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January 27, 2004

Granted Asylum, Nun Held in Va. Jail

This is pathetic, folks. If somebody doesn't stop these fascists in the gestapo called Homeland Security, the whole idea of asylum, rights, and just about everything else this country stands for is going to be nothing but memory. If a Buddhist NUN who had to sneak out of China to get here doesn't deserve asylum, WHO DOES? Do you think if this was a catholic nun trying to escape Iran, she would have been given asylum? You bet your butt

HOPEWELL, Va. -- Sonam always feared her devotion to Buddhism would land her behind bars in her native China. As it turns out, she is serving a long term in jail -- not in East Asia but in central Virginia. [Washington Post: Front Page]

January 18, 2004

If This is True....

If the following article from Alter.Net is true, then something MUST be done to stop the insanity before everything we hold dear as a nation and as a civilized body of intelligent people is completely crushed out of existence. What it would be replaced with is more the beginning of a 1984'ish scenario than anything we've seen to date. Combine this sort of list with RFID technology and what happens then? I was "talking" online with a person from Uruguay who marveled at the lack of privacy in the United States as compared with her country. I'm not marveling....I'm damn scared.

Green Party "Terrorist" Not Allowed to Fly

By Frederick Sweet, Intervention Magazine
January 12, 2004

Art dealer Doug Stuber, who ran Ralph Nader's Green Party presidential campaign in North Carolina in 2000, was pulled out of an airline boarding line and grounded this past holiday season. He was about to make an important trip to Prague to gather artists for Henry James Art in Raleigh, N.C., when he was told (with ticket in hand) that he was not allowed to fly out that day.

When he asked why not, he was told at Raleigh-Durham airport that because of the sniper attacks, no Greens were allowed to fly overseas on that day. The next morning he returned, and instead of paying $670 round trip, was forced into a $2,600 "same day" air fare. But it's what happened to Stuber during the next 24 hours that is even more disturbing.

Stuber arrived at the airport at 6 a.m. and his first flight wasn't due out until nearly six hours later. He had plenty of time. At exactly 10:52 in the morning, just before boarding was to begin, he was approached by police officer Stanley (the same policeman who ushered him out of the airport the day before), who said that he "wanted to talk" to him. Stuber went with the police officer, but reminded him that no one had said he couldn't fly, and that his flight was about to leave.

Officer Stanley took Stuber into a room and questioned him for an hour. Around noon, Stanley had introduced him to two Secret Service agents. The agents took full eye-open pictures of Stuber with a digital camera. Then they asked him details about his family, where he lived, who he ever knew, what the Greens are up to, and other questions.

At one point during his interrogation, Stuber asked if they really believed the Greens were equal to al Qaeda. Then they showed him a Justice Department document that actually shows the Greens as likely terrorists – just as likely as al Qaeda members. Stuber was released just before 1 PM, so he still had time to catch the later flight.

The agents walked Stuber to the Delta counter and asked that he be given tickets for the flight so that he could make his connections. The airline official promptly printed tickets, which relieved Stuber, who assumed that the Secret Service hadn't stopped him from flying. Wrong! By the time Stuber was about to board, officer Stanley once again ushered him out the door and told him: "Just go to Greensboro, where they don't know you, and be totally quiet about politics, and you can make it to Europe that way."

In Greensboro, after Stuber showed his passport he was told that he could not fly overseas or domestically. Undeterred, he next traveled an hour-and-a-half to Charlotte. In Charlotte, the same thing happened. Then Stuber drove three hours to his home after 43 hours of trying to catch a flight.

Stuber said he could only conclude that the Greens, whose values include nonviolence, social justice, etc., are now labeled terrorists by the Ashcroft-led Justice Department.

Questions about how one gets on a no-fly list creates questions about how to get off it. This is a classic Catch-22 situation. The Transportation Security Agency says it compiles the list from names provided by other agencies, but it has no procedure for correcting a problem. Aggrieved parties would have to go to the agency that first reported their names. But for security reasons, the TSA won't disclose which agency put someone on the no-fly list.

Frederick Sweet is Professor of Reproductive Biology in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

January 16, 2004

In a Flamingly STUPID Maneuver

In one of the most STUPID things a pilot could possibly do, this complete idiot attempted to single handedly prove all of the government's assertions about pilots. In just one STUPID flight, this moron pulled out all the stops, making certain the stunt would be something talked about at the highest levels of homeland stupidity.

Of course, even though this dweeb posed a "security threat" you would find that he couldn't have been intercepted before he crashed into one of those power stations he orbited.

From CNN

(CNN) -- The case of a pilot with a preliminary blood-alcohol ratio of 0.13 is raising legal questions after his erratic, four-hour flight over Pennsylvania and New Jersey on Friday.

The pilot, John Vincent Salamone, 44, of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, flew "haphazardly" over Philadelphia and Atlantic City, New Jersey, twice entering controlled airspace without permission.

At one point the plane flew near a nuclear power plant, prompting security concerns, officials said.

Salamone's blood-alcohol content registered 0.13 after a breath test administered after he landed, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney Bruce Castor told CNN. In Pennsylvania a motorist is considered to be operating a motor vehicle under the influence with a blood-alcohol ratio of 0.08.

