Non Fluffy Wicca

Endangered parrots born in captivity reproduce in wild - CNN.com

mikki — 2008-05-12T13:31:06-05:00

Endangered parrots born in captivity reproduce in wild - CNN.com:

LA GARITA DE ALAJUELA, Costa Rica (AP) -- Endangered scarlet macaws born in captivity are reproducing in the wild for the first time on Costa Rica's southern Pacific coast.

The ZooAve Center for the Rescue of Endangered Species has released 100 of the birds into the wild in the past decade. But biologists didn't spot offspring until last year, biologist Laura Fournier said.

Since then, they have recorded 22 chicks born in the wild, and four more scarlet macaw couples have laid eggs, Fournier said.

The parrots once occupied all of Costa Rica. But hunting and poaching dramatically cut their population, and they are now found only in two national parks along the coast.

The biologists' goal is for 200 birds to populate an isolated coastal area.

Chicks are hatched at the ZooAve center in La Garita, northwest of Costa Rica's capital, San Jose. At 6 months, they take a 200-mile trip to the southern city of Golfito and then travel by boat to a beach and finally the isolated San Josecito conservation center, far from human settlements. There, they spend up to three months in captivity before being released.

The parrots, which live up to 80 years, can start reproducing at age 7. Of ZooAve's 86 scarlet macaws, 54 are in the reproduction program.

Many parrots in the breeding program were confiscated by environmental authorities or turned in by their former owners. Some can't leave the sanctuary because they don't know how to survive in the wild.

"Many don't even know how to feed themselves," Fournier said.

Teacher Loses Job Over Magic Trick

mikki — 2008-05-08T14:20:31-05:00

Teacher Loses Job Over Magic Trick:

by John Blunda

The charge from the school district ? Wizardry! The stories in the news about inappropriate relationships between teachers and students have been overwhelming. There was even a substitute teacher in New Port Richey who got in trouble after investigators say she had a relationship with an underage student. Well, another Pasco County substitute teacher's job is on the line, but this time it's because of a magic trick. Substitute teacher Jim Piculas does a 30-second magic trick where a toothpick disappears then reappears. But after performing it in front of a classroom at Rushe Middle School in Land 'O Lakes, Piculas said his job did a disappearing act of its own.

"I get a call the middle of the day from head of supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, 'Jim, we have a huge issue, you can't take any more assignments you need to come in right away,'" he said. When Piculas went in, he learned his little magic trick cast a spell and went much farther than he'd hoped. "I said, 'Well Pat, can you explain this to me?' 'You've been accused of wizardry,' he said. Wizardry?"

Extended Forecast: Bloodshed - New York Times

mikki — 2008-05-02T11:27:00-05:00

Extended Forecast: Bloodshed - New York Times:

Here’s a forecast for a particularly bizarre consequence of climate change: more executions of witches.

As we pump out greenhouse gases, most of the discussion focuses on direct consequences like rising seas or aggravated hurricanes. But the indirect social and political impact in poor countries may be even more far-reaching, including upheavals and civil wars — and even more witches hacked to death with machetes.

In rural Tanzania, murders of elderly women accused of witchcraft are a very common form of homicide. And when Tanzania suffers unusual rainfall — either drought or flooding — witch-killings double, according to research by Edward Miguel, an economist at the University of California, Berkeley.

“In bad years, the killings explode,” Professor Miguel said. He believes that if climate change causes more drought years in Tanzania, the result will be more elderly women executed there and in other poor countries that still commonly attack supposed witches.

There is evidence that European witch-burnings in past centuries may also have resulted from climate variations and the resulting crop failures, economic distress and search for scapegoats. Emily Oster, a University of Chicago economist, tracked witchcraft trials and weather in Western Europe between 1520 and 1770 and found a close correlation: colder weather led to more crackdowns on witches.

In particular, Europe’s “little ice age” led to a sharp cooling in the late 1500s, and that corresponds to a renewal in witchcraft trials after a long lull. And there’s also micro-evidence: in one area, a brutally cold May in 1626 led outraged peasants to call for punishment of witches thought responsible. Some scholars have also argued that the Salem witch trials occurred after a particularly cold winter and economically difficult period.

