Archive for May, 2007

Narco Terrorists Silence Mexican Voice

Saturday, May 26th, 2007

Repeated grenade bombings have forced the Mexican daily newspaper Cambio Sonora to close. The newspaper is based in Hermosillo, 165 miles south of Nogales, Ariz.
Following editorials critical of narcotic trafficers, the paper was bombed on April 17 and again on May 16.
Free flow of information is required to establish the trust relationships necessary […]

Even Governor’s Panel Can’t Get Records

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

Virginia Tech officials claim that federal privacy statutes prevent them from releasing the medical records of the campus shooter, Seung-Hui Cho, to the Governor’s panel investigating the murder of 32 students.
The Open Records Project has argued since its inception that federal privacy statutes and the Supreme Court rulings that preceeded them are not only not […]

Informants and Undercovers Now Public

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2007

A WEB site now offers photos and names of purported confidential informants, undercover agents, and those who cut plea deals by testifying against others.
The defense bar loves the site, since it is their job to keep guilty parties out of jail. Prosecutors are not so happy. They claim that informants may be intimidated […]

Australia Discovers Good Teachers Produce Good Students

Sunday, May 20th, 2007

A study by Australian National University, examined the literacy and numeracy test results of more than 90,000 students with more than 10,000 teachers in Years 3, 5 and 7 between 2001 and 2004, tracking the same group as it advanced through the school system.
It found that classes taught by the best teachers scored twice as […]

Russia Repeals Freedom of the Press

Sunday, May 20th, 2007

Successful societies possess several important attributes including Private Property Rights, the Rule of Law, and Freedom of the Press.
Private Property Rights guarantee that owners may reap the benefits from investments of money and time in their homes and businesses.
The Rule of Law guarantees that all member of society play by the same rules.
Freedom of the […]

Judges Rule, Keep Preferences Quiet

Wednesday, May 16th, 2007

A Web site that matches roommates may be liable for what its users say about their preferences, a fractured three-judge panel of the federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled yesterday.
The Ninth Circuit appears to take both a broad view of who is a covered by the Fair Housing Act and a narrow view of […]

Defense Department Bans YouTube

Monday, May 14th, 2007

The Department of Defense has banned soldiers serving overseas from accessing YouTube, Metacafe, IFilm, StupidVideos, and FileCabi, the social networking sites MySpace, BlackPlanet and Hi5, music sites Pandora, MTV, 1.fm, and live365, and the photo-sharing site Photobucket.
The ostensible reasons given for the ban are excessive bandwidth consumption, compromed security, and reduced productivity.
One might draw comparisions […]