Beast System: Laying The Foundation Of The Beast

[blackIpod]

All this strange shit, bad shit, shit the government does not want "YOU" to see!
How long is this thread?
The Government is too lazy too come get this shit off of BGOL?

 

[blackIpod]

All this strange shit bad shit shit the government does not want us to see!
How long is this thread?
The Government is too lazy too come get this shit off of BGOL?

 

[oneofmany]

HPV Bomb: HPV Virus Does NOT Cause Cancer, HPV Vaccine Does

HPV Bomb: HPV Virus Does NOT Cause Cancer, HPV Vaccine Does

 

[oneofmany]

Massachusetts Police Get Black Uniforms to Instill Sense of 'Fear'

Massachusetts Police Get Black Uniforms to Instill Sense of 'Fear'​

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Springfield's men in black are returning.

The city's new police commissioner, William Fitchet, says members of the department's Street Crime Unit will again don black, military-style uniforms as part of his strategy to deal with youth violence.

Fitchet's predecessor, Edward Flynn, had ditched the black attire as part of an effort to soften the image of the unit. Flynn left Springfield in January to become the police chief in Milwaukee.

Sgt. John Delaney told a city council hearing Wednesday that the stark uniforms send a message to criminals that officers are serious about making arrests.

Delaney said a sense of "fear" has been missing for the past few years.

 

[oneofmany]

Gary Hart warns of a new False Flag

Gary Hart warns of a new False Flag

 

[oneofmany]

CIA 'preparing public for Iran war'

CIA Director Michael Hayden​

CIA 'preparing public for Iran war'​

The CIA accuses Iran of 'facilitating the killing' of US troops in Iraq in what is seen as another attempt to prepare the public for war.

In a Wednesday lecture at the Kansas State University, CIA Director Michael Hayden claimed that slaying US military forces has become the political strategy of Iran's highest governmental officials.

"It is my opinion, it is the policy of the Iranian government, approved to highest level of that government, to facilitate the killing of Americans in Iraq," maintained Hayden, just a day after the US steamed a second American aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf.

"Just make sure there's clarity on that," the CIA director continued.

His comments come at a time when a recent CBS report indicates that the US Defense Department had ordered military commanders to develop new war plans against Tehran, a claim echoed by top American analysts.

"I believe George Bush and Dick Cheney plan to take care of Iran before they leave office," former CIA analyst Ray McGovern said in an interview published in the Charleston Gazette on Wednesday.

"There's no doubt in my mind that the United States is planning right now, as we speak, a military strike against Iran. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and almost every senior US military official has pretty much acknowledged the same," former UN weapons inspector and now anti-war commentator Scott Ritter had told Democracy Now on Monday.

The US steamed its second aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf on Tuesday in what Washington has termed a 'reminder' of US power.

Senior US officials have been accusing the Iranian government of helping the spread of violence in Iraq without providing any concrete proof.

Pundits, however, say recent 'Washington hype' is a reminder of US preparations made prior to the Iraq war and signal efforts to prepare the public for a war on Tehran while shifting the blame of US failures in Iraq onto others.

 

[oneofmany]

U.S. has Mandela on terrorist list

U.S. has Mandela on terrorist list​

WASHINGTON — Nobel Peace Prize winner and international symbol of freedom Nelson Mandela is flagged on U.S. terrorist watch lists and needs special permission to visit the USA. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls the situation "embarrassing," and some members of Congress vow to fix it.
The requirement applies to former South African leader Mandela and other members of South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC), the once-banned anti-Apartheid organization. In the 1970s and '80s, the ANC was officially designated a terrorist group by the country's ruling white minority. Other countries, including the United States, followed suit.

Because of this, Rice told a Senate committee recently, her department has to issue waivers for ANC members to travel to the USA.

"This is a country with which we now have excellent relations, South Africa, but it's frankly a rather embarrassing matter that I still have to waive in my own counterpart, the foreign minister of South Africa, not to mention the great leader Nelson Mandela," Rice said.

Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., chairman of the House International Relations Committee, is pushing a bill that would remove current and former ANC leaders from the watch lists. Supporters hope to get it passed before Mandela's 90th birthday July 18.

"What an indignity," Berman said. "The ANC set an important example: It successfully made the change from armed struggle to peace. We should celebrate the transformation."

In 1990, Mandela was freed after 27 years in prison for crimes committed during the struggle against Apartheid, a repressive regime that subjugated black South Africans. In 1994, he was elected South Africa's first black president.

Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., called ANC members' inclusion on watch lists a "bureaucratic snafu" and pledged to fix the problem.

Members of other groups deemed a terrorist threat, such as Hamas, also are on the watch lists.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says "common sense" suggests Mandela should be removed. He says the issue "raises a troubling and difficult debate about what groups are considered terrorists and which are not."

When ANC members apply for visas to the USA, they are flagged for questioning and need a waiver to be allowed in the country. In 2002, former ANC chairman Tokyo Sexwale was denied a visa. In 2007, Barbara Masekela, South Africa's ambassador to the United States from 2002 to 2006, was denied a visa to visit her ailing cousin and didn't get a waiver until after the cousin had died, Berman's legislation says.

 

[oneofmany]

The World According To Monsanto

www.rivermarketart.com/monsanto.mp4 (RIGHT CLICK --> Save As)

Already posted in this thread from Google Video, many attempts to re-up this film was met with instant deletion. For whatever reason, Google/Youtube isn't keen to allowing this video to remain on their sites long. So get the video again now (or if you've already seen it, just get a copy on your desktop) while you can.

 

[oneofmany]

Afghan 'health link' to uranium

Doctors say there has been a rapid rise in infant health conditions​

Afghan 'health link' to uranium'​

Doctors in Afghanistan say rates of some health problems affecting children have doubled in the last two years.

Some scientists say the rise is linked to use of weapons containing depleted uranium (DU) by the US-led coalition that invaded the country in 2001.

A Canadian research group found very high levels of uranium in Afghans during tests just after the invasion.

A US forces spokesman denied its weapons were affecting the health of Afghans or the country's environment.

But claims made in the BBC World Service One Planet programme suggest the invasion may have left an unwelcome legacy for the country's environment and the health of its people.

Doctors in Kabul and Kandahar showed data indicating that the incidence of a number of health conditions, including birth defects, has doubled in under two years.

"We have premature births and malformations," said one doctor, who wished to remain anonymous, in one of the main maternity and neo-natal hospitals in the country.

"Malformations include neural tube defects and malformation of limbs; for example, the head is smaller than normal, or the head is larger than normal, or there is a big mass on the back of the baby.

"We don't know what is the cause of these malformations."

Heavy metal

The Canada-based Uranium Medical Research Centre (UMRC) believes the cause might be depleted uranium.

In 2002 and 2003 the group ran programmes analysing urine from Afghans.

In some, it found levels of uranium hundreds of times greater than in Gulf War veterans.

Asaf Durakovic, URMC's president and a former US army adviser, believes that exposure to DU weapons may have brought a rise in birth defects as well as "symptoms of muscular-skeletal pains, immune system disorders, lung disease, and eventually cancer".

Depleted uranium and natural uranium contain different ratios of two isotopes of the metal.

So scientists can tell whether a person has been exposed to the natural form, or to DU.

DU is used in armour-piercing shells because its density means it can penetrate further than other metals.

