In the News: Sep-17

Setback for media shield bill in Senate committee - 17 Sep 2009 at 2:53pm - WASHINGTON -- A bill to give journalists a limited right to protect confidential sources from disclosure was sidetracked Thursday, after senators from both parties said the current version could damage national security.

Gates: US intelligence caused change in plans - 17 Sep 2009 at 10:46am - WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the decision to abandon the Bush administration's plans for a land-based missile defense system in Eastern Europe came about because of a change in the U.S. perception of the threat posed by Iran.

Does he mean because they discontinued the use of cooked/fixed intelligence?

Gov't: Border fence to cost $6.5B over 20 years - 17 Sep 2009 at 9:46am - WASHINGTON -- It will cost taxpayers $6.5 billion over the next 20 years to maintain the fence along the U.S-Mexico border, according to a government audit.

U.S. military shuts largest detainee camp in Iraq - 17 Sep 2009 at 9:43am - BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The U.S. military Thursday closed down its largest detention center in Iraq as it continued to release or hand to Iraqi authorities the thousands of people it has held since the 2003 U.S. invasion.

US backs away from missile shield plan - 17 Sep 2009 at 7:20am - Washington is backing away from plans for an anti-missile shield in eastern Europe, the Czech Prime Minister said, in a move that may ease Russian-US ties but fuel fears in former Soviet bloc countries of resurgent Kremlin influence.

Panel begins inquiry into financial meltdown - 17 Sep 2009 at 4:16am - WASHINGTON -- Four months after its creation, a congressionally appointed panel modeled after the 9/11 Commission and the Iraq Study Group is opening a 15-month investigation into the causes of last year's economy-crippling financial collapse.

Will this panel, like the Iraq Study Group, choose to avoid consideration of any internal missteps which may have contributed to the fiasco?

Thought for the day:
The function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it. -Frank Herbert (1920 - 1986)