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16-Year Old Got Life Without Parole for Killing Her Abusive Pimp -- Should Teens Be Condemned to Die in Jail?
Monday, 2 November 2009 11:44 A GMT-05
Sara Kruzan was 11 years old, a middle school student from Riverside, Calif., when she met a man -- he called himself GG -- who was almost three times her age. GG took her under his wing; he would buy her gifts, take her and her friends rollerskating. "He was like a father figure," she recalls.
Despite suffering severe bouts of depression as a child, until then, Kruzan was a good student, an "overachiever" in her words. But her mother was abusive and addicted to drugs; as for her father, she had only met him a couple of times. So, more and more, GG filled in.
"GG was there -- sometimes," she said. "He would talk to me and take me out and give me all these lavish gifts and do all these things for me …" Before long, he started talking to her about sex, giving her his expert advice on what men were really like and telling her that she didn't "need to give it up for free."
Unbeknownst to her, GG was grooming Kruzan to be a prostitute. When she was 13, he raped her. "He uses his manhood to hurt," Kruzan recalls, "Like, break you in. I guess."
Kruzan worked for GG as a prostitute for three years. The hours were 6 p.m. until 5:30 or 6 in the morning. She and "the other girls" would come back and hand over their earnings to him. "He was, like, married to all of us I guess," she says. " … Everything was his."
After years of prostitution and sexual abuse, when she was 16, Kruzan snapped: She killed GG, was arrested and convicted of first-degree murder. Despite attempts by her lawyer to have her sentenced as a juvenile, the judge described her crime as "well thought-out" and sentenced her to life without parole.
"My judge told me that I lacked moral scruples," she recalls, a term she did not know the meaning of.
C.I.A. Is Still Cagey About Oswald Mystery
Monday, 19 October 2009 12:41 A GMT-05
For six years, the agency has fought in federal court to keep secret hundreds of documents from 1963, when an anti-Castro Cuban group it paid clashed publicly with the soon-to-be assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. The C.I.A. says it is only protecting legitimate secrets. But because of the agency’s history of stonewalling assassination inquiries, even researchers with no use for conspiracy thinking question its stance.
Being a Criminal
Sunday, 11 October 2009 3:00 A GMT-05
But shouldn't "laws" against murder and theft be obeyed? Yes and
no. People should refrain from committing theft and murder, but NOT
because there are "laws" against them. Theft and murder are wrong
because they deprive others of their rights, not because some
political windbags sat down and scribbled a "law" about it. In
fact, most thefts and murders that occur today are seen as
necessary, if not good, because those crimes have been declared
"legal" (and are called "taxation" and "war"). So my question for today is, are YOU willing to be a criminal? By
that, I'm not asking if you're willing to commit real crimes--the
kind with victims--because I hope you're not. I'm asking whether
you would ever be willing to do the right thing, even when
"authority" tells you to do the wrong thing. If not, please stop
pretending to be pro-freedom.
Criminalizing everyone
Saturday, 10 October 2009 7:32 P GMT-05
By March 2004, federal prosecutors were well on their way to turning 66-year-old retiree George Norris into an inmate in a federal penitentiary - based on his home-based business of cultivating, importing and selling orchids.
Mrs. Norris testified before the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime this summer. The hearing's topic: the rapid and dangerous expansion of federal criminal law, an expansion that is often unprincipled and highly partisan.
Chairman Robert C. Scott, Virginia Democrat, and ranking member Louie Gohmert, Texas Republican, conducted a truly bipartisan hearing (a D.C. rarity this year).
These two leaders have begun giving voice to the increasing number of experts who worry about "overcriminalization." Astronomical numbers of federal criminal laws lack specifics, can apply to almost anyone and fail to protect innocents by requiring substantial proof that an accused person acted with actual criminal intent.
Family Says 911 Tape Caught Cops Planning Cover-Up After Shooting
Saturday, 10 October 2009 7:25 P GMT-05
In their complaint in Maricopa County Court, Anthony and Lesley Arambula say an armed intruder "crashed through the front window" of their home on Sept. 17, 2008 and ran into one of their son's bedrooms.
Anthony, worried about his son who was still in his bedroom, says he "held the intruder calmly at gunpoint" and called 911.
Phoenix Police officers already in the neighborhood heard the crash of the Arambulas' window. When they approached the house, Lesley says, she told Sgt. Sean Coutts that her husband was inside holding the intruder at gunpoint. Lesley says Coutts failed to pass on that information to the two other officers.
Inside the house, the Arambulas say, Officer Brian Lilly shot Anthony six times in the back while he was still on the phone with the 911 operator - twice when he was on the ground.
The officers ran into the bedroom after Anthony told them, "You just killed ... you just killed the homeowner. The bad guy is in there."
The complaint states that Officer Lilly "admitted that it was only after Tony was laying, bullet-ridden, on the ground that he assessed the situation. The 911 tape continued to record what happened even after Officer Lilly unloaded his weapon into Tony, including Officer Lilly's post-shooting, one-word 'assessment': 'Fuck.'
"Tony believed he was going to die; the 911 tape records his plaintive goodbye to his family: '... I love you ... I love you.' Then Tony made what he believed was a dying request to the officers; he did not want his young family to see him shot and bloodied. Officers callously ignored his request and painfully dragged Tony by his injured leg, through the home and out to his backyard patio, where they left him bloodied and shot right in front of Lesley, Matthew and Zachary."
High Cost of Death Row
Tuesday, 29 September 2009 2:15 A GMT-05
To the many excellent reasons to abolish the death penalty — it’s immoral, does not deter murder and affects minorities disproportionately — we can add one more. It’s an economic drain on governments with already badly depleted budgets.
Cameron Todd Willingham, Texas, and the death penalty
Saturday, 5 September 2009 2:30 A GMT-05
Did Texas execute an innocent man?
A Delta Manhunt, With Booze and Guns
Saturday, 5 September 2009 2:27 A GMT-05
Federal authorities are investigating an Aug. 20 incident in which armed white citizens, using a military vehicle, helped search for an unarmed black burglary suspect in the Delta. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, of Mississippi's second congressional district, confirmed to the Jackson Free Press Monday that the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice are investigating the manhunt, which took place outside Sumner in Tallahatchie County.
$1000 Per Day Fine And 30 Days In Jail For Refusing The Swine Flu Vaccine In Massachusetts?
Tuesday, 25 August 2009 2:50 A GMT-05
A new law just passed in Massachusetts imposes fines of up to $1000 per day and up to a 30 day jail sentence for not obeying authorities during a public health emergency. So if you are instructed to take the swine flu vaccine in Massachusetts and you refuse, you could be facing fines that will bankrupt you and a prison sentence on top of that.
Report Reveals CIA Conducted Mock Executions
Saturday, 22 August 2009 2:11 P GMT-05
According to two sources—one who has read a draft of the paper and one who was briefed on it—the report describes how one detainee, suspected USS Cole bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, was threatened with a gun and a power drill during the course of CIA interrogation. According to the sources, who like others quoted in this article asked not to be named while discussing sensitive information, Nashiri's interrogators brandished the gun in an effort to convince him that he was going to be shot. Interrogators also turned on a power drill and held it near him. "The purpose was to scare him into giving [information] up," said one of the sources. A federal law banning the use of torture expressly forbids threatening a detainee with "imminent death."
Mexico Decriminalizes Small-Scale Drug Possession
Saturday, 22 August 2009 2:06 P GMT-05
Mexico decriminalized small amounts of marijuana, cocaine and heroin on Friday – a move that prosecutors say makes sense even in the midst of the government's grueling battle against drug traffickers. Prosecutors said the new law sets clear limits that keep Mexico's corruption-prone police from shaking down casual users and offers addicts free treatment to keep growing domestic drug use in check.
Man Jailed Three Months for Breath Mint Possession
Thursday, 20 August 2009 11:05 P GMT-05
A man is suing the Kissimmee Police Department for an arrest over mints. When officers pulled Donald May over for an expired tag, they thought the mints he was chewing were crack and arrested him. May told Eyewitness News they wouldn't let him out of jail for three months until tests proved the so-called drugs were candy.
Why Are Cops Tasering Grandmothers, Pregnant Women and Kids?
Monday, 17 August 2009 11:02 P GMT-05
Technology is a double-edged sword, the cliche goes. It can save and even extend your life, but it can also kill you in new and unpredictable ways. In the several years since the Arizona-based Taser International has deployed its terminologically challenging Electronic Control Devices (ECDs), colloquially known as stun guns or simply tasers, what started out as a midrange law enforcement weapon has turned into a surreal nightmare that has gone viral from streets to screens. It's now to the point that only a hyperreal comedian like Stephen Colbert can make sense of it.
Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?
Monday, 10 August 2009 12:04 A GMT-05
In Los Angeles, the fine for truancy is $250; in Dallas, it can be as much as $500 — crushing amounts for people living near the poverty level. According to the Los Angeles Bus Riders Union, an advocacy group, 12,000 students were ticketed for truancy in 2008. Why does the Bus Riders Union care? Because it estimates that 80 percent of the “truants,” especially those who are black or Latino, are merely late for school, thanks to the way that over-filled buses whiz by them without stopping. I met people in Los Angeles who told me they keep their children home if there’s the slightest chance of their being late. It’s an ingenious anti-truancy policy that discourages parents from sending their youngsters to school. The pattern is to curtail financing for services that might help the poor while ramping up law enforcement: starve school and public transportation budgets, then make truancy illegal. Shut down public housing, then make it a crime to be homeless. Be sure to harass street vendors when there are few other opportunities for employment. The experience of the poor, and especially poor minorities, comes to resemble that of a rat in a cage scrambling to avoid erratically administered electric shocks. And if you should make the mistake of trying to escape via a brief marijuana-induced high, it’s “gotcha” all over again, because that of course is illegal too. One result is our staggering level of incarceration, the highest in the world. Today the same number of Americans — 2.3 million — reside in prison as in public housing.
FBI Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds Subpoenaed, Set to "Break" Gag Order Unless DoJ Intercedes
Saturday, 8 August 2009 5:40 P GMT-05
Ms. Edmonds is prepared to testify this Saturday in an open to the media deposition in Washington DC that during the time she was employed by the FBI she obtained evidence that: 1. The Government of Turkey had illegally infiltrated and influenced various U.S. government institutions and officials, including the Department of State, the Department of Defense and individual members of the United States Congress.
Keith Olbermann On Blackwater
Thursday, 6 August 2009 1:26 A GMT-05
Explosive Allegations: Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder
Wednesday, 5 August 2009 1:53 A GMT-05
A former Blackwater employee and an ex-U.S. Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life." In their testimony, both men also allege that Blackwater was smuggling weapons into Iraq. One of the men alleges that Prince turned a profit by transporting "illegal" or "unlawful" weapons into the country on Prince's private planes. They also charge that Prince and other Blackwater executives destroyed incriminating videos, emails and other documents and have intentionally deceived the U.S. State Department and other federal agencies. The identities of the two individuals were sealed out of concerns for their safety.
New York Judge Dismisses Claim Negligent Construction Contributed To WTC 7 Collapse
Saturday, 1 August 2009 12:52 A GMT-05
Judge Hellerstein dismissed count four in its entirety because, “There is no genuine issue of material fact as to whether these allegations, and proofs supporting them, would suffice to establish Con Edison’s claims.” It is important to stress that Judge Hellerstein’s rejection of these counts is not a rejection of the premise that fire and debris from the twin towers was responsible for the collapse of Building 7, indeed that factor is later highlighted in the briefing as the cause of the collapse in the judge’s opinion, but Hellerstein’s ruling that the design or maintenance of the building did not contribute to its collapse is still key. As we have previously reported, claims that WTC 7 was shoddily constructed and therefore more vulnerable to collapse are contradicted by the fact that the building was intentionally designed to allow large portions of floors to be permanently removed without weakening the structural integrity of the building.
Wife of accused N.C. terrorist leader tells harrowing tale, denies plot
Friday, 31 July 2009 2:31 A GMT-05
Sabrina Boyd, a 41-year-old mother of five and U.S.-born convert to Islam, said she was outraged that the agents pretended that her husband and three sons had been in a serious car crash, and that a North Carolina Highway Patrol would take her to the hospital where they were being treated. But when they arrived at Duke Hospital, 30 agents surrounded her and handcuffs were slapped on her wrists, Sabrina Boyd said. On Wednesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations denounced the subterfuge as unconstitutional and an unjust trick," and called on the Justice Department to investigate the incident.
9/11 FAMILIES, FIRST RESPONDERS AND SURVIVORS TO TAKE NEW YORK CITY TO COURT OVER NYC CAN PETITION
Wednesday, 29 July 2009 12:12 A GMT-05
SEVENTY THOUSAND New Yorkers signed the NYC CAN petition, raising their voices in support of NYC CAN’s demand for accountability. They have chosen to place the decision to create a new 9/11 investigation – a REAL 9/11 investigation – exactly where it belongs: before the voters of New York City this November. The voices of SEVENTY THOUSAND Americans who believe in democracy and believe that government exists to serve the people – and not the other way around – have been GAGGED by ONE so-called “PUBLIC SERVANT” – The New York City Clerk – who denied the petition and the voice of the people.
Pfizer to Pay Tens of Millions for Deaths of Nigerian Children in Drug Trial Experiment
Sunday, 26 July 2009 10:01 P GMT-05
Pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has agreed to pay $75 million to settle a class action lawsuit filed against it by Nigerian parents who claim the company caused harm to their children by using them as guinea pigs in a nonconsensual, unlicensed drug trial.
Idaho man sodomized by police Taser plans to sue
Sunday, 26 July 2009 8:55 P GMT-05
A Boise, Idaho, police officer who pushed a Taser inside a man’s buttocks and threatened to “Taser his balls” violated use-of-force policy, but didn’t break the law, an ombudsman has found.
Cheney pressed Bush to test Constitutional limits by using military force on US soil
Sunday, 26 July 2009 3:42 P GMT-05
This would have violated both Fourth Amendment guarantees against search and seizure without probable cause and the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which makes it illegal to use the military for law enforcement. Despite those prohibitions, Cheney argued that the president did have the power to use the military on US soil, citing an October 23, 2001 Justice Department memorandum co-authored by John Yoo which claimed that presidential power extended to the domestic use of the military as long as it served a national security purpose. The Lackawanna Six were a group of young Yememi-Americans who had attended an al Qaeda training camp in 2001. They were arrested in September 2002, and President Bush bragged of having broken their “cell” in his January 2003 State of the Union address. However, an investigation by Salon failed to turn up any evidence that they were actually a “sleeper cell” or that they had been planning any kind of violent attack. Most of them were convicted merely of providing material aid to terrorists.
Padilla vs. Yoo: An Update
Monday, 20 July 2009 2:30 A GMT-05
Why is Padilla’s lawsuit important? Because the ultimate ruling in the case will apply not just to him but also to all Americans. The suit alleges that the U.S. government took Padilla into custody and held him for several years without charge, until finally indicting him and convicting him in federal district court of the federal crime of terrorism. For years prior to the indictment, Padilla was held in the custody of the U.S. military, where he was denied right to counsel, the right to due process of law, the right to bail, the right to a speedy trial, the right to a jury trial, and other procedural protections guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. He was also subjected to torture, sensory deprivation, isolation, sleep deprivation, and many other cruel and unusual pre-trial measures. The government takes the position that it had the legitimate authority to do these things to Padilla and that it, in fact, has the legitimate authority to do them to every other American, as part of its ”war on terrorism.“ Yoo is saying that as a government lawyer who was just delivering legal opinions, he is immune from Padilla’s suit. The district judge disagreed. He held that the U.S. government lacks constitutional authority to subject the American people to such treatment and that any lawyer who knowingly participates in a scheme to subject Americans to such mistreatment is not immune from suit. Given the predilection of the courts against interlocutory appeals, in my opinion the Court of Appeals will quickly rule against Yoo’s appeal, enabling Padilla to continue with his case and begin taking sworn depositions. That will be when things start to get interesting.
Man Arrested for Sending"7/7 Ripple Effect" DVD to Judge
Saturday, 4 July 2009 6:47 P GMT-05
The European Union has arrested a British man for the crime of sending a DVD to a judge. Anthony John Hill of Sheffield was arrested at his home in Carrick Street, Kells, on the foot of a European Arrest Warrant, according to the Irish Times. UK authorities claim Hill perverted the course of justice in a case related to the July 7, 2005 bomb attacks in London. British authorities claim copies of the DVD were sent, in packaging with Irish postal marks, between September 2007 and December 2007 to five relatives of people who had been killed during the bombing. In addition, copies were sent to a judge and jury foreman in the case.
Armenian genocide lawsuit rejected
Saturday, 13 June 2009 2:13 P GMT-05
US District Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf said in a long-awaited ruling that state and local education systems have the constitutionally protected right to decide on curriculum as long as it does not infringe on other rights. He said the lawsuit, filed by several students and teachers from Massachusetts, and the Assembly of Turkish America, would be better played out as a public and political debate in the Legislature, than in the courts. "Except in limited circumstances, decisions concerning what should be taught must be made by state and local boards rather than by federal judges," Wolf said in a detailed, 30-page decision.
9/11 Truth Activist Sues Glenn Beck and Fox News for Defamation
Friday, 12 June 2009 11:26 P GMT-05
Specifically, Greg Hoover will be suing the above-described defendants in Federal Court for Beck’s having repeatedly broadcast statements characterizing those who question the government’s official version of the events of 9/11 as, "anarchists," "terrorists" and as persons denying the Holocaust. The complaint will note that - on October 22, 2007 - Beck suggested that those identifying themselves as associated with the 9/11 truth movement are "dangerous" "anarchists" who deny the Holocaust, and are "the kind of group that Timothy McVeigh would come from." The suit will also note that during Beck’s June 10th broadcast Beck linked the murder of the Washington D.C. holocaust museum guard with "9/11 truthers." As I have previously written, suing people for defamation who falsely claim that 9/11 activists are terrorists could be a good way to stand up to these bullies.
Allowing Guilty Pleas and Death Penalties Without Trial for Alleged 9/11 Plotters Would Be the Ultimate Obstruction of Justice
Sunday, 7 June 2009 7:01 P GMT-05
This is not simply a ploy to cover up the fact that these prisoners were brutally tortured. It is also a way to silence them forever, so that they can never tell what their real role was in the 9/11 attacks, and who they received assistance from, and how they were able to convince the mightiest military the world has ever known to stand down from standard air defense protocols on 9/11.
Torture Is Not a Partisan Issue . . . George Washington - Who Was Neither a Democrat or Republican - Forbid All Torture
Thursday, 4 June 2009 10:54 P GMT-05
“Should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injure any [prisoner]. . . I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring him to such severe and exemplary punishment as the enormity of the crime may require. Should it extend to death itself, it will not be disproportional to its guilt at such a time and in such a cause… for by such conduct they bring shame, disgrace and ruin to themselves and their country.” - George Washington, charge to the Northern Expeditionary Force, Sept. 14, 1775...
'They stole my little girl,' says mother judged too stupid to care for her baby
Monday, 1 June 2009 7:23 P GMT-05
Her daughter, referred to only as K, was born three months prematurely with severe medical complications. Officials felt the first-time mother lacked the intelligence to cope with the child and care for her in safety. K was eventually discharged from hospital and given to a foster family.
But although her health has now improved to the point where she needs little or no day-to-day care, the child is due to be handed to adoptive parents within three months.
Rachel will then be barred from further contact.
The adoption is going ahead despite a recent psychiatrist's report which declared that the 24-year-old has 'good literacy and numeracy and that her general intellectual abilities appear to be within the normal range'.
It said the unemployed former cleaner had no previous history of learning disability or mental illness.
Again, May God Forgive Us
Monday, 1 June 2009 6:40 P GMT-05
An observation by Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib abuses, seems to underscore my point. "I am not sure what purpose [releasing the 2,000 additional photos of prisoner abuse] would serve other than a legal one and the consequence would be to imperil our troops, the only protectors of our foreign policy – " Hold it right there: Taguba said "protectors of our foreign policy," not "defenders of our independence" or "guardians of our liberties." The foreign policy referred to entails open-ended entanglements in the affairs of nearly every nation on earth, as well as plundering huge sums from taxpayers to sustain a grotesquely huge military establishment and bribe political elites abroad. That foreign policy cultivates misery and harvests war and terrorism. Why in God's Name would any decent human being defend that foreign policy in the abstract, much less spill blood to implement it?
Guns are up in D.C., violence is down
Saturday, 30 May 2009 6:49 P GMT-05
The failure of urban gun laws to reduce violence is based on holding inanimate objects - guns - responsible for the actions of criminals. Criminals are cowards. They go after easy prey. This is why they target the poor, and not the rich. Criminals also target the unarmed, which is why Washington, D.C., was a "gangsta paradise," to quote an old rap song.
Police occasionally give self-defense lessons to law-abiding citizens, encouraging them to use judo and the like to disarm a criminal. Training the citizenry on how to shoot and carry a handgun might be a better investment. Everyone in a city does not have to be armed - just enough to keep criminals wondering if that "easy prey" is protected by Smith & Wesson.
Obama Is Said to Consider Preventive Detention Plan
Friday, 22 May 2009 12:52 A GMT-05
President Obama told human rights advocates at the White House on Wednesday that he was mulling the need for a “preventive detention” system that would establish a legal basis for the United States to incarcerate terrorism suspects who are deemed a threat to national security but cannot be tried, two participants in the private session said.
Arbitrary 'no-fly' list may soon become a 'no-guns' list
Wednesday, 20 May 2009 5:02 A GMT-05
The federal government's "no-fly" list of people forbidden to board commercial airliners has been the target of much-deserved criticism. Court documents reveal that the grounds for placing people on the list are "not hard and fast rules" but "necessarily subjective" judgments exercised by squabbling agencies. Getting off the list requires navigating an opaque and reluctantly implemented appeals process or a lawsuit. Even the size of the no-fly list is uncertain, with the Transportation Security Administration insisting that high estimates result from people being denied boarding because they've been confused with names on the list (a distinction without a difference). And now enrollment on that bureaucratic nightmare is poised to become grounds for denying Americans the ability to purchase firearms. What could possibly go wrong with that scheme? Would-be gun-owners may be introduced to the arbitrary justice of the no-fly list courtesy of H.R. 2401, the "No Fly, No Buy Act of 2009." Introduced last week by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, the announced intention of the legislation is "[t]o increase public safety and reduce the threat to domestic security by including persons who may be prevented from boarding an aircraft in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, and for other purposes."
Torture a hallmark of Phoenix's drug kidnappings
Wednesday, 20 May 2009 12:45 A GMT-05
Phoenix police say they have yet to witness the level of violence -- the beheadings, the bodies shoved in drums -- that their counterparts are seeing in Mexico City or the border town of Juarez. "It gets close sometimes," said Lt. Lauri Burgett, who heads the Home Invasion and Kidnapping Enforcement squad. Kidnappers will smash their victims' fingers with bricks, snip their backs open with wire cutters, carve them up with knives or simply shoot them. "We've had them electrocuted. They set them in a tub with water and use kind of barbaric means and zap the tub. I think it was a battery hooked up," Burgett said.
Confessions of a War Resister
Tuesday, 19 May 2009 11:03 P GMT-05
Yesterday was a great victory for me, the entire peace movement and for troops and civilians all over the world. I faced the military for my refusal to deploy to Iraq, and I walked away a free man with a general discharge from the Army’s Individual Ready Reserve.
WTP Federal Lawsuit to Ban All Electronic Voting Heads for Trial
Wednesday, 13 May 2009 10:31 A GMT-05
In 2007, WTP instigated a federal lawsuit in New York seeking to hold election officials in all fifty states accountable for their deprivation of the People’s fundamental Right to Vote because of the use of non-verifiable electronic and mechanical machine-based vote counting. The case was dubbed the “National Clean Elections Lawsuit,” or NCEL. Although a 2008 Order from the U.S. District Court in Albany removed all the non-New York defendants, as of last week, the Court ordered the remaining parties to commence preparations for a jury trial.
Taking a Page From the Bush Playbook
Friday, 8 May 2009 12:59 A GMT-05
The Obama administration is now considering reinstating the Military Commissions Act after a four-month suspension, in contradiction to the president’s promise to end military tribunals for detainees and to close down Gitmo. While there is talk about reforming the act to restrict hearsay evidence and to permit defendants to challenge intelligence used against them, the disparity between the tribunals and due process for other criminals leaves intact the concept of “unlawful enemy combatant,” as contained in the act, and thus threatens further evisceration of the rule of law. Running on the platform of a constitutional law professor who would restore the rule of law to the United States, the stench of hypocrisy pervades Barack Obama’s administration. This is not to challenge the need to make decisions based on available evidence and to fine-tune these decisions according to the facts—something that Obama has often held up as his modus operandi. The problem is that one of these facts to be taken into account is that evidence against at least some of these detainees was unlawfully obtained.
Ashton Lundeby is being held under the USA Patriot Act
Tuesday, 5 May 2009 11:40 P GMT-05
Ashton now sits in a juvenile facility in South Bend, Ind. His mother has had little access to him since his arrest. She has gone to her state representatives as well as attorneys, seeking assistance, but, she said, there is nothing she can do.
Lundeby said the USA Patriot Act stripped her son of his due process rights.
"We have no rights under the Patriot Act to even defend them, because the Patriot Act basically supersedes the Constitution," she said. "It wasn't intended to drag your barely 16-year-old, 120-pound son out in the middle of the night on a charge that we can't even defend."
An Even Worse Bybee Memo
Monday, 4 May 2009 2:51 P GMT-05
Jay Bybee wrote another memo that nobody has noticed, one purporting to authorize crimes far worse than torture, the same crimes the torture was itself intended to create false justifications for. On October 23, 2002, Assistant Attorney General Bybee signed a 48-page memo to the "counsel to the president" (Alberto Gonzales) titled "Authority of the President Under Domestic and International Law to Use Military Force Against Iraq." This was another secret law, but instead of authorizing particular uses of torture (which in reality were far exceeded, engaged in prior to the memos, etc.), this one authorized any president to single-handedly commit what Nuremberg called "the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." And while the torture memos extensively and grotesquely limited the days of sleep deprivation and the hours of waterboarding, the aggressive war memo included only a single paragraph at the bottom of page 47 requiring that: "Were the President to determine that the use of force in self-defense is necessary to counter the threat posed by Iraq's WMD program, such force should be proportional; in other words, it should be limited to that which is needed to eliminate the threat posed by Iraq." When this memo was written, our president, vice president, and top cabinet officials were screaming about Iraq's vast quantities of weapons, but Bybee was already crafting his justifications around the idea of weapons "programs."
The True Haters
Saturday, 2 May 2009 4:48 P GMT-05
Demjanjuk is to be taken to Germany and prosecuted as an accessory to the murder of 29,000 Jews at Sobibor -- though not one living person can place him at that camp and not even the German prosecutor will say that he ever hurt anyone. One witness in Israel, who was at Sobibor and says he knew all the camp guards, says he never saw Demjanjuk there. If Friday's ruling is upheld, John Demjanjuk, who has been charged with no crime on German soil, is to be taken to Germany, home of the Third Reich, to be tried by Germans for his alleged role in a genocide planned and perpetrated by Germans. He is to serve as the sacrificial lamb whose blood washes away the stain of Germany's sins.
Legal U.S. Arms Exports May Be Source of Narco Syndicates Rising Firepower
Saturday, 2 May 2009 3:46 P GMT-05
A Narco News investigation into the flow of arms across the U.S. border appears to lead right back to the systemic corruption that afflicts a vast swath of the Mexican government under President Felipe Calderon and this nation’s own embrace of market-driven free-trade policies. The deadliest of the weapons now in the hands of criminal groups in Mexico, particularly along the U.S. border, by any reasonable standard of an analysis of the facts, appear to be getting into that nation through perfectly legal private-sector arms exports, measured in the billions of dollars, and sanctioned by our own State Department. These deadly trade commodities — grenade launchers, explosives and “assault” weapons —are then, in quantities that can fill warehouses, being corruptly transferred to drug trafficking organizations via their reach into the Mexican military and law enforcement agencies, the evidence indicates.
No justice, no truth...yet
Saturday, 2 May 2009 3:05 P GMT-05
They knew who he was, I am sure of it - if I had your car registration number and followed you to your home, I could find out your name, and I am not a security service officer - they knew what he was, who his friends were - yet he was seen as a 'desirable' but not essential target and he was not arrested, though time and time again there were chances to do just that. How is it possible for M15 to say to the ISC in 2005 that he was 'not named or listed' as a threat? How it is possible for the Intelligence and Security Committee not to have known that there were tapes and footage of this man, with these Operation Crevice terrorists, known to be planning these attacks at that stage, when he had been photographed and filmed and bugged - I am looking at the film of him now, walking about in London with his terrorist friends who were later jailed for 40 years? How is it right that nine months after the second ISC report examining what should have been picked up the first time, it is still sitting in Number 10, with no word as to the date it will be released? How is it fair that four years on, the families and survivors are still waiting for answers to these terrible questions: could the bombers have been stopped? Did communication and intelligence fail? And have the lessons been learned that will stop the wrong men being arrested and the right men slipping through the cracks? The recent arrests and release of Pakistani students in Manchester and Liverpool raise worrying questions in this regard - four years after the bombings.
U.S. Drops Case Against Ex-Lobbyists
Saturday, 2 May 2009 1:33 P GMT-05
Federal prosecutors yesterday abandoned an espionage-law case against two former lobbyists for a pro-Israel advocacy group, a case that had transfixed much of official Washington because of its potential to criminalize the exchange of sensitive information among journalists, lobbyists and policy analysts. In asking a judge to dismiss charges against Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, formerly of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, officials said recent court rulings had changed the legal landscape and made it unlikely that they would win.
Trio not guilty of helping 7/7 London bombers
Wednesday, 29 April 2009 11:21 A GMT-05
Three British Muslims were today cleared of helping the 7 July bombers choose their targets by carrying out a reconnaissance mission in London seven months before the attacks that killed 52 people and injured almost 1,000. A jury at Kingston crown court unanimously found Waheed Ali, 25, Sadeer Saleem, 28, and Mohammed Shakil, 32, all from Beeston, Leeds, not guilty of conspiring with the four bombers to cause explosions, after deliberating for eight days. They are the only people to be charged over the attacks in 2005, which prompted the biggest criminal investigation in British history – more than 18,450 statements were taken and at least 37,000 exhibits were collected.
Another Example of How Gun Control Kills
Saturday, 4 April 2009 10:33 P GMT-05
Gun control laws not only result in needless deaths of those who otherwise could have armed and protected themselves, but they also inoculate the people to the fact that we're all responsible for protecting ourselves and our own families in the first place, and therefore brainwash us into believing we should ultimately place our fate in the hands of the state. If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd wonder if that weren't the entire goal to begin with.
Officer Convicted in Fatal Shooting of Driver in Bronx - NYTimes.com
Saturday, 4 April 2009 1:17 P GMT-05
The verdict, rendered by Justice Margaret L. Clancy of State Supreme Court, who heard the case without a jury, means that the officer, Rafael Lora, 39, faces up to 15 years in prison for killing the driver, Fermin Arzu, in 2007. Justice Clancy acquitted Officer Lora of the most serious charge, first-degree manslaughter, which could have sent him to prison for 25 years.
Lawsuit: Minneapolis cops planted pistol on teen after they gunned him down
Wednesday, 1 April 2009 8:35 A GMT-05
The court filings in a lawsuit filed by Fong Lee's family against Minneapolis police and the officer who fired the fatal shots, along with a review of police reports, witness statements and other documents, raise the possibility that Fong Lee was unarmed when an officer shot him eight times — and that the pistol that officers said they found near his body was placed there after the shooting. The gun in question had been recovered earlier after a burglary and turned over to police, who kept it as evidence and had never returned it to its owner. Moreover, Minneapolis police "may have tried to deliberately alter history by writing new reports indicating the gun recovered near Fong Lee's body was not the same gun" that had been recovered after the burglary, according to Richard Hechter, a lawyer representing Fong Lee's family, wrote in an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court on Monday.
To All Readers: Help Force Congress To Observe the Law on National Emergencies!
Wednesday, 1 April 2009 8:11 A GMT-05
On 9/11 the Bush administration declared a State of Emergency (SOE), which was formally proclaimed on September 14, 2001, and extended by Bush repeatedly thereafter, most recently on August 28, 2008.(1) Under cover of this SOE, Bush secretly enacted many extreme measures, ranging from suspension of habeas corpus to preparations for martial law in America; all these were undertaken as part of secret so-called "Continuity of Government" (COG) procedures associated with the SOE, and first instituted on 9/11.
To survive Khmer Rouge, he painted
Tuesday, 31 March 2009 10:58 P GMT-05
Today, three decades after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime, marks the beginning of the first substantial hearing in the trial of a senior Khmer Rouge official before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. Kaing Guek Eav, or Duch, a former mathematics teacher, is accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes for his role as commander of the Tuol Sleng prison, where 14,000 men, women, and children were tortured and killed. During the three years, eight months and twenty days that the ultra-communist Khmer Rouge were in power, as many as two million people died from execution, starvation, and illness. The international criminal tribunal -- a hybrid of international judges and prosecutors who work alongside their Cambodian counterparts -- has been plagued by seemingly endless delays. There were only seven survivors of the Tuol Sleng torture prison. Vann Nath, a painter by trade and a former monk, was one. He escaped death by painting portraits of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge leader, that were commissioned by Duch.
China's hi-tech 'death van' where criminals are executed and then their organs are sold on black market
Sunday, 29 March 2009 9:05 P GMT-05
Developed by Jinguan Auto, which also makes bullet-proof limousines for the new rich in this vast country of 1.3 billion people, the vans appear unremarkable. They cost £60,000, can reach top speeds of 80mph and look like a police vehicle on patrol. Inside, however, the 'death vans' look more like operating theatres. Executions are monitored by video to ensure they comply with strict rules, making it possible to describe precisely how Jiang Yong will die. After being sedated at the local prison, he will be loaded into the van and strapped to an electric-powered stretcher. This then glides automatically towards the centre of the van, where doctors will administer three drugs: sodium thiopental to cause unconsciousness; pancuronium bromide to stop breathing and, finally, potassium chloride to stop the heart.
Law Professor: "We May Not Have Realized It At The Time, But In The Period From Late 2001-January 19, 2009, This Country Was A Dictatorship."
Wednesday, 4 March 2009 12:09 A GMT-05
Scott Horton - a professor at Columbia Law School and writer for Harper's - says of the Bush administration memos authorizing torture, spying, indefinite detention without charge, the use of the military within the U.S. and the suspension of free speech and press rights: We may not have realized it at the time, but in the period from late 2001-January 19, 2009, this country was a dictatorship. The constitutional rights we learned about in high school civics were suspended. That was thanks to secret memos crafted deep inside the Justice Department that effectively trashed the Constitution. What we know now is likely the least of it.
'Rockefeller' asks judge to drop fake name charge
Sunday, 1 March 2009 11:59 P GMT-05
Lawyers for the German national who moved to the United States in the late 1970s said on Sunday that prosecutors failed to prove that he adopted the alias for the purpose of throwing the arresting police officers off his trail. The lawyers are asking a judge to drop the charge of providing a false name to police, arguing that he had used the name Clark Rockefeller for at least 15 years, including in a sworn affidavit to the grand jury. The motion to dismiss the charge will be filed in Suffolk Superior Court on Monday.
The Two Documents Everyone Should Read to Better Understand the Crisis
Saturday, 28 February 2009 6:15 P GMT-05
As a white-collar criminologist and former financial regulator much of my research studies what causes financial markets to become profoundly dysfunctional. The FBI has been warning of an "epidemic" of mortgage fraud since September 2004. It also reports that lenders initiated 80% of these frauds.1 When the person that controls a seemingly legitimate business or government agency uses it as a "weapon" to defraud we categorize it as a "control fraud" ("The Organization as 'Weapon' in White Collar Crime." Wheeler & Rothman 1982; The Best Way to Rob a Bank is to Own One. Black 2005). Financial control frauds' "weapon of choice" is accounting. Control frauds cause greater financial losses than all other forms of property crime -- combined. Control fraud epidemics can arise when financial deregulation and desupervision and perverse compensation systems create a "criminogenic environment" (Big Money Crime. Calavita, Pontell & Tillman 1997.)
Violence between repo men, car owners on the rise
Saturday, 28 February 2009 6:00 P GMT-05
Alone in his mobile home off a winding dirt road, Jimmy Tanks heard a commotion at 2:30 a.m. just outside his bedroom window: Somebody was messing with his car. The 67-year-old railroad retiree grabbed a gun, walked out the back door and confronted not a thief but a repo man and two helpers trying to tow off the Chrysler Sebring. Shots were fired, and Tanks wound up dead, a bullet in his chest. The man who came to repossess the car, Kenneth Alvin Smith, is awaiting trial on a murder charge in a state considered a Wild West territory even by the standards of an industry that's largely unregulated nationally. Since Tanks' death last June, two other repo men from the same company Smith worked for were shot, one fatally.
The Abrupt Limits of Glenn Beck's Understanding
Saturday, 28 February 2009 5:46 P GMT-05
Like most other conservative authoritarians, Beck apparently cannot understand the principle involved here, or why some people like myself who neither smoke nor drink nor take drugs of any kind would want to end the murderous fraud called the War on Drugs. As the following interview with Rob Campia of the Marijuana Policy Project demonstrates, Beck -- a former alcoholic and drug addict -- is not willing to endorse an end to the stupid, senseless, destructive policy of drug prohibition. As several observes have noted, Beck the prohibitionist comes off as the one who's on some kind of controlled substance, while Campia -- who has to endure Beck's palpable condescension (first question: "Do you smoke marijuana, Rob?") and constantly misfiring attempts at humor -- is composed, rational, and in command of the facts:
America's Law-Free Zone
Friday, 20 February 2009 5:08 P GMT-05
So no international tribunals or foreign countries have any power to investigate or prosecute American officials for war crimes (even when those war crimes are against citizens of those countries and/or committed within their borders). And, American political officials must also not be prosecuted inside the U.S., by American courts. "Nobody is entitled" to do that either, because "attempting to prosecute political opponents at home or facilitating their prosecution abroad is like pouring acid into our democratic machinery." The implication of their argument -- which is now the conventional Beltway view -- is too obvious to require much elaboration. If our political leaders can't be held accountable for their war crimes and other serious felonies in foreign countries or international tribunals, and must never be held accountable in the U.S. either (because to do so is to "pour acid into our democratic machinery"), then it means that American political officials (in contrast to most other leaders) are completely and explicitly exempt from, placed above, the rule of law. That conclusion is compelled from their premises.
Police recover second weapons cache in central MA
Tuesday, 17 February 2009 4:45 A GMT-05
Police say a 72-year-old Auburn man will face criminal charges after investigators found 85 guns and 800 pounds of ammunition in his home, most of them stored improperly. Investigators zeroed in on Anthony Simulynas after a Worcester resident who was arrested for illegal possession of military-style explosives and assault weapons said he stole a powerful machine gun from the elderly Auburn resident.
Finally! The Law Goes After Joe Arpaio, The Most Abusive Sheriff In America
Sunday, 15 February 2009 4:19 A GMT-05
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), and Immigration Subcommittee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Constitution Subcommittee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), and Crime Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Scott (D-Va.) called on Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to investigate allegations of misconduct by Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
'Clark Rockefeller' to claim temporary insanity
Saturday, 14 February 2009 2:05 P GMT-05
The man who has called himself Clark Rockefeller -- as well as Chip Smith, Christopher Crowe, Christopher Chichester, and a string of other aliases during 30 years of chameleon-like identity changes -- plans to claim he was insane when he allegedly kidnapped his 7-year-old daughter last summer on a Back Bay street. Rockefeller's lawyer, Jeffrey A. Denner, filed a motion today in Suffolk Superior Court saying his client was not responsible for the alleged abduction because he was suffering from a "mental disease or defect'' that made it impossible to understand his actions or to control them.
Why You Can't Buy a New Car Online
Friday, 13 February 2009 9:35 A GMT-05
Americans can buy virtually anything over the Internet these days -- sex, booze, houses -- everything, that is, but a new car. If you want to buy a new Ford Fusion, you have to go down to your local dealership and haggle with the car salesmen, an unpleasant and daunting task. The process usually subjects consumers to hours in the dealership hotbox and can add hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to the price of the car. Wouldn't it be nice if you could cut out the middleman and just order your Prius straight from Toyota? But you can't. And there's one reason why: the car-dealer lobby, which has worked hard to ensure that this will never happen. Since the late 1990s, car dealers have used their considerable political clout to pass or better enforce state franchise laws that in many cases make it a criminal offense for an auto manufacturer to sell a new car to anyone but a state-licensed car dealer. The laws governing who can sell new cars are among the most anti-competitive of any domestic industry. By creating local monopolies for dealerships and prohibiting online sales for new cars, they constitute a major restraint on interstate commerce; in 2001, the Consumer Federation of America estimated [pdf] that the laws added at least $1,500 to the price of every new car.
NEWS: Cop Guilty of Kidnapping and Robbing Dealers, Reselling Drugs
Friday, 13 February 2009 7:28 A GMT-05
The evidence at trial showed that from November 2003 through April 2006, Sease conspired with other Memphis police officers to use their authority as law enforcement officers, including their service weapons, to rob suspected drug dealers of cash, cocaine and marijuana. Sease and his co-conspirators would then resell the stolen drugs for their own profit. The government introduced proof of 16 separate robberies, as well as one attempted robbery. In each robbery, Sease or another uniformed Memphis police officer, would pull over a car containing suspected drug dealers and steal whatever drugs and cash that they found.
Video: Cop Punches Woman In Face Four Times During Arrest For Riding A Bike
Thursday, 5 February 2009 3:39 A GMT-05
A video released as part of a lawsuit against police in Millville, Philadelphia, shows an officer forcefully punching a woman in the face four times after he bungled an attempt to arrest her for riding a bike on the sidewalk.
Prosecute Bush and Company for their Criminal Negligence and Cover-Up Regarding 9/11
Thursday, 29 January 2009 11:59 A GMT-05
Is there strong evidence of criminal negligence with regard to the 9/11 attacks? Definitely. Is there strong evidence for a cover-up and destruction of evidence? Without doubt. See this and this. Now is the perfect time to prosecute criminal behavior. 9/11 is no exception. If the only politically feasible way to do it is to start with a prosecution solely for criminal negligence or cover-up, then start there.
The war on drugs nears a major achievement
Sunday, 25 January 2009 5:58 P GMT-05
The complete collapse of Mexico into a terrorist state. Let’s hear it for the DEA! Perfect example of blowback. Also, read Radley Balko’s War on Drugs: Collateral Damage to find out how drug prohibition “militarizes police, enriches our enemies, undermines our laws, and condemns our sick to suffering”.
Microsoft could face $8.5 billion in damages for "Vista Capable" case
Sunday, 25 January 2009 5:46 P GMT-05
A University of Washington economist, and an expert witness for the plaintiffs has calculated that it would cost anywhere from $3.92 billion to $8.52 billion to upgrade all of the PCs that were sold as Vista Capable so that they would be able to run the premium versions of Windows Vista. This number was computed by utilizing data provided by Microsoft, and arrives at how many "Vista upgradeable" PCs had been sold in the United States between April 2006 (when the Vista Capable Campaign began) through to January 2007 (when Vista hit the market and the marketing campaign ended). It was deemed that 13.75 million notebooks and 5.65 million desktop PCs had been classified "Vista Capable" when they were not actually able to meet the harsher "Premium Ready" requirements. Basically, Microsoft certification branded "Vista Capable PCs" as such without stressing to consumers that the PCs were designed only to run at the barest minimum of Vista Basic - which is the lowest level of the many products of Vista. Unfortunately, some of these PCs weren't capable of running more powerful versions, or were not able to run all of the program features in other versions.
Partners, insurer under scrutiny
Friday, 23 January 2009 10:15 A GMT-05
Attorney General Martha Coakley has launched an investigation into whether the state's largest health insurance company and its largest healthcare provider may have illegally colluded to increase the price of health insurance statewide over the last nine years, according to several legal and government sources.
'Qualifying fireams'
Thursday, 15 January 2009 10:11 A GMT-05
Read the bill for yourself. As of now, it has no co-sponsors. Some will tell you that means there's no cause for alarm. Some may even tell us this has no chance of passing (now), and to expend effort opposing it will weaken future political efforts. One mass shooting in a "no guns" zone from now, that could change, and this could come to the front burner. Along with the anticipated push to permanently ban (that means no "sunset clause" this time) all semiautomatics by both name and characteristic. Here's the important part: It will make it illegal for you to possess guns you currently legally own unless you go jump through their hoops, register yourself and obtain a license. All under the watchful oversight of Eric Holder--another grave danger to gun rights our lobbyists see no need to expend "political capital" on.
Many police chiefs say they won't enforce new Mass. marijuana law
Saturday, 3 January 2009 1:15 P GMT-05
"We're just basically not enforcing it right now," said Mark R. Laverdure, chief of police in Clinton, a Central Massachusetts town of about 8,000 residents, who said the law was so poorly written that it cannot be enforced. "You'll probably have a lot of officers that, unless there's a caller complaining about it, won't even bother with it. They probably handled a lot of it informally before and probably more so now."
Alberto Gonzales Considers Himself a 'Casualty of the War on Terror' | PEEK | AlterNet
Thursday, 1 January 2009 10:12 P GMT-05
During a lunch meeting two blocks from the White House, where he served under his longtime friend, President George W. Bush, Mr. Gonzales said that "for some reason, I am portrayed as the one who is evil in formulating policies that people disagree with. I consider myself a casualty, one of the many casualties of the war on terror."
The US Army Document That Proves the US is the World's Number One Sponsor of World Terrorism
Wednesday, 31 December 2008 5:11 A GMT-05
I have repeatedly stated that the US regime of George W. Bush was not legitimate. How can I make it any clearer? "Illegitimate" means that the regime of George W. Bush was no more legitimate than the crooked regimes of tin horn dictators in banana republics. The Bush regime differed little in terms of competence or statesmanship. Now, in a cynical document that the US Army had never intended be disseminated publicly, we have confirmation that the position of the US vis a vis the rest of the world is based not upon Democracy or legitimacy. It is, rather based entirely upon force, aggression and US terrorism.
Karl Rove Destroyed My Life
Saturday, 27 December 2008 7:24 P GMT-05
There is no question in my mind that Rove played a key role in what happened to me. From the beginning, the investigation was started by Rove’s client, the state attorney general Mark Pryor; then the prosecution was carried out by the wife of Rove’s best friend and his former business partner. [They had previously worked as political consultants together in Alabama.] We have a live witness who claims that Bill Canary—Rove’s partner—said Rove had taken my case to the Department of Justice. Now it’s up to Congress—and the House and the Senate judiciary committees—to bring Rove before the House Judiciary Committee.
Police unclear on how to enforce new marijuana law that takes effect Jan. 2
Thursday, 25 December 2008 6:38 P GMT-05
Many law enforcement officials strongly opposed the intensely debated Nov. 4 state ballot question that will turn possession of an ounce or less of marijuana into an offense on par with a traffic violation. Police and prosecutors say they are in the dark about many aspects of the law.
Layoff warning law falls short
Tuesday, 23 December 2008 10:42 P GMT-05
The law requires companies with 100 or more workers to give 60 days notice to officials in states where they plan to make wide-scale job cuts and facility closings. Adopted in 1988 after a wave of plant closings, the law is intended to give state and local officials time to help targeted workers move on - or even to try to save the jobs from elimination. Violators are liable for back pay and benefits, and penalties of $500 per day. But labor leaders say the law, known as the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or the WARN Act, doesn't typically apply to financial firms, which unlike manufacturers with one or two plants, often have workers deployed at many smaller offices around the country.
