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The 10 most dangerous toys of all time

Lawn Darts, Clackers, Sky Dancer, are all dangerous toys that serve the purpose of weeding the gene pool and must be taken away.

Recently, Target recalled 10 of its Kool Toyz-brand play sets, citing hazards like "lead paint," "sharp points," and "puncture wound potential." The toys, which included plastic aircraft carriers, dinosaurs, and tanks, all appeared harmless enough. But according to the killjoys at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, children—at least those prone to eating plastic objects as big as their head—were at serious risk.

Not to be outdone, Mattel recalled 4.4 million Polly Pocket dolls and accessories because kids were swallowing the toy's magnets. The Associated Press reported, "If more than one magnet is swallowed, they can attach to each other and cause intestinal perforation, infection or blockage." Three children required surgery.

In recognition of these wonderful toys, Radar presents the 10 most dangerous toys of all time, those treasured playthings that drew blood, chewed digits, took out eyes, and, in one case, actually irradiated. To keep things interesting, they excluded BB guns, slingshots, throwing stars, and anything else actually intended to inflict harm. Visit the toy box from hell

Can cyborg moths bring down terrorists?

At some point in the not too distant future, a moth will take flight in the hills of northern Pakistan, and flap towards a suspected terrorist training camp.

But this will be no ordinary moth.

Inside it will be a computer chip that was implanted when the creature was still a pupa, in the cocoon, meaning that the moth’s entire nervous system can be controlled remotely.

The moth will thus be capable of landing in the camp without arousing suspicion, all the while beaming video and other information back to its masters via what its developers refer to as a “reliable tissue-machine interface.” More

Terrorsmack: Scuba Terrorism

In the 1960's Lloyd Bridges starred in a television program called Sea Hunt. As Mike Nelson, he would encounter terrorists almost every week while he was diving underwater investigating things.

These terrorists would hide behind rocks and then spring out at the unsuspecting Nelson. There would usually be a struggle which resulted in someone getting their air hose cut. Strangely, Mike Nelson would go right back each week and swim again in terrorist infested waters as if nothing had happened.

Now the FBI has warned dive shops about would be SCUBA terrorists that might seek training.

Warning signs of possible terrorism include requests for specialty training, including odd inquiries that are inconsistent with recreational diving. These may include: Requests to dive in murky water or sewer pipes. Inquires about procedures such as diver towing. More

A Haircut in the two Americas

In one America, a haircut costs $5-10 and consumes ten minutes of electricity.

In the other America, a haircut can cost as much as $1200 and emit tons of carbon emissions as the barber jets around to the location.

That is the America of John Edwards.

Joe Torrenueva, a Democrat, said he began cutting Edwards' hair for free but wound up charging him $300 to $500 per haircut, plus the cost of airfare and hotel stays. That's because Torrenueva was often forced to meet Edwards on the campaign trail to shear his locks. More

New laws are equating environmentalists with Al Qaeda

Rodney Coronado is caught up in a prosecution he never could have foreseen and which has the environmentalist community, in particular, digging in for a long fight with the federal government.

That's because his alleged crime doesn't involve something he actually did. Rather, it only involves something he said.

In 2003, Coronado gave a public speech about animal rights in Hillcrest attended by about 100 people and hosted by a vegetarian group. It was, he says, his "standard" speech at the time, talking about his own extreme efforts to protect wildlife, including a 1991-92 arson campaign against fur farms as an agent of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), for which he served 57 months in prison. During a Q&A period after the speech, someone asked him how he once made his incendiary devices. Having long retired from that kind of action, and having paid for it with prison time, he answered the question.

U.S. attorneys now say Coronado's brief response—the actual words themselves—is a federal crime. Not only that, it's terrorism.

And that word—"terrorism"—is new to the environmental movement when it comes to punishment for crimes. The word "eco-terrorist" was coined in 1982 by Ron Arnold, a prime mover in the anti-environmentalist "Wise Use Movement," but only recent laws make ecologically motivated speech a terrorist crime. The attorneys aren't even totally certain how it works. More

Canada to launch no-fly list in June

OTTAWA–A Canadian "no-fly" list of people to be barred from boarding domestic and international airline flights is set to take effect June 18, just as the busy summer flying season gets underway.

The move, nearly six years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, amounts to a flight blacklist of people "reasonably suspected" by federal officials as immediate threats to the safety of commercial aircraft, passengers or crew.

Under the rules, as passengers check in for flights, whether at kiosks or counters, their names will be automatically screened against the government's list, known as the "Passenger Protect" program.

The no-fly list will be drawn up by Transport Canada, with input from the RCMP and CSIS.

If a name is red-flagged as a possible match with a name on the no-fly list, the traveller will be directed to a flight agent, who will contact Transport Canada for a decision on whether to allow boarding. Airlines are responsible for protecting the passenger's confidentiality.

People denied access to a flight will be able to challenge their inclusion on the list, but in the short haul, they will be grounded. And the airport or local police will be notified.

Critics say the plan will not make air travel safer, and will likely lead to the kinds of "false positive" identification of people that has plagued a similar list in the United States. The most celebrated example involved Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, who was barred from boarding a flight when he was wrongly identified as being on the list. Infants have also been banned. More

Accounting Rules 'hiding' trillions in debt

Are you an American? Then you owe over $500,000 in debt. Pay up now!

The federal government recorded a $1.3 trillion loss last year — far more than the official $248 billion deficit — when corporate-style accounting standards are used.

The loss reflects a continued deterioration in the finances of Social Security and government retirement programs for civil servants and military personnel. The loss — equal to $11,434 per household — is more than Americans paid in income taxes in 2006.

Modern accounting requires that corporations, state governments and local governments count expenses immediately when a transaction occurs, even if the payment will be made later.

The federal government does not follow the rule, so promises for Social Security and Medicare don't show up when the government reports its financial condition.

Bottom line: Taxpayers are now on the hook for a record $59.1 trillion in liabilities, a 2.3% increase from 2006. That amount is equal to $516,348 for every U.S. household. By comparison, U.S. households owe an average of $112,043 for mortgages, car loans, credit cards and all other debt combined. More

Why are there so many Girly Men?

Parents become rightly upset when they read news accounts of federal inspectors finding insect bits, pesticides, and other contaminants lacing foods that their children will eat. A new Japanese study now suggests that the plastic tableware and containers from which we often serve foods may contribute adulterants of their own—hormone-mimicking building blocks of a plastic.

Roughly 95 percent of all baby bottles currently on the market are made of polycarbonate. As the poly in polycarbonate implies, this plastic is a polymer—a chainlike molecule constructed by linking up individual units of a common chemical. In this case, each link is a molecule of bisphenol A.

Toxicologist Koji Arizono of the Prefectural University of Kumamoto, Japan, and his colleagues tested 10 different brands of polycarbonate baby bottles—purchased in the United States, Germany, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines—along with other types of clear-plastic tableware. When heated, all leached bisphenol A, a chemical that mimics the hormone estrogen, into the liquids they held. More

Remains of 9/11 Victims May Fill NYC Potholes

The pulverized remains of bodies from the World Trade Center disaster site were used by city workers to fill ruts and potholes, a city contractor says in a sworn affidavit filed yesterday in Manhattan Federal Court.

