman on Friday said the office is "shooting for the end of the year" for the announcement, and more money is expected for GPS (Global Positioning System) tracking efforts.

Now consider that England is doing it too:

Plans to introduce a nationwide "pay-as-you-drive" system were unveiled by former Transport Secretary Alistair Darling in 2005. His successor, Douglas Alexander, has since suggested that road pricing could be brought in within a decade.

What time is it?

Does anyone know who decides to move somethn=ing like this ahead?

Here is the contact info regarding Danny Talbert

A “straight arrow” Harrisonville man is busted when a knife and possible drug residue are found in his bag.

To help:
1. Danny Talbert Fund- Go to any Commerce Bank and make a check payable to Commerce Bank with fund # 442512849 in memo.

2. Contact :
State department 202-647-4000
United Arab Emirates Embassy 800-823-6911 or 202-243-2400
Ike Skelton 816-255-2876
you can write to your congress person here

a myspace page is here

Something to consider when thinking about the mandatory cancer vaccine

1.The National Vaccine Information Center yesterday warned state officials to investigate the safety of a breakthrough cancer vaccine as Texas became the first state to make the vaccine mandatory for school-age girls.
Negative side effects of Gardasil, a new Merck vaccine to prevent the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, are being reported in the District of Columbia and 20 states, including Virginia. The reactions range from loss of consciousness to seizures.
"Young girls are experiencing severe headaches, dizziness, temporary loss of vision and some girls have lost consciousness during what appear to be seizures," said Vicky Debold, health policy analyst for the National Vaccine Information Center, a nonprofit watchdog organization that was created in the early 1980s to prevent vaccine injuries.

2.n 2002, there were 4,019,280 births in the United States, down slightly from 2001 (4,025,933).

from the same govt numbers:
Among teenagers, the birth rate fell to 43 births per 1,000 females 15-19 years of age in 2002, a 5-percent decline from 2001 and a 28-percent decline from 1990. The decline in the birth rate for younger teens, 15-17 years of age, is even more substantial, dropping 38 percent from 1990 to 2002 compared to a drop of 18 percent for teens 18-19.

Now I'm no expert on anything so help me out. Wouldn't the lower birth rate come from a combination of less sex or more safe sex amongst teens? If so, why would we want to risk these health problems over 9700 cases of cancer a year. Then add in the cost of this shot $120 -150. They want to give it to girls, all girls remember, between 11-12. Once again, consider what they say:

Merck spokesman Chris Loder said the vaccine is effective for five years and the Whitehouse Station, N.J., drug maker is not sure how long afterward the vaccine will work. Critics point out that an additional booster shot may be necessary.

So in five years when they are 17 and still in high school, and under the govt control, they will need a booster. Hmmm, think that'll be another 120 bucks?

AHHH the plot thickens:

Merck, the only maker of this vaccine, donated $6,000 to Perry’s re-election campaign. How much more will he receive from Merck now that he has forced this upon the state? There is more, one of the three Merck lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry’s former chief of staff. Sometimes you have to help a friend who helped you.

Republicans Block Congressional Pay Hike

Lawmakers' pay will be frozen at $165,200 for this year in the dispute, in which Democrats violated a yearslong understanding that the competing parties would not use the pay raise issue in campaign ads.

Under the annual COLA, lawmakers automatically get a pay hike unless Congress votes to block it. Hoyer and GOP leaders such as Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., made sure to smooth over any potential obstacles to the pay hike.

Typically, the annual vote on the pay hike came on an obscure procedural move _ instead of a direct up-or-down vote _ and the Democratic and GOP whips each delivered a roughly equal number of votes to shut off any move to block the pay hike.

Blunt said Democrats broke the agreement last year after the pay raise-related vote had already taken place. In a 263-152 vote in June, the House blocked a bid by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, to force an up- or-down vote on the pay raise.

"The agreement always was that the parties would not use the COLA issue in the campaign," Blunt said. "It was as formal as anything not signed is."

Under the congressional pay raise law enacted in 1989, lawmakers won a big pay raise in exchange for giving up honoraria for personal gain. The COLA was born as part of the reforms, but it also had the political benefit of freeing lawmakers from having to vote on pay hikes.

Iranian Reveals Plan to Expand Role in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Jan. 28 — Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad outlined an ambitious plan on Sunday to greatly expand its economic and military ties with Iraq — including an Iranian national bank branch in the heart of the capital — just as the Bush administration has been warning the Iranians to stop meddling in Iraqi affairs.

Iran’s plan, as outlined by the ambassador, carries the potential to bring Iran into further conflict here with the United States, which has detained a number of Iranian operatives in recent weeks and says it has proof of Iranian complicity in attacks on American and Iraqi forces.

The ambassador, Hassan Kazemi Qumi, said Iran was prepared to offer Iraq government forces training, equipment and advisers for what he called “the security fight.” In the economic area, Mr. Qumi said, Iran was ready to assume major responsibility for Iraq reconstruction, an area of failure on the part of the United States since American-led forces overthrew Saddam Hussein nearly four years ago.