Entrapment? Five convicted in Ft. Dix plot
Tuesday, 23 December 2008 12:36 P GMT-05
Five men whom attorneys said paid FBI informants prodded into exploring their deepest fantasies about waging jihad on America were convicted in federal court Monday of conspiring to kill US soldiers but acquitted on attempted murder charges.
3 victims' kin demand 9/11 justice (BostonHerald.com)
Tuesday, 16 December 2008 9:51 A GMT-05
The families of the late Mark Bavis, 31, Barbara Keating, 72, and Low, 28, will plead with Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein in Federal District Court in Manhattan today to allow an open trial against Massport, the airlines and security companies in Boston.
Wal-Mart workers in Minnesota win $54 million settlement
Saturday, 13 December 2008 6:49 P GMT-05
Some 100,000 current and former hourly employees of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in Minnesota – and the state of Minnesota itself – will share up to $54 million from the giant retailer under a settlement announced Tuesday. The agreement is the final stage in a wage-and-hour class action suit that put a spotlight on Wal-Mart's practice of having employees work through their rest and meal breaks. In July, Dakota County District Judge Robert King ruled the company committed more than 2 million violations of the Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act and ordered it to pay $6.5 million in back pay.
Greece riots: timeline
Thursday, 11 December 2008 3:21 P GMT-05
How Greece's worst civil disturbances in decades unfolded
9/11 Victims' Families Challenge Legitimacy Of Guantanamo Military Commissions
Thursday, 11 December 2008 3:15 P GMT-05
While we support everyone's right to their individual opinions about these proceedings, including, of course, other family members who have suffered the devastation we have, we also feel obliged to make clear that many of us do not believe these military commissions to be fair, in accordance with American values, or capable of achieving the justice that 9/11 family members and all Americans deserve. We believe that the secretive and unconstitutional nature of these proceedings deprive us of the right to know the full truth about what happened on 9/11. These prosecutions have been politically motivated from the start, are designed to ensure quick convictions at the expense of due process and transparency, and are structured to prevent the revelation of abusive interrogations and torture engaged in by the U.S. government. Unfortunately, any verdict borne of these proceedings will lack legitimacy and leave us wondering if true justice has been served. No comfort or closure can come from military commissions that ignore the rule of law and stain America's reputation at home and abroad.
Why Noam Chomsky is Dead Wrong About 911!
Thursday, 11 December 2008 2:46 P GMT-05
Noam, you have, in fact, said that the crime of 911 should not be investigated. If 911 should not be investigated than no crime should be investigated. If no crime should be investigated, then the rule of law means nothing. You have granted to Bush and other known criminals and terrorists arbitrary, illogical and illegal exceptions to the rule of law. The consequences are disastrous. The 'rule of law' applies to all or it applies to none!
Ron Paul Talks About Gun Control
Wednesday, 10 December 2008 2:22 P GMT-05
Gun control advocates tell us that removing guns from society makes us safer. If that were the case why do the worst shootings happen in gun free zones, like schools? And while accidents do happen, aggressive, terroristic shootings like this are unheard of at gun and knife shows, or military bases. It bears repeating that an armed society truly is a polite society. The fact is that firearm technology exists. It cannot be uninvented. As long as there is metalworking and welding capability, it matters not what gun laws are imposed upon law-abiding people. Those that wish to have guns, and disregard the law, will have guns. Gun control makes violence safer and more effective for the aggressive, whether the aggressor is a terrorist or a government.
Finding words at last for an unspeakable loss
Sunday, 7 December 2008 5:01 P GMT-05
The Lamberts's anguish remains raw from that chilly Friday night when Thibault picked up their children to drive to a sleepover with cousins at her house in Bellingham. Along the way, Thibault crossed the median of I-495, stopped her car in the wrong direction, undressed herself and the two children, and then ran them to their deaths. According to one eyewitness, she was screaming about religion before she was hit. But in the Lamberts's grief, they are searching for whatever clarity they can find and trying to use the information they have begun gathering to prevent the unthinkable from happening to someone else.
Cruel and Unusual: Serving a Death Sentence in a Prison Hospital
Friday, 5 December 2008 8:27 A GMT-05
Johnson was convicted of murder in 1999 and sent to death row. In 2003, his sentence was commuted to 40 years, and on Oct. 30, 2008, Gov. Rod Blagojevich commuted his sentence to time served. This means the state of Illinois has no legal basis for keeping him incarcerated. But now he faces a new challenge: the possibility of extradition to California for different charge. For Gloria, who has been fighting for years to bring her son home for the last months of his life, this would be an unthinkable defeat.
Charges Dropped Against 9/11 Rescue Worker due to Hero Status
Wednesday, 3 December 2008 7:42 P GMT-05
A Long Island judge has dismissed charges of driving under the influence and illegally possessing a weapon against a 9/11 rescue worker, citing the man's status as an "American hero." "The Court notes with admiration the Defendant's lengthy service to his country and to his community, and acknowledges the many letters and documents concerning his outstanding service on September 11, 2001 and his injuries," District Court Judge Paul M. Hensley of Suffolk County wrote in People v. McCormack, 06SU51940. "[T]he Court finds that the Defendant has demonstrated the existence of compelling factors, considerations or circumstances which show that his prosecution or conviction upon the accusatory instruments herein would constitute an injustice."
Surprise: Cops Who Get Tasered Really Don't Like It
Wednesday, 26 November 2008 4:58 P GMT-05
And nobody seems to think there's anything wrong with the police inflicting horrible pain on people on the thinnest of pretexts. As long as there's no permanent damage, there's no harm in it. Heck, even if there is permanent damage, it's the victim's fault for failing to be properly cooperative --- or agreeing to do it as part of their job. You can see why waterboarding is now considered perfectly acceptable. The authorities only use it when they believe they need to (and ok, sometimes just because they're in a bad mood) and it doesn't leave any permanent damage either. No harm no foul. What's the problem?
Correction officer accused of raping inmate
Tuesday, 25 November 2008 9:01 P GMT-05
A correction officer has been accused of rape and having sexual relations with a female inmate at the Suffolk House of Correction in Roxbury. Lieutenant Thomas A. Healy, Jr., 41, was held on $1,500 cash bail after his arraignment today in Roxbury Municipal Court. Healy faces charges that also include indecent assault and battery, according to Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley's office.
In Stunning Ruling, D.C. Judge Orders Release of Five Gitmo Prisoners
Tuesday, 25 November 2008 6:28 P GMT-05
Following Judge Richard J. Leon’s decision today in U.S. District Court ordering the release of five of the six Boumediene habeas defendants, Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vincent Warren released the following statement:
German Intelligence Agents Caught Staging False Flag Terror
Tuesday, 25 November 2008 3:58 A GMT-05
The German secret service, the BND, is notorious for infiltrating extremist groups and using them for their own political ends. In March 2003 amidst a highly publicized attempt to ban the activities of a German Neo-Nazi political party, the trial collapsed in court after it emerged that the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) was full of German intelligence officers occupying top ranking positions, including the publisher of the party’s newspaper, who were all secretly on the government’s payroll for decades.
I'm an American Worker and I'm Tired of Getting Screwed
Saturday, 22 November 2008 10:21 P GMT-05
The American worker doesn't want a handout. Never did. We do want a hand up from our government. We still believe and have hope that this is a government of, by and for the people. We do want to know that our government will finally stand with us against this onslaught, this Robin Hood in reverse, being conducted by the bosses against the workers. The bosses know that W. and McCain have been on their side for the past eight years - and so do we workers. We just want our government to now stand on our side as we stand up against this corporate attempt to create third world working conditions right here in America. Restore our right to fight for a better living for ourselves and our families, and let the power of pissed-off workers, united in struggle, spread corporate America's stolen wealth back into the pockets of those whose pockets got picked these last eight years - the American worker.
Beaten, Tortured and Sentenced 25-to-Life for Minor Drug Offense
Saturday, 22 November 2008 5:53 P GMT-05
Williams is serving a 25-year-to-life sentence for a "mickey mouse" drug offense that occurred in Albany County back in 1991. Anthony has already served more than 17 years of that sentence, dragged in chains from one maximum-security prison to the next. Though he is among the least of small offenders, he is serving the longest of times. He just can't find his way home from perpetual exile behind thick walls trimmed with razor wire.
Cheney, Gonzales Indicted in Texas Prison Case
Wednesday, 19 November 2008 2:42 P GMT-05
Cheney is charged with engaging in an organized criminal activity related to the vice president's investment in the Vanguard Group, which holds financial interests in the private prison companies running the federal detention centers. It accuses Cheney of a conflict of interest and "at least misdemeanor assaults" on detainees because of his link to the prison companies.
Megan Mitchell, a spokeswoman for Cheney, declined to comment on Tuesday, saying that the vice president had not yet received a copy of the indictment. The indictment accuses Gonzales of using his position while in office to stop an investigation in 2006 into abuses at one of the privately-run prisons. Gonzales' attorney, George Terwilliger III, said in a written statement, "This is obviously a bogus charge on its face, as any good prosecutor can recognize." He said he hoped Texas authorities would take steps to stop "this abuse of the criminal justice system."
Exposed: Federal Air Marshals Too Busy Smuggling Coke and Molesting Kids to Protect You
Sunday, 16 November 2008 3:09 A GMT-05
Under government policies, air marshals found guilty of felonies were fired or forced to resign. But 10 air marshals convicted of misdemeanors, mostly drunken driving, were allowed to keep their jobs. And even after notice that background checks were poor, the agency failed to root out air marshals with troubled pasts before they committed felonies.
ACLU wants probe into police-staged DNC protest
Saturday, 15 November 2008 12:41 P GMT-05
When a Jefferson County deputy unleashed pepper spray at unruly protesters on the first night of the Democratic National Convention, he did not know that his targets were undercover Denver police officers. Now the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado is questioning whether that staged confrontation by police pretending to be violent inflamed other protesters or officers during the most intense night of the four-day event. The protest occurred Aug. 25 at 15th Street and Court Place near Civic Center. Police ultimately arrested 106 people, the highest number of arrests in a single day during the convention.
Defense: Money motivated informant in Fort Dix case
Tuesday, 11 November 2008 1:27 A GMT-05
Mahmoud Omar, 39, who recorded over 200 conversations with the five men accused of plotting to kill U.S. military personnel at the South Jersey Army base, has been paid $240,000 for helping build the government's case. Today, the second day of Omar's cross-examination, Rocco Cipparone Jr., lawyer for defendant Mohamad Shnewer, endeavored to highlight Omar has benefitted from the FBI's support.
Web of Debt - Dollar Deception: How Banks Secretly Create Money
Tuesday, 28 October 2008 11:42 P GMT-05
Don't believe banks create the money they lend? Neither did the jury in a landmark Minnesota case, until they heard the evidence. First National Bank of Montgomery vs. Daly (1969) was a courtroom drama worthy of a movie script.3 Defendant Jerome Daly opposed the bank's foreclosure on his $14,000 home mortgage loan on the ground that there was no consideration for the loan. "Consideration" ("the thing exchanged") is an essential element of a contract. Daly, an attorney representing himself, argued that the bank had put up no real money for his loan. The courtroom proceedings were recorded by Associate Justice Bill Drexler, whose chief role, he said, was to keep order in a highly charged courtroom where the attorneys were threatening a fist fight. Drexler hadn't given much credence to the theory of the defense, until Mr. Morgan, the bank's president, took the stand. To everyone's surprise, Morgan admitted that the bank routinely created money "out of thin air" for its loans, and that this was standard banking practice. "It sounds like fraud to me," intoned Presiding Justice Martin Mahoney amid nods from the jurors. In his court memorandum, Justice Mahoney stated:
Two Victories for Advocates of Life
Monday, 27 October 2008 11:36 P GMT-05
On Thursday, the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals stopped the scheduled execution of Bobby Woods because of overwhelming evidence that he is mentally retarded. The following day in Atlanta, a federal appeals court granted a stay to Troy Davis, who was set to be executed on Monday night. Davis's case, which has garnered international attention, will now return to litigation for at least another 25 days.
Ashley Todd, PA Racist Hoax "Victim," Was Paid Organizer for College Republican National Committee, Not a Volunteer
Monday, 27 October 2008 10:54 P GMT-05
Last week, a troubled young woman handed the McCain campaign a Willie Horton-style race card, and the media helped them play it. The attack of a 20-year-old college student was seized upon by the Drudge Report as a "mutilation," and other conservative Web sites as fodder against the surging Obama campaign. Ashley Todd filed a report with the Pittsburgh Police Department alleging a 6'4'' black man robbed her, then carved up her cheek and sexually assaulted her because he saw that she was a McCain supporter. It turns out the story was made up, and that Todd's black eye and the backwards B scratched into her cheek were most likely self-inflicted.
Md. teen pleads guilty to killing family
Monday, 27 October 2008 9:07 P GMT-05
Nicholas Browning, 16, of Cockeysville pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in the February slayings of John W. Browning, 45; Tamara, 44; Gregory, 14, and Benjamin, 11. Browning wept in court as prosecutors described the crime. A sheriff's deputy brought him a box of tissues, and Browning wiped his eyes and blew his nose. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors will not seek a sentence of life without parole. Instead, they will seek a maximum of two consecutive and two concurrent life sentences, meaning Browning could eventually be released on parole. Under state law, he would serve at least 23 years behind bars.
Families of the Victims Tortured by Chicago Detectives Rejoice at First Arrest
Monday, 27 October 2008 7:28 P GMT-05
Jon Burge might have gotten away with torture altogether if it weren't for the case of Andrew Wilson. Wilson was arrested on Valentines Day, 1982, for the killing of two police officers, William Fahey and Richard O'Brien. That night, after spending hours being interrogated at Area Two, where he ultimately confessed to the crime, he was admitted to Chicago's Mercy Hospital with multiple injuries, including lacerations to his face, bruises to his chest, and second degree burns to one thigh. The next year, Wilson was convicted for the murders and sentenced to death, but the Illinois Supreme Court overturned the conviction, based on the fact that he had been apparently abused by police. The court's opinion cited Wilson's testimony at a pretrial hearing, where he described being "punched, kicked, smothered with a plastic bag, electrically shocked and forced against a hot radiator throughout the day until he confessed." Wilson was convicted a second time for the same crime, in 1988, and given a life sentence. In 1989 he filed a civil suit against Jon Burge and four other police officers.
Palin: 'I Don't Know' If Abortion Clinic Bombers Are Terrorists
Sunday, 26 October 2008 10:04 P GMT-05
Mass. judge rejects Holocaust memoir lawsuit
Friday, 10 October 2008 2:49 A GMT-05
A woman who admitted fabricating a best-selling memoir about surviving the Holocaust as a child by living with wolves has won a court battle with her former publisher. Misha Defonseca's 1997 book, "Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years," was translated into 18 languages, made into a feature film in France, and drew interest from the Walt Disney Co. and Oprah Winfrey. After Defonseca admitted earlier this year that she had made up the story, her former publisher, Jane Daniel, sued to try to overturn a $32.4 million court judgment Defonseca and her ghost writer, Vera Lee, won against her in an earlier fight over profits. Daniel argued that because the story was false, Defonseca "perpetrated a hoax" on the trial judge and the jury. But this week, Middlesex Superior Court Judge Timothy Feeley threw out Daniel's lawsuit because she did not file it within a one-year statute of limitations.
Keene artist had hard time getting back into US
Friday, 10 October 2008 12:37 A GMT-05
Keene Valley resident Jerilea Zempel was detained at the U.S. border this summer because she had a drawing of a sport-utility vehicle in her sketchbook. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers told Zempel they suspected her of copyright infringement.
U.S. Army prepares to invade U.S.
Friday, 10 October 2008 12:04 A GMT-05
The plans to implement martial law in America have been taking shape for decades, hidden behind "Continuity of Government" contingency planning. Now, with public outcry over the banker bailout bill at fever pitch, all of the pieces are in place for the U.S. Army to start policing American citizens. For more information and analysis, please visit http://www.corbettreport.com
Judge orders 17 freed from Guantanamo
Thursday, 9 October 2008 3:08 P GMT-05
Federal District Judge Ricardo Urbina called the detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, of the 17 prisoners - ethnic Uighurs, a restive Muslim minority in western China - unlawful, saying the Constitution prohibits indefinite imprisonment without charges.
THE ESSENTIAL LESSONS OF THE ROSENBERG CASE
Tuesday, 7 October 2008 12:23 A GMT-05
The central lesson of this episode is that our government abused its power in dangerous ways that remain relevant today. Those in power targeted our parents, making them the focus of the public’s Cold War-era fear and anger. They manufactured testimony and evidence. They arrested our mother simply as leverage to get our father to cooperate. They used the ultimate weapon — the threat of death — to try to extort a confession. They created the myth that there was a key “secret” of the atomic bomb, and then devised a strategy to make it appear that our father had sought and passed on that “secret.” They executed our father when he refused to collaborate in this lie. They executed our mother as well, even though they knew that she was not an active participant in any espionage activities.
California approves nurse-assisted suicide
Sunday, 5 October 2008 3:43 P GMT-05
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has officially approved an assisted-suicide measure allowing nurses to sedate, dehydrate and starve depressed or confused individuals they consider to be "terminally ill." The bill, sponsored by Assemblywoman Patty Berg, a Democrat, passed the California Assembly Aug. 28, and the state Senate Aug. 20. It was signed by the governor yesterday. The legislation, called the "Terminal Patients' Right to Know End of Life Options Act," or AB 2747, passed by a 42 to 34 vote. An Aug. 20 Senate vote of 21 to 17 ushered the measure to the governor's desk for signing. Randy Thomasson, chief of the Campaign for Children and Families, said the legislation is dangerous and should have been vetoed by Gov. Schwarzenegger. "AB 2747 pushes suicide through the back door at the hands of non-physicians taking advantage of depressed patients," he said in a statement. "AB 2747 cheapens the value of human life by endorsing suicide as an option."
Exit Tax for U.S. Expatriates Becomes Law
Wednesday, 1 October 2008 2:33 A GMT-05
Giving up a U.S. passport can carry a steep price tag. A new law passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by the President will subject certain individuals, who expatriate or give up their green cards, to immediate tax on the inherent gain on all of their worldwide assets and a tax on future gifts or bequests made to a U.S. citizen or resident.
Utah lawyer can question, videotape Terry Nichols
Tuesday, 30 September 2008 10:35 P GMT-05
Attorney Jesse Trentadue says the two prisoners have information about the 1995 death of his brother, who he believes was murdered in a federal prison after guards mistook him for an accomplice in the bombing. Kenneth Trentadue was found hanged in his cell in August 1995 at a federal prison in Oklahoma City, where he was being held on an alleged parole violation. Although the death was ruled a suicide, Trentadue family members think Kenneth died during an interrogation that got out of hand. To support that theory, Jesse Trentadue has filed three Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits seeking information on the bombing and the FBI's alleged withholding of relevant documents he has requested. In September 2007, U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball gave him the go-ahead to depose Nichols and David Paul Hammer, who is on death row at the federal penitentiary at Terre Haute, Ind. The judge said information from the two men might help Trentadue better identify the existence of other records pertaining to his FOIA requests.
Tell the Truth About Obama in Missouri, Go to Jail
Sunday, 28 September 2008 12:43 A GMT-05
This is precisely how political campaigns are run in despotic third world countries and dictatorships that pretend to be democracies. In Bolivia, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Burma, Georgia, Haiti — there is no shortage of recent examples — the opposition is routinely arrested, even killed, but we are supposedly above such tactics here in America. Instead, we just fix the voting machines and nix thousands of voters from the rolls. It appears all of this has changed under Obama. Isn’t this the sort of behavior Hitler’s goons engaged in before he swept into power and killed millions of people, beginning with his political opponents? Isn’t this the sort of thing Stalin and Mao did, eventually graduating to mass murder and genocide? Didn’t East Germany’s Stasi encourage people to turn in their neighbors, even their family and friends, for holding the wrong political opinions?
7 Years Later, 9/11 Hijackers' Remains Are In Limbo
Sunday, 21 September 2008 2:57 P GMT-05
Neither the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which holds the remains of the nine hijackers whose planes hit the Pentagon and crashed in a field in Somerset County, Pa., nor the New York City medical examiner’s office, which holds the remains of 4 of the 10 hijackers who flew planes into the World Trade Center buildings, has policies to deal with such a request. “If and when it comes up, we’ll address it then,” an F.B.I. spokesman, Richard Kolko, said. The bureau could turn down such requests, Mr. Kolko said, because the Sept. 11 investigation is an open case... But, since the DNA profiles were unnamed by the bureau, the office could not say which hijackers have been identified, just that 4 of the 10 have been so far.
We Have DAYS To Stop the $700 Billion Stick-Up (and Fascist Power Grab)
Sunday, 21 September 2008 2:46 P GMT-05
In case you haven't heard, the bill would not only stick up American taxpayers for an additional $700 billion, but would literally give Paulson and the government fascist powers. Don't believe me? Well, as the Bloomberg article notes: "The bill would bar courts from reviewing actions taken under its authority."
How the GOP Wired Ohio's 2004 Vote Count for Bush to Win
Saturday, 20 September 2008 4:30 P GMT-05
An election whistleblower who is a Republican, a nationally known data security and computer architecture expert, and an Ohio resident has filed a sworn affidavit in federal court that describes how Republican Party consultants in 2004 built an electronic vote counting network in Ohio that could have stolen votes to re-elect the president. The whistleblower, Stephen Spoonamore, who has run or held senior technology positions in six technology companies, and whose clients have included MasterCard, American Express, NBC-GE, and federal agencies including the State Department and the Navy, said Mike Connell, a longtime Republican Party computer networking contractor, "agrees that the electronic voting systems in the US are not secure" and told Spoonamore in 2007 "that he (Connell) is afraid some of the more ruthless partisans of the GOP may have exploited systems he in part worked on for this purpose."
At 22, Omar Khadr Has Spent a Third of His Life in Guantanamo
Saturday, 20 September 2008 4:26 P GMT-05
On Friday, Omar Khadr, the sole Canadian citizen in Guantanamo, marked his 22nd birthday in isolation. Seized in Afghanistan when he was just 15 years old, Omar has now spent nearly a third of his life in U.S. custody, in conditions that ought to be shameful to the U.S. administration responsible for holding him and to the Canadian government that has abdicated its responsibilities toward him.
I Spent 16 Years in Jail for a Crime I Didn't Commit. Here's What Should Be Done.
Saturday, 20 September 2008 4:11 P GMT-05
I was wrongfully convicted in 1990 of a murder and rape in Peekskill, N.Y. DNA taken from semen found in the victim did not match my DNA. But misconduct at every stage of the criminal justice system led me to spend 16 years of my life in prison. That misconduct included a coerced, false confession when I was 16, extracted after many days of interrogation overseen by current Peekskill Police Chief Eugene Tumolo and others, as well as the falsification of other evidence.
Troy Davis to Die Next Week: Will Georgia Execute an Innocent Man?
Friday, 19 September 2008 2:37 A GMT-05
In 1991 a jury sentenced Davis to death for the August 19, 1989, murder of Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail in a Burger King parking lot. Without a weapon or any physical evidence, prosecutors relied largely on eyewitness testimony to persuade a jury that Davis was the killer. In the years since, seven witnesses -- including eyewitnesses -- have recanted or contradicted their earlier testimony. Some said they fingered Davis as the killer under pressure from police.
"Bombs Not Food"
Friday, 5 September 2008 5:05 A GMT-05
Food Not Bombs has been peacefully participating in nonviolent protests for 20 years. They served meals to rescue workers at the World Trade Center after 9/11 and to nearly 20 communities in the Gulf region following Hurricane Katrina (see this). To think that they planned violence at the Minnesota convention is almost like saying that Gandhi secretly advocated violence. If the group had been called "Bombs Not Food", had advocated for waging war against Iran and other countries, and had argued that the U.S. cannot afford to fund social programs like feeding poor when we need every cent to fight the "war on terror" abroad, do you think they would have been targeted and charged with terrorism? I think, instead, they might be invited to speak on the tv news shows and perhaps even inside the Convention.
In a Fascist State, Cameras Equal Terrorism
Friday, 5 September 2008 1:14 A GMT-05
Moreover, the protesters who were targeted in Minnesota were mainly those who were peacefully filming the protests. Indeed, a 2003 FBI memo describes protesters' use of videotaping as an "intimidation" technique, even though - as the ACLU points out - "Most mainstream demonstrators often use videotape during protests to document law enforcement activity and, more importantly, deter police from acting outside the law."
Man arraigned who allegedly hid $1.3M in cocaine
Tuesday, 2 September 2008 11:14 P GMT-05
A 33-year-old Boston man pleaded not guilty today in Lynn District Court to drug trafficking charges after police allegedly caught him during the weekend with $1.3 million worth of cocaine in his vehicle. When Yorgi Tejeda, 33, was arrested Sunday afternoon in Lynn, police allegedly found 14 kilograms -- or about 31 pounds -- of cocaine in a hidden compartment in his vehicle. Tejeda is charged with trafficking cocaine over 200 grams, Essex County prosecutors said.
Bush quietly seeks to make war powers permanent, by declaring indefinite state of war
Tuesday, 2 September 2008 6:29 P GMT-05
Part of a proposal for Guantanamo Bay legal detainees, the provision before Congress seeks to “acknowledge again and explicitly that this nation remains engaged in an armed conflict with Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated organizations, who have already proclaimed themselves at war with us and who are dedicated to the slaughter of Americans.” The New York Times' page 8 placement of the article in its Saturday edition seems to downplay its importance. Such a re-affirmation of war carries broad legal implications that could imperil Americans' civil liberties and the rights of foreign nationals for decades to come. It was under the guise of war that President Bush claimed a legal mandate for his warrantless wiretapping program, giving the National Security Agency power to intercept calls Americans made abroad. More of this program has emerged in recent years, and it includes the surveillance of Americans' information and exchanges online. "War powers" have also given President Bush cover to hold Americans without habeas corpus -- detainment without explanation or charge. Jose Padilla, a Chicago resident arrested in 2002, was held without trial for five years before being convicted of conspiring to kill individuals abroad and provide support for terrorism.
Police Using G.P.S. Units as Evidence in Crimes
Sunday, 31 August 2008 3:25 P GMT-05
Prosecutors in suburban Chicago analyzed data from the Garmin G.P.S. device to pinpoint where Mr. Hanson had been on the morning after his parents were fatally shot and his sister and brother-in-law bludgeoned to death in 2005. He was convicted of the killings this year and sentenced to death.
Student charged in Logan scare
Sunday, 3 August 2008 1:37 P GMT-05
Jason Robo, 26, a Worcester native who now attends college in California, was boarding flight 1165 to Salt Lake City at, Utah at Boston’s Logan Airport when multiple passengers observed that Robo was behaving nervously. Witnesses said that Robo left his seat and entered the plane’s lavatory. When a flight attendant entered the lavatory upon Robo’s exit, she found an adhesive address label that read, “9/11 was an Inside Job! PrisonPlanet.com” affixed to the sink area. The flight attendant also found a second sticker on the fold-down tray near his seat and informed the pilot. That is when Robo ran off the plane after telling another flight attendant, “I have to get off this plane right now.”
Jury dismissed in 7/7 plot trial
Sunday, 3 August 2008 1:31 P GMT-05
Neil Flewitt QC, prosecuting, had told the court that the three were not directly responsible for the explosions that killed 52 and maimed hundreds more. But he said evidence showed they shared the same objectives as the bombers and knew that some kind of attack was being planned. The men vehemently denied this, saying that their trip to London had been to allow one of them to see family and to take in a little tourism. In tense courtroom scenes, each of the men in turn denounced the prosecution as politically motivated and stressed the bombers' actions had been completely un-Islamic.
Clarity At Last: Border Guards Don't Need A Reason To Seize Your Laptops, Cell Phones, Cameras, iPods, Tapes, Books, Handwritten Notes ...
Sunday, 3 August 2008 12:55 P GMT-05
And there you have it. Border guards can seize data storage devices of any kind, from laptops to handwritten notes, without any grounds. They are required to give seized items back to their owners in a reasonable time, but they get to decide what's reasonable. They can make copies of your data and share it with other government agencies, but if it turns out that you're not a terrorist they are supposed to destroy their copies of your data. How would you ever know whether or not they had done so? And what would prevent them from secretly adding your data to the Main Core database? Even more disturbingly, perhaps, this is the result of policies promulgated in secrecy, implemented without any publicity, and only now coming to light. Michael Chertoff says doing it any other way would be chilling and dangerous. And not a voice is raised in opposition -- at least not in the mainstream press.
California judge rules early cell phone termination fees illegal
Friday, 1 August 2008 1:39 A GMT-05
In one of the most significant legal rulings in the tech industry this year, a Superior Court judge in California has ruled that the practice of charging consumers a fee for ending their cell phone contract early is illegal and violates state law. The preliminary, tentative judgment orders Sprint Nextel to pay customers $18.2 million in reimbursements and, more importantly, orders Sprint to stop trying to collect another $54.7 million from California customers (some 2 million customers total) who have canceled their contracts but refused or failed to pay the termination fee.
ACLU: Memos authorized CIA torture
Thursday, 24 July 2008 11:24 P GMT-05
The documents were heavily redacted. For example, the government blacked out 10 full pages of the 18-page August 2002 memo, written by then-Assistant Attorney General Jay Bybee, before releasing it in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Most of the text on the remaining pages was similarly blacked out, but the released version of the Bybee memo does provide some insight. Bybee outlined the definition of torture in Section 2340A of the United States code, focusing in part on its caveat that an act be "specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering." Elaborating on his definition of the "specific intent" provision, Bybee narrows the definition to the point where it become functionally meaningless. All that is required to avoid prosecution is a CIA agent's "good faith belief" that his actions will not cause torturous pain and suffering. Such a belief "need not be reasonable," Bybee writes.
LA bans plastic bags
Thursday, 24 July 2008 12:58 A GMT-05
THE city of Los Angeles will ban plastic bags from retail stores from July 1, 2010, following similar regulations already enforced in San Francisco. Los Angeles, the second-largest US city behind New York, would ban plastic bagging in all supermarkets, grocery and retail stores, the Los Angeles City Council said.
The IRS vs. Robert Kahre
Wednesday, 23 July 2008 12:25 A GMT-05
Reborn MLB Slugger Josh Hamilton Is One Lucky Former Drug Addict
Monday, 21 July 2008 4:42 A GMT-05
Recent developments in criminal justice indicate the emergence of a national movement in favor of treating, rather than incarcerating people charged with a nonviolent drug possession offense. These developments include drug courts, local policies which favor treatment, and statewide ballot initiatives that divert nonviolent drug offenders to treatment instead of incarceration. But instead of following this trend, the federal government continues to turn a blind eye toward this movement and steadfastly sticks to zero-tolerance when it comes to illegal drug use. Witness the get-tough policies of ONDCP (Office of National Drug Control Policy) under the direction of John P. Walters. In fact, the ONDCP is so hell-bent on controlling the so-called drug plague that their policies have turned from overly intrusive to downright war-like at times. From suspicionless student drug testing to mandatory minimum sentencing laws that dish out extraordinarily long sentences for small amounts of drugs, the drug war continues be the government's national moral obsession. It is one thing to try to shield society from the harms associated with the drugs, but another when its solutions become worse than the original problems.
GOP whistleblower names Karl Rove in Ohio's 04 election theft
Monday, 21 July 2008 2:57 A GMT-05
This case has the potential to put some of the most powerful people in the country in jail, according to Arnebeck, as he was joined by a well-respected, life-long Republican computer security expert who charged that the red flags seen during Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election would have been cause for "a fraud investigation in a bank, but it doesn't when it comes to our vote." "This entire system is being programmed in secret by programmers who have no oversight by anybody," the expert charged, as Arnebeck detailed allegations of complicity by a number of powerful GOP operatives and companies who had unique access both to the election results as reported in 2004, as well as to U.S. House and Senate computer networks even today.
Activists: Iranians to be stoned to death
Sunday, 20 July 2008 8:44 P GMT-05
Iran has sentenced eight women and one man convicted of adultery to death by stoning, activists said Sunday. A lawyer and women's rights activist, Shadi Sadr, said the nine, who are between 27 and 50 years old, were convicted of adultery in separate cases in different Iranian cities. Trial protocol was not applied properly in the cases, she said. Six of the nine were convicted based solely on judges' decisions with no witnesses or the presence of their lawyers during their confessions, said Sadr, who has been leading a campaign in Iran against stoning deaths.
'Justifying' Torture: Two Big Lies
Sunday, 20 July 2008 8:42 P GMT-05
The sense of pressing urgency conjured up by Bush administration folks to justify torture does not square with Coleen Rowley’s direct personal experience in the FBI. As some will remember, the FBI's joint terrorism task force in Minneapolis had detained Zacarias Moussaoui on Aug. 16, 2001. Flight school pilots acting as whistleblowers had notified the FBI, against the wishes of their airline employer, of detailed information making Moussaoui the most suspicious student they had ever encountered. French intelligence soon supplied further background confirming Moussaoui's fighting for a “foreign power” — Chechnyan rebels, whose leader was connected to al-Qaeda. By Aug. 23, the case was deemed so suspicious, it went all the way to the top of the intelligence community, to Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet, in a PowerPoint presentation entitled: "Islamic Extremist Learns to Fly.” As Rowley revealed in her letter of May 21, 2002, to FBI Director Robert Mueller, there was considerable frustration in her FBI unit in Minneapolis over the inability of FBI headquarters to get its act together and present these facts pursuant to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to obtain the secret FISA Court’s permission to search Moussaoui’s personal effects and laptop computer in the days before 9-11.
Justice Or A Joke?
Sunday, 20 July 2008 8:00 P GMT-05
Given that these military tribunals are so "secretive," how on Earth do they expect us to believe that they have proven those being held at Guantanamo are "indeed the guilty parties?" Is this Justice or a joke? If it is the latter, it is not funny.
Yeah, What ABOUT that Anthrax Terrorist?
Saturday, 12 July 2008 1:11 P GMT-05
Call me crazy. But after viewing this very creepy exchange between Patrick Leahy and Michael Mukasey regarding the anthrax killer, I got the feeling that both of them know exactly who sent those anthrax-laden letters almost seven years ago.
9/11 Workers Refute NYC's Claim Of Incomplete Medical Records
Thursday, 10 July 2008 10:01 A GMT-05
Attorneys representing more than 10,000 Ground Zero workers including police, firefighters and other rescue, recovery and debris clean-up personnel who became ill after working at the World Trade Center site after 9/11 refuted the city’s claims that the plaintiffs produced inadequate medical records for the case. At a May 29 court conference, the city claimed that most plaintiffs had not produced all of their medical records. The plaintiffs' co-liaison counsel, Worby, Groner, Edelman, Napoli & Bern LLP, however, reported that they had delivered more than 800,000 pages of medical records. The plaintiffs also exchanged an additional 58,451 pages comprising 1,548 individual records since the court conference.
Atheist soldier sues Pentagon
Thursday, 10 July 2008 9:30 A GMT-05
Army Spc. Jeremy Hall, now serving in Iraq, says he lost his Christian faith while serving two tours of duty in Iraq, causing him to be ostracized, denied promotions and almost getting him killed, CNN reported Wednesday. Hall contends there is a pattern of discrimination against non-Christians in the military, saying, "I think it's utterly and totally wrong. Unconstitutional."
U.S. deserter could qualify as refugee: court
Sunday, 6 July 2008 4:15 P GMT-05
In a decision that may have an impact on dozens of refugee claimants in Canada, Federal Court Justice Robert Barnes said Canada's refugee board erred by rejecting the asylum bid of Joshua Key. He ordered that a new panel reconsider the application. Key was sent to Iraq in 2003 as a combat engineer for eight months where he said he was responsible for nighttime raids on private Iraqi homes, which included searching for weapons. He alleged that during his time in Iraq he witnessed several cases of abuse, humiliation, and looting by the U.S. army. When Key was back in the U.S on a two-week leave, he said he was suffering from debilitating nightmares and that he couldn't return. A military lawyer told him that he could either return to Iraq or face prison. Instead, Key took his family to Canada and applied for refugee status.
Conyers Asks John Yoo If a President Could Order a Suspect Buried Alive
Sunday, 6 July 2008 3:28 P GMT-05
Yoo Refuses to Answer the Question...
9/11 Victims' Families Send Letter Decrying Politicization Of Guantanamo Military Commissions
Saturday, 7 June 2008 4:03 P GMT-05
Family members of 9/11 victims have sent a letter today to Susan Crawford, Convening Authority of the Guantánamo military commissions, sharply criticizing the politicization of the system. According to news reports, a Pentagon representative secretly invited an outspoken supporter of the military commissions to Guantánamo Bay for Thursday’s arraignment of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other detainees on terrorism-related charges, but did not make this option available to family members who have expressed criticism of the commissions. This type of politicization is symptomatic of the unconstitutional and biased tribunal system, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. The letter echoes the widespread call for a system to try the Guantánamo detainees that adheres to the Constitution, stating, “As people who lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks of 9/11, we want nothing more than to see that justice is served in the prosecution of suspects. However, we know that no justice will come out of a system that has been compromised by politics and stripped of the rule of law.”
Judge critical of Guantanamo war crimes case is dismissed
Sunday, 1 June 2008 3:30 P GMT-05
A judge hearing a war crimes case at Guantanamo Bay who publicly expressed frustration with military prosecutors' refusal to give evidence to the defense has been dismissed, tribunal officials confirmed Friday. Army Col. Peter Brownback III was presiding over the case of Canadian detainee Omar Khadr. Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, in his role as chief judge at Guantanamo, ordered the dismissal without explanation and announced Brownback's replacement in an e-mail this week to lawyers in Khadr's case.
'No justification' for raid on Texas Mormon ranch
Sunday, 25 May 2008 6:01 P GMT-05
The Third Court of Appeals, acting on a suit brought by lawyers on behalf of 38 mothers, said in a unanimous decision that the state did not have the evidence of ongoing sexual abuse necessary to justify the summary removal of the children and the separation from their mothers.
Celebration Of Americans Turning In Their Neighbors, Family Members
Tuesday, 20 May 2008 1:41 A GMT-05
Lest we forget that from this same wellspring of tyranny emerged Operation TIPS, which was supposedly nixed by Congress, a DOJ, FBI, DHS and FEMA coordinated program that would have recruited one in twenty-four Americans as domestic informants, a higher percentage than was used by the Stasi in East Germany.
Texas assesses whether sect 'girls' are adults
Sunday, 18 May 2008 1:34 P GMT-05
When Texas child welfare authorities released statistics showing nearly 60 percent of the teen girls taken from a polygamist sect's ranch were pregnant or had children, they seemed to prove what was alleged all along: The sect commonly pushed girls into marriage and sex. But in the past week, the state has twice been forced to admit "girls" who gave birth while in state custody are actually adults. One was 22 and claims she showed state officials a Utah birth certificate shortly after she and more than 400 minors were seized from the west Texas ranch in an April raid. The state has in custody two dozen other young mothers and others whose ages are in dispute. If most of them also turn out to be adults, it would be a severe blow to the state's claim of widespread sexual abuse. If it turns out the other 24 disputed minors are adults, the number of actual 14- to 17-year-old girls with children could drop to as low as five or six. That would amount to about one-fifth of the girls that age found at the ranch -- substantially higher than the average rate of teen pregnancies in Texas but a far cry from 60 percent.
35-year sentence for HIV-positive spitter worries someking News for Dallas-Fort Worth | Dallas Morning News
Saturday, 17 May 2008 8:17 P GMT-05
Mr. Campbell's sentence was nearly double that given the same day to a man being tried in a courtroom next door. That man, De Leon Vanegas Jr., was sentenced to 18 years in prison for giving "cheese" heroin to a 15-year-old boy who died after using the drug. The jury in that case declared heroin a deadly weapon. Mr. Campbell had served time in prison twice, labeling him a habitual offender and starting his sentence time at 25 years. While in prison awaiting trial for this case, evidence showed, Mr. Campbell bit two inmates and attacked other officers.
Cleared by DNA, man tries to reclaim his life
Saturday, 17 May 2008 7:55 P GMT-05
The only time James Woodard sounds angry about his experience, spending half of his life in prison, is when he talks about the man who prosecuted him. "I think he should pay a penalty. I paid 27 years," Woodard said. "He took my life away from me. What's the difference if it's by a gun, by words or by lies. What's gone is gone."
Gag on 2nd Amendment Is City's Aim in Guns Suit
Friday, 16 May 2008 6:09 A GMT-05
Lawyers for Mayor Bloomberg are asking a judge to ban any reference to the Second Amendment during the upcoming trial of a gun shop owner who was sued by the city. While trials are often tightly choreographed, with lawyers routinely instructed to not tell certain facts to a jury, a gag order on a section of the Constitution would be an oddity. “Apparently Mayor Bloomberg has a problem with both the First and the Second amendments,” Lawrence Keane, the general counsel of a firearms industry association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, said. The trial, set to begin May 27, involves a Georgia gun shop, Adventure Outdoors, which the city alleges is responsible for a disproportionate number of the firearms recovered from criminals in New York City. The gun store’s owner, Jay Wallace, says his store abides by Georgia and federal regulations and takes steps to avoid selling firearms to gun traffickers. Mr. Wallace’s store is one of 27 out-of-state gun shops sued by New York City, and the first to go to trial.
Woman indicted in Missouri MySpace suicide case
Friday, 16 May 2008 5:59 A GMT-05
Lori Drew, 49, of suburban St. Louis, who allegedly helped create a MySpace account in the name of someone who didn't exist to convince Megan Meier she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans, was charged with conspiracy and fraudulently gaining access to someone else's computer. Megan hanged herself at home in October 2006, allegedly after receiving a dozen or more cruel messages, including one stating the world would be better off without her.
Was it self-defense or firearms offense?
Friday, 16 May 2008 5:35 A GMT-05
"Freeze," he screamed. Crest believed he had finally caught the culprit who had taken thousands of dollars in meats, alcohol, and equipment from the shop. But when he flicked on the lights, still aiming his shotgun, and saw the intruder, he felt betrayed like never before: It was, he said, his head chef. "How many times have you broken in here before?" Crest demanded. The man ran out the door, and Crest fired several warning shots. He was determined, he said, to protect his property. But police say he went too far by trying to take the law into his own hands. Now there are two defendants. Crest, 39, of Marshfield will be arraigned next week before the same court that arraigned John F. O'Connor, 43, the man accused of stealing from him. Crest is charged with assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling.
Who Are the Gitmo Defendants?
Wednesday, 14 May 2008 11:36 A GMT-05
The six that the United States are bringing to "trial" include two child soldiers for the Taliban and a car pool driver who allegedly drove Osama bin Laden. The Taliban did not attack the United States. The child soldiers were fighting in an Afghan civil war. The United States attacked the Taliban. How does that make Taliban soldiers terrorists who should be locked up and abused in Gitmo and brought before a kangaroo military tribunal? If a terrorist hires a driver or a taxi, does that make the driver a terrorist? What about the pilots of the airliners who brought the alleged 9-11 terrorists to the United States? Are they guilty, too?
Rove refuses call to testify under oath
Wednesday, 14 May 2008 1:24 A GMT-05
A House Judiciary Committee deadline passed Monday with former White House adviser Karl Rove standing by his refusal to testify about allegations that he pushed the Justice Department to prosecute former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. In his latest offer to settle the matter, Rove sent the panel a letter offering to respond to questions in writing, according to his attorney. But he reiterated that he would not testify publicly and under oath.
Justice for Tracy Ingle
Sunday, 11 May 2008 3:48 P GMT-05
Tracy Ingle was asleep in his house when armed police using a no-knock warrant burst in. Unsure about what was happening, he reached for a non-functioning pistol, but began to drop it as soon as he realized who they were. The gesture was too late -- officers shot him 5 times. Mercifully, he survived, but despite not finding any drugs in his house, Tracy is being charged with two felony counts of Aggravated Assault, drug paraphernalia and running a drug premises. He is in very poor physical shape and obviously not doing well psychologically, due to the incident. Many people in his town and even family find it easier to believe the police would not make such a big mistake. Of course Tracy's neighbor -- who saw the whole thing -- believes him, but the police have intimidated him to near silence. Everyone who speaks to his neighbor privately hears his story, but after the police "questioned" him for 4 hours and "advised" him not to get involved, he has refused to testify or go on the record.
NYPD disciplines white officer who stopped black commander
Sunday, 11 May 2008 2:51 P GMT-05
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been leading demonstrations in the city to protest the acquittal of three police officers in the shooting death of an unarmed man as he left his bachelor party, took note of the Zeigler incident while speaking at his weekly rally in Harlem. "You can't make this stuff up!" he said. "The problem isn't that they didn't recognize him. It is that they don't recognize our rights!" Also, a New York man has filed a lawsuit claiming that he was taunted and falsely arrested by police officers after they learned that he had the same name as a West African immigrant shot to death by other officers in 1999. Amadou Diallo said a group of officers confronted him over a broken headlight in February, then searched his vehicle for weapons. Once the officers learned his name, it became "a source of much amusement, laughing and inappropriate joking amongst the officers, with crude and disgusting comments," Diallo's lawyer said in the suit.
Guantanamo detainees spead word to boycott trials
Saturday, 10 May 2008 3:02 P GMT-05
Six detainees currently at Guantanamo have appeared before a military judge, and five of those have joined the boycott, which is expected to spread as more suspected terrorists are arraigned. The mass action threatens to give America's first war-crimes trials since the World War II era the appearance of perfunctory proceedings and reduce the image of justice being served.
"Continuity of Government Planning has ... Already Superseded the Constitution as a Higher Authority"
Saturday, 10 May 2008 2:48 P GMT-05
Well, in the summer 2007, Congressman Peter DeFazio, on the Homeland Security Committee (and so with proper security access to be briefed on COG issues), inquired about continuity of government plans, and was refused access. Indeed, DeFazio told Congress that the entire Homeland Security Committee of the U.S. Congress has been denied access to the plans by the White House (video; or here is the transcript). The Homeland Security Committee has full clearance to view all information about COG plans. DeFazio concluded: "Maybe the people who think there’s a conspiracy out there are right”. Professor Scott's point that COG planning may have already superseded the Constitution can be summarized by making an analogy. Let's assume that the police are not supposed to seize and sell a suspect's house unless a court has held a full trial and found that person guilty of a certain offense. And let's say that the police seize and sell somebody's house, but that the suspect's relatives cannot find any record that there has been a trial, let alone a finding of guilt by the court. Let's say they go to the City Council (which is the local counterpart of the U.S. Congress -- that is, part of the legislative branch), and the City Council asks the police if the suspect was found guilty by the court. If the police refuse to even answer the City Council's question, that shows that the rule of law has broken down. In other words, whether or not there was a trial and a guilty verdict, the failure of the police to answer the question shows that the police (part of the executive branch) are acting outside of the law by failing to respect the separation of powers between the police and the City Council.
"We Are Workers, Not Criminals"
Monday, 5 May 2008 1:25 A GMT-05
In the big immigrant marches that swept the country on May Day in 2006 and 2007, one sign said it all: "We are Workers, not Criminals!" Often it was held in the calloused hands of men and women, who looked as though they'd just come from working in a factory, cleaning an office building or picking grapes. The sign stated an obvious truth. Millions of people have come to this country to work, not to break its laws. Some have come with visas, and others without them. But they are all contributors to the society they've found here, not people who mean it harm. Again this May Day, immigrant workers are filling the streets, making the same point.
Tell Me Again Why "Conspiracy Theory" is a Dirty Label
Monday, 5 May 2008 1:14 A GMT-05
Given the above, I would extrapolate that there have been hundreds of thousands of convictions for criminal or civil conspiracy in the United States. Finally, many crimes go unpunished, and the perpetrators are never caught. Therefore, the actual number of conspiracies committed in the U.S. must be even higher. In other words, conspiracies are committed all the time in the U.S., and many of the conspirators are caught and found guilty by American courts. Indeed, conspiracy is a very well-recognized crime in American law, taught to every first-year law school student as part of their basic curriculum. Telling a judge that someone has a "conspiracy theory" would be like telling him that someone is claiming that he trespassed on their property, or committed assault, or stole his car. Its a fundamental legal concept. So tell me again why "conspiracy theory" is a dirty label . . .
