The dramatic chart below compares job losses from the past two recessions in 1990 and 2001 to the current economic crisis.

Thirteen months into a downward trend from a peak job month, employment numbers in 1990 and 2001 began to stabilize, but in the current recession the steep drop continues, with a total of 3.6 million jobs lost, and much of that in the past 4 months.

Scary chart provided by The Gavel.

First civil unions. Now gay marriage. Progress.

Backed by 59 legislators, Vermont state Reps. Mark Larson and David Zuckerman introduced legislation today to legalize gay marriage.

The bill will likely be opposed by Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas, who previously said he would not support same-sex marrage.

“I think the current civil union law is sufficient. It accords equality of rights to Vermonters in terms of their relationships and I think we should leave the law as it is.”

Vermont was the first state to legalize civil unions in 2000. And the world didn’t end then. And it won’t end because of gay marriage either.

More from the Burlington Free Press.

The Courage Campaign has released a moving new video called “Fidelity”, asking the California Supreme Court not to divorce the 18,000 same-sex couples who were married before the passage of Proposition 8. Leading the effort to invalidate those marriages is Pepperdine University’s Ken Starr. Yes, the same Ken Starr whose investigation eventually led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

Visit the Courage Campaign and send a message to the California Supreme Court asking them to invalidate Prop 8 and reject Ken Starr’s case.

As of January 2006 all issued U.S. passports carry an RFID microchip embedded with personal information, including name, nationality, gender, date of birth, place of birth and a digitized photo.

Government officials have repeatedly assured privacy advocates and the public that the personal information on the chips is secure, and that the technology will make it more difficult to forge passports and enter the country illegally.

It seems however that they are not that secure. Recently a hacker with easily acquired equipment was able to copy a few RFIDs while tooling around San Francisco in his car.

See clip below…

The RFID technology is starting to appear in drivers’ licenses too.

If you are concerned about your privacy and want protect your passport there are number of options including Passport Stronghold, RFID-Shield and ID Stronghold.

More at engadget.