Societal

Wikileaks editor skips NYC hacker event - Julian Assange, public face of a Web site that posted a video embarrassing to the U.S. military, doesn't seem to want to get too friendly with inquisitive Homeland Security agents.

Originally posted at News - Security

The very reason for the American experiment was -- and is -- to establish the principle and the reality that no man or government may alienate a person's life, liberty or pursuit of happiness.

Anyone who has experienced the expectation of the imminent loss of any of those conditions knows profoundly their value -- and thus the value of our form of government, which exists to protect those rights.

Vatican Joins Transnational Elites in Devising New Forms of Capitalism - In response to the present global economic crisis, Pope Benedict XVI and some transnational elites have announced proposed reforms to market capitalism that are designed to more directly respond to the economic and social needs of individuals and society. In most cases, these new capitalist models are in their embryonic stages, lacking specificity and objectivity.

Years ago, coyotes were small operators often smuggling the same illegal immigrants into the U.S. from year to year. “Now, organized gangs own the people-smuggling trade,”

writes Millman. “According to U.S. and Mexican police, this is partly an unintended consequence of a border crackdown.

Eaarth follows the time-honored structure of environmentalist tracts, opening with a quick rehearsal of the science that allegedly seals our terrible fate,

followed by a much longer disquisition outlining the author’s elaborate plan for salvation. Give McKibben some credit: Unlike many prior doomsters, such as Paul Ehrlich and Stephen Schneider, he doesn’t argue for a top-down solution.

Cyber Attacks and Friendly Fire

Obama internet 'kill switch' bill approved - http://www.campaignforliberty.com/wire.php?view=12212 [Campaign for Liberty]

Freedom and Exchange in Communist Cuba -

FROM DRUGWARFACTS.ORG:

Drug Courts and Treatment Alternatives to Incarceration programs are popular, widely praised and rapidly expanding alternative approaches of dealing with drug offenders and people charged with nonviolent crimes who are drug users. Drug Courts substitute mandatory treatment for incarceration. Drug Courts have been much applauded, however some concerns about their fairness and effectiveness have been expressed. These include:

Facebook 'Like' button draws privacy scrutiny - Web publishers have quickly adopted a button that lets visitors express "like" for their sites. But it also lets Facebook track those visitors as they switch from one site to another. [CNET DRAGNET]

EFF Demands Records on PATRIOT Act Effectiveness, Lawfulness, and Misuse -

Washington, D.C. - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed suit today against the Department of Justice (DOJ), demanding records on three controversial PATRIOT Act surveillance provisions that expire early next year unless Congress renews them.