"A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare."  Judge H. Walter Croskey, California Appeals Court.

LOS ANGELES, California - March 7, 2008 - A California appeals court ruling clamping down on homeschooling by parents without teaching credentials sent shock waves across the state this week, leaving an estimated 166,000 children as possible truants and their parents at risk of prosecution.

The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming.

"At first, there was a sense of, ‘No way,’" said homeschool parent Loren Mavromati, a resident of Redondo Beach (Los Angeles County) who is active with a homeschool association. "Then there was a little bit of fear. I think it has moved now into indignation."

The ruling arose from a child welfare dispute between the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services and Philip and Mary Long of Lynwood, who have been homeschooling their eight children. Mary Long is their teacher, but holds no teaching credential.

The parents said they also enrolled their children in Sunland Christian School, a private religious academy in Sylmar (Los Angeles County), which considers the Long children part of its independent study program and visits the home about four times a year.

The Second District Court of Appeal ruled that California law requires parents to send their children to full-time public or private schools or have them taught by credentialed tutors at home.

Some homeschoolers are affiliated with private or charter schools, like the Longs, but others fly under the radar completely. Many homeschooling families avoid truancy laws by registering with the state as a private school and then enroll only their own children.

Yet the appeals court said state law has been clear since at least 1953, when another appellate court rejected a challenge by homeschooling parents to California’s compulsory education statutes. Those statutes require children ages 6 to 18 to attend a full-time day school, either public or private, or to be instructed by a tutor who holds a state credential for the child’s grade level.

"California courts have held that ... parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children," Justice H. Walter Croskey said in the 3-0 ruling issued on Feb. 28. "Parents have a legal duty to see to their children’s schooling under the provisions of these laws."

Parents can be criminally prosecuted for failing to comply, Croskey said.

"A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare," the judge wrote, quoting from a 1961 case on a similar issue.

CLINTON, Connecticut - April 3, 2008 - A 14-year-old student at Morgan School in Clinton is facing a weapons charge, accused of tinkering with a disposable camera to make it capable of zapping people with an electrical charge.

Police say the camera, modified according to instructions available on the Internet, had been converted into an improvised electronic demobilizing device similar to a Taser.

Police say the student never managed to use the device because a teacher intervened.

School Resource Officer Kyle Strunjo says the makeshift device is potentially capable of a 600-volt shock.

The 14-year-old student has been charged with possession of a dangerous weapon on school grounds, attempted assault and breach of peace.

Ed. Note: I fail to understand how a student who is smart enough to design and construct such a potentially useful device as a Taser (that can be used against corrupt police, for example), is so foolish and unthinking as to build the device in a public school!

April 2, 2008 - If you thought "Robocop" was a little far-fetched, think again. Cyborgs - especially cyborg insects - are making the spy technology scene.

The newest recruits in the War on Terror are high-tech "flies on the wall." Scientists in the U.S. are fitting insects - and rats, moths, pigeons, bulls and even sharks - with special implants so they can be remote-controlled and deployed for surveillance.

The creatures are installed with special electrodes, batteries and even video cameras. The goal is to create the ultimate cyborgs to serve the U.S. as undetectable super spies.

So how will cyborg rats be critical to national security?

They will be incredibly useful in search-and-rescue missions. Because they can identify specific scents, such as those of humans or explosives, cyborg rats are expected to be used to find people trapped under rubble or to sniff out bombs.

Cyborg rescue rats will be equipped with mini-backpacks to transmit to mission control messages such as "mission accomplished" or "target located." The most advanced generation will carry "rat cams" to give the cyborg commander a "rat's-eye view." They also will be trained to board a "ratmobile," so they easily can be transported to the site of their mission.

Israel has picked up this American program to use cyborg rats in its search-and-rescue missions.

Taking "Jaws" to an entirely new level, the small, spiny dogfish shark was successfully turned into a cyborg in a project conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. (They're the folks who brought us the real-life R2D2.) To steer the cyborg, a brain implant directs the shark to turn left or right by tricking it to follow phantom odors.

