Freedom of Speech

Supreme Court Watch

Court Declines to Hear Gay Marriage Case
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Monday sidestepped a dispute over gay marriages, rejecting a challenge to the nation's only law sanctioning such unions. Justices had been asked by conservative groups to overturn the year-old decision by the Massachusetts Supreme Court legalizing gay marriage. They declined, without comment.

Court Examines Gender Equity Law
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court is considering whether a landmark gender equity law protects an Alabama high school coach who complained about unfair treatment of his girls' basketball team, a case testing the scope of women's athletic rights. The coach, Roderick Jackson, lost his job in 2001 after repeatedly asking the Birmingham Board of Education to provide his team a regulation-size gym with basketball rims that weren't bent — just like the boys' team had.

Wary Court Considers Medical Marijuana
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court appeared hesitant Monday to endorse medical marijuana for patients who have a doctor's recommendation. Justices are considering whether sick people in 11 states with medical marijuana laws can get around a federal ban on pot.

Excerpts of Medical Marijuana Arguments
Excerpts from Monday's Supreme Court oral argument on medical marijuana, as transcribed by Alderson Reporting Co.

Ruling on Hitler Artwork to Stand
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court let stand Monday a lower court ruling allowing the U.S. Army to keep four watercolors painted by Adolf Hitler that were seized in Germany after World War II. Without comment, the justices turned aside a challenge by the family of late German photographer Heinrich Hoffmann Sr., which had sought either the return of the paintings as well as 2.5 million photographs — or millions of dollars in damages.

High Court Sidesteps Campaign Spending
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court passed up a chance Monday to revisit the constitutionality of campaign spending limits in a closely watched case from New Mexico. Justices, without comment, let stand a lower ruling striking down the city of Albuquerque's spending limits as a violation of free speech rights. The court declined to consider whether a 28-year-old landmark decision barring caps should be reassessed due to skyrocketing campaign costs that critics say promotes corruption.

Court Declines 'Super Aspirin' Case
ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The University of Rochester's costly legal battle to reap billions of dollars in royalties from a new class of "super aspirin" appeared to be over Monday, after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear its claims. Without explanation, the high court denied the school's request for a review of lower court rulings that dismissed its patent-infringement claims against the makers of painkillers known as cox-2 inhibitors.

In God We Trust?

If you look on the back of any denomination of US currency, you will see in bold print across the top center of each bill, the well-known axiom “In God We Trust.” What an amazing thing to inscribe on the world’s most coveted creation of man. As if to mock the Almighty, we mindlessly carry out transactions each day for goods and services offering one another an ink-stamped platitude as fraudulent as the paper it’s printed on.

Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School

LOS ANGELES -- A California teacher has been barred by his school from giving students documents from American history that refer to God -- including the Declaration of Independence. Steven Williams, a fifth-grade teacher at Stevens Creek School in the San Francisco Bay area suburb of Cupertino, sued for discrimination on Monday, claiming he had been singled out for censorship by principal Patricia Vidmar because he is a Christian.

Air Force cracks down on Christian 'coercion'

Academy tells cadets not to use Bible
quotes, sharing faith may be intolerant
In a move that echoes the recent decision of the U.S. Department of Defense to deny Boy Scouts use of military facilities, the U.S. Air Force Academy is warning Christian cadets to curb their faith. Officials at the Colorado Springs military college have instituted a new training program, Respecting the Spiritual Values of People, to teach the cadets, 90% of whom are from Protestant or Catholic backgrounds, tolerance toward non-Christians. The program follows an August survey that found complaints of religious bias.

District bans instrumental Christmas carols

Songs with religious references
barred, even without lyrics
A school district's long-standing policy banning Christmas songs with religious references is under scrutiny after officials clarified that it includes the prohibition of the performance of instrumental numbers without lyrics. Instead of tunes about Jesus, and even Santa Claus, the 40-member Columbia High School brass ensemble will be limited for the first time to seasonal selections such as "Winter Wonderland" and "Frosty the Snowman," the Newark Star-Ledger reported.

Christian group sues for right to discriminate

A Christian legal group said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday against Arizona State University officials that it should be allowed to discriminate on the basis of religious and sexual orientation. The university chapter of the Christian Legal Society said it wants to be recognized as an official campus organization but without having to comply with the university's ban on discrimination on the basis of religion or sexual orientation. The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court said a university administrator on Oct. 15 denied the group a waiver it requested Sept. 29. The chapter's lawsuit said it allows anybody to attend its meetings but that it should be allowed to become a ban non-Christians and practicing lesbians and gays from its membership and officer positions.

Feds Plan to Keep Data on Students

WASHINGTON -- A proposal by the federal government to create a vast new database of enrollment records on all college and university students is raising concerns that the move will erode the privacy rights of students. Until now, universities have provided individual student information to the federal government only in connection with federally financed student aid. Otherwise, colleges and universities submit information about overall enrollment, graduation, prices and financial aid without identifying particular students. For the first time, however, colleges and universities would have to give the government data on all students individually, whether or not they received financial assistance, with their Social Security numbers.

Are Your Laser Printer Documents Tracked?

Feds use printer technology to track documents
WASHINGTON -- Next time you make a printout from your color laser printer, shine an LED flashlight beam on it and examine it closely with a magnifying glass. You might be able to see the small, scattered yellow dots printer there that could be used to trace the document back to you. According to experts, several printer companies quietly encode the serial number and the manufacturing code of their color laser printers and color copiers on every document those machines produce. Governments, including the United States, already use the hidden markings to track counterfeiters.

