The new technology is being used in conjunction with new government passports, passcards and driver's licenses embedded with computer chips that contain the holder's name, date of birth, nationality, passport or ID number and a digitized photo. The personal data can be "read" by a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) machine as the person approaches a border-crossing checkpoint.

By the time a car stops at the Customs booth, the agent will have the photos and information of everyone in the car. If a name is on a watch list or database, the person will be taken in for questioning. The system will be "more efficient," says Thomas Winkowski of Customs and Border Protection.

The border crossing ID requirement takes effect in June. So far, 600,000 State Department passcards and 40,000 embedded licenses from Washington state and New York have been issued.

The government WAS planning on using long range scanning to read RFID passports, and apparently is STILL doing that with state ID cards!

New machines scan IDs at border crossings - USATODAY.com

It was found that the jihadis had used the anonymous "remailer" service - which is the most secure and least traceable way to send an email - instead of the normal Internet service availed on earlier occasions.

Jihadis used 'anonymous' service to send email-India-The Times of India

the one surviving member of the group belongs to the outlawed Kashmiri guerrilla organization Lashkar-i-Taiba, according to Indian security officials.

Lashkar-i-Taiba

Obama and Clinton are buying into a bottomed-out market vis-à-vis America’s position in the world. It is as if they will be buying stock after the market has crashed, and just at the point when a number of factors are already set in motion for a recovery. For President George W. Bush did not just damage America’s position in the world, he has also, over the past two years, quietly repositioned himself as a realist in foreign policy, and that, coupled with a bold new strategy in Iraq, known as the “surge,” has poised America for a diplomatic rebound, which the next administration will get the credit for carrying out.

I have to say I find that reasoning persuasive, although it is absolute heresy to the left. I wish Obama could have kept Condoleezza Rice on as Secretary of State. In retrospect, I think I think I have more respect for her than anyone else in the Bush Administration. As for having Hillary in that role. Well, hrm, ok, maybe, we'll see...

Obama's Foreign Policy: Buying in at the Bottom - The Atlantic (November 25, 2008)

Federal officials said the practice is so limited that 40 laptops were searched during the first two weeks of August, when 17 million travelers entered the country.

One of the things people have been asking for are statistics. This is the first time I've ever seen the federal government offer one, and it was to the press!

Airport laptop seizures anger Muslims | The Detroit News | detnews.com

Awesome - a great gift idea for those techies in your life who lack a green thumb! Now with this handy tool, your houseplant will twitter you when it needs more water! Brilliant!!

Botanicalls Kit

Westerners were rounded up in at least two five-star hotels, including the exclusive Taj Palace, which were among seven targets stormed by men armed with AK-47 machine guns and grenades.

Witnesses said the terrorists, thought to be linked to Al-Qaeda, were specifically targeting British and American visitors.

It certainly sounds like an Al Qaeda op. Agree? Disagree? Confirmations anywhere?

So, is Osama back?

Investors with long time horizons (the relatively young, or institutions) are, for the first time in almost two decades, confronting attractive, although not sensationally attractive, market valuations. There are, nevertheless, formidable pressures for further falls in valuations, as leveraged players continue to be forced to offload assets at bargain prices.

FT.com / Columnists / Martin Wolf - Why fairly valued stock markets are an opportunity

This afternoon, at an empty Norwich Superior Court, Julie pled to the misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct, in a deal negotiated by her pro-bono attorney, William Dow.

Her fine was a $100 charge, and her Connecticut teaching credentials are revoked (Julie told me she really doesn’t care, that she has no plans ever to teach in that state again).

I wish the whole thing had been dropped by the prosecution. But that was just not something they were willing to do. And Julie needed her life back.

Justice can be almost impossible to reach in our system.

Sunbelt Blog: BREAKING -- The Julie Amero horror is over

"Photos like nude shots of someone's spouse are not the only sensitive data on a smartphone," Tom Cross, IBM X-force researcher, told InternetNews.com.

How often do you get a quote like that?

InternetNews Realtime IT News - Nude Photos on iPhone a Wakeup Call