A humiliating TSA pat down that left Indian Ambassador to the United States livid and insistent that she would never return to America has prompted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to promise a review of TSA policies in the aftermath of a nationwide revolt against invasive airport security measures. At the height of the TSA backlash last month, Clinton herself told CBS News that the pat down procedures were so invasive that she would personally want to avoid them.

Now she has been forced to promise an inquiry into measures that led to Indian diplomat Meera Shankar being confined to a glass cage before being invasively groped by TSA staff in full public view, after Indian authorities demanded an apology for her treatment. “We obviously are concerned about it,” Clinton told reporters in Washington.

“Although the matter had not been raised when she met with Shankar on Tuesday, she said, “certainly we will be looking into it and not only responding to the Indian foreign minister but also reviewing the policies,” reports CNS News.

Yep. I’m sure the policy will change, for the diplomats. For the slaves it’s business as usual.


This Episode’s Executive Producer and Sole member of the 259 Club: Sir Larry Lee
Art By: PAY

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Cameras everywhere….keeps us safe!


Aurora [Illinois] is trying to keep a little more than $190,000 it seized from two brothers after one of them was pulled over in a traffic stop that didn’t even result in a traffic ticket.

Officials have refused to hand back the money even though a judge has sided with the brothers. The matter is due back in court today.

Jesus Martinez, 27, was carrying $190,040 when his pickup truck was stopped by an Aurora police officer about 8:30 p.m. Oct. 18 near Indian Trail and Timberlake roads.

The police officer confiscated the cash, and the city has informed Martinez and his brother, Jose, 34, that Aurora will seek to keep it through civil forfeiture, a procedure that allows police agencies to seize property where the legal standard is lower than proof needed in a criminal forfeiture.

The brothers are home remodelers. Neither has been charged with a crime in this case, and neither has a criminal record, according to Kane County court records.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in 30 years of practice,” said Aurora attorney Patrick Kinnally, who is representing the brothers. A month after the stop, Kinnally filed a complaint arguing that Aurora had no right to keep the money. Eleven days after that, Kinnally and lawyers representing Aurora appeared before Kane County Circuit Judge Michael Colwell.

“Their lawyers basically said the city was going to file for forfeiture,” Kinnally said. “The judge asked on what basis. The lawyer said, ‘We don’t know,’ and the judge said: ‘This is America. Give it back.'”

Yeah, like that will work in Police State America.


  • Google Chrome under attack by critics.
  • Operation payback cripples MasterCard site.
  • Wikileaks cannot be stopped say the experts.
  • Will Nokia jump to Android? Let’s hope so.
  • No Windows 7 slates by year end. Meanwhile MSFT gets huge government contract.
  • Japan misses Venus with rocket. Bad math?
  • Holiday shopping through the roof according to Comscore.
  • NYC getting MSFT store.

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cnet news

A hosting company has said it will take immediate legal action against Visa and MasterCard over the credit card companies’ refusal to process donations for whistle-blower site WikiLeaks.

DataCell, based in Iceland, facilitates donations to WikiLeaks. DataCell said it had been losing revenue since Visa and MasterCard decided to stop processing WikiLeaks’ donations.

“DataCell…has decided to take up immediate legal actions to make donations possible again,” DataCell CEO Andreas Fink said in a statement Wednesday. Fink told ZDNet UK that DataCell would pursue legal action as soon as possible: “Not being able to receive money from the public for a week can cost WikiLeaks seven-digit figures in losses, and DataCell as well, as it is unable to process any cards.”



VW Jetta TDI, 2.0L 140-hp turbodiesel, 3rd consecutive award winner

The auto industry is embracing the age of electrification, and so too is the Ward’s 10 Best Engines list.

Both the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle and Chevrolet Volt extended-range EV earn their way onto the 2011 list, as selected by Ward’s editors after evaluating 38 vehicles with new or significantly improved engines for the ’11 model year.

But fuel efficiency and environmental friendliness are not the most important criteria for eligibility this year, as seen by recognition of the new 5.0L V-8 in the Ford Mustang GT, 5.0L V-8 in the Hyundai Genesis and the 3.0L supercharged V-6 in the Audi S4…

This year’s winners and the applications tested:

3.0L TFSI Supercharged DOHC V-6 (Audi S4)
3.0L N55 Turbocharged DOHC I-6 (BMW 335i)
1.6L Turbocharged DOHC I-4 (Mini Cooper S)
3.6L Pentastar DOHC V-6 (Dodge Avenger)
5.0L DOHC V-8 (Ford Mustang GT)
1.4L DOHC I-4/111kW Drive Motor (Chevrolet Volt)
5.0L Tau DOHC V-8 (Hyundai Genesis)
80kW AC Synchronous Electric Motor (Nissan Leaf)
2.0L DOHC I-4 Turbodiesel (Volkswagen Jetta TDI)
3.0L Turbocharged DOHC I-6 (Volvo S60)

The one thing they have in common is they all are stand-out performers in their own way and sell the value proposition of the vehicles they power,” Winter says.

