NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily

from The Guardian -

Exclusive: Top secret court order requiring Verizon to hand over all call data shows scale of domestic surveillance under Obama

Under the terms of the order, the numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as is location data and the time and duration of all calls. Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP

The National Security Agency is currently collecting the telephone records of millions of US customers of Verizon, one of America’s largesttelecoms providers, under a top secret court order issued in April.

The order, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, requires Verizon on an “ongoing, daily basis” to give the NSA information on all telephone calls in its systems, both within the US and between the US and other countries.

The document shows for the first time that under the Obama administration the communication records of millions of US citizens are being collected indiscriminately and in bulk – regardless of whether they are suspected of any wrongdoing.

The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (Fisa) granted the order to the FBI on April 25, giving the government unlimited authority to obtain the data for a specified three-month period ending on July 19.

Under the terms of the blanket order, the numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls. The contents of the conversation itself are not covered.

The disclosure is likely to reignite longstanding debates in the US over the proper extent of the government’s domestic spying powers.

Under the Bush administration, officials in security agencies had disclosed to reporters the large-scale collection of call records data by the NSA, but this is the first time significant and top-secret documents have revealed the continuation of the practice on a massive scale under President Obama.

The unlimited nature of the records being handed over to the NSA is extremely unusual. Fisa court orders typically direct the production of records pertaining to a specific named target who is suspected of being an agent of a terrorist group or foreign state, or a finite set of individually named targets.

The Guardian approached the National Security Agency, the White House and the Department of Justice for comment in advance of publication on Wednesday. All declined. The agencies were also offered the opportunity to raise specific security concerns regarding the publication of the court order.

The court order expressly bars Verizon from disclosing to the public either the existence of the FBI’s request for its customers’ records, or the court order itself.

“We decline comment,” said Ed McFadden, a Washington-based Verizon spokesman.

The order, signed by Judge Roger Vinson, compels Verizon to produce to the NSA electronic copies of “all call detail records or ‘telephony metadata’ created by Verizon for communications between the United States and abroad” or “wholly within the United States, including local telephone calls”.

The order directs Verizon to “continue production on an ongoing daily basis thereafter for the duration of this order”. It specifies that the records to be produced include “session identifying information”, such as “originating and terminating number”, the duration of each call, telephone calling card numbers, trunk identifiers, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) number, and “comprehensive communication routing information”.

The information is classed as “metadata”, or transactional information, rather than communications, and so does not require individual warrants to access. The document also specifies that such “metadata” is not limited to the aforementioned items. A 2005 court ruling judged that cell site location data – the nearest cell tower a phone was connected to – was also transactional data, and so could potentially fall under the scope of the order.

While the order itself does not include either the contents of messages or the personal information of the subscriber of any particular cell number, its collection would allow the NSA to build easily a comprehensive picture of who any individual contacted, how and when, and possibly from where, retrospectively.

It is not known whether Verizon is the only cell-phone provider to be targeted with such an order, although previous reporting has suggested the NSA has collected cell records from all major mobile networks. It is also unclear from the leaked document whether the three-month order was a one-off, or the latest in a series of similar orders.

The court order appears to explain the numerous cryptic public warnings by two US senators, Ron Wyden and Mark Udall, about the scope of the Obama administration’s surveillance activities.

For roughly two years, the two Democrats have been stridently advising the public that the US government is relying on “secret legal interpretations” to claim surveillance powers so broad that the American public would be “stunned” to learn of the kind of domestic spying being conducted.

Because those activities are classified, the senators, both members of the Senate intelligence committee, have been prevented from specifying which domestic surveillance programs they find so alarming. But the information they have been able to disclose in their public warnings perfectly tracks both the specific law cited by the April 25 court order as well as the vast scope of record-gathering it authorized.

Julian Sanchez, a surveillance expert with the Cato Institute, explained: “We’ve certainly seen the government increasingly strain the bounds of ‘relevance’ to collect large numbers of records at once — everyone at one or two degrees of separation from a target — but vacuuming all metadata up indiscriminately would be an extraordinary repudiation of any pretence of constraint or particularized suspicion.” The April order requested by the FBI and NSA does precisely that.

The law on which the order explicitly relies is the so-called “business records” provision of the Patriot Act, 50 USC section 1861. That is the provision which Wyden and Udall have repeatedly cited when warning the public of what they believe is the Obama administration’s extreme interpretation of the law to engage in excessive domestic surveillance.

