New Hampshire Health News Digest

ABC News: Does Loophole Give Rich Kids More Time on SAT? : "March 30, 2006 — When Ali Hellberg, 19, was in prep school, she said several of her classmates obtained notes from psychologists diagnosing them with learning disabilities, even though they didn't have any learning problems. They faked learning disabilities to get extra time to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test, or SAT, in the hopes of getting a higher score, she said. 'I had a friend who is a good math student but is no math brain, and she got extended time and got a perfect score on her math SAT,' Hellberg said. That friend now attends an Ivy League school. Some call this scheme the rich-kids loophole. With intense competition to get into Ivy League and other elite colleges, students say they need nearly perfect SAT scores, as well as great grades and impressive extra-curricular activities. A rising chorus of critics say high school students from wealthy ZIP codes and elite schools obtain questionable diagno...

Mexican flag burned at Apache Junction HS : By Blake Herzog East Valley Tribune Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.31.2006 Tensions over immigration reform heightened in the Phoenix area's East Valley Thursday when students raised a Mexican flag over Apache Junction High School — and then other students yanked it down and burned it. 'I know (they) shouldn't have burned the Mexican flag,' said Jacob Stewart, a 16-year-old sophomore. 'I heard it was raised above the American flag and that just irked me.' He said the turbulence was tied to debates going on in the state Legislature and Congress, where ideas ranging from offering illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship to making them felons are being floated. Freshman Chelsea Garcia, 15, and junior Brittany Ramage, 16, said the unrest had more to do with long-running racial tensions at the school. The week's events might have sparked some anger, Ramage said, 'but kids aren't too deep about that stuff....

Retired fireman's identity mired in 40-year-old fudge : "Cattorini has managed to run afoul of one of our new federal anti-terrorism laws, the Real ID Act, which has him real frustrated -- so frustrated that he called me. In one respect, as you will see, Cattorini is a victim of a bureaucratic snafu that he correctly surmises must be affecting many other people these days. In another respect, though, the problem is of his own making. Either way, it's a cautionary tale worth telling. For Cattorini, the problem started Jan. 3 when he went to an Illinois Secretary of State facility to renew his driver's license, which was due to expire on his birthday, Jan. 17. When he finally got to the head of the line and submitted his paperwork, Cattorini learned there was a problem: He could not renew his driver's license because there was a discrepancy between the year of birth listed on his license, 1944, and the year of birth on file with the Social Security Administration, 19...

|| RedState What is NAIS? NAIS is the USDA's National Animal Identification System Draft Strategic Plan to let the government track the births, deaths, co-mingling and all movements of all livestock in the United States. http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/about/pdf/NAIS_Draft_Strategic_Plan_425 05.pdf Which animals are covered? Currently horses, cattle, goats, poultry, sheep, swine, alpacas, llamas, bison, deer and elk. NAIS is not limited to these animals and may also be extended to include dogs, rabbits & other animals. See documents at: http://nonais.org/index.php/2006/02/18/ Who must participate? Anyone with one or more of the covered animals will be required to register their home or business for a 7-digit Premises Identification Number and pay an annual fee. If you have a single horse, goat, chicken, piglet or other species from the above list, then you must register your home for a Premise ID and tag each animal once NAIS becomes mandatory or you may face fines of up to...

Technology News: RFID : Give RFID a Chance : By Jim Flyzik Federal Computer Week "Security Questions RFID is analogous to reading bar codes from a distance. Instead of moving a scanner across an item, RFID wirelessly transmits data from a tagged item to a reader. The technology is already delivering benefits in a variety of areas, from speeding traffic through toll plazas to running cargo through security checks at the country's busiest ports. It could play an even more useful role. But a coalition of more than 20 interest groups, including gun owners, tax reformers, physicians, privacy advocates and others, have decided that RFID has no place in an emerging federal standard that would make state driver's licenses more secure. The Real ID Act of 2005 mandates that machine-readable cards include specific data and apply antifraud technology. The Homeland Security Department is defining the standard now. In a recent letter to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, interest groups c...

|| RedState What is NAIS? NAIS is the USDA's National Animal Identification System Draft Strategic Plan to let the government track the births, deaths, co-mingling and all movements of all livestock in the United States. http://animalid.aphis.usda.gov/nais/about/pdf/NAIS_Draft_Strategic_Plan_425 05.pdf Which animals are covered? Currently horses, cattle, goats, poultry, sheep, swine, alpacas, llamas, bison, deer and elk. NAIS is not limited to these animals and may also be extended to include dogs, rabbits & other animals. See documents at: http://nonais.org/index.php/2006/02/18/ Who must participate? Anyone with one or more of the covered animals will be required to register their home or business for a 7-digit Premises Identification Number and pay an annual fee. If you have a single horse, goat, chicken, piglet or other species from the above list, then you must register your home for a Premise ID and tag each animal once NAIS becomes mandatory or you may face fines of up to...

