Rep. Harris Condemns Separation of Church, State

By Jim Stratton
Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, Aug. 25 -- Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Fla.) said this week that God did not intend for the United States to be a "nation of secular laws" and that the separation of church and state is a "lie we have been told" to keep religious people out of politics.

"If you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin," Harris told interviewers from the Florida Baptist Witness, the weekly journal of the Florida Baptist State Convention. She cited abortion and same-sex marriage as examples of that sin.

Harris, a candidate in the Sept. 5 Republican primary for U.S. Senate, said her religious beliefs "animate" everything she does, including her votes in Congress.

Witness editors interviewed candidates for office, asking them to describe their faith and their positions on certain issues.

Harris has always professed a deep Christian faith. But she has rarely expressed such a fervent evangelical perspective publicly.

Political and religious officials responded to her published remarks with outrage and dismay.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said she was "disgusted" by the comments "and deeply disappointed in Representative Harris personally."

Harris, Wasserman Schultz said, "clearly shows that she does not deserve to be a representative."

Ruby Brooks, a veteran Tampa Bay Republican activist, said Harris's remarks "were offensive to me as a Christian and a Republican."

"This notion that you've been chosen or anointed, it's offensive," Brooks said. "We hurt our cause with that more than we help it."

Harris told the journalists "we have to have the faithful in government" because that is God's will. Separating religion and politics is "so wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers," she said.

"And if we are the ones not actively involved in electing those godly men and women," then "we're going to have a nation of secular laws. That's not what our Founding Fathers intended, and that certainly isn't what God intended."

Harris campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Marks would not answer questions about the Harris interview. Instead, she released a two-sentence statement.

"Congresswoman Harris encourages Americans from all walks of life and faith to participate in our government," it stated. "She continues to be an unwavering advocate of religious rights and freedoms."

Original Story

Police property: It’s finders keepers in NH

Thursday, Aug. 24, 2006

The state Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the government can keep and destroy more than 500 CDs taken from Michael Cohen, owner of Pitchfork Records in Concord, in 2003 even though the state failed to prove that a single disk was illegal.

Cohen was arrested for attempting to sell bootleg recordings. But the police case collapsed when it turned out that most of the recordings were made legally. Police dropped six of the seven charges, and Cohen went to trial on one charge. He beat it after the judge concluded that the recording was legal.

However, the police refused to return Cohen’s CDs. In the state Supreme Court’s Tuesday ruling, Chief Justice John Broderick, writing for the majority, reasoned so poorly that it appeared as if he’d made up his mind ahead of time.

Dissenting, Justice Linda Dalianis wrote, perceptively, that “the majority does not explain how statutes prohibiting the production, publication, or sale of certain works render possession of such works unlawful.”

Further, Dalianis concluded that “the state’s failure to establish in any way that the seized property constitutes contraband” made it impossible to justify keeping Cohen’s property.

Indeed, the majority’s reasoning is chilling. The majority concedes that no crime or illegal act was proven, but allows the confiscation anyway by concluding that a crime might have been committed. The majority used words such as “apparently,” “likely” and “would have” to describe the alleged illegal activity.

It should go without saying that speculation by a few judges that a crime might have been committed is a frightening basis for taking someone’s property.

Earlier this year, Nashua police confiscated video recordings of two officers being rude to a citizen at his own home. Though police dropped all charges against Michael Gannon and admitted they could not prove the recordings were illegal, they still kept the tapes.

If someone is found with cocaine or any other item clearly illegal to possess, confiscation is easily justified. But the illegality of these items was never proven, and mere possession was not itself illegal.

If the government can seize and keep a citizen’s property by simply asserting that it is contraband, even when the assertion is unsupported by the facts, then we have entered into dangerous territory.

Biotech Firm, Govt. Hid Rice Contamination from Public
by Megan Tady

The recently revealed spread of genetically modified rice has critics alarmed on two levels: the problem itself and the fact that authorities suppressed the news.

Aug. 24 – Last week, the US Department of Agriculture announced that US commercial long-grain rice supplies are contaminated with "trace amounts" of genetically engineered rice unapproved for human consumption.

The genetically engineered (GE) rice is known as Liberty Link (LL) 601. Its genetic code has been modified to provide resistance to herbicides and is illegal for marketing to humans because it has not undergone environmental and health impact reviews by the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). LL601 was field-tested from 1998 to 2001 under permits granted by the USDA, but Bayer Corp Science, the developer of the experimental rice, did not seek commercial approval for it.

The contamination was only disclosed after Bayer notified the USDA itself. Currently, the government relies on self-reporting from food companies to determine genetically engineered (GE) contamination, rather than a federal testing system. The USDA dismissed concerns that companies may not always "self-report" or even be aware of their mistakes, which would lead to further undetected contamination of unapproved GE food.

It appears a separate company first detected the contamination in January of this year and that Bayer may have known about the contamination since May. But the government was not notified until July 31. It took another 18 days for the USDA to tell the public.

At a press conference, Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns would not divulge how the contamination had happened, or how far it had spread. It was unclear whether he even knew. Jim Rogers, a USDA spokesperson, told The NewStandard the contaminated rice was detected in barrels sent to Missouri and Arizona.

"But the rice could have come from anywhere [in the US]," Rogers said.

Riceland, a farmer-owned cooperative that markets rice produced by Southern farmers, issued a press release on August 18, saying it first discovered the contamination in January. Riceland conducted its own tests from several grain-storage locations and found: "A significant number tested positive for the Bayer trait. The positive results were geographically dispersed and random throughout the rice-growing area."

Riceland notified Bayer of the contamination in May, but did not notify the public or the government.

Johanns indicated that an economic motive was behind the government's delay of nearly three weeks before informing the public about the contamination, as the government anticipated foreign rice importers might reject the product. The Secretary said the USDA spent the time preparing tests for rice importers to check the product for contamination. The US constitutes about 12 percent of the world's rice trade.

There are currently no plans to destroy or recall the rice, and Rogers is unsure if Bayer will be fined. While the government "validates" its tests for the rice, Johanns directed people to Bayer's website, saying the company "has made arrangements with private laboratories to run tests" on the rice.

Although the field tests for LL601 ended in 2001, the contamination appeared in a 2005 harvest, leaving some food-safety advocates to worry that the contamination has been present for several years and suggesting that genetically modified strains can persist in the environment well after they have been discontinued in experiments.

Two other varieties of rice with the same gene and from the same company have already been approved for human consumption, though never marketed. There is currently no known, intentional commercial US production of genetically engineered rice.

Johanns said that based on "available scientific data" provided by Bayer, the USDA and the FDA have concluded "that there are no human-health, food-safety or environmental concerns associated with this GE rice."

When pressed about the health implications of the contaminated rice, Rogers noted that foods from pesticide- and herbicide-resistant crops are already on the market. In fact, according to the USDA, 70 percent of processed foods on grocery store shelves contain genetically engineered ingredients.

Rogers dismissed concern that, because the government relies on companies' self-reporting, there could be widespread contamination of unapproved GE ingredients in the US food supply. He said the government did not have plans to begin testing food itself.

But this is not the first time unapproved genetic material has escaped detection in the food supply. In 2004, the company Syngenta admitted that for four years, it had sold unapproved GE maize in the US.

In response to the Bayer revelation, Greenpeace has called for a worldwide ban on imports of US rice. Already, Japan has suspended US rice imports.

The Center for Food Safety, a public-interest organization, is also calling for a moratorium on all new permits for open-air field testing of GE crops. The Center is concerned that open-air testing allows GE crops to cross pollinate with neighboring non-GE crops.

