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Marshals: Innocent People Placed On 'Watch List' To Meet Quota
"Innocent passengers are being entered into an international intelligence database as suspicious persons, acting in a suspicious manner on an aircraft ... and they did nothing wrong," says one federal Air Marshal. Why? Because a memo from management requires marshals to file one Surveillance Detection Report (SDR) per month, and failure to do so will negatively impact upon their annual raises, bonuses, awards and special assignments.
Marshals deny fabricating stories wholesale, but claim to have resorted to creatively stretching the truth to turn benign acts into potential threats and the
harm this may cause to people who have done nothing wrong seems irrelevant to the marshals and the TSA officials who created the rules.
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 6:53 PM on July 24, 2006
(44 comments)
Save the Bunnies!
Every year, thousands of "pet" rabbits are purchased as Easter gifts, usually for kids, without much thought to the years of care which the animals will need. Within months, humane societies and pet shelters are flooded with the animals, many of which must be euthanized, as there simply aren't enough adopters to give them new homes. In response, the Columbus House Rabbit Society encourages everyone to eschew pet rabbit gifts and say
Make Mine Chocolate!TM instead. And since no campaign is worthwhile these days without a symbolic lapel pin, you can
wear a chocolate bunny to spread the message.
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 2:04 PM on February 17, 2005
(30 comments)
Justly Married
Derek Powazek shares a series of images of same-gender couples who were married in San Francisco over the last week, and sells one stark image in poster form to raise funds for
DontAmend.com, an organization committed to fighting the radical right's efforts to add an anti-gay marriage/union amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 12:09 PM on February 20, 2004
(309 comments)
The fish that threatened national security.
Lara Hayhurst, a student at Pace University, needed to take one small thing through the checkpoint at LaGuardia Airport: her pet beta fish MJ. This was, however, an apparent threat to the security of the airport and Lara's flight home to Pittsburgh for winter break. Flush the fish or become a felon? Read about Lara's decision and how the TSA forced her hand.
Remember, when 2" long tropical fish can freely gain access to our airliners, the terrorists have... yada yada.
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 9:48 PM on December 29, 2003
(53 comments)
Movable Type 2.64 contains a major vulnerability to spammers.
The spam hole, which exists in all versions of the program downloaded before November 26, centers around the mt-send-entry.cgi script, which can be co-opted by spammers who then use your domain and resources to do their dirty work. Users are encouraged to
download and install the new "secured" version of mt-send-entry.cgi or to remove the file from their installation altogether. (If it is not being used, it can be safely deleted without affecting other MT functionality.) The question does arise though, with literally tens of thousands of MT users affected by this vulnerability, why didn't anyone at Six Apart think that this news warranted an announcement anywhere beyond the Movable Type news blog?
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 6:34 PM on December 4, 2003
(34 comments)
A split decision from SCOTUS on Affirmative Action
-- in cases specifically involving the University of Michigan, the court rules that the law school's AA standard is legal while the undergraduate standard is not. The University president is spinning this as a full out victory because the court has now "given a roadmap" for how Affirmative Action programs can be designed for higher education nationwide. While
polls show that Americans want diversity in education but are unsure about Affirmative Action, it doesn't look like it's going away any time soon. And the fundamental question remains: when it comes to education, is being a racial minority four times more important than having held a position of national leadership? Twenty times more important than writing an outstanding admissions essay?
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 8:12 AM on June 23, 2003
(70 comments)
As war looms, a Peace Prize is awarded.
But not to Hamid Karzai, valiantly attempting to rebuild Afghanistan, or 154 other candidates, (a list which will be largely secret until 2052) individuals and groups which are working worldwide. Instead, the Nobel Institute has chosen former U.S. President
Jimmy Carter. The award is not just for his (largely unheralded) work in the last year, but for his "decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development." Deserved? More so than others? Care to second guess the
Norwegians on this one?
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 2:55 AM on October 11, 2002
(68 comments)
It's not a slur, but it sounds too much like one, therefore it's not an appropriate word to be taught in school.
