Free Republic

As the first anniversary of the credit crisis approaches, it's clear that a major part of the problem was a spectacular failure of information, with complex asset-backed securities turning out to be far riskier than anyone thought. But as sophisticated as we consider ourselves, this is just a contemporary example of what might be called the Problem of the Oblong Dice. The first game of dice, played by ancient Greeks, Romans and Egyptians, used astragali, animal ankle bones that are more oblong than square. Yet rolls of the dice got the same score whether the dice ended up on a...

Lead paint in toys. Brain-eating amoeba. Identity theft. Drowning in sand. We know more than ever about the risks all around us. Do we know what disclosing them all is doing to us? I’D LIKE TO SAY that the writing that had the most profound effect on me this year was some classic novel I picked up in my spare time, but in fact it was an Associated Press article. Last June, AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe wrote a fascinating, harrowing story about large holes dug in beach sand that can collapse "horrifyingly fast" and cause a person in the...

WASHINGTON, March 5, 2008 – China’s announcement that it is increasing its military spending by almost 18 percent is a cause of concern because the nation's government hasn’t been clear about how it will spend the money, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, left, responds to a question during a press conference with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen at the Pentagon, March 5, 2008. Defense Dept. photo by Cherie A. Thurlby  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. China’s announcement comes on the heels of the March 3...

Last year’s scamnesty bill had widespread support among the powers-that-be, with the president, the Democrat majority and mainstream media all singing its praises. Yet it went down to defeat, slain by a new-media coalition of talk radio and blogosphere warriors. Working tirelessly to expose the truth and rally the grassroots, they became a David who slew a Goliath. Forty-three years ago it was a different world. Ted Kennedy had co-authored the “Immigration Reform Act of 1965,” which created a situation wherein 85 percent of our immigrants hail from the Third World and Asia. He took to the Senate floor, claimed...

FBI to collect biometric information on British visitors By Tim Shipman in Washington Last Updated: 3:11pm GMT 22/12/2007 British visitors to the US will have details of their physical characteristics added to a new billion dollar database under plans drawn up by the FBI. Fingerprints, iris scans and even details of the way people walk, their scars and the size and shape of their ear lobes will be collected. British intelligence agencies and police will also be able to access the information – giving them potentially more biometric data on British citizens than the Government collects at home. Under the...

One of the fundamental objectives of information warfare is to gain dominance of the information environment, to shape it in such a way that you control the messages your target audience sees. It also means pushing messages that undercut an opponent’s advantage wherever and whenever possible. Getting the message out is often the most difficult task. Using the press and the media, both print and broadcast are the most efficient and effective. Our military stresses that the truth is the best message. In Iraq, this means showing the Iraqis that Al Qaeda is their enemy; that democracy will bring prosperity...

Selling to survive By Anna Fifield Published: November 19 2007 20:07 | Last updated: November 19 2007 20:07 Pak Hyun-yong was, by North Korean standards, an entrepreneur. Too much of an entrepreneur. During the famine that ravaged the country in the late 1990s, Mr Pak watched his family die of starvation – first his younger brother, then his older sister’s children. Then, eventually, his sister too. Somehow he pulled through this period, dubbed by the regime as “the arduous march�, and was spurred into taking some very non-communist, almost subversive action. He began selling noodles. Every day he would...

NEW YORK - Comcast Corp. actively interferes with attempts by some of its high-speed Internet subscribers to share files online, a move that runs counter to the tradition of treating all types of Net traffic equally. The interference, which The Associated Press confirmed through nationwide tests, is the most drastic example yet of data discrimination by a U.S. Internet service provider. It involves company computers masquerading as those of its users. If widely applied by other ISPs, the technology Comcast is using would be a crippling blow to the BitTorrent, eDonkey and Gnutella file-sharing networks. While these are mainly known...

The Chinese military has begun a two-day drill testing a system that provides commanders real-time battlefield data, signaling the continued modernization of the nation’s massive armed forces. The exercise is part of an ambitious effort to improve military information collection systems, one of the main shortfalls of the otherwise rapidly modernizing People’s Liberation Army, the Xinhua news agency reported Sept. 19.