Eric Beck says debris powders - known as fines - were put in a pothole-fill mixture by crews at the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, where more than 1.65 million tons of World Trade Center debris were deposited after the Sept. 11 attacks.

"I observed the New York City Department of Sanitation taking these fines from the conveyor belts of our machines, loading it onto tractors and using it to pave roads and fill in potholes, dips and ruts," Eric Beck said.

In his first few months on the job, Beck said mechanical sifters found 2,000 bones per day. He recalled finding "bones, fingers, skulls, feet and hands" as well as a man's chest and "the full body of a man dressed in a suit." The remains were catalogued and turned over to the city, he said. But Beck said he was pushed to sift the debris quickly, and that remains may have been missed. More

Cicada Brood XIII: Prepare to be invaded!

The bees may have gone AWOL, but the cicadas have arrived!

It's been 17 long years, but they're coming back again. Cicada Brood XIII is on the verge of emerging from the ground, and swarming all over parts of the American Midwest. Based on the warmth of the ground, which should be a temperature of at least 64 degrees, together with rain moisture content, experts are predicting that the first cicadas will be emerging around May 21 or 22. Then the pesky little flying critters will be flitting about for a couple of weeks after that.

This current crop of Periodical Cicadas, going by the genus term Magicicada, are the same ones that tunneled into the ground in 1990. But these teenagers will soon be back, and they'll be looking for mates. The males will be doing it noisily, making that shrill, "screeeee"-ing sound for days and days. The females will be quiet, more or less.

The cicadas usually have demonic-looking little red eyes, although a small percentage may have white, pale blue, orange, or even chocolate brown eyes. They grow to a length of 1 to 1.5 inches, and have a black "W" near the tips of their forewings. More

Feds go gunning for endangered species

Most people think the the US federal government is responsible for protecting endangered species of plants and animals. Their assumption is wrong.

Fortunately, most Americans realize that killing endangered critters isn't just ethically heinous; it's also a big legal no-no. Which raises this question: Why is a federal agency using taxpayer dollars to kill such animals, and then playing hide-and-seek with the facts?

Welcome to the world of Wildlife Services. Southern Arizona residents will recall this U.S. Department of Agriculture division for its shooting spree last year in the San Rafael Valley near Sonoita. Invited by several area ranchers, airborne federal gunners ultimately sniped 200 coyotes.

But coyotes are just the beginning. The most recent stats available (finally, and perhaps grudgingly, posted on the agency's Web site) present a grim tally. In 2005, Wildlife Services killed 1.7 million animals. And a sizable slice of those were endangered, threatened or otherwise specially protected animals. More

Where's the Bees?

MISSOULA, MT - The disappearance and deaths of millions of honeybees in nearly half of the nation's states is a mystery seemingly befitting an episode of "CSI" and is threatening an estimated $14 billion in crops that rely on pollination.

In an inconspicuous office suite here -- the home of Bee Alert Technology Inc. -- scientists are feverishly working to solve an entomological mystery: What happened to tens of thousands of honeybee colonies in at least 24 states?

These are crime scenes without bodies. Beekeepers have been opening hives and instead of finding thriving colonies with as many as 60,000 bees, they find an apian ghost town.

"It's called Colony Collapse Disorder," said Jerry Bromenshenk, a University of Montana professor and head of Bee Alert who has studied honeybees for more than three decades. "We don't know that it's a disease, we don't know if it's due to management practices by beekeepers. There are so many variables. We can't yet find a common denominator." More

War on Drugs becomes War on Soap

The so called War on Drugs has been raised to a new height of absurdity, or perhaps descended to a new low of effectivness.

It was just another average day in the flamboyantly messy life of Don Bolles, once the drummer for the legendarily messy, flamboyant Los Angeles punk band, the Germs. On April 4, Bolles had picked up his girlfriend, the 21-year-old drummer for a band called Civet who goes by the name Cat Scandal, from a Newport Beach rehab, where she had, as he put it, “a day off.” They had just had coffee and were on their way to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

Cat Scandal was riding in the passenger seat of Bolles’s 1968 Dodge Van and they had just crossed out of Newport Beach into Costa Mesa when they were pulled over by police, who told Bolles that he allegedly had a broken brake light.

But what he really had was a crazy old van, a wild Russian fur cap, long hair, and a gorgeous young girlfriend. Bolles called it a classic case of profiling: driving while weird. And then they found the soap.

“It’s hilarious. A Germ arrested for soap,” says Bolles, 50, talking Monday via cell phone as he ran errands for a Friday court appearance. “It’s just ridiculous. I’ve already been in jail almost four days over this, and it’s completely wrong. It’s soap. It’s peppermint Dr. Bronner’s soap.” More

Support the Iraq War - Pay Your Taxes!

Millions of Americans who claim they oppose the war in Iraq recetly paid to keep it going.

Defunding the war in Iraq begins at home if you're John Schwiebert, a 68-year-old pastor at Metanoia Peace Community United Methodist Church in Northeast Portland.

This week, while the rest of us scrape together money to feed insatiable Uncle Sam, Schwiebert and his 62-year-old wife, Pat, one "seriously pissed-off granny" (see "Surge Protection Brigade," WW, Feb. 21, 2007), won't be filing federal taxes at all.

Instead, in an effort to prevent their money from paying for bloodshed overseas, they're redirecting the $3,500 they figure they owe the Internal Revenue Service to a government without a standing army—in this case, Multnomah County. (Although they say they oppose filing federal taxes, the Schwieberts don't object to paying state and local ones.) More

1944 Miss America Defends Farm With Gun

She's 82 years old and today says she's not afraid to use a gun to protect her community. This comes after she did just that shooting at a man's car she says was trying to steal metal near her home in Pulaski County.

Venus Ramey knows it would be easy for someone to take advantage of her. She's 82 and needs a walker to get around.

"I'm an old woman. They figure they can get away with a lot," Ramey said.

Last Friday, she says some people tried to get away with some of her scrap metal. They were caught in the act and police say Curtis Parish was the ringleader.

"And he said if you get out of my way, we'll leave. And I said oh no you won't and I shot 2 shots in one of their tires," Ramey said. More

CIA Thief Gets 3-Year Term for Treasure Hunt

A CIA employee who broke into McLean homes, stealing valuables and 1,074 pairs of women's undergarments, suffered from several mental health disorders, a forensic psychologist testified yesterday. Among other compulsions, he kept his fingernail clippings for 20 years and carefully inspected his pens for fear that they were bugged.

Anita Boss, testifying at the sentencing hearing for George C. Dalmas III, said the 48-year-old father of two had a "transvestic fetishism," which involved wearing women's clothes not for erotic reasons but to comfort himself. She said he also had a schizotypal personality disorder, making it difficult for him to form long-term relationships. The combination of the disorders "can be very disabling," Boss said. More

Army Bills Combat Soldiers for Missing Gear

Two years and 7,000 miles separate Spc. Ryan Preston of Gresham from his service in Iraq.