"We see this as an opportunity to get out the message that this is a radically new technology," said Bill Freese, science policy analyst for the Center. "These foods have not been tested, and we don't know if they're safe."

Original

Universal Health Care: Is Senate Bill 840 too good to be true?

By Kevin Uhrich

As health care costs continue to spiral out of the financial reach of average citizens, state Sen. Sheila Kuehl is sponsoring legislation that would provide universal health coverage for every resident of California, regardless of their ability to pay.

Sound too good to be true? Perhaps.

Is it about time? Absolutely, says Jackie Knowles of the League of Women Voters Pasadena Area, which is presenting a public forum on March 2 on Kuehl’s legislation.

The forum, which is being co-sponsored by a number of religious, legal and social service organizations, is at 7 p.m. at the Community Education Center, 3035 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena

“I know it sounds too good to be true. That’s why we want people to come to this forum. We want to hear what questions other people might ask,” said Knowles, a former writer for the Pasadena Star-News.

“The League of Women Voters considers this to be right on a par with women’s suffrage; a cause to crusade for,” said Knowles. “Every person in California owes it to themselves to learn everything they can about this bill.”

Co-sponsors of tonight’s forum include the Pasadena Senior Advocacy Council, the Neighborhood Unitarian Universalist Church, the Southern California Ecumenical Council, the San Gabriel Valley Pharmacists Association, Health Care for All Los Angeles, Move-On-Pasadena, the NAACP, the Latino Issues Forum and the ACLU.

Introduced in 2004 by Kuehl, a Democrat from Santa Monica, SB 840 has passed the Senate and has cleared the Assembly Health Committee. Presently, the bill requires language that addresses the funding mechanisms that would cover the medical, dental, optical and other health needs of each Californian.

Hundreds of consumer, labor, civic and faith-based organizations are rallying together to support the bill. Insurance companies and brokers and chambers of commerce are lining up against it.

SB 840 would establish a nonprofit insurance plan to reduce administration costs. A single insurer would be chosen and each person could choose their own physicians and other health care providers. By comparison, Kaiser uses a single insurance plan, as does the Veterans Administration and Medicare.

Kuehl’s research indicates such a plan could save California taxpayers $5 billion a year by cutting prescription drug and medical equipment costs.

In addition, each person would be covered for life, even if they have a pre-existing condition. In addition, all services, drugs, hospital stays, therapies and medical equipment would also be covered.

Kuehl’s bill would establish the position of Health Czar, a nonpartisan elected Commissioner of Health who would serve no more than two 8-year terms, a Health Policy Board and a network of consumer advocates, including community-based Partnerships for Health to identify and help solve local service problems.

Ample parking is available under the power lines on the west side of the Community Education Center, which is located between Sunnyslope and Santa Paula avenues. The fee is 75 cents to park for the entire evening.

Israeli Police Investigating Sex Case Take Items From President’s Home
By GREG MYRE

JERUSALEM, Aug. 22 — The Israeli police have confiscated a computer and documents from the official residence of President Moshe Katsav and plan to question him as part of an investigation into sexual harassment accusations, the police said Tuesday.

Mr. Katsav’s position is largely ceremonial, and any legal proceedings against him would not directly threaten the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

But the case comes at a time when several senior government figures have been involved in legal or political controversies. In addition, many Israelis have been sharply critical of the country’s political and military leadership over the handling of the recent fighting in Lebanon.

The case involving Mr. Katsav surfaced almost two months ago when a woman who previously worked for him told an Israeli newspaper that he had sexually harassed her. Later, a second woman made similar allegations. Neither woman has been identified.

Mr. Katsav wrote to the attorney general, saying one of the women had demanded money from him before she made her accusation publicly.

The attorney general, Menachem Mazuz, ordered an investigation last month, but the case was overshadowed by the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

The police said they entered the president’s official residence on Monday night, taking the computer and documents. The authorities are searching for communications between Mr. Katsav and his accusers, according to Israel radio.

Police investigators will return to Mr. Katsav’s residence on Wednesday to question him, according to a police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld.

Mr. Katsav has denied any wrongdoing, and his office said Tuesday that he was fully cooperating with the investigation.

No charges have been filed, but if they are, Mr. Katsav is expected to resign.

Israel’s justice minister, Haim Ramon, resigned Sunday after he was charged with forcibly kissing a female soldier last month.

In other recent controversies, the state comptroller has been investigating the circumstances surrounding Mr. Olmert’s sale of his Jerusalem home two years ago, and the purchase of a new one nearby. Critics contend that he received an above-market price for the sale of his old home and that he paid below the market rate for his new one.

Also, the army’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, has faced a storm of criticism after a newspaper disclosed that he spoke to his bank and sold mutual fund shares several hours after Hezbollah staged its cross-border raid on July 12, precipitating the fighting in Lebanon.

Mr. Katsav was appointed to his post in 2000, after his predecessor, Ezer Weizman, resigned amid a corruption scandal. Mr. Weizman quit after it was disclosed that during the 1980’s, when he was a member of parliament and a government minister, he received hundreds of thousands of dollars from a French businessman with interests in Israel.

In other developments Tuesday, an Israeli military court in the West Bank charged the speaker of the Palestinian parliament, Aziz Dweik, a Hamas member, with belonging to an illegal organization, The Associated Press reported.

Israel considers Hamas a terrorist organization, and membership in the group is banned under Israeli law.

Original

Federal Appeals Court: Driving With Money is a Crime
Eighth Circuit Appeals Court ruling says police may seize cash from motorists even in the absence of any evidence that a crime has been committed.

A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that if a motorist is carrying large sums of money, it is automatically subject to confiscation. In the case entitled, "United States of America v. $124,700 in U.S. Currency," the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit took that amount of cash away from Emiliano Gomez Gonzolez, a man with a "lack of significant criminal history" neither accused nor convicted of any crime.

On May 28, 2003, a Nebraska state trooper signaled Gonzolez to pull over his rented Ford Taurus on Interstate 80. The trooper intended to issue a speeding ticket, but noticed the Gonzolez's name was not on the rental contract. The trooper then proceeded to question Gonzolez -- who did not speak English well -- and search the car. The trooper found a cooler containing $124,700 in cash, which he confiscated. A trained drug sniffing dog barked at the rental car and the cash. For the police, this was all the evidence needed to establish a drug crime that allows the force to keep the seized money.

Associates of Gonzolez testified in court that they had pooled their life savings to purchase a refrigerated truck to start a produce business. Gonzolez flew on a one-way ticket to Chicago to buy a truck, but it had sold by the time he had arrived. Without a credit card of his own, he had a third-party rent one for him. Gonzolez hid the money in a cooler to keep it from being noticed and stolen. He was scared when the troopers began questioning him about it. There was no evidence disputing Gonzolez's story.

Yesterday the Eighth Circuit summarily dismissed Gonzolez's story. It overturned a lower court ruling that had found no evidence of drug activity, stating, "We respectfully disagree and reach a different conclusion... Possession of a large sum of cash is 'strong evidence' of a connection to drug activity."

Judge Donald Lay found the majority's reasoning faulty and issued a strong dissent.

"Notwithstanding the fact that claimants seemingly suspicious activities were reasoned away with plausible, and thus presumptively trustworthy, explanations which the government failed to contradict or rebut, I note that no drugs, drug paraphernalia, or drug records were recovered in connection with the seized money," Judge Lay wrote. "There is no evidence claimants were ever convicted of any drug-related crime, nor is there any indication the manner in which the currency was bundled was indicative of
drug use or distribution."