"Nothing there," is what Case Western Reserve University physicists concluded about black holes after spending a year working on complex formulas to calculate the formation of new black holes. In nearly 13 printed pages with a host of calculations, the research may solve the information loss paradox that has perplexed physicists for the past 40 years.Case physicists Tanmay Vachaspati, Dejan Stojkovic and Lawrence M. Krauss report in the article, "Observation of Incipient Black Holes and the Information Loss Problem,” that has been accepted for publication by Physical Review D. "It's complicated and very complex," noted the researchers, regarding both the...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A 22-year-old intern was given the responsibility of safeguarding the personal information of thousands of state employees, a security procedure that ended up backfiring. Social Security numbers of all 64,000 Ohio state employees were stolen last weekend from a state agency intern who left a backup data storage device in his car, Gov. Ted Strickland said.An additional review of data revealed that the storage device also held information on 53,797 participants enrolled in the state's pharmacy benefits management program, as well as names and Social Security numbers of about 75,532 dependents, the governor's office confirmed Saturday. Strickland...

Is the recently posted article entitled  US regains top ranking for technology (US is number 1 in Information Technology) the last word on this subject?Well, it used to be the United States, but now six other nations are ahead of us, according to the Geneva-based World Economic Forum’s 2006-07 Networked Readiness Index. Our entrepreneurs aren’t the problem; it’s the deteriorating political and regulatory environment around them. Thanks to governments that work better with their private innovators, countries like Singapore, Denmark and Finland are better able to exploit emerging technologies and remain in the top five year after year.See: The Global...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Gunmen wearing Iraqi army uniforms seized an Iranian diplomat as he drove through central Baghdad, officials said Tuesday. Iran said it held the United States responsible for the diplomat's "safety and life." One Iraqi government official said the Iranian diplomat was detained Sunday by an Iraqi army unit that reports directly to the U.S. military. A military spokesman denied any U.S. troops or Iraqis that report to them were involved. "We've checked with our units and it was not an MNF-I (Multi-National Forces - Iraq) unit that participated in that event," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a...

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. companies will need to keep track of all the e-mails, instant messages and other electronic documents generated by their employees thanks to new federal rules that go into effect Friday, legal experts say. The rules, approved by the Supreme Court in April, require companies and other entities involved in federal litigation to produce "electronically stored information" as part of the discovery process, when evidence is shared by both sides before a trial. The change makes it more important for companies to know what electronic information they have and where. Under the new rules, an information technology...

In this day of easy internet access, we take for granted our ability to just click and get what ever news we are looking for. In Places where Islam holds sway, simple blogging can get you thrown in jail. How long until my newsletter, already declared hate speech by Google because it does not support homosexual marriage, will get me tossed in jail? We need to be aware of what is happening in places where Islam has taken control. In every bloody conflict around the globe, how many involve Islamics? Asia, Africa, Europe... on and on. This war, it is...

The number of embedded journalists reporting alongside U.S. troops in Iraq has dropped to its lowest level of the war even as the conflict heats up on the streets of Baghdad and in the U.S. political campaign. In the past few weeks, the number of journalists reporting assigned to U.S. military units in Iraq has settled to below two dozen. Late last month, it fell to 11, its lowest, and has rebounded only slightly since. During the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, more than 600 reporters, TV crews and photographers linked up with U.S. and British units. A year ago,...

Marine Didn't Suspect Haditha Wrongdoing ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - The Marine officer in charge of troops suspected of killing 24 Iraqi men, women and children told investigators he did not initiate an inquiry into the carnage because he did not consider the deaths unusual, The Washington Post reported Saturday. In a sworn statement given to military investigators in March, Lt. Col. Jeffrey R. Chessani said: "I thought it was very sad, very unfortunate, but at the time, I did not suspect any wrongdoing from my Marines." Chessani was commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Marines. "I did...

A few days ago, I received a telephone call at my office wanting to verify the employment of someone. I am not the human resources person, but am in another capacity completely. The name they gave was my middle name and my last name. All the woman on the phone would say is, “This is Kelly from NCO Financial. I need to verify employment for ______ ______.” At that point, I asked what the call was about. Kelly just repeated that she was verifying employment for ______ ______. My middle name is a family sir name, so it could be...