“We have experience of reconstruction after war,” Mr. Qumi said, referring to the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. “We are ready to transfer this experience in terms of reconstruction to the Iraqis.”

Mr. Qumi also acknowledged, for the first time, that two Iranians seized and later released by American forces last month were security officials, as the United States had claimed. But he said that they were engaged in legitimate discussions with the Iraqi government and should not have been detained.

Mr. Qumi’s remarks, in a 90-minute interview over tea and large pistachio nuts at the Iranian Embassy here, amounted to the most authoritative and substantive response the Iranians have made yet to increasingly belligerent accusations by the Bush administration that Iran is acting against American interests in Iraq.

President Bush has said the American military is authorized to take whatever action necessary against Iranians in Iraq found to be engaged in actions deemed hostile.

Deeply distrustful of Iran, the White House has expressed scepticism about Tehran's plans to greatly expand its economic and military ties with Iraq.

The US has accused Iran of supporting terrorism and supplying weapons to kill American forces.

"If Iran wants to quit playing a destructive role in the affairs of Iraq and wants to play a constructive role, we would certainly welcome that," US National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

But, he added: "We have seen little evidence to date (of constructive activities) and, frankly, all we have seen is evidence to the contrary."

2 years of confinement?

Former Wal-Mart vice chairman Thomas Coughlin - whose compensation from salary, bonuses, and stock grants totaled several million dollars per year - is discovered to have cooked up fraudulent expense invoices in a scam to siphon off $500,000 over the course of seven years.

Coughlin, who reportedly told enabling subordinates that he was using the funds for a secret antiunion initiative, pleads guilty and is sentenced to more than two years of home confinement.

Young student's documentary leaving audiences stunned

This is sad:

Color is more than skin deep for young African-American women struggling to define themselves

We must be aware of ALL of our potential enemies

Chinese missile destroys satellite in space

Another cool way to save the planet

The Thrustpac pushes you along on the device of your choice, and can be used for motive power on skates, canoes and other water craft, scooters, wheelchairs, skis and bicycles and we’re sure there are lots of ways to use it. It comes in three different power specifications, from a 12 pound four-stroke pack offering 10 pounds of thrust through to a 20 pound (weight) pack offering 20 pounds of thrust from a two-stroke motor. Each ThrustPac is tailor-made for you, with prices starting at US$900 and running through to US$2000. One of these will enable your pushbike to do the round-town legal limit, so it’s a sure-fire enabling technology for something … perhaps even a shot at the Darwin Awards.

Finally Someone is doing something to protect marriage

Adultery could mean life, court finds

In a ruling sure to make philandering spouses squirm, Michigan's second-highest court says that anyone involved in an extramarital fling can be prosecuted for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to life in prison.
"We cannot help but question whether the Legislature actually intended the result we reach here today," Judge William Murphy wrote in November for a unanimous Court of Appeals panel, "but we are curtailed by the language of the statute from reaching any other conclusion."

INVASION !!!!

According to the Border Patrol, an unknown number of gunmen attacked the site in the state's West Desert Region around 11 p.m. The site is manned by National Guardsmen. Those guardsmen were forced to retreat.

Meanwhile we are at war because Iraq MIGHT attack or fund an attack?

US-China trade deficit at all-time high

China’s trade surplus reached $177.5bn (£118.7bn) last year, 74 per cent higher than in 2005, a rise that will intensify pressure on Beijing further to open its markets and accelerate the revaluation of its currency...

There is mounting impatience in Washington, where members of the newly elected Congress are proposing legislative action.

Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate finance committee, is expected to introduce legislation to lower the burden of proof for China to be accused of “currency manipulation” by the US Treasury.

In the House of Representatives, Sander Levin, head of the trade subcommittee, will introduce a controversial bill to prompt the use of anti-subsidy laws against non-market economies such as China.

Chavez now wants to scrap presidential term limits

Chavez, who rode to Congress for the swearing-in ceremony in an open-top car waving at crowds of supporters, has said his new term's plans include stripping the central bank of its autonomy and taking on special legislative powers.

The opposition has accused Chavez, in power since 1999, of seeking to transform the fourth-biggest oil exporter to the United States into a Cuban-style centralized economy.

Dead birds rain down on towns half a world apart

It could be the plot of a horror film, but in two towns on opposite sides of the world the mysterious phenomenon of thousands of dead birds dropping out of the sky is all too real.

Officials are baffled by the unexplained deaths which have affected Australia and the U.S.

Three weeks ago thousands of crows, pigeons, wattles and honeyeaters fell out of the sky in Esperance, Western Australia.

Then last week dozens of grackles, sparrows and pigeons dropped dead on two streets in Austin, Texas.

