Category: News

Florida to Tax Home Networks. Home and small businesses with two or more networked computers may be subject to a communications tax in Florida. No one seems to want the tax, but it's moving along anyway. By Michelle Delio. [Wired News]

WP.  The 2003 Patterns of Global Terrorism report was deeply flawed.  It was rife with bad data and simple math errors.  Today the CIA manager of the team that assembled the report, John Brennan, blamed the errors on antiquated computer equipment and personnel shortages.  In the private sector, he and his team would be looking for another job… Continue reading WP

NYT.  New book by the former CIA manager of the “bin Laden station” says the US is losing the war on terrorism. “U.S. leaders refuse to accept the obvious,” the officer writes. “We are fighting a worldwide Islamic insurgency — not criminality or terrorism — and our policy and procedures have failed to make more than a modest… Continue reading NYT

Net-Savvy Campaign Boosts Bush. Even critics of the president's campaign say his website and Internet strategy have a couple of cool hooks. But the campaign has had a misfire or two, and it's avoiding some of the things that made Howard Dean so successful online. By Paul Boutin. [Wired News]

Judge says federal sentencing guidelines unconstitutional. In Boston, U.S. District Judge William Young yesterday declared the federal sentencing guidelines unconstitutional, according to the Associated Press via the Boston Globe: “In a scathing criticism of the current system for handing out punishment for defendants convicted of federal crimes, a judge on Monday declared the federal sentencing guidelines… Continue reading Judge says federal sentencing guidelines unconstitutional

Ashcroftian jackassery. Every time I begin to forget what a jackass John Ashcroft is, someone takes the effort to remind me. I particularly love Krugman's concluding paragraph: After my last piece on Mr. Ashcroft, some readers questioned whether he is really the worst attorney general ever. It's true that he has some stiff competition from… Continue reading Ashcroftian jackassery

Court limits patient suits vs. insurers. WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court unanimously ruled yesterday that patients cannot use state courts to sue most health insurance plans for refusing to cover medical treatments, a decision that limits the recourses available to the more than 100 million Americans who get health insurance through their workplaces. [Boston Globe… Continue reading Court limits patient suits vs. insurers

Court: Names Must Be Revealed. The Supreme Court says people must give their names to cops when they ask for it, and cops have the right to arrest people who refuse. One privacy advocate says the government just turned silence into a crime. [Wired News]

Seymour Hersh.  Israel's warnings: A former Administration official who had supported the war completed a discouraging tour of Iraq late last fall. He visited Tel Aviv afterward and found that the Israelis he met with were equally discouraged. As they saw it, their warnings and advice had been ignored, and the American war against the… Continue reading Seymour Hersh

An over the weekend post to global guerrillas (in case you missed it).  A scenario depicting the disruption of Saudi Arabia.  Simple (easy to do with little chance of casualties).  High impact.  Low cost.  High chance of success.  It uses an unrefined version of global guerrilla tactics.  This year long operations schedule would cost substantially less… Continue reading A scenario depicting the disruption of Saudi Arabia