Thursday, June 29, 2006
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
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
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
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
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.
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."
PLEASE REPOST
Currently reading:
Articles of Impeachment Against George W. Bush
By Center for Constitutional Rights
Release date: By 01 March, 2006
Sign up at www.constitutionsummer.org
And add us to your friends list on tribe & myspace www.myspace.com/consum
Teacher gives Wal-Mart a lesson in civic activism
By Tom Lochner
CONTRA COSTA 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.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
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
Monday, June 12, 2006
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.
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.
Story from BBC NEWS:Tuesday, May 30, 2006
The low-income consumer is finally succumbing to gas prices.
"You have Wal-Mart sales that were somewhat lighter than expected, and the fear is that the low-income consumer is finally succumbing to gas prices," said Jim Awad, chairman of Awad Asset Management.This makes it sounds like it was the GOAL . . .
Guardian Unlimited
The EU's highest court today ruled that it was unlawful to order European airlines to hand over information about transatlantic air passengers to the US government.The European court of justice ruling said the US did not provide adequate protection for air passengers' privacy.
Under the Passenger Name Records agreement, reached in May 2004, EU airlines have been obliged to give Washington 34 items of information about passengers flying to the US. The details include names, addresses, all forms of payment and contact telephone numbers.
The ruling, which gives the European commission and member states four months to find a solution, maintains the legality of the agreement until September 30 "for reasons of legal certainty".
The court ruled that the decision by the council of ministers - the decision-making body that represents national governments - to sign the agreement had lacked an adequate legal basis.
"Consequently, the court annulled the council decision approving the conclusion of the agreement and did not consider it necessary to consider the other pleas relied on by parliament," a court statement said.
The US and European airlines said the ruling would have no immediate impact on transatlantic air travel and left time to find an agreed solution to the data transfer issue.
US and commission officials said they were confident a fresh agreement could be reached. Stewart Baker, the assistant secretary of state for the Department of Homeland Security, said he expected "a solution that will keep the data flowing and the planes flying".
Franco Frattini, the commissioner with responsibility for security, said the US and EU needed "continuity".
European airlines played down the impact of the ruling, saying there should be no short-term effect on travellers.
US officials insisted that the transfer of personal details was essential in the fight against terror following September 11.
They had warned that failure to agree a deal on passenger data would mean prolonged delays for air passengers from Europe because more processing would be required on their arrival in the US.
The judges today said the agreement had to be annulled because existing EU data protection law only covers commercial data and not that used for security purposes.
Graham Watson, the Liberal Democrat leader in the European parliament, led the campaign against the legislation and welcomed the result.
"Today's judgment vindicates the four-year campaign that I and my colleagues led in the European parliament to protect the privacy of airline passengers," he said.
Stewart Room, the head of data protection at Rowe Cohen solicitors, said there was no authority within EU law for the original deal.
"The starting point is that the European directive on data protection does not extend to matters of public security," he said.
"Consequently, it is unlawful for the commission, or anyone else in the EU, to make the passenger records available to a government under that directive. It had to fail because the commission does not have the legal authority."
Mr Room said bilateral agreements between European governments and the US could be one way to circumnavigate the EU rules - something the Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford said MEPs would be alert to.
However, he questioned whether the data would be useful and whether there was still the political will to push through more information collection projects.
"Law and order agencies are sucking in more data than they can process," he said. "There may be some quality data within the information, but you end up in a situation where you cannot see the wood for the trees.
"There has to be a real question as to whether the government still has the will to carry this forward in the light of the controversy over other massive data collection projects, such as the introduction of identity cards."
The deal on "processing and transfer of personal data" on transatlantic flights was backed by EU governments and the European commission.
It meant complying with US anti-terrorist legislation requiring that all airlines operating flights to, from or across US territory provide the authorities with electronic access to all passenger data in their reservation and departure control systems.