Attorney General Gonzales: Indict the New York Times June 24th, 2006 Within days of the September 11th attacks, the head of Reuters’ worldwide news division, explaining the agency’s refusal to use the word “terrorist,” made the famous fatuous remark that “one man’s freedom terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” Reuters, it seemed, wouldn’t be taking sides in America’s war on Islamic jihad, because as journalists, Reuters didn’t believe the American people and our allies are any “better” than our putrid enemies. Such is the repulsive state of the “moral equivalence” mongers in what passes for news journalism, even among those...

WASHINGTON, May 25, 2006 – The Department of Veterans Affairs has begun a thorough examination of policies and procedures after the loss of 26.5 million veterans' personal information, the VA's leader told the House Armed Services Committee today. "I've formed a task force ... to examine comprehensively all of our information security programs and policies to bring about a change in the way we do business," R. James Nicholson said. His testimony today followed the May 22 announcement that a Veterans Affairs employee had taken electronic data home with him, though he was unauthorized to do so. The information was...

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2006 – Veterans Affairs officials today announced the theft of personal information on up to 26.5 million veterans. However, VA Secretary R. James Nicholson stressed there's no indication the information is being used for purposes of fraud. "We at the VA have recently learned that an employee here, a data analyst, took home a considerable amount of electronic data from the VA, which he was not authorized to do," Nicholson said. "His home was burglarized, and this data was stolen." The compromised data includes names, Social Security numbers and birthdates of veterans separating from the military...

Six groups, including the Anaheim-based Council on American Islamic Relations in Southern California, filed a Freedom of Information Act request Monday asking about suspected law enforcement monitoring of Islamic religious institutions. The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California filed the request on behalf of CAIR, the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, area mosques and six leaders in the Muslim community. Four from Orange County include: Muzammil Siddiqi, imam of the Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove. Hussam Ayloush, executive director at CAIR. Sabiha Khan, CAIR spokeswoman. Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of...

May 12, 2006 — Americans by nearly a 2-1 ratio call the surveillance of telephone records an acceptable way for the federal government to investigate possible terrorist threats, expressing broad unconcern even if their own calling patterns are scrutinized. Lending support to the administration's defense of its anti-terrorism intelligence efforts, 63 percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll say the secret program, disclosed Thursday by USA Today, is justified, while far fewer, 35 percent, call it unjustified. Indeed, 51 percent approve of the way President Bush is handling the protection of privacy rights, while 47 percent disapprove — hardly a...

A push to require all convicted criminals in New York to submit their DNA to a central database is gaining crucial support in Albany, where officials say it could create the most comprehensive DNA collection system in the nation. If the proposal becomes law, it would make New York the only state to require collecting DNA from everyone convicted of felonies and misdemeanors, including youthful offenders convicted in criminal court, officials said. Currently, 43 states require that people convicted of all felonies submit DNA, but none require samples from those convicted of all misdemeanors, and New York has required those...

Two former Fort Monmouth workers, and the daughter of one of them, are accused of scheming to have government contractors provide no-show jobs for the daughter. Accused in an indictment made public today are 55-year-old Michael Rzeplinski, a former programs director for the General Services Administration and former Army supervisory engineer; 61-year-old Connie Davidson, a former G-S-A employee who lives with Rzeplinski in Red Bank, and her 33-year-old Kirsten Davidson of Red Bank. All three are charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States. Rzeplinski also faces two counts of mail fraud and three counts of tax evasion. Rzeplinski and...

An Assembly committee voted Wednesday to allow judges to edit personal and financial information out of divorce records if a spouse requests the information be kept private. The Appropriations Committee endorsed a bill that supporters framed as critical to privacy and identity theft prevention, but opponents warned would lock the public out of court proceedings. A 12-3 vote sent the measure to the full Assembly. "In every case, whether you are rich or poor, everything down to the balance in your checking account is available to the public," said Sen. Kevin Murray, D-Culver City, the bill's author. "I just don't...

