Groups Call on Justice Department to Protect
Right to Record

post from Firedoglake on 03 May 2012 06:45:06 PM. © Firedoglake

Nine groups who regularly defend free speech and digital rights have sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging the Justice Department to protect the right to record police.Without cameras, police would have much more freedom to violently abuse[...]

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Senate outlook for CISPA unclear, potentially
very bad

post from Daily Kos on 03 May 2012 06:39:10 PM. © Daily Kos

The House passed its Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) last week, a bill that purports to protect the information systems that run the nation's critical infrastructure network, but mostly provides new and legal ways for private companies and the government to violate our privacy. Now it's up to the Senate.

POLITICO is reporting that experts believe that some kind of cybersecurity bill will make it through Congress this session, but they're not sure what it will contain.

The Senate is expected to consider a sweeping measure this month by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). Unlike the House-passed CISPA measure, Lieberman?s bill would mandate new security standards for privately owned critical infrastructure networks. It?s the biggest difference between the two bills, and perhaps the biggest stumbling block to getting a measure to President Obama?s desk. [...]

That could mean bad news on the privacy front, because attacks on the Fourth Amendment and privacy rights of Americans is pretty much all that the House bill contains. The House won't consider mandated standards for companies running any infrastructure network, calling it "job-killing regulation."

The obvious concern is that, in their zeal to pass what they'll call a national security law in this election year, the Senate will pass a bad bill that the House would agree to. The biggest check on that possibility so far is President Obama, and the veto threat from the White House.

That's not enough. The Senate needs to hear from the grassroots on CISPA, and to stop a bad bill from becoming law.

Contact your Senators and tell them to oppose the House CISPA bill and any version of it that would gut existing privacy laws.

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Looking at Small Medtech and Biotech in Canada:
Nick Waddell

post from Jutia Group on 03 May 2012 06:34:44 PM. © Jutia Group

The Life Sciences Report: If you’re looking for great technology stories, why limit yourself to Canadian-listed stocks?

Nick Waddell: I would describe it as an invest-in-what-you-know approach. I think many investors, especially newer ones, can be overwhelmed by the sheer size of the equities market, and people end up being intimidated by the sheer amount of data out there. My approach is to divide the market into small sections, whether by geographic region or by sector, and to find value there. That way, instead of examining thousands of different investment vehicles I can narrow the market down … [visit site to read . . . → Read More: Looking at Small Medtech and Biotech in Canada: Nick Waddell

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Catalysts Move Drug and Medtech Stocks: Michael
Hay and Jocelyn August

post from Jutia Group on 03 May 2012 06:34:42 PM. © Jutia Group

The Life Sciences Report: Briefly, tell me what you’re doing with your BioMedTracker product. How is it important for investors?

Michael Hay: With BioMedTracker we are following all the clinical drug development phases through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process. Clinical development is, obviously, a very risky undertaking, with about one in 10 products making it from phase 1 all the way to approval. There are steps or milestones along the way that each company needs to achieve before the FDA will approve a drug. Any catalyst or event that changes that 1-in-10 … [visit site to read . . . → Read More: Catalysts Move Drug and Medtech Stocks: Michael Hay and Jocelyn August

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Catalytic Events Move Energy Stocks: Jocelyn
August

post from Jutia Group on 03 May 2012 06:34:21 PM. © Jutia Group

The Energy Report: Jocelyn, you are following catalysts that affect resource stocks. What should energy resource investors be watching for?

Jocelyn August: We have done an impact study for the natural resource sector and have identified many large-impact events in the energy sector. Similar to drug and device development, you can follow a timeline for the development of an energy resource project from the planning stages to exploration. The catalysts are very similar across these sectors. Companies in both spaces must test their products (energy companies conduct preliminary … [visit site to read . . . → Read More: Catalytic Events Move Energy Stocks: Jocelyn August

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Washington Post poll: Obama 51-44 over Romney in
Virginia

post from Daily Kos on 03 May 2012 06:30:57 PM. © Daily Kos

alt="VA congressional district map"<br />

Yes, it's early. Yes, a lot can happen. So, exactly how does Romney get to the White House without Virginia?

In addition to PPP's 51-43 Obama lead from May 3, the Washington Post has a new poll out Thursday afternoon (MoE +/- 3.5):

President Obama leads former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in Virginia but commonwealth voters are evenly divided on the White House?s major policies, a new Washington Post poll shows.
Obama is ahead of Romney, the presumed Republican nominee, 51 percent to 44 percent among registered voters. And Romney does no better against Obama than he did a year ago, despite his emergence as the GOP standard-bearer.

