|
Latest Articles: Dead Constitution
The Senate runs into the arms of Michael Mukasey(Attorney General nominee)
Post Date: 2007-10-17 21:22:13 by scrapper2
0 Comments
Senate hearings are at their worst, perhaps, when the senators have agreed in advance on a cheery outcome, and they're willing to accept the reality as defined by the guy in the witness chair to get it. Today, we have senators falling over themselves not only to signal their respect for Michael Mukasey, the president's pick for attorney general, but also to thank him for deigning to take the job. Pretty much all they need to make sure of today is that Mukasey is not Alberto Gonzales. Check. Vote to confirm. Mukasey disarms the Democrats from the start by offering concessions they have been waiting for lo these long seven years. In his opening statement, he says, "Protecting ...
Woman jailed for 50 days for possessing cat urine
Post Date: 2007-10-17 18:52:55 by Zipporah
8 Comments
38-year-old Cynthia Hunter of Florida was jailed for 50 days when police found a vial containing a yellow substance in her purse. She said it was cat urine for her son's science experiment, but she was locked up for 50 days until the lab results confirmed that the substance was indeed cat urine. Cynthia Hunter was arrested in August accused of stealing at a Brandon Wal-Mart. The 38-year-old mother was charged with possession of a controlled substance after deputies found a vial in her purse that a field test suggested was meth. Link
The Most Dreaded Enemy of Liberty
Post Date: 2007-10-17 10:57:06 by richard9151
1 Comments
Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. . . . [There is also an] inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and . . . degeneracy of ...
Verizon Says It Turned Over Data Without Court Orders
Post Date: 2007-10-16 21:53:29 by kiki
2 Comments
Verizon Communications, the nation's second-largest telecom company, told congressional investigators that it has provided customers' telephone records to federal authorities in emergency cases without court orders hundreds of times since 2005. The company said it does not determine the requests' legality or necessity because to do so would slow efforts to save lives in criminal investigations. In an Oct. 12 letter replying to Democratic lawmakers, Verizon offered a rare glimpse into the way telecommunications companies cooperate with government requests for information on U.S. citizens. Verizon also disclosed that the FBI, using administrative subpoenas, sought information ...
Get your FBI file -- and your NSA and CIA files too, while you're at it
Post Date: 2007-10-16 19:44:17 by Zipporah
4 Comments
Get your FBI file -- and your NSA and CIA files too, while you're at it Posted by Mark Frauenfelder, October 16, 2007 10:41 AM | permalink Phil says: "The Freedom-of-Information-loving folks who brought you Get Grandpa's FBI File have just launched a sister site: Get My FBI File . This site helps you automatically generate the letters you need to send in to get your own FBI file ... and while you're at it, you can also get your NSA, CIA, DIA, DSS, Secret Service, etc. files too, just by checking a few boxes. If you throw in UnSecureFlight.Com, we're getting perilously close to one-stop shopping for all your government security file needs." Link ...
Constitutional scholar: 9/11 'highly convenient' in allowing Bush to expand power
Post Date: 2007-10-16 18:51:20 by Zipporah
0 Comments
A constitutional scholar says President Bush and his administration were working to expand their spy powers months before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which provided a "highly convenient" opportunity to dramatically strengthen law enforcement and surveillance authority. "This administration was seeking a massive expansion of presidential power and national security powers before 9/11. 9/11 was highly convenient in that case," George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley told Keith Olbermann on Countdown Monday night. "I'm not saying that they welcomed it, but when it happened, it was a great opportunity to seize powers that they have ...
Air America Radio's - Randi Rhodes attacked in NYC park
Post Date: 2007-10-16 06:46:34 by aristeides
19 Comments
Air America Radio's - Randi Rhodes attacked in NYC park by ZappoDave [Subscribe] Mon Oct 15, 2007 at 11:40:19 PM PDT It was announced on Air America Radio, Jon Elliot's show tonight, that Randi Rhodes was attacked in a park in NYC walking her dog. There's nothing on the news yet. From what he said, she's in the hospital. She was not on the air today, and they had the Lionel Show on instead. This is why she was not on the air. Pardon this short diary, but it's late at night and I wanted to get this out. I wish I had more to offer on it as far as information. You would think it would be in the News. Much love to Randi, and I hope she's ok. We do know ... ...