The pilot was arrested and could have his license suspended or revoked, federal officials said. But local law enforcement officials are not sure what criminal charges to file against the pilot.

Salamone's 1967 Piper Cherokee meets the definition of a vehicle, defined under Pennsylvania law as "any device upon or by which a person or property may be transported ... upon a highway," Castor said.

But "now you've got to figure out what a highway is," Castor said. "It is trickier than I first thought it was going to be."

Castor said his staff is researching Pennsylvania statutes and case law to see if the airport runway or the air routes fit the legal definition of highway.

The airport runway initially appears not to fit the definition because it is not publicly maintained, he said. But Castor said he believes the air routes can be construed to be a highway.

He has never encountered a similar situation in his 18 year career as a prosecutor, Castor said.

"I'm sure someplace in Pennsylvania this has happened before, but we've got to look," he said.

Salamone, the president of a concrete company, was released from custody, and calls to his business were not returned.

A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said Salamone has no previous aviation accidents, incidents or enforcement actions on his record. The FAA said it could move to suspend or revoke Salamone's pilot's license, or impose a civil penalty.

Another FAA spokesman, Jim Peters, said an air traffic controller noticed Salamone's plane on radar at 6:30 p.m. about 15 miles northwest of the Philadelphia airport, flying southeast toward Philadelphia. The plane crossed into the airport's restricted airspace.

"Normally if you are piloting out, all you do is you call us and say 'I'd like to proceed in this airspace,'" Peters said. "He didn't do that."

The pilot headed toward Atlantic City and Ocean City, New Jersey, before trying to land at a smaller airport south of Philadelphia.

The pilot did not land, however, and re-entered Philadelphia airport airspace.

Air traffic controllers contacted the pilot and asked if he wanted to land in Philadelphia. He declined, instead heading back to Pottstown Limerick Airport, where he made one attempt to land at his home airport before flying over a nuclear power plant, Peters said.

A police helicopter intercepted the plane and forced it to land at 10:17 p.m., Peters said.

He "came down on his own volition" at Pottstown airport, about 35 miles northwest of Philadelphia, said the airport's manager, Mike D'Aries.

"From what they can determine, it was pretty obvious that when he landed he was pretty intoxicated," D'Aries said.

The pilot faces two citations from the FAA for flying through Class B controlled airspace -- airspace around a major airport -- without FAA approval. The FAA is investigating the incident.

CNN's Mike Ahlers contributed to this report.

January 15, 2004

Domain registrars sued over URL patent

Take a look at THIS story. How could the USPTO be lame enough to grant a patent like this? What's next?

Two Web entrepreneurs accuse Network Solutions and Register.com of selling e-mail addresses and URLs that infringe on their naming method patent. [CNET News.com]

US using EU airline data to 'test' CAPPS II snoop system

They aren't allowed to use US data yet, but that won't stop them from sneakily obtaining it from the EU, whose strong personal data privacy laws wouldn't allow this without the clandestine deal.

Commission less than candid about deal within deal [The Register]

January 13, 2004

Judge protects consumer rants

Finally something smart. Free speech rules!

A federal judge rejects a company's legal attempt to assail BadBusinessBureau.com, which features negative reviews from consumers who claim to have been "ripped off" by retailers. [CNET News.com]

Secrecy Allowed On 9/11 Detention

So, does anyone else have any problem with this? People were detained, nobody knows who they were, and our formerly open society can't get the information, when we can get the arrest records on just about anyone else. How come?

The Supreme Court yesterday declined to hear an appeal by civil liberties groups seeking access to basic data about hundreds of individuals detained by the federal government after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a decision that allows officials to continue withholding the names of most detainees, as well as other information related to their arrests, indefinitely. [Washington Post: Front Page]

January 02, 2004

TSA - Terribly Sloshed Administrators?

So we have multiple British Airways flights from London to Dulles being cancelled due to security concerns, and we find that the head of the agency charged with security at Dulles can't even be trusted with securing himself from the alcohol. Today's Washington Post reported that during an orange alert, New Year's Eve, the head of the agency supposedly responsible for our safety in the skies, was weaving around the road because he couldn't drive properly.

So, what has the TSA actually done to enhance our safety? I was absolutely shocked today to find out that only 20% of the cargo that is placed on board planes loaded with passengers, is actually inspected. And who is inspecting it? People who are absolutely positively UNTRAINED to detect explosives, biological weapons, or chemical weapons. These poor individuals who are charged with making the cargo safe don't have the slightest clue in the world what to do besides open a package and look inside. No bomb sniffing dogs. No x ray machines. No nothing.

Don't you feel safe now that general aviation aircraft are prohibited from getting too close to America's Favorite Shrub, but an aircraft out of Dulles with only 20% of its cargo checked and passengers screened by an agency headed by an alleged drunk driver can go on its merry way and possibly be detonated above DC plunging into who knows what?

Yes, but at least those pesky little Cessna 152s are out of the area...right?

January 01, 2004

Happy Ranting New Year!

May the New Year bring you all that you deserve.