Brazil finds new strain of H1N1 virus
Brazilian scientists have identified a new strain of the H1N1 virus after examining samples from a patient in Sao Paulo, their institute said Tuesday.
The variant has been called A/Sao Paulo/1454/H1N1 by the Adolfo Lutz Bacteriological Institute, which compared it with samples of the A(H1N1) swine flu from California.
The genetic sequence of the new sub-type of the H1N1 virus was isolated by a virology team lead by one of its researchers, Terezinha Maria de Paiva, the institute said in a statement.
The mutation comprised of alterations in the Hemagglutinin protein which allows the virus to infect new hosts, it said.
It was not yet known whether the new strain was more aggressive than the current A(H1N1) virus which has been declared pandemic by the World Health Organization.
The genetic make-up of the H1N1 virus and its subvariants are important for scientists.
Pharmaceutical companies are working to mass produce a vaccine against the current A(H1N1) flu.
There are fears though that it could mutate into a deadly strain, much in the same way as the 1918 Spanish flu -- also an A(H1N1) virus type -- did when it killed tens of millions around the planet.
According to the WHO, 36,000 people in 76 countries have been infected with the H1N1 virus, causing 163 deaths.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.594b3919f568748326be82a3a65d7646.241&show_article=1
Obama to propose strict new regulation of financial industry
The plan would give the government new powers to seize key companies whose failure jeopardizes the financial system, as well as creation of a watchdog agency to look out for consumers' interests.
By Jim Puzzanghera
June 16, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- The Obama administration this week will propose the most significant new regulation of the financial industry since the Great Depression, including a new watchdog agency to look out for consumers' interests.
Under the plan, expected to be released Wednesday, the government would have new powers to seize key companies -- such as insurance giant American International Group Inc. -- whose failure jeopardizes the financial system. Currently, the government's authority to seize companies is mostly limited to banks.
But critics say the easing of the financial crisis that gripped the country last year appears to have reduced the momentum for some of the most far-reaching proposals, such as merging several banking regulatory agencies.
They're also concerned that the proposed agency whose mission would be to protect consumers against financial misconduct wouldn't have the authority to do so for a wide-enough range of products.
"This is too little, too late," said Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), based on his understanding of the plan. "It's going to be way less than it should be."
On Monday, Obama administration officials sketched the outlines of the plan the president is to unveil Wednesday. They said it would seek to reduce gaps in regulatory oversight, rein in the use of mortgage-backed securities and other complex derivatives, reduce incentives for companies to take excessive risk and give the government new power to quickly intervene during any future crises.
"We had a system that proved too unstable, too fragile. . . . Those are things we have to change," Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Monday at an economic forum in New York.
The administration also is expected to propose creation of a regulatory body for financial products marketed to consumers, such as credit cards, whose oversight is now spread over several agencies.
In addition, the administration wants to impose regulation over the market for derivatives -- the murky financial contracts used to hedge risky investments -- including new reporting and disclosure requirements. Institutions that originate loans would be required to retain 5% of the credit risk when the loans are turned into securities.
All the proposals would have to be approved by Congress in a process the administration hopes to complete by the end of the year.
In the heat of the financial crisis last year, there were widespread calls for the government to merge several banking regulatory agencies into one to reduce gaps in oversight and stop what might be called "regulator shopping."
For example, AIG was able to choose the Office of Thrift Supervision for its non-insurance financial business when it bought a small savings and loan in the late 1990s. That office has been viewed as a weaker regulator, and was strongly criticized in a government report this year for ignoring repeated warning signs about Pasadena-based IndyMac Bancorp before the thrift's failure last summer.
"I'm concerned that people think we've stepped back from the brink of disaster and so they're not as committed to seeing real meaningful reforms adopted," said Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America.
For their part, business groups have worried that the Obama administration might go too far in responding to the financial crisis with new regulations, stifling the market and hurting financial firms at a time when the economy is still weak.
