Jamaica watch

"The criminals are not the people who have been killed, just innocent people leaving their houses. The armed forces shot every man they could find. This has made me very distraught," said Seaga, adding that Tivoli Gardens is a "crime-free area." The government said Saturday that all but six of hundreds being held at the National Arena have been released.

Virginia State Police call off an amber alert for a teenager caught on camera being forced into a minivan. She was apparently fighting with her family because she didn't want to move to a different state. Police issued the alert after initially believing surveillance video showed the 17-year-old being abducted Saturday in a Target parking lot in Stafford County.

Your eyes will deceive you ... don't trust them ...

Rio Grande watch

Gunmen ambushed army troops inspecting flood-risk zones in a northern Mexican border city, killing one soldier and wounding another, authorities said Thursday. Three gunmen in a car opened fire on the military patrol Wednesday in Piedras Negras, a city across the border from Eagle Pass, Texas, the Defense Department said in a statement. The soldiers had been inspecting neighborhoods to prepare for floods after several days of heavy rains. One soldier was killed and another was wounded in ensuing battle.

Thai watch

The current violence is the culmination of a political strife that has been brewing ever since prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was overthrown in a military coup in September 2006. The protests looked like they had ended when Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva became the prime minister in December 2008. But in March, the pro-Thaksin group launched a new wave of protests to bring down the government. The tension has escalated in recent months as the protestors laid siege to the capital Bangkok. As security forces launched a crackdown, violence escalated, leaving many dead.

Air Force contractor Boeing has acquired the first on-orbit signals from the Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF-1 satellite, the inaugural spacecraft in a 12-satellite constellation that the company is building for the U.S. Air Force. The signals indicate that the spacecraft bus is functioning normally and ready to begin orbital maneuvers and operational testing.

In the 2554th year of the Buddhist era, human beings – members of the species Homo sapiens sapiens -  total some 6.8 billion individuals.  There are an estimated total of over 2 million separate species of animals, plants and microorganisms, with humans evidently at the pinnacle of evolution, on a planet that is 4500 million years old.  Today humans comprise a species ill at ease with itself, uncertain of its place and role in the scheme of things.   Evidence of our cave dwelling ancestors date back to over 2 million years and our stone-age ancestors nearly 12,000 years ago.

Interesting ...

Which way is the West led by United States (US) headed? Is it Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars programme all over again? Or, is it, as some analysts have dubbed it, the “son of Star Wars”? The plans now underway to utilise high-flying airborne lasers on board modified Boeing 747 aircraft to generate multi-megawatt laser beams that are then reflected by a relay of 5-metre diameter mirrors arrayed in outer space to shoot down nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles during their boost phase, will lead inexorably to the weaponisation of space.

Space is the next battlefield whether anyone likes it or not ...

Naxal watch

Were these villagers exploited by these landlords?  Of course, they were!  The government failed them, the village heads and the sarpanches were none other than their employers, and they couldn’t dare put up a resistance against the system.  With a heavy Communist influence from the East, once the Naxalites swooped in with the message of liberation and the promise to provide them land of their own and riches without hardship, they became their automatic allies.

“As per the initial reports, the Maoists have done this. The operation against them will be intensified and all-out efforts will be made to free the state and the country from this danger,” Bhattacharjee told reporters. “This is a difficult job but the government is confident to confront them.” “We have fought against the Naxals in the sixties and seventies and we won. The difference between that time and now is that the Maoists are coming from another state like Andhra Pradesh. But we would oppose them politically and administratively,” Bhattacharjee said.

It's odd that the massacre of the CRPF jawans didn't result in an intensification to all-out efforts ...

Government may rope in army experts to detect and remove IEDs and mines planted by Naxals, given the limited experience of paramilitary and state police forces engaged in operation against the ultras. The move comes following inputs suggesting that the Naxals have planted IEDs and mines in forests of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal to cause maximum casualty to security forces who are conducting operations against them.

The blame game over the Gyaneshwari Express tragedy continued on Sunday - indeed, sank to a new low - with Trinamool Congress MP from Serampore Kalyan Banerjee describing director general of police Bhupinder Singh as a "fool".

A driver who has shot at the rear windshields of passing vehicles for the past three weeks on four local freeways continues to elude officials. But California Highway Patrol officers from the Inland Division have not given up on the search and vow to continue their investigation until the shooter is caught. "Officers and investigators are still combing through the calls and contacting witnesses," said Mario Lopez, public information coordinator for the CHP. "They are still trying to find out how many (victims) there are."

In the mean time, everyone may want to look on this as an opportunity to develop their awareness skills ...

Examine the final few of the nearly 22 years lived by Sgt. Patrick Gibbs Jr. — a newly discharged Army sniper and son of a former Davenport mayor — and there is no clear understanding of why the ex-soldier, a year removed from active duty in Iraq, wrapped an extension cord around his neck and took his life in the basement of his boyhood Davenport home on Jan. 23.

I think that coming back and discovering that the folks you were killing really aren't that different from the folks you're protecting can be problematic on several different levels ...

Sorry for the absence ...

Even those who are appalled by Arizona's harsh new immigration law -- as we are -- recognize that the state's misguided decision to take federal matters into its own legislative hands did not come out of the blue. Arizona is the preferred superhighway for drug and human smugglers. Phoenix is the kidnapping capital of the nation, and almost all of those abducted are either illegal immigrants or linked to the drug trade. The recent killing of a rancher in southern Arizona has increased the sense of lawlessness and danger at the border; police believe the killer was involved with drug trafficking. Fed up with federal inaction, Arizona lashed out.

Police say that at at about 10:40 AM, a burglar kicked in the front door of a home on the 100 block of Cardinal Lane in Lake City, Florida.  The homeowner reportedly grabbed his .38 handgun, at which point the burglar confronted him in the hallway.  Fearing for his safety, the homeowner fired one shot in self defense, striking the intruder and sending him fleeing, police say.  A suspect, reportedly identified as 18 year old Damien Morgan, was taken to a local hospital for a gunshot wound to the leg, and will face burglary charges after being released from the hospital, according to police.  No injuries to the homeowner were reported.

A bill by Rep. Scott Perry, R-York, would eliminate the need to retreat under certain circumstances, make law-abiding citizens immune to lawsuits if they injure or kill someone in self-defense and expand the places where deadly force can be used to include a deck, patio, porch and vehicle. "Individuals understand they don't want to wake up at 4 in the morning to the sound of breaking glass and don't want to be thinking about, as they're wiping the sleep from their eyes, whether to defend themselves or not," Mr. Perry said.

