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New! June 28, 2002 - JUDAISM TO BE SCRUTINIZED ON TALK RADIO PROGRAM - Former Associated Press reporter Michael A. Hoffman II will analyze the hatred and racism in the religion of Judaism on WALE radio 990 AM, on Saturday, June 29 at 2 p.m. Eastern, 11 a.m. Pacific. - Hoffman, the author of "Judaism's Strange Gods" and four other works of history and literature, issued the following statement:

"In a time when it is open season on the religion of Islam, and when prominent establishment figures such as Michael Medved accuse Islam of being a religion of terror and are widely applauded for doing so, it is entirely appropriate and fitting that we also examine Judaism in the same light. If it is commendable to rigorously scrutinize Islam, then Judaism should enjoy no special immunity from similar scrutiny.

"As CNN founder Ted Turner recently pointed out, terror is a two way street in the Israeli state. In accordance with the Bush doctrine of alleged zero tolerance for terror anywhere, it is the obligation of scholars to trace the roots of Zionist terrorism. In my studies of the Talmud, Kabbalah, Midrash, Aggadah and the canonical writings of the rabbinic "sages" Rashi, Rambam and Karo, I have discovered that those roots lead directly to the religion of Judaism," Hoffman concluded.

Also see our series: Who Wrote the Bible wherein we find the following:

The great Jewish scholar, Rashi de Troyes, (1040-1105), makes the astonishingly frank statement that the Genesis narrative, going back to the creation of the world, was written to justify what we might now call genocide. The God of Israel, who gave his people the Promised Land, had to be unequivocally supreme so that neither the dispossessed Canaanites nor anyone else could ever appeal against his decrees.[5] Rashi’s precise words were that God told us the creation story and included it in the Torah "to tell his people that they can answer those who claim that the Jews stole the land from its original inhabitants. The reply should be; God made it and gave it to them but then took it and gave it to us. As he made it and it's his, he can give it to whoever he chooses ".

New! June 27, 2002 - DOD ANNOUNCES MERGER OF U.S. SPACE AND STRATEGIC COMMANDS As part of the ongoing initiative to transform the U.S. military into a 21st century fighting force, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld today announced the intention to merge two unified commands whose missions include control of America's nuclear forces, military space operations, computer network operations, strategic warning and global planning. - Also see: THE GATHERING DARK SKIES - [Do ya suppose there's a connection?]

Project Hessdalen - Hessdalen is a small valley in the central part of Norway. From the end of 1981 to 1984, there was a big "UFO-flap" in that valley. Several hundreds observation was done. At the most there were about 20 reports a week. About 85% of the observations describe a bright light. The other describe daylight observations. The observation is still going on, but now in the order of 20 a year. An automatic measurement station was put up in Hessdalen in August 1998.

A private investigation into the attack on the Pentagon on 11th September 2001 - "[I]t is abundantly clear to me that the US Government has lied to us about Sept 11th. I can only conclude that they did the deed themselves as a propaganda operation to 'justify' to the American people (and their allies) their sought-for war against the Taliban and their 'War on Terrorism.' "

Arafat Calls For Democratic Elections In The US - before it attempts to continue in its role as broker between Israel and Palestine. Hugo Chavez agrees saying "[Bush] hardly sets the best example for the Middle East, does he?" Bush supporter, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, elected head of a country that legally discriminates among its citizens on the basis of religious belief, forbids political candidates from advocating an end to that discrimination, and disenfranchises an entire people through military occupation, dismissed the call as "absurd."

New! June 26, 2002- Dollar slides to brink of free fall The US dollar [has] moved to the brink of free fall ­ a nightmare scenario for the world economy ­ after reverberations from the WorldCom scandal triggered panic among investors. [...] "There's no better way to show a loss of confidence in a country than through its currency," David Bloom, global economist at HSBC, said. [Gee! Ya don't say?! Loss of confidence in the Bush mob is what it says!]