They have been pushing back against some of the proposals floated by the administration, lawmakers and consumer advocates, such as a consumer protection agency for financial products.
But Scott Talbott, chief lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents large financial institutions, said there was still a strong impetus in Washington for regulatory reform and dismissed the suggestion that the Obama administration had missed its chance to implement it.
"This has moved at lightning speed," he said. "You're talking about a historic piece of reform."
Administration officials also have dismissed suggestions that they had moved too slowly, saying they had pushed ahead despite calls from some quarters for them to wait until the end of the crisis before acting.
"There are people who believe that the wrong time to reorganize the fire department is while the fire may still be burning," Lawrence H. Summers, chairman of the White House's National Economic Council and Obama's chief economic advisor, said in a speech Friday. "The president has concluded very strongly that that view is wrong. . . . Experience teaches that once the crisis has passed, the will to reform will pass as well."
Douglas J. Elliott, an economics fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former investment banker, said there was still enough political momentum to pass major reforms. But as the financial crisis has eased, there is less ability to tackle the difficult turf battles involved in merging regulatory agencies.
For that reason, Elliott said, the Obama administration appeared more focused on setting new rules and principles than on the blowing up the government's regulatory structure.
"There are entrenched interests that benefit and are allied with each of these agencies. . . . That just makes it hard," he said.
"As far as I can tell, the administration doesn't think it's as important to get that structure right as to get the rules right and make sure people are focused on acting the right way."
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-financial-regs16-2009jun16,0,4262249.story
Ruling on NightJack author Richard Horton kills blogger anonymity
Thousands of bloggers who operate behind the cloak of anonymity have no right to keep their identities secret, the High Court ruled yesterday.
In a landmark decision, Mr Justice Eady refused to grant an order to protect the anonymity of a police officer who is the author of the NightJack blog. The officer, Richard Horton, 45, a detective constable with Lancashire Constabulary, had sought an injunction to stop The Times from revealing his name.
In April Mr Horton was awarded the Orwell Prize for political writing, but the judges were unaware that he was using information about cases, some involving sex offences against children, that could be traced back to genuine prosecutions.
His blog, which gave a behind-the-scenes insight into frontline policing, included strong views on social and political issues.
The officer also criticised and ridiculed “a number of senior politicians” and advised members of the public under police investigation to “complain about every officer . . . show no respect to the legal system or anybody working in it”.
Some of the blog’s best-read sections, which on occasion attracted half a million readers a week, were anecdotes about cases on which Mr Horton had worked. The people and places were made anonymous and details changed, but they could still be traced back to real prosecutions.
In the first case dealing with the privacy of internet bloggers, the judge ruled that Mr Horton had no “reasonable expectation” to anonymity because “blogging is essentially a public rather than a private activity”.
The judge also said that even if the blogger could have claimed he had a right to anonymity, the judge would have ruled against him on public interest grounds.
The police officer, the judge said, had argued that he should not be exposed because it could put him at risk of disciplinary action for breaching regulations. But Mr Justice Eady criticised that argument as “unattractive to say the least”.
He added: “I do not accept that it is part of the court’s function to protect police officers who are, or think they may be, acting in breach of police discipline regulations from coming to the attention of their superiors.”
He added: “It would seem to be quite legitimate for the public to be told who it was who was choosing to make, in some instances quite serious criticisms of police activities and, if it be the case, that frequent infringements of police discipline regulations were taking place.”
The action arose after Patrick Foster, a Times journalist, identified the NightJack blogger “by a process of deduction and detective work, mainly using information on the internet,” the judge said.
Hugh Tomlinson, QC, for Mr Horton, had argued that “thousands of regular bloggers . . . would be horrified to think that the law would do nothing to protect their anonymity if someone carried out the necessary detective work and sought to unmask them”. Mr Tomlinson said that Mr Horton wished to remain anonymous and had taken steps to preserve his anonymity.