Passengers complain about pat-down searches at airports

Scores of women, and some men, say they have suffered similar humiliation during a pat-down, standard procedure since Sept. 22 in secondary screenings at airport checkpoints. Many protest that it is an unnecessary invasion of privacy, the security process going too far. "People should be outraged, fuming, doing something to change this," said Rhonda Gaynier, a New York attorney who said she was given a "breast exam" while flying out of Tampa in October. "It's like we have no rights anymore." The Transportation Security Administration said the procedure is crucial to security. Less than a month earlier, two Russian airliners exploded, and authorities think two women hid explosives under their clothing.

You Have Papers?

I am one of those suspicious characters that every single time I fly, get "selected" for "special screening." I get to take off my shoes, spread my legs and arms to get "wanded" and then get patted down. When I ask why I was picked out of line, I was told that it was simply "random screening." The problem is that I "randomly" get selected every single time.

An Intrusive new search

Thanksgiving travelers may be in for a bit of a shock as they plod through security lines at the nation's airports. Passengers chosen for secondary screening or whose clothing appears suspicious or bulky are now subject to frisking--in a pretty intrusive way.

The Consequences Of Surrendering Liberty To Government Security

Recently it was reported that Senator Ted Kennedy was prevented from flying on commercial airlines because his name appeared on the federal government’s no-fly list. Now comes a report that another well-known American, commentator Cal Thomas, has also appeared on the no-fly list and consequently is harassed every time he attempts to board planes. For Thomas, that’s about a three-times-a-week occurrence.

Cell phone batteries explode, causing recalls

Over the past two years, federal safety officials have received 83 reports of cell phones exploding or catching fire, usually because of incompatible, faulty or counterfeit batteries or chargers. Burns to the face, neck, leg and hip are among the dozens of injury reports the agency has received.

Supreme Court Watch

High Court to Hear Medical Marijuana Issue
WASHINGTON -- Angel Raich tried dozens of prescription medicines to ease the pain of a brain tumor and other illnesses before she took up another drug: pot. The mother of two has the support of her doctor and a California medical marijuana law when she lights her pot pipe every few hours. The Supreme Court hears arguments Monday whether that's enough to protect Raich from the federal government, which makes no exceptions for the seriously ill in its war on drugs.

Poll: Most Oppose High Court Life Tenure
WASHINGTON -- Six in 10 Americans say there should be a mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court justices, according to an Associated Press poll. The survey found public support for an idea that has arisen periodically in Congress without ever making headway. Only one of the nine current justices, Clarence Thomas, is younger than 65. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, 80, appointed to the court by President Nixon, has thyroid cancer. In the survey, people were asked if they could identify what job Rehnquist held, and 59 percent did not know.

Chief Justice Won't Return to the Court This Year
WASHINGTON -- Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who missed the Supreme Court's November argument session while being treated for thyroid cancer, will be absent for the December session as well, the court announced on Friday. Kathleen Arberg, the court's public information officer, said Chief Justice Rehnquist was continuing to receive chemotherapy and radiation treatments as an outpatient and was meeting with his law clerks and court officials at his home. Ms. Arberg said she had no information on when the 80-year-old chief justice might return to the court. Given the apparent seriousness of his illness, there has been widespread speculation that the chief justice will announce his retirement sometime this winter. Jan. 7 will mark his 33rd anniversary on the court.

Rehnquist's Health Still a Mystery
WASHINGTON -- Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's health is shrouded in mystery, the extent of his thyroid cancer a closely guarded secret. Several coming events could give the public an idea about the seriousness of his condition. Since announcing his illness in a statement on Oct. 25, the 80-year-old Rehnquist has run the nation's highest court from his home in suburban Virginia.

White House Criticizes High Court Appeal
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court not to rush a decision in an extraordinary appeal about the government's plans for military trials for foreign terror suspects. The high court had been asked to decide by next week whether to hear Hamdan's case, which raises questions about government power to prosecute wartime prisoners.

Guantanamo Trials Appealed at High Court
WASHINGTON -- Lawyers for an alleged al-Qaida member have filed an unusual appeal at the Supreme Court challenging the government's strategy in holding military trials for terror suspects in Cuba. The Bush administration has defended its plans for military commission trials, resurrected from World War II, at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. U.S. District Judge James Robertson said the government must first determine that the suspects are not prisoners of war and entitled to more legal rights. He also ruled that the guidelines for the trials must be changed.

Death row case gets revisited
JACKSON -- Attorneys for a death row inmate will argue before the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday that Mississippi juries should be able to convict defendants in capital cases of the lesser crimes of murder or manslaughter. Attorneys for Marlon Howell have said in briefs that Howell deserves a new trial because his Union County jury was not allowed to consider convicting him of a lesser crime rather than capital murder, which carries a maximum penalty of death.

Electronic tag to track 28,000 Students in Texas

Here in a growing middle- and working-class suburb just north of Houston, the effort is undergoing its most ambitious test. The Spring Independent School District is equipping 28,000 students with ID badges containing computer chips that are read when the students get on and off school buses. The information is fed automatically by wireless phone to the police and school administrators. In a variation on the concept, a Phoenix school district in November is starting a project using fingerprint technology to track when and where students get on and off buses. Last year, a charter school in Buffalo began automating attendance counts with computerized ID badges - one of the earliest examples of what educators said could become a widespread trend.

