Free Republic

SOUTH BEND — The West Side Democratic Club in South Bend is cleaning up after someone vandalized the building. Police say someone spray-painted gang signs on the side of the building. They also vandalized a picture of President Obama. Local leaders don't want to dismiss this latest case as kids being kids. They say this isn't the first time they've had someone vandalize the building, but they want to make it the last. “This is a war,” said Councilman Oliver Davis. “They're coming at us and we have to have something to respond back to them. And I think by...

The artist who created the “Hope” poster of President Barack Obama was sentenced to two years’ probation Friday after pleading guilty to three vandalism charges. Prosecutors dropped 11 other charges.

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY - Miami-area transportation officials have recently been plagued by graffiti artists leaving large bold 'tags' on important overhead traffic signs -- and now one-such artist may have fallen from a perch to his death, according to local television reports. The incident happened about 1 a.m. today along the southbound lanes of the Palmetto Expressway near the Bird Road exit, according to WSVN. Officials on the scene said investigators recovered a can of white spray paint but can't yet be certain that the man was about to deface an overhead green and white traffic sign. "He may have been...

Earlier this month Andrew Sullivan, a well-known writer, once in the center, now on the left, nominated me for what is apparently his lowest badge of distinction for defending citizens who shoot to wound graffiti vandals, or "taggers," while committing their vandalism. Under the heading, "Malkin Award Nominee," Sullivan provides a quote from my radio show:

Liberals are far more inclined to see graffiti as a mere nuisance, or even as an example of the downtrodden trying to have a voice in a civilization that oppresses young people who are usually members of historically oppressed minorities. To the conservative, graffiti is an assault on civilization; to the liberal, graffiti is the result of civilization's assault on those who paint the graffiti.

Earlier this month Andrew Sullivan, a well-known writer, once in the center, now on the left, nominated me for what is apparently his lowest badge of distinction for defending citizens who shoot to wound graffiti vandals, or "taggers," while committing their vandalism. Under the heading, "Malkin Award Nominee," Sullivan provides a quote from my radio show: "'So you will now say -- I hear the voice of an ACLU member -- 'Dennis, do you think that this guy should have shot these people spray painting graffiti on his shop?' To which my answer is yes. I do. Not to kill....

A new bullet-tagging technology being developed in the UK could give forensic teams a robust new tool in the fight against gun crime. The breakthrough has been achieved by a multidisciplinary team from Brighton, Brunel, Cranfield, Surrey and York universities, with funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Project partners include the Forensic Science Service, BAE Systems and coatings manufacturer Andura. The tags, which measure 30 microns in diameter, are applied to gun cartridges by being embedded in cartridge coatings made from polylactic acid, sucrose ester and tetrahydrofuran. They then attach themselves to the hands or gloves...

A federal database of animals to fight disease outbreaks is a threat to privacy and family operations, critics say. WASHINGTON — After days of parading around her beefy black steer in the dung-scented August heat at the Colorado State Fair, Brandi Calderwood made the final competition. For months, the 16-year-old worked from dawn well past dusk, fitting in the work around school, to feed, train and clean her steer. But just before the last round, when the animals are sold, fair officials disqualified her. They alleged that Brandi had not properly followed a new and controversial rule that required children...

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico is going high tech to better track the movements of Central Americans who regularly cross the southern border to work or visit. Starting in March, the National Immigration Institute will distribute cards containing electronic chips. Those items will record every arrival and departure of so-called temporary workers and visitors, mostly from Guatemala. The cards will replace a non-electronic pass formerly given to area residents. Officials say the purpose is to guarantee security for workers and visitors. Statistics from the institute show that more than 182,000 undocumented migrants were detained in Mexico in 2006. Most were...

NAIS, which the US Department of Agriculture has been rolling out in concert with many states since 2003, is stunning in its projected scope. Over the next few years each of the nation's 1.4 million farms (plus thousands of veterinary facilities, export/import stations, livestock barns and genetic facilities) will be affected, with all their approximately 95 million cattle, 1.8 billion chickens, 60 million pigs, 93 million turkeys, 6.3 million sheep, 2.5 million goats and every other livestock species, including bison, camelids, cervids, horses and llamas. In all, more than twenty-nine species and more than two billion animals are slated to...

Radio transmitters to track merchandise are one thing, but are people ready for ID imbedded in their bodies? It is the technology that is everywhere and no place. It is invisibly inserted into the perky keyless remote that unlocks your car. It opens the garage door. It is wedged in the pass cards that let employees into office buildings. Subtle and controversial, the radio frequency identification device, or RFID, makes our lives more convenient in myriad small ways. But on a larger scale, critics warn that these dime-sized radio transmitters will one day become digital tattle-tales, a tool of what...