The point is that climate change will have consequences that will be difficult to foresee but will go far beyond weather or economics. There is abundant evidence that economic stress and crop failures — as climate scientists anticipate in poor countries — can lead to violence and upheavals.

In the United States, for example, some historians have found correlations between recessions or declines in farm values and increased lynchings of blacks.

Paul Collier, an Oxford University expert on global poverty, found that economic stagnation in poor countries leads to a rising risk of civil war. Professor Collier warns that climate change is likely to reduce rainfall in southern Africa enough that corn will no longer be a viable crop there. Since corn is a major form of sustenance in that region, the result may be catastrophic food shortages — and civil conflict.

The area that may be hardest hit of all — aside from islands that disappear beneath the waves — is the fragile Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert in West Africa. The Sahel is already impoverished and torn by religious and ethnic tensions, and reduced rainfall could push the region into warfare.

“The poorest people on Earth are in the Sahel, barely eking out an existence, and climate change pushes them over the edge,” Professor Miguel said. “It’s totally unfair.”

His research suggests that a drought one year increases by 50 percent the risk that an African country will slip into civil war the next year.

Ethnic conflict in Darfur was exacerbated by drought and competition for water, and some experts see it as the first war caused by climate change. That’s too simplistic, for the crucial factor was simply the ruthlessness of the Sudanese government, but climate change may well have been a contributing factor.

In a forthcoming book, “Economic Gangsters,” Mr. Miguel calls for a new system of emergency aid for countries suffering unusual drought or similar economic shocks. Such temporary aid would aim to reduce the risk of warfare that, once it has begun, is enormously costly to stop and often damages neighboring countries as well.

The greenhouse gases that imperil Africa’s future are spewing from the United States, China and Europe. The people in Bangladesh and Africa emit almost no carbon, yet they are the ones who will bear the greatest risks of climate change. Some experts believe that the damage that the West does to poor countries from carbon emissions exceeds the benefit from aid programs.

All this makes the United States’ reluctance to confront climate change in a serious way — like a carbon tax to replace the payroll tax, coupled with global leadership on the issue — as unjust as it is unfortunate.

So let’s remember that the stakes with climate change are broader than hotter summers or damaged beach houses. The most dire consequences of our denial and delay may include civil war — and even witch-killings — among the poorest peoples on earth.

I invite you to comment on this column on my blog, www.nytimes.com/ontheground, and join me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kristof.

US Military Coordinated Day of Prayer Events With Christian Right Group

mikki — 2008-05-01T12:06:50-05:00

US Military Coordinated Day of Prayer Events With Christian Right Group:

At least half-a-dozen active-duty military officials have been working closely with a task force headed by the far-right fundamentalist Christians planning religious events at military installations around the country to commemorate Thursday’s National Day of Prayer.

In working directly with the National Day of Prayer (NDP) Task Force and agreeing to work as event coordinators, these military officials not only violated constitutional provisions governing the separation of church and state but they also signed an oath that states they “believe that the Holy Bible is the inerrant Word of The Living God” and that “Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only One by which I can obtain salvation and have an ongoing relationship with God,” according to materials posted on NDP Task Force’s website.

Furthermore, the declaration signed by the military officials says that they promise to “ensure a strong, consistent Christian message throughout the nation” and that National Day of Prayer events scheduled to take place at their military installations “will be conducted solely by Christians.”

Lisa Crump, manager of the NDP Task Force’s local coordinators, said that volunteers who are interested in becoming event coordinators, including members of the military, must complete click here "a simple application with contact data and statement of faith, confirming your commitment to Christ is all that's needed to get you on the way to becoming a [National Day of Prayer] Task Force volunteer coordinator."

Mikey Weinstein, the president and founder of the government watchdog group the Military Religious Freedom Foundation http://www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org blasted the military’s participation with the task force saying it endorses a discriminatory policy.

“It is not likely possible to conceive of a more blatant, heinous and noxious constitutional violation by our United States military than it's filthy, disgusting participation with the so-called National Day of Prayer "Task Force" and it's incontrovertible fundamentalist Christian supremacy agenda of unconstitutional religious exclusion,” Weinstein said. “Further, please immediately note that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation fully intends to include this despicable collusion in our current Federal litigation against the Department of Defense as yet another stunning example of a pernicious and pervasive pattern and practice of unconstitutional rape of the precious religious liberties of our honorable and noble United States soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen."