Dr Durakovic said his research showed that in Afghanistan, coalition forces had also used DU in "bunker buster" bombs, which can penetrate tens of metres into the soil.

"In Afghanistan it has to be... a weapon that destroys not only bunkers or caves, but also penetrates through the soil and through the fragile environment of the mountains."

Strange fruit

Villagers near the Tora Bora mountains, scene of a massive coalition attack in 2001 aimed at forcing Osama bin Laden out of a cave complex where he was believed to be hiding, suspect the bombs brought an increase in diseases and other problems.

"There was a strange smell, and most of the trees here did not yield fruit," recounted Yusuf Khan.

Another villager, Bakhtawar, said: "There were three or four babies born in our area whose arms and legs and faces were not normal; they were malformed."

But Faizullah Kakar, Afghanistan's deputy health minister, countered: "Health defects are common in Afghanistan.

"We want to find out if it is nutritional deficiency or environmental contamination with certain radiation that is doing it."

Disputed claims

The US military rejects claims that it used DU-containing bunker busters in Afghanistan.

It also denies allegations that the weapons it used in Afghanistan are affecting health and the environment.

"We don't use depleted uranium in Afghanistan; we don't have a requirement to use that," said Major Chris Belcher, spokesman for the coalition forces.

But he said such weapons might have been used in the past.

"I don't have any knowledge of what might have been used in 2001 and 2002. If there was an armour threat, the DU rounds would have been used to counter that threat."

Dr C Ross Anthony from the Rand Corporation, the US think-tank, suggested use of DU ordnance would have been light in Afghanistan.

"With very few of them (DU weapons) being used, it is hard for me to imagine that much of a real environmental problem exists," he said.

What next?

Some scientific experts suggested performing further research into the alleged damage caused by weapons used in the country.

But officials in Afghanistan's newly established National Environmental Protection Agency said they did not have the necessary equipment or expertise to investigate properly.

And Chris Alexander from the United Nations Assistance Mission for Afghanistan (UNAMA) acknowledged it was a concern, but said: "We have no idea what the scale is, nor do we have special knowledge about environmental implications."

Asaf Durakovic would prefer that concrete measures be taken now.

"The best thing is to relocate the population; people have to be moved from the areas that have been highly contaminated to safe areas to provide medical testing and medical care."

Following the use of DU weapons in Iraq and the Balkans, the World Health Organization (WHO) researched the impact on health and the environment.

It concluded, as did a 2001 European Union enquiry into the Balkans conflict, that DU posed little threat.

A senior WHO official told One Planet it had not received any request from Afghan authorities to investigate the current situation.

 

[oneofmany]

U.S. deploys more than 43,000 unfit for combat

U.S. deploys more than 43,000 unfit for combat​

WASHINGTON — More than 43,000 U.S. troops listed as medically unfit for combat in the weeks before their scheduled deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003 were sent anyway, Pentagon records show.

This reliance on troops found medically "non-deployable" is another sign of stress placed on a military that has sent 1.6 million servicemembers to the war zones, soldier advocacy groups say.

"It is a consequence of the consistent churning of our troops," said Bobby Muller, president of Veterans For America. "They are repeatedly exposed to high-intensity combat with insufficient time at home to rest and heal before redeploying."

The numbers of non-deployable soldiers are based on health assessment forms filled out by medical personnel at each military installation before a servicemember's deployment.

According to those statistics, the number of troops that doctors found non-deployable, but who were still sent to Iraq or Afghanistan fluctuated from 10,854 in 2003, down to 5,397 in 2005, and back up to 9,140 in 2007.

The Pentagon records do not list what — or how serious — the health issues are, nor whether they were corrected before deployment, said Michael Kilpatrick, a deputy director for the Pentagon's Force Health Protection and Readiness Programs.

A Pentagon staffer examined 10,000 individual health records last year to determine causes for the non-deployable ratings, Kilpatrick said. Some reasons included a need for eyeglasses, dental work or allergy medicine and a small number of mental health cases, he said.

This is the first war in which this health screening process has been used, the Pentagon said.

Most of the non-deployable servicemembers are in the Army, which is doing most of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Between 5% and 7% of all active-duty, National Guard and Reserve soldiers slated for combat were found medically unfit due to health problems each year since 2003, according to statistics provided to USA TODAY.

Unit commanders make the final decision about whether a servicemember is sent into combat, although doctors can recommend against deployment because of a medical issue, Army spokeswoman Kim Waldron said.

"The commander consults with health care professionals to determine whether the treatment a soldier needs is available in theater," said Army Col. Steven Braverman of the Army Medical Command.

At Fort Carson, Colo., Maj. Gen. Mark Graham ordered an investigation into deployment procedures for a brigade deployed to Iraq late last year. At least 36 soldiers were found medically unfit but were still deployed, Graham told USA TODAY.

For at least seven soldiers, treatment in the war zone was inadequate and the soldiers were sent home, he said, and at least two of them should never have been deployed.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee in February, the panel's chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked Army leaders about an e-mail from the surgeon for the Fort Carson brigade that said medically "borderline" soldiers went to war because "we have been having issues reaching deployable strength."

"That should not be happening," Army Secretary Pete Geren told the committee. "I can't tell you that it's not, but it certainly should not be happening."

Meanwhile, soldiers with medical problems have also deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan from Fort Drum in New York and Fort Stewart and Fort Benning, both in Georgia, according to Brenda Farrell, who is leading an investigation into the practice for the Government Accountability Office.

A report from that investigation sought by members of the House Armed Services Committee is due in June.

 

[oneofmany]

Exclusive report: Soldiers need loans to eat, report reveals

A big problem is the Army's lack of manpower, which makes its current operations in Afghanistan and Iraq hard to sustain​

Exclusive report: Soldiers need loans to eat, report reveals​

A highly sensitive internal report into the state of the British Army has revealed that many soldiers are living in poverty. Some are so poor that they are unable to eat and are forced to rely on emergency food voucher schemes set up by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Some of Britain's most senior military figures reacted angrily yesterday to the revelations in the report, criticising the Government's treatment of its fighting forces.

The disturbing findings outlined in the briefing team report written for Sir Richard Dannatt, the Chief of the General Staff, include an admission that many junior officers are being forced to leave the Army because they simply cannot afford to stay on.

Pressure from an undermanned army is "having a serious impact on retention in infantry battalions", with nearly half of all soldiers unable to take all their annual leave as they try to cover the gaps.

The analysis, described by General Dannatt as "a comprehensive and accurate portrayal of the views and concerns of the Army at large", states: "More and more single-income soldiers in the UK are now close to the UK government definition of poverty." It reveals that "a number of soldiers were not eating properly because they had run out of money by the end of the month". Commanders are attempting to tackle the problem through "Hungry Soldier" schemes, under which destitute soldiers are given loans to enable them to eat.

The scheme symbolises a change from the tradition of soldiers getting three square meals a day for free. Now hard-up soldiers have to fill out a form which entitles them to a voucher. The cost is deducted from their future wages, adding to the problems of soldiers on low pay.

The controversial Pay as You Dine (PAYD) regime, which requires soldiers not on active duty to pay for their meals, has seen commanding officers inundated with complaints from soldiers unhappy at the quality of food that they get and the amount of paperwork involved.