Visitors to the 1st-century amphitheatre are taking away "chunks of stone" as souvenirs despite the presence of guards and surveillance cameras, according to Angelo Bottini, the Superintendent of Archaeology for Rome. He said that most of the five million tourists who visited the Colosseum annually behaved responsibly. But others covered it in graffiti, left their rubbish behind and picked up bits of Ancient Roman wall or paving... He said he had started an inquiry and was asking police to reinforce patrols and closed-circuit television surveillance at the Colosseum and the adjoining Roman Forum, where tourists also pocketed souvenirs. At night,...

CBS) PICO RIVERA, Calif. Authorities advised the public Tuesday not to confront taggers, in response to the fatal shooting of a Pico Rivera woman who flashed her car lights at one. "We want to be contacted as soon as possible, with any kind of information -- license plate numbers or description of the suspects," sheriff's Deputy Johnnie Jones said. "Do not put yourself at any danger or risk because some of these folks can be very dangerous." Maria Hicks, 58, flashed her vehicle lights and honked her horn at a male she saw tagging a wall at San Gabriel River...

(CNSNews.com) - The anti-war activist group Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) faces a $10,000 fine from the city of Washington if it fails to remove thousands of fliers it has posted to advertise a September anti-war march. "They have told us that we have 72 hours to remove every poster, or the fines will go into effect," the group said in a statement Tuesday. "Tens of thousands of dollars in additional fines are expected in the coming days." The group accuses "Bush's Interior Department" of using "intimidation tactics to slow our outreach or silence" the antiwar...

Sneaking onto the beach and annoying beach tag checkers could be a thing of the past in Ocean City, where a city-wide wireless network is planned to go into effect next summer. Even if they're vacationing on the shores of Ocean City, people want internet access. For residents it would be free, for vistiors...6 dollars a day. But logging onto the internet is just the tip of the iceberg. Ocean City Administrator Jim Rutella says the possibilities are endless. Garbage cans could send massages that they're full, and beach tags could be equipped with R-F-I-D technology. That way checkers can...

The American Medical Association (AMA) has officially established a code of ethics designed to protect patients receiving RFID implants. The recommendations focus on safeguarding a patient's privacy and health, and are the result of an evaluation by the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) regarding the medical and ethical implications of RFID chips in humans, as well as a follow-up report recently released. The latter discusses the possible advantages and specific privacy and ethical issues of using RFID-enabled implantations for clinical purposes. Entitled "Radio Frequency ID Devices in Humans," the report is presented by Robert M. Sade, M.D.,...

Corn and potato crops may soon provide information to farmers about when they need water and how much should be delivered, thanks to a University of Colorado at Boulder invention optioned to AgriHouse Inc., a Berthoud, Colo., high-tech company. The technology includes a tiny sensor that can be clipped to plant leaves charting their thickness, a key measure of water deficiency and accompanying stress, said Research Associate Hans-Dieter Seelig of CU-Boulder’s BioServe Space Technology Center. Data from the leaves could be sent wirelessly over the Internet to computers linked to irrigation equipment, ensuring timely watering, cutting down on excessive water...

Microchips in dustbins spy on three million By Brendan Carlin, Political Correspondent Last Updated: 2:20am BST 24/05/2007 More than three million households in Britain have rubbish bins equipped with "waste stealth tax" technology, it was claimed last night. The microchips could be used to charge households for the amount of non-recyclable waste produced Ahead of today's publication of the Government's national waste strategy, a survey revealed that 68 town halls have spent millions of pounds buying bins with microchips. The figure is double previous estimates and will fuel fears that Labour has been moving secretly towards a European-style "bin tax"....

Not registering By Jim Massey Editor MADISON — The May 1 deadline for Wisconsin dairy farmers to register their premises under threat of not having their milk-shipping licenses renewed is on hold. A standing-room-only crowd of about 75 people on April 25 voiced their discontent and heard an update about the premises registration issue. A group of Wisconsin farmers — mostly dairy producers — have expressed concerns about the mandatory premises program and the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection's plan to not renew dairy farm licenses for unregistered farms. Concerns expressed at the March DATCP board meeting prompted...

The MPH900 Mobile License Plate Reader works by scanning license plates from a distance, reading as many as 500 an hour.