'Must-wear' student ID roils town

POPLAR BLUFF, MO. -- Across the country student IDs are fast becoming the norm - while far more invasive security measures have already been implemented, such as random drug testing, cameras, and metal detectors. Many experts are left wondering: Why the fuss in Poplar Bluff? Poplar Bluff may be somewhat unusual in that it is a small town that hasn't yet had to safeguard against many of the problems that America's larger metropolitan areas have long faced.

Americans Targeted For Behavior Modification

A recent measure in Santa Cruz, California was a prime example of how the people are being manipulated at the local level through what's called 'sustainable development' being done incrementally. Measure J was defeated by the people, but it is imperative that Americans fully understand that 'sustainable development' is the blueprint for destroying liberty and private property rights.

2,000 Cameras to Watch Chicago

CHICAGO -- Mayor Daley officially opened a new city operations center Tuesday that will include a dramatic increase in camera surveillance on Chicago’s streets. The new addition to the 9-1-1 center will help manage and coordinate in response to emergencies such as a terrorist attack. The new system will allow emergency workers to receive instant real time video and audio information from 2,000 cameras and microphones stationed around the city. The system won’t be fully operational until spring.

Feds Screening Program Expands

WASHINGTON -- Federal agents in three cities along the Mexican and Canadian borders began photographing and fingerprinting some foreign visitors Monday as part of a program aimed at preventing terrorists from entering the USA. But critics say the system is too costly, ineffective and vastly scaled back from what Congress ordered after the Sept. 11 attacks. The program, which has cost about $1 billion to implement so far and could eventually cost up to $10 billion to put in place, is called US-VISIT, for United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology. It has been used at 115 airports and 14 seaports since the start of the year. In that time, 319 people have been detained or turned away, though none was a suspected terrorist.

U.S. Citizenship no Bar to Terror Screening

Five government anti-terrorism agents arrived at the door of Nancy Swift's modest home in a northern Virginia suburb last August, where Swift lives and rents out some rooms. They threatened her with a subpoena. They dispatched agents to her office to ask about her. They took away her garbage in the trunks of their cars, and they questioned one of her housemates. It all happened, apparently, because a neighbor called authorities about one of Swift's tenants in the house, a young Middle Eastern man who had other Middle Eastern friends visit one holiday weekend. The neighbor also turns Swift in to the county government when her grass gets too long.

Feds Order Airlines to Turn Over Passenger Records

To test a new passenger prescreening system, the Transportation Security Administration on Monday ordered the nation's airlines to turn over information on travelers who took domestic flights last June. The airlines have until Nov. 23 to hand over passenger name records (PNR), which include all data an aircraft operator has about a traveler's itinerary, according to TSA's public notice. The order applies to 72 commercial and public charter airlines and includes about 50 million passengers.

Non-Profits Sue to Block Terror Watch-List Rule

WASHINGTON -- It’s illegal for the federal government to require charities to make sure none of their employees are on lists of suspected terrorists, a group of non-profit organizations contends in a lawsuit filed Wednesday. Since last year, the government has said any charity involved in its United Way-style annual fund drive “must now certify that they do not knowingly employ individuals or have ties to organizations found on any terrorist related list promulgated by the U.S. Government or other international sources.” The screening requirement stems from an executive order signed by President Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It prohibits Americans from giving money to individuals or organizations with ties to terrorism.

Evolution-Theory Lawyers Make Final Pleas

ATLANTA -- Lawyers fighting a court challenge of evolution disclaimers on textbooks defended the warning stickers in final arguments Friday as a show of tolerance, not religious activism as some parents claimed. U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper said he plans to rule "as quickly as possible" following the weeklong trial in the suburban Cobb County case. Attorneys are still filing paperwork and said any ruling was probably at least a month away.

Screening Protesters Ruled Unconstitutional

ATLANTA -- Fears of a terrorist attack are not sufficient reason for authorities to search people at a protest, a federal appeals court has ruled, saying Sept. 11, 2001, "cannot be the day liberty perished." A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled unanimously Friday that protesters may not be required to pass through metal detectors when they gather next month for a rally against a U.S. training academy for Latin American soldiers. Michael Greenberger, law professor and director of the University of Maryland's Center for Health and Homeland Security, said the ruling could have broader implications if it is used to challenge aspects of the USA Patriot Act.

Supreme Court Watch

Firestorm Over Bush Nominees
Olson Predicts Firestorm for Next Justice
WASHINGTON -- Despite Republican gains, President Bush's picks for potential vacancies on the Supreme Court will face "political firestorm" in the Senate, the Bush administration's former chief lawyer at the high court said Thursday. Theodore Olson, who resigned in July as solicitor general, predicted that Bush will get to name as many as three justices during his second term. Olson also said he expected that those choices will come under attack by interest groups and Senate Democrats who have already blocked 10 Bush nominees to other courts.

Related
Filibuster Vote-Counter Will Lead Democrats
Reid: Committed Partisan With
Deceptively Moderate Record
Shortly after securing his place as the top Democrat in the U.S. Senate, Nevada's Harry Reid had a message for President Bush: "I will not shirk from my responsibility to stand up and fight for Nevada values and Democratic principles." As Daschle's loyal lieutenant for six years, Reid spent much of his time counting votes and making sure Senate Democrats were unified. His work paid off. The only other potential candidate for minority leader, Sen. Christopher Dodd (D.-Conn.), quickly backed away from a challenge to Reid. Democrats plan to formally vote for their new leader next month.

