Washington Post: Fake hospital inspectors probed

"The FBI and other law enforcement agencies are looking into incidents in which people masquerading as unannounced inspectors were found poking around three hospitals in Boston, Detroit and Los Angeles.

In each case the imposters were stopped by security guards or hospital staff, and then either left or were expelled. No one has been arrested, and neither the identity of the intruders nor their motives are known."

" 'There is no working hypothesis. It could be any number of things, from identity theft to something more nefarious,' an FBI spokesman, who declined to be named, said yesterday."

"The Department of Homeland Security is also 'aware of these suspicious reports' said Brian Roehrkasse, a department spokesman. He added the agency does not have 'any intelligence information that indicates al Qaeda is planning an attack or targeting hospitals.'"

Yahoo! News/Knight Ridder: The Conclave has a past--

The Conclave has a bloody and notorious past, which has only recently been changed. Regardless, everyone, Catholics, and non-Catholics, Liberals and Conservatives, wants to know who will be the next Pope.

ABC news: The President said his privacy must be protected

Washington-ABC news reported that the President said the public should know as much as possible about government decision making but national security and personal privacy including his own, needed to be protected.

Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists Secrecy Project said "Protecting the president's personal e-mail does not in any way justify the pattern of withholding that we've seen."

Perhaps one of the great issues and the challenge of our time is the tension between and among the right to open government, and freedom of information and national security and the right to privacy.

There is no easy path in striking a balance between and among these issues. But in our system of checks and balances, a reasoned balance can be achieved. It may have to be through a vigorous press and public taking these issues before an independent judiciary (which is why maintaining an independent judiciary is very important). An independent judiciary may be able to strike the appropriate balance.

BBC: Blogging from East to West

Blogs feature everything under the sun. But not everyone is free to say what they think.

Authoritarian governments are worried about blogging. "In the West, particularly in America, they are also making waves among traditional journalists."

CNN: Pope John Paul II to lie in state

Pope John Paul II will be moved Monday to the Sala Bologna at St. Peter's Basilica where he will lie in state until his funeral in four to six days. Authorities expect 2 million people to pay their respects in the next few days.