The verdict could pose a major problem for individual European airlines. They may face the threat of sanctions from Washington if they refuse to cooperate with the US electronic passenger information requirements, or sanctions from their national data protection authorities if they do.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Eli Pariser: Desperate Telcos: When the Going Gets Tough, the Absurd Rumors Get Going
Opponents of Internet freedom seem shocked that Google, MoveOn, the Christian Coalition, and 700 other diverse organizations are fighting on the same side to preserve the Internet that has revolutionized democratic participation, economic innovation, and free speech.
Telecom companies and their multi-million dollar lobbyists are so befuddled that their plan to put tollbooths on the Internet is losing support that they've taken to spreading absurd rumors.
Internet freedom opponents told one right-wing tabloid that "Google has become the single largest private corporate underwriter of MoveOn." That's news to us since MoveOn has never received a cent from Google - or any other big business. We're funded by the small dollar contributions of 3.3 million members.
Equally absurd, "sources" told the tabloid that "Some of that money has gone to an online petition drive and a letter-writing campaign." That may be AT&T's fantasy world - but right now, online activities that allow regular citizens to be participants in their democracy cost advocacy groups almost nothing. And that's a good thing.
Rounding out a trifecta of errors, the tabloid says MoveOn is funneling Google "Net Neutrality money" into a Senate race in Pennsylvania. That rumor isn't just paranoid - it doesn't even point at the right organization. MoveOn.org Civic Action, which is pushing Net Neutrality, is a separate organization from MoveOn.org Political Action, which does more political work
Unfortunately, these aren't the most egregious rumors going around.
Internet freedom opponents also try to fool Congress and the public with rumors that Net Neutrality means "regulating the Internet." They know full well that Net Neutrality has been in place since the Internet began, but the FCC recently put it on the path to elimination unless Congress steps in and pro-actively keeps the rules the same.
Telecom companies also like to paper Congress with propaganda implying that Internet freedom is somehow a left-wing issue. Tell that to the Christian Coalition, Gun Owners of America, Instapundit, the business executives, and the many libertarians who are fighting right along with MoveOn, the inventors of the Internet, thousands of bloggers, and the SavetheInternet.com Coalition in support of Net Neutrality.
As Craig Fields of the Gun Owners says, when the left and right agree on an issue like Internet freedom, "it's been my experience that what Congress is getting ready to do is basically un-American." On the proposal to destroy Net Neutrality, most Americans would probably agree.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Remember Remember the 5th of November
“There is something terribly wrong with this country isn’t there?”Are you one of the many people who saw the movie V for Vendetta?
Were you disturbed how many parallels you saw between the Fascist Government portrayed in the movie and our current political situation? Have you wanted to express your opinion about what’s going on? Have you wanted to make the media wake up and take notice?
It’s time to take action in a way that will demand people notice.
While there won’t be another Presidential election for 2 more years, 2006 is still an important election year where many Congress seats for both House and Senate are up for grabs. Enough to change the balance of power in this country.
The Election is scheduled for the 7th of November
Our goal is to stage country wide protests inspired by the spirit of freedom portrayed by V. On November 5th let us don capes and Guy Fawkes masks! Let us take to the streets in masses. Let us show the Burgeoning Fascist regime that the idea of Freedom is not dead
If you see this as a powerful symbol, help spread the word, help organize “V Protests” in your home town. Tell your friends, your neighbors. Anyone who wants to make a stand for freedom!
V for Vendetta costumes should be easily available due to Halloween. Get one, dress up and make yourself seen.
Let’s give them a 5th of November that shall never, ever be forgot!
But please….don’t blow anything up
Saturday, May 13, 2006
Battle Cry for Theocracy!
By SUNSARA TAYLOR
If you've been waiting until the Christian fascist movement started filling stadiums with young people and hyping them up to do battle in "God's army" to get alarmed, wait no longer.
In recent weeks, Battle Cry, a Christian fundamentalist youth movement, has attracted more than 25,000 to mega-rally rock concerts in San Francisco and Detroit and this weekend they plan to fill Wachovia Stadium in Philadelphia.
