Scary tatics of McCartism flavor!
EFF: Breaking News: "Today the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a release announcing its new rule expanding the reach of the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act (CALEA). The ruling is a reinterpretation of the scope of CALEA and will force Internet broadband providers and certain voice-over-IP (VoIP) providers to build backdoors into their networks that make it easier for law enforcement to wiretap them. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has argued against this expansion of CALEA in several rounds of comments to the FCC on its proposed rule."

Sunbeltblog: Massive identity theft ring: "In some recent research into a spyware exploit, our research team has discovered a massive identity theft ring.
We also found the keylogger transcript files that are being uploaded to the servers.
This is real spyware stuff�chat sessions, user names, passwords, bank information, etc. We have confirmed that this data is valid. Highly personal information, including even one fellow who has a penchant for pedophilia -- all logged in detail and returned a webserver.
Note that there is a LOT of bank information in here, including one company bank account with over US$350,000 and another small company in California with over $11,000 readily accessible. This list goes on and on and on. Of course, there's also eBay accounts and much more.
We have notified the FBI, but of course no response (too busy doing other more important things). We have notified a few of the parties involved.
If anyone has any other ideas, send �em to us. Right now, we�re sitting upon literally thousands of pages of stolen identities that are being used right now.
Alex Eckelberry"

Corriere della Sera - Agr - Ultima Ora: " Un'azione disciplinare e' stata sollecitata dal ministro della Giustizia, Roberto Castelli, al Procuratore generale della Cassazione nei confronti del giudice per le indagini preliminare di Milano Clementina Forleo. Il provvedimento riguarda l'episodio, avvenuto nel centro di Milano qualche settimana fa, che ha visto protagonista il magistrato, intervenuto nel corso dell'arresto di un immigrato. Secondo gli agenti di polizia il giudice sarebbe intervenuto in modo veemente protestando per le modalita' dell'arresto. La Forleo invece, che ha preso - tra l'altro - i provvedimenti nel caso Antonveneta, ha sostenuto di essersi offerta come eventuale testimone nel caso all'immigrato fosse stato contestato il reato di resistenza a pubblico ufficiale, inesistente secondo il magistrato"

IGN - Cronaca - Castelli promuove azione disciplinare contro gip Forleo: "A quanto apprende l'ADNKRONOS, il ministro della Giustizia Roberto Castelli ha promosso l'azione disciplinare nei confronti del gip milanese Clementina Forleo in riferimento allo 'scontro' di cui e' stata protagonista il magistrato con alcuni agenti di una volante che stavano fermando un egiziano.

I fatti oggetto dell'azione disciplinare si riferiscono all'8 luglio scorso quando, in una via del centro di Milano, il gip Forleo era intervenuto per contestare le modalita' con le quali gli agenti avevano fermato un extracomunitario che tentava di sottrarsi al controllo dopo che era stato sorpreso senza il biglietto per i mezzi pubblici. Gia' al centro di infuocate polemiche dopo l'assoluzione dal reato di terrorismo internazionale di alcuni cittadini islamici, il gip, oggi giudice dell'inchiesta sulla scalata Antonveneta, 'litig� con gli uomini della volante che avevano effettuato il fermo.

L'intervento del giudice, che aveva chiesto che gli fossero prese le generalita' per poter testimoniare a favore dell'extracomunitario, era stato considerato di ''gravita' inaudita'' dal sindacato di polizia Uilps, che aveva indetto una conferenza stampa. In merito alle critiche, il gip Forleo si era cosi' difesa: ''Non ho fatto altro che il mio dovere di cittadina. Non ho intralciato l'operato della polizia, perche' sono intervenuta quando questa persona era gia' stata ammanettata e caricata in macchina. E poi lo rifarei non una ma cento volte''. "

No excuse for 'Iraq fatigue' in the news: "Just a month ago, the administration took pains to tell us that any 'timetable' for disengagement from the war in Iraq was the worst possible idea, that it would 'encourage the insurgents' to just 'wait us out.' Those words came from the president himself.
The result was poll numbers that fell to the lowest point in Mr. Bush's presidency. Members of Congress, who - unlike President Bush - will be facing the electorate in 2006 and beyond, began looking over their shoulders and reviving talk about an 'exit strategy.'So over the last 10 days, we started to hear something new. Administration spokespeople began to hint there might be a pullout after all. And a timetable, too. The estimates, including one by the top soldier in Iraq, General Casey, have been remarkably consistent: down by more than 50 percent, to 60,000 troops, by this time next year, then 40,000 by the fall."