Bush's stark Mideast markers - "[I]t is more likely that this overtly unbalanced speech will only further complicate the situation.... [it] might have been a giant step for Ariel Sharon, but it was probably a very small step for the chances of peace," wrote columnist Hemi Shalev in yesterday's Ma'ariv, a mass-circulation Israeli daily.

WorldCom uncovers £2.5bn accounting fraud FTSE 100 index falls 135 points in opening two minutes after US telecom giant's shock [The reader may wish to review the comments on the subject of Game Theory and Economics as described in Adventures Chapter 35 which explain the "agenda" behind the present economic "collapse." It is planned, and you can take that to the bank.] See Also: Point by falling point, stock losses sap economy's spunk - Over the past 27 months, the nation's stock markets have lost about $5.5 trillion in value, or nearly three times what the US government spends annually. On a dollar basis, the nation's loss of wealth is greater than all the other US market declines combined. - Unless stock prices stabilize, there may be a real danger to the economy, especially since the US dollar is now dropping as well. [So, let's all thank the Bush gang for war and poverty.]

New! June 25, 2002- FBI Begins Visiting Libraries - and checking the reading records of people it suspects of having ties to terrorists or plotting an attack... such searches are now legal under the Patriot Act that President Bush signed last October.

New! June 24, 2002 - Las Vegas Terror Threat Update - An Interview with the Man Who Heard the Call by J.J. & Nancy Johnson

The New Gestapo "It's very scary. The public needs to know what the government is doing," says Tim Edgar, legislative counsel for the ACLU. [...] Elements of the plan are long on secrecy and short on accountability, Mr. Edgar says.

The biggest book of the summer is about the end of the world. It's also a sign of our troubled times. [...] Interest in the End Times is no fringe phenomenon. Only about half of Left Behind readers are Evangelicals, which suggests there is a broader audience of people who are having this conversation.

Arizona Burns - "This fire is the worst fire that anyone has ever seen," said Arizona Gov. Jane Dee Hull, adding she expected President Bush to declare the area a federal disaster area, freeing up relief funds for residents.

Israeli troops are continuing to re-enter Palestinian towns after suicide bombings last week and now control most Palestinian population centers in the West Bank.

Bombs, protests at end of EU talks Tens of thousands of anti-globalisation demonstrators took to the streets of Seville late on Saturday as EU leaders laid down their plan to tackle illegal immigration.

Heavy rain closes roads in central Wisconsin

Comet vanishing act puzzles scientist

New! June 22, 2002 - Hundreds die in Iran earthquake National Earthquake Information Center in Colorado, U.S. said the 6.3 magnitude quake took place at 7:28 a.m. local time.

Arizona fire expected to 'get up and run' - could blacken more than 300,000 acres, firefighters said. "The fire's going to raise its head and get up and run today," said fire information officer Jim Paxon. "We are very much not in control. Nature is in control."

Nuclear plants to close three years early It said the decision was driven by the plummeting cost of electricity over the last two years. [Our question is: what is the REAL reason?]s

New! June 21, 2002 - Deaths in Argentina spark X-Files alert BUENOS AIRES - Argentina is sending its own X-Files scientists to probe deaths of farm animals found dissected, mutilated and drained of blood on remote Pampa plains, killings some have blamed on aliens. At least 70 animals were reported killed in recent weeks, some with their genitals and tongues pulled out with surgical precision surrounded by charred grass with no signs of bloodstains. One horse's hoof had a circle drawn into it. [...] Some local inhabitants in La Pampa province said they saw bright lights in the night sky near one site of mutilations.

Conmen incorporated: The end of fat-cat culture?

Israeli tank shells kill three children The dead were Ahmed Ghazawi, about 6, and his 12-year-old brother Jamil, as well as a 6-year-old girl, Sajedah Famahwi and Helal Shetta, a school teacher who was about 50, according to Mohammed Abu Ghali, director of Jenin Governmental Hospital.

