Mass. House approves bill allowing quarantines --Senate version includes placing restrictions on right to public assembly, allowing arrest of individuals without warrant, mandatory vaccinations, and isolation orders issued to anyone who refused to be vaccinated 08 Oct 2009 Public health officials would have the power to isolate individuals and order quarantines to contain the outbreak of serious contagious diseases under a bill approved by the Massachusetts House [113-36] on Thursday. One of the most contentious parts of the bill would give public health officials the authority to force individuals or groups into isolation or quarantine when there is "reasonable cause to believe that a disease or condition dangerous to the public health exists or may exist or that there is an immediate risk of an outbreak." [Arrests without warrant and quarantines? Hopefully, the people will work to overthrow any government that allows *this* insanity to become law.]
US policies give rise to 'secession' talks 12 Oct 2009 Amid the increasing unpopularity of the US government's policies on war, economy and civil rights, a growing number of Americans are advocating the secession and defiance of federal laws, a report says. Secessionists, such as the Second Vermont Republic movement and the Texas Nationalist Movement, and states rights advocates believe the federal government has lost its authority. "The US government has lost its moral authority," Thomas Naylor, a retired economics professor who heads the Second Vermont Republic movement, told AFP. "Our government is operated and owned by Wall Street and corporate America."
Napolitano Says Al-Qaeda-Style Terrorists Are in U.S. 12 Oct 2009 Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said law-enforcement authorities are tracking terrorists with al-Qaeda [al-CIAduh] leanings in the U.S. "It is fair to say there are individuals in the United States who ascribe to al-Qaeda-type beliefs," Napolitano said in an interview with Bloomberg Television today. "And so it makes information-sharing, it makes effective law enforcement and it makes the shared responsibility of law enforcement ever so important." [Just what *is* an 'al-Qaeda-type belief?']
UN, Interpol design 'global policing doctrine' 12 Oct 2009 The United Nations and Interpol, the global police organization, are poised to become partners in fighting crime by jointly creating an international police force. Interpol, which is financed by 187 member nations, says the "global police doctrine" would allow the deployment of 'peacekeepers' among rogue nations plagued by war and organized crime.
Support Troops Swelling U.S. Force in Afghanistan --Additional Deployments Not Announced and Rarely Noted 13 Oct 2009 President Obama announced in March that he would be sending 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. But in an unannounced move, the White House has also authorized -- and the Pentagon is deploying -- at least 13,000 troops beyond that number, according to defense officials. The additional troops are primarily support forces [i.e., Xe terrorists] , including engineers, medical personnel, intelligence experts and military police. Their deployment has received little mention by officials at the Pentagon and the White House, who have spoken more publicly about the combat troops who have been sent to Afghanistan. The deployment of the support troops to Afghanistan brings the total increase approved by Obama to 34,000. The buildup has raised the number of U.S. troops deployed to the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan above the peak during the Iraq "surge" that President [sic] George W. Bush ordered, officials said.
After Nobel nod, Obama convenes war council 10 Oct 2009 Hours after being named a Nobel peace laureate, US President Barack Obama shouldered his duties as commander in chief and convened a war council for crucial talks on Afghan strategy. Mr Obama gathered his top political, military and security aides for the fourth in a series of in-depth consultations on rescuing the US 'mission' in the unpopular eight-year war.
MDR's Word of the Day 13 Oct 2009 "Republicant." n. the cant or phraseology common to Republicans, generally of an exaggerated and denunciatory kind and used to make Democrats appear politically liberal or even socialist in orientation. Republicants are often pointed to by Democrats (Democants) as an excuse for their failure to act in a manner consistent with their own rhetoric. 2. n. one who practices republicant. --Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.
MDR's Word of the Day 12 Oct 2009 "Democantism." n. a rhetoric of defeatism in the face of an overwhelming minority opposition. Var. Democant. n. one who practices democantism. --Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.
Obama continues assault on democratic rights By Tom Eley and Barry Grey 12 Oct 2009 Actions taken by President Barack Obama over the past month have confirmed that he is every bit as committed as his predecessor, George W. Bush, to the expansion of the police powers of the state. Last week, Obama moved to significantly weaken a "media shield" bill advancing through Congress that would give new protection to government whistle-blowers and journalists in cases involving sources who speak with reporters on condition of anonymity. It marked yet another volte-face for Obama, who as a senator championed a similar measure.
'There are still a few good apples in there but there's been a few bad ones and we've got a rotten barrel.' Ex-officer alleges 'hundreds of' Iraq cover-ups 11 Oct 2009 British soldiers in Iraq were involved in hundreds of incidents in which civilians died or were seriously injured but which were covered up or inadequately investigated, a former military police officer claimed today. "If you were to look back at all the serious allegations arising out of operations in Iraq, there's a catalogue of blunders, mistakes, ineptitude and the course of investigations being bent to serve the real or perceived interests of the chain of command of the army," the ex-officer said. He said he had "absolutely no trust and confidence in anyone in the army who is saying that the number of incidents are low". He continued: "The documentary evidence that I have seen suggests that there were hundreds of incidents over the last six or seven years and that it's of great concern that among those hundreds there will have been undoubtedly some very suspicious deaths and serious injuries that were never properly investigated."