Senior officers warn in the report that "there is a duty of care issue" and add that the "core meal" provided to soldiers on duty "is often not the healthy option". The confusion of which soldiers even qualify for free meals while on duty is revealed in the admission that "in some areas the soldier has to pay and then claim back and in others the duty meal is included in the contract".

General Dannatt has vowed to take action. He said, "I am determined that PAYD must be made to work to both the financial and physical well-being of those who are fed."

Despite numerous assurances by the Government to look after wounded soldiers, the report warns of deep resentment over a cap on the amount of compensation that wounded soldiers receive. It outlines the "deep frustration" at the inadequate amount being spent on accommodation.

The level of accidental deaths also comes under fire. "Ten potentially avoidable accident fatalities in operational theatres in one year [2007] is not acceptable," said General Dannatt.

He added: "I am concerned at the comments from the chain of command, some elements of which clearly believe that they will lose influence over their soldiers and that this will impact on unit cohesion." He also described improvements to equipment as being of "little use" because there is not enough for soldiers to be trained in using it until they are deployed.

Army chiefs and politicians claimed the document proved the Government was failing to meet its responsibilities towards Britain's servicemen and women, laid out in the Military Covenant. They say it is a damning indictment of an army that is losing its edge and close to breaking point as it struggles to keep pace with fighting a war on two fronts.

Patrick Mercer, a Tory MP and former army colonel, said the report reinforced widespread anxieties over conditions for the troops and that many top-ranking officers are breaking ranks to express their fears. "I've been talking to some very senior officers recently, all of whom privately have said to me that the Army is running on empty; the money has run out," Mr Mercer said. "The manpower situation is in crisis, and the so-called Military Covenant is abused at every turn. The thing that really worries them is the manpower situation and the fact that the MoD seems to be in denial about it."

Colonel Bob Stewart, a former commander of British forces in Bosnia, said the Army was struggling with overstretch and undermanning. He added: "It's inevitable that the British Army is actually woefully imbalanced ... badly equipped, particularly for training, and quite honestly I'm afraid to say it is losing its edge as a top-rate army in the world because it cannot maintain it."

Major General Julian Thompson, who led 3 Commando Brigade in the Falklands war, said: "There are certain ministers that may be very honest and care and want things done, but the problem is whether they are being given support from the very top, and I sense that they are not. We all know where the money comes from, the Treasury and the Prime Minister."

Major General Patrick Cordingley, who led the Desert Rats into Iraq during the first Gulf War, said the report raised serious questions about the Army's ability to meet its commitments. He said: "I would be very concerned about the strain on the armed forces remaining at this level of deployment in both Afghanistan and Iraq. It cannot be sustained for longer than perhaps another two years."

An MoD spokesman yesterday tried to gloss over the report, which was based on months of interviews with thousands of soldiers and their families between July 2007 and January 2008. He attempted to play down the degree of poverty among soldiers, many of whom earn £16,000 a year, and added: "Briefing team reports contain the unedited views of individual soldiers, some of which reflect widespread opinion, while others are isolated views. The reports are published widely and the feedback given by lower ranks in the Army helps CGS to stay firmly in touch with life across the Army."

But there is a growing dissent being expressed on military websites. Pay remains a major issue for both soldiers and officers. One describes the pay as "appalling, disgusting and pathetic".

Douglas Young of the British Armed Forces Federation said: "People are leaving the armed forces for financial reasons. There's no question about that."

Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Nick Harvey said, "Junior ranks in the armed forces have terrible salaries when you compare them to people starting out in the police service or fire service. How on earth are you supposed to recruit and retain people unless you offer a decent salary?"

 

[GET YOU HOT]

bump
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^Keeping this thread alive....

 

[oneofmany]

Traitors in Congress Betray The American People--Again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efDxsdlG8cQ&e

 

[oneofmany]

President George W Bush backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran

President George W Bush: US officials acknowledge that no American president can afford to remain idle if Israel is threatened​

President George W Bush backs Israeli plan for strike on Iran

As Tehran tests new missiles, America believes only a show of force can deter President Ahmadinejad​

President George W Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations with Tehran break down, according to a senior Pentagon official.

Despite the opposition of his own generals and widespread scepticism that America is ready to risk the military, political and economic consequences of an airborne strike on Iran, the president has given an “amber light” to an Israeli plan to attack Iran’s main nuclear sites with long-range bombing sorties, the official told The Sunday Times.

“Amber means get on with your preparations, stand by for immediate attack and tell us when you’re ready,” the official said. But the Israelis have also been told that they can expect no help from American forces and will not be able to use US military bases in Iraq for logistical support.

Nor is it certain that Bush’s amber light would ever turn to green without irrefutable evidence of lethal Iranian hostility. Tehran’s test launches of medium-range ballistic missiles last week were seen in Washington as provocative and poorly judged, but both the Pentagon and the CIA concluded that they did not represent an immediate threat of attack against Israeli or US targets.

“It’s really all down to the Israelis,” the Pentagon official added. “This administration will not attack Iran. This has already been decided. But the president is really preoccupied with the nuclear threat against Israel and I know he doesn’t believe that anything but force will deter Iran.”

The official added that Israel had not so far presented Bush with a convincing military proposal. “If there is no solid plan, the amber will never turn to green,” he said.

There was also resistance inside the Pentagon from officers concerned about Iranian retaliation. “The uniform people are opposed to the attack plans, mainly because they think it will endanger our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan,” the source said.

Complicating the calculations in both Washington and Tel Aviv is the prospect of an incoming Democratic president who has already made it clear that he prefers negotiation to the use of force.

Senator Barack Obama’s previous opposition to the war in Iraq, and his apparent doubts about the urgency of the Iranian threat, have intensified pressure on the Israeli hawks to act before November’s US presidential election. “If I were an Israeli I wouldn’t wait,” the Pentagon official added.

The latest round of regional tension was sparked by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which fired nine long and medium-range missiles in war game manoeuvres in the Gulf last Wednesday.

Iran’s state-run media reported that one of them was a modified Shahab-3 ballistic missile, which has a claimed range of 1,250 miles and could theoretically deliver a one-ton nuclear warhead over Israeli cities. Tel Aviv is about 650 miles from western Iran. General Hossein Salami, a senior Revolutionary Guard commander, boasted that “our hands are always on the trigger and our missiles are ready for launch”.

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, said she saw the launches as “evidence that the missile threat is not an imaginary one”, although the impact of the Iranian stunt was diminished on Thursday when it became clear that a photograph purporting to show the missiles being launched had been faked.

The one thing that all sides agree on is that any strike by either Iran or Israel would trigger a catastrophic round of retaliation that would rock global oil markets, send the price of petrol soaring and wreck the progress of the US military effort in Iraq.

Abdalla Salem El-Badri, secretary-general of Opec, the oil producers’ consortium, said last week that a military conflict involving Iran would see an “unlimited” rise in prices because any loss of Iranian production — or constriction of shipments through the Strait of Hormuz — could not be replaced. Iran is Opec’s second-largest producer after Saudi Arabia.

Equally worrying for Bush would be the impact on the US mission in Iraq, which after years of turmoil has seen gains from the military “surge” of the past few months, and on American operations in the wider region. A senior Iranian official said yesterday that Iran would destroy Israel and 32 American military bases in the Middle East in response to any attack.

