McConnell Seeks to Boost U.S. Spy Powers
The changes McConnell is seeking mostly affect a
cloak-and-dagger category of warrants used to investigate suspected
spies, terrorists and other national security threats. The surveillance
could include planting listening devices and hidden cameras, searching
luggage and breaking into homes to make copies of computer hard drives.
Source: Breitbart, April 10, 2007
Abolition of Electoral College under way
Maryland’s state legislature already has given
approval to a proposal that would, in conjunction with other states’
efforts, eliminate the college, and similar plans have already been
approved by single legislative houses in Hawaii, Colorado and Arizona.
In seven more states – Washington, Montana, California, New Mexico,
Louisiana, West Virginia and Connecticut – the plans have been endorsed
by legislative committees.
Source: WorldNetDaily, April 6, 2007
Civilians could be facing mandatory anthrax shots
Not only has the highly controversial anthrax
vaccine returned as mandatory for members of the U.S. military, but now a
medical expert who testified before Congress on the dangers of those
shots is warning that under some circumstances civilians could be facing government-ordered anthrax vaccinations.
Source: WorldNetDaily, April 4, 2007
Federal Judge Strikes Down Law Protecting Children from Porn as Violating Free Speech
A US district court judge stuck down a 1998 law passed by Congress
against Internet pornography that made it a crime for commercial website
operators to let children under 18 view pornographic materials.
Source: Life Site, March 22, 2007
Organ Harvesting Before "Brain-Death" Increasingly Common, Concerned Doctors Warn
Organ harvesting from patients before brain-death has been declared
is a rapidly increasing trend in U. S. hospitals, the Washington Post
reported March 18, alarming doctors and ethicists about the dubious
ethics behind the practice.
Source: Life Site, March 21, 2007
Photocopiers may hold sensitive data
That’s because most digital copiers manufactured in the past five
years have disk drives – the same kind of data-storage mechanism found
in computers – to reproduce documents.
As a result, the seemingly innocuous machines that are commonly used
to spit out copies of tax returns for millions of Americans can retain
the data being scanned.
Source: The Age, March 14, 2007
Navy dismisses chaplain who prayed ‘in Jesus’ name’
"There’s a Unitarian system of religion that’s aimed at Christians," John Whitehead, founder of theThe Rutherford Institute,
told WND. "It boils down to that. We’re seeing it all across the
country, with council prayers, kids wanting to mention Jesus. What’s
going on here is it’s generally a move in our government and military to
set up a civic religion."
Source: WorldNetDaily, January 12, 2007
Pro-life students sue schools over censorship
High school students from across the nation,
claiming they feel like second-class citizens after being denied First
Amendment rights by school administrators for quietly participating in
an annual pro-life demonstration, are fighting back in court.
Source: WorldNetDaily, January 5, 2007
US ‘licence to snoop’ on British air travellers
Britons flying to America could have their credit card and email
accounts inspected by the United States authorities following a deal
struck by Brussels and Washington.
Source: Telegraph (online), January 1, 2007
This draft guidance, when finalized, will represent the
Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) current thinking on this topic.
It does not create or confer any rights for or on any person and does
not operate to bind FDA or the public. You can use an alternative
approach if it satisfies the requirements of the applicable statutes and
regulations. If you want to discuss an alternative approach, contact
the FDA staff responsible for implementing this guidance. If you cannot
identify the appropriate FDA staff, call the appropriate number listed
on the title page of this guidance.
Source: Food and Drug Administration, December 2006
Justice Dept. Database Stirs Privacy Fears
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.
Source: The Washington Post (online), December 26, 2006
Non-Lethal Weapon Makes Targets Feel Like They’re on Fire
The ADS, or Active Denial System, fires an invisible beam that
penetrates the top 1/64th of an inch on a target’s skin, hitting
sensitive pain receptors and causing a burning sensation some have
likened to being dipped in molten lava.
When the target steps out of the beam’s path, the pain goes away
instantly, causing no permanent damage and leaving no marks, bruises or
burns.
Source: ABC News (online), December 10, 2006
Revealing x-ray machine raises privacy concerns in US
But critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union, say the
machine can display graphic images of nude bodies and its use will pave
the way to widespread abuse of the images taken, with some possibly
being posted or traded on the Internet.
Source: Breitbart, December 4, 2006
U.S. rates travelers for terror risk
Without their knowledge, millions of Americans and foreigners
crossing U.S. borders in the past four years have been assigned scores
generated by U.S. government computers rating the risk that the
travelers are terrorists or criminals.
Source: Seattle PI, December 1, 2006
Judge Strikes Down Bush on Terror Groups
A federal judge struck down President Bush’s authority to designate
groups as terrorists, saying his post-Sept. 11 executive order was
unconstitutional and vague.
