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Barbs fly over Homeland
Armey: 'Al Qaeda doesn't have a Senator Daschle'
Dana Bash
CNN
Friday, October 18, 2002 Posted: 9:59 AM EDT (1359 GMT)
Rep. Dick Armey on the Democrats: "I guess the difference is al Qaeda doesn't have a Senate."
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Homeland Security Shuffle: Organization of the proposed department
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Democrats and Republicans in Congress traded sharp barbs Thursday over just who is to blame for their failure to pass legislation creating a new Department of Homeland Security before the November election.
The Senate failed to break a procedural gridlock on the legislation Thursday, making it virtually certain that Congress won't approve the measure before leaving town to hit the campaign trail.
House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, blasted Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, accusing him of putting "the next election ahead of next year's security."
"America sits and wonders why is it that al Qaeda, this rag tag bunch of terrorists scattered all over the globe, can reorganize themselves ... and the United States government cannot reorganize itself," Armey said.
"Well, I guess the difference is al Qaeda doesn't have a Senate. Al Qaeda doesn't have a Senator Daschle that has other focuses. Al Qaeda's got a clear focus," Armey said.
Daschle's spokesperson Ranit Schmelzer called Armey's remarks "unfortunate and inappropriate." Daschle himself accused Republicans of conducting a "nasty brand of politics" by intentionally delaying work on homeland security so they can use the issue in the election.
"They would rather use this as an issue to run scurrilous ads, like the one they were running to compare a war hero like Max Cleland to Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. That's what's going on here," Daschle said.
Sen. Daschle on the Republicans: "They would rather use this as an issue to run scurrilous ads."
Daschle was referring to a Senate campaign in Georgia, where Democratic Sen. Cleland is being challenged by GOP Rep. Saxby Chambliss. The Chambliss campaign has aired an ad hitting Cleland for not supporting President Bush's homeland security proposal, which included images of bin Laden and the Iraqi leader.
The Chambliss campaign has retooled the ad to remove bin Laden and Saddam Hussein but has continued to criticize Cleland for his opposition to Bush's bill. The president himself made that point during a campaign stop in Atlanta on Thursday.
"There's no question in my mind if Saxby Chambliss were in the Senate, I would not have to worry about his leadership or his vote on this important matter," he said.
The House passed its version of the bill in July, but the issue has been stalled in the Senate for weeks. Despite agreement on most of the issues for merging 22 agencies into a homeland security department, the legislation has been hung up over the labor rights of its 170,000 employees.
Democrats say workers in the new department should maintain collective bargaining rights that all federal employees have. But President Bush insists he needs the flexibility to fire, demote or transfer workers for national security reasons, and Republicans say Democrats' allegiance to unions is trumping their desire to pass a bill.
"I'm not going to accept a bill which will tie the hands of this president and future presidents to be able to carry out one of our most solemn duties, which is to protect the homeland," Bush said in Atlanta.
However, lawmakers on both sides of the issue said it was still possible to break the impasse when the Senate returns after the November election.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/10/18/homeland.impasse/index.html
Rick...
As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand."
-Josh Billings
A place to report scum,,,errrrrrrr I mean scams......
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=610
We show you how some cops abuse their data privileges, expose the privacy costs of the proposed national driver license, and trace an email death threat. Plus, see how talking laptops help save lives.
Watch tomorrow at 7 a.m., 10 a.m. and Saturday 10/19 at 2 p.m. Eastern.
By CyberCrime staff
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Email this story
This week's features
Police Database Abuses
Police officers are supposed to protect and serve, but the sad truth is some cops misuse police databases to get dates and more.
ID Cards for All
Will your drivers' license soon include more information about you? Some argue a national driver's license will improve security, but at what cost?
Tracing Digital Death Threats
An email death threat forces a couple to live in fear. Now some say the police had enough digital clues to catch the culprit.
If Laptops Could Talk
New voice-enabled laptops keep cops up-to-date while keeping their eyes on the road. We talk to police officer Jeff Rubenstein, the inventor of this voice-enabling software.
http://www.techtv.com/cybercrime/shownotes/story/0,23008,3387240,00.html
Rick...
As scarce as truth is, the supply has always been in excess of the demand."
-Josh Billings
A place to report scum,,,errrrrrrr I mean scams......
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/board.asp?board_id=610
Electronic Frontier Foundation ACTION ALERT
http://www.eff.org/alerts/20010921_eff_wiretap_alert.html
ALERT: Surveillance Legislation Continues to Threaten Privacy
Act Today to Call for More Careful Consideration and Moderation
(Issued: Friday, September 21, 2001 / Deadline: Monday, September 24, 2001)
Introduction:
San Francisco, California - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urges continued activism against the "Anti-Terrorism Act" (ATA) [a.k.a. "Mobilization Against Terrorism Act" (MATA)], proposed by the US Department of Justice, and related legislation (presently 3 bills), because many provisions of the bills would dramatically alter the civil liberties landscape through unnecessarily broad restrictions on free speech and privacy rights in the United States and abroad. Your urgent action is needed TODAY.
EFF again urges Congress to act with deliberation in approving only measures that are effective in preventing terrorism while protecting the freedoms of Americans.
EFF believes this broad legislation would radically tip the United States system of checks and balances, giving the government unprecedented authority to surveil American citizens with little judicial or other oversight.
Ashcroft's proposed legislation (distributed Sep. 19) comes in the wake of the Senate's hasty passage of the "Combating Terrorism Act" (CTA) on the evening of Sep. 13 with less than 30 minutes of consideration on the Senate floor. On Sep. 20, Rep. Lamar Smith circulated a draft bill very similar to CTA, called the Public Safety and Cyber Security Enhancement Act (PSCSEA)
The ATA/MATA is currently a draft bill, subject to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing and briefing on Mon., Sep. 24. The CTA is presently a Senate-passed amendment to a House appropriations bill. It is expected to be voted on in joint conference committee early next week. The only real pressure point on the CTA is the conference committee; whatever emerges will almost certainly pass both houses near-unanimously. PSCSEA's future is uncertain at this point, as is that of Leahy's (presently unavailble) draft.
What YOU Can Do Now:
Contact your own legislators about the ATA/MATA, the CTA, and the PSCSEA AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Call them, and fax and/or e-mail the EFF letter below today. For best effect, the messages you send should be sent the morning of Mon. Sep. 24 or this weekend if possible. Postal mail will be too slow on this issue. Feel free to use this letter verbatim, or modify it as you wish. Let them know that you do not believe liberty must be sacrified for security. Please be polite and concise, but firm. For information on how to contact your legislators and other government officials, see EFF's "Contacting Congress and Other Policymakers" guide at:
http://www.eff.org/congress.html
and see also the links below.
Contact the conference committee members about the CTA AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. A similar sample letter for this purpose, plus contact information, is provided below.
Join EFF! For membership information see:
http://www.eff.org/support/
Sample Letters:
NEW: Easier committee contacts! All of the committee members' e-mail addresses (other than Hollings who only provides a web form, and several Represenatives who can only be e-mailed through the WriteRep form) are available as a copy-pasteable block of addresses you can simply paste into the "To:" header in your e-mail program to mail them all at once. Acting on this alert should only take a few minutes. Aren't your civil liberties worth that much time?