One Justice's vision of role of the courts
WASHINGTON -- During the presidential campaign, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia received a strange letter in his home mailbox. It was a fundraising flier from Democratic strategist James Carville. The appeal invoked an issue apparently thought to be so frightening that it would prompt recipients to fork over massive amounts of money to the Kerry campaign. The "terrifying" message came with the headline: "What Would You Think of CHIEF JUSTICE Scalia?" When Scalia related the story at a recent gathering of the conservative Federalist Society here in Washington, the audience erupted into sustained and thunderous cheers and applause.

Supreme Court Throws Out Texas Death Sentence
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday overturned the death sentence of a convicted Texas killer because jurors in his trial did not consider his learning disability and other evidence. Texas courts had turned down LaRoyce Lathair Smith's appeal of his sentence for the January 1991 killing of a Taco Bell manager during a robbery attempt in Dallas. The victim, 19-year-old Jennifer Soto, was pistol-whipped, shot and stabbed with a butcher knife.

Court Considers When Cops Can Use Canines
Driving 6 mph over the speed limit got Roy Caballes pulled over. But what happened next landed him at the Supreme Court, which considered Wednesday when police can use drug-sniffing dogs. Caballes was wearing a suit and driving a new Mercury when he was stopped on an Illinois freeway in November 1998. It looked like he would get off with a warning until Krott the drug dog showed up and sniffed out $250,000 worth of marijuana in Caballes' trunk. Caballes' conviction eventually was overturned on grounds police had no reason to search his car.

Court Steers Clear of Cockfighting Case
WASHINGTON - No cockfighting in Oklahoma, the Supreme Court says. The justices turned down an appeal Monday from cockfighting supporters, who have lost at the ballot box and in courts. Oklahoma voters in 2002 approved a ban on the blood sport, in which knives or cutting barbs are attached to roosters, which usually fight to the death.

Court Declines Adoption Dispute
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider whether a Colorado couple must return their adopted son to his Missouri birth mother. Justices let stand a Colorado Supreme Court ruling in favor of the adoptive parents, who are identified in filings only as G.A.L. and K.L. to protect their privacy. The Denver couple argued they should retain custody of 1-year-old Alex because a judge had not taken into consideration his "best interests."

Court Declines to Step Into Kmart Bankruptcy Dispute
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider whether retailer Kmart Corp. should have been allowed to pay more than $300 million to key suppliers immediately after filing for bankruptcy protection. Justices let stand a lower ruling that declared Kmart had no authority to pay suppliers such as newspaper chain Knight-Ridder Inc. The court said Kmart had not proven that the suppliers were so critical to Kmart's operations to justify payments to them over others.

Court Considers Death Penalty Case
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court last Wednesday considered whether a jury that sentenced a convicted killer to death had properly taken into account his religious conversion, which a prosecutor incorrectly contended was irrelevant. In a 24-year-old case, most of the justices seemed to agree that the California prosecutor was wrong to make that assertion about William Payton and that a trial judge should have corrected the prosecutor. But the justices were divided over whether the errors made a difference in sentencing.

Pro-Lifers Sue City

Protest permit policy unconstitutional, they say
Four anti-abortion advocates who protest and pray outside abortion clinics are suing the city of Fort Myers, claiming the city's policy on public gatherings is unconstitutional. Judith C. Minahan and John Vetter of Lee County and Edward C. Melone and Marilyn Melone of Collier County filed the suit Nov. 9 in U.S. District Court in Fort Myers. The suit claims the city's permit policy for public demonstrations is illegal because it violates the protesters' freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom to exercise their religion and freedom of the press. The protesters are being represented by attorney Edward L. White III of the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm that's based in Ann Arbor, Mich., and is dedicated to defending the religious rights of Christians.

Fort Myers Sued For Restricting Pro-Life Speech
Thomas More Law Center
ANN ARBOR, MI -- The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Fort Myers, Florida, and several of its officials for policies and practices curtailing the free speech rights of pro-life sidewalk counselors to pray and handout pro-life informational literature. The Law Center filed suit on behalf of Judith Minahan, Edward and Marilyn Melone, and John Vetter, all of whom are Christians motivated by their faith to expose the evils of abortion. They seek to pray on the public sidewalk outside a Fort Myers abortion clinic and counsel expectant mothers in a non-confrontational manner to find alternatives to abortion. The City of Fort Myers and its officials, however, require pro-life advocates to obtain a permit before more than two of them may engage in such activity. They are also prohibited from approaching people and distributing informational literature. As a result, if three pro-life advocates pray on the public sidewalk without a permit and hand out literature, they are subject to arrest.

Troops Train For Homeland Security Mission

NEW YORK -- The traditional image of the military is troops going overseas. But, now more than ever, troops train to go anywhere -- even inside the United States. Just last week, Fort Bragg soldiers ran a training exercise in New York. The group of soldiers flew to New York to train for a fictional scenario in which terrorists plan to strike the West Point Military Academy, the place where future Army leaders train. Most units around the country are scheduling more domestic "training ops" like this one. The soldiers at Fort Bragg have done three.