The job of Stephanie Bell, a veteran fourth grade teacher at Williams Elementary School in Wilmington, North Carolina, has been placed in jeopardy. Why? Because she taught a new vocabulary word to her class, and one student's mother became so outraged by the word that she's now on a crusade to have the teacher fired for introducing it to her students, in context, with a definition and discussion of its proper use. The word? The oft-maligned but wholly useful
niggardly. (more inside)
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 1:27 PM on September 5, 2002
(118 comments)
"Relax, this is your captain speaking."
(Chicago Tribune link, use metafilter/metafilter to view) A United Airlines captain made a refreshingly honest, down to earth statement, in the cabin rather than the cockpit, at the beginning of Chicago - DC flight recently. A Chicago Trib reporter transcribed the pilot's remarks, and they seem to be just the kind of no-nonsense reassurance that the flying public could use more of right about now. Would you like to hear something like this the next time you have to fly?
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 1:22 AM on June 18, 2002
(48 comments)
"If Hillary ran, I'd have to run against her,"
proclaims Dr. Laura Schlessinger. Interviewed for the new print publication of the right-fringe Newsmax.Com, Schlessinger describes Hillary (and Bill) as "perverse, disturbed and destructive … and immoral." and says that if Clinton throws her hat into the ring for a 2004 presidential bid, she will feel it necessary to follow suit. There aren't really words...
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 3:01 PM on June 13, 2002
(46 comments)
Missing since January 2001, and no one knew it?
In January 2001, Rilya Wilson was handed over to people who claimed to work for the Florida Department of Children and Families. Department officials say that they do not have custody of the child. In fact, they don't know where she is, or who has her. The child's caseworker's been fired for falsifying documents in another case, and had been slacking in this one. Rilya's grandmother's attempts at following up were apparently stonewalled. No one knows where little Rilya is, but there are some suspicions that she may be the child known as "Precious Doe," a little girl found murdered in Kansas City. How does something like this happen? More importantly, what could be an appropriate consequence for Florida DCF authorities who
lost a five year old child and didn't seem to care?
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 4:53 AM on May 2, 2002
(12 comments)
She's 17? That'll Be One Cow Please, Your Majesty
The king of Swaziland imposed a ban on having sex with any female under the age of 18, in hopes of curbing the nation's growing rate of HIV infections. But he just married a 17 year old girl. (His 9th wife.) His penalty? One cow, as per the rules of the sex ban. The cow was roasted and eaten by a group of 300 young women who marched to the palace to protest the marriage. My question is - how does a cow make up for possibly infecting a young woman with HIV? (I'm not suggesting that the king is infected, but if he were, what good would the cow do?)
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 8:58 AM on November 12, 2001
(24 comments)
Taliban seeks "friendship" with the U.S.
Despite their myriad human rights violations and long-standing involvement in a brutal and bloody civil war, the Afghani Taliban government wants to open diplomatic relations with the U.S. Is there really anything to gain by having friendly relations with a nation under UN sanction which treats their own with brutality and has threatened and defied us at every turn?
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 9:23 AM on July 31, 2001
(15 comments)
Organ Transplants for HIV+ Patients?
The Starzl Institute, one of the most prestigious organ transplant centers in the nation, is making waves in the medical and transplant community by offering new organs to patients with HIV and AIDS. (They are currently evaluating Larry Kramer, co-founder of GMHC and Act-Up for a new liver.) Is this progressive, compassionate medicine, or is it, as some critics have charged, a waste of scarce organs that could go to patients who don't have an underlying fatal virus?
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 8:03 AM on June 15, 2001
(23 comments)
The Flip Side of Radical Environmentalism
Embracing extremely dangerous forms of "protest" such as tree spiking and holding attitudes like "Property is not human, it is not violent to destroy property." as a justification for arson, self-proclaimed eco-terrorists such as the Earth Liberation Front act with blatant disregard to the rights of anyone who disagrees with their radical agenda. Like the
anti-SUV stickerflingers and the kids who get out of control at WTO protests, why can't these folks understand that their unreasonable actions dilute their message to the point of meaninglessness?