The NDP Task Force, which portrays itself as the official organizer of the National Day of Prayer, is headed by Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family’s James Dobson, who has close ties to President Bush.

Although the task force is not directly tied to any federal agency, it has coordinated many of its activities this year with active-duty military chaplains and other military personnel at bases around the country. That would appear to violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibiting individuals from using the machinery of the state to promote any form of religion. The Constitution protects the rights of the public to worship, or not, as they see fit.

But the military has not been adhering to these strict regulations.

Indeed, two weeks ago, at Fort Carson Army Base in Colorado, the community events office sent out an email to everyone on the base along with a flyer announcing an event scheduled at Fort Carson in observance of National Day of Prayer. The email included a message from Specialist Brian Havens, who closed his note with “In Christ.” Havens is identified on the Task force website as an event coordinator, indicating that he signed the Task Force’s "Statement of Faith" application and agreed to uphold the NDP Task Force’s Christian policies.

According to Chris Rodda, the senior research director for The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Weinstein tried to persuade one military chaplain to disassociate himself from a Task Force event in Missouri.

Rodda said she and Weinstein were “surprised” to come across the name of Chaplain Kevin L. McGhee of the Missouri National Guard. According to the NDP Task Force website, Maj. McGhee is scheduled to participate in the NDP Task Force prayer rally at Missouri State Capitol.

This is the same Chaplain McGhee who, last year, came to the defense of Chaplain Bob Larsen, when Larsen converted from Christianity to Wicca and applied to be the first Wiccan chaplain in the U.S. Armed Forces. When Larsen's application was denied, and he was removed from the chaplain corps, McGhee, who was Larsen's supervisor at Camp Anaconda in Iraq, said that a "grave injustice" had been done, and that "What happened to Chaplain Larsen -- to be honest, I think it's political. A lot of people think Wiccans are un-American, because they are ignorant about what Wiccans do."

MRFF informed Chaplain McGhee during a conference call last week of the discriminatory nature of the Missouri State Capitol event and the pledge on the part of its organizers to exclude non-Christians and asked him to reconsider his participation. McGhee has not responded to an email sent yesterday from MRFF asking if he still planned to participate.

This is not the first time the military has come under fire for work it has conducted on behalf of Focus on the Family and other Christian fundamentalist organizations.
ast August, the Pentagon's inspector general responded to a complaint filed in 2006 by Weinstein’s organization alleging that Defense Department officials violated military regulations by appearing in a video promoting Christian Embassy, a subsidiary of Campus Crusade for Christ.

Australia to amend laws to end same-sex discrimination

mikki — 2008-05-01T11:30:13-05:00

Australia to amend laws to end same-sex discrimination:

[JURIST] The Australian government will introduce legislation to amend over 100 federal laws [press release] to remove discrimination against same-sex couples [JURIST news archive], Australian Attorney General Robert McClelland [official profile] said Wednesday. The legislation, which will be introduced during the winter sitting of parliament and is expected to be implemented by mid-2009, will not allow same-sex marriages. Many of the amendments to be proposed are based on a June 2007 report [text] by the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission [official website], recommending legislative changes to 58 federal laws [JURIST report] to end discrimination against same-sex couples in areas such employment, workers' compensation, veterans' entitlements, health care subsidies, family law, senior care and immigration law. AP has more.

A national poll also released in June 2007 found that a majority of Australians support same-sex marriage [JURIST news archive]. The poll, conducted by Galaxy Research [corporate website] and reported by political group GetUp! [advocacy website] found that in a sample of 1100 Australians over the age of 16, 57 percent support same sex marriage [press release and results, PDF], while 71 percent support giving same-sex couples identical legal rights as "those in a heterosexual de facto relationship."

Taking medicine back to nature

mikki — 2008-05-01T11:27:01-05:00

Taking medicine back to nature:

by Catherine Madden

Ancient cultures never doubted the healing powers of plants and animals. A sick person turned to their local medicine man, wise woman or witch doctor, who would mix a treatment made from local plants, bark, herbs and perhaps even parts of insects, amphibians, reptiles and birds. For thousands of years before willow bark was used to create aspirin and the opium poppy to make morphine people knew about their pain-relieving properties.