As birds continue to die in Esperance and the town's dawn chorus remains eerily silent, vets in both countries have been unable to establish a cause of death - despite carrying out a large number of autopsies on the birds

House Adopts Pay-as-You-Go Rules

On its second day under Democratic management, the House yesterday overwhelmingly approved new rules aimed at reining in deficit spending and shedding more light on the murky world of special-interest projects known as earmarks.

Under the new provisions, the House will for the first time in years be required to pay for any proposal to cut taxes or increase spending on the most expensive federal programs by raising taxes or cutting spending elsewhere. And lawmakers will be required to disclose the sponsors of earmarks, which are attached in virtual secrecy to legislation to direct money to favored interests or home-district projects.

QUE

yo habla espanol

QUE

yo habla espanol

You gotta Love It

Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, found himself under attack last month when he announced he'd take his oath of office on the Koran -- especially from Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, who called it a threat to American values.

Yet the holy book at tomorrow's ceremony has an unassailably all-American provenance. We've learned that the new congressman -- in a savvy bit of political symbolism -- will hold the personal copy once owned by Thomas Jefferson
...Jefferson's copy is an English translation by George Sale published in the 1750s; it survived the 1851 fire that destroyed most of Jefferson's collection and has his customary initialing on the pages. This isn't the first historic book used for swearing-in ceremonies -- the Library has allowed VIPs to use rare Bibles for inaugurations and other special occasions....

One person unlikely to be swayed by the book's illustrious history is Goode, who released a letter two weeks ago objecting to Ellison's use of the Koran. "I believe that the overwhelming majority of voters in my district would prefer the use of the Bible," the Virginia Republican told Fox News, and then went on to warn about what he regards as the dangers of Muslims immigrating to the United States and Muslims gaining elective office.

Yeah, but what about a Koran that belonged to one of the greatest Virginians in history? Goode, who represents Jefferson's birthplace of Albemarle County, had no comment yesterday.

I whole heartedly Agree with the President

At least on the earmarks...
Bush Warns Congress to Stop Hiding Pork

"But we need to do more," Bush said. "Here's my own view to end the dead-of-the-night process: Congress needs to adopt real reform that requires full disclosure of the sponsors, the costs, the recipients and the justifications for every earmark."

He called on Congress to cut the number and cost of earmarks next year by at least half.

According to a Congressional Research Service study, the number of earmarks in spending, or appropriations, bills went from 4,126 in 1994 to 15,877 in 2005. The value of those earmarks doubled to $47.4 billion in the same period. Earmarked projects often include roads, bridges and economic development efforts.

Now I

This is inspiring

reaffirming My hope in mankind

one step closer to BB (BIg Brother)

The Justice Department is building a massive database

that allows state and local police officers around the country to search millions of case files from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal law enforcement agencies, according to Justice officials.

The system, known as "OneDOJ," already holds approximately 1 million case records and is projected to triple in size over the next three years, Justice officials said. The files include investigative reports, criminal-history information, details of offenses, and the names, addresses and other information of criminal suspects or targets, officials said.

The database is billed by its supporters as a much-needed step toward better information-sharing with local law enforcement agencies, which have long complained about a lack of cooperation from the federal government.

But civil-liberties and privacy advocates say the scale and contents of such a database raise immediate privacy and civil rights concerns, in part because tens of thousands of local police officers could gain access to
The little-noticed program has been coming together over the personal details about people who have not been arrested or charged with crimes.past year and a half. It already is in use in pilot projects with local police in Seattle, San Diego and a handful of other areas, officials said. About 150 separate police agencies have access, officials said.

About 150 separate police agencies have access, officials said...program will be expanded immediately to 15 additional regions and that federal authorities will "accelerate . . . efforts to share information from both open and closed cases."

This is what Nikki wants to see

This is learning the way it's supposed to be

Ex-employee says FAA warned before 9/11

In the years leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Dzakovic says, the team was able to breach security about 90% of the time, sneaking bombs and submachine guns past airport screeners. Expensive new bomb detection machines consistently failed, he says...
"Immediately (after 9/11), numerous government officials from FAA as well as other government agencies made defensive statements such as, 'How could we have known this was going to happen?' " Dzakovic testified later before the 9/11 Commission. "The truth is, they did know."

What is happening?!!??

Somebody please explain this to me.

Big Dog was so right

you have to get this movie

Bad news Folks

Sorry to break the news. But Pelosi, Dean, and now John Conyers, have all agreed. there are to be no investigations into the possibility of impeachable offenses. This should concern all you die hard Democrats. The only thing holding Conyers back was, he said, the Republican Majority. He even went so far as to hold unofficial hearings in the BASEMENT of the congress.

Now, on the marching orders of his party, he will become part of the cover up. This despite his statements last December:
Now on to the Report and what I plan to do about it. In sum, the report examines the Bush Administration's actions in taking us to war from A to Z. The report finds there is substantial evidence the President, the Vice-President and other high ranking members of the Bush Administration misled Congress and the American people regarding the decision to go to war in Iraq; misstated and manipulated intelligence information regarding the justification for such war; countenanced torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in Iraq; and permitted inappropriate retaliation against critics of their Administration.