Naxal watch

Not keen to take any chance in view of observance of 'black week' from May 28 to June 2 by Maoists, Railway Ministry has decided to suspend running of passenger trains for seven hours in the night in Naxal-affected areas during that period. The decision came after Maoists derailed the Howrah-Kurla Gyaneshwari Express in West Midnapore district of West Bengal in the wee hours of Thursday, killing more than 100 people.

The first signs of difference between Panda and him surfaced when Panda ordered the killing of Daku Majhi, an independent candidate from Chandrapur during the 2004 assembly election. Akash says he also slowly grew disillusioned with the Maoists’ failure to help the repressed tribals. 

The police officers present at the ceremony started clapping as soon as Roy started his speech in Marathi. Roy received further applause from the cops when he spoke about his association with Maharashtra. “I come from Uttar Pradesh. But now when I go there, I feel like I have come to a different state. Whereas when I am in Maharashtra, I feel like being at home. I have imbibed the Marathi language and culture of Maharashtra. I never felt like an outsider here in my past 38 years of service,” he said.

Major Naxal strikes in last two years

In 1989 Berenson left the US and anthropology studies at MIT to travel through Nicaragua, El Salvador and Panama. In Panama, she evidently made contact with the MRTA. She arrived in Lima in 1994, and was detained on Nov. 30, 1995 after she had entered the Peruvian congress with a false press pass alongside Nancy Gilvonio, wife of the now dead MRTA leader Nester Cerpa.

It's generally a violation of the security principles of both invisibility and invincibility to attempt ill-advised deceptions in the halls of a foreign government's power ...

That's a fairly unambiguous definition ...

Updates will be thin to non-existant for the rest of the week - multiple deadlines

A conservative foreign policy should rest on four key principles: (1) the preservation of the Anglo–American Special Relationship and the transatlantic alliance, (2) the defense of British national sovereignty, (3) the firm projection of military power in the defense of the national interest, and (4) the advancement of freedom and liberty. All four principles should be underwritten by a strong national defense, necessitating a significant increase in defense spending above its current historically low level of just 2.1 percent of GDP.

The National Fire Protection Association reports 403,000 residential fires in 2008, or about 1,100 per day. On the other hand, Department of Justice statistics show 5,000-8,000 home invasions reported every day.  That’s right, there are 5 to 8 TIMES more home invasions every year than there are residential fires!

The mayor said the focus should not be on his remarks, but about the impact of gun violence in urban America.

... in places where the good folks are disarmed and only the baddies have guns ...

“Based on the advice we’ve received, as far as we’re concerned, it’s dead,” Gall said of the idea in a phone interview. “After some initial research, we determined it was not the right thing to pursue at this point.” Before that message got through, however, Quinby said he was inundated with requests for interviews with Portland-area publications and broadcast media to share his views on gun-carrying rights outlined in the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Oh ... that's right ... we LIKE being elected officials ...

Thai watch

At least four people were wounded Saturday when gunfire erupted during clashes between anti-government demonstrators and security forces in the Thai capital, hospital officials said. The violence came a day after a bitter stand-off between government troops and Red Shirt protesters in downtown Bangkok claimed 17 lives and left 141 people wounded.

Naxal watch

RJD supremo Lalu Prasad today claimed that naxalites did not target the common people, except those who "spied" on the outfit. "The naxalites never target common people as we have observed during past several years, but if somebody spies for the police they are targetted," he told reporters here.

I wonder how dependable their detection process is ...

The brutal killing of 31 persons in Chattisgarh soon after the Dantewada attack on the Central Reserve Police Force, which had claimed the lives of 76, indicates that while the Maoists are clear in their strategy, the Indian State – both at the Central and State levels – appears confused.

Google is rolling out the use of Secure Sockets Layer encryption technology for its search engine. Right now, the SSL-protected search is being beta tested, and does not extend the extra security beyond the core search engine to features like image search and Google Maps. According to Google, using SSL secures the transmission of search queries by users as well as the results returned by Google servers.

I've been pleased with how the Gmail transition went, but so far I haven't really had an opportunity to know for sure how effective it's been ...

Known as the ‘quantumStadium project' it will use quantum mechanical methods to distribute ultra secure encryption keys that will encrypt the link between Durban's Moses Mabhida Stadium and the offsite Joint Operations Centre. The hybrid solution comprises layer 2 encryption using globally-accredited AES 256-bit algorithms, but features a quantum-based key distribution system to provide ultra high data security for communications via telephone, internet, video, data and email traffic travelling across the fibre optic link at up to 1 Gigabit per second.

Interesting ...

Microsoft is set to improve the security of Hotmail with full-session SSL encryption and a number of other enhancements. The improved webmail service will support full session SSL encryption, which protects email as it travels between a user's browser and Hotmail servers, Microsoft announced this week. Previously, SSL encryption was only available for accounts during login.

This is welcome as it means that everyone else is going to have to fall in line.  Keep in mind that it's a good idea to remain skeptical about how secure any particular instance of encryption is, though ...

The California Highway Patrol is stepping up patrols on three Southern California freeways after dozens of cars were hit by an apparent sniper. The shootings have occurred over the last few weeks on the 15, 215 and 10 freeways in the Inland Empire. The shooter likely used a BB gun or pellet gun, authorities say, and although car windows were left shattered in the attacks, no injuries have been reported.

The government-appointed investigation team concluded Thursday that an external underwater explosion caused by a heavy torpedo manufactured by North Korea split apart and sank the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in the West Sea on March 26. The multinational team released its final result of the nearly two-month probe, holding the communist state culpable for the disaster that left 46 sailors either dead or missing. The North immediately dismissed the findings as "fabrications."

Britain may be able to save about 11 billion pounds in defence costs if it were to end its policy of keeping at least one nuclear armed-submarine at sea at all times, a prominent defence think-tank said.

There's a lot to be said for having some serious concealed, mobile reprisal out and about all the time ...

South Korea and the United States have agreed to carry out a massive anti-submarine training drill in the West Sea sometime next month, mobilizing a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, in a strong protest against North Korea's sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan. A senior government official on Thursday said the two allies "decided to hold a large-scale joint drill in June, much earlier than originally planned, to express our strong determination to take steps against North Korea."

The navy is firing on all cylinders to get a headstart on operating nuclear submarines, the most complex machines to be ever built. Indian submariners will get a chance to get into the belly of HMS Talent when the British nuclear submarine pulls into Indian waters off the western coast in June.

He said he wouldn't support above-ground testing -- which hasn't been conducted in the United States since 1963 -- but believes the U.S. could conduct underground testing. He said he assumes that would be done at the Nevada Test Site.

I guess it's better than taking the rest of the country's nuclear waste ...

The man wanted for shooting a Good Samaritan four times during an attempted robbery in Caroline County was arrested tonight.