In a letter to attorney general Eric Holder last year, they argued that “there is now a significant gap between what most Americans think the law allows and what the government secretly claims the law allows.”

“We believe,” they wrote, “that most Americans would be stunned to learn the details of how these secret court opinions have interpreted” the “business records” provision of the Patriot Act.

Privacy advocates have long warned that allowing the government to collect and store unlimited “metadata” is a highly invasive form of surveillance of citizens’ communications activities. Those records enable the government to know the identity of every person with whom an individual communicates electronically, how long they spoke, and their location at the time of the communication.

Such metadata is what the US government has long attempted to obtain in order to discover an individual’s network of associations and communication patterns. The request for the bulk collection of all Verizon domestic telephone records indicates that the agency is continuing some version of the data-mining program begun by the Bush administration in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attack.

The NSA, as part of a program secretly authorized by President Bush on 4 October 2001, implemented a bulk collection program of domestic telephone, internet and email records. A furore erupted in 2006 when USA Today reported that the NSA had “been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth” and was “using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity.” Until now, there has been no indication that the Obama administration implemented a similar program.

These recent events reflect how profoundly the NSA’s mission has transformed from an agency exclusively devoted to foreign intelligence gathering, into one that focuses increasingly on domestic communications. A 30-year employee of the NSA, William Binney, resigned from the agency shortly after 9/11 in protest at the agency’s focus on domestic activities.

In the mid-1970s, Congress, for the first time, investigated the surveillance activities of the US government. Back then, the mandate of the NSA was that it would never direct its surveillance apparatus domestically.

At the conclusion of that investigation, Frank Church, the Democratic senator from Idaho who chaired the investigative committee, warned: “The NSA’s capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter.”

Additional reporting by Ewen MacAskill and Spencer Ackerman

 

7 Body Language Tips to Bear in Mind When Negotiating.

Negative Example: Mr X crooked his wrist and slumped his head sideways, crashing it into the open palm of his right hand.

Positive Example:  Mr X came around from behind his desk walking boldly towards his visitor. The barrier of furniture had been dissolved and Mr X met the gaze of the salesman with a disarming confidence.

Body language can betray or confirm your words. An employee can leave his hopes of a pay rise at the door if during the review he sits slouched with his legs strewn out under his boss’ desk or even in more discreet ways fails to present himself as assertive and capable. Fortunately one can boost their chances with a few tips.

1)     Don’t touch your neck

The neck is a vulnerable area. So don’t touch it. If you are rubbing the back of your neck, lightly pinching your Adam’s apple or doing other inventive neck activity this is likely to lead someone to mistrust you or communicate that obvious fact that you are uncomfortable. You will be unable to strong arm that cockney car salesman as he will jump at the signal his helpless prey has just fired off.

2)     Firm handshake

This is essential. There are few things far worse, excluding flatulence, than a flimsy moist handshake. Bill Clinton claimed he always endeavored to meet the web between the thumb and index finger. This is usually a reliable technique. However a firm handshake is not a vice grip. It is about being expressive not aggressive (not physically at least)

3)     Mr. Mime

Professor Michael Wheeler from Harvard Business School observed that “after two or more people have been in each other’s presence for just a few minutes, their behavior begins to subtly converge…breathing patterns and heart rates sync up, and they also tend to mimic each other’s posture and hand gestures.” Emulation is a sign of flattery. It shows the other party you are at ease and are subconsciously in agreement with them. This is a useful negotiating tool as often it is about aligning your interests with that of another.

4)     Contact

During the presidential debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney both men made use of physical contact. Obama shook hands with Romney and placed his other hand high on Romney’s shoulder. Analysts speculate that this is a gesture of control. It is also one of affection and can melt the corporate armour of the suit jacket. We touch a persons arm to guide them, to show pity, to reassure them. By doing the same in negotiation we tap into all such associations at once.

5)     Fidgeting

To be a good negotiator implies control over a situation. You cannot be in a position of control if you’re twiddling your thumbs, licking your lips whilst impatiently waggling your feet. It will put the other person on edge and scream incompetence. Relax and sit calmly. If you’re going to make any gestures, time them and execute them with conviction.

6)     Posture

If you’re sitting down, sit up and look interested. While you might not need to lunge across the table attacking the space with your elbows it is equally bad to tilt your head back and gaze at the ceiling. If you’re standing, pin those shoulders back to avoid the slouch, pronounce that chest and revert back to a primitive form of masculinity. Just don’t bash on your chest or make any gorilla roars.