Last year, the City of Los Angeles removed more than 27 million square feet of graffiti, enough to squirt a 1-foot-wide swath of Rust-Oleum from Hollywood Boulevard to Fifth Avenue in New York City, then double back to State Street in Chicago. Against the backdrop of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s big, bold quality-of-life initiatives — he’s gonna win the gang war, he’s gonna plant 1 million trees, he’s gonna reform the public schools, he’s gonna solve the traffic snarl — City Hall is locked in an old battle just to slow down thousands of teenage and young-adult tagger vandals who create...

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Those familiar with the political scene know the unexpected is often expected, and March 2 was an example of that when opponents to the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) and Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) marched to the state Capitol in Austin. The event included people from all over Texas, either walking or riding one of the many horses, tractors, or flat-bed trailers. The march included a woman with a caged chicken on the head, children enjoying the excitement, and plenty of signs that ranged from “Don’t Tag Texas” to “Think green ... not pavement.” One person in the parade was NAIS...

Nervous Jersey Parents Will Soon Be Able To Track The Movements Of Their Kids - With GPS Chips In Their Sneakers Monitoring the kids and keeping them safe can sometimes be very challenging - and in today's post 9/11 world it can also be nerve-racking for parents - but high-tech help is right around the corner. Security expert Vincent Bove says soon, Jersey moms and dads will be able to keep track of the little ones with "global positioning device systems that could even be implanted in sneakers - or into back packs - where individuals can be tracked down."...

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani has sold his consulting firm to the Australian company involved in the 75-year lease of the Indiana Toll Road and the privatization of other U.S. infrastructure. The New York Times reported that Macquarie Bank of Australia – parent company of Macquarie Infrastructure Group – has acquired Giuliani Capital Advisors. Giuliani reportedly profited between $70 million and $90 million from the sale of the consulting and investment company he founded in 2004. A campaign spokeswoman said in a statement that the transaction was part of Giuliani’s plan to focus on his campaign. Meanwhile, Macquarie continues to...

In August 2004, we engaged Giuliani Partners LLC as our strategic marketing partner and advisor. Giuliani Partners has extensive experience in advising corporations and organizations in various business sectors. The engagement agreement had an effective date of September 1, 2004. Giuliani Partners has been engaged, on a non-exclusive basis, to provide advice and assistance to us regarding issues associated with our proprietary DNA embedded security solutions. Giuliani Partners will assist us with strategic positioning and enhancement of our business, and will assist us in the development of domestic and international marketing strategies for our DNA products and services. The term...

“Shame on us if we don’t do something to get a handle on what is the principal form of identification used in this country.” So said Homeland Security secretary Michael Chertoff yesterday in defense of the REAL ID Act, signed by the president in 2005. The act set federal minimum standards that state driver’s licenses must meet by May 2008 if they are to be accepted for federal purposes (e.g., at airport security screening). States will have to verify identity documents presented by license applicants, check applicants’ immigration status, and place security features in licenses in order to prevent tampering...

It’s been only a few hours since the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) made its voluntary-to-required debut in Michigan, and already a farmer is challenging its underpinnings. The Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) quickly responded by quarantining his farm. Here is what happened: Greg Niewendorp, owner of a 160-acre farm in East Jordan in the upper peninsula, made good on his pledge, stated in my “Farmers Say No to Animal Tags” BusinessWeek.com article in December, to resist all MDA orders related to NAIS.

The scenario is all too real in South Florida: An Alzheimer's patient wanders away from home and is found by police officers who take him to a local hospital for care. But the patient cannot recall potentially life-threatening conditions like diabetes or heart disease, making a quick assessment difficult at best. To help solve that problem, a Delray Beach company and the Alzheimer's Community Care Association of Palm Beach and Martin Counties Inc. have begun a two-year study to determine whether it's practical to implant tiny computer chips containing medical records in dementia patients. If a patient becomes separated from...

LOS ANGELES Officials say a high school student scribbled graffiti on a bus that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other dignitaries were riding while promoting a school safety plan. Witnesses say the boy tagged the rear exit of the bus with a marker as the officials rode around a South Los Angeles school to showcase efforts to improve student safety in the gang-plagued neighborhood. At least one news organization captured the tagger on camera. Villaraigosa was with L.A. Unified Superintendent David Brewer the Third, the school board president and others to announce that a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus would...

The FDNY is testing out a high-tech system to keep track of firefighters when they're battling blazes The fire department is working with the U.S. Navy to come up with a small, but hardy, electronic chip to lodge in firefighters' gear. The chip would transmit a signal when firefightrers moved near their trucks. That would let firefighters take roll automatically, instead of by hand. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta says it would make firefighters' work safer. For example, the system could help make sure all firefighters are accounted for after they have to clear out of a burning building. The city...