There are two sample letters below, one to your own legislators, and one to the conference committee members.
Use this sample letter to YOUR legislators or modify it, and send to their Washington fax and e-mail, which you can get this from Project Vote Smart:
http://www.vote-smart.org/vote-smart/data.phtml?dtype=C&style=
or the House:
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.html
and Senate:
http://www.senate.gov/senators/index.cfm
websites. You can also look up your Representative with this form:
Enter your Zip Code and State in the fields below and click on Submit.
ZIP +4 (if required) State Choose OneAlabamaAlaskaAmerican SamoaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDelawareDistrict of ColumbiaFloridaGeorgiaGuamHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaPuerto RicoRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirgin IslandsVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming
Dear Sen./Rep. [Surname]
I write as a constituent to express my gravest concern over aspects of the Congressional response to the tragedies of September 11. While I share your grief and anger in no uncertain terms, I do not believe that sacrificing essential liberties in a vain hope of improving security is good for America or the world. Security can be improved without privacy invasion, and we cannot win an attack on freedom by attacking that freedom ourselves.
I urge you to vote AGAINST H.R. 2500 should it emerge from conference committee with amendment S.A. 1562, the Combating Terrorism Act, attached, and to vote against the forthcoming Mobilization Against Terrorism Act a.k.a. Anti-Terrorism Act, the draft Public Safety and Cyber Security Enhancement Act (PSCSEA), and any similar legislation expanding wiretap powers, online monitoring, warrantless pen register or trap and trace authority, censorship, or restrictions on encryption.
The United States should not take steps toward becoming a police state, or otherwise undermine our own freedom in the name of defending that freedom from terrorist attack, or the terrorists have already won. This is a time for careful consideration, not for passing legislation without debate or careful consideration of the consequences.
I specifically object to S.A. 1562 sections 816, 832, 833, and 834, and any similar measures, such as those proposed by Attorney General Ashcroft and Rep. Lamar Smith, as well as recent calls for measures that would thwart Americans' use of secure encryption. I also object to provisions being passed in response to terrorism but which have nothing to do with terrorism, such as "emergency" wiretaps against simple computer crime incidents and the abuse of grand juries as tools for intelligence agencies.
Sincerely,
[Your name & address]
(Be sure to correct the salutation - use EITHER Sen. or Rep., and use the correct name.)
Use this sample letter below to conference committee members or modify it, and send to all of the following:
Representatives:
Name (State), Phone (202-225-####), Fax (202-22#-####), E-mail
Frank Wolf (VA), 5136, 5-0437, none
Hal Rogers (KY), 4601, 5-0940, talk2hal@mail.house.gov
Jim Kolbe (AZ), 2542, 5-0378, none
Charles Taylor (NC), 6401, none, repcharles.taylor@mail.house.gov
Ralph Regula (OH), 3876, 5-3059, repregula@workinohio.org
Tom Latham (IA), 5476, 5-3301, latham.ia05@mail.house.gov
Dan Miller (FL), 5015, 6-0828, none
David Vitter (LA), 3015, 5-0739, david.vitter@mail.house.gov
JosŽ Serrano (NY), 4361, 5-6001, jserrano@mail.house.gov
Alan Mollohan (WV), 4172, 5-7564, none
Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA), 1766, 6-0350, none
Robert Cramer (AL), 4801, 5-4392, budmail@mail.house.gov
Patrick Kennedy (RI), 4911, 5-3290, patrick.kennedy@mail.house.gov
For Representatives that don't provide a direct e-mail address, use this form ("WriteRep"):
http://www.house.gov/writerep/
It will ask you for state and ZIP. Use VA, 22601 for Wolf; AZ, 85712 for Kolbe; FL, 34236 for Miller; WV, 26003 for Mollohan; and CA, 90013 for Roybal-Allard. On the mail form that follows this page, you should probably put your real city.
Senators:
Name (State), Phone (202-224-####), Fax (202-224-####), E-mail
Robert Byrd (WV), 3954, 228-0002, senator_byrd@byrd.senate.gov
Patrick Leahy (VT), 4242, 3479, senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
Ted Stevens (AK), 3004, 2354, see below Mitch McConnell (KY), 2541, 2499, senator@mcconnell.senate.gov
Ernest Hollings (SC), 6121, 4293, see below
Daniel Inouye (HI), 3934, 6747, senator@inouye.senate.gov
Barbara Mikulski (MD), 4654, 8858, senator@mikulski.senate.gov
Herb Kohl (WI), 5653, 9787, senator_kohl@kohl.senate.gov
Patty Murray (WA), 2621, 0238, senator_murray@murray.senate.gov
Jack Reed (RI), 4642, 4680, jack@reed.senate.gov
Judd Gregg (NH), 3324, 4952, mailbox@gregg.senate.gov
Pete Domenici (NM), 6621, none, senator_domenici@domenici.senate.gov
Kay Hutchison (TX), 5922, 0776, senator@hutchison.senate.gov
Ben Campbell (CO), 5852, 1933, administrator@campbell.senate.gov
Thad Cochran (MS), 5054, 9450, senator@cochran.senate.gov
Sen. Hollings can be e-mailed via the Web at:
http://www.senate.gov/~hollings/webform.html
Sen. Stevens can be e-mailed via the Web at:
http://www.senate.gov/~stevens/webform.html
HTML version with clickable e-mail address hotlinks:
http://www.eff.org/alerts/20010919_eff_wiretap_alert.html#cong
Or just paste this block of addresses into your e-mail program's "To:" line:
talk2hal@mail.house.gov, repcharles.taylor@mail.house.gov, repregula@workinohio.org, latham.ia05@mail.house.gov, david.vitter@mail.house.gov, jserrano@mail.house.gov, budmail@mail.house.gov, patrick.kennedy@mail.house.gov, senator_byrd@byrd.senate.gov, senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov, senator@mcconnell.senate.gov, senator@inouye.senate.gov, senator@mikulski.senate.gov, senator_kohl@kohl.senate.gov, senator_murray@murray.senate.gov, jack@reed.senate.gov, mailbox@gregg.senate.gov, senator_domenici@domenici.senate.gov, senator@hutchison.senate.gov, administrator@campbell.senate.gov, senator@cochran.senate.gov
Then visit WriteRep (as mentioned above) to send to the Representatives with no public e-mail address, and Hollings's and Stevens's Web forms to mail them. If you have time send faxes and make phone calls too. This is potentially one of the most dangerous times for privacy in American history.
Dear H.R. 2500 Conference Committee Member:
I write to express my gravest concern over aspects of the Congressional response to the tragedies of September 11. While I share your grief and anger in no uncertain terms, I do not believe that sacrificing essential liberties in a vain hope of improving security is good for America or the world. Security can be improved without privacy invasion, and we cannot win an attack on freedom by attacking that freedom ourselves.
I specifically object to H.R. 2500 amendment S.A. 1562, the Combating Terrorism Act, sections 816, 832, 833, and 834, and any similar measures, such as the Mobilization Against Terrorism Act a.k.a. Anti-Terrorism Act proposed by Attorney General Ashcroft, and the draft Public Safety and Cyber Security Enhancement Act (PSCSEA), as well as recent calls for measures that would thwart Americans' use of secure encryption. I also object to provisions being passed in response to terrorism but which have nothing to do with terrorism, such as "emergency" wiretaps against simple computer crime incidents and the abuse of grand juries as tools for intelligence agencies.