The Report concludes that a number of these actions amount to prima facie evidence (evidence sufficiently strong to presume the allegations are true) that federal criminal laws have been violated. Legal violations span from false statements to Congress to whistleblower laws...
First, I have introduced a resolution (H. Res. 635) creating a Select Committee with subpoena authority to investigate the misconduct of the Bush Administration with regard to the Iraq war and report on possible impeachable offenses.
Second, I have introduced Resolutions regarding both President Bush (H. Res. 636) and Vice-President Cheney (H. Res. 637) proposing that they be censured by Congress based on the uncontroverted evidence already on the record and their failure to respond to Congressional and public inquiries about these matters and have never accounted for their many specific misstatements in the run up to War


And what do the American people think:
87% think that the door to impeachment should indeed be open.
I guess sending the Dems to investigate the Republicans is like sending the Genovese family to look into the actions of the Columbo family. Surely they will find rackets but they're more interested in taking over the racket than they are in ending the corruption.

Very weird result in the CT race. Lamont loses with EXACT number that republican did in 2000

Somebody should have played the lottery because the odds of Lamont losing in 2006 with the EXACT amount of votes the republican lost with in 2000 is astronomically high.

Punchscan incorporates cryptography into e-voting

Considering the disaster that has been e-voting, we're not surprised to see another firm stepping forward with a slightly less complex alternative to confidently casting your ballot. Reverting back to the less problematic methods of paper-and-pencil voting, yet offering up a way to electronically store and track each vote, David Chaum and his research team have unveiled the Punchscan system to hopefully solve the world's e-voting woes.

Germans Tell of Secret Nazi Breeding Program

After the Nazis overran Germany's neighbor states in 1940, German occupation soldiers were encouraged to find suitable local mates. Ten Lebensborn homes were set up in foreign lands, where some 8,000 children were eventually born.

Two years later, the Nazis began seeking out blue-eyed, blonde-haired children in neighboring, mostly Slavic, countries and sending them back home to be "Germanized" as Heinicke was


Can you say: "Boys from Brazil"

This is congressional oversight

A panel set up last year to reduce excessive secrecy in government is being labeled toothless after its chairman told lawmakers that he could not act except at the request of the president

Infant Twins Have Different Skin Color

the boys were both born white but as they've gotten older one of the boys got darker and the other lighter.

Where are the "insurgents" getting there armaments

Nine days after the fall of Baghdad, on April 18, 2003, a news crew from Minneapolis station KSTP-TV, traveling with troops from the 101st Airborne Division, entered the bunkers at Al-Qaqaa, south of Baghdad. At one of the bunkers, the troops broke a seal to get inside, where they found barrels filled with powdered explosives, according to reporter Dean Staley.

Constitution, Schmonstitution

7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Richard A. Posner, a Reagan appointee, argues in "Not a Suicide Pact: the Constitution in a Time of National Emergency" (Oxford 2006) that in a terrorism-induced choice between individual freedoms and collective security, the Constitution was never intended to side with the first at the expense of the second. Maybe it's Judge Posner's bitter reaction to what he perceives as judicial overreaching in constitutional decisions. Or maybe it's his professed disdain for "civil libertarians" whom, he says "are not always careful about history." Whatever the case, Judge Posner is ready to make malleable the protections contained in the Constitution; he's ready to have bedrock individual rights and protections ebb and flow along a sliding scale depending upon the scope of the crisis.

Amendment 2: The Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative

The information below provides a detailed overview of the Initiative. The left column shows the actual text of the measure. The right column provides a plain English explanation of each provision.

Troops' Debt a Growing Security Concern

The Pentagon contends financial problems can distract personnel from their duties or make them vulnerable to bribery and treason. As a result, those who fall heavily into debt can be stripped of the security clearances they need to go overseas.

What's inflation?

giving credit where credit is due: thanks Sh#t guyFirst, let's not let politicians deceive us, and escape culpability, by defining inflation as rising prices, which would allow them to make the pretense that inflation is caused by greedy businessmen, rapacious unions or Arab sheiks. Increases in money supply are what constitute inflation, and the general rise in the price level is the result. Who's in charge of the money supply? It's the government operating through the Federal Reserve...
If you lend me $100, and over the term of the loan the Federal Reserve increases the money supply in a way that causes inflation, I pay you back with dollars with reduced purchasing power. Since inflation redistributes (steals) wealth from creditors to debtors, it helps us identify inflation's primary beneficiary. That identification is easy if you ask: Who is the nation's largest debtor? If you said, "It's the U.S. government," go to the head of the class.