7)     Smile

You’re a warm approachable and honest person. Well if you’re not that, at least this should help create that image. One part of business is about transparency, it is simply not desirable to enter any negotiations with a deceitful agent, and people prefer to be assured of credibility. A smile goes a long way here: it tells the other party that you are at ease, unstressed, and personable. In turn they may feel at ease and negotiations can continue untrammeled.

A last note on body language is that all the above can never look too contrived. Body language must be natural otherwise you risk walking around like a creepy robot or unnerving people with mistimed touchy feely gestures.

Featured images:

•  License: Creative Commons image source

This article was supplied by Josh Hervall, a keen blogger and negotiation enthusiast. He writes for www.thegappartnership.com, experts in Business Negotiation Training.

 

 

Boston Marathon bombing suspect arrested

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A street is closed near the scene of twin bombings at the Boston Marathon on April 17, 2013 in Boston.(AFP Photo / Spencer Platt)

Law enforcement officials in Boston tell reporters that they have arrested a suspect thought responsible for Monday’s deadly bombing.

CNN confirmed the news at 1:45 p.m. local time when journalist John King said both a federal source and a Boston law enforcement source confirmed the news. Reporter Fran Townsend then added over the phone that “there is an arrest that has been made in the Boston bombing case based off of two independent videos.”

The suspect is now expected to arrive at a federal courthouse in Boston.

Earlier in the day, CNN reported shortly after 1 p.m. that a suspect has apparently been identified. The suspect’s name has not been made public as of this time, but he is reportedly a dark-skinned male, according to police.

According to CNN’s sources, surveillance video from a Lord and Taylor department store and a local television station are believed to have helped authorities identify the person sought responsible for Monday’s incident, which US President Barack Obama said on Tuesday is being investigated as an act of terror.

 

New Lord and Tayloк shop in Boston.(Image from Google.com)

 

CNN’s King reports from Boston that the video footage helped police narrow in on a person being considered a suspect in the attack “to such detail, I’m told, that they believe they have a clear identification, including a facial image of a suspect.”

The footage, sources say, show the suspect carrying and perhaps placing down a black bag that is thought to have contained a bomb that was detonated at the second of two crime scenes near the finish line of the annual Boston Marathon just before 3 p.m. on Monday.

The mayor of Boston, Massachusetts has confirmed that a suspect was ID’d, and officials are expected to speak to the press at 5 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. According to sources speaking to the Boston Globe, authorities may publicize their findings at that briefing.

 

 

Forget Washington — Cities Will Win or Lose America

by Jim Clifton

Throughout this year’s long election season, I was often asked: “Who will be better for jobs and the economy, President Obama or Governor Romney?” My reply most surely disappointed partisans from both sides: The president of the United States doesn’t make as much difference in terms of creating economic energy as you’d think, according to Gallup data.

In fact, if the president mattered that much, why is it that cities and states have such extreme variation in their local GDP and job growth? Shouldn’t they all go up or down together with each president?

Instead, Austin, Texas, and Nashville, Tenn., are booming, while Albany, N.Y., and Stockton, Calif., are failing. Texas is prospering while California is almost surely going broke. Austin’s jobless rate is around 5%, while the unemployment rate in Stockton is above 13%.

The reality is, when it comes to creating economic growth and good jobs, local leadership trumps national leadership. For instance, Austin and Albany are both capital cities in big American states. Neither city is located by a port or a natural tourist attraction with beaches or mountains. They’re pretty much alike, except that Austin wins big and Albany loses big.

The difference, in my view, is that Austin has deeply caring, highly engaged business, political, and philanthropic leaders with principles, policies, beliefs, and values about human nature that work. They understand how to build a thriving, growing economy — one that welcomes business and entrepreneurship. Albany has the opposite, as I see it: Leaders with principles, policies, values, and beliefs that discourage business and entrepreneurship, if not outright scaring them away.

Cities across the country with great leadership are filled with booming startup companies, and those cities have thriving economies that create authentic, organically grown good jobs. These cities are saving America, while the others are letting the country down.

Great city leadership has never been so needed. Nationally, business startups are currently growing at under 400,000 annually. If this rate doesn’t double soon, in my view, absolutely nothing will fix our current nightmare of joblessness.