Now phytochemicals are again high on medical science’s priority list. You would have to live at the bottom of the ocean to have missed the glowing reports about the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil. And don’t be too quick to recoil at early man’s reptile fascination: US scientists are studying the proteins in crocodile and alligator blood for their powerful infection-fighting properties. Curcumin from tumeric, capsaicin from chillies, resveratrol from grapes, quercetin from strawberries and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) from green tea are among the thousands of compounds being investigated for their powerful therapeutic benefits – and Western Australian scientists are at the forefront of some of this research.

KentOnline| News | Midwives go medieval to show profession's plight

mikki — 2008-04-30T11:29:16-05:00

This same insurance issue caused the Birthing Center in Bethesda, staffed by Certified Nurse Midwives, to close several years ago. This was personally very troubling, as it's where I gave birth in 1991. They delivered a 9 1/2 pound baby with no medical intervention. I was told that in a hospital I would either have had a C Section or forceps.

Midwifery is one of the most important professions in the medical community, and rather than marginalize them by revoking their insurance, they should be embraced by insurance companies as providing cost-effective, safe birthing alternatives.

KentOnline| News | Midwives go medieval to show profession's plight:

Fears that independent midwives may not be able to get insurance led to one getting a 'ducking'.
Virginia Howes, who runs the Kent Midwifery Practice, waded into the River Stour in Canterbury to draw attention to the Save Independent Midwifery Campaign.
She was watched by midwives from across the county and some of their clients at the Weavers Restaurant, while an effigy was placed in the historic ducking stool that hangs off the side of the restaurant above the river.
The ducking stunt echoed the tradition of the fate of witches and midwives who were often treated with suspicion and fear in Medieval times.
A lack of insurance means hundreds of independent midwives up and down the country could be forced to stop work in the face of government guidelines by the end of next year.
Partner at the Ashford-based Kent Midwifery Practice, Kay Hardie, said: “No one will insure us.
“We are a high risk group and the pot is small for any coverage because we work outside the NHS.
“We offer invaluable one-to-one care for pregnant women and many more are choosing alternative methods to give birth.
“We hope that the Primary Care Trusts will buy our services in the same way they do for GP services.
“In that way we would have insurance coverage.”

Eating them weeds may good for you

mikki — 2008-04-30T11:26:08-05:00

Taking medicine back to nature (ScienceAlert):

Ancient cultures never doubted the healing powers of plants and animals. A sick person turned to their local medicine man, wise woman or witch doctor, who would mix a treatment made from local plants, bark, herbs and perhaps even parts of insects, amphibians, reptiles and birds.

For thousands of years before willow bark was used to create aspirin and the opium poppy to make morphine people knew about their pain-relieving properties.

Now phytochemicals are again high on medical science’s priority list.

You would have to live at the bottom of the ocean to have missed the glowing reports about the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil. And don’t be too quick to recoil at early man’s reptile fascination: US scientists are studying the proteins in crocodile and alligator blood for their powerful infection-fighting properties.

Curcumin from tumeric, capsaicin from chillies, resveratrol from grapes, quercetin from strawberries and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) from green tea are among the thousands of compounds being investigated for their powerful therapeutic benefits – and Western Australian scientists are at the forefront of some of this research.

Dr Jonathan Hodgson from the Centre for Food and Genomic Medicine, based at the WA Institute for Medical Research, is internationally recognised for his population-based findings on the benefits of green tea.

“Drinking green tea to promote good health goes back 2,000 years,” he says.

“Ancient people recognised the efficacy of phytochemicals – those nutrients in plants that may not be essential for survival but certainly may be helpful in certain situations. But recently scientists have said, ‘Where is the evidence of these health benefits?’

“Our studies have certainly found evidence of the short-term cardiovascular benefits (of drinking green tea) and our latest study is looking for benefits in the longer-term.”

Renowned Alzheimer’s researcher Ralph Martins does not need to be convinced of the potential of certain natural compounds. He is about to launch a three-year study into the synergistic effects of a cocktail containing curcumin, fish oil, green tea and lipoic acid, which is found in liver, spinach and broccoli.