Kim’s Eldest Takes Interest in South APRIL 12, 2006 02:59 by Jin-Kyun Kil (leon@donga.com) “Send me video tapes of the annual award shows for TV drama, pop songs, and comedy programs from Korea Broadcasting System (KBS) and Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC),” “A South Korean magazine ran an article about me. I’ll have to be careful,” wrote Kim Jong Nam (photo), the eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, in an e-mail that he sent to his close aide in China in late 2002. The person who received the e-mail was Cho Kyung Chun, a general accountant and president...

Cable industry disputes FCC's findings on pricing NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The cable industry joined forces with Walt Disney Co. (DIS) Wednesday to point out flaws in a recent Federal Communications Commission study that concluded it would be beneficial for consumers to pick and pay for channels separately. The companies released findings from two separate studies, both of which said consumers would be worse off by following the FCC's recommendation. The FCC concluded last month that viewers' bills could decline by as much as 13% if they were allowed to pick their own channels, reversing the agency's earlier view under...

I got access to a computer at FBI headquarters recently and took the opportunity to see what they had on me. A lot, as it turned out. Up popped my name in an investigation of Scott Ritter, the former top Iraq arms inspector turned administration critic. I'd interviewed him on the telephone several times in the late 1990s. Scrolling down, I also saw a note on my 1972 membership in a group of graduate students and faculty who wrote scholarly articles against the war in Vietnam, evidently related to an investigation of Jane Fonda. There were also excerpts of articles...

China to launch 'alternative' internet The Chinese government has announced plans to introduce several Chinese-language internet domains. These should make the web more usable for Chinese speakers, who make up one-fifth of everyone on the planet. But, theoretically at least, the measures could create a separate part of the internet, under complete control of the Chinese government. This is sure to stir up worries over censorship and repression as China has not shied away from controlling internet usage within its borders before. Several US internet companies have also come under fire recently for helping the Chinese government keep an eye...

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 27, 2006 – More than 400 middle school, high school and college students from across Texas flocked to student expositions at Huston-Tillotson University here Feb. 25 seeking information about military service and civilian jobs in the Defense Department. The expositions were part of the two-day National African American History Month observance sponsored by DoD and Huston-Tillotson in conjunction with historically black colleges and universities. The students were provided information about appointments at the service academies, entry into ROTC programs and civilian career opportunities in DoD, including how to participate in civilian intern programs. Missy Adunbarin, 18, a...

Good Morning Troops! Getting tired of that cramped, hemmed in feeling?? Dave Burbeck~Take Five Does Cabin Fever have you feeling like a wet blanket at a beach bingo party?? Does shoveling snow, or sand, or walking in slime, have you about to rip out your hair? Is that what is bothering you bunky?? How about being the only human in a room full of monkeys?? Lambert Hendricks & Ross~Twisted Does waltzing with your cat cross your mind?? Irish Rovers~Wasn't That A Party Johnny Cash~I've Been Everywhere Does being on the road in your RV heighten your spirits?? Fog Hat~My...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Inmates at Pelican Bay State Prison gained access to personal information about employees, including their Social Security numbers, birth dates and pension account information, the state prison guards' union said Thursday. The California Correctional Peace Officers Association said inmates also had access to prison blueprints in a warehouse where the confidential information was stored. Union President Mike Jimenez said the fact that inmates worked in the warehouse violated a law barring the Department of Corrections from assigning prisoners to jobs that give them access to other's personal information. Jimenez also said that one prisoner who was found...

Google Inc. is offering a new tool that will automatically transfer information from one personal computer to another. Anyone wanting that convenience, however, must authorize the Internet search leader to store the material for up to 30 days. That compromise, sought as part of a free software upgrade released Thursday, might be more difficult to swallow now that the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush is demanding to know what kind of information people have been hunting through Google's search engine. Google is fighting the Justice Department's subpoena in a federal court battle that's focusing more attention on the...