Yet US officials acknowledge that no American president can afford to remain idle if Israel is threatened. How genuine the Iranian threat is was the subject of intense debate last week, with some analysts arguing that Iran might have a useable nuclear weapon by next spring and others convinced that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is engaged in a dangerous game of bluffing — mainly to impress a domestic Iranian audience that is struggling with economic setbacks and beginning to question his leadership.

Among the sceptics is Kenneth Katzman, a former CIA analyst and author of a book on the Revolutionary Guard. “I don’t subscribe to the view that Iran is in a position to inflict devastating damage on anyone,” said Katzman, who is best known for warning shortly before 9/11 that terrorists were planning to attack America.

“The Revolutionary Guards have always underperformed militarily,” he said. “Their equipment is quite inaccurate if not outright inoperable. Those missile launches were more like putting up a ‘beware of the dog’ sign. They want everyone to think that if you mess with them, you will get bitten.”

A former adviser to Rice noted that Ahmadinejad’s confrontational attitude had earned him powerful enemies among Iran’s religious leadership. Professor Shai Feldman, director of Middle East studies at Brandeis University, said the Iranian government was getting “clobbered” because of global economic strains. “His [Ahmadinejad's] failed policies have made Iran more vulnerable to sanctions and people close to the mullahs have decided he’s a liability,” he said.

In Israel, Ehud Olmert, the prime minister, has his own domestic problems with a corruption scandal that threatens to unseat him and the media have been rife with speculation that he might order an attack on Iran to distract attention from his difficulties. According to one of his closest friends, Olmert recently warned him that “in three months’ time it will be a different Middle East”.

Yet even the most hawkish officials acknowledge that Israel would face what would arguably be the most challenging military mission of its 60-year existence.

“No one here is talking about more than delaying the [nuclear] programme,” said the Pentagon source. He added that Israel would need to set back the Iranians by at least five years for an attack to be considered a success.

Even that may be beyond Israel’s competence if it has to act alone. Obvious targets would include Iran’s Isfahan plant, where uranium ore is converted into gas, the Natanz complex where this gas is used to enrich uranium in centrifuges and the plutonium-producing Arak heavy water plant. But Iran is known to have scattered other elements of its nuclear programme in underground facilities around the country. Neither US nor Israeli intelligence is certain that it knows where everything is.

“Maybe the Israelis could start off the attack and have us finish it off,” Katzman added. “And maybe that has been their intention all along. But in terms of the long-term military campaign that would be needed to permanently suppress Iran’s nuclear programme, only the US is perceived as having that capability right now.”

 

[14damoney]

Que, I believe this thread has earned, and is well deserving of being a sticky. There's too much info (and effort) in it for it to fall off front page again. Especially in these days and times...

Please consider.

 

[oneofmany]

U.S. terrorism watch list tops 1 million

U.S. terrorism watch list tops 1 million​

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. watch list of terrorism suspects has passed 1 million records, corresponding to about 400,000 people, and a leading civil rights group said on Monday the number was far too high to be effective.

The Bush administration disagreed and called the list one of the most effective tools implemented after the September 11 hijacked plane attacks -- when a federal "no-fly" list contained just 16 people considered threats to aviation.

The American Civil Liberties Union publicized the 1 million milestone with a news conference and release.

It said the watch list was an impediment to millions of travelers and called for changes, including tightening criteria for adding names, giving travelers a right to challenge their inclusion and improving procedures for taking wrongly included names off the list.

"America's new million-record watch list is a perfect symbol for what's wrong with this administration's approach to security: it's unfair, out-of-control, a waste of resources (and) treats the rights of the innocent as an afterthought," ACLU technology director Barry Steinhardt said in a release.

President George W. Bush ordered in the current list in September 2003 as a way to wrap several growing terrorism watchlists into a single government database compiled and overseen by the FBI, through a Terrorist Screening Center.

Suspected terrorists or people believed to have links to terrorism are included on the list, which can be used by a wide range of government agencies in security screening. About 50,000 individuals are included on the Transportation Security Administration "no-fly" or "selectee" lists that subject them to travel bans, arrest or additional screening.

Critics have pointed to troubles that figures such as U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, 1960s civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis and singer Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) have had with watch lists as evidence the consolidated database is poorly managed.

The Terrorism Screening Center, which maintains the list, has already put in place several steps to ensure the list is accurate and up-to-date, spokesman Chad Kolton said.

He cited a report last year by the Government Accountability Office that said there was general agreement within the federal government that the watch list had helped to combat terrorism.

"The list is very effective. In fact it's one of the most effective counterterrorism tools that our country has," he said.

About 400,000 individuals are included on the list, about 95 percent of whom are not U.S. citizens or residents, Kolton said. The watch list also includes separate entries with aliases, fake passports and fake birth dates, bringing the total number of records to more than 1 million, he said.

TSA spokesman Christopher White said the agency's "no-fly" watchlists to screen travelers were "scrubbed" last year to remove about half of the names, leaving them with somewhat fewer than 50,000.

He said Kennedy and Lewis were never on the list, and that problems they reported were due to their misidentification with names properly on it.

 

[oneofmany]

China's yuan hits another new high against U.S. dollar

China's yuan hits another new high against U.S. dollar​

BEIJING, July 16 (Xinhua) -- China's currency, the yuan, on Wednesday set another post-revaluation high against the weakening U.S. dollar for the second consecutive day.

The central parity rate of the yuan, or Renminbi (RMB), was 6.8128 yuan to the dollar, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System. The reference rate was up 102 basis points from the previous trading day.

The yuan has risen more than 7 percent against the dollar so far this year, compared with the 6.9-percent gain last year, and has broken its own record value 55 times.

Market observers said Wednesday's depreciation of the dollar was due largely to lingering concerns about credit risks in the U.S. financial regime, despite the U.S. government's decision to rescue struggling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the biggest providers of financing for home loans.

Some experts called for actions to slow RMB appreciation, so as to avoid adversely affecting the Chinese economy.

On Wednesday, the Renminbi gained 162 basis points against the euro to 10.8375 yuan, but lost 689 basis points against 100 Japanese yen to 6.5017 yuan.

 

[oneofmany]

US attack imminent, says Sherpao (US Invasion Of Pakistan)

US attack imminent, says Sherpao​

PESHAWAR: Former interior minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao on Saturday sounded “serious” threats to the country’s sovereignty and integrity, saying that the United States could attack Pakistan any time soon.

“There is an imminent danger of [a] US attack on Pakistan,” Sherpao told reporters at his residence.

His comments came two days after NATO attacked a Pakistani outpost on the Afghan border in South Waziristan. “The government should immediately call a joint session of parliament to discuss the situation and evolve a national consensus,” the former minister said. “The country’s security is apolitical issue and we must all be concerned about it,” he added.

He however said it was difficult to say the US would land boots in the Tribal Areas or continue with airstrikes to target what Washington terms militants. “We don’t know this ... they may be Iraq-like mercenaries.”

 

[oneofmany]

Now there are 1,000 laws that will let the state into your home

Extreme measures: There are more than 1,000 laws which give officials the right to enter private property​

Now there are 1,000 laws that will let the state into your home​

The march of the Big Brother state under Labour was highlighted last night as it was revealed that there are now 1,043 laws that give the authorities the power to enter a home or business.

Nearly half have been introduced since Labour came to power 11 years ago. They include the right to:

• Invade your home to see if your pot plants have pests or do not have a 'plant passport' (Plant Health England Order 2005).

