BREVITAS

FREEDOM & JUSTICE

Wired The Fourth Amendment's shield against invasive searches reaches only partially across the border, a federal appeals court ruled, finding that the nation's spies don't need a court order to wiretap an American overseas, though there has to be a good reason for listening in. . . The unsigned opinion found that wiretapping overseas was invasive, but that it made no sense to require a court order to wiretap or search an American overseas, since the warrant would have "dubious legal significance" in another country. The test, the court says, is whether the search is reasonable.

Guardian, UK - A Hertfordshire couple in their 60s were horrified to receive a letter last week from a London firm of lawyers accusing them of downloading a hardcore gay porn movie. It demanded they pay L503 for "copyright infringement" or face a high court action. . . The bewildered couple contacted Guardian Money. "We were offended by the title of the film. We don't do porn - straight or gay - and we can't do downloads. We have to ask our son even to do an iTunes purchase." But this Hertfordshire couple are not alone. A large number of people have received this letter, provoking a massive outcry on web forums such as slyck.com and torrentfreak which estimate 25,000 of these letters have been sent out. If all the recipients paid up, it would net L12.5m - more than almost any porn film has made.

Get Up, Australia - The Federal Government is planning to force all Australian servers to filter internet traffic and block any material the Government deems 'inappropriate'. Under the plan, the Government can add any 'unwanted' site to a secret blacklist. Testing has already begun on systems that will slow our internet by up to 87%, make it more expensive, miss the vast majority of inappropriate content and accidentally block up to one in 12 legitimate sites.

OBAMALAND

Political Wire So far, the transition team has received 290,000 applications for jobs in the Obama administration through its website -- www.change.gov -- and officials believe they could wind up with 1 million job-seekers by the time Obama is sworn into office on Jan. 20," the Los Angeles Times reports. "By comparison, before President Bush took office in 2001, he received just 44,000 requests for political jobs. As former President Clinton assumed the White House in 1993, he had received 125,000 applications for jobs." The problem: There are only about 8,000 non-career service positions are available.

Organic Bytes - Vilksack's nomination [for Agriculture Secretary] has now been withdrawn. Although Vilsack told the Des Moines Register he didn't want to comment on why he had been sacked, sources at the Obama transition headquarters reported "a flood of calls and emails" from organic consumers opposing Vilsack's nomination.

ECO CLIPS

Windsor Star - There is both growing public reluctance to make personal sacrifices and a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the major international efforts now underway to battle climate change, according to findings of a poll of 12,000 citizens in 11 countries, including Canada. . . Less than half of those surveyed, or 47 per cent, said they were prepared to make personal lifestyle changes to reduce carbon emissions, down from 58 per cent last year. Only 37 per cent said they were willing to spend "extra time" on the effort, an eight-point drop. And only one in five respondents - or 20 per cent - said they'd spend extra money to reduce climate change. That's down from 28 per cent a year ago.

HEALTH & SCIENCE

Reuters - Mice fed junk food for nine months showed signs of developing the abnormal brain tangles strongly associated with Alzheimer's disease, a Swedish researcher said. The findings, which come from a series of published papers by a researcher at Sweden's Karolinska Institutet, show how a diet rich in fat, sugar and cholesterol could increase the risk of the most common type of dementia. "On examining the brains of these mice, we found a chemical change not unlike that found in the Alzheimer brain," Susanne Akterin, a researcher at the Karolinska Institutet's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, who led the study, said in a statement. "We now suspect that a high intake of fat and cholesterol in combination with genetic factors ... can adversely affect several brain substances, which can be a contributory factor in the development of Alzheimer's."

GEORGIA

BBC - A former Georgian ambassador has caused uproar in Georgia by saying his country, not Russia, started August's war over South Ossetia. Erosi Kitsmarishvili, a former envoy to Russia, was testifying at a parliamentary commission hearing into the war the breakaway Georgian region. One lawmaker threw his pen at Mr Kitsmarishvili and then had to be restrained as he charged towards him. Georgia maintains its assault on South Ossetia followed a Russian invasion. "Russia was ready for this war, but the Georgian leadership started the military action first," Mr Kitsmarishvili told the commission. He said he had this information "from high-ranking Georgian officials". However, he said he believed Georgia had been provoked into war by Russia. Mr Kitsmarishvili has been an outspoken critic of the Georgian president since being replaced as ambassador to Moscow, the BBC's Tom Esslemont in Tbilisi says.

DRUG BUSTS

Jennifer Squires, Santa Cruz Sentinel Medicinal marijuana caregivers may be prosecuted as drug dealers, according to a state Supreme Court ruling. The ruling upholds a Santa Cruz County Superior Court jury decision that found medicinal marijuana user Roger Mentch, 53, guilty of cultivating and possessing marijuana for sale. Mentch, who was arrested by sheriff's deputies in 2003, claimed he was a caregiver for five medicinal marijuana patients. He also opened the Hemporium, a medicinal marijuana collective in Felton, where he sometimes sold the pot he grew. . . The court ruled primary caregivers must have an established care-giving relationship with the patient prior to providing that patient with medicinal marijuana, according to the decision. Also, primary caregivers can only provide pot to those patients, not sell the drug to other medicinal users or collectives. Therefore, Mentch's sales to the Hemporium and another collective in the county amounted to dealing drugs

MID EAST

UPI - A total of 13 countries with troops currently stationed in Iraq will soon remove those soldiers from the war-torn country, a military official says. Brig. Gen. Nicolas Matern, Multi-National Corps Iraq deputy commander, said with a U.N. mandate that offered the countries authorization to operate in Iraq set to expire at year's end, coalition forces are set to be significantly depleted, The Times of London reported.

THE MIX

A Miami judge has ruled that there is "no rational basis" for blocking gays from adopting children. The state ban began in 1977.

BOOKSHELF

Hubert Harrison: The Voice of Harlem Radicalism, 1883-1918 by Jeffrey B. Perry. Columbia University Press (November 2008)

FURTHERMORE

Nick Perry, Seattle Times - A University of Washington employee who says her boss unexpectedly drove her to romantic Canlis Restaurant one night and offered her the chance to manage a massive campus housing project - while also declaring his love for her - has filed a claim against the UW seeking $500,000. Emily Carleton says that for about seven weeks this year, her boss, Paul F. Brown, sexually harassed her with late-night e-mails, Valentine's Day cards, unwanted touching, sexual advances and outbursts of anger. She claims she suffered anxiety, humiliation and embarrassment - feelings exacerbated by the way the UW responded to her claims. Carleton, a communications specialist, told UW investigators that her background as a writer and proofreader in no way qualified her to manage the $250 million West Campus development that will provide new dorms and apartments for thousands of students.

Headnotes - 106 Courts 106II Establishment, Organization, and Procedure 106II(K) Opinions 106k106 k. Preparation and Filing. An opinion in prose the law does not demand, for judicial pronouncement may in poetry be if that suits the judge's hand; metrical line is not perverse and rhyme will do just fine. Brown v. State, 216 S.E.2d 356 (1975)

Radar - There is a movement afoot in New York political circles to make sure that if (okay: when) Hillary Clinton accepts the post as Barack Obama's Secretary of State, that her Senate seat is filled by hubby Bill.

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