Do we need internal passports? : "DO WE NEED INTERNAL PASSPORTS? Tuesday, March 14, 2006 We were promised the government would never use Social Security numbers as ID numbers. The government broke that promise. We were promised the income tax would always be small, but now it is large. We were promised the FBI and IRS would never be used by politicians to punish political enemies. Another broken promise. We were promised campaign finance laws would end political corruption. Instead, they have strangled political competition, and the corruption in Congress is worse than ever. Whatever the politicians promise you, the results are likely to be the opposite. We were promised that the groundwork laid for a national identification system by the REAL ID Act would protect us from terrorism. Believe that promise at your own risk. National identification systems -- internal passports -- are one of the hallmarks of police states. Ignore this at your own risk. Are the politicians planning a p...

Feds must drop ID plan - North County Times / The Californian - Editorials The law is called the Real ID Act. As soon as 2008, states will have to issue tamper-proof drivers licenses that contain loads of personal information about the carrier ---- Social Security numbers, date and place of birth, home address ---- a silver platter for criminals who specialize in stealing credit card numbers and raiding bank accounts. Worse, the federal government is leaning toward a technical standard based on Radio Frequency Identification. Called RFID, it has been around for years, but you'll be hearing a lot more about it in the future. RFID powers the clicker that opens your car doors, it lets businesses instantaneously track FedEx shipments, and it collects tolls at 65 miles per hour in the Fastrak system. Using chips a little larger than a grain of rice implanted under the skin of a pet, RFID allows animal shelters to find worried owners. However, the technology's use in drivers licenses...

Devvy Kidd -- New Hampshire rejects national ID : "NEW HAMPSHIRE REJECTS NATIONAL ID By: Devvy March 20, 2006 'Each State, in ratifying the Constitution, is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be bound by its own voluntary act. In this relation, then, the new Constitution will, if established, be a FEDERAL, and not a NATIONAL constitution.' --James Madison, Federalist No. 39, January 1788 If it's one thing architects of totalitarian government out in Washington, DC, despise, it's when the states of the Union stand up and say no! We are seeing more and more state legislatures rebuff the unconstitutional laws coming out of Washington, DC, than we have in decades. One MAJOR victory came last week, although there hasn't been a peep out of any media that I've seen or read: The New Hampshire House voted overwhelmingly to reject the Transportation Committee's recommendation of ITL and in a subsequent motion to pass HB 1582, f...

The Badger Herald - University of Wisconsin-Madison : "Real ID bill Assembly Bill 69 — which mandates Wisconsin’s Division of Motor Vehicles to validate legal residency before issuing drivers’ licenses — is part of the federal Real ID Act, a nationwide effort to combat terrorism in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. “By tightening our requirements, Wisconsin will no longer be one of the weak points where terrorists can obtain an ID,” AB 69 author Rep. Mark Pettis, R-Hertel, said in a release. “An ID is power. It gives you many privileges in our country, from opening a bank account and renting a car to boarding a plane.” Under the federal law, an identification card or driver’s license approved by Real ID Act standards is required to enter a federal building or board an airplane. The Real ID Act orders states to reform their licensing laws to comply with the federal standard by May 2008 under penalty of state residents being barred from boarding airplanes and enteri...

Conspiracy Planet - Criminal Government - New Hampshire House Rejects Real ID Act of 2005 : by INDYBAY.ORG New Hampshire House Rejects Real ID Act of 2005 PATRIOT Act is unconstitutional. 'Marbury V. Madison (1893): Any law that is repugnant to the constitution of the US is NULL AND VOID The New Hampshire House yesterday voted overwhelmingly to reject the Transportation Committee's recommendation of ITL and in a subsequent motion to pass HB 1582, forbidding any state agency from participating in any national ID requirement. The bill is succinct and to the point: STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six AN ACT prohibiting New Hampshire from participating in a national identification card system. Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened: 1 Prohibition Against Participation in National Identification System. The general court finds that the public policy established by Congress in the Real ID Act of 2005, Public ...