• Survey your home and garden to see if your hedge is too high (Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003).

• Check that accommodation given to asylum seekers is not being lived in by non-asylum seekers (Immigration and Asylum Act 1999).

• Raid a house to check if unlicensed gambling is taking place (Gambling Act 2005 Inspection Regulations 2007).

• Seize fridges without the correct energy rating (Energy Information Household Refrigerators and Freezers Regulations 2004).

The rise in clipboard-wielding state inspectors flies in the face of repeated pledges by Ministers to curb the power of bureaucrats.

The full extent of the state's 'powers of entry' is revealed in documents slipped out quietly by the Government last week.

The information was posted on the Home Office website, but in a highly unusual move, the computer file was locked to prevent it being copied or printed. A secret Home Office password was required to access the file.

A Home Office spokeswoman denied the restrictions were an attempt to stop the state's powers being circulated more widely.

She claimed it was a 'mistake' and the file would be unlocked tomorrow.

Some 420 new powers of entry are the product of laws introduced since 1997. A further 16 are in laws due to be approved by Parliament in the next few weeks.

A recent study by the Centre for Policy Studies think-tank warned that the 'proliferation and variety' of such laws mean householders can no longer 'realistically be aware' of their rights and legal obligations.

Gordon Brown last year announced a review of 'powers of entry' laws and said they would be subjected to a 'liberty test' to stop abuses by the state.

However, new powers set to be approved by Parliament include inspecting for non-human genetic material, for looted cultural property from Iraq and for 'undeclared' carbon dioxide, as well as enforcing bin tax.

Town hall 'bin police' already have the right to enter homes, take photographs, seize contents of bins, and 'investigate as required'.

Householders can be fined up to £5,000 if they refuse entry or 'obstruct' an official.

Shadow Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said: 'Day by day under Labour, the rights and liberties of law-abiding citizens are being eroded.'

 

[Mrfreddygoodbud]

fuck dem greedy bastids the dog tag works just fine......

 

[oneofmany]

Maryland troopers spied on activist groups

Maryland troopers spied on activist groups​

Undercover Maryland state troopers infiltrated three groups advocating peace and protesting the death penalty — attending meetings and sending reports on their activities to U.S. intelligence and military agencies, according to documents released Thursday.

The documents show the activities occurred from at least March 2005 to May 2006 and that officers used false names, which the documents referred to as "covert identities" - to open e-mail accounts to receive messages from the groups.

Also included in the 46 pages of documents, obtained by the Maryland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, is an account of an activist's name being entered into a federally funded database designed to share information among state, local and federal law-enforcement agencies on terrorist and drug trafficking suspects.

ACLU attorney David Rocah said state police violated federal laws prohibiting departments that receive federal funds from maintaining databases with information about political activities and affiliations.

The activist was identified as Max Obuszewski. His "primary crime" was entered into the database as "terrorism - anti govern(ment)." His "secondary crime" was listed as "terrorism - anti-war protestors." The database is known as the Washington-Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, or HIDTA.

"This is not supposed to happen in America," said Mr. Rocah. "In a free society, which relies on the engagement of citizens in debate and protest and political activity to maintain that freedom ... you should be able to attend a meeting about an issue you care about without having to worry that government spies are entering your name into a database used to track alleged terrorists and drug traffickers."

Mr. Rocah called the surveillance "Kafka-esque insanity."

State police Chief Col. Terrence B. Sheridan said the agency "does not inappropriately curtail the expression or demonstration of the civil liberties of protesters or organizations acting lawfully."

The surveillance of Mr. Obuszewski, of Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, and another person came to light during his trial for trespassing and disorderly conduct in a 2004 protest outside the National Security Agency's headquarters in Fort Meade, Md.

Documents released by the prosecution revealed that the protesters had been under surveillance by an entity called the Baltimore Intelligence Unit.

The Maryland ACLU sued last month, claiming the state police refused to release public documents about the surveillance of peace activists.

The documents, which include intelligence reports and printouts from the database, show that several undercover officers from the state police's Homeland Security and Intelligence Division attended meetings of three groups: Mr. Obuszewski's group; the Coalition to End the Death Penalty; and the Committee to Save Vernon Evans, a convicted murderer who was slated for execution.

The documents show at least 288 hours of surveillance over the 14-month period. The undercover officers attended at least 20 organizing meetings at community halls and churches and a dozen rallies against the death penalty, including several at the state's SuperMax jail in Baltimore.

Included in the documents are references to a proposed sit-in at the offices of Baltimore County State's Attorney SandraA. O'Connor. However, they show no trooper reports of violence or threats of violence. Organizers repeatedly stressed the importance of peaceful and orderly demonstrations, the documents show.

"There were about 75-80 protestors at the rally and none participated in any type of civil disobedience or illegal acts," said one report of a demonstration against the death penalty at the SuperMax jail. "Protesters were even careful to move out of the way for Division of Correction employees who were going into the parking lot for work."

Still, information about the protesters and their activities was sent to seven agencies, including the National Security Agency and an unnamed military intelligence official.

"Americans have the right to peaceably assemble with others of a like mind and speak out about what they believe in," Mr. Rocah said. "For state agencies to spend hundreds of hours entering information about lawful and peaceful political activities into a criminal database is beyond unconscionable. It is a waste of taxpayer dollars, which does nothing to make us safer from actual terrorists or drug dealers."

 

[oneofmany]

Bluetooth is watching: secret study gives Bath a flavour of Big Brother

Bluetooth is watching: secret study gives Bath a flavour of Big Brother​

Tens of thousands of Britons are being covertly tracked without their consent in a technology experiment which has installed scanners at secret locations in offices, campuses, streets and pubs to pinpoint people's whereabouts.

The scanners, the first 10 of which were installed in Bath three years ago, are capturing Bluetooth radio signals transmitted from devices such as mobile phones, laptops and digital cameras, and using the data to follow unwitting targets without their permission.

The data is being used in a project called Cityware to study how people move around cities. But pedestrians are not being told that the devices they carry around in their pockets and handbags could be providing a permanent record of their journeys, which is then stored on a central database.

The Bath University researchers behind the project claim their scanners do not have access to the identity of the people tracked.

Eamonn O'Neill, Cityware's director, said: "The objective is not to track individuals, whether by Bluetooth or any other means. We are interested in the aggregate behaviour of city dwellers as a whole. The notion that any agency would seriously consider Bluetooth scanning as a surveillance technique is ludicrous."

But privacy experts disagree, pointing out that Bluetooth signals are assigned code names that can, to varying degrees, indicate a person's identity.

Many people use pseudonyms, nicknames, initials, or abbreviations to identify their Bluetooth signals. Cityware's scanners are also picking up signals that are listed using people's full name, email address and telephone numbers.

Contacted about the Cityware project, the office of the information commissioner said in a statement that the public should "think carefully" before switching on their Bluetooth signals. A spokesman said the government watchdog would "monitor" the experiment.

"This is yet another example of moronic use of technology," said Simon Davies, director of Privacy International, an independent campaigning group defending personal privacy. "For Bath University to assert that there aren't privacy implications demonstrates an astonishing disregard for consumer rights. If the technology is as safe as they claim, then all the technical specifications should be published and people should be informed when they are being tracked."

He added: "This technology could well become the CCTV of the mobile industry. It would not take much adjustment to make this system a ubiquitous surveillance infrastructure over which we have no control."