Seeking to make airports around the nation safer for the general public and the law enforcement officers who patrol them, Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-04) today introduced the “Airport Security Act of 2010.” The bill would prohibit people other than local law enforcement and Homeland Security employees from carrying guns – concealed or otherwise – in airport terminals, lobbies, baggage claim areas, ticket counters and outside in pick-up and drop-off areas.

Hmmm ... must have gotten tired of holding public office ...

Naxal watch

If terrorism is violent and ill-legitimate thing which terrorises the nation from outside then Naxalism is something which engulfs the country from the inside. It seems our government has more sympathy with Naxalites, may be they are very own people. Had terrorists from outside hit the bus or killed 76 police personnel in Dhantewada, then it would have become an international incident and headlines. But, here these Naxalites got away with it.

It's possible that your government may have a better understanding of what kept all this going all these years and feels a sense of culpability ...

A large number of armed Maoists stormed into Badigata village in Kalimela area in the morning hours and triggered a landmine explosion to blow up the panchayat office building. They had also attacked the office six months ago and disappeared into nearby forest raising anti-government and anti-police slogans, police said.

Symantec is on an encryption binge. Today Verisign confirmed reports that it's selling its encryption services division to the antivirus giant for about $1.3 billion. That division represents the main chunk of Verisign's business devoted to cybersecurity, specifically the business of certifying encrypted Web sites and other cryptography products.

The whole program is probably going to prove to be very profitable. Data security demand is just starting to rev up ...

It was Wikileaks that broke the encryption on the Collateral Murder video. And in case you were wondering, the world's most famous whistleblower website is not run by the CIA. In a wide-ranging online discussion on SBS's Dateline forum, the public face of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, gave a fascinating insight into what drove him to dedicate this current stage in his life to the website that has the world's governments on all sides of the political spectrum watching.

Thai watch

Thai troops and armour smashed through barricades and recaptured Bangkok's main commercial hub from anti-government protestors on Wednesday, but faced a widening security challenge as bands of arsonists attacked government offices and media targets elsewhere in the city and in several north-eastern provinces.

The Thai government says an operation launched at daybreak to clear protesters from their barricaded encampment in downtown Bangkok will last throughout the day. Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn says Wednesday’s operation is designed “to secure the parameter in several locations in Bangkok.”

You could almost hear the relief in President Obama’s words as he thanked FBI veteran John Pistole for agreeing to take the job. If ever there is a thankless task, it is trying to straighten out the mess at the Transportation Security Administration, the most clueless of federal bureaucrats who are responsible for keeping the nation’s highways, railroads, buses, mass transit systems, pipelines, and airports safe. Created in the wake of 9/11 and now with over 50,000 employees and a $7 billion budget, TSA has become the butt of late night talk show jokes, a string of critical Inspector General and GAO reports, and the target of public fury over its arrogant, hapless airport screening system.

Hopefully, his taxes are paid up ...

The U.S. Department of Education found that Virginia Tech broke federal campus security laws by waiting too long to notify students during the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history, a report released Tuesday said. Tech disputed the department's findings, saying university officials met standards in effect at the time of the shootings three years ago and that the report is colored by "hindsight bias." It argues that the government is trying to retroactively apply regulations that were added two years after the shooting.

CONGRESS LONG ago demonstrated its disdain for the residents of the District of Columbia. So there's little hope that appeals about the rights or even the safety of its 600,000 residents will factor into consideration of the specious effort to rewrite the city's gun laws. What lawmakers might want to think twice about, however, are the homeland security implications of making the nation's capital wide open to guns. Surely currying favor with the gun lobby is not worth that risk, even if this is an election year.

The gun lobby is people ...

On Tuesday, May 25, the House Judiciary Committee will consider three anti-gun bills sponsored by State Representative W. Curtis Thomas (D-181).

Must have grown tired of public office ...

The bulk of a small Mexican town's police force has quit after armed men ambushed and wounded two of their officers. The Guerrero state police said Tuesday it has deployed 20 officers who will patrol the town of La Union until further notice. The resignation of the six officers Monday evening came two days after their colleagues were ambushed.

Naxal watch

The latest massacre gives the lie to any pretensions that Maoists play by some set of “rules”. The target was a private bus; the majority of those murdered: civilians. The killings also add urgency to the home minister’s request for a “wider mandate” from the Cabinet Committee on Security. The phrase has been widely interpreted to be the use of airpower. But that isn’t the point: the use of aerial backup should ideally be a tactical question, to be decided by commanders on the ground. Instead, it has degenerated into a farcical debate on an abstract principle.

There never seems to be any discussion on the effect that the addition of air power, or any other particular policy or action, would likely have on the situation beyond "it would make things better" or "it would make things worse".

Kanu Sanyal the father of Naxalism just before his death observed with great disappointment that the cult of violence and mindless killing of innocent people including elders, women and children being pursued by today's generation of Naxals was never in his scheme of things and it is entirely different from his vision and mission. Kanu Sanyal is no more to bring the Naxals on to the right path who have left miles and miles behind the real Naxal ideology. Initially the objective of Naxalism in Bastar forests also was to protect and fight for the rights and privileges of the tribals, securing their due, protecting them from exploitation by the administration and government. But in due course of time they found that their mission has not only earned the confidence of the villagers but has also enabled them to collect sufficient money power, arms and ammunition and to run a parallel government. They are now dreaming of State authority and aspiring for political power--not through democracy but through violence and intimidation. They even mockingly claim that arms, & money come to them through police, ordinance depots, other departmental officials and contractors.

Isn't there some old saying about 'power corrupting' ...

Taking its name from the 1967 peasant revolt in the West Bengal village of Naxalbari, the Naxalite movement is a left-wing guerrilla force that is seeking to overthrow the Indian government. Since the time of the Naxalbari revolt the movement has taken on various forms and its support has fluctuated from one decade to the next. Its most recent manifestation is the result of a 2004 decision by two Maoist groupings, the People's War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre, to join forces to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). This post-2004 incarnation of the Naxalite insurgency has been one of the most sustained -- and perhaps the most lethal.

A little backgrounder (take with grain or two of salt) ...

Reporting incidents of Naxal attacks in Dantewada, Bijapur, Kanker, Rajnandgaon, Dhamtari, Bastar, Narayanpur, Balrampur and Durg districts, the state gave a break-up of casualties for the last three years upto April 30 this year. A total of 880 persons have been killed, who included 356 police personnel, 118 Special Police Officers (SPOs) and home guards, 391 civilians and 15 government servants. With Monday's landmine blast claiming 31 more lives, the toll has now crossed 900. What is equally troubling is the cache of arms amassed by Naxals after their successful attacks on security forces. Naxals not only picked up the best of the weapons -- INSAS rifles, Ak-47s, SLRs, LMGs and mortars -- but also removed bulletproof jackets from the bodies of security men and distributed them among the leading cadre.

