Word: phoning
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...tipping point yet? What author Malcolm Gladwell described as small things that make a big difference seems like an apt metaphor for the latest developments on civil liberties and the Bush administration. First was Thursday morning's USA Today story, declaring, "NSA Has Massive Database of Americans' Phone Calls." The story dominated the morning news shows and drove the day's events, with the President racing to the microphones in the Diplomatic Room of the White House before departing on a trip to Mississippi. Bush didn't get into the specifics of the USA Today story, but he did defend...
...Will the new revelations about the NSA tip the balance? Perhaps. According to the story, the NSA is not actually listening in on the phone calls but monitoring the patterns of calls in a kind of giant Google search, with the hope that their algorithm will detect something untoward and worth investigating. But even if your call to Aunt Sally isn't being listened to by some NSA officer, the program sounds creepy enough that no shortage of senators jumped all over it. The Republican Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, said he'd subpoena...
...percent. European train operators have realized that few things annoy travelers more than transport delays. Amtrak has not. Its 77 percent on time rate puts it roughly on par with European and US flight punctuality. European trains also provide less quantitative benefits, including wireless internet, uninterrupted cell phone services, and something that planes will never have: Windows that open and fresh air. Unsurprisingly, while Amtrak stagnates in the U.S., more and more people are choosing trains for short or medium-distance jaunts instead of flying in Europe...
...thousand the federal government is hosting around the country in a final drive to sign people up for the benefit. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt plans to visit 24 cities this week to plug the program. His department also has added 6,000 phone operators to field last-minute questions from seniors and quadrupled its computer capacity to handle a late surge of applications. Leavitt estimates that of the 43 million eligible for the drug benefit, 38 million are now covered by Medicare or other government programs. He told the Associated Press on Sunday that 90% could...
...mention that the woman was African American. The committee found it "extraordinary" that no one in a senior position at Duke, including President Richard Brodhead, knew the racial aspects involved in the incident until March 24. Duke Police also did not pass along information about a 911 phone call in which a woman complained of racial slurs coming from the house where the party occurred, or about an e-mail message in which a lacrosse player proposed to kill and "skin" strippers...