New! June 20, 2002 - Space rock's close approach on 14 June, an asteroid the size of a football pitch [field] made one of the closest ever recorded approaches to the Earth. It is only the sixth time an asteroid has been seen to penetrate the Moon's orbit, and this is by far the biggest rock to do so. What has worried some astronomers, though, is that the space object was only detected on 17 June, several days after its flyby.

Major Blazes Flare Across U.S. West - The fast-moving Arizona wildfire continued to rage out of control on Thursday, charring more than 50,000 acres and threatening the evacuation of as many as 20,000 people from their homes in areas about 150 miles northeast of Phoenix, fire officials said. [...] Arizona Gov. Jane Hull has declared a state of emergency for the area and the state's emergency operations center in Phoenix has been mobilized to coordinate efforts. Other fires were burning in California, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming as well as in Florida, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia, officials said.

New! June 19, 2002 - Federal officials are taking terror suspects into custody under the material-witness law. Since the terror attacks on Sept. 11, the so-called material-witness statute has emerged as a key – and highly controversial – weapon in the legal arsenal being used to wage the Bush administration's war against terrorism in America's homeland. [Against its own citizens, we add.]

Ingredients for Worldwide Flu Epidemic Brewing in China This is one we might want to watch. C's said on September 24, 2001, in an as yet unpublished session:

Q: (L) So are we going to have a war here?
A: Close
Q: (L) Are we going to have more terrorist attacks in the US? They already said no, but that's because we already know it wasn't terrorists. Are we going to have more violence in the US that may not be as a results of terrorist?
A: Yes
Q:(L) Can you designate any of the areas where this violence may occur in the near future?
A: Indianapolis
Q: (L) Indianapolis is a city in Indiana. Well that's something that has never been mentioned. What kind of violence?
A: Hit by focusing beam of the haarp array.
Q: (L) What will be the outcome of Indianapolis being hit by this focusing beam of the haarp array?
A: Mind controlled violence.
Q: (L) And we know what form it will take?
A: Shootings
Q: (L) Is there going to be any other kind of violence, such as bombs or airplanes being flown into buildings or release of anthrax, small pox, or any other kind of chemical or germ war fare activities. Any of these?
A: Yes
Q: (L) Which one?
A: Fair chance of germ disbursement.
Q: (L) What kind of germ?
A: Influenza
Q: (L) Do you mean a deadly form of flu?
A: Yes [...]

A Changed President--or a New Repression? - According to the Columbus Dispatch (6/15/02), students were warned ahead of time they faced arrest if they showed any signs of dissent: "Graduates had been warned during rehearsal on Thursday that they faced arrest if-- as was rumored-- some stood up and turned their backs on Bush during his speech." The warning continued on the day of the event as well, according to the Associated Press (6/14/02): "Immediately before class members filed into the giant football stadium, an announcer instructed the crowd that all the university's speakers deserve to be treated with respect and that anyone demonstrating or heckling would be subject to expulsion and arrest. The announcer urged that Bush be greeted with a 'thunderous' ovation."

Bus bomb leaves 20 dead as Israel asks: what next? Laura's note: Yesterday there was some discussion about this event and I wrote:

We have to remember that everything - and there are no exceptions - in this whole show that is going on at present on the Big Blue Marble - is scripted and designed to produce exactly what it produces - emotional response and "herding" of minds in one direction or another.

If that is kept firmly in focus - even in the face of horror - we can possibly navigate through this nightmare our planet has become.

First of all, let's take a look at a couple of things in the reporting of this incident:

"Jerusalem police had been on high alert after receiving warnings that a suicide bomber was trying to carry out an attack in Jerusalem. Acting on specific intelligence information, police set up checkpoints throughout the city."

Now, explain to me how a "suicide bomber" is going to be anticipated? After all, this is not something new. How many other of the almost DAILY suicide bombers have been anticipated???

But this one was. By some means, "warnings" were given.