Yet Preston now faces a fresh battle—with his superiors in the Oregon Army National Guard.

Preston, whose six-year commitment to the Guard ends in October, learned in February that the Guard was planning to charge him $4,000 for military equipment it now considers missing from the year-plus he spent fighting in Iraq.

That list of personal equipment includes two canteens Preston says he had to leave on the battlefield under enemy fire. It also includes several other items—from Kevlar vests to body armor breast plates—that Preston says he left in military custody when he departed the Middle East.

This was not an isolated incident. Thousands of soldiers have been billed, including a West Virginia soldier who was seriously wounded by a roadside bomb was required to pay up for missing gear. More

Circuit City fires thousands for earning too much money

Los Angeles, CA - Circuit City fired 3,400 employees in stores across the country yesterday, saying they were making too much money and would be replaced by new hires willing to work for less.

The company said the dismissals had nothing to do with performance but were part of a larger effort to improve the bottom line. The firings represent about 9 percent of the company's in-store workforce of 40,000.

"Retail is very competitive and store operations just have to contain their costs," said Jim Babb, a Circuit City spokesman. "We deeply regret the negative impact that was had on these folks. It was no fault of theirs."

However, this SEC filing shows that there has been no effort to contain costs of CEO and executive compensation over the last three years, with Chairman W. Alan McCollough raking in over $2 million in salary and bonus. More

Bananas and Terrorism: The Chiquita Connection

Banana company Chiquita Brands International said Wednesday it has agreed to a $25 million fine after admitting it paid terrorists for protection in a volatile farming region of Colombia.

The settlement resolves a lengthy Justice Department investigation into the company’s financial dealings with right-wing paramilitaries and leftist rebels the U.S. government deems terrorist groups.

In court documents filed Wednesday, federal prosecutors said the Cincinnati-based company and several unnamed high-ranking corporate officers paid about $1.7 million between 1997 and 2004 to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, known as AUC for its Spanish initials.

The AUC has been responsible for some of the worst massacres in Colombia’s civil conflict and for a sizable percentage of the country’s cocaine exports. The U.S. government designated the right-wing militia a terrorist organization in September 2001.. More

National Guard Troops Attacked by Armed Mexicans

Tucson, AZ - President George Bush had ineptly handled the military mission in Iraq, while his efforts to safegaurd the homeland have also proven to be a dismal failure.

In a story that should have rang alarm bells in very newsroom across the nation, armed Mexicans entered the United States and attacked unarmed National Guard troops working at a border patrol post near the US-Mexican border. The troops had to retreat to safety.

According to the Border Patrol, an unknown number of gunmen attacked the site in the state's West Desert Region on January 3rd. The guardsmen were forced to retreat.

Unfortunately, President Bush and his Administration did not even comment on this vicious attack on unarmed US troops as well as the unbridled assault on American sovereignty. During a press conference held on Friday afternoon by Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff, there was not one word about this unprovoked attack on soldiers. More

Saddam Hussein Lynched

Baghdad, Iraq - Saddam Hussein, the man who was president of Iraq for three times longer than George Bush has been president of the US, was taken to the gallows and lynched on Saturday.

Saddam's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court were also lynched.

The lynching came 56 days after a court convicted Saddam and sentenced him to death for his role in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims from a town where assassins tried to kill the dictator in 1982.

"Our respect for human rights requires us to execute him, and there will be no review or delay in carrying out the sentence," said Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Saddam was removed from office by an invasion force that has caused nearly 3000 American soldiers to be sent to their deaths, as well as an estimated half million Iraqis.

Disguised duo get new licenses at Virginia DMV

Richmond, VA - A video is making rounds on the Internet with men donning disguises for a DMV photo. Posted last week, the nearly two-minute clip has already prompted the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles to revisit policies regarding how the state agency reissues driver's licenses and how photographs appear on IDs.

The video was made by Will Carsola and Dave Stewart. Carsola and Stewart said that they knew they were crossing the line, but did it solely for comedic value.

"Honestly, I think DMV is a little at fault for letting us get away with it, with terrorists and stuff going on now," Stewart added.

The filmmakers' actions were not illegal, Foy said, though it is against DMV policy to obscure faces with objects such as hats or sunglasses, which none of them did. They had beards and heavy brows, but there are no laws against facial hair. Headgear is allowed in an ID photo so long as it is for medical or religious purposes.

"Clearly these individuals abused the system," Foy said. More

Dead Ducks Found in Idaho

Oakley, ID- Ten dead ducks were reported by hunters on Friday, Dec. 8. By Dec. 10, the number climbed to 500. Several Idaho and federal agencies concluded an investigation this week and counted around 2,500 carcasses when cleanup was complete Thursday. Most were found along the banks of Land Springs Creek, 14 miles south of Burley.

Officials have determined that some 2,500 ducks that died near here over the last week were the victims of a fungus often found in moldy grain, among other things, according to an Idaho Fish and Game press release issued late Friday.

The respiratory tract infection, officially termed acute aspergillosis, is found in soil, dead leaves, moldy grain, compost piles or other decaying vegetation, the release said. “They ruled out Avian flu,” said Cassia County Sheriff Jim Higens early Friday. More

Border Fence Contractor Eyed for Hiring Illegal Labor

Washington DC – A California company under investigation on suspicion of hiring undocumented workers won a contract in the late 1990s to help build the San Diego border fence with Mexico to thwart illegal immigration, federal records show.

Federal authorities said there is no indication that the company, Golden State Fence Co., which has an office in Oceanside, hired undocumented workers on the fence project.

Over the past year, Golden State has been the focus of an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security for allegedly hiring undocumented workers on several projects, including those at military bases. No charges have been filed. More

Nazi Laws Alive and Well in Germany

Under a law enacted by Hitler in 1938 to enable the Reich to indoctrinate children, if you practice home schooling in Germany youcan get police forcing their way through your door, with you taken away and imprisoned in an undisclosed location.

In 1937, the Hitler said, "The Youth of today is ever the people of tomorrow. For this reason we have set before ourselves the task of inoculating our youth with the spirit of this community of the people at a very early age, at an age when human beings are still unperverted and therefore unspoiled. This Reich stands, and it is building itself up for the future, upon its youth. And this new Reich will give its youth to no one, but will itself take youth and give to youth its own education and its own upbringing."

In 2006, his legacy still lives on in Germany. More

Florida Diebold machines help pick the right candidate

Diebold's easily hacked voting machines have made voting to be an unpredictable endeavor. Down in the Sunshine State, during a week of early voting before next week's nationwide midterm election, certain Diebold machines have been registering some votes for Democrats as selections for the Republican candidate.

For instance, Gary Rudolf, a voter at a polling site near Ft. Lauderdale, tried to vote for gubernatorial candidate Jim Davis (D); however, when the Diebold machine gave him the final review screen, it showed his vote was about to be cast for Charlie Crist (R). The problem took three tries to get resolved with the help of a local poll worker. More

Al-Qaeda Wants Republicans to Win

George W. Bush’s blunt assertion that a Democratic victory in the Nov. 7 elections means “the terrorists win and America loses” misses the point that Osama bin Laden stands to advance his strategic goals much faster with a Republican victory.