Tent city (Guantanamo) sets up for detainee tribunals
Post Date: 2007-10-15 21:51:20 by Zipporah
4 Comments
Tent city sets up for detainee tribunals Shawn Thew / EPATEMPORARY DIGS: Nearly 100 canvas huts at Guantanamo will serve as many as 500 lawyers, courtroom personnel and journalists. One critic said, "These guys are going to be in trials for 10, 11, 12 hours a day, and they won't have the relaxation they need sleeping on a cot." Authorities opt for an expeditionary approach to Guantanamo trials instead of building a costlier judicial center. By Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer October 14, 2007 GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba — A complex of canvas Quonset huts arrayed like dominoes has risen on an abandoned airfield here, where just a year ago the ...
Pentagon acted with little oversight in spying on Americans, documents show
Post Date: 2007-10-15 19:53:28 by Zipporah
1 Comments
The Department of Defense has conspired with the FBI to "circumvent the law" in accessing hundreds of Americans' telephone, e-mail and financial records, say two civil liberties groups that released reams of new documents obtained in a contested public records request. The American Civil Liberties Union, which has challenged the Bush Administration's post-Sept. 11 spying authority, says the Pentagon has issued 455 National Security Letters in concert with the FBI to obtain Americans' private information it is not entitled to receive. "The documents make clear that the Department of Defense may have secretly and illegally conducted surveillance beyond the ...
Police baffled by Taser death at Vancouver airport
Post Date: 2007-10-15 14:03:30 by aristeides
7 Comments
Police baffled by Taser death at Vancouver airport Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:57 AM EDT OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian police are still trying to work out why an agitated passenger died at Vancouver airport after he was hit by two blasts from a Taser stun gun, a spokesman said on Monday. The unidentified foreign man, who arrived on an international flight on Sunday, showed signs of distress in the customs area. He started shouting in an eastern European language, pounded on windows, threw chairs and shoved computer equipment on the floor. Police attempted to restrain the passenger and blasted him twice with a Taser when he refused to calm down. He died shortly after being handcuffed. "We ...
Ralph Nader Talks About Why Impeachment Is "Off The Table"
Post Date: 2007-10-15 01:54:30 by Ferret Mike
5 Comments
-- Ralph Nader, activist, author and lecturer, shared his views in the matter of the "Next Steps for the Peace Movement," at a panel discussion on Oct. 11, 2007. The event was held at Bus Boys and Poets, in Washington, D.C. It was a fundraiser for DemocracyRising.US. For more information, please go to: www.democracyrising.us./ Mr. Nader's latest book is entitled: "The Seventeen Traditions." (more)
The Beltway Establishment's contempt for the rule of law
Post Date: 2007-10-14 19:59:04 by Peetie Wheatstraw
2 Comments
The Washington Post's Editorial Page, in the establishment-defending form of Fred Hiatt, today became but the latest Beltway appendage to urge the enactment of a special law providing amnesty to our nation's poor, put-upon, lawbreaking telecoms: There is one major area of disagreement between the administration and House Democrats where we think the administration has the better of the argument: the question of whether telecommunications companies that provided information to the government without court orders should be given retroactive immunity from being sued. House Democrats are understandably reluctant to grant that wholesale protection without understanding exactly what ...
US demands air passengers ask its permission to fly - If you're not on the list, you're not getting on
Post Date: 2007-10-14 19:44:59 by richard9151
16 Comments
10/13/07 "The Register" -- - Under new rules proposed by the Transport Security Administration (TSA) (pdf), all airline passengers would need advance permission before flying into, through, or over the United States regardless of citizenship or the airline's national origin. Currently, the Advanced Passenger Information System, operated by the Customs and Border Patrol, requires airlines to forward a list of passenger information no later than 15 minutes before flights from the US take off (international flights bound for the US have until 15 minutes after take-off). Planes are diverted if a passenger on board is on the no-fly list. The new rules mean this information must ...