For those who like to keep score on such things ...

The DS210+ is notable for being equipped with a 256-bit AES hardware encryption engine that can offload security encryption processing away from the CPU, an unnamed 1GHz processor. The hardware-based encryption helps boost reading by about 200 percent compared to a pure software encryption solution, claims Synology. In a Windows environment, the Linux-based Synology DS210+ delivers 108+ MB/sec reading and 58+ MB/sec writing performance, claims the company. The device's web server, meanwhile, was said to be benchmarked at 78.14 seconds for completing 1,000 simultaneous requests.

Thai watch

In this video (which again is extremely graphic) an unarmed Thai civilian protesting his government is killed by armed forces. His own government killed him for opposing them. As someone who is very outspoken on a lot of issues, there almost nothing more disturbing than seeing an innocent person killed for speaking out.

It would be interesting to see the area that this was shot in, because the other protesters seem only momentarily concerned about the incoming. They're either in a protected area and know they're safe, they're twisted on some kind of weird dope or they're in a REALLY badass sort of mood ...

He replied: “People do not take bullets on the basis of who is funding what.” The Thai government believes a disgruntled Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted from power in a military coup and subsequently accused of corruption, has been funding the riots. In the initial stages of the protest protesters were reported to be getting up to 2,000 baht a day, a month’s pay for some people in North East Thailand.

“The NRA could publicly gnash their teeth and caterwaul about mass disarmament resulting from the draconian rules imposed by the state of North Carolina and the dark overlords of the Time-Warner Cable Arena,” Sugarman writes. “Instead, they relegate the issue to a note on their website.”

ESA has named the new spacecraft after German astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler. The first in the disposable robotic cargo ship fleet was named Jules Verne. It flew a successful debut flight in 2008 and destroyed itself intentionally at the end of its mission. The unmanned space freighter underwent extensive system testing over the last few months, and has now been approved for the final preparation stage prior to its slated launch on an Ariane 5 rocket at the end of 2010.

Other Naxal news

The Union home ministry is all set to take action against top officials of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) involved in the anti-naxal operations in Dantewada in which 76 personnel were killed by the left-wing ultras on April 6, this year.

The recurring Maoist attacks are shocking, but there could be more, feels the country’s security establishment. The government fears Maoist violence could peak to 1971 levels — the year that saw nearly 3,600 instances of red terror  — before the Naxals could be reined in.

Talking to reporters here, he said the Supreme court judgment in the Godavarman case, which in his words was against the ground realities and prevailing conditions in the forests, led to the displacement of a large number of tribals forcing them to join Maoist groups. "If the court had exhibited restraint and gone according to ground realities today situation in the forests would have been totally different," he said, adding that even the new Supreme Court CJ had raised the point. 

Even as Maoists unleashed yet another carnage in Dantewada, the Army on Monday proposed the setting up of a separate counter-Naxalism training establishment to help central and state police forces. "The Army has already trained 46,343 personnel from central police forces like CRPF for anti-Naxal operations. A dedicated training establishment will take this process forward in a cohesive way,'' said a senior Army officer. 

A 28 year-old Youth Congress leader was first shot by Naxals and then set on fire in Jharkhand's Sindega district by a group of 12 Naxals on Sunday night. The Naxals are angry with the Congress-led UPA government for running an anti-Naxal operation in states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday said the Naxal attack that killed over 30 people in Dantewada District showed their desperation. Addressing the media after the attack on civilians by the Maoists, the State CM condemned the incident. He said the Maoists, who were losing support base, acted desperately.

Naxal watch - 'I tried but couldn't decide how many died, either' issue

In a brazen attack, Naxals on Monday blew up a bus killing at least 50 people, including 20 Special Police Officers[.]

Maoists on Monday blew up a bus killing at least 33 persons, including ten security personnel, in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, in the second brazen attack in little over a month.

At least 15 policemen and 20 civilians died when Maoists blew up a bus in a forested stretch in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada, the same district where they killed 76 security personnel over a month ago.

Striking with impunity, Naxals today blew up a civilian bus in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh killing at least 36 people, including 12 Special Police Officers, the second attack in six weeks.

In yet another daring attack, Moists (Naxalites)have blown up a civilian bus in Dantewada district around 4:30 on Monday, 17th May 2010  killing about forty persons including several security personnel and Special Police Officers (SPOs).

Thai watch - semantic propaganda issue

The government says Thaksin, who is currently believed to be under the protection of Montenegro, evading a two-year jail term for graft, is the real leader and main financier of the red-shirted protest leaders occupying parts of Bangkok using the poor and uneductated rural people as human shields.

Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdiphol, a renegade army officer accused of creating a paramilitary force for the Red Shirt protesters, died Monday of gunshot wounds, the Vajira Hospital reported.

Pro-democracy protesters armed with Molotov cocktails, slingshots, and fireworks entrenched behind barricades of burning tires and plastic bags filled with debris continue to hold off government troops in Thailand's capital.

Already the government has declared large parts of downtown Bangkok a live-fire zone and has attempted to prevent fresh food and supplies from reaching the protesters. At least 5000 people have burrowed in behind walls made from tyres and concrete, fearing there will be more deaths. Eight more lives were taken on Saturday in Bangkok, with the army cracking down.

The government allowed this protest to grow and spin out of control. The government has been indecisive at key times and overreacted at other key times. I can only speculate this is due to not knowing how the military will react. The common question is “where is the military?” My only answer- the government fears the surge of troops necessary to stop the protest, the fear- how many of the troops will not fight for the government?

Last week, researchers at Matousec.com outlined how attackers could exploit the kernel driver hooks that most security software use to reroute Windows system calls through their software to check for potential malicious code before it's able to execute. Calling the technique an "argument-switch attack," a Matousec-written paper spelled out in relatively specific terms how an attacker could swap out benign code for malicious code between the moments when the security software issues a green light and the code actually executes.

The panel said her death could have been prevented if the government under then-President Pervez Musharraf, the Punjab state government, and the Rawalpindi District Police had taken adequate measures "to respond to the extraordinary, fresh and urgent security risks that they knew she faced." Bhutto was killed in a Dec. 27, 2007, gun and suicide-bomb attack as she was leaving a rally in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, where she was campaigning to return her Pakistan People's Party to power in parliamentary elections. "Ms. Bhutto's assassination could have been prevented if adequate security measures had been taken," the commission said.