They claim their religion and values are under attack but, amidst spectacular lightshows, hummers, Navy Seals, and military imagery on stage, it is Battle Cry that has declared war on everyone else! Their leader, Ron Luce, insists: "This is war. And Jesus invites us to get into the action, telling us that the violent--the 'forceful' ones--will lay hold of the kingdom."
A glimpse at Battle Cry's Honor Academy, which trains 500 youth each year and preaches that homosexuality and masturbation are sins, reveals a lot about what kind of society they are fighting for. Interns are forbidden to listen to secular music, watch R-rated movies or date. Men can't use the internet unsupervised and the length of women's skirts is regulated. The logic behind this, that men must be protected from the sin of sexual temptation, is what drives Islamic fundamentalists to shroud women in burkhas!
Behind their multi-million dollar operation that sends more than 5,000 missionaries to more than thirty-four countries each year, are some of the most powerful and extreme religious lunatics in the country. Their partners include Pat Robertson (who got a call from Karl Rove to discuss Alito before the nomination was made public), Ted Haggard (who brags that his concerns will be responded to by the White House within 24 hours), Jerry Falwell (who blamed September 11th on homosexuals, feminists, pagans, and abortionists), and others. Their events have been addressed by Barbara Bush (via video) as well as former President Gerry Ford. This weekend's event will include Franklyn Graham who has ministered to George Bush and publicly proclaimed that Islam is an "evil religion."
What most of these figures have in common is their insistence that the Bible be read literally and obeyed as the inerrant word of God. And, as Ron Luce leads youth to pray, "I will keep my eyes on the battle, submitting to Your code even when I don't understand.outside my comfort zone in the battle zone," it would be foolish to expect that there is any part of the Bible's literal horrors this movement would be unwilling to enforce. That includes stoning disobedient children and non-virgin brides (Deuteronomy 21:18-21 and 22:13-21), executing gays (Leviticus 20:13), and keeping slaves (Peter 2:18).
Already they staged a protest on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall precisely because they were "the very city hall steps where several months ago 'gay marriages' were celebrated." Their answer to the scourge of rape and violence against women is to end divorce, spread ignorance, insist on virginity--the very things that will more entrap women in these nightmares. And this Friday, they are planning rallies at fifty City Halls nation-wide.
Of course, like the President who gave Ron Luce an appointment to the White House Advisory Commission on Drug-Free Communities, Battle Cry tells its share of bald-faced lies. For one, they claim that "a society fortified by biblical principals and a strong moral code...is the heritage our forefathers fought and died to secure for us." But the word "God" never appears in the Constitution. After three-and-a-half months of debate about what should go into the document that would govern the land, the framers drafted a constitution that is secular.
Battle Cry also claims America has been "set aside for God's purposes--a country established for good and fruitfully blessed so that we might take God's message to the ends of the earth." It is revealing that for all their talk about the value of life and the evils of violent imagery, Battle Cry never speaks against the real violence and loss of life being inflicted by U.S. troops in Iraq.
Still, there is one thing that Battle Cry gets right: this country is in the midst of a deep moral crisis. We are indeed living through times when business-as-usual is unconscionable.
As the Bush regime wages unjust wars and conducts torture in our names, as they leave New Orleans to rot, and drag us closer each day to a theocracy where abortion and birth control are banned, science is pulled under, and gays are persecuted, it is no wonder that young people are searching for meaning and morality.
The truth is, however, youth will not find the morality they need in a stadium listening to Ron Luce preach about religious war and intolerance. And they won't find it while buying Battle Cry's keepsake dog-tags.
These young people need to be challenged to look around them and think for themselves.
I am confident that if they do, many of them may find that the truly moral way to live is to throw their tremendous energies and dreams of a better world into stopping this madness and driving out the Bush regime.
This generation--and their counterparts all around the world--will have to live with the consequences of this culture war, one way or another.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Spies Among Us
Despite a troubled history, police across the nation are keeping tabs on ordinary Americans
In the Atlanta suburbs of DeKalb County, local officials wasted no time after the 9/11 attacks. The second-most-populous county in Georgia, the area is home to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FBI's regional headquarters, and other potential terrorist targets. Within weeks of the attacks, officials there boasted that they had set up the nation's first local department of homeland security. Dozens of other communities followed, and, like them, DeKalb County put in for--and got--a series of generous federal counterterrorism grants. The county received nearly $12 million from Washington, using it to set up, among other things, a police intelligence unit.