Here's what struck me in the WaPo story:

By a whopping 97 to 1 percent, Obama thumps Romney among black voters, and he has a wide lead among women: 56 to 38. Obama?s up by better than 2 to 1 margin among those aged 18 to 29, but he faces a challenge in the coming months in that many of them? 34 percent in this poll? are not registered to vote at their current address.

Obama's policies get a mixed review, but his job approval in VA is at 53. Meanwhile Republicans in Congress are underwater at Enthusiastic/Satisfied 36, Dissatisfied/Angry 60 (both numbers unchanged from a year ago).

If the battleground is VA and the southwest, as Kos has observed, Team Romney is going to have their work cut out for them. That's especially true if the VA polls keep coming in like this.

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Anti-Tank Grenades Found At Ariz. Neo-Nazi
Massacre Site

post from TPMMuckraker on 03 May 2012 06:00:57 PM. © TPMMuckraker

Six anti-tank grenades designed to be fired from a launcher were discovered on Wednesday at the scene of a horrific Arizona mass murder-suicide, which authorities said was carried out by well known white supremacist JT Ready.

The discovery helped expand the probe of the killings to the federal level and has led investigators with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to begin looking into how Ready was able to obtain the illegal explosives, according to ATF special agent Tom Mangan.

Mangan described the bombs as 40mm armor-piercing projectile grenades, the same type used by the U.S. military in combat. The grenades are generally fired from some sort of launcher, but Mangan said no such weapon was found at the scene.

Ready was a longtime neo-Nazi and border vigilante who authorities said walked into a house in a suburb east of Phoenix on Wednesday and killed four people, including his girlfriend and a 15-month-old baby, before turning the gun on himself.

Before the massacre, Ready led armed groups of vigilantes into the Arizona desert to hunt down what he described as "narco terrorists."

He was known to stockpile weapons and often showed off pieces of his collection for television cameras. In 2010, he distributed fliers calling for landmines to be used along the US-Mexico border as a means of stopping the flow of illegal immigration. More recently, he was raising money through his US Border Guard website in the hopes of purchasing a .50 caliber rifle and a battle tank.

Mangan said investigators were able to record the lot numbers of the grenades and will use those to try to trace where they came from. But he said the age of the explosives might make that difficult. They were at least 20 years old.

"It's sort of like purchasing a gun in a crime that was committed 20 years ago," Mangan said. "It might have changed hands several times."

Along with the grenades, investigators also discovered pyrotechnic and military style flares. But Mangan said the grenades were what investigators were most interested in.

Because the explosives were military grade, investigators called in bomb technicians from Luke Air Force Base, located west of Phoenix. The bomb techs ended up destroying the grenades at a nearby facility.

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Upstanding Citizen

Anti-tank grenades have been found at the site of the massacre by neo-Nazi and border vigilante JT Ready. [...]

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Airline to charge $100 for carry-on bags

Every time I see these expensive luggage fees, I wonder where the savings part is for consumers. I'm still looking. The US airline industry has been gouging Americans with add-on fees for a while now and perhaps because it helps keep the industry out of bankruptcy, nobody in Washington cares. But with this soft economy, they should care if it's one charge after another that is slamming the wallets of voters.

On recent trips to the US, it's been shocking to see luggage fees tacked on during my US portions, as though somehow I'm no longer going to be carrying luggage on my round trip ticket.

In Europe, some airlines (such as EasyJet, Ryan Air and many more) do indeed charge luggage fees. The big difference is that their airfare rates are considerably cheaper than the US airlines for similar distances. If I'm paying $50 for a three hour flight, fine, an additional $20 for luggage is fine but if my three hour flight is $400 (as I paid recently in the US) plus I'm being charged an extra $25 per bag, then there's an issue.

The American public is no longer made of easy credit and disposable incomes. That attitude is pre-crisis. It's about time US businesses such as airlines, ISPs and phone companies caught up to the new reality. The only reason they don't is because they own Washington and they know it. By controlling the political donations, they can call the shots and muscle in or out candidates that behave.

As long as the airline industry continues to get a free ride by Washington, expect more ugly charges like $100 for carry-on luggage by Spirit Airlines. Even worse, look at the airports that they fly into, which aren't necessarily the most convenient airports. I just looked at a flight from Boston to Orlando for early June and was floored with their cost of $450. Since it's Orlando, this probably means vacation so who the heck doesn't have luggage? Even if it's for work, who does't carry clothes for a week? Read more about their many price increases and then check out just how expensive their flights can be.

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I Wish I Was Your Boyfriend

Providing that arena security at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa does their job and keeps past-her-freshness-date grandma Sarah Palin from bum rushing the stage during prime time and rhythmically humping the podium to the primal beat of[...]

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