Four killed in spate of Iraqi violence 13 Oct 2009 A spate of shootings and bombings across Iraq on Monday killed four people and wounded 13 others, police and military officials said. In Monday's deadliest attack, two sons of a mukhtar or village chief were killed when their car struck a roadside bomb in Buhruz, 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of Baquba, the provincial capital.
Israel PM denounces UN Gaza report 13 Oct 2009 Israel's prime minister has lashed out against the Goldstone report which criticises Israel for deliberately targeting civilians during its war on Gaza earlier this year. Opening the winter session of the Israeli parliament on Monday, Binyamin Netanyahu denounced the UN report as a "distorted report, written by this distorted committee".
Clinton visits Russia to discuss Iran, nuclear treaty 12 Oct 2009 US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began a mission to Russia on Tuesday to advance negotiations for a new US-Russian nuclear arms treaty and seek Moscow's help in curbing Iran's 'nuclear ambitions.' On her first trip here as chief US diplomat, Clinton is to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss the key topics but also efforts to bring peace to the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Pakistani Police Had Warned Army About a Raid 12 Oct 2009 The 'mastermind' of the militant assault on Saturday that shook the heart of the Pakistani military was behind two other major attacks in the last two years, and the police had specifically warned the military in July that such an audacious raid was being planned, police and intelligence officials said Sunday. Nine men wearing army uniforms had breached the military headquarters complex in Rawalpindi and held dozens hostage for 20 hours until a commando raid ended the siege. In all, 16 people were killed, including eight of the attackers, the military said.
Emirates court convicts American on terror charges 12 Oct 2009 The United Arab Emirates' highest court convicted an American citizen Monday on terrorism-related charges amid claims that torture was used to extract a confession. The court sentenced Naji Hamdan to 18 months in prison, but he should be freed soon because the sentence counts time served and he was detained last year. Rights groups also have accused U.S. authorities of pushing the case in the Emirates because they lacked enough evidence for American courts.
U.S. Can't Trace Foreign Visitors on Expired Visas 12 Oct 2009 Eight years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and despite repeated mandates from Congress, the United States still has no reliable system for verifying that foreign visitors have left the country. New concern was focused on that security loophole last week, when Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a 19-year-old Jordanian who had overstayed his tourist visa, was accused in court of plotting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper.
Soaring CCTV cameras 'are costly, futile and politically motivated' 13 Oct 2009 CCTV fails to cut crime and the technology needs to be curbed in Scotland, where the number of cameras has almost doubled in the past six years, a leading academic has said. Mike Press, who has spent the past decade studying how design can contribute to crime reduction, told The Times that the expensive policy is politically motivated and ineffectual.
Smart meters could be 'spy in the home' 11 Oct 2009 Smart meters could become a 'spy in the home' by allowing social workers and health authorities to monitor households, adding to concern at Britain's surveillance society. The devices, which the government plans to install in every home by 2020, will also tell energy firms what sort of appliances are being used, allowing companies to target customers who do not reduce their energy consumption. Privacy campaigners have expressed horror at the proposals, which come as two million homes have 'spy' devices fitted to their rubbish bins by councils who record how much residents are recycling.
DOT Seeks Proposals for RFID-Enabled License Plate System to Aid Police -- Transportation Dept. solicits proposals from small RFID companies 08 Oct 2009 The U.S. Department of Transportation's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program has posted online its solicitation for the fiscal year. The document includes a project for the development of a radio frequency-enabled license-plate system that would assist government agencies in the enforcement of traffic laws.
Three heroes of 9/11 die of cancer in five days 12 Oct 2009 A firefighter and two cops who worked at Ground Zero in the days and weeks after Sept. 11 have died of cancer in the past five days, the Daily News has learned. Family members and advocates are blaming their deaths on toxins released into the air after the twin towers collapsed - and they're urging Congress to act on a bill that would help pay for their medical care.
Swine flu fears grow as NHS staff shun vaccine --Health department urges frontline staff to get jab 11 Oct 2009 The Department of Health has ordered NHS bosses across England to ensure that frontline staff get immunised against swine flu amid growing signs that many doctors and nurses intend to shun the vaccine. Chief executives and boards who run hospitals, primary care trusts and strategic health authorities have been told to urgently maximise the number of workers having the jab. Leading DH figures including Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, have written to them six times in the last five weeks stressing the need for action before the second wave of the pandemic causes major problems.
Vietnam detects 3 cases of drug-resistant swine flu 12 Oct 2009 Vietnam has detected three cases of swine flu that were resistant to the antiviral drug Tamiflu... The three were admitted to the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh city in late August and September and have all recovered, said Rogier van Doorn, a clinical microbiologist and doctor at the hospital. "The viruses that were isolated when they were admitted were still sensitive (to the drug), but during treatment with oseltamivir, resistance built up," said van Doorn, referring to the generic form of Tamiflu.