But Mr Justice Eady said that the mere fact that the blogger wanted to remain anonymous did not mean that he had a “reasonable expectation” of doing so or that The Times was under an enforceable obligation to him to maintain that anonymity.
Antony White, QC, for The Times, argued that there was a public interest in non-compliance by a police officer with his obligations under the statutory code governing police behaviour and also with general public law duty on police officers not to reveal information obtained in the course of a police investigation other than for performing his public duties.
Lancashire Constabulary said: “He has been spoken to regarding his professional behaviour and, in line with disciplinary procedures, has been issued with a written warning.”
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article6509677.ece
Minority kids grow to majority in some counties
Young Americans who are minorities outnumber young whites in almost one of every six U.S. counties. It's a demographic wave that is transforming more parts of the nation and raising questions about who is a minority.
An analysis of the under-20 population shows that minority youths are the majority in 505 counties and that 60 counties have reached that milestone in this decade.
"The change is due both to minority kids' gains and to declines in the number of white kids," says Kenneth Johnson, demographer at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute who analyzed Census data. "This isn't about immigration anymore."
The multiplying effect of diversity is rapid. In 2008, 34% of U.S. residents were minorities, but 48% of babies born in the USA were minorities. The number of white youths has dropped 5.3% since 2000 while the young minority population grew 15.5%. "It will be hard to define who is a minority in the future," says Robert Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech.
Communities face challenges when new settlers speak different languages and come from different backgrounds. For example, schools that never taught non-English speakers have had to launch programs. What's driving the changes:
• Black, Hispanic and Asian families are moving to suburbia. Some have come for jobs created by population growth. Others leave urban areas in search of more space, better schools and less crime. Most counties where the minority youth population surged past 50% from 2000 to 2008 are suburban or rural counties. Three are around Atlanta.
• Several predominantly white counties that are attracting young minorities have lost young white residents because of a decline in agriculture. Many who went away to college never came back. The remaining white population is aging and having fewer children.
Change is happening so quickly that the youngest Americans are much more likely to be minorities than those who are a few years older, says Johnson, who did the research with Daniel Lichter, demographer at Cornell University.
Among youths ages 15 to 19, 60% are non-Hispanic whites. Among those 4 or younger, 53% are white.
"Change is coming from the bottom, and it's not a short-term phenomenon," Johnson says.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-06-16-youngminorities_N.htm
Defense Department sees protests as terrorism
This is a sampling of political writers Josh Richman and Lisa Vorderbrueggen's blog, The Political Blotter. Read more at www.ibabuzz.com/politics.
June 10
Antiterrorism training materials used by the Department of Defense teach that public protests should be regarded as "low-level terrorism," according to a letter of complaint sent to the department by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.
"Teaching employees that dissent on issues of public concern is something to be feared, rather than encouraged, is a dangerously counterproductive use of scarce security resources, making us less safe as a democracy," Northern California ACLU staff attorney Ann Brick and ACLU Washington national security policy counsel Michael German wrote in the letter to Gail McGinn, acting undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness.
"DOD employees cannot accomplish their mission of protecting our nation and its values unless they understand that those values encompass the right to criticize our government through protest activities," they wrote. "It is imperative that they are taught the difference between political, religious or social activism and terrorism."
Among the multiple-choice questions included in its Level 1 Antiterrorism Awareness training course — an annual training requirement for all DOD personnel that is fulfilled through
Web-based instruction — the department asks the following: "Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorist activity?" To answer correctly, the examinee must select "protests." The ACLU wants that changed immediately, and it wants corrective information sent to all Department of Defense employees who received the training.
The ACLU letter notes that this is particularly disturbing in light of the long-term pattern of government treating lawful dissent as terrorism. In the Bay Area, my colleagues and I reported exactly this in 2003, as the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center fed local police agencies information on protests, with catastrophic results. Two years after that, it was the California National Guard.