Capitol Checkpoints to Return in January

The Capitol Police Department erected the security precautions on Washington, D.C., streets that move through the capitol complex three months ago after the Bush Department of Homeland Security raised the threat warning to "orange" for the Capitol and financial institutions in Washington, New Jersey, and New York City. The threat advisory was reduced to "yellow" Thursday. However, the Capitol Police plan to deploy randomly temporary checkpoints around the Capitol in the future and discussions are reportedly underway to redeploy the entire host of checkpoints for the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration.

Secret Service pays visit to Boulder High

Bob Dylan's Masters of War is a hard-hitting, anti-war song produced more than 20 years before any current Boulder High School student was born. More than 40 years after its release, the song has been resurrected at Boulder High with huge and confusing repercussions that prompted Secret Service agents to pay the campus a visit Thursday. Some students and parents apparently let the Secret Service and talk-radio stations know they were unhappy with the plan of a trio of students to do a poetry reading of the song, accompanied by background music, according to Ron Cabrera, the school's principal.

Police Taser 6-Year-Old Boy At Elementary School

MIAMI -- A 6-year-old boy was subdued with a Taser while wielding a piece of glass and threatening to hurt himself in the principal's office, officials said Thursday. The boy, who was not identified, was shocked by police with 50,000 volts of electric current on Oct. 20 at Kelsey Pharr Elementary School. Police wouldn't say how big the child was. The case was under review.

Privacy Experts Shun Black Boxes

Feds To Require Electronic
Data Recorders In All Autos
WASHINGTON -- Some safety and privacy experts are reacting with apprehension, others with all out condemnation over a recent ruling by the National Transportation Safety Board to require electronic data recorders or "black boxes" in all new cars manufactured in the United States. "I take offense that this personal property of individuals is now being designed by the federal government," said Jim Harper, privacy attorney and editor of Privacilla.org.

County collects guns, gives owners cash in exchange

FREEHOLD -- Monmouth County authorities yesterday collected a steady stream of weapons as part of a two-day Guns for Cash program. The program, run by the Prosecutor's Office and the Sheriff's Office, gives cash payments to residents who anonymously turn over their unwanted weapons. Guns will be accepted again today from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. at the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, Annex A, on Jerseyville Avenue.

Get Rid Of State's Ineffective Gun Ban

The federal assault weapons ban expiration on Sept. 13 was a day many gun enthusiasts had been looking forward to for some time. Arbitrarily prohibiting certain capacities of clips, use of a pistol grip, a folding stock for storage and transportation and other aspects of the weapon that did not affect lethality, the law has proven to be ineffective in prohibiting guns that are truly dangerous. Interestingly enough, it specifically named companies and weapons they produced as assault weapons, including Connecticut-founded Colt AR-15.

ACLU battles schools' warning over evolution

Says textbook stickers veiled
attempt to promote religious dogma
Like a warning label on a pack of cigarettes, the Cobb County, Ga., textbook sticker says: "This textbook contains material on evolution. Evolution is a theory, not a fact, regarding the origin of living things. This material should be approached with an open mind, studied carefully and critically considered."

Bar code that tracks

Tiny Antennas to Keep Tabs on U.S. Drugs
The Food and Drug Administration and several major drug makers are expected to announce initiatives today that will put tiny radio antennas on the labels of millions of medicine bottles to combat counterfeiting and fraud. "It's basically a bar code that barks," said one expert, Robin Koh, director of applications research at the Auto-ID Labs of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The technology, Mr. Koh said, could "make supply chains more efficient and more secure." Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense have already mandated that their top 100 suppliers put the antennas on delivery pallets beginning in January. Radio tags on vehicles and passports could become a central tool in government efforts to create a database to track visitors to the United States. And companies are rushing to supply scanners, computer chips and other elements of the technology. The labels are called radio-frequency identification. As in automated highway toll collection systems, they consist of computer chips embedded into stickers that emit numbers when prompted by a nearby radio signal. In a supermarket, they might enable a scanner to read every item in a shopping cart at once and spit out a bill in seconds, though the technology to do that is still some distance off.

Death and Democracy

by Pieter J. Friedrich

"Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!"--Habakkuk 2:12

With the purpose of "liberating" that city so January elections can be held there, the U.S. military began the third invasion of Fallujah on Monday. With the occurrence of that invasion, it would be wise to stop and consider the fruits borne by U.S. "liberation" efforts.

One of the main rationales offered for war in Iraq was that Saddam Hussein was "one of the most cruel and vicious tyrants in the history of the world,"1 so the U.S. was obligated to overthrow him and free Iraq from his oppressive rule. It was implied that the Iraqis would welcome our armed invasion with open arms and flowers, and though we wouldn't bother documenting civilian casualties, such would be negligible. The handful of Iraqi civilians who were "accidentally" killed would, of course, die proud in the knowledge that their deaths were a necessary evil in order for their countrymen to taste freedom.

Bush, Kerry, Hitler

And Their Devoted Followers
It has become most obvious that the Marxist/Socialist led education system in America has accomplished its most important goal: cognitive disconnect. Nowhere is that more apparent than with the political process and those totally devoted to their party of choice. When confronted with facts, the devotees of politicians/political parties immediately drop all cognitive process and devolve into pure emotional discourse. Most folks who support the two major parties get extremely upset when one dares to compare their avid support to that shown by the German people to Hitler in the 1930’s and 1940’s.