Addington, Gonzales Witnessed Gitmo Interrogations In 2002; Approved Of 'Whatever Needs To Be Done'
Monday, 5 May 2008 12:30 A GMT-05
There was an extraordinary meeting held in September 2002, just before the techniques were to go up the chain of command, so to speak. [Gonzales, Addington, and Haynes] descended on Guantanamo, met with the combatant commander there Mike Dunlavey, watched some interrogations, and as I was told by Dunlavey and by his lawyer Diane Beaver, basically sent out the signal ‘do whatever needs to be done.’
Fabricated 'Bioterrorism' Case Collapses
Sunday, 4 May 2008 3:53 P GMT-05
Forced to drop its charges of weapons manufacture, the government instead accused Kurtz and Ferrell of mail and wire fraud. The government claimed that when Dr. Ferrell gave the cultures to Dr. Kurtz, this violated a contract between the University of Pittsburgh and the supplier, American Type Culture Collection (ATCC). Neither the university nor ATCC had brought any complaint, and observers pointed out that scientists routinely share non-hazardous cultures. The Department of Justice further claimed that this alleged contract discrepancy constituted federal mail and wire fraud. Because the charges against the two academics were brought under the PATRIOT Act, the maximum penalty was increased from five years to 20. Earlier, Dr. Ferrell pled guilty to a lesser misdemeanor charge rather than facing a prolonged trial for the mail and wire fraud felonies. During the legal wrangling, he had two minor strokes and a major stroke that required months of rehabilitation. He was indicted as he was preparing to undergo a stem cell transplant, his second in seven years. But Kurtz rejected any plea deal, instead demanding a public trial. Most of the art world has rallied behind him. His colleagues in the Critical Art Ensemble set up a website and a legal defense fund, and Kurtz continued to teach at the University of Buffalo. When the case finally arrived in a courtroom this month, Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara ruled to dismiss the indictment. It is unclear whether the government will appeal the dismissal.
Exonerated, 17 years late
Friday, 2 May 2008 11:27 A GMT-05
Randolph's ordeal began on a cold December afternoon in 1990. A little girl was playing on a snow bank in Roslindale when a man on a bicycle approached her, flashed a knife, and held it to her cheek. He cornered the child next to a dumpster, told her to take down her pants, and molested her. About 20 minutes later, the police picked up Randolph, who was walking near the scene of the crime on American Legion Highway. At the time, Randolph was homeless, struggling with a drinking problem, and living at the Pine Street Inn, a shelter in the South End. He had been arrested before, for crimes like shoplifting and breaking and entering. But no one had ever accused him of being violent or a predator. When police asked the child whether she recognized Randolph as her attacker, she said no. But a few minutes later, after talking to her aunt, she accused Randolph. During a grand jury investigation, the child described her attacker in ways that did not match Randolph, including his clothing and height, Patel said. There was also no physical evidence connecting Randolph to the assault, records show.
Unemployment plummets after crackdown on illegals
Friday, 2 May 2008 10:58 A GMT-05
Unemployment rates are rising across the United States, except Oklahoma. That state is experiencing the most dramatic reduction in unemployment since 2007, an improvement many in Oklahoma attribute to the passage last year by the state legislature of a strong employment-focused immigration reform law.
"It's Not About Revenge, This Is About Justice"
Friday, 2 May 2008 12:10 A GMT-05
Lorie van Auken, one of the September 11 Advocates, speaks in this video about why it's important that true justice is served to the detainees at Guantánamo.
Boston firefighter on disability leave faces drug charges
Monday, 28 April 2008 2:51 A GMT-05
A Boston firefighter on disability leave will face charges that he illegally bought $200-worth of Oxycontin painkillers from a known drug dealer. The firefighter, William Boyle, 58, allegedly bought the pills at the Broadway MBTA station Friday afternoon. Detectives handcuffed Boyle and brought him into the police station for questioning but did not arrest him. They released him and issued a criminal summons for him to appear in court on possession charges.
Why EVERY Libertarian should want to investigate 9/11 - Even if it only saves one firefighter's life!
Sunday, 27 April 2008 3:25 A GMT-05
Could we be doomed to repeat our mistakes if we don’t learn from our past? History says yes. Libertarians for Justice say investigate 9/11 until we are sure beyond a reasonable doubt that the terrorists have been brought to justice.
The Double Trouble of Taxation
Sunday, 27 April 2008 12:07 A GMT-05
The burden of complying with the income tax is tremendous. Since its inception in 1913, the tax code has gone from 400 pages to over 67,000. The Tax Foundation estimates that around $265 billion dollars and 6 billion hours are spent just on compliance. That expense amounts to about 22 cents of every dollar the IRS collects. Imagine the boon to the economy if we spent that time and money expanding our businesses and creating jobs! Aside from the direct loss of money and productivity, the funds from the income tax enable the government to do some very destructive things, such as vastly over-regulating economic activity, making it difficult to earn money in the first place. The federal government funds over 50 agencies, departments and commissions that formulate rules and regulations. These bureaucracies operate with little to no oversight from the people or Congress and generate around 4,000 new rules every year and operate at a cost of about 40 billion dollars. There are some 75,000 pages of regulations in the Federal Register that Americans are expected to know and abide by. Complying with these governmental regulations costs American businesses more than one trillion dollars per year, according to a study by Mark Crain for the Small Business Administration. This complicated system drives production to other countries and shrinks our job market here at home. Big government is destructive when it takes your money and when it spends it. There is no economic benefit to supporting a government sector as massive as ours. In fact, this country thrived for well over 100 years without an income tax. Today, if you took away the income tax, the government would still have revenue from other sources equal to total government spending in 1990, when government was still too big. $1.2 trillion should be more than enough to fund a government operating within its constitutional confines, and that is exactly what we need to get back to.
The High Crimes of John Yoo
Saturday, 26 April 2008 4:41 P GMT-05
Among other criteria, it stated that “[p]hysical pain amounting to torture must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death.”
Let's be brutally simplistic
Saturday, 26 April 2008 3:48 P GMT-05
What is going on inside the family courts? Time and again we hear of unjust laws mindlessly applied, we hear of fathers destroyed and their children taken away, we hear of mothers' bad behavior and its apparent invisibility to the people who are charged with getting to the truth of things, protecting the innocent and controlling the unpleasant. They just fail, time and time again. This is not the behavior of a society that believes in the family, in fatherhood, nor in the best interests of children, despite everything they say. You'd think, in fact, that that is not what they are about at all. It's all so much rubbish. So what is really going on?
Dangerous pattern emerges as activists are framed, calls for violence are declared for Denver DNC
Saturday, 26 April 2008 2:03 P GMT-05
As this current pattern unfolds, peaceful groups need to be wary of provocateurs attempting to incite violence or frame peaceful activists for committing criminal acts. Keep your cameras rolling and stand strong. Attempts to frame and provocateur peaceful groups only serve to demonstrate the frustration and fear the establishment is feeling.
If violence does ensue at the DNC or elsewhere, the expanding police state will be empowered even further. The provocateurs' goal is to fulfill the image that the mainstream media is attempting to create surrounding peaceful activists as being violent anarchists who damage America's image. Violence will only tighten the grip of the already tightening system.
BUSH BASHER SMASHES DISABLED TEEN: COPS - New York Post
Friday, 25 April 2008 2:37 A GMT-05
"He began yelling about Iraq and Iran at Jenna Bush. She was waving at the crowd. I told the guy, 'What are you doing? Shut up. This is about a child and books,' " said John Lovetro. "He was unperturbed. I said, 'Get out of here! You're being a moron!' " The next thing he knew, Talis was allegedly punching Maureen - a fan of the first lady since meeting her in 2004.
NY Post Smears Activist For "Wheelchair Assault"
Friday, 25 April 2008 2:35 A GMT-05
The NY Post is facing a lawsuit after it brazenly smeared a 9/11 truth activist for attacking a wheelchair-bound woman in New York last night, when in fact it was the activist himself who was beaten up by the girl's father according to eyewitnesses.
Snipes gets the max -- 3 years -- in tax case
Friday, 25 April 2008 1:55 A GMT-05
A jury convicted Snipes on the misdemeanor charges February 1, but he was acquitted of more serious felony charges of tax fraud and conspiracy. Jurors accepted his argument that he was innocently duped by errant tax advisers. Defense attorneys in court documents suggested that to sentence Snipes harshly would be to disregard the jury's verdict. But prosecutors, in their sentencing recommendation, said the jurors' decision "has been portrayed in the mainstream media as a 'victory' for Snipes. The troubling implication of such coverage for the millions of average citizens who are aware of this case is that the rich and famous Wesley Snipes has 'gotten away with it.' In the end the criminal conduct of Snipes must not be seen in such a light."
Former prosecutor says new spy case shows that Pollard case was bigger than thought
Thursday, 24 April 2008 1:21 A GMT-05
A former US attorney says the arrest of a US Army veteran on charges he spied for Israel confirms that the 1985 case of Jonathan Pollard was bigger than suspected. Joseph DiGenova oversaw the Pollard case. He says 84-year-old Ben-Ami Kadish is alleged to have had the same Israeli handler as Pollard, a former US Navy analyst serving a life sentence for espionage. DiGenova says the similarities are eerie. He says it clearly indicates the case is bigger than these two.
Court Again Clears EPA in 9/11 Toxic Dust Ruling
Tuesday, 22 April 2008 11:04 P GMT-05
An EPA whistleblower, Dr. Cate Jenkins then wrote a letter to Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and other members of the New York congressional delegation blasting the EPA for hiding dangerous toxins from Ground Zero workers in the aftermath of 9/11. The Letter claimed that EPA-funded research on the toxicity of breathable alkaline dust at the site “falsified pH results” to make the substance appear benign, when it was, in reality, corrosive enough to cause first responders and other workers in lower Manhattan to later lose pulmonary functions and, in some cases, to die. In an even more shocking development it was revealed that Whitman apparently had financial interests in reassuring the public that all was well and that lower Manhattan could safely be reoccupied.
Christie Todd Whitman Not Liable For Telling Residents That World Trade Center Air Was Safe To Breathe, Judge Rules
Tuesday, 22 April 2008 10:57 P GMT-05
Former EPA chief Christine Todd Whitman cannot be held liable for telling residents near the World Trade Center site that the air was safe to breathe after the 2001 terrorist attacks, a federal appeals court said Tuesday. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Whitman apparently made comments reassuring people about the safety around the site based on conflicting information and reassurances by the White House. The appeals court said legal remedies are not always available for every instance of arguably deficient governmental performance.
An Open Letter To An RCMP Terrorist Mole
Sunday, 20 April 2008 6:26 P GMT-05
As for the Toronto 18 case that you worked on, the RCMP and CSIS watched these guys for TWO YEARS and without a single chargeable offence occurring - until you two 'moles,' informants, whatever - came along. All of a sudden it's a fast track to fertilizer.
Congresswoman tries to yank Carter's passport
Sunday, 20 April 2008 6:12 P GMT-05
He no longer travels aboard Air Force One; now former President Jimmy Carter could be restricted to domestic flights. It's not likely to happen, but Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C., wants Carter's U.S. passport pulled because he met Thursday with members of Hamas in the Middle East.
Who Killed Martin Luther King?
Sunday, 20 April 2008 5:16 P GMT-05
Six-oh-one p.m., April 4th, 1968, Martin Luther King has been felled by a single shot. In 1977 the family of Martin Luther King engaged an attorney and friend, Dr. William Pepper, to investigate a suspicion they had. They no longer believed that James Earl Ray was the killer. For their peace of mind, for an accurate record of history, and out of a sense of justice they conducted a two decade long investigation. The evidence they uncovered was put before a jury in Memphis, TN, in November 1999. 70 witnesses testified under oath, 4,000 pages of transcripts described the evidence, much of it new. It took the jury 59 minutes to come back with their decision that Loyd Jowers, owner of Jim’s Grill, had participated in a conspiracy to kill King, a conspiracy that included J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI, Richard Helms and the CIA, the military, the Memphis Police Department (MPD), and organized crime. That verdict exonerated James Earl Ray who had already died in prison. The news of the verdict, in one of the most important national security trials in modern history, was suppressed. And to this day — with very, very few exceptions — the public does not know that this trial took place and what the outcome was.
Man's guilt doubted after 26 years in prison
Sunday, 20 April 2008 1:46 A GMT-05
Two attorneys recently revealed that their former client, Andrew Wilson, admitted committing the crime that sent Logan to prison, but attorney-client privilege had kept them from coming forward. Wilson's death last year allowed the attorneys to unseal an affidavit stating that Logan was not responsible for the fatal shooting of security guard Lloyd Wickliffe at a McDonald's restaurant in January 1982.
Controversy: Mercenaries Training US Local Police Officers
Saturday, 19 April 2008 2:01 P GMT-05
For example, Kentucky’s Lexington Police Department contracted Blackwater Security International to provide what’s described as homeland security training. Meanwhile that city’s Mayor Jim Newberry and its chief of police Anthony Beatty refused free training provided by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement federal program that prepares police officers to enforce immigration and border security as part of their duties. Lexington is on the nation’s list of so-called Sanctuary Cities in which police officers are prohibited from working with ICE or Border Patrol agents in the United States. Critics are angry over the use of local tax dollars to hire Blackwater personnel to train the police.
Lethal Injustice: No New Trial for Death Row Prisoner Troy Davis
Thursday, 17 April 2008 7:58 P GMT-05
In a 4-3 decision, the court decided that not even the seven recanted testimonies were enough to merit a new trial. "We simply cannot disregard the jury's verdict in this case," wrote Justice Harold Melton. Never mind that the jury was working with hopelessly tainted evidence -- and that two of the jurors have declared that if they knew then what they know now, they would never have voted to convict Troy Davis. As Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears wrote in her dissent: "If recantation testimony … shows convincingly that prior trial testimony was false, it simply defies all logic and morality to hold that it must be disregarded categorically." But logic and morality have little say in a system that straps people to a gurney, outfits them with intravenous lines and murders them with a lethal cocktail. Once again, Troy Davis confronts this fate.
The Supreme Court Brings Back the Death Penalty
Thursday, 17 April 2008 7:52 P GMT-05
Baze represented a critical development in death penalty litigation, the first time the Court has considered a specific method of execution since it upheld the firing squad in 1878. Ever since the Supreme Court's last-minute intervention in the case of Florida death row prisoner Clarence Hill -- he was strapped onto a gurney with intravenous lines in his arms -- in January 2006, the stage had been set for a showdown on lethal injection. When the Court ruled later that year that prisoners could appeal their death sentences based on the possibility that lethal injection is cruel and unusual, a wave of appeals swept the country. Now, those prisoners have lost significant legal footing and with it, very possibly, the right to live. "While the opinion appeared to leave open a chance that some further challenges could be made to the use of lethal drugs under a specific procedure in another state," explained Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog, "...The opinion also appeared to mean that the three drugs now used in all of those jurisdictions do not, alone or in combination, fail the Court's new standard."
The Toronto 18 Become The Toronto 11
Thursday, 17 April 2008 7:37 P GMT-05
What they didn't tell us at first was that RCMP surveillance of some of the suspects had begun three years earlier - with absolutely no leads developing: these kids were normal Canadian youth - some of them politically active and outspoken against out invasion of Afghanistan, but the RCMP could find no illegal activity.
What turned things around for the RCMP was the introduction of two Muslim moles: one, Mubin Shaikh, a cocaine-addicted, lifelong Air Cadet with a troubled past - he was also a CSIS agent (Canada's CIA); the other a man was also a well-paid (he asked for $40 million dollars) CSIS agent with a degree in horticulture who was on the skids. Each was paid millions of dollars by CSIS and RCMP for their services. These two then ingratiated themselves to the suspects and immediately started the process of entrapment. Shaikh has since stated publicly that many of the suspects are innocent. He has also admitted to snorting all the money he was paid up his nose and has been recently charged with assaulting two 12-year old girls!!!
It turns out that the fertilizer was ordered and paid for by the RCMP!In fact, it was the horticulturist mole who was the only one able to place the order, as a regular citizen ordering hundreds of pounds of fertilizer at once will be immediately reported to the RCMP! And it was delivered to a location that the RCMP rented and paid for- one block away from their regional headquarters! Now, you tell me what sophisticated terror network is going to devise a plot where they are based one block away from the national police force's HQ?!?
Terrorism case ends in second mistrial in Miami
Thursday, 17 April 2008 7:02 P GMT-05
"The entire situation was concocted by the government. The warehouse was paid for by the FBI, and the defendants moved their operations there at the suggestion of an undercover informant who was also paid by the FBI. The swearing-in ceremony was led by the informant — who at another point also suggested a plan to bomb FBI offices in Miami. "The case was written, produced and directed by the FBI," defense attorney Albert Levin said in his closing arguments."
Lawyers Move To Get Torture Memo Author Yoo Tried As War Criminal
Saturday, 12 April 2008 2:25 P GMT-05
The National Lawyers Guild has called for the firing from Berkeley Law School of former assistant to the Attorney General John Yoo for what it describes as "complicity in establishing a policy" that has led to war crimes. During his time in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, Yoo authored various controversial memos in which he advocated the possible legality of torture and decreed that enemy combatants could be denied protection under the Geneva Conventions. Yoo, a co author of the PATRIOT ACT, also suggested that it was legal to declare war anytime, any where, and on anyone the President deemed a threat.
Drug Makers Near Old Goal: A Legal Shield
Monday, 7 April 2008 2:52 P GMT-05
The Bush administration has argued strongly in favor of the doctrine, which holds that the F.D.A. is the only agency with enough expertise to regulate drug makers and that its decisions should not be second-guessed by courts. The Supreme Court is to rule on a case next term that could make pre-emption a legal standard for drug cases. The court already ruled in February that many suits against the makers of medical devices like pacemakers are pre-empted.
Liquid Bombers On Trial: Jury Sees Martyrdom Videos, Crown Identifies Targets
Monday, 7 April 2008 12:18 P GMT-05
Of the twenty-five who were arrested, fourteen were released without charges; the remaining eleven are now on trial. Eight of them are charged with conspiracy to murder, three with lesser offenses. The trial is expected to last six to eight months.
Six of the eight charged with conspiracy to murder made martyrdom videos, excerpts of which were shown to the jury last week. Everyone says these martyrdom videos are "chilling", but nobody says why. And the actual contents are reported almost nowhere.
Civil Liberties Destroyed Well Before Previously Thought
Saturday, 5 April 2008 2:25 P GMT-05
Three rather unsettling news pieces from today, the anniversary of Dr. King's assassination . . . wow. 1) "Exactly what domestic military action was covered by the October memo is unclear" . . . (Remember when the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 was still in force?) 2) "The October 2001 memo arguing for unregulated military searches on U.S. soil has not been formally withdrawn and remains a secret but unclassified document." 3) 2003 Justice Department memo justifies torture, presidential dictatorship Thanks to Lori Price of Citizens for Legitimate Government for bringing these items to our attention. Almost seems important enough the corporate media would cover it, too, eh?!
The Declassified Torture Memo Says Laws Are Worthless
Friday, 4 April 2008 10:40 A GMT-05
You got that? Laws that Congress has passed are not applicable to the President during wartime. In other words, fuck you, Constitution; fuck you, criminal statutes. The President can run the armed forces like the desperate Don of a dying mob family trying to cling to some turf, and neither he nor anyone under his direction is culpable in any way, shape, or form.
Wal-Mart: Brain-damaged former employee can keep money
Thursday, 3 April 2008 9:48 A GMT-05
Eight years ago, Debbie Shank was stocking shelves for the retail giant and signed up for Wal-Mart's health and benefits plan. After a tractor-trailer slammed into her minivan, the 52-year-old mother of three lost much of her short-term memory and was confined to a wheelchair. She now lives in a nursing home. She also lost her 18-year-old son, Jeremy, who was killed shortly after arriving in Iraq. When Debbie Shank asks family members how her son is doing and they remind her that he's dead, she weeps as if hearing the news for the first time.
The Federal Reserve is a Private Financial Institution
Thursday, 3 April 2008 9:46 A GMT-05
Plaintiff, who was injured by vehicle owned and operated by a federal reserve bank, brought action alleging jurisdiction under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The United States District Court for the Central District of California, David W. Williams, J., dismissed holding that federal reserve bank was not a federal agency within meaning of Act and that the court therefore lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. Appeal was taken. The Court of Appeals, Poole, Circuit Judge, held that federal reserve banks are not federal instrumentalities for purposes of the Act, but are independent, privately owned and locally controlled corporations.
Wal-Mart Says, "Our Brain-Damaged Ex-Employees Whose Children Die in the War Can Go Fuck Themselves"
Wednesday, 2 April 2008 12:44 A GMT-05
Like the now-finally-well-reported story of Deborah Shank, the Wal-Mart employee who dared to get severely injured in an accident between her minivan and a semi. Now covered by CNN and on MSNBC by a righteously outraged Keith Olbermann, you can get up to speed pretty quickly at Walmart Watch. The case involves Wal-Mart suing to recoup its health care costs on Shank after Shank won a small settlement from the trucking company whose vehicle hit her. Her health insurance was, of course, entirely inadequate to cover her expenses. The Rude Pundit's favorite morbid detail in the whole sorrowful story is her Memento-like short-term memory loss, so that every time she asks about her son, a soldier, and she's told he was killed in Iraq, it feels to her like she's hearing it for the first time. Now, here's the thing: the accident was Shank's fault. As her attorney explains, "Mrs. Shank was driving her mini van on a straight and level state highway in clear weather during the day and apparently made the decision to turn around and go back the way she had come. She pulled over and pulled back onto the highway to turn around, and as she did so a transport truck coming down the highway saw her, but did not stop or swerve out of the way. It was our position that the driver had enough time and distance to swerve or stop, but he didn't. He struck her broadside. We established with an accident reconstruction expert that the truck driver had had room enough to stop or swerve even though she had pulled out onto the highway, and also that he had been driving somewhat over the speed limit." Shank's attorney was eventually able to prove some liability on the part of the trucker, but the company had the bare minimum of insurance and was allowed to pay less than what the judgment might have been. What happened in the courtroom was a shame, it was fucked up, but, because Shank had been at least partially in the wrong, that part of the story isn't worth arguing about much. But when, three years later, Wal-Mart decided to sue to recover its health plan's outlay for Shank's care, well, that's the point that this becomes as much about our nation's developmentally disabled health care system (in which we can say that Shank shouldn't have even had to be worried about getting health care), and more about Wal-Mart as the vile meatgrinder of a corporate entity it is, as well as the way in which our court system now bows down to fellate its capitalist masters.
"Unfair Dealing" Documentary by David Weingarten
Saturday, 29 March 2008 3:02 P GMT-05
I just came across this video about the alleged Toronto terrorist plot, which was a total "made in Canada" PsyOp. If you have not seen it yet, you may want to check it out and let others know too.
Pentagon Holds Thousands of Americans 'Prisoners of War'
Thursday, 27 March 2008 8:37 A GMT-05
Sgt. Kristofer Shawn Goldsmith was one of the many soldiers and Marines, veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, who gave testimony at last weekend's Winter Soldier investigation. They spoke from personal experience about what the American military is doing in those countries. They gave examples of what they had done, what they had been ordered to do, what they had witnessed, how their experiences had wounded them, both physically and psychically, and what kind of care and support they have, or most often have not gotten since coming home. The panel Goldsmith was on was called "The Breakdown of the U.S. Military," so he surprised the audience when he said that he was going to talk about prisoners of war. He was not, however, going to talk about the three soldiers listed as missing in action on the Department of Defense website. He was referring to those who have been the victims of stop-loss, the device by which the president can, "in the event of war," choose to extend an enlistee's contract "until six months after the war ends." The "War on Terror" is this president's excuse for invoking that clause. Because that war will, by definition, continue as long as we insist that there is a difference between the terror inflicted on our innocents and the terror inflicted on theirs, American soldiers are effectively signing away their freedom indefinitely when they join the military. They are prisoners of an ill-defined and undeclared war on a tactic -- terrorism -- that dates back to Biblical times and will be with us indefinitely.
Court Clears Way for 9/11 Illness Lawsuit
Thursday, 27 March 2008 1:21 A GMT-05
Citing the unprecedented nature of the disaster, New York City and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, both defendants in the suits, have argued that they are entitled to immunity from the claims. The defendants say they cannot be required to pay out to the workers what could amount to billions of dollars in damages. The first significant ruling in the case came in 2006, when a federal district judge in Manhattan, Alvin Hellerstein, found that the city was only entitled to immunity for its conduct in the days immediately after the terrorist attacks. The lawsuits could go forward against the city's wishes, Judge Hellerstein ruled, to give workers the chance to prove their claims that ground zero remained an unsafe work environment even weeks and months after September 11, 2001.
Former Cape Air pilot get prison time for lying
Saturday, 22 March 2008 2:23 A GMT-05
Crews suffered a diabetic seizure in the middle of a flight from Martha's Vineyard to Hyannis in February 2002. One of the four passengers, Melanie Oswalt, landed the plane safely at Provincetown Airport, even though its landing gear didn't extend and the airport was closed. Oswalt was a Cape Air security supervisor who was a pilot-in-training with just 48 hours flying experience.
Decriminalize prostitution
Sunday, 16 March 2008 4:16 P GMT-05
Eliot Spitzer paid a woman for sex. And got caught. Depending on whose statistics you choose to believe, more than one in every 10 American adult males have paid for sex at some point in their lives. What's more, in 2005, about 84,000 people were arrested across the nation for prostitution-related offenses. In other words, it's not terribly uncommon. It's a part of our culture, and it's not going away any time soon. Perhaps Spitzer's resignation will help convince Americans that it is finally time to decriminalize prostitution across the country.
Whistleblower: Cellular carrier giving FBI unfettered access
Saturday, 15 March 2008 5:26 P GMT-05
Although Pasdar has refused to name the carrier, and those working for the carrier who have knowledge of the Quantico Circuit's user aren't saying what they know, Wired's Threat Level blog connected the pieces and points us to the 2006 wiretapping lawsuit against the telcos, which alleges that Verizon "has engaged and maintained and still does maintain a high speed data transmission line from its wireless call center to a remote location in Quantico, Virginia, the site of a U.S. government intelligence and military base." The lawsuit also asserts that "the transmission line provided the Quantico recipient direct access to all content and all information concerning the origin and termination of telephone calls placed on the Verizon Wireless network as well as the actual content of calls." Providing any third party with unfettered network access to such a broad spectrum of sensitive consumer data would seem to constitute a very clear violation of the Communications Act, which broadly forbids disclosure of such information.
Parents may be jailed over vaccinations
Thursday, 13 March 2008 10:38 A GMT-05
As doctors struggle to eradicate polio worldwide, one of their biggest problems is persuading parents to vaccinate their children. In Belgium, authorities are resorting to an extreme measure: prison sentences. Two sets of parents in Belgium were recently handed five month prison terms for failing to vaccinate their children against polio. Each parent was also fined 4,100 euros ($8,000). "It's a pretty extraordinary case," said Dr. Ross Upshur, director of the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto. "The Belgians have a right to take some action against the parents, given the seriousness of polio, but the question is, is a prison sentence disproportionate?"
Mother facing jail after leaving baby in car for two minutes while she put money in a charity box 10 yards away
Thursday, 13 March 2008 3:21 A GMT-05
The mother was out of her car for just minutes and no more than 10 yards (9 metres) away. But that was long and far enough to land Treffly Coyne in court after a police officer spotted her sleeping 2-year-old daughter alone in the vehicle. Mrs Coyne had taken her two older daughters to pour £4 in coins into a Salvation Army collection box. Minutes later, she was under arrest - the focus of both a police investigation and a probe by the state's child welfare agency.
Peeling The Onion Again: Eliot Spitzer And Countless Layers Of Hypocrisy
Thursday, 13 March 2008 3:02 A GMT-05
The Megaphone has now learned that as attorney general, Spitzer [photo] got involved behind the scenes, and in the courts, filing a amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief on Silverstein’s behalf on Jan. 15, 2003. For years, this brief languished in the files of the public records room on the 17th floor of the Second Circuit Court in Manhattan, until it was discovered and brought to The New York Megaphone by NYC attorney and author Carl Person. The court ended up agreeing with Spitzer and Silverstein, over-turning the decision of a lower court. Spitzer helped midwife a fat compromise and an eventual $4.5 billion payout for Silverstein. The Megaphone’s multiple requests for comment from Governor Spitzer were ignored. Attorney Carl Person told The Megaphone, “I was surprised to see that Spitzer had used his position as attorney general to support one private litigant over another. Normally, this is not done…Silverstein could well have been someone who destroyed evidence concerning the 9/11 events by apparently ordering or consenting to the tearing (pulling) down of 7 WTC and the removal of the debris from his multiple ground leased premises thereafter.”
Death Row Lotto
Tuesday, 11 March 2008 6:20 P GMT-05
The death penalty is supposed to be reserved for the state's most unconscionable murderers, but such deplorable offenders often are spared, while perpetrators of far less cruel and callous crimes await the ultimate punishment on death row. Like Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman, who faces death for murdering a local drug dealer, despite virtually no hard evidence proving he was the actual killer. Or Olen Hutchison, sentenced to die for a murder that was committed while he was in another county. In Tennessee, capital justice is a grim game of chance, where the outcome often hinges on the whims of a particular prosecutor and where judges rarely find a death sentence excessive. While it's easy to make moral arguments against the death penalty -- if not practical ones, since innocent people occasionally find their way to death row -- perhaps the worst criticism about capital punishment in Tennessee is that it's arbitrary and irrational. In fact, one of the state's highest prosecutors cavalierly admits that the decision to pursue the death penalty is based on a "gut feeling." The blatant, unexplainable disparities in sentencing are exactly why the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily suspended capital punishment during the 1970s. But today the death penalty is just as randomly applied in Tennessee as ever before, despite statutory changes intended to make the system fair.
How Should 9/11 Truth Activists Respond to Smear Campaign? SUE!
Tuesday, 11 March 2008 3:21 P GMT-05
The Simon Weisenthal Center accused credible 9/11 truth organizations of being terrorists, or at least helping to radicalize people into becoming terrorists. Fox News Commentator Geraldo Rivera reportedly stated that the New York Times Square bombing was carried out by 9/11 truthers. How should 9/11 truth activists respond to these smear campaigns? SUE! It is illegal to make false claims about people. It is called "defamation" ("slander" if it is a spoken lie; "libel" if it is a written lie). There are very clear defamation laws in the United States.
Bush explains veto of waterboarding bill
Saturday, 8 March 2008 6:02 P GMT-05
President Bush said Saturday he vetoed legislation that would ban the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods such as waterboarding to break suspected terrorists because it would end practices that have prevented attacks. "The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror," Bush said in his weekly radio address taped for broadcast Saturday. "So today I vetoed it," Bush said. The bill provides guidelines for intelligence activities for the year and includes the interrogation requirement. It passed the House in December and the Senate last month. "This is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe," the president said.
Marines promises a full investigation into puppy-throwing video
Saturday, 8 March 2008 3:05 P GMT-05
Military officials say they haven't confirmed the identity of a U.S. Marine seen throwing a puppy off a rocky cliff in a disturbing video. The Marine's purported name was uttered in the video and has been widely circulated online. The name matches a 22-year-old lance corporal at Kaneohe Bay. He's a member of the First Battalion, Third Marine Regiment, which returned from Iraq in October.
Examples of the president's signing statements
Saturday, 1 March 2008 8:22 P GMT-05
Since taking office in 2001, President Bush has issued signing statements on more than 750 new laws, declaring that he has the power to set aside the laws when they conflict with his legal interpretation of the Constitution. The federal government is instructed to follow the statements when it enforces the laws. Here are 10 examples and the dates Bush signed them:
Gun Control Claims More Victims
Saturday, 1 March 2008 7:32 P GMT-05
That’s not to disparage the police. In most cases, they act aggressively and competently. But they are rarely the first to arrive at the scene of a crime. The first ones there are the perpetrators and their victims. That’s when self-defense weapons are needed, not after the damage is done. Consider that in all such incidents, the shooters are not so deranged as to attack police stations, shooting ranges, or gun shows. They have enough presence of mind to assail unarmed people in gun-free zones because they will encounter no effective resistance. (The one incident in which an individual was foolish enough to threaten to kill hostages where guns were prevalent was at a shooting club in California in July 1999. The gunman was promptly shot by an employee, without harm to the hostages.)
Columbine To Va. Tech To NIU: Gun-Free Zones Or Killing Fields?
Saturday, 1 March 2008 7:30 P GMT-05
Few know that Dylan Klebold, one of the two Columbine killers, was closely following Colorado legislation that would have let citizens carry a concealed handgun. Klebold strongly opposed the legislation and openly talked about it. No wonder, as the bill being debated would have allowed permitted guns to be carried on school property. It is quite a coincidence that he attacked Columbine High School the very day the legislature was scheduled to vote on the bill. With all the media coverage of the types of guns used and how the criminal obtained the gun, at some point the news media might begin to mention the one common feature of these attacks: They keep occurring in gun-free zones.
This just in from the courtroom
Friday, 29 February 2008 1:16 A GMT-05
What do we know beyond a reasonable doubt? I would say, not very much: we know that Moussaoui trained to be a suicide pilot and was a member of Al Qaeda, a terrorist group. That may not be much but that is surely enough to lock him up for a long time, possibly for life. But the government is definitely trying hard to execute him. I don't have much sympathy for him and despite my general opposition to the death penalty don't particularly care if he dies in an execution chamber. Except for one thing - this is somewhat akin to the way the case of Timothy McVeigh was handled. Up to his very execution the government seemed to be doing all it could and then some to see to it that McVeigh does not draw one more breath than absolutely necessary; and as we now know there may have been reasons for that other than the rightful indignation - namely, that those involved in the coverup of the Oklahoma City bombing could well have had significant interest in making sure that McVeigh is permanently silenced. Could something similar be at play here with Moussaoui?
Moussaoui trial: the show rolls on
Friday, 29 February 2008 1:10 A GMT-05
It has recently emerged that Moussaoui was wearing a stun belt in court, and some speculate he was threatened it would be used against him should he not say what he was told to say in his testimony. I find this allegation a bit bizarre - though he does at times remind me of the tortured defendants in the Stalin era show trials in the Soviet Union where defendants recited prearranged testimony. -- Relinked in light of Moussaoui's recent move to have his guilty plea anulled.
AP: Moussaoui appeals, calling plea invalid
Friday, 29 February 2008 1:00 A GMT-05
Lawyers urged Zacarias Moussaoui not to plead guilty to terrorism charges. They just couldn't tell him why. In newly filed court documents, Moussaoui argues that court-imposed secrecy undermined his ability to present an adequate defense. His new lawyers say Moussaoui's guilty plea should be thrown out and a new trial should be convened for the man who once claimed to have been a part of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist plot. Moussaoui was not allowed to see the classified evidence against him and was shut out from closed-door hearings in which that evidence was laid out. Defense lawyers say they were barred from even discussing with Moussaoui evidence that could help prove his innocence. They say Moussaoui faced an unconstitutional choice: plead guilty or go to trial without knowing the evidence. "Moussaoui appeals because his plea was unknowing, uncounselled and invalid," attorneys Justin Antonipillai and Barbara Hartung wrote.
"We Can't Have Acquittals": 9/11 Trials Set To Produce Only Convictions
Monday, 25 February 2008 12:17 A GMT-05
Col. Davis recounted a 2005 meeting with the Bush administration-appointed Pentagon General Counsel William Haynes, who now oversees the prosecutions and the defense for the tribunal process. Haynes said “We can't have acquittals. If we’ve been holding these guys for so long, how can we explain letting them get off? We can’t have acquittals, we’ve got to have convictions.”
My baby had cancer but social workers falsely accused me of child abuse and took all three of my children
Sunday, 24 February 2008 11:18 P GMT-05
The baby girl - now aged five - has never been returned to this wholly innocent mother who, because she was wrongly accused of harming her baby, also subsequently had two other children taken away from her. This week, though, a High Court revealed there had been a terrible miscarriage of justice, and ordered that Louise must be reunited with all her children. Furthermore, the judge, Mr Justice Gillon - in an age where children are removed from their parents by family courts sitting in secret - took the extremely unusual step of allowing Louise to be named, and for the tragic details of her case to become public. In a statement he said: "The workings of the family justice system in this case are matters of public interest, and do merit public discussion. Public confidence in the process is necessary, and the emergence of the changing circumstances of this case merits an open discussion."
Psychotropic Drugs & Gun Free Zones Again The Cocktail For A Killer
Sunday, 17 February 2008 12:26 A GMT-05
As the media prepares to launch another blitz of gun control propaganda in the wake of the Northern Illinois University shootings, it's no surprise to learn that killer Steven Kazmierczak had been taking psychotropic drugs and that the campus was a victim disarmament zone - the two major factors which always breed this kind of tragedy. Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, as well as 15-year-old Kip Kinkel, the Oregon killer who gunned down his parents and classmates, and Cho Seung Hui, the Virginia Tech killer, were all on psychotropic drugs. Scientific studies proving that prozac encourages suicidal tendencies and psychopathic behavior in young people are voluminous and span back nearly a decade. Jeff Weise, the Red Lake High School killer was on prozac, "Unabomber" Ted Kaczinski, Michael McDermott, John Hinckley, Jr., Byran Uyesugi, Mark David Chapman and Charles Carl Roberts IV, the Amish school killer, were all on SSRI psychotropic drugs.
British Judges Slam Police & Prosecutors for Lying & Framing Algerian as "Lead Instructor" for 9/11 Hijackers
Saturday, 16 February 2008 11:48 P GMT-05
Six years of fighting for justice left Lotfi Raissi an emotional and physical wreck and his marriage close to ruin. But yesterday, the Algerian pilot falsely accused of training the September 11 terrorists heard, finally, that he was “completely exonerated” of any part in the attacks on the twin towers... Three of Britain’s most senior judges condemned the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service for abusing the court process, presenting false allegations and not disclosing evidence...
The Fear Factory
Sunday, 10 February 2008 11:09 P GMT-05
There are signs, however, that judges and jurors are getting fed up with such concocted "threats." In December, the prosecution of the "Liberty City Seven" ended in one acquittal and a hung jury for the rest of the accused. The supposed cell was accused of preparing a "full ground war" against America by bringing down the Sears Tower and other buildings. At trial, however, it emerged that the men had no operational abilities, that the plots were dreamed up at the exhortation of two paid FBI informants while smoking dope and that the group had been provided its camera, military boots and warehouse by the JTTF. Despite 15,000 surveillance recordings of the men, including one in which they swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden, the jury refused to convict. "This was all written, produced, directed, choreographed and stage-designed by the United States government," Albert Levin, an attorney for one of the accused, said in his closing argument.
New super-cameras mean no hiding for drivers who smoke, eat or use a phone
Sunday, 10 February 2008 6:10 P GMT-05
Digital speed cameras which capture drivers smoking or eating at the wheel are being introduced nationwide in a new move to hammer motorists. Drivers will also face fines, bans and even jail for infringements such as driving without a seatbelt, using a hand-held mobile phone or overtaking across double white lines. The hi-tech DVD cameras, which have instant playback, will also be used to provide photographic evidence against those eating sandwiches or rolling-up cigarettes at the wheel.
US soldier convicted of killing Iraqi
Sunday, 10 February 2008 4:49 P GMT-05
On Friday, Vela's commanding officer testified that he ordered Vela to kill al-Janabi, saying that was the only way to ensure the safety of his men in hostile territory. Sgt. Michael A. Hensley, who was a staff sergeant at the time of the killing but was later demoted, testified that he and the other members of the sniper team had all fallen asleep, then awoke to find al-Janabi squatting about three feet from them. Hensley said he ordered the man to lie on the ground and was searching him when he saw "military-aged men" who he thought were carrying weapons about 100 yards away. He said al-Janabi began yelling, and he decided that killing the man was the only way to keep the sniper hide-out from being discovered by what he believed was a group of approaching insurgents.
6 Guantanamo Detainees Are Said to Face Trial Over 9/11
Sunday, 10 February 2008 3:58 A GMT-05
Military prosecutors are in the final phases of preparing the first sweeping case against suspected conspirators in the plot that led to the deaths of nearly 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001, and drew the United States into war, people who have been briefed on the case said. The charges, to be filed in the military commission system at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, would involve as many as six detainees held at the detention camp, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the former senior aide to Osama bin Laden, who has said he was the principal planner of the plot.
Bush administration pushes for control of promotions of military lawyers
Saturday, 9 February 2008 4:41 P GMT-05
The Bush administration is pushing to take control of the promotions of military lawyers, escalating a conflict over the independence of uniformed attorneys who have repeatedly raised objections to the White House's policies toward prisoners in the war on terrorism. The administration has proposed a regulation requiring "coordination" with politically appointed Pentagon lawyers before any member of the Judge Advocate General corps - the military's 4,000-member uniformed legal force - can be promoted.
G.I. Tells of Ordering Execution of Unarmed Iraqi
Saturday, 9 February 2008 4:34 P GMT-05
Under a grant of immunity, the sniper, Sgt. Michael A. Hensley, an expert marksman and sniper trainer, testified in the court-martial of Sgt. Evan Vela. Sergeant Vela is accused of murder, impeding a military investigation and planting evidence to cover up an unjust shooting. An earlier charge of premeditated murder was dropped. Sergeant Vela is the third soldier to be charged in the death of the Iraqi, Genei Nesir Khudair al-Janabi, last May. Sergeant Hensley and another soldier, Specialist Jorge G. Sandoval Jr., were acquitted of murder charges last year, but were convicted of planting evidence. As part of his sentence, Sergeant Hensley was demoted from staff sergeant.
Overheard in the Post Office
Saturday, 26 January 2008 8:40 P GMT-05
Little Girl: Mommy, why did Daddy go to jail today? Mother: Shh! Because he didn’t pay his child support.
Terror Informant for FBI Allegedly Targeted Agents
Monday, 21 January 2008 3:14 A GMT-05
When U.S. authorities got their hands on terrorist Mohammed Mansour Jabarah in May 2002, he agreed to inform on some of the most influential al-Qaeda leaders. So instead of being sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or a high-security CIA detention facility, Jabarah was housed with relatively lax security at Fort Dix, N.J., where he was allowed to watch television and movies, speak to his family in Canada by telephone, go for walks and even make his own meals, all under 24-hour FBI watch.
Feeling Good? Take a Ride on the Taser!
Monday, 21 January 2008 2:37 A GMT-05
The telling admission came when Col. Lance Davenport, Commander of the Utah Highway Patrol, explained his decision to exonerate Gardener. According to Col. Davenport, Trooper Gardener "felt threatened and acted reasonably." Here, Dear Reader, is the "guilty" plea of the highest-ranking police officer in Utah to the charge that he and his troopers are irrational. In fact, he is so proud of it that he calls a news conference to announce it. Unfortunately, this condition is common among armed agents of the state everywhere.
Runnin' Scared: NYPD Seeks an Air Monitor Crackdown for New Yorkers
Sunday, 20 January 2008 6:31 P GMT-05
Damn you, Osama bin Laden! Here's another rotten thing you've done to us: After 9/11, untold thousands of New Yorkers bought machines that detect traces of biological, chemical, and radiological weapons. But a lot of these machines didn't work right, and when they registered false alarms, the police had to spend millions of dollars chasing bad leads and throwing the public into a state of raw panic. OK, none of that has actually happened. But Richard Falkenrath, the NYPD's deputy commissioner for counterterrorism, knows that it's just a matter of time. That's why he and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have asked the City Council to pass a law requiring anyone who wants to own such detectors to get a permit from the police first. And it's not just devices to detect weaponized anthrax that they want the power to control, but those that detect everything from industrial pollutants to asbestos in shoddy apartments. Want to test for pollution in low-income neighborhoods with high rates of childhood asthma? Gotta ask the cops for permission. Why? So you "will not lead to excessive false alarms and unwarranted anxiety," the first draft of the law states. Last week, Falkenrath made his case for the new law before the City Council's Public Safety Committee, where Councilman Peter Vallone introduced the bill and chaired the hearing. Dozens of university researchers, public-health professionals, and environmental lawyers sat in the crowd, horrified by the prospect that if this law passes, their work detecting and warning the public about airborne pollutants will become next to impossible. But Falkenrath pressed on, saying that unless the police can determine who gets to look for nasty stuff floating in the air, the city would be paralyzed by fear.
U.S. Ex-Congressman Indicted In Terror Funding Case | 911Blogger.com
Saturday, 19 January 2008 5:04 P GMT-05
A federal grand jury on Wednesday indicted a former US lawmaker for his links to a charity that sent funds to an Afghanistan-based supporter of Al-Qaeda through banks in Pakistan. Former Republican representative Mark Deli Siljander was named in a 42-count indictment against the Missouri-based Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA), charged with "engaging in prohibited financial transactions for the benefit of US-designated terrorist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar," the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
September 11th Advocates Statement In Support Of Sibel Edmonds
Saturday, 19 January 2008 3:51 P GMT-05
The claims that Sibel made were indeed shocking. She testified privately before the 9/11 Commission over the course of several hours. She supplied them with specific document information including names of expert witnesses who could corroborate her testimony. In addition, through relationships that Sibel had made with other current and former employees, she offered to the 9/11 Commission the contact information of additional potential whistle-blowers. However, none of the information that Sibel provided to the Commission ever made its way into the Commission’s final report. Nor do we know if the Commission ever called upon the additional whistle-blowers to supply their testimonies. The result of all Sibel’s whistle-blowing was that she was fired from the FBI and ultimately gagged when John Ashcroft, the former Attorney General, asserted an arcane law of “States Secret Privilege”. By this time, Sibel had taken her concerns and conveyed this information to her supervisors at the FBI, members of the Judiciary Committee, the FBI Inspector General and the 9/11 Commission, all of whom would have been able to corroborate her claims. In fact, the FBI Inspector General’s report publicly did. Much to our dismay, when Sibel appealed her case to the Supreme Court, she was denied attendance. The court’s decision was made without Sibel or her attorney being present – they were asked to leave the courtroom.
Will a Drug Warrior Be Hanged?
Wednesday, 16 January 2008 1:38 A GMT-05
Thailand’s war on drugs — vigorously approved by the Bush administration — has received far less attention in the United States than it deserves. When Thaksin launched his anti-drug campaign in 2003, he declared that “in this war, drug dealers must die.” Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Nor Matha promised that drug dealers “will be put behind bars or even vanish without a trace. Who cares? They are destroying our country.” The Thai government was concerned about the rising number of Thais taking amphetamine-type pills — popularly known as Yaa-Baa. The crackdown began in early February 2003. Within weeks, government officials were bragging about the number of bad guys killed. A New York Times article noted that “the killings started right on cue. Many victims were on secret, but official, ‘black lists.’” Throughout Thailand, local officials set up black boxes or mailboxes and encouraged people to accuse anyone suspected of involvement with narcotics — no evidence required. Many people used the anonymous system to accuse business competitors or personal enemies. According to a 2004 U.S. State Department human-rights report, the interior minister warned “governors and provincial police that those who failed to eliminate a prescribed percentage of the names from their blacklists would be fired.”
New ID rules may complicate air travel
Saturday, 12 January 2008 8:43 P GMT-05
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, who was unveiling final details of the REAL ID Act's rules on Friday, said that if states want their licenses to remain valid for air travel after May 2008, those states must seek a waiver indicating they want more time to comply with the legislation. The deadline is an effort to get states to begin phasing in the REAL ID program. Citizens born after Dec. 1, 1964, would have six years to get a new license; older Americans would have until 2017.
