Wednesday, March 29, 2006

FBI Outrage in Harrisonberg, VA. Max Sawicky details some really horrible treatment of pro-U.S. Iraqi Kurds living in Virginia. However, four of them have been arrested for transferring funds to their families and charitable organizations in Iraqi Kurdistan without a license, a felony offense under the Patriot Act and the act to keep Cubans from sending money to their relatives in Cuba. One has been convicted in a trial in which most of the evidence was not allowed and in which the FBI suggested that the defendant was a terrorist. These people were cowed into not talking to the media, and now they are all in deep trouble. Their homes have been raided, their money seized, even things like medical insurance cards (with one wife pregnant), applications for citizenship are off, they are facing deportation, and so on. They were assigned a Croatian translator for the court. There is a serious string of outrages associated with this with no coverage by any serious media. The FBI agent in charge even told them, "I know you are not the bad guys, but too much paperwork has gone forward on this." Max has contact information for the people being harassed if anyone's interested in helping them out. Just another example of how there hasn't been a single incidence of PATRIOT Act abuse, I guess. TrackBack (0) | [The Agitator] 12:20:14 PM    comment () trackback () Chameleon Weapons. You can't detect them, because they look normal: One type is the exact size and shape of a credit card, except that two of the edges are lethally sharp. It's made of G10 laminate, an ultra-hard material normally employed for circuit boards. You need a diamond file to get an edge on it. [...] Another configuration is a stabbing weapon which is indistinguishable from a pen. This one is made from melamine fiber, and can sit snugly inside a Bic casing. You would only find out it was not the real thing if you tried to write with it. It's sharpened with a blade edge at the tip which Defense Review describes as "scary sharp." Also: The FBI's extensive Guide to Concealable Weapons has 89 pages of weapons intended to get through security. These are generally variations of a knifeblade concealed in a pen, comb or a cross -- and most of them are pretty obvious on X-ray. [Schneier on Security] That G10 credit card knife sounds pretty neat. Too bad there wasn't a link to the company selling it, or I might have bought one. 11:57:30 AM    comment () trackback () This Man's Army. Via Scott Horton, the human rights attorney (no relation): Eric Haney, the former command sergeant major of Delta Force, and a key advisor to CBS’s program "The Unit" gives an interview to the Los Angeles Daily News and puts it straight."Q: What do you make of the torture debate? Cheney ... A: (Interrupting) That's Cheney's pursuit. The only reason anyone tortures is because they like to do it. It's about vengeance, it's about revenge, or it's about cover-up. You don't gain... [Antiwar.com Blog] The whole interview is worth reading. 11:31:30 AM    comment () trackback () Who Keeps the Metric System Down?. In a Washington Post remembrance of the late Reagan Press Secretary Lyn Nofziger, longtime friend and political rival Frank Mankiewicz claims that they worked secretly to kill the metric system in the United States: ... during that first year of Reagan's presidency, I sent Lyn another copy of a column I had written a few years before, attacking and satirizing the attempt by some organized do-gooders to inflict the metric system on Americans, a view of mine Lyn had enthusiastically endorsed. So, in 1981, when I reminded him that a commission actually existed to further the adoption of the metric system and the damage we both felt this could wreak on our country, Lyn went to work with material provided by each of us. He was able, he told me, to prevail on the president to dissolve the commission and make sure that, at least in the Reagan presidency, there would be no further effort to sell metric. It was a signal victory, but one which we recognized would have to be shared only between the two of us, lest public opinion once again began to head toward metrification. That's a sorry milestone to be celebrating today, since the closure of the U.S. Metric Board helped keep the U.S. with Liberia and Myanmar as the only countries that won't go metric, but you should never judge a man until you've walked 1.609344 kilometers in his shoes. [Workbench] It's pretty rare that you hear about a PR person, especially one working for the government, who actually manages to accomplish something good. 10:40:22 AM    comment () trackback ()

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