Last April, a National Intelligence Estimate, representing the consensus view of the U.S. intelligence community, concluded that Bush’s Iraq War had become the “cause celebre” that had helped spread Islamic extremism around the globe.

In June, U.S. intelligence also learned from an intercepted al-Qaeda communiqué that bin Laden’s terrorist band wants to keep U.S. soldiers bogged down in Iraq as the best way to maintain and expand al-Qaeda’s influence.

“Prolonging the war is in our interest,” wrote “Atiyah,” one of bin Laden’s top lieutenants. More

Papers, Please: Travel Only if Permitted by Our Leader

Should you have to ask for permission from the government before you are allowed to get on a plane or cruise ship? ("Mother, may I?")

The USA Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has proposed that airlines cruise lines, and operators of all other ships and planes -- including charter flights, air taxis, fishing vessels, etc. -- be required to get individual permission (”clearance”) from the DHS for each passenger on all flights or ocean voyages to, from, or via the USA. Unless the answer is “Yes” -- if the answer is “no” or “maybe”, or if the DHS doesn’t answer at all -- the airline wouldn’t be allowed to give you a boarding pass, or let you or your luggage on the plane.. More

US Army headed downhill

Military recruiting in 2006 has been marked by upbeat pronouncements from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, claims of success by the White House, propaganda releases by the Pentagon, and a spate of recent press reports touting the way the military has made its wo/manpower goals.

Last year, despite NASCAR, professional bull-riding, and Arena Football sponsorships; popular video games that doubled as recruiting tools; TV commercials dripping with seductive scenes of military glory; a "joint marketing communications and market research and studies" program actively engaged in measures to target for military service Hispanics, drop outs, and those with criminal records; and at least $16,000 in promotional costs for each soldier it managed to sign up, the U.S. military failed to meet its recruiting goals.

Brad Knickerbocker of the Christian Science Monitor noted, "The Army has had to recruit more soldiers from the ‘lowest acceptable' category based on test scores, education levels, personal background, and other indicators of ability." Even Undersecretary of Defense Chu admitted in July that almost 40% of all military recruits scored in the bottom half of the Armed Forces' own aptitude test. More

Bill Clinton is Homicidal

For years Bill Clinton has been dogged by persistent rumors about killing or having killed sevearal of his various enemies. Many of these are listed in a document called the Clinton Body Count, and they include several Arkansas enemies, as well as Vincent Foster. Foster allegedly commited suicide during the Clinton administration, but a cloud of suspicion remains concerning details of his death.

Recently, in a combative interview on "Fox News Sunday," former President Clinton defended his handling of the threat posed by Osama bin Laden, saying he tried to have bin Laden killed and was attacked for his efforts by the same people who now criticize him for not doing enough.

Clinton said he "worked hard" to try to kill bin Laden.

"We contracted with people to kill him. I got closer to killing him than anybody's gotten since," he said, in an animated manner that was menacing to host Chris Wallace.

Clinton's insistence of his obsession to kill bin Laden gives new life to the Clinton Body Count document, since he forcefully admits his desire to commit homicide.

Bush administration seeks amnesty for any war crimes

An obscure law approved by a Republican-controlled Congress a decade ago has made the Bush administration nervous that officials and troops involved in handling detainee matters might be accused of committing war crimes, and prosecuted at some point in U.S. courts.

Senior officials have responded by drafting legislation that would grant U.S. personnel involved in the terrorism fight new protections against prosecution for past violations of the War Crimes Act of 1996. That law criminalizes violations of the Geneva Conventions governing conduct in war and threatens the death penalty if U.S.-held detainees die in custody from abusive treatment. More

U.S. Citizens Watched by Rifle Toting Guards in Airports

Growing lines of irritated travelers snaked through U.S. airports Thursday as people waited hours to reach security checkpoints, then had to dump their water bottles, suntan lotion and even toothpaste following the discovery of a terror plot in Britain.

Guards armed with rifles stood watch in several airports, and the governors of California, New York and Massachusetts said they were sending National Guard troops to bolster security.

The "War on Terror", which President Bush has demonstrably faked up, is being turned inward against U.S. citizens. Many of them voted for Mr. Bush, and believed he was going to protect them from an enemy, but get treated like suspects instead. More

Southwest Co-pilot suspected of intoxication

Salt Lake City, UT - A Southwest Airlines co-pilot was arrested minutes before takeoff Sunday, after a security screener reported that his breath smelled of alcohol, authorities said.

Carl Fulton, 41, of Fort Worth, Texas, was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of operating a common carrier while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, a federal offense.

Federal Aviation Administration officials will conduct an investigation. More

Hooters Offers to Reimburse FEMA $200 for Champagne

Atlanta, GA - Hooters of America announced that it is prepared to reimburse FEMA for the cost of a $200 bottle of Dom Perignon Champagne that was purchased with government funds at a San Antonio Hooters during the Hurricane Katrina relief efforts conducted by the Federal Agency.

The purchase was discovered as part of an investigation by the GAO into improper spending of over a billion dollars by supposed victims and has been highly publicized in various news stories about the investigation following recent Congressional hearing on the matter. More

Homeland Security accepts fake ID

A man using a fake identification card was able to enter the Department of Homeland Security headquarters in Washington, even though the type of Mexican-issued "matricula consular" card he used is not recognized as valid by the United States government.

Retired New York City policeman Bruce DeCell, who had arranged to meet with DHS officials to lobby for document security, purposely used a forged version of identification that Mexican consulates in the United States issue to their nationals living here illegally.

Undocumented Mexicans can use the cards at banks and other institutions that accept them. The cards are not valid for entry into federal government buildings. More

FEMA hurricane funds spent on sex change, divorce

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The government doled out as much as $1.4 billion in bogus assistance to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, getting hoodwinked to pay for season football tickets, a tropical vacation and even a divorce lawyer, congressional investigators have found.

Prison inmates, a supposed victim who used a New Orleans cemetery for a home address, and a person who spent 70 days at a Hawaiian hotel all were able to wrongly get taxpayer help, according to evidence that gives a new black eye to the nation's disaster relief agency.

To demonstrate how easy it was to fool FEMA, the GAO told of an individual who used 13 different Social Security numbers, including the person's own, to receive $139,000 in payments on 13 separate registrations for aid. The payments were sent to one address. More

Database Nation: Ordering Pizza in 2010

With the proliferation of government and private databases, which are often linked together, a simple transaction could take on a new character in the near future.

Data that has been traditionally unavailable to the government because of constitutional issues can now be purchased from private firms such as Choicepoint. This circumvention of the law allows government databases to be more comprehensive.

For a humorous and cautionary look at what this could mean, follow this link. Order your pizza

'Get More' info on RFID

RFID tags are becoming more common, and will one day replace the Universal Product Code we have all been familiar with for over 30 years.

These microchips each contain a unique ID number that can be linked to a database and accesed over a network.

