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Latest Articles: Dead Constitution
FBI plans new Net-tapping push
Post Date: 2006-07-09 14:21:39 by Zipporah
2 Comments
Story last modified Sat Jul 08 06:48:47 PDT 2006 advertisement The FBI has drafted sweeping legislation that would require Internet service providers to create wiretapping hubs for police surveillance and force makers of networking gear to build in backdoors for eavesdropping, CNET http://News.com has learned. FBI Agent Barry Smith distributed the proposal at a private meeting last Friday with industry representatives and indicated it would be introduced by Sen. Mike DeWine, an Ohio Republican, according to two sources familiar with the meeting. The draft bill would place the FBI's Net-surveillance push on solid legal footing. At the moment, it's ensnared in a legal challenge from ...
Family plans protests over eminent-domain eviction
Post Date: 2006-07-09 13:58:53 by Red Jones
1 Comments
Family plans protests over eminent-domain eviction Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 07/6/06 BY GENE RACZ GANNETT NEW JERSEY PISCATAWAY — Facing eviction from their 75-acre Pisctaway farm at 3 p.m. Monday, the Halper family plans to hold rallies protesting the eminent-domain ruling that will force them from their home and business. "Some people will arrive Saturday, and we plan to have rallies on Sunday and Monday afternoon," said Clara Halper, wife of Larry Halper, whose family owns the farm on the corner of South Washington Avenue and Metlars Lane. "There'll be people who oppose eminent-domain laws. . . . We'll have some people speak." As of Wednesday, the ...
Mexico and Florida have more in common than heat
Post Date: 2006-07-09 12:17:55 by Eoghan
1 Comments
There's something rotten in Mexico. And it smells like Florida. The ruling party, the Washington-friendly National Action Party (Pan), proclaimed yesterday their victory in the presidential race, albeit tortilla thin, was Mexico's first "clean" election. But that requires we close our eyes to some very dodgy doings in the vote count that are far too reminiscent of the games played in Florida in 2000 by the Bush family. And indeed, evidence suggests that Team Bush had a hand in what may be another presidential election heist. Just before the 2000 balloting in Florida, I reported in the Guardian that its governor, Jeb Bush, had ordered the removal of tens of thousands of black ...
Pre-emptive arrests in terrorism plots attract criticism
Post Date: 2006-07-09 09:55:53 by Eoghan
1 Comments
Attorneys raise concerns that people are rounded up for words, not actions In Miami last month, and now in New York, terrorism cases have unfolded in which suspects have been apprehended before they lined up the intended weapons and the necessary financing or figured out other central details necessary to carry out their plots. For officials in Washington, it is a demonstration of the much-needed emphasis on pre-emptive arrests in the post-9/11 era. "We don't wait until someone has lit the fuse to step in," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday at a news conference about the New York plot. But the Miami and New York cases are inspiring a new round of ...
A Republic or Empire?
Post Date: 2006-07-09 07:10:37 by Kamala
8 Comments
Lessons from Stanford A Republic or an Empire? By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS Gentle reader, did you know that in April President Bush went to Stanford University to speak to the Hoover Institution fellows at the invitation of former Secretary of State George Shultz but was not allowed on campus? The Stanford students got wind of it and blocked Bush's access to the campus. The Hoover fellows had to go to Shultz's home to hear Bush's pitch for war and more war. A person might think that it would be national news that Stanford University students would not allow the President of the US on campus. It happened to be a day that hundreds of prospective freshmen were on campus with their parents, many of ...
Michael Hayden: "probable cause" is not in the 4th Amendment
Post Date: 2006-07-08 21:15:21 by Itisa1mosttoolate
5 Comments
Michael Hayden: "probable cause" is not in the 4th Amendment In this disturbing exchange we see former head of the NSA, General Michael Hayden, argue with reporter Jonathan Landay that the words "probable cause" are not found in the Fourth Amendment. I don't want to spoil the suprise for you, but "probable cause" is the measure for issuing a warrant in the Fourth Amendment. Of course, I would find this exceptionally humorous had not Bush recently appointed this man to be the new head of the CIA. Click for Full Text!
