When you live in China, you soon become conscious of a shadowy presence that watches over you, monitoring everything you see and do on the computer screen and the television. George Orwell called it Big Brother. The Chinese authorities prefer a cute and cheerful name, so they've invented two cartoon figures called Jingjing and Chacha that float merrily on your computer screen. But they have the same Orwellian task: to keep you under constant surveillance to ensure that you don't look at anything unauthorized or subversive.-The Globe and Mail

Hot on the heels of Osama bin Laden's latest release, an audio tape that boosted George W. Bush's poll numbers despite it being described as a probable fake by bin Laden expert Professor Bruce Lawrence, Ayman al-Zawahri has popped up on the eve of the State of the Union to hand Bush all the ammunition he needs to threaten American citizens for a sixth consecutive time.-Prison Planet

Primary care -- the basic medical care that people get when they visit their doctors for routine physicals and minor problems -- could fall apart in the United States without immediate reforms, the American College of Physicians said on Monday.-Reuters

Some commentators are describing Google, the world’s most used internet search engine, as “scary,” after learning that the internet giant stores web search history and e-mails.-LifeSite.net

A new provision tucked into the Patriot Act bill now before Congress would allow authorities to haul demonstrators at any "special event of national significance" away to jail on felony charges if they are caught breaching a security perimeter.-FOX News

The chairman of the House committee overseeing Project Bioshield — the government’s project to create drugs to respond to possible terrorist attacks — wants the program’s director taken off the project.-CBS

Transcript of Bob Schieffer's exclusive pre-State of the Union interview with President Bush, held on Jan. 27, 2006.-CBS