Venezuela, Guatemala battle for UN Security Council seat

Fierce US critic Venezuela and US-backed Guatemala fought a bitter battle for Latin America's open seat on the UN Security Council, forcing voting into a second day under pitched lobbying by the United States.
Guatemala led in all but one of the 10 rounds of voting, which was a tie, but Caracas held on to enough support to deny Guatemala the two-thirds majority of votes cast in a particular round needed to win...
UN rules allow for indefinite rounds of voting. A previous battle between Cuba and Colombia ended in January 1980 after two months and 154 rounds with the election of a third candidate, Mexico.

By 2016, cameras on 'almost every block'

"By the time 2016 [rolls around], we'll have more cameras than Washington, D.C. ... Our technology is more advanced than any other city in the world -- even compared to London -- dealing with our cameras and the sophistication of cameras and retro-fitting all the cameras downtown in new buildings, doing the CTA cameras," Daley said.

Just Consider

Many well known and respected senior members of the U.S. intelligence services, military, and government have expressed significant criticism of the 9/11 Commission Report. Several even allege government complicity in the terrible acts of 9/11. This web site is an effort to collect and summarize their public statements and make them easily accessible. It should be made clear that none of these individuals are affiliated with this web site.

And this was before the overturning of habeas corpus

Javaid Iqbal's lawyers say the Pakistani cable repairman was snatched in the post-September 11 dragnet and held for over a year at a Brooklyn detention center, where guards beat him mercilessly.

Iqbal, like hundreds of Muslims or Arabs detained in the days after the attacks but never charged, sued the U.S. government, saying that he was held and abused for no legitimate reason....
"The government can't be allowed to reflexively target people on the basis of race, religion and national origin even in times of chaos," the lawyer said.

...he was abused in the high security unit of the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Aside from repeated body-cavity searches and beatings while shackled, Elmaghraby said guards stuck a flashlight into his anus.

North Korea: A Nuclear Threat

On Sept. 19, 2005, North Korea signed a widely heralded denuclearization agreement with the United States, China, Russia, Japan and South Korea. Pyongyang pledged to "abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs." In return, Washington agreed that the United States and North Korea would "respect each other's sovereignty, exist peacefully together and take steps to normalize their relations."
Four days later, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sweeping financial sanctions against North Korea designed to cut off the country's access to the international banking system, branding it a "criminal state" guilty of counterfeiting, money laundering and trafficking in weapons of mass destruction.

Condi's 9/11 Foreknowledge Denial Follies

If it weren't for the current media frenzy over Congressional youth abuse, the US public might be getting a much more educational eyeful of Condi Rice's serial 9/11 truth abuse. Outed in Bob Woodward's new book "State of Denial" for "brushing off" July 10, 2001 warnings of an imminent attack from CIA leaders Tenet and Black, Condi first disputed the claims, denied the meeting happened, then said she couldn't remember, and finally admitted to it but said it contained nothing new (yet apparently told the CIA team to report it to Rumsfeld and Ashcroft which they claim to have done on July 17). The 9/11 Commission was briefed on this dramatic encounter, but it somehow escaped mention in their final report, and finger pointing and official contradictions continue to this day. Although there are plenty of mainstream articles now recounting this high stakes he said/she said blame game, the following blog piece focuses on a critical facet--the role of the 9/11 Commission's executive director, Phillip Zelikow, in covering it all up for his old and new boss, and further shredding the credibility of the Commission's report.

How Did Human Remains End Up Miles From Flight 93's Crash Site?

Are we supposed to believe that hijackers armed with only box cutters forced an angry mob to jump from the plane seconds before the crash? Or are we supposed to believe that people simply felt compelled to jump from the plane? If the official story is true then people jumping from the plane is the only way human remains could have been found miles from Flight 93's crash site.

A more logical explanation is that people inside the plane were sucked out because of a sudden depressurisation.

corruption file

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid collected a $1.1 million windfall on a Las Vegas land sale even though he hadn't personally owned the property for three years, property deeds show.

take the time to watch

Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve

Ayn Rand's view on money

the leader of the House of Commons, has called on Muslim women to lift their veils

Mr Straw said he had been mulling over the issue ever since a veiled woman attended his surgery and said she was pleased to meet him face to face at last.

Here's the case I mentioned on Sunday

Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, says he was taken off a bus in Macedonia in south-central Europe while on holiday on Dec. 31, 2003...Finally released months later, the still-mystified Masri was deposited on a deserted road leading into Macedonia

Documents disclose 'shadow government'

The documents, a total of about 1,000 pages, are among the first to be released to Corsi through his FOIA request to the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, or SPP, which describes itself as an initiative "to increase security and to enhance prosperity among the three countries through greater cooperation."

"The documents clearly reveal that SPP, working within the U.S. Department of Commerce, is far advanced in putting together a new regional infrastructure, creating a 'shadow' trilateral bureaucracy with Mexico and Canada that is aggressively rewriting a wide range of U.S. administrative law, all without congressional oversight or public disclosure," Corsi said.

