Privacy Invasion Curtailed

John Poindexter and the abominable IAO have had the Total Information Awareness project budget stripped out from under them.

"The Wyden amendment held up funding for the Total Information Awareness penetration of the American home until the administration (1) explained it in detail to Congress, including its impact on civil liberties, and (2) barred any deployment of the technology against U.S. citizens without prior Congressional approval. One hundred senators voted in favor."

Scientific American: The Loveless Man ...

Just in time for Valentines day.

"What is missing in a monkey raised with a cloth mother? In one raised with a living mother but no peers? In complete isolation? Can "therapists" (younger, unthreatening and highly socialized monkeys) repair the broken animal produced by isolation? What kind of mothers do isolated monkeys become (are they often violently abusive)? This period produced a horrific finding: if an infant is punished for hugging a surrogate mother (with, for example, a jet of air shot from the surrogate's torso), the infant hugs more, not less. This violated every tenet of behaviorist reinforcement theory but is obvious to anyone who loves the wrong person."

ABCNEWS.com : Cell Phone Guns Discovered

"At first sight it looks like a regular cell phone — same size, same shape, same overall appearance. But beneath the digital face lies a .22-caliber pistol — a phone gun capable of firing four rounds in quick succession with a touch of the otherwise standard keypad.
European law enforcement officials — stunned by the discovery of these deadly decoys — say phone guns are changing the rules of engagement in Europe.
“We find it very, very alarming,” says Wolfgang Dicke of the German Police union. “It means police will have to draw their weapons whenever a person being checked reaches for their mobile phone.”

Justice Dept. Drafts Sweeping Expansion of Anti-Terrorism Act

Read the draft of the legislation poised to become USA PATRIOT II. Watch in horror as the United States gradually slips into the iron grip of fascism.

"The Bush Administration is preparing a bold, comprehensive sequel to the USA Patriot Act passed in the wake of September 11, 2001, which will give the government broad, sweeping new powers to increase domestic intelligence-gathering, surveillance and law enforcement prerogatives, and simultaneously decrease judicial review and public access to information."