The Plug Nickel Times is proud to bring you website links to news information that you may not find through your local media. All links are offsite unless otherwise noted - followed links should open in another browser window. Links can become dated or otherwise fail to function, for this reason we quote the actual headline of an article. This may allow you to find an alternate copy of the article through a news index or search engine. Some sites we link to may require a registration process to view an article - this website may be useful to you in those instances. Comments, corrections and submissions are welcome - an email link is at the bottom of the page.
March 1-15, 2005
March 12, 2005
Marines miss recruiting goals for second month
Personal information taken in Nevada DMV office break-in
"A computer taken during the break-in contained names, ages, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, photographs and signatures of southern Nevada residents who obtained driver's licenses between Nov. 25 and March 4 at the North Las Vegas office, state DMV chief Ginny Lewis said."
Gambling Interests Funded DeLay Trip
March 9, 2005
On this date one year ago the Plug Nickel Times went online!
Chief of Central Baghdad Police Station Shot Dead
Hizbollah Draws Vast Pro-Syrian Crowds in Beirut
"Hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Lebanese flooded central Beirut Tuesday for a pro-Syrian rally called by Hizbollah militant group that dwarfed previous protests demanding that Syrian troops quit Lebanon."
Ex-Marine Says Public Version of Saddam Capture Fiction
"A former U.S. Marine who participated in capturing ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein said the public version of his capture was fabricated.
Ex-Sgt. Nadim Abou Rabeh, of Lebanese descent, was quoted in the Saudi daily al-Medina Wednesday as saying Saddam was actually captured Friday, Dec. 12, 2003, and not the day after, as announced by the U.S. Army."
LexisNexis Says 32,000 Profiles Stolen
"Data broker LexisNexis on Wednesday said that identity thieves have gained access to profiles of 32,000 U.S. citizens, prompting calls for better consumer protections after a rash of similar break-ins."
Credit Information Stolen From DSW Stores
"Credit card information from customers of more than 100 DSW Shoe Warehouse stores was stolen from a company computer's database over the last three months, a lawyer for the national chain said Tuesday."
Taser Gun Used On Man Who Refused Urine Sample
March 6, 2005
Bush Gave CIA Expansive Interrogation Power
"The Bush administration gave the CIA extensive authority to send terrorism suspects to foreign countries for interrogation just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, The New York Times reported on Sunday.
The newspaper said President Bush signed a still-classified directive that gave the CIA broad power to operate without case-by-case approval from the White House in the transfer of suspects -- a process known as rendition."
CIA Flying Suspects To Torture
"You may not have heard the term 'rendition,' at least not the way the Central Intelligence Agency uses it. But renditions have become one of the most important secret weapons in the war on terror.
In recent years, well over 100 people have disappeared or been 'rendered' all around the world. Witnesses tell the same story: masked men in an unmarked jet seize their target, cut off his clothes, put him in a blindfold and jumpsuit, tranquilize him and fly him away."
March 5, 2005
Iraq Extends Emergency Powers for 30 Days
"Iraq's interim government said on Thursday it was extending emergency powers equivalent to martial law for a further 30 days to crack down on insurgents.
The state of emergency, first imposed in November ahead of a major U.S. assault on the rebel stronghold of Falluja west of Baghdad, would stay in effect into March 31, said a government statement."
UN Inspectors 90 Dangerous Sites Looted in Iraq
"Some 90 sites in Iraq that the United Nations had monitored for unconventional arms materials have been razed or looted since the U.S. intervention, according to a new U.N. inspection report."
DVD Showed GIs Beating Iraqis
"In a twist on the photography that inflamed the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal, a separate group of U.S. soldiers in Iraq shot a video of themselves beating prisoners and using the hand of a dead Iraqi to 'wave hello,' according to documents released Friday."
CIA Killed Afghan Detainee, Hid Body, Officials Say
"A government official told the Post that the detainee 'just disappeared from the face of the earth.' He was buried in an unmarked grave in an unmarked cemetery, no family members were notified, and he was not on any lists of detainees. The detainee's connection to a terrorist organization or other violent group was never established. The CIA inspector general says it is investigating the case, but meanwhile the CIA officer who ordered the treatment has been promoted."
Missing Imam's Trail Said to Lead From Italy to CIA
"When Hassan Osama Nasr, a controversial Egyptian-born imam, vanished from the streets of Milan two years ago, his friends and family insisted he'd been kidnapped by American agents. Few people listened. But today it appears Italian judicial authorities may agree with them.
