News of Interest 7/11/07

Data on Americans mined for terror risk
The elite use tech to increase their ability to wage war at home on potential threats. Note the liberal critique which only seeks to make the system more efficient, not to question its overall objective. Would such a system have caught John Brown before Harpers' Ferry? This is the question radicals must answer.

"'Each of these initiatives is extremely valuable for investigators, allowing them to analyze and process lawfully acquired information more effectively in order to detect potential criminal activity and focus resources appropriately,' Boyd said in a statement.

All but one of the databases — the one to track terrorists — have been up and running for several years, the report showed.

The lone exception is the System to Assess Risk, or STAR, program to rate the threat posed by people already identified as suspected terrorists or named on terror watch lists. The system, still under construction, is designed to help counterterror investigators save time by narrowing the field of people who pose the greatest potential threat and will not label anyone a terrorist, Boyd said."

Officials worry of summer terror attack
One set of officials warns of an impending attack while another says that it might be the only thing that could save the War on Terror from sinking poll numbers. Meanwhile, the Daily Mail warns that AQ militants may have infiltrated British police forces. Or is it the other way around? Is there any way to tell for sure? Given the repeated links between UK intelligence and supposed terror groups, there is certainly grounds for skepticism if AQ is held up as the supposed perpetrator of the any future terrorist attack. Either way, if both the ruling class and the loyal opposition in Al Qaeda want a terrorist attack, you can almost bet one will happen, one way or another.

U.S. counterterror officials are warning of an increased risk of an attack this summer, given al-Qaida's apparent interest in summertime strikes and increased al-Qaida training in the Afghan-Pakistani border region. On Tuesday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told the editorial board of The Chicago Tribune that he had a "gut feeling" about a new period of increased risk. He based his assessment on earlier patterns of terrorists in Europe and intelligence he would not disclose.

Finding secrets of bats' flight could change military aircraft
Holy bat-bomber! One group of conscience-less scientists is busily at work augmenting the capability of the ruling class to project military power abroad in its unending quest for total domination of the planet's resources and humans.

"The Air Force has taken notice of Brown's work. It will invest $6 million in the project over the next 5 years, in the hope of using the research to design future military aircraft.

Research so far has found that bats can carry up to 50 percent of their weight and execute airborne maneuvers that would make a bird or plane fall out of the sky. Moreover, scientists believe the hundreds of tiny sensors covering bat wings could be the key to their most impressive airborne maneuvers, a discovery that engineers could replicate with networks of sensors and computers on military aircraft.

If researchers can unlock the secrets of bat flight, it could have wide-reaching implications, according to Air Force and Brown officials. They say the project has the potential to revolutionize aircraft design and could lead to the creation of smaller, more efficient military air vehicles that can maneuver in tight spaces as well as gather intelligence and airlift supplies through forbidding terrain.

'The Air Force envisions a future in which they have lots of autonomous air vehicles that can take on different kinds of missions and that don't have pilots," said Sharon Swartz , an evolutionary biologist at Brown who is helping run the project. "We know a lot about the aerodynamics of large things moving very fast. There is almost nothing known yet about the basic physics of bat flight.'"

Teacher pleads for CCTV in classrooms
A teacher in Britain contributes to the dialectic of surveillance technology by advocating it as a protective measure in the workplace. With friends like these...

Now the father-of-two says he would like to see cameras installed in all classrooms to protect the rights of teachers wrongly accused of misconduct.

He said: "If CCTV was installed in classrooms it would solve a lot of problems."

He knows his plea will raise concerns over costs and loss of

civil liberties. But he said: "Coventry City Council has spent well over £100,000 on my case. And what about my civil liberties? My career and my health have been taken away from me.

"Bankers and shop assistants work with CCTV around them all the time without any problems, so why shouldn't teachers?"

85 rounds, one body
Philadelphia cops shoot at a man 85 times, leaving more than 20 wounds and endangering bystanders.

Investigators found 85 shell casings on the street and 34 additional pieces of "projectile-related evidence," said Capt. Daniel Castro, of the crime-scene unit.

Some neighbors were upset by the police actions, complaining that excessive force had been used and that no effort had been made to negotiate with an obviously deranged man.

"This is an abuse of power," said neighbor Maurice Calhoun. "The cops could have killed a bystander."

Although police said the street was empty when the confrontation began shortly after 6 p.m., neighbors disputed their account. They said it was crowded with people, including children playing in the street.

Police contend the shootings were justified because Miller refused to drop his gun when repeatedly ordered to do so, and pointed it at a cop. He never fired the weapon.