Supreme Court News

White House Wants Suicide Law Blocked
SALEM, Ore. -- Attorney General John Ashcroft drew the ire of Oregon officials with one of his last official acts: Asking the U.S. Supreme Court to set aside the state's — and nation's only — assisted-suicide law. Gov. Ted Kulongoski argued Tuesday that Oregon voters have twice endorsed the right of terminally ill patients to die more quickly and that "it's past time for this administration to focus on ways to work with Oregon — not against us."

Court Considers If People
Can Sue Cops For False Arrests
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court sought Monday to clarify whether police can be sued for arresting suspects on charges that later fall apart, even if it turns out that officers had a second, valid reason for the "detention." Monday's case involves the appeal of two Washington State Patrol officers who arrested Jerome Alford for tape recording their conversation during a traffic stop in November 1997.

Chief Justice Rehnquist Working From Home
WASHINGTON -- Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote one of the first rulings of the Supreme Court this session while working from home and undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer. Rehnquist wrote a unanimous decision Tuesday that said the government was wrong to deport a Haitian man convicted of felony drunken driving in Florida. An alcohol-related accident is not a deportable "crime of violence," the 80-year-old wrote in the succinct ruling.

Court Urged to Hear File-Sharing Case
LOS ANGELES -- A disparate group made up of dozens of state attorneys general, labor unions, retailers, professional sports leagues and others urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to hear a claim brought by the recording and film industries against two Internet file-sharing firms. In legal briefs filed with the court, the petitioners stressed the justices should take the entertainment companies' case and finally resolve conflicting lower court rulings on file-sharing, said Steven Marks, general counsel for the Recording Industry Association of America.

Court Rules for Immigrant in DUI Case
WASHINGTON -- A drunken driving accident is not a "crime of violence" allowing the government to deport a permanent resident, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in the first of three cases this term delineating the rights of immigrants. In an 11-page opinion by ailing Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, the court ruled unanimously in favor of Josue Leocal, a Florida man who challenged his deportation to Haiti in 2002 after pleading guilty to a felony charge of drunken driving.

Court Passes on Chiropractor Lawsuit
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court said Monday it would not consider whether health insurers violate antitrust laws when they team up with doctors to adopt reimbursement policies that siphon business away from chiropractors. At issue was whether Trigon Healthcare, Virginia's largest private health insurer, illegally conspired to develop clinical guidelines that unfairly promoted doctors over chiropractors. Two chiropractic organizations who sued in 2000 say yes, while the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled there was insufficient evidence showing that.

Court Won't Consider Felon Voting Case
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal from Washington state to stop minority felons from seeking the right to vote. Justices left intact a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that allows six current and former inmates to challenge as racially discriminatory a Washington state law stripping them of their right to vote. The inmates now can proceed to trial.

Court Will Not Consider Coast Guard Case
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider whether the U.S. Coast Guard can be sued for providing questionable emergency care to an injured Florida diver who later became paralyzed. Federal law does not require the Coast Guard to rescue scuba divers, since they voluntarily accept the risks of deep-water diving. At issue is whether the Coast Guard can be held liable for administering inadequate aid once it agrees to provide a rescue.

Justice Dept. prepares for DNA sampling

Get arrested for a serious felony and be prepared to pose for a mug shot, have your fingerprints taken and your mouth swabbed. With the passage of Proposition 69, the state can now collect DNA samples not only from adults and minors convicted of a felony, but also from anyone arrested on a felony charge. The law took effect immediately for felons and for suspects in murder, rape, sodomy, forcible oral copulation and forcible child molestation. Other felony suspects won't be required to give DNA samples, which will be collected by swabbing the person's cheek inside their mouth, until 2009.

LPR Systems - License Plate Recognition Systems

The Auto-Detector is a license plate recognition system that reads and files vehicle number plates in a real time using new generation digital micro cameras and video processing devices. The Auto-Detector product can be used in either a mobile or fixed position application.

Company Ships Microchips For Cattle

Digital Angel Corporation Announces First Shipments
of RFID Tags for Cattle Identification in Canada
SO. ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Digital Angel Corporation, an advanced technology company in the field of rapid and accurate identification, location tracking, and condition monitoring of high-value assets, today announced that it has begun shipping its proprietary RFID (radiofrequency identification) electronic tags to Canadian farmers. The Company currently has orders for more than 200,000 electronic tags from Compass Animal Health, a Canadian distributor, in response to initial demand from the recent announcement of the Canadian government's funding of a national set-aside program for calves.

Airlines Using ‘Naked’ X-Ray Scans on Passengers

AN X-RAY machine that sees through air passengers’ clothes has been deployed by security staff at London’s Heathrow airport for the first time. The device at Terminal 4 produces a “naked” image of passengers by bouncing X-rays off their skin, enabling staff instantly to spot any hidden weapons or explosives. But the graphic nature of the black and white images it generates — including revealing outlines of men and women — has raised concerns about privacy both among travellers and aviation authorities.

FAA OKs Tasers on Commercial Flights

NEW YORK -- Stun gun maker Taser International Inc. on Monday said it won U.S. government approval to use its products on some commercial airline flights to protect passengers from potential harm. Taser, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration approved a "major international airline's application" to let specially trained personnel use Taser conducted energy weapons on flights to and from the United States.