2 election workers get 18 months for rigging presidential recount
Tuesday, 8 January 2008 1:38 A GMT-05
A judge suspicious of more corruption pressed two former election board workers to tell what they know and then sentenced them today to the maximum 18 months in prison for rigging the 2004 presidential election recount to make their job easier. “I can’t help but feel there’s more to this story,” said Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Peter Corrigan, who allowed the women to remain free on bond pending appeal. Some of their friends and relatives sobbed as the judge imposed the sentence.
CIA Tape Investigation: Another Whitewash in the Making
Saturday, 5 January 2008 6:22 P GMT-05
David Hicks
Tuesday, 1 January 2008 7:41 P GMT-05
Just a good story to read. Think of it in the context of this "war on terror" we are supposedly fighting.
FBI Confiscated $400K from man, who is charged with no crime
Saturday, 22 December 2007 9:47 A GMT-05
2 robbers broke in to Luther RIcks home, one of them stabbed his son. He shot and killed one of them defending his home. Even though the robbers didn't get to the $402,767 that he had in a safe, the FBI refuses to give it back until he proves he made it, because they found marijuana in the home. Even though he has been cleared of all charges!
Federal prisoners convicted of crack cocaine offenses eligible for reduced sentences
Saturday, 22 December 2007 9:25 A GMT-05
Through 2012, 91 prisoners convicted of selling and possessing crack will be eligible to ask judges to cut their sentences as a result of a landmark decision last week by the US Sentencing Commission, according to a commission analysis. The panel voted unanimously to let 19,500 inmates nationwide apply for reductions after years of criticism that mandatory penalties for federal crack offenses are far harsher than those for cocaine powder and disproportionately affect blacks. Mark L. Wolf is chief judge of the US District Court in Massachusetts, where requests for early release will be decided. He said the commission's vote was an important step toward addressing unreasonably harsh sentences for crack.
Government's Evasiveness about 9/11 is Proof of Guilt
Wednesday, 19 December 2007 12:35 A GMT-05
When a suspect who is confronted with a direct question repeatedly tries to change the subject and refuses to answer the question, that's evidence that he's guilty. For example, if a suspect is repeatedly asked "did you stab Mr. Roberts?", and he replies "I didn't take the money!" every time he is asked, that is strong incriminating evidence that he did in fact stab Mr. Roberts. That's especially true if no one asked him whether he took any money. NIST is doing the exact same thing in regards to the basic questions which 9/11 activists keep asking.
Miami Fake "al-Qaeda" trial ends in Mistrial
Saturday, 15 December 2007 2:56 A GMT-05
In a stinging defeat for the Bush administration, one of seven Miami men accused of plotting to join forces with Al Qaeda to blow up Chicago's Sears Tower was acquitted yesterday, and the case against the rest ended in a hung jury... The group never actually made contact with Al Qaeda. Instead, a paid FBI informant known as Brother Mohammed posed as an Al Qaeda emissary.
Lawmaker Pushes For Those Killed From 9/11-Related Illnesses
Friday, 14 December 2007 6:20 A GMT-05
State Senator Eric Adams met with top city officials Wednesday afternoon to propose legislation that would require the medical examiner to list 9/11 as the cause of death on the death certificates of workers who died from illnesses developed after the attacks. "The most important message we want to send for the family members of 9/11 is that their loved ones were there for us when we needed them and we're going to be there for them," said Adams.
Will Liberty Succumb to Federalist Society Ideology?
Wednesday, 12 December 2007 7:17 A GMT-05
Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) was the Englishman who renewed the assault on liberty, which centuries of English reforms had created. Bentham believed that tyranny was no longer a problem, because people were empowered by democracy to control the government. He argued that any restraint placed on government’s powers would limit the ability of government to do good. To protect citizens from crime, Bentham favored preventive arrest of everyone whose social class, bone structure or other chosen indicator suggested a proclivity toward crime. "The greatest good for the greatest number." The Bush regime is comprised of modern day Benthamites. Their agenda is to overthrow the civil liberties that make law a shield of the people instead of a weapon in the hands of the state. As anyone can be declared a suspect, the weapons that Bush would use to fight "the global war on terror" would soon be turned on the American people. Without habeas corpus, there is no liberty.
9/11 Victims' Lawyers Blast Ground Zero Toxic Air Lies In Court
Wednesday, 12 December 2007 7:04 A GMT-05
However, it must be remembered that Whitman and the EPA are accountable to the White House and act under the direct authority of the Bush Administration. It was the 2003 EPA Inspector General's investigation that revealed that it was the White House that had pressured EPA into changing its press releases to add more "reassuring" language. The further memos revealed that Whitman conspired with the White House to falsely reassure New Yorkers that the air was safe.
Fox & Friends debate: Should all Americans carry guns?
Wednesday, 12 December 2007 6:16 A GMT-05
"I hope this represents a change in the way we think about gun-free zones," said Larry Pratt of the Gun Owners of America, "because heretofore, we've had these kinds of bad guys attacking schools and churches and they don't meet any armed resistance ... I think we have to get it through our heads: gun-free zones are criminal-friendly zones."
DOJ: Don't Blame Whitman For 9/11 Speech
Tuesday, 11 December 2007 5:53 A GMT-05
Department of Justice attorney Alisa Klein said that holding Whitman liable will set a dangerous precedent in future disasters: "The consequence would be a default to silence. If you speak, you will be potentially held liable. Then the clear message for government officials is to say nothing." Residents, students and workers in lower Manhattan and Brooklyn filed the lawsuit, saying they were exposed to hazardous dust and debris from the fallen twin towers after Sept. 11. They say Whitman should be forced to pay damages to properly clean homes, schools and businesses and be forced to create a fund for medical monitoring of victims, some of whom claim they suffer from asthma, lung disease and other ailments.
Last year, U.S. District Judge Deborah A. Batts in Manhattan refused to dismiss Whitman as a defendant, calling the actions of the former New Jersey governor "conscience-shocking."
The Ideal Self-Defense Weapon
Monday, 10 December 2007 1:02 A GMT-05
When the state of Florida was considering a law allowing honest citizens to carry concealed weapons, my liberal colleagues at the newspaper became virtually hysterical. They were certain the murder rate would skyrocket and that there would be shootings on every street corner and at supermarket checkout counters. The law was passed, and the murder rate did not skyrocket. Nor did hundreds of thousands of Floridians apply for concealed-weapon permits. After all, lugging around a pound or so of iron is inconvenient. What their hysteria revealed, however, was how far removed from reality elitists are. How could any sane person imagine that his fellow citizens would suddenly go berserk if they had access to a firearm? It shows you what low opinion elitists have of their fellow man.
UK to take Guantanamo inmates
Sunday, 9 December 2007 8:47 P GMT-05
Three Guantanamo inmates who are British residents will be released under an agreement between Britain and the United States, their lawyer said on Friday. Jamil El Banna of Jordan, Omar Deghayes of Libya and Abdenour Sameur of Algeria are expected to be returned to Britain shortly and are not expected remain in custody there, said Zachary Katznelson, a lawyer with the British organisation Reprieve that represents the three men.
NYPD tricking innocent people into committing nonexistent crimes, then charging them with felonies!
Sunday, 9 December 2007 7:04 P GMT-05
Find a wallet, go to jail? New York undercover cops have been leaving wallets and purses around in public spots in the city, then arresting anyone who picks them up and doesn’t present them to a nearby uniformed officer. Some arrestees have otherwise clean records and say they intended to use ID inside the bags to notify the rightful owners. Putting money inside the bags didn’t lead to serious enough charges, in the coppers’ view, so they began salting them with live American Express cards so that the finders could be charged with grand larceny, with four years behind bars.
Burned! Meet William Chrisman, FBI Entrapment Specialist
Sunday, 9 December 2007 12:04 A GMT-05
A federal court in New Haven, Connecticut, heard startling testimony from an FBI entrapment specialist late last month in the case of an alleged terrorist supporter from Phoenix. William Chrisman [photo] testified on November 28 and 29 in a hearing in the case against former US Navy signalman Hassan Abujihaad, taking the stand just hours after Derrick Shareef, whom Chrisman entrapped, pleaded guilty in Chicago.
Secret DoJ Legal Memos: Bush Determines What Is Constitutional
Saturday, 8 December 2007 10:38 P GMT-05
1. An executive order cannot limit a President. There is no constitutional requirement for a President to issue a new executive order whenever he wishes to depart from the terms of a previous executive order. Rather than violate an executive order, the President has instead modified or waived it. 2. The President, exercising his constitutional authority under Article II, can determine whether an action is a lawful exercise of the President’s authority under Article II.
Collapse of the "Trust Me" model
Saturday, 8 December 2007 4:46 P GMT-05
TRUST ME. BUT YOU CAN'T WATCH ME.
THE NEW MOTTO FOR AMERICAN ELECTIONS Such a concept turns citizen sovereignty on its head, giving government insiders ultimate power over the will of the citizenry rather than the other way around. It's a relatively new model for elections, and of course the concept is laughable, yet they feed it to us with a straight face.
How a coterie of Republican heavyweights sent a governor to jail
Saturday, 8 December 2007 8:21 A GMT-05
For most Americans, the very concept of political prisoners is remote and exotic, a practice that is associated with third-world dictatorships but is foreign to the American tradition. The idea that a prominent politician -- a former state governor -- could be tried on charges that many observers consider to be trumped-up, convicted in a trial that involved numerous questionable procedures, and then hauled off to prison in shackles immediately upon sentencing would be almost unbelievable. But there is such a politician: Don Siegelman, Democratic governor of Alabama from 1999 to 2003. Starting just a few weeks after he took office, Siegelman was targeted by an investigation launched by his political opponents and escalated from the state to the federal level by Bush Administration appointees in 2001.
Family Shocked, Outraged after Deputy Shoots Pet Dog in their Yard
Saturday, 24 November 2007 9:57 P GMT-05
So Leo got the dog while the deputy pulled out a rifle from his car. They walked a few feet from the Barboza's home where Leo's wife and his three year old son were inside. Leo and the officer tied the dog to a pole when the deputy fired three shots. The dog then collapsed. Leo's son heard the gunshots and opened the front door. Meanwhile... Barboza: "A bunch of kids just got off the bus and they were all on the street. All the kids were watching the officer shooting the dog. My heart was broken seeing an officer killing my dog."
After girl's suicide, Missouri town outlaws online harassment
Thursday, 22 November 2007 5:58 P GMT-05
City officials declared online harassment a crime Wednesday, fewer than two weeks after they learned of a 13-year-old girl who killed herself after receiving hurtful messages on a popular social networking website.
The Saudi Arabian Justice System Sucks Pig Cock
Thursday, 22 November 2007 6:37 A GMT-05
Here's the Saudi Justice Ministry's reasoning for a female gang-rape victim being sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in prison for "illegal mingling": "[A]nyone has a right to appeal verdicts, but [the ministry] also warned of 'stirring up agitation through the media that may not be objective and cannot grant anyone any right as much as it can negatively affect the other parties involved in the case.'" You know, if you can't stir up agitation over a woman and man who were gang raped and then punished by a court because they were unmarried and met with each other before being gang raped, then there's not much to stir up trouble about at all.
FBI's Forensic Test Full of Holes
Monday, 19 November 2007 11:51 A GMT-05
In 2004, however, the nation's most prestigious scientific body concluded that variations in the manufacturing process rendered the FBI's testimony about the science "unreliable and potentially misleading." Specifically, the National Academy of Sciences said that decades of FBI statements to jurors linking a particular bullet to those found in a suspect's gun or cartridge box were so overstated that such testimony should be considered "misleading under federal rules of evidence."
A year later, the bureau abandoned the analysis. But the FBI lab has never gone back to determine how many times its scientists misled jurors. Internal memos show that the bureau's managers were aware by 2004 that testimony had been overstated in a large number of trials. In a smaller number of cases, the experts had made false matches based on a faulty statistical analysis of the elements contained in different lead samples, documents show.
Cop Talk
Sunday, 18 November 2007 7:45 P GMT-05
In June, St. George, MO resident Brett Darrow incurred online cop hostility when he posted a video of a disputed traffic stop. According to TheNewspaper.com, one poster at St. Louis CopTalk wrote, "I'm going to his house to check for parking violations." Another, using the pseudonym "STL_finest," went further: "I hope this little POS punk bastard tries his little video stunt with me when I pull him over alone-and I WILL pull him over-because I will see 'his gun' and place a hunk of hot lead right where it belongs."
Case Dismissed! Charges Against Rashid Rauf Have Been Dropped
Sunday, 18 November 2007 5:47 P GMT-05
The prosecution has dropped all its charges against Rashid Rauf, the alleged mastermind of the alleged "Liquid Bombers" plot.
Ralph Nader: 'Things are a lot worse than we thought.'
Sunday, 18 November 2007 5:21 P GMT-05
Take a few minutes to watch this important video. Nader reveals comments by Massachusetts Rep. Olver explaining why he can't push for impeachment... indeed, "Things are a lot worse than we thought."
The Foolishness and Immorality of Gun Control
Thursday, 15 November 2007 1:27 A GMT-05
One does not have to be a member of a militia group to see that gun control only leaves people at the mercy of thugs and dictators. You can cling to the fantasy that gun control works, contrary to all reason and despite all evidence to the contrary, but it has been demonstrated time and again to be a universal failure. It is, frankly, foolish and immoral.
BBC To Apologize For 9/11 Truth Hit Piece?
Wednesday, 14 November 2007 1:37 A GMT-05
John A. Blacker, a qualified physicist & mechanical engineer and a member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice, is currently engaged in a pre-action protocol with the BBC in an attempt to settle out of court and get an apology from the broadcaster as well as a guarantee that the program will never be shown on television again. In a letter to the BBC, Blacker cites a catalogue of errors, distortions and outright lies that were contained in the program, arguing that the documentary is an insult to those that lost their lives on 9/11. "The Conspiracy files team spoke to and recorded the testimony of many eyewitnesses, fire fighters, police officers, and public high witnesses, plus also officialdom high witnesses and had access to written testimony from many high witnesses via official sites on the WWW," writes Blacker. "YET NOT ONE SINGLE HIGH WITNESS WAS PRESENTED IN THE DOCUMENTARY TO PUT THE TRUTH PERSPECTIVE," he adds. "The Conspiracy Files Documentary was a work of Total Public deception from start to end, perfectly crafted to stealthily deceive and forward nothing which was conclusive either one way or the other, in other words, perfect propaganda YELLOW journalism by stealth, omission & deception," Blacker concludes, after citing dozens of examples of bias, fraud and agenda-driven presentation. In a clear sign that BBC are struggling to form a case for the legal defense of the program, they have put back a meeting with Blacker for the third time in succession, now agreeing to a late November date.
High court to look at ban on handguns
Saturday, 10 November 2007 5:13 P GMT-05
The Supreme Court will discuss gun control today in a private conference that soon could explode publicly. Behind closed doors, the nine justices will consider taking a case that challenges the District of Columbia's stringent handgun ban. Their ultimate decision will shape how far other cities and states can go with their own gun restrictions.
School shooter kills 8, self in Finland
Thursday, 8 November 2007 12:56 A GMT-05
An 18-year-old gunman opened fire at his high school in this placid town in southern Finland on Wednesday, killing seven other students and the principal before mortally wounding himself in a rampage that stunned a nation where gun crime is rare. Police were analyzing YouTube postings that appeared to anticipate the massacre, including clips in which a young man calls for revolution and apparently prepares for the attack by test firing a semiautomatic handgun.
Guantanamo military lawyer breaks ranks to condemn 'unconscionable' detention
Sunday, 28 October 2007 7:19 P GMT-05
An American military lawyer and veteran of dozens of secret Guantanamo tribunals has made a devastating attack on the legal process for determining whether Guantanamo prisoners are "enemy combatants". The whistleblower, an army major inside the military court system which the United States has established at Guantanamo Bay, has described the detention of one prisoner, a hospital administrator from Sudan, as "unconscionable".
House Passes Thought Crime Prevention Bill
Friday, 26 October 2007 1:20 A GMT-05
The definition of violent radicalization uses vague language to define this term of promoting any belief system that the government considers to be an extremist agenda. Since the bill doesn’t specifically define what an extremist belief system is, it is entirely up to the interpretation of the government. Considering how much the government has done to destroy the Constitution they could even define Ron Paul supporters as promoting an extremist belief system. Literally, the government according to this definition can define whatever they want as an extremist belief system. Essentially they have defined violent radicalization as thought crime. The definition as defined in the bill is shown below. `(2) VIOLENT RADICALIZATION- The term `violent radicalization' means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change. The definition of homegrown terrorism uses equally vague language to further define thought crime. The bill includes the planned use of force or violence as homegrown terrorism which could be interpreted as thinking about using force or violence. Not only that but the definition is so vaguely defined, that petty crimes could even fall into the category of homegrown terrorism. The definition as defined in the bill is shown below.
Maher Arar: A Victim Of The Immoral Practice Of Rendition
Saturday, 20 October 2007 2:26 P GMT-05
Republicans joined with Democrats yesterday to offer Maher Arar something he has never received from the Bush administration – an apology for the U.S. role in wrongly detaining him, then sending him to Syria where he was tortured. More than five years after his nightmare began, Arar received the apologies from congressmen as far apart on the ideological spectrum as possible in Washington, even if they differed widely on the value and legality of the Bush administration's practice of "extraordinary rendition" of terror suspects.
Handcuffed, Assaulted, Ticketed By Cop For Distributing 9/11 DVD's
Tuesday, 16 October 2007 2:02 A GMT-05
Josh was eventually allowed to leave but not before being cited for a misdemeanor and given a ticket. The comments section of the ticket reads "passing out 9-11 CD's," which is supposedly now a crime in police state America. Skoll's court date is to be set within the next few weeks. Skoll is not the first to be harassed and abused by police for handing out free information. In 2004, Kelly Rushing was charged with making "terroristic threats" after he handed out Alex Jones' videos and recordings of a Ron Paul speech on C-Span to Lyon County, Kentucky officials and Kentucky State Trooper Lewis Dobbs. A jury later ruled in favor of Rushing but he continues to be harassed by authorities and local law enforcement.
No Bail For Rashid Rauf, Alleged Liquid Bomber Mastermind, And No Court Date Either
Tuesday, 16 October 2007 1:35 A GMT-05
Some sources said Rashid Rauf (or a friend to whom he sent some sort of a signal, or who had seen him being arrested) sent a text message to the UK Liquid Bombers, saying to go ahead with the plot. This message might have made sense if they all had airline tickets; or if they all had passports; or if they had all applied for passports -- which they hadn't. But all such details are conveniently left out of this version of the tale, in which the heroic British authorities promptly arrested all those who had received the text messages. Other sources say Rashid Rauf was arrested several days before the others and was tortured into revealing their names, after which they were summarily arrested. British newspapers reported on a search of the woods near where the suspects lived, which cost about 30M pounds or roughly $60M before it was called off after four months. Ironically, at the same time as the search was stopped, all terror-related charges against Rashid Rauf were dropped!
NIST: "We are Unable to Provide a Full Explanation of the Total Collapse"
Tuesday, 16 October 2007 1:25 A GMT-05
Well, yes! That's exactly the point the petitioners are trying to make. No modern steel frame high-rise building has ever collapsed before or after 9/11 due to fire other than at WTC 1, 2 and 7, even though other fires have burned longer and hotter. And even if they somehow did start to collapse, the collapse would not have occurred at virtual free-fall speeds while creating enormous dust clouds right from the start. So yes . . . NIST will forever be "unable to provide a full explanation of the total collapse" unless it stops covering up the evidence that the Twin Towers and Building 7 were brought down by controlled demolition.
Feds Won't Let Go of Case Accusing Artist of Bioterrorism
Saturday, 13 October 2007 6:49 P GMT-05
In May 2004 Steve Kurtz's life was turned upside down. Kurtz, a founding member of the award-winning collective Critical Art Ensemble, was a tenured art professor at SUNY, Buffalo. His work and that of the collective was of a kinetic conceptual sort, much of it aimed at informing audiences about the lack of regulation and potential risks of genetically modified (GM) food. Shortly before his show was to open at MASS MoCA, a museum in North Adams, Massachusetts, Kurtz's wife of twenty years died in her sleep. When police responded to his 911 call, they saw petri dishes in his home -- part of the scheduled installation -- filled with bacteria cultures. They called the FBI. At that point, the nation was still reeling from the 2001 anthrax scares. Kurtz was detained (not arrested, not charged but held beyond the range of due process, under the USA Patriot Act) on suspicion of bioterrorism. Within days, FBI tests showed that there were no harmful biological agents in his house and that his wife had died of natural causes. But the case against Kurtz has not gone away. Forced to drop charges of weapons manufacture, a federal prosecutor charged mail fraud against both Kurtz and Robert Ferrell, a professor of genetics at the University of Pittsburgh who sent Kurtz the uncontestedly harmless, legal, unregulated bacterial cultures used in his artwork. The "fraud" alleged is that they did not reveal, in a requisition form, the purpose of the mailing. Neither the University of Pittsburgh nor Buffalo has asserted fraud, and neither Ferrell nor Kurtz believed that there was anything fraudulent in their dealings. The allegation of fraud is made exclusively by the federal prosecutor -- a first as far as anyone knows.
"Possessing" Information Can Now Brand You A Terrorist
Wednesday, 10 October 2007 10:12 A GMT-05
The boy wasn't charged with attempting to carry out an act of terrorism, or even plotting an act of terrorism. He was charged because he had a book. Obviously the wrong book. But a book, all the same. Philip K Dick's concept of pre-crime - arresting someone before they even attempt to break the law - is now a rock solid reality in the UK, the US and Australia, thanks to the vaguely defined sprawl of anti-terror laws.
9/11 families criticized for 'silent' settlement in negligence case
Wednesday, 10 October 2007 9:05 A GMT-05
I would really like to know what these people were told not to tell.
Slavery Is Alive and Well in the U.S.
Wednesday, 10 October 2007 8:46 A GMT-05
SS: The same woman told me that some people simply like farmwork because they like being outside and working outside. JB: She should talk to the people I talk to. In Florida, it's a hothouse. It's not farms; it's a factory, and the leaves are full of chemicals, the soil is a chemical swamp, the fruit is full of chemicals. There's so little that has anything to do with nature. It's hotter than hell. Does she know the average farmworker in the U.S. dies at 47 years old, quite often from pesticide poisoning, and earns about $7,500 a year?
Gun control doesn't protect us -- guns do
Monday, 8 October 2007 10:57 P GMT-05
If there were no guns, I would say allow no guns. But since all the wrong people already have them, and the cops can't do much about it except match their firepower, then it may well be time to arm thyself, citizen.
Arrested For Reading The Constitution
Wednesday, 3 October 2007 1:29 A GMT-05
Five members of Code Pink were arrested, one for reading the Constitution, as police refused to say what the charges were and refused to answer any questions while demonstrators were hauled into paddy wagons.
2nd Man Held in US Embassy Bomb Attempt
Wednesday, 3 October 2007 1:06 A GMT-05
A Bosnian arrested in an apparent plot to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Vienna seems confused and in the past received psychiatric care, Austrian officials said Tuesday as they tried to determine a motive for the botched attempt. Asim C., a 42-year-old unemployed Bosnian, was arrested Monday after his bag -- grenades, plastic explosives and bits of metal -- set off a detector at the embassy entrance, which is fortified and guarded by U.S. Marines. He fled on foot, but was captured nearby after tossing the backpack into the street. It did not explode, and no one was injured.
New York City's Explosion in Police Repression and Surveillance a Threat to Us All
Tuesday, 2 October 2007 2:16 A GMT-05
So I checked the recording device and, accompanied by my lawyer, the indomitable Mary D. Dorman, made my way to Courtroom 18D, a stately room in the upper reaches of the building that houses the oldest district court in the nation. There, I met our legal nemesis, a city attorney whose official title is "assistant corporation counsel." After what might pass for a cordial greeting, he asked relatively politely whether I was going to except the city's monetary offer of $8,500 -- which I had rejected the previous week-- to settle my lawsuit for false arrest. As soon as I indicated I wouldn't (as I had from the moment the city started the bidding at $2,500), any hint of cordiality fled the room. Almost immediately, he was referring to me as a "criminal" -- declassified NYPD documents actually refer to me as a "perp." Soon, he launched into a bout of remarkable bluster, threatening lengthy depositions to waste my time and monetary penalties associated with court costs that would swallow my savings. Then, we were all directed to a small jury room off the main courtroom, where the city's attorney hauled out a threatening prop to bolster his act -- an imposingly gigantic file folder stuffed with reams of "Nick Turse" documents, including copies of some of my disreputable Tomdispatch articles as well as printouts of suspicious webpages from the American Empire Project -- the obviously criminal series that will be publishing my upcoming book, The Complex.
Gun Bill Rewrites Law To Disarm More Americans
Thursday, 27 September 2007 10:48 A GMT-05
HR 2640, which has been dubbed the "veterans disarmament act" by gun owners, would place any veteran who has ever been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) on the federal gun ban list. The bill passed in the House in June and was later passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee both times without a recorded vote. Gun owners have been trying to raise awareness and beat down the legislation ever since.
My Wife Faces Homeland Security
Thursday, 27 September 2007 9:00 A GMT-05
This is Bush America. You can voluntarily give up your civil liberties or voluntarily choose to lose your job. Those are your “choices.” Is this is what they mean when they say “get government off our backs?” Keep in mind that Homeland Security Presidential Directive Number 12 is NOT A LAW. Congress and the Supreme Court have had no say in it or in its implementation (covered under FIPS 201 (PDF)). It is a declaration made by Bush, not a law legislated by Congress. Let me ask you this: When the President of a nation can make a unilateral declaration that invalidates laws passed by Congress (e.g. the Privacy Act of 1974), laws passed by the States, and the Constitution itself, what do you have: a.) a democracy, b.) a republic, c.) a dictatorship. The answer is “c.” When laws and the Constitution are subservient to the directives of a single individual, it is a dictatorship. I am sorry. But I cannot interpret this in any other way. Call it a nascent dictatorship if you prefer. But we now have a system where a directive by a single individual takes precedence over law (Federal and State) and Constitution. THAT is about as un-American as you can get.
America's Police Brutality Pandemic
Thursday, 27 September 2007 8:51 A GMT-05
There are many disturbing aspects to police brutality cases. One disturbing aspect is that the police always arrest the people that they have gratuitously brutalized. There was no justification whatsoever to arrest councilman Snyder, or the UCLA student, or the University of Florida student. The cops committed assault against innocent citizens. The cops should have been arrested for their criminal acts. Instead, the cops cover up their own crimes by arresting their victims on false charges that are invented to justify the unprovoked police violence against citizens.
Settlements Do Not Deter 9/11 Plaintiffs Seeking Trials
Wednesday, 26 September 2007 9:49 A GMT-05
And so the emotional blackmail continues... The remaining 21 9/11 victims' families who have chosen to not take Victims Compensation Fund money or settle their lawsuits (originally numbering 95), continue to fight for transparency, accountability, and, especially, discovery--the one thing they're apparently not allowed to have.
Government Moles in 'Terror' Bomb Plot Provided Bomb, Set up Training Camp
Wednesday, 26 September 2007 12:09 A GMT-05
Everything about the case of the so-called Toronto 18 is shrouded in mystery. Evidence raised in court, either at bail hearings or the preliminary hearing, is covered by a publication ban. But this hasn't prevented the public from knowing allegations against 14 adults and four juveniles that are so bizarre as to be almost unbelievable. The Crown claims that at one point the alleged Islamic terrorists were plotting to cut off Prime Minister Stephen Harper's head – but changed their minds because they weren't sure where Parliament Hill was. It also claims some of the 18 attended a Keystone Kops-style military training camp at Washago north of Toronto where, it seems, they spent most of their time complaining about the cold.
Veterans Disarmament Act To Bar Vts From Owning Guns
Sunday, 23 September 2007 5:11 P GMT-05
Veterans with PTSD should not be put in a position to seek an expungement. They have not been convicted (after a trial with due process) of doing anything wrong. If a veteran is thought to be a threat to self or others, there should be a real trial, not an opinion (called a diagnosis) by a psychiatrist. If members of Congress do not hear from soldiers (active duty and retired) in large numbers, along with the rest of the public, the Veterans Disarmament Act -- misleadingly titled by Rep. McCarthy as the NICS Improvement Amendments Act -- will send this message to veterans: "No good deed goes unpunished."
Were Gandhi, King and Mandela Wrong?
Saturday, 22 September 2007 5:42 P GMT-05
I am NOT calling for the overthrow of the government or breaking any laws. In fact, I am calling for the reinstatement of our government. I am calling for an end to lawless dictatorship and a return to the rule of law. Rather than trying to subvert the constitution, I am calling for its enforcement, and for a return to the rule of law. Do you disagree with these goals? If so, then YOU are anti-American.
Daily Kos: The Nightmare of DHS's "Secure Flight"
Saturday, 22 September 2007 2:10 P GMT-05
Beginning in February 2008, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will implement their ¨Advance Passenger Information System (APIS),¨ the gist of which is that you will need permission from the United States Government to travel on any air or sea vessel that goes to, from or through the U.S. The travel companies will not be able to issue a boarding pass until you are cleared by DHS. This applies to ALL passengers, US citizens and visitors alike. And how do you get said permission to travel? That´s for your government to know and you to never find out.
Missouri: Police Threaten, Detain Motorist for Parking After Hours
Sunday, 16 September 2007 12:52 P GMT-05
A motorist who refused to discuss his personal business with a St. George, Missouri police officer was threatened with arrest last Friday. Brett Darrow, 20, no stranger to unconventional encounters with police, caught a St. George Police Sergeant James Kuehnlein stating that he had the power to invent charges that would put Darrow behind bars. Update: Sergeant Kuehnlein was placed on unpaid leave Monday pending an investigation. "Try and talk back... to me again," yelled Sergeant Kuehnlein. "I bet I could say you resisted arrest or something. You want to come up with something? I come up with nine things."
US Tourist Kills Mugger With Bare Hands
Saturday, 15 September 2007 6:24 P GMT-05
A US tourist realized a robbery wasn't a joke when a masked robber put a gun to her head and a military veteran in her tour group grabbed the young assailant and killed him with his bare hands.
Padilla sues US officials over confinement
Saturday, 1 September 2007 7:31 P GMT-05
Convicted Al Qaeda operative Jose Padilla is seeking to hold former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and 59 other US officials responsible for what his lawyers say were abusive and unconstitutional tactics used against Mr. Padilla while he was held in military custody as an enemy combatant from 2002 to 2006. Lawyers working on Padilla's behalf filed the civil lawsuit earlier this year in federal court in South Carolina. It was publicly disclosed by the lawyers this week.
The History Channel Hit Piece - Hit them where it hurts, the pocket book!
Saturday, 1 September 2007 1:36 P GMT-05
If “The 9/11 Conspiracies: Fact or Fiction” gets listed in the next catalog it will be available to public schools – purchased with your tax dollars! It is currently for sale online for $24.95. A great way to hit back is to hit the History Channel in the pocketbook. Educators and advocates within the truth movement should appoint themselves child advocates and challenge the History Channel in court for inaccuracies in the classroom. A grassroots effort to prevent this 9/11 hit piece from being purchased by public schools should be launched. Furthermore, based on the proven record of misinformation, any future History Channel material should be required to be reviewed and approved by a similar court appointed panel before our public schools can access the information and present it to our impressionable schoolchildren.
Katrina Plus Two Years: This Is Not a Home (Random Thoughts on an Anniversary)
Thursday, 30 August 2007 6:42 A GMT-05
This was a city in America that was left to fend for itself after the largest natural disaster in U.S. history, with money tossed at it like it was a sidewalk drunk with a cup. It is part of America. You fail New Orleans, you fail the nation. And while Mayor Nagin and President Bush talk about people returning, Jean says, "We are moving...I'm tired."
Self-Ownership
Wednesday, 29 August 2007 2:04 A GMT-05
"Boo hoo! My rights are being infringed!" Well, if you're advocating that anyone ELSE'S rights be infringed, serves you right! If you think it's just fine for the "legal" thugs to kick down doors, drag people away, and put them in cages, because they had a LEAF the politicians don't approve of, then when those same thugs rob and control YOU, don't whine about it. Or, to quote a far more eloquent expression of the same sentiment: "No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck." [Frederick Douglass]
Sherwood Ross: Military Interrogators are Posing as Lawyers at Gitmo
Wednesday, 22 August 2007 2:50 A GMT-05
Military interrogators posing as "lawyers" are attempting to trick Guantanamo prisoners into providing them with information, The Catholic Worker (TCW) reports. This incredible and illegal practice contributes "to the prisoners' suspicions that the (real) lawyers are not to be trusted and could be aiding the government," TCW says in its July issue.
An Unconscionable Stain on the Fabric of American Democracy
Sunday, 19 August 2007 5:30 P GMT-05
Our government took an American citizen and tortured him until they drove him insane. They could not even bring charges against him for what they had originally arrested him for. Instead they reached back a decade and found anything they could that might stick. Those of you out there that think this is good for our safety miss the point of being a democracy. You miss the point of what we are supposed to stand for. If you saw this story and thought it was a positive event for our nation, you have forgotten the faces of those who have died to protect the very democracy that is crumbling around us. If Jose Padilla is all it takes for us to compromise our most basic values as human beings then where does that leave us? No better than the tyranny we have fought against for over 200 years. We have become what we abhor. We now stand for what we have loathed.
Padilla Case a Source of Deep Shame for America
Sunday, 19 August 2007 2:53 P GMT-05
Sentenced to Death for a Crime Even the State Admits He Didn't Commit
Sunday, 19 August 2007 12:08 P GMT-05
In less than 3 weeks Kenneth Foster, an African-American man sentenced to death for the murder of Michael LaHood, is scheduled to be executed in Texas. LaHood's actual killer, Mauriceo Brown, was executed in 2006. Whether you believe in capital punishment or not, a man who did not plan or commit a murder will die August 30 unless...
Dutch Police State Cracks Down On 9/11 Activism
Sunday, 19 August 2007 1:28 A GMT-05
We set up in the early afternoon with bright yellow t-shirts carrying slogans such as "9/11 = INSIDE JOB" and "HERONDERZOEK 9/11" ("REINVESTIGATE 9/11"), with a sign of 4 standard size sheets of paper (A4/Letter) stapled together reading "9/11 TRUTH NOW", and with a bag full of homemade 9/11 flyers reading in Dutch or English. About 10 minutes after starting, we were confronted by 3 police officers and told to shut down our "demonstration" immediately. They said that they had seen us on the cameras and came out to stop us due to "anonymous" complaints. We calmly explained that all we were doing was standing somewhere and allowing interested people to come ask us what we were doing, rather than shouting or passing a flyer into every hand we could. The law, according to these officers, is that we needed a permit. The officers insisted that - for our safety - we left the streets. The question of course is, safety from whom?
New Bush prosecutorial theory in Padilla allows preventive detention on vague evidence
Saturday, 18 August 2007 6:15 P GMT-05
Obviously, that result was the desired outcome all along, and Taco Bell employee Padilla was just a poor sap they used as a tool. (Remember all the “dirty bomb” fear-mongering that went away because they couldn’t gin up the vaguest of evidence? Of course you do.)
Ian Welsh: Jose Padilla, nee Winston Smith, Found Guilty
Saturday, 18 August 2007 5:41 P GMT-05
But hey, if torturing someone till they love the person who threw them in jail; if taking years to bring someone to trial; if making someone so paranoid that they won't cooperate in their own defense counts as "the system working", then the American justice system is sure a model system. I'm sure next time some American is tortured overseas; is denied a timely trial; is so delusional after years in prison that he can't cooperate properly with his defense attorneys, that those who are declaring victory now will nod and smile and talk about how wonderful the justice system is operating overseas - about how American ideas of justice, civil and human rights are spreading. Sorry, I'm stepping off the spin machine. It's making me so nauseous that if I stay on one more second I'm going to puke.
MSNBC: False Rape Allegation Thwarted By Police Camera
Saturday, 18 August 2007 5:16 A GMT-05
A woman is pulled over for a traffic violation. She files a formal complaint with the police department: she claims that the officer sexually assaulted her. She doesn't know is that the whole thing was caught on tape. Her lies are exposed. His career and reputation are saved.
60 Years After the End of the 3rd Reich, Catholic Priests STILL Manning Concentration Camps
Friday, 17 August 2007 5:05 A GMT-05
Journalist Horacio Verbitsky recently published a book on the Catholic Church's involvement with the military dictatorship. In his book, El Silencio (The Silence), he reports that the Catholic Church actively participated in the 1976-1983 dictatorship while having full knowledge of the human rights violations being committed at the time.
Bush Administration Says Warrantless Eavesdropping Cannot Be Questioned
Thursday, 16 August 2007 9:49 A GMT-05
Two senior Justice Department officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in a teleconference with reporters, reiterated the administration's position that it was invoking the so-called "state secrets privilege" in arguing that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals must dismiss the cases because they threaten to expose information authorities say is essential to the nation's security.
Terrorism windfall: Investigate thoroughly if defenses fail again
Thursday, 16 August 2007 12:43 A GMT-05
As the Bush administration's popularity has plummeted, the potential political windfall it would receive from another terrorist attack on U.S. soil has grown enormously. It seems as if the doctor who has become heir to our estate now faces ruin unless he receives this inheritance. The situation should be of concern not only to the citizenry, but also to the current administration itself. For it is certainly possible that terrorists may strike on U.S. soil sometime this summer, as the secretary of Homeland Security has predicted. If such an attack were successful, will Americans suspect that it might have somehow been facilitated or even orchestrated by the administration?
Bush's lethal legacy: more executions
Thursday, 16 August 2007 12:37 A GMT-05
Four years ago, a Missouri man, Joe Amrine, was released after 17 years on death row after the collapse of all evidence that led to his conviction for a jail murder. The state argued, with a straight face, that even the establishment of innocence was not a reason to stop his execution, because nothing had been procedurally incorrect about his original trial. Again, it was a federal appeals court that weighed in on Amrine's behalf.
You Have No Rights
Tuesday, 14 August 2007 11:17 A GMT-05
I wish more people in this country would really revere the First Amendment, the Fourth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment, the Sixth Amendment and the Eighth Amendment. But Cheney and Bush themselves are intolerant of the freedoms that are enshrined in our Bill of Rights. In my book, “You Have No Rights,” I tell the story of a guy named Steve Howards who was walking through Beaver Creek, Colo., an open-air mall there. Of all people, Dick Cheney is there, shaking hands. And Steve Howards goes up to the vice president, about three feet away, and says, “Mr. Vice President, I think your policy in Iraq is reprehensible.” ... And then he walked away. But the Secret Service approached him 10 minutes later and said, “Did you assault the vice president of the United States?” Steve Howards said, “No, I was just expressing my First Amendment rights.” And they responded, “No, you assaulted the vice president of the United States. You’re under arrest.”
Prosecutor: Ed Brown stoking tension
Tuesday, 14 August 2007 10:58 A GMT-05
Ed and Elaine Brown were sentenced to five years in prison in April on charges stemming from their refusal to pay federal income taxes on about $1.9 million earned since 1996. The couple says there is no law requiring them or most other Americans to pay income tax to the U.S. government. They have been holed up at their Plainfield home for close to seven months, vowing to violently resist any efforts to arrest them.
Students in US state of Virginia want to carry guns to class
Tuesday, 14 August 2007 1:27 A GMT-05
"The students at Tech, they really should have had a chance to defend themselves," Andrew Dysart, a former Marine and now final-year student at George Mason University in Virginia, was quoted as saying in the Express freesheet, published by the Washington Post. Dysart has set up a chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC) to press legislators in Virginia to change a state law that allows schools and universities to decide whether guns should be allowed on campus.
In Search of John Doe No. 2: The Story the Feds Never Told About the Oklahoma City Bombing
Saturday, 11 August 2007 9:41 P GMT-05
Thanks to Mother Jones for this excellent article, and for making the related documents available online at their site. Thanks also to James Ridgway (and research assistants) for this excellent investigating reporting. Oklahoma City ... 9/11 ... Jessica Lynch ... Abu Ghraib ... Patrick Tillman ... anything else being covered up?
Homeowner arrested after the burglar he confronted falls 30ft
Thursday, 9 August 2007 11:09 A GMT-05
A homeowner was arrested after a burglar plunged from the balcony of his top-floor flat. The intruder suffered head injuries and is fighting for his life after falling around 30ft on to a concrete path. Later police arrested the owner and are investigating whether the intruder was pushed.
Shots Fired At Browns Probable Attempt at Provocation
Saturday, 4 August 2007 4:18 P GMT-05
The events coincided with coordinated hack attacks of the Infowars, Prison Planet and We Are Change websites, which went down just 20 minutes before the gunshots were heard. Early indications suggest that this was an attempt to provoke the Browns and their supporters into a violent response.
Korey Rowe Could Be Sent Back To Iraq
Saturday, 4 August 2007 3:42 P GMT-05
Rowe was grabbed as it was being announced on the Loose Change website that coordinated plans for 9/11 anniversary demonstrations had been finalized, by Rowe himself, and as the final cut of Loose Change is being prepared for release. The fact that he has made several public appearances in the last two years and not been apprehended indicates that there has never been a warrant against his name in the army database. As we highlighted last week, the Army court-martialed just 5% of deserters last year, with that number dropping to just 1 per cent or less for the Navy and the Marines. Rowe had satisfactorily completed his tour of duty and yet was grabbed by police and handed over to military officials on the basis of a tip-off the authorities received.
Couple Terrorized, Assaulted and Arrested For Flying an Upside Down U.S. Flag
Saturday, 4 August 2007 3:37 P GMT-05
Buncombe County Sheriff’s deputy Brian Scarborough had just returned from Iraq and according to the Deborah Kuhn, was sent by his staff Sergeant from the local National Guard to "deal with" the Kuhns after a local resident complained about the flag, a fact that was later admitted on TV news. A National Guard soldier in military fatigues had also previously visited the Kuhn's to harass them about the flag.
In Violation of Federal Law, Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election Records Are Destroyed or Missing
Saturday, 4 August 2007 2:53 P GMT-05
Two-thirds of Ohio counties have destroyed or lost their 2004 presidential ballots and related election records, according to letters from county election officials to the Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner. The lost records violate Ohio law, which states federal election records must be kept for 22 months after Election Day, and a U.S. District Court order issued last September that the 2004 ballots be preserved while the court hears a civil rights lawsuit alleging voter suppression of African-American voters in Columbus.
Return of the Robber Barons
Saturday, 4 August 2007 2:38 P GMT-05
In American today, the greatest rewards go to investment bankers, who collect fees for creating financing packages for debt. These packages include the tottering subprime mortgage derivatives. Recently, a top official of the Bank of France acknowledged that the real values of repackaged debt instruments are unknown to both buyers and sellers. Many of the derivatives have never been priced by the market.
A Moment of Pause in the Life of New York's Police State
Saturday, 4 August 2007 12:49 A GMT-05
A vast departure from the New York once emblematic of the guaranteed freedoms and unprecedented opportunity available in the land of America that activist reporters from WeAreChange.org captured in cinematic strides, juxtaposing the hopeful life of music, food, drinks, music and city life with the harsh, grinding rhythm of police control, crowd management, check points, random (illegal) searches and other routine, systematic violations of the Constitution.
Sick 9-11 Workers Sue $1B Insurance Fund
Thursday, 19 July 2007 10:44 A GMT-05
The workers have already filed a class action lawsuit claiming the toxic dust from the World Trade Center site gave them serious, sometimes fatal diseases. On Tuesday, they sought compensation from the WTC Captive Insurance Co., the company in charge of money appropriated by Congress to deal with Sept. 11 health-related claims. "The WTC Captive has consistently refused to pay any of the ground zero workers who have become ill on the work site, including any compensation" for lost salaries, pain and suffering, medical treatment, medical monitoring or burial expenses, according to the lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.
STJ911 Scientist to Sue BBC for Public Deception
Tuesday, 17 July 2007 1:05 A GMT-05
Scientist and member of Scholars for 9/11 Truth & Justice, John A. Blacker, is taking action against this portrayal on the grounds of ‘Total Public Deception’. In ongoing correspondence with the BBC, Mr. Blacker is requesting an official apology and a second programme to be produced in order to ‘set the record straight’. Mr Blacker is preparing to take legal action against the BBC and is currently gathering evidence.
Bush: Former aides won't testify in fired prosecutors case
Monday, 9 July 2007 11:38 P GMT-05
In a letter to the chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, White House counsel Fred Fielding also said the Bush administration would not provide any descriptions of documents it was withholding in the case. The Democrats chairing the Judiciary Committees, Rep. John Conyers of Michigan and Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, had set a Monday morning deadline for the administration to turn over the documents.
Is there something you are not telling us, Mr Santorum?
Sunday, 8 July 2007 4:43 P GMT-05
"Between now and November, a lot of things are going to happen, and I believe that by this time next year, the American public’s going to have a very different view of this war, and it will be because, I think, of some unfortunate events, that like we’re seeing unfold in the UK. But I think the American public’s going to have a very different view," said the former senator from Pennsylvania.
The Libby Commutation: Coincidence, or Conspiracy?
Saturday, 7 July 2007 7:13 P GMT-05
Suddenly, in the second week of February, 2007, Scooter Libby decided to lie down and let the steamroller of the criminal justice system roll all over him. He wouldn’t ask Rove or Cheney to testify. He wouldn’t call other witnesses from within the White House. His lawyer wasn’t going to bring up the Cheney memo again. Libby wouldn’t even take the stand in his own defense. And it all happened just about the time Rove and Cheney would have been forced to testify in court under oath. Coincidence or conspiracy?
The Flimflam of Income-Tax Denial
Wednesday, 4 July 2007 7:55 P GMT-05
My recent three-part series in Freedom Daily, “Beware Income-Tax Casuistry” (August–October 2006), provoked some vigorous objection. Unsurprisingly, members of what is known as the tax-protester movement, but which should be called the tax-denial movement, took issue with every aspect of the articles — and more. The movement doesn’t merely object to the income tax on moral, or natural-rights, grounds. Any libertarian would do that. Instead, the movement insists on several dubious legalistic points, among them that (1) the government has no constitutional authority to tax wages and salaries, and (2) Congress has never passed a law to make typical wage earners liable for the income tax. That most people believe otherwise is proof, the movement maintains, that the government has perpetrated a monumental hoax on America. Sad to say, there is no basis whatsoever for these contentions. What’s more, no court anywhere in the land has ever endorsed them or given them the slightest bit of encouragement. The collection of inconsistent arguments is flimflam of a most dangerous kind. Gullible people who follow the movement’s advice could end up paying thousands of dollars over and above their tax bills and, worse, could end up in prison, as prominent tax protesters Irwin Schiff and Larken Rose, among many others, have. (Actor Wesley Snipes could be next.)
Scooter and the Commuter
Wednesday, 4 July 2007 4:50 P GMT-05
Libby's crime was obstructing an investigation that appeared to be headed for Cheney and possibly Bush. The proper course of action for Congress, in the face of Bush commuting Libby's sentence, is to begin impeachment hearings against Cheney and then Bush. With the White House openly disobeying a stack of subpoenas, it is finally clear that impeachment is the only possible check on Bush-Cheney power remaining to Congress. In fact, in the wake of Bush's Scooter commuting, the following people all released statements condemning Bush's action and recommending that Congress and the public do absolutely nothing about it: Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson. In contrast, Joe Biden recommended that the public phone the White House and complain. That ought to show them!
BMXers fight back
Wednesday, 4 July 2007 3:47 P GMT-05
Bush And Cheney Declare Themselves Above the Law Again
Wednesday, 4 July 2007 2:16 P GMT-05
Perhaps the real reason behind the Libby decision is that fact that the Bush administration knows full well that Libby took the rap for his criminal masters. Back in March a spokesman for the jury that convicted Libby told reporters immediately afterward that many felt sympathy for him and believed he was only the "fall guy." Denis Collins said that "a number of times" they asked themselves, "what is HE doing here? Where is Rove and all these other guys....I'm not saying we didn't think Mr. Libby was guilty of the things we found him guilty of. It seemed like he was, as Mr. Wells [his lawyer] put it, he was the fall guy."