It would be positively Orwellian if corporate America was using high technology to track your whereabouts without your knowledge. Welcome to "1984." Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology can be thought of as a next-generation bar code. A simple RFID tag consists of a microchip and antenna, which when stimulated by a remote "reader," sends back information via radio waves. Like a bar code, an RFID tag identifies the product it is attached to for inventory or purchasing purposes; but an RFID tag can do more. For example, RFID tags can hold information related to the expiration date of a product,...

Calvin and Carol Whittaker live in one of the most beautiful parts of Idaho, a little Northwest of Idaho Falls, in the community of Leadore (pronounced "lead ore" because it was a mining town when it was named). They have lived in the area all their lives, as did their parents. They have operated a ranch for nearly half a century, as did their parents. And they have been productive, law-abiding citizens. Several months ago, Carol heard about a National Animal Identification System that would require registration of their ranch into a federal database, and the numbering of their livestock,...

It appears as though the USDA is not taking kindly to the States saying No to NAIS. They had a conference in October with all the biggest names and made a ruling to adopt an interim rule which will exclude any state that does not go along with NAIS, they will be isolated. I am sending a copy of the notification for immediate release from an attorney I work with in NY. This is crucial to get out the nationwide: The following document is the Report of the Committee on Livestock Identification of the U.S. Animal Health Association, from a...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is looking more and more like the Big Brother government that has infected Washington in recent years. The "2006 Agricultural Identification Survey," recently mailed to thousands of private landowners, is a good example. The instructions for the questionnaire say "Response to this survey is legally required by Title 7, U.S. Code." Title 7 of the U.S. Code is an enormous document, containing 105 chapters, each of which is a lengthy book unto itself. To find the specific requirement, a person would have to read all the way to Chapter 55, Section 2204g, to discover that...

A US company has launched a chipless RFID (radio-frequency identification) Ink that can be used to track both animals and humans. Visible or invisible Ink "Tatoos" can be applied to the skin and tracked by RFID readers positioned a few feet away. The Company, Somark...said it had successfully tested it's Biocompatible Chipless RFID Ink product....

SILVER LAKE Near a bridge downtown, Ernesto de la Loza painted his vision of hope and despair in Los Angeles. There is the woman who symbolizes the City of Angels, her hair flowing behind her and disappearing into her angel's wings. She peers over the outstretched arms of a man, one side of his body strong and muscular, the other side skeletal as he struggles with the allure of drugs. But along the bottom of de la Loza's 100-foot mural on Silver Lake Boulevard, crews of taggers eager for quick fame have used the work as their canvas. Their...

Boy Had Just Finished Painting Graffiti on Elevated Tracks When He Was Hit by N.Y. Train. A 13-year-old boy had just finished painting graffiti near railroad tracks when he was struck and killed by a commuter train, authorities and friends said Saturday. A Long Island Rail Road train hit Ari Kraft between stations in Queens during the evening rush hour Friday, police said. The city's medical examiner said he died of "blunt impact injuries to the head, torso and extremities." The teen and three friends had been painting on the elevated tracks near a station, his friends said. As he...

By the time my four year old son is swathed in the soft flesh of old age, he will likely find it unremarkable that he and almost everyone he knows will be permanently implanted with a microchip. Automatically tracking his location real time, it will connect him with databases monitoring and recording his smallest behavioural traits.Toronto Star

One day we will all happily be implanted with microchips, and our every move will be monitored. The technology exists; the only barrier is society's resistance to the loss of privacy Dec. 10, 2006. 08:46 AM KEVIN HAGGERTY SPECIAL TO THE STAR By the time my four-year-old son is swathed in the soft flesh of old age, he will likely find it unremarkable that he and almost everyone he knows will be permanently implanted with a microchip. Automatically tracking his location in real time, it will connect him with databases monitoring and recording his smallest behavioural traits. Most people anticipate such a...

Rome (dpa) - Farm animal manure produces more greenhouse gas emissions than cars. The surprise finding is the result of a report published Wednesday by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). According to the UN agency's Livestock's Long Shadow -Environmental Issues and Options report, the global livestock sector generates more greenhouse gas emissions as measured in CO2 equivalent 18 per cent than transport. It is also a major source of land and water degradation. ``Livestock are one of the most significant contributors to today's most serious environmental problems. Urgent action is required to remedy the situation,'' said Henning Steinfeld, head...

