New Iraqi Law Requires Waiting Period For Suicide Vest Purchases

From The Onion News Network (ONN) In The Know with Clifford Banes:

Generation Kill

A platoon of young but highly trained Marines leads the charge of American forces during the 2003 Iraq invasion. This HBO miniseries highlights the many challenges faced by the soldiers on the front lines, such as distinguishing civilian from enemy. Starring Alexander Skarsgård, James Ransone, Stark Sands and Jon Huertas, this realistic portrayal of the Iraq War is based on a nonfiction book by Rolling Stone journalist Evan Wright. Avalable on Amazon.com.

Waco: The Rules of Engagement

In one of the most tragic face-offs in the history of law enforcement, the deadly debacle at Waco pitted the Branch Davidian sect against the ATF and FBI in an all-out war. This Academy Award-nominated documentary directed by William Gazecki makes the most of footage and recordings to examine how the events that led to the tragedy of April 19, 1993, unfolded, and how the FBI's unrelenting approach made what was already a bad situation much worse.

Manufacturer Recalls Hollow Point Bullets That Fail To Explode Inside Targets

From The Onion News Network (ONN) Special Report:

Obama Missing the Target on Guns in Mexico

From the Cato Institute: An unfortunate aspect of President Obama's recent trip to Mexico is the false — but virtually unopposed — assertion that the vast majority of weapons being used in the Mexican drug violence come from the United States. Cato scholar David Rittgers argues, "Yes, there is a major problem with drug-related gun violence along the border. No, U.S. gun laws are not the main culprit — and to lay all the rhetorical blame on them is to ignore serious weaknesses in numerous other policy areas."

America's Forgotten War

NPR report by Alisa Barba: Nearly four decades ago, President Richard Nixon launched the war on drugs. In 1969 he declared, "Winning the battle against drug abuse is one of the most important, the most urgent national priorities confronting the United States today."

Prison Economy Spirals As Price Of Pack Of Cigarettes Surpasses Two Hand Jobs

From The Onion News Network (ONN) Prison Channel:

Webb emerges as the prison guy

From The American Prospect by Ezra Klein: I don't think there's a whole lot to James Webb's much-touted legislation to form a blue-ribbon commission on prison reform. But I think there's a whole lot to the fact that James Webb is touting legislation on prison reform. I think it's important that Webb has created a whole new section on his Senate web site to cover the issue and I think it's encouraging that his staff is blasting out e-mails about Webb's focus on the issue...

Maximum Capacity

The number of inmates in American prisons is outpacing the system's ability to hold them all. In one startling example, California prisons hold 70,000 more inmates than they're designed for, even though the state has built a dozen new prisons in the last 15 years. NOW goes inside an Illinois prison that may have the answer to California's problems. With its innovative plan to keep released inmates from coming back, the Sheridan Correctional Center is trying to redefine "tough on crime" by being the largest fully dedicated drug prison in the country. The approach involves aggressive counseling, job training and following the convicts after they get out...

Immigrant Detainees: A New Profit Center?

In this web exclusive video, NOW looks at how the private corrections industry is profiting when immigrants -- including children -- are held in detention centers awaiting deportation. Loretta Perry-Wilborne, a former employee of the Aurora Detention Center in Colorado, gives us an insider's view of a detainees' life behind bars.

Prisons for Profit

NOW on PBS investigates the government's trend to outsource prisons and prisoners to the private sector. Critics accuse private prisons of standing in the way of sentencing reform and sacrificing public safety to maximize profits.

To Cut Costs, States Relax Prison Policies

From The New York Times by Jennifer Steinhauer: For nearly three decades, most states have dealt with lawbreakers in two ways: lock more of them up for longer periods, and build more prisons to hold them. Now many governments, out of money and buried under mounting prison costs, are reversing those policies and practices...

U.S. Prisons and Drug Laws

From Bill Moyers Journal: The United States is the number one jailer on the planet, and by a comfortable margin: with 5% of the world population, the U.S. holds 25% of its total prisoners, 2.3 million people. If you include those on parole or probation, the number grows to 7.3 million Americans, one in every 31 adults. Incarceration is not cheap. The U.S. spends $60 billion dollars every year maintaining its ever-growing prison system. It is the second-fastest growing state budget item, after Medicaid...

Hellhole

From The New Yorker by Atul Gawande: The United States holds tens of thousands of inmates in long-term solitary confinement. Is this torture?

Jaws

"Jaws" (Pe'ahi) is the big wave surfing reef break on the island of Maui, Hawaii. It is located on the northern side of the island between mile markers 13 and 14 on the Hana highway and sits at the base of rolling sugar cane field hills. The surf break, a deep water reef break, is called "Jaws" due to the size and ferocity of the waves. The waves at "Jaws" can reach heights of 70 ft on the face of the wave, moving as fast as 30 mph.