"Finally, the mere fact that the canine alerted officers to the presence of drug residue in a rental car, no doubt driven by dozens, perhaps scores, of patrons during the course of a given year, coupled with the fact that the alert came from the same location where the currency was discovered, does little to connect the money to a controlled substance offense," Judge Lay Concluded.

The full text of the ruling is available in a 36k PDF file at the source link below.

Source: US v. $124,700 (US Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit, 8/19/2006)

Original Story

Out of sight, out of mind

[Like something out of a Star Trek flashback]

Authorities in Padua have decided to seal off a crime-ridden estate from the rest of the city rather than tackle its problems, reports Barbara McMahon

Monday August 14, 2006
Guardian Unlimited


The wall built on the outskirts of Padua to seal off the Serenissima housing estate. Photograph: Marco Bruzzo/EPA

The Serenissima housing estate in the suburbs of Padua was once a place that lived up to its name. It was a tranquil location with doctors, lawyers, architects, journalists and students populating the 273 apartments spread out over six blocks.

A former resident remembers the friendly atmosphere. "When one of the youngsters graduated, the whole staircase would go into action," she said. "One person brought the pasta, someone else prepared the salad and we all had a big party in the yard."

Those days are over. Nobody seems able to pinpoint exactly when the area began to change but slowly, local people moved out and groups of immigrants, mostly from Africa, moved in. Many Italians took advantage of the new arrivals, snapping up multiple apartments and renting bedsits at speculative rates of up to 1,000 euros a month.

Six, seven or eight immigrants shared each space and slept in shifts to reduce the rent even further. Unable to work legally, and with little money, the new arrivals hung around with nothing to do. Petty crime flourished and prostitutes and drug dealers targeted the area. Italians who couldn't afford to move out became too scared to open their doors at night.

In a recent editorial, Corriere della Sera described the area as "the worst possible example of failed integration" and said it was an example of what can happen if ghettos are allowed to form. It pointed out that Italian immigrants themselves were in the same situation a century ago in Bayard Street in New York's Little Italy, where 1,324 immigrants huddled in 132 rooms, and their miserable existence was chronicled by anti-slums campaigner Jacob Riis.

Matters came to a head last month, when a pitched battle raged for several hours one night between gangs of Moroccans and Nigerians wielding clubs, machetes, knives and crowbars. Tear gas was used to break up the fight and the incident shook the citizens of Padua. The city known for its artworks by Giotto, Donatello and Mantegna, and which is home to Italy's second-oldest university, where Galileo was once a professor of mathematics, had the distinction of having the most dangerous housing development in northern Italy.

Now Padua has another dubious claim to fame. A large and ugly barrier has been erected to help protect local residents from the run-down apartment blocks, largely filled with immigrants. Stretching for 84 metres, three metres high and made of thick steel panels, there is a police checkpoint at the entrance as well as CCTV cameras. The project has been welcomed by local people but is highly controversial. The barricade has already been dubbed Padua's Berlin wall and has reignited a debate about how to treat foreign migrants.

"It's obscene and racist," said Aurora D'Agostin, head of the local Green party. Another local group COBAS denounced the barricade as "segregation, like the concentration camps or the Jewish ghettos." Gian Carlo Galan, the centre-right president of the Veneto region, said that Padua's centre-left council had simply "given in to criminality" and that it had failed to tackle the social problems rife in the area. The hard-right Northern League party took another tack. "Raze the casbah of foreign delinquency to the ground," it roared. Some of the immigrants themselves hit back after the construction of the wall by stoning the windows of a local bar.

Some 210,000 people live in Padua, of whom 20,000 are legally resident non-EU citizens. A further 30,000 non-EU residents live in the surrounding province, which has a total population of almost a million. There are also several thousand asylum seekers, all hoping to be given leave to stay.

The mayor of Padua, Flavio Zanonato, a member of the Democrats of the Left party, has agreed that the barricade is not ideal but said he had to respond to the concerns of local people living near the estate, who were concerned about the level of violence and drug dealing. He is looking at a plan to employ immigrant police officers to patrol what has been nicknamed the Padua Bronx, on the grounds that they might be able to bring calm to the area.

He has also sharply criticised Italian property owners who are making a mint out of the immigrants. "This is a phenomenon we must face and resolve," he said about the problems of integration. "That's why shorter waiting times for obtaining Italian nationality and the right to vote are necessary instruments. The multi-ethnic society is firmly entrenched in Italy. We have to encourage integration and non-EU immigrants themselves can lend a hand."

Three of the Serenissima's apartment blocks have already been emptied of tenants and sealed up so that they cannot be reoccupied, and there are plans to move everyone else out in the next year or two "We've had no problems with the families that were relocated," pointed out the mayor. The key to assimilation, he argued, is to distribute immigrants around various areas of Padua and not to put them up in one place.

Dershowitless

Alan Dershowitz is sick, demented, ghoulish. Yes, you say, but how does that distinguish him from other lawyers? Good point. But Dershowitz is so twisted, so skin-crawlingly brutish that he really missed a bet, career-wise.

I would not hesitate to cast Dershowitz as Hannibal Lechter, or in a remake of “Nosferatu.” Maybe the sequel to “The Hills Have Eyes,” planing the flesh off unsuspecting suburbanites. He could outdo pustuled, gray-fleshed Johnny Depp at the end of “The Libertine”---without make-up.

Anyone who decrees that it is acceptable for innocent little kids to die, or dirt-poor, ignorant, uneducated families to be wiped out---merely because of their physical proximity to suspected terrorists---is a fiend.

And please save the charges of naivete, and how it’s a murderous world where “morally pure” positions have no bearing in reality. I’ve heard it all before. I say that humans have grown so bellicose and bloodthirsty that “morally pure” positions are the only sensible ones left.

You know, ideas like “no war.” And “killing is bad.”

Dershowitz, like many who are so emotionally invested in the Middle East madness, has lost his witz, if not his humanity. If you missed it, the famed Harvard law professor and interruptive TV talking head wrote a commentary in the L.A. Times a couple weeks ago in which he proposed a bullgoose looney concept called a “continuum of civilianality.”

Sounds like something the Wizard of Oz would have bestowed on the Cowardly Lion, but it’s more like something that Holocaust point-man Heinrich Himmler would have dreamed up. It is a method of assigning relative worth to human life. It justifies the murder of human beings who live, work, or drink coffee near the home of a suspected “militant” who opposes Israel.

Wrote Dershowitz:
“Hezbollah and Hamas militants. . .are difficult to distinguish from those ‘civilians’ who recruit, finance, harbor and facilitate their terrorism. Nor can women and children always be counted as civilians, as some organizations do. Terrorists increasingly use women and teenagers to play important roles in their attacks.”

Nor can women and children always be counted as civilians. Can it be any plainer? Dershowitz has created a gray area in order to justify the indiscriminate killing of Lebanese women and children because some of them might be tools of Hezbollah. He has cast suspicion over an entire populace.

Kristallnacht, anyone?

Because some women and children might have been recruited to aid Hezbollah, he says, whether as cooks and errand-boys or suicide bombers, therefore it is okay to bomb areas where they might be, even if this incinerates other women and children as they twiddle their thumbs, kick a soccer ball, or watch Al-Jazeera.

After all, as Uncle Al the Kiddies’ Pal, notes, those tykes and their mommies were given fair warning:
“The Israeli army has given well-publicized notice to civilians to leave those areas of southern Lebanon that have been turned into war zones. Those who voluntarily remain behind have become complicit. Some---those who cannot leave on their own---should be counted among the innocent victims.”