I guess I'm surprised not only that the government hasn't yet learned its lesson about equating the exercise of our cherished constitutional rights with terrorism, but also that it's so incredibly obvious in doing so.
— Josh Richman
June 11
My esteemed colleague and fellow political writer Carla Marinucci at the San Francisco Chronicle blogged that former Contra Costa County Supervisor Sunne Wright McPeak is rumored to be a potential 2010 Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
Though McPeak's credentials for such an undertaking are numerous, the Pleasanton resident told me last night that "if I ever decided to take leave of my mind and do something like that, I'll come see you for counseling." (To all the professional counselors out there, no need to worry. I never charge for my services.)
As you may recall, McPeak left her post as chief of the Bay Area Council to serve as state Secretary for Business, Transportation and Housing under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. She left to take a job as CEO and president of the California Emerging Technology Fund, an organization charged with spending $60 million in seed cash to close the digital divide in California. The fund has launched its public education campaign.
McPeak has remained largely quiet about her experience as one of Schwarzenegger's Cabinet members, but sources close to her say the goal-oriented leader was beyond frustrated with how Sacramento's hyper-politicized environment impeded progress on multiple levels.
The suggestion that McPeak, who has not held public office in decades, would undertake a campaign for arguably the most politically charged job in California sounds nuts.
On the other hand, she has been heavily involved in a group called California Forward. It's a bipartisan organization calling for the reform of California's constitution as a way to solve the state's massive structural fiscal problems.
In conjunction with legislative reforms, some folks are talking about forming a third political party that would emphasize results over ideology.
With McPeak's business background, socially liberal politics and her well-known interest in results over dogma, it's not hard to see why her name has surfaced as a gubernatorial candidate. The bigger question is whether McPeak is interested in re-entering politics.
— Lisa Vorderbrueggen
http://www.contracostatimes.com/politics/ci_12589887?nclick_check=1
Brazilian scientists have identified a new strain of the H1N1 virus after examining samples from a patient in Sao Paulo, their institute said Tuesday.
The variant has been called A/Sao Paulo/1454/H1N1 by the Adolfo Lutz Bacteriological Institute, which compared it with samples of the A(H1N1) swine flu from California.
The genetic sequence of the new sub-type of the H1N1 virus was isolated by a virology team lead by one of its researchers, Terezinha Maria de Paiva, the institute said in a statement.
The mutation comprised of alterations in the Hemagglutinin protein which allows the virus to infect new hosts, it said.
It was not yet known whether the new strain was more aggressive than the current A(H1N1) virus which has been declared pandemic by the World Health Organization.
The genetic make-up of the H1N1 virus and its subvariants are important for scientists.
Pharmaceutical companies are working to mass produce a vaccine against the current A(H1N1) flu.
There are fears though that it could mutate into a deadly strain, much in the same way as the 1918 Spanish flu -- also an A(H1N1) virus type -- did when it killed tens of millions around the planet.
According to the WHO, 36,000 people in 76 countries have been infected with the H1N1 virus, causing 163 deaths.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.594b3919f568748326be82a3a65d7646.241&show_article=1
Obama to propose strict new regulation of financial industry
The plan would give the government new powers to seize key companies whose failure jeopardizes the financial system, as well as creation of a watchdog agency to look out for consumers' interests.
By Jim Puzzanghera
June 16, 2009
Reporting from Washington -- The Obama administration this week will propose the most significant new regulation of the financial industry since the Great Depression, including a new watchdog agency to look out for consumers' interests.
Under the plan, expected to be released Wednesday, the government would have new powers to seize key companies -- such as insurance giant American International Group Inc. -- whose failure jeopardizes the financial system. Currently, the government's authority to seize companies is mostly limited to banks.
But critics say the easing of the financial crisis that gripped the country last year appears to have reduced the momentum for some of the most far-reaching proposals, such as merging several banking regulatory agencies.