FBI plans new Net-tapping push
Post Date: 2006-07-08 11:15:53 by Eoghan
3 Comments
The FBI has drafted sweeping legislation that would require Internet service providers to create wiretapping hubs for police surveillance and force makers of networking gear to build in backdoors for eavesdropping, CNET http://News.com has learned. FBI Agent Barry Smith distributed the proposal at a private meeting last Friday with industry representatives and indicated it would be introduced by Sen. Mike DeWine, an Ohio Republican, according to two sources familiar with the meeting. The draft bill would place the FBI's Net-surveillance push on solid legal footing. At the moment, it's ensnared in a legal challenge from universities and some technology companies that claim the Federal ...
Tax protester gets seven years
Post Date: 2006-07-07 19:14:07 by Eoghan
37 Comments
A retired Navy commander and local outspoken tax protestor was sentenced to seven years in prison Thursday for a crime that Senior U.S. District Judge Lacey Collier said “goes directly to the heart of the existence of our country.” Dr. Ward Dean, 63, of Pensacola also was ordered to pay nearly $300,000 in taxes that were assessed on the $1.3 million income he earned between 1997 and 2002 but never paid. “If we have no one complying with the accepted and long-established tax code, we would have anarchy and we would have no country,” Collier said in imposing the sentence, which was more than double the sentencing guidelines’ maximum imprisonment of nearly 3 1/2 ...
The Cancun Summit Mandated The North American Union by 2007
Post Date: 2006-07-07 18:07:11 by Grumble Jones
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The Cancun Summit Mandated The North American Union by 2007 by Jan Allen I. Summary The Cancun Summit produced the Leaders Joint Statement of March 31, 2006 http://tinyurl.com/pdzlk It mandated six action points to insure that the North American Union be in place before the end of the year. The North American Union is the creation of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) which established totally new state corporate rule over the entire North American Continent http://tinyurl.com/eey4x II. The Leaders Joint Statement of March 31, 2006 http://tinyurl.com/pdzlk presented six action points to insure that the North American Union be in place before the end of the year: 1) ...
The imperial presidency crushed: The Supreme Court's rejection of kangaroo military tribunals shackles Bush's legacy to Nixon's -- and could even land him in the dock for war crimes.
Post Date: 2006-07-07 15:36:17 by aristeides
6 Comments
The imperial presidency crushed The Supreme Court's rejection of kangaroo military tribunals shackles Bush's legacy to Nixon's -- and could even land him in the dock for war crimes. By Sidney Blumenthal July 6, 2006 | The Supreme Court ruling in the case of Hamdan v. Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, et al., on June 29 did far more than settle the limited question of whether alleged terrorist detainees can be tried before secret military tribunals. By declaring Bush's position unconstitutional, the court in effect judged his concept of his presidency and his methods in his "global war on terror" illegitimate. In his majority opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens' strategic ...
Legacy of Abuse
Post Date: 2006-07-07 14:43:19 by Tauzero
1 Comments
Preface The origin of this volume dates back to late 1988, when several rights-abusing regimes in Latin America were moving toward becoming rights-respecting democracies. At that time, the Justice and Society Program of the Aspen Institute, with the support of the Ford Foundation, brought together a group of human rights scholars and advocates for a conference on State Crimes: Punishment or Pardon. Three background papers and the conference report were published and widely distributed the following year. At that time there appeared to be only two ways in which successor regimes might deal with human rights violators who had remained members of the community…arrest, prosecute, and ...
MADSEN ON DAVID ADDINGTON
Post Date: 2006-07-07 11:47:38 by aristeides
5 Comments
July 6, 2006 -- While many people believe Karl Rove is the most powerful and heartless White House advisers in the Bush-Cheney administration, Dick Cheney's friend, counsel, and Chief of Staff David Addington is not less influential and ruthless. Addington, an Army brat who lived in Saudi Arabia where his father was stationed, never made it through the Naval Academy having dropped out during his freshman year as a Midshipman. Addington, described as a conservative Catholic, received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown and law degree from Duke. After Ronald Reagan's inauguration, Addington worked in the General Counsel's office at the CIA where he helped cover up Director Bill Casey's ...
CIA secret prisons - no holds barred
Post Date: 2006-07-07 10:53:52 by Eoghan
4 Comments
At the summer session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, Dick Marty of Switzerland gave a long-awaited report on CIA secret prisons in some European countries. Although his report came somewhat late, it is very useful for understanding and improving the current situation. I can wholeheartedly agree with him when he speaks about the need to put an end to terrorism, and to continue fighting it. He made a point that it is important to understand that if terrorists are arrested and sent to secret prisons without investigation or trial, and are subjected to torture, they are bound to evoke sympathy. This is very true. The situation is completely ...
Experts See Lay's Death Erasing Conviction
Post Date: 2006-07-06 22:09:34 by robin
16 Comments
July 6, 2006, 4:13PM Experts See Lay's Death Erasing Conviction By KRISTEN HAYS AP Business Writer © 2006 The Associated Press HOUSTON — The death of Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay will likely cause his conviction to be erased from the record, experts said Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT The 64-year-old executive's sudden death Wednesday from heart disease allows his lawyers to ask the court to vacate his conviction for fraud and conspiracy in Enron's scandal that left thousands jobless and wiped out billions from investors. What will become of his money and assets, however, is still unclear. If his conviction is erased, that would thwart the government's effort to seize millions ...
I Am Angry
Post Date: 2006-07-06 12:51:29 by christine
17 Comments
Dear Lew, the Honorable Ron Paul’s piece on why Americans are angry really stirred me to respond. Mr. Paul’s piece speaks about many issues facing Americans today. I am a 51-year-old woman. I have been married to the same man since 1976. I am the secretary/office manager for a small legal firm in the D.C. suburbs. My husband manages a wine and spirits store. I have two sons, aged 26 and 22. After realizing it wasn’t possible to support themselves and the government at the same time, both returned to the nuclear nest. Along with most people in my economic situation, I believe I am living what is supposed to be the American dream. I know why I am an angry American. I am ...
The Homeland Security Rackets
Post Date: 2006-07-05 16:57:59 by Eoghan
2 Comments
On April 10th an American-registered DC9 was caught carrying 5.5 tons of cocaine destined for the U.S., the Mexican military announced, at an airport in Ciudad del Carmen. In the more than two months since, the incident has slipped into a black hole. Beyond a few half-hearted stabs at pinning blame for the crime on scapegoats du jour like the FARC in Colombia or Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, authorities in both Mexico and the U.S. have had little or nothing to say about the case. The MadCowMorningNews has learned new details in what is becoming a growing drug trafficking scandal implicating elements in the ruling parties in both Mexico and the US: * Released FAA registration records from ...
Bombs Bursting in Air
Post Date: 2006-07-05 11:31:00 by christine
6 Comments
And the rockets' red glare, The bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night That our flag was still there. Oh, say does that Star-spangled banner yet wave, O'er the land of the free, And the home of the brave. The star-spangled banner has been in the news quite a lot lately. Some "courageous" senators, including one of my own, Dianne Feinstein, and everyone's favorite left-wing liberal, Hillary Clinton, bravely stuck their necks out to support an amendment that would make it illegal to burn the flag of the USA under certain circumstances. Heaven forbid one of these pusillanimous public servants introduce, or even support, a bill that would call for an immediate end to ...
Power of the Pen
Post Date: 2006-07-05 05:45:17 by Zoroaster
2 Comments
Power of the Pen The president uses signing statements to decree which laws apply to him. by James Bovard For generations, Republican politicians have spoken reverently of the rule of law. But since 2001, this hoary doctrine has been redefined to mean little more than the enforcement of the secret thoughts of the commander in chief. George W. Bush has added more than 750 “signing statements” to new laws since he took office. Earlier presidents occasionally appended such comments to new statutes, but Bush is the first to use signing statements routinely to nullify key provisions of new laws. He perennially announces that he will not be bound by limits on his power and ...
Utili-key: The Preferred Weapon of Would-be Hijackers?
Post Date: 2006-07-04 15:20:27 by Arator
13 Comments
Prior to boarding my flight to the LA conference, I had my first encounter with our new post-9-11 "security" regime. It was not a happy one. You see, I, unknowingly, was in the possession of illegal contraband. I had neglected to remove from my key chain a fearsome terrorist weapon. But for the diligence of our "protectors," I would have boarded the flight with this dangerous weapon on my person. Thankfully, "security" thwarted another potential 9-11-in-progress when they detected and then confiscated it. Here is the "weapon" the U.S. government could not permit me to keep: Curiously, the new "security" regime allows our ...
FAREWELL ADDRESS (1796) - George Washington
Post Date: 2006-07-04 12:29:55 by Red Jones
4 Comments
FAREWELL ADDRESS (1796) - George Washington Friends and Fellow-Citizens: The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the Executive Government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made.... The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper ...
U.S.: 40 Years Of The Freedom Of Information Act
Post Date: 2006-07-04 10:30:54 by Eoghan
1 Comments
WASHINGTON, July 4, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a cornerstone of media freedom and open society in the United States, celebrates its 40th anniversary today. The law gives every citizen the legal right to file a request for information from any government agency, including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The FOIA even gives citizens the right to sue the CIA. Over the past 15 years, the adoption of laws similar to the FOIA in countries throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union has formed part of the process of "democratization." Countries such as Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Romania have adopted their own versions of ...
THE HIDDEN POWER: The legal mind behind the White House’s war on terror
Post Date: 2006-07-04 09:53:35 by aristeides
16 Comments
THE HIDDEN POWER by JANE MAYER The legal mind behind the White House’s war on terror. Issue of 2006-07-03 Posted 2006-06-26 On December 18th, Colin Powell, the former Secretary of State, joined other prominent Washington figures at FedEx Field, the Redskins’ stadium, in a skybox belonging to the team’s owner. During the game, between the Redskins and the Dallas Cowboys, Powell spoke of a recent report in the Times which revealed that President Bush, in his pursuit of terrorists, had secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on American citizens without first obtaining a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, as required by federal ...
CIA Collects Intelligence Data From Blogs
Post Date: 2006-07-04 09:52:01 by Eoghan
18 Comments
President Bush and U.S. policy-makers are receiving more intelligence from open sources such as Internet blogs and foreign newspapers than they previously did, senior intelligence officials said. The new Open Source Center (OSC) at CIA headquarters recently stepped up data collection and analysis based on bloggers worldwide and is developing new methods to gauge the reliability of the content, said OSC Director Douglas J. Naquin. "A lot of blogs now have become very big on the Internet, and we're getting a lot of rich information on blogs that are telling us a lot about social perspectives and everything from what the general feeling is to ... people putting information on there that ...
Insanity defense: Power, Paranoia and Presidential Tyranny
Post Date: 2006-07-03 20:51:00 by Zoroaster
1 Comments
Insanity Defense: Power, Paranoia and Presidential Tyranny Chris Floyd June 29, 2006 This is an expanded version of the column appearing in the June 30 edition of the Moscow Times. That the United States, once touted as the "world's greatest democracy," is now ruled by a presidential dictatorship is a fact beyond any serious dispute. Indeed, except for a bare majority on the Supreme Court -- which will disappear with the retirement or demise of the aging Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote the Court's stinging rejection of Bush's kangaroo military tribunals -- the nation's political establishment seems to have accepted this revolutionary system with remarkable docility, ...
War on Terror Ruling Worries GOP Lawmakers
Post Date: 2006-07-02 20:08:33 by Brian S
2 Comments
GOP Senators: Congress Must Rein in Ruling That International Law Applies to U.S. War on Terror The Associated Press WASHINGTON - Two Republican senators said Sunday that Congress must rein in the Supreme Court ruling that international law applies to the Bush administration's conduct in the war on terror. Thursday's Supreme Court decision embracing Article 3 of the Geneva Accords in the military commission case of Osama bin Laden's former driver strikes at the heart of the White House's legal position in the war on al-Qaida. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the second-ranking GOP leader in the Senate, said the 5-3 court decision "means that American servicemen potentially could be ...
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