He’s right that all were given “well-publicized notice” to get out of southern Lebanon. We know this because some fleeing civilians were blown up by U.S.-built Israeli bombs. As for the notion of complicity by geography, this puts Dershowitz in good company with another child murder endorser, Israeli justice minister Haim Ramon, who announced on Israeli army radio that "all those in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah."

Right. Here in Los Angeles, I live near a lot of latino gangs who regularly engage in shooting, drug sales, burglary. I must be a sympathizer.

To his credit, the Dershbag doesn’t quite go as far as Ramon. He still has a shred of humanity. He allows that those dead women and children who were unable to “leave on their own”---who couldn’t hop into their Escalades and cruise to Beirut Airport---are “innocent victims.” How gratifying! This will be a great comfort to those who lay burned, dismembered, disemboweled, dying. Good thing that Alan Dershowitz has determined that I am an innocent victim, they will think. Praise be to Allah!

The alleged point of Dershowitz’s chillingly detached commentary is to urge that the media reassess their “body count methods,” so as to separate the more circumstantially “complicit” men, women, and children from the less circumstantially “complicit” dead men, women, and children. Translation: he is upset with all the (accurate) recent reports of innocent civilians killed by Israel, and is exerting pressure on mainstream U.S. media to slant the story in Israel’s favor.

But let’s take his proposal seriously for a moment. Could such a change in media coverage be accomplished? Sure. Just investigate the deaths of each civilian in order to learn their exact motivations and political beliefs. Talk to schoolmates of dead children and ask if they ever bought a cup of coffee for a member of Hezbollah. Why, we could deputize Al “C.S.I.” Dershowitz to do it. Give him a nice flak jacket and send him to southern Lebanon to get busy. . .

On the surface, Dershowitz’s monstrous “continuum of civilianality” (say it fast ten times) is based on the ruse that there is an ongoing war---the same ruse that Bush uses to justify destroying Constitutional rights, flauting Congressionally enacted laws, rationalizing torture. “We need a new vocabulary,” Dershowitz writes, “to reflect the realities of modern warfare. . .” And: “this concept aptly captures the reality and nuance of warfare today and provides a more fair way to describe those who are killed, wounded and punished.”

Nuance of warfare. Who wrote this, Dr. Strangelove? This is like “delicate disemboweling.” Listen: we are not at war. The “war on terror” is the Big Dershowitz/Bush Lie. The United States cannot fight a “war on terror” by brute military force, and neither can Israel. No one can. Brute force spawns more terrorists. Terrorism, no matter how ideological, is crime, not war. One side blows up buildings, the other invades nations in response? Doesn’t work. Dershowitz inadvertently illustrates this very point. Terrorists, he says, cannot easily be discerned among ordinary citizens. Correct. So what do you call people in a civilian population who blow up buildings, or assassinate innocents? Soldiers? How about “criminals?”

Of course, this really isn’t only about fighting terrorism, as Uncle Al would have you believe. The Dershowitz/Bush agenda is all gummed up with the subjugation of the Middle East, oil (read about the BTC oil pipeline?), the “democratization” of the world (read: empire) by force, good old-fashioned bloodsport, and a healthy dose of Jesus-is-coming Biblical prophecy.

As for the chorus of “what’s Israel supposed to do?” now being shouted into computer screens around the world, yes, this is the salient question. First, here’s what Israel should not do: earn the condemnation of much of the world’s press and populace, if not governments; unite Arab nations in new heights of hatred for Israel and Jews and the U.S.; embolden existing terrorists and terrorist groups sworn to destroy Israel and Jews and the U.S.; create generations of new terrorists sworn to destroy Israel and Jews and the U.S.; stoke anti-Semitism around the world; selfishly put the entire human population at risk of war and annihilation. (And drive Mel Gibson to drink.)

Yet this is just what Israel is accomplishing, with full U.S. support, as it turns tiny, beautiful Lebanon into a place of refugees, rubble, orphans (and yes, an unknown number of dead terrorists), and new terrorists.

And Alan Dershowitz-approved dead children.

Department of Defense admits to wider surveillance of Don't Ask, Don't Tell groups

by Michael Rogers

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Department of Defense has released documents that show wider surveillance of student organizations than previously reported, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network has reported.

On April 11th PageOneQ reported that the Pentagon had admitted to conducting surveillance of groups protesting the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy for gays and lesbians in the armed forces.

The new FOIA request yielded information about an undercover investigation by the Pentagon on acitivities into student groups protesting the war at State University of New York at Albany (SUNY Albany), William Paterson University in New Jersey, Southern Connecticut State University and the University of California at Berkeley, reports SLDN.

The documents released by the Pentagon on the SUNY Albany protests gave a description of planned activities. "Source received an email from [redacted by DoD] stating a protest was planned against military recruiters at SUNY Albany on 21 April 05. The text of the email is as follows:," said a report filed with the Department of Defense. Here is the image of the email from the report:

The documents released today indicate that e-mails sent by various student groups were intercepted and monitored by the government and that the government collected reports from seemingly undercover agents who attended at least one student protest at Southern Connecticut State University. None of the reports in the documentation, however, indicated any terrorist activity by the students who were monitored.

In another released document under te Department's TALON monitoring program is a paraphrasing of an email regarding a planned protest, also at SUNY Albany:

Also included in the report was monitoring of activities at William Patterson College of New Jersey. The report indicated that a protest would take place at the school on April 1, 2005:

“Federal government agencies have no business peeping through the keyholes of Americans who choose to exercise their first amendment rights,” said Servicemembers Legal Defense Network executive director C. Dixon Osburn, in the SLDN Statement. “Americans are guaranteed a fundamental right to free speech and free expression, and our country’s leaders should never be allowed to undermine those freedoms. Surveillance of private citizens must stop," he added.

The Documents included monitoring of emails from other schools as well. Here is report by the TALON service of a planned protest for April 21, 2005 at the University of California at Berkeley. UC Berkeley is regarded as the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement, led by Mario Savio.

Original Story

License Plate Tracking for All

By Luke O'Brien

WASHINGTON -- Jealous lovers may soon have an alternative to sniffing for perfume to catch a cheating mate: Just follow their license plate.

In recent years, police around the country have started to use powerful infrared cameras to read plates and catch carjackers and ticket scofflaws. But the technology will soon migrate into the private sector, and morph into a tool for tracking individual motorists' movements, says former policeman Andy Bucholz, who's on the board of Virginia-based G2 Tactics, a manufacturer of the technology.

Bucholz, who designed some of the first mobile license plate reading, or LPR, equipment, gave a presentation at the 2006 National Institute of Justice conference here last week laying out a vision of the future in which LPR does everything from helping insurance companies find missing cars to letting retail chains chart customer migrations. It could also let a nosy citizen with enough cash find out if the mayor is having an affair, he says.

Giant data-tracking firms such as ChoicePoint, Accurint and Acxiom already collect detailed personal and financial information on millions of Americans. Once they discover how lucrative it is to know where a person goes between the supermarket, for example, and the strip club, the LPR industry could explode, says Bucholz.

Private detectives would want the information. So would repo men or bail bondsmen. And the government, which often contracts out personal data collection -- in part, so it doesn't have to deal with Freedom of Information Act requests -- might encourage it.

"I know it sounds really Big Brother," Bucholz says. "But it's going to happen. It's going to get cheaper and cheaper until they slap them up on every taxicab and delivery truck and track where people live." And work. And sleep. And move.

Privacy advocates worry that Bucholz, who wants to sell LPR data to consumer data brokers like ChoicePoint, knows what he's talking about.

