Free Internet Press Newsletter - Saturday February 9 2008 - (813)

Saturday February 9 2008 edition
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Little Progress In U.S. Airport Security 2008-02-08 14:50:55 In the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, government officials and industry leaders talked excitedly about how they expected technology to plug many of the gaps in airport security. They envisioned machines that would quickly detect explosives hidden in luggage, spot plastic explosives or other weapons through people's clothing, identify a flicker in the eye of a suspicious character. Six years later, little has changed at airport checkpoints. Screeners still use X-ray machines to scan carry-on bags, and passengers still pass through magnetometers that cannot detect plastic or liquid explosives. The Transportation Security Administration has yet to deploy a machine that can efficiently detect liquid bombs, forcing millions of air passengers to check bags or pare down their toiletries to three-ounce containers in carry-on baggies. The sluggish pace of technological innovation and deployment has left holes in checkpoint security that could easily be exploited by terrorists, according to government officials and outside experts. Congressional investigators reported last year that they were able to smuggle bomb components through checkpoints despite new security measures. Other investigative reports questioned the government's efforts to get emerging technology into the field. "The snail's pace of deploying new technology is unacceptable," said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. "We remain vulnerable because we have not kept up with technological innovation." Read The Full Story Putin: 'New Arms Race Unleashed In The World' 2008-02-08 14:50:22 Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that "a new arms race has been unleashed in the world" as the United States moves forward with a missile defense system in Central Europe. And he dismissed American assurances that the system was not directed against Russia as nothing more than "diplomatic cover." "It's not our fault. We didn't start it ... funneling multi-billions of dollars into developing weapons systems," Putin said in what may be his final major address before he leaves the Kremlin after presidential elections March 2. "Russia has and always will have a response to these new challenges. Over the next few years, Russia will start production of new types of arms, with the same or even superior specifications compared to those available to other nations." He said, however, that Russian military spending should not come at the cost of its economic and social development. Putin spoke Friday to Russia's State Council, a gathering of ministers, regional governors and members of parliament. Among those watching was Dmitry Medvedev, Putin's chosen successor as president, who faces little opposition in next month's vote and is expected to coast to victory. His most vocal opponent, former prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov, was barred from running. Read The Full Story U.S. Congress Approves $152 Billion Economic Stimulus Package 2008-02-08 03:20:48 Payments added for disabled veterans and poor seniors. Congress gave overwhelming final approval last night to legislation that would send government payments to most American households and grant tax incentives for business investment, sending President Bush a $152 billion stimulus plan for the faltering U.S. economy. The deal came Thursday after the Senate added low-income seniors and disabled veterans to the list of people who would receive money under a package previously approved by the House, then approved the bill, 81 to 16. The House took up and passed the Senate measure last night in a 380 to 34 vote, ensuring that checks would begin reaching recipients by mid-May. Congress's action on the stimulus package reflected not only the growing concern in Washington that the nation has already slipped into a recession but also a desire to convince voters that the government is capable of responding quickly. It took just two weeks for House leaders from both parties to forge the initial deal with Bush, for the House to pass it overwhelmingly, for the Senate to amend it and for Congress to put its final stamp on the legislation. Read The Full Story 6 Dead After Gunfire At Missouri City Council Meeting 2008-02-08 03:20:26 A gunman with a history of acrimony against civic leaders stormed the Kirkwood, Missouri, City Hall during a council meeting Thursday night, killing two police officers and three city officials before law enforcers fatally shot him, said authorities. The mayor was critically injured in the rampage. The victims at the meeting in suburban St. Louis were killed after the gunman rushed the council chambers and began firing as he yelled "Shoot the mayor!" according to St. Louis County Police spokeswoman Tracy Panus. Two people were wounded before Kirkwood police fatally shot him, she said. Panus said the names of the victims would not be released until a news conference Friday morning. The wounded included Mayor Mike Swoboda, who was in critical condition late Thursday in the intensive-care unit of St. John's Mercy Hospital in Creve Coeur, said hospital spokesman Bill McShane, declining to discuss the nature of the injuries. McShane said another victim, Suburban Journals newspaper reporter Todd Smith, was in satisfactory condition. The gunman killed one officer outside City Hall, then walked into the chambers and shot another before continuing to fire, said Panus. Read The Full Story	Editorial: 'An Intolerable Fraud' 2008-02-08 14:50:39 Intellpuke: The following editorial appears in the New York Times edition for Friday, February 8, 2008. An envelope arrived in our office the other day. It had the bulky, tawdry look of junk mail: pink and lavender Easter eggs, a plastic address window and a photo of a young man in fatigue shorts using crutches to stand on his only leg. “Thousands of severely wounded troops are suffering,” it read. “Will you help them this Easter?” It was a plea for money from the Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes, one of the worst private charities - but hardly the only - that have been shamefully milking easy cash from the suffering and heartache caused by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The coalition and its sister organization, Help Hospitalized Veterans, were among a dozen military-related charities given a grade of F in a study last December by the American Institute of Philanthropy, a nonprofit watchdog group. These and other charities have collected hundreds of millions of dollars from kind-hearted Americans and squandered an unconscionable amount of it on overhead and expenses - 70 percent or 80 percent, or more. The usual administrative outlay for a reputable charity is about 30 percent. Money that donors surely assumed was going to ease the pain and speed the healing of injured soldiers went instead to junk-mail barrages, inflated executive salaries and other forms of corporate-style bloat. Read The Full Story Student Kills 2, Then Herself At Louisiana Tech 2008-02-08 14:48:34 A 23-year-old woman killed two fellow students in a classroom at a vocational college Friday, then killed herself, said police. The women apparently were shot in their seats in the second-floor classroom at Louisiana Technical College, Baton Rouge Sgt. Don Kelly said. About 20 people were in the room at the time, he said. Officers ran into the building within four minutes of the first 911 call, which came at 8:36 a.m., said Kelly. "There was mass pandemonium, people running," he said. "One officer - the first into the classroom - told me he could still smell gunpowder." Read The Full Story Studies: Clearing Land For Biofuels Will Exacerbate Global Warming 2008-02-08 03:20:38 Clearing land to produce biofuels such as ethanol will do more to exacerbate global warming than using gasoline or other fossil fuels, two scientific studies show. The independent analyses, which will be published Friday in the journal Science, could force policymakers in the United States and Europe to reevaluate incentives they have adopted to spur production of ethanol-based fuels. President Bush and many members of Congress have touted expanding biofuel use as an integral element of the nation's battle against climate change, but these studies suggest that this strategy will damage the planet rather than help protect it. One study - written by a group of researchers from Princeton University, Woods Hole Research Center and Iowa State University along with an agriculture consultant - concluded that over 30 years, use of traditional corn-based ethanol would produce twice as much greenhouse gas emissions as regular gasoline. Another analysis, written by a Nature Conservancy scientist along with University of Minnesota researchers, found that converting rainforests, peatlands, savannas or grasslands in Southeast Asia and Latin America to produce biofuels will increase global warming pollution for decades, if not centuries. Tim Searchinger, who conducts research at Princeton and the D.C-based German Marshall Fund of the United States, said the research he and his colleagues did is the first to reveal the hidden environmental cost of producing biofuels. Read The Full Story
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