Congress: don't cripple the suit against the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program
Post Date: 2007-10-14 19:37:13 by Zipporah
2 Comments
The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Kurt Opsahl sez, "Today the San Jose Mercury News published my op-ed explaining the importance of EFF's litigation against AT&T for its cooperation with the warrantless surveillance program. While the Administration continues to push to stop the case in its tracks, the article argues that 'It would be a travesty to deny the opportunity for justice to those whose privacy has perished under a presidential program, and to prevent the courts from determining whether the Constitution supports the president's claim of unbridled executive power.'" The administration's attempt to stop the litigation based on the secrecy ...
Author Naomi Klein: America is succumbing to fascism
Post Date: 2007-10-14 18:33:01 by Zipporah
1 Comments
Author Naomi Klein sits down with Bill Maher to discuss her new book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. The Shock Doctrine shares a sentiment that, while corporations are engineered to profit off of situations, planned or otherwise, the United States under President Bush has corporations opportunistically poised to collect taxpayer-funded payouts from disasters such as 9/11, Katrina and the Iraq occupation. Calling it the "mission statement of the Bush administration," Klein says that politicians are seeing themselves as facilitators between disasters and their friends in the private sector. Each time there's a disaster, says Klein, politicians use the ...
Schwarzenegger Signs Handgun "Microstamp" Bill
Post Date: 2007-10-14 18:18:18 by Brian S
0 Comments
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill whose backers say will better help police use shells from hand guns as evidence in criminal investigations, a spokeswoman said on Sunday. The legislation marks a victory for gun-control activists and the second time Schwarzenegger signed one of their priority bills. In 2004 he approved a ban on private citizens owning .50 caliber rifles. Activists had called for the legislation, which requires new models of semiautomatic handguns sold in California to have internal parts that "microstamp" shell casings with codes that identify the guns when they are fired. Revolvers are exempt. "While I ...
Bruce Springsteen on National TV--It's Time for a Rising Against the Evermore Fascist Bush Regime
Post Date: 2007-10-14 03:32:47 by IndieTX
1 Comments
"Well, I think that we've seen things happen over the past six years that I don't think anybody ever thought they'd ever see in the United States. When people think of the American identity, they don't think of torture. They don't think of illegal wiretapping. They don't think of voter suppression. They don't think of no habeas corpus. No right to a lawyer . you know. Those are things that are anti-American." "It's unpatriotic at any given moment to sit back and let things pass that are damaging to some place that you love so dearly. And that has given me so much. And that I believe in, I still feel and see us as a beacon of hope and ...
Pain Compliance. Coming Soon to an Antiwar Demo Near You?
Post Date: 2007-10-13 18:03:51 by Red Jones
5 Comments
Pain Compliance. Coming Soon to an Antiwar Demo Near You? Kurt Nimmo TruthNews October 11, 2007 Last September, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne indicated the military would use “nonlethal weapons” against “fellow citizens” before they use them in “a wartime situation.” In other words, the American people are considered little more than guinea pigs, especially dissenting Americans in need of “crowd control.” Before zapping antiwar demonstrators with an ADS beam—that’s short for “Active Denial System”—the military or police may request they remove glasses, contact lenses, and take coins and keys out of their pockets. ...
Animal Farm
Post Date: 2007-10-13 13:53:05 by Zipporah
6 Comments
Poster Comment:ANIMAL FARM - 1954 The CIA obtained the film rights to "Animal Farm" from Orwell's widow, Sonia, after his death and covertly funded the production as anti-Communist propaganda. Some sources assert that the ending of the story was altered by the CIA (in the book, the pigs and humans join forces) to press home their message. First British feature-length animated film.