Tough on crime

Rookie District Attorney Cracks Down on Drunk Drivers
She cannot fathom why so many people - more than 4,100 arrested in her community last year - turn the ignition after having a few drinks. More troublesome, she said, is that one-third have been caught before.

"Look, if I'm a one-term DA, then I'm a one-term DA, but I am going to do everything that I can to make the changes in this county," Rice said in an interview with The Associated Press.

More voting machine concerns

Black Box Voting blows through memory card seal:
Black Box Voting projects in Leon County, Florida on May 26, 2005 and Dec. 13, 2005 demonstrated that by altering the information on the memory card, the election can be hacked without a trace.

San Diego, June 6 2006: Sent these voting machines home with poll workers for sleepovers. They said the seal on the memory card bay made it secure.

King County, Washington Aug. 29 2006: Says they are using the door and plastic tab seal as shown in these pictures, and they are sending the voting machines home with poll workers for the September primary election. They say the seal makes it secure.Black Box Voting blows through memory card seal:
Black Box Voting projects in Leon County, Florida on May 26, 2005 and Dec. 13, 2005 demonstrated that by altering the information on the memory card, the election can be hacked without a trace.

San Diego, June 6 2006: Sent these voting machines home with poll workers for sleepovers. They said the seal on the memory card bay made it secure.

King County, Washington Aug. 29 2006: Says they are using the door and plastic tab seal as shown in these pictures, and they are sending the voting machines home with poll workers for the September primary election. They say the seal makes it

More voting machine concerns

Black Box Voting blows through memory card seal:
Black Box Voting projects in Leon County, Florida on May 26, 2005 and Dec. 13, 2005 demonstrated that by altering the information on the memory card, the election can be hacked without a trace.

San Diego, June 6 2006: Sent these voting machines home with poll workers for sleepovers. They said the seal on the memory card bay made it secure.

King County, Washington Aug. 29 2006: Says they are using the door and plastic tab seal as shown in these pictures, and they are sending the voting machines home with poll workers for the September primary election. They say the seal makes it secure.Black Box Voting blows through memory card seal:
Black Box Voting projects in Leon County, Florida on May 26, 2005 and Dec. 13, 2005 demonstrated that by altering the information on the memory card, the election can be hacked without a trace.

San Diego, June 6 2006: Sent these voting machines home with poll workers for sleepovers. They said the seal on the memory card bay made it secure.

King County, Washington Aug. 29 2006: Says they are using the door and plastic tab seal as shown in these pictures, and they are sending the voting machines home with poll workers for the September primary election. They say the seal makes it

HUD staff told to favor allies

I suppose this could be considered irrrellavant since the investigation didn't find "direct evidence" of favourism, but I'm reminded of our own HUD scandal in Kansas City.

SADDAM'S TRIAL WAS ADJOURNED BACK IN JULY - BUT HIS SENTENCING IS BEING HELD OFF UNTIL - YOU GUESSED IT - DAYS BEFORE THE FALL ELECTION

The closing arguments in Saddam Hussein's trial have already been given. Why should we still be paying to keep him captive, to feed and house him, for all of August, all of September, and part of October as he just sits there? There was such a rush to war to get this man, why the sudden delay and delay and delay?

You don't really need to ask, do you?

This is such an obvious ploy to use war, once again, as a flat out GOP political product during the last weeks of the election that the Democrats should be screaming bloody murder.

Let's review history: in 2002, President Bush launched the idea of invading Iraq shortly before the election, and scheduled the big UN vote on the matter for, you got it, the week before the election. He said it had to be rushed and happen that week.

In 2004, Fallujah. The massive, publicly touted Fallujah invasion was announced two weeks before the election and touted by all media outlets as something that would break the back of the insurgency. It was all a lie of course, as we documented, and the public warning to the insurgents cost American lives and guaranteed failure.

So here we are again. It's coming up on October. And this time the plan to use the Iraq war with a last minute media-dominating story is obvious. Saddam could be sentenced today. He could have been sentenced a month ago. But he is sitting there waiting for the date that has been made public - "mid-October." Yes, the sentencing will be the dominant story in the final weeks before the election. And the since the Democrats didn't cry foul back in July when this came out and demand he be sentenced then and our elections be respected, it will work as usual.

I love Freepers

If a piddling little war like Iraq is stretching the Army, it is clear that we need a bigger Army. And more money to fund it...

Musharraf Says U.S. Threatened War After 9/11

This is the same Armitage that ultimately was the source of the Plame leak.
Musharraf, in an interview with CBS that will air on Sunday, said the threat came from Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and was given to Musharraf's intelligence director.

Universal National Service Act of 2006 (Introduced in House)

To provide for the common defense by requiring all persons in the United States, including women, between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes.


IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 14, 2006
Mr. RANGEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

I saw gas for $1.99 today

A statistical analysis found that 78 percent of changes in President Bush's approval ratings could be correlated with inverse changes in the price of gas.