And this just isn’t a problem that Washington can fix, regardless of who is president. Of course good policy for small businesses is better than bad policy, but in my opinion, the estimated 10,000 business, political, and philanthropic leaders of all shapes and sizes who drive the performance of America’s top 100 cities are the most important people in our country right now. Nothing can be more important to these essential American leaders than turning their towns into roaring economic engines that encourage entrepreneurs to thrive. When it comes to building and sustaining economic energy, frankly, they matter more than the president.

The United States is at a critical juncture in its economic history. Whether the country makes a historic comeback or slowly goes broke, it will do so one city at a time.

 

Jim Clifton is Chairman and CEO of Gallup. He is author of The Coming Jobs War (Gallup Press, 2011).

Related articles

• Hippie Hollow Homes Releases “What Homeowners Can Do To Help You Sell Your House Fast In Austin, Texas” Report (prweb.com)

 

 

Obama’s second term: What will it mean for employers?

 

Federal agencies will continue to interpret the laws that protect employees very broadly and enforce them very aggressively.

By Jonathan A. Segal

 

FORTUNE — Democrats have retained control of the White House and the Senate. Republicans have retained control of the House. So the voters, again, have voted for divided government.

What will it mean for workers and their employers? Much of it depends on how Republicans read and respond to the election results.

For example, the House and most Senate Republicans have opposed Democratic proposals that would offer a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants and strengthen existing non-discrimination laws related to gender pay equity. Yet, exit polls suggest that the Democratic victory was in part due to big wins among Latinos and women.

MORE: Congratulations, Mr. President. Here’s how to fix the economy.

How the Republicans will respond to the election results is still up in the air. What is clear, though, is that President Obama will continue to control appointments to the administrative agencies. What is equally clear is that the administrative agencies will continue to interpret the laws that protect employees very broadly and enforce them very aggressively.

Expect the National Labor Relations Board to try to reduce the period of time for an election to take place after a union has filed a petition to represent a group of employees. Shorter election periods generally benefit unions, since unions can start to campaign long before employers even know of the campaign.

We can also expect the NLRB to continue to challenge common workplace rules, for example, rules that prohibit disparagement of an employer or its employees. The NLRB’s theory is that such rules interfere with what’s called protected concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act. Protected concerted activity generally means that union and non-union employees alike have the right to discuss the terms and conditions of their employment, even with social media. That right may include comments that are negative, even disparaging.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will also continue to focus on social issues. For example, the EEOC recently published guidance on how victims of domestic violence could be protected from discrimination under Title VII and the ADA. The EEOC had drafted but decided not to publish guidance in other areas, for example, what are reasonable accommodations for disabled employees under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It is reasonable to expect the EEOC to consider revisiting these and other issues that it had tabled.

MORE: Election 2012: Corporate America gets feisty

And we will likely see more legislation at the state and local level that will affect the employer-employee relationship. Over the past year or so, we have seen states and local jurisdictions impose restrictions on the use of credit reports in the hiring process, the timing of criminal records checks by prospective employers, and the acquisition and use of social media at work. Expect more of the same and anticipate that the bills will tend to favor expanding employee rights.

Former U.S. Speaker of the House Tip O’Neil once said, “all politics is local.” Not only that, but most voters are employees, too.

Jonathan Segal is a partner at the law firm Duane Morris LLP, where he is a member of the firm’s employment, labor, benefits and immigration practice group. This article should not be construed as legal advice. 

Posted in: Barack Obama, election 2012, Labor relations, National Labor Relations Act, National Labor Relations Board, unions

 

 

The Invention of the Cash Mob

Local businesses ultimately tread water for most of their lives under the disinterested eye of major players in the respective industries. Being presented with a pair of water-wings would provide respite for anyone under trying circumstances. On the other side of this metaphor is the recent development of the cash mob, set out to offer water wings to small businesses in as many places as possible.
When Chris Smith conceptualised the idea of a cash mob less than a year ago he might not have realised that it would take off so dramatically. The idea of the cash mob is quite similar to its more social influencer, the flash mob, in that it pools a group of strangers together in an attempt to add value to society in some way. Whether it is an unexpected well-choreographed dance routine in a shopping mall, or for the purposes of mass demonstration for political purposes, a flash mob has an intangible outcome. A cash mob on the other hand aims to provide cash injection for small businesses that could really do with a larger customer base.
Cash mobs are taking off slowly but surely all over the world. As group buying sites become more popular, small to medium-sized businesses take big risks in forking out a lot of money to pay the online retailer as well as reduce their product price. Contrary to a group buying site the cash mob encourages personal interaction with store owners through physical purchases. This adds a new dimension to the buying process and serves as a valuable way of retaining customers.
The optimal cash mob functions in the following way:A vote is taken on which enterprise should be mobbed.A date and time is arranged for the cash mob to take place.The right number of people mob the store without there being too many to handle or too few to make the cash mob a successful venture. Lastly, the mob needs to carry out its main function by spending money in the store through their purchases.
The result of a successful cash mob is that store owners get a valuable injection to their cash flow, allowing them to keep their heads above water for a while longer. This trend will most likely spread out to the rest of the world in the near future and as a relatively new venture the cash mob is already making a bit of a splash online.

