Unions oppose ‘draft’ of federal workers to IraqThe Iraq Study Group’s recommendation that the Bush administration consider ordering government civilians to Iraq has drawn outrage from federal employees’ unions.
Civilian agencies have been seeking volunteers to assist with efforts in Iraq. But the report states that the potential danger of the assignment means few qualified candidates have taken the offer.
Therefore: “In the short term, if not enough civilians volunteer to fill key positions in ... (more)
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Let People Defend Themselves, Second Amendment Group SaysThe Illinois State Rifle Association says it will draft legislation allowing law-abiding citizens to carry firearms for their own defense.
The concealed carry legislation -- a response to Friday's deadly shooting in a downtown Chicago law office -- will be introduced in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly early next year, ISRA said.
"One has to wonder how the outcome may have differed had any of the law office staff been trained and licensed to carry a d... (more)
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EPA uses nanotech regulation ploy to target colloidal silver while ignoring all other nanotech particlesNanomaterials -- products and materials changed or created at the atomic and molecular level -- are quickly gaining popularity for their multitude of uses, and while the Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to regulate popular nanosilver antibacterial products, ostensibly to protect consumers, critics say the move is a thinly veiled attempt to solely regulate nanosilver as a health supplement.
Nanosilver is used to kill harmful bacteria in food storage containers, shoe lin... (more)
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'No Santa' school teacher axedA PRIMARY school sacked a woman teacher for telling heartbroken nine-year-olds there is no Father Christmas.
Parents were furious when tearful youngsters went home saying they had also been taught elves and fairies did not exist either.
The supply teacher, in her 30s, had her contract terminated after complaints to the head. Mum Amanda Piovesana, 30, said her daughter was shocked to be told: “You are old enough to know there is no Santa or fairies. If you ask ... (more)
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CSPI threatens lawsuit against Coca-Cola for "fraudulent" weight loss claims over Enviga beverageThe Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has decided to serve notice on Coca-Cola and Nestlé -- the companies behind the beverage Enviga -- stating that both companies are marketing the drink using calorie-burning and weight loss claims that are fraudulent.
The CSPI group -- based in Washington in the U.S. -- is watchdog group that has taken legal action against companies such as KFC and PepsiCo over labeling and health issues in the past. This new lawsuit with ... (more)
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Senator: Illegal images must be reportedMillions of commercial Web sites and personal blogs would be required to report illegal images or videos posted by their users or pay fines of up to $300,000, if a new proposal in the U.S. Senate came into law.
The legislation, drafted by Sen. John McCain and obtained by CNET News.com, would also require Web sites that offer user profiles to delete pages posted by sex offenders.
In a speech on the Senate floor this week, the Arizona Republican and former ... (more)
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"No American is above the law"Rep. Cynthia McKinney's floor statement on the impeachment of George W. Bush
Download a PDF of the Articles of Impeachment (H.R. 1106) here.
Mr. Speaker:
I come before this body today as a proud American and as a servant of the American people, sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
Throughout my tenure, I’ve ... (more)
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Promotions, pay rises honours - how the key players in the Kelly scandal were rewarded The politicians and officials at the heart of the David Kelly scandal have been showered with honours, promotions or lucrative retirement jobs in the three years since the scientist's death.
While the Kelly family continue to mourn quietly in private, The Mail on Sunday today reveals how the men and women who share the blame for his demise have prospered.
On the eve of the third anniversary of the Hutton Report into the affair, an investigation charts the upward ca... (more)
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Shooting warrant confirms pot, not crack, at houseConfirming what Atlanta police have consistently maintained, a small quantity of marijuana was found in Kathryn Johnston's home, according to a Fulton County Magistrate Court document released Tuesday.
But the "return" document from the search warrant for the Neal Street home — the paperwork that lists items police took during the search — does not mention surveillance cameras or crack cocaine. Police cited both as reasons for seeking a "no-kn... (more)
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It Gets Worse. Yes. Worse.The credibility of the narcotics officers in the Johnston raid just took another hit:It was Fabian Sheats' third felony drug arrest in four months. But on the afternoon of Nov. 21, according to a police report, he was looking to curry favor, so he told officers they could find a kilogram of cocaine in a house at 933 Neal Street N.W.
That encounter led police to the home o ... (more)
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Ranger alleges war crimesAn Army Ranger accused of holding up a Tacoma bank plans to use the notoriety of his case to reveal what he characterizes as systematic war crimes -- rapes, homicides and political assassinations -- committed by American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Spc. Elliott Sommer is allegedly part of a four-member Ranger crew from Fort Lewis involved in the armed robbery Aug. 7 of a Bank of America branch, court documents show.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested Sommer,... (more)
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Fatherless babies in fertility revolutionA child's need for a father will no longer be a consideration when a woman seeks fertility treatment, ministers will say this week.
The move – which comes despite widespread public opposition and which will give single women and lesbians the right to treatment – forms part of a shake-up of Britain's embryology laws. One of the key proposals would allow research on test-tube embryos that were part-human, part-animal — referred to as "chimeras".