The database can contain anything, including the product manufacture date, lot number, shipping route and dates, vendor, price, buyer ID, and location in real time each time it passes by a chip reader that is connected to the network.

This lovely lady is going to demonstrate how RFID tagging works with technology that is already implemented today. More

How is the Drug War going?

The War on Drugs was started to rid society of illicit drugs by arresting suppliers, traffickers and users. After more than 40 years of effort, and hundreds of billions of dollars spent eradicating illicit drugs, the drug business is doing quite well. It would not be difficult to conclude that the drug wars have cause the drug trade to prosper.

Now it seems even the Teletubbies, stars of the popular television show bearing their name, have gotten involved in the drug trade. A recent bust uncovered millions of dollars worth of cocaine that was branded with the Teletubbies images. Perhaps alarmed pundits should quit sniping at Tinky Winky for carrying a purse, and take a closer look at what the allegedly gay character is carrying in the purse. More

Domestic spying, Bush style

There has been an ongoing story of the NSA listening to phone calls of Americans who are talking to people in other countries. President Bush has authorized this spying on Americans without warrants and has told the American people it is okay to do this because he is president and therefore he can do whatever he wants to do.

More recently it has come to light that a large database is being built by the NSA that contains records of phone calls made by customers of AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, despite previous denials by Bush of scrutinizing domestic only calls.

If you ever wanted to hear what an NSA analyst would listen to, now you have a chance. StaggerOn.org has obtained some exclusive SIGINT (signal intelligence) intercepts of American citizens who thought their phone calls were private, even as they were being eavesdropped on. More

Mexican flags burned on May 1

Oceanside, Alta California - A video was submitted to StaggerOn.org that shows Mexican flags and a sign the says "La Raza" (The Race) being consumed in fire.

The video clip was submitted by an Oceanside student who did not identify him/her self, but made a brief statement.

"My father was born in Mexico and came here before I was born," the source said. "I have gone back with him to his home, and I can see why he left. No human would want to live there."

"I think it's a joke that many of the activists of immigration scream about their opponents being rascist, while they call theselves La Raza. That means The Race in English. So I burned these flags and made a video to show how stupid that is." Watch the Video

Shell has higher profits, watered down gas

PATERSON, NJ - Darnell Greene had a bone to pick today with this Delta gas station attendant in Paterson, all due to yesterday's ten-dollar fill-up.

The problem? Watered down gasoline, part of a bad shipment. A big shipment - totaling tens-of-thousands of gallons of fuel supplied by the Shell Oil Company and distributed out a Newark refinery.

Darnell told us as soon as he "pulled out of the lot, the car started sputtering, and backfiring." More

Bush warns children - jobs to go to India

Washington, DC - President George W Bush has warned the country's schoolchildren that if they did not have the skills needed to compete with their counterparts from India and China, new jobs would go to those countries.

The President was addressing a magnet school in Rockville, Maryland, on Tuesday, stressing among other things, the criticality of such subjects as Mathematics and Science.

"It's important to understand, if children don't have those skill sets needed to compete with a child from India or a child from China, the new jobs will be going there," Bush told the students.

"And so, in order to make sure we remain the leader of the world, we have got to continue our focus in education on high standards, accountability, and a new focus and intense focus on math and science, just like as what's happening in this school," he said.

The most important factor in jobs going abroad, and left unmentioned by Bush, is that none of the training in math and science prepare a student in the skills they really need to compete. The skills they really need is to learn how to live on a wage of a dollar an hour, because that is what they are really competing with, and why those jobs are sent elsewhere. More

Where your gas money went

Each trip to the gas pump digs a little deeper into your pocket. As you pay more and more for the fuel to run your transportation needs, you have less to spend on your other needs in your life. This cuts your standard of living to a lower level.

Oil companies pay people to explain why you must pay them more for the same amount of fuel. The story is usually some variation on higher costs to them being passed along to you at the pump. It could be higher crude oil prices one week, a refinery explosion the next week, and reduced capacity on another week, creating costs that must be passed on.

Somehow, in spite of all these hardships suffered by the oil companies, one of them did quite well. Exxon did so well, in fact, that it had record profits of $36 billion.

Exxon's retiring chairman was able to get the company to share the wealth with him.The company is giving Lee Raymond one of the most generous retirement packages in history, nearly $400 million, including pension, stock options and other perks, such as a $1 million consulting deal, two years of home security, personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for professional purposes.

That kind of compensation should keep Mr. Raymond stocked with plenty of groceries in his larder. The company car will insulate him from paying the escalating fuel prices the rest of us a stuck with. Perhaps the windfall will motivate him to replace his poorly crafted hairpiece with expertly done hairplugs. Next time you are getting fuel in your vehicle, it would be interesting to do a calculation of how much you are contribution to the Lee Raymond retirement package. More

US Government caught in a lie about Iraq occupation

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Claims by the Bush administration or the Pentagon of completing the mission in Iraq and ordering troop withdrawal have been shown to be a lie.

A new U.S. Embassy the size of Vatican City, is being constructed beside the Tigris River. Having the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, the fortresslike compound is a monument to an occupation force that plans to dig in and stay a long while, perhaps permanently.

The embassy complex - 21 buildings on 104 acres, according to a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report - is taking shape on riverside parkland in the fortified ''Green Zone,'' just east of al-Samoud, a former palace of Saddam Hussein's, and across the road from the building where the ex-dictator is now on trial. More

Evil Texan wants to kill most humans

Austin, Texas - Perhaps Homeland Security agents might want to take a break from cruising the net for young teen poon and take a look at Eric R. Pianka.

The University of Texas Professor has grand schemes for wholesale liquidation of human populations that would dwarf the grandest ambitions of Stalin, Hilter and Mao combined, by using the Ebola virus.

"Every one of you who gets to survive has to bury nine," Eric Pianka cautioned students and guests at St. Edward's University on Friday. Pianka's words are part of what he calls his "doomsday talk" - a 45-minute presentation outlining humanity's ecological misdeeds and Pianka's predictions about how nature, or perhaps humans themselves, will exterminate all but a fraction of civilization.

Professor Pianka said the Earth as we know it will not survive without drastic measures. Then, and without presenting any data to justify this number, he asserted that the only feasible solution to saving the Earth is to reduce the population to 10 percent of the present number.

In an account by Forrest M. Mims III, (known for authoring those Radio Shack technical booklets instructing in the use of logic chips) Pianka advocated for the extermination of 90 percent of the human species in a most horrible and painful manner. Apparently at the speaker's direction, the speech was not video taped by the Academy and so Forrest's may be the only record of what was said. More

Homeland Security official arrested in online sex sting

Miami, Florida - One Homeland Security official got tired of connecting dots leading to terrorists and botching emergency aid, so he decided to whet his appetite for sexual encounters with young teen girls.

Unfortunately, his intelligence gathering abilities did not include watching recent news reports about undercover officers setting up stings to catch adult men trying to seduce underage girls, and he got caught sending pornographic movie clips and having sexually explicit conversations via the internet with someone he was tricked into thinking was a 14 year old girl.

