Uncle Sam Wants You(r) DNA

F.B.I. and States Vastly Expand DNA Databases

By SOLOMON MOORE

Published: April 18, 2009

Law enforcement officials are vastly expanding their collection of DNA to include millions more people who have been arrested or detained but not yet convicted. The move, intended to help solve more crimes, is raising concerns about the privacy of petty offenders and people who are presumed innocent.

More Profiles in the DNA Database

Heidi Schumann for The New York Times

Amanda Gareis helping process samples at California’s DNA crime laboratory in Richmond.

Enlarge This Image

Monica Almeida/The New York Times

An inmate waiting to be processed for DNA testing at Twin Towers.

Until now, the federal government genetically tracked only convicts. But starting this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will join 15 states that collect DNA samples from those awaiting trial and will collect DNA from detained immigrants — the vanguard of a growing class of genetic registrants.

The F.B.I., with a DNA database of 6.7 million profiles, expects to accelerate its growth rate from 80,000 new entries a year to 1.2 million by 2012 — a 17-fold increase. F.B.I. officials say they expect DNA processing backlogs — which now stand at more than 500,000 cases — to increase.

Law enforcement officials say that expanding the DNA databanks to include legally innocent people will help solve more violent crimes. They point out that DNA has helped convict thousands of criminals and has exonerated more than 200 wrongfully convicted people.

But criminal justice experts cite Fourth Amendment privacy concerns and worry that the nation is becoming a genetic surveillance society.

Cont.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/us/19DNA.html?_r=1

© Janet Crain

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East Indian Immigrant, Vivek Kundra, Obama Official on Leave After FBI Raid

An American born citizen couldn't be found to fill this well paying position? JC

Source: Obama technology official on leave after FBI raids his old DC office, arrests 2

• Devlin Barrett and Nedra Pickler, Associated Press Writers
• Thursday March 12, 2009, 6:38 pm EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An aide to President Barack Obama is on leave from his White House job after the FBI raided his old District of Columbia government office Thursday, arresting a city employee and a technology consultant on corruption charges, a White House official said.

The charges were lodged against the two men at a federal court hearing as the FBI finished searching the city's technology office, which was led until recently by Obama's new computer chief, Vivek Kundra.

Kundra is on leave from his White House job until further details of the case become known, according to a White House official speaking on condition of anonymity because the official did not want to publicly discuss personnel matters.

At the court hearing, Yusuf Acar, the acting chief security officer in the city's technology office, was ordered held without bond pending a hearing Tuesday. Prosecutors said $70,000 in cash was found during a search of Acar's Washington home and that he posed a serious flight risk.

Technology consultant Sushil Bansal of Dunn Loring, Va., was released but was ordered not to conduct overseas financial transactions or leave the Washington metropolitan area. Bansal is due back in court on April 21, and prosecutors said they were hopeful that a plea agreement could be reached in his case.

Acar worked under Kundra, Obama's pick to coordinate federal computer systems. Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs would not say whether the White House knew the investigation was under way when it named Kundra last week, but called the case "a serious matter."

Mafara Hobson, a spokeswoman for Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty, said she was "very confident" Kundra is not a target of the investigation.

Bansal's lawyer, David Lamb declined to comment. It was not immediately clear who would represent Acar in the case.

Acar, a 40-year-old native of Turkey, had a $127,468-a-year position purchasing the city's computer equipment and lining up contract workers for numerous city agencies, according to court documents.

Cont.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Source-Obama-official-on-apf-14623083.html

© Janet Crain

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Rendell: Obama bungled Blago response

I just don't understand why the incoming administration is stonewalling instead of answering the questions being asked by everyone; reporters and the public alike. Even Democrats are beginning to think this investigation is taking way too long. JC

By CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN 12/12/08 7:03 PM EST Updated: 12/12/08 7:03 PM EST

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell today criticized Barack Obama for not being more upfront about the Illinois corruption scandal.
Now, he said, the story will continue to dominate the media’s attention. “They have never been in an executive position before,” Rendell said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “The rule of thumb is whatever you did, say it and get it over with and make it a one-day story as opposed to a three-day story. Politicians are always misjudging the intelligence of the American people.”
Known for his blunt critiques of fellow Democrats, Rendell did not hold back during the interview.
The public, said Rendell, understands Obama and his aides would have an interest in who fills the Senate seat and some contact with the governor's office — and that Obama should have said as much at the outset.
"Did Rahm Emanuel, who took Rod Blagojevich's seat in Congress, have contact with Rod Blagojevich? Of course he did," Rendell said. "They may have thought he was the craziest S.O.B. in the world. But you still have to have contact with him."

cont. here:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16520.html

© Janet Crain

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Down the Memory Hole

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_hole

Hat Tip to:http://mainstreamconservative.blogspot.com/2008/12/obama-lied-axlerod-complied.html

What did the president-elect know, and when did he stop knowing it? Yesterday, the Lightworker attempted to distance himself from his good buddy Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D-IL) in familiar Obama fashion - by tossing the accused crook under the bus:

Saddened and bla bla.....

Knew nothing........

Cannot comment.......

Never spoke with the Governor about this bla bla.....

But unfortunately for the Hope and Change set, there is a problem. Let's set the Not-So-Wayback machine for November 5, more than two weeks before the day Axlerod allegedly "misspoke." Quincy, IL television station KQHA reported:
Now that Barack Obama will be moving to the White House, his seat in the U.S. Senate representing Illinois will have to be filled.

Vanity: What is going on?? Drudge removed the Connect Tri states linkhttp://www.freerepublic.com/^http://drudgereport.com/
Posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 3:47:17 PM by *****
It was in the top list of links a little while ago
which says Obama talked to Blagojevich

Has now been scrubbed, but here's the screen shot.

© Janet Crain

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7 Questions Obama Needs to Answer

by Janet Crain
In 40 days we are going to inaugurate a man for the highest office in our country about whom we know very little. Many of us had serious reservations about Barack Hussein Obama and voted against him. Others had some reservations but voted for him anyway and many just blithely voted for him on a whim. We are about to reap what has been sown. The ill winds are blowing in a stench from Chicago already.

The stinging criminal complaint against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff John Harris raises lots of questions for President-elect Barack Obama – questions he’ll have a chance to answer Thursday when he does his first news conference since Blagojevich was charged.

Here are seven worth asking:

1 – “Did you communicate directly or indirectly with Blagojevich about picking your replacement in the U.S. Senate?”

2 – “Why didn’t you or someone on your team correct your close adviser David Axelrod when he said you had spoken to Blagojevich about picking your replacement?”

3 – “When did you learn the investigation involved Blagojevich’s alleged efforts to ‘sell’ your Senate seat, or of the governor’s impending arrest?”

4 – “Did you or anyone close to you contact the FBI or U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald about Blagojevich’s alleged efforts to sell your Senate seat to the highest bidder?”

5 – “Did federal investigators interview you or anyone close to you in the investigation?”

6 – “When did you and Blagojevich last speak and about what?”

7 – “Do you regret supporting Blagojevich?”

Click here to read the full article:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1208/16465.html

© Janet Crain

Click here to view all recent Sarah Palin in 2012 posts