Feds order New York City to change lettering on every single street sign

(NY Daily News) - The city will change the lettering on every single street sign - at an estimated cost of about $27.5 million - because the feds don't like the font.

Street names will change from all capital letters to a combination of upper and lower case on roads across the country thanks to the pricey federal regulation, officials said Wednesday.

(Full story)

Body scanners used as porn by airport security

(Gadling.com) - It had to happen sooner or later.

The Nigerian newspaper This Day has reported that security officials at Lagos airport are getting their jollies by watching female passengers go through a full-body scanner.

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Theft of gold necklaces a sign of the dollar's decline?

Not too long ago, we were reading about people stealing copper tubing and copper wiring from homes and businesses. Now, police in St. Paul, Minnesota, are warning of a rash of gold necklace thefts. There have been at least 11 instances in the past three months in which thieves snatched necklaces right off the victims' necks.

You see, even criminals are realizing just how dismal the dollar's future is. Thank you, Federal Reserve!

10,000 TSA employees get secret clearances

(AP) - The new head of the Transportation Security Administration say he's giving 10,000 of the agency's employees access to secret intelligence information to better enable them to detect threats and stop terrorists.

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Wiretapped phones, now Internet?

(NY Times) - Federal law enforcement and national security officials are preparing to seek sweeping new regulations of the Internet, arguing that their ability to wiretap criminal and terrorism suspects is "going dark" as people increasingly communicate online instead of by telephone.

Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications -- including encrypted e-mail transmitters such as BlackBerry, social networking websites such as Facebook and software that allows direct "peer-to-peer" messaging such as Skype -- to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages.

(Full story)

The Pretender

White House invokes state secrets privilege to block targeted killings suit

(AP) - The Obama administration on Saturday invoked the state secrets privilege which would kill a lawsuit on behalf of U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, an alleged terrorist said to be targeted for death or capture under a U.S. government program.

Believed to be hiding in Yemen, al-Awlaki has become the most notorious English-speaking advocate of terrorism directed at the United States.

(Full story)

Pentagon destroys thousands of copies of Army officer's memoir

Washington (CNN) - The Department of Defense recently purchased and destroyed thousands of copies of an Army Reserve officer's memoir in an effort to safeguard state secrets, a spokeswoman said Saturday.

"DoD decided to purchase copies of the first printing because they contained information which could cause damage to national security," Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Col. April Cunningham said.

(Full story)

Credit unions bailed out

(Wall Street Journal) - Two years after the peak of the financial crisis, the federal government swooped in to stabilize a crucial part of the credit-union sector battered by losses on subprime mortgages.

Regulators announced Friday a rescue and revamping of the nation's wholesale credit union system, underpinned by a federal guarantee valued at $30 billion or more. Wholesale credit unions don't deal with the general public but provide essential back-office services to thousands of other credit unions across the U.S. The majority of retail credit unions are sound, but they will have to shoulder the losses through special assessments over the next decade.

(Full story)

Socialism Is as Socialism Does

The reason liberals cringe at the socialist moniker is because they recognize the negative connotations associated with it. But just about everything they (and their Beltway "conservative" counterparts) support is socialist.

Take a look at the following list provided by Jacob Hornberger of the Future of Freedom Foundation and tell me which of these the U.S. has in common with other socialist nations:

1. Government provided retirement pay to senior citizens (i.e., Social Security).
   
2. Government provided health care (i.e., Medicare and Medicaid).
   
3. Government-provided, mandatory education to people's children (i.e., public schooling).
   
4. Government-provided unemployment compensation.
   
5. Government-provided welfare payments.
   
6. Government central planning of monetary affairs (i.e., a Federal Reserve).
   
7. Government management of the economy.
   
8. Government-issued licenses for occupations and professions.
   
9. Government central planning over immigration affairs.
   
10. Government control over trade.
    
11. Government equalization of wealth among the citizenry.
    
12. Government-mandated wage rates.
    
13. Government control over prices.
    
14. Government-provided subsidies.

If you answered "all of the above," then you know more about American politics than American politicians.