Evolution Case Opens in Georgia Court

ATLANTA -- A warning sticker in suburban Atlanta science textbooks that says evolution is ``a theory, not a fact'' was challenged in court Monday as an unlawful promotion of religion. The disclaimer was adopted by Cobb County school officials in 2002 after hundreds of parents signed a petition criticizing the textbooks for treating evolution as fact without discussing alternate theories, including creationism.

Baptized Before Battle

Marines turn to God ahead
of anticipated Fallujah battle
The crowd followed the Chaplain outside their small auditorium for a baptism of about a half-dozen Marines who had just found Christ. The young men lined up and at least three of them stripped down to their shorts. The three laid down in a rubber dinghy filled with water and the chaplain's assistant, Navy corpsman Richard Vaughn, plunged their heads beneath the surface. Smiling, Vaughn baptised them "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." Dripping wet, Corporal Keith Arguelles beamed after his baptism. "I just wanted to make sure I did this before I headed into the fight," he said on the military base not far from the city of Fallujah.

Court refuses to hear appeal on "Jesus Christ" in council prayers; Witch sued town in 2001

The Great Falls Town Council has suffered another setback in its appeal of a court that prohibits the group from opening meetings with a prayer that mentions Jesus Christ. A three-judge panel of the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in July ruled such prayers were an unconstitutional government advancement of one religion. The entire court refused to hear the town's appeal this week. Darla Kaye Wynne, a Wiccan high priestess, sued the town in 2001 after its leaders refused to open meetings only with nonsectarian prayers or to allow members of different faiths to lead the prayers.

Marriage Wording to Change in Texas Books

AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas Board of Education approved new health textbooks for the state's high school and middle school students Friday after the publishers agreed to change the wording to depict marriage as the union of a man and a woman. The decision involves two of the biggest textbook publishers and represents another example of Texas exerting its market clout as the nation's second-largest buyer of textbooks. Officials say the decision could affect hundreds of thousands of books in Texas alone.

Mouth swabs: Police given new powers

Law Officials Ready to Start Expanding DNA Database
Despite the threat of a lawsuit, justice officials said Wednesday that they are ready to quickly expand a DNA database designed to catch criminals, after voters overwhelmingly authorized it. Deputy Dist. Atty. Lisa Kahn, who helped draft the proposition, said prosecutors in Los Angeles plan to ask that jailers start taking oral swabs next week from inmates after they have been sentenced. Kahn said the proposition is simple to implement because it authorizes mouth swabs. Trained deputies can take the samples, much as detectives in sex crime cases have done for years. The swabs will be sent to the state Department of Justice laboratory in Richmond, Calif., for analysis and storage.

Color code for immigrants' driver licenses

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday spelled out a key concession he is demanding from Democrats before signing any resurrected legislation that would give illegal immigrants the ability to obtain driver licenses. "I've already made it very clear that it has to be a different color driver's license so it's very clear it says foreigner or immigrant," the Republican governor said.

School told to drop its 'offensive' name

A C of E school has been told to drop the word "saint" from its name in case it offends other religious groups. Parents, governors and teachers at St Mary Magdalene, however, are determined to keep the name. John Stewart, the head teacher, said: "We have been serving the community in the area since 1710 and there is no reason why we should change our name.

Rehnquist's Cancer Treatment May Be Critical

WASHINGTON -- The combination of radiation and chemotherapy being given to Chief Justice William Rehnquist may be an indication that his thyroid cancer is an aggressive type, according to cancer experts. The court has released few details about Rehnquist's illness. The combination of chemotherapy and radiation, which the court said Monday is being given to Rehnquist, is the normal treatment for the much more aggressive anaplastic thyroid cancer, said Dr. Ann M. Gillenwater of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Rehnquist Undergoing Chemotherapy

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court meets this week with just eight members, as its notoriously tenacious leader undergoes chemotherapy and radiation treatment for an apparently serious type of thyroid cancer. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist backtracked from an earlier plan to return to work Monday. Instead, he issued a statement from home about the treatment.

Court Won't Take Up Election Appeal

WASHINGTON -- Ohio emerged as the likely setting for another overtime presidential court fight, with the focus this time on tens of thousands of uncounted ballots cast by people who would otherwise have been turned away from the polls. The Kerry campaign, trailing in the Electoral College count, refuse to concede the election. The number of provisional ballots could be greater than the margin between Kerry and President Bush. Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell said early Wednesday that the number of provisional ballots in the state could be as high as 250,000, or much lower.

High Court Reviews Age Discrimination Law

WASHINGTON -- Some Mississippi police officers angered when their younger colleagues got more generous pay raises contested the benefits all the way to the Supreme Court, in a case that will set new standards for on-the-job age discrimination lawsuits. The nation's work force is getting older, and the court will decide how much protection those employees have under a 1967 anti-discrimination law.

Justices Debate Segregation in Prisons

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court took up a racial segregation case Tuesday that asks if black California inmates are being unconstitutionally bunked together for months at a time, in the name of keeping prisons safe. The Bush administration has sided with a black convicted killer who claims he has been humiliated by forced prison segregation.

Court to Hear Restraining Order Case

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider whether local governments can be sued for failing to enforce restraining orders, a case that could open the door to thousands of lawsuits. At issue is whether the Constitution's 14th Amendment obligates police to protect residents from violence when a local government issues a restraining order and promises its enforcement.