Although initially confined to Bath, Cityware has spread across the planet after the software was made freely available on the internet sites Facebook and Second Life. Thousands of people downloaded the software to equip their home and office computers with Cityware scanners.

More than 1,000 scanners across the world at any time detect passing Bluetooth signals and send the data to Cityware's central database. Those with access to the database admit they do not know precisely how many scanners have been created, but there are known to be scanners in San Diego, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, Toronto and Berlin.

In Bath alone scanners are tracking as many as 3,000 Bluetooth devices every weekend. One recent study used the scanners to monitor the movements of 10,000 people in the city.

About 250,000 owners of Bluetooth devices, mostly mobile phones, have been spotted by Cityware scanners worldwide.

O'Neill, who described his project as "public observation" rather than surveillance, said the data would improve scientific understanding of the privacy and security threats posed by Bluetooth technology. A "potentially immensely valuable side-effect", he added, was that data about people's movements could help research into the spread of biological epidemics.

"Just as we continue to research forms of defence against other more traditional threats, we must research forms of defence against new digital threats," he said, adding that the database eventually would be destroyed.

However Vassilis Kostakos, a former member of Cityware who now does Bluetooth experiments on buses in Portugal for the University of Madeira, accepted such tracking was a problem.

"We are actually trying to fix this," Kostakos said. "If a person's phone is talking to a scanner, then they should be told about it. Any technology can have good and bad consequences. In many ways, I think the role of a scientist is to point out both. I agree this is complex and I agree there are harmful scenarios."

The technique has echoes of the thriller Enemy of the State in which the character played by Will Smith is followed by satellite surveillance.

Kostakos said he could foresee complex ways in which criminals could exploit the technology, adding: "I recently tried to look at people's travel patterns across the world, and we [saw] how a unique device which showed up in San Francisco turned up in Caracas and then Paris."

Bluetooth tracking technology is already being used to aim advertisements at people, for example as they walk past shops or billboards.

Bluetoothtracking.org, a website based in the Netherlands, is using the same technology to publish live data about people's movements across the town of Apeldoorn. The facility allows people to search the whereabouts of friends and associates without them knowing about it.

Some scientists using the technology describe a future scenario in which homes and cars adapt services to suit their owners, automatically dimming lights, preparing food and selecting preferred television channels.

 

[oneofmany]

'US will strike targets in Pakistan'

'US will strike targets in Pakistan'​

The US presidential hopeful Barack Obama says he will strike at al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan if Washington gets "actionable intelligence".

"... what I've said is that if we had actionable intelligence against high-value al-Qaeda targets and the Pakistani government was unwilling to go after those targets, then we should," the Democrat, who aspires to be the first black-American president, noted.

The 47-year-old senator from Illinois, currently on a tour to Afghanistan and Iraq, told the CBS News, "Now, my hope is that it doesn't come to that. Pakistani government would recognize that if we had Osama bin Laden in our sights, that we should fire or capture..."

Media reports say Washington is taking steps to make it easier to launch covert special missions in Pakistan's remote tribal areas, near Afghan border, where al-Qaeda is believed to be rebuilding its network.

Pakistan's newly elected PPP-led government, apparently seeking to quell such criticism, said that the country has taken "several measures to prevent cross-border infiltration by insurgents."

 

[oneofmany]

Former White House spokesman confesses FoxNews as WH Propaganda outlet

Fox News Busted

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[GET YOU HOT]

Laser Weapons

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[QueEx]

<IFRAME SRC="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7532162.stm" WIDTH=780 HEIGHT=1500>
<A HREF="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7532162.stm">link</A>

</IFRAME>

 

[oneofmany]

U.S. companies vulnerable to foreign buyers

U.S. companies vulnerable to foreign buyers​

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - With a record volume of international takeovers of U.S. companies, it almost appears America itself is up for sale.

The weak dollar and slumping stock prices of U.S. companies has created a window of opportunity for international buyers to snatch up American icons such as beer brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc (BUD.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and the landmark Chrysler Building in New York.

"The dollar has depreciated so much that America is on the sale rack," said Sung Won Sohn, a professor of economics at California State University.

"America has such an appetite for foreign goods -- Chinese imports and oil -- that U.S. dollars have gone overseas. Now, many Americans aren't happy that foreign companies are buying pieces of America with the money we gave them in the first place," Sohn said.

In the second quarter, acquisitions of U.S. companies by international buyers totaled $124.3 billion, marking the highest total for any second quarter on record and jumping 23 percent over the year-earlier quarter, according to research firm Dealogic.

International takeovers represented 22 percent of all U.S. merger activity in the first half of the year, up from 17 percent in the first half of 2007, according to research firm Dealogic.

InBev NV's (INTB.BR: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) deal to acquire Anheuser-Busch for $52 billion gave Belgium the distinction of being the most active foreign buyer of U.S. assets in the first half of this year, followed by Spain and Canada, Dealogic said.

The Anheuser-Busch deal ranked as the second-biggest cross-border acquisition of a U.S. company in history, following Vodafone Group Plc's (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) $60.3 billion acquisition of AirTouch Communications in 1999, according to Thomson Reuters.

Other U.S. assets recently falling into international hands include Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc (BRL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which agreed to be acquired by Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd (TEVA.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (TEVA.TA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world's largest generic drug company, for $7.46 billion; and eye care company Alcon Inc (ACL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) which is being bought by Switzerland's Novartis AG (NOVN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for about $27.7 billion.

Earlier this month, Swiss drugmaker Roche AG (ROG.VX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) made a bid to acquire the shares of its U.S. partner Genentech Inc (DNA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) it does not already own for $43.7 billion. Even the Pennsylvania Turnpike awarded long-term leasing rights to a Spanish-led investor group for $12.8 billion.

MORE THAN JUST A WEAK DOLLAR

Although some investment bankers and analyst pin the spike in cross-border activity to the weak dollar, others contend that strategy and the desire to expand globally were the motivators behind many of these recent corporate deals.

"Strategic buyers don't wake up in the morning and say: 'This currency is cheap. I'm going to go do a deal.' They do a deal because it's strategic and makes sense," said Herald Ritch, president and co-chief executive officer of investment bank Sagent Advisers.

"There's no question that, on the margin, currency levels tend to influence decisions, but strategic deals get done because they fit a company's strategy," Ritch said.

European companies have been the most active buyers of U.S. assets, with 314 deals so far this year, compared with 117 deals by Asian acquirers, and 33 by African and Middle Eastern buyers, according to Thomson Reuters.

"Europe and the U.S. dominate deal activity globally, so it makes sense that deals between those areas would predominate," Ritch said.

Although some investment bankers view the second quarter's record pace of U.S. takeovers as an anomaly, Sohn said the 13-percent depreciation of the dollar against major currencies over the past 18 months should fuel more acquisitions.

"There are trillions of dollars overseas that have to be put to work. This is just the tip of the iceberg," Sohn said.

 

[oneofmany]

Arnold Schwarzenegger slashes 20,000 government jobs in California

Arnold Schwarzenegger slashes 20,000 government jobs in California​

The state's Republican governor said the action was necessary given California's failure to enact a budget for the current fiscal year, which began on July 1.

The state faces a massive $15.2 billion deficit and Democratic and Republican lawmakers have so far been unable to agree on a spending plan.