Israel Launches SEO Contest Against Iran Holocaust CartoonsBy Israel News Agency StaffJerusalem----February 7.....In response to Iran's best-selling newspaper announcing a competition to find the best cartoons about the Holocaust, the Israel News Agency launched an SEO - Internet search engine optimization marketing contest to prevent Iran news Websites from reaching top positions in Google. "When I heard that a newspaper in Iran was now holding a cartoon contest on the Holocaust, I knew that SEO would be the most potent tool in combating it," said Joel Leyden, publisher of the Israel News Agency. "That 12 winners in Iran would have...

The nonprofit organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy announced late last week it has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Education alleging that the department is refusing to release state-by-state data on the number of students affected by a law barring them from receiving financial aid because they have a drug conviction unless SSDP pays a hefty fee for the service. The student group wants information about the impact of the Higher Education Act's (HEA) drug provision, authored by arch-drug warrior Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN), and in effect since 2000. SSDP is part of a large coalition of student,...

Last spring the press was all aflutter with news that big media companies were actually getting smaller. ''The media moguls built them up, and now they are breaking them apart,''...(snip) But never mind that. Connoisseurs of monopoly need to shift their attention to the Internet, where we're on the brink of a concentration of media control that a few years ago would have been unimaginable.

Good Morning TROOPS! Super Bowl Music Party for the best troops in the world! We have music, we have spirit! All with fun in mind. It's kick off time! Canteen Mission Statement: Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allies military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before. Canteen Dee Jays ~Acad 1228~AzAmericonnie~beachn4fun~ ~bentfeather~Colonel Flagg~Diva Betsy Ross~ ~Drumbo~El Gran Salseron~EsmeraldaA~ ~God Bless USA~Gold Star Brother~Gucho~ ~HiJinx~hotstreak~Kathy In Alaska~ ~laurenmarlowe~MoJo2001~mylife~ ~StarCMC~tomkow6~trussell~ ~West Virginia Rebel~ Louis Armstrong~Mack The Knife Big Mama Thornton~Sometimes I Have A Heatache Toby Keith~Baddest Boots Julie London~You're...

Good morning Troops!Thank You for your service to our great nation. For today's Music Dedication we are having a Block Party. Canteen Mission Statement: Showing support and boosting the morale of our military and our allies military and the family members of the above. Honoring those who have served before. Canteen Deejays ~Acad 1228~AZAmericonnie~beachn4fun~ ~bentfeather~Colonel Flagg~Diva Betsy Ross~ ~Drumbo~El Gran Salseron~EsmeraldaA~ ~God Bless USA~Gold Star Brother~Gucho~ ~HiJinx~hotstreak~Kathy In Alaska~ ~laurenmarlowe~MoJo2001~mylife~ ~StarCMC~tomkow6~trussell~ ~West Virginia Rebel~ Toby Keith~Ain't It Just Like You Toby Keith & Willie Nelson~Beer For My Horses Toby Keith~Rock You Baby Red Hot Chili Peppers~The Zephyr Song Red...

While trying to find a nativity image for my last post before Christmas, I did an search for "baby jesus" on Google. This is the result. Notice that the top search result is for a sex toy that mocks Jesus. Other results on this search results page have more link traffic. A quick review of page's code shows no HTML meta information that should give it a favorable ranking. The page itself has a raw relevance ranking (search word divided by total words) of less than five percent. The only conclusion I can draw is that this page position ranking...

Ater seeking lawsuit against FEMA for voter information 12/20/2005, 5:41 p.m. CT By MELINDA DESLATTE The Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Secretary of State Al Ater's plans to sue federal officials for data outlining the locations of Louisiana residents scattered by hurricanes Katrina and Rita were put on hold Tuesday after receiving new promises the information would arrive this week. Earlier in the day, Ater told lawmakers he was asking Louisiana's attorney general to file the lawsuit because the Federal Emergency Management Agency provided a list last week of 936,000 names of displaced Louisiana residents that lacked crucial...

MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. (Dec. 8, 2005) -- Recruits endure three months of intense training to make the transition from civilian to Marine. But Marine spouses get thrown into the military lifestyle without any formal training. Quantico’s military spouses can turn to the Lifestyle, Insight, Networking, Knowledge and Skills program to help adjust to the change. The program offers three three-hour or two four-hour sessions each month packed with information about the Marine Corps, resources, services, community activities, and deployment and separation issues. “If Marine spouses have an understanding of the Marine Corps’ mission and how it affects them,...