Importantly, he says, funding bodies are also becoming more open-minded about so-called “alternatives”.

“The benefits of certain plants and animals have been known for centuries, but this is now being acknowledged by the mainstream,” he says. “The fact that the NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council) has recognised this with a grant of nearly half a million dollars for our study is a sign that they are being accepted.”

Professor Martins, of Edith Cowan University, and collaborator Dr Matthew Sharman believe that, in combination, the powerful antioxidants in their study could help to suppress the toxic form of a protein called beta amyloid which causes Alzheimer’s disease.

“In my very first published paper in 1986 we were the first in the world to show that in the case of Alzheimer’s the brain was being oxidised,” he says.

“Over the years we have identified the best antioxidants, and these are it. Lipoic acid is metal-chelating and beta amyloid binds with copper and zinc. Fish oil we probably have the most excitement about. A high cholesterol diet has shown to be associated with a high level of beta amyloid and a high-fish diet is shown to suppress this build up.”

He says Dr Sharman had concluded a major study to find the “magic dose” that will ensure these phytochemicals cross the blood-brain barrier without toxic side-effects.

“We want to optimise beneficial effects. We want the results to be something that is really profound.”

At the University of Western Australia, too, researchers have been focusing on dosage of these natural compounds which, in their pure form, are often poorly absorbed by the body.

Nigel Clifford of the Centre for Strategic Nano-Fabrication, has come up with a novel method to deliver curcumin, the curry spice credited with lowered rates of certain cancers in Asia compared with the West.

Mr Clifford’s mesoporous silica capsules are impregnated with tiny pores through which the curcumin is released slowly, enabling it to remain in the body at a consistent level.

In the past month his paper on the nano-invention has become the most downloaded publication on the online version of the Materials Chemistry journal.

Professor Colin Raston, director of the centre, says the work could give doctors the ability to deliver curcumin and other drugs in a less toxic way with fewer side effects.

Growing bacterial resistance to antibiotics – resulting in the ‘superbugs’ affecting many hospitals – has also renewed medicine’s interest in natural antiseptics such as tea tree oil.

Numerous studies by Professor Tom Riley of UWA Microbiology have shown the traditional Aboriginal bush medicine has powerful anti-microbial qualities.

It is important, says Professor Riley, for the oil to be seen as “bona fide”, far removed from the “realms of quackery”.

Ready acceptance of tea tree oil by medical science may not be far off.

But, Dr Hodgson says, it will take researchers many years to screen the hundreds of thousands of combinations of natural compounds – whether from spinach, sea sponges or snakes – that could benefit humankind.

“What is clear is that we are still only scratching the surface of the potential of plants and I’m sure there are many valuable bioactive compounds still to be discovered,” he says.

Law.com - Allergic Mother Loses Attempt to Prohibit Kids' Contact With Cat

mikki — 2008-04-30T10:03:54-05:00

Law.com - Allergic Mother Loses Attempt to Prohibit Kids' Contact With Cat:

A woman who claimed that she is allergic to her ex-husband's cat cannot prevent their two children from visiting their father's home, a Long Island, N.Y., judge has ruled.

Following a hearing earlier this month in Mandel v. Mandel, 203448/06, Acting Supreme Court Justice Hope S. Zimmerman of Nassau County ruled that there was no "legal or factual basis to exclude the children" from their father's apartment.

The feline in question, an 18-month-old orange and white male tabby named Indie, was acquired by Stanley Mandel in 2006, after he moved out of the home he shared with Susan Mandel. The couple is in the process of getting a divorce.

The parties' 13- and 16-year-old sons live with Ms. Mandel but visit their father once during the week and during every other weekend.

According to the decision, Ms. Mandel is allergic to dogs, cats and certain foods and takes medications for her condition.

In November 2006, Ms. Mandel e-mailed her husband, asking him to "take certain precautions with the children" so that her health would not be jeopardized after the children returned from visiting their father.

In June or July 2007, Ms. Mandel testified that she was hospitalized with a "severe attack brought on by exposure to the cat through the children." Since then, the children had not visited their father at his apartment.

Ms. Mandel claimed that prolonged exposure to Indie had prompted the attack and she is now required to take stronger medication. None of her friends have cats, she testified, and none of her co-workers own cats.