Officials say if a budget is not approved within the next few weeks, the state could be forced to turn to Wall Street for expensive loans in order to pay its bills.

Mr Schwarzenegger denied his move was political and aimed at forcing legislators to break the stalemate, insisting it was vital to free up funds given the "terrible situation".

"I have a responsibility to make sure that our state has enough money to pay its bills. The executive order that I will sign here today will free up money to help cover the state's costs." The decision was "not an action that I take lightly", he added, acknowledging it would "affect people at a time when they are already struggling".

Slashing seasonal and part-time jobs and cutting state wages could save up to $1 billion a month, according to estimates.

Some workers, including 24-hour medical staff, are exempt from the lay-offs. The governor promised normal wages would be reinstated and back pay issued once the budget was passed.

The order, however, faces resistance. John Chiang, the Democrat state controller whose office issues employee pay cheques, said he would refuse to comply with the part relating to wages. He argued the state had adequate funds to pay workers until September and the move could leave the state vulnerable to legal action.

The measure was also challenged by state employee unions, the largest of which has filed a lawsuit attempting to block the order.

California is the only state with a fiscal year beginning July 1 that remains without a budget.

Mr Schwarzenegger said over the past two decades that the nation's most populous state had only met its budget deadline four times.

 

[oneofmany]

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,127

US military deaths in Iraq war at 4,127​

As of Thursday, July 31, 2008, at least 4,127 members of the U.S. military have died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes eight military civilians killed in action. At least 3,361 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military's numbers.

The AP count is one fewer than the Defense Department's tally, last updated Thursday at 10 a.m. EDT.

The British military has reported 176 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia and Georgia, three each; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand, Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, South Korea, one death each.

___

The latest deaths reported by the military:

• A soldier died Thursday in a non-combat incident in Ninevah province.

___

The latest identifications reported by the military:

• Army Sgt. James A. McHale, 31, Fairfield, Mont.; died Wednesday at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., of wounds suffered July 22 in Taji when his vehicle struck an explosive; assigned to the 40th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Baumholder, Germany.

 

[oneofmany]

Airport threat to your laptop: U.S. also gets power to seize iPods and mobiles

Airport threat to your laptop: U.S. also gets power to seize iPods and mobiles in new anti-terror measure​

Travellers to the U.S. could have their laptops and other electronic devices seized at the airport under new anti-terror measures.

Federal agents have been granted powers to take such devices and hold them as long as they like.

They do not even need grounds to suspect wrongdoing.

The Department of Homeland Security said the policies applied to anyone entering the country by land, sea or air, including U.S. citizens.

The extent of the new powers, which have been secretly in place for some time, was revealed yesterday in the Washington Post.

They cover hard drives, flash drives, mobile phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes, as well as books, pamphlets and other written materials, the report said.

Federal agents must take measures to protect business information and lawyer-client privileged material.

Copies of data must be destroyed when a review is completed and no probable cause exists to keep the information.

But agents are allowed to share the contents of seized computers with other agencies and private entities for data decryption and 'other reasons'.

Copies sent to non-federal entities must be returned to the DHS, but there is no limitation on authorities keeping written notes or reports about the materials.

The new powers came to light under pressure from civil liberties and business travel groups after increasing numbers of travellers reported that they had laptops, phones and other digital devices removed and examined.

The development was described as 'truly alarming' by Wisconsin Democrat Senator-Russell Feingold, who is investigating U.S. border search practices.

He said he intends to introduce legislation that would require reasonable suspicion for border searches, as well as prohibit profiling on race, religion or national origin.

DHS officials insisted the policies were reasonable and necessary to prevent terrorism.

They said they had been disclosed only because of public interest.

But Greg Nojeim, senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said it was alarming that the policies 'don't establish any criteria for whose computer can be searched.'

He added: 'They are saying that they can rifle through all the information contained in a traveller's laptop without having even a smidgeon of evidence that the traveller is breaking the law.'

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said last month that 'the most dangerous contraband is often contained in laptop computers or other electronic devices'.

Searches had uncovered 'violent jihadist materials' as well as images of child pornography.

In an article for U.S.A Today, Chertoff wrote that 'as a practical matter, travellers only go to secondary [a more thorough examination] when there is some level of suspicion.'

He said legislation setting a particular standard for searches would have a 'dangerous, chilling effect' because it could contradict assessments by officers, often made in a split second.

In April, the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld the government's power to conduct searches of an international traveller's laptop without suspicion of wrongdoing.

 

[oneofmany]

Crisis Puts Ny In 'sell' Hell

CRISIS PUTS NY IN 'SELL' HELL GOV EYE​

ALBANY - Warning of an approaching economic calamity, Gov. Paterson yesterday called an emergency session of the state Legislature - and raised the specter that New York may have to sell off roads, bridges and tunnels to close a massive budget deficit.

In a rare televised address, the Democratic governor cited "private-public partnerships" involving the sale of state assets - widely condemned by critics as fiscal gimmickry - as one way to stem a tide of red ink brought on by the sagging economy and woes on Wall Street.

"We can't wait and hope that this problem will resolve itself," Paterson said. "These times call for action, and today I promise you there will be action."

Profit-tax collections from the state's 16 biggest banks, which were at $173 million in June 2007, fell to $5 million last month, Paterson noted. That's a shocking 97 percent plunge.

But the governor's five-minute speech offered few specific solutions to a three-year budget deficit. The gap has ballooned to $26.2 billion from $21.5 billion - a whopping 22 percent increase - in just 90 days.

Next year alone, the state expects to face a budget deficit of $6.4 billion, up from a projection in March of $5 billion.

Paterson promised to examine ways to trim the state work force and consider deeper budget cuts beyond the 3.3 percent he ordered after taking office this spring.

"We're going to end the legislators' vacations and bring them back to Albany to reprioritize the way we manage New York state's finances," he said.

Paterson said he would ask lawmakers during the session on Aug. 19 to take up his proposal to cap school property taxes at 4 percent a year.

In a nod to the tax cap's chief opponent, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), the governor also promised action on Silver's pet proposal to increase home-heating subsidies.

But Silver reacted coolly.

"If it is our intention to ask working families to shoulder the burden of these cuts, we must ensure that our most affluent citizens share that burden," he said.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-LI) cautioned Paterson that any cuts to school funding were off the table.

The "sale" of state assets has been tried in the past during difficult economic times and has been met with condemnation from budget watchdogs.

The most famous - or infamous - example: former Gov. Mario Cuomo's sale of Attica prison to a semi-independent state agency in 1991 to raise $200 million. Many critics noted that the bond sale cost the state hundreds of millions extra over the next few years.

"One gets a little concerned when 'selling off state assets' and 'budget deficits' get mentioned in the same sentence," said Elizabeth Lynam, a state policy expert with the Citizens Budget Commission.

"If it's used to close a budget gap, it's a one-shot. It's doesn't help you in the long run. It's a fiscal gimmick."

Mayor Bloomberg last night praised Paterson's effort "to tackle the serious problems we face" this year.

"The governor demonstrated that he is ready to stand up to the interest groups that will no doubt protest before the State House, just as they took to the steps of City Hall earlier this year," Bloomberg said.

 

[Makkonnen]

Re: Crisis Puts Ny In 'sell' Hell

soon as im done with school -im jumpin ship this shit is getting too fuckin crazy

 

[oneofmany]

Families who break the bin rules and overfill will get a £110 fine...

