Washington: State Legislation Would Require Collection of Personal Data for Gold Purchases Over $100
February 19th, 2011Via: ZeroHedge:
A bill proposed in the State of Washington (House Bill 1716), by representatives Asay, Hurst, Klippert, Pearson, and Miloscia, whose alleged purpose is to regulate secondhand gold dealers, seeks to capture “the name, date of birth, sex, height, weight, race, and address and telephone number of the person with whom the transaction is made” or said otherwise, of every purchaser of gold in the state of Washington. Furthermore, if passed, Bill 1716 will record “a complete description of the property pledged, bought, or consigned, including the brand name, serial number, model number or name, any initials or engraving, size, pattern, and color or stone or stones” and of course price. But the kicker: if a transaction is mode for an amount over $100, which means one tenth of an ounce of golds, also required will be a “signature, photo, and fingerprint of the person with whom the transaction is made.”
Ex Judge Convicted of Racketeering; Taking Bribes from For-Profit Juvenile Detention Centers
February 19th, 2011Via: AP:
A former juvenile court judge was convicted Friday of racketeering in a case that accused him of sending youth offenders to for-profit detention centers in exchange for millions of dollars in illicit payments from the builder and owner of the lockups.
Luzerne County ex-Judge Mark Ciavarella, 61, left the bench in disgrace two years ago after prosecutors charged him with engineering one of the biggest courtroom frauds in U.S. history by using juvenile delinquents as pawns in a plot to get rich.
Federal prosecutors accused Ciavarella and a second judge, Michael Conahan, of taking more than $2 million in bribes from the builder of the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care detention centers and extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the facilities’ co-owner. Ciavarella insisted the payments were legal and denied that he incarcerated youths for money.
Research Credit: RJ
Amnesty International: 46 Killed by Libyan Security Forces
February 19th, 2011Update: Over 200 Killed [???]
—End Update—
Update: 84 Killed, Says Human Rights Watch
—End Update—
Via: Reuters:
Human rights group Amnesty International said on Friday its sources had said Libyan security forces had shot dead at least 46 people in the past three days.
Protesters Killed in Bahrain, Yemen and Libya
February 18th, 2011Via: Reuters:
Unrest spread across the Middle East and North Africa on Thursday as Bahrain launched a swift military crackdown on anti-government protesters and clashes were reported in Libya and Yemen.
Troops in armored vehicles took control of the Bahraini capital after police firing buckshot and teargas drove out protesters hoping to emulate those who toppled veteran leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.
It was the worst violence in the Saudi-allied Gulf island kingdom in decades and a sign of the nervousness felt by Bahrain’s Sunni al-Khalifa royal family, long aware of simmering discontent among the country’s majority Shi’ites.
Four people were killed, 231 were injured and opposition leaders said dozens were detained and about 60 were missing.
“They are killing us!” one demonstrator told Reuters.
On the other side of the Arabian peninsula in Yemen, four protesters were killed in the port of Aden in demonstrations that began seven days ago.
In the capital Sanaa, at least 40 people were injured as hundreds of government loyalists, some armed with guns, charged about 1,500 protesters, who threw rocks at them.
Demonstrators want rid of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled for 32 years but is seen by Washington as a key ally in its fight against al Qaeda militants based in Yemen.
In Libya, there were reports of five deaths in a rare show of defiance against leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Air Force Wants Troll Persona Management Software
February 18th, 2011Via: Federal Business Opportunities:
Online Persona Management Service. 50 User Licenses, 10 Personas per user.
Software will allow 10 personas per user, replete with background , history, supporting details, and cyber presences that are technically, culturally and geographacilly consistent. Individual applications will enable an operator to exercise a number of different online persons from the same workstation and without fear of being discovered by sophisticated adversaries. Personas must be able to appear to originate in nearly any part of the world and can interact through conventional online services and social media platforms. The service includes a user friendly application environment to maximize the user’s situational awareness by displaying real-time local information.
As Hillary Clinton Extols the Virtues of Free Speech, a Protester, Standing in “Silent Witness” to the Regime’s Crimes, is Dragged from the Room
February 18th, 2011Via: Raw Story:
The official position of the US Secretary of State is that countries around the world should respect their citizens’ rights to free speech, free expression and free assembly — and that’s precisely what Sec. Hillary Clinton said during a Tuesday speech at George Washington University.
Unfortunately, as she spoke, not 15 feet in front of her, a series of events unfolded that utterly undermined the message.
Former CIA agent Ray McGovern, an outspoken critic of US foreign policy, stood silently in the auditorium’s center aisle, and turned his back on Clinton.
For his symbolic and otherwise non-disruptive protest, he was quickly accosted by security agents. As they struggled to pull him out of the room, a CNN news camera caught the tail end of the ordeal.
Florida: State Farm Blames Sinkholes for 28% Rate Hike Request
February 17th, 2011[???]
Via: Tampa Bay Online:
Citing sinkhole losses and higher operating expenses, State Farm Florida asked state regulators today for a 28 percent premium increase on its homeowners policies.
Sinkhole claims, which are approaching $2 billion over the past five years in Florida, have exploded at a great cost to the insurance industry.
Silver: Breakout
February 17th, 2011Warning: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any financial instrument.
Silver hit $31.78 and is up and out of the previous range. Gold is up, but still rangebound.
Wisconsin Governor Threatens to Replace Union Workers With National Guard
February 17th, 2011Via: Huffington Post:
State workers in Wisconsin are protesting a statement by Republican Governor Scott Walker that, union reps say, amounts to a threat to use the National Guard to help break the public union.
Citing a $137 million budget deficit, Walker announced a plan last week which would essentially take away the public union’s collective bargaining rights and slash benefits for state employees. Meanwhile, the share of corporate tax revenue funding the state government has fallen by half since 1981 and, according to Wisconsin Department of Revenue, two-thirds of corporations pay no taxes.
In the case of a walkout, Walker has put the National Guard on alert. Last week, he told reporters that the guard is “prepared” for “whatever the governor, their commander-in-chief, might call for,” such as staffing prisons if guards go on strike.
Canada Hit by Cyberattack
February 17th, 2011Via: Reuters:
The Canadian government was hit by an unprecedented cyber attack from Chinese-based computers last month that penetrated two key economic ministries, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp reported on Wednesday.
The CBC cited sources as saying the hackers broke into computer systems at the Finance Department and Treasury Board. Once the attack was detected, Internet access in both ministries was cut off.
The Finance Department is preparing the federal budget, which will be delivered next month.
The CBC said the hackers had apparently managed to take control of computers in the offices of senior government executives as part of a scheme to steal the passwords that unlock entire government data systems.
A spokesman for Treasury Board Minister Stockwell Day said officials had detected an unauthorized attempt to access the ministry’s computer networks.
“There are no indications that any data relating to Canadians was compromised,” he said in an e-mail. He did not say whether the attacks had been traced back to Chinese servers, as the CBC reported.