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 8:57 AM on May 18, 2001
(51 comments)
Well, gee, no kidding!
The Indiana Education Policy Center released a study yesterday which stated the obvious: strict zero-tolerance policies do not necessarily create safer schools for children and teachers. Expelling students under zero-tol rules doesn't change student behaviour, unfairly targets minority students and can lead to an escalation of dropout rates.
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 12:45 PM on May 17, 2001
(15 comments)
"The Price Of Motherhood"
Ann Crittenden explores the contradictory nature of child-rearing in our society.
"The policies of American business, government, and the law do not reflect Americans’ stated values. Across the board, individuals who assume the role of nurturer are punished and discouraged from performing the very tasks that everyone agrees are essential. " Do you agree with Crittenden's assessment? If so, what steps can be taken to find a balance between what's good for society and business and what's good for kids? (Assuming that the two are mutually exclusive.)
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 12:44 PM on May 10, 2001
(7 comments)
No Constitutional Right to Wear Marilyn Manson Shirts to School
The Supreme Court has upheld the right of a public school to send a student home for wearing what they deemed to be an "offensive" Marilyn Manson t-shirt. The student, according to the court, had no First Amendment right to wear the shirt in an educational setting. And the debate over what rights kids have and do not have in the schoolhouse rages on. . .
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 9:01 AM on March 19, 2001
(97 comments)
Gore: It was your fault, sleazeball! Clinton: No, it was YOUR fault, automaton!
Reports today indicate that Al Gore and Bill Clinton engaged in a heated hour-long blame fest over who caused Gore to lose the election. (Or, to assuage the bitter, caused him to fail to acheive enough of a majority nationwide that the Florida outcome would not have mattered.) Was it Clinton's fault? Was it Gore's? More importantly, does it matter, or does anyone even care anymore?
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 11:00 AM on February 7, 2001
(33 comments)
There are insults, and then there's harrassment
and apparently, a judge thinks that being referred to repeatedly as Monica Lewinsky crosses the line into sexual harassment. A woman's lawsuit against a (now retired) SUNY New Paltz professor may go forward after he called her by the infamous intern's name and made Lewinsky-related jokes towards her throughout a semester. What do you think -- was this just the prof being a mean old jerk, or was this really the creation of a "sexually hostile environment?"
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 11:47 AM on February 2, 2001
(30 comments)
More than Missing Dubyas
Following up
yesterday's iffy Drudge link, a bit more conclusive (MSNBC) reporting of the so-called "pranks" that bitter Clinton & Gore staffers pulled before leaving their offices. (more inside)
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 10:29 AM on January 26, 2001
(25 comments)
Writer Guilty of Voter Fraud
From his stunt during the primaries, Salon writer Dan Savage has plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of voter fraud to avoid trial on a felony charge.
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 7:00 AM on November 8, 2000
(12 comments)
Birth Control Pills for Men
I'm not sure who the target market for this product is, though I'd think that the only women who would trust that a man is truly "on the pill" would be ones who watched him take it every day, so married/cohabitating men only, I suppose. Probably just as well.
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 10:05 AM on July 27, 2000
(10 comments)
Dems blast Playboy as contradictory to equal and civil rights and human dignity, but still take big campaign donations and have fundraisers at the infamous mansion.
Seems like the Democratic party wants to have it both ways. They have taken more than $25,000 in congressional campaign funds and $8,500 for Al Gore's campaign, and a dem leader handpicked by Gore himself is throwing the August 15 bash at the Hef's house, but Playboy is now supposedly officially baaaad, mmmkay? If they're so bad, shouldn't these denunciations have come with checks, made out to Playboy, returning the campaign donations????
posted to MetaFilter by Dreama
at 6:48 PM on July 26, 2000
(8 comments)