In the political climate in question, it is hardly likely that this warning were given by Palestinians. At least not unless it was tortured out of somebody.

Nevertheless, if we simply look at the RESULT of such announced anticipation, we see that it is designed to lay the groundwork - to prepare the emotional climate - for the later event. After all, suicide bombings are an almost daily occurrence. Something more is now needed to make them have the desired effect.

Next item:

"The suicide attack came as President George Bush was preparing to outline his vision for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal and the steps needed to get there. Mr Bush has repeatedly criticized Yasser Arafat, saying the Palestinian leader has not done enough to prevent terror attacks in Israel."

Now, isn't that just perfect. The Palestinians, on the verge of possible peace, time and again just shoot themselves in the foot. What could be the explanation for such idiocy? Arafat has been criticized, but now things might go somewhere, and suddenly we have a "warning" and then an actual, horrific attack on CHILDREN!

Talk about suicide!

Sorry, I don't buy it.

Next item:

"There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Palestinian extremists have carried out about 70 suicide bomb attacks in the past 21 months of Israeli- Palestinian fighting. There was no immediate comment by the Palestinian Authority, which in recent months has condemned attacks on Israeli civilians."

Hmmm... just what we have already said: about 70 suicide bombs in the past 21 months... and many, if not most, of them in the most recent months. And we are just absolutely certain that they are Palestinian extremists.

Well, sure. It's possible. Just like it's possible that some kind of extremists attacked the WTC... but the slowly emerging evidence points to the idea that it was staged for the result - to enable to passing of draconian legislation for OTHER agendas.

Do we think that Israel - with the history that we KNOW - is any different? Remember the " Transfer Agreement."

But, there is more:

"Israel held Mr Arafat responsible. "The Palestinian Authority is drenched in terror. This terror has seeped into (Palestinian) society," said David Baker, an official in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office."

And there you have it.

Now, just suppose, for a speculative moment of looking behind the veil here, that this last statement, and the attendant emotion that was engendered to give it more "substance" was INTENDED?

Who benefits?

Again: WHO benefits from the deaths of these children?????

Well, we now have our answer in the above linked article which tells us:

Israel's immediate response began at nightfall when up to 40 army vehicles including tanks and helicopter gunships moved into the West Bank Palestinian stronghold of Jenin, cutting it off from a nearby refugee camp. - Overnight, large numbers of Israeli tanks and troops entered the city of Nablus from all directions as helicopters flew overhead. - Ariel Sharon, the Israeli Prime Minister, convened an emergency meeting of his Cabinet which later issued a statement saying Israel would respond by "capturing Palestinian Authority territory". Promising a change in the way Israel retaliated to "murderous acts", it said captured areas would be held as long as terror attacks continued.

I think it's time to wake up.

New! June 18, 2002 - Moderate Quake Hits Midwest, South - struck at 12:37 p.m. CDT, Tuesday and registered a magnitude of 5.0. The quake shook buildings in downtown Evansville and was felt in Indiana as far north as South Bend, about 250 miles away. It also was felt in Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Can People Send Signals After They Die? Researchers Clash Over Whether Science Has the Answers

Beam Me Up! Australian Scientists Teleport a Beam of Light - Humans pose a near-impossible task as we are made up of zillions of atoms — quantified by a one with 27 zeroes — so forget Star Trek where the starship Enterprise crew step into a transporter, vaporize, then re-assemble elsewhere. The laser beam was destroyed during teleporting, which is achieved using a process known as quantum entanglement. However, the breakthrough opens up enormous possibilities for future super-fast and super-secure communications systems, such as quantum computers, over the next decade.

Poverty - The US blocks clean water and electricity for the most deprived people on the planet, as talks collapse in Indonesia.

Suicide bomber kills 19 on crowded bus

New! June 17, 2002 - Canada Publisher Sacked After Paper Criticizes PM - raising fears about freedom of the press.