Clamp down: Families who overfill their bins will receive larger fines than shoplifters, under Government-approved plans​

Families who break the bin rules and overfill will get a £110 fine... more than a drunken yob would receive​

Householders who put too much rubbish in their bins face tougher punishments than shoplifters and drunken louts.

Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has backed on-the-spot fines of up to £110 for those who overfill their bins, leave them out too early, or put out extra sacks of rubbish alongside them.

The price of defying rubbish regulations is £30 higher than the £80 fixed penalty fine given to shoplifters or those involved in drunken disorder in city centres.

The confirmation that Labour has been putting pressure on town halls and their bin police comes after three years of rapid growth in the number of fines handed out to residents for 'littering' - the offence committed by those who infringe strict wheelie bin rules.

Around 20,000 tickets for breach of rubbish collection rules are thought to have been issued in 2006, the latest year for which figures have been released. Tickets usually demand fines of £100 or £110.

Legislation covering on-the-spot fines for bin offences says they should be at least £75, but lays down no upper limit.

The Government has always insisted that the upper levels of bin fines were a matter for local councils to decide, but yesterday the Environment Department confirmed that ' enforcement' guidance laid down for councils from Whitehall has set the £110 level.

A spokesman for Defra said: 'The guidance is not new. It sets fines at between £75 and £110.'

He added: 'Fixed penalty notice fines are an alternative to prosecution, and were called for by local authorities so that they could react to the severity and frequency of the environmental offence and offender and ensure our streets are kept clean for all of us. Ultimately the fines are there to act as a deterrent.'

Penalties for breaking the bin rules, which usually go alongside fortnightly collections and compulsory recycling, are much tougher than those applied to thieves or to drunks creating late-night mayhem in town centres.

Bus driver Gareth Corkhill was given a criminal record earlier this year for overfilling his wheelie bin to the point where the lid was open by four inches.

Mr Corkhill was taken to court by Copeland council in Cumbria after he failed to pay a £110 on-the-spot fine.

The father of four was ordered to pay a &pound;210 fine, equal to his week's wages, plus a £15 surcharge to help 'victims of violence', and given a record.

By contrast, shoplifters and drunks are given £80 fines, which often do not appear on their criminal record and which frequently go unpaid.

Magistrates and lawyers frequently claim that criminals are given on-the-spot fines by police anxious to hit crime clearup targets and escape paperwork.

In fact they should be brought to court for more severe punishment. Last year prolific thief Anthony Hickingbotham ran up nine £80 on-the-spot fines for shoplifting and other criminal offences - none of which he paid - before finally being brought before a court in Hull.

The judge was not told about the unpaid fines and sent Hickingbotham on a drug treatment course.

Tory local government spokesman Eric Pickles said Labour was creating 'an army of municipal bin bullies hitting lawabiding families with massive fines while professional criminals get the soft touch'.

He added: 'It is clear Whitehall bureaucrats are instructing town halls to target householders with fines for minor breaches.

'Yet with the slow death of weekly collections and shrinking bins, it is increasingly hard for families to dispose of their rubbish responsibly.

'It is fundamentally unfair that householders are now getting hammered with larger fines than shoplifters.'

 

[oneofmany]

'UK duped by US on torture'

'UK duped by US on torture'​

Britain was "duped on a colossal scale" by the US into allowing torture on UK territory, it was claimed yesterday.

Time magazine said at least one terror suspect had been imprisoned and interrogated by the US on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. America has a base on the island

It quoted an anonymous US official who claimed "high value prisoners" had been held and questioned there.

Legal charity Reprieve said the revelations were shocking. Director Clive Stafford Smith said: "It further demonstrates that the British government has allowed itself to be duped by the US on a colossal scale. While ministers have spent years looking the other way, British territory has been used for kidnapping, extraordinary rendition, illegal imprisonment and possibly torture. Ignorance is no excuse when it comes to crimes of this magnitude."

Foreign Secretary David Miliband has always denied the US has detained terror suspects on British territory.

Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti said: "The Foreign Secretary has been highly visible in recent days. We hope he will be equally forthcoming on such a crucial matter."

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We accept US assurances on rendition in good faith. But if others have definitive evidence of it on our overseas territories, including Diego Garcia, we will raise it with the US authorities."

 

[oneofmany]

Innocent MP fingerprinted after his uncle's murder discovers his details are still on

Innocent MP fingerprinted after his uncle's murder discovers his details are still on DNA database one year on​

Innocent MP fingerprinted after his uncle's murder discovers his details are still on DNA database one year on

A Tory MP fingerprinted after the murder of his 80-year-old uncle claimed last night that he is an innocent victim of Labour’s ‘Big Brother’ surveillance state.

Police visited the Commons to take fingerprints and a DNA sample from London MP Greg Hands after the killing last year.

But Mr Hands, 42, is now demanding to know why, one year on and despite repeated requests, his details have not been removed from the national DNA database.

He said that he and hundreds of thousands of other innocent Britons were being ‘stigmatised’ by the database, which is estimated to contain the records of more than four million individuals, including about 900,000 not convicted of any crime.

‘I accept it is helping to solve crimes,’ Mr Hands added, ‘but it seems to me the Home Office and police are building up a national, universal DNA database by stealth. They are trying to get all 60million of us by hook or by crook on to it.

‘They are using every possible reason to collect data from people like me whose links with crime in particular or general are extremely tenuous. Parliament has never approved a universal DNA database.’

The body of the MP’s uncle, widower Les Ince, was discovered in February last year lying in an upstairs cupboard at his home in Walsall, West Midlands.

He had been stabbed in the neck with a barbecue meat skewer. No one has ever been arrested over the killing despite an extensive murder inquiry by police and an appeal by Mr Ince’s son Peter on BBC1’s Crimewatch.

Mr Hands – who believes the killing could have been ‘a burglary gone wrong or some kind of mistaken identity’ – said: ‘I wasn’t particularly close to him but Les was recovering from the death of his wife a few years earlier.

‘A few weeks after Les’s murder, West Midlands Police came to interview me at the House of Commons. I had never been to my uncle’s home but they explained they were interviewing all family members to eliminate them from the inquiry.

‘They had the courtesy to tell me in advance that they intended to take a DNA sample and a complete set of fingerprints. But the two officers made no attempt to seek any information as to whether I might be the guilty party. They never asked where I was in the days around February 21, 2007 – the likely date of the murder.

‘Their main aim appeared to be to gain a DNA sample and the prints of all ten fingers, which they duly did.’

The MP, who also appealed for any new information about the murder, added: ‘They stated in writing that I would have my samples returned after the inquiry was completed. The police promised to return my samples but this was many weeks ago and I am still waiting. In my view, everyone eliminated from an inquiry in this way should be removed from the DNA national records.’

A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said the MP’s protests would be looked into.

Mr Hands spoke out after a damning report by the Human Genetics Commission – the Government’s genetic watchdog – demanded new controls over the database.

As well as requiring suspects to give DNA, police can take samples from witnesses or anyone connected to the crime scene but must ask permission.

Critics claim the records are rarely destroyed. The Home Office says the database is a ‘key police intelligence tool’ but insists ‘there are no plans to introduce a universal compulsory or voluntary DNA database’.

A £5,000 reward is offered for any information leading to an arrest or conviction in the Ince case. Call West Midlands Police on 0845 113 500.