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Terrorism and You

December 20 to 31, 2005

At a peace rally in Oklahoma, a minister gave this damning and inspiring speech on morality, war, and religion...

Never mind those old 50's survival bunkers. Get yourself a new U.S. Bunker and prepare for the terrorist invasion!

April 25 to May 1, 2005

Did you know that the military occupies over 22% of Oahu?

"U.S. Figures Show Sharp Global Rise In Terrorism - State Dept. Will Not Put Data in Report"...

Canada once took in 50,000 Vietnam-era draft dodgers. But today it's denying political asylum to those who refuse to participate in the Iraq war...

Some privacy measures are at least being considered for the new RFID-enabled U.S. passport...

Anti-terror laws are resulting in sophisticated software that can track every financial transaction no matter how small...

Unhackable communications get one step closer to reality...

Distracting TV visuals make people forget, regardless of age...

April 18 to 24, 2005

Just because you're a penguin doesn't mean that you're not a terrorist...

"By approving liquid marijuana, the Canadian government has just certified that virtually everything our own government has been telling us about marijuana is wrong"...

Thanks to the newly approved Family Entertainment and Copyright Act, you will get more jail time for videotaping a movie in a theater than for killing somebody...

ClearChannel will be tagging its music with color codes that reflect "indecent" content. Blue songs are OK, while orange songs can only be played after 10pm...

How U.S. restrictions on family planning are affecting the rest of the world, with dire consequences...

April 11 to 17, 2005

"Half of U.S. taxpayers filing online"...

The government gives lame reasons for making passports remotely readable. Also noted is that your birth date and photo can be picked up remotely. That means (identity) thieves could make instant comparisons to data in public records and get even more information from places like ZabaSearch...

Did you know that samples of a flu virus were mistakenly sent to 3,700 labs around the world and that some have gone missing? This normally would not cause worry except for the fact that the virus is "similar" to one that killed four million people in 1957...

April 4 to 10, 2005

President Bush's approval rating is the lowest ever for a 2nd-term president. J-Walk provides a nice graph...

Best Buy arrests a man for using $2 bills. The police said "It's a sign that we're all a little nervous in the post-9/11 world." I didn't know that terrorists paid for their nuclear weapons using $2 bills...

How well is the U.S. doing regarding the 14 defining characteristics of fascism? You may not agree with all of the points, but a few sure hit the mark...

Scientists are figuring out ways to stimulate neurons remotely with laser beams and are already controlling fruit flies...

A new military combat simulator stuns people via electric shock if shot. But the real news is that people really like games that hurt you...

March 28 to April 3, 2005

Some Iraqi soldiers are wearing this...

Derren Brown uses basic psychological principles to perform amazing "mind-reading" and mass hypnotism tricks...

Homeland Security is now calling its RFID chips in U.S. passports "contactless chips" because it sounds safer. Unfortunately, without encryption they'll make it easier than ever for terrorists to find flocks of Americans overseas...

Did you know that McDonald's is on its way to being the largest corporate land owner in Russia? Perhaps I should get passports issued by McDonald's...

"The Making of the Twenty-First-Century Soldier"

March 21 to 27, 2005

"Regarding The CAT Scan Of Terri Schiavo's Brain"...

If the U.S. Constitution were written like an End-User License Agreement...

Los Alamos National Lab scientists find a way to detect fingerprints via their chemical residue...

March 14 to 20, 2005

How fast can mistakes travel in this digital age? Thanks to a transcriptionist's typo, a 1962 nuclear test blast called "Project Sedan" was renamed "Project Sudan", causing an international incident the day after...

Using the BlueSniper rifle, hackers were able to extract information from PDAs and cell phones from people in the U.S. Bank building in L.A. from over a mile away...

A planned device allegedly "destroys" RFID tags...

March 7 to 13, 2005

Every U.S. soldier in Iraq gets one of these handy guides to Iraqi culture. I think every American should, too...

For some reason the U.S. Army's $127 billion modernization program has been categorized in the budget in a way that relieves them of the obligation to give "cost and purchasing data to military auditors"...

A study found that most Americans would cut defense spending and spend more on education and job training...

"Invocation of eminent domain by cities to seize property for private development is on the rise"...

China is fighting the Tibetan exile administration with computer virii...

Did you know that the U.S. is one of only 11 democratic nations in the world that does not give its citizens a Constitutional right to vote?

View the U.S. dollar's secret markings that can only be seen in infrared...