"We have pretty much a Wild West society when it comes to privacy rights," says Jay Stanley, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union. "The overall lesson here is that we really need to put in place some broad-based privacy laws. We need to establish basic ground rules for how these new capabilities are constrained."

Current laws don't constrain much. Just as it's legal for the paparazzi to take pictures of celebrities in public, it's legal for anyone to photograph your license plate on the street. Still, there aren't enough LPR units in service yet to follow your car everywhere.

The systems, which cost around $25,000 and are made by G2 Tactics, Civica, AutoVu and Remington Elsag Law Enforcement Systems, among others, have been sold mostly to major police departments around the country.

Police in cities such as Los Angeles use them to hunt down stolen cars and felony vehicles like getaway cars. And parking-enforcement officers use LPR to collect money -- lots of it. In the first 12 hours after New Haven, Connecticut, deployed a G2 Tactics LPR to crack down on parking violations, the city towed or booted 119 cars, resulting in a $40,000 windfall, according to Bucholz.

LPR cameras, which are usually around the size of a can of tomato sauce, can be mounted on police cruisers and powered by cigarette lighters. As the car moves, the camera bounces infrared light off other vehicles' license plates. The camera reads the plates and feeds them to a laptop in real time, where information from an FBI or local database can tell an officer if the car is hot. Some systems can read up to 60 plates per second, and they work at highway speeds and acute angles.

The next step is connecting the technology to databases that will tell cops whether a sexual offender has failed to register in the state or is loitering too close to a school, or whether a driver has an outstanding warrant. It could also snag you if you're uninsured, if your license expired last week or even if your library books are overdue.

The subway has never looked more appealing.

Original

Busted for wearing a peace T-shirt; has this country gone completely insane?

By Mike Ferner
Link

Friday afternoon, drinking a cup of coffee while sitting in the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center on Chicago's south side, a Veterans Administration cop walked up to me and said, "Okay, you've had your 15 minutes, it's time to go."

"Huh?" I asked intelligently, not quite sure what he was talking about.

"You can't be in here protesting," Officer Adkins said, pointing to my Veterans For Peace shirt.

"Well, I'm not protesting, I'm having a cup of coffee," I returned, thinking that logic would convince Adkins to go back to his earlier duties of guarding against serious terrorists.

Flipping his badge open, he said, "No, not with that shirt. You're protesting and you have to go."

Beginning to get his drift, I said firmly, "Not before I finish my coffee."

He insisted that I leave, but still not quite believing my ears, I tried one more approach to reason.

"Hey, listen. I'm a veteran. This is a V.A. facility. I'm sitting here not talking to anybody, having a cup of coffee. I'm not protesting and you can't kick me out."

"You'll either go or we'll arrest you," Adkins threatened.

"Well, you'll just have to arrest me," I said, wondering what strange land I was now living in.

You know the rest. Handcuffed, led away to the facility's security office, past people with surprised looks on their faces, read my rights, searched, and written up.

The officer who did the formalities, Eric Ousley, was professional in his duties. When I asked him if he was a vet, it turned out he had been a hospital corpsman in the Navy. We exchanged a couple sea stories. He uncuffed me early. And he allowed as to how he would only charge me with disorderly conduct, letting me go on charges of criminal trespass and weapons possession -- a pocket knife -- which he said would have to be destroyed (something I rather doubt since it was a nifty Swiss Army knife with not only a bottle opener, but a tweezers and a toothpick).

After informing me I could either pay the $275 fine on the citation or appear in court, Ousley escorted me off the premises, warning me if I returned with "that shirt" on, I'd be arrested and booked into jail.

I'm sure I could go back to officers Adkins' and Ousleys' fiefdom with a shirt that said, "Nuke all the hajis," or "Show us your tits," or any number of truly obscene things and no one would care. Just so it's not "that shirt" again.

And just for the record? I'm not paying the fine. I'll see Adkins and Ousley and Dubya's Director of the Dept. of Veterans Affairs, if he wants to show up, in United States District Court on the appointed date. And if there's a Chicago area attorney who'd like to take the case, I'd really like to sue them -- from Dubya on down. I have to believe that this whole country has not yet gone insane, just the government. This kind of behavior can't be tolerated. It must be challenged.

I was at the Jesse Brown V.A. Medical Center because I'm participating in the Voices for Creative Nonviolence's 30-day, 320-mile "Walk for Justice," from Springfield to North Chicago, Illinois, to reclaim funding for the common good and away from war.
Mike Ferner served as a Navy corpsman during Vietnam War and is obviously a member of Veterans For Peace. He can be reached at:mike.ferner@sbcglobal.net.

Copyright © 1998-2006Online Journal

Did you hear the clip of Bill (psychopath) O'Reilly saying : "Now to me, they're not fighting it hard enough. See, if I'm president, I got probably another 50-60 thousand with orders to shoot on sight anybody violating curfews. Shoot them on sight. That's me... President O'Reilly... Curfew in Ramadi, seven o'clock at night. You're on the street? You're dead. I shoot you right between the eyes. Ok? That's how I run that country. Just like Saddam ran it. Saddam didn't have explosions - he didn't have bombers. Did he? because if you got out of line, your dead"

National guard attempts to confiscate banned weapons from right-wing tax protest group

BOSTON - April 20

National guard units seeking to confiscate a cache of recently banned weapons were ambushed on April 19th by elements of a para-military extremist faction. Military and law enforcement sources estimate that 72 were killed and more than 200 injured before government forces were compelled to withdraw.

Speaking after the clash Massachusetts Governor Thomas Gage declared that the extremist faction, which was made up of local citizens, has links to the radical right-wing tax protest movement. Gage blamed the extremists for recent incidents of vandalism directed against internal revenue offices. The governor, who described the group's organizers as "criminals," issued an executive order authorizing the summary arrest of any individual who has interfered with the government's efforts to secure law and order.

The military raid on the extremist arsenal followed wide-spread refusal by the local citizenry to turn over recently outlawed weapons. Gage issued a ban on private ownership of weapons and ammunition earlier in the week. This decision followed a meeting in early this month between government and military leaders at which the governor authorized the forcible confiscation of illegal arms. One government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, pointed out that "none of these people would have been killed had the extremists obeyed the law and turned over their weapons voluntarily."

Government troops initially succeeded in confiscating a large supply of outlawed weapons and ammunition. However, troops attempting to seize arms and ammunition in Lexington met with resistance from heavily-armed extremists who had been tipped off regarding the government's plans.

During a tense standoff in Lexington's town park, National Guard Colonel Francis Smith, commander of the government operation, ordered the armed group to surrender and return to their homes. The impasse was broken by a single shot, which was reportedly fired by one of the right- wing extremists. Eight civilians were killed in the ensuing exchange. Ironically, the local citizenry blamed government forces rather than the extremists for the civilian deaths.

Before order could be restored, armed citizens from the surrounding areas had descended upon the guard units. Colonel Smith, finding his forces overmatched by the armed mob, ordered a retreat.

Governor Gage has called upon citizens to support the state national joint task force in its effort to restore law and order. The governor has also demanded the surrender of those responsible for planning and leading the attack against the government troops. Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, and John Hancock, who have been identified as "ringleaders" of the extremist faction, remain at large.

First reported on April 20, 1775

GOP Halts Extension of Voting Rights Act

A House vote to renew the landmark 1965 law is held up by objections over federal oversight of nine states and ballots in foreign languages.

By Johanna Neuman, Times Staff Writer

WASHINGTON — The Voting Rights Act, which has protected minority voters from discrimination since its passage more than 40 years ago, appeared headed for an easy reaffirmation in the House on Wednesday — until conflicts old and new clouded its future.

