"The U.S. government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials.

"The personal travel records are meant to be stored for as long as 15 years, as part of the Department of Homeland Security's effort to assess the security threat posed by all travelers entering the country."

That's right. Fifteen-year-long records are created and stored, regardless of your innocence, without your knowledge or consent.

That can include even the books you travel with. The Post reports that a group of activists requested information on their travel records, and found the records included a description of a book on marijuana one of them carried.

"The federal government is trying to build a surveillance society," John Gilmore, a libertarian and a heroic civil liberties activist, told the Washington Post. "The job of building a surveillance database and populating it with information about us is happening largely without our awareness and without our consent."

What other personal information is Homeland Security collecting (all to keep you free, of course)? Lots -- like, for instance, the kind of hotel bed you sleep in.

Notes The Washington Post:

"The [Department of Homeland Security] database generally includes 'passenger name record' (PNR) information, as well as notes taken during secondary screenings of travelers. PNR data -- often provided to airlines and other companies when reservations are made -- routinely include names, addresses and credit-card information, as well as telephone and e-mail contact details, itineraries, hotel and rental car reservations, and even the type of bed requested in a hotel."

The Washington Post also told the story of Zakariya Reed, a Toledo firefighter, who said he has been detained at least seven times at the Michigan border since fall 2006.

Twice, Reed said, he was questioned by border officials about "politically charged" opinion pieces critical of U.S. policy in the Middle East he had published in his local newspaper.

Once, during a secondary interview, he said, "they had them printed out on the table in front of me."

Incidentally, your DHS travel file is exempt from Privacy Act requirements. So you have no right to correct even erroneous information that might be there -- waiting to bite you.

NEW YORK -- Joe Torre is out as manager of the New York Yankees, rejecting a substantial pay cut after the team failed to make it past the first round of the playoffs for the third straight year.

Torre turned down a $5 million, one-year contract Thursday that still would have made him the highest paid manager in baseball.

Bench coach Don Mattingly is the leading contender to replace Torre, who led the Yanks to 12 straight playoff appearances and won four World Series championships. Yankees broadcaster Joe Girardi, the NL Manager of the Year with Florida in 2006, is another top contender.

"It's a difficult day," general manager Brian Cashman said.

But it was one Yankees' fans could see coming.

After losing the first two playoff games to Cleveland, owner George Steinbrenner said he didn't think Torre would be back if the Yankees didn't advance. They lost in four games.

Torre, who took over the team to start the 1996 season, made his decision after traveling fom New York to the team's spring training complex in Tampa, Fla. He was accompanied by Cashman and chief operating officer Lonn Trost.

"It is now time for the New York Yankees to move forward," team president Randy Levine said.

1. Subscriber Name;
2. Subscriber Address;
3. Local and long distance telephone connection records, or records of session times and durations;
4. Length of service and type of service utilized;
5. Telephone or instrument number or other subscriber number or identity, including any temporarily assigned network address; and
6. Means and source of payment for such service, including credit card or bank account number of a subscriber to such service.