Brian J. Doyle, 55, was arrested at his residence in Maryland on charges of use of a computer to seduce a child and transmission of harmful material to a minor. The charges were issued out of Polk County, Fla.

On several occasions, Doyle instructed the girl to perform a sexual act while thinking of him and described explicit activities he wanted to have with her, investigators said. More

Reconquest of "Aztlan" march in "Alta California"

Los Angeles, California - A crowd of pro-immigration demonstrators estimated at over 500,000 marched on downtown Los Angeles on Monday.

The size of the march and rally surprised the world and the nation. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department made a statement on Thursday, to the local media, that they expected between 10,000 to 15,000 to participate in the march. The LAPD is now reporting that over 500,000 participated.

In their account of the march, pro-reconquest site La Voz de Aztlan reports:

"What does the immense success of "La Gran Marcha" mean to Mexicanos and other Latinos? It simply means that we now have the numbers, the political will and the organizational skills to direct our own destinies and not be subservient to the White and Jewish power structures."

La Voz de Aztlan also stated their goal to eventually "elect our own governors" of all the states within "Aztlan." More

Federal lawyers tell doctors how to practice medicine

Wheelchairbound multiple sclerosis patient Richard Paey is serving 25 years in a Florida prison for “trafficking” 1/2 gram of OxyContin, even though the prosecutor concedes that Paey never sold any of his medications. In prison, he now receives more pain-killing drugs than he was convicted of having.

Dr. William Hurwitz, a pioneering pain physician, was tried and convicted of violating the Controlled Substances Act -- which is intended to curb the illicit use of drugs -- and is serving a 25-year term in federal prison. He was also fined $2 million.

These are but two of hundreds of cases in which, in its zeal to stamp out the illegal drug use, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is cracking down on doctors who prescribe medications to relieve chronic pain, and the patients who depend on these drugs to live normal lives.

The DEA’s dilemma is separating legitimate prescribers and users from drug dealers. And the DEA’s task is made more difficult, not only by its zeal, but by the fact that those investigating and prosecuting are not doctors but lawyers and law enforcement agents. More

Fort Hood Soldier Charged In Child Injury Case

KILLEEN, Texas -- The "special training" that a soldier gets to complete missions like say, guarding Iraqi prisoners, is often useful at home.

One of Bush's shock troops used his skills to get his 3-year-old daughter to fight a 5-year-old boy his wife was babysitting.

Dennis Michael Bittinger, 22, a Fort Hood soldier, was arrested and charged with injury to a child in connection with a videotaped attack on a 5-year-old boy, Killeen police said. He was ordered held in lieu of $100,000 bond. More

More lessons from Katrina: Help is NOT on the way

The historic 2005 storm Katrina taught some very important lessons to those who will learn from them.

The most important lesson is that you are on your own. There is no state, local, or federal agency that have any legal obligation to look after your safety and well being. Some agency might help, or they might make it worse for you. It is unwise to include help from any agency in your emergency plans. Any assistance you receive will be an added unplanned bonus. So you must take stock of your needs and plan ahead.

Another important lesson is that many people in your same situation will share resources and abilities to get you through the crisis. Even while the authorities who are chartered to help you turn against you, there are individuals who will pitch in and do their part to help in survival.

One other lesson is that there are people who will prey on you, and you must plan for this. Whether your plan involves hiding and avoidance, or self defense, you must consider this as a possibility. In New Orleans, the authorities were the perpetrators. While a third of the police force was on a self appointed junket in places like Las Vegas, some of the remaining police, along with National Guard, were forcibly removing some people, and stripping others of firearms, leaving them defenseless against the looters that they refused to protect them from. Video

These are lessons that are best to never be forgotten. If you live somewhere that will have storms, fires, flooding, quakes or infrastructure breakdown, these lessons may some day be very relevant to you.

Brokeback Presidency: The Bush-Fox legacy

It is curious that George W. Bush appears to be administering a border policy that is dictated to him by the Mexican president, Vicente Fox.

Mexico has very strict enforcement of crossing it's southern border with Guatemala, with armed troops turning back would be immigrants from the south.

However, if the U.S. were to have the same policy towards it's southern neighbor, Mexico would find that unacceptable. Mexico prefers for it's nationals to have unrestricted access to the U.S. with an open border.

Vicente Fox has been able to convince Bush to adopt the Mexican policy, in spite of Bush's insistence that there is a war on terror that requires some control of who immigrates. One view is that Fox is able to keep Bush in line on this policy because he posesses something incriminating, such as a video of sexual improprieties.

It is likely to be a much simpler issue than that.

Bush is in love with Fox.

.He has strong romantic feelings that Fox is willing to exploit for his own national interests. Since Fox is the alpha male or "top" in the relationship, he rations out affection. This maintains Bush in a state of desire to win the adoration from Fox, even at the expense of U.S. interests.

Observe their body language when they are together. Who stands ramrod straight in one position, and who moves about, fawning over the other? Watch a video, or view pictures and see for yourself. This gives an important indication of who is the dominant male in the relationship, and who is taking a submissive role. This star crossed, forbidden relationship between these two men has an impact on the destiny of millions of people in both nations.

Click on each photo to see a larger version compliments of www.whitehouse.gov

No Child Left Unmolested

One of the little goodies hidden in the Bush Administration "No Child Left Behind" program is that it gives military recruiters closer access to children in school.

Section 9528 grants the Pentagon access to directories with students names, addresses and phone numbers so that they may be more easily contacted and recruited for military service. Prior to this provision, one-third of the nation’s high schools refused recruiters’ requests for students’ names or access to campus because they believed it was inappropriate for educational institutions to promote military service.

And you thought NCLB was implemented to create better readers, testers and homework-doers.

One of the consequences of this program was to give adult men close access to underage teen girls. The result of this, which could be argued was unavoidable, is that many of these recruiters have been "recruiting" for more than just military "service".

One intrepid recuiter, Indiana National Guard Sgt. Eric P. Vetesy, has been accused of sexually assaulting six female recruits he met during his 18 months as a full-time recruiter. Hamilton County investigators said Monday he is accused of raping at least one recruit. More

In another case two women have said two U.S. Marine Corps recruiters forced them to have sex after they expressed interest in joining the force while they were 17 year old students. They have sued in a complaint alleging that one of them was raped on three separate occasions in, each time telling her that she had to have sex with him if she wanted to join the Marines." More

These cases, and the other like them, may not be all that unusual. It may be part of a training program for running prisons in Iraq and other locations in the alleged war on terror.

Another Patriot Act Gotcha: paying off your credit card

You may have been listening to the financial gurus who admonish you about carrying a large amount of debt, so you decide to pull your resources together and pay off your credit card.

That bit of financial responsibility could get you snared as a possible terrorist by the Patriot Act.

Walter Soehnge and his wife, Deana, of Rhode Island found out about this recently. The Soehnges decided to do the kind of thing that just about anyone would say makes good, solid financial sense. They paid down some debt.

