Kia's World

http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/ The last week of September in the US is when all the libraries and bookstores get together and stick their tongues out at the idiots who try (and thankfully fail) to take good books off the shelves.  I don't know if they have an equivalent in...

Before I get started I want to make it clear that this article is not aimed as an attack against the American people, I hope that the American people can take it as it is meant - though I do realise that many people do have strong patriotic feelings and so I can only hope that I do not offend...

Today was a day when I realized that there is this other world out there. I found myself in a place one wouldn't expect to find me…but that is the beauty of randomness. I had to pay a visit to the local Mall to get a couple of champagne glasses engraved for my parents' twenty-fifth...

Protest political interference in the scientific process by voting for your favorite cartoon here !  

Link here : " A central database holding details of everyone's phone calls and emails could be a "step too far for the British way of life", ministers have been warned...."  The article goes on to describe how not only does this data collection violate...

  I often get asked the question: "What can I do about the current attack on freedom?" In other words: How do we fight the Vast Machine?  Believe it or not, you've already started the process by being informed about what is going on -- and...

Earlier Wednesday, the Senate struck down three amendments that would have delayed, weakened or revoked a controversial provision in the bill to grant unconditional, retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies that assisted the White House in its warrantless wiretapping program.......

Link here : PITTSBURGH (AP) -- An Islamic nuclear physicist on Thursday accused the U.S. Department of Energy of revoking his security clearance in retaliation for his criticism of the government's treatment of Muslims. The Department of Energy denied El-Ganayni the right to...

Link here : Associated Press is now selling "quotation licenses" that allow bloggers, journallers, and people who forward quotations from articles to co-workers to quote their articles. Yeah, you heard right.  In the past, quotes have always been deemed free,...

Designed to speed the airport security check process, Clear members pay $128 a year for a special card that stores their biometric information (fingerprint, iris scan, and photograph) on a card that allows them access to the "fast lane" at security checkpoints.  Not that these...

From the Associated Press : Last month, the House passed legislation to prohibit the military from engaging in "any form of communication in support of national objectives designed to influence the opinions, emotions, attitudes or behavior of the people of the United States in...

From WIRED : If elected president, Senator John McCain would reserve the right to run his own warrantless wiretapping program against Americans, based on the theory that the president's wartime powers trump federal criminal statutes and court oversight. A statement from Doug...

From TIME : The legality of the proceedings due to begin at Guantanamo, however — against men held in secret CIA prisons where some were tortured , before being brought to Cuba — has been loudly challenged by critics around the world, not least by the U.S. military...

From The Independent : A few quotes: Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilise Iraq's position in the Middle East and lay the...

From Yahoo! News : Costs $12 million dollars, can identify a suspect from 2 miles away and track a suspicious vehicle from 12, and 'lets justice watch liberty for us all.'  Gee, thanks NYPD!