Bush weighs life’s worth, cost of rules
The White House is pushing federal agencies to slash the dollar values they place on human life, a move that has ignited an ethical debate with administration critics and allies alike.
To calculate benefits of rule changes, such as cutting power plant emissions, agencies typically assign a uniform value to each life saved. The EPA uses $6.1 million, a value set under George H.W. Bush and indexed for inflation. But Bush administration officials say the method is unfair and economically unsound, because it fails to recognize differences in quality of life: An elderly person with chronic illness is equal in value to a healthy child with decades more to live. The White House wants agencies to factor in the health and age of people who benefit from new rules.
The approach has produced some unsettling results. For example, in Bush’s Clear Skies plan, the EPA values the lives of some people who benefit from cleaner air as low as $96,000, less than two percent of its standard measure.
Business and industry stand to gain from the initiative. Regulators must weigh benefits against costs of regulation, so lower life values can limit the government’s reach in cutting emissions and requiring companies to invest in new equipment. Opponents fear that consequences could ripple across the bureaucracy as agencies apply the method to an array of laws intended to protect human health – from toxic waste cleanup to workplace safety and food labeling. (The Oregonian)

‘Nightstalkers’ track terror suspects
The FBI has a fleet of aircraft, some equipped with night surveillance and eavesdropping equipment, flying the nation’s skies to track and collect intelligence from suspected terrorists.
The FBI will not provide exact figures on the planes and helicopters, but more than 80 are in the skies. There are several planes, known as “Nightstalkers,” equipped with infrared devices that allow agents to track people and vehicles in the dark. Other aircraft are outfitted with electronic surveillance equipment so agents can pursue listening devices placed in cars, in buildings and even along streets, or listen to cell phone calls. Still others fly photography missions, although officials would not describe precise capabilities.
Some critics say the surveillance technology further blurs the boundaries on domestic spying. They point to a 2001 case in which the Supreme Court found police had engaged in an unreasonable search by using thermal imaging equipment to detect heat lamps used to grow marijuana plants indoors. (AP)

US steps up secret surveillance
Since the events of Sept. 11, 2001, the Justice Dept. and FBI have increased the use of two little-known powers that allow authorities to tap telephones, seize bank and telephone records and obtain other information in counterterrorism investigations with no immediate court oversight, according to officials and newly disclosed documents.
The FBI, for example, has issued scores of “national security letters” that require businesses to turn over electronic records about finances, telephone calls, e-mail and other personal information, according to officials and documents. The letters, a type of administrative subpoena, may be issued independently by FBI field offices and are not subject to judicial review unless a case comes to court, officials said. Attorney General John Ashcroft has also personally signed more than 170 “emergency foreign intelligence warrants,” three times the number authorized in the preceding 23 years, according to recent congressional testimony.
Federal law allows the attorney general to issue unilaterally these classified warrants for wiretaps and physical searches of “national security threats.” Government officials describe both measures as crucial security tools, but civil liberties advocates say they are troubled by the increasing use of the tactics, primarily because there is little or no oversight by courts or other outside parties. In both cases, the target of the investigation never has to be informed that the government has obtained his or her personal records or put him or her under surveillance. (Washington Post)

Anti-war protesters trash grounds around Rumsfeld’s home
Anti-war protesters trashed the grounds around a northern New Mexico home owned by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, placing “No War” stickers and throwing children’s clothes around the property, authorities say. No arrests were made during the Mar. 20 demonstration.
The protesters were among 400 to 500 who began demonstrating at Taos Plaza and marched along US 64 to two Rumsfeld properties at El Prado. Police and neighbors blocked the entrance to one of Rumsfeld’s properties. Demonstrators then walked more than a mile to a dairy farm, also owned by Rumsfeld, where about a dozen protesters jumped a fence and placed “No War” stickers and other signs on the farm’s house and grounds.
Rumsfeld owns six homes in northern New Mexico, including properties in the Santa Fe, Mora and Las Vegas areas. (AP)

Top White House anti-terror boss resigns
The top National Security Council official in the Bush administration’s “war on terror” resigned last week for what a NSC spokesman said were personal reasons, but intelligence sources say the move reflected concern that the then-looming war with Iraq was hurting the “fight against terrorism.” Rand Beers would not comment for this article, but he and several sources close to him are emphatic that the resignation was not a protest against an invasion of Iraq. But the same sources, and other current and former intelligence officials, described a broad consensus in the anti-terrorism and intelligence community that an invasion of Iraq would divert critical resources from the “war on terrorism.”
According to one former intelligence official, “We have sacrificed a war on terror for a war with Iraq. ... This just reflects the widespread thought that the war on terror is being cast aside for the war with Iraq at the expense of our military and intel resources and the relationships with our allies.”
“This is a very intriguing decision (by Beers),” said author and intelligence expert James Bamford. “There is a predominant belief in the intelligence community that an invasion of Iraq will cause more terrorism than it will prevent. There is also a tremendous amount of embarrassment by intelligence professionals that there have been so many lies out of the administration – by the President, Cheney, and Powell – over Iraq.”
(Washington Post)

Nazi skinhead receives death sentence for ’98 slaying of two
A Nazi skinhead has been sentenced to die in Las Vegas for July 4, 1998 slayings of two other skinheads who opposed his white supremacist beliefs.
Judge Michael Douglas sentenced John Edward Butler, 31, to death for the ambush slayings of Lin Newborn, 25, and Daniel Shersty, 21. Butler’s lawyer, Joseph Sciscento, said Butler maintains his innocence and disputes claims he is a racist.
Prosecutors said Butler was a leader of the Independent Nazi Skins in southern Nevada, and accused him of heading a group of at least four people who took part in the slayings in the northwest corner of Las Vegas.
Shersty was white. Newborn was black. Prosecutors said they were best friends and members of a skinhead group that worked against racism. (AP)

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