Blade in N.Va. Man's Shoe Baffles Federal Authorities

WASHINGTON POST

Federal investigators said yesterday that they have no idea how a three-inch blade found its way into the insole of the shoe of a Fairfax County man who was arrested after trying to board a flight in Honolulu.

Randall Rustick, 33, was arrested Tuesday morning after airport screeners found the blade tucked under the insole of his left, black, leather dress shoe, according to a criminal complaint filed Wednesday. Rustick was charged with carrying a deadly weapon onto an airplane, authorities said.

OPINION

This is very interesting to me. This isn't a normal problem where the feds have caught someone with a concealed weapon. This guy is actually claiming to have not known that the box cutter was in his shoe. He apparently was on vacation with his family and when he ended up having to be interrogated like he was a terrorist, he flipped. It seems like Randall may have a few screws loose. But then again, I do not leave out the possibility that the feds or the people at the airport did something fishy. If anything new happens, I will post. Just remember...Don't carry sharp objects in your shoes when you are planning to fly on an airplane.

I'd like a do over.

Bush Resubmits 20 Nominations for Federal Judgeships

I want to bring this article to your attention because judicial nominations will soon become a big part of the news and something worth following.

Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President George W. Bush will resubmit 20 federal judicial nominations, reigniting a battle with Democrats over their views on abortion, civil rights and the environment.

The list includes seven of the 10 candidates whose nominations failed during Bush's first term because of Democratic filibusters that blocked Senate confirmation votes. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid called the nominees ``extremist'' and said the Senate shouldn't reconsider them.

Bush will have a bigger Republican majority in the Senate in January than in his first term -- 55 of the 100 seats. That's still five votes shy of the 60 needed to end filibusters.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush's nominees are ``highly qualified.'' The Senate has a ``constitutional obligation to vote up or down'' on them, McClellan said in a statement in Washington.

The president's list includes William Pryor, who is serving on the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals after the president appointed him on a temporary basis while Congress was out of session. As a recess appointee, Pryor needs Senate confirmation to stay on the court.

Bush also is re-nominating Priscilla Owen for the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit, Richard Allen Griffin, David W. McKeague and Henry Saad for the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit; Janice Rogers Brown for the D.C. Circuit; William G. Myers III for the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit. Senate Democrats blocked votes on them during Bush's first term. Other nominations on Bush's list never reached the Senate floor.

Opponents say many of the stalled nominees were hostile to abortion rights, preservation of the environment and civil rights safeguards. Nan Aron, director of the Alliance for Justice, which opposes a number of Bush's nominees, called the White House announcement ``a show of contempt for many of the issues Americans care about the most.''

Bush used the stalled nominations as an issue in his re- election campaign this year. Democrats such as Tom Daschle, the Senate minority leader who lost his re-election race in South Dakota, pointed to the Senate's confirmation of the bulk of Bush's nominees. The Senate approved more than 200 judicial nominees during Bush's first term.


The fight over nominations is ``symbolic to a large degree,'' said Howard Bashman, a Philadelphia lawyer whose ``How Appealing'' Web site focuses on appellate litigation. ``Many conservative nominees have made it through the confirmation process. It does appear the Democrats are picking and choosing selectively who to filibuster.''

Republicans are considering changing the filibuster rules so that a majority could force a vote on any judicial nomination.

Battles over the appellate nominees may be a preview of an even higher-stakes fight over the Supreme Court. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, 80, is being treated for thyroid cancer and hasn't attended a court session since October.

``This move suggests that Bush has no intention of negotiating with the Senate Democrats on judicial appointments,'' said Thomas Mann, a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. ``Confrontation and war are the strategies of choice.''

Twelve of Bush's nominees are for seats on federal appeals courts. Eight others would serve on federal district courts.

OPINION

Not that I blame him, but the GOP definitely thinks it is here to stay. Bush has four years ahead of him. Four years that if governed well could lead to another four years with a different Republican. The Republicans simply do not want to listen to Democratic arguments anymore. As you can see, rules are being changed to make that more possible. Some people are ignoring the thoughts of nearly half of America. Do I think it's ok? Nope. What will happen is they will become too powerful. And you know what happens when one group becomes too powerful? People begin to fear the possibilities. It's happened in our history. I do not feel like giving a history lesson right now (I will give one upon request) but definitely, someone will say that the Republicans are too powerful some day. And it is possible that people will listen to that someone.