Ron Paul: "No Amnesty, No Welfare for Illegal Aliens"
Tuesday, 26 June 2007 4:57 A GMT-05
"No leader in Washington has fought to end illegal immigration harder than Congressman Ron Paul," said Ron Paul 2008 campaign chairman Kent Snyder. "Dr. Paul knows that America must never grant amnesty to those who are in our country illegally."
The Jose Padilla Case: Screenplay by Mel Brooks
Sunday, 24 June 2007 7:32 P GMT-05
No proof. No proof. No proof. Same old story for 5 years while an innocent man is locked away in a 5’ by 7’ windowless cell and driven mad with torture.
31 Questions and Answers about the IRS, Revision 3.3
Sunday, 24 June 2007 7:25 P GMT-05
Can IRS legally show “Department of the Treasury” on their outgoing mail? Answer: No. It is obvious that such deceptive nomenclature is intended to convey the false impression that IRS is a lawful bureau or department within the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Federal laws prohibit the use of United States Mail for fraudulent purposes. Every piece of U.S. Mail sent from IRS with “Department of the Treasury” in the return address, is one count of mail fraud. See also 31 U.S.C. 333.
The Trial of Saddam Hussein We Never Saw
Sunday, 24 June 2007 6:41 P GMT-05
The tribunal was established to prosecute those guilty of crimes against humanity during Saddam’s reign. Much as the Nuremburg Tribunal did with the Nazis, It was also supposedly meant to educate Iraqis and the world about Saddam and his barbarous regime and, at the same time, to bring a kind of closure to that nightmarish epoch. That at least was the fiction. The fact is that many of those complicit in Saddam’s crimes—some of the world’s most prominent leaders and businessmen, past and present—are missing from the dock. The full story of Saddam’s crimes will never be told. Which is just as planned. From the start, the tribunal was established, financed and advised by the United States, the same power that once helped arm Saddam, encouraged him and stymied attempts of others to rein him in. Even most of the forensic investigations—the excavation of mass graves and the examination of mountains of documents—were carried out under the supervision of U.S. investigators. To make the rules of the game perfectly clear, one of the tribunal’s regulations, constantly overlooked by the media, is that only Iraqi citizens and residents can be charged with crimes before that court. It is thus understandable that there has been no mention in the Baghdad courtroom of foreign complicity with Saddam’s crimes, such as the genocide of the Kurds. What is surprising, though, is how thoroughly the American media have played along with that charade.
Modern 'Robin Hood' Sentenced
Sunday, 24 June 2007 5:47 P GMT-05
A German banker who stole money from rich clients to help poor ones has been sentenced to two years and 10 months in prison, a court said Thursday. The 45-year-old, dubbed by German media as a modern day Robin Hood, diverted 2.1 million euros ($2.79 million) to clients he felt were needy while holding a senior position at a savings bank in the southern region of Tauberfranken. "The accused undertook these actions to grant liquidity to clients who, in his view, were short of money and who no longer got loans under the usual money market conditions," said a statement issued by the court in the southern town of Mosbach.
Slap Doesn't Stick: Corrupted Congress Will Help Bush Escape Court Ruling
Sunday, 24 June 2007 3:47 P GMT-05
The Boston Globe's Charles Savage, who almost alone in the corporate media has doggedly pursued this sinister practice, reports numerous specific instances of Bush's deliberate subversion of legislation. Questioned about the story, a Bush spokesman answered, in essence: "Yeah? So what? The Boss does what he wants to do, and that's the way it is. You savvy?" The disgusting thugs who seized control of our government have been repeatedly unmasked. Their authoritarian pretensions and rampant lawbreaking have been repeatedly exposed in the media and by government insiders, and roundly condemned by numerous courts, including, as in this case, conservative courts packed with appointees of the Bush dynasty itself. Yet still, this gang squats in the White House, still they wield their earth-shaking powers, still they break laws and commit atrocities every day.
Cheney Announced Bush Detainee Policy Before Bush Made Decision
Sunday, 24 June 2007 2:29 P GMT-05
"What the hell just happened?" Secretary of State Colin L. Powell demanded, a witness said, when CNN announced the order that evening, Nov. 13, 2001. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, incensed, sent an aide to find out. Even witnesses to the Oval Office signing said they did not know the vice president had played any part. The episode was a defining moment in Cheney's tenure as the 46th vice president of the United States, a post the Constitution left all but devoid of formal authority. "Angler," as the Secret Service code-named him, has approached the levers of power obliquely, skirting orderly lines of debate he once enforced as chief of staff to President Gerald R. Ford. He has battled a bureaucracy he saw as hostile, using intimate knowledge of its terrain. He has empowered aides to fight above their rank, taking on roles reserved in other times for a White House counsel or national security adviser. And he has found a ready patron in George W. Bush for edge-of-the-envelope views on executive supremacy that previous presidents did not assert.
Tyranny and the Military Commissions Act
Friday, 22 June 2007 3:59 A GMT-05
The Military Commissions Act cancels habeas corpus for foreigners accused of terrorism. In one fell swoop, the Congress, at the behest of President Bush, nullified centuries of habeas corpus protection. It might be tempting for some Americans to say, “No big deal, because foreigners don’t count.” But that is a grave error because history has shown that when citizens permit their government to deprive one class of people of critically important rights, it’s only a matter of time before the government will do the same to other groups.
How To Not Hire An American - MUST SEE VIDEO
Friday, 22 June 2007 3:52 A GMT-05
It's on video, believe it or not, and even presented as a selling point to peddle their services by Cohen & Grigsby Law Firm. That's right, this group of attorneys put an entire seminar on how to screw over the American worker on YouTube. Imagine that, a seminar from lawyers on how to make sure one doesn't have to hire an American worker!
ABC Covers Ed and Elaine Brown's Press Conference
Tuesday, 19 June 2007 12:31 A GMT-05
Calling the federal agents surrounding his fortified compound "guns for hire," a New Hampshire man convicted of tax evasion vowed today that he and his wife would fight U.S. marshals to the death if they tried to capture them. "Do not under any circumstances make any attempt on this land. We will not accept any tomfoolery by any criminal element, be it federal, state or local," said Ed Brown in a press conference from the stoop of his concrete-clad home in Plainfield, N.H. "We either walk out of here free or we die."
Are You In Danger Too?
Thursday, 14 June 2007 1:29 A GMT-05
The increasing availability of broadband at home is a big convenience that's accompanied by huge risk. "Equally important is getting computer users — especially those individuals with broadband connections — to lock down their computers. Left insecure, the machines can be turned into zombies," notes Salkever. An unsecured broadband connection that's using Windows — a combination many families use every day — is basically the computer equivalent of leaving your car in the driveway, unlocked, with the keys in the ignition. Oh, and the car's loaded with your most valuable possessions. Obviously, no one would do that, but many people don't think twice about their computer's security. "Today's operating systems, in particular the Windows operating system, are so insecure that it is impossible to say that any one individual was in control of their computer," says computer forensics expert Ted Coombs in Defense Forensics and Child Pornography He notes that there are multiple viruses and related programs written that can put "kiddie porn" onto the computers of unsuspecting owners — and it's not that hard, requiring only a "mid-range capability."
The Prison is the War Crime
Thursday, 14 June 2007 12:29 A GMT-05
The Military Commissions Act, which denies basic due process protections, including the right to habeas corpus, is a disgrace. But an even bigger disgrace is the concentration camp the United States maintains at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The Act should be repealed and the Guantánamo prison should be shut down immediately.
Guardsmen on border accused of running smuggling ring
Thursday, 14 June 2007 12:14 A GMT-05
Three National Guardsmen assigned to the Texas-Mexico border were accused of running an immigrant smuggling ring after 24 immigrants were found inside a van that one of them was driving, a U.S. attorney said Monday. The three, arrested late Thursday and Friday, were arraigned Monday on a federal charge of conspiring to transport illegal immigrants.
'Chemical castration' planned for paedophiles
Thursday, 14 June 2007 12:12 A GMT-05
Paedophiles are to be offered 'chemical castration' to stop them re-offending, John Reid will announce today. The sex offenders will be given injections of drugs to curb their urges to assault young children.
Fed Informer Infiltrates Brown House
Wednesday, 13 June 2007 4:34 A GMT-05
All indicators suggest that the authorities are poised to conduct another brutal show of force on Income Tax protestor's Ed and Elaine Brown's New Hampshire property at any time. Multiple sources have revealed that the activity that proceeded the aborted siege on the Browns last week is being repeated.
Press Release - Adam Kokesh Rejects Marines' Plea Bargain
Tuesday, 12 June 2007 11:57 P GMT-05
Former Marine Sergeant Adam Kokesh is embroiled in a conflict that could have major implications for the free speech rights of veterans especially recent Vets who are in the Inactive Ready Reserve. Kokesh is facing an administrative hearing for his anti-war activities but recognizing the high stakes the military has offered a plea bargain. In response, Kokesh rejected the offer saying it risks the “free speech rights” of vets and “allow you to silence the voices of those whose experiences are most relevant in the most pressing debate before the nation.” Below this release is his letter to Captain Sibert and Brigadier General Moore, who is the convening authority for the hearing.
Man Faces 7 Year Sentence Under "Wiretapping Law" For Filming Police
Tuesday, 12 June 2007 11:16 P GMT-05
A man has been charged in Carlisle, Pennsylvania with filming police officers during a routine traffic stop and faces up to seven years in prison for "wiretapping". Brian D. Kelly is charged under a state law that bars the intentional interception or recording of anyone's oral conversation without their consent, reports the Patriot News. The criminal case relates to the sound, not the pictures, that his camera picked up.
Papers Portray Plot as More Talk Than Action
Tuesday, 5 June 2007 6:35 A GMT-05
“Once again, would-be terrorists have put New York City in their crosshairs,” he said. Mr. Kelly said a disaster had been averted. But the criminal complaint filed by the federal authorities against the four defendants in the case — one of them, Abdel Nur, remained at large yesterday — suggests a less than mature terror plan, a proposed effort longer on evil intent than on operational capability. (Ms. Mauskopf noted in her news release that the “public was never at risk” and told reporters that law enforcement “had stopped this plot long before it ever had a chance to be carried out.”)
4 charged in plot to blow up NYC airport
Sunday, 3 June 2007 1:30 P GMT-05
Authorities said the men were motivated by hatred toward the United States and Israel. Defreitas was recorded saying he "wanted to do something to get those bastards" and he boasted that he had been taught to make bombs in Guyana. Despite their efforts, the men never obtained any explosives, authorities said. "Pulling off any bombing of this magnitude would not be easy in today's environment," former U.S. State Department counterterrorism expert Fred Burton said, but added it was difficult to determine without knowing all the facts of the case.
The AntiWar Activist That The Right Wing Dare Not Smear
Saturday, 2 June 2007 5:46 P GMT-05
Iraq veteran and honorably discharged Marine Sgt. Adam Kokesh has been the Pentagon's biggest public relations nightmare this year, because he's some kind of magical Cindy Sheehan - people actually like him!
Ron Paul: Perry's Bilderberg Attendance Proof Governor Part Of "International Conspiracy"
Saturday, 2 June 2007 12:35 A GMT-05
Paul said that Perry's attendance was "A sign that he's involved in the international conspiracy." Perry's press secretary declined to give a statement when we called and denied any knowledge of the Logan Act, yet seemed to be fully aware of it in claiming Bilderberg was a private meeting. Since the Logan Act also bars private citizens from negotiating with foreign officials, Perry is still violating the law.
Friendly Fire: Army Sergeant demoted for questioning 9/11
Friday, 1 June 2007 10:46 A GMT-05
Since joining the Army in 1987, he had risen to the rank of sergeant first class, serving in both Gulf Wars, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Korea. He ended up with shrapnel scars and a Purple Heart and, back in the U.S. after his last tour in Iraq, a job as intelligence analyst at Fort Sam Houston. He couldn’t have foreseen that one e-mail could derail his career and put him on his way out of the Army. One e-mail, speculating about events that millions of people have questioned for the last six years, was all it took. Sgt. Buswell wants to know: What really happened on 9/11? And he said so in his e-mail. In the few paragraphs of that August 2006 message — a reply not to someone outside the service, but to other soldiers — Buswell wrote that he thought the official report of what happened that day at the Pentagon, and in the Pennsylvania crash of United Airlines Flight 93, was full of errors and unanswered questions. “Who really benefited from what happened that day?” he asked rhetorically. Not “Arabs,” but “the Military Industrial Complex,” Buswell concluded. “We must demand a new, independent investigation.” For voicing those opinions in an e-mail to 38 people on the San Antonio Army base, Buswell was stripped of his security clearance, fired from his job, demoted, and ordered to undergo a mental health exam.
Less Than 0.01% Of Homeland Security Cases Are Terrorism Related
Monday, 28 May 2007 7:17 P GMT-05
A report issued Sunday by independent research group The Transactional Records Action Clearinghouse (TRAC) found that in the last three years there have only been 12 charges of terrorism out of 814,073 cases. This once again highlights that the terrorist threat to America is vastly over hyped and is being used by a criminally controlled government as an excuse to police the world and foment a domestic police state to crush any dissent amongst the American people. "The DHS claims it is focused on terrorism. Well that's just not true," David Burnham, a TRAC spokesman told CNN. "Either there's no terrorism, or they're terrible at catching them. Either way it's bad for all of us."
'Father Of The Holy War' To Be Held Without Bail As Bogus Alleged Plots Grow And Intertwine
Monday, 28 May 2007 7:03 P GMT-05
A few months ago, when setting up the arrest and the indictment, the feds made it seem like a slam-dunk. Now they tell us there's no forensic footprint linking the suspect to the documents in question? Not that any of this will matter; as we have seen over and over, the courts are reluctant to buck the anti-terrorists -- ever, anywhere. Some of the weakest, strangest cases have led to convictions and long prison sentences. We're even seeing cases based on no evidence of anything -- except entrapment by undercover FBI agents -- leading to convictions and long sentences.
Australian pub bars heterosexuals
Monday, 28 May 2007 4:45 P GMT-05
A gay pub in the city of Melbourne has won the right to ban heterosexuals - the first time such legislation has been passed in Australia. The Victorian state civil and administrative tribunal ruled the Peel Hotel could ban patrons based on their sexual orientation. The pub's management said the move would stop groups of heterosexual men and women abusing gay people.
Indiana Adopts $1000 Speeding Tickets
Saturday, 26 May 2007 6:14 P GMT-05
The Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) will soon be the direct beneficiary of speeding ticket revenue under a bill recently signed by Governor Mitch Daniels (R). The measure gives INDOT the power to decrease speed limits "without conducting an engineering study and investigation" in highway work zones. INDOT can direct police to enforce this lowered limit, regardless of whether workers are actually present. The law also mandates that no work zone speed limit exceed 45 MPH. As of July 1, INDOT will collect the revenue from these fines which the law also boosts significantly. The first offense runs $300, the second $500 and the third $1000. Anyone contesting the fine in court faces an additional $70 fee if found guilty.
Setting up the apparatus for martial law in the United States
Saturday, 26 May 2007 5:54 P GMT-05
Whelp folks, I hate to be the pallbearer at our country's funeral, but I am here to inform you, in case you missed it on Fox News, that the apparatus for martial law is being quietly, but steadily, implemented. If one has been paying attention to the laws that are getting passed over the last few years we can see the telltale signs that we are getting closer and closer to such a scenario. Not only is this government setting up the legal framework for martial law, but they are also setting up the policing apparatus and infrastructure to carry it out. I will get into the latter two issues in this three part series, but first, let's look at the legal framework for setting up martial law in this country.
Best Buy is sued by Connecticut
Saturday, 26 May 2007 5:04 P GMT-05
The lawsuit accuses Best Buy of denying deals found at the company's Web site, www.BestBuy.com. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said store employees charged customers higher prices found on a lookalike internal Web site. "Best Buy gave consumers the worst deal: a bait-and-switch-plus scheme luring consumers into stores with promised online discounts, only to charge higher in-store prices," Blumenthal said.
A New Victim Added to the 9/11 Death Toll, and Sadly, More to Follow
Friday, 25 May 2007 2:43 A GMT-05
A woman who died of lung disease five months after Sept. 11 was added Wednesday to the medical examiner's list of attack victims, marking the first time the city has officially linked a death to the toxic dust caused by the World Trade Center's collapse. Felicia Dunn-Jones, a 42-year-old attorney who was caught in the dust cloud while fleeing the collapsing towers on Sept. 11, 2001, died of sarcoidosis, a disease that causes inflammation and scarring in the lungs, on Feb. 10, 2002.
Bush Refuses to Respond To Kelly O’Donnell’s questions about Comey’s testimony
Saturday, 19 May 2007 5:29 P GMT-05
It's hard to overstate the importance of Former Deputy AG James Comey's incredible testimony earlier this week. At a press conference today with outgoing British PM Tony Blair, NBC's Kelly O'Donnell asked President Bush about Comey's startling allegations. Needless to say, he refuses to answer the question and instead opts to remind us how much the Evil Scary Islamofascists want to kill us, and how Very Important this program is in order to "protect" us.
Medical Marijuana: The Replacement for Very Dangerous Drugs
Saturday, 19 May 2007 5:08 P GMT-05
The Oregon Medical Marijuana Law allows the use of marijuana for Cancer, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s rage, Glaucoma, chronic pain, chronic nausea, chronic spasms, Multiple Sclerosis and seizures. As a retired Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology, I accepted this with a grain of salt but when I started seeing patients, I was astonished and pleased that indeed the above conditions were “miraculously” alleviated by the use of medical marijuana. I was further astonished when I was told by the patients “marijuana is much better than any prescription I have been given". Further questioning of patients indicated it was better that the morphine-like painkillers, such as Oxycontin, Percodan or Demerol. It was also better than the Valium-like tranquilizers, such as Xanax, and Ambien, etc. and even the anti-depressants, such as Elavil, Trazadone, etc. and the really heavy anti-depressants, such as Prozac, Zoloft, etc.
Duke and Durham: The Whitewash Continues
Sunday, 13 May 2007 2:35 P GMT-05
In the wake of the Duke Non-Rape, Non-Kidnapping, and Non-Sexual Assault Case, people have been asking how it was that such transparently false charges could have remained in play for as long as they did. Despite the fact that the first investigating police officer said shortly after hearing Crystal Gail Mangum’s numerous accounts on the morning of March 14, 2006, declared that she was lying, the case was pursued, indictments secured, and a process of state-sponsored injustice ensued. Stung by condemnation from across the country for the actions of its police force, Patrick Baker, the city manager compiled a brief report to examine "what went wrong." Those of us who have little confidence in an entity of government to point out how another entity of government engaged in malfeasance waited with very, very low expectations. On Friday, May 11, 2007, Baker released his report and, true to our expectations, it is a whitewash of great proportions.
Potential terror jurors cite 9/11 doubts
Sunday, 6 May 2007 4:51 P GMT-05
First, isn't it interesting that a person's views about the 9/11 attacks are now the basis for peremptory challenges during jury selection? It's certainly an effective way of weeding out opinions that don't conform to the official line - just as those who don't support the death penalty are automatically dismissed from juries. This is an unjust and pernicious practice. By denying those who don't agree with death sentencing a place on juries, the true breadth of public opinion on the subject cannot be represented on juries. It creates an ideologically lopsided jury pool heavy with conformists. Seems the same thing is in danger of happening with 9/11.
Another Guantanamo outrage
Friday, 4 May 2007 5:26 P GMT-05
Under the Justice Department plan, lawyers could meet just three times with their Guantanamo clients after an initial meeting in which the prisoner decides whether or not to use the lawyer's services. Prisoners who have been through several interrogations at the hands of the military are often so distrustful of Americans, including lawyers, that it takes extended visits just to establish a normal attorney-client relationship.
The new rules would also allow US intelligence officers to read lawyers' letters to their clients, and they would permit US officials to deny a lawyer access to secret evidence used by the military to determine that a client is an enemy combatant -- all flagrant departures from American justice. As it stands now, the lawyers -- all of whom have security clearances -- can see the material but are forbidden to share it with their clients.
Lift gun bans, and students will be safer
Friday, 4 May 2007 5:25 P GMT-05
Not only does a campus gun ban give free rein to campus murderers who will never abide by the law, but it announces to every rapist in the country that women on college campuses are defenseless.
FBI agent testifies he posed as al-Qaida recruiter in terror case
Friday, 4 May 2007 4:12 P GMT-05
An FBI agent who posed as an al-Qaida recruiter in a terrorism investigation testified Thursday at a doctor's trial, recalling that a key conspirator in the case showed him how he could strangle somebody with his prayer beads. The agent, Ali Soufan, is a key witness in the terrorism trail against the doctor, Rafiq Abdus Sabir, 52, who was charged two years ago with pledging to provide material support to al-Qaida by offering to treat the group's injured fighters. Most of Soufan's testimony in nearly a day on the witness stand revolved around conversations he had with Tarik Shah, a martial arts expert and jazz musician who said he wanted to introduce him to Sabir. Several taped conversations from a meeting between the agent and Shah in Plattsburgh, N.Y. were played for the jury.
Potential terror jurors cite 9/11 doubts
Friday, 4 May 2007 2:54 A GMT-05
Many potential jurors in the Jose Padilla terrorism-support case say they aren't sure who directed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks because they don't trust reporters or the federal government. "There are too many ifs, too many things going on," one male juror said. "I don't know the whole story." Others say they just don't pay close enough attention to world events to be certain. "I'm oblivious to that stuff," one prospective female juror said during questioning this week. "I don't watch the news much. I try to avoid it."
The Sham of the Padilla Trial
Thursday, 3 May 2007 12:46 A GMT-05
If Padilla is convicted by the jury, the judge will likely sentence him to serve much of the rest of his life in a federal penitentiary for having conspired to violate federal criminal laws against terrorism. On the other hand, if Padilla is acquitted, the U.S. military is likely to exercise its post-9/11-acquired power to declare Americans (and foreigners) “enemy combatants” in the war on terror and throw Padilla back into a military dungeon. That is where he was before the government, as part of a clever legal maneuver that was obviously designed to avoid Supreme Court review of Padilla’s request for habeas-corpus relief, converted him from an “enemy combatant” in the war on terror to a federal-court criminal defendant charged with violating federal terrorism laws. While the military, of course, could decline to exercise its power to retake Padilla into custody after an acquittal by the jury, that course of action is unlikely given the government’s repeated assertion that Padilla is one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists.
The Survey Of The San Diego Police
Tuesday, 1 May 2007 2:12 P GMT-05
The San Diego Police Officers Association polled its members about gun control on 05 May 1997 and published the results in their official newsletter, "The Informant".
Who Will Stop the U.S. Shadow Army in Iraq?
Tuesday, 1 May 2007 1:43 P GMT-05
The 145,000 active duty U.S. forces are nearly matched by occupation personnel that currently come from companies like Blackwater USA and the former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, which enjoy close personal and political ties with the Bush administration. Until Congress reins in these massive corporate forces and the whopping federal funding that goes into their coffers, partially withdrawing U.S. troops may only set the stage for the increased use of private military companies (and their rent-a-guns) which stand to profit from any kind of privatized future “surge” in Iraq.
Men accused of Levin murder held without bail
Tuesday, 1 May 2007 3:00 A GMT-05
While police are still investigating who fired the fatal shot, the evidence suggests that it was Barros, Zabin said. Under Massachusetts law, all armed participants of a shootout are culpable if someone is killed.
DC Madam Will Name Clients
Tuesday, 1 May 2007 2:36 A GMT-05
Deborah Palfrey, the head of a multimillion dollar prostitution service in the nation’s capital, says she will call on potentially high-profile clients to testify at her trial. Last week the deputy secretary of state in charge of cracking down on global prostitution admitted he was a client and resigned. Palfrey has also accused the military strategist who came up with “shock and awe” of being a client.
They Also Serve Their Conscience:California veterans, including some still on active duty, are speaking out against the U.S. presence in Iraq
Tuesday, 1 May 2007 1:03 A GMT-05
For the most part, the military has tolerated the antiwar activities of its active-duty soldiers and reservists.
“While not on duty or in uniform, our service members maintain similar rights as other Americans,” said Lt. Col. Jon Siepmann, director of public affairs for the California National Guard. “There are, however, limitations that exist to ensure the good order and discipline of the service and to maintain an effective chain of command.”
The only significant court case related to antiwar activity, the court-martial of Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada at Ft. Lewis, Wash., ended in a mistrial in February. Watada was charged with “conduct unbecoming an officer” for antiwar statements he made before Veterans for Peace and other organizations and for refusing to deploy with his unit to Iraq. A new court-martial is set for July.
Anti-gun nonsense
Monday, 30 April 2007 7:46 P GMT-05
The phrase "gun-free zone" is the ultimate delusion. A more accurate expression would be "defenseless zone." Like most mass murderers, the Virginia shooter was smart enough to choose victims who could not fight back. The Virginia Tech "defenseless zone" policy that made bringing a gun on campus an expellable offense was like a neon welcome sign to him, offering very high probability that he could achieve a high body count. The threat of expulsion or firing was effective in preventing law-abiding students and faculty from bringing a gun to school to defend themselves, but it did not deter the perpetrator. That's the insanity of gun-control laws; the only ones who abide by them are the law-abiding citizens. Well-intentioned people argue that we should restrict access to guns. However, scientific research has consistently shown that restrictions on gun purchases and carriage cause large increases in violent crimes like rape, murder and multiple-victim public shootings.
Another Victory For Torture: Germans Reject Investigation Request
Saturday, 28 April 2007 6:25 P GMT-05
So what have we learned? Witnesses don't matter, testimony doesn't matter, the law doesn't matter, and the facts of the case don't matter. Torturers should investigate their own crimes. Welcome to hell.
NY Police Report Bomb to Frame Activist as Terrorist
Saturday, 28 April 2007 6:14 P GMT-05
Abby Newman was arrested for not showing ID in August 2000 and fell victim to an illegal vehicle search in which police found items of subversive literature, including a "pocket Constitution."
One officer asked the other "Is this legal?" (Case in point, where the very society of freedom is violated by the system that regulates that society.) But that has become all too common in the new American police state. A Christian group in Philadelphia was arrested in 2004 and charged with counts of criminal conspiracy, ethnic intimidation and riot for "praying, singing and reading scripture during an annual 'gay pride' event. Of course, the question here is not one of Christianity vs. homosexuality, but the criminal prosecution of free speech. The eroding inherent right threatens the freedom of Christians, homosexuals, pink-and-polka dotted people, and other groups who were previously guaranteed protection of their voices - whether right or wrong, embarrassing, hateful or supportive, blasphemous, sinful or true. An attorney in Portland, Oregon was falsely arrested under anti-terrorism laws shortly after the 2004 Madrid bombings.
My Father, 9/11 Scapegoat
Friday, 27 April 2007 12:23 A GMT-05
Because the government based its case on my father's expressed political views, our lawyers rested without presenting a single witness. Our defense was the First Amendment. On Dec. 6, 2005, my father was acquitted of 8 of the 17 charges against him, though the jury voted 10 to 2 for full acquittal. Those holding out for conviction were the only two who listed themselves as readers of the Tampa Tribune, a paper which had slandered him for over a decade. Two of my father's three co-defendants were fully acquitted; the jury did not return a single guilty verdict in over 100 charges. The verdict was a testament to the hollow nature of government's case--an especially strong statement in the midst of post 9/11 hysteria.
Court Asked to Limit Lawyers at Guantánamo
Friday, 27 April 2007 12:10 A GMT-05
The Justice Department has asked a federal appeals court to impose tighter restrictions on the hundreds of lawyers who represent detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and the request has become a central issue in a new legal battle over the administration’s detention policies. Saying that visits by civilian lawyers and attorney-client mail have caused “intractable problems and threats to security at Guantánamo,” a Justice Department filing proposes new limits on the lawyers’ contact with their clients and access to evidence in their cases that would replace more expansive rules that have governed them since they began visiting Guantánamo detainees in large numbers in 2004.
US to Make History Trying Alleged Child War Criminal
Thursday, 26 April 2007 4:17 A GMT-05
During his capture he was shot three times and is nearly blind in one eye as a result of his injuries. The US military says Mr Khadr threw a grenade that killed a US Green Beret sergeant, Christopher Speer, and wounded another sergeant, Layne Morris. Mr Khadr's Pentagon-appointed lawyer, Marine lieutenant colonel Colby Vokey, said the US would become the first country in modern history to try a war crimes suspect who was a child at the time of the alleged violations if a trial went ahead. Mr Khadr has been charged with murder, attempted murder, providing support to terrorism, conspiracy and spying under rules for military trials adopted last year. The conspiracy charge is based on acts allegedly committed before Mr Khadr was 10, according to his defence team.
5-Year Prison Sentence For Brown As New Waco Draws Nearer
Wednesday, 25 April 2007 11:42 P GMT-05
A federal judge sentenced tax protesters Ed and Elaine Brown to more than five years in prison yesterday, giving them sentences at the top of the range recommended by probation officers but below sentencing recommendations offered by the prosecutor.
Policeman admits to shooting officer
Wednesday, 25 April 2007 8:47 P GMT-05
A 27-year veteran of the Boston Police Department pleaded guilty yesterday to assault charges for shooting a fellow officer with his service weapon after a night of heavy drinking. Officer Paul Durkin has also agreed to resign from the department, which bars convicted felons from its ranks, spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said. Durkin, who pleaded guilty to one count of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, was sentenced to three years of probation and a mandatory evaluation for alcohol abuse.
U.S. Frees International Terrorist
Wednesday, 25 April 2007 7:51 P GMT-05
A terrorist lives in Miami. He is not in hiding, or part of some sleeper cell. He’s an escaped convict, wanted internationally for blowing up a jetliner. His name is Luis Posada Carriles. As the nation was focused on the Virginia Tech shooting, the Bush administration quietly allowed Posada’s release from a federal immigration detention center. It was Oct. 6, 1976, a clear day in the Caribbean. Cubana Airlines Flight 455 departed from Barbados, bound for Cuba, with a stop in Trinidad. Posada then ran a private investigative firm in Venezuela. Two of his employees were on the flight, deplaned in Trinidad and left C-4 plastic explosive on board, disguised as a tube of toothpaste. Shortly after takeoff, the bomb exploded and the plane went down. All 73 people on board were killed.
9/11 suspect released
Wednesday, 25 April 2007 6:16 P GMT-05
Justice Janet Smith and Justice Stephen Irwin ruled that Farid Hilali's detention under a European arrest warrant had become arbitrary and unjustified. Hilali has been held in British prisons for 2½ years while fighting against a Spanish extradition warrant. Hilali was not immediately released, however, pending a possible appeal to the House of Lords.
Working for the Clampdown
Wednesday, 25 April 2007 6:08 P GMT-05
It only took a few paragraphs in a $500 billion, 591-page bill to raze one of the most important limits on federal power. Congress passed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to severely restrict the president’s ability to deploy the military within the United States. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 tightened these restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the U.S. without the express permission of Congress. But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act. Section 1076 of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007 changed the name of the key provision in the statute book from “Insurrection Act” to “Enforcement of the Laws to Restore Public Order Act.” The Insurrection Act of 1807 stated that the president could deploy troops within the United States only “to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.” The new law expands the list to include “natural disaster, epidemic, or other serious public health emergency, terrorist attack or incident, or other condition”—and such “condition” is not defined or limited.
The Lesson of Virginia Tech
Wednesday, 25 April 2007 5:48 P GMT-05
We still have not learned that when government outlaws objects, such as guns or drugs, they don’t vanish from society but move into the black market, readily available to those who want them. But let’s assume for the sake of argument that handguns could be eliminated. What would happen? According to firearms authority Clayton Cramer, something worse would take their place: sawed-off shotguns. “[A] sawed-off shotgun is substantially more deadly than a handgun,” Cramer writes. He quotes criminologists James Wright, Peter Rossi, and Kathleen Daly, who said, “The possibility that even a fraction of the predators who now walk the streets armed with handguns would, in the face of a handgun ban, prowl with sawed-off shotguns instead, causes one to tremble.”
The security breach at TJX
Tuesday, 24 April 2007 11:48 P GMT-05
TJX Cos., the Framingham-based owner of T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and other stores, said in January that its computer system had been hacked into, compromising millions of customers' credit card numbers and other personal information.
DNA clears man jailed for 25 years; 200th freed since ’80s
Tuesday, 24 April 2007 11:42 P GMT-05
A Chicago court has ordered Jerry Miller released and removed from the sex-offenders registry after serving 25 years of a 45-year sentence for a rape he didn't commit. DNA evidence cleared Miller of the 1981 rape of a 44-year-old white woman and implicated a man named Robert Weeks, who assaulted another woman 7 months after the attack for which Miller was convicted. Weeks however cannot be charged with the 1981 rape because the statute of limitations has expired. The exoneration brings to 200 the number of such cases overturned since the 1980s, thanks in large part to the Innocence Project, which helps clear the name of many whose convictions, like Miller's, turned largely on flawed eyewitness testimony. The project highlighted the difficulties facing black defendants, particularly in cases where a black man is accused of sexually assaulting a white woman. They noted that of the 200 people exonerated by DNA evidence so far, 62% were black men.
UL Truth Is Not a Matter of Popularity
Monday, 23 April 2007 8:15 P GMT-05
Those lying to us about 9/11 may feel that they have no reason to fear retribution. For example, we can choose to buy Popular Mechanics’ lies or not buy them, depending on whether we are looking for easy answers or truthful ones. In choosing, we can guess at UL’s motivations for lying, and we know the Hearst Corporation (Popular Mechanics’ parent company) has a long history in the business of propaganda. But we can’t choose whether or not we care to pay UL’s taxes for them. As long as UL remains in good standing with the government, the American public must dole out the corporate welfare that supports them.
Poison: KGB men to face Litvinenko murder charges
Monday, 23 April 2007 7:15 P GMT-05
Scotland Yard detectives are to issue arrest warrants against three former KGB officers suspected of poisoning ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. Police have told sources close to Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina that they intend to lay charges of murder and poisoning against the men, who met the victim three weeks before his death in London.
The Real Tragedy of Waco
Monday, 23 April 2007 6:55 P GMT-05
The lesson that we should have learned from Waco is that we have a right, indeed a duty, to be suspicious and distrustful of our government. For generations, this suspicion was a uniquely American quality. However, during World War II and then the Cold War, Americans began to trust their government. As with totalitarian regimes, American politicians recognized the benefits of having foreign enemies, even imaginary ones. People band behind their government, seeking protection from the enemy. We now live with that legacy.
NRA: The Untold Story of Gun Confiscation After Katrina
Monday, 23 April 2007 6:22 P GMT-05
New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Police Superintendent P. Eddie Compass unleashed a wave of confiscations with these chilling words:
"No one will be able to be armed. We will take all weapons. Only law enforcement will be allowed to have guns." Thousands of firearms were then confiscated from law-abiding gun owners. The police gave no paperwork or receipts for those guns. They just stormed in and seized them.
Bans don't deter killers
Monday, 23 April 2007 5:48 P GMT-05
Whether it is Virginia Tech or other deadly attacks — Columbine High School, where 13 were shot dead by two students in 1999; Luby's Cafeteria in Killeen, Texas, where 23 were fatally shot by a deranged man in 1991; or a McDonald's in Southern California, where 21 people were shot dead by an unemployed security guard in 1984 — they happened in gun-free zones. (Many older shootings, such as the one at Luby's, occurred before states began issuing permits for concealed handguns.) In recent years, similar attacks have occurred across the world, including Australia, France, Germany and Britain. Do all these countries lack enough gun-control laws? Hardly. The reverse is more accurate. The law-abiding, not criminals, are obeying the rules. Disarming the victims simply means that the killers have less to fear. As last week's attack demonstrated, police can't always be there: Unarmed students and faculty met the killer before police could arrive.
Shame On The Courts For Not Giving Justice To Our Heroes
Saturday, 21 April 2007 5:49 P GMT-05
It was reported that "the court did not make any factual finding as to the quality of the air, or as to whether the EPA had intentionally misled the public." I have news for the court. Some of us have made "factual findings" as to how our heroes have been treated. The court should be ASHAMED of itself. Here's a message from John Feal about this: "The justice system was served a black eye by our courts. Their ruling to let this woman walk away from any responsibility is a gross mis-conduct of their powers. When our judiciary process lets us down, where else are we to turn? It truely is a sad day to be a proud american and proud responder to 9/11. To the residents of Manhattan, the victims of 9/11, their families, and to the responder community, I apologize for those who feel they dont have to."
Court Ruling May Stop 9/11 Air Quality Lawsuits
Saturday, 21 April 2007 5:29 P GMT-05
A three judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared this week that EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman and other agency officials can't be held constitutionally liable for making rosy declarations about air quality in the days following the World Trade Center's destruction. The opinion, written by the court's chief judge, Dennis Jacobs, said opening EPA workers up to lawsuits for giving out bad information during a crisis could have a catastrophic side effect. "Officials might default to silence in the face of the public's urgent need for information," Jacobs wrote.
Protection, Disarmament and Massacre
Saturday, 21 April 2007 4:37 P GMT-05
Now let me be clear. I do not wish to understate the horror of what any victim of such savage violent crimes go through. But the startling common thread throughout these massacres is the degree to which the government has claimed total control and promised total security. Public high schools and many colleges have long been deemed gun-free zones, as if this actually protects anyone. Airline security has long been the domain of the state, yet the state could do absolutely nothing to protect Americans on 9/11. And at Virginia Tech, the students had the false sense of security that because the government had greatly restricted their own right to bear arms at a public facility, they would be safe. Yet for two full hours, the police failed to stop the assailant between the time he began shooting and the time he killed many others and then himself. And, again, we have no reason to necessarily expect it to have gone any better. In 2002, at Appalachian Law School in Virginia, a private institution, a school massacre was cut short when students resisted, one of them with a gun he had retrieved from his car. Yet, as some have pointed out, we hear little about such horrible crimes being stopped by private weapons ownership. Millions of times a year, criminals are preempted by Americans wielding private weapons. Studies indicate that well over ninety percent of the time, private individuals defend themselves with guns without ever firing a shot. You compare this caution and success to the record of government agents, who, knowing they will usually get away with negligent or even malicious violence, are increasingly likely to use overwhelming force against the peaceful.
Padilla in jail peril, experts say
Friday, 20 April 2007 8:48 P GMT-05
Accused al-Qaida agent Jose Padilla could be thrown back in a military brig even if he's acquitted or gets a light sentence in his civilian criminal trial beginning this week, experts say. All President Bush would have to do is sign papers again branding him an "enemy combatant," and Padilla would be back behind bars. Bush did that in 2002, when the Brooklyn-born terror suspect was stripped of his constitutional rights and held in a Navy jail for three years without charges. "There is nothing stopping the president from doing it," said Gary Solis, a former Marine prosecutor who teaches law at Georgetown University. "If he were acquitted, he's not necessarily going anywhere." And if Padilla is returned to military custody, he could be held indefinitely until the end of the war on terror, Solis said.
Rights group sues Yahoo for giving Chinese dissidents' data
Friday, 20 April 2007 8:23 P GMT-05
A human-rights group has filed suit against Yahoo for allegedly providing information to the Chinese government that led to the persecution, torture and imprisonment of dissidents. The suit seeks damages for Wang Xiaoning, who is serving 10 years in prison after cops raided his home and repeatedly beat him in detention without informing his family of charges for distributing political journals and articles by e-mail through a Yahoo message group and later over the Internet anonymously. It also seeks to block Yahoo from similar future actions.
Second Amendment In Danger Under Anti-Gun Bush
Friday, 20 April 2007 3:48 P GMT-05
In the wake of the tragic shooting massacre in Virginia this week gun control advocates have once again come crawling out of the woodwork to capitalize on the ill informed and automated response of blaming the destructiveness of a mentally ill person's rampage on the second amendment.
Kucinich to launch Cheney impeachment push on April 25
Friday, 20 April 2007 3:15 P GMT-05
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), the former mayor of Cleveland who is seeking the 2008 Democratic nomination for president for the second time, has selected a date to introduce articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney. A source who asked to remain anonymous told RAW STORY that the articles of impeachment would be introduced next week.
Va. gun laws allow sales without permits or waiting periods
Wednesday, 18 April 2007 7:21 P GMT-05
Selling rifles and shotguns to kids as young as 12 is legal and second-hand gun shows sell without waiting periods or background checks, leaving no way to track guns paid for in cash.
Once Again, Gun Control Doesn't Work
Wednesday, 18 April 2007 4:10 P GMT-05
We should note also that gun controllers hardly ever confront the original and central purpose of the Second Amendment: To serve as a check against tyranny. Their position here, which is as faulty and fallacious as their other two gun-control positions, is that, unlike the olden days, the federal government can now be trusted never to become tyrannical. How many gun massacres must we witness before Americans finally abandon their devotion to gun control? The best thing Americans could ever do is to abolish all restrictions on ownership of weapons, including registration requirements, waiting periods, concealed-carry laws, et cetera, which would once again permit ordinary, peaceful, law-abiding Americans the unrestricted ability to defend themselves against murderers, who have as much respect for laws against guns as they do for laws against murder.
Gun Control Law Helped Campus Killer
Wednesday, 18 April 2007 6:41 A GMT-05
Gun Owners of America, the only major no compromise 2nd Amendment group in America, issued a press release in which its President Larry Pratt stated,"All the school shootings that have ended abruptly in the last ten years were stopped because a law-abiding citizen -- a potential victim -- had a gun." "The latest school shooting demands an immediate end to the gun-free zone law which leaves the nation's schools at the mercy of madmen. It is irresponsibly dangerous to tell citizens that they may not have guns at schools. The Virginia Tech shooting shows that killers have no concern about a gun ban when murder is in their hearts."
Virginia School Shooting: Another Government Black-Op?
Tuesday, 17 April 2007 12:10 P GMT-05
Early details about the horrific school shooting at Virginia Tech strongly indicate that these events represent a Columbine-style black-op that will be exploited in the coming days to push for mass gun control and further turning our schools into prisons. Eyewitness Matt Kazee told the Alex Jones Show that it was a full two to three hours after the shootings began that loudspeakers installed around the campus were used to warn students to stay indoors and that a shooter was on the loose. Quite how the killer was afforded so much time before any action was taken to stop him is baffling, especially considering the fact that the campus, according to Kazee, was crawling with police before the event happened due to numerous bomb threats that had been phoned in last week.
Campus Gun Ban Disarmed Virginia Victims
Tuesday, 17 April 2007 5:36 A GMT-05
"Advocates of wider gun controls said the availability of guns in the United States had made it easier for people to commit murder everywhere, including in schools and colleges," reports Reuters, with no mention of the fact that had the victims been allowed to exercise their concealed carry rights, the casualty figures may have been far lower. Students at VA Tech are already slamming the pathetic response on behalf of the police, who locked down the school and sat back as the killer was able to carefully pick off his targets.
The Final Act of Submission
Monday, 16 April 2007 7:01 P GMT-05
In the months leading up to President Bush’s ill-fated invasion of Iraq, I traveled around the world speaking to various international groups, including many parliamentary assemblies. I spoke about democracy and the need of any nation or group of nations espousing democracy as a standard to embrace the ideals and values of justice and due process in accordance with the rule of law. I spoke of international law, especially as it was manifested in the charter of the United Nations (a document signed and adopted by all of the countries I visited).Invariably, my presentation focused on the nation in question, whether it was Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands, Japan or Great Britain, and the status of its relationship with the United States. As an American, I said, I appreciated each nation’s embrace of the United States as a friend and ally. However, as a strong believer in the rule of law, I deplored the trend among America’s so-called friends to facilitate a needless confrontation which would severely harm the U.S. in the long run. These nations were hesitant to stand up to the United States even though they knew the course of action planned for Iraq was wrong. Such permissive submission was deplorable, and invariably led to a comment from me about the status of genuine sovereignty in the face of American imperial power. If a nation was incapable of defending its sovereign values and interests, then it should simply acknowledge its status as a colony of the United States, pull down its disgraced national flag and raise the Stars and Stripes.
Kangaroo Tribunals Give a Kafkaesque Edge to Guantanamo
Monday, 16 April 2007 6:34 P GMT-05
The prisoners at Guantanamo Bay — or Azkaban, as one of my clients, a Harry Potter fan, calls it — have had no access to a hearing in a court of law. Instead, Guantanamo’s inmates are subjected to two kangaroo procedures: Combatant Status Review Tribunals and Administrative Review Boards. The tribunals determine whether an individual is an enemy combatant. Needless to say, the cards are stacked against the prisoner from the get-go. The tribunals are allowed to rely on hearsay evidence and information acquired though coercion. Any evidence deemed “secret” is withheld from the prisoner. Can you imagine trying to defend yourself against evidence kept secret from you? Amazingly, my client Abdul Al-Ghizzawi (a Libyan who ran a bakery in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, before being handed to Americans for a bounty in late 2001), was found to have no ties to terrorism and not to be an enemy combatant. Unfortunately, the higher-ups intervened and the tribunal’s judgment was overturned six weeks later upon the miraculous discovery of “new evidence.” I saw the classified proceedings of my client’s tribunals, and I can assure you that no new material was considered. Mark and Joshua Denbeaux, authors of the study “No-Hearing Hearings,” have discovered that some prisoners went through as many as three hearings before the tribunals made the “correct” determination that a prisoner had ties to terrorism.
When did America become a nation of frightened wimps?
Saturday, 14 April 2007 1:34 P GMT-05
I think we crossed the line somewhere between 1984 and 1988, around the time we outlawed lawn darts and every mini van in America had a ‘baby-on-board’ sign. While lawn darts and baby on board signs may seem trivial, they were warning signs of a mass shift in American values – a shift away from freedom and liberty as predominant values to health and safety as predominant values. There will be no end to the loss of freedom if we believe being healthy and safe trumps all else. I believe there was day when most Americans accepted that life was risky. They accepted that bad things can happen to good people. They accepted that risk was an inherent part being free. They didn’t need a new law or government program every time something bad happened. It is sad to watch our freedom slowly disappear in front of our eyes with so few people taking action.
U.S. says to retry ganja guru Ed Rosenthal
Saturday, 14 April 2007 1:23 P GMT-05
Rosenthal, dubbed the "ganja guru" for his books on marijuana, will once again face charges for growing and distributing marijuana, though prosecutors will not seek time behind bars beyond a one-day sentence he has already served, said Natalya LaBauve, a spokeswoman for the interim U.S. attorney in San Francisco, Scott Schools.
Flawed Laws Help Stalkers Victimize Women
Saturday, 14 April 2007 1:45 A GMT-05
Gun free zones may be well intentioned, but good intentions that is not enough. It is an understandable desire to ban guns. After all, if you ban guns from an area, people can’t get shot, right? But time after time when these public shootings occur, they disproportionately take place in gun free zones. It is the law-abiding good citizens who would only use a gun for protection who obey these bans. Violating a gun free zone at a place such as a public university may mean expulsion or firing and arrest, real penalties for law-abiding citizens. But for someone intent on killing others, adding on these penalties for violating a gun free zone means little to someone who, if still alive, faces life in prison.
Misdemeanors, minorities sentenced to embattled Tex. prisons
Thursday, 12 April 2007 8:08 P GMT-05
About 15% of Texas's 4,700 inmates aged 10–21 are imprisoned for misdemeanor offenses, most commonly assault and marijuana possession. Charges for graffiti, curfew violation and failure to attend school also have landed many kids in the youth prison system recently rocked by reports the agency and prosecutors took no action on allegations of sexual abuse by 2 top administrators. Inmates at other facilities are now stepping forward with similar claims.
Judge rejects Padilla’s request to dismiss terror charges
Wednesday, 11 April 2007 5:57 P GMT-05
Judge Marcia Cooke ruled Monday that allegations of abuse in military custody provided no legal grounds to call off a civilian-court trial for Padilla as there was no indication he had been mistreated at the hands of civilian government authorities.