Mavericks

Mavericks breaks over an ocean reef that is one-half mile off the coast of Pillar Point in Half Moon Bay, California. The reef is just outside of Sail Rock. Mavericks Surf Ventures, Inc owns and operates The Mavericks Surf Contest and manages the Mavericks brand.

Midwest Speed Quest

Windsurfing has always been about speed. Racing is always about speed, although far more than speed is involved. We all drag race our friends for beer and bragging rights. Over the past decade many people have been tinkering around trying to calculate the speed of sailors and their windsurfing feats of daring do! Recent development of global position system (GPS) devices have made accurate tracking of speed possible, and speed contest efforts took a major step forward this year through the efforts of Craig Bergh of Worthington, Minnesota.

Step into Liquid

This documentary directed by Dana Brown smashes any preconceptions that the surfing community mostly comprises buff blondes and hardbodies. Zigzagging from the waters off Ireland to Da Nang in Vietnam and Oahu's ripping North Shore, Step Into Liquid profiles the diverse and fascinating characters who have devoted their lives to catching the perfect wave. Avaialble at Amazon.com.

Billabong Odyssey

This surfing documentary follows some of the world's best big-wave "tow surfers" (surfers who are brought out to the big waves by boats, jet-skis or water skis) as they travel around the world searching for the elusive 100-foot wave, the tallest the oceans have to offer. At stake is a prize for the surfer who rides the tallest wave each year ($1,000 per foot of height), with an extra $500,000 grand prize if that wave is actually over 100 feet. Avaialble on Amazon.com.

Big UP Productions

Big UP Productions was founded in 1997 by Brett and Josh Lowell. They have produced 10 feature-lenght climbing films. including the mst highly respected and best-selling titles in the industry. They have won a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Camera Work along with a dozen awards at internatonal film festivals. Their work has been featured on NBC, RSN, Apple.com, NPR, Outside Magazine, and National Geographic Adventure.

Estonia emerges from Soviet rule to fight in Afghanistan

Worldfocus correspondent Daljit Dhaliwal and producers Sally Garner and Ara Ayer report on Estonia’s military after Soviet occupation and its alliance with the U.S. in Afghanistan. NATO allies decided to contribute 5,000 additional short-term troops to the war effort in Afghanistan, some to help provide security for the country’s upcoming elections and others to help train the Afghan army. The small eastern European nation of Estonia, population 1.3 million, has sent troops to Afghanistan, just as it did in Iraq.

Littoral Combat Ship

The transformation of the Navy's surface combatant fleet starts with highly capable, multi-mission Destroyers, advanced Cruisers and a new breed of focused mission ships, the Littoral Combat Ship.

Gates Budget Plan Reshapes Pentagon’s Priorities

From The New York Times by Elisabeth Bumiller and Christopher Drew: Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Monday announced a broad reshaping of the Pentagon budget, with deep cuts in many traditional weapons systems but billions of dollars for new technology to fight the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Court asks FM to issue statement about Bout

From Pattaya Today: The Criminal Court said that it would ask the foreign ministry to issue a statement about the ongoing trial of Victor Bout, before making a decision on whether the Russian national would be extradited to the US to face charges of conspiring to sell weapons to rebels in Columbia.

Taking Down Arms Dealer Viktor Bout

From Men's Journal by Stephan Talty: Viktor Bout seemed untouchable — shielded by the Kremlin while making deals with terrorists, guerrillas, and despots from Angola to Afghanistan. But then a DEA bulldog nabbed him with a daring sting that took five months and more than 100 agents. Now comes the hard part: keeping him in jail...

Flying anything to anybody

From The Economist: The rise and fall of Viktor Bout, arms-dealer extraordinaire, shows a darker side of globalisation...

Bout's wife claims legitimate business

From Bangkok Post: His wife Alla Bout, who identified herself as a 45-year-old fashion designer, Tuesday supported his claim that he has done nothing wrong. The wife of accused Russian arms smuggler Viktor Bout has testified that he is an honest businessman who ran a legitimate air cargo business.

Disassembly Line

From The Atlantic Monthly by Don Peck: "The plant opened in 1947. Ford closed it in October 2006, the second of 14 closures announced earlier that year. Some 2,000 workers lost their jobs as a result of the closing; 500 of them accepted transfers to other plants, the rest took severance. The city of Hapeville, with just 6,000 residents, lost its largest source of municipal revenue..."

Ten Trillion and Counting

All of the federal government's efforts to stem the tide of the financial meltdown have added hundreds of billions of dollars to an already staggering national debt, a sum that is expected to double over the next 10 years to more than $23 trillion. In Ten Trillion and Counting, FRONTLINE traces the politics behind this mounting debt and investigates what some say is a looming crisis that makes the current financial situation pale in comparison.

Study: Children Exposed To Pornography May Expect Sex To Be Enjoyable

From The Onion New Network (ONN) In The Know with Clifford Banes: