A slender majority of members in the American Psychiatric Psychological Association have voted in favor of a resolution that forbids members from aiding in torture. This was spurred by the complicity of APA members in conducting torture-based interrogation at Guantanamo Bay and other American and American-affiliated secret prisons. Psychos.

Amusing story from the bastion of freedom, Germany.

Kid gets taught a good lesson...don't point out the f-ups of your superiors....all the way from Carleton University.

Interesting case.

"Imagine a database whose aim is to centralize and analyze data on people aged 13 or above who are active in politics or labor unions, who play a significant institutional, economic, social or religious role, or who are 'likely to breach public order.' At first glance one might think the country in question is Russia or Zimbabwe but the truth is, it's a democratic nation which is implementing this database. Specifically, France."

"The U.K. government has lost the personal information of up to four million citizens in one year alone. The astonishing figures, calculated by the BBC, added up as Whitehall departments slowly released their annual reports for the year to April." This at a time when governments want to know everything about us..scary.

"Clayton, California Mayor Gregg Manning is punishing two little kids for taking the initiative to sell their own garden produce from a card table in front of their house."  Manning, "The Man", ordered police to raid their operation because the neighborhood isn't zoned for commerce, and because it constituted an imaginary traffic hazard.

"Here are a couple of accounts of commercial airline pilots, one of whom has been put on the TSA's no-fly list and the other is on the terrorist watch-list, for reasons that no one will disclose."

Interesting stats on DNA testing at the Freakonomics blog.

If you like taking photos of empty swimming pools you might be a pedophile according to Southampton officials. "An 82-year-old woman in Southampton, UK was told she couldn't take photos of an empty wading pool because she might be a pedophile. Because, you know, anything that children touch regularly becomes part of their souls, and if a pedophile looks at those objects, it's just like sexually assaulting a child." The pool was EMPTY!!! Repeat EMPTY!!!