They're also concerned that the proposed agency whose mission would be to protect consumers against financial misconduct wouldn't have the authority to do so for a wide-enough range of products.
"This is too little, too late," said Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), based on his understanding of the plan. "It's going to be way less than it should be."
On Monday, Obama administration officials sketched the outlines of the plan the president is to unveil Wednesday. They said it would seek to reduce gaps in regulatory oversight, rein in the use of mortgage-backed securities and other complex derivatives, reduce incentives for companies to take excessive risk and give the government new power to quickly intervene during any future crises.
"We had a system that proved too unstable, too fragile. . . . Those are things we have to change," Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Monday at an economic forum in New York.
The administration also is expected to propose creation of a regulatory body for financial products marketed to consumers, such as credit cards, whose oversight is now spread over several agencies.
In addition, the administration wants to impose regulation over the market for derivatives -- the murky financial contracts used to hedge risky investments -- including new reporting and disclosure requirements. Institutions that originate loans would be required to retain 5% of the credit risk when the loans are turned into securities.
All the proposals would have to be approved by Congress in a process the administration hopes to complete by the end of the year.
In the heat of the financial crisis last year, there were widespread calls for the government to merge several banking regulatory agencies into one to reduce gaps in oversight and stop what might be called "regulator shopping."
For example, AIG was able to choose the Office of Thrift Supervision for its non-insurance financial business when it bought a small savings and loan in the late 1990s. That office has been viewed as a weaker regulator, and was strongly criticized in a government report this year for ignoring repeated warning signs about Pasadena-based IndyMac Bancorp before the thrift's failure last summer.
"I'm concerned that people think we've stepped back from the brink of disaster and so they're not as committed to seeing real meaningful reforms adopted," said Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America.
For their part, business groups have worried that the Obama administration might go too far in responding to the financial crisis with new regulations, stifling the market and hurting financial firms at a time when the economy is still weak.
They have been pushing back against some of the proposals floated by the administration, lawmakers and consumer advocates, such as a consumer protection agency for financial products.
But Scott Talbott, chief lobbyist for the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents large financial institutions, said there was still a strong impetus in Washington for regulatory reform and dismissed the suggestion that the Obama administration had missed its chance to implement it.
"This has moved at lightning speed," he said. "You're talking about a historic piece of reform."
Administration officials also have dismissed suggestions that they had moved too slowly, saying they had pushed ahead despite calls from some quarters for them to wait until the end of the crisis before acting.
"There are people who believe that the wrong time to reorganize the fire department is while the fire may still be burning," Lawrence H. Summers, chairman of the White House's National Economic Council and Obama's chief economic advisor, said in a speech Friday. "The president has concluded very strongly that that view is wrong. . . . Experience teaches that once the crisis has passed, the will to reform will pass as well."
Douglas J. Elliott, an economics fellow at the Brookings Institution and a former investment banker, said there was still enough political momentum to pass major reforms. But as the financial crisis has eased, there is less ability to tackle the difficult turf battles involved in merging regulatory agencies.
For that reason, Elliott said, the Obama administration appeared more focused on setting new rules and principles than on the blowing up the government's regulatory structure.
"There are entrenched interests that benefit and are allied with each of these agencies. . . . That just makes it hard," he said.
"As far as I can tell, the administration doesn't think it's as important to get that structure right as to get the rules right and make sure people are focused on acting the right way."
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-financial-regs16-2009jun16,0,4262249.story
Ruling on NightJack author Richard Horton kills blogger anonymity
Thousands of bloggers who operate behind the cloak of anonymity have no right to keep their identities secret, the High Court ruled yesterday.
In a landmark decision, Mr Justice Eady refused to grant an order to protect the anonymity of a police officer who is the author of the NightJack blog. The officer, Richard Horton, 45, a detective constable with Lancashire Constabulary, had sought an injunction to stop The Times from revealing his name.