A leading prosecutor in Milan has opened an investigation into the February 2003 disappearance, which has the hallmarks of a so-called extraordinary rendition, in which American counter-terrorism agents seize and transport suspects to third countries without seeking court permission."
Briton 'may face execution'
"A British terrorist suspect could face the death penalty or imprisonment in Guantánamo Bay if he is extradited to the US, his lawyers said yesterday.
The US authorities want to try Babar Ahmad, 30, from Tooting, south-west London, for allegedly running websites and sending emails to raise money for the fighting in Chechnya and Afghanistan."
Tool Helps Seize Cars of Tax Delinquents
"The BootFinder system was first introduced for catching tax laggards by Arlington County, Va. So far, New Haven is the only other municipality using it, though Connecticut's largest city, Bridgeport, is among those considering a purchase.
The system is comprised of an infrared camera that rapidly scans license plates and, connected to a laptop computer in the New Haven system, scours a list of car tax delinquents. Previously, New Haven officials had to rely on mailed notices and phone calls to try to collect overdue car taxes."
U.S. Hemp Industry Wins Battle with DEA
"The US hemp industry's three-year battle with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) ended early this month when a federal court in San Francisco delivered a final blow to the government, ordered it to pay $21,265 in legal expenses to Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. The California-based company has used hemp oil -- an extract from a plant similar to that which produces the drug marijuana -- in its soap products since 1998, and has largely financed a fight by the Hemp Industries Association (HIA) to overturn DEA efforts to ban the sale of foods containing hemp byproducts."
How to track a PC anywhere it connects to the Net
"Anonymous Internet access is now a thing of the past. A doctoral student at the University of California has conclusively fingerprinted computer hardware remotely, allowing it to be tracked wherever it is on the Internet.
In a paper on his research, primary author and Ph.D. student Tadayoshi Kohno said: 'There are now a number of powerful techniques for remote operating system fingerprinting, that is, remotely determining the operating systems of devices on the Internet. We push this idea further and introduce the notion of remote physical device fingerprinting... without the fingerprinted device's known cooperation.'"
Less Swearing on TV, Demands Former Sex Pistol
"Former Pistols bassist Glen Matlock has called for swearing on British television to be curbed, nearly 30 years after the provocative punk rockers sent shock waves through Britain by using derivations of the dreaded 'f'-word on live TV."
Pathetic Wanker!!
March 2, 2005
Rumsfeld Sued Over Torture in Iraq and Afghanistan
"Two major U.S. human rights groups Tuesday filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago against Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on behalf of eight named Afghan and Iraqi plaintiffs who say they were tortured and abused while in the custody of the U.S. military."
German authorities to arrest Holocaust denier Zundel upon deportation from Canada
"Canadian authorities prepared to deport Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel back to his native Germany, and authorities there said Monday he faces arrest on charges of inciting racial hatred on his return.
Zundel, author of 'The Hitler We Loved and Why,' has been held in a Toronto jail for two years while authorities determined whether he posed a security risk to Canadian society.
...
Authorities were able to open the case because Zundel's Web site is available in Germany, so he is considered to be spreading his message to Germans as well, said a spokeswomen for the Mannheim prosecutor's office, speaking on customary condition of anonymity."
Missile System Intalled Near Bethesda Neighborhoods
"Apparently, an armed missile launcher was installed on the grounds of the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, located a few hundred yards from a residential neighborhood. The Naval Surface Warfare Center is located right outside of the Beltway, between the Clara Barton Parkway and Macarthur Boulevard. The missiles don't make me feel any safer. In fact, I feel like I live in a target area now."
Maximum pain is aim of new US weapon
"One document, a research contract between the Office of Naval Research and the University of Florida in Gainsville, US, is entitled 'Sensory consequences of electromagnetic pulses emitted by laser induced plasmas'.
It concerns so-called Pulsed Energy Projectiles (PEPs), which fire a laser pulse that generates a burst of expanding plasma when it hits something solid, like a person. The weapon, destined for use in 2007, could literally knock rioters off their feet."
Concealed-weapons measure gets preliminary House OK (AZ)
"The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to let people carry weapons - including guns, grenades, rockets, mines and sawed-off shotguns -into schools, polling places and nuclear plants if they claim they're only trying to protect themselves.
The vote on the legislation came after Rep. Ben Miranda, D-Phoenix, pointed out it would bar prosecution of those who want to bring a weapon into the House or Senate. Despite that, lawmakers gave it preliminary approval on a 30-16 margin."
Upset citizens help kill concealed-weapons bill (AZ)
"Facing complaints from citizens and questions from colleagues, a lawmaker has agreed to kill his proposal for major exemptions from state weapons laws."