I urge you to vote AGAINST incorporating the above-mentioned sections of S.A. 1562 into the final version of H.R. 2500, and to vote against any similar amendments expanding wiretap powers, online monitoring, warrantless pen register or trap and trace authority, censorship, or restrictions on encryption. This matter above all should be subject to careful and deliberate scrutiny in Congressional hearings, not voted on by a fraction of Congress in haste.
The United States should not take steps toward becoming a police state, or otherwise undermine our own freedom in the name of defending that freedom from terrorist attack, or the terrorists have already won. This is a time for careful consideration, not for passing legislation without debate or careful consideration of the consequences.
Sincerely,
[Your name & address]
(Be sure to correct the salutation - use EITHER Sen. or Rep., and use the correct name.) If one of the conference committee members if your Rep. or Sen., mention that you are a constituent, as in the first letter.)
Non-US Activists
Non-US readers can probably have little impact on the US Congress's votes on these matters, and could even affect them negatively. Your best course of action is to contact your own legislators/parliamentarians and urge them to avoid similar policies in your own country.
Privacy Campaign:
This drive to contact your legislators about unprecedented wiretap power expansion is part of a larger campaign to highlight how extensively companies and governmental agencies subject us to surveillance and share and use personal information online & offline, and what you can do about it.
Check the EFF Privacy Now! Campaign website regularly for additional alerts and news:
http://www.eff.org/privnow/
Background:
Attorney General John Ashcroft distributed the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act/Mobilization Against Terrorism Act to members of Congress after Monday's press conference at which he indicated that, among other measures, he would ask Congress to expand the ability of law enforcement officers to perform wiretaps in response to the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. Ashcroft asked Congress to pass anti-terrorism legislation including "expanded electronic surveillance" by the end of this week. The PSCSEA bill appears to be a "backup plan" for S.A. 1562; if it does not pass as part of H.R. 2500, it can be reintroduced separately in slightly different form as a new bill. Sen. Patrick Leahy is also expected to introduce a more moderate proposal sometime early next week.
One particularly egregious section of the DOJ's analysis of its proposed legislation (ATA/MATA) says that "United States prosecutors may use against American citizens information collected by a foreign government even if the collection would have violated the Fourth Amendment."
"Operating from abroad, foreign governments will do the dirty work of spying on the communications of Americans worldwide. US protections against unreasonable search and seizure won't matter," commented EFF Senior Staff Attorney Lee Tien.
Additional provisions of the proposed Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA)/Mobilization Against Terrorism Act (MATA) (whatever the final name will be) include measures which:
make it possible to obtain e-mail message header information and Internet user web browsing patterns without a wiretap order;
eviscerate controls on roving wiretaps;
permit law enforcement to disclose information obtained through wiretaps to any employee of the Executive branch;
reduce restrictions on domestic investigations under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA);
permit grand juries to provide information to the US intelligence community;
permit the President to designate any "foreign-directed individual, group, or entity," including any United States citizen or organization, as a target for FISA surveillance;
prevent people from even talking about terrorist acts;
establish a DNA database for every person convicted of any felony or certain sex offenses, almost all of which are entirely unrelated to terrorism;
EFF Executive Director Shari Steele emphasized, "While it is obviously of vital national importance to respond effectively to terrorism, this bill recalls the McCarthy era in the power it would give the government to scrutinize the private lives of American citizens."
During the Congressional session considering the Combating Terrorism Act, which was introduced as amendment S.A. 1562 to an omnibus appropriations bill, H.R. 2500, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) expressed concern that he was asked to vote so rapidly on such important legislation within minutes of receiving it and without conducting hearings in the Intelligence, Armed Services and Judiciary committees:
Maybe the Senate wants to just go ahead and adopt new abilities to wiretap our citizens. Maybe they want to adopt new abilities to go into people's computers. Maybe that will make us feel safer. Maybe. And maybe what the terrorists have done made us a little bit less safe. Maybe they have increased Big Brother in this country.
If that is what the Senate wants, we can vote for it. But do we really show respect to the American people by slapping something together, something that nobody on the floor can explain, and say we are changing the duties of the Attorney General, the Director of the CIA, the U.S. attorneys, we are going to change your rights as Americans, your rights to privacy? We are going to do it with no hearings, no debate. We are going to do it with numbers on a page that nobody can understand.
EFF shares Senator Leahy's concerns in this time of national crisis. EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn commented, "These proposals significantly impact the civil liberties of Americans. We urge legislators to please slow down and consider the long-term consequences of your votes."
"I believe that deep in their souls, Americans understand that the reason this country is so great--is so worth defending--is because it is free," explained EFF Executive Director Shari Steele. "We should be very careful to make sure that any legislation that passes is truly needed to address national security concerns."
During World War I, the US Congress hastily passed the Espionage Act which was notorious for decreasing freedoms without improving the security of the American public, under which Congress granted the Postmaster General (who delegated it to 55,000 local postmasters) the authority to read any mail and remove any material that might "embarrass" the government in conducting the war effort.
For bill texts and analyses, see the EFF Surveillance Archive:
http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Surveillance/
Senator Leahy's testimony on the Combating Terrorism Act:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2001/s091301.html
Why "backdoor" encryption requirements reduce security:
http://www.crypto.com/papers/escrowrisks98.pdf
About EFF:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression, privacy, and openness in the information society. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most linked-to Web sites in the world:
http://www.eff.org
Contact:
Shari Steele, EFF Executive Director
ssteele@eff.org
+1 415-436-9333 x103
Lee Tien, EFF Senior First Amendment Attorney
tien@eff.org
+1 415-436-9333 x102
Ron
Rick
Good information, both posts, thanks. Wonder how the Genome conference got in there? Will check them out.
Have Fun
Ergo Sum
[8] Upcoming Conferences and Events
=======================================================================
The Biometric Consortium Conference (BC2002). Biometric Consortium.
September 23-25, 2002. Arlington, VA. For more information:
http://www.nist.gov/bc2002/
Digital Pearl Harbor: How Real is the Cybersecurity Threat, and Who's
Responsible Anyway? Cato Institute. September 24, 2002. Washington,
DC. For more information: http://www.cato.org/events/020924pf.html
Privacy2002: Information, Security & New Global Realities. Technology
Policy Group. September 24-26, 2002. Cleveland, OH. For more
information: http://www.privacy2000.org/privacy2002/
Privacy Management Summit. Privastaff. September 25, 2002. San Jose,
CA. For more information: http://www.privastaff.com/psevents.html
Commercialization of Human Genomics: Consequences for Science and
Humanity. Duke University Center for Genome Ethics, Law, and Policy.
