democracynow

* "Meanwhile the Pentagon is now denying reports that it is preparing to soon close the notorious Abu Ghraib prison. On Thursday it was widely reported the Pentagon planned to close the prison within the next three months and transfer the 4,500 detainees to another prison. But defense officials are now saying there's no specific timetable for closing the prison." (link)

* "A protester was thrown out of the Senate hearing after disrupting testimony by Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. The protester said " 'It's an Illegal and immoral war - how many of you have children in the illegal and immoral war. Their blood is on your hands and cannot wash it away. Their blood is on your hands and you cannot wash it away."" (link)
the anti.c.rice will be in australia next week.

* "And in California, a woman is suing her former employer after she was fired for having a bumper sticker for the progressive radio network Air America. The woman, Linda Laroca, alleges in her lawsuit that her boss at Advantage Sales and Marketing fired her on the spot after seeing the bumper sticker and then said "The country is on a high state of alert. For all I know, you could be al-Qaida."" (link)

* " An Israeli-based company called Check Point is in the process of buying the hi-tech firm SourceFire whose technology is used to protect some of the government's most sensitive computer systems at the Pentagon and the National Security Agency. The Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States has launched an investigation into the proposed sale. The FBI reportedly opposes the sale of SourceFire to any foreign firm because the agency fears that would give away the keys to the government's most sensitive computer networks." (link)
bwahahaha.

* in related news, damien has more about ptech (ptech's clients apparently include the Army, the Air Force, Naval Air Command, Congress, the Department of Energy, the Department of Justice, Customs, the FAA, the IRS, NATO, the FBI, the Secret Service, and the White House):

"My first interest in Ptech article was to note that people were jumping up and down about the UAE Ports deal when the Islamic funded company Ptech had its fingers in every piece of US management and defense software and that the principals had close ties to the Bush admin, and to terrorist funding. So the Ports upset seemed minor in this context.

My second interest was that Ptech is 911 related (which doesn't show up in the article). I'm including it here because the details may be unfamiliar to many. Here's one curiosity most people don't know:

Flight 11 crashed into the north WTC tower about 8:48 am. Yet it's radar blip persisted right up until 9:20 when it disappeared from the FAA radar screens. The 911 Commission actually confirms this, but provides no explanation."

more here, including stuff about PROMIS