Source: MyWay, November 29, 2006
High court will not stop review of reporters’ phone records
The U.S. Supreme Court will allow federal prosecutors to begin reviewing the phone records of New York Times
reporters Judith Miller and Philip Shenon, even though the newspaper
has said the review may compromise the confidentiality of its reporters’
sources.
Source: RCFP, November 28, 2006
U.S. to Require Passports for Nearly All
Nearly all air travelers entering the U.S. will be required to show
passports beginning Jan. 23, including returning Americans and people
from Canada and other nations in the Western Hemisphere.
Source: Breitbart, November 21, 2006
A New Strategy to Discourage Driving Drunk
In the first phase of the plan, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, backed
by a national association of state highway officials and car
manufacturers, will announce here on Monday a campaign to change drunken
driving laws in 49 states to require that even first offenders install a
device that tests drivers and shuts down the car if it detects alcohol.
Source: The New York Times (online), November 20, 2006
Judge: Times Must Reveal Anthrax Sources
A federal judge ordered The New York Times to disclose a columnist’s
confidential sources as part of a libel lawsuit filed over the
newspaper’s coverage of the 2001 anthrax attacks.
Source: Breitbart, October 23, 2006
Source: WorldNetDaily, October 7, 2006
Congress approves Internet gambling ban bill
Most forms of Internet gambling would be banned under a bill that received final U.S. congressional approval early Saturday….
The bill, a compromise between earlier versions passed by the two
chambers, would make it illegal for banks and credit card companies to
make payments to online gambling sites.
The Washington Post (online), September 30, 2006
School strip searches mandated by House
Even though student molestations seem to be reaching epidemic
proportions in schools across America, the House of Representatives has
approved a tough new anti-drug and anti-weapon law that would require
local districts to develop search policies – including strip searches –
with immunity against prosecution for teachers and staff.
Source: WorldNetDaily, September 23, 2006
Census Bureau Loses Hundreds of Laptops
Lost or stolen from the Census Bureau since 2003 are 217 laptop
computers, 46 portable data storage devices and 15 handheld devices used
by survey takers.
Although the number of people affected isn’t known, the Commerce
Department reports that passwords, encryptions and other safeguards were
in place. Nothing so far indicates a misuse of any information.
Source: MyWay, September 22, 2006
HP Spy Scandal Hits New Weirdness Level
"It betrays a type of corporate culture that is so self-obsessed,
(that) really considers itself not only above the law, but above I think
ethical decency, that you have to ask yourself, where did the shame
come in?" said Charles King, an analyst with Pund-IT Research.
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean at the Yale School of
Management, said the HP affair stands out even against similar episodes
from the past, such as the 1991 incident in which Procter & Gamble
Co. persuaded authorities to mine 803,000 phone bills to track leaks to a
Wall Street Journal reporter.
Source: Breitbart, September 20, 2006
First-Grader Suspended Over Plastic Squirt Gun
A Missouri mother is angry that her first-grader was suspended from school over a plastic toy gun.
Source: NewsNet5, September 20, 2006
House acts to require voters to prove citizenship
In a move to crack down against illegal immigrants voting in U.S.
elections, the House of Representatives voted on Wednesday to require
Americans to provide proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in federal
elections.
Source: Reuters, September 20, 2006
U.S. Says AP Photog Linked to Insurgents
The Pentagon defended its monthslong detention of an Associated Press
photographer in Iraq, asserting that it has authority to imprison him
indefinitely without charges because it believes he had improper ties to
insurgents.
But journalism organizations said that covering all sides in the Iraq
war sometimes requires contacts with insurgents. They called on the
Pentagon to either bring charges against photographer Bilal Hussein so
he can defend himself, or release him.
Source: Breitbart, September 19, 2006
US federal judge declares boating illegal in all US navigable waters
In a rather bizarre ruling that has marine industry officials
worried, Judge Robert G. James of the United States District Court,
Western Division of Louisiana, has said that it is criminal trespass for
the American boating public to boat, fish, or hunt on the Mississippi
River and other navigable waters in the US.
Source: International Boat Industry (IBI, online), September 14, 2006
Deeper Spying Is Seen in Hewlett Review
A secret investigation of news leaks at Hewlett-Packard
was more elaborate than previously reported, and almost from the start
involved the illicit gathering of private phone records and direct
surveillance of board members and journalists, according to people
briefed on the company’s review of the operation.
Source: The New York Times (online), September 18, 2006
Wars, disasters prompting deployment of new robots
Equipped with "eyes," "ears" and "noses," improved mobility and
manual dexterity plus rudimentary "intelligence," many newfangled
machines are being tested for use in military situations and civilian
catastrophes.
Source: The Seattle Times (online), September 1, 2006
|
No comments:
Post a Comment