September 27-28, 2002. Durham, NC. For more information:
http://www.law.duke.edu/conference/gelp/
Privacy in Ubicomp 2002: Workshop on Socially-informed Design of
Privacy-enhancing Solutions in Ubiquitous Computing. Held as part of
UBICOMP 2002. September 29, 2002. Goeteborg, Sweden. For more
information: http://guir.berkeley.edu/privacyworkshop2002/
Shrinking World, Expanding Net. Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility (CPSR). October 5, 2002. Cambridge, MA. For more
information: http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/annmtg02/
Bridging the Digital Divide: Challenge and Opportunities. 3rd World
Summit on Internet and Multimedia. October 8-11, 2002. Montreux,
Switzerland. For more information: http://www.internetworldsummit.org/
2002 WSEAS International Conference on Information Security (ICIS
'02). World Scientific and Engineering Academy and Society. October
14-17, 2002. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. For more information:
http://www.wseas.org/conferences/2002/brazil/icis/
Privacy & Data Security Academy & Expo. International Association of
Privacy Officers (IAPO). October 16-18, 2002. Chicago, IL. For more
information: http://www.privacyassociation.org/html/conferences.html
Privacy Trends: Complying With New Demands. Riley Information Services
Inc. and the Commonwealth Centre for Electronic Governance. October
22, 2002. Ottawa, Canada. For more information:
http://www.rileyis.com/seminars/
Symposium on Privacy and Security (SPS). Stiftung für Datenschutz und
Informationssicherheit (SDI), Basel/Switzerland. October 30-31, 2002.
Zurich, Switzerland. For more information:
http://www.privacy-security.ch/
3rd Annual Privacy and Security Workshop: Privacy & Security: Totally
Committed. Centre for Applied Cryptographic Research, University of
Waterloo and the Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario.
University of Toronto. November 7-8, 2002. Toronto, Canada. For more
information: http://www.epic.org/redirect/cacr.html
First Hawaii Biometrics Conference. Windward Community College,
Pacific Center for Advanced Technology Training (PCATT). November
10-13, 2002. Waikiki, HI. For more information:
http://biometrics.wcc.hawaii.edu/
Transformations in Politics, Culture and Society. Inter-
Disciplinary.Net. December 6-8, 2002. Brussels, Belgium. For more
information: http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/tpcs1.htm
18th Annual Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC):
Practical Solutions to Real Security Problems. Applied Computer
Security Associates. December 9-13, 2002. Las Vegas, NV. For more
information: http://www.acsac.org/
Third Annual Privacy Summit. International Association of Privacy
Officers. February 26-28, 2003. Washington, DC. For more information:
http://www.privacyassociation.org/html/conferences.html
CFP2003: 13th Annual Conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy.
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). April 1-4, 2003. New York,
NY. For more information: http://www.cfp.org/
Rick...
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."
-W. Edwards Deming
1] Groups Urge Secret Appeals Court to Reject Expanded Spying Powers
=======================================================================
EPIC today joined with a coalition of civil liberties groups to urge a
secret appeals court to reject a government bid for broadly expanded
powers to conduct "national security" surveillance on U.S. citizens.
In a "friend of the court" brief filed with the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court of Review (FISCR), the groups said that expanding
such powers would jeopardize fundamental constitutional interests,
"including the First Amendment right to engage in lawful public
dissent, and the warrant, notice, and judicial review rights
guaranteed by the Fourth and Fifth Amendments."
At issue in the case is whether new Justice Department surveillance
rules seeking to use looser foreign intelligence standards to conduct
criminal investigations in the United States are constitutional and
permissible under the USA PATRIOT Act adopted by Congress after the
September 11 terrorist attacks. The civil liberties brief urges the
FISCR to uphold a decision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court, which in May unanimously rejected the government's bid for
expanded powers. In its decision, the intelligence court documented
abuses of "national security" warrants by both the Bush and Clinton
Administrations, including serious errors in approximately 75
applications for foreign intelligence surveillance (see EPIC Alert
9.16).
At a hearing last week, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
which has oversight of the Justice Department, also condemned the
government's position. "We need to do our work well and ensure that
domestic surveillance is aimed at true national security targets and
does not simply serve as an excuse to violate the Constitutional
rights of our own citizens," said Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy
(D-VT). "The abuses of the past are far too fresh simply to surrender
to the executive branch unfettered discretion to determine the scope
of these changes."
After the lower court's decision was made public in late August, the
civil liberties groups notified the FISCR that they intended to file a
brief. The groups had hoped to submit their brief before the appeals
court met to review the case, but the secret court met on September 9
and only the government was allowed to present arguments. EPIC joined
the American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Democracy and
Technology, Center for National Security Studies, Electronic Frontier
Foundation, and the Open Society Institute in submitting today's
brief.
The civil liberties amicus brief is available at:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/fisa/FISCR_amicus_brief.pdf
Background information on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act,
including the current controversy, is available at:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/fisa/
The text of the USA PATRIOT ACT is available at:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/hr3162.html
From an email.........................
Rick...
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."
-W. Edwards Deming
sarals.
From the Congressioal record.
HON. CORRINE BROWN of florida in the house of representatives Tuesday, March 3, 1998
http://frwebgate5.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=55707331643+18+0+0&WAISaction=re...
Only one of 14 members of the MCI board of directors is not of European American descent, and WorldCom's board of directors is the only major telecommunications company in the U.S. whose board of directors is made up of only white men, with no race or gender diversity.
Maybe diversity is a good thing!!
Have Fun
Ergo Sum
Ergo Sum,
Thanks for sharing Gertrude Bell with me! Hers is the life I dreamed of having when I was young... how wonderful she got to live it so fully.
Sorry to hear about your father. It's such a shame that smoking takes away so many of our loved ones.
Sara
Sprint PCS... NOT free and NOT clear!
Sarals
Well this doesn't have anything to do with witches but a tripped across this woman today. A little background. Amazing women.
Renowned as the Uncrowned Queen of Iraq, Gertrude Bell was once the most powerful woman in the British Empire
http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues98/apr98/bell.html
Her diary is here
http://www.gerty.ncl.ac.uk/home/index.htm
Have fun
Ergo Sum
PS My father died of cancer. He told me he started smoking at the age of 12. I started smoking at the age of 16. "Teach your children well."
Yeah I saw that on the tube a little bit ago, Their lawyer,haaaaaaaa go figure, just laughed out loud and shuck it off like nothing.
Rick...
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."
-W. Edwards Deming
AVIE, Fla., Sept. 15 (AP) — Insisting that he and his friends harbored no resentment, one of the three Muslim medical students detained in a terror scare on a Florida highway said today that the situation had been a misunderstanding.
The student, Kambiz Butt, 25, said the men simply wanted to clear their names and be allowed to continue their education in the United States.
"We're medical students; we are not terrorists," said Mr. Butt, flanked at a news conference by the other students, Ayman Gheith, 27, and Omar Choudhary, 23. "Our concern in life is to become doctors. We want to help people. We do not want to hurt."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/16/national/16SCAR.html
Have Fun
Ergo Sum
Sweep the world now!!!!!!!!!!!!!Police Raid Suspected Al-Qaida Hide-Out, Kill and Capture Militants in Three-Hour Gunbattle
By Afzal Nadeem Associated Press Writer
Published: Sep 11, 2002
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - Heavily armed police wearing body armor stormed a suspected al-Qaida hide-out Wednesday, killing two gunmen and capturing at least five others in a three-hour shooting battle, police said. One child was killed in the cross fire.