Amid wide bipartisan support — the House Judiciary Committee approved the measure last month by a 33-1 vote — Republican leaders scheduled a floor debate, hoping to use the bill's passage for an election-year outreach to minority voters. The landmark legislation is due to expire next year, and advocacy groups have been pressing for its renewal for another 25 years.


But in a private morning meeting, Republicans raised objections that forced House leaders to yank the bill from the floor.

One concern had its roots in the bill's origins. The legislation requires nine states with a documented history of discrimination against black voters — such as poll taxes and literacy tests — to get Justice Department approval for their election laws.

Another objection, a spillover from the contentious debate on immigration, had to do with requirements in some states for ballots printed in several languages and the presence of interpreters at polling places where large numbers of citizens speak limited English.

Some members of the Republican caucus also suggested delaying the debate until the Supreme Court issued a ruling in a controversial 2003 Texas redistricting case. That decision, expected in the next two weeks, will examine the issue of whether Latino voters were disenfranchised.

Whatever the fuel, Wednesday's delay set off a series of brush fires on Capitol Hill.

"It was heated," said Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), who supports an amendment by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) to end a requirement for bilingual ballots in jurisdictions where at least 5% of the population speaks a language other than English. "I've been in meetings for two hours. There are meetings going on all over the Hill."

Officially, House Republican leaders said in a statement that they were "committed to passing the Voting Rights Act legislation as soon as possible." Unofficially, some aides said the leadership might schedule the vote again after the July 4 recess.

Although dismayed by the delay, Democrats seized the chance to spotlight the rare public dissension in Republican ranks.

"I hope that the Republicans will be able to quickly resolve their differences and that the Congress will be able to pass this vital legislation," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco). "It is critical that we do so as soon as possible, because our democracy depends on protecting the right of every American citizen to vote."

"Apparently, the leadership of the Republican Party cannot bring its own rank-and-file members into line to support the Voting Rights Act," said Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.), who represents Selma and Birmingham — the sites of seminal events in the civil rights movement that produced the bill in 1965. "That ought to be a significant embarrassment as they fan around the country trying to skim off a few black votes in the next four months."

Part of the problem, according to some GOP congressional aides, was that the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.), was unavailable to answer questions and allay concerns. In addition, they said, he consulted more often with his Senate counterparts than with members of his own party during deliberations over the bill.

In a statement issued later Wednesday, Sensenbrenner defended both the bill and the process. "Some members, whom I believe are misinformed, have expressed concerns about voting on this legislation now," he said.

Noting that the committee has held 12 hearings and amassed more than 12,000 pages of testimony, Sensenbrenner said the bill was one Republicans and Democrats could be "proud of because it ensures that when discriminatory practices of the past resurface, they are quickly put to rest. I hope the House leadership will bring [the bill] to the floor in the near future."

Sensenbrenner thinks opponents "keep moving the goal post," said an aide who asked not to be identified. Some of the issues being raised — such as bilingual ballots — first came up in committee, where efforts to change them were defeated, the aide said.

The House delay could complicate matters in the Senate, where Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) had planned to bring up an identical bill next week before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The effort to amend the requirement that nine states clear election laws with the Justice Department was led by Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.). The requirement, he argued, unfairly singled out Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Others saw the vote as a vehicle to address the growing language gap in American culture. After waking up to headlines suggesting that House leaders were delaying President Bush's push to overhaul immigration laws, Garrett said he hit the telephones to rouse his constituents.

"I've been on the talk radio circuit in the last 24 hours just to get the message out to let their representatives know how they feel," he said. "If we have until after the Fourth, the issue will resonate with the base."

Minority and advocacy groups will also likely rally in coming weeks.

"The notion that a handful of Republicans from Southern states can rally enough support to hijack reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act is a slap in the face," said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles). "This delay is inexcusable."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-voting22jun22,1,3633542.story?coll=la-headlines-nation

Demanding rights for great apes

By Jason WebbTue Jun 27, 10:54 AM ET

Spain's parliament is to declare support for rights to life and freedom for great apes on Wednesday, apparently the first time any national legislature will have recognized such rights for non-humans.

Parliament is to ask the government to adhere to the Great Ape Project, which would mean recognizing that our closest genetic relatives should be part of a "community of equals" with humans, supporters of the resolution said.

The move in a country better known for bull-fighting would follow a string of social reforms which have converted Spain from one of Europe's most conservative nations into a liberal trailblazer.

Backers of the resolution expect support from the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose government has legalized gay marriage and reduced the influence of the Catholic Church in education.

"With this, Spain will make itself a world leader in protection of the great apes," said Pedro Pozas, general secretary of the Great Ape Project's Spanish branch.

The resolution, presented by a Green Party parliamentarian, prompted criticism and some ridicule at first.

Spanish media quoted the Catholic Archbishop of Pamplona as saying it was ludicrous to grant apes rights not enjoyed by unborn children, in a reference to Spanish abortion laws.

But a spokesman for Archbishop Fernando Sebastian said he had been taken out of context and now supported the resolution.

"We are in favor of defending animals, but people come first," Father Santos Villanueva told Reuters.

Philosophers Peter Singer and Paola Cavalieri founded the Great Ape Project in 1993, arguing apes were so close to humans they deserved rights to life, freedom and not to be tortured.

"When a loved one dies, they grieve for a long time. They can solve complex puzzles that stump most two-year-old humans," said Singer.

The Spanish move could set a precedent for greater legal protection for other animals, including elephants, whales and dolphins, said Paul Waldau, director of the Center for Animals and Public Policy at Tufts University.

"We were born into a society where humans alone are the sole focus, and we begin to expand to the non-human great apes. It isn't easy for us to see how far that expansion will go, but it's very clear we need to expand beyond humans," Waldau said.

There are only a few hundred apes in Spain, mainly chimpanzees. But the resolution would also push the government to help endangered populations in Africa and Asia, said Pozas, speaking to Reuters at a sanctuary outside Madrid sheltering half a dozen chimpanzees rescued from abuse.

NEWS RELEASE
June 26, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.

CONTACT: Abraham Kneisley, info@constitutionsummer.org, 510.816.0563

Berkeley Considers First Ballot Initiative to Call for Presidential Impeachment

BERKELEY, CA The Berkeley City Council will vote tomorrow on whether to include an initiative advocating the impeachment of George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney on the Berkeley municipal ballot in November. If passed, the initiative will be the first of its kind and will allow Berkeley's 74,836 registered voters to decide if there is sufficient cause for the impeachment and removal of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Several resolutions calling for impeachment have passed in cities around the country, but a ballot initiative allowing voters to weigh in on the issue would be unique. Constitution Summer, a coalition of student activists from more than a dozen universities, believes that Congress' reluctance to investigate the merits of impeachment justifies taking the question to the people. True to the roots of the Free Speech Movement that still informs the culture of Berkeley, the group feels it is simply exercising its constitutional right to redress of grievances under the First Amendment.

Geoffrey King, a Democrat and President of Constitution Summer, sees impeachment as a non-partisan concern. According to King, it is not a question of whether the President should be impeached, but why he hasn't been. "President Bush has arrogated unto himself powers that in some cases went out of fashion in 1215, and in any event, in 1776. He has shown a wish and a willingness to corrupt our representative system of government by tracking the calls of and wiretapping Americans despite a federal statute that makes doing so a felony; by normalizing torture; and by revoking the right of Americans not to be disappeared and held indefinitely without charge or trial. These abuses fit perfectly with what the Framers intended the impeachment power to address. It is time to use it."

