Nobel Prize-Winning Writers Say NSA Surveillance Power 'Is Being Systemically Abused'

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Some of the world's most famous writers have signed an open appeal against the National Security Agency that says the U.S. government's mass surveillance chills freedom of thought.

Nobel laureates Orhan Pamuk, J.M. Coetzee, Elfriede Jelinek, Günter Grass and Tomas Transtr?mer are among hundreds of "writers against mass surveillance" worldwide who have signed the open appeal, which calls on governments and corporations to respect citizens' privacy rights.

"Surveillance violates the private sphere and compromises freedom of thought and opinion," the appeal says. "As we have seen, this power is being systemically abused."

Other notable signers include Richard Ford, Margaret Atwood, Umberto Eco, Yann Martel, Dave Eggers, Colum McCann, Sapphire, Ian McEwan, and Don DeLillo. In Europe the appeal was released on Tuesday -- Human Rights Day.

The writers' statement asks the United Nations to create an international bill of digital rights. The U.S., along with surveillance partners that include the United Kingdom and Australia, have sought to weaken a U.N. resolution that would express support for digital privacy.

"We are really very worried about mass surveillance," said Janne Teller, a Danish writer who helped organize the open message. "We think it's undermining democracy totally, and we are shocked that more people aren't up in arms about it,"

Teller said she doesn't believe writers are threatened more than ordinary citizens by mass surveillance, but their work makes them particularly attuned to its dangers.

"I think it's quite significant when you have 560 or so of the greatest contemporary writers, from all across the world, expressing a very serious concern, because these are people who always work on the big philosophical questions of life," Teller said. "Hopefully their concern matters to politicians."

Last month, the writers' rights group PEN released survey results that found a "chilling effect" from disclosures of the NSA's mass surveillance. American writers polled by the group said they have avoided mentioning controversial topics and criticizing the government.

Teller, who lives in New York, said she hopes Americans will join the writers' outrage over mass surveillance by adding their names to a public version of the appeal.

"This undermines all the freedoms and values that I otherwise love about America," Teller said. "So I can't understand why Americans can accept mass surveillance in this way, it's totally against the freedom ideals."

Read the full document, "A Stand for Democracy in the Digital Age," below. A full list of signatories is available here.

In recent months, the extent of mass surveillance has become common knowledge. With a few clicks of the mouse the state can access your mobile device, your e-mail, your social networking and Internet searches. It can follow your political leanings and activities and, in partnership with Internet corporations, it collects and stores your data, and thus can predict your consumption and behaviour.

The basic pillar of democracy is the inviolable integrity of the individual. Human integrity extends beyond the physical body. In their thoughts and in their personal environments and communications, all humans have the right to remain unobserved and unmolested.

This fundamental human right has been rendered null and void through abuse of technological developments by states and corporations for mass surveillance purposes.

A person under surveillance is no longer free; a society under surveillance is no longer a democracy. To maintain any validity, our democratic rights must apply in virtual as in real space.

* Surveillance violates the private sphere and compromises freedom of thought and opinion.

* Mass surveillance treats every citizen as a potential suspect. It overturns one of our historical triumphs, the presumption of innocence.

* Surveillance makes the individual transparent, while the state and the corporation operate in secret. As we have seen, this power is being systemically abused.

* Surveillance is theft. This data is not public property: it belongs to us. When it is used to predict our behaviour, we are robbed of something else: the principle of free will crucial to democratic liberty.

WE DEMAND THE RIGHT for all people, as democratic citizens, to determine to what extent their personal data may be collected, stored and processed, and by whom; to obtain information on where their data is stored and how it is being used; to obtain the deletion of their data if it has been illegally collected and stored.

WE CALL ON ALL STATES AND CORPORATIONS to respect these rights.

WE CALL ON ALL CITIZENS to stand up and defend these rights.

WE CALL ON THE UNITED NATIONS to acknowledge the central importance of protecting civil rights in the digital age, and to create an International Bill of Digital Rights.

