California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Saturday vetoed legislation that would have created a security framework for the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology in the state's official documents and identification cards.
The bill, called the Identity Information Protection Act of 2006, would have mandated basic protections against the abuse of RFID data with technologies such as encryption. It also would have made skimming, or the reading of RFID data without consent, a crime.
The bill, approved by the state's legislature in August, could have made California the first state in the nation to create a privacy framework for official RFID use. A variety of advocacy groups, ranging from the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California to the Gun Owners of California, had backed the bill.
Schwarzenegger said he vetoed the law because he considered it "premature." He noted that the federal government, under the Real ID Act mandating national standards for identification cards such as drivers' licenses, has yet to release its own standards for security. with that in mind, Schwarzenegger said he didn't want California to create a set of requirements that would contradict the upcoming federal ones."In addition, this bill may inhibit various state agencies from ...   more »

By Joe Kovacs
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. 
PALM BEACH, Fla. – President Bush believes America should be more of an idea than an actual place, a Republican congressman told WND in an exclusive interview.
"People have to understand what we're talking about here. The president of the United States is an internationalist," said Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. "He is going to do what he can to create a place where the idea of America is just that – it's an idea. It's not an actual place defined by borders. I mean this is where this guy is really going."
Tancredo lashed out at the White House's lack of action in securing U.S. borders, and said efforts to merge the U.S. with both Mexico and Canada is not a fantasy.
"I know this is dramatic – or maybe somebody would say overly dramatic – but I'm telling you, that everything I see leads me to believe that this whole idea of the North American Union, it's not something that just is written about by right-wing fringe kooks. It is something in the head of the president of the United States, the president of Mexico, I think the prime minister of Canada ...   more »

Three protesters interrupted a Hindu cleric today who became the first from his religion to offer the Senate's opening prayer.

Breitbart.tv has video of Rajan Zed, director of interfaith relations at a Hindu temple in Reno, Nev., preparing to pray when a clear, loud voice came from the Senate gallery.

"Lord Jesus, forgive us, Father, for allowing the prayer of the wicked, which is an abomination in your sight," said a male protester.

The Senate's sergeant at arms was instructed to restore order, but Zed was interrupted again.

"You shall have no other gods before you. … "
Zed, who was invited by Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, finally offered his prepared prayer.
"We meditate on the transcendental glory of the deity supreme, who is inside the heart of the Earth, inside the life of the sky and inside the soul of the heaven," he said. "May he stimulate and illuminate our minds."
Police officers arrested the three protesters and charged them with disrupting Congress, a misdemeanor, the Associated Press reported. The male protester told an AP reporter, "we are Christians and patriots" before officers handcuffed them and led.Them away.
Reid, in remarks from the chamber shortly after the ...   more »