EPIC Urges Commerce Department to End Export Double Standard

In a letter to Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, EPIC urged the Department of Commerce to restrict the export of high-tech surveillance equipment to China. While US law limits the export of tear gas, handcuffs, and shotguns to China, high-tech equipment that is used for communications surveillance and censorship is exported to the country without restrictions. EPIC's letter cited the2005 US State Department report and the Privacy and Human Rights report which document the role that surveillance and censorship technology plays in political repression. (Sept. 21, 2006)

The Bill of Rights:

A Transcription

Prison Labor.

We need to provide rehabilitation opportunities to inmates, but you might remember that the war on drugs was just getting going in the 70's:
:
A Brief History of Federal Prison Industries

Since 1934, Federal Prison Industries, Incorporated-a wholly-owned corporation of the United States Government-has operated factories and employed inmates in America's Federal prisons. Also known as FPI or UNICOR, Federal Prison Industries, Inc., has made an incalculable contribution to law enforcement by contributing to the safety and security of Federal correctional institutions... Inmates have families to help support, court-imposed fines to pay, and victims to recompense. Under the Bureau's Inmate Financial Responsibility Program (IFRP), all inmates who have court recognized financial obligations must use at least 50 percent of their FPI earnings to pay their just debts. Since the program began in 1987, more than $80 million has been collected.

Sanford Bates, the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, once observed that "Prisoners should work because it is economically necessary, socially advisable, and because it represents the most important element in the general attempt to solve the problem of delinquency." In short, if prisons are necessary to protect society, then prison industries are necessary to make those prisons function properly.

By the middle of the 1970's, FPI was working to moderate sales fluctuations through a greater emphasis on marketing and customer service. In 1974, it established regional marketing positions and organized the corporation into seven divisions, each of which handled resource management, production, and sales in a specific FPI industry (Automated Data Processing, Electronics, Graphics, Metals, Shoe and Brush, Textiles, and Woods and Plastics). A year later, it initiated a program to improve product quality and acceptability. Although the law required that Federal agencies purchase from FPI whenever possible, the corporation still had to compete in order to win customers.

Then in 1977, FPI introduced a new corporate logo and a new trade name: "UNICOR." Coinciding with its new image, FPI established a Corporate Marketing Office to develop nationwide marketing strategies and programs. The marketing initiatives of the middle and late 1970's presaged even greater efforts during the 1980's and 1990's to make UNICOR more responsive to customer needs and to base UNICOR's activities squarely on modern business principles.

Prison-based call centers are probably more common than you think -- by some counts almost every state in America runs some. But they're probably not as bad as you think. UNICOR call centers don't compete with American jobs -- they only take on contracts that were about to be outsourced overseas. Security is high -- it has to be, if only because of the perception of danger.

And, as a UNICOR salesman told me, "adherence is fantastic." That's a joke you'll hear a lot from the prison outsourcing industry, but it's true. The fact is, prison call center jobs pay more than other prison jobs. They provide work in clean, air-conditioned environments that give prisoners the chance to interact with people on the outside who don't know they're talking to a convict. Prisoners like that; being treated like a call center worker is much preferred to getting treated like a convict. These men and women covet these jobs...

We do not believe Federal Prison Industries should continue its unfettered expansion into the commercial marketplace," Tim Maney, director of legislative affairs for the Chamber of Commerce told NPR in February of last year. "The business community is extremely concerned with this."

UNICOR wouldn't talk to NPR, and they haven't been willing to speak with us either. It's a matter of protecting their clients, businesses that have opted for cheap labor in American prisons rather than cheap labor outside our borders. Is there anything wrong with this?



Some interesting statistics

For too long, the incarceration industry has gotten away with high costs and low performance. It is time to introduce accountability, competition and rational incentives into the nation's prison systems--both public and private.

Federal and state governments spend more than $35 billion a year to lock up a greater portion of the population--one out of 138 Americans--than any other country on earth. The prison population keeps growing, mainly because our recidivism rates are sky-high. Half of former inmates return to prison. It is time to ask: What are we getting for the dollars spent on this growing revolving-door system?

Certainly prisoners should take personal responsibility for their own actions and their own rehabilitation. But with smart programs, many more should be finishing their sentences and coming home to be taxpaying citizens, not lifelong drains on the state's coffers.