Saba Sahouria, a Republican and Treasurer of Constitution Summer, added, "The President says we must give up essential liberty to defeat al Qaeda, and yet, we are inexplicably embroiled in an unnecessary war that diverted CIA agents, Special Forces commandos, money, and ground troops from crushing the Taliban and al Qaeda in Afghanistan in order to invade Iraq, which had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and which had no operational links to al Qaeda. By invading Iraq, the President has undermined our long-term security. There is no other way to describe the President's actions but as a radical, extreme, and legally baseless power grab, because they make little sense in any other context."

The current proposed ballot initiative was introduced by Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates. Citing the High Crimes listed above, the ballot initiative calls on the City of Berkeley to petition all members of the United States House of Representatives and all members of the California State Legislature to bring articles of impeachment against the President and Vice President. State legislatures may send articles of impeachment to the House of Representatives via Rule 603 of Thomas Jefferson's Rules of Parliamentary Procedure.

Critics of the impeachment movement, such as Rush Limbaugh, have said that it would be a gift to Republicans to push for impeachment because it would drive the Republican base to the polls and affect the mid-term elections in November. Others have noted that the Republican base includes many people mindful of liberty under law, and that a level-headed and realistic campaign to impeach would drive independents, progressives, liberals and libertarians to cast their votes as well.

In any case, King is unapologetic. "Our country is in a constitutional crisis. The President and Vice President are making claims to power that would have terrible implications for the American ideal of liberty if left unchecked."

"They have tricked, threatened, and spied on all of us. They have tried to pit Americans against each other by politicizing security, all while making us less safe by invading Iraq."

"In doing these things, they have forced Americans to choose between loyalty to them and loyalty to the country. They do not understand the character of the American people. It is coming time to remind them."

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Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush
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Teacher gives Wal-Mart a lesson in civic activism

By Tom Lochner

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Sherry LaVars/Times

If it weren't for a luxury housing developer and the world's largest retailer, Steve Kirby might be just an energetic schoolteacher and man-about-Hercules with a million hobbies.

But today Kirby is an anti-Wal-Mart poster boy on the strength of an impassioned speech last month to the Hercules City Council, which invoked eminent domain to strip the retail giant of a lot near the waterfront.

Wal-Mart had wooed the city with promises of jobs and sales taxes. Kirby and Friends of Hercules, the grass-roots group he co-founded, warned that a big-box store would ruin the pedestrian-friendly new neighborhoods west of San Pablo Avenue.

"Wal-Mart will never, ever understand what we want," Kirby told the council. "I say, throw the bums out."

That sound bite, carried on radio, television, the Internet and in newspapers, also made the rounds at Castro Elementary School in El Cerrito, where Kirby has taught since 1983.

"A couple of first-graders came up to me when I was on recess duty and said, 'Hey, Mr. Kirby! Throw the bums out!' and we had a big laugh," he said.

He turned the episode into a writing exercise for his third-graders. "I'm trying to teach them to write certain kinds of essays, to inform and influence opinion. It became a good civics lesson."

Wal-Mart spokesman Kevin Loscotoff, without naming Kirby or Friends of Hercules, described Wal-Mart opponents as out of touch with mainstream Herculeans, who, he said, widely support a Wal-Mart store and are being denied a chance to evaluate the company's latest store proposal.

The Wal-Mart fight is not Kirby's first against a well-heeled applicant. In 2001, a Southern California developer announced plans to build more than 500 houses, a hotel, offices and stores on a wildland tract on the eastern edge of Hercules.

Kirby and some other residents formed the Friends of Franklin Canyon -- which later would evolve into Friends of Hercules -- to fight the development.

They canvassed neighborhoods, set up tables in front of stores, started a Web site, made phone calls and wrote to a growing e-mail tree, warning of an environmental debacle. Eventually, they sponsored a successful ballot initiative that rewrote the city's general plan for the Franklin Canyon area, restricting land use there largely to agriculture and recreation.

The Franklin Canyon area remains undeveloped.

"David brought down Goliath," Jeffra Cook, another founding member of the group, said after the November 2004 vote.

Kirby is not the leader of Friends of Hercules, he said, nor does it have any leaders.

"We're a coalition, a network, a committee," Kirby said. "We're on HOA boards, the chamber (of commerce), the NAACP, youth groups. We're an eclectic group of people.

"We receive information and disseminate information. We're not Republicans or Democrats. We're not that kind of political group."

Kathy Parsons does not know Kirby well on a personal level but, like many other Hercules residents, knows him through Friends of Hercules.

"He is certainly one of my heroes," Parsons said. "I would hate to think what Hercules would be like without him and his vigilance with issues, big and small, in our community."

In 2004, frustrated by what they perceived as waffling by the council over Franklin Canyon, Kirby and his group ran a slate of three candidates. One, Charleen Raines, won.

The slate lacked a campaign manager, so Kirby volunteered

"He just comes through," Raines said, "time after time after time."

Kirby, 56, was born in Berkeley and lived in El Cerrito until 1988. He attended Harding Elementary, Portola Middle and El Cerrito High schools and received a bachelor of arts in psychology and a master's in education administration from UC Berkeley.

He is not the kind of single-minded, single-issue activist who invites the comment, "Get a life."

"Steve is active in so many things, I don't know how he keeps so many balls in the air," Raines said."

Kirby is the past board president of Contra Costa Civic Theatre in El Cerrito, where he acted in four musicals, one of which he also produced. He has been his school's union representative for most of his career and has been a delegate to the National Education Association. He is president of his Bay Pointe Homeowners Association in Hercules and a member of the executive committee of the Sierra Club's West County chapter.

He plays guitar and sings with Scouts of the Cascades, a cowboy trio. He is a scuba diver and a photographer. He plays golf. He is the announcer for the Hercules Fourth of July parade. He develops Web sites and teaches in the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Education's academic talent development program. He has been a mentor teacher, master teacher and summer school principal and has a long list of academic awards.

He moved to Hercules in 1988, he said, "to be nearer to the open spaces, hills, hiking areas."

Although he helped block development in Franklin Canyon, elsewhere in the city, hills were flattened, traffic worsened and commercial areas went "south," Kirby said.

A series of city-sponsored neighborhood planning sessions in 2000 culminated in the Hercules Waterfront Plan and the Central Hercules Plan.

The plans favor pedestrian-friendly development such as live-work studios, houses with back alleys for car access, upscale boutiques and restaurants, a Capitol Corridor train station and a ferry terminal.

"I'd like to see it as a real nice destination for people to come to and meet friends, go to the restaurants, have some coffee, read the paper. Maybe an Internet cafe," Kirby said.

Wal-Mart's tract is 171/4 acres roughly midway between San Pablo Avenue and the Bay. A 2003 development agreement limits store size there to 64,000 square feet. Wal-Mart's latest scaled-down application calls for 99,000.

Wal-Mart is reviewing its legal options, Loscotoff has said. He disputed that the 64,000-square-foot figure is binding and added, "How is it fair to the residents of Hercules that they cannot see this project? The fact is residents have not been acquainted with our recent application."

Kirby said he hopes talks between the parties result in a deal in which "we'll buy the land and Wal-Mart will leave."

"We're not afraid that they (the city) are going to have legal fees. We want them to stay the course. We want them to prevail," he said.

"Meanwhile, we can be an inspiration to other cities bullied by Wal-Mart."

Reach Tom Lochner at 510-262-2760 or tlochner@cctimes.com.

Saving American

George W. Bush is an international war criminal who should be arrested, shackled and led to the World Court to stand trial for his many crimes against humanity.