Lawsuit: ICE drugging {Haldol} detainees set for deportation
Post Date: 2007-10-13 10:38:14 by Zipporah
6 Comments
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Former detainees of Immigration and Customs Enforcement accuse the agency in a lawsuit of forcibly injecting them with psychotropic drugs while trying to shuttle them out of the country during their deportation. Raymond Soeoth, pictured here with his wife, says he was injected with drugs by ICE agents against his will. One of the drugs in question is the potent anti-psychotic drug Haldol, which is often used to treat schizophrenia or other mental illnesses. Doctors say they are required to see patients in person before such drugs are administered. Two immigrants, Raymond ...
Former CEO Says U.S. Punished Phone Firm: Qwest Feared NSA Plan Was Illegal, Filing Says (NACCHIO/QWEST)
Post Date: 2007-10-13 10:29:19 by aristeides
2 Comments
Former CEO Says U.S. Punished Phone Firm Qwest Feared NSA Plan Was Illegal, Filing Says By Ellen Nakashima and Dan Eggen Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, October 13, 2007; Page A01 A former Qwest Communications International executive, appealing a conviction for insider trading, has alleged that the government withdrew opportunities for contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars after Qwest refused to participate in an unidentified National Security Agency program that the company thought might be illegal. Former chief executive Joseph P. Nacchio, convicted in April of 19 counts of insider trading, said the NSA approached Qwest more than six months before the Sept. 11, 2001, ...
The Veterans Disarmament Act -HR 2640, section 102 HAS "PASSED" IN THE HOUSE
Post Date: 2007-10-13 05:58:22 by freepatriot32
13 Comments
Here is a copy of the first article I read, but I will address what I found out from Senators Boxers office and Sen. Fienstiens office today (10/11/07). I know this has been posted here before, BUT, it has now PASSED in Congress! Read on: Veterans Disarmament Act To Bar Vets From Owning Guns Larry Pratt Sunday September 23, 2007 Hundreds of thousands of veterans -- from Vietnam through Operation Iraqi Freedom -- are at risk of being banned from buying firearms if legislation that is pending in Congress gets enacted. How? The Veterans Disarmament Act -- which has already passed the House -- would place any veteran who has ever been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on ...
Bush and the Phone Companies: Partners in Crime
Post Date: 2007-10-12 22:13:23 by kiki
0 Comments
Phone companies have opened a new front in their campaign against the free flow of information. This time they've found a powerful ally in the White House. AT&T and Verizon have already shown their disdain for free speech and Net Neutrality, and their eagerness to let government spies lurk on our phone calls. Now, their lobbyists have teamed with President George Bush to strong arm Congress into granting full immunity for a disturbing array of illegal and unconstitutional acts. Bush: Siding with AT&T and against the rest of us A handful of legislators, though, are holding out against the pressure, which is no small feat given the extreme powers behind the amnesty grab. ...
Leadership Void: Nancy Pelosi and the Arrogance of Power (CINDY SHEEHAN)
Post Date: 2007-10-12 16:55:22 by aristeides
10 Comments
Leadership Void Nancy Pelosi and the Arrogance of Power By CINDY SHEEHAN "They are advocates. We are leaders." House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in regards to "Anti-war activists." People of America, this is truly the problem with what was once a Representative Republic and now is a country run by "elected" officials who believe that they, individually and collectively, are above any accountability and are not answerable to their constituents. Our public servants erroneously believe that they are the leaders! Ms. Pelosi made this statement to a group of reporters at a luncheon recently and she also went off on activists who have been participating in vigils ...
Right Ho, Lobby
Post Date: 2007-10-12 06:24:57 by Zoroaster
1 Comments
Right Ho, Lobby By Israel Shamir – October 10, 2007 The inhabitants of a stately house are embroiled in an interminable quarrel; engagement rings are returned and the cook sends in his resignation. In this hour of bloody mess, smart valet Jeeves (played by Stephen Fry in the BBC series) finds the disputants a common enemy. United by their common animosity towards this empty-headed Bertie Wooster, the lovers tread the matrimonial aisle, and the servants proclaim their renewed loyalty to their masters. Peace is restored. This ruse, applied in Right Ho, Jeeves, a pleasantry by P.G. Wodehouse, was recently employed with great success by the nefarious force often described as the Zionist ...
Latest [Newer] 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 [Older]
|