The balance on their JCPenney Platinum MasterCard had gotten to an unhealthy level. So they sent in a large payment, a check for $6,522. And an alarm went off. A red flag went up. The Soehnges' behavior was found questionable.

And all they did was pay down their debt. They didn't call a suspected terrorist on their cell phone. They didn't try to sneak a machine gun through customs.

They just paid a hefty chunk of their credit card balance. After sending in the check, they checked online to see if their account had been duly credited. They learned that the check had arrived, but the amount available for credit on their account hadn't changed.

They both learned the same astounding piece of information about the little things that can set the threat sensors to beeping and blinking. They were told, as they moved up the managerial ladder at the call center, that the amount they had sent in was much larger than their normal monthly payment. And if the increase hits a certain percentage higher than that normal payment, Homeland Security has to be notified. And the money doesn't move until the threat alert is lifted. More

Patriot Act passed, used to lock up US citizens, not terrorists

Despite reassurances from Bush aministration paid propagandists, the Patriot Act is used to harass and annoy Americans, with almost no prosecution of terrorists being done.

The latest incarnation of the Patriot Act includes provisions sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Jim Talent, R-Mo., which would require a would-be purchaser to show identification to buy cold and allergy medication.

The purported reason for this law is to halt the production of methamphetamine, an illegal drug that cannot be made without a key ingredient of everyday cold and allergy medicines.

Besides providing more evidence that the War on Drugs is another administration miserable failure, this provision of the Patriot Act could have a perverse effect, to drive methamphetamine production away from American soil, making it an imported product. This adds a new layer of profits for those who will traffic in the drug, including terrorists. More

Catapulting the Propaganda, for a price

With the Bush administation being synonymous with "miserable failure" it is increasingly difficult to find supporters who defend any of the policies that have strip mined American assets and squandered so many lives.

However, there are still staunch defenders of Bush, who are able to put aside the facts, squelch any internal doubts, and attack any critics of their Fearless Leader. But you have to pay someone rather well to hold their nose and surrender their soul to this thankless duty.

Rush Limbaugh leads the pack at a healthy $31 million. These numbers get a bit fuzzy, because in addition to base salary there are speaking fees, and reimbursed expenses. Sean Hannity commands a $100,000 speaking fee, plus expenses. If money is his motive, he chose the right side. Michael Moore gets about half of that for a speaking engagement. Al Franken gets paid, for his oratory at Air America, a paltry $1.7 million.

The important point here, is that for most Americans it would be difficult to get in front of a microphone, or in front of a camera, and lie to their fellow citizens. It would be hard to keep a straight face while insisting black is white, up is down, and war is peace. It would cause many sleepless nights knowing that those lies were causing people to live with more hardships, and could even die from the consequences of them. There is a saying, "Drag a few million dollars through a cesspool and you are sure to get a few bites."

Katrina: They Knew!

In the week that Hurricane Katrina was bearing down on the southeast U.S. coast in August 2005, Bush administration officials knew what to expect, and reassured others that they would have the assets in place needed to deal with the disaster.

The AP had started promoting a videotape that shows a presidential videoconference briefing, made on Aug. 28, 2005.

The tape showed former Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown issuing stark warnings. "We're going to need everything that we can possibly muster, not only in this state and in the region, but the nation, to respond to this event," said Brown.

Brown told colleagues on the tape that one of his top concerns was whether evacuees who went to New Orleans' Superdome would be safe and have adequate medical care.

But his concerns were disregarded by Bush, who didn't ask any questions. He reassured state officials that the federal government was prepared to handle the storm and its aftermath.

"I want to assure the folks at the state level that we are fully prepared to not only help you during the storm, but we will move in whatever resources and assets we have at our disposal after the storm," he said.

History would prove otherwise. More

Attorney General Gonzales still sniffing around in panties

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is on a mission from God. In between solving cases of terrorism, or some cynics would insist instead of solving terrorism cases, Gonzales is on a crusade to eradicate pornography. He may be acting on behalf of certain elements of the Bush administation's religious supporters who get apoplectic at the sight of a Victoria's Secret catalog. He could learn a lot from past investigations of this sort.

The FBI put their agents in trench coats and sent them into porn theaters throughout the U.S. in 1972-73 for a sticky investigation of Deep Throat.

The movie, not the Watergate leaker.

This time, instead of nasty dives in the seedy parts of town, agents can remain in their offices with a computer and broadband net connection. They might want to get some pointers from the old report, preserved here by the Memory Hole, so as not to reinvent the wheel.

Gonzales might keep in mind, while he is busy sniffing those panties, he might overlook the next terror attack. On September 11, 2001, FBI agents were busy listening to wiretaps of a brothel in New Orleans - a much more important job than say, investigating soon to be terrorists attending flight school.

There is no information if Gonzales' stepson Jared Freeze, who used to work for Larry Flynt, is helping Pops with the investigation.

Rumsfeld wanted to hit Iraq after 9/11

Hours after a commercial plane struck the Pentagon on September 11 2001 the US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, was issuing rapid orders to his aides to look for evidence of Iraqi involvement, according to notes taken by one of them.

"Hard to get good case. Need to move swiftly," the notes say. "Near term target needs - go massive - sweep it all up, things related and not."

The handwritten notes, with some parts blanked out, were declassified this month in response to a request by a law student and blogger, Thad Anderson, under the US Freedom of Information Act. Anderson has posted them on his blog at outragedmoderates.org. More

KBR awarded Homeland Security contract worth up to $385M

SAN FRANCISCO - KBR, the engineering and construction subsidiary of Halliburton Co., said Tuesday it has been awarded a contingency contract from the Department of Homeland Security to supports its Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities in the event of an emergency. The maximum total value of the contract is $385 million and consists of a 1-year base period with four 1-year options. KBR held the previous ICE contract from 2000 to 2005. More

That is the official story. Haliburton may be getting $385 million, but they are not going to be building detention camps for illegal aliens. That is an outright lie, propped up by disinformation. So the fact is that we do not know what service, if any, Haliburton is going to perform to get that money from the American taxpayers. The official Bush policy, whether it gets put into law or not, is that illegal aliens are no longer considered "illegal". They are to be given amnesty and mainstreamed into the economy. Despite another Bush lie, they are not just doing the "jobs that Americans will not do". You are not able to afford to buy a house with money earned from picking lettuce. See this article. More

Hurricane relief funds spent on porn

While U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales squanders law enforcement resources to broaden his panty sniffing campaign to root out porn, FEMA was spending millions of taxpayer dollars that help put more porn in the hands of Americans.

Tens of millions of dollars of relief money for Hurricane Katrina was squandered in scams and poorly thought out projects, US government auditors reported yesterday.

As many as 900,000 of the 2.5 million applicants who received aid under an emergency cash assistance program - which included giving $2,000 debit cards to evacuees - based their requests on duplicate or invalid social security numbers, or false addresses and names. More

Identity theft problem was created by the government

For many years states have required the collection of Social Security numbers in order to issue a drivers license. Many people may not recall why this is.