So should be any member of Congress who continues to support the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq and whose actions contributed to the unnecessary deaths of 2,500 American military men and women along with the thousands upon thousands of Iraqi civilians.

The pathetic, partisan attempt by the Republican leadership in Congress to tie support for the Iraq debacle to the so-called "war on terrorism" is just another sad example of how far this nation has plunged into a immoral and unethical morass that cannot be erased by spin, rhetoric or lame attempts at justification.

The United States of America, a country that once stood for freedom, justice and human rights is now an international bully, a source of worldwide terrorism that poses a far greater threat to world peace than any Islam-spouting prophet hiding in a cave in Afghanistan.

The upcoming mid-term elections in November should not be a battle between Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, right or left. It must be a battle for the survival of our nation. As citizens we can no longer stand by while this cabal of corrupt, power-mad despots destroys what little is left of the America we once respected and loved.

I'm convinced George W. Bush is a madman, a brain-damaged dry drunk whose insanity and megalomania threaten the very existence of America. He represents a clear and present danger to the peace and security of this nation and must be treated as a traitor to the very Constitution he swore to uphold in two inaugurations.

I believe he and Vice President Dick Cheney conspired to undermine the Constitution by illegally increasing the power of the executive branch, using the events of September 11, 2001, to advance personal political agendas. Neither man gives a damn about this country. They care only about their own power, their own desires and using both to reward those who bought them with financial and political support.

Bush disregards the law as a matter of course, appending "signing statements" to legislation that he plans to ignore because it infringes on his view of absolute power and divine right from God Almighty.

Cheney sees the Vice Presidency as a means to two ends: Pad his own financial portfolio and enrich his friends in the military-industrial complex.

Both men are aided in their criminal enterprise by a corrupt Republican-led Congress, a governing body so riddled with criminals, con-artists and thieves that the Mafia or Columbian drug gangs pale by comparison.

In the best of times, we could count on the checks and balances of the system to save the Constitution but those checks were neutered by single-party governance and a Supreme Court packed with compliant justices.

That's why Bush and his cronies should be led, handcuffed and shackled, to the World Court, a body not controlled by the right-wing jihad that has hijacked the Constitution and put America in danger.

Since that won't happen, our other option lies at the ballot box and enough voter anger to throw out every single one of the bitches and bastards who have helped in the overthrow of our government. I'm not talking about just Republicans. I mean every one who still votes for and supports the illegal war in Iraq; every one who still lives large at lobbyists' expense; every one who sells his or her vote for a campaign contribution and every one who supports the status quo in Washington.

Then, maybe, we can return control of this country to the people. Then, maybe, we can hold a corrupt, immoral President and his legions accountable for their vile acts.

Maybe there's still time to save this thing called America.

Original Story

Violent Crime Surges for First Time in 5 Years

By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, June 12, 2006; 1:33 PM

Overall violent crime reports surged for the first time in 15 years in 2005, including a 5 percent increase in the District, according to preliminary FBI statistics released today.

The FBI's annual crime report shows increases in three of the four major categories of violent crime -- murder, robbery and assault -- contributing to an overall increase of 2.5 percent in violent offenses from 2004.

The increase affected all categories of cities except those over 1 million in population, such as New York, Los Angeles and Detroit, where violent offenses continued to fall.

In the District, violent crime jumped by 5 percent from 2004 to 2005, driven exlusively by a 14 percent increase in robberies, the statistics show. The number of murders in the city dropped slightly, from 198 to 195, as did the numbers of rapes and assaults.

The opposite trend held in Baltimore, where violent crime dropped 3.5 percent overall.

The rise in violent offenses nationally represents the largest overall crime spike since 1991 and the first significant increase since 1992, when crime began to plummet dramatically on its way to the lowest levels in three decades.

But property crimes -- including burglary, theft and arson -- continued to register improvement in 2005, decreasing 1.6 percent from the year before.

The biggest rise came in murders, which rose 4.8 percent, to nearly 17,000, in 2005. Killings jumped particularly dramatically in cities, including Cleveland (up 38 percent), Houston (23 percent) and Phoenix (9 percent).

Robberies rose 4.5 percent and assaults grew by 1.9 percent, according to the FBI statistics. The only category of violent crime to fall was forcible rape, which dropped 1.9 percent nationwide.

On a regional basis, the increase disproportionately hit the Midwest, where violent crimes surged 5.7 percent -- at least three times the rate seen in the Northeast, South or West.

The District's 5 percent violent crime increase was due solely to a jump in the number of reported robberies, which rose from 3,057 in 2004 to 3,502 in 2005. In addition to the slight drop in murders, the city also reported a 24 percent drop in reported rapes and nine fewer assaults, to 3,854.

The FBI data is taken from reports submitted by more than 12,000 police departments and other law enforcement agencies nationwide. A final report, including more detailed statistics, will be issued in the fall.

Original Story

Dead detainee 'was to be freed'

One of the three men who committed suicide at the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay was due to be released - but did not know it, says a US lawyer.

Mark Denbeaux, who represents some of the foreign detainees said the man was among 141 prisoners due to be released.

He said the prisoner was not told because US officials had not decided which country he would be sent to.

Meanwhile, a top US official appeared to row back from the tough line taken by other officials over the suicides.

At the weekend, one top state department official called them a "good PR move to draw attention", while the camp commander said it was an "act of asymmetric warfare waged against us".

These people are told they'll be 50 by the time they get out, that they have no hope of getting out Mark Denbeaux US lawyer

"I wouldn't characterise this as a good PR move," Cully Stimson, US deputy assistance secretary of defence, told the BBC's Today programme, on Monday.

"What I would say is that we are always concerned when someone takes his own life, because as Americans we value life even if it is the life of a violent terrorist captured waging war against our country."

'Despair'

The Pentagon named the prisoner who had been recommended for transfer as 30-year-old Saudi Arabian Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi Al-Utaybi.

He was a member of a banned Saudi militant group, the defence department said.

The other two men who died on Saturday morning were named as Ali Abdullah Ahmed, 28, from Yemen, and Yassar Talal al-Zahrani, 21, another Saudi Arabian.

Ahmed was a mid- to high-level al-Qaeda operative who had participated in a long-term hunger strike from late 2005 to May, and was "non-compliant and hostile" to guards, the Pentagon said.

Zahrani, 21, was a "front-line" Taleban fighter who helped procure weapons for use against US and coalition forces in Afghanistan, according to the department.

Professor Denbeaux told the BBC World Service that the feeling among detainees at the Cuba camp was one of hopelessness.

"These people are told they'll be 50 by the time they get out, that they have no hope of getting out. They've been denied a hearing, they have no chance to be released," he said.

He said US policy was to refuse to tell prisoners they were due to be released until a location had been found.

Utaybi had been declared a "safe person, free to be released" but the US needed a country to send him to, Professor Denbeaux said.

"His despair was great enough and in his ignorance he went and killed himself," he said.

Mounting criticism

The prison camp at the US base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, holds some 460 prisoners, the vast majority without charge.

There have been dozens of suicide attempts since the camp was set up four years ago - but none successful until now.

Criticism of the camp is mounting, even among President Bush's Republicans.

"There are tribunals established... Where we have evidence they ought to be tried, and if convicted they ought to be sentenced," said Republican Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Some inmates had been detained on "the flimsiest sort of hearsay", he added.

The United Nations rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak, said European leaders should use a summit with President George W Bush next week to press for the prison's closure.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said procedures at Guantanamo Bay violated the rule of law and undermined the fight against terrorism.

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