Dave Peterson deals in currency as a hobby and has done so for years. Foreign exchange traders are a big part of his life and he’s definitely had his ups and down with them over the years. He realises that forex services differ quite dramatically between firms but building a relationship with your trader is vital for trust purposes.

 

Pink Slip Mitt: Salvation for a Hungry Nation?

MITT RONMEY ON THE CRITICAL ISSUES

On Spending… 

Governor Ronmey wants to cut government waste and spending. Plain and simple. Forget the stupid things Obama thinks are important, like health care and education.  If we just let nature take its course, the ignorant inner city bastards will just all kill each other and we’ll have plenty of money left for oil subsidies and country club memberships.  What the hell, we can even muster enough of the minorities that survive to form one hell of an Army, and invade another country that doesn’t have any weapons of mass destruction!

On Trade… 

Candidate Ronmey supports predatory trade and opening our pockets beyond the American border. This means, Mitt wants complete extortion regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership, create the Dead Reagan Economic Zone, reinstate the Trade Promotion Authority and persecute new trade agreements that promote the occupation of all oil producing countries.  Hell, when we own all the oil, we can have George W. Bush re-negotiate our debt with China.  After talking with him for a few hours the poor bastards will be so confused they will give us anything we want.

On Jobs… 

Mitt Ronmey has an exceptional understanding of labor relations from his experience exploiting government and business. He recognizes the value of immigrants, but is focused on protecting the white Stanford/Harvard educated sons of Governors they serve. This means appointing experienced NLRB individuals, amending the NLRA and reversing Obama’s organized labor orders. Mitt also supports the right of all Americans to be set for life  with companies like Blain Capital, and their daddy’s connections.

On Wimmins… 

Mr. Ronmey supports a fundamental redesign for personhood amendments and the Blunt Amendment as evidence that he’s going as far to the right as anyone can when it comes to women’s reproductive health. Candidate Ronmey also sees his opponent’s folly in condemning Rush Limbaugh after he attacked Sandra Fluke. He and the boys are also working overtime on repealing the women’s suffrage act in time for the upcoming presidential election. “There is plenty to be done in the kitchen and the bedroom, not the boardroom.”

On Immigration…

Governor Ronmey is well versed on the issue of immigration in America. While Governor, he opposed the DREAM Act. He was the Governor of the home of the first maids and gardeners to move up from Cuba through Florida.. Everyone should be welcome to come to the United Statesto serve us, as long as they don’t take any of the jobs a twenty year old in Boston wouldn’t refuse, but they need to do it correctly, as have countless generations of Americans did with the slaves, before us.

The first act of an immigrant should not be an illegal one. Damn it, his parents came here as immigrants, and they had to work hard for his money.  There is now way in hell he wants to share it with anyone else, no matter how unsafe the conditions were where they came from.

“Give us your tired, your hungry, your poor,” Should have read:  “Give us your educated, your young, your investors.”

On Homeland Security…

Governor Ronmey believes that the best offense is a good offense. Our country should be able to and must defend itself, both home, overseas, and by doubling Guantanamo. Governor Ronmey supports the PATRIOT Act and believes it allows the Government the access it needs to deny due process to anyone wearing a turban, or looking like they might even know the location of a Mosque. He firmly supported the National Defense Authorization Act that would have given the President the ability to arrest and detain any United States or foreign Citizen suspected of being a Muslim, a Democrat, or one of them Women’s sympathizers therefore making them a part of al-Qaeda.

He believes that the number one job of the Government is to keep its middle class citizens paying, and as President he will do what it takes to secure our safety from the acts of thought-crime we might unknowingly commit.