6-Year-Olds Under Arrest
Wednesday, 11 April 2007 2:53 P GMT-05
Desre’e was charged with battery on a school official, which is a felony, and two misdemeanors: disruption of a school function and resisting a law enforcement officer. After a brief stay at the county jail, she was released to the custody of her mother. The arrest of this child, who should have been placed in the care of competent, comforting professionals rather than being hauled off to jail, is part of an outlandish trend of criminalizing very young children that has spread to many school districts and law enforcement agencies across the country.
Cuba slams US over release of convicted bombing mastermind
Monday, 9 April 2007 1:45 P GMT-05
The US judge ordered the Cuban-born Venezuelan national released on $US350,000 bail on condition that he remain confined to his Miami home and submit to "electronic monitoring," according to the text of the order by the Federal Court in El Paso, Texas.
Posada Carriles, a fierce opponent of communist Cuban leader Fidel Castro, was accused of masterminding the downing of a Cuban jet off Barbados in 1976 in which 73 people were killed.
Food Not Bombs activist arrested for feeding homeless
Friday, 6 April 2007 6:09 P GMT-05
Police have arrested an activist for feeding the homeless in downtown Orlando, Florida. Eric Montanez, 21, of the radical antipoverty group Food Not Bombs, became the first person charged with violating a controversial law against feeding large groups of people in the city center, police said Thursday. Police collected a vial of the stew Montanez was serving as evidence. Critics consider the law just one more way the city is trying to hide rather than address its homelessness problem.
This Guantánamo man may have gained a trial, but it's not justice
Friday, 6 April 2007 5:43 P GMT-05
Some achievement. Securing a trial wholly run by the US military that allows coerced evidence from secret detention centres and can impose the death penalty (including for "spying") with limited means of appeal, doesn't seem much of a tribute to diplomacy. "Under a diplomatic deal, Mr Hicks would serve that term in Australia," the article reported; but this will provide scant hope for the 385 prisoners still held at the prison. It seems highly unlikely that the Pakistanis, Yemenis, Bosnians, Saudis, Afghans, Chinese and at least seven long-term UK residents still imprisoned will be able to strike such deals.
Owners Of Fat Pets Could Be Jailed
Friday, 6 April 2007 2:59 A GMT-05
Owners of fat dogs or cats could face prosecution under the Animal Welfare Act which comes into force tomorrow. The Act, the biggest overhaul of animal welfare legislation for a century, creates a new offence of failing in the duty of care towards a captive animal.
Leave Your Morals at the Border
Thursday, 5 April 2007 2:45 P GMT-05
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court turned down the habeas corpus plea of a Canadian national, captured in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old, because the possible deprivation of his human rights was not conducted on “U.S. soil.” The court, with three judges dissenting, cited a law passed by the Republican-controlled Congress last year that the fate of Guantanamo prisoners will be determined by secret military tribunals outside the purview of U.S. courts.
On The David Hicks Case And The Mainstreaming Of Modern American Insanity
Wednesday, 4 April 2007 7:41 P GMT-05
The worst of the worst? The first "detainee" to be tried? Held for sixty-four months before he could even get a sham hearing, and then sentenced to nine months more? Doesn't he get credit for time served? He's done the nine months already, plus fifty-five more. For what? For being tortured?
Tax protester gets more than 2 years
Wednesday, 4 April 2007 2:50 P GMT-05
A man who contended that he was not required to pay income tax, and whose case led to an indictment against actor Wesley Snipes, was sentenced Tuesday to 27 months in prison.
Scholars file challenges to NIST reports on 9/11
Wednesday, 4 April 2007 12:04 A GMT-05
Some members of Scholars for 9/11 Truth, a non-partisan organization of students, experts and scholars dedicated to exposing falsehoods and revealing truths about 9/11, have filed complaints against the National Institute of Standards and Technology for legal defects in its studies of events of 9/11 involving the Twin Towers and Building 7. James H. Fetzer, the society's founder, believes these actions have the potential to break the back of the cover-up that has enveloped these events. "It would be nice if the government would tell us the truth about our own history," Fetzer said. "But all we get from the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of State and former Secretary of Defense is a 'song and dance' that keeps the American people in ignorance." The complaints have been filed by Ed Hass, who edits The Muckraker Report; Morgan Reynolds, past Chief Economist in the Department of Labor in the Bush administration; and Judy Wood, former professor of mechanical engineering at Clemson University. Reynolds and Wood are both members of the society.
The Pentagon's Crooked "Judicial" Process
Monday, 2 April 2007 6:38 P GMT-05
Why would Crawford secretly circumvent the prosecutors and the judge and negotiate a deal with Hicks’ attorneys behind their backs? After all, isn’t negotiating a plea bargain the job of the prosecutors? Isn’t it the judge’s job to determine whether a plea bargain should be accepted as fair and just? Not in the Hicks case. The deal that Crawford struck with Hicks’ attorneys was final and binding on the prosecutors, the judge, and the military tribunal. Even more unusual were the actual terms of the deal. After the Pentagon had repeatedly said that Hicks was one of the world’s most dangerous terrorists, Crawford agreed to a 7-year sentence, all but 9 months of which will be suspended. That means that after all the hullabaloo about how dangerous and evil Hicks is, he only has to serve 9 months in jail, and he gets to serve them all in his home country of Australia.
A Glimpse Into Government
Saturday, 31 March 2007 5:55 P GMT-05
I’ve written in the past that the White House’s official explanation for the firings of the attorneys – a disagreement over priorities – is actually more disturbing than what the White House is actually being accused of, which is basically abusing the office for partisan purposes, because of what this administration's priorities actually are (foolish pursuits of vicitmless crimes like obscenity cases, Internet gambling, and the mass investigation of people who sell marijuana pipes over the Internet). In addition to its misplaced priorities, this Justice Department has endured allegations of illegal spying and wiretapping, abuse of national security letters, neglecting federalism in its enforcement of drug and death penalty policies, attempting to suspend habeas corpus for terrorism suspects, and all-around contempt for the Constitution. It’s sad, but not terribly surprising, that it would take accusations of excessive partisanship – that is, unfairly using the office to gain a political advantage over the Democrats – to spur the Democrats in Congress to take any meaningful action. Trample on the rights of U.S. citizens, and the Democrats largely look the other way – can’t be seen as soft on crime, or on national security. But trample on the political prospects of Democrats, and the subpoenas fly.
What's Happening at Guantanamo?
Saturday, 31 March 2007 5:02 P GMT-05
Why Should We Care? Talk by Attorneys Doris Tennant and Ellen Lubell Newton lawyers Doris Tennant and Ellen Lubell are pro bono representing a Guantanamo detainee who has been held for five years without charges. They have just returned from their first visit there.
More companies eliminate executive perks
Friday, 30 March 2007 7:53 P GMT-05
With the arrival of new federal rules requiring greater pay disclosure, more companies are eliminating executive perquisites, from country club fees to Book of the Month Club memberships. In the past, the largest perk packages added hundreds of thousands of dollars to executives' total pay. Now, recent regulatory filings show that companies including Fannie Mae and Sunoco Inc. are cutting back.
Drug war discourages honest discussion or rehabilitation
Friday, 30 March 2007 4:07 P GMT-05
I think it's safe to say the turnout at Alcoholics Anonymous meetings would be rather low if alcoholism were a crime pursued with zero-tolerance zeal.
A tale of two cases in US "war on terror": Jose Padilla and Chiquita Brands
Friday, 30 March 2007 3:07 A GMT-05
The defendants in this second case are part of a major multinational operation and admit to funneling millions of dollars abroad to finance a murderous terrorist organization. Yet they were allowed to reach a pre-trial plea bargain that included as the penalty a fine amounting to 0.55 percent of their annual revenue. The organization that financed the foreign terrorists has boasted publicly that its global operations have not been affected in the slightest. What is to account for this apparently gross disparity? The answer is simple. In the first case, the defendant was Jose Padilla, born in Brooklyn and raised in a Chicago ghetto before converting to Islam in prison. In the second, the defendants are multimillionaire executives of a multibillion-dollar US-based transnational corporation with a long history of political influence and a prominent role in US foreign policy—Chiquita Brands International, Inc.
China Returns Fire on US Human Rights Abuses
Thursday, 29 March 2007 12:34 A GMT-05
The authoritarian government in China gleefully responded to the U.S. censure of its policies with return fire on the Bush administration's abysmal record on civil liberties. Things are getting bad when an autocracy chastises a republic for its human rights abuses and the criticism has merit. The Chinese condemned U.S. practices of kidnapping, torture, and indefinite detention without the opportunity for legal challenge. They also pinged the U.S. government for increased spying on American citizens. Of course, these are the same abuses that the U.S. government has criticized the Chinese government of perpetrating. China also cited Martin Sheinin, UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, as saying that parts of the U.S. Military Commissions Act violate the Geneva Conventions.
Cities set limits on serving food to homeless people
Wednesday, 28 March 2007 5:31 P GMT-05
Cities are cracking down on charities that feed the homeless, adopting rules that restrict food giveaways to certain locations, require charities to get permits or limit the number of free meals they can provide. Orlando, Dallas, Las Vegas and Wilmington, N.C., began enforcing such laws last year. Some are being challenged.
Texas governor signs deadly-force bill into law
Wednesday, 28 March 2007 5:18 P GMT-05
Gov. Rick Perry has signed into law an extension of Texans' right to use deadly force in self-defense "without retreat" beyond the home, to vehicles and workplaces. The law – similar to ones in 15 other states – provides civil immunity for killing an attacker under certain types of encounters.
Police chief charged for beating tourist, cops for cover-up
Wednesday, 28 March 2007 5:14 P GMT-05
In the first results of a widespread investigation of misconduct, prosecutors have charged the acting chief of an “out of control” police department in a Fire Island, NY tourist town with stomping a vacationer unconscious for slamming a door after getting a littering fine. The victim was hospitalized with a ruptured bladder and other internal injuries. A trio of officers are charged with failing to get him medical attention and then manufacturing charges to justify the beating.
The War on Drugs Is Really a War on Minorities
Tuesday, 27 March 2007 7:19 P GMT-05
Consider this: According to a 2006 report by the American Civil Liberties Union, African Americans make up an estimated 15% of drug users, but they account for 37% of those arrested on drug charges, 59% of those convicted and 74% of all drug offenders sentenced to prison. Or consider this: The U.S. has 260,000 people in state prisons on nonviolent drug charges; 183,200 (more than 70%) of them are black or Latino.
Why Dick and Nancy Will Never be President via Impeachment
Tuesday, 27 March 2007 7:06 P GMT-05
The main thing is that it is simply not correct that the fear of a Cheney or a Pelosi presidency provides Bush with some kind of insurance against impeachment. The only insurance Bush has against the impeachment he so richly deserves, and that a majority of Americans devoutly wish to see him receive, is a craven Democratic Party leadership, which because of a profound lack of principle, an excess of self-interested political calculation, and an astonishing misreading of the popular will, is going to any lengths to avoid doing what the Constitution demands it to do: impeach a president who poses a clear and present danger to the survival of Constitutional government and the rule of law in America.
The American Ghosts of Abu Ghraib
Tuesday, 27 March 2007 6:17 P GMT-05
This reminded me of my experience in Iraq, where I would hear soldiers discussing their abuse of detainees. It was always cast as a humorous thing, and each recounting won the expected—sometimes forced—laugh. But now I am in Washington, I thought. Has everyone been bitten by the torture bug? I was sickened to watch a senior senator and lawyer flippantly dismiss what happened at Abu Ghraib, and act as though he knew more about the abuses than the people, like me, who were there.
Free Shaquanda Cotton
Tuesday, 27 March 2007 12:02 A GMT-05
I am a 14-year-old black freshman who shoved a hall monitor at Paris High School in a dispute over entering the building before the school day had officially begun and was sentenced to 7 years in prison. I have no prior arrest record, and the hall monitor--a 58-year-old teacher's aide--was not seriously injured. I was tried in March 2006 in the town's juvenile court, convicted of "assault on a public servant" and sentenced by Lamar County Judge Chuck Superville to prison for up to 7 years, until I turn 21. Just three months earlier, Superville sentenced a 14-year-old white girl, convicted of arson for burning down her family's house, to probation.
Texas to review extension of 90% of juveniles' sentences
Monday, 26 March 2007 11:05 P GMT-05
A panel of activists and state officials is to review the records of most inmates in Texas's scandal-rocked juvenile-prison system to determine whether their sentences were unfairly extended. Time has been added to the sentences of about 90% of the inmates, whose advocates claim officials often extended sentences for capricious reasons or in retaliation for filing grievances.
Pilot's Lawsuit Alleges Airliners Rigged With Explosives
Monday, 26 March 2007 4:35 P GMT-05
"The lawsuit, filed last week, claims Boeing Co. and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) can't assure him that B747-400 planes are safe. McConnell, who is the process of seeking an early retirement from Northwest, claims the planes are rigged by Boeing and can be remotely detonated," reports the West Central Tribune .
“I am obligated under company procedures and FAA regulation not to operate an aircraft if I suspect it is unsafe,” McConnell, 57, states in his handwritten claim." McConnell's claims are given credence by a January 2006 speech given by Doug Bain, Boeing senior vice president and general counsel, at Boeing Leadership Meeting in Orlando, Florida.
Gates wanted to close Guantanamo in first weeks: report
Friday, 23 March 2007 5:58 P GMT-05
Soon after becoming defense secretary, Robert Gates argued the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should be closed because the international community would view any trials there as tainted, The New York Times reported on Thursday. Instead, Gates, who became Pentagon chief in December, argued that terrorism suspects should be tried in the United States to make the proceedings more credible, the Times said. Vice President Dick Cheney, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and others argued against bringing detainees into the United States, and the discussion ended when
President George W. Bush agreed with them, the newspaper quoted administration officials as saying.
Chinese Freelance Writer Sentenced To Six Years Imprisonment
Friday, 23 March 2007 5:34 P GMT-05
The Ningbo Municipal Intermediate Court has sentenced freelance writer Li Hong (whose real name is Zhang Jianhong) to six years imprisonment for "inciting subversion against the state." China's state-run Xinhua News Agency released news of this case on the day he was sentenced, March 19. Li's wife, a cousin, and a friend were present in the courtroom during sentencing. The entire session lasted only 20 minutes. Li and his defense attorney, Li Jianqiang, were not given any opportunity to respond to the sentence, but Li indicated that he was going to appeal.
It's Been an 'All Out War' on Pot Smokers for 35 Years
Friday, 23 March 2007 6:01 A GMT-05
Perhaps most troubling, the factor most likely to determine whether or not these citizens serve jail time or not isn't the severity of their "crime," but rather where they live. Today there are growing regional disparities in marijuana penalties and marijuana law enforcement -- ranging from no penalty in Alaska to potential life in prison in Oklahoma. In fact, if one were to drive from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Ore., he or she would traverse more than a dozen jurisdictions, all with varying degrees of penalties and/or tolerance toward the possession and use of pot. Does this sound like a successful national policy?
Why Do Straights Hate Gays?
Wednesday, 21 March 2007 5:11 P GMT-05
What do we do to you that is so awful? Why do you feel compelled to come after us with such frightful energy? Does this somehow make you feel safer and legitimate? What possible harm comes to you if we marry, or are taxed just like you, or are protected from assault by laws that say it is morally wrong to assault people out of hatred? The reasons always offered are religious ones, but certainly they are not based on the love all religions proclaim.
The Right to Self-Defense
Wednesday, 21 March 2007 5:06 P GMT-05
Absolute pacifists who also assert their belief in property rights – such as Mr. Robert LeFevre – are caught in an inescapable inner contradiction: for if a man owns property and yet is denied the right to defend it against attack, then it is clear that a very important aspect of that ownership is being denied to him. To say that someone has the absolute right to a certain property but lacks the right to defend it against attack or invasion is also to say that he does not have total right to that property. Furthermore, if every man has the right to defend his person and property against attack, then he must also have the right to hire or accept the aid of other people to do such defending: he may employ or accept defenders just as he may employ or accept the volunteer services of gardeners on his lawn.
Shssh! Don’t Tell Americans How We Treat “Enemy Combatants”
Wednesday, 21 March 2007 3:40 P GMT-05
The government is doing everything it can to prevent the American people from learning what the U.S. military did to Padilla during his three years of pre-trial confinement. In fact, U.S. officials are doing the same thing with respect to “enemy combatants” that the CIA has been holding for years in its secret overseas prisons. They say the prisoners should not be permitted to reveal what the CIA has done to them because to do so would threaten “national security.” Meanwhile, the American people are walking through all this with an ambivalent numbness. Frightened after 9/11 over the prospect that “the terrorists” were coming to get them, many Americans were either silent or supportive when U.S. officials assumed the most powerful dictatorial tool possible — the power to arbitrarily take people into custody, torture them, and even execute them after a kangaroo proceeding. What never occurred to many Americans was that the military would have the authority to exercise this dictatorial power on them.
From the Mind That Brought You Torture
Tuesday, 20 March 2007 5:53 P GMT-05
The Gonzales imbroglio is another reminder of this president’s propensity to appoint hacks to high public office so long as they pass his loyalty litmus test. We’ve known this for years, too—heck-of-a-job Michael Brown at FEMA is merely the most famous. So it’s doubtful the White House will learn from this. The curve is too steep, the stubbornness too deep. It’s really the Senate that shirked its duty when it confirmed Gonzales. The scandal of this attorney general’s tenure is as much theirs as it is his.
Rove in the Docket
Monday, 19 March 2007 11:15 P GMT-05
The firing of the “Gonzales 8” is a perfect opportunity to zero-in on the Justice Department and start tossing bodies on the burn pile. But it’ll take someone with enough brains to figure out what’s really going on and big enough cahones to go for the jugular. That’s how a predator brings down the live-game and that’s what it’ll take to rout the mob bosses at the D.O.J. Anyone who gets squeamish over a little political blood-letting should probably get a job in retail--not government.
Republican Political Mafia and Federal Law
Monday, 19 March 2007 9:08 P GMT-05
Criminal investigations of Republican politicians are slowed to a snail pace by politicized appointees in case after case like the New Hampshire phone jamming scandal. The federal prosecutor who convicted California Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham for corruption was unjustly fired. The federal prosecutor who would not prosecute phony vote fraud charges against Democrats in New Mexico, in time for the 2006 elections as demanded by Republican politicians, was fired.
Leahy Intends to Subpoena White House Officials
Monday, 19 March 2007 8:18 P GMT-05
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee say the Bush administration needs to be more straightforward about the White House's role in the dismissals of eight federal prosecutors.
Egypt opposition MPs walkout over 'police state' amendments
Monday, 19 March 2007 6:15 P GMT-05
About 100 opposition legislators – almost 1/4 of Egypt's parliament – have walked out in protest over Pres. Hosni Mubarak's proposed constitutional amendments. Mubarak says the “anti-terror” measures are to stress citizenship over religion or ethnicity. But rights groups call the proposals, giving security forces power to detain suspects and restrict public meetings, the "greatest erosion of the people's rights in 26 years" for allowing surveillance of private communications and the presidential bypass of ordinary courts for accused terrorists.
U.S. holds infants, Americans in East African secret prisons
Monday, 19 March 2007 5:33 P GMT-05
At least 150 prisoners, who included men and women of 17 nationalities and children as young as 7 months, were held in Kenya for several weeks before most of them were transferred covertly to Somalia and Ethiopia, where they're being held incommunicado, the groups charge. The transfers, which authorities reportedly carried out in the middle of the night and made public only after a recent court order in Kenya, violated international law, according to the rights groups. They charge that the program is being driven by the United States, which has built a close relationship with Kenya and Ethiopia in the war on terrorism.
Bush Hit-Woman Behind Prosecutor Firings Has Long History of Purges to Protect Bush
Sunday, 18 March 2007 5:01 P GMT-05
Bush's attempt to appoint Hit-woman Harriet to the US Supreme Court in 2005 surprised many. Not me. Miers, personal and governmental lawyer for George Bush, had quite a file on her boss, and he must have been grateful for her discretion. Most crucially, she knew why Bush so desperately needed to give GTech the lottery contract. The heart of the matter was the then-successful cover-up of the Bush family's using its influence to get young George Bush into the Texas Air National Guard and out of the Vietnam war draft.
Gonzales Must Go, and So, Too, the Ideology of the Imperial Presidency
Saturday, 17 March 2007 7:17 P GMT-05
But Gonzales is not just a self-serving political hack. He’s also an ideological hack. Like Cheney, he’s done everything within his power, and a lot of things outside it, to further the agenda of the imperial Presidency, whether that included Bush’s right to violate the “quaint” Geneva Conventions, or to engage in “extraordinary renditions,” or to illegally wiretap U.S. citizens.
Are we experiencing the last days of Constitutional rule?
Saturday, 17 March 2007 5:29 P GMT-05
What explains Bush-Cheney invulnerability to accountability? Perhaps the answer is that Bush has desensitized us. Like kids desensitized to violence by violent video games and movies and pornography addicts desensitized to sex, we have become desensitized by the avalanche of Bush-Cheney crimes, lies, and disdain for Congress, courts, and public opinion. Our elected representatives, if not the American people, now regard as normal such heinous actions as war crimes, the rape of the Constitution, self-serving use of government office, and the constant stream of lies and propaganda from the highest offices of the executive branch.
American Gulag: Petty criminals doing hard time
Saturday, 17 March 2007 5:16 P GMT-05
Somewhere around 10 percent of African American men in their 20s live behind bars. In some states, where a single felony conviction is enough to bar the offender from ever being able to vote again, over one quarter of African American males are disenfranchised. Since 1980, a virtual "prison industrial complex" has arisen, with phenomenal rates of new-prison construction abetted by lucrative construction and prison-guard union lobbies. Several states, including California, spend more on prisons than they do on higher education. Despite dramatically falling crime rates over the last 10 years (which most criminologists attribute more to demography -- there have simply been fewer young men of late), prison populations have continued to soar. As the number of truly heinous crimes has fallen, increasingly it is small- time hoodlums, drug users, and mentally ill people who have been drawing long spells behind bars. America today has five times as many prisoners as it did in 1980.
Pot Prisoners Cost Americans $1 Billion a Year
Saturday, 17 March 2007 5:05 P GMT-05
According to the new BJS report, "Drug Use and Dependence, State and Federal Prisoners, 2004," 12.7 percent of state inmates and 12.4 percent of federal inmates incarcerated for drug violations are serving time for marijuana offenses. Combining these percentages with separate U.S. Department of Justice statistics on the total number of state and federal drug prisoners suggests that there are now about 33,655 state inmates and 10,785 federal inmates behind bars for marijuana offenses. The report failed to include estimates on the percentage of inmates incarcerated in county and/or local jails for pot-related offenses.
A Victory for Self-Defense
Saturday, 17 March 2007 4:36 P GMT-05
Unless and until the Supreme Court says otherwise, it looks as though the District of Columbia's 31-year-old gun ban is history. Good riddance. In a landmark opinion Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed a lower federal court on all counts and concluded that "the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms."
Indentured Servants in America
Friday, 16 March 2007 7:51 P GMT-05
A favorite (and extremely cruel) tactic of employers is the seizure of guest workers' identity documents, such as passports and Social Security cards. That leaves the workers incredibly vulnerable. 'Numerous employers have refused to return these documents even when the worker simply wanted to return to his home country,' the report said. 'The Southern Poverty Law Center also has encountered numerous incidents where employers destroyed passports or visas in order to convert workers into undocumented status.' Without their papers the workers live in abject fear of encountering the authorities, who will treat them as illegals. They are completely at the mercy of the employers.
Anyone Who Believes America is Winning the Drug War Must Be High
Friday, 16 March 2007 3:14 P GMT-05
While politicians fight this war from the comfort of their air conditioned offices, law enforcement officers see things from another perspective. An organization of police officers who oppose the drug war known as Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), conducted a national survey among police officers. The survey found that 95% believe America is losing the drug war. Over 90% believe that treatment and prevention is more effective than incarceration. When asked what would happen if drugs were discriminations or legalized, 30% of the police officers believed there would be no effect or that usage would go down (McNamara, 1995). Based on these statistics, one could imagine the frustration these police officers are dealing with and the morale for fighting on cannot be very high. Retired narcotics officer and LEAP board member, Jack Cole put it this way:
Illegal immigrants are here to stay
Friday, 16 March 2007 3:10 P GMT-05
SUPPOSE YOU LEARN that a New England manufacturer is exploiting its employees, many of them illegal immigrants, with wretched working conditions. It fines them for talking on the job, refuses to pay overtime, and penalizes them for bathroom breaks of more than two minutes, all in addition to low wages, long hours, and squalid facilities. What do you do? Well, if you're the United States government, you send armed agents to haul the workers off in shackles to a military base 100 miles away, then fly scores of them more than 2,000 miles to a holding pen in Texas. You provide the frightened detainees with little information and no access to lawyers. You act so rashly that many of those you seize are separated from their children and can't get word to spouses or babysitters. You display such ineptitude, in fact, that babies end up in the hospital, dehydrated, after their nursing mothers are taken away.
Do You Dubai?
Wednesday, 14 March 2007 9:02 P GMT-05
Halliburton is correct to jump ship to Dubai, a place proud of its independence and freedom of trade, as well as money laundering capacities. The UAE aspires to be the Switzerland of the region, and perhaps replace Switzerland entirely in an age where it is oil, weapons, and drugs, not gold, that constrain, or fail to constrain, the paper dollar.
US officer "upset" Iraqi suspects taken alive, court hears
Wednesday, 14 March 2007 7:14 P GMT-05
A soldier who has pleaded guilty to killing those detainees told the court that he shot them because his squad leader told him to do it after having been reprimanded when he radioed back to base to say he had prisoners to transport. Private William Hunsaker showed little remorse for his crimes, saying he had only agreed to an 18-year sentence because "I got tired of lying to everybody and I didn't want to spend the rest of my life in prison for -- in my eyes -- killing three terrorists."
Bush's New US Attorney a Criminal?
Tuesday, 13 March 2007 10:08 P GMT-05
There's only one thing worse than sacking an honest prosecutor. That's replacing an honest prosecutor with a criminal.
Padilla's ordeal
Monday, 12 March 2007 4:53 P GMT-05
I don't know whether Padilla is guilty. What I do know is that as a U.S. citizen he was entitled to be charged at the time of his arrest, see the evidence against him, have an attorney, and be tried expeditiously — not by the president and his advisers, but by a jury of his peers. We shouldn't allow government to disregard the Constitution in the name of national security. Padilla isn't some inconsequential loner. As an American, he is one of us.
Do You Miss Our Constitution?
Monday, 12 March 2007 4:46 P GMT-05
No previous American law has been as subversive as the Military Commissions Act of 2006
Legal expert: President Bush may have ordered torture of terror suspects
Sunday, 11 March 2007 6:31 P GMT-05
Whose Life Is It Anyway?
Sunday, 11 March 2007 4:13 P GMT-05
University of Virginia student Abigail Burroughs died of head and neck cancer at age 21 on June 9, 2001. She died while fighting to gain access to promising experimental anti-cancer drugs recommended by her oncologist at Johns Hopkins University Hospital. Her father, Frank Burroughs, founded the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs and sued the Food and Drug Administration, arguing that terminal cancer patients have a constitutional right to try to gain access to developmental medicines that the agency has not yet approved. In May 2006, the Alliance won its case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia which ruled that "barring a terminally ill patient from the use of a potentially lifesaving treatment impinges on this right of self-preservation." The Appeals Court sent the case back to District Court to consider if the protected liberty interests of terminally patients outweigh the FDA's interest in insuring the provision of safe and effective drugs. Yesterday, March 1, the full Appeals Court reheard the case at the request of the FDA.
Legal Scholars Question 9/11
Saturday, 10 March 2007 5:42 A GMT-05
Many highly-qualified legal scholars believe that the horrible attacks of September 1, 2001, may intentionally have been allowed to happen or even been actively aided and abetted by elements within the United States government. This is important, since attorneys are good at assessing the strength of competing pieces of evidence, and since lawyers are the ones who will ultimately file any 9/11 prosecutions. A partial list of such scholars includes:
FBI improperly used Patriot Act to gain information on citizens, Justice Department says
Friday, 9 March 2007 7:15 P GMT-05
Senators outraged over the conclusions signaled they would provide tougher oversight of the FBI -- and perhaps limits its power. "I am very concerned that the FBI has so badly misused national security letters," said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee that oversees the FBI. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., another member on the judiciary panel, said the report "proves that 'trust us' doesn't cut it."
Iran arrests 33 at women's rights demo; 700 rally in defense
Thursday, 8 March 2007 7:30 P GMT-05
Iranian police wielded batons on some 700 women's rights activists celebrating International Women's Day in front of parliament and blocked roads to prevent the demonstrators from marching, an activist said. On Sunday, security forces had arrested 33 Tehran demonstrators demanding a fair trial for 5 women charged with "acting against national security" in an "unauthorized" rally to demand equal legal rights for women in the Islamic Republic. Most of Sunday's protesters have been released, but a lawyer said 3 remain in jail.
Cheney's Handwritten Notes Implicate Bush in Plame Affair
Thursday, 8 March 2007 6:45 P GMT-05
Copies of handwritten notes by Vice President Dick Cheney, introduced at trial by attorneys prosecuting former White House staffer I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, would appear to implicate George W. Bush in the Plame CIA Leak case. Bush has long maintained that he was unaware of attacks by any member of his administration against [former ambassador Joseph] Wilson. The ex-envoy's stinging rebukes of the administration's use of pre-war Iraq intelligence led Libby and other White House officials to leak Wilson's wife's covert CIA status to reporters in July 2003 in an act of retaliation.
Guantanamo authorities punish Al-Jazeera cameraman for going on hunger strike
Thursday, 8 March 2007 6:12 P GMT-05
“Al-Haj has been held by the Americans for five years without being charged, in disgraceful conditions and in violation of all international conventions on the treatment of prisoners,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Legitimately but in vain, he tried to assert his rights to the military authorities. While we could not encourage him to pursue a hunger strike, we strongly condemn the fact that he was fed by force.” Reiterating its call for Al-Haj’s release, Reporters Without Borders added: “We hope that the US supreme court, which is again looking at the issue of the Guantanamo detainees, will once more rule that they should be accorded constitutional guarantees.”
N.Y. imam sentenced in terror sting
Thursday, 8 March 2007 5:26 P GMT-05
The former imam of an Albany mosque was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison for his role in a money laundering scheme involving a fictional terror plot set up as an
FBI sting.
"It Can't Happen Here"
Wednesday, 7 March 2007 7:54 P GMT-05
It might be tempting for people to avoid confronting these critical issues head-on by convincing themselves that there really isn’t any great danger to the American people by this post–9/11 assumption of omnipotent military power over the citizenry. There is no need to overreact to the assumption of such power, people might think. Let’s just wait and see how things develop. If it looks like the power is being abused, we can then do something about it. There are big problems, however, with that wait-and-see attitude. One problem is that if circumstances present themselves in which the military is rounding up American “terrorists” and torturing and executing them, the environment of crisis and fear will inevitably silence the populace. In other words, it will be too late to protest because it will be too dangerous to protest. Another problem is that by the time any protests proved to be effective, lots of Americans will have already been tortured and executed.
Libby found guilty in CIA leak trial
Tuesday, 6 March 2007 8:44 P GMT-05
Libby is the highest-ranking White House official to be convicted of a felony since the Iran-Contra scandal of the mid-1980s. The case brought new attention to the Bush administration's much-criticized handling of weapons of mass destruction intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war.
9/11 Truth Has Already Won the Debate
Monday, 5 March 2007 5:32 P GMT-05
Well then, the grossly "criminally negligent" Bush regime should certainly have been in no position to influence the outcome of the investigation into September 11th 2001. Is that an unreasonable statement? Is it common to allow the suspect to initiate his own investigation? (outside of Washington D.C?) President William Jefferson Clinton was impeached for Obstruction of Justice, raising that particular offense to the level of an impeachable high crime. Has the Bush regime obstructed justice in regard to September 11th 2001?
America on its Knees Before Tyranny
Sunday, 4 March 2007 7:57 P GMT-05
If we were to attempt a genuine discussion of the Bush regime, one might formulate the main issues as these: Is the regime legitimate? After all, it took office by what millions recognize was a stolen election enabled by a corrupt Supreme Court and the president's brother's political machine in Florida.
I am not a state secret
Sunday, 4 March 2007 7:11 P GMT-05
The U.S. government does not deny that I was wrongfully kidnapped. Instead, it has argued in court that my case must be dismissed because any litigation of my claims will expose state secrets and jeopardize American security, even though President Bush has told the world about the CIA's detention program, and even though my allegations have been corroborated by eyewitnesses and other evidence. To my amazement and dismay, last May, a federal district court judge agreed with the government and threw out my case. And then Friday, the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision. It seems that the only place in the world where my case cannot be discussed is in a U.S. courtroom.
Internet porn pop-ups cost this teacher her job and her freedom
Sunday, 4 March 2007 9:24 A GMT-05
A teacher faces up to 40 years in jail for exposing her pupils to online pornography, amid an outcry from computer experts that she is the innocent victim of malicious software.
The Pentagon’s Power to Arrest, Torture, and Execute Americans
Friday, 2 March 2007 3:35 P GMT-05
Let me emphasize something important here, especially for libertarians, who have long committed their lives to the achievement of a free society: There is no way — none — to reconcile the assumption of this power with a free society. In fact, it is the most powerful government power of all — the ultimate power that can ever be wielded by a tyrannical government. No infringement on economic liberty — hyperinflation, confiscatory taxation, oppressive regulation, or the like — can compare in significance with the omnipotent power of a government official to arbitrarily pick up anyone he wants for any reason he wants and incarcerate him, torture him, and execute him.
Privatizing the Police Puts Us at Greater Risk
Wednesday, 28 February 2007 5:07 P GMT-05
They wear uniforms, carry weapons and drive lighted patrol cars on private properties like banks and apartment complexes and in public areas like bus stations and national monuments. Sometimes they operate as ordinary citizens and can only make citizen's arrests, but in more and more states they're being granted official police powers. This trend should greatly concern citizens. Law enforcement should be a government function, and privatizing it puts us all at risk.
The Padilla case proves the futility of mistreating prisoners
Wednesday, 28 February 2007 4:44 P GMT-05
That's why it's worth keeping an eye on the proceedings this week in Miami as federal Judge Marcia Cooke tries to determine whether the alleged "dirty bomber"—scratch that—alleged "apartment bomber"—um, scratch that—alleged terror conspirator Jose Padilla is mentally fit to stand trial. What the prosecution now claims almost defies credulity. They contend that Padilla is wholly unharmed—after spending 1,307 days in a 9-foot-by-7-foot cell in a Navy brig in South Carolina, where he says he was, among other things, deprived of sleep, light, sight, sound, shackled in stress positions, injected with "truth serum," and isolated for extended stretches of time. It's better than that. According to the government, Padilla is faking his craziness.
ICJ rules Serbia 'not directly responsible' for genocide
Tuesday, 27 February 2007 7:06 P GMT-05
The UN's International Court of Justice has ruled Serbia was not directly responsible for genocide committed during the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
U.S. Borders: Going-Going-Gone!
Monday, 26 February 2007 3:19 P GMT-05
The SPP is very secretive about the 20 "working groups" it has spawned where bureaucrats from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico are rewriting proposals for our laws, regulations and trade agreements whose ultimate effect would be to create a North American Union. AIM e-mailed the SPP asking where and when the "working groups" were meeting. Who are their members? What rules, laws, regulations, and agreements were they re-writing? What is their content? Trying to penetrate the layers of bureaucracy to get to the SPP office can put one's patience to the ultimate test. Telephone inquiries get the runaround, and e-mail requests for information are ignored. A Commerce spokeswoman did tell investigative author Jerome Corsi the working groups "do not wish to be distracted by calls from the public." That sounds like code language for an attempt to keep it hush-hush as long as possible because they know there would be an uproar otherwise.
America, Now Without the Revolution
Friday, 23 February 2007 6:14 P GMT-05
Let me repeat: the Military Commissions Act destroys the ultimate foundation of liberty, and it transforms the great evil of torture into a State-sanctioned means for treating those designated as enemies of the State by the executive and those who do his bidding, on any basis they choose or on no basis at all.
AT&T Can Continue Hiding Surveillance Secrets
Thursday, 22 February 2007 5:56 P GMT-05
A federal judge in San Francisco ruled Tuesday that evidence will remain sealed in the class-action lawsuit accusing AT&T of collaborating with the government to illegally spy on Americans’ communications.
Judge blocks transfer of Cali. inmates out to private jails
Wednesday, 21 February 2007 9:17 P GMT-05
A state superior court has ruled Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's forcible transfer of up to 5,000 California inmates to Corrections Corporation of America's private out-of-state prisons is illegal, thwarting the governor's only short-term plan to address prison overcrowding. California prisons currently hold approximately 173,000 inmates, with about 17,000 bunking in spaces such as gymnasiums and day rooms.
Audit: Anti-terror case data flawed
Wednesday, 21 February 2007 3:51 P GMT-05
Federal prosecutors counted immigration violations, marriage fraud and drug trafficking among anti-terror cases in the four years after 9/11 even though no evidence linked them to terror activity, a Justice Department audit said Tuesday.
U.S. court rules Guantanamo prisoners cannot challenge their detention
Wednesday, 21 February 2007 3:49 P GMT-05
A U.S. federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the hundreds of foreign prisoners held at the American military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, cannot challenge their detention in U.S. courts. In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said civilian courts in the United States no longer have the authority to consider whether the military is illegally holding the prisoners, as a law passed by Congress last year took away the rights of the prisoners to bring such cases and that hundreds of their lawsuits must be dismissed.
Corporate Globalization Kills
Tuesday, 20 February 2007 8:25 P GMT-05
Globalization is a battering ram for Western corporations. And even when the consequences are literally life or death, companies are eager to utilize the World Trade Organization for their limitless hunger for profits. Take a pending court case in India. It has the potential to adversely affect the health of not only the more than 1 billion Indian citizens but of patients throughout the developing world.
The Real Patriots
Tuesday, 20 February 2007 6:16 P GMT-05
If we could manage to get past the tedious and the odious — like the empty speculation on whether a woman can win, or whether Barack Obama is black enough — we might be able to engage the essential issue facing the U.S. at this point in our history. And that is whether, once the Bush administration has finally and mercifully run its course, the country goes back to being a reasonably peaceful, lawful, constructive force in the world, or whether we continue down the bullying, warlike, unilateral, irresponsible, unlawful and profoundly ineffective path laid out by Bush, Cheney & Co. The question is not so much whether a Republican or a Democrat takes the White House in the next election; it’s whether the American people can take back their country.
Justice for the Forgotten Internees
Monday, 19 February 2007 4:30 P GMT-05
Today, the Day of Remembrance, marks the anniversary of the 1942 signing of Executive Order 9066 -- the document that made it possible to intern thousands of Japanese Americans, German Americans, Italian Americans and Japanese Latin Americans during World War II. Though it is important that we remember what took place, it is more critical that we act, for justice delayed is justice denied. And for the dwindling number of surviving internees who became Americans, such as Cpl. Art Shibayama, justice has been delayed far too long. They deserve our attention, our respect and the official recognition of a country that is willing to heal and to make amends.
Lou Dobbs On The War On (Some) Drugs
Monday, 19 February 2007 4:23 P GMT-05
Addiction, however, is different issue. It’s a medical, or psychological, problem that can only be dealt with through treatment and counseling. And, think of it this way, isn’t it likely that people who are addicted to illegal drugs resist getting treatment because they’re afraid of getting caught ? These people would be addicts whether drugs were legal or not, and the addiction “problem” has no bearing on the issue of when we are going to end the monstrous failure that is the War On Drugs.
To Restore Democracy : First Abolish Corporate Personhood
Sunday, 18 February 2007 7:25 P GMT-05
But the first step, as always, is awakening people to the root cause of the problems we face - the use of corporate personhood by a handful of the world’s largest enterprises to insinuate themselves into governments and seize control of legislative and regulatory agendas. As enough voters learn the history and realize the consequences of this, the solution - ending corporate personhood - will become more and more possible, and Paine’s and Jefferson’s original idea of democracy representing “we, the people” will come back to life.
Rejoinder to Prof. Perlstein on Legalizing Drugs in New Orleans
Saturday, 17 February 2007 8:44 P GMT-05
It was once said of Israel that there was a perfect match between a people without land, and a land without people. To discuss that point would take us way too far afield. But no words could more accurately describe addicts in the U.S., and indeed in the entire world, on the one hand, and the territory of what used to be New Orleans. Perlstein may not appreciate this, but there are acres and acres, no, square mile after square mile, of empty abandoned houses just waiting for people to repair and occupy them. We are in desperate need of new occupants, who would be willing to work, and this describes to a "T" drug addicts no longer in thrall to exorbitant black market drug prices.
US prison population to add 200,000 convicts by 2011: study
Thursday, 15 February 2007 4:35 P GMT-05
The US prison population ballooned eight-fold between 1970 and 2005 and will grow by an additional 192,000 convicts by 2011, according to a new study. The report by the Pew Charitable Trusts said one in 178 US residents will live in prison by 2011 and the increase could cost American taxpayers another 27.5 billion dollars over the next five years in jail spending.
Neo-Nazi rally was organized by FBI informant
Thursday, 15 February 2007 4:32 P GMT-05
A paid FBI informant was the man behind a neo-Nazi march through the streets of Parramore that stirred up anxiety in Orlando's black community and fears of racial unrest that triggered a major police mobilization. That revelation came Wednesday in an unrelated federal court hearing and has prompted outrage from black leaders, some of whom demanded an investigation into whether the February 2006 march was, itself, an event staged by law-enforcement agencies.
Jail for German Holocaust denier
Thursday, 15 February 2007 4:30 P GMT-05
Ernst Zuendel was convicted of 14 counts of inciting racial hatred and for denying that the Nazis killed six million Jews during World War II. He received the maximum sentence under German law which bans Holocaust denial.
The Critical Dilemma Facing Pro-War Libertarians
Thursday, 15 February 2007 4:00 P GMT-05
Today, pro-war libertarians are faced with what is possibly the greatest moral and philosophical dilemma of their lives. No one can deny that we now live in a country in which the president, on his own initiative, has the omnipotent power to send the nation into war against any country on earth, especially given that the war on terror extends all over the globe. The president, the CIA, and the military have the power to take any suspected terrorist — foreigner or American — into custody and torture, abuse, and execute him without due process of law and trial by jury. The president and the NSA have the power to wiretap telephones and monitor emails without a judicially issued warrant. The president, the CIA, and the military have the power to send missiles into cars and drop bombs into buildings anywhere in the world, including right here in the United States, in their attempt to win the war on terror. Indeed, the president wields the power to ignore any constitutional or legislative restraints on his power as a “wartime” commander in chief.
There's NEVER Been A Real 9/11 Investigation
Thursday, 15 February 2007 7:50 A GMT-05
A quick look at the government's investigations into 9/11 reveals that -- not only has there never been a real investigation -- but the behavior of government representatives in willfully obstructing all attempts at investigation comprises evidence of guilt. Specifically, in all criminal trials, evasiveness, obstruction, and destruction of evidence all constitute strong circumstantial evidence that the accused is guilty or, at the very least, not to be believed. 9/11 is no different.
Another rebuke
Thursday, 15 February 2007 6:14 A GMT-05
The Omar case teaches a different lesson. It teaches that the rule of law -- even in times of war -- strengthens national security without handicapping the military. It teaches James Madison's understanding in Federalist 48: "An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others."
Feds To Court: Seize Tax Evader's Property
Thursday, 15 February 2007 5:32 A GMT-05
The Browns were convicted last month of failing to pay taxes on almost $2 million in income and engaging in elaborate schemes to hide it. A jury also ordered the couple to turn over their Plainfield home or Elaine Brown's Lebanon dental office.ed
Ex-Agent Ties Firing to CIA Pressure on WMD
Wednesday, 14 February 2007 3:48 P GMT-05
A federal judge has ruled that a CIA agent identified only as "Doe," allegedly fired after he gathered prewar intelligence showing that Iraq was not developing weapons of mass destruction, can proceed with his lawsuit against the CIA. The judge has ordered both parties to submit discovery requests–evidence they want for their case–to be completed by March 15, according to the CIA agent's lawyer and a spokesman for the Justice Department, which is defending the CIA in court.
High Time for Voting Reform
Tuesday, 13 February 2007 7:05 P GMT-05
For those who despair that it’s way too early to start thinking about the 2008 presidential election—and who doesn’t?—there is a more productive way to spend political effort: Start working to ensure that the vote goes better in 2008 than it has in any election since the catastrophe of 2000. Save for a single Florida congressional district—the one previously held, fittingly enough, by Katherine Harris—the 2006 congressional elections produced clear winners and losers, with relatively few allegations that machine malfunctions or partisan malfeasance changed the outcome. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t machine malfunctions, partisan malfeasance—and a certain chaotic quality to whole affair.
Pakistan rights group: at least 565 women and girls died in honor killings in 2006
Monday, 12 February 2007 6:25 P GMT-05
At least 565 women and girls in Pakistan died in so-called honor killings in 2006, the country's main rights organization said Thursday, nearly double the number it recorded the year before. The sharp increase from 287 in 2005 was due "at least in part" to expanded data collection, the privately funded Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in its annual report. However, it said many more cases may have gone unreported and has estimated in the past that the annual total may be about 1,000.
Panic in Boston
Saturday, 10 February 2007 4:14 P GMT-05
Boston's crazy reaction reinforces the theme I've been sounding in recent columns: Decentralization of authority is always better than centralized power. Imagine if the federal Department of Homeland Security imposed procedures on all cities for when suspicious devices are spotted. The whole country might have come to a standstill.
Bush administration dismisses seven federal prosecutors
Thursday, 8 February 2007 4:30 P GMT-05
A year ago, Carol Lam, the U.S. attorney in San Diego, Calif., was fielding accolades for her successful prosecution of Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the California congressman who pleaded guilty to tax evasion and corruption and was sent to prison for more than eight years. Now, however, she is one of seven federal prosecutors that the Bush administration has removed from office in recent weeks, most for unspecified reasons, as was the case with Lam. The dismissals are unusual and that has prompted several Democratic senators to accuse the White House of taking undue aim at U.S. prosecutors, either to make way for up-and-coming Republicans or even to punish those who aggressively prosecuted friends of the administration. The Department of Justice has strongly denied the allegations, but also has refused to publicly give any reasons for the dismissals.
Emergencies: The Breeding Ground of Tyranny
Thursday, 8 February 2007 3:27 P GMT-05
Another example: the latest version of the USA PATRIOT Act permits lawyers from the U.S. Department of Justice to wiretap business executives in the name of “investigating” antitrust accusations. Since any firm is vulnerable at any time to antitrust “violations,” given the broad nature of antitrust law, it is safe to say that any executive at any time can assume that his telephone may be tapped, in the name of the “war on terrorism.”
Call, Write, Email! Call, Write, Email!
Thursday, 8 February 2007 3:15 P GMT-05
We have critical windows of opportunity to bring the 9/11 truth imperative to two important civil servants who are, it would seem, open to looking at evidence.
Former Guantanamo chaplain wants U.S. Army apology
Thursday, 8 February 2007 2:56 P GMT-05
Capt. James Yee spent 76 days in solitary confinement, much of the time shackled and in leg irons, after accusations of sedition, espionage and aiding the enemy while serving as a Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo Bay. The Army's case against him collapsed at trial, and it eventually wiped his record clean and gave the West Point graduate an honorable discharge.
War objector's court-martial ends in mistrial
Thursday, 8 February 2007 2:34 P GMT-05
The military judge ruled that First Lt. Ehren Watada had unknowingly signed a document that amounted to a confession of guilt. Watada, 28, had faced up to four years in prison if convicted of one charge of missing movements and two charges of conduct unbecoming an officer for his criticism of the war.