Santa Baby, Hurry down the Test Tube Tonight!

All the talk about the election results and what do we do with Iraq on a silver platter, much neglegence has come to the topic of scientific/moral issues in politics lately. No, I am not talking about abortion. I'm talking about the cloned pets you can get made-to-order now. In an age where pet owners buy clothes designed by Georgio Armani for their furry friends, it is not suprising that a Texas belle just bought herself a cloned kitten for Christmas. For a whopping $50,000 any of us everyday folk can replace our dead pets, and even our living with carbon copies of the cuddly animals in our life. Next time you see an ordinary puss in boots, check again because it could very well be Genetic Savings and Clone, a Californian companies, version of your grandmother's cat that died 2 months ago. By the summer months we should expect to see cloned dogs along with the already cloned mice, cattle, rabbits, goats, pigs, and horses.

Get your checkbooks ready... Unless of course you are against the morality of the issue. Many students of Biomedical Ethics argue that for $50,000 dollars this Texan gal could have bought many stray kittens for only $10. Why create new life if there is already life that needs some nourishment? I'm not going to argue the matter, but it's an important topic to watch. "One step for man kind, one giant leap for man kind." But beware America, sometimes it's wiser to take small steps than jumping around. It's easier to trip when you jump. Just look at my bruises!

For now this is the only thing that caught my eye in the headlines tonight. I usually pursue different kinds of topics, but a test tube cat couldn't help but seem more interesting that the humdrum Iraq business around the holidays. As soon as the holiday partying ends, I will get back to you all to help out with Kevin's mission statement for this site. I think that the Truth Squad for America is a wonderfully pragmatic blog that allows for intellectuals to come to their own conclusions. Of course I'll show you my opinion. But I warn you I don't take sides. I'm wishy-washy (yes, like Kerry) yet I love "strategery" (yes, like Bush). I'll give you an unbiast report of what I think should be read by our viewers that night. It's time you boys introduce a girl in this war.

Yours truly,
Demi

Inside the CIA Museum Lies Information the Government May Not Feel Should Be Public Any Longer

Security Threats

Something that happened earlier but may not have been noticed by the people of America. The CIA museum had refused to disclose a pamphlet that a certain organization, TheMemoryHole.org, has acquired through the Freedom of Information Act. Government tends to feel like these kind of things give away information that the public should not know or that terrorists may use. The pamphlet is titled, "Directorate of Science and Technology: People and Intelligence in the Service of Freedom." The idea for using science and technology in the intelligence process came after World War II. With the Cold War, science and technology gained a prominent role in intelligence. Since then, any means of gathering intelligence has been used.

The publication leaks information on how terrorists have been handled previously:

Terrorists have always operated in secrecy, in part because America and its allies devote advanced technical resources to uncovering and thwarting their plans. Technical experts called in after a terrorist incident provide valuable assistance to those who seek justice, but OTS [Office of Technical Services] experts in weapons, ordnance, electronics, and other fields also work in the shadows to prevent terrible calamities. To these subject matter experts accustomed to anonymity, it is a matter of pride that so few people know the details of their lifesaving contributions to terrorism. A few counterterrorism successes utilizing OTS products and expertise have been made public. Creating a dummy film production company in Hollywood, an OTS team rapidly delivered disguises and documents that made the escape of six U.S. diplomats from Iran possible. The Feb 2001 prosecution of a Libyan terrorist for the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing was based on the testimony of an OTS electronics expert who matched a circuit board fragment that survived the explosion with a timing device from an earlier Libyan terrorist attack thwarted by CIA.

What was in the CIA museum became considered as a threat of security. Alas, the Freedom of Information Act allows Americans to prevent government from hiding. It doesn't matter that this might've posed a security threat because anyone needing to know about the history of our intelligence that uses science and technology would've visited the museum to find out. Where there's a will there's a way and there was no way that government would keep this pamphlet from the public. We have a right to know how our intelligence is carried out especially since the 9/11 attacks. Below is the address for reading the entire pamphlet:

http://www.thememoryhole.org/spy/cia-museum/cia_museum_pamphlet.pdf