I’m Sure You’ve Noticed the Date

 

The Tao Industrial Average and the Art of Deception: Things are Never What They Seem

Have you ever wondered what is in a “chicken tender?”  There is nothing in the name or any other documentation to suggest anything other than it contains parts from a chicken, and that it is tender.  Is there anywhere it says that there is a speck of un-ground breast or that it doesn’t contain every part of the chicken ground up and covered with bread because we are all too dumb to tell the difference?  Pour on the ketchup, or whatever is really in the red bottle, and were all fine.

I don’t mean to sound cynical, but alas that is my fate.  I hear words on the news that after the Greeks were supposedly bailed out financially by (essentially Germany) that they were concerned that they might be losing some of their sovereignty.  Well, gosh.  That is amazing.   To think that someone who has to pay for your financial mistakes might actually have something to say about your actions in the future seems fairly reasonable to me.  When I have to bail out a friend and pay their rent, I think it might occur to me to suggest that they don’t indulge in fine dining for a week or two and that seems to be a violation of ones sovereignty.   The deal is apparently far from done anyhow.  Germany’s highest court ruled that the Bundestag must be given a greater say in euro bailout decisions given the degree to which the common currency rescue could impose on parliament’s right to create Germany’s budget. In response, the Bundestag on Wednesday moved to include provisions for parliamentary co-determination of positions taken by Germany on the euro bailout at European Union summits in Brussels. Under the multilevel process, depending on the importance, the urgency and confidentiality, decisions can either be approved by the entire 620-member Bundestag, by the 41-person budget committee or by the nine-member special panel. ‘The Bundestag Cannot Be Replaced’.”

Warren Buffett has challenged Rupert Murdochto tax return disclosure-off.

The Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journalran an editorial asking Buffet, the namesake of a proposed guideline that would ensure that those who make more than $1 million pay proportional tax rates, to make public his tax returns. “No doubt the millions of Americans who could end up paying more because of this claim would love to see the details,” they wrote, urging the Berkshire Hathaway CEO to consider the disclosure an “opportunity to educate the public” on “his secret of tax avoidance.”

When asked during Fortune‘s Most Powerful Women Summit whether or not he would be willing to do so, Buffett said he would be happy to — so long as News Corp’s most superior might join him.

China holds about $1.2 trillion in U.S. government debt, according to the Treasury Department’s latest figures. That’s about 30 percent higher than the previous estimate.

Then there is Obama health care.  What started out as an honest effort has turned into a joke.

A new Kaiser Family Foundation poll finds the support for ObamaCare has dipped yet again, with just 34 percent of Americans favoring the president’s signature health care overhaul.

What’s more, just 52 percent of Democrats support the law, a troubling sign for President Obama a year before Election Day. Thirty-one percent of Democrats view the law either “somewhat” or “very” unfavorably.

The budget debates are enough to give a teenage boy a Boehner.

Have you ever wondered about a “Peppery Zinfandel?”  What does that mean exactly? What is to stop the winemaker from taking a bunch of very average Zin grapes and dumping a pound of ground pepper in the barrel? Who would know?

Life without metrics and accountability is like that.  What we post on the internet is largely without measure or control.  Eventually our Karma will be affected by the crap that we put out if we do that, but really, there are no “thought police” out there.  We all have to be responsible to our audience, and true to our purpose.  There is enough deception out there as it is.

 

Obama: Al-Qaida Head bin Laden Dead

AP Photo

In this April 1998 file photo, Osama bin Laden is shown in Afghanistan. More photos »

AP – President Barack Obama reads his statement to photographers after making a televised statement on the …

By JULIE PACE and MATT APUZZO, Associated Press – 27 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Osama bin Laden, the glowering mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that murdered thousands of Americans, was killed in an operation led by the United States, President Barack Obama said Sunday.

“Justice has been done,” said the president in a dramatic late-night announcement at the White House.

A small team of Americans killed bin Laden in a firefight Sunday at a compound in Pakistan, the president said, and took custody of his remains. Americaj officials said they were being handled in accordance with Islamic tradition.

A jubilant crowd gathered outside the White House as word spread of bin Laden’s death after a global manhunt that lasted nearly a decade.

Former President George W. Bush, who was in office on the day of the attacks, issued a written statement hailing bin Laden’s death as a momentous achievement. “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done,” he said.

Obama said he ordered the operation after receiving undisclosed intelligence information. Senior administration officials said the terrorist mastermind was found inside a custom-built compound with two security gates. They said it appeared to have been constructed to harbor one high-value target and that for undisclosed reasons, officials became clear the hideout was bin Laden’s.