February 28 to March 6, 2005

Ira Rennert's house was featured on VH1 this week. It's the largest in the world, containing over 100,000 square feet worth of structures, 30 bathrooms, and its own power plant. He owned the company that makes the Hummer and a chemical plant that is listed as America's number one toxic air polluter by the EPA...

What a cell phone bomb trigger looks like...

"A man who recently had received radiation treatment... set off a nuclear alert detector on a fire engine, prompting police to close down a roadway in Escondido while authorities searched for a nuclear weapon."...

This biometric pen verifies your signature...

Extreme bomb blasts are causing an "alarming increase" in the amount of Iraqi vets with brain damage...

February 21 to 27, 2005

"Declaration of Revocation"

There will be no encryption on new U.S. e-passports, even though they could be read stealthily from 30 feet away...

People using T-Mobile services (like Paris Hilton, who had her personal address book posted all over the net this week) should realize how incredibly easy they are to hack...

Wal-Mart flew in a team of labor experts to counter 21 year-old employee Joshua Noble and 17 others who tried to form a union. Despite international attention, the effort failed. "It's just a bunch of brainwashing, but it kind of worked" says an $8.10 per hour co-worker...

February 14 to 20, 2005

It's true, the International Monetary Fund bankrupts the Third World, as noted by a former banker in this article mentioned last year...

The grisly story of Manadel al-Jamadi, which just became fully known - he died in Abu Ghraib while hung from his wrists...

Iraq vets at the Walter Reed Hospital are discouraged from making the connection between military duty and post-traumatic stress disorder...

Bush and Kerry - a visual comparison...

A muralist is jailed for painting breasts in a Michelangelo reproduction on a wall outside his studio...

February 7 to 13, 2005

George Bush explains his plan to save Social Security...

A conservative pro-Bush anti-homosexual journalist who had "unfettered" access to the White House and CIA documents was revealed as working under an alias and having close ties to male gay prostitution rings...

What's your political label? Take the world's smallest political quiz...

Martin Mubanga's account of his 33-month stay at Guantanamo Bay...

Allan Schiffman offers a few quick numbers on federal debt, spending, etc....

January 31 to February 6, 2005

One in three high school students think the First Amendment "goes too far" in the rights it guarantees...

"There Is No Tomorrow"

Here's one French artist's succinct refusal to tour in the U.S. thanks to "exceedingly probing" security questions...

January 24 to 30, 2005

The Bush administration OKs drilling for oil in rare grassland in New Mexico, despite objections from the state's governor, who used to be the Secretary of Energy in the Clinton administration. This is also despite the fact that over 100 wells have been dug in New Mexico in the last 100 years, and only two produced oil or gas...

Newsweek on the decline of the American Dream...

January 17 to 23, 2005

Inspiring photos of the presidential inauguration...

"Shot In Our Name"

"Bush Gets Positive Rating In Three Countries"

Since 2003 airport security screeners have stolen $36 million in items from travelers. The Transportation Security Administration spokesman says, "We have a few bad apples. That is unfortunate. We'd like to have that number down to zero."

Frequent traveler and ace writer Cory Doctorow was questioned at the airport by American Airlines personnel and asked for a written list of his friends' addresses. Here's his story...

January 10 to 16, 2005

The Web and the Internet are enabling more direct soldier-to-family communications that ever before. Hopefully, this will make societies more aware of the real costs of war...

"Babylon Wrecked by War: US-Led Forces Leave a Trail of Destruction and Contamination in Architectural Site of World Importance"...

January 1 to 9, 2005

The top ten war profiteers of 2004...

A Marine is jailed for refusing to pick up a gun, citing religious reasons...

"The Bush Administration has decided that it will stand by its approval for a book claiming the Grand Canyon was created by Noah�s flood"...

By the way, that $350 million the U.S. pledged for the tsunami effort equals 42.27 hours of the war in Iraq...

Here's a humongous chart showing exactly where your tax dollar goes...

December 13 to 19, 2004

Self-service USPS stamp machines have been taking people's photos without their knowledge, courtesy of the FAA...

"20 Amazing Facts About Voting in the USA"

"The disappearing dollar", by the Economist...

Grisly images of caring for the wounded in Iraq...

A New York art exhibition is stopped after showing a Bush portrait made of images of monkeys...

An Alabama judge wears the Ten Commandments on his robe...

December 6 to 12, 2004

John Perry Barlow's fight against Homeland Security may set a legal precedent regarding searches...

"In sworn affidavit, programmer says he developed vote-rigging prototype for Florida congressman; Congressman�s office silent"...

"Democrats on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee have asked Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell to answer for a host of voting irregularities they say occurred in Ohio Nov. 2."...