The outfit stumbled in 2002, when two of its agents were assigned to follow around the county executive. Their job: to determine whether he was being tailed--not by al Qaeda but by a district attorney investigator looking into alleged misspending. A year later, one of its plainclothes agents was seen photographing a handful of vegan activists handing out antimeat leaflets in front of a HoneyBaked Ham store. Police arrested two of the vegans and demanded that they turn over notes, on which they'd written the license-plate number of an undercover car, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which is now suing the county. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial neatly summed up the incident: "So now we know: Glazed hams are safe in DeKalb County."
Glazed hams aren't the only items that America's local cops are protecting from dubious threats. U.S. News has identified nearly a dozen cases in which city and county police, in the name of homeland security, have surveilled or harassed animal-rights and antiwar protesters, union activists, and even library patrons surfing the Web. Unlike with Washington's warrantless domestic surveillance program, little attention has been focused on the role of state and local authorities in the war on terrorism. A U.S.News inquiry found that federal officials have funneled hundreds of millions of dollars into once discredited state and local police intelligence operations. Millions more have gone into building up regional law enforcement databases to unprecedented levels. In dozens of interviews, officials across the nation have stressed that the enhanced intelligence work is vital to the nation's security, but even its biggest boosters worry about a lack of training and standards. "This is going to be the challenge," says Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton, "to ensure that while getting bin Laden we don't transgress over the law. We've been burned so badly in the past--we can't do that again."
Rap sheets. Chief Bratton is referring to the infamous city "Red Squads" that targeted civil rights and antiwar groups in the 1960s and 1970s (Page 48). Veteran police officers say no one in law enforcement wants a return to the bad old days of domestic spying. But civil liberties watchdogs warn that with so many cops looking for terrorists, real and imagined, abuses may be inevitable. "The restrictions on police spying are being removed," says attorney Richard Gutman, who led a 1974 class action lawsuit against the Chicago police that obtained hundreds of thousands of pages of intelligence files. "And I don't think you can rely on the police to regulate themselves."
The city's independent Civilian Complaint Review Board is set to release a highly critical report Wednesday concerning two deputy police chiefs and the way they handled protestors at the Republican National Convention two years ago.
The report concludes the two chiefs, identified by sources as Stephen Paragallo and Terrence Monahan, yelled confusing orders to marchers, which led to unnecessary arrests.
The board found that during a march on Fulton Street, protesters got stuck on sidewalks with no easy way to get out.
It also says police orders to clear the streets during a march near Herald Square led to un-necessary confusion.
The report says that in both cases the chiefs did not use bullhorns, and that if they had, other police officers and protesters would have better understood their orders.
Most of the complaints were filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union. Mayor Michael Bloomberg disagrees with their findings.
"I think it's time for Mayor Bloomberg to recognize and acknowledge that some mistakes were made and there's no crime in that. And there are things that can be done to address those mistakes," said Christopher Dunn of the NYCLU. "He's the mayor of the city, he runs the city, not Ray Kelly, and I think there is now enough evidence to indicate that it's time for the mayor to step in."
"I think that if you look at the police department's activities during the Republican National Convention, it is a poster child for how to give people the ability to express themselves and at the same time protect those who wanted to go about their business without expressing themselves," said the mayor.
Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says the convention was one of the department's finest hours.
In a statement, Kelly takes exception to the report, saying police do not have to give a warning before making an arrest.
He praised the NYPD for its work during the convention, saying nearly a million demonstrators came in contact with the police that week and only 63 complaints were filed.
Source
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
Small knives, nail clippers, scissors, lighters, training weights and a car steering lock - the haul so far is fairly typical.
Most look pretty harmless, but the trained staff of the Transportation Security Administration have to consider their potential in the hands of a man or woman with hostile intent.