Officials also said they believe the death puts al-Qaida on a path of decline that will be difficult to reverse, but there was no word on the whereabouts of bin Laden’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri.

The stunning end to the world’s most widely-watched manhunt came just months before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Centers and Pentagon, orchestrated by bin Laden’s al-Qaida organization, that killed more than 3,000 people.

Click image to see photos of bin Laden, reaction to death

AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta

The attacks a decade ago seemed to come out of nowhere, even though al-Qaida had previously damaged American targets overseas.

The terrorists hijacked planes, flew one of them into one of Manhattan’s Twin Towers — and, moments later, into the other one. Both buildings collapsed, trapping thousands inside and claiming the lives of firefighters and others who had rushed to help them.

A third plane slammed into the Pentagon, defacing the symbol of America’s military night. A fourth crashed in rural Pennsylvania after passengers overpowered the hijackers and forced the craft from the air — before it could hit its intended target in Washington.

The attacks set off a chain of events that led the United States into wars in Afghanistan, and then Iraq, and America’s entire intelligence apparatus was overhauled to counter the threat of more terror attacks at home.

A senior administration official says Obama gave the final order for U.S. officials to go after bin Laden on Friday. The official added that a small team found their quarry hiding in a large home in an affluent suburb of Islamabad. The raid occurred in the early morning hours Sunday.

Administration officials offered some details of the operation.

Based on statements given by U.S. detainees, intelligence officials have known for years that bin Laden trusted one al-Qaida courier in particular and they believed he might be living with him in hiding. In November, intelligence officials found out where he was living, a huge fortified compound in an affluent suburb of Islamabad. It was surrounded by walls as high as 18 feet high, topped with barbed wire. There were two security gates and no phone or Internet running into the house.

Intelligence officials believed the $1 million home was custom-built to harbor a major terrorist. CIA experts analyzed whether it could be anyone else, but time and again, they decided it was almost certainly bin Laden.

Three adult males were also killed in Sunday’s raid, including one of bin Laden’s sons, whom officials did not name. One of bin Laden’s sons, Hamza, is a senior member of al-Qaida.

Obama spoke with Bush and former President Bill Clinton Sunday night to inform them of the developments.

Obama struck a less than boastful tone in his brief announcement, although he said the death of bin Laden was “the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al-Qaida.

“His death does not mark the end of our effort. There’s no doubt that al-Qaida will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must and we will remain vigilant,” he added.

Moments after he spoke, American officials cautioned that the events could lead to heightened threats against the United States.

Officials said the U.S. would ensure that bin Laden’s body was handled in accordance with Islamic tradition.

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Empathy; According to Barack Obama

Regardless of your politics, I think we can all learn from this.  This is taken from pp 80-81 of his book –  The Audacity of Hope.

“…it was in my relationship with my grandfather that I think I internalized the full meaning of empathy.  Because my mother’s work took her overseas, I often lived with my grandparents during my high school years, and without a father present in the house, my grandfather bore the brunt of much of my adolescent rebellion.  He himself was not always easy to get along with; he was at once warmhearted and quick to anger, and in part because his career had not been particularly successful, his feelings could also be easily bruised.  By the time  I was sixteen we were arguing all the time, usually about me failing to abide by what I considered to be an endless series of petty and arbitrary rules – filling up the gas tank whenever I borrowed his car, say, or making sure that I rinsed out the milk carton before I put it in the garbage.

With a certain talent for rhetoric, as well as an absolute certainty about the merits of my own views, I found that I could generally win these arguments, in the narrow sense of leaving my grandfather flustered, angry, and sounding unreasonable.  But at some point, perhaps in my senior year, such victories started to feel less satisfying.  I started thinking about the struggles and disappointments he had seen in his life.  I started to appreciate his need to feel respected in his own home.  I realized that abiding by his rules would cost me little, but to him it would mean a lot.  I recognized that sometimes he really did have a point, and that in insisting on getting my own way all the time, without regard to his feelings or needs, I was in some way diminishing myself.”

Authors note:  Being right is only half the battle, sometimes less.  If we learn to care about those around us and truly strive to do the next right thing, we all win.  It is easy, and often a very hollow feeling, to bully through an argument or confrontation only to find that the matter could have far more easily been addressed with cooperation and loving-kindness.  Of this I have been guilty far too often.  Thank you for reminding me, Mr. President.