Gunshots ring out in a neighborhood, and law enforcement's first move is to pull up a computer screen to see whether the sound came from areas equipped with electronic devices that track the source of gunfire. Then a public safety employee keys up another monitor and uses Global Positioning System technology to identify the locations of the city's worst-known violent offenders -- to determine whether any of them are in the spot where the shots were fired. Such a brave new world is coming to Oakland -- and it seems likely that it will become a reality elsewhere in California...

China's satellite navigation plans threaten Galileo 13:34 08 November 2006 NewScientist.com news service Paul Marks China's decision to expand the functionality of its satellite navigation network could undermine the economics of Europe's nascent Galileo system, according to sources close to the project. Until now, experts believed that China's "Beidou" navigation system ? a 35-satellite constellation ? would only be used by its armed forces. This explained China's decision to invest ?200 million in Europe's ?2.5 billion Galileo programme. But things appear to have changed in Beijing. On 2 November, the country's official news agency Xinhua reported that Beidou would, from...

WASHINGTON — In the era of $300 million fighter jets, satellite-guided rockets and complicated battlefield computer networks, Multimax Inc. is trying to revive an old-fashioned technology to thrust the information technology firm onto the front line. The Largo, Md., company has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on this new project, the design looks like an elliptical UFO, but the result will be familiar: It’s a blimp. “It is somewhat uncharted waters” for the firm, said Ron Oholendt, a retired Air Force colonel and the program manager. The company has enlisted help from NASA and scientists at the Wright-Patterson Air...

MONTPELIER — The state's controversial mandatory farm registration program is effectively dead, or at least in a coma. Secretary of Agriculture Steve Kerr told a crowd of nearly 100 at a Montpelier hearing Thursday that the agency would let its proposed rule that would require those keeping livestock to register with the state to expire. His agency likely will begin working on a new program to aid in disease management sometime in the next few months, but that proposal could be different in several key aspects, in part because of objections by small farmers and activists. "The concept was grounded...

Mandatory Premises ID registration and the USDA's proposed National Animal Identification System (NAIS) are dead in Vermont! See this article for more details: http://nonais.org/index.php/2006/08/18/vt-premises-id-killed/ In a nutshell, which is where these programs belongs, the Vermont Agency of Agriculture (AoA) has finally heard the enormous protest against the program and said they are letting the proposal for mandatory Premises ID expire and will not share information with the feds thus killing NAIS at the same time. Secretary of Agriculture Steve Kerr told a crowd of nearly 100 at a Montpelier hearing Thursday that the agency would let its proposed rule that...

The US Department of State has started issuing passports containing RFID chips and remains confident the technology "will take security and travel facilitation to a new level". Despite the problems with the chips - that they can be read from a distance, potentially identifying US citizens, and that they can be copied - the Department of State is confident it has done enough to make them safe. NEC Computers, your accredited Catalist IT supplier The passport includes "metallic anti-skimming material" - tin foil, presumably. It also uses Basic Access Control technology to protect it from skimming or eavesdropping. The chip...

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AFP) - High-tech passports touted as advances in national security can be spied on remotely and their identifying radio signals cloned, computers hackers were shown at a conference. ADVERTISEMENT Radio frequency identification technology, referred to as RFID, used in cash cards and passports, can be copied, blocked or imitated, said Melanie Rieback, a privacy researcher at Vrije University in the Netherlands. Rieback demonstrated a device she and colleagues at Vrije built to hijack the RFID signals that manufacturers have touted as unreadable by anything other than proprietary scanners. "I spend most of my time making the RFID...

NEWPORT CITY -- Farmers vowed Tuesday afternoon to defy any effort by the state to make them register their farms as part of the preparations for bird flu or other diseases that could jump from animal to human. Calling the Vermont Agency of Agriculture's livestock premises registration rule a fascist or Nazi plan, the three dozen livestock owners at a hearing at the state office building in Newport City said they would destroy their animals, or pay fines rather than put their names and addresses on a state registry. "I'm not going to comply," said Jack Lazur of Butterworth...

She didn't kill anyone. She didn't rob a bank. In fact, she didn't commit any illegal act. It's what she didn't do that made her an outlaw. We'll call her "Sally" – so the jackboots can't track her down. Sally got up on the morning of Jan. 2 and went about her daily chores – fixing breakfast, feeding the animals and cleaning the house. Aside from the cold, and the new year, everything was pretty much as it had been everyday for many years. But today, Sally became an outlaw without even knowing it. Way back in 2003, the Wisconsin...