Authorities to Gain Fast and Expansive Access to Records

March 6, 2008 - Several thousand law enforcement agencies are creating the foundation of a domestic intelligence system through computer networks that analyze vast amounts of police information to fight crime and root out terror plots.

NEW YORK - February 28, 2008 - For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report tracking the surge in inmate population and urging states to rein in corrections costs with alternative sentencing programs.

The report, released today by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.

Using updated state-by-state data, the report said 2,319,258 adults were held in U.S. prisons or jails at the start of 2008 - one out of every 99.1 adults, and more than any other country in the world.

Ed. Note:  Could it be that we have more prisoners because our government has passed more ridiculous and unconstitutional "laws" than any other country on the face of the earth?  If you create enough "crimes" then you establish a nation of "criminals".

When is enough, enough?!

February 28, 2008 - The parents of a student in Pennsylvania's South Middleton School District are warning other parents after their workout-oriented son was suspended for 10 days and half the soccer season for taking vitamins at school.

Calling it a zero tolerance policy run amok, Joseph Figueiredo told WND it was like, "Alice in Wonderland does the Twilight Zone."

The controversy began when his son, Andrew, put himself on a physical training regimen that included taking several vitamins and supplements.

Andrew was aware of school rules regarding prescription medications, so before he launched the program he checked the student handbook.

"He took it upon himself to look in the student manual and read the drug policy and medication policy," he said. "But he did not see vitamins or dietary supplements and in his mind thought it was okay."

School officials, however, thought otherwise. Somebody reported he was taking the vitamins, and Andrew was called into Principal Joe Mancuso's office where he was told he was being suspended for violating the drug policy.

WND previously reported a student was threatened with a three-day suspension for simply having a pen in class that had a gun company logo, another case in which a college student was suspended for advocating for gun rights and yet another in which a student who drew a sketch of a gun was suspended.

ENGLAND - February 27, 2008 - They are devoted foster parents with an unblemished record of caring for almost 20 vulnerable children.

But Eunice and Owen Johns have been forced to abandon their good work because they refuse to tell children as young as ten that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle.

To do so, they say, would go against their Christian beliefs.

The devastated couple withdrew an application to their council to continue as foster carers after being told they must condone homosexuality to adhere to gay rights laws.

The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation), which came into force last April, makes it illegal for any business or organization providing a public service to discriminate against anyone because of their sexuality.

February 25, 2008 - Montana officials are warning that if the Supreme Court rules in the D.C. gun ban case that the right to keep and bear arms protects only state-run militias like the National Guard, then the federal government will have breached Montana's statehood contract.

STUART, Florida - February 25, 2008 - Police arrested a 28-year-old man Sunday on a cruelty to animals charge after he yelled an obscenity at a police dog in a patrol vehicle, according to an arrest affidavit.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - February 25, 2008 - U.S. troops detained the news editor of a prominent Shiite-run television station and his son in a raid aimed at disrupting Iranian-backed militia groups, the military said Monday.

Hafidh al-Beshara, the news editor and manager of political programming for Al-Forat TV, and his son were taken into custody after American forces, acting on a tip, stormed their house in Baghdad. Al-Forat is operated by Iraq's largest Shiite political party.

The raid late Friday and early Saturday was targeting the son, but al-Beshara was detained as well after an unauthorized machine gun was found on the premises, a military official familiar with the operation said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.

The son, who was not identified in the official military statement announcing the detentions, was accused of being a so-called ''special groups'' militia operative who provided intelligence that aided attacks by Shiite extremists against U.S. and Iraqi forces.

Special groups is a term used by the military to describe Shiite extremist groups that have broken with anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who last week renewed a six-month cease-fire army to his Mahdi Army militia. The U.S. military believes the groups are backed by predominantly Shiite Iran, although Tehran denies the allegations.

Al-Beshara's son was linked to several senior Shiite militia leaders, according to the military, which added that the machine gun and ammunition were found at the site.

Based on information found in the initial raid of the house, the soldiers then searched the headquarters of Al-Forat in the central Karradah neighborhood in Baghdad but didn't find anything, the military said separately.

Maj. Brad Leighton, a U.S. military spokesman, said al-Beshara's detention was not in any way related to his work at Al-Forat but that his son was accused of providing intelligence for attacks.

Haider Khazim, a producer for the station, said al-Beshara's son is 19 years old and also worked at the station.

He said the station's guards were put in a room and their weapons were confiscated while the U.S. soldiers searched the complex, which he said had been raided last year.

''Their attitude was rough and provocative,'' he said, adding that the soldiers refused to give any reason for the arrests. ''Al-Beshara is a professional journalist and he has no problems with anybody,'' he said.

Al-Forat is owned by the biggest Shiite party, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, or SIIC, which is led by Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, one of the most powerful politicians in the country. Mahdi Army elements have frequently clashed with the armed wing of SIIC known as the Badr Brigade.