NEW RULES ON GOVERNMENT SURVEILLANCE.

President Bush has signed into law the compromise bill changing the rules on government eavesdropping on terrorist suspects, and granting immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperate in this. The President said, "The bill will allow our intelligence officials to quickly and effectively monitor the communications of terrorists abroad, while respecting the liberties of Americans here at home."

The head of the ACLU's National Security Project, Jameel Jaffer, doesn't think it respects that liberty enough. "U.S. citizens and residents have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their international communications, and that any law that gives the government access to those communications must protect the rights of innocent people." He promises to challenge the new law in court.

President Bush says the new surveillance rules will help prevent another terrorist attack on the United States. "It's essential that our intelligence community know who are enemies are talking to, what they're saying and what they're planning."

But the ACLU's Jameel Jaffer thinks the compromise reached is unconstitutional. "It permits the government to conduct intrusive surveillance without ever telling a court who it intends to surveill, what phone lines and e-mail addresses it intends to monitor, where its surveillance targets are located, or why it's conducting the surveillance."

Andrew Cohen, our CBS News Legal Analyst, reminds us that the Administration has lost several rounds in its effort to prosecute terrorist suspects.

"But in the main, it has been successful in defending its counterterrorism efforts domestically.  And this new Federal law is likely to pass constitutional scrutiny, even though it does give much wider powers to law enforcement officials."

PACKING MORE PUNCH IN SOLAR POWER DEVICES. 

The main complaint about solar energy is that it's so expensive --- costlier than standard energy sources --- because although solar panels do harness the sunlight, it involves large mirrors or lenses to concentrate the light, and you need an array of solar cells to do the job. 

But now, some scientists at MIT, led by electrical engineering professor Mark Baldo, have come up with something much simpler, smaller, flatter, more efficient and therefore...

"We think that we have a very practical way to make solar electricity cheaper..." said Marc Baldo, an electrical engineering professor at MIT

The concentrators that make solar electricity possible can be very high-tech and complex.  Some of them, to get a continuous source of power, involve mechanical movement of the mirrors to track the progression of the Sun across the sky.  Marc Baldo and his MIT colleagues have a much simpler idea.

 
"You have a piece of glass or plastic, and we put a very thin layer of paint or dye on top of it.  And that allows us to concentrate light onto a much smaller area of solar cells.  So the system allows us to use a lot less solar cells to get a certain amount of power."

And the materials aren't high-tech at all.

"What we've done here is just use simple, off-the-shelf materials to make this work.  And we think when other people look at it --- chemists and other engineers look it in a more specialist way --- we think that this has got a lot of potential to move along faster."

Flat and light, it can be easily attached to rooftops or even windows.  Why didn't somebody think of this before?  They did!  But maybe it seemed too obvious to be interesting.

"The original idea was from the 1970s, but it was sort of forgotten about at the end of the energy crisis.  And we'd like to try and sort of resurrect interest in this idea, because it's very practical."

Some of the MIT researchers are forming a company to develop and market the technology.

"We think that this approach of being able to concentrate light without having to build large mechanical mirrors is something that could easily be adopted in solar cell technology --- and we hope to see it in products within about three years."

"DESK RAGE" IN THE WORKPLACE.

Do you ever find yourself getting angry at work?  Frustrated?  Feel insulted or abused?  Is there a boss or co-worker you think is such a jerk that you can hardly stand it? 

There is a phenomenon that's now being called "desk rage" --- the office equivalent of road rage --- in which that anger is expressed these days in words and sometimes actions that are, shall we say, inappropriate. 

"It seems that American society has become such that civility and politeness is just not as valued as it once was." says Prof. Paul Spector, University of South Florida.

Paul Spector, a professor of industrial and organizational psychology at the University of South Florida, has made a study of this.

"There are three elements involved in this sort of behavior.  One is stress --- when people are under stress, they're more likely to engage in these behaviors.  Related to stress is anger --- when people get angry and frustrated.  And the other is lack of control."

"Desk rage" can be caused by stress --- but it also causes stress, says Paul Spector.

 
"It can be very stressful to be yelled at or insulted by co-workers.  They may have trouble sleeping, they feel anxious at work, people are absent from work more often..."

It's better to stay home than to come in and take it out on your co-workers, physically or verbally --- and that does happen.

"Physical aggression toward one another:  people pushing each other, hitting each other, slapping each other.  And even more common that is verbal aggression:  abusive behavior, co-workers insulting each other, putting each other down..."

Unfortunately, says workplace social psychologist Rachelle Canter, we're getting used to it.

 
"A lot of people observe that kind of behavior in the workplace, but they don't very often report seeing people lose their jobs because of it.  I think that says something."

Something for academics to study, and reporters to report.

"It's certainly growing in awareness.  People are much more aware of it, in terms of the research that's being done on it --- and also in the media."

RE-CREATING THE CAPED CRUSADER.

 
This summer, we've seen the return to the movie screen, after a long absence, of Indiana Jones.  Comic strip superheroes like Spiderman and Superman keep making return appearances from time to time.  And a week from today marks the return of the Caped Crusader in the movie "The Dark Knight" --- directed, as in the last reincarnation by Christopher Nolan, who sees Batman as a classic figure.

"There are echoes of, you know, the Count of Monte Cristo and the Prisoner of Zenda.  This sort of tortured, grand, operatic figure.  This man who disguises himself in the cape, but is actually one of the most prominent citizens of society.  But no one knows that it's really him." said Christopher Nolan.

 We know, of course.  And on our TV broadcast this "Sunday Morning," Bill Whitaker will visit Christopher Nolan, and his wife and producer Emma Thomas, and get a glimpse of what Batman has become.

Batman (Christian Bale) in "The Dark Knight"

"I see now what I have to become to stop men like him."

 In "The Dark Knight," Bruce Wayne is played by Christian Bale and his butler Alfred by Michael Caine.

 Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) and Alfred (Michael Caine) in "The Dark Knight"

(Bruce:)  People are dying, Alfred.  What would you have me do? 

(Alfred:)  Endure, Master Wayne.  Take it."

 And the archvillain --- The Joker --- in this screenplay written by Christopher Nolan's brother Jonathan Nolan --- is a menacing, mesmerizing terrorist played by the late Heath Ledger ... in his last big Hollywood role before his death in January.

The Joker (Heath Ledger) in "The Dark Knight"

"This city deserves a better class of criminal --- and I'm going to give it to 'em."

 There's already Oscar buzz about Ledger's performance.

 The Joker (Heath Ledger) in "The Dark Knight"

"(Question:)  So what are you proposing?

(The Joker:)  It's simple:  Kill the Batman."

If this Batman seems more intense and tormented somehow Christopher Nolan said, "I've always felt with movies with sort of big, blockbuster movies, that the more they relate to real life, the more there's a tactile sense of the real world --- the more exciting they are."