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The rules now allow the little-known National Counterterrorism Center to examine the government files of U.S. citizens for possible criminal behavior, even if there is no reason to suspect them. That is a departure from past practice, which barred the agency from storing information about ordinary Americans unless a person was a terror suspect or related to an investigation.

Now, NCTC can copy entire government databases—flight records, casino-employee lists, the names of Americans hosting foreign-exchange students and many others. The agency has new authority to keep data about innocent U.S. citizens for up to five years, and to analyze it for suspicious patterns of behavior. Previously, both were prohibited. Data about Americans “reasonably believed to constitute terrorism information” may be permanently retained.

If you aren’t guilty, don’t worry! They’ll keep digging and eventually you’ll be guilty of something.

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s CEO Mike Duke found out in 2005 that the retailer’s Mexico unit was handing out bribes to local officials, according to emails obtained by lawmakers.

The lawmakers say the emails contradict earlier claims by Wal-Mart that executives weren’t aware of bribes being made by the company.

[..]

Brooke Buchanan, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said on Thursday that the letter that Waxman and Cummings wrote to Duke “leaves the wrong impression that our public statements are contradicted by the information they released today.”

Sounds like Muhammad Saeed al-Sahhaf found himself a new job!

“They’re not even [within] 100 miles [of Baghdad]. They are not in any place. They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion … they are trying to sell to the others an illusion.”

[Quote]:

What would a Van Gogh painting look like as a life-like image? What would Van Gogh himself look like — not as a series of impressionistic swirls, but as a common photograph? Lithuanian architect and photographer Tadao Cern wanted to find out — so he digitally recreated one of the artist’s most iconic self-portraits as a modern portrait. The result is haunting

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It’s amazing what can be done with nothing more than a computer, time and a boatload of talent. So before the Hollywood bidding war kicks off, check out the latest hit sci-fi short that has studios salivating.

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More than 1,000 Roman Catholic priests have signed a letter voicing fears that same-sex marriage legislation will restrict religious freedoms.

The letter, in the Daily Telegraph, says a law change would “severely restrict” Catholics’ ability to “teach the truth about marriage in schools”.

[..]

The Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Rev Philip Egan, told the Telegraph: “I am very anxious that when we are preaching in Church or teaching in our Catholic schools or witnessing to the Christian faith of what marriage is that we are not going to be able to do it, that we could be arrested for being bigots or homophobes.”

You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!

[Quote]:

A Middle Tennessee firearms trainer who made an ominous comment about killing people in a YouTube video that gained national attention this week has had his handgun carry permit suspended Friday by the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

James Yeager, 42, had his permit suspended based on a “material likelihood of risk of harm to the public,” the department said in a statement.

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A New Hampshire lawyer who works with a virulently anti-gay Christian-right organization has been found guilty of child pornography charges after videotaping her own daughter having sex with two men on multiple occasions.

Lisa Biron, 43, of Manchester faces a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison after a jury convicted her yesterday. The jury deliberated for less than an hour.