The Beginning of the Terminator

Homeless Iraq vets are showing up at shelters...

"US Army plagued by desertion and plunging morale"...

November 29 to December 5, 2004

"No Child Unrecruited"

"Israel shocked by image of soldiers forcing violinist to play at roadblock"

The Red Cross says Guantanamo is worse than Abu Ghraib...

"Fallujah is the new Guernica"...

The CIA is funding efforts to spy on chat rooms...

A new consumer surveillance tool allows people to view satellite images of the ground at a resolution of two feet...

November 22 to 28, 2004

Did a plane or a missile crash into the Pentagon on 9/11?

Here's an excerpt from "Checkpoint", a documentary on the West Bank/Gaza Strip checkpoints that was readapted by the Israeli military for training purposes. This clip highlights the everyday tension and cultural differences...

How the government uses laser printers to track documents. Since about 1995, color laser printers have microencoded the printer's serial number on every printed document. Use a blue LED light to see the marking dots...

Enter your ZIP code and get a blast map that shows the effects of a 10-kiloton nuclear blast in your area...

November 15 to 21, 2004

Two of three worldwide believe their leaders are dishonest...

Uh-oh - Diebold has been contracted to secure the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights...

Condi Rice is Angry!!!

Bob Dylan-singin' liberals are going to have to wear mirrored hats to peace rallies now that the Army's got a new airborne pain ray in the works...

An interview with the ex-Chief Interrogator Israel's security service...

Fallujah in Pictures...

"China Plans to Have Over 100 Eyes in the Sky by 2020"...

November 8 to 14, 2004

"Submission"

Live photos and commentary from the Falluja raid...

Arundhati Roy's Sydney Peace Prize acceptance speech...

"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" - a former respected international banker admits to helping the U.S. cheat poor countries out of trillions, allowing for economic takeover...

So maybe that "who voted by IQ" article last week was a little bogus. But here's a verifiable list of the most charitable states versus how they voted...

It would be nice to see evoting receipts that looked like this...

"sorryeverybody.com" spawns "werenotsorry.com" and "apologiesaccepted.com"...

The military's Gestapo/Darth Vader-like successor to the Hummer...

November 1 to 7, 2004

From a Fallujah assault eyewitness, all the ways the U.S. is violating the Geneva Convention...

Most of the mainstream media's reporting of the latest bin Laden video is pretty narrow. Here's the full transcript...

Nat'l Guard and reserve troops make up 40% of U.S. troops in Iraq and get the worst armor and equipment...

Need to hide from Homeland Security? Install a hidden door! However, this item was so popular, everyone knows what they look like by now...

October 25 to 31, 2004

What We Actually Have In Common Dept.

Yes, the U.S. knows where Osama is. And he's still getting "only" $1 million a year from his family...

Homeland Security agents bust a toy store this time...

"Technology used to track down Al-Qaeda terrorists is being offered to employers as a means of stamping out... abusive behaviour in the workplace"...

Who Plays Osama?

October 18 to 24, 2004

Nat'l Geographic survey - less than 15% of U.S. 18-to-24 year olds can locate Iraq on a map...

Indymedia is still no closer to figuring out who seized their servers via subpoena two weeks ago...

"Bush's Big Joke"...

October 11 to 17, 2004

19-year-old Derek's "King George" sticker on his Grand Am got him a date with the Secret Service...

"Poll reveals world anger at Bush"...

Printer forensics can now trace documents to specific (laser) printers...

October 4 to 10, 2004

"A senior U.S. military intelligence officer says that information obtained from prisoners at Guantanamo has proved useless in the war on terror"...

"George W. Bush - Keeping America Scared"...

"G.W. & Crew - Flip Flop"...

JibJab's new "Good to be in DC!" short...

September 27 to October 3, 2004

"Something Bad Has Begun"

RNC mass mailings suggest that Democrats would ban the Bible...

"Would You, as a Human Being, be Willing to Shake Hands with a Jew?"...

"What a Top Reporter in Baghdad Really Thinks About the War"...

"How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power"

September 20 to 26, 2004

Bombing unarmed civilians in Fallujah - the video...

Vintage war posters modernized for today...

Jimmy Swaggart talks about killing gays, drawing "laughter and applause" from the congregation...

Since 1980, sales of presidential masks have predicted the election correctly...

September 13 to 19, 2004

Why are political polls "a sham"? First, they don't call people with cell phones...

"While a student at Southern Methodist University in the 1960s, first lady Laura Bush was known 'as a go-to girl for dime bags of marijuana.'"

