dozens

Someone needs fired and flogged:

The Army said Friday it was investigating a claim that dozens of soldiers who refused to attend a Christian band's concert at a Virginia military base were banished to their barracks and told to clean them up.

Fort Eustis spokesman Rick Haverinen told The Associated Press he couldn't comment on the specifics of the investigation. At the Pentagon, Army spokesman Col. Thomas Collins said the military shouldn't impose religious views on soldiers.

There was about 20 soldiers who refused to attend, including Muslims. When they didn’t attend they were ordered to clean their barracks and not allowed to use computers or cell phones.

The outcome of this investigation should also be interesting. If someone gets discharged or demoted over it (like they should), I’m sure the right will quickly spin this into our “Muslim President not allowing freedom of religion in the military”. I can just hear the wingnut talkers now.

And today another crazy gets bagged:

The FBI arrested a northern California man Wednesday for allegedly making threatening phone calls to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over health care reform, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.

Charges against the man have yet to be disclosed, but they are expected to be filed in federal court in California.

Several federal officials said the man made dozens of calls to Pelosi's homes in California and Washington, as well as to her husband's business office. They said he recited her home address and said if she wanted to see it again, she would not support the health care overhaul bill that since has been enacted.

One official said the man is believed to have spoken directly with Pelosi at least once.

Will anyone on the right address this case? I doubt it. I mean it’s not like Pelosi is second in line to succeed the President or anything. Oh wait….

In the first two days, more than 1,500 men, women and children received free treatments worth $503,000 (£304,000). Thirty dentists pulled 471 teeth; 320 people were given standard issue spectacles; 80 had mammograms; dozens more had acupuncture, or saw kidney specialists. By the time the makeshift medical centre leaves town on Tuesday, staff expect to have dispensed $2m worth of treatments to 10,000 patients.

That third world nation? The United State Of America. As matter of fact this was in Inglewood, just outside of Hollywood.

The article goes on to distinguish the differences between healthcare in the U.K. and U.S. Read through that and you realize that we really don’t have the best healthcare system in the world.

The EPA has finally started to undo the raping of the land that George Bush allowed:

Dozens of mountaintop coal-mining permits are being put on hold until the projects’ impacts on streams and wetlands can be reviewed, the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday.

Announced by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, the move targets a controversial practice by coal mining companies that blasts away whole peaks and sends mining waste into streams and wetlands. It does not apply to existing mines, but to requests for new permits, a number estimated to be as high as 250.

The EPA also urged the Army Corps of Engineers not to issue permits for two new projects unless their impacts were reduced. The projects would allow companies to fill thousands of feet of streams with mining waste at two sites in West Virginia and Kentucky.

Hopefully this is the start to the end of this horrible practice. Since pictures speak louder than words:

Of course the damage is already done, so what could we do with these stripped out mountain tops? Perhaps turn it into a prison for Bush, Cheney and Co.?

That's what we are becoming, and it's all in the name of "terror":

The FBI acknowledged Wednesday it improperly accessed Americans' telephone records, credit reports and Internet traffic in 2006, the fourth straight year of privacy abuses resulting from investigations aimed at tracking terrorists and spies.

The breach occurred before the FBI enacted broad new reforms in March 2007 to prevent future lapses, FBI Director Robert Mueller said. And it was caused, in part, by banks, telecommunication companies and other private businesses giving the FBI more personal client data than was requested.

[SNIP]

An audit by the inspector general last year found the FBI demanded personal records without official authorization or otherwise collected more data than allowed in dozens of cases between 2003 and 2005. Additionally, last year's audit found that the FBI had underreported to Congress how many national security letters were requested by more than 4,600.

So are we going to have a big debate over giving the FBI immunity? What if I just happened to intercept a phone call or someone's internet traffic. I would end up in jail! Why is the FBI suddenly above the law?

From Raw Story:

Former Enron chiefs Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling have been found guilty on dozens of charges of conspiracy and fraud.

Lay was found guilty on all charges, which could net him 45 years in jail.

Skilling was found guilty of the first 35 counts brought against him. He was acquitted, however, of numerous charges of insider trading.

Finally justice is being servered. Now how long before Bush grants them a pardon?

Want to know who called a phone number or who that phone number called? For $110 you an find out.

The Chicago Police Department is warning officers their cell phone records are available to anyone -- for a price. Dozens of online services are selling lists of cell phone calls, raising security concerns among law enforcement and privacy experts.

Criminals can use such records to expose a government informant who regularly calls a law enforcement official.

Suspicious spouses can see if their husband or wife is calling a certain someone a bit too often.

And employers can check whether a worker is regularly calling a psychologist -- or a competing company.

Some online services might be skirting the law to obtain these phone lists, according to Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who has called for legislation to criminalize phone record theft and use.

In some cases, telephone company insiders secretly sell customers' phone-call lists to online brokers, despite strict telephone company rules against such deals, according to Schumer.

Article continues here.

If this practice is not illegal then it should be. This information should be classified and only obtainable with a court warrant. The fact that these companies are getting this information means the telecom industry is involved and making even more money by selling off our privacy.

AmericaBLOG had much more about this story.