WE CALL ON GOVERNMENTS to sign and adhere to such a convention.

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Satanist Monument Plan Dismissed As 'Publicity Stunt' By Oklahoma Lawmakers

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Legislative leaders in Oklahoma sought to ease public concern Monday over a plan by a group of satanists to erect a monument at the state Capitol.

Both House Speaker T.W. Shannon and Senate President Pro Tem Brian Bingman suggested that such a plan was far from a reality, and members of the committee that would need to approve the monument sounded skeptical. But a constitutional law professor says the state could be on legally questionable ground if it rejects the New York-based Satanic Temple's request to put an homage to Satan near a Ten Commandments monument that's already at the Capitol.

The Associated Press reported Sunday about the Satanic Temple's plans to donate such a memorial. The Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission would have to approve such plans.

"That's Oklahoma's house. It's not the Satanic club of New York's house," said Capitol architect Duane Mass, who serves on the commission.

Officials with Satanic Temple suggest that Oklahoma opened the door to other religions when it allowed the Ten Commandments monument, with a sectarian message, to be placed at the Capitol.

"The whole point is that we're a religiously pluralistic society, so if there's going to be one, there will be others, or at least we'll make the effort for such," said Lucien Greaves, a spokesman for the Satanic Temple. "Or there will be neither. Those are the only real options."

The Republican-controlled Legislature in 2009 authorized the placement of the privately funded Ten Commandments monument at the state Capitol, and former Democratic Gov. Brad Henry signed the bill into law. It was placed on the north steps of the building last year, and the Oklahoma chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has sued to have it removed.

At Big Truck Tacos, a restaurant about a mile from the Capitol, 26-year-old Matthew Burrell questioned what the satanists had done to deserve a monument.

"Monuments are built in response to something great being done," Burrell said. "What have satanists given to society that actually benefits the city or the state?"

Bingman suggested the idea sounded like a "political stunt," while Shannon spokesman Joe Griffin said the Capitol was not an appropriate place for such a monument.

"Anything displayed at the Capitol should be a representation of the values of Oklahomans and this nation," Griffin said. "The left-hand path philosophies of this organization do not align with the values of Oklahomans nor the ideals this country or its laws are founded upon."

But Joseph Thai, a constitutional law professor at the University of Oklahoma, said the decision to place the Ten Commandments monument at the Capitol could put the state in a difficult position.

"The state can disown the Ten Commandments monument erected at the Capitol with private funds as private speech, but then it cannot reject other privately donated religious monuments — even a satanic one — on the basis of viewpoint," Thai said.

Or the state could decide to exclude other religious monuments by taking ownership of the Ten Commandments monument as official state speech, but Thai said that could become legally problematic because of the sectarian message on the granite statute.

"The Legislature has put the state between a rock and a hard place, constitutionally speaking," Thai said.

___

Sean Murphy can be reached at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy

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Nation Laughs At LA's Definition Of 'Cold' On 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' (VIDEO)

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While winter brings snow and rainstorms to the rest of the nation, the only thing Los Angeles has had to endure so far is a little drizzle and a slight "cold snap."

You'd never know it, though, from the overly-dramatic weather reporting of Southern California's local news stations. The "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" show compiled a video of the week's most ridiculous clips to mock LA's definition of the cold --which is anything below 70 degrees.

h/t LAist

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This Is What The Next Generation Of Engineers Looks Like

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In college and during her career, Kimberly Bryant often found herself the only black female scientist in the room. The biotech engineer founded the Bay Area non-profit Black Girls CODE in 2011 so that today's young girls will never find themselves in that position. Bryant realized that it wasn't a lack of interest in science that led to a dearth of diversity in her field; it was a lack of access. Black Girls CODE's goal is to drive access and exposure, closing the digital divide.