There's no way to protect someone in her position from a determined assassin, and she likely knew it, but she kept rolling the dice anyway and finally seven'd out ...

Thai watch

Thai troops fired at protesters in a third day of fighting that has killed 17 people on Bangkok's streets as soldiers struggle to isolate a sprawling encampment of demonstrators seeking to topple the government.  Anti-government protesters set up new barricades in part of Bangkok, using tyres piled up to create a road block while some red-shirts seized water trucks. Bangkok residents living in an area sealed off by the army needed to register with their national ID card in order to get access to their homes. Residents received a temporary pass allowing them to enter the area freely, this is the latest security measure enforced by the Thai army.

An ambitious solar sail mission designed by Japan is poised for launch tomorrow could become the first successful mission powered solely by sunlight, but that's not all. The spacecraft is also aimed at Venus and beyond, and could pave the way for a future hybrid space engine.

Naxal watch

Two Naxals were on Sunday killed in an encounter in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district, police said. After receiving a tip-off about some Naxal activity near Gumiyapal village under the Kirandul station area, a police team reached the place, Superintendent of Police, Dantewada, Amresh Mishra said.

Also ...

Bodies of six people, including the Sarpanch and his relatives, were found 12 km away from Manpur Mohallah in Rajnandgaon district. They were kidnapped about a week ago by the Naxals, who suspected them of police informers.

And so it goes ...

Ever since Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare was killed in the 26/11 attack on Mumbai, no other issue has caught the attention of the public and policy makers more than the lack of proper bulletproof (BP) jackets for our security personnel in the line of fire. But one-and-a-half years after the attack, India’s paramilitary forces continue to face a shortage of over 40% of their BP jacket requirements. The largest shortfall in terms of numbers—or 40,000 jackets—is faced by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), which is bearing the brunt of Naxal violence and lost 80 men at Dantewada recently.

Kept discreetly at his side were the tools that mark him out as one of the Thai Red Shirt's "Rocket men" - a long stick of bamboo primed with an improvised gunpowder charge, and a steel tube that acts as a primitive bazooka. While his home-made missiles would be no match for the sniper's rifles, they would, he hoped, at least put their aim off a little.

For those of you that like to root for the underdog ...

True, he did add that the job was more than being a tough guy when talking to reporter Steve Schmidt in a recent story about the race. He also told Schmidt, “I worked the streets with the FBI. I don’t think either of them ever got into a shootout and had to kill someone. I did that. I stormed hijacked planes. I did all that stuff.” To be frank, it’s a little disturbing to hear a man spout off his kill tally when running for elected office.

Leaving out whether this is a plus or a minus in a sheriff, it's interesting that he came right out and said it ... it kinda makes it so you can just up and decide whether you think it qualifies as a plus or a minus ...

Attorney General Eric Holder said that the Obama administration would seek a new law to loosen the requirement that terrorism suspects be informed of their constitutional rights during interrogation. Holder made the statements on network news shows. The proposed legislation would undermine the Miranda requirement that was ruled to be a constitutional right by the U.S. Supreme Court, said the American Civil Liberties Union.

Aside from the constitutional aspects, my main concern is that it would count as a win for the tangos ...

Thai watch

The spiraling violence has raised concerns that Thailand — a longtime tourism magnet that promotes its easygoing culture as the “Land of Smiles” — was teetering toward instability. The political uncertainty has spooked foreign investors and damaged the vital tourism industry, which accounts for 6 percent of the economy, Southeast Asia’s second largest. The demonstrators Saturday accused government snipers of picking people off with head shots. The army says it is not shooting to kill, but protesters crawled along sidewalks to slowly drag away bodies of three people near the city’s Victory Monument traffic circle in the Ratchaprarop area Saturday. They accused army snipers of shooting all three in the head.

A group of retired Russian generals warned on Thursday that the country's space defenses are obsolete and have a limited capability to counter possible threats from space. "Frankly, our space defense capabilities are limited and insufficient to ensure our national security," former Air Force commander Anatoly Kornukov told a roundtable on the future of Russia's air and space defenses in Moscow. He said Russia is lagging behind the United States in the development of space-based weapons and space defense systems by at least 25-30 years and the Russian defense industry cannot meet the demand for advanced weaponry.

Sounds like mis-direction to me ...

The first Chinese in space, Yang Liwei has revealed in a book that dog meat was a part of their space diet during the preparation of the missions. The 44-year-old Yang created a record when he orbited the earth in the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft in 2003. His autobiography titled, ‘The Nine Levels between Heaven and Earth’ revealed the menu that was offered to the astronauts. The menu included braised chicken, steamed fish and dog meat.

Dawg Meat!

Naxal watch

There is thus every reason to toughen the national resolve to crush this violence ruthlessly. Colonel Anil Athale who led a team to study the naxal problem in Chhattisgarh in July 2006 tells that naxalities were having an upper hand in facing the ill-equipped police forces. Thus a large number of innocent tribals joined the naxal ranks, seeing them to be on the wining side. Further the “deterrent” effect of government action against violence should not be diluted by making prior declarations about limitations on use of armed forces but government should rather make the option of deploying armed forces open, if necessary.

The thing to remember about popular uprisings is  the people involved would almost all prefer to be going about their non-uprising business. They're not involved because they want to be. They're involved because they have no other choice than to be. Once you've eliminated whatever is motivating the 'normals' (corruption, government banditry, etc.), they'll all go back home and resume normal operations. If there are any combatants left after that, you can feel free to crush them ruthlessly ...

Also ...

When asked what it was about she referred to Naxalbari and Lalbagh in her explanation. Soon afterwards, the administration communicated to her that rules forbade expressing any political opinions -- which means online activity is monitored. It's another matter that the college had called the Chief Minister of a certain state to address the students. As far as we know, said CM is only a politician, not a filmmaker, journalist or even a saucy cartoonist. But perhaps, it's only ideology if it's somebody else's. One's own views are just... normal.

And ...

We are fighting our battle with a few targets. We need either to force them out from their stronghold, or to make them surrender. My target is to ensure that people of the Naxal-affected areas enjoy the same life as they experienced a decade ago. In Northern Chhattisgarh, we have succeeded in flushing out the Naxals. Many of them moved to Jharkhand.

If the ranks of the Naxals are swelling because of the conditions that existed a decade ago, this may not be a successful strategy ...

The original M24 had an effective range of about 800 meters. The new, upgraded M24 hurls heavier .300 Winchester Magnum rounds over a kilometer away. All while being more silent and accurate. Note to enemies: You are so dead.

Shane Finn, 14, is an autistic eighth grader with the mental capacity of a third grader. He did something not unknown to kids around the world. He drew a stick figure of himself shooting his teacher. He is now an accused terrorist in Georgia.

