“A device designed to control unruly inmates by blasting them with a beam of intense energy that causes a burning sensation is drawing heat from civil rights groups who fear it could cause serious injury and is "tantamount to torture." 

Manufactured originally for the military, the device is made by Raytheon [...]]]>

“A device designed to control unruly inmates by blasting them with a beam of intense energy that causes a burning sensation is drawing heat from civil rights groups who fear it could cause serious injury and is "tantamount to torture." 

Manufactured originally for the military, the device is made by Raytheon Missile Systems and sells for $750,000, a tad more than the ole rubber hose used by cops of the Broderick Crawford era.  But just like the old rubber hose this device leaves no evidence of its use and promises to be even more painful.  An interrogator’s dream it would seem.  “Fess up pal, or we’ll fry you into next Tuesday.”

No doubt, some of that grand technology left to us by the GREAT Bush team.

Here’s the jump: LA authorities plan to use heat-beam ray in jail

“Based on various industry reports and FBI analysis, mortgage fraud is pervasive and growing,” Chris Swecker, [...]]]> The Seattle p-i is reporting that the Bush Administration went to extraordinary measures to thwart the FBI’s investigation of Financial Institutions.  It is clear the agency knew the implications of such actions as evidenced by this testimony

“Based on various industry reports and FBI analysis, mortgage fraud is pervasive and growing,” Chris Swecker, then assistant director of the criminal investigation division, said in October 2004 before the House subcommittee on housing and community opportunity.

Then Swecker made a chillingly accurate prediction of the coming mortgage meltdown and financial collapse:

“The potential impact of mortgage fraud on financial institutions in the stock market is clear. If fraudulent practices become systemic within the mortgage industry and mortgage fraud is allowed to become unrestrained, it will ultimately place financial institutions at risk and have adverse effects on the stock market.”

You can read about the whole slimy mess here: FBI saw mortgage fraud early

These white-collar [...]]]> “A South Georgia peanut butter plant linked to a national salmonella outbreak failed to follow safe food practices when it found evidence of the bacteria in its products and still sold them, federal health officials said Tuesday. The plant found salmonella contamination on 12 occasions in the last two years..”

These white-collar murderers decided that a dollar was ultimately more important and more valuable than you or your child’s life and health. Make no mistake, this was a coldly calculated risk on the part of the plant owners and operators.  It was a risk they took once too often over the past couple of years and it finally blew up in their face.  Unfortunately it cost several people their lives.  Eight deaths have been attributed to the outbreak.  I suspect that there are many times that number owing to several factors, but primarily, just plain old misdiagnosis, especially among the elderly. 

Here is one of the eight stories: First Wrongful Death Lawsuit Filed in Salmonella Outbreak Linked to Peanut Corporation of America

Excerpt: “According to the complaint, the product was delivered to a nursing home in Brainerd, Minnesota, where Mrs. Almer was temporarily residing.”

I cannot imagine how a parent of one of the child victims would feel or react.  Apparently the company responsible for this tragedy does however, they have removed all pertinent information about themselves from the internet.  When you Google them, all the corporate pages come back 404 not found.  I suppose one could consult the SEC web site to discover the corporate officers. And I have a link, for the curious, to some archives of the site before they shuttered it:  Peanut Corp. of America via webarchive.org. Yes, you’re welcome.

I like the way China recently handled their baby formula problem.  They charged, tried, convicted and quite promptly executed the top man at the Government’s Food Safety Department.  Hung him, to the best of my recollection.  Now there’s some real accountability that we could use just a little bit of.  The people that calculate and purposely take these risks with other people’s lives should know that there might just be a noose, or gas chamber, or an electric chair in their future.

Jump to Atlanta Constitution Journal: “Peanut plant found salmonella, sold products anyway”

Oh, by the way, here’s a nice and simple recipe for Homemade Peanut Butter

A Federal Appeals Court in Washington, D.C. has ruled that even purposely breaking the law is OK if you’re a government employee. Plain and simple. In a ruling that shakes the very foundations of the American justice system, the three judge panel states: “Government employees who engage in questionable acts, [...]]]> Updated 08/13/2008 at 1:23pm.

A Federal Appeals Court in Washington, D.C. has ruled that even purposely breaking the law is OK if you’re a government employee. Plain and simple.
In a ruling that shakes the very foundations of the American justice system, the three judge panel states: “Government employees who engage in questionable acts, such as abusing prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay facility or engaging in defamatory speech, cannot be held individually liable if they are carrying out official duties”.
“The conduct, then, was in the defendants’ scope of employment regardless of whether it was unlawful or contrary to the national security of the United States,” Appeals Court Chief Judge David Sentelle wrote in the opinion.

Jump to Reuters Article: Appeals court upholds CIA leak lawsuit dismissal

Update: U.S Attourney General stated on Tuesday that ““Not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime.” No criminal prosecutions are planned for former Justice Department officials accused of allowing politics to influence the hiring of prosecutors, immigration judges and other career government lawyers, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Tuesday.
Jump to AP Article via Yahoo: Mukasey: No prosecutions in Justice hiring scandal

I am still undecided whether this is authoritarianism or totalitarianism. In any case, it is absolutely at odds with American ideology.

Jump to ABC News Article: Man Cleared for Killing [...]]]> "A Texas man who shot and killed two men he believed to be burglarizing his neighbor’s home won’t be going to trial. A grand jury today failed to indict Joe Horn, a 61-year-old computer technician who lives in an affluent subdivision in Pasadena, Texas."

Jump to ABC News Article: Man Cleared for Killing Neighbor’s Burglars