The U.S. was left behind last year when a Chinese team successfully transferred cyborg technology to birds. Pigeons’ brains were implanted with electrodes that allowed the Chinese team to command them via wireless signals from a laptop. They created the ultimate cyborg "spy in the sky."

Scientists plug into and hijack these living animals’ sensory abilities because they are vastly superior to the majority of artificial sensors available on the market. The cyborgs’ intense sense of smell, for example, allows them to detect the faintest trace of chemicals - a skill very useful in counter-terrorism.

Rats, pigeons and sharks are big enough to carry miniature video cameras, computers and the batteries to power them.

April 2, 2008 -The government is rounding up your cell phone numbers, insurance claims, credit reports, financial records, and the names of your associates and relatives and sharing them with law enforcement officials nationwide.

They may even have your unlisted iPhone number.

But it's not President George W. Bush, who's taken fire over his warrantless wiretapping program, or the National Security Agency, which oversaw the interception of Americans' calls overseas.

It's your state.

So-called "fusion centers" set up after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks collect, store and analyze commercial and public data on unknown millions of Americans. Little is known about the centers, though they received $254 million from the Department of Homeland Security between 2004 and 2007.

Documents obtained by the Washington Post's Robert O'Harrow Jr. for reveal that the centers - which have flown beneath the public's radar - have information that now includes unlisted cell phone numbers, insurance claims, driver's license photographs, credit reports and even top-secret data systems at the CIA.

"Dozens of the organizations known as fusion centers were created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to identify potential threats and improve the way information is shared," O’Harrow says. "The centers use law enforcement analysts and sophisticated computer systems to compile, or fuse, disparate tips and clues and pass along the refined information to other agencies. They are expected to play important roles in national information-sharing networks that link local, state and federal authorities and enable them to automatically sift their storehouses of records for patterns and clues."

A document obtained by the paper lists "resources" used by fusion centers in the Northeastern United States.

The paper notes that "details have come to light at a time of debate about domestic intelligence efforts... and whether the government has enough protections to prevent abuses," suggesting they were leaked to influence the debate. Congress has refused to pass legislation granting telecommunications companies retroactive immunity for participating in what many critics believe was illegal wiretapping.

The fusion centers also have subscriptions to information systems that provide information on Americans' locations, financial holdings, associates, relatives and firearms licenses.

"Pennsylvania buys credit reports and uses face-recognition software to examine driver's license photos, while analysts in Rhode Island have access to car-rental databases," O'Harrow writes. "In Maryland, authorities rely on a little-known data broker called Entersect, which claims it maintains 12 billion records on about 98 percent of all Americans."

Furthermore, Entersect boasts that it holds records for the private cell phone numbers of Americans.

"There is never ever enough information when it comes to terrorism" remarked Maj. Steven G. O'Donnell, deputy superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police, in a comment to O'Harrow. "That's what post-9/11 is about."

Massachusetts taps an information broker to get access to unlisted cell and landline phone numbers and another to get access to information on insurance claims, casualty claims and property claims. Ohio has access to an FBI 'secret level repository,' O'Harrow said. Meanwhile, Rhode Island can query CIA databases.

"Officials at the Rhode Island State Police, FBI and CIA declined to discuss the system and the kinds of information it contains," Harrow wrote.

ACLU obtains documents after suit over National Security Letters

WASHINGTON - April 2, 2008 - The military is using the FBI to skirt legal restrictions on domestic surveillance to obtain private records of Americans' Internet service providers, financial institutions and telephone companies, according to Pentagon documents.

HYATTSVILLE, Maryland - April 2, 2008 - A 12-year-old boy fatally slashed a man who was attacking his mother at the boarding house where they lived, authorities said.

Salomon Noubissie, 64, died at a hospital after he was slashed across the neck Monday night in a home in the Landover area.

Cpl. Diane Richardson, a spokeswoman for Prince George's County police, said Wednesday that authorities hadn't decided whether the boy would be charged with anything. They were reviewing the case with the state's attorney's office.

The boy said he had been playing a video game Monday night when he heard his mother, Cheryl Stamp, scream. He found her on the kitchen floor, straddled by a fellow resident who was choking her.