Five officers - three policemen and two intelligence agents - were wounded, two of them critically, police said. The federal Interior Ministry in Islamabad said all the gunmen were foreigners but did not say from what country. A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the gunmen were Arabs and Afghans.
A police official said the surviving gunmen could not speak Urdu, the Pakistani national language. He said police found a laptop and "literature" in the apartment and they suspected the gunmen were linked to al-Qaida. Many al-Qaida fugitives are believed to have taken refuge in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, after the collapse of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
The intelligence officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said police raided the apartment, located in a five-story building in an upscale neighborhood, after receiving a tip that "suspicious people were living there."
Police chief Kamal Shah said two of the gunmen were arrested inside the apartment. Others fled to the roof, where they battled police for three hours before they were killed or captured.
The gunmen were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, submachine guns and grenades - a heavier arsenal than is usually carried by ordinary Karachi criminals.
But Shah refused to say anything about their identity. "I'm not saying that they were ordinary criminals, but I have to take stock of the situation," he told reporters shortly after the siege ended.
The intelligence official at the scene said one of the gunmen scrawled "There is no God but Allah" in Arabic in his own blood on the tiles of the kitchen wall. Police said a 4-year-old girl was killed in the exchange of fire.
While the shooting was still under way, police brought one woman and her young child, both in tears, to safety. "I don't know how many more are inside," she told an Associated Press reporter as she was quickly led away.
As the gunmen held out on the roof, police commandos in body armor and helmets entered the building and slowly worked their way to the upper floors. Police, firing on the gunmen from the roofs of neighboring buildings, called on them to surrender. The gunmen responded with chants of "Allahu Akbar," or God is Great.
Within minutes, a burly, curly haired man was brought out with his entire face covered by a blindfold. Hundreds of policemen fired off volleys of gunfire to celebrate his capture. The final gunman was captured shortly afterward.
Shops in the area slammed down their shutters, and residents locked their doors and windows. Streets all around the neighborhood were deserted.
Pakistan police have been on alert for terrorist activity for the Sept. 11 anniversary, but a criminal motive also could be behind the incident.
Karachi is a hotbed of sectarian violence, crime and terrorism against foreign targets. Last weekend, Yosri Fouda, a correspondent for the satellite station Al-Jazeera said he interviewed two plotters of the Sept. 11 attacks - Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh - at a secret location in Karachi in June.
In January, Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl was kidnapped here. His body was found in May. Four Islamic militants were convicted in July, and one of them, British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, was sentenced the death. The others received life sentences.
A car bomb in May killed 11 French engineers and three other people, including the suicide attacker. Twelve Pakistanis were killed in June when a car bomb exploded outside the U.S. Consulate here.
AP-ES-09-11-02 0814EDT
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAZ0G87Z5D.html
Rick...
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."
-W. Edwards Deming
God bless, this nation of ours and world peace, free of folks who are determined to harm us and others.........
Rick...
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."
-W. Edwards Deming
Ergo Sum,
I'll search around a little myself, but if you find something, I'd appreciate the link. Thanks.
Sara
Sprint PCS... NOT free and NOT clear!
Sarals
"works on"
She studies accounts of women being burned. Mostly in "western" culture these are women who are considered "witches" But many of the circumstances surrounding these events are very similar. Religious furor, social stress etc.
Most of her "work" is published in Academic journals. I'll see if I can find a link to some.
Have Fun
Ergo Sum
I have a friend here who works on the burnings of women, mostly in the renaissance. She is from India and relates these burnings to those.
I would be interested in finding out more about the connection with something in the renaissance. When you say she "works on" them, what do you mean? I would love to get involved to eliminate this kind of thing against women.
[edit]Bezerkley does have great food and is an fun town... just a little too much to the left sometimes for my taste.
Sara
Sprint PCS... NOT free and NOT clear!
LOL, no problem. How have you been?
Muell
Sarals
Use to live in Bezerkely. It's a great place. I know they get carried away sometimes. Thinking globally and acting locally can be very hard you know. But it makes for some really good cuisine. I recently heard the new thing is commune grown coffee.
Thought you might like this. I have a friend here who works on the burnings of women, mostly in the renaissance. She is from India and relates these burnings to those.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/DI07Df05.html
NEW DELHI - India’s split personality was on full display this week. While the reverberations of India Fashion Week, with beautiful Indian girls in their scanty dresses walking down the ramp, have still not died down, one could see on television channels throughout Thursday hundreds of young girls taking part in a procession glorifying the age-old practice of sati (or suttee), in which Hindu widows burn themselves on their husband’s pyre. It was a breathtaking revival of a practice banned by the British Governor-General Lord William Bentinck in 1829.
Have Fun
Ergo Sum
Sorry Muell
Sometimes my intolerance of intolerance is intolerable. I know.
Have Fun
Ergo Sum
Howdy ergo sum, I believe the conversation was about the Al-Quida, and that was my intended target.
Muell
Who are "They"
I have been down this road before.
Are we back to killing 711 workers again?
What is next ovens?
Unfortunately, I totally agree, it's time we showed them who they are messing with! I seriously doubt they have the collective intelligence to realize what they have done!
Muell
Eliminate every dang one of them NOW,,,,,,If we don't next time you go for gas at an AMPN ,7-11 or rent a room at a travel lodge, It might be your last,,,Don't trust a one of them,All it will take is an email or phone call, and someones throat will be cut,IMHO,,,,,,,DO IT NOWWWWWWWWW
Rick...
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."
-W. Edwards Deming
New al-Qaida training tape shows another side of terror Captured video reveals plans for home break-ins, killing police, drive-bys, golf course assassinations!
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=28819
Muell
2] Secret Court Chastises DOJ & FBI on Surveillance Requests
=======================================================================
An extraordinary court ruling made public on August 22 casts serious
doubt on the veracity and accuracy of claims made by the Justice
Department and the FBI in support of requests for approval of national
security and anti-terrorism surveillance. The previously secret
decision was issued on May 17 by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court (FISC), a special panel of federal judges that oversees
implementation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
The court found that DOJ and FBI officials had submitted erroneous
information in more than 75 applications for search warrants and
wiretaps and had improperly shared intelligence information with
agents and prosecutors handling criminal cases on at least four
occasions. The "misstatements and omissions of material facts" have
been so pervasive that in November 2000, the FISC held what it
described as "a special meeting to consider the troubling number of
inaccurate FBI affidavits in so many FISA applications."
As a result of these problems, the court refused to give DOJ the broad
new surveillance powers it sought to employ after the September 11
terrorist attacks. Specifically, the FISC ruled that new procedures
proposed by Attorney General Ashcroft earlier this year would have
given DOJ prosecutors too much control over national security
investigations and would have allowed the government to improperly use
intelligence information for criminal cases, without the requisite
showing of "probable cause." The court noted that it was rejecting
the new DOJ procedures "to protect the privacy of Americans in these
highly intrusive surveillances and searches."
The government has appealed the FISC decision to the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review, an appellate body created
by FISA that has never before convened in the 23 years since the FISC
began functioning. The government brief argues that the FISC failed
to properly apply changes to FISA that were contained in the USA
PATRIOT Act, which Congress enacted in the wake of the September 11
attacks.