The war on drugs: some frontline stories
Wednesday, 7 February 2007 7:11 P GMT-05
In short, it appears that in the current plea bargain environment if you face criminal charges and decide to "sell" somebody the buyer - that is, the prosecution - is more often than not quite willing to pay, and pay handsomely. However, aside from loyalty issues - and not everyone is willing to inform on their friends or associates - there is an issue of access to information. In other words, you may simply not be able to sell anybody because your knowledge of who does what in the criminal world may be limited. The most likely reason for that would be that you were small fish who never got to know anybody of import.
Jailed blogger hits record as supporters rally
Wednesday, 7 February 2007 1:32 P GMT-05
On August 1, Wolf, 24, was jailed for contempt of court for refusing to cooperate with a federal grand jury seeking unpublished footage he shot during a 2005 protest that turned violent. Wolf was released on bail a month later while his appeal was being considered. But a three-judge panel rejected the appeal and revoked bail.
Ex-agent wins lawsuit against FBI
Tuesday, 6 February 2007 5:37 P GMT-05
Records show that she received superior or exceptional job ratings until after her supervisor, Craig Welken, was interviewed in 1999 about a sex-discrimination complaint she had filed the previous year. Her ratings plummeted, which led to a transfer from Minot, N.D., to a desk job in Minneapolis. Jurors decided that the negative job reviews were retaliation for filing the internal discrimination complaint, but that the transfer was not.
US immigration cavity search ends in agony
Tuesday, 6 February 2007 5:18 P GMT-05
US immigration officials insisted the sufferer of an anal infection remove a small piece of medical thread which was being used by doctors to treat the condition. The man required treatment under general anaesthetic as a result.
Next Time, Pull Down the Shades
Tuesday, 6 February 2007 5:35 A GMT-05
Of course, the uniting factor in all of these cases is the fact that the victims had guns in the home. Never mind that the guns were legal. If you're a gunowner, you should be particularly concerned about this militarization stuff. Those weapons give police an excuse to turn the slightest infraction of altercation into a full-on raid. If you're adamant and vocal about your Second Amendment rights, all the worse for you.
Wrong on habeas corpus
Monday, 5 February 2007 4:20 P GMT-05
Considering the state of the world, and the divisiveness in this nation, I am seldom startled these days by news from Washington. But an exception was the appearance of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales at a Jan. 18 hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee in which he stated: "There is no express grant of habeas (corpus) in the Constitution... The Constitution doesn't say every individual in the United States is hereby guaranteed or assured the right of habeas corpus... there's (only) a prohibition against taking it away." This is an astonishing dismissal by our chief law enforcement officer of the oldest fundamental right in Anglo-Saxon law that even precedes the Magna Carta of 1215.
HICKS URGES PHONE CALL TO DA OFFICE
Sunday, 4 February 2007 6:49 P GMT-05
I included my book, and copies of my exclusive report on Atta-pal Wolfgang Bohringer, recently published in Vox Pop's newspaper, New York Megaphone.
It's only at the local governmental level that the people have any hope to redress grievances with an out of control Federal war state. If you agree with this call, then I invite you to help me out.
Number of People Stopped by Police Soars in New York
Sunday, 4 February 2007 7:19 A GMT-05
The New York Police Department released new information yesterday showing that police officers stopped 508,540 individuals on New York City streets last year — an average of 1,393 stops per day — often searching them for illegal weapons. The number was up from 97,296 in 2002, the last time the department divulged 12 months’ worth of data.
Kevin Ryan launches lawsuit, website--ULtruth.com
Sunday, 4 February 2007 6:59 A GMT-05
When I worked there, top management at UL made clear to me that UL performed these required tests. They have since stated that there is “no evidence” that any firm tested the steel. Being tax-exempt, due to their status as a public safety-testing organization, UL should be held accountable for being honest and open with the public about the history of their testing. To help ensure this accountability, I've filed a lawsuit against UL for wrongful termination. My attorneys and I hope to gain more information about UL’s role in the testing of the WTC steel assemblies, and any other involvement UL has had with the WTC towers or the NIST investigation. Since this lawsuit represents a critical need for information about public safety, we invite the public to contribute to our legal defense fund.
Twenty Things We Now Know Five Years After 9/11
Sunday, 4 February 2007 4:46 A GMT-05
Whatever you may think of 9/11, and the extent of involvement of Bush&Co., it's crystal-clear that the events of that tragic day were and continue to be used as an excuse for a wide variety of immoral and illegal actions by the CheneyBush Administration. The radical agenda that was barely on the public's horizon five years ago has since become all too evident, both domestically and in terms of foreign/military policy, which is why so many traditional conservatives are abandoning the extremism of the Republican Party.
Judge says Katrina victims can sue Army Engineers
Saturday, 3 February 2007 5:01 P GMT-05
U.S. District Judge Stanwood Duval rejected the Corps' argument that U.S. law protects federal agencies from lawsuits when flood control projects fail. Duval accepted arguments that the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet was not a flood control project but rather a navigation channel and therefore not exempt from lawsuits.
AG: Deal close to resolve restitution in ad hoax
Saturday, 3 February 2007 10:59 A GMT-05
The attorney general said her office has also begun talks with lawyers for Peter Berdovsky, 27, and Sean Stevens, 28, who pleaded not guilty to felonies on Thursday in Boston Municipal Court. "We have also begun discussions with the attorneys for the two defendants who were arraigned yesterday in connection with the placement of the hoax devices regarding a resolution to the criminal charges," Coakley said.
Reid accused of using raids to push through longer detention limits
Friday, 2 February 2007 6:41 P GMT-05
Tony Blair suffered his first Commons defeat as Prime Minister 15 months ago when a move to bring in a 90-day limit was thrown out by MPs and the Government was forced to settle for 28 days. Although the Home Secretary said yesterday he wanted to achieve consensus over a new limit, he faced immediate protests from MPs of all parties and from civil liberties groups.
Minn. farmer charged after chasing thief
Friday, 2 February 2007 6:10 P GMT-05
A farmer who chased down a thief and held him at gunpoint until authorities arrived now faces a more serious charge than the thief himself. Kenneth Englund, 74, was charged with second-degree assault, a felony. The thief, who the sheriff said admitted stealing about $5 worth of gasoline from Englund's neighbor, was charged with misdemeanor theft.
War Criminals ‘R’ US
Friday, 2 February 2007 4:49 P GMT-05
Why would a military judge refuse to allow an officer to make the case that in refusing an order the officer was following a higher law, which is itself recognized by the military? This seems to be obviously irrational. A judge should be bound by the law, including important provisions of international law that have been incorporated into domestic law. For a judge to refuse to follow the law is beyond reason.
Big, Big Government
Friday, 2 February 2007 4:47 P GMT-05
According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, 11 states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington) have eliminated the penalties for physician-approved possession of marijuana by seriously ill patients. In those states people with AIDS and other catastrophic diseases may either grow their own marijuana or get it from registered dispensaries. But the U.S. government says its drug laws trump the states' laws, and in 2005, the Supreme Court agreed.
Men accused of hoax plead not guilty
Thursday, 1 February 2007 4:54 P GMT-05
The two men accused of plunging metropolitan Boston into a panic with illuminated advertisements for a cartoon pleaded not guilty today in a courtroom packed with supporters and a crush of reporters. The two men smiled broadly throughout much of the brief proceeding as Assistant District Attorney John Grossman described the battery-powered characters as "bomb-like devices." The men, Peter Berdovsky, 27, and Sean Stevens, 28, face charges of placing a hoax device in a way that causes panic and disorderly conduct.
Alleged Beheading Terror Plot In UK Foiled
Thursday, 1 February 2007 11:23 A GMT-05
Their target was a British Muslim soldier in his twenties who is now under police protection. The soldier, who has not been named, has served with UK forces in Afghanistan. His abduction would have mirrored the kidnappings of the British hostages Ken Bigley and Margaret Hassan by Iraqi insurgents.
An Iron Curtain is Descending: And Most Americans Don't Know
Thursday, 1 February 2007 11:13 A GMT-05
One group, aside from dark-skinned people and Muslims, targeted by the internal checkpoints, are students and other young people. Persons under 18 cannot cross a U.S. border alone, unless they are with a guardian and have notarized letters from a parent, as well as a passport issued in their own name. Persons between 18 and 21 may be questioned about their intention to engage in behavior (sex or drinking or marijuana use) strongly penalized in the U.S., but either decriminalized or lightly punished in Canada. Up until three years ago, unaccompanied persons over 16 were seldom checked--and longer ago, even younger persons could travel alone or with a non-parental adult. Student groups, including bus tour groups, now report very close scrutiny from the U.S. Exit police. Some bus companies now refuse to take groups of students under 21 across U.S. borders because of hassles they face. Gone are the days when an 18 or over driver could skit across from Burlington to Montreal with a car-full of late-teens hoping to taste the more liberal morals up north.
Probe into Boston ad stunt chaos
Thursday, 1 February 2007 11:00 A GMT-05
Police in the US city of Boston are investigating a major American media corporation for causing a security alert that closed bridges and roads. Turner Broadcasting System placed electronic devices with blinking lights around the city as part of a campaign to market a late-night TV cartoon.
Justice to release spy program details
Wednesday, 31 January 2007 6:38 P GMT-05
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Wednesday he will turn over secret documents detailing the government's domestic spying program, ending a two-week standoff with the Senate Judiciary Committee over surveillance targeting terror suspects.
Potshot at Guantanamo lawyers backfires
Tuesday, 30 January 2007 5:15 P GMT-05
Two weeks after a senior Pentagon official suggested that corporations should pressure their law firms to stop assisting detainees at Guantanamo Bay, major companies have turned the tables on the Pentagon and issued statements supporting the law firms' work on behalf of terrorism suspects. The corporate support for the lawyers comes as law associations and members of Congress have expressed outrage at the remarks of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs Charles D. "Cully" Stimson on Jan. 11.
Ex-aide's immunity deal won't be detailed
Monday, 29 January 2007 4:54 P GMT-05
Attorneys for former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby won't know the specifics of former White House press secretary
Ari Fleischer's unusual immunity-from-prosecution deal when Fleischer testifies against their client Monday.
Antiterror cameras capturing crime on T
Monday, 29 January 2007 2:34 P GMT-05
Friday, MBTA Transit Police arrested a 27-year-old man accused of robbing a passenger at gunpoint at the Back Bay station. Such cases have often gone unsolved, officials said, and the arrest would have been far less likely without digital images from a surveillance camera at the station. So far, about a dozen crimes have been solved with help from the cameras, and T police expect many more cases , including those from an investigation into a large ring of robbers.
Fake Terror: Jose Padilla, not so dirty after all - Updated
Sunday, 28 January 2007 8:03 P GMT-05
The question is: a conspiracy to do what? Who is the conspiracy theorist here? The government that jails people for the crime of intending to do something there's no evidence they intended to do? Or those who point out that maybe there's another reason for the arrest, solitary confinement, sensory deprivation, and abuse of Jose Padilla as an 'enemy combatant' who happens to not have engaged in any combat?
Libby case witness details art of media manipulation
Sunday, 28 January 2007 4:08 P GMT-05
A smorgasbord of Washington insider details emerged during the perjury trial of I. Lewis Libby, the vice president's former chief of staff. No one served up spicier morsels than Cathie Martin, Vice President Dick Cheney's former top press assistant . Martin described the craft of media manipulation -- under oath and in blunter terms than politicians like to hear in public.
Mother and Sister of Entrapment Victim Released; Father Still Detained Without Charge or Hearing
Saturday, 27 January 2007 10:17 P GMT-05
Their son and brother, entrapment victim Shahawar Matin Siraj, now also known as a "convicted terrorist", was sentenced to 30 years in prison on January 8th, following his arrest in August of 2004. In an astonishing coincidence, the other three members of his family were arrested the morning after the sentence was handed down.
Prosecutors want Holocaust denier jailed
Saturday, 27 January 2007 7:43 P GMT-05
Prosecutors asked a court Friday to give a man the maximum sentence of five years in prison for persistently denying the Holocaust. In his closing argument, prosecutor Andreas Grossmann called Ernst Zundel a "political con man" from whom the German people must be protected, widely quoting from his writings, which argue that millions of Jews did not die at the hands of the Nazis.
Police blasted on 'chase' policy
Saturday, 27 January 2007 12:24 P GMT-05
A mother has hit out at police who refused to go after thieves who stole her sons' motorbikes - because the pair were not wearing helmets. Pauline Nolan, from Droylsden, Greater Manchester, said officers told her they could not pursue the offenders in case they fell off and sued them.
Canada to apologize to Arar, pay compensation
Saturday, 27 January 2007 4:17 A GMT-05
Arar, who says he was repeatedly tortured during the year he spent in Damascus jails, had initially sued Ottawa for C$400 million, a figure he later cut to C$37 million. Separately CTV said Ottawa would also pay Arar's C$2 million legal bills.
Maine revolts against digital U.S. ID card
Friday, 26 January 2007 6:24 P GMT-05
Maine lawmakers passed a resolution urging repeal of the Real ID Act, which would create a national digital identification system by 2008. The lawmakers said it would cost Maine about $185 million, fail to boost security and put people at greater risk of identity theft.
Our view on security and civil liberties: No court order needed
Friday, 26 January 2007 4:58 P GMT-05
National Security Letters have their origin in the 1970s as exceptions to laws that bar companies from divulging their customers' data. After 9/11 and the passage of the USA Patriot Act, their use greatly expanded. These letters — which government agencies can use to demand or request information about people's phone, credit and banking records — have a number of troubling features. Chief among them are that they can be issued without judicial review and that their recipients are subject to a gag order.
In Cheney's world, we all report to the military
Friday, 26 January 2007 4:48 P GMT-05
Under the claim that terrorism is a ubiquitous threat, the military has embroidered an unwarranted and dangerously expansive view of its own authority. The New York Times found that administrative subpoenas known as national security letters, which are issued internally with no court review, have been used since 9/11 to collect financial information in up to 500 investigations. Which means that thousands of such letters have probably been issued for personal banking and credit data. The military says all this is okay because the letters it issues are noncompulsory. You know, all those banks volunteered their customers' private information.
Outrageous Injustice
Friday, 26 January 2007 3:10 P GMT-05
When he was a senior in high school, he received oral sex from a 10th grader. He was 17. She was 15. Everyone, including the girl and the prosecution, agreed she initiated the act. But because of an archaic Georgia law, it was a misdemeanor for teenagers less than three years apart to have sexual intercourse, but a felony for the same kids to have oral sex.
The Plame-gate Plot Thickens
Thursday, 25 January 2007 6:28 P GMT-05
Two other unnamed officials who traveled with Bush on a state visit to Africa in July 2003 reportedly encouraged a Time magazine correspondent to ask about the circumstances behind Wilson’s trip, pointing him in the direction of Plame. At the top of the operation to counter Wilson were Bush, who approved the partial release of a CIA National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq’s WMD, and Cheney, who dispatched Libby to meet with reporters.
Dropping like flies: Resignations of U.S. attorneys raise suspicion of politically motivated Justice Department purge
Thursday, 25 January 2007 6:21 P GMT-05
In the past year 11 U.S. attorneys have resigned their positions, some under pressure from their Justice Department superiors and the White House, even through they had commendable performance records. Democratic senators are concerned that the high turnover is linked to an obscure, recently passed provision of the Patriot Act. The provision allows the Bush administration to fill vacancies with interim prosecutors for the remainder of the president's term without submitting them to the Senate for confirmation. Previously, interim appointments were made by a vote of federal judges in the districts served by the outgoing U.S. attorneys.
Wal-Mart to pay $33M for OT violations
Thursday, 25 January 2007 5:49 P GMT-05
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will pay more than $33 million in back wages to thousands of employees after turning itself in to the Labor Department for paying too little in overtime, according to an agreement announced Thursday by the U.S. Labor Department. Wal-Mart said the department's review of its overtime calculations also found it had overpaid about 215,000 hourly workers during the last five years. The company said it will not seek to recover any overpayments.
Paramilitary Assault Teams Terrorizing America
Thursday, 25 January 2007 5:23 P GMT-05
The ultimate goal of the paramilitary assault teams, many of whose numbers across the country will be boosted when troops arrive back from Iraq, is mass gun confiscation on the scale that we saw during Hurricane Katrina, where everyone from 80-year-old grandmothers to rich mansion owners in the dry areas had their weapons seized. Soldiers in Iraq have been trained to carry out door to door raids and have been utilized for this function thousands of times. Alex Jones has attended numerous military urban warfare training drills across the U.S. where role players were used to simulate arresting American citizens, confiscating their weapons, and taking them to internment camps. Actors scream out that they have constitutional rights as they are handcuffed and hauled off to the detainment facility.
Panama's Noriega set to be released
Wednesday, 24 January 2007 11:17 P GMT-05
'As much as Noriega may be celebrating his early release, the truth is it's a celebration for naught,'' said former U.S. Attorney Guy Lewis, who tried his case along with prosecutors Richard Gregorie and Michael ''Pat'' Sullivan. ``He's been convicted in absentia on murder charges in Panama, and he's been convicted in absentia on money-laundering charges in France. ''The real question is not whether he will be released from custody,'' said Lewis. ``The real question is will he be turned over to the Panamanians or the French to continue his prison sentence?''
What it Meant When Abortion Was Illegal
Wednesday, 24 January 2007 8:43 P GMT-05
My father was a complex person who was difficult to know. He didn't become my hero until several years after his death in 1992, and for me, that carries all of the regrets that go with insight coming too late. He was muscular and strong, an outdoorsman and a hunter -- a man's man. The one and only time I saw him cry, I was a sophomore in high school. His lack of control was both a shock to me and a life-altering experience where my feelings for him changed in an instant. He became human. Dad was just home following his efforts to save a 16-year-old girl who had developed a raging infection from a "botched abortion." She was a student at the neighboring school so I didn't know her, but he knew her well.
DA: Young mother botched abortion with ulcer medication
Wednesday, 24 January 2007 8:36 P GMT-05
Instead of aborting the 24 to 25 week-old fetus, however, Amber Abreu gave birth to 1 1/4-pound baby girl. The infant, who was named Ashley, died four days later, prosecutors allege. Abreu pleaded not guilty today in Lawrence District Court to "procuring an improper miscarriage," a charge that could carry up to seven years in state prison. She was ordered held on $15,000 cash bail.
The Trial of Dick Cheney
Wednesday, 24 January 2007 8:30 P GMT-05
In answer to all those who have written me, over the years, disdaining my hope that this trial would ever reveal anything about the inner workings of the War Party and their crimes, claiming that "they" would put a stop to it before anything of value saw the light of day, I have to say: you were wrong. The republic is not doomed: its defense mechanism is working, even if it took a while to rev it up.
So pull up a chair, kick back, and get out the refreshments: it's not just Scooter and his boss who are in the dock. The War Party is on trial in Judge Walton's courtroom, and the odds are damn good that they'll get the verdict they so richly deserve.
No Man Is Above The Law - Except Cheney
Wednesday, 24 January 2007 7:26 P GMT-05
So what kind of "threats" does the military consider worthy of investigating? How about the Quakers or the Rhode Island Community Coalition for Peace? A new report by the American Civil Liberties Union documents nearly 200 incidents where the Pentagon accumulated and maintained in its "threat" database the activities of peace groups in the United States. The Defense Department has said it was a mistake to keep tabs on the plans of nonviolent protesters. Still, the ACLU had to sue to compel the department to disclose the extent of what it had done.
The Empire Turns Its Guns on the Citizenry
Wednesday, 24 January 2007 4:59 P GMT-05
Surveying the deplorable situation, the National Law Journal concluded: "Criminals have been turned into instruments of law enforcement, while law enforcement officers have become criminal co-conspirators."
Our Soviet Attorney General
Wednesday, 24 January 2007 4:51 A GMT-05
Gonzales is about as serious about protecting the U.S. Bill of Rights as the Soviets of the old USSR were about protecting the rights of citizens there. No, scratch that. Gonzales is worse than the Soviets and the Chinese. The Chinese and the Soviets at least said the rights existed, even if they regularly violated them. Gonzales denies their existence. Moreover, agents of the Soviet state bear less moral culpability because they feared for their own lives and safety if they didn’t violate the rights of citizens. Gonzales has no such pressure on him to violate our rights.
Terror watch on Mecca pilgrims
Monday, 22 January 2007 11:41 P GMT-05
THE intelligence agencies are monitoring every Muslim who travels from Britain to Mecca on pilgrimage in a wider effort to piece together intelligence on suspected Al-Qaeda terrorist activity.
Diary of a Guantánamo Attorney
Saturday, 20 January 2007 6:56 P GMT-05
I fell into the world of Guantánamo in October 2005. The Chicago Council of Lawyers had organized a luncheon discussion on the legal issues surrounding the infamous detention facility at the U.S. naval base in eastern Cuba. I received an e-mail thanking me for my attendance (I should have gone but didn’t) and asking for volunteers to represent the nearly 200 known unrepresented prisoners at the base. I had assumed that I was well-informed about our criminal president and his assault on the rule of law; it never occurred to me that four years after being captured (and more than one year after the Supreme Court affirmed their right to hearing and counsel) individuals were still being held without legal representation. I replied to the e-mail, offering my services.
The Law That Never Was -- The Fraud of Income & Social Security Tax
Saturday, 20 January 2007 6:53 P GMT-05
After serving time in federal prison for not paying his United States income taxes, Bill Benson still does not pay income taxes and yet our federal government chooses not to arrest him. Why? Because now he can use this book, which he has written : 'THE LAW THAT NEVER WAS' in his defense. To this day, Bill Benson proclaims, just as loudly, that he will not pay an unjust and corrupt federal income tax.
Feinstein claims White House using Patriot Act to oust prosecutors
Saturday, 20 January 2007 6:22 P GMT-05
Senator Dianne Feinstein is claiming that the White House has taken advantage of the Patriot Act to oust the top prosecutor in coastal Northern California and other federal prosecutors. The California Democrat complained on the Senate floor that the Bush administration has used a provision of the Patriot Act to remove U-S Attorney Kevin Ryan and other prosecutors and replace them with White House allies.
Blame criminals, not the guns that stop them
Saturday, 20 January 2007 6:14 P GMT-05
Measures that prevent law-abiding citizens from exercising their Second Amendment rights will only empower criminals and increase the vulnerability of law-abiding citizens. The answer to violent crime is stiffer penalties for people whose criminal actions place society in danger. Ultimately, we must stop blaming guns for violence, as they are simply tools that are used regularly to aid the innocent against vicious attacks.
UCLA Taser victim sues university
Saturday, 20 January 2007 6:02 P GMT-05
The UCLA student who received a righteous tasering at the hands of the university's campus police officers has decided to sue for "unspecified monetary damages", Associated Press reports.
The Grand Jury
Saturday, 20 January 2007 5:58 P GMT-05
Citizens often mistakenly believe that because the grand jury meets at the courthouse it is under the judiciary or because the grand jury meets with a prosecutor it is under the executive branch. It is actually an independent institution adopted by the founders to protect the individual from prosecutorial misconduct. In the early 20th century a grand jury used their power to investigate and indict the mayor of Minneapolis and force the police chief to resign. Under the leadership of foreman Hovey C. Clarke, the Minneapolis grand jurors paid private detectives out of their own pockets to investigate corrupt officials. When the county prosecutor refused to do his duty, Clarke dismissed him and took over the role of prosecutor. Much has changed in last 100 years.
Wife makes a deal; husband digs in
Friday, 19 January 2007 8:29 P GMT-05
Judge Steven McAuliffe agreed to postpone the couple's trial for another day to allow prosecutors to calculate how much they expect Elaine Brown to pay in back taxes and penalties, including a prison term, as part of the deal. According to her lawyer, Brown and the government have agreed on the "substance and extent" of her criminal liability. Ed Brown did not join her, choosing instead to remain at their Plainfield home, where he said he is preparing for an armed standoff with U.S. Marshals. "As for me, give me liberty or give me death," he said to one of his supporters on the phone yesterday, quoting Patrick Henry.
Pentagon, Banks ‘Collaborating’ in Records-Sharing Program
Friday, 19 January 2007 6:06 P GMT-05
Especially after passage of the USA PATRIOT Act in 2001 – which loosened what privacy watchdogs say were already weak financial privacy laws – banks likely cannot be held liable for disclosing records to Defense Department or intelligence officials, even when those officials do not have a warrant.
MSNBC: New Pentagon detainee manual could lead to executions based on 'hearsay evidence'
Friday, 19 January 2007 3:20 A GMT-05
As required by law, the manual prohibits statements obtained by torture and "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" as prohibited by the Constitution. However, the law does allow statements obtained through coercive interrogation techniques if obtained before Dec. 30, 2005, and deemed reliable by a judge.
Pentagon Drafts Rules for Detainee Trials
Friday, 19 January 2007 2:23 A GMT-05
The Pentagon has drafted a manual for upcoming detainee trials that would allow suspected terrorists to be imprisoned or put to death using hearsay evidence and coerced testimony.
Truck driver sentenced to life in prison
Friday, 19 January 2007 2:13 A GMT-05
Tyrone Williams, 36, was convicted last month of 58 counts of conspiracy and harboring and transporting immigrants. A jury deliberated for a little more than 5 days before deciding to send Williams to prison without the possibility of parole for each of the immigrants who died from dehydration, overheating and suffocation in his truck during the 2003 trip from South Texas to Houston.
Bush Seizes Control Over State Militias
Thursday, 18 January 2007 7:53 P GMT-05
Over objections from all 50 governors, Congress in October changed the 200-year-old Insurrection Act to empower the hand of the president in future stateside emergencies. In a letter to Congress, the governors called the change "a dramatic expansion of federal authority during natural disasters that could cause confusion in the command-and-control of the National Guard and interfere with states' ability to respond to natural disasters within their borders."
Secret Court to Govern Wiretapping Plan
Thursday, 18 January 2007 3:35 A GMT-05
"As a result of these orders, any electronic surveillance that was occurring as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program will now be conducted subject to the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court," Gonzales wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press. "Accordingly, under these circumstances, the President has determined not to reauthorize the Terrorist Surveillance Program when the current authorization expires," the attorney general wrote.
America's Unverifiable Election Results - The Case for A Return to 'Open Voting'
Thursday, 18 January 2007 12:08 A GMT-05
Under our current system of voting, it is virtually impossible to detect vote fraud. Things weren't always this way.
Journalist on Hot Seat in Court-Martial Case
Wednesday, 17 January 2007 11:49 P GMT-05
“If Olson and Kakesako respond to these subpoenas by testifying, they will essentially be participating in the prosecution of their source,” wrote Hannah Pakula and Larry Siems of the PEN American Center in a January 5 letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates. “Such a role compromises their objectivity and can have chilling effects on the press.”
Gonzales raps 'activist' judges
Wednesday, 17 January 2007 11:47 P GMT-05
“We want to determine whether he understands the inherent limits that make an unelected judiciary inferior to Congress or the president in making policy judgments,” Gonzales says in the prepared speech. “That, for example, a judge will never be in the best position to know what is in the national security interests of our country.”
Another Pentagon smear
Wednesday, 17 January 2007 4:27 P GMT-05
Congress's new Democratic majorities should repeal the law passed last year that denies detainees their habeas corpus right to challenge their continued detention. That, like the right to counsel, is another mainstay of the American legal system that must not be a victim of the war on terror.
Terror suspect was terrorized in a Navy brig
Wednesday, 17 January 2007 4:07 P GMT-05
``It is my opinion that as the result of his experiences during his detention and interrogation, Mr. Padilla does not appreciate the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him, is unable to render assistance to counsel, and has impairments in reasoning as the result of a mental illness, i.e., post-traumatic stress disorder, complicated by the neuropsychiatric effects of prolonged isolation.'' On Friday, the federal judge postponed Padilla's trial from Jan. 22 to April 16 to allow the prosecution time to arrange its own examination of Padilla's mental state.
Reject torture - and redeem America's soul
Wednesday, 17 January 2007 3:59 P GMT-05
What could push the debate about torture into the public square is the 2008 presidential campaign. Imagine the transformation that would occur if White House hopefuls went on record stating their strong objection to American torture:
Libby on Trial
Wednesday, 17 January 2007 7:24 A GMT-05
One of the great mysteries of l'affaire Plame is why the Bushies lashed out so severely at Ambassador Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame, by exposing her CIA connection and effectively ending her career. After all, there were plenty of internal government critics who opposed the rush to war, including in the CIA, and they were never "outed" or otherwise rendered professionally disabled. Why pick on Plame?
Why is Marijuana Illegal?
Wednesday, 17 January 2007 7:10 A GMT-05
Anslinger was essentially the first Drug Czar. Even though the term didn't exist until William Bennett's position as director of the White House Office of National Drug Policy, Anslinger acted in a similar fashion. In fact, there are some amazing parallels between Anslinger and the current Drug Czar John Walters. Both had kind of a carte blanche to go around demonizing drugs and drug users. Both had resources and a large public podium for their voice to be heard and to promote their personal agenda. Both lied constantly, often when it was unnecessary. Both were racists. Both had the ear of lawmakers, and both realized that they could persuade legislators and others based on lies, particularly if they could co-opt the media into squelching or downplaying any opposition views.
Secular fundamentalists are the new totalitarians
Tuesday, 16 January 2007 8:41 P GMT-05
There's an aspiring totalitarianism in Britain which is brilliantly disguised. It's disguised because the would-be dictators - and there are many of them - all pretend to be more tolerant than thou. They hide alongside the anti-racists, the anti-homophobes and anti-sexists. But what they are really against is something very different. They - call them secular fundamentalists - are anti-God, and what they really want is the eradication of religion, and all believers, from the face of the earth.
Awad Hamid al-Bandar
Tuesday, 16 January 2007 3:55 P GMT-05
Awad Hamid al-Bandar, who has been hanged aged 60, was perhaps unique in being the first judge in history to be executed for running a sham trial. The charges against him arose out of an incident in 1982 when gunmen fired at Saddam Hussein's motorcade as it entered the Shia village of Dujail, 40 miles north of Baghdad. Security agents immediately rounded up and interrogated about 1,500 men.
At the time Bandar was deputy head of Saddam's private office; the following year he became chief of Iraq's revolutionary court and charged 148 Dujaili males, including an 11-year-old boy, with plotting assassination. The court ultimately answered to Saddam, required minimal proof of evidence and lacked any appeal facility. Bandar was in charge of the the institution until 1990.
Martin Luther King Family Still Convinced Assassination Was Conspiracy
Tuesday, 16 January 2007 5:18 A GMT-05
"On December 8, 1999, the jury reached a verdict which really revised history's judgment about this murder," said Clark of the conclusion that Jowers had hired another man, not Ray, to murder King on April 4, 1968. "The official story, until that point, and still the official story, is that James Earl Ray, alone and unaided, a bitter white man, killed Martin Luther King," said Clark. "In fact, [Ray] was a patsy in that case and was in jail almost 30 years exactly, until his death."
New Law Could Subject Civilians to Military Trial
Tuesday, 16 January 2007 12:01 A GMT-05
Private contractors and other civilians serving with U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan could be subject for the first time to military courts-martial under a new federal provision that legal scholars say is almost certain to spark constitutional challenges.
'Enemy Combatant' Languishes in a South Carolina Brig
Monday, 15 January 2007 8:47 P GMT-05
Government Surveillance a Troubling Growth Trend, Say Anti-War Activists
Monday, 15 January 2007 7:21 P GMT-05
But Krayeske and some others tell a different story. Krayeske says he was taking pictures of other dignitaries when he rode over to catch a shot of the governor. He was able to snap a picture of her smiling before he was grabbed by police. Witnesses said Krayeske's behavior was not out of the ordinary, and they confirmed that he was taking pictures when he was surrounded by police. According to his attorney, Norm Pattis, Krayeske was surprised by their approach but did not struggle. He was put in handcuffs immediately, Pattis said.
Man aims to become licensed hemp farmer
Monday, 15 January 2007 6:41 P GMT-05
Last month, the state Agriculture Department finished its work on rules farmers may use to grow industrial hemp, a cousin of marijuana that does not have the drug's hallucinogenic properties. The sturdy, fibrous plant is used to make an assortment of products, ranging from paper, rope and lotions to car panels, carpet backing and animal bedding. Applicants must provide latitude and longitude coordinates for their proposed hemp fields, furnish fingerprints and pay at least $202 in fees, including $37 to cover the cost of criminal record checks.
Kevin Ryan Starts Legal Defense Fund
Monday, 15 January 2007 6:37 P GMT-05
When I worked there, top management at UL made clear to me that UL performed these required tests. They have since stated that there is “no evidence” that any firm tested the steel. Being tax-exempt, due to their status as a public safety-testing organization, UL should be held accountable for being honest and open with the public about the history of their testing.
To help ensure this accountability, I've filed a lawsuit against UL for wrongful termination. My attorneys and I hope to gain more information about UL’s role in the testing of the WTC steel assemblies, and any other involvement UL has had with the WTC towers or the NIST investigation. Since this lawsuit represents a critical need for information about public safety, we invite the public to contribute to our legal defense fund.
U.S. Moves To Bring Accused 9/11 Plotters To Trial
Monday, 15 January 2007 6:15 P GMT-05
The Bush administration has set up a secret war room where it is assembling evidence to prosecute high-ranking Qaeda suspects, including the accused mastermind of the September 2001 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, government officials said this week. The effort to sift the classified files of the Pentagon, FBI, CIA and other intelligence agencies amounts to the first concrete steps that the government has taken to press ahead with war crimes trials of high-level terror suspects under a plan announced by President George W. Bush in a speech last September.
Patrick proposes new fee on criminals
Monday, 15 January 2007 4:23 A GMT-05
Leslie Walker, executive director of Massachusetts Correctional Legal Services, which represents inmates, said about 85 percent of convicted criminals in Massachusetts earn less than $11,000 a year at the time of their convictions. In prison, only about 10 percent of inmates work, earning $1.50 a day. "While this may sound logical initially," Walker said of the proposed fee, "most defendants are indigent and are already assessed a number of fees. Those who are sent to prison have to pay to see doctors, and get haircuts, and who ends up paying? Their families."
Pentagon, Wall Street Journal Attack Lawyers for Guantanamo Detainees, Raise Specter of Financial Penalties for Law Firms
Monday, 15 January 2007 4:19 A GMT-05
The Bush Administration, having trouble winning its detainee cases in court, is now trying to tar and feather the lawyers for the detainees. And it is asking corporate America to boycott law firms that defend the detainees.
Sticking it to low-skilled workers
Saturday, 13 January 2007 7:00 P GMT-05
Legal wage minimums kill all kinds of entry-level jobs, particularly those that would teach young people basic work habits and the benefits of effort. That's why there are no kids cleaning your windows at gas stations or working as ushers at movie theaters. Those jobs are extinct now because they are worth less than the legislated minimum. Who is helped by that?
Official Attacks Top Law Firms Over Detainees
Saturday, 13 January 2007 4:04 P GMT-05
“We have a senior government official suggesting that representing these people somehow compromises American interests, and he even names the firms, giving a target to corporate America.”
Crime lab mishandled DNA results
Saturday, 13 January 2007 3:40 P GMT-05
The administrator, whom officials would not name, also told police and prosecutors that tests in an unspecified number of cases linked DNA recovered at crime scenes to suspects, when in fact they had not, Colonel Mark F. Delaney, superintendent of the State Police, said in a statement. As a result of an internal investigation Delaney launched in mid-November, the administrator has been placed on paid leave, and the State Police has brought in the FBI to conduct an independent audit of DNA testing procedures at the crime lab.
New Coulter Voter Fraud Docs: Police Report Says TWO Third Degree Felonies, One Misdemeanor May Have Been Committed by GOP Darling
Friday, 12 January 2007 4:44 P GMT-05
Added to the previously known allegations of Voter Fraud when Coulter used her realtor's address instead of her own on her Voter Registration Application, is the allegation by the Palm Beach Police Department that Coulter seems also to have given that same, incorrect address when applying for a drivers license after moving to the tony Sunshine 'hood where her fellow GOP propagandist, Rush Limbaugh, has recently had his own troubles following the rule of law. The allegation concerning Drivers License fraud would be yet another third degree felony, according to the Palm Beach Police Department report!
Jury: Punitive damages in Katrina case
Thursday, 11 January 2007 9:39 P GMT-05
A jury on Thursday awarded $2.5 million in punitive damages to a couple who sued State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. for denying their claim after Hurricane Katrina, a decision that could benefit hundreds of other homeowners challenging insurers for refusing to cover billion of dollars in storm damage.
Six Britons to go on trial over London bomb plot
Thursday, 11 January 2007 7:11 P GMT-05
Six Britons go on trial next week accused of attempting to bomb London's transport system in July 2005, two weeks after suicide bombers killed 52 commuters in the capital in Britain's deadliest peacetime attack by militants. The six men are charged with planning to set off explosives on three underground trains and a bus on July 21, sparking panic in a city reeling from the suicide bombings a fortnight earlier.
Paper: 'Blood and oil; How the West will make a killing on Iraqi oil riches'
Wednesday, 10 January 2007 11:42 P GMT-05
"Supporters say the provision allowing oil companies to take up to 75 per cent of the profits will last until they have recouped initial drilling costs," the article continues. "After that, they would collect about 20 per cent of all profits, according to industry sources in Iraq. But that is twice the industry average for such deals."
Innocents at Gitmo
Wednesday, 10 January 2007 5:34 P GMT-05
And there is this revealing information: "This 86 percent of the detainees captured by Pakistan or the Northern Alliance were handed over to the United States at a time when the U.S. offered large bounties for capture of suspected terrorists." The captives in these mass roundups were hardly screened carefully for their terrorist connections by the bounty hunters -- nor were they carefully screened, according to international law criteria, by our armed forces.
SJC: Paralyzed man can sue bars that served him
Wednesday, 10 January 2007 5:22 P GMT-05
The Supreme Judicial Court on Tuesday rejected claims by Robert Nunez that two North Shore establishments knowingly served him when he was already intoxicated, but the court allowed him to sue for negligence for serving a minor.
Kilmeade: OK to Threaten to Shoot Man in Traffic Stop
Tuesday, 9 January 2007 9:57 P GMT-05
Brian Kilmeade, who admitted Tuesday that he's "no genius," endorsed the idea of police threatening to shoot drivers during routine traffic stops. "To me, that's perfect," he said. With video. Kilmeade, one of the co-hosts of "Fox and Friends," was discussing a story Tuesday (January 9, 2007) dealing with a Rhode Island highway patrol officer who stopped a van which had not used a turn signal when changing lanes.
Feds push for Internet records
Tuesday, 9 January 2007 6:50 P GMT-05
The FBI, without a court order, can send a letter to any Internet provider ordering it to maintain records for an investigation, said Kevin Bankston, an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that promotes free speech and privacy on the Web. "There's been no showing that mass surveillance of all Internet users, mandated by the government, is necessary for law enforcement," Bankston said. "If this passes, there would be a chilling effect on free speech if everyone knew that everything they did on the Internet could be tracked back to them."
Senator asks Bush to explain signing statement that gives President authority to open mail without warrant
Tuesday, 9 January 2007 6:49 P GMT-05
The following letter, acquired by RAW STORY, was delivered to President Bush Monday, in response to an article published in the NY Daily News which revealed that Bush had written into a "signing statement" that the President could open Americans' mail.
Battling Deportation Often a Solitary Journey
Monday, 8 January 2007 11:13 P GMT-05
In immigration courts, there are judges and prosecutors, evidence and witnesses. The consequences can be great: banishment, separation from family, perhaps persecution at home. But unlike in criminal courts, the government does not provide free lawyers for the poor. And in what court officials deem a great concern, a growing number of people in immigration court have no legal counsel: Of more than 314,000 people whose cases ran their course in fiscal 2005, two-thirds went through on their own, or pro se.
Texas Prison Camp Future American Gulag?
Monday, 8 January 2007 8:55 P GMT-05
Suspicions will undoubtedly be cast as to whether the facility in Tyler is part of a wider agenda to set up a network of internment camps that will be used to forcibly detain American citizens under emergency provisions. The pretext for this was set in the summer of 2004, when thousands of protesters in New York for the Republican National Convention were forcibly detained, some for over 24 hours, without charge in an asbestos infested disused bus facility known as Pier 57, or "Guantanamo on the Hudson" as other labeled it.
Tortured in the death chamber
Monday, 8 January 2007 8:43 P GMT-05
LETHAL INJECTION was introduced following the reinstatement of capital punishment three decades ago by a state medical examiner in Oklahoma who had no experience in pharmacology or anesthesia, nor did any research on the subject. Despite this, 37 out of 38 states that use the death penalty adopted the untested procedure, claiming that it was a more “humane” way to put someone to death. A recently released Human Rights Watch study “found no evidence that any state seriously investigated whether other drugs or administration methods would be ‘more humane’ than the protocol it adopted.” As a coauthor of the study commented, prison officials “are more concerned with appearances than with the reality.”
Who benefits from escalating chaos in Iraq?
Monday, 8 January 2007 8:25 P GMT-05
We get into trouble by not following the precepts of liberty or obeying the rule of law. Preemptive, undeclared wars fought under false pretenses are a road to disaster. If a full declaration of war by Congress had been demanded as the Constitution requires, this war never would have been fought. If we did not create credit out of thin air as the Constitution prohibits, we never would have convinced taxpayers to support this war directly from their pockets. How long this financial charade can go on is difficult to judge, but when the end comes it will not go unnoticed by any American.
Ex-Guantanamo inmate to join protest outside prison camp
Monday, 8 January 2007 7:40 P GMT-05
A former Guantanamo inmate and relatives of other detainees plan to demonstrate next week outside the US "war on terror" prison in Cuba to call on Washington to shut down the facility. Asif Iqbal, who for "years" was held at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay and finally released without being charged, will be the first ex-prisoner to protest at the site, organizers of the demonstration told AFP.
Bush "signing statement" claims power to read Americans' mail without warrant
Monday, 8 January 2007 7:21 P GMT-05
This is part of a pattern, a Bush-Cheney habit of ignoring the Constitution. And it's grounds yet again for immediate impeachment, arrest, and imprisonment of George W Bush, Dick Cheney, and Alberto Gonzales.
'Here we are prisoners'
Monday, 8 January 2007 6:51 P GMT-05
"Those who control Nuevo Laredo control the U.S. highways and the flow of narcotics into the United States," said Sheriff Rick Flores, whose Webb County territory runs along the Texas-Mexico border. "This city is an open gateway for narcotics and terrorists," Flores said. "If the price is right, anyone - and I mean anyone - can move weapons of mass destruction, people and drugs into the United States." Not one local Mexican or U.S. newspaper reported the April street violence. Reporters don't go into Nuevo Laredo's streets often, and when they do, they don't report on the cartels. Not one Nuevo Laredo municipal police officer ever appeared at the scene, either. It was as if the bloodbath never happened.
FBI Documents Reveal Nixon, Reagan Intimidated Rehnquist Witnesses, and Detail the Late Chief Justice’s Addiction to Painkillers
Saturday, 6 January 2007 6:50 P GMT-05
Newly released FBI documents reveal dramatic details about former Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s two confirmation battles and his 1981 hospitalization and dependence on a painkiller. The documents show that both the Nixon and Reagan administrations ordered the monitoring of witnesses set to provide testimony critical of Rehnquist during his 1971 and 1986 confirmation process.
Let There Be Peace
Saturday, 6 January 2007 5:19 P GMT-05
When I talk to citizens about my husband's case, and explain his reasons and mine for supporting him, they respond with a lack of understanding, disbelief that conscientious objection is even possible in a volunteer military. Have we lost sight of our conscience? Could this be why we continue to struggle to achieve peace?
Extortion in Port Chester
Saturday, 6 January 2007 5:17 P GMT-05
A case out of Port Chester, N.Y., illustrates the danger. In 1999 the Village of Port Chester and the development firm G&S Port Chester agreed to embark on a $100 million 27-acre redevelopment project in which dilapidated buildings would be torn down in favor of stores, a movie complex, and other amenities. Under the agreement the Village government gave G&S sole authority to obtain properties in the project area both through negotiation and eminent domain. Only G&S can build there, and any profits from the project belong to the developer. (See the Christian Science Monitor story here.) This smells bad enough already, but it gets worse because Bart Didden, who owns property that is partly in the project area, wants to build a CVS drugstore. The local Village planning board said okay, but under the redevelopment agreement G&S has veto power. Rather than vetoing the plan, however, G&S made Didden an offer: You can build your store if you fork over $800,000 or make G&S a 50 percent partner.
WH/Secret Service "Quietly" Signed Agreement Restricting Visitor Files From Public
Saturday, 6 January 2007 12:56 P GMT-05
The White House and the Secret Service quietly signed an agreement last spring in the midst of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal declaring that records identifying visitors to the White House are not open to the public.
The Bush administration didn't reveal the existence of the memorandum of understanding until last fall. The White House is using it to deal with a legal problem on a separate front, a ruling by a federal judge ordering the production of Secret Service logs identifying visitors to the office of Vice President Dick Cheney.
New Guantanamo charges seen by February
Saturday, 6 January 2007 12:00 P GMT-05
Hundreds of foreign captives have been held as suspected terrorists without trial and mostly without charges since the prison at a U.S. Naval base on Cuba opened nearly five years ago in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Air Force Col. Moe Davis, the chief prosecutor, said in a telephone interview that pretrial hearings could resume in March, but he added: "I don't see us getting to trial on the merits until some time this summer."
Conduct Charges Might Help Watada's Defense
Friday, 5 January 2007 11:46 P GMT-05
"The wholesale slaughter and mistreatment of Iraqis is not only a terrible and moral injustice, but it's a contradiction to the Army's own law of land warfare," he said during one interview cited by prosecutors as evidence. "My participation would make me party to war crimes." The judge, Lt. Col. John Head, told prosecutors that he was not inclined to grant the evidentiary hearing, but "they opened the door for him allowing it by prosecuting his statements." "It would not be relevant," he said. "Some of those statements have become relevant by the sheer nature of how the government has charged this case."
Two lawyers indicted in $150G shakedown scam
Friday, 5 January 2007 8:38 P GMT-05
The indictment accuses John M. Cicilline and Joseph A. Bevilacqua Jr. of pressuring a Rhode Island couple arrested on federal drug trafficking charges to give them the money in exchange for promises to negotiate a more lenient sentence with federal prosecutors. The indictment – which also charges two paralegals – says the lawyers promised John and Jacqueline Mendonca that they would tell prosecutors that the couple had provided ``substantial assistance’’ in the investigation of other drug cases. The lawyers then allegedly misrepresented the couple as being the source of useful information to federal authorities.
U.S. Army war resister's lawyer says Army is attempting to silence his defense
Friday, 5 January 2007 6:14 P GMT-05
"They're claiming that the only real issue is whether or not an order was given to Lieutenant Watada, which he refused to carry out and whether he made certain statements to the media," Eric Seitz said Tuesday, two days before a pretrial hearing at Fort Lewis, Washington. First Lt. Ehren Watada's court martial is set to begin Feb. 5 at Fort Lewis. He refused to deploy to Iraq on June 22 with his Fort Lewis-based unit because he believes the war in Iraq is illegal.
A judge at the pretrial hearing will decide some of the parameters of the trial, including whether Watada's opposition to the war could be included in his defense.
9/11 hijacker friend to be sentenced on Monday
Friday, 5 January 2007 4:39 P GMT-05
Mounir El Motassadeq, a member of a group of radical Arab students in Hamburg who organized the 2001 attacks in which nearly 3,000 people died, faces up to 15 years in prison. Germany's top appeals court in Karlsruhe had in November found Motassadeq guilty of abetting the murder of 246 passengers and crew who died on four planes that crashed on September 11, 2001.