In April Mr Horton was awarded the Orwell Prize for political writing, but the judges were unaware that he was using information about cases, some involving sex offences against children, that could be traced back to genuine prosecutions.
His blog, which gave a behind-the-scenes insight into frontline policing, included strong views on social and political issues.
The officer also criticised and ridiculed “a number of senior politicians” and advised members of the public under police investigation to “complain about every officer . . . show no respect to the legal system or anybody working in it”.
Some of the blog’s best-read sections, which on occasion attracted half a million readers a week, were anecdotes about cases on which Mr Horton had worked. The people and places were made anonymous and details changed, but they could still be traced back to real prosecutions.
In the first case dealing with the privacy of internet bloggers, the judge ruled that Mr Horton had no “reasonable expectation” to anonymity because “blogging is essentially a public rather than a private activity”.
The judge also said that even if the blogger could have claimed he had a right to anonymity, the judge would have ruled against him on public interest grounds.
The police officer, the judge said, had argued that he should not be exposed because it could put him at risk of disciplinary action for breaching regulations. But Mr Justice Eady criticised that argument as “unattractive to say the least”.
He added: “I do not accept that it is part of the court’s function to protect police officers who are, or think they may be, acting in breach of police discipline regulations from coming to the attention of their superiors.”
He added: “It would seem to be quite legitimate for the public to be told who it was who was choosing to make, in some instances quite serious criticisms of police activities and, if it be the case, that frequent infringements of police discipline regulations were taking place.”
The action arose after Patrick Foster, a Times journalist, identified the NightJack blogger “by a process of deduction and detective work, mainly using information on the internet,” the judge said.
Hugh Tomlinson, QC, for Mr Horton, had argued that “thousands of regular bloggers . . . would be horrified to think that the law would do nothing to protect their anonymity if someone carried out the necessary detective work and sought to unmask them”. Mr Tomlinson said that Mr Horton wished to remain anonymous and had taken steps to preserve his anonymity.
But Mr Justice Eady said that the mere fact that the blogger wanted to remain anonymous did not mean that he had a “reasonable expectation” of doing so or that The Times was under an enforceable obligation to him to maintain that anonymity.
Antony White, QC, for The Times, argued that there was a public interest in non-compliance by a police officer with his obligations under the statutory code governing police behaviour and also with general public law duty on police officers not to reveal information obtained in the course of a police investigation other than for performing his public duties.
Lancashire Constabulary said: “He has been spoken to regarding his professional behaviour and, in line with disciplinary procedures, has been issued with a written warning.”
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article6509677.ece
Minority kids grow to majority in some counties
Young Americans who are minorities outnumber young whites in almost one of every six U.S. counties. It's a demographic wave that is transforming more parts of the nation and raising questions about who is a minority.
An analysis of the under-20 population shows that minority youths are the majority in 505 counties and that 60 counties have reached that milestone in this decade.
"The change is due both to minority kids' gains and to declines in the number of white kids," says Kenneth Johnson, demographer at the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute who analyzed Census data. "This isn't about immigration anymore."
The multiplying effect of diversity is rapid. In 2008, 34% of U.S. residents were minorities, but 48% of babies born in the USA were minorities. The number of white youths has dropped 5.3% since 2000 while the young minority population grew 15.5%. "It will be hard to define who is a minority in the future," says Robert Lang, director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech.
Communities face challenges when new settlers speak different languages and come from different backgrounds. For example, schools that never taught non-English speakers have had to launch programs. What's driving the changes:
• Black, Hispanic and Asian families are moving to suburbia. Some have come for jobs created by population growth. Others leave urban areas in search of more space, better schools and less crime. Most counties where the minority youth population surged past 50% from 2000 to 2008 are suburban or rural counties. Three are around Atlanta.
• Several predominantly white counties that are attracting young minorities have lost young white residents because of a decline in agriculture. Many who went away to college never came back. The remaining white population is aging and having fewer children.