Subpoenas issued in probe of ex-Interior secretary --A grand jury investigates whether Gale Norton broke federal laws in overseeing a process that awarded lucrative leases to Shell, which later hired her. 10 Oct 2009 A federal grand jury has subpoenaed records from Royal Dutch Shell PLC as part of a Justice Department investigation into corruption allegations against former [Bush] Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton, according to sources close to the investigation. The subpoenas and the inclusion of a grand jury are signs of escalation in the investigation, which focuses on whether Norton violated a federal law barring government officials from overseeing any process that could financially benefit a company that the official is negotiating with for future employment.
Labour rocked as Brown is forced to repay £12,000 13 Oct 2009 Gordon Brown has been ordered to pay back taxpayers more than £12,000 as the expenses scandal returned to plague the Commons on the first day after the long summer recess.
Health Insurers Project Rising Premiums --Obama officials, who have been wooing the insurers, question the timing and source of the report. 12 Oct 2009 After months of collaboration on President Obama's [phony] attempt to overhaul the nation's healthcare system, the insurance industry plans to strike out against the effort today with a report warning that the typical family premium could rise over the next decade by $4,000 more than projected under current law. The critique, coming one day before a key Senate committee vote on the legislation, sparked a sharp response from the Obama administration.
Dollar Reaches Breaking Point as Banks Shift Reserves 12 Oct 2009 Central banks flush with record reserves are increasingly snubbing dollars in favor of euros and yen, further pressuring the greenback after its biggest two-quarter rout in almost two decades. Policy makers boosted foreign currency holdings by $413 billion last quarter, the most since at least 2003, to $7.3 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Amnesty reveals Bible was used to decide execution 13 Oct 2009 Amnesty International has highlighted a case of a man facing execution in Texas. The human rights group has revealed a Texas man faces execution after jurors at his trial consulted the Bible when deliberating his fate. Khristian Oliver is set to be executed on 5th November.
Parliament rooftop protest ends 12 Oct 2009 A climate change protest on the roof of Parliament has ended. More than 30 Greenpeace activists spent the night on top of the Palace of Westminster, as MPs returned from their summer break. They unfurled yellow banners proclaiming the message: "Change the politics, save the climate." Nineteen arrests were made and it is thought more could follow.
Quick action! Save Orphan Bears: End Cruel Den Hunts --Target: PM Vladimir Putin Sponsor: International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) 11 Oct 2009 (Petition) During Russia's annual bear hunt, hibernating mother bears are lured out of their dens by dogs to be shot and killed, leaving their infant cubs to freeze or starve to death. Each year, den hunting leaves up to 4,000 cubs motherless. Some of these homeless cubs end up as pets to local villagers, while others are taken as cruel props for entertainment or to be eaten in restaurants. Most are abandoned and left to die. You can give these tiny bundles of fur a second chance at life.
Previous lead stories: 'Numbers beyond Yottabytes haven't yet been named.' Who's in Big Brother's Database? By James Bamford --Review of The Secret Sentry: The Untold History of the National Security Agency by Matthew M. Aid 05 Nov 2009 Lacking adequate space and power at its city-sized Fort Meade, Maryland, headquarters, the NSA is also completing work on another data archive, this one in San Antonio, Texas, which will be nearly the size of the Alamodome. Just how much information will be stored in these windowless cybertemples? A clue comes from a recent report prepared by the MITRE Corporation, a Pentagon think tank. ..."[T]he data volumes are increasing with a projection that sensor data volume could potentially increase to the level of Yottabytes (1024 Bytes) by 2015." Roughly equal to about a septillion (1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) pages of text, numbers beyond Yottabytes haven't yet been named. Once vacuumed up and stored in these near-infinite "libraries," the data are then analyzed by powerful infoweapons, supercomputers running complex algorithmic programs, to determine who among us may be--or may one day become--a terrorist.
Telephone Company Is Arm of Government, Feds Admit in Spy Suit --Judge says relationship isn't enough to squash rights group’s open records request By Ryan Singel 08 Oct 2009 The Department of Justice has finally admitted it in court papers: The nation’s telecom companies are an arm of the government -- at least when it comes to secret spying... The Electronic Frontier Foundation wanted to see what role telecom lobbying of Justice Department played when the government began its year-long, and ultimately successful, push to win retroactive immunity for AT&T and others being sued for unlawfully spying on American citizens. The feds argued that the documents showing consultation over the controversial telecom immunity proposal weren't subject to the Freedom of Information Act since they were protected as "intra-agency" records.
Contractors kill more US soldiers than the Taliban. Weapons failed US troops during Afghan firefight In the chaos of an early morning assault on a remote U.S. outpost in eastern Afghanistan, Staff Sgt. Erich Phillips' M4 carbine quit firing as militant forces surrounded the base. The machine gun he grabbed after tossing the rifle aside didn't work either. When the battle in the small village of Wanat ended, nine U.S. soldiers lay dead and 27 more were wounded. A detailed study of the attack by a military historian found that weapons failed repeatedly at a "critical moment" during the firefight on July 13, 2008... Eight years into the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, do U.S. armed forces have the best guns money can buy?