Caro... (more)
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How Many More Will Die For Bush's Ego?Last July in response to Bush-the-Evil's enabling of Israel's gratuitous slaughter of thousands of Lebanese civilians and destruction of the country's infrastructure, I wrote about "the shame of being an American." With the ongoing slaughter of our troops and Iraqi civilians in Bush's war in Iraq, it is time to revisit that theme.
As the Iraqi civil war (euphemistically termed "sectarian violence") intensifies, both US and Ira... (more)
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Parking space outside your home? Then you'll have to pay tax on thatHomeowners who have parking spaces on the road outside their home face higher council tax bills - even if they don't have a car.
Ministers have admitted that the availability of parking outside people's properties will be considered by inspectors assessing how much council tax households should pay. The "parking tax"- which will come on top of the cost of residents' parking permits - has been condemned as unfair by the Tories.
The Independent on Sunday has learnt th... (more)
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Police may use CCTV for eavesdroppingPolice are considering installing a next generation of CCTV camera that is powerful enough to record people’s conversations up to 100 yards away.
Ultra sensitive microphones may be attached to surveillance systems across the UK, so law enforcement has the chance to thwart aggressive behaviour before it turns violent.
Councils and transport authorities have also reportedly expressed interest in installing the new systems before the London Olympics in 2012.
... (more)
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Always someone watching WILKES-BARRE — Everyone on Public Square is being watched through a tower of surveillance cameras.
Many people say the cameras make them feel safer and deter crime downtown, while civil liberty advocates argue they are an invasion of privacy.
The cameras on Public Square were installed as a test system at a minimal cost to the city to increase security downtown, said City Administrator J.J. Murphy. The city only paid for the shipping costs for these cameras, ... (more)
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Bill would ban 'mercury vaccine'The first bill in the legislative hopper for the 2007 session is one near and dear to Lawrence's Linda Weinmaster and a number of parents across the state.
Senate Bill 1 would ban the use of mercury-based thimerosal in childhood vaccines.
"I'm somewhat optimistic that it will pass this session," Weinmaster said. "We're going to give it our best try."
Weinmaster and many others claim that thimerosal, which is used as a preservative in some vaccines, ha... (more)
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Sandra Day O'Connor: "My Life as a Buck-Passing Phony"Do you like Sandra Day O' Connor?
You know, the peevish ex-Supreme Court Justice with the mug like George Washington?
O' Connor's placement on the Iraq Study Group is one of the more striking political ironies of our time. After all, who played a bigger role in securing a spot in the Oval Office for our Crawford Interloper than O'Connor?
Nevertheless, O'Connor was rewarded for her loyalty by sticking her on a panel that is designed to derail the Bush ... (more)
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Dairy Industry Crushed Innovator Who Bested Price-Control SystemIn the summer of 2003, shoppers in Southern California began getting a break on the price of milk.
A maverick dairyman named Hein Hettinga started bottling his own milk and selling it for as much as 20 cents a gallon less than the competition, exercising his right to work outside the rigid system that has controlled U.S. milk production for almost 70 years. Soon the effects were rippling through the state, helping to hold down retail prices at supermarkets and warehouse stores.... (more)
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In a Confessing State of Mind An early impulse of Bush administration officials after the attacks of September 11, 2001 was to take off "the gloves," or, as CIA Director George Tenet put it (so Ron Suskind tell us in his book, The One Percent Doctrine), "the shackles." Those were the "shackles" ... (more)
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37 million poor hidden in the land of plentyAmericans have always believed that hard work will bring rewards, but vast numbers now cannot meet their bills even with two or three jobs. More than one in 10 citizens live below the poverty line, and the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening
The flickering television in Candy Lumpkins's trailer blared out The Bold and the Beautiful. It was a fantasy daytime soap vision of American life with little relevance to the reality of this impoverished corner of Kentucky.
... (more)
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US bugged Diana's phone on night of death crashThe American secret service was bugging Princess Diana's telephone conversations without the approval of the British security services on the night she died, according to the most comprehensive report on her death, to be published this week.
Among extraordinary details due to emerge in the report by former Metropolitan police commissioner Lord Stevens is the revelation that the US security service was bugging her calls in the hours before she was killed in a car crash in Paris.... (more)
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MADD's `exorbitant costs' anger charity's volunteersPeople who donate to Mothers Against Drunk Driving are told by the charity that most of the $12 million it raises annually is spent on good works — stopping drunk driving and helping families traumatized by fatal crashes.
But a Star investigation reveals most of the high-profile charity's money is spent on fundraising and administration, leaving only about 19 cents of each donor dollar for charitable works.
MADD chief executive officer Andrew Muri... (more)
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A generation is all they needBy the time my four-year-old son is swathed in the soft flesh of old age, he will likely find it unremarkable that he and almost everyone he knows will be permanently implanted with a microchip. Automatically tracking his location in real time, it will connect him with databases monitoring and recording his smallest behavioural traits.
Most people anticipate such a prospect with a sense of horrified disbelief, dismissing it as a science-fiction fantasy. The technology, however, al... (more)
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