"I kept saying, 'Stop! Stop! Stop!'" the boy told The Washington Post, which published his account without giving his name. "But he just ignored me. He didn't stop. He just kept hurting her."

The boy said he took a knife and swung at the man. Police say they found Noubissie with a knife wound to the upper body.

Stamp said she didn't fully realize at first what her son had done. "He didn't say anything," she said. "But I knew when I looked in his eyes. I said, 'Oh, Lord.'"

Rarely is a 12-year-old implicated in a homicide, and even less often does a child that age kill someone to protect his mother.

"In Maryland, there can be a legitimate defense of third parties in the event of a violent attack," State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey told the newspaper. "That is a possibility in this case."

Stamp said she and Noubissie, a Cameroonian immigrant, had moved into the boarding house within days of each other three months ago and had become friends. Stamp said Noubissie had told her he was studying to be a psychiatrist.

But on Monday night, she said, he was acting differently. He started to yell at her and grab her hair.

"He threw me down and started choking me. I think that's when my son came in. ... He protected me," she said, adding that Noubissie was combative with officers when they arrived, even though he was bleeding heavily.

The boy said he was not happy with what happened but felt he had no choice.

"I told God that I had stabbed him because he was killing my mother. I know he understands, and I think he will keep us safe now."

ORLANDO, Florida - March 31, 2008 - Video showing a woman being pushed down some stairs by a police officer that led to a battery charge against the woman has prompted calls for charges against the officer.

Local 6 showed video of Officer Fernando Trinidad, who was working off-duty last April.

Trinidad was caught on tape pushing Jessica Asprilla, 27, down some steps at the now-defunct Club Paris in downtown Orlando.

"He was rushing me out of the club," Asprilla said. "I was going down the stairs and the next thing I knew, he pushed me and I was on the floor."

Asprilla was charged with battery on the officer after she was pushed, Local 6 reported.

Asprilla admitted to giving Trinidad some "lip" at the club but that's it, Local 6's Tony Pipitone reported.

"But he swore you spat twice in his face," Pipitone said.

"I didn't spit in his face," Asprilla said.

"And if he swears to that under oath?" Pipitone asked. "Then, that would be a lie," she said.

Trinidad did swear to it and also swore that Asprilla "lost her footing" when he tried to grab her.

Local 6 showed the video of the incident and it showed the woman being shoved down the stairs.

As for the alleged spitting, when asked why Trinidad did not wipe any spit off, he told an internal investigator, "I've had worse than saliva in my face."

Aspirlla said she lost her job over the arrest and her place in graduate school. She said it also shattered her dreams for a career in social work, where background checks would reveal the arrest.

"And they'll see battery on a law enforcement officer?" Pipitone asked. "Yes," Asprilla said.

"What do you see?" Pipitone asked. "I see I was battered by a law enforcement officer," she said.

Asprilla said she owes thousands of dollars in medical bills from her ankle injury in connection with the incident.

However, she most feared Trinidad's sworn testimony that would have put her in prison for years.

"I didn't know how I would be able to prove my innocence," Asprilla said. "Everyone always believes the word of a police officer."

Asprilla's attorney then learned of the video.

"Had you not had the video?" Pipitone asked.

"Then, I would have probably gone to jail for battery on the police officer," Asprilla said.

When prosecutors saw the tape, they dropped the charges, Local 6 reported.

Now, Asprilla's attorney wants Trinidad prosecuted for battery and perjury, Pipitone said.

"It's unbelievable," attorney Adam Sudbury said. "It's a police officer just taking out a private citizen at a club."

"You see a crime on that tape?" Pipitone asked.

"Absolutely," Sudbury said.

An Orlando police investigation found Trinidad did push the woman, causing her ankle injury -- though they could not say it was intentional.

Also, investigators said Trinidad entered "inaccurate, false or improper information" in his report.

But in January, Orlando Police Chief Val Demings issued only an eight-hour suspension for Trinidad's conduct.

Trinidad refused requests for comment concerning the incident.

He continues to patrol Orlando streets.