In contrast, Mr. Mandel testified that Ms. Mandel did not object to the children visiting him at the home until he stopped paying the mortgage on the marital residence.

From November 2006 until July 2007, he said, the children would change their clothes at his apartment before returning home or in the garage of the wife's residence before entering the dwelling.

Further, Mr. Mandel claimed, the children "regularly socialize" at the marital residence with friends who have cats and dogs as pets. Neither side asserted that the children are allergic to Indie.

As the parties "have not cited nor has the court found any reported case on the issue presented," Justice Zimmerman analyzed the issue in terms of harmful activities in the presence of children restricted by courts, such as smoking.

In Lizzio v. Jackson, 226 AD2d 760, the court restricted the parent smoking from anywhere in the household; smoking was limited to one room in the house outside of the child's presence in Roofeh v. Roofeh, 138 Misc 2d. 889. In a third case cited by the judge, DeMatteo v. DeMatteo, 194 Misc. 2d 640, the court prohibited parents from smoking in the home even if the children were not present, on the theory that secondhand smoke "could very well cause cancer in children exposed to it."

However, she found that Indie's presence here offered no legal or factual basis for similar restrictions.

Instead, Zimmerman instructed that Ms. Mandel should "make a change of clothes available in the garage for the children." In turn, the children will take "the reasonable precaution" of changing their clothes before re-entering their home after visits with their father.

Crawford and ID Creep - from Info Law

mikki — 2008-04-30T10:01:39-05:00

Crawford and ID Creep:

Thanks to the Concurring Opinions gang for inviting me back for another visit!

I will leave it to the likes of the incredible Rick Hasen and SCOTUSBlog’s Lyle Deniston — among many, many others — to talk about the important election law elements of Monday’s Supreme Court decision on voter identification in Crawford v. Marion County Election Board. But if you are a hammer everything is a nail, and if you are a privacy scholar every newspaper story is about privacy. And the privacy implications here are rather clear.

Quite appropriately, the case was briefed, argued, and decided on the basis of the burden that Indiana’s identification requirements placed (or didn’t place) on the right to vote. The seminal cases were Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, which held the poll tax unconstitutional, and its progeny. Other key sources cited in the opinions included the Carter-Baker Commission report and two recent federal electoral reform statutes, the motor voter law and the Help America Vote Act. The burdens considered by both the lead opinion and the dissents were pragmatic ones, largely monetary cost and inconvenience.

What about privacy burdens?

Election law doctrine does not leave much room for their consideration. In other contexts, identification requirements are viewed as potential privacy intrusions. The continuing controversy and the backlash in state legislatures against the federal Real ID Act (see, e.g., here and here) is one such area. Likewise, the 2004 decision in Hiibel, though it upheld state “stop-and-identify” laws allowing police officers to demand that a suspect disclose his or her name, was also analyzed primarily as a privacy issue.

But in Crawford, there is no mention of the privacy impact of turning voting into yet another important activity that you cannot accomplish without “showing your papers.” And since it is now basically impossible to board an aircraft, enter a federal building, or cash a check without showing ID, voter ID requirements become just another event in an accelerating trend toward an ID society.

I’m not necessarily saying that Crawford was wrongly decided. But it is remarkable that “ID creep” has played such a small role in both the legal argument and the news coverage related to this controversial case. Indeed, I suspect that crabwise movement toward a de facto ID requirement, through individual rules that necessitate ID in more and more settings, is worse than a straightforward debate on a national ID card. Great Britain is going through that debate now (see, e.g., here and here); if the end result is a true national ID then at least all the arguments for and against will be fully aired. Just a thought.

[Cross-posted at Concurring Opinions.]

Well reasoned article on "abstinence only" cruft

mikki — 2008-04-30T09:59:08-05:00

While sex education should be done at home IN CONJUNCTION with health education about one's own body in schools, I believe that if we are indeed a religion that celebrates responsible fertility in all forms, we must have the knowledge to be responsible WITH. This article brings up some very disturbing issues, from a 14 year old not knowing you can get STDs from non-vaginal sex, to the ridiculous claim that sweat and tears are a conduit for HIV.