Sounds like a LOT of folks need to be voted out in Georgia ...

But the dispute over Iran has generated an unusual amount of friction, and Brazilian officials worried that failing to achieve progress in this weekend’s talks could cast Mr. da Silva as an amateur and scuttle his country’s pursuit of a permanent seat on the Security Council. Critics in Brazil have also questioned why Mr. da Silva has embraced Iran in recent months at the risk of alienating the United States. “There is a sense in Washington that a lot of this is a product of the tremendous confidence that Lula has in himself, that he believes he is a wizard that can perform miracles and accomplish what others have tried and failed to do,” said Michael Shifter, the president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a policy research group in Washington.

The home ministry and intelligence community have long worried that Chinese equipment may have spying technology embedded that can be used to intercept sensitive conversations and government documents that can endanger national security.

And rightly so ...

A typical family car runs 100 MB of binary code spread across 50–70 processors, the researchers estimate. The use of computer technology brings improvements in efficiency and safety, via technologies such as anti-lock brakes, but it also throws up a range of new risks.

On Friday, the union conglomerate AFL-CIO and the civil rights coalition, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, became the latest institutions to urge for the isolation or boycott of Arizona when they requested that Homeland Security terminate its training of local law enforcement officials in the state.

I doubt she can do that, but it's interesting the different directions this law is taking us ...

Thai watch

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has told the "red shirts" to disperse by Wednesday and the authorities say they will start to choke off supplies to the central Bangkok protest camp from midnight in an attempt to squeeze the protesters out. Here are broad scenarios that may develop in coming days and possible financial market reaction.

Also ...

Thai security forces fired live rounds after moving in to seal the heavily defended encampment of the Red Shirts demonstrators in the centre of Bangkok on Friday, the BBC reported. Embassies were closed as protesters set fire to a police bus and gunshots rang out. "The area is like a war zone, with troops firing into a park as a helicopter buzzes above," the BBC correspondent said

"A plan that was invisible to so many was likely contrived by a very small group in secret who persuaded the President that this was a unique opportunity to put his stamp on a new and innovative program," Armstrong, 79, said in a statement to a Senate subcommittee reviewing NASA's new space plan. "I believe the President was poorly advised." The United States is risking losing its role as a leader in space exploration with its new plan, Armstrong said, adding that he was concerned with the looming gap in American human spaceflight. "Other nations will surely step in where we have faltered," Armstrong said.

Hmmm ... Armstrong really hasn't had much to say over the years. It's odd that this got him so riled up ...

And, then there’s the Astronauts4Hire initiative – with a collection of young up-and-coming space scientists vying to get their training at the aforementioned facilities sponsored so that they too can “get in line to fly.”  They’re marketing themselves as burgeoning commercial suborbital payload specialists, the idea being that when companies/universities/etc. want to perform suborbital research using the new spacecraft around the corner, it’ll be cheaper to hire these guys than to train and certify their own staff for spaceflight.  -I think it’s a fantastic idea.  Heck, I’d be jazzed to sign up with them one day if the opportunity arose.

Interesting ...

Naxal watch

In a move that is likely to put an end to the debate in the ruling dispensation over the Naxal policy, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has said that acts of terror should be addressed “decisively and forcefully” even as she emphasised the need for development initiatives to reach the grassroots to address the root cause of Naxalism.

Also ...

The report, prepared by one of the Army commands, deals with resources required to tackle the Naxal menace, if the Army is called out to fight the Maoists. "The Naxal situation is likely to be discussed and the resources required to tackle it, will be taken up by army commanders during the conference," said a source.

Allowing users to search using https - the web security system which many associate with online banking and shopping — would mark a first for a major search engine, and could begin a move by web services such as social networks to begin offering encryption for more than just log-ins. Such increased adoption would cut down on network eavesdropping and also have the added benefit of preventing some online attacks.

Hopefully, everyone will soon go this route ...

Thai watch

A journalist who was interviewing a key political protest leader in Bangkok said the sniper bullet that struck the man came so close that it "felt like it grazed my head." Describing a chaotic scene on the streets of the Thai capital Thursday night, Thomas Fuller of the International Herald Tribune described to CNN how Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdipol was shot in the head as he was interviewing the opposition figure. "I was facing him, he was answering my questions, looking at me and the bullet hit him in the forehead, from what I could tell," Fuller told CNN's Michael Holmes. "It looks like the bullet came over my head and struck him. I don't have any way of confirming this beyond what I remember from the scene but it felt like it grazed my head."

California, the eighth ship of the Virginia class, is named after the "Golden State." It is being constructed at the company's Shipbuilding sector in Newport News. The ship's keel was laid in May 2009. When delivered to the Navy in 2011, California will be the most modern and sophisticated attack submarine in the world, providing undersea supremacy well into the 21st century. Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding is teamed with General Dynamics Electric Boat to build Virginia class submarines.

You have to click through to see the photos but it's worth it ...

The U.S. Navy recently cited eight contractors from Massachusetts and Connecticut for attempting to gain unlawful access to the Groton submarine base after a joint investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and Defense Criminal Investigative Service.

Facebook's decision to improve login security comes amid increased pressure from critics over the way the company has handled user privacy.

A Massachusetts couple has been charged with perpetrating widespread identity theft against dozens of Transportation Security Agency officials in Boston, Reuters reported. A federal grand jury accused Michael Derring, 48, and Tina White, 47, of stealing personal information including the Social Security numbers of TSA workers at Boston's Logan International Airport.

A passenger on a New York-to-Cairo flight has been detained in Egypt after he tried to pass through customs there with what CBS 2 News of New York calls an "incredible weapons cache." The New York Post tabloid also picked up on the story, writing the EgyptAir passenger "flew from Kennedy Airport to Cairo with a mini-arsenal of two pistols, 250 rounds of ammo, two swords and 11 daggers in his checked bags … ." Still, U.S. officials say that even though the passenger violated regulations by not declaring the items, there was no security lapse. U.S. flight rules allow firearms to be checked in a passenger's luggage, though the passenger is required to declare them when checking the luggage. "Transporting firearms within the U.S. in checked baggage is permitted if properly declared to the airline," the TSA says in a statement, according to AFP.

