Don't ignore a million angry voices, Mr BlairI know I should find better things to do with my time, but, like a train spotter, I spent a lot of last week watching the numbers rise on the Number 10 e-petition against road pricing. On Monday, there were some 740,000 names; yesterday, it passed a million. There is no mistaking the sense of accumulating anger about the government proposal that every car contains a device that records road use and tracks every moment of a journey.
It's the apotheosis of a New Labour policy, a hig... (more)
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Irvine cop ejaculates on a motorist but escapes criminal liabilityNo one disputes that an on-duty Irvine police officer got an erection and ejaculated on a motorist during an early-morning traffic stop in Laguna Beach. The female driver reported it, DNA testing confirmed it and officer David Alex Park finally admitted it.
When the case went to trial, however, defense attorney Al Stokke argued that Park wasn’t responsible for making sticky all over the woman’s sweater. He insisted that she made the married patrolman make the mess&mdas... (more)
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Street gangs found in militaryThe FBI says it has uncovered members of the Bloods, Crips, Hells Angels, Black Disciples, Mara Salvatrucha and nearly every other U.S. street gang serving in uniform on military bases stateside and overseas.
At Fort Lewis in Washington state, for instance, nearly 130 gang and extremist group members have been identified since 2005, with many believed responsible for criminal misconduct on base. At Fort Hood in Texas, the Army has identified 23 gang-bangers since 2003, including o... (more)
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Pentagon blames Iran for 170 US deathsAmerica today blamed Iran for the deaths of 170 US troops inside Iraq, accusing Teheran of supplying insurgents with increasingly sophisticated bombs.
A photo of a roadside bomb released by the US military today. The US claims the device was made in Iran for insurgents in Iraq Senior defence officials in Baghdad said that Iranian-supplied "explosively formed projectiles" were frequently being used against coalition forces.
They said the "highest levels" of Iran&rs... (more)
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Putin warns against "cornering Iran" over nuclear crisisRussian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that the international community should address the concerns of Iran as it seeks a solution to Tehran's nuclear crisis.
"We should not corner Iran into a hostile environment," Putin said at a high-profile security conference held in the southern German city of Munich.
There is no evidence, after all, that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, he said.
The Russian president said the international comm... (more) Flashback: Cold War Talk Prompts Russian Call for 'World Government' |
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Putin's Speech at the 43rd Munich Conference on Security PolicyThank you very much dear Madam Federal Chancellor, Mr Teltschik, ladies and gentlemen!
I am truly grateful to be invited to such a representative conference that has assembled politicians, military officials, entrepreneurs and experts from more than 40 nations.
This conference’s structure allows me to avoid excessive politeness and the need to speak in roundabout, pleasant but empty diplomatic terms. This conference’s format wil... (more)
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White House Requests Increased Funding for Failed Student Drug-Testing, Discredited Anti-Pot AdsIn a move that should come as a surprise to absolutely no one, the Bush administration's FY 08 budget requests significant increases in federal funding to randomly drug-test student athletes and pay for discredited public service announcements urging teens to avoid marijuana.
According to Bush's budget request, the White House is demanding $130 million in 2008 to fund the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, an increase... (more) If the intent was actually to lower drug usage, surely an increase in drug usage as a result of the ads would appear to be a failure. Now, if the intent was to increase drug usage in order to create a drugged docile populace, then these ads are, of course, not a failure, but huge success. |
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Senator Introduces Bill to Criminalize Human MicrochippingOKLAHOMA CITY - A Senate committee Thursday debated legislation that would prevent state government from forcing the implantation of a microchip in humans.
SB 47, by Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa, prohibits the forced implantation of a microchip in humans and authorizes the Department of Health to impose a maximum fine of $10,000 against violators. Each day of continued violation would constitute a separate offense. Members of the Senate Health and Human Resources Committee gave the b... (more)
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Gitmo Cover-up?An investigation by the U.S. Southern Command into allegations of prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay detention center has concluded that "insufficient evidence exists to substantiate the paralegal's allegations."
But Lieutenant Colonel Colby Vokey, the superior officer to the Marine sergeant who filed the allegations, called the investigation "outrageous." "I am aware that the investigators interviewed only the suspects and some witnesses but did not interview any detainees or pote... (more)
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Fake bloggers soon to be ‘named and shamed’Hotels, restaurants and online shops that post glowing reviews about themselves under false identities could face criminal prosecution under new rules that come into force next year.
Businesses which write fake blog entries or create whole wesbites purporting to be from customers will fall foul of a European directive banning them from “falsely representing oneself as a consumer”.
From December 31, when the change becomes law in the UK, they can be named... (more) Notice how this law does not apply to the government ( who pays literal armies of fake bloggers to push establishment propaganda ). This will not stop that problem, instead this will be used as a pretext to ban all internet anonymity. |
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Medicaid law trade-offNew federal rules requiring proof of U.S. citizenship for Medicaid coverage will save Colorado $300,000, but cost $2.9 million to implement, according to state estimates.
The state Department of Health Care Policy and Financing, which administers Medicaid, has asked for an additional $2.8 million in the coming year to help counties cover most of the additional cost.
The state estimates that the new rules will result in 200 people losing Medicaid coverage in 2007 - a... (more)
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Brown joins the Pope to launch £750m child vaccination plan Gordon Brown and the Pope are trying to save millions of children in the poorest countries by speeding distribution of life-saving vaccines.