Black Girls CODE introduces young girls of color to computer programming, mobile app development, robotics and other STEM fields, so the girls can learn how to build the tools they want to see in the world. The non-profit is a global organization, with chapters in Oakland, Calif., Atlanta, New York and even South Africa, with expansion to eight more cities planned for next year. Every chapter targets girls of color between the ages of 7 and 17, formative years for capturing the girls' interest in STEM and building their self-confidence.

Read the whole story at mashable.com

World War II Reunions Poignant For Dwindling Veterans

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DAYTON, Ohio -- DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Paul Young rarely talked about his service during World War II — about the B-25 bomber he piloted, about his 57 missions, about the dangers he faced or the fears he overcame.

"Some things you just don't talk about," he said.

But Susan Frymier had a hunch that if she could journey from Fort Wayne, Ind., with her 92-year-old dad for a reunion of his comrades in the 57th Bomb wing, he would open up.

She was right: On a private tour at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force near Dayton, amid fellow veterans of flights over southern Europe and Germany, Young rattled off vivid details of his plane, crewmates, training and some of his most harrowing missions.

"Dad, you can't remember what you ate yesterday, but you remember everything about World War II," his daughter said, beaming.

When Young came home from the war, more than 70 years ago, there were 16 million veterans like him — young soldiers, sailors and Marines who returned to work, raise families, build lives. Over the decades, children grew up, married, had children of their own; careers were built and faded into retirement; love affairs followed the path from the altar to the homestead and often, sadly, to the graveyard.

Through it all, the veterans would occasionally get together to remember the greatest formative experience of their lives. But as the years wore on, there were fewer and fewer of them. According to the Department of Veteran Affairs, just a little over 1 million remain. The ones who remain are in their 80s and 90s, and many are infirm or fragile.

So the reunions, when they are held, are more sparsely attended — yearly reminders of the passing of the Greatest Generation.

—When veterans of the Battle of the Bulge gathered in Kansas City this summer, only 40 came, according to organizers, down from 63 last year and 350 in 2004.

—Of the 80 members of Doolittle's Raiders who set out on their daring attack on mainland Japan in 1942, 73 survived. Seventy-one years later, only four remain; they decided this year's April reunion in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., would be their last, though they agreed to meet Nov. 9 for a final toast in honor of those who have gone before them.

—A half-century ago, when retired Army First Lt. Frank Towers went to his first reunion of the 30th Infantry Division — soldiers who landed at the beaches of Normandy and fought across France and Germany — he was surrounded by 1,000 other veterans.

"Now if I get 50, I'm lucky," said Towers, who is working on plans for a reunion next February in Savannah, Ga. "Age has taken its toll on us. A lot of our members have passed away, and many of them who are left are in health situations where they can't travel."

So why persist?

"It's a matter of camaraderie," Towers said. "We spent basically a year or more together through hell or high water. We became a band of brothers. We can relate to each other in ways we can't relate to (anyone else). You weren't there. These guys were there. They know the horrors we went through."

___

As many as 11,000 people served in the 57th Bomb Wing that flew missions over German-held Europe from North Africa and the island of Corsica during most of the war. Hundreds survive, according to wing historians and reunion organizers. Only nine veterans made it to this fall's event.

George Williams, 90, recalled earlier reunions with his comrades, "having a great time yukking it up and talking about things." No one else from his squadron came to this one.

"All of a sudden, it's lonesome," said Williams, a native of Visalia, Calif., who moved after his wife's death to Springfield, Mo., where his son lives. "All of the people you ran around with are on the wrong side of the grass. You wonder why you're so lucky."

But in a Holiday Inn hospitality suite with patriotic bunting, bowls of pretzels and chips with soft drinks at their tables, the stories flowed easily.

Williams remembered the tension of his first mission, his hand ready at the tag that would release him to bail out if necessary. It went without incident, and upon their return to base, a flight surgeon measured out two ounces of whiskey for each crewman. "Sixty-nine to go," he said then, because 70 missions was considered the tour of duty. Sometimes on later missions, he would pour the two ounces into a beer bottle to save up for a night when he needed numbing.