Bush gives CIA green light to kill Saddam The order, an expansion of a previous presidential finding designed to oust Saddam, was reported by the Washington Post's Bob Woodward, one of the men who uncovered the Watergate scandal. [...] Reports suggesting that Mr Bush had approved covert action first appeared at the end of February, but offered little detail. The Guardian reported in the same month that the Pentagon and CIA had begun preparations for an assault using up to 200,000 troops.

See also: UNITED WE MARCH! April 20 - 75-100,000 people marched on Washington D.C. to oppose the Bush agenda for an “endless war.” [...] The White House promises a war without end*. Under the pretext of strengthening security, our democratic rights are being further eroded, hundreds of people have been "disappeared" into jails and prisons, and corporate interests are shamelessly trying to use this crisis to their advantage. It is clear: unless we, the people of this country, rise up and come together now, the future for us and for people around the world is very bleak. But united, as we have done in the past, WE CAN MAKE CHANGE! There is an alternative! [To see the list of groups joining the protests against the Bush Agenda, go HERE.]

Abiding in Religious War: Useful Knowledge About the Attack On America

Forestry worker admits starting Colorado fire

New! June 16, 2002 - WHAT REALLY HAPPENED ON 9-11?" - The Transcript Jared Israel Interviewed by Mark Haim

Sharon rejects limited sovereignty plan -Builds Wall

Nine municipalities in Manitoba declared a state of emergency after heavy rain earlier in the week. Hundreds of people had to leave their homes as flood waters turned some streets into lakes.

New! June 15, 2002 - Education board considers alternate theories about life - The standards make it clear that evolution be taught as theory, not objective fact. They also ask that students investigate and use the theory of biological evolution to explain the diversity of life. At an earlier hearing, several people supported the intelligent design concept. Intelligent design is a belief that living things are too complex to have occurred through random genetic change and must have been designed by a higher power. The nature of that being is not specified, but backers acknowledge it could have been a biblical God, supernatural or extraterrestrial.

Asteroids Hold Clues to Saving Earth - Now, just who thinks that Earth needs saving from asteroids? Somebody who knows something they aren't telling the rest of us? Also see: Asteroid Tsunamis Could be Huge, Slow

New! June 14, 2002 - Watching the giant mediums No longer the stuff of gauzy curtains and Ouija boards, chatting with the dead has become mainstream. You can learn about it from a host of hot-selling books, you can grab your remote to surf for new shows on the topic, or you can dig into your wallet and fight the crowds to see a real-life pop medium in person. Van Praagh says none of this would have been possible five or 10 years ago. "Now, talking to the dead is the in thing," he says.

Desert Earthquake Hits Near Yucca Mountain The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 4.4 and hit about 5:40 a.m., 75 miles northwest of Las Vegas and about 3 miles beneath the surface, said scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo.

Strong Earthquake Rocks Tokyo The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 5.2, was strong enough to sway tall buildings in Tokyo and caused a temporary halt to express train service.

China Flooding May Worsen As of mid-week, more than 220 people had died in flooding in the provinces of Shaanxi, Sichuan, Hubei and Guizhou as well as the Chongqing municipality.

Documentary of US 'war crimes' shocks Europe Andrew McEntee, a leading international human rights lawyer, who has viewed the film footage and read full transcripts, believes there is prima facie evidence of serious war crimes having been committed by American soldiers in Afghanistan.

"It is the Oil, Stupid!" There is more oil and gas in the Caspian Sea area than in Saudi Arabia, but you need a pipeline through Afghanistan to get the oil out. [...] 9/11 WTC disaster. Bush goes to war against Afghanistan even though none of the hijackers came from Afghanistan. [...] The US government quietly announces Jan 31, 2002 we will support the construction of the Trans-Afghanistan pipeline.

Riots in Northern Ireland Belfast has seen some of its worst violence of several years in recent weeks...