One day before the disclosure of the FISC decision, EPIC, joined by
the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Booksellers
Foundation for Free Expression, submitted a Freedom of Information Act
request to DOJ seeking access to information about the pervasiveness
of domestic spying under the provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act. The
FOIA request is similar to a series of questions submitted to DOJ in
July by House Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) and
ranking member John Conyers (D-MI). Following the government's
failure to respond to most of those questions, Rep. Sensenbrenner has
said that he may take the unusual step of issuing a subpoena to
Attorney General Ashcroft if satisfactory answers are not forthcoming
by this week.
The FISC's May 2002 Memorandum Opinion and Order are available at:
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/fisc051702.html
The Justice Department's appeal is available at:
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/082102appeal.html
The text of the USA PATRIOT ACT is available at:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/hr3162.html
Rick...
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."
-W. Edwards Deming
IMHO,This is a problem with society today,,,,,,,, Tooooo many secrets.............South Carolina Judges Seek to Ban Secret Settlements
By ADAM LIPTAK
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/02/national/02JUDG.html?todaysheadlines
outh Carolina's 10 active federal trial judges have unanimously voted to ban secret legal settlements, saying such agreements have made the courts complicit in hiding the truth about hazardous products, inept doctors and sexually abusive priests.
"Here is a rare opportunity for our court to do the right thing," Chief Judge Joseph F. Anderson Jr. of United States District Court wrote to his colleagues, "and take the lead nationally in a time when the Arthur Andersen/Enron/Catholic priest controversies are undermining public confidence in our institutions and causing a growing suspicion of things that are kept secret by public bodies."
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If the court formally adopts the rule, after a public comment period that ends Sept. 30, it will be the strictest ban on secrecy in settlements in the federal courts. Mary Squiers, who tracks individual federal courts' rules for the United States Judicial Conference, said only Michigan had a similar rule, which unseals secret settlements after two years. The conference is the administrative body for federal courts.
Judge Anderson said the new rule might save lives.
"Some of the early Firestone tire cases were settled with court-ordered secrecy agreements that kept the Firestone tire problem from coming to light until many years later," he wrote. "Arguably, some lives were lost because judges signed secrecy agreements regarding Firestone tire problems."
Lawyers say the proposal, which was widely discussed at the American Bar Association's conference in Washington last month, is likely to be influential in other federal courts and in state courts, which often follow federal practice in procedural matters. In South Carolina, the state's chief justice has expressed great interest in the proposal.
The Catholic Church scandals are one reason for a renewed interest in the topic of secrecy in the courts, legal experts say.
"All reactions are going to be affected by the bureaucratic cover-your-cassock responses of the church hierarchy," said Edward H. Cooper, a law professor at the University of Michigan.
But some legal experts and industry groups say the blanket rule is unwise.
"The judges of South Carolina, God bless them, have not evaluated the costs of what they are proposing," said Arthur Miller, a law professor at Harvard and an expert in civil procedure. He said the ban on secret settlements would discourage people from filing suits and settling them, and threaten personal privacy and trade secrets.
Joyce E. Kraeger, a staff lawyer at the Alliance of American Insurers, said the current system, in which judges have discretion to approve sealed settlements or not, worked fine. "There shouldn't be a one-size-fits-all approach," Ms. Kraeger said.
Jeffrey A. Newman, a lawyer in Massachusetts who represents people who say they were abused by Catholic priests, praised the South Carolina proposal. Mr. Newman said he regretted having participated in secret settlements in some early abuse cases. "It was a terrible mistake," he said, "and I think people were harmed by it."
Mr. Newman said a rule banning secret settlements, combined with the Internet, would create a powerful tool for lawyers seeking information on patterns of wrongful conduct.
The impact of such a ban could be limited, however, if adopted only by federal courts. Most personal injury and product liability cases, and almost all claims of sexual abuse by clergy, are litigated in state courts.
Several states have laws and rules that limit secret settlements, typically in cases involving public safety. Florida, for instance, forbids court orders that have the effect of "concealing a public hazard."
Experts say many of those limits are difficult to enforce, particularly when every party to a case is urging the judge to approve a settlement. Indeed, Judge Anderson's colleagues rejected his proposal, which was limited to matters of public health and safety, in favor of a blanket ban.
The federal proposal in South Carolina has caught the attention of Jean Toal, the chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court. Chief Justice Toal said that she would await the formal adoption of the rule before making her own proposal, but that the issue was important and timely.
"I'm very intrigued about this," she said, noting that some of her interest arose from "recent claims involving pedophilia and sealed cases." Judge Anderson and Chief Justice Toal noted that a Columbia, S.C., newspaper, The State, had spurred their interest in the issue by publishing a series of articles on secret settlements by doctors repeatedly accused of medical malpractice.
Even under the South Carolina proposal, the settlement amount and the requirement that parties keep quiet could be placed in a private contract not filed with the court. If the contract were violated, a new lawsuit would be required to seek redress. A court-approved settlement, on the other hand, can be enforced by returning to the original judge for a contempt order.
"If they don't want the might and majesty of the court system to enforce their settlement, that's one thing," Chief Justice Toal said. "Sealing the economic terms of the settlement is only one part of it. We're often talking about sealing the entire public record of the case."
Opponents of the proposal argue that secrecy encourages settlements, which they say are desirable given limited court resources.
Judge Anderson told his colleagues that their court, at least, had available capacity. He wrote that the court had disposed of 3,856 civil cases in the previous 12 months, which included only 35 cases tried to a verdict.
"If the rule change I propose were enacted and it did result in two or three more jury trials per judge per year (which is far from certain)," Judge Anderson wrote, "I think we could handle the increased workload with little problem."
Robert A. Clifford, a Chicago lawyer who typically represents plaintiffs, scoffed at the notion that defendants would not settle without secrecy provisions, saying the alternative to a public settlement was a far more public trial.
"The undeniable fact is that the reason they want secrecy is so victim No. 2 does not find out what victim No. 1 got," Mr. Clifford said.
Ms. Kraeger, of the insurers alliance, did not dispute that. "Making that information widely known could have the effect of driving up litigation costs," she said.
Professor Miller emphasized that plaintiffs might not want to have their new wealth made public.
"There is a right not to enable every neighbor and business associate to know what you got," he said. "Would you want to receive calls from telemarketers who discover that you just got $1 million?"
In a forthcoming article in The Hofstra Law Review prompted by settlements in sexual abuse cases involving clergy, Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University, argues that confidentiality provisions that forbid victims to talk about their experiences amount to obstruction of justice and violate ethical rules governing lawyers.
Professor Gillers, though, would exclude settlement amounts, trade secrets and private information from any requirement that settlements be made public.
Judge Anderson was most concerned with the selling of secrecy as a commodity, he said in an interview. He recalled being told by a plaintiff's lawyer that the lawyer had obtained additional money for his client in exchange for the promise of secrecy.
"That's what really lit my fuse," the judge said. "It meant that secrecy was something bought and sold right under a judge's nose."
Rick...
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."
-W. Edwards Deming
Always a few bad apples in the bunch sarals........
Rick...
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."
-W. Edwards Deming
Berkeley, California bans U.S. Flags from being displayed on city fire trucks because they didn't want to offend anyone in the community.