Douglas Hofsass, Federal Security Director at LaGuardia, explains: "A traditional tool like a Leatherman has a legitimate use as a multi-purpose tool, but it also has a significant blade inside so what we're looking for is its capability if someone had an intent to use it for another purpose".
Every week, they collect around 7,000 items here.
| | We call it the general fund, and all agencies can share in the use of that revenue or we return it to the taxpayers Ken Hess, director, Bureau of Supplies and Surplus Operations in Pennsylvania |
In a side office nearby Mr Hofsass shows me the "wall of shame", a collage of confiscated goods that have shocked even the seasoned security men that have spent years here.
There is a couple of hand grenades, a machete, whips, and vicious-looking blades, all discovered in the hand luggage which certain passengers had hoped to take on a plane.
These shocking items will stay here to help train the staff, but the rest is handed over the Bureau of Supplies and Surplus Operations in Pennsylvania.
Personal items
The Bureau's headquarters is a dusty, dim-lit building in the state capital of Harrisburg.
Ten tonnes of material arrives here every month, in cardboard boxes and plastic bins.
They are separated by brand and by category so that they can be sold en masse in an internet auction.
Some are harder to sell than others.
There's a curious surplus of handcuffs, some covered in silk, lace or leopard skin, a reminder that some very personal items have been surrendered.
Susan Nelson, shifting through some scissors, admits she often feels guilty about the trade:
"A couple of times I have found bride and groom cake-cutting set. A lot of times it has their names on it as well as the wedding dates and it is really sad for them because its clearly a memento or something that maybe somebody flew on the plane to the wedding wanted to give them as a gift, and that's really a shame."
General fund
Ken Hess, director of the Bureau, is keen to stress that these items are "voluntarily surrendered" rather than confiscated.
In other words, anyone with a deep attachment to an item could have turned around at security - got back into the airport, re-packed them for the hold, or dropped them in the post to their home.
Realistically, that is pretty rare because the delay would make the passenger in question miss their flight.
But Mr Hess is not really worried.
This, for him, has become big business.
"Usually between $15,000 (£8,000) and $20,000 a month in revenue, so far we've made $274,000 in total."
That is pretty good, considering the scheme was only put in place last autumn.
And the money goes to the state of Pennsylvania.
"We call it the general fund, and all agencies can share in the use of that revenue or we return it to the taxpayers," says Mr Hess.
The rules put in place after the 9/11 attacks on the twin towers have been relaxed a little lately.
Cuticle cutters for instance can now survive security screening, and that has reduced the supply of goods to the Harrisburg warehouse.
But the only thing that would really harm this business badly is if the rest of us pack our bags properly and put prohibited items in the hold of the plane, or leave it at home.
Monday, May 08, 2006
As, no doubt, you know, Illinois reps have introduce a bill to IMPEACH Bush. You can follow the progress of this measure at Bill Status of HJR0125
Urges the General Assembly to submit charges to the U. S. House of Representatives to initiate impeachment proceedings against the President of the United States, George W. Bush, for willfully violating his Oath of Office to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and if found guilty urges his removal from office and disqualification to hold any other office in the United States.
Friday, May 05, 2006
By Richard Reeves
SAG HARBOR, N.Y. -- On Saturday mornings in the summer, the post office here is sometimes crowded with farm workers, construction workers, busboys and nannies speaking Spanish and a couple of other languages to each other. That's the day they buy money orders to send cash back home to Mexico or
El Salvador, the Philippines, even to Pakistan. One of the newer businesses in the village, in fact, is a small storefront that advertises in Spanish and sends small amounts of money around the world.
Those workers and others like them, legal or illegal, are distributing a lot more foreign aid from the United States than the government ever does. And since the money -- "remittances," to be more precise -- goes directly to their families, it may do more good than money and credits that pass through the larcenous hands of some foreign governments.
There are arguments about how big the remittance economy, or economies, really is. But there is no argument about this: The amount of remittances is increasing year by year, and it is an important if relatively quiet part of the debates about immigration and globalization.