Hiroshima After Sixty Years: The Debate Continues: " President Trumans friend and Chief of Staff, five star Admiral William D. Leahy was deeply angered: The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender. . . In being the first to use it, we . . . adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. "

World Turning Its Back on Brand America: "Right now the US government is not a credible messenger,' said Mr Reinhard, chairman of DDB Worldwide, the advertising group. 'We must work to build bridges of understanding and co-operation and respect through business-to-business activities"

Corn Dog - The ethanol subsidy is worse than you can imagine.:

"Making ethanol, they claim, will help America achieve the elusive goal of 'energy security' while helping farmers, reducing oil imports, and stimulating the American economy. But the ethanol boosters are ignoring some unpleasant facts: Ethanol won't significantly reduce our oil imports; adding more ethanol to our gas tanks adds further complexity to our motor-fuel supply chain, which will lead to further price hikes at the pump; and, most important (and most astonishing), it may take more energy to produce a gallon of ethanol than it actually contains. "

TalkLeft: Fitzgerald, Cooper, Sauber, Rove , Luskin and Ginsberg:

"Sauber says that Fitzgerald isn't disclosing his hand, either in conversation or in body language.
LT: From all that you've heard and all of the people you have spoken to, what do you think Fitzgerald is aiming for?
RS: I spent a lot of time on the phone [with Fitzgerald] and in person. He was so careful not to give away anything -- even with body language -- any indication of what he was looking at or where he was going. It was quite astonishing how uncommunicative he was. So the short answer is, I don't know.
But the only clue is that he submitted some fairly extensive material under seal. Every judge who has commented on that [has said] how impressive the showing is and how important this case is to national security. All I can surmise is that he has a substantial amount of evidence to continue a fairly robust investigation. And it does involve classified material."

In 1994, then-Archbishop of Portland William Levada offered a simple answer for why the archdiocese shouldn't have been ordered to pay the costs of raising a child fathered by a church worker at a Portland, Ore., parish.

In her relationship with Arturo Uribe, then a seminarian and now a Whittier priest, Stephanie Collopy had engaged "in unprotected intercourse … when [she] should have known that could result in pregnancy," the church maintained in its answer to the lawsuit.
Faithful Furious Over Tactic: "Collopy's suit against the Archdiocese of Portland was dropped in 1994 when the Denver Province of the Redemptorists, a religious order that ordained Uribe that same year, agreed to pay $215 a month in child support if Collopy stopped the legal action and signed a confidentiality agreement.

Last week, after having earlier battled Collopy in court when she asked for additional child support, the Redemptorists announced that they would provide more support to her son. "

Donald Rumsfeld (who had served in various positions in the Nixon and Ford administrations, including as President Ford's defense secretary, and at this time headed the multinational pharmaceutical company G.D. Searle & Co.) was dispatched to the Middle East as a presidential envoy. His December 1983 tour of regional capitals included Baghdad, where he was to establish "direct contact between an envoy of President Reagan and President Saddam Hussein," while emphasizing "his close relationship" with the president . Rumsfeld met with Saddam, and the two discussed regional issues of mutual interest, shared enmity toward Iran and Syria, and the U.S.'s efforts to find alternative routes to transport Iraq's oil; its facilities in the Persian Gulf had been shut down by Iran, and Iran's ally, Syria, had cut off a pipeline that transported Iraqi oil through its territory. Rumsfeld made no reference to chemical weapons, according to detailed notes on the meeting .