Bezerkly city council is wacko... even for California. They are the extreme of the extreme. Didn't want you all to think it represents all of CA.
Sara
Sprint PCS... NOT free and NOT clear!
Email I received today.....Take what you like , and leave the rest.......Subject: Fw: Whiners (fwd)
TO WHOMSOEVER! I DON'T KNOW WHO WROTE THIS, BUT THEY DESERVE AN AWARD!
I have to say I am a bit tired of tip toeing around a few peoples
feelings.
God is God no matter what translation you use, so lets quit trying to be
politically correct and just stick to the facts...
If you don't like our flag, our National Anthem, our Pledge Of
Allegiance, our capitalism, if you object to God in our schools, or any
display of Christianity then get a one-way ticket where others think as
you do.
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma School officials remove "God Bless America" signs
from schools in fear that someone might be offended.
Channel 12 News in Long Island, New York, orders flags removed from the
newsroom and red, white, and blue ribbons removed from the lapels of
reporters. Why? Management did not want to appear biased and felt that
our nations flag might give the appearance that "they lean one way or
another".
Berkeley, California bans U.S. Flags from being displayed on city fire
trucks because they didn't want to offend anyone in the community.
In an "act of tolerance" the head of the public library at Florida Gulf
Coast University ordered all "Proud to be an American" signs removed so
as to not offend international students.
I, for one, am quite disturbed by these actions of so-called American
citizens; and I am tired of so-called Americans worrying about whether
or not we are offending some individual or their culture.
Since the terrorist attacks on September
11, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of
Americans.
However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled in New York and
Washington D.C. when the "politically correct" crowd began complaining
about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others.
I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who
is seeking a better life by coming to America. In fact, our country's
population is almost entirely comprised of descendants of immigrants;
however, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our
country, and apparently some native Americans, need to understand.
First of all, it is not our responsibility to continually try not to
offend you in any way.
This idea of America being a multi-cultural community has served only to
dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As Americans, we have
our own culture, our own society, our own language, an our own
lifestyle. This culture, called the "American Way" has been developed
over centuries of struggles, trials, and victories by millions of men
and women who have sought freedom. Our forefathers fought, bled, and
died at places such as Bunker Hill, Antietam, San Juan, Iwo Jima,
Normandy, Korea, Vietnam.
We speak English, not Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or
any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society
please learn our language!
"In God We Trust" is our national motto. This is not some off-the-wall,
Christian, Right Wing, political slogan. It is our national motto. It is
engraved in stone in the House of Representatives in our Capitol and it
is printed on our currency.
We adopted this motto because Christian men and women, on Christian
principles, founded this nation; and
this is clearly documented throughout our history. If it is
appropriate for
our motto to be inscribed in the halls of our highest level of
Government, then it is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls
of our schools. God is in our pledge, our National Anthem, nearly every
patriotic song, and in our founding documents. We honor His birth,
death, and resurrection as holidays, and we turn to Him in prayer in
times of crisis. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another
part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture
and we are proud to have Him.
We are proud of our heritage and those who have so honorably defended
our
freedoms. We celebrate Independence Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day,
and Flag Day. We have parades, picnics, and barbecues where we proudly
wave our flag. As an American, I have the right to wave my flag,
sing my national anthem, quote my national motto, and cite my pledge
whenever and wherever I choose.
If the Stars and Stripes offend you, or you don't like Uncle Sam, then
you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet.
The American culture is our way of life, our heritage, and we are proud
of it. We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and
we really don't care how you did things where you came from.
We are Americans, like it or not, this is our country, our land, and our
lifestyle.
Our First Amendment gives every citizen the right to express his opinion
about our government, culture, or society, and we
will allow you every
opportunity to do so. But once you are done complaining, whining,
and griping about our flag, our pledge, our national motto, or our way
of life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great
American freedom, the right to leave.
If you agree, pass this onto other Americans!! It is time to take a
stand.
Rick...
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."
-W. Edwards Deming
Hey Muell
Check this out,
http://www.worldanthem.org./
you can read about it here.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/31/arts/music/31ANTH.html?8hpib
Just thought it was nice.
Have fun
Ergo Sum
That is a totally awesome idea ergo sum, great thinking!
Muell
Matt
I am not a religious person by any means but I am into moments of silence. Nothing I can think of is more impressive than seeing people in their everyday lives, working or shopping or whatever stop all at the same time and look at each other with an understanding that this moment must be noticed.
Just my 2 cents
Have fun
Ergo Sum
ps Wonder if their is a way you could freeze the site say at just the moment of the collapse say for just 60 seconds. you could tell them all in advance.
My first thought is we don't need another 'day off' holiday in September, we need it in October or the first of August! Another summer time holiday wouldn't hurt a thing! When it comes to remembering why the holiday was created in the first place. All I can say is people have short memories and IMO are pretty much self centered about such events. How can they spend the time for their own pleasure or benefit?
This last summer there was war memorial built and dedicated in my home town for all wars veterans. While at the ceremony I was asked by a young woman (guessing 14 - 16) what a veteran was. The question stopped me in my tracks and I had to think how best to answer her. Don't remember my exact answer, but it went something like this, a veteran is a person who fights in a war for American interests. The girl was a little backward and the conversation stopped there.
Muell
What do you think about making Sept 11 an "off day" for work?
I have mixed views. I think it's important to stop and remember all that went on, but making something that tragic a sort of holiday, will turn out to be nothing more in a few years than just another day the government gets off and kids get out of school with no real understanding of why.
I think a lot of the days the government and schools take off are complete jokes.
Then again, maybe it won't become a "holiday/day off" kind of thing. I just read that somewhere the other day.
I have heard everything now,,,,,,Former Philadelphia Television News Anchor Claims He Was Fired for Being White
By Maryclaire Dale Associated Press Writer
Published: Aug 28, 2002
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A former television news anchor has filed a race discrimination claim against the station he says fired him because he is white.
Richard J. Noonan, 40, alleges that station managers discussed concerns that the newscast looked "lily white" before he was dismissed in February.
"All I can say Rich is that race is an issue in this day and age, you know that as well as I do," WTXF-TV general manager Roger LaMay allegedly told Noonan in October, according to the 12-page claim filed last month with the state Human Relations Commission.
Noonan, who had worked at the station since 1990 and had been a 10 p.m. anchor since 1994, was replaced by Dave Huddleston, 38, who is black.
The claim seeks more than $300,000 in compensatory and other damages.
The station denied the charges.
"While we regret that Rich has turned his disappointment at not having his contract renewed into a discrimination complaint, filled with false allegations, Fox 29 does not believe that the press is an appropriate forum to respond to Rich's allegations," the station said in a statement. LaMay did not return telephone messages left Wednesday seeking comment.
Noonan said Wednesday that "the news business moves people around based on race so freely that those of us who work in it just assume that's the way it's done, and it's against the law." He has started a company that makes corporate videos.
AP-ES-08-28-02 1934EDT
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAJNZCVF5D.html
Rick...
It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory."