Drone aircraft may prowl U.S. skies | CNET News.com : "Drone aircraft may prowl U.S. skies By Declan McCullagh Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: March 29, 2006, 1:41 PM PST Unmanned aerial vehicles have soared the skies of Afghanistan and Iraq for years, spotting enemy encampments, protecting military bases, and even launching missile attacks against suspected terrorists. Now UAVs may be landing in the United States. A House of Representatives panel on Wednesday heard testimony from police agencies that envision using UAVs for everything from border security to domestic surveillance high above American cities. Private companies also hope to use UAVs for tasks such as aerial photography and pipeline monitoring. 'We need additional technology to supplement manned aircraft surveillance and current ground assets to ensure more effective monitoring of United States territory,' Michael Kostelnik, assistant commissioner at Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protectio...

Florida Libertarians Act Against Internet ID Bill : January 17th 2006 Florida Libertarians Act Against Internet ID Bill Don't forget your ID St Petersburg, FL--Did you recently post a message to a friend's blog denouncing government policies--and that could conceivably annoy the President or the Governor--using an alias or username? An estimated 400,000 Americans do something like this every day, often because websites recommend an alias or username. But under a new measure, they've not only possibly committed a Federal Crime, but may have to register as felony sex offenders because it would be a crime under a Violence Against Women clause, say opponents of the measure. 'This is another example of extremists of the right and left joining forces to shut the rest of us up through bizarre stealth legislation,' said Libertarian Party leader Michael Gilson-De Lemos at a meeting of activists in St Petersburg, Florida. The meeting and follow-up web brainstorm, chaired...

Create an e-annoyance, go to jail | Perspectives | CNET News.com ll Perspectives Annoying someone via the Internet is now a federal crime. It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity. In other words, it's OK to flame someone on a mailing list or in a blog as long as you do it under your real name. Thank Congress for small favors, I guess. This ridiculous prohibition, which would likely imperil much of Usenet, is buried in the so-called Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act. Criminal penalties include stiff fines and two years in prison. "The use of the word 'annoy' is particularly problematic," says Marv Johnson, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union. "What's annoying to one person may not be annoying to someone else." It's illegal to annoy A new federal la...

TalkBack: House approves electronic ID cards article | reader response on| CNET News.com House approves electronic ID cards article Reader post by: Edward-keith Pallas (N/A - What's this?) Posted on: February 11, 2005, 6:49 AM PST Story: House approves electronic ID cards House approves electronic ID cards Published: February 10, 2005, 5:46 PM PST By Declan McCullagh Staff Writer, CNET News.com The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Thursday a sweeping set of rules aimed at forcing states to issue all adults federally approved electronic ID cards, including driver's licenses. Under the rules, federal employees (Now there’s a quality dilemma, now private business will need a federal employee to check you out for hiring?) would reject licenses or identity cards that don't comply, which could curb Americans' access to airplanes, trains, national parks, federal courthouses and other areas controlled by the federal government. (So, like what happens to South West Airl...

http://freedomtofascism.com/ I was able to view a free preview of this important movie by Aaron Russo. In it he details the treachery of the Federal government in creating a Federal Reserve bank to pump out funny money, leading us to the brink of the worst currency crash in history. He also rips apart the Federal Income Tax as unconstitutional, and illegal. He goes further to warn about how RFID spychips and a biometric national ID card will further limit our freedoms. Wake up America! The federal goverment was meant to be very small. They would coin GOLD AND SILVER (real) money, protect us from foreign threats, bar tariffs between states, and otherwise let the states do as they want. There was no federal income tax until 1913, and all money was gold and silver. Now we pay more than half our income to the Feds, and the Feds control every aspect of our lives. Republicans and Democrats argue over how the Fed should run things, but the bottom line is the THE FEDERAL GOVERMENT SHOULDN'...

House backs major shift to electronic IDs | CNET News.com House backs major shift to electronic IDs By Declan McCullagh Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: February 10, 2005, 5:46 PM PST The U.S. House of Representatives approved on Thursday a sweeping set of rules aimed at forcing states to issue all adults federally approved electronic ID cards, including driver's licenses. Under the rules, federal employees would reject licenses or identity cards that don't comply, which could curb Americans' access to airplanes, trains, national parks, federal courthouses and other areas controlled by the federal government. The bill was approved by a 261-161 vote. The measure, called the Real ID Act, says that driver's licenses and other ID cards must include a digital photograph, anticounterfeiting features and undefined "machine-readable technology, with defined minimum data elements" that could include a magnetic strip or RFID tag. The Department of Homeland Securit...