The White House on Thursday expressed concern about the U.S. military secretly paying Iraqi newspapers to publish pro-American articles, but the military said it was important to spread the truth while insurgents were "lying to the Iraqi people

Oscar Visiedo says that when he helped bring the Internet to Cuba in 1992, he faced three daunting obstacles: the U.S. economic embargo, technological shortcomings and ominous state security. Thirteen years later, steep prices and strict government controls largely keep ordinary Cubans from the World Wide Web, while the island's authorities still blame the embargo as the reason the country stalled on the information highway. So, even while the Internet boomed in Cuba -- the government alone has at least 200 sites -- usage remains among the lowest in the Western Hemisphere, and the hurdles remain unchanged. ''There is a...

House takes up leak reviewThursday, November 10, 2005 8:01 PM PST WASHINGTON (AP) - The House Intelligence Committee will look into a possible leak of classified information about secret CIA prisons but will not reopen its 2003 inquiry into prewar intelligence on Iraq. As calls for intelligence-related reviews grow on Capitol Hill, Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., said Thursday his committee will study several specific leaks of classified information, including a Nov. 2 Washington Post story that discussed the existence of secret CIA prisons overseas. The story said the ‘‘black sites'' were in eight countries, including democracies in Eastern Europe. Hoekstra...

For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in the United States Armed Forces. Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today! Happy Birthday US Marines1775 US Marine Corps established by Congress Celebrating 229 Years of Excellence! United States Marine Corp Band~Marine Hymn Click... 1759 Frederich von Schiller Germany, poet/lyricist (Ode to Joy) Pipes~Marine Corps Hymn On this day... 1954 Iwo Jima Memorial (servicemen raising US flag) dedicated in Arlington. 1951 1st long distance telephone call without operator assistance. Don't forget to click the links...

Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, often intimidates its competitors and suppliers. Makers of goods from diapers to DVD's must cater to its whims. But there is one company that even Wal-Mart eyes warily these days: Google, a seven-year-old business in a seemingly distant industry."We watch Google very closely at Wal-Mart," said Jim Breyer, a member of Wal-Mart's board.In Google, Wal-Mart sees both a technology pioneer and the seed of a threat, said Mr. Breyer, who is also a partner in a venture capital firm. The worry is that by making information available everywhere, Google might soon be able to tell...

Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, often intimidates its competitors and suppliers. Makers of goods from diapers to DVD's must cater to its whims. But there is one company that even Wal-Mart eyes warily these days: Google, a seven-year-old business in a seemingly distant industry. "We watch Google very closely at Wal-Mart," said Jim Breyer, a member of Wal-Mart's board. In Google, Wal-Mart sees both a technology pioneer and the seed of a threat, said Mr. Breyer...The worry is that by making information available everywhere, Google might soon be able to tell Wal-Mart shoppers if better bargains are available nearby. Wal-Mart...

For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces. Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today! Good morning TROOPS!Themeless ThursdayA little this, a little that. Happy Birthday 1718 John Montague 4th Earl of Sandwich, inventor (sandwich) Canteen Camp Run-A-Muck! 19-- Leonard Stone Salem Oregon, actor (Doc-Camp Runamuck)" Tomkow and ms feather visit Old Sarge! On this day. 1956 "Wizard of Oz" 1st televised (CBS-TV) 1973 Good Morning America premiers on ABC (David Hartman & Nancy Dussault) Our Canteen Ma~Kathy In Alaska! Let her rip Canteen Crew!!...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25, 2005 – Information is as important in the global war on terrorism as bullets and bombs, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Oct. 24. In addition to killing or capturing terrorists, the United States is aiming to stop people from wanting to join extremist groups, Marine Gen. Peter Pace said. "What we're trying to do is influence others to understand that these thugs, these terrorists, are not out for anyone's good interest," he said to interviewer Jed Babbin on the Hugh Hewitt radio show. Pace said people must understand that these terror groups do...