US-Ordered Rush Job
Friday, 5 January 2007 4:32 P GMT-05
Dujail? Here is a man who began his career in power in the late 1960s by exterminating the entire (mostly Shia) leadership of the communist party in Iraq, went on to launch an invasion of Iran in 1980 that cost up to half a million lives, massacred his own Kurdish population in 1987 and 1988 when some of its leaders sided with the Iranians, invaded Kuwait in 1990, and massacred Iraqi Shias in 1991 when they rebelled against his rule at the end of that war. And they hanged him for Dujail?
Young Girl Facing Charges After Wetting Pants
Friday, 5 January 2007 4:07 P GMT-05
A 12-year-old special education student in Montour County was charged with disorderly conduct after authorities said she deliberately wet her pants at school.
2006: The Year America Died
Wednesday, 3 January 2007 5:16 A GMT-05
2006 was the year that the United States died. Over the course of a year, just a few seconds in the span of a country, it's civilization and their way of life, we have witnessed the premature death of America. The underpinnings, the basic canons and the tenets of the United States, as well as it's physical borders, are gone. But they can be brought back. The problem is denial. You cannot put something right until you identify it as a wrong. The New World Order has won a major victory, but because the country is made up of living tissue, each and every one of us out there, every man woman and child, it can rise from the dead. We can revive the country by passing electricity through its heart.
Adolf Eichmann and Saddam Hussein
Wednesday, 3 January 2007 4:52 A GMT-05
History and justice. The two go hand in hand. To deny one is to diminish the other. History and justice. It is our responsibility to record, to pursue and to preserve. The rest is irrelevant. Now back to Saddam Hussein. What a colossal mistake. What injustice.
The Perils of Emergency Power
Tuesday, 2 January 2007 5:32 P GMT-05
In the last 15 years, the U.S. government has proclaimed international emergencies in order to justify boycotts against Haiti (1991–1994, because of a military coup), Liberia (2001–2004, because of human-rights violations), Sierra Leone (2001–2004, because of human-rights violations), and Libya (1986–2004, because of terrorism sponsorship). On its face, to claim that there is an international emergency because some sub-Saharan government is trampling its people’s rights is absurd. This is practically the job description of most of the governments in that part of the world. Yet issuing this label permits presidents to strut around and act as though they have a magic wand to inflict justice upon the world. IEEPA allows the feds to prohibit all trade and levy heavy penalties on Americans who buy and sell from people of whom U.S. politicians do not approve.
Government may not need warrant to search your e-mail
Tuesday, 2 January 2007 5:29 P GMT-05
The EFF, the ACLU of Ohio, and the Center for Democracy and Technology all filed a brief with the appeals court siding with Warshak. They point out that Americans need strong privacy protection for email since it is now used "every day for practically every type of personal business."
Maine Man Takes on Bush's Domestic Surveillance: Demanding Answers, Defending Privacy
Tuesday, 2 January 2007 5:07 P GMT-05
Under the heading, "Request for commission investigation," Cowie questioned whether Verizon Communications Inc., the state-regulated provider of local phone service in Maine, was cooperating with the National Security Agency in warrantless domestic wiretapping and the agency's data-mining program.
Why I Object to Testifying Against Lt. Watada
Tuesday, 2 January 2007 4:43 P GMT-05
Lieutenant Watada continues to report for duty at Fort Lewis in the state of Washington while awaiting a February 2007 court-martial on one charge of “missing movement” and four charges of “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.” Each of the latter four charges is based entirely on political speech. If convicted on all charges, Lieutenant Watada could spend up to six years in prison.
The Most Merciful Death is Baby Death
Tuesday, 2 January 2007 4:35 P GMT-05
You can point the finger at many, many people for the tragedy that was Alyssa’s life. But you want to know who I blame? That fucking pro-lifer nurse.
For Guantanamo Review Boards, Limits Abound
Monday, 1 January 2007 7:24 P GMT-05
As the hearing concluded, the detainee, who cannot be identified publicly under military rules, had a question. He is a citizen of Pakistan, he noted. He was arrested on a business trip to Thailand. On what authority or charges was he even being held? “That question,” a Marine colonel presiding over the panel answered, “is outside the limits of what this board is permitted to consider.”
After a sinister year, it's down to us to protect our freedoms
Monday, 1 January 2007 7:21 P GMT-05
What I hope has been gained in the dark hours of 2006 was an understanding of the preciousness of liberty and our democratic institutions. At the beginning of the year, I was astonished how little MPs understood about so many measures passed by their own house. Knowledge of the Inquiries Act or the Civil Contingencies Act, both of which reduce parliamentary scrutiny, was hard to come by. No more than one in 10 MPs could have told you how, using the Courts Act together with the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act, the government swept away a 400-year-old common law, which guaranteed that an Englishman's home was his castle and that no bailiff could break in to collect civil debts. That kind of ignorance among legislators is not nearly so common now. Labour MPs are beginning to see that many of the laws passed in the last nine years persecute those who are least able to defend themselves, the very people that Labour has traditionally championed.
Unskilled truckers rampant
Monday, 1 January 2007 7:16 P GMT-05
At one point the federal government tallied up 15,000 licenses nationally that it believed were obtained under suspicious circumstances. But it didn't have any details from the states on nearly 7,000 of those drivers. They have become highway ghosts, beyond detection and potentially dangerous. "As a result, unskilled drivers could be operating commercial vehicles on the nation's highways, creating significant risks for death, injury and property damage," said a report last February from the U.S. Transportation Department's Office of Inspector General. A hurdle facing the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the agency that oversees trucking safety, is its belief that it cannot force states to locate drivers with suspicious licenses.
Former Saddam judge says execution violates Iraqi law
Monday, 1 January 2007 6:01 P GMT-05
Rizkar Mohammed Amin, who later resigned as the trial's chief judge, said Iraqi law banned executions during the Eid al-Adha festival period that marks the end of the annual Hajj pilgrimage. The four-day Feast of the Sacrifice began for Iraqi Sunnis on Saturday -- the day Saddam was hanged in Baghdad -- and on Sunday for Shiites.
US Buries the Truth: Saddam's Execution Eliminates the Main Witness against Accomplices
Sunday, 31 December 2006 10:08 P GMT-05
So long as Saddam was killing and torturing people America and Britain did not like, he was "our SOB." But when Saddam grew too big for his britches and invaded Kuwait, he went from being the West's regional bullyboy to devil No. 1. Once he touched the West's oil in Kuwait, he was marked for death.
Bush Gang Swore Saddam Was Behind 9/11 In Lawsuit
Sunday, 31 December 2006 7:16 P GMT-05
Where Were the Mass Graves?
Sunday, 31 December 2006 6:40 P GMT-05
Please spare me the nonsense about how the Iraqis are a sovereign government and they were running the trial and we had nothing to do with it. Saddam did cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people when he started a war with Iran. That didn't get brought up much in the trial. I am sure the fact that United States supported him in that war and Don Rumsfeld sold him weapons to use in that war was not a factor at all as to why that was not emphasized in his trial ... run by the Iraqis. Remember starting a war of aggression is the highest war crime. And Saddam clearly started one with Iran, let alone Kuwait. But then we're not in a very good position to talk about wars of aggression anymore.
A Show Trial and a Show Execution
Sunday, 31 December 2006 6:33 P GMT-05
With all the support of the United States government, with massive resources and access to the best legal advice in the world, with all the lessons of the past, Iraq has a legal system that delivers no better justice than that of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. This is the ugly legacy of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq: An awful mess of a country that cannot even get the trial and punishment of deposed dictator right, a justice system that schedules the taking of life for political and propaganda purposes, a thuggishly brutal state that executes according to whim rather than legal standard.
Bush - Nazi Dealings Continued Until 1951 - Federal Documents
Saturday, 30 December 2006 1:04 A GMT-05
After the seizures in late 1942 of five U.S. enterprises he managed on behalf of Nazi industrialist Fritz Thyssen, Prescott Bush, the grandfather of President George W. Bush, failed to divest himself of more than a dozen "enemy national" relationships that continued until as late as 1951, newly-discovered U.S. government documents reveal.
Neocons Endanger the Sixth Amendment
Friday, 29 December 2006 6:58 P GMT-05
“Israel doesn’t conduct our criminal procedures, and there is no reason why a defendant’s rights in court should be determined by Israeli criminal procedure,” Richard Friedman, a 6th Amendment expert, told the Los Angeles Times.
We have lost drug war
Friday, 29 December 2006 4:34 P GMT-05
The reality is that our efforts have led to a more efficient drug trade and a hugely profitable drug market. Every year, we're spending about 70 billion to fight this war. Every year we are arresting 1.6 million people - mostly young people - for non-violent drug offenses, thereby clogging our courts. Our prison system has quadrupled in the past 20 years, making building prisons in America the fastest growing industry. There are over 2 million prisoners in the United States, which means we who make up 5 percent of the total global population, now have 25 percent of the world's prisoners. Significantly, although African Americans account for only 12 percent of the U.S. population, 44 percent of all prisoners in the United States are African Americans. Violent crime is not responsible for the quadrupling of the incarcerated population since 1980. The single greatest force behind the growth of the prison population has been the war on drugs.
Would You "Support the Troops" in Bolivia?
Thursday, 28 December 2006 5:46 P GMT-05
What about conscientious-objector status? Wouldn’t that relieve the soldier from participating in the attack on Bolivia? No, because under military rules conscientious-objector status applies only if a soldier objects on moral or religious grounds to all war. A soldier is not permitted to gain conscientious-objector status if he happens to object to a particular war as being illegal, unjust, or immoral.
What will they ban next week?
Wednesday, 27 December 2006 4:32 P GMT-05
The food prohibitionists don't understand that there are ways to influence people's behavior without resorting to coercion -- remember, coercion is the essence of government. The public fuss about harm from trans fats has already induced many food makers to remove them. It's suddenly become a competitive advantage to boast that your products are trans-fat-free. Such voluntary action is the best way to move toward healthier food. Why isn't that good enough for the prohibitionists? Why must they enlist the iron hand of government?
Does Prison Harden Criminals? Yes.
Tuesday, 26 December 2006 9:48 P GMT-05
In prison, one learns from peers how to be a better criminal, makes criminal contacts and also acquires a pemanent record that severely inhibits the possibility of future employment. The conservative argument is that the unpleasant experience of prison serves as a useful deterrent and discourages released prisoners from committing more crime. Both of these frameworks would predict that the effects of incarceration would be amplified by harsher, more restrictive prison conditions.
The Deadbeat Dad Myth
Tuesday, 26 December 2006 8:55 P GMT-05
The system right now is failing children on so many levels it’s hard to determine who is to blame. On one hand, I’d like to blame the Fathers. If this were happening to women, they’d be writing letters, organizing marches, and voting new people into office. Say what you will about women, but bitches can organize. Fathers seem to be rolling over and dying, but then again, can you blame them? Turning your life into a war zone for a child you’ve barely gotten time to bond with who may just end up hating you anyway seems like a foolish and daunting task.
US soldier who disputed Iraq war legality released early from military prison
Tuesday, 26 December 2006 8:22 P GMT-05
Former US Army Sergeant Ricky Clousing, a paratrooper and interpreter who disputed the legality of the war in Iraq, was released Saturday from a military prison where he was serving a three-month sentence after pleading guilty to going absent without leave for 14 months. Clousing was released 15 days early for good conduct and is headed home to Washington state.
Why Is Genarlow Wilson in Prison?
Tuesday, 26 December 2006 7:19 P GMT-05
After a wild New Year’s Eve party, six Douglasville teens found themselves charged with child molestation under a legal technicality. The boy who refused to take a plea now faces a decade behind bars.
Army Targets Truthout for Subpoenas in Watada Case
Tuesday, 26 December 2006 7:03 P GMT-05
Captain Dan Kuecker, the Fort Lewis, Washington-based Army prosecutor, has stated his intent to compel Ash, Truthout reporter Sari Gelzer, and contributors Dahr Jamail and Sarah Olson to testify at the court-martial of First Lieutenant Ehren Watada. Kuecker is actively seeking the journalists' testimony so he can prove that Watada engaged in conduct unbecoming an officer, directly related to disparaging statements the Army claims Watada made about the legality of the Iraq War during interviews with Truthout and his hometown newspaper, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, in June.
Parole board member says FBI tried to intimidate him
Tuesday, 26 December 2006 6:02 P GMT-05
Two of those men, Joseph Salvati and Peter Limone, spent more than 30 years in prison for the murder of Edward "Teddy" Deegan before being exonerated in 2001 when the Justice Department released documents showing the FBI withheld evidence from prosecutors that could have cleared the men so the agency could protect Vincent "Jimmy" Flemmi, an informant who actually committed the crime.
Court Upholds Death Penalty for Hussein
Tuesday, 26 December 2006 4:27 P GMT-05
An Iraqi appeals court today upheld a death sentence for Saddam Hussein in a decision that clears the way for his execution within 30 days, Iraqi officials said today.
9/11 and the Greenberg Familia
Tuesday, 26 December 2006 1:27 A GMT-05
Given the involvement of the Greenbergs and Silverstein, and other commercial entities that stood to profit hugely, it is difficult to believe 9/11 occurred at the hands of 19 rag-tag Muslims with box-cutters and the help of their leader, Osama bin Laden, sitting in a cave somewhere in Afghanistan with his laptop and dialysis equipment. The real reasons behind 9/11 were financial greed and the willingness to demonize Muslims for the “Pearl Harbor-type” act that would instigate America to wage a war on terror, pursuing PNAC’s (Project for a New American Century) goal of World Hegemony.
Crime about to rise and swamp prisons, warns Blair team
Monday, 25 December 2006 10:29 P GMT-05
A document drawn up by Tony Blair's strategy unit warns that a slowdown in economic growth is threatening to reverse recent falls in crime. It predicts that the jail population could rise by 25 per cent, topping 100,000 within the next five years, and outstripping the planned rate of growth in prison places. It says the Government should consider drastic crime-curbing remedies used abroad, such as rationing the amount of alcohol people can buy, a ban on alcohol advertising, ID chip implants, the use of bounty hunters and "chemical castration" for sex offenders. The 60-page report, Policy Review: Crime, Justice and Cohesion, written last month, also makes controversial observations about social cohesion. In a blow to Labour's record, it speaks of a growing wealth gap, saying: "The very poorest have got poorer since 1997."
Is Racism Real?
Monday, 25 December 2006 9:31 P GMT-05
In the Simpson case, many whites could not understand why blacks would be so suspicious of the police. They did not grasp how differently people of color experience life in this country. They did not understand the enormous inequalities that characterize the way people of color are often treated by police and courts in the United States.
Forgotten Prisoners: The Problem With Our Immigrant Deportation System
Sunday, 24 December 2006 6:15 P GMT-05
Then there's the other Ecuadorian who held the dubious distinction of being the senior member of the 13 men awaiting deportation to their homes all over the world: Senegal, Bulgaria, China, Mexico, Cuba. The money we American taxpayers shelled out to hold Hernan's countryman, $16,800, compares to the annual salary of a minimum wage worker. He was held for 10 months -- a blatant violation of the Supreme Court's decision in Zadvydas v. Davis.
Man speaks out after Sept. 11 acquittal
Sunday, 24 December 2006 6:05 P GMT-05
The 21-year-old community college student, one of hundreds of Muslim men picked up in the frenzied dragnet following the attacks, was whisked to New York to testify as a material witness before a grand jury. That set off a five-year legal ordeal that ended last month with Awadallah's acquittal on perjury charges. He was never accused of involvement in terrorism but was charged with lying about how well he knew one of the hijackers.
Charges against Kan. abortion doc dumped
Sunday, 24 December 2006 6:01 P GMT-05
Most of the 30 misdemeanor counts Kline filed against Tiller involve abortions performed on patients 17 or younger, including a 10-year-old, according to the criminal complaint unsealed Friday in Sedgwick County District Court. Tiller's clinic, known for being one of the few in the country to perform late-term abortions, has been a high-profile target of anti-abortion protesters for decades. The clinic was bombed in 1985, and Tiller was shot in both arms by a protester in 1993. Kline has been investigating whether Tiller and other abortion providers performed illegal late-term abortions in Kansas or failed to report suspected child abuse as required by law.
Ellen Mariani: The Story That Could Have Been Big
Saturday, 23 December 2006 6:26 P GMT-05
Ellen Mariani is suing "Bush et al". One would think that I need not go any further here,- anyone suing the US President, one would think, would get so much publicity that I could hardly stand a chance of being able to add anything of value to it. Unfortunately, that is hardly the case. Most people in the US would probably never know whom you are talking about if you mentioned Mrs Mariani's name to them.
America Has Become Incarceration Nation
Friday, 22 December 2006 9:50 P GMT-05
Drug policies have been responsible for a disproportionate share of the rise in the inmate population, with the 40,000 drug offenders in prison or jail in 1980 increasing to a half million today. A substantial body of research has documented that these laws have had virtually no effect on the drug trade, as measured by price or availability of drugs. Most of the drug offenders in prison are not the "kingpins" of the drug trade. Indeed, the low-level sellers who are incarcerated are rapidly replaced on the streets by others seeking economic gain.
Rape charges dropped in Duke case
Friday, 22 December 2006 9:44 P GMT-05
The district attorney dropped rape charges Friday against the three Duke University lacrosse players after the stripper who accused them changed her story again. But the men still face kidnapping and sex charges that could bring nearly 60 years in prison. A lawyer for one of the men bitterly demanded that District Attorney Mike Nifong drop the remaining counts and accused him of offering shifting explanations of the alleged attack in an attempt to win the case at any cost. "It's now the shifting sands again, the shifting factual theory," defense attorney Joseph Cheshire said. He added: "It is the ethical duty of a district attorney not to win a case, not to prosecute all cases, but to see that justice is done."
Ex-cop plans video on how to hide drugs
Friday, 22 December 2006 6:55 P GMT-05
A promotional video says Cooper will show viewers how to "conceal their stash," "avoid narcotics profiling" and "fool canines every time." Cooper, who said he favors the legalization of marijuana, made the video in part because he believes the nation's fight against drugs is a waste of resources. Busting marijuana users fills up prisons with nonviolent offenders, he said. "My main motivation in all of this is to teach Americans their civil liberties and what drives me in this is injustice and unfairness in our system," Cooper told the newspaper.
America's Injustice System is Criminal
Friday, 22 December 2006 4:46 P GMT-05
In the US the wrongful conviction rate is extremely high. One reason is that hardly any of the convicted have had a jury trial. No peers have heard the evidence against them and found them guilty. In the US criminal justice (sic) system, more than 95% of all felony cases are settled with a plea bargain. Before jumping to the conclusion that an innocent person would not admit guilt, be aware of how the process works. Any defendant who stands trial faces more severe penalties if found guilty than if he agrees to a plea bargain. Prosecutors don't like trials because they are time consuming and a lot of work. To discourage trials, prosecutors offer defendants reduced charges and lighter sentences than would result from a jury conviction. In the event a defendant insists upon his innocence, prosecutors pile on charges until the defendant's lawyer and family convince the defendant that a jury is likely to give the prosecutor a conviction on at least one of the many charges and that the penalty will be greater than a negotiated plea.
Privatized Immigrant Detention Facilities for Families Revealed to be Modern-Day Concentration Camps
Friday, 22 December 2006 4:37 P GMT-05
One of the more disturbing stories that surfaced after the Swift meat plant raids was how too many children were left without a parent and/or farmed out to friends and families with no immediate word on how they will be reconnected with their mami and papi. But if news filtering out of one of the newly designated immigrant detention centers for families is any indication, no undocumented parent is going to open their mouth and claim their children if the whole family is going to be subjected to what is becoming known as the first known concentration camp on American soil in the 21st Century.
Cheney "Resisted Testifying Before The 9/11 Commission Until The Bitter End"
Friday, 22 December 2006 3:50 P GMT-05
Cheney showed little regard for Congress when Republicans were in charge of the House and Senate. And no one expects him to display any more respect for the system of checks and balances now that Democrats are in control. But if the vice president is willing to testify in Libby's trial, then surely Congress has not just the right but the Constitutional duty to suggest that Cheney must also take questions from the Congress.
Man using neighbour's wi-fi faces jail
Friday, 22 December 2006 10:04 A GMT-05
A SINGAPORE teenager faces jail after he admitted illegally connecting to his neighbour's wireless internet network. Garyl Tan Jia Luo, 17, was sentenced under the Computer Misuse Act and could go down for three years.
The War On Toddlerism
Friday, 22 December 2006 12:09 A GMT-05
Nothing emphasizes the decline of America into an authoritarian police state more than the treatment of children as possible enemies, deviants or criminals. A few cases, involving very young children, have caught our attention this month that indicate in the current climate any sniff of power is corrupting absolutely those who believe they have it.
Government's Drug War Fuels Meth Problem
Thursday, 21 December 2006 12:17 A GMT-05
As is often the case with policies aimed at curbing the drug supply, civil liberties were one of the first casualties of the meth hysteria. Several cities and states, for example, quickly made it illegal for businesses to sell customers combinations of ingredients that together, are used to make meth, but that are perfectly legal if bought separately. Sell bhutane, cold medicine, and matches to the same customer, and an unknowing store clerk could well be arrested. These laws effectively deputized private business to begin policing the shopping habits of their customers – never a good idea. The idea has led to some horrific outcomes. In Northwest Georgia, for example, a meth sting ended with the arrest of 49 convenience store clerks for violating the odd new law. The problem is that 47 of the clerks were of Indian decent, and spoke only broken English. When undercover police officers tossed out drug lingo like "cooking up a hit," the clerks had no idea what they were talking about.
Witness: New Orleans cops shot man in back as he ran away - CNN.com
Tuesday, 19 December 2006 7:45 P GMT-05
New Orleans police lined up "like at a firing range" and fatally shot an unarmed man in the back as he fled from them in the days after Hurricane Katrina swept ashore, a witness to the shooting told CNN. It marks the first time a witness has come forward publicly with information about the shooting of Ronald Madison, a 40-year-old mentally retarded man whose death has sparked a police investigation and a grand jury probe into what happened in and around the Danziger Bridge that day.
Cops Caught Stealing Protestors' Cameras
Tuesday, 19 December 2006 7:16 P GMT-05
Flux was not arrested, nor did he receive a receipt for seized property. Without any warning, he was jumped by two police officers, one of whom is an NYPD captain, and knocked down onto the asphalt of 39th Street. A police officer then snatched the camera out of Flux's hands. As Flux attempted to protect himself and his equipment from being trampled and beaten, the cop with the camera conferred with another officer and scurried back into the building to hide the camera.
Fine Print in Defense Bill Opens Door to Martial Law
Monday, 18 December 2006 4:24 P GMT-05
“This provision was drafted without consultation or input from governors,” said the Aug. 6 letter signed by every member of the National Governors Association, “and represents an unprecedented shift in authority from governors . . .to the federal government.” “We urge you,” they said, “to drop provisions that would usurp governors’ authority over the National Guard during emergencies from the conference agreement on the National Defense Authorization Act.”
McCain Bill Is Lethal Injection For Internet Freedom
Saturday, 16 December 2006 9:31 A GMT-05
Comment boards for specific articles are extremely popular and also notoriously hard to moderate. Popular articles often receive comments that run into the thousands over the course of time. In many cases, individuals hostile to the writer's argument deliberately leave obscene comments and images simply to sully the reputation of the website owners. Therefore under the terms of this bill, right-wing extremists from a website like Free Republic could effectively terminate a liberal leaning website like Raw Story by the act of posting a single photograph of a naked child. This precedent could be the kiss of death for blogs as we know them and its reverberations would negatively impact the entire Internet.
Fall in love only with Jews
Friday, 15 December 2006 7:15 P GMT-05
In recent years the state has been trying to make the entry into Israel and naturalization of non-Jews more difficult. Six months ago, the justices of the Supreme Court criticized the amendment to the citizenship law barring any family unification involving Arab Israelis and Palestinians. The petition against the law was denied, but the justices argued that the right of citizens to be in Israel with the partner they choose should not be harmed, and that it is necessary to legislate a new and more flexible citizenship law. The Justice Ministry promised to do precisely that. It turns out that the hope for a more humane law was exaggerated. Now, the Knesset is seeking to extend the temporary citizenship law by another two years, and it will also vote in a second and third reading on the law on illegal aliens, which will prevent the unification of families for those who resided in Israel illegally for as little as a month. In theory, this law is meant to counter illegal immigration; in practice it is another measure for blocking citizenship to those who are not Jews, even if they have family ties with an Israeli.
No release for Guantanamo detainees
Friday, 15 December 2006 7:01 P GMT-05
Of the 435 detainees currently being held at Guantanamo, only 10 have so far been charged with terrorism-related offences. A further 14 detainees – the so-called high value detainees such as Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks – are also expected to face trial now that the US Congress has passed the Military Commission Act, which will finally enable America to commence trials of Guantanamo detainees next year. But of the remainder an estimated 200 detainees face being held indefinitely at Guantanamo because they are deemed a threat to international security even though there is insufficient evidence to bring them before a military commission.
111,000 IMMIGRATION FILES LOST
Friday, 15 December 2006 6:06 P GMT-05
An investigation by a government oversight agency recently revealed that in 2005 U.S. immigration authorities either “lost” or could not account for an estimated 111,000 files on immigrants to the United States, resulting in tens of thousands gaining citizenship without any indication as to whether authorities had checked to see if any of them had a criminal history.
Leahy promises 'real' oversight of FBI
Wednesday, 13 December 2006 7:06 P GMT-05
And he also talked tough about
President Bush's habit of issuing so-called signing statements, in which the president has laid out which parts of laws he has just signed that he will follow and which he won't. Like his predecessor, outgoing committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., Leahy pointed out that Congress can dissuade Bush from issuing more such statements by threatening to withhold funding or blocking his nominations. However, Leahy declined to issue an outright threat.
WHY DID THEY TORTURE JOSE PADILLA?
Wednesday, 13 December 2006 5:00 P GMT-05
For whatever reason the U.S. government did this to one of its own citizens, and whether or not he is guilty of anything, what was done to Padilla should give us all pause. We are now learning that post-9/11 fear resulted in a number of horrendously wrong-headed actions such as the invasion of Iraq that led to that nation's civil breakdown. The Padilla case is about the psychological breakdown of a single man, but it should send a shudder down the spine of every freedom-loving American.
Defending the Indefensible: Torture and the American Empire
Wednesday, 13 December 2006 3:19 P GMT-05
One reason that the Bush Administration can claim with a straight face that the U.S. does not torture is, of course, because all the top members of the Bush White House are world-class liars. The question here is, why? Why are they, first of all, rather openly employing torture? And secondly, what does this fact tell us about what is up with this brave new world of unspeakable horrors so thinly disguised that no one except the misinformed and gullible would believe the cover stories?
"60 Percent Of Ground Zero Workers Sick" PBS News
Wednesday, 13 December 2006 8:27 A GMT-05
December 10, 2006 1,000 Words
Tuesday, 12 December 2006 8:29 P GMT-05
Durham -- and neighboring Raleigh -- have a long, troubled history with botched police raids. Actually, the entire state of North Carolina is pretty bad. Two examples from Durham pulled from the raid map after the break.
Traveler Tracking Program May Violate US Law
Monday, 11 December 2006 7:02 P GMT-05
A US Department of Homeland Security program that compiles data on millions of travelers and determines how likely they are to be terrorists may be operating illegally, according to privacy advocates and some members of Congress. The Automated Targeting System (ATS) gathers travelers’ data from foreign governments, from numerous Customs and Border Protection sources, and from the Passenger Name Record, a controversial system used by the United States and Europe to gather travelers’ information from airlines and travel agencies.
Orlando’s Homelessness Fight Continues
Monday, 11 December 2006 6:26 P GMT-05
The Central Florida American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit last October on behalf of groups that provide meals to homeless people. The lawsuit challenges a city ordinance passed in July that prohibits "large group feeding" in downtown city parks without a permit. It also limits permits for each park to two per year per applicant. The plaintiffs in the case are the First Vagabonds Church of God, a homeless ministry, and Food Not Bombs, a grassroots anti-poverty group that provides free, vegetarian meals in hundreds of public places across the country.
At Guantanamo, America's own show trials
Monday, 11 December 2006 5:50 P GMT-05
The rules state that the detainees will have the right to cross-examine witnesses, but that can be hard when the government doesn't bother to call any witnesses. Not a single government witness was brought forth in any of the hearings the researchers reviewed. Instead, in over half the cases, the U.S. government relied solely on classified evidence that was presumed to be valid. It was evidence that the detainee never got to see or rebut. And even when the government relied on unclassified evidence, the detainees were largely barred from seeing it. In 96 percent of cases, the detainee, who had no lawyer, had to present a defense without hearing any facts upon which his enemy combatant designation was based, beyond a conclusory summary. These men must have thought they were in Stalin's Russia or Mao's re-education camps rather than an American judicial proceeding. Defending yourself without being allowed to see the evidence against you is a neat trick.
Impact of police being sent to Iraq felt on street
Sunday, 10 December 2006 5:47 P GMT-05
The deployment of thousands of police officers to Iraq, Afghanistan and other military reserve posts is costing local law enforcement agencies up to $1.2 billion per year, according to a new analysis of Justice Department data.
Bakiyev wants to revoke troops' immunity
Sunday, 10 December 2006 5:46 P GMT-05
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev on Thursday called for U.S. troops deployed in the former Soviet nation to be stripped of diplomatic immunity after a U.S. serviceman fatally shot a Kyrgyz civilian.
Alexander Ivanov, a 42-year-old fuel truck driver, was shot by an Air Force security forces serviceman Wednesday during a security check at the entrance to the Manas Air Base near the capital of Bishkek, the Interior Ministry said.
Boomerang Effect
Sunday, 10 December 2006 5:20 P GMT-05
Police will not be surprised by this prediction. I have talked with cops about Fourth Generation war, and they “get it” much better than do American soldiers and Marines. Many have told me that they already recognize elements of war in what they are encountering, especially in inner cities. Cops have been killed while just sitting in their cruisers, because they represent the authority of the state. How big a step is it for those cruisers to get hit with IEDs instead of pistol shots? The Bush administration, as usual, has it exactly backwards. The danger is not that the “terrorists” we are fighting in Iraq will come here if we pull out there. Rather, American involvement in 4GW in Iraq will create “terrorism” here from among the people we have sent to fight the war there. Well educated in the ways of successful insurgency, they will come home embittered by a lost war, by friends dead and crippled for life to no purpose. Thanks to America’s de-industrialization, they will return to no jobs, or lousy “service” jobs at minimum wage. Angry, frustrated and futureless, some of them will find new identities and loyalties in gangs and criminal enterprises, where they can put their new talents to work.
A generation is all they need
Sunday, 10 December 2006 5:04 P GMT-05
From this point forward, microchips will become progressively smaller, less invasive, and easier to deploy. Thus, any realistic barrier to the wholesale "chipping" of Western citizens is not technological but cultural. It relies upon the visceral reaction against the prospect of being personally marked as one component in a massive human inventory. Today we might strongly hold such beliefs, but sensibilities can, and probably will, change. How this remarkable attitudinal transformation is likely to occur is clear to anyone who has paid attention to privacy issues over the past quarter-century. There will be no 3 a.m. knock on the door by storm troopers come to force implants into our bodies. The process will be more subtle and cumulative, couched in the unassailable language of progress and social betterment, and mimicking many of the processes that have contributed to the expansion of closed-circuit television cameras and the corporate market in personal data.
Why So Many Black Women Are Behind Bars
Saturday, 9 December 2006 7:36 P GMT-05
More women, and especially black women, are behind bars as much because of hard punishment than their actual crimes. One out of three crimes committed by women are drug related. Many state and federal sentencing laws mandate minimum sentences for all drug offenders. This virtually eliminates the option of referring non-violent first time offenders to increasingly scarce, financially strapped drug treatment, counseling and education programs. Stiffer punishment for crack cocaine use also has landed more black women in prison, and for longer sentences than white women (and men).
Articles of Impeachment Filed Against Bush, In Congress
Saturday, 9 December 2006 6:33 P GMT-05
It is questionable as to how effective this move could be in gaining support because of her reputation as a firebrand congresswoman and because, ultimately, she is on her way out of office. The Congresswoman and her staff realize this but hope that by filing the articles of impeachment it will, at the very least, open up a discussion on whether or not President Bush and key members of his administration have committed impeachable offenses and whether our officials should be held to account.
U.S. Denies Liability in Torture Case
Saturday, 9 December 2006 5:59 P GMT-05
The Bush administration asserted in federal court yesterday that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and three former military officials cannot be held liable for the alleged torture of nine Afghans and Iraqis in U.S. military detention camps because the detainees have no standing to sue in U.S. courts.
Banning Wal–Mart is Bad for San Diego
Saturday, 9 December 2006 5:33 P GMT-05
Wal–Mart is a lightning rod that attracts petty tyrants who attempt to limit the choices of their neighbors. The latest lighting strike occurred in San Diego when the city council voted to essentially ban Wal–Mart Supercenter stores. If implemented, such a ban would be bad for San Diego’s economy and its consumers.
Whose War on Whose Terror? Reclaiming Our Rights
Saturday, 9 December 2006 5:25 P GMT-05
What we are therefore seeing today, then, is not the enactment of law to protect us. On the contrary, at face value, the state is manipulating and abusing the process of law in order to systematically erode, deface and ultimately eliminate the rule of law entirely. And in its place, what is being established is the ability of the state to consolidate policies of social control, to control and intervene in the life of the public at will, with impunity, and without accountability. For now, we can call this process, a process of totalization.
Botched Raids Not Rare
Saturday, 9 December 2006 5:15 P GMT-05
The botched Atlanta raid that ended in the shooting death of 88-year-old Kathryn Johnston was sad and tragic, but unfortunately, it was neither uncommon nor unpredictable.
After taking a year to research and write a paper for the Cato Institute on the proliferation of forced-entry, paramilitary-style raids, I'm sorry to say Johnston is just one of at least 40 innocent people killed in botched raids over the last 20 years in America. Worse, there are dozens more cases of low-level offenders, bystanders —- and police officers killed or injured.
Feds: Man planned to blow up Ill. mall
Friday, 8 December 2006 10:59 P GMT-05
A Muslim convert who talked about his desire to wage jihad against civilians was charged Friday in a plot to set off hand grenades at a shopping mall at the height of the Christmas rush, authorities said. Investigators said Derrick Shareef, 22, an American citizen from Rockford, was acting alone and never actually obtained any grenades. He was arrested Wednesday when he met with an undercover agent in a parking lot to trade a set of stereo speakers for four hand grenades and a gun, authorities said.
Cruel and unusual: Harsh sentence fails the test of justice
Friday, 8 December 2006 7:58 P GMT-05
If an effective life sentence for such a common crime, invoked merely because Angelos was found to be carrying a gun when he was caught selling marijuana to undercover police officers, is not cruel and unusual, it's hard to imagine what would be.
Woman Sentenced for Friend's Cell Call
Friday, 8 December 2006 7:54 P GMT-05
A 23-year-old woman ticketed by police after a friend was talking on a cell phone outside her home following a barbecue has landed in jail for violating the city's noise ordinance. Judge Norene Redmond of 38th District Court last month sentenced Carmen Granata to 30 days in jail after she pleaded guilty to the violation. A petition signed by neighbors complained that the home was the site of frequent parties.
Student Suspended For Refusing To Narc On Friends
Friday, 8 December 2006 7:52 P GMT-05
“The plaintiff was informed that even though it was, in fact, just candy ... McKinney needed another ‘Narc’ for his program and that if the student would not agree to enter said Narc Program that he would be suspended,” the suit reads. After the student and his parents met with school officials and the student refused to cooperate with McKinney’s proposal, he received a 10-day suspension, according to the suit.
Legislators May Reconsider Suspending Habeas Corpus For Detainees
Friday, 8 December 2006 4:29 P GMT-05
The Military Commissions Act of 2006, which Bush signed into law in October, prevents detainees who aren't U.S. citizens from challenging their detentions in civilian courts. But Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who voted for the legislation despite his opposition to stripping such rights from detainees, on Tuesday reintroduced legislation to restore those rights. A similar measure sponsored by Specter failed by three votes in October.
Police Overkill Leaves a Trail of Death
Friday, 8 December 2006 4:10 P GMT-05
Last but not least, police tasered and gunned to death Derek Hale, a decorated 25-year-old U.S. Marine who had served two tours of duty in Iraq, as he sat talking to a woman and two children in front of a house in a Delaware neighborhood. Police swarmed Hale in front of the suspected home of a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang that is notorious for violence and drug offenses. Upon engaging Hale, who was sitting with his hands in his sweatshirt, the officers insisted he place his hands in view. Immediately after that, according to independent witnesses, the police tasered him three times and fired three .40-caliber rounds into his chest, ultimately leading to his death. Hale had no criminal or arrest record in Delaware, and witnesses to the shooting insist that he was no threat to the police. In fact, after police tasered Hale the second time, one of the independent witnesses yelled at the police that what they were doing was “overkill,” to which one of the officers responded, “Shut…up or we’ll show you overkill.”
Rove Says U.S. Can't Keep Illegals Out
Wednesday, 6 December 2006 9:19 P GMT-05
While Rove recited some strong statistics emphasizing increased enforcement on the border, his overall answer suggested the U.S. had no way of keeping illegals out, and therefore, should instead invite them in as part of a guest-worker program. The response from the audience: dead silence. See for yourself.
DAVID HICKS : UNCONVICTED, TORTURED, BROKEN
Wednesday, 6 December 2006 7:58 P GMT-05
This weekend, Australian citizen David Hicks will have spent five years in the torture hellhole that is Guantanamo Bay. Five years, and he still hasn't faced a court to answer the charges levelled against him. Nor is he likely to in the next twelve months.
Lawmakers Still Control FBI Budget while Under Investigation
Wednesday, 6 December 2006 6:02 P GMT-05
The FBI is investigating California Republican Representatives Jerry Lewis and John Doolittle, as well as West Virginia Democrat Alan Mollohan. All sit on the House Appropriations Committee, which controls federal spending bills. Lewis chairs the committee.
Robert Scheer: Becoming What We Despise
Wednesday, 6 December 2006 5:57 P GMT-05
The excuse for this heinous treatment of a U.S. citizen is the same as that given for an entire orgy of despicable treatment of prisoners held in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo and a gulag archipelago of secret military facilities around the world: Our enemies, all linked through sophistry to the 9/11 terror attacks, are so vile and dangerous that the limitations on government power enshrined in our guiding documents and political culture no longer apply. Once the Twin Towers were knocked down, supposedly, we could no longer afford to be “nice guys”—as if the rule of law is an indulgence of only the most secure nations. By that standard, any tyrant can justify the cruelest of actions by citing enemies, real or imagined, be it King George III blockading Boston Harbor to teach the rebellious colonists a lesson or Saddam Hussein killing Kurdish villagers after an assassination attempt on his life. The very uniqueness of our national experiment was the checks and balances put upon the government to prevent such convenient rationalizations for abuse of the individual. The Founding Fathers won a war, but their true contribution to human history was to tackle head-on the reality that humans and their institutions can so easily become that which they despise.
Ten Reasons To Impeach The President
Wednesday, 6 December 2006 5:28 P GMT-05
Remember what Bill Clinton was impeached for when reading the following ten reasons why George W Bush should be impeached.
Fed court to hear 'landmark torture case' against Rumsfeld
Wednesday, 6 December 2006 5:00 P GMT-05
In a press release issued today, the American Civil Liberties Union announces that a "landmark" case against Donald Rumsfeld will be heard in federal court this week. The ACLU and another legal rights organization, Human Rights First, are to appear in court here on Friday "to argue that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is directly responsible for the torture and abuse of detainees in U.S. military custody," says the release.
Judge: No 'Guilt by Association' for Aiding 'Terrorists'
Tuesday, 5 December 2006 6:25 P GMT-05
The ruling does not radically change the administration’s policy. But it does curb the president’s ability to designate supposed terrorists, and protects the plaintiffs from being labeled terrorists for providing basic humanitarian aid. It upholds, however, the US Treasury Department’s general authority to administer a list of global terrorists and block humanitarian services to them.
Botched Paramilitary Police Raids
Tuesday, 5 December 2006 4:04 A GMT-05
An interactive map of botched SWAT and paramilitary police raids, released in conjunction with the Cato policy paper "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids," by Radley Balko.
Trucker convicted in immigrants' deaths
Monday, 4 December 2006 11:37 P GMT-05
A truck driver was convicted Monday in the deaths of 19 illegal immigrants crammed into a sweltering tractor-trailer in the deadliest human smuggling attempt in U.S. history. The jury will return on Wednesday to begin hearing evidence on whether Tyrone Williams, 35, should get the death penalty.
Video Is a Window Into a Terror Suspect’s Isolation
Monday, 4 December 2006 11:19 P GMT-05
Together with other documents filed late Friday, the images represent the latest and most aggressive sally by defense lawyers who declared this fall that charges against Mr. Padilla should be dismissed for “outrageous government conduct,” saying that he was mistreated and tortured during his years as an enemy combatant. Now lawyers for Mr. Padilla, 36, suggest that he is unfit to stand trial. They argue that he has been so damaged by his interrogations and prolonged isolation that he suffers post-traumatic stress disorder and is unable to assist in his own defense. His interrogations, they say, included hooding, stress positions, assaults, threats of imminent execution and the administration of “truth serums.”
Newsweek: Gov't. motion to silence Padilla defense
Monday, 4 December 2006 10:59 P GMT-05
But, as Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball report, the government wants to silence Padilla's attorneys, not allowing them to bring up Padilla's treatment by the government, and not allowing public testimony of any kind, in the name of "national security" (of course). This blatant attempt to turn the U.S. courts into a Star Chamber must be opposed by the new Democratic majority.
On Tape: An 'Enemy' Interrogation
Monday, 4 December 2006 10:33 P GMT-05
Lawyers for "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla claim he is so disoriented from three years of isolation and aggressive interrogations that he is now mentally ill. In new court filings, Padilla's lawyers also assert for the first time that Padilla's interrogations were taped, thereby providing a potentially extensive video record of how the government treated a man once considered a dangerous Qaeda operative.
The House of Death
Sunday, 3 December 2006 9:50 P GMT-05
Lalo's statement, made in Dallas in February 2004, is a record of cruelty and violence, the words of a man who thought himself untouchable because of his relationship with Ice. In the months after Washington decided not to move on Santillan, the garden of the house at 3633 Calle Parsonieros began to fill with bodies. One day in September 2003, 'Santillan called to ask me to bury a guy who had apparently died of a heart attack at the moment he was kidnapped', Lalo's statement says. 'Another execution I remember was on 23 November... Santillan ordered me to have these drug mules meet him in the little Parsonieros house ... Loya [a corrupt police commander] put tape around their heads, but they could still breathe and one of them began to moan loudly, so Loya shot him in the head... but he didn't die immediately.' They were killed because they were careless in their smuggling work.
Terrorist case against Denver family ended
Saturday, 2 December 2006 7:18 P GMT-05
A federal judge on Wednesday declared the end of the government's four-year case against a Denver Pakistani-American family once targeted by the FBI as terrorists.
Bob Gates & Locking You Up Forever
Saturday, 2 December 2006 7:15 P GMT-05
The questions about Gates’s integrity and independence stand out in even sharper relief now because of the enactment of the Military Commissions Act of 2006. The new law empowers the Defense Secretary to create a parallel American legal system, existing outside the protections of the U.S. Constitution. As Defense Secretary, Gates would handpick the military judges and set the rules for administering the system, which was established under a law passed by Congress in September and signed by President Bush on Oct. 17. The law allows the jailing of both “unlawful enemy combatants” and “any person” who allegedly helps them.
FBI taps cell phone mic as eavesdropping tool
Saturday, 2 December 2006 6:27 P GMT-05
The FBI appears to have begun using a novel form of electronic surveillance in criminal investigations: remotely activating a mobile phone's microphone and using it to eavesdrop on nearby conversations. The technique is called a "roving bug," and was approved by top U.S. Department of Justice officials for use against members of a New York organized crime family who were wary of conventional surveillance techniques such as tailing a suspect or wiretapping him.
"America Freedom to Fascism" authorized version
Saturday, 2 December 2006 5:51 P GMT-05
This is the "Director's Final Cut" authorized version of Aaron Russo's documentary, America: Freedom To Fascism (AFTF). It is being uploaded to Google Video for the first time during the evening of October 19-20th, 2006. Aaron has listened to everyone's feedback - volunteers, students, lovers of freedom & liberty, young and old alike - and, true to his word, he is putting this up "for free" on Google Video knowing that the hour has come for Americans to either be awakened to restore the Republic or be swept aside by the dark global forces of fascism that seeks to enslave mankind.
The Overstated Addiction
Saturday, 2 December 2006 1:07 A GMT-05
The truth about methamphetamine is that its use is not growing exponentially, that addiction is treatable, and that the risks it poses to public health can be mitigated.
DHS official admits taking bribes to fake documents
Friday, 1 December 2006 10:40 P GMT-05
A federal immigration official pleaded guilty Thursday to receiving more than $600,000 in bribes for falsifying documents for illegal immigrants. Robert Schofield, 57, could face 25 years in federal prison when he is sentenced in February. He pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, to issuing fraudulent documents to at least 184 illegal immigrants who falsely received U.S. citizenship.
Supreme Court Rules U.S. Companies Need To Track All Emails, Instant Messages
Friday, 1 December 2006 9:18 P GMT-05
The rules, approved by the Supreme Court in April, require companies and other entities involved in federal litigation to produce "electronically stored information" as part of the discovery process, when evidence is shared by both sides before a trial. The change makes it more important for companies to know what electronic information they have and where. Under the new rules, an information technology employee who routinely copies over a backup computer tape could be committing the equivalent of "virtual shredding," said Alvin F. Lindsay, a partner at Hogan & Hartson LLP and expert on technology and litigation.
Terror Watch: Showdown Over Padilla
Friday, 1 December 2006 1:28 A GMT-05
But defense lawyers are convinced that given the seriousness and the specificity of Padilla’s claims of mistreatment—many of which involve the use of aggressive interrogation techniques virtually identical to those the Pentagon has confirmed using at Guantánamo—the judge in his case, Marcia Cooke, may have little choice but to order a pretrial hearing on his allegations. Padilla’s lawyers say they will soon file “additional material” to back up their torture claims. And if Cook grants them a hearing, it could open the door for the first time to questioning in a U.S. courtroom about controversial interrogation methods that were used against one of the most sensitive detainees in U.S. government custody. Padilla's fate is all the more important because his incarceration by the U.S. military was directly ordered from the White House by President Bush.
1 in 32 Americans in jails, on parole
Friday, 1 December 2006 12:04 A GMT-05
A record 7 million people - or one in every 32 American adults - were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of last year, according to the Justice Department. Of those, 2.2 million were in prison or jail, an increase of 2.7 percent over the previous year, according to a report released Wednesday. More than 4.1 million people were on probation and 784,208 were on parole at the end of 2005. Prison releases are increasing, but admissions are increasing more.
Arizona County Appeals Inmates’ Abortion Rights
Thursday, 30 November 2006 11:54 P GMT-05
Maricopa County enacted the unwritten policy restricting access to elective medical procedures in 1990. Transporting inmates for abortion services, county officials argue, takes corrections officers away from securing prison facilities and increases the chances of prisoner escapes.
U.S. Settles Suit Filed by Ore. Lawyer
Thursday, 30 November 2006 11:52 P GMT-05
The payment is a clear embarrassment for the FBI, which arrested Mayfield as a material witness in May 2004. FBI examiners had erroneously linked him to a partial fingerprint on a bag of detonators found after terrorists bombed commuter trains in Madrid in March, killing 191 people. The bureau compounded its error by stridently resisting the conclusions of the Spanish National Police, which notified the FBI three weeks before Mayfield was arrested that the fingerprint did not belong to him.
Why we love government
Wednesday, 29 November 2006 7:47 P GMT-05
The bottom line: We love government because it enables us to accomplish things that if done privately would lead to arrest and imprisonment. For example, if I saw a person in need, and I took your money to help him, I'd be arrested and convicted of theft. If I get Congress to do the same thing, I am seen as compassionate.