-W. Edwards Deming
Good Morning ergo sum,
LOL, trying to ring my bell this morning huh?? I still think we should hang the judge for ever allowing that decision! My thinking is that we are all under God irregardless of which nation we call home. The next step could be a complaint which claims that if God loved us He wouldn't allow all the atrocities we are witnessing currently. This could make one think why would God care anyway, after all we have been kicking Him out of our lives by removing any reference to Him from our government documents and public literary works!
Muell
of the most gruesome wars and human tortures have been committed for the cause of religion preferences.
Sad but all too true. Most every religion has it's "Convert or Die!" phase. Some just last longer than others.
What is really interesting to note are the other two primary reasons for war...LAND...Available Women.
It is worth noting that China currently has an extensive surplus of Single males, expected to reach 100 million plus in the next few years.
The Bird of Prey
#board-381
Hi Muell
wars and human tortures have been committed for the cause of religion preferences
Well that is why some people think the government should be secular and not "Under God".
Have Fun
Ergo Sum
Good Morning BOP,
Well no I didn't know there were only 50 years that there hadn't been a war going on somewhere. I'm surprised that time isn't a longer period of time. We are a fighting species that is very clear, even on message boards, lol! A fact that I am aware of that I find particularly disturbing is that some of the most gruesome wars and human tortures have been committed for the cause of religion preferences. Sort of an oxymoron for anyone who practices what the bible teaches!
Muell
Muell,
Are you aware that in all of recorded history(~6000years) there are less than 50 years (I don't recall the exact number, but it is ridiculously small) that don't(didn't) have a "war" going on somewhere?
That said, though I am not a transportation, shipping or Postal worker, though I am not a meter reader or home service repairman, I will, as a citizen of the United States report any suspicious activity I witness to the proper authorities. This is now and long has been the duty of every citizen of this country. In Peacetime or when at war. Whether the ACLU likes it or not!
The Bird of Prey
#board-381
Rick this is the part of the ACLU that irks me bigtime! They seem to me to be a little irrational here wanting to protect the rights of people who could be terrorist when we are at war. Who's side are they on anyway?
I don't support the Big Brother concept of the government by allowing them to stick their noses into all of my business and I don't want them to have those rights, except in times of war! As far as I know the first rule of war is, "There are no Rules!"
Muell
Privacy: Going, going, sold!
Last summer, millions of Americans opened their credit-card bills to find dense pamphlets filled with small type in legalese. Most tossed them out, assuming they weren't important. They assumed wrong. The pamphlets told consumers how to prevent private information about their buying habits from being sold to other companies.
Now consumers' privacy is for sale again. Last month, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued consumer-protection rules containing so many loopholes that telephone companies will be able to sell customer records with few obstacles.
Unless customers wade through complex instructions on how to say no, mass marketers could buy information from local, long-distance and cellular companies about the recipients of consumers' call and the times and lengths of their calls. In the near future, even the locations of cellphone users when they make calls may be up for sale.
The move is part of a disturbing trend by Congress and regulators to let businesses sell information about anyone who doesn't specifically object. Worse, consumers can't protect their privacy by objecting just once; they have to say no every time they switch providers or when businesses change hands, though the FCC may tighten that rule.
The FCC argues it was forced to adopt the regulations after a U.S. appeals court ruled that firms have a First Amendment right to sell information about their customers. But the court didn't bar stronger consumer protections; it merely said the FCC must first consider business-friendly options for selling customer data and explain why they raise privacy concerns. The FCC didn't try.
It should have. At a Federal Trade Commission meeting last fall, communications experts and privacy advocates concluded that similar disclosure rules Congress set for credit-card companies and other financial firms did little to safeguard consumers' privacy. They explained that the notices are written for lawyers. Most consumers didn't make it through all of the fine print to find how to keep information private.
That's just what the financial companies wanted. Selling information that helps mass mailers and telemarketers target their audiences is a lucrative business, helping to generate hundreds of billions in sales annually.
Yet, regulators need to protect Americans' privacy as zealously as they safeguard business interests. Until those priorities change, consumers will need reading glasses, dictionaries and a lot of patience to keep their personal information to themselves.
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20020823/4387494s.htm
Rick...
"The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going."
-Anon.
A Site to Despise Untrained Spies
By Julia Scheeres Win a 50" HDTV or a Xerox Printer!
Print this • E-mail it
2:00 a.m. Aug. 13, 2002 PDT
The American Civil Liberties Union has launched a website for people to protest the Bush administration's citizen informant program, which would enlist civilians nationwide to report suspicious behavior by their fellow Americans.
The ACLU charges that the Terrorist Information and Prevention System (TIPS), which is expected to launch this fall, is a massive invasion of privacy.
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"You've got untrained nonprofessionals coming up with what they believe is suspicious activity," said Rachel King, legislative counsel for the ACLU. "We're not against tip lines; we're against relying on untrained civilians to spy."
The ACLU worries that the system will target certain religious and ethnic minorities, such as dark-skinned Muslims, and that a database of "suspicious" people will be assembled without giving those included in it a chance to prove their innocence.
"Suppose you're looking for a job and you can't get security clearance because one of these volunteers thought you were a little strange and wrote down your name; this could impact your life in ways you don't know," King said.
The ACLU's TIPS Watch allows visitors to shoot off angry missives about the program to their senators and get background data on other Homeland Security initiatives. Congress is expected to vote on the legislation when it reconvenes in September.
Initially, the TIPS scheme called for utility workers, postal carriers and others who have access to private property to keep an eye out for suspicious activities along their routes. But after public outcry against peeping postpeople, the Justice Department announced on Friday that it would scale back the operation to include only transportation workers, such as truck drivers and ship workers.
The tipsters would rely on a list of red flags to help them detect suspicious behavior and would report any funny business over a toll-free number or a website set by the National White Collar Crime Center, a department spokeswoman said.
The current TIPS homepage includes a volunteer sign-up form.
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Related Wired Links:
Supremes OK Anonymous Free Speech
June 18, 2002
Act Would OK Snail Mail Searches
May 23, 2002
A Bad Year for Privacy
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,54492,00.html
Rick...
"The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going."
-Anon.
Two of my favorite drinks! The Under God issue is a real sore spot for me, only in America can some one do such things! I think we hang the judge, lol. Just kidding!
Muell
Agree, and it is a sign to me that things will be getting much worse in general before they get better. As advanced as our society has become it's a total shame that we do not seem to show any interest in human character development. On the other hand, humans have always been at their best when times are toughest, maybe we'll learn this time around!
Muell
but then I was raised by loving parents!
It seems that this trait is becoming a rarity in todays world. sad.
The Bird of Prey
#board-381
we risk either scarring some individuals permanently or creating more monsters like those of which we are trying to rid ourselves
Good point, but we could build a robot to do it. I can't imagine how one human could do such atrocities to another human, but then I was raised by loving parents!
Muell
The people that are offended,,,,,,,Who or what do they believe in??? Kinda makes one wonder ..........
Rick...
"The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going."
-Anon.
I miss coffee.
Had to give it up. Also had to give up DR. Pepper.It's been years since I had either.
BTW,
Have you heard that Dr. Pepper will be putting the Pledge of Allegiance on their product during the month of September? Sounds Good...until you find out that for fear of "offending" the Pledge will be missing two words...UNDER GOD.
The Bird of Prey
#board-381
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