All ye old scribe can plead is to not rush this through, but take the time to study all facets in full.

The House on Friday endorsed the most significant changes in patent law in more than 50 years, sending to the Senate legislation that has divided the nation’s business and innovation communities.

The House bill, approved 220-175, would harmonize the U.S. patent system with those of other countries, making it easier for American inventors to secure patents overseas, weed out poor-quality patents and limit damages that can be levied in patent lawsuits.

[snip]

But with the legislation continuing to engender opposition from the White House and many industry groups, including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, Berman acknowledged that further adjustments will be needed before it goes to the president. The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved a similar bill offered by that panel’s chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Senate leaders are committed to bringing it to the floor this fall. Article

Noted FYI:

American spy chiefs were quick to name Adam Gadahn, the head of al-Qaeda’s English language media operations, as the author of large sections of bin Laden’s broadcast.

Last October, the 28-year-old “loner” became the first American charged with treason since 1952, for appearing in a succession of al-Qaeda videos under the guise of “Azzam The American”, in which he condemned globalisation and made American cultural references.

He was charged in his absence, as he is thought to be near to bin Laden, almost certainly in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

Gadahn, who as a teenager reviewed albums for a metal music magazine, moved to Pakistan in 1998 and became an associate of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of the 9/11 attacks. In 2004, the FBI named him as one of seven al-Qaeda operatives planning attacks in the US.

[snip]

A former senior US intelligence official said: “It has Adam Gadahn written all over it.” Mike Baker, a former CIA covert operations officer, said the tape left bin Laden with “the title of biggest gas bag in the terrorist world”.

CIA officials said voice analysis of the tape proved it was definitely bin Laden. Article

Splinter group, but in context a deep and painful splinter.

Israeli police announced on Sunday the arrest of a gang of alleged neo-Nazis, all immigrants from the former Soviet Union, accused of waging attacks on foreigners and religious Jews, in a case that has deeply shocked the Jewish state.

The eight men, aged 16 to 21 and including the suspected leader of the group, were arrested after a year-long investigation, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.

[snip]

“It is difficult to believe that Nazi ideology sympathisers can exist in Israel, but it is a fact,” Revital Almog, the police official who directed the investigation, told public radio.

Searches of the suspects’ homes turned up Nazi uniforms, portraits of Adolf Hitler, knives, guns and TNT, police said.

[snip]

The number of incidents in Israel with a neo-Nazi, fascist or anti-Semitic streak has increased dramatically over the past 15 years, according to the Dmir Centre, which monitors and assists victims of such attacks.

There is no law explicitly banning anti-Semitism in Israel, because legislators never imagined it could ever arise. Article

Old labels, new bottles. Or vice-versa.

The Rev. Ann Gordon stood in front of her United Methodist congregation last fall and announced that she was now he.

Surgery and testosterone had transformed Ann into the Rev. Drew Phoenix — still as liberal and laid-back as always, but now legally male. Most in the small congregation accepted their pastor’s transition; they even threw him a renaming party, complete with birthday cake.

But when Phoenix, 48, was reappointed to another year of ministry this spring by his bishop, it sparked a protest in the United Methodist Church.

The denomination’s highest authority, the Judicial Council, will take up the case next month, deciding whether the church should accept transgender pastors. The decision will determine Phoenix’s future; it could also have political implications.

Presiding over the Judicial Council is Dr. James W. Holsinger Jr., President Bush’s nominee for surgeon general and a longtime lay leader of the United Methodist church. Democrats have objected to Holsinger in large part because of work he has done for his church over the years.

[snip]

The United Methodist Book of Discipline, which sets out rules for the denomination, does not address the issue of gender identity. But since it bans discrimination on the basis of gender — a point intended to ensure the equality of male and female clergy — Phoenix argues in a legal brief: “There is no basis for prohibiting my appointment . . . based on my identification as male.” Article

24K K-9:

Retail price: about $45,000.

Protection dogs, once used almost exclusively for police and industrial security work — and priced considerably lower — have entered the civilian market where they have inspired not only a new niche, but a new array of tricks. Trainers from Florida to California sell what some call Man Stoppers: dogs that can rappel, take down a carjacker before he gets in your car or pinpoint sections of an estate to protect. Websites boast of dogs equally at ease in an airplane or a boardroom, that can hear seven times better than a bodyguard and are perfect for clients who want to “cross international borders without the hassle of weapons permits.”

One company even offers the “covert secure,” a command that puts the dog in stealth mode, primed for attack while at ease.

[snip]

While police dogs sell for about $6,000 to $12,000 depending on their training, executive protection dogs average $25,000 and can go as high as $75,000. Trainers contend they earn such money by providing complicated skills and assurances, such as regular tune-ups in training and guarantees on performance.

But no regulations exist, meaning one trainer’s Level 3 protection dog may not equal the Elite Family and Estate Security dogs Whittaker has sold to Steven Segal and NFL wide receiver Plaxico Burress.

“They’re really all the same dog,” said Jerry Burgess, who quit teaching economics at the University of North Carolina 15 years ago to train protection and police dogs. “They’re not diamond-encrusted,” he said. “If a guy says he can go to Europe and get a highly trained dog for $8,000 or $9,000 what more can you do to make that dog worth $35,000?”

Burgess, who has provided dogs to police in Miami-Dade County as well as the Federal Reserve banks in Miami and Jacksonville, says his highest priced dog — one dual trained to detect explosives and apprehend — sells for $12,500. Article