O'Neill Says Book Intended to Spark Debate
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer
[Excerpts]
WASHINGTON - Paul O'Neill says he wanted to participate in a book that reveals the inner workings of the Bush administration because he believes the current political system badly stifles meaningful debate on public issues and needs to be fixed.
"I hope people will read it because I think it makes a contribution to illuminating, especially for young people, what I consider to be a bipartisan, broken political process," O'Neill said Tuesday, the day the book, "The Price of Loyalty," began appearing in bookstores nationwide.
However, the Bush administration and its supporters, unhappy with the unflattering portrait of the president that emerges from the book, written by former Wall Street Journal reporter Ron Suskind, stepped up their attacks, charging that a disgruntled O'Neill was seeking retribution for his dismissal as Treasury secretary in December 2002.
With the use of the documents he obtained, which in some cases included transcripts of key White House meetings, author Suskind was able to provide a rare inside look at a White House that has placed a high premium on guarding against unauthorized leaks.
Suskind, in an interview with The Associated Press, said that he planned to post many of the documents on the Internet in coming weeks so that the public can get a firsthand look at how policy has been made in the Bush administration.
"We will begin releasing them in a week or two so the American people can then read these documents for themselves," Suskind said. "This is very much a fact-based view of the administration's first two years."
Millions of Americans could be added to the official lists of suspected terrorists.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/01/04/INGPQ40MB81.DTL
Attempts to suppress protesters become more disturbing in light of the
Homeland Security Department's recommendation that local police
departments view critics of the war on terrorism as potential
terrorists. In a May terrorist advisory, the Homeland Security
Department warned local law enforcement agencies to keep an eye on
anyone who "expressed dislike of attitudes and decisions of the U.S.
government." If police vigorously followed this advice, millions of
Americans could be added to the official lists of suspected terrorists.
Marijuana-legalization advocate Ed “njweedman” Forchion may be heading
back to jail.
‘Njweedman’ indicted for refusing to submit DNA; faces jail time
By Jason Bodner BCT staff writer
[Excerpt]
Marijuana-legalization advocate Ed “njweedman” Forchion may be heading
back to jail.
On Thursday, a grand jury indicted the Pemberton Township resident for refusing to submit a DNA sample, which under a new state law is required of all state prisoners and parolees.
Forchion, who was convicted in October 2000 of possessing 40 pounds of marijuana, has challenged the constitutionality of the law in federal court. Since he was released from state prison in April 2002, Forchion believes it is an after-the-fact form of punishment that is also an illegal invasion of his privacy.
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Adobe, others slip anticounterfeiting code into apps
By Robert Lemos
CNET News.com
January 9, 2004, 5:43 PM PT
URL: http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-5138816.html
[Excerpts]
Photoshop and other programs will no longer be able to open files
containing images of several nations' currencies, said Kevin Connor,
director of product management for Adobe. The code to detect such images
came from the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group, a low-profile
association representing the national banks from Belgium, Canada,
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the
United Kingdom and the United States.
While Connor didn't know which currencies were protected by the
technology, users of Adobe Photoshop CS and Jasc's Paintshop Pro have
complained that files containing images of the new U.S. $20 bill and
several Euro denominations cannot be opened. Moreover, Connor stressed
that the technology is already included in most color printers.
The creator of the technology, Digimarc, confirmed that it had produced
the code under contract to the banking group, but wouldn't discuss any
details.
One poster to Adobe's forums found that even bank-provided images of
currencies couldn't be opened. A collage of several denominations from a
Swedish bank couldn't be opened.
"This is insane," the person wrote. "Nobody, and certainly not software
I pay for, should have any say of what sort of image I am allowed t