New! June 13, 2002 - Vostok - The Lake of Shadows

John Ashcroft: Minister of Fear The way the attorney general detonated the “dirty bomber” case this week completes his metamorphosis from a common press hog to a genuine fear monger. [...] That Ashcroft overstated the threat of the Padilla Plot and of “dirty bombs” as weapons of mass destruction, shows with egregious clarity how willing Ashcroft is to use scare-tactics to grab headlines, control the news agenda and make himself look good. [Not to mention promote the COINTELPRO agenda which is becoming rather transparent nowadays if even CBS news picks up on it!]

FBI campaign against Einstein revealed A new book reveals the 22-year effort by FBI director J Edgar Hoover to get Albert Einstein arrested as a political subversive or even a Soviet spy. [...] FBI files reveal that his phone was tapped, his mail was opened and even his trash searched. [...] the agency even bugged his secretary's nephew's house. [...] Einstein was outspoken against social injustice and violations of civil rights.

Official TWA 800 Findings Challenged - The Suffolk County coroner, Dr. Wetli, found shrapnel in 89 of the bodies he examined. Retired Brigadier General Benton Partin, who helped design missiles for the Air Force, has said that the Brookhaven Laboratory’s analysis of the composition of the mysterious pellets suggests to him that they came from a missile. [We aren't surprised. C's discussed this on 11-23-96]

Q: (T) About Flight 800. Pierre Salinger claims that the info floating around on the internet is accurate. He says that the Navy downed the flight.
A: Close. Pierre Salinger is an impeccable journalist and not one to "fly off the handle."
Q: (T) Very true. And that is why I am amazed that the rest of the journalism community is attacking him.
A: Why should you be amazed? They are "bought and paid for."
Q: (T) What did happen to flight 800?
A: This was the result of an experiment gone awry. So was KAL "007" in 1983.
Q: (L) What was the nature of the experiment?
A: Testing of secret impulse guidance system using civilian airliner as an arbitrary "bounce" guidance target. Instead, it became the "homing" target, and a different aircraft became the bouncer. This was because the programmers did not anticipate the lower than expected altitude of the 747. [...] Now, all moving targets create electronic impuses. These can be "read" by the proper extremely high tech equipment. Older radar guided systems are subject to malfunctions in weather conditions that are severe, as one example. Also, the impulse system is an offshoot of the electromagnetic pulse experiments being carried out at Montauk, Brookings and elsewhere as part of the HAARP project! In connection with Pentagon missile tests, HAARP has many interesting tie-ins, not the least of which is your cell phone towers. Now, the homing target can be any moving object. It can be whatever is entered on the computer. It can be a squirrel in a tree, a jogger on the beach, a building, whatever you want. The system looks for any moving target in order to establish recognition to the computer, in order to establish recognition of match pattern of pulse. TWA 800 was flying at the exact same altitude that was supposed to be designated for the "drone" craft. The drone plane was farther out at sea. The "bounce" target was to be any moving object in the air within 400 square miles.

Astronomers hail planetary discovery

Ariel Sharon Warns President Bush - Just try to make peace!

New! June 12, 2002 - There has been a considerable amount of discussion on many net forums about the article published in Pravda claiming: 3-D MAP OF THE EARTH CREATED 120 MILLION YEARS AGO. (for photos go here) The statement was made that "Workers of the Wisconsin Center of Historical Cartography (USA) are stricken: according to the Americans, the 3-D map had a navigation destination, while it could be produced only as a result of an aerospace survey."

We have undertaken to check this story out and have received the following statement from Dr. David Woodward, the History of Cartography Project in Wisconsin:

1. The History of Cartography Project is not the "Centre for Historical Cartography in Wisconsin" cited in the Pravda article.

2. We do not know of any such center in Wisconsin.

3. Nobody in America known to us has seen the original map and we believe that no one who has not seen the original should comment on it.

4. Professor Chuvyrov was in touch with us two years ago about this map, and we said then that we could not comment on the map without seeing it and the evidence for its authenticity.