Robert Crouse, of Clinton, Tenn., is 89 years old, but he remembers as if it happened yesterday the time a shell blew out the cockpit windshield ("you could stick your head through it"), disabling much of the control panel. Another plane escorted the bomber, its pilot calling out altitude and air speed as Crouse's plane limped back to base, riddled with holes.

Young recalled flying a damaged plane back to base, hearing his tail gunner's panicked yells as Plexiglass shattered over him. "You could feel the plane vibrate; you fly through the smoke, you smell the smoke and you hear the flak hitting the plane like hail on a tin roof."

Not all the memories are bad ones. There was the late-war mission when they hit a spaghetti factory instead of the intended target ("Spaghetti was flying everywhere," recalled Crouse, chuckling). There was Williams' first Thanksgiving meal overseas: a Spam turkey, spiced and baked to perfection by an innovative cook.

"I still love Spam," he said.

Then there was R&R in Rome, hosted by the Red Cross. Young men not long removed from high school toured the Colosseum and other historic sites they had read about. They visited the Vatican; some met Pope Pius XII. Williams got a papal blessing of a rosary for his engineer's fiancee.

"It was pretty good," Williams said of his war experience, "except when they were shooting at us."

___

Some of the veterans fear that their service will be forgotten after they are gone. Crouse and others have written memoirs, and many of the reunion groups now have websites, magazines and other publications in which they recount their stories.

"You just hope that the young people appreciate it," said Young. "That it was very important, if you wanted to continue the freedom that we have."

Their children remember. Some are joining them at the reunions; others keep coming after their fathers are gone.

At this year's reunion, Bob Marino led a memorial service and read the names of 42 members of the 57th Bomb Wing who died in the past year. A bugler played "Taps."

Marino, 72, a retired IRS attorney and Air Force veteran from Basking Ridge, N.J., helped organize the gathering. His Brooklyn-native father, Capt. Benjamin Marino, died in 1967 and left numerous photos from the war, and Marino set about trying to identify and organize them. To learn more about his father's experiences, he corresponded with other veterans — including Joseph Heller, who was inspired by his wartime experiences with the 57th to write his classic novel "Catch-22."

"He never talked about any of this," Marino said, turning the pages on a massive scrapbook as veterans dropped by to look at the photos. "Once in a while, something came out. I wish I had sat down and talked to him about it."

This was precisely the gift Susan Frymier received at the reunion in Dayton.

She watched as the father who had long avoided talking about the war proudly pulled from his wallet a well-worn, black-and-white snapshot of the plane he piloted, nicknamed "Heaven Can Wait" with a scantily clad, shapely female painted near the cockpit.

She listened as he described German anti-aircraft artillery fire zeroing in on his plane. "I had to get out of there. All the flak ... they were awfully close." He described "red-lining" a landing, running the engines beyond safe speed. His voice suddenly choked.

"Oh, Dad!" said his daughter, and she hugged him tightly.

___

Contact reporter Dan Sewell at http://www.twitter.com/dansewell

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U.S. Dispatches Aid For Philippine Typhoon Recovery

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MANILA, Philippines -- MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A US military plane carrying relief supplies and a contingent of Marines has left the Philippine capital en route to the country's typhoon-devastated eastern seaboard.

The C-130 left Manila's Vilamor air base on Monday loaded with bottled water, generators wrapped in plastic, a forklift and two trucks.

It was the first American relief flight to the region, where thousands are feared dead and tens of thousands more homeless as a result of Friday's typhoon.

The flight was headed for Tacloban, a city badly hit by the storm and in desperate need of assistance.

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Texas And 5 Other States Resist Processing Benefits For Gay Couples

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On the morning of Sept. 3, the first day the Pentagon said they could, Alicia Butler and her spouse, Judith Chedville, who is a Texas Army National Guard officer, went to Austin’s Camp Mabry so Ms. Butler could get a military spouse identification card and register for the same federal marriage benefits provided to wives and husbands of heterosexual service members.

Read the whole story at The New York Times