It worries me how widespread this crap could be. It worries me that we are raising a society of uneducated people who will pass the same garbage along to their children.

Yet another reason to "love" Microsoft

mikki — 2008-04-30T09:07:34-05:00

Full story

The COFEE, which stands for Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor, is a USB "thumb drive" that was quietly distributed to a handful of law-enforcement agencies last June. Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith described its use to the 350 law-enforcement experts attending a company conference Monday.

The device contains 150 commands that can dramatically cut the time it takes to gather digital evidence, which is becoming more important in real-world crime, as well as cybercrime. It can decrypt passwords and analyze a computer's Internet activity, as well as data stored in the computer.

It also eliminates the need to seize a computer itself, which typically involves disconnecting from a network, turning off the power and potentially losing data. Instead, the investigator can scan for evidence on site.

More than 2,000 officers in 15 countries, including Poland, the Philippines, Germany, New Zealand and the United States, are using the device, which Microsoft provides free.

Not enough to fight for your country... you have to be Christian too?

mikki — 2008-04-27T00:37:14-05:00

Atheist soldier claims harassment - CNN.com:

JUNCTION CITY, Kansas (AP) -- Like hundreds of young men joining the Army in recent years, Jeremy Hall professes a desire to serve his country while it fights terrorism.

Spc. Jeremy Hall says the pressure to believe in God is so strong, "I was ashamed to say that I was an atheist."

But the short and soft-spoken specialist is at the center of a legal controversy. He has filed a lawsuit alleging that he's been harassed and his constitutional rights have been violated because he doesn't believe in God. The suit names Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

"I'm not in it for cash," Hall said. "I want no one else to go what I went through."

Known as "the atheist guy," Hall has been called immoral, a devil worshipper and -- just as severe to some soldiers -- gay, none of which, he says, is true. Hall even drove fellow soldiers to church in Iraq and paused while they prayed before meals.

"I see a name and rank and United States flag on their shoulder. That's what I believe everyone else should see," he said.

Hall, 23, was raised in a Protestant family in North Carolina and dropped out of school. It wasn't until he joined the Army that he began questioning religion, eventually deciding that he couldn't follow any faith.

But he feared how that would look to other soldiers.

"I was ashamed to say that I was an atheist," Hall said.

It eventually came out in Iraq in 2007, when he was in a firefight. Hall was a gunner on a Humvee, which took several bullets in its protective shield. Afterward, his commander asked whether he believed in God, Hall said.

"I said, 'No, but I believe in Plexiglas,' " Hall said. "I've never believed I was going to a happy place. You get one life. When I die, I'm worm food."

The issue came to a head when, according to Hall, a superior officer, Maj. Freddy J. Welborn, threatened to bring charges against him for trying to hold a meeting of atheists in Iraq. Welborn has denied Hall's allegations.

Hall said he had had enough but feared that he wouldn't get support from Welborn's superiors. He turned to Mikey Weinstein and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

Weinstein is the foundation's president and a U.S. Air Force Academy graduate. He had sued the Air Force for acts he said illegally imposed Christianity on students at the academy, though that case was dismissed. He calls Hall a hero.

"The average American doesn't have enough intestinal fortitude to tell someone to shut up if they are talking in a movie theater," Weinstein said. "You know how hard it is to take on your chain of command? This isn't the shift manager at KFC."

Hall was in Qatar when the lawsuit was filed September 18 in federal court in Kansas City, Kansas. Other soldiers learned of it, and he feared for his own safety. Once, Hall said, a group of soldiers followed him, harassing him, but no one did anything to make it stop.

The Army told him it couldn't protect him and sent him back to Fort Riley. He resumed duties with a military police battalion. He believes that his promotion to sergeant has been blocked because of his lawsuit, but he is a team leader responsible for two junior enlisted soldiers.

No one with Fort Riley, the Army or that Defense Department would comment about Hall or the lawsuit. Each issued statements saying that discrimination will not be tolerated regardless of race, religion or gender.

"The department respects [and supports by its policy] the rights of others to their own religious beliefs, including the right to hold no beliefs," said Eileen Lainez, a spokeswoman for the Department of Defense.

All three organizations said existing systems help soldiers "address and resolve any perceived unfair treatment."