A federal grand jury accused Michael Derring, 48, and Tina White, 47, on Wednesday of conspiracy and aggravated identity theft, alleging they stole personal information including the Social Security numbers of dozens of TSA workers at Boston's Logan International Airport. While there was no indication the information was passed to any militant group that might be planning an attack, the case suggests federal officers are vulnerable to identity theft. The TSA is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Smith & Wesson Corp., the legendary 158-year old firearms maker, announced that the company has unveiled a new line of firearms designed to assist with personal and home protection needs – the Smith & Wesson Self Defense (SD) Series. Chambered in 9mm and .40 S&W, the Smith & Wesson SD9 and SD40™ semi-automatic pistols offer a variety of features requested by individuals for use at home and for personal defense applications. “The new SD9 and SD40 pistols combine the best of both price and functionality in a reliable, ergonomic firearm engineered with one specific goal in mind – self defense,” said Tom Kelly Vice President of Marketing for Smith & Wesson.

Interesting ...

The surveillance video shows a customer walking up behind the robber and smashing a beer bottle over his head. There was a brief struggle, during which the customer was shot four times. Fortunately, none of the wounds were serious and the sheriff’s office announced today, that the man is now back home. The store clerk told reporters: “If it wasn't for [the good Samaritan], I'd be dead. That guy would've shot me; he'd already shot next to my feet twice.” Apparently, as humble as he is courageous, Caroline County Sheriff's Maj. Scott Moser, told the press that the man “doesn't want to be [called] a hero.”

The real ones never do ...

In recent weeks, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has tried several times to deliver a message loud and clear to the military establishment: It is time to trim the bureaucracy and buy cheaper weapons. "Given America's difficult economic circumstances and parlous fiscal condition, military spending on things large and small can and should expect closer, harsher scrutiny," Gates said Saturday at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Kansas. "The gusher has been turned off and will stay off for a good period of time."

I will not drown; drink and drive; chain-saw massacre anyone; stumble; slice, burn or shoot myself, nor will I ever hold up a bank. So the best advice would be to think, improvise, adapt and overcome, man up, but by all means, leave me alone. You don't ban electric guitars just because someone may have a lapse in logic, goodwill and decency and spontaneously break out into country and Western music. The vast majority of sensible people will use electric guitars as God intended and whip out good, sexy rock 'n' roll licks.

Philippine watch

One soldier was killed Wednesday morning when suspected communist rebels ambushed a military platoon securing the transport of vote counting machines in Tanay, Rizal, the military said.

Thai watch

Authorities have vowed to ban supplies to the protesters camped in the heart of the capital as hopes fade for a resolution to the crippling standoff.  Power, phone and transport links would also be cut. "We have made a decision to continue to call for justice for our people here," leader of the protest movement, Nattawut Saikuar, said at the demonstrators' sprawling encampment in the heart of Bangkok. "If the government wants to take any more lives, they can come and get them here."

Chi Tong Kuok, from Macau, China, was convicted on four counts related to attempting to have the equipment sent to Macau and Hong Kong. The equipment included an encryption device for Internet communications for the U.S. military made under contract by the National Security Agency, prosecutors said. Additionally, he tried to buy a GPS device used by the U.S. and NATO militaries and a device used by American and NATO forces to load encryption software into their communications devices, they said. U.S. law bans the export of such devices without permission from the State Department.

USB drives or flash drives are easy to carry. But handling sensitive data through USB drive is always a risk. If you are a part of large organization then losing sensitive data can have severe consequences and hence data security is of utmost importance. Here I present you with five free software to encrypt data on USB drives.

Naxal watch

Even as they are engaged in a fierce fight in Chhattisgarh against each other, a jawan gave an injured Naxal a new lease of life by donating his blood. The incident occurred in Surguja, in the northern part of the State, which is a Naxal-dominated area where the outlaws make their presence felt time and again. It was in one such attempt by the Naxals, that the police injured an outlaw, carrying a reward of Rs 10,000 on his head, but ensured that he survived by making him available proper treatment and also donating blood when needed.

Also ...

Asking India Inc to join hands in developing Naxal-affected areas, Union home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said there was "trust deficit" among poor people in these pockets where they were opposed to the good intentions of the government or business houses. "There is a huge trust deficit between elected government and people of these areas. They tend to rely upon structures of power which oppose the country," Chidambaram said while speaking at the CII annual meet. He said: "It is a wake-up call for us. We must ask why there is a trust deficit among the people of India, government of India, government of states. Why is there so much distrust of people who want to bring development and industry?"

The government is attempting to pass the PREVENTION OF TORTURE BILL, 2010 after it has received the nod from the cabinet on April 8, 2010. Although the Government of India signed the United Nations Convention against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or Punishment (UNCAT) almost 13 years ago, it has failed to ratify it till date. Coming under heavy pressure from the International community and civil society this proposed Bill is an attempt to “amend prevailing laws” so as to make torture a punishable offence. But as we shall see further, such a proposed legislation is only playing lip-service to the obligations set by the UNCAT and is nothing but a mere eyewash. The proposed legislation is not only a climb down from the standards set by the UNCAT but in many ways is in direct opposition to the basic norm of non-derogability of the Right of Freedom from Torture.

Hero watch

Police are thanking a man who risked his life to save a convenience store clerk that was being held up at gun point. According to officers, the elderly man saw the crook attempting to rob the store and after the clerk was unable to open the cash register, fired two shots at the cashier's feet. That's when police state that the man decided to help out and hit the robber in the head with a beer bottle.

Couple of things to learn from this video: 1) the old guys frequently have very big stones, 2) beer bottles aren't made like they used to be, and 3) today's the day, everyday. The hero took four rounds after smacking the POS in the brain-housing group with that beer bottle, but the news guys say he's already out of the hospital and should recover ...

The issue of an armed citizenry is addressed most specifically in "The Federalist Papers" "Federalist No. 28", written by Alexander Hamilton.  It discusses the need for the public to retain its "original right of self-defense [,] which is paramount to all positive forms of government."  Hamilton goes on to state that this right, above all, is to protect the citizens against their governments, both state and federal.  This leads me to believe that it is the individual citizen who has the right to arm him/herself, because the government would never use the organized militia/military against itself as a tyrannical power.

Corona police Sgt. Jon Stofila says the guard, whose name hasn't been released, was picking up money from a Bank of America branch just before noon Monday when the three armed robbers ambushed him. The sergeant says there was gunfire, but it's unclear how many shots were fired. The three masked men then fled on foot without any cash. It's unclear if any of them was wounded.

Protected the cash, didn't pop any customers ... a good days work ...

Philippine watch

A barangay captain was killed while his nephew was wounded when they were fired upon by still unidentified gunmen in Malinao, Aklan, about 30 kms from the capital town of Kalibo, on Sunday afternoon. Police identified the fatality as Efren Fernando, barangay chairman of Capataga, Malinao, Aklan, who sustained multiple gunshot wounds. The victim was driving his motorcycle along with his nephew in the uphill portion of Sitio Badiano, Barangay Bulabod when they were ambushed at about 5 p.m. Wounded in the attack was the 25-year old back-rider Ronelo Fernando-Renacido, who was brought to the Dr. Rafael S. Tumbokon Memorial Hospital in Kalibo for treatment. Ronelo suffered minor gunshot wounds to the thigh and hands, it was learned.