National ID cards on the way? | CNET News.com A recent vote in Congress endorsing standardized, electronically readable driver's licenses has raised fears about whether the proposal would usher in what amounts to a national ID card. In a vote that largely divided along party lines, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a Republican-backed measure that would compel states to design their driver's licenses by 2008 to comply with federal antiterrorist standards. Federal employees would reject licenses or identity cards that don't comply, which could curb Americans' access to everything from airplanes to national parks and some courthouses. The congressional maneuvering takes place as governments are growing more interested in implanting technology in ID cards to make them smarter and more secure. The U.S. State Department soon will begin issuing passports with radio frequency identification, or RFID, chips embedded in them, and Virginia may become the first state to g...

Managed to annoy everyone' During a 2000 visit to Malaysia, "Moussaoui managed to annoy everyone he came into contact with," Hambali said. "Moussaoui was constantly suggesting operations the rest of them thought were ridiculous." Tawfiq Bin Atash, a senior al Qaeda operative considered the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing in 2000, also assisted the 9/11 plot. He said Moussaoui called him every day on a phone al Qaeda reserved for emergencies. As a result, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told him to break contact with Moussaoui. Mustafa al-Hawsawi, a United Arab Emirates-based paymaster who helped several of the 9/11 hijackers come to the United States, said "none of the other brothers spoke of" Moussaoui. Tuesday's testimony backs a statement jurors heard Monday from the architect of the plot, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who called Moussaoui "a problem from the start." Moussaoui told the jury that before his arrest in August 2001 he was aware that t...

Belleville News-Democrat | 03/27/2006 | Blagojevich starts spinning Gov. Rod Blagojevich's strategy for getting re-elected is pretty simple: Support emotional, feel-good programs and laws, then dare Republican challenger Judy Baar Topinka to oppose them. It's a strategy that could prove costly to the people of Illinois, in dollars and in damaging policies. One Tuesday, even before Topinka won the GOP primary, Blagojevich began his attacks. He touted All Kids, a universal health insurance program for children that lawmakers rushed to approve in the fall with virtually no discussion. "I don't know what she's thinking when she says no to health care for kids," Blagojevich said. Maybe that Illinois can't afford its existing Medicaid and other health care programs, much less $45 million a year -- for starters -- for a new entitlement. Then Blagojevich proposed raising the minimum wage $1 an hour, from $6.50 to $7.50 an hour. He challenged Topinka to support the...

The Albuquerque Tribune: Commentaries Commentary: The anti-smoking Taliban By Betsy Hart March 27, 2006 Recently a place called a "tobacco bar," Marshall McGearty Tobacco Artisans, was all over Chicago and national news. Like other major cities, Chicago has recently gone "smoke-free" in most public places of any kind. Ah, but there is a place that's exempt. The tobacco bar is set up as a tobacco manufacturer - the place is owned by R.J. Reynolds, the tobacco giant - and it's free from the anti-smoking law. Customers actually choose from loose tobacco blends, and an expensive pack of cigarettes is then made to the customer's order. And then patrons can puff away - right there, inside a closed space, and legally. Scandalous. Is it possible that the anti-smoking do-gooders will leave such folks alone? After all they are adults, there freely of their own accord, choosing to partake in a legal substance, and not bothering anyone else in the process. No way. N...

The Albuquerque Tribune: Commentaries Commentary: The anti-smoking Taliban By Betsy Hart March 27, 2006 Recently a place called a "tobacco bar," Marshall McGearty Tobacco Artisans, was all over Chicago and national news. Like other major cities, Chicago has recently gone "smoke-free" in most public places of any kind. Ah, but there is a place that's exempt. The tobacco bar is set up as a tobacco manufacturer - the place is owned by R.J. Reynolds, the tobacco giant - and it's free from the anti-smoking law. Customers actually choose from loose tobacco blends, and an expensive pack of cigarettes is then made to the customer's order. And then patrons can puff away - right there, inside a closed space, and legally. Scandalous. Is it possible that the anti-smoking do-gooders will leave such folks alone? After all they are adults, there freely of their own accord, choosing to partake in a legal substance, and not bothering anyone else in the process. No way. N...