Aljazeera.Net - US journalist shot dead in Iraq
US journalist shot dead in Iraq

Steven Vincent had been staying in the southern city of Basra
An American freelance journalist and author has been found shot dead in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the US embassy said.
Police on Wednesday said Steven Vincent was shot several times after he and his Iraqi translator were abducted at gunpoint hours earlier.
'I can confirm to you that officials in Basra have recovered the body of journalist Steven Vincent,' said embassy spokesman Pete Mitchell.
'The US embassy is working with British military and local Iraqi officials in Basra to determine who is responsible for the death of this journalist. Our condolences go out to the family.'
The embassy did not give the cause of death.
However, Iraqi police in Basra said Vincent was abducted along with his female translator at gunpoint on Tuesday evening. The translator, Nour Weidi, was seriously wounded.
Vincent and the translator were taken by five men in a police car as they left a currency exchange shop, police Lieutenant Colonel Karim al-Zaidi said.
Vincent's body was found on the side of the highway south of Basra later. He had been shot in the head and multiple times on his body, al-Zaidi said.
The author published a book on life in post-Saddam Iraq

Isn't this a NEWS? Now Novak seems to me revealing that Tenent was ultimately the source?
By the way, special prosecutors Fitzgerald have questioned former CIA director George J. Tenet and deputy director John E. McLaughlin, former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, State Department officials, and even a stranger who approached columnist Robert D. Novak on the street.

In doing so, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has asked not only about how CIA operative Valerie Plame's name was leaked but also how the administration went about shifting responsibility from the White House to the CIA for having included 16 words in the 2003 State of the Union address about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium from Africa, an assertion that was later disputed.

Now here there is what Novak says... a confession?

Ex-CIA official's remark is wrong: "I have previously said that I never would have written those sentences if Harlow, then-CIA Director George Tenet or anybody else from the agency had told me that Valerie Plame Wilson's disclosure would endanger herself or anybody. "

HOW CONSERVATISM LEAVES US VULNERABLE TO NUCLEAR TERRORISM: "Democracy has become George W. Bush's reflexive answer to terrorism."

Moore Calls Mich. Film Fest a Big Success - Yahoo! News: "It may not rival Sundance or Cannes, but Michael Moore says the film festival he conceived with other movie lovers in this Lake Michigan town was a bigger hit than expected and has a bright future.

'By all accounts it was an overwhelming success,' Moore said Monday. 'It was a movie junkie's paradise.'
The festival ran from Wednesday night through Sunday, concluding with 'Casablanca' under the stars by the Grand Traverse Bay waterfront. It featured 31 films, most of which sold out, and panel discussions with Hollywood insiders.
About 20,000 tickets were sold for the indoor showings. Moore estimated total festival attendance when the outdoor movies and panels were added at 50,000."

Exclusive: Secret Memo—Send to Be Tortured - Newsweek Periscope - MSNBC.com

In a memo forwarded to a senior FBI lawyer on Nov. 27, 2002, a supervisory special agent from the bureau's behavioral analysis unit offered a legal analysis of interrogation techniques that had been approved by Pentagon officials for use against a high-value Qaeda detainee. After objecting to techniques such as exploiting "phobias" like "the fear of dogs" or dripping water "to induce the misperception of drowning," the agent discussed a plan to send the detainee to Jordan, Egypt or an unspecified third country for interrogation. "In as much as the intent of this category is to utilize, outside the U.S., interrogation techniques which would violate [U.S. law] if committed in the U.S., it is a per se violation of the U.S. Torture Statute," the agent wrote. "Discussing any plan which includes this category could be seen as a con-spiracy to violate [the Torture Statute]" and "would inculpate" everyone involved.

Journalists Former CIA Officer Alleges Info On Iraq Abandoning Nuclear Plans Was Ignored

In a federal lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency, a former officer alleges that the agency ignored information in 2001 from a "significant" informant who told the CIA that Iraq had abandoned a major element of its nuclear weapons program.

In the lawsuit, the anonymous CIA officer says that the informant told him that Iraq's uranium enrichment program had ended years earlier and that centrifuge components from the scuttled program were available for examination and even purchase.