5. Professor Chuvyrov told us recently that he did not authorize the article appearing in Pravda.

6. Professor Chuvyrov can be reached at ChuvyrovAN@bsu.bashedu.ru or by FAX at [Russia] (3472) 28-62-78

David Woodward Editor,
History of Cartography
550 North Park Street
MADISON WI 53706-1491

Of course, none of this deals with the issue of whether or not the "map" is authentic or not.

New Crop Formations "Generally, my experinece tells me that people who make crop circles are on some ego trip and are quite keen on hingting about new formations to guage our opinions. But there was no sign that any individuals I have spoken to knew about any formations prior to their arrival, which is quite intersting. It is always after the event that they say, 'Oh, yes, I made that one. I made this one.' But when it comes down to the proof and facts which I have learned it is extremely flimsy." [Charles Mallett, Crop Formation Investigator and new Co-Owner with Frances Mallett of the Silent Circle Cafe, Cherhill, Wiltshire, England]

British security sources raise doubts over US claims about 'dirty bomber' Despite claims by the Attorney General, John Ashcroft, that the FBI had disrupted a plan to launch a radioactive attack against Washington, other officials conceded yesterday that there was no evidence that any such plot had progressed beyond the most basic stages. [In short, more evidence of the COINTELPRO operation being perpetrated on the American Public.]

Dirty Bomb Case Goes to Court Attorney Donna Newman said there were no charges against her client and added that the legal community was outraged at his being detained "without time limit, or the right to counsel". [...] President George W Bush said on Tuesday that there was a "full-scale manhunt on" for anyone else believed to be involved in an alleged al-Qaeda plot to detonate a radioactive bomb in the US. [All smoke and mirrors and COINTELPRO in our opinion. Lots of those COINTELPRO folks out there and active nowadays.]

Wildfires Threaten Denver

Floods Ravage China At least 205 people are dead, and hundreds more are missing, in catastrophic floods in north-western China which some local reports describe as the worst in the area for more than a century. [...] China has been plagued by flooding for centuries, but major floods are becoming more and more frequent - one reason is environmental destruction.

Device Detects Cell Phone Bugs

UK plans to extend snooping powers

Fossils point to asteroid causing dinosaurs' demise

Common gene mutation linked to drug addiction

"Punch card" could store one terabit of data

New! June 11, 2002 - Living in Soviet America - "...the FBI is going to be tagging people as terrorists based on what they say online." [...] Ashcroft's chief apologist, the main defender of this draconian legislation – [...] Roger Pilon, of the Cato Institute... has the gall to couch his apologia in the rhetoric of "limited" government. "The first business of government is to protect its citizens from the kind of threats we saw on Sept. 11," he avers – as if spying on American citizens, infiltrating political meetings, and trailing me as I surf the internet would've somehow prevented 9/11. But the problem, as we have seen in the recent revelations, isn't that the authorities failed to collect enough information – but that they failed to act on the information they already had. [...]

[T]he alleged "right" of government to spy on a "public" meeting is prohibited by the First Amendment, which specifically forbids "abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble." But surely monitoring those peaceable assemblies, compiling dossiers on the attendees, and implicitly threatening them with legal consequences, represents a major abridgement of these rights guaranteed by the Constitution. In addition, the blanket surveillance non-guidelines issued by Ashcroft are a grievous violation of the Fourth Amendment, which guarantees "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." The post-9/11 powers seized by the feds throw out the need for "probable cause," in the language of the Amendment, and override the need for specificity...

UK - Government sweeps aside privacy rights - Ministers were last night accused of conducting a systematic campaign to undermine the right to privacy as it emerged that a host of government departments, local councils and quangos are to be given the power to demand the communications records of every British telephone and internet user. [...] Ian Brown, director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research, an internet thinktank, said: "I am appalled at this huge increase in the scope of government snooping. Two years ago, we were deeply concerned that these powers were to be given to the police without any judicial oversight. Now they're handing them out to a practically endless queue of bureaucrats in Whitehall and town halls."

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