Get the original interview footage for the movie "Outfoxed" here...

Spreading political activism in Colombia via dynamic low-power radio networks on bikes...

3,000 Iraqi dead have been named...

September 5 to 12, 2004

Bush vs. Jesus

Bring out your Uzis! The assault weapon ban has expired with much debate on both sides...

Pictures and personal accounts of arrests and the detention area at the Republican National Convention...

"Bush: 'Our Long National Nightmare of Peace And Prosperity Is Finally Over'"

"The city of Chicago is about to unveil a city-wide surveillance system."...

August 30 to September 5, 2004

This week's 12 and 16-year-olds marked as terrorists and apprehended by the Secret Service...

The average Briton is scrutinized by 300 security cameras a day...

Protesters use texting, microradio, and other technologies now...

August 22 to 29, 2004

A new poll shows growing support for voter-verified paper trails in elections...

AI algorithms can take a trail of where you've been and determine regular and irregular activities...

It costs the U.S. Government $6.5 billion a year just to keep things secret. 90% of those things shouldn't be...

August 15 to 22, 2004

"If the US Wants to Restore Confidence in Its Voting System It Must Learn Lessons from the Recent Elections in Venezuela"...

$8.8 billion of U.S. taxpayer dollars gone missing in Iraq - *poof* just like that...

One thousands words on our era's war crime image. Insightful...

August 8 to 14, 2004

An analysis of files taken from a hard drive used in Al-Qaeda's operations. Insightful!

Abu Ghraib: "...private-sector employees actively took part in horrifying prisoner abuse". Examines the growing trend of the government to sidestep laws by hiring corporations to do the dirty work...

3D hologram technology becomes a "powerful tool" to detect forgeries...

August 2 to 8, 2004

Although over 80% of the public feels that e-voting is safe (or have no opinion), over 80% of security experts feel that current e-voting systems are much less secure than traditional paper-based voting. If teenage hackers can rig a vote, why would it be any harder for organized, professional criminals to?

A 11.7 foot high-resolution screen is displayed at a homeland security conference...

"Onion routing" may help make anonymous communications over the net more secure...

"Stealth wallpaper" can prevent insecure wireless networks from being hijacked...

Some amazing bluetooth hacking - address book contents can be stolen from up to a mile away! Or run a sneaky bluetooth content-grabbing program from your PDA and walk around unnoticed...

The Kensington computer cable lock can be opened in 30 seconds with $1 worth of material...

Bush's approval poll data, mapped against terror alerts...

July 26 to August 1, 2004

SecuritySpy - This Mac-based software allows one to install a cheap multi-cam security system for many thousands less than traditional systems...

New U.S. passports out this fall will be embedded with biometric computer chips...

Prodded by the MPAA, the FBI pursues criminal charges against a Stargate SG1 fan Web site, despite endorsement by the show's executive producer...

July 19 to 25, 2004

A photo tour of the N521DB, the luxury liner used to transport the Bin Ladens out of the U.S. after 9/11. It was also used by Fleetwood Mac and the Rolling Stones...

The fascinating story of East Germany's most embarrassing defection - an intelligence officer, a 16 year-old, and his mother. Here's a taste of what it's like to grow up in an atmosphere of poverty and fear...

July 12 to 18, 2004

Have you read about the children at Abu Ghraib?

June 28 to July 4, 2004

"Iraqis seek self-rule on the net"

"Thousands of truckers, bus drivers and rest-stop workers are being enlisted to spot terrorists"...

April 26 to May 2, 2004

"Doomed to failure in the Middle East"

In class a 15-year old art student draws Bush's head on a stick. The Secret Service visits the school...

"One of the nation's wealthiest towns will soon have cameras and computers running background checks on every car and driver that passes through."

Here's what the U.S. Army does to looters in Iraq (video clip from Frontline)...

April 5 to 11, 2004

Kids can now pretend they're hunting shoe bombers with the Playmobil Security Check-In set...

Is this true? The radiation in Iraq (via depleted uranium bombs) is now equal to 250,000 Nagasaki bombs?

Last month saw the first arrest made possible by routine U.S. monitoring of email traffic...

February 23 to 29, 2004

The Transportation Security Administration, which handles airport terrorist checks, mistakenly identified one of its employees as a sex offender and fired him, despite the fact that the correct information was publicly available online...

January 5 to 11, 2004

The FBI can now obtain financial records without requiring a judge's permission...

The FBI gathered hotel guest list information on 270,000 in Las Vegas...

The U.S. asks Australia's Qantas to ban bathroom lines on flights...