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Scheme puts smoking ban in homes Breathe easy aims to tackle passive smoking in homes Smokers in Glasgow are being urged to extend the nationwide smoking ban in public places to their own homes. A project in the city's east end has seen 50 people sign up to make their homes smoke free since December. Residents can achieve a gold award by making their home entirely smoke free or silver by having a dedicated ventilated smoking room. The project aims to protect families and young children from the effects of passive smoking. It is currently targeting families with children aged under five. Agnes McGowan, principle health promotion officer (tobacco) with NHS Greater Glasgow, said: "It has been very well received. "Smoking is normalised in communities and a way to deal with stress. 'Courageous step' "We say, you can protect your family." She added: "The smoking ban is significant, I'm absolutely delighted it has been introd...

BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Scheme puts smoking ban in homes Breathe easy aims to tackle passive smoking in homes Smokers in Glasgow are being urged to extend the nationwide smoking ban in public places to their own homes. A project in the city's east end has seen 50 people sign up to make their homes smoke free since December. Residents can achieve a gold award by making their home entirely smoke free or silver by having a dedicated ventilated smoking room. The project aims to protect families and young children from the effects of passive smoking. It is currently targeting families with children aged under five. Agnes McGowan, principle health promotion officer (tobacco) with NHS Greater Glasgow, said: "It has been very well received. "Smoking is normalised in communities and a way to deal with stress. 'Courageous step' "We say, you can protect your family." She added: "The smoking ban is significant, I'm absolutely delighted it has been introd...

Moussaoui Says He Was Part of Plot to Attack White House - New York Times Moussaoui Says He Was Part of Plot to Attack White House * E-Mail This * Printer-Friendly * Reprints * Save Article Article Tools Sponsored By By DAVID STOUT Published: March 27, 2006 ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 27 — Zacarias Moussaoui testified in Federal District Court here today that he knew of Al Qaeda's plans to fly jetliners into the World Trade Center and that he was to have piloted an airliner into the White House on Sept. 11, 2001. Skip to next paragraph Multimedia Video Neil Lewis on the Moussaoui Trial Neil Lewis on the Moussaoui Trial Related Text: Case History (U.S. v. Moussaoui) Taking the stand before the jury that will determine whether he is put to death or spends the rest of his life in prison, Mr. Moussaoui related in calm, measured language that he was to have been accompanied on his death-dive into the White House by Richard C. Reid, the so-called shoe bomber, among other...

ABC News: U.S. Military Wanted to Provoke War With Cuba N E W Y O R K, May 1, 2001 In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba. Code named Operation Northwoods, the plans reportedly included the possible assassination of Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities. The plans were developed as ways to trick the American public and the international community into supporting a war to oust Cuba's then new leader, communist Fidel Castro. America's top military brass even contemplated causing U.S. military casualties, writing: "We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba," and, "casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation." Details of th...

Scripps Howard News Service Ban the bans By JAY AMBROSE Scripps Howard News Service 21-MAR-06 Colorado is joining 12 other states in banning smoking in restaurants and bars, as if customers and workers couldn't decide for themselves if they wanted to spend time where tobacco fumes reside, and as if the owners of these establishments were something less than American citizens whose freedoms should be respected. The legislators cannot be bothered by such trivialities _ self-accountability, ha! _ because they are too busy pretending they are on a noble life-saving mission. It doesn't dampen their enthusiasm to find they are widely applauded by a majority of their constituents who are non-smokers with easily offended nostrils and who are probably mostly ignorant of the most exhaustive research project ever completed on secondhand smoke. The study involved 118,000 Californians. It followed their health history for four decades, and was conducted by highly respected scientists and pu...

Iran's Nuclear Steps Quicken, Diplomats Say - Los Angeles Times Iran's Nuclear Steps Quicken, Diplomats Say Tehran reportedly is gearing up for uranium enrichment. A split in the Security Council may impede efforts to halt the program. By Alissa J. Rubin and Maggie Farley, Times Staff Writers March 25, 2006 VIENNA — With efforts to halt its nuclear program at an impasse, Iran is moving faster than expected and is just days from making the first steps toward enriching uranium, said diplomats who have been briefed on the program. If engineers encounter no major technical problems, Iran could manufacture enough highly enriched uranium to build a bomb within three years, much more quickly than the common estimate of five to 10 years, the diplomats said. Iran insists that it is interested only in producing electricity, which requires low-grade enrichment of uranium. New information about Iran's program came from diplomats representing countries on the United Nations Security Cou...