It was a 1996 federal law that makes the availability of federal welfare funds contingent upon states collecting SSNs to assist in the enforcement of child support laws. This was passed by the Congress presided over by Newt Gingrich, and signed off by Bill Clinton. Most stated complied with this law instead of jumping through the hoops set up if a state wanted to opt out. It was questionable if it ever was effective at collecting any more child support, but one gift that it gave us to merge the drivers license and Social Security number was the rampant identity theft we have enjoyed since then. It is so bad that new legislation has been passed ordering states to not display the SSN, though they must still collect it. Unfortunately, communication has been botched between state and federal governments in many states, so many licenses are still issued with the number and others are recalled.

Thanks Newt and Bill. More

Iraq veteran gets hit with "friendly fire" in USA

CHINO, Calif. - Elio Carrion is an Air Force policeman who spent six months deployed in Iraq. He was to have rejoined his unit Tuesday.

Unfortunately, he was shot in California by a San Bernadino sheriffs deputy.

The incident began Sunday night, officials said, when Carrion was a passenger in a blue Corvette that was speeding about 100 mph near the Chino Hills, California, area, east of Los Angeles. The driver, whom authorities didn't identify, failed to pull the car over after police signaled to do so, leading to a five-minute chase that ended abruptly when the vehicle crashed into a brick wall, said Cindy Beavers, a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

The incident was taped by a witness. On the tape, it sounds like one of the deputies tells Carrion to get off the ground. He does and that`s followed by a number of shots. Police say Carrion was hit four times. The driver of the vehicle was eventually arrested. More

Bush calls for less dependence on Mideast oil

WASHINGTON - Although 5 years of policy and action do not support his suggestion, President George W Bush called for a cut of U.S. dependence on Mideast oil by 75 percent.

"America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world," Bush said as he sought to drive the election-year agenda in his annual State of the Union address.

"Our goal is to make this new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within six years," the president said. "Breakthroughs on this and other new technologies will help us reach another great goal: to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.

By targeting only Mideast oil, Bush was ignoring the largest sources of American oil consumption, such as Mexico and Canada.

Imports of oil and refined product from the Persian Gulf make up less than a fifth of all imports and 11 percent of total consumption, according to Energy Department statistics. More

Drug smugglers and invaders in Mexican military uniforms

U.S. and Mexican officials on Tuesday were investigating a bizarre encounter between Texas lawmen and heavily armed intruders who were wearing Mexican military uniforms while evidently escorting a caravan of sport utility vehicles that was smuggling marijuana into the United States.

The smugglers, spotted on the U.S. side of the border in remote western Texas on Monday afternoon, hastily fled back into Mexico, leaving behind nearly a half ton of marijuana and setting one of their vehicles ablaze. More

The disturbing unanswered question for the Bush administration is: How can you tell the people you are fighting a war on terror abroad when you can not effectively secure your own border? This is one incident, there are many others More

FBI questions student over doodle

Elk Grove, California - The FBI and local school officials are under fire after a high school student was interviewed by federal agents while on campus. The FBI interview and resulting controversy was prompted by a tip.

Munir Rashed is a 16-year-old high school student from Elk Grove and a fourth generation American. Two years ago, while attending Elk Grove High, a teacher confronted him.

Munir Rashed, Palestinian American student: "I had PLO on my folder as a doodle." More

Weapons for the Terror War, energy beams and stun guns

Is Captain Kirk to be employed in the War on Terror?

Like the phasers on "Star Trek', which' could be set to kill or merely stun, the U.S. military has desired a new kind of firepower that is instantaneous, precise and virtually inexhaustible: beams of electromagnetic energy.

The hallmark of all directed-energy weapons is that the target -- whether a human or a mechanical object -- has no chance to avoid the shot because it moves at the speed of light. At some frequencies, it can penetrate walls.

Once this technology becomes commonplace, and relatively inexpensive, how will it be deployed at home against civilians by the military and police departments? More

Alien invasion we want to see

Dorismar -- aka Dora Noemi Kerchen -- has been many things: Playboy Playmate, calendar pinup, performer at a Democratic National Convention party and purveyor of sophisticated soft-core videos inspired by Girls Gone Wild.

Now, she qualifies as an ''Alien of Extraordinary Ability'' -- but that legal designation may not be enough to get her back into the United States.

The 29-year-old Argentine sexpot -- blessed with copious curves and a seemingly boundless capacity to promote them -- was deported with her husband/manager Alejandro Schiff on Jan. 5, after five years in Miami as an illegal immigrant and Hispanic media star. More

When Cops trade donuts and coffee for alcohol...

Public safety goes in the tank when this happens. Then we are all in danger. More

Military researched "Gay Bomb"

The US military investigated building a "gay bomb", which would make enemy soldiers "sexually irresistible" to each other, government papers say.

The plan for a so-called "love bomb" envisaged an aphrodisiac chemical that would provoke widespread homosexual behaviour among troops, causing what the military called a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale.

Considering the law of unintended consequences, this may have been a bad idea. Instead of facing adversaries preoccupied with decorating the mess tent, or playing with Barbies, U.S. forces may have ended up facing some leather clad bears willing to rip their arms out of their sockets. More

US Border Patrol uniforms made in Mexico

Demonstrating once again that the Bush administration is out of touch with the concerns of the American people, the latest example of this disconnect concerns the uniform of the Border patrol, which has the duty of securing U.S. borders, including a border with Mexico.

For more than a year, the shirts and pants worn by agents and inspectors with U.S. Customs and Border Protection have been made in Mexico. The uniforms are supplied by VF Solutions of Nashville, Tenn., which subcontracts its work to plants in the United States, Mexico, Canada and the Dominican Republic.

"It's embarrassing to be protecting the U.S.-Mexico border and be wearing a uniform made in Mexico," says T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a 6,500-member union.

The illegal flow of immigrants across the border also include gang members and fugitives from Mexican justice who might welcome a chance to get their hands on a Border Patrol uniform. There is also the possibility that unscrupulous gang members might help sneak terrorists into the country if the price is right.

"Who's going to miss a few dozen uniforms?" said Bonner, "That could be very dangerous to the agents. You see a uniform, and you assume that's one of the good guys.". More

Screw up your job really badly? Be a consultant instead

That is the career strategy of former FEMA director Michael Brown. He is starting a new disaster preparedness firm.

“If I can help people focus on preparedness, how to be better prepared in their homes and better prepared in their businesses — because that goes straight to the bottom line — then I hope I can help the country in some way,” Brown said.

The problem is, he does not know much about preparedness, except preparing a jacked up resume that makes him look like he is capable of doing something worthwhile.

Whether it is horse shows, or his recent dog and pony show, the old adage comes to mind when thinking about anyone contracting for his "sevices".

You get what you pay for. The miserable failure principle is at work here. More

Sneaking across the border in style, with new sneakers

Argentine artist Judi Werthein gave away 50 pairs of expensive high top sneakers in Tijuana at a migrant shelter. These sneakers are unique, with a compass and flashlight dangling from one shoelace. The pocket in the tongue is for money or pain relievers. A rough map of the border region is printed on a removable insole.Werthein waved the insole and pointed to Interstate 8, the main road between San Diego