February 5, 2012

Obama Extends Controversial PATRIOT Act Provisions For One Year

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Republicans wanted provisions renewed for four years WASHINGTON, DC—President Obama on Saturday signed a one-year extension of three provisions of the PATRIOT Act, including one the Electronic Freedom Foundation (EFF) has called "the most dangerous to our civil liberties." The House had previosly voted to extend the provisions, which were due to expire Sunday. Speaking from the House floor on Friday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich) said the law will “extend three provisions of our foreign intelligence surveillance laws for 1 year. The provisions are section 206 of the PATRIOT Act, governing roving wiretaps; section 215, which addresses the collection of business records; and the so-called ‘lone wolf surveillance’ law. Without extension, these provisions will expire on Sunday coming.” Conyers said that despite a year of work by his committee on reforms to the law that he said "needs a great deal of improvement," and the passage by the Senate Judiciary Committee of a bill that he said improves the Act, there was, he conceded, no time left in which to reform the law before the three provisions were due to expire. "In other words," he said, "we have no other choice but to go along with this extension because there isn’t sufficient time. Well, tomorrow is the last day of the week. It’s physically impossible. So under these circumstances, it seems to me the best course is to merely maintain the status quo and work with the other body and the administration towards some improvements that I have in mind." In 2006, EFF wrote of Section 215, as it was facing an earlier sunset deadline, "Section 215 allows the FBI secretly to order anyone to turn over business records or any other "tangible things," so long as the FBI tells the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court that the information sought is 'for an authorized investigation...to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities.' These demands for records come with a "gag order" prohibiting the recipient from telling anyone, ever, that they received a Section 215 order." Though business records could have been seized before the PATRIOT Act became law, EFF identified two key safeguards that the law removed. "First, the FBI could only get a few types of records that were of particular use in investigating terrorists and spies—records belonging to hotels, motels, car and truck rental agencies, and storage rental facilities," said EFF. "Second, the FBI had to present to the FISA court 'specific and articulable facts giving reason to believe that the person to whom the records pertain[ed]' was a spy or terrorist." Asserting that the law meant that the FBI could now get anything they wanted by secret order, including "including financial records, medical records, student records, even your library records—without ever having to prove that they have probable cause to suspect you of a crime, or even that your records … [Read more...]

iBill Plans to Cover Merchant Debts of Former Company

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DENVER — iBill says it plans to honor all promissory notes issued by the former company of the same name. With the announcement made over the weekend, the third-party processor also said that it would release a new iBill payment processing, iBill 2.0, that includes a payback option for former iBill merchants. “I know there are a lot of honest people out there who have waited far too long for this day,“ said Jonas Brown, iBill’s president and CEO. “I’ve received numerous phone calls from former merchants who lost their sites as well as their only source of income. They were forced to turn to friends and family to pay rent and car payments while they waited on payment from iBill. “These people deserve the money they earned and I’m proud to say we now have a solution to honor those debts,” he said. “Until now, there was no recourse, but earlier today our board approved payback to all merchants who have a valid iBill promissory note.” Brown said the new iBill 2.0. payment processing system will be up and running April 7, with more details about the program, including a tour, to be revealed April 2 in a series of web conferences. For the past eight months, the Aurora, Colo.-based processor has been attempting to distance itself from to the defunct Deerfield, Fla., company with the same name that left scores of online adult companies unpaid and hundreds of legal claims unresolved. Brown, in an interview with XBIZ last year, said that investors scooped up iBill’s trademark after the defunct company let the name expire and then completed an acquisition for the iBill.net domain. Brown said the new policy announced over the weekend “is our way of saying we understand.” “It is important that we rebuild our image and establish trust with those who utilize our services,” he said. “This solution will go a long way toward that goal and benefit all parties involved.” … [Read more...]

Infidelity, Cheating Wives – Women's Infidelity

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Women's relationships today follow a very predictable pattern: * They push men for commitment * They get what they want * They lose interest in sex * They become attracted to someone else * They start cheating * They become angry and resentful * They begin telling their partners that they need time apart * They blame their partners for their behavior...and eventually, after making themselves and everyone around them miserable for an indefinite, but usually, long period of time, they end their relationships or marriages. If you're a male, like most other males, you would probably never suspect that your partner is cheating, not only because of your wife’s or girlfriend’s seeming disinterest in sex; but also because you have the belief that your wife or girlfriend is a “good girl.” Unfortunately, males are frequently left/divorced by their wives and girlfriends without ever knowing about their wives' and girlfriends' infidelities. If you’re a female, like most other females, prior to cheating on your partner you always proclaimed yourself to be "not the type" who would ever cheat. However, also like most other females, after they have cheated, you're shocked and appalled by your behavior; but at the same time you can't stop cheating. Women's relationships and marriages will continue to follow this same pattern unless we develop an accurate understanding of females ? particularly in regard to their sexuality. In fact, after researching women's sexuality for more than ten years, I can honestly say that most of our societal beliefs about females are grossly distorted and many are completely erroneous. The media has finally begun to acknowledge, albeit to a small degree, the widespread problem of female infidelity. Recently, several books and articles have attempted to explain why women are now cheating as much as men. However, none were successful in their attempt. All of them left out very important pieces to this extremely complicated puzzle. I believe the majority were simply unable to find all of the information necessary to figure out the problem. Although, I'm certain that some were just afraid to disclose certain key pieces of information because the truth, quite frankly, is so contrary to our current beliefs. Unfortunately, without these missing pieces, it's impossible to understand, and to subsequently fix, the real problem occurring in relationships today. Currently, women are initiating 70 - 75% of all divorces Later, through my own research, I discovered that what I was experiencing was quite normal. In fact, women are the most likely to divorce in their late twenties and thirties after an average of 4 years of marriage. During this time, it's quite common for women to experience a pre-midlife crisis, which is similar to the male midlife crisis, only with an important difference - a difference that can actually make women … [Read more...]

The Biological Clock

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My girlfriend is pushing marriage saying her “biological clock is ticking.” She’s 28 so she should have plenty of time for kids. Don’t women in their 40’s have babies these days? ~ Jimmy Your girlfriend is right, her biological clock is ticking and there is no way to stop it. By the age of 30, a woman only has about 10-12% of her eggs left. By the age of 40, a woman only has about 3% of her eggs left. Not only does the quantity of eggs decrease as a woman ages, but the quality of her eggs decrease too. The decline in quantity and quality reduces a woman’s ability to not only conceive, but to conceive a healthy baby. Between the ages of 27 and 34 a woman has about a 40% chance of conceiving with each menstrual cycle and a woman in her late 30’s has less than a 30% chance. Although, there is not a way to stop the biological clock or even slow it down, there are ways for a woman to increase her fertility. Women who maintain a healthy lifestyle by not smoking, keeping their weight under control, regularly exercising and controlling stress have better odds of getting pregnant. Today more than ever, the medical world has the ability to offer women help getting pregnant with options such as hormonal treatments and in vitro fertilization. Although these options are readily available, most doctors would encourage a woman to “go natural” before seeking medical assistance. If you love your girlfriend and you plan to marry her some day, the sooner you do it the easier it will be for you and her to start a family. If you know she isn’t the one than you should let her go and give her the opportunity to find someone else. A biological clock is not a reason for two people to get married, but it is a factor that should be considered when deciding when to get married. … [Read more...]