Change is happening so quickly that the youngest Americans are much more likely to be minorities than those who are a few years older, says Johnson, who did the research with Daniel Lichter, demographer at Cornell University.
Among youths ages 15 to 19, 60% are non-Hispanic whites. Among those 4 or younger, 53% are white.
"Change is coming from the bottom, and it's not a short-term phenomenon," Johnson says.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-06-16-youngminorities_N.htm
Defense Department sees protests as terrorism
This is a sampling of political writers Josh Richman and Lisa Vorderbrueggen's blog, The Political Blotter. Read more at www.ibabuzz.com/politics.
June 10
Antiterrorism training materials used by the Department of Defense teach that public protests should be regarded as "low-level terrorism," according to a letter of complaint sent to the department by the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California.
"Teaching employees that dissent on issues of public concern is something to be feared, rather than encouraged, is a dangerously counterproductive use of scarce security resources, making us less safe as a democracy," Northern California ACLU staff attorney Ann Brick and ACLU Washington national security policy counsel Michael German wrote in the letter to Gail McGinn, acting undersecretary of Defense for personnel and readiness.
"DOD employees cannot accomplish their mission of protecting our nation and its values unless they understand that those values encompass the right to criticize our government through protest activities," they wrote. "It is imperative that they are taught the difference between political, religious or social activism and terrorism."
Among the multiple-choice questions included in its Level 1 Antiterrorism Awareness training course — an annual training requirement for all DOD personnel that is fulfilled through
Web-based instruction — the department asks the following: "Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorist activity?" To answer correctly, the examinee must select "protests." The ACLU wants that changed immediately, and it wants corrective information sent to all Department of Defense employees who received the training.
The ACLU letter notes that this is particularly disturbing in light of the long-term pattern of government treating lawful dissent as terrorism. In the Bay Area, my colleagues and I reported exactly this in 2003, as the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center fed local police agencies information on protests, with catastrophic results. Two years after that, it was the California National Guard.
I guess I'm surprised not only that the government hasn't yet learned its lesson about equating the exercise of our cherished constitutional rights with terrorism, but also that it's so incredibly obvious in doing so.
— Josh Richman
June 11
My esteemed colleague and fellow political writer Carla Marinucci at the San Francisco Chronicle blogged that former Contra Costa County Supervisor Sunne Wright McPeak is rumored to be a potential 2010 Democratic gubernatorial candidate.
Though McPeak's credentials for such an undertaking are numerous, the Pleasanton resident told me last night that "if I ever decided to take leave of my mind and do something like that, I'll come see you for counseling." (To all the professional counselors out there, no need to worry. I never charge for my services.)
As you may recall, McPeak left her post as chief of the Bay Area Council to serve as state Secretary for Business, Transportation and Housing under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. She left to take a job as CEO and president of the California Emerging Technology Fund, an organization charged with spending $60 million in seed cash to close the digital divide in California. The fund has launched its public education campaign.
McPeak has remained largely quiet about her experience as one of Schwarzenegger's Cabinet members, but sources close to her say the goal-oriented leader was beyond frustrated with how Sacramento's hyper-politicized environment impeded progress on multiple levels.
The suggestion that McPeak, who has not held public office in decades, would undertake a campaign for arguably the most politically charged job in California sounds nuts.
On the other hand, she has been heavily involved in a group called California Forward. It's a bipartisan organization calling for the reform of California's constitution as a way to solve the state's massive structural fiscal problems.
In conjunction with legislative reforms, some folks are talking about forming a third political party that would emphasize results over ideology.
With McPeak's business background, socially liberal politics and her well-known interest in results over dogma, it's not hard to see why her name has surfaced as a gubernatorial candidate. The bigger question is whether McPeak is interested in re-entering politics.
— Lisa Vorderbrueggen
http://www.contracostatimes.com/politics/ci_12589887?nclick_check=1
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