Good thing they've been rigorously enforcing their gun ban all this time ...

Also ...

Maoist-led guerrillas on Tuesday ambushed an army convoy escorting election officials in a remote town on the southern island in the Philippines, killing six people and wounding a dozen, an army spokesman said. A team of soldiers with local election officials were on their way to return vote-counting machines to Margusan town in the mining region on Mindanao when New People's Army (NPA) rebels opened fire on them, Lieutenant-Colonel Ernesto Torres said.

Naxal watch

Categorically ruling out the use of military to counter the Maoist threat, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday suggesting government cannot be dictatorial as there ethical and electoral considerations involved. Citing the example of Sri Lanka tackling the LTTE with use of its military might, Chidambaram said "when I was asked to do that in India, I said 'no'. We cannot do that in India because there is an ethical consideration to it. "We are quite clear we cannot use, we ought not use the Army or the Air Force to battle the Maoist threat in India," he said. Chidambaram said governments have to survive and also get re-elected and policymakers have to factor in all these before deciding on issues.

Both of these proposals are dangerous and ineffective violations of basic civil liberties, and they are almost surely unconstitutional. In 1967, in Afroyim vs. Rusk, the Supreme Court held that Congress cannot strip individuals of citizenship unless they choose to renounce it. In words directly applicable to the Lieberman proposal, the court stated: "Citizenship is no light trifle to be jeopardized any moment Congress decides to do so.... The very nature of our free government makes it completely incongruous to have a rule of law under which a group of citizens temporarily in office can deprive another group of citizens of their citizenship."

I'm glad most of these weasels are on their last terms in office ...

A Macomb County Circuit Court judge is to decide whether to dismiss a bioterrorism charge against an HIV-positive man accused of biting his neighbor during an October brawl. Daniel Allen, 44, of Clinton Township faces up to 15 years in prison on bioterrorism charges after investigators said he and his neighbor, Winfred Fernandis Jr., fought after Allen threw a football down the street that belonged to neighborhood children playing near his home. Fernandis said in a police report that Allen bit his lip as they tussled.Allen was charged by the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office with unlawful possession or use of a harmful device under a 2004 Michigan antiterrorism law passed in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. 

Negrin, equipped with a police baton, reportedly followed a fellow worker into the employee parking lot after ending his shift Tuesday. He reportedly struck his unidentified co-worker on the arm and back, “then told the victim to kneel down and say ‘your sorry’”, the police report stated. It was fear that seemingly pushed Negrin’s coworker to obey his wishes and apologize for the unappreciated humor.

Holding someone up to public ridicule is an excellent way to get your ass kicked ... and legal or not, you will typically have it coming ...

I guess you really can tell a whole lot about someone from those full-body scanner images. This is an unfortunate situation. Obviously no one should be subject to constant harassment at work (co-workers mocked the suspect on a "daily basis," according to the police report). But assaulting a co-worker was not a smart way to deal with this problem. Now the whole internet knows about this gentleman's equipment—not just his co-workers.

America's oldest nuclear weapons, unwanted, outdated, a legacy of the 20th century, are now the focus of a political struggle that could shake the NATO alliance in the 21st. The questions hanging over the B-61 bombs, an estimated 200 of them on six air bases across Europe, relate not just to why they're still here, but to how safe and secure they are. For one thing, al-Qaida terrorists have already targeted this Belgian air base 84 kilometers (52 miles) northeast of Brussels. For another, U.S. Air Force inspectors found inadequate security at most of the six sites. And three months ago a "bombspotter" team, anti-nuclear activists, penetrated nearly one kilometer (a half-mile) inside Kleine Brogel, reaching its innermost bunkers.

NFOA President Andreas Allen said that the hero in this incident, Harry (James) McCullough, now faces gang reprisal because the armed robber man he fatally shot was a documented gang member. Mr. McCullough has "great concern for his personal safety." "He is living on the road, sleeping at a different house every night and not working," Allen said. "We arranged for Mr. McCullough to get a new replacement handgun from a federally licensed firearms dealer," he continued. "Mr. McCullough completed the paperwork on his new handgun and took a receipt down to OPD to register the handgun before taking possession of it, to make sure he was in complete compliance with city ordinances. OPD denied his registration because of a past citation for carrying a concealed weapon. After the City Prosecutor publicly stated he did not have grounds to charge Mr. McCullough, he again contacted the police to register his new firearm and was turned away."

A Colorado man who claimed he was trying to defend himself from a mugger when he shot himself in the groin was convicted of illegal discharge of a firearm. Investigators say there was no evidence to substantiate David Leroy Blurton's self-defense claim and jurors convicted the 50-year-old Wednesday. The shooting happened at the parking of a grocery store in Dillon, Colo., on May 2009. Prosecutors say Blurton had been drinking.

It's a good thing the state got its pound of flesh ... I'm sure he wouldn't have learned his lesson otherwise ...

Even if you have an employee that is not being malicious and truly wants to take the data home to work on it there could still be a major security leak waiting in the wings. If they are taking a piece of secret company data home in their pocket and they go to a bar that people in the industry hang out there could be consequences. What if the employee leaves the USB device there? Then a competitor could get a good portion of your companies secrets.

The vandal punched a large, ragged hole in one of the heads, which are made of a tough polyresin. "It's tragic because we can't figure out why," Mowatt said.

They must have never seen The Warriors:

Swan: "So why'd you do it? Why'd you off Cyrus?"

Luther: "No reason. I just like doing things like that ..."

Philippine watch

“As guardians of our democratic institutions, we, your soldiers, are prepared and intent to safeguard your votes and your most fundamental rights to choose our leaders. We will put our lives on the line, go out of [our] comfort zones and stand firm with the people in making sure that they will be able to meaningfully exercise their democratic rights. This is our vow to the nation. This is our covenant with [the] people. And this is our solemn pledge before the flag,” Bangit said. “We pledge our commitment. We pledge our life, treasure and our sacred honor,” he added. Bangit said the military shares the concern of the people on the Precinct Count Optical  Scan machines  that did not work properly during random testing early this last week, but said this problem will be overcome.

Well, my confidence is fully restored ...

Two peacekeepers were killed Friday when a military convoy from UNAMID's Egyptian contingent, with three vehicles and 20 personnel, was ambushed near Katila village, 85 kilometres south of Eddal Fursan, South Darfur, by a group of unidentified armed men who indiscriminately opened fire, without warning, on the peacekeepers.