Lt. Col. David Shurtleff, a Fort Riley chaplain, declined to discuss Hall's case but said chaplains accommodate all faiths as best they can. In most cases, religious issues can be worked out without jeopardizing military operations.

"When you're in Afghanistan and an IED blows up a Humvee, they aren't asking about a wounded soldier's faith," Shurtleff said.

Hall said he enjoys being a team leader but has been told that having faith would make him a better leader.

"I will take care of my soldiers. Nowhere does it say I have to pray with my soldiers, but I do have to make sure my soldiers' religious needs are met," he said.

"Religion brings comfort to a lot of people," he said. "Personally, I don't want it or need it. But I'm not going to get down on anybody else for it."

Hall leaves the Army in April 2009. He would like to find work with the National Park Service or Environmental Protection Agency, anything outdoors.

"I hope this doesn't define me," Hall said of his lawsuit. "It's just about time somebody said something."

I feel ever so secure now

mikki — 2008-04-18T13:49:24-05:00

A homeless man has found confidential blueprints for New York's new Freedom Tower dumped in a city rubbish bin. Mike Fleming handed the documents - marked "Secure Document - Confidential" in to the New York Post newspaper. The Freedom Tower is being built at Ground Zero, to replace the World Trade Centre towers destroyed on 9/11. A spokeswoman apologised for the security breach and said that anyone found responsible would be liable for "serious disciplinary action".

More at the BBC News

Hooray! Keep your religion out of my medicine

mikki — 2008-03-28T09:15:39-05:00

The Associated Press: Penalty for Pharmacist's Refusal Upheld:

WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) — A state appeals court upheld sanctions Tuesday against a pharmacist who refused to dispense birth control pills to a woman and wouldn't transfer her prescription elsewhere.
The 3rd District Court of Appeals ruled that the punishment the state Pharmacy Examining Board handed down against pharmacist Neil Noesen did not violate his state constitutional rights, specifically his "right of conscience" to religiously oppose birth control.
"Noesen abandoned even the steps necessary to perform in a minimally competent manner under any standard of care," the three-judge panel said. The decision upheld a ruling by Barron County Circuit Judge James Babler.
Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin praised the ruling as important for women's access to reproductive health care. Several states have been wrestling with the issue of pharmacists who refuse on religious grounds to dispense birth control or "morning-after" pills.
Noessen's attorney Paul Linton said that he was disappointed but that no decision had been made on whether to appeal.
The ruling "can curtail the religious rights of pharmacists and perhaps other health care professionals," Linton said.
According to court records, Noesen was working as a substitute pharmacist at a Menomonie Kmart in 2002 when a University of Wisconsin-Stout student sought to refill her birth control prescription.
Noesen testified he advised the woman of his objection to the use of contraception and refused to fill the prescription or tell her how or where she could get it refilled.
The woman was able to get the prescription filled two days later but missed the first dose of the medication, court records said. She filed a complaint with the state Department of Regulation and Licensing.
Noesen, 34, of St. Paul, Minn., told regulators that he is a devout Roman Catholic and refused to refill the prescription or release it to another pharmacy because he didn't want to commit a sin by "impairing the fertility of a human being."
The Pharmacy Examining Board ruled in 2005 that Noesen failed to carry out his professional responsibility to get the woman's prescription to someone else if he wouldn't fill it himself.
The board reprimanded Noesen and ordered him to attend ethics classes. He was allowed to keep his license as long as he informs all future employers in writing that he won't dispense birth control pills and outlines steps he will take to make sure a patient has access to medication.
The board also found Noesen liable for the cost of the proceedings against him — about $20,000 — but the appeals court ordered the board to reconsider that decision.
Larry Dupuis, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, which like Planned Parenthood participated in the appeal, said the ruling struck the proper balance between patients' and pharmacists' rights.
A pharmacy should accommodate its pharmacists' religious beliefs but it can't leave "a patient high and dry," Dupuis said.
Noesen said the discipline "critically devastated" his business as a traveling pharmacist because some pharmacies refused to hire him and he lost his liability insurance, court records said.
There was no telephone listing for Noesen in St. Paul. Linton said he had not talked to Noesen in several months and didn't know whether he still lived in St. Paul.