Why are so many failing to rehabilitate themselves? One way to ask that question is this: Where are the financial incentives for prisons to properly perform their rehabilitative function? If anything, the captains of the incarceration industry have a perverse incentive to rehabilitate as few people as possible and keep business booming.

for the big dog

this

HOUSE WILL REQUIRE LISTING EARMARKS

The House approved a limited earmark disclosure rule to Appropriations Committee bills only in a vote of 245-171. “Earmarks” allow Members of Congress to designate that certain funds must be spent on certain projects in their district or state, a practice some call “pork.” Some think the practice should be banned entirely. Tell Congress what you think of their vote. 12,225 messages
30% say Earmarks or pork should be publicly listed with sponsors
70% say Earmarks should be banned entirely

Analyst predicts plunge in gas prices

Of course I feel compelled to note that this all takes place in the run up to the election:
Crude-oil prices have fallen about $14, or roughly 17 percent, from their July 14 peak of $78.40. After falling seven straight days, they rose slightly Wednesday in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, to $63.97, partly in reaction to a government report showing fuel inventories a bit lower than expected. But the overall price drop is expected to continue, and prices could fall much more in the weeks and months ahead

As it stands now, the recent oil-price slump has brought the national average for a gallon of unleaded gasoline down to $2.59, according to the AAA motor club. In the Seattle area, prices per gallon have fallen to $2.856 currently from $3.071 a month ago, a decline of 7 percent, according to AAA.

Should oil traders fear that this downward price spiral will get worse and run for the exits by selling off their futures contracts, Verleger said, it's not unthinkable that oil prices could return to $15 or less a barrel, at least temporarily. That could mean gasoline prices as low as $1.15 per gallon.

Other experts won't guess at a floor price, but they agree that a race to the bottom could break out.

"The market may test levels here that are too low to be sustained," said Clay Seigle, an analyst at Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a consultancy in Boston.

On Monday, the oil-producing cartel OPEC hinted that if prices fall precipitously, OPEC members would cut production to lift them. But that would take time.

"That takes six to nine months. If we don't have a really cold winter here [creating a demand for oil], prices will fall. Literally, you don't know where the floor is," Verleger said. "In a market like this, if things start falling ... prices could take you back to the 1999 levels. It has nothing to do with production."

Dance Monkey Dance

whho we are?

Air Force chief: Test weapons on testy U.S. mobs

Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before being used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.

Wynne also said the Air Force, which is already chopping 40,000 active duty, civilian and reserves jobs, is now struggling to find new ways to slash about $1.8 billion (€1.4 billion) from its budget to cover costs from the latest round of base closings.

He said he can't cut more people, and it would not be wise to take funding from military programs that are needed to protect the country. But he said he also incurs resistance when he tries to save money on operations and maintenance by retiring aging aircraft.

"We're finding out that those are, unfortunately, prized possessions of some congressional districts," said Wynne

FCC ordered media study destroyed, lawyer says

The Federal Communications Commission ordered its staff to destroy all copies of a draft study that suggested greater concentration of media ownership would hurt local TV news coverage, a former lawyer at the agency says.
The report, written in 2004, came to light during the Senate confirmation hearing for FCC Chairman Kevin Martin

Princeton Professor Hacks Electronic Voting Machine

Remember that the vote is the cornerstone of Democracy.

Felten and graduate students Ariel Feldman and Alex Halderman found that malicious programs could be placed on the Diebold by accessing the memory card slot and power button, both behind a locked door on the side of the machine. One member of the group was able to pick the lock in 10 seconds, and software could be installed in less than a minute, according to the report.

The researchers say they designed software capable of modifying all records, audit logs and counters kept by the voting machine, ensuring that a careful forensic examination would find nothing wrong.

The programs were able to modify vote totals or cause machines to break down, something that could alter the course of an election if machines were located in crucial polling stations.

It was also possible to design a computer virus to spread malicious programs to multiple machines by piggybacking on a new software download or an election information file being transferred from machine to machine, Felten said.

"I think there are many people out there who have the type of technical ability to carry out the sort of attacks we describe here," he said.

Save your "lib" comments

Do me a favor Mike. In respect to the thousands that died 5 years ago today, please limit your self to thoughtful posts. Just a request: take fivee minutes to look at the links then five minutes to think.

Lou Dobbs

Fire fighters

I will be adding to this post later today...

Your privacy for sale

In an interview on Meet the Press , I saw the new FEMA director say this is the company that will be used to identify recipients of aid in the future:

the practices of the data collectors can rob you of your privacy, threaten you with ID theft, and profile you as, say, a deadbeat or a security risk. Worse, there’s no way to find out what they are telling others about you. When our reporters requested their own records, they were told that they could not see everything that was routinely sold to businesses. The meager information they did receive was punctuated with errors.

CIA branch invests in technology companies to help improve spying

In 2004 CallMiner, a company specializing in capturing and translating voice recordings into searchable databases, sought out In-Q-Tel, according to Cliff LaCoursiere, CallMiner's co-founder and senior vice president of business development.

Although software already exists to translate voice into text, CallMiner says it can extract more than just words from a recording. According to LaCoursiere, its software can translate conversations for not only what the people are saying, but the intent of what they were saying. For example, the company claims the software can figure out if a caller looking for technical assistance from a call center is sincerely, or sarcastically, saying, "Thank you for your help."

So far, CallMiner's products are being used by Comcast, Continental Airlines and several other clients. LaCoursiere says CallMiner's products aren't yet being used by the intelligence community, but "it's an area we're aggressively going after." In August, CallMiner launched an application making it easier to use its tools with foreignlanguages.