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News Bits

Huntley, Brinkley, and others

Please note: at the time of publication, all the links here were checked to be accurate and live. However, over the course of the publication run of this issue, some of the links may go dead.

Gun maker to suspend factory lines. Smith & Wesson plans to shut down two of its manufacturing plants for a month partly because of the fallout from its landmark gun-safety deal with the government. hee hee hee! Let's keep it up, folks!

USDA ‘organic’ label unveiled (MSNBC). The food police are cracking down on what foods can be labeled organic.

Shhhh: Hushmail Has Big Plans (Wired). Some more reasons we like--and recommend--Hushmail.

Russian Group Just Says `Nyet' to Politics (SF Gate). A political movement has sprung up that argues it's time to say "no" to politicians.

NASA may have sold missing space tanks as scrap (DotPlanet - UPI). Like most other feral agencies, NASA has trouble keeping track of its inventory.

Nasa: Lost in space? (BBC). Almost as bad as the movie...

Report: UN peacekeepers are spreading HIV (Health Network). United Nations peacekeepers are "unintentionally" spreading AIDS in the countries they are supposed to be helping, a U.S. official told lawmakers Wednesday.

NASA engineers break $75 million satellite during testing (CNN). A $75 million NASA spacecraft designed to study solar flares was heavily damaged when engineers mistakenly shook it 10 times harder than intended during a preflight test. Those pesky decimal places.

Arthritis meds kept from some patients (Health Network). Thousands of patients are being denied effective treatment because federal regulators erred in warning doctors not to prescribe new anti-arthritis medication to asthma patients who have aspirin sensitivity. See what happens when gov bureaucrats make medical decisions?

NASA Knew Lander Flaw (AltaVista). NASA engineers should not have been surprised when the Mars Polar Lander vanished en route to the Red Planet's surface Dec. 3, BBC news reports. A report finds that they were well aware of a critical flaw in the craft's thrusters.

No-knocks net little jail time (Rocky Mountain News). Denver police targeted 146 suspects in no-knock drug raids last year. A third of those suspects ended up facing felony charges. And, of those, two were sent to prison. Ahhh yes, more tax money well spent.

Can Police Keep Suspects Out of Home Before Search? (ABCNews). The Supreme Court agreed to clarify whether police can keep people from going inside their homes alone while officers seek a search warrant.

A Little More Privacy, Eh? (Wired). A Canadian senator who says her country's pending information privacy act does not go far enough is proposing legislation that would enshrine privacy as a fundamental right. Can YOU say "too little, too late"?

US Senators grill officials on nuclear secrets loss (Reuters). A Los Alamos laboratory has "lost" two hard drives that contained secret nuclear data from the government, and have blamed it in part on the hasty fire-caused evacuation.

"Biodiesel" Fuel Could Reduce Truck Pollution (ScienceDaily). Diesel fuel made from natural renewable sources such as vegetable oils or animal fats lowered air-polluting emissions of heavy trucks in a trial study, according to researchers. They say the so-called "biodiesel" fuel can be used in regular diesel engines without modifying them.

Spying 101 Students taught to report classmates to authorities (WND). A new anti-violence program in America's public school system is teaching children how to spy on other students and to turn them in, using an anonymous toll-free line to a detective agency. New twist on an old idea.

Congress passes asset forfeiture bill. Parents whose children get caught growing marijuana at home will be among those in less danger of losing their property under legislation Congress completed Tuesday that would make it harder for the federal government to seize assets connected to crime.

UK building surveillance infrastructure. What, they don't have enough?

First Amendment win: ISPs not liable for e-mail content.

Second Amendment win: judge says gun laws treat decent citizens like criminals, dismisses charges against armed pizza deliverer.

Could Janet Reno be suffering from dementia? (Possible side effects of drugs used to treat Parkinson's) She's sure suffering from something... and not necessarily what we'd like to see her suffering from.

The draft convention on cybercrime."The draft treaty would require that all participating countries adopt new laws requiring government access to encrypted information, expanding copyrights and criminalizing the possession of common security tools. It also would alter wiretapping laws in all of the countries." No doubt making wiretaps easier.

Stopping cars -- electronically! National Institute of Justice to test technologies for stopping vehicles.

More on "Ritalin can kill". And: someone's suing over Ritalin's effects.