RTFA. The editors delve into each award and why. Just a paragraph or two; but, gives you a taste of the breadth of modern prize-winning design coming from auto engineers around the world.

Detailed analysis of each is in the upcoming issue of Ward’s Autoworld magazine and will be online, next week.


The US lobbied Russia this year on behalf of Visa and MasterCard in an attempt to ensure the payment companies were not “adversely affected” by new legislation, according to American diplomats in Moscow.

A state department cable released this afternoon by WikiLeaks reveals that US diplomats intervened to try to amend a draft law going through Russia’s Duma. Their explicit aim was to ensure the new law did not “disadvantage” the two US firms, the cable states.

The revelation comes a day after Visa – apparently acting under intense pressure from Washington – announced it was suspending all payments to WikiLeaks, the whistle-blowing website. Visa was following MasterCard, PayPal and Amazon, all of which have severed ties with the site and its founder Julian Assange in the last few days.

This just gets better and better.



The guest speaker?

The United States has announced plans to host World Press Freedom Day in 2011 as part of its efforts “to support and expand press freedom and the free flow of information in this digital age.”

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley made the announcement Tuesday that the event under the auspices of UNESCO would be held in Washington from May 1-3.

The theme for the commemoration will be “21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers.”

“The United States places technology and innovation at the forefront of its diplomatic and development efforts,” Crowley said.

“New media has empowered citizens around the world to report on their circumstances, express opinions on world events, and exchange information in environments sometimes hostile to such exercises of individuals? right to freedom of expression.

“At the same time, we are concerned about the determination of some governments to censor and silence individuals, and to restrict the free flow of information.”

I don’t suppose, in a gesture of anti-censorship and respect for the free flow of information, Wikileaks might get their site/domain unblocked by the government sponsoring this? And stop pressuring companies like PayPal from helping fund them? It could happen…


Here is the latest conversation I had with money manager Andrew Horowitz…. new insights for anyone who invests in anything. Will the market falter? How is Ireland doing?

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  • Google does a demo and shows Chrome OS plus the new Android OS and other items. The company is also in a battle with Amazon over book sales.
  • 4Chan goes after the Swiss bank and others who attack the Wikileaks folks.
  • AT&T still the worst carrier after one day.
  • Cityville now on Facebook.
  • IE9 supposed to stop tracking. Oh really?
  • Japan floating around Venus.
  • Twitter worm using Goo.gl.
  • And Verizon thinks it can use LTE for home Internet service? Har!

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Eideard? No, the fired Santa.

This story is being retold all over the SF Bay Area. Apparently the long-time Santa was let go after one complaint in 20 years of service. Apparently some bureaucrat in NY found no reason to back the employee in this matter. It’s seriously disgusting. Everyone in SF is irked about this. I’m not shopping at Macy’s anymore. The company doesn’t deserve customers. The boneheads at Macy’s do not even know the California laws regarding employment and will probably be sued over this. I mean what court or jury will not award “Santa” a huge settlement. What idiots. It should be noted that all decisions come out of New York nowadays.

John Toomey, known for 20 years at the Union Square Macy’s in San Francisco as “Santa John,” was told Saturday he’ll have to take his “ho, ho, hos” elsewhere because an adult couple complained about a joke he cracked.

The joke has been in his Santa bag for decades. But after thousands of tellings, the 68-year-old retired caretaker for the elderly finally hit the wrong recipients – apparently an older woman and her husband, who considered it inappropriate.

Note that the two a-holes who complained were elderly and actually went on Santas LAP!! So the corporation takes them seriously?


cnet news

Julian Assange, leader of the WikiLeaks project that’s published extensive secret details of U.S. military and diplomatic activity, has been arrested in London on a Swedish accusation of rape.

“He is accused by the Swedish authorities of one count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation, and one count of rape, all alleged to have been committed in August 2010,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement today.

Assange is scheduled to appear at Magistrates Court in the City of Westminster in London later today, the police said. The police’s extradition unit arrested him this morning on a European arrest warrant after Assange and his lawyers arranged to meet with police at a London police station.


This shows what is wrong with 60 Minutes. Too much useless background, no in-depth questions. Lot’s of “why’s.” Almost like something you’d find on Sesame Street. Useless.


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