A group of world leaders, including the Chancellor and Pope Benedict XVI, launched the £750m scheme in Rome yesterday.
The audience with the Pope could also bring domestic political benefits for Mr Brown, so soon after the conflict between the Government and the Catholic Church over whether gay couples should have in ado... (more) Related: Vaccination: The Hidden Truth |
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Giuliani praises Bush's Iraq policy, foresightSACRAMENTO — Republican presidential hopeful Rudolph W. Giuliani praised President Bush's war leadership on Saturday and mocked supporters of a nonbinding congressional resolution condemning the U.S. troop buildup in Iraq.
The former New York City mayor came to Bush's defense as he promoted his White House candidacy at a California Republican convention. Drawing parallels between Iraq and America's Civil War, Giuliani compared Bush's political troubl... (more)
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Animal rights groups deny sending letter bombs as police release picturesThe first pictures of the letter bombs used to target businesses across the country have been released by police.
The images show one unexploded device, which was intercepted, still in an A5 padded envelope. The second is of the remains of a bomb which ignited and caused minor injuries.
Details including postmarks and handwriting have been deliberately covered up by detectives. They say this is essential, so as not to compromise the investigati... (more)
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Paraplegic allegedly 'dumped' on skid rowA paraplegic man wearing a soiled hospital gown and a broken colostomy bag was found crawling in a gutter in skid row in Los Angeles on Thursday after allegedly being dumped in the street by a Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center van, police said.
The incident, witnessed by more than two dozen people, was described by police as a particularly outrageous case of "homeless dumping" that has plagued the downtown area.
"I can't think of anything colder than that," said... (more)
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Big Brother Brain Scanners to detect pre-crime You think this headline is alarmist? Fine, don't read anymore of this article, click here for the same story from today's front page of the London Guardian which debates whether a 'Minority Report' era, where judgments are handed down before the law is broken on the strength of an incriminating brain scan, is ethical or not.
The technology is no longer science fiction. A team of neuroscienti... (more)
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The brain scan that can read people's intentionsA team of world-leading neuroscientists has developed a powerful technique that allows them to look deep inside a person's brain and read their intentions before they act.
The research breaks controversial new ground in scientists' ability to probe people's minds and eavesdrop on their thoughts, and raises serious ethical issues over how brain-reading technology may be used in the future.
The team used high-resolution brain scans to identify ... (more)
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Ten-year-old charged with felony over fire alarm he didn't pullIf a jury is seated May 15, as scheduled, to decide whether 10-year-old Casey Harmeier committed the crime of attempting to send a false fire alarm, here is some of the evidence jurors are likely to hear.
Casey is a good student, making A's and B's.
According to his father, he has never been in trouble, either at Tomball ISD's Beckendorf Intermediate School or previously at Tomball Elementary School.
When I asked district spokesman Stacy Stanfield to ... (more) "Already he's been put through a session where, without his parents present, he was asked whether they abused him, sexually or otherwise.
After that session he wrote a brief journal item: 'I feel like a dieses. Like all I am is a viol monster of a person well at least thats wat I think. I'm always scared every time I leave my parents sight and the questions I had to answer were scary and asked if I had ever been high, drunk, or raped and it scared me.'" |
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You're Either With the Resistance -- or With the Murderers To provide the necessary context for what follows, I must offer a brief excerpt from the first part of this series:
History provides us with stories of individual heroism from which we draw courage. We wonder: why did Hans and Sophie Scholl fight against the immense evil of the Nazi regime, even when they knew thei ... (more)
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Canadian, U.S. and Mexican officials held secretive meeting on integrationOTTAWA - Canadian, U.S. and Mexican politicians discussed using "stealth" to overcome public resistance to the integration of the three countries at a confidential meeting last year, according to documents just released under U.S. Freedom of Information laws.
Top military brass, corporate executives and diplomats also attended the meeting in Banff, Alta., where participants discussed everything from the harmonization of food and drug standards, to common immigration policies, and ... (more)
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Employee microchip tracking bill discussedBISMARCK – Discussion on a bill that could limit the use of implanted microchips in humans ignited plenty of what-if scenarios at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday.
The bill was presented by Sen. Randel Christmann, R-Hazen, with the intent to keep employers from forcing employees to have microchip implants for the purpose of closer supervision.
“The technology, if not there, is very close,” Christmann said. “We want to make su... (more)
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Charging Iran with "Genocide" Before Nuking ItIn a very interesting analysis last month, the former chief of staff of the Russian Army, Gen. Leonid Ivashov, predicted a U.S. nuclear strike on Iran by this April. "Within weeks from now," he wrote, "we will see the informational warfare machine start working. The public opinion is already under pressure. There will be a growing anti-Iranian militaristic hysteria, new information leaks, disinformation, etc." I'm afraid this has the ring of truth.
... (more)
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The Watada Mistrial: Here's What Really HappenedFirst Lt. Ehren Watada knew exactly what his case was about - and that scared the judge.
There was absolutely no reason to stop the Watada trial.
The judge's claim that Lt. Watada did not fully understand a document he signed admitting to elements of the charges is completely untrue (see Melanthia Mitchell, AP, 2/8/07).
The military seized on that claim and complimented the judge for "protecting the rights of the accused" in granting the m... (more)
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