Lawyer Conduct Eyed in Death Penalty Case

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court is considering whether a lawyer was wrong to concede a death row inmate's guilt without his consent, a case that gives justices another opportunity to consider standards for attorney conduct in death penalty cases. On Election Day, justices were hearing arguments in a case challenging a Florida Supreme Court decision to grant a new trial for Joe Elton Nixon. He was convicted in the 1984 murder of a woman he met at a Tallahassee mall.

Court Allows New Trial Over Jury Bias

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court allowed a new trial to proceed Monday for a black man sentenced to death 18 years ago in a case in which prosecutors improperly restricted opportunities for blacks to serve on his jury. The court, with comment, declined to hear Philadelphia's appeal in the case of Arnold Holloway, 62, who allegedly murdered a fellow drug dealer in 1980.

Court Won't Hear Appeal in Fen-Phen Case

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court declined Monday to hear an appeal from a drug manufacturer that sought to limit evidence that fen-phen users want to present in their lawsuits claiming heart valve damage. In a defeat for drug maker Wyeth, the court let stand a lower ruling that a federal judge went too far when he issued an order restricting the evidence. The Philadelphia judge reasoned that the diet drug users had violated a $3.75 billion settlement agreement with the Madison, N.J.-based company.

Court Lets Child Neglect Conviction Stand

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court let stand Monday the conviction of a Virginia man in the death of his 21-month-old daughter in a sweltering van. The court, without comment, denied the appeal of Kevin C. Kelly in the death of Frances Kelly, who was found dead in May 2002 after she was left in the van for seven hours.

Kevorkian Loses Supreme Court Appeal

WASHINGTON -- Assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian lost a Supreme Court appeal on Monday in his bid to win freedom after five years in prison. Justices, without comment, turned back an appeal in which Kevorkian claimed he had an ineffective attorney when he was convicted of second-degree murder in the 1998 poisoning of Thomas Youk. Youk had Lou Gehrig's disease, and Kevorkian called it a mercy killing. The death was videotaped and shown on national television.

Secret Service Visits Blogger's Home

At 9:45 last night, the Secret Service showed up on my mother's front door to talk to me about what I said about the President, as what I said could apparently be misconstrued as a threat to his life. After about ten minutes of talking to me and my family, they quickly came to the conclusion that I was not a threat to national security (mostly because we are the least threatening people in the entire world) and told me that they would not recommend that any further action be taken with my case. However, I do now have a file with the FBI that includes my photograph, my e-mail address, and the location of my LJ. This will follow me around for the rest of my life, regardless of the fact that the Secret Service knows that I am not a threat.

IRS probes 60 tax-exempt groups

WASHINGTON -- About 60 charities, churches and other tax-exempt groups are being investigated for potentially breaking federal rules that bar them from participating in political activity, the Internal Revenue Service said Friday. Such violations would threaten their tax-exempt status, the IRS said. The investigations involve guidelines for 501(c)(3) groups, which grant tax-exempt status so long as organizations do not participate in political activities like endorsing candidates or making campaign donations.

Homeland Security Agents Visit Toy Store

When the two agents arrived at the store, the lead agent asked Pufferbelly Toys owner Stephanie Cox whether she carried a toy called the Magic Cube, which he said was an illegal copy of the Rubik's Cube, one of the most popular toys of all time. He told her to remove the Magic Cube from her shelves, and he watched to make sure she complied.

Feds plan to track every car

A little-known federal agency is planning a new monitoring program by which the government would track every car on the road by using onboard transceivers. The agency, the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office, is part of the Department of Transportation. According to an extensive report in the Charlotte, N.C., Creative Loafing, the agency doesn't respond to public inquiries about its activity.

Companies Scramble to Deal With Spyware

SEATTLE -- The people who call Dell Inc.'s customer service line often have no idea why their computers are running so slow. The ones who call America Online Inc. can't necessarily explain why Internet connections keep dropping. And those who file error reports with Microsoft Corp. don't always know why their computers inexplicably crash.

Suits to Target No Child Left Behind Act

THERMAL, Calif. -- The federal No Child Left Behind Act threatens costly penalties for schools deemed failing to meet academic standards. In response, many educators have a threat of their own: A flood of lawsuits aimed at avoiding the sanctions. Since President Bush signed the sweeping education reforms in 2002, the law has drawn criticism from educators debating its strict performance and test requirements. The act requires all students to be proficient in reading, writing and math by 2014.

Home Schooling Has Advantages

Before he started high school two years ago, 16-year-old Jeremiah Schultz wanted to explore what it would be like to go to a public school instead of being homeschooled. “He interviewed teachers, students and peers,” said his mom, Margaret Schultz. He also explored both of the high schools in the area of Nebraska where the family lived before moving to Portales last year. About a month before school started, Jeremiah decided he wanted to continue being homeschooled, because of the flexibility. “You can work your school around your schedule, rather than working your schedule around school,” he said.

Parents Will Be Billed for False Bomb Report

The parents of three teenagers will be charged $3,700 each to cover the costs from calling in a false bomb report to Atascadero High School. The report last week led to the evacuation of the school and a five-hour search for explosives. The 17-year-old boys were charged Wednesday with making a false bomb threat, a felony. If convicted, they face up to three years in custody, Deputy Dist. Atty. Andrew Baird said.