The statistics of remittances are obviously fuzzy math because the money being made in the fields of California or the kitchens of Long Island goes around both banks and the bean-counters of governments.
But here are some estimates:- The World Bank projected that the remittance economy last year accounted for the transfer of more than $223 billion from rich countries to poor. In at least 36 countries, remittances add up to more than foreign aid and direct foreign investment combined. Twenty years ago, the bank calculated that figure at $43 million.
- An estimated 10 percent of the gross domestic product of six Latin American and Caribbean countries is remittances from citizens working in other countries. That's more than all the foreign aid and foreign private investment in those countries. In El Salvador, where between 10 and 40 percent of the population is believed to be living abroad, remittances amount to at least six times the foreign investment in the country and add up to 90 percent of the country's budget.
- In black Africa, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates remittances amount to just under $20 billion, more than all the foreign investment in those countries.
- More than 20 million Latin American and Caribbean citizens living abroad sent home an average of $2,500 each last year, according to Business Week magazine. The total sent was $52 billion, an increase of almost 10 percent over 2004.
This is how it works, according to Geri Smith of that magazine, who chronicled the life of a young Mexican husband and wife who left $4.25-an-hour work in the fields of California to work in a pork-packaging plant in Iowa: "They each earn $12 an hour now, and after income taxes and Social Security are withheld -- yes, they do pay U.S. taxes -- they clear about $3,500 a month. That's nearly 10 times what they could earn in Mexico, and it's enough to buy a used two-bedroom trailer and a 1998 pickup truck to cart their two preschool children around town. Once a month, he wires $250 to his 50-year-old mother in Mexico City."
A former Washington Post reporter, Robert Suro, added this in a foundation-funded study a few years ago: "During the course of the summer in Los Angeles, Esteban did everything, including painting, landscaping, loading and unloading trucks at garment district warehouses. The pay was always close to the minimum wage and always in cash. Esteban figured that he wired home (to Mexico) between $150 and $250 a week. Housing was a blanket on the floor of a church-run shelter. All his belongings fit into a small gym bag. 'On Saturday,' he said, 'I send back whatever I have and keep $5 for myself.'"Officials of the IMF and many government economists argue that private consumption is less efficient than planned development. Maybe, but private consumption is the American way, and is also a way to make America more secure. Without remittances, the world, and particularly North America, would be a more dangerous place. It is not in the interest of a rich country such as the United States to have even more poor and desperate people living just across its southern border. Legal or illegal, those remittances make Mexico and Central America more stable and the United States more safe.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
Poll Workers are the backbone of our election system.
It’s an enjoyable and rewarding way to be part of our free democratic process.
- Contribute to your community by helping run an election.
- Help safeguard our election process.
- We’ll provide a training class and a stipend.
- You’ll earn between $95 and $120 for the day.
This great opportunity is available to:
- Registered voters in Alameda County
- Alameda County employees
- High school seniors over 16 years of age in a school sponsored poll worker program
- If you’d like to participate, simply fill out and return the registration form.
We’d love to have you as part of the team.
Poll Worker Positions & Duties
Inspector - Supervises polling place operations; attends training class; picks up supplies; sets up/takes down polling place; delivers all supplies to an assigned Return Center.
Judge - Attends training class, assists Inspector with duties; may accompany Inspector to Return Center.
Clerk - Attends training class, assists Inspector with duties; may accompany Inspector to Return Center.
How to Apply for a Poll Worker Position
To become a poll worker, simply fill out an application.
To apply online, click the following link: Online Application Form
To apply by mail, download the Mail-in Application Form** and send the completed application to:
Registrar of VotersRecruiting Section
1225 Fallon St. Room G-1
Oakland, CA 94612
For more information, phone 510-272-6971
**Requires free Adobe Acrobat Reader.
ATTENTION HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS: California law allows high school seniors to work as election officers on election day. You must be at least 16 years of age, a United States citizen, and a student in good standing with your school earning at least a 2.5 grade point average on a scale of 4.0. If you are interested in working at the polls in an election and please call 510-272-6971 for more information or send in an application.
