[MCM] Paul Minor
Updates on Paul Minor's case: A Surprise Recusal and Promising Result in Paul Minor Appeal Hearing http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brendan-demelle/a-surprise-recusal-and-pr_b_181864.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brendan-demelle/a-surprise-recusal-and-pr_b_181864.html Free Paul Minor http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr-and-brendan-demelle/free-paul-minor_b_176696.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr-and-brendan-demelle/free-paul-minor_b_176696.html --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Report on Gaza, from Physicians for Human Rights/Israel and PMRS
From Susan Adelman: Dear Friends Below is the news release from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel on the release of the report they did jointly with the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) about the recent Israeli offensive in Gaza. It includes a link to a site where you can download both the whole report and an abbreviated version. I believe that human rights have no nationality. All crimes against civilians must be condemned and I condemn the launching for rockets from Gaza into the southern portion of Israel. That, however, is not the subject of this report. The scientific evidence, the first-person accounts and the conclusions are chilling. Please read it. Peace and lift the siege of Gaza (now!!), Susan From: t...@phr.org.il Date: 2009/4/6 Subject: Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) published today its special report on the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, 27.12.2008 - 18.01.2009 Independent fact-finding mission of medical experts commissioned by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel and the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) published today its special report on the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip, 27.12.2008 - 18.01.2009 In their report, the experts detail 44 testimonies by civilians who came under attack and by medical staff who were prevented from evacuating the wounded. The report provides first-hand evidence regarding the broader effects of the attacks on a civilian population that was already vulnerable on the eve of the offensive. To download the Report click here http://www.phr.org.il/phr/article.asp?articleid=708catid=54pcat=-1lang=ENGhttp://www.phr.org.il/phr/article.asp?articleid=708catid=54pcat=-1lang=ENG The experts collected samples of human tissue earth, water, grass and mud suspected to be contaminated by unidentified chemicals. These were sent by the team to laboratories in the UK and South Africa for analysis. During the military operation in January, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel called for an external independent investigation into the events, for the rehabilitation of the Gaza Strip and for the opening of the Crossings. Five independent experts in the fields of forensic medicine, burns, medical response to crises and public health, from Germany, Denmark, South Africa and Spain, immediately answered the call and traveled to Gaza between 29 January and 5 February 2009 for their first fact-finding investigation, and then to hospitals in Egypt, where some of the most seriously wounded were being treated. The medical experts are:Professor Jorgen Thomsen from Denmark, expert in Forensic pathology; Dr. Ralf Syring from Germany, an expert in Public Health in crisis regions; Professor Shabbir Ahmed Wadee from South Africa, an expert in Forensic pathology;Professor Sebastian Van As from South Africa, an expert in Trauma surgeryand Ms. Alicia Vacas Moro from Spain, an expert in International health. From the conclusion of the report: ...Besides the large-scale, largely impersonal destruction that the team witnessed and heard of, it was especially distressing to hear of individual cases in which soldiers had been within seeing, hearing and speaking distance of their victims for significant stretches of time, but despite the opportunity for 'humanisation', had denied wounded people access to lifesaving medical care, or even shot at civilians at short range... One of the testimonies in the report describes the aftermath of an attack. Muhammad Saad Abu Halima had lost two brothers and a young sister; his wife and daughter were wounded. He told the delegation his experience of evacuation: ŠWe were going down the street Kamal Adwan, and we had almost reached the school when the soldiers halted us. A tank appeared on the street and stopped close to the school. The soldiers were occupying the second floor of a building which was only 20 meters away from the street. They could see that we were all wounded and dirty from the explosions, because the tractor was open at the back. They shot at us, killing my cousins Matar Saad Abu Halima and Muhammad Hikma Abu Halima, who were driving us to the hospital. The soldiers ordered us to get out of the tractor, and they asked me to take off my clothes. I did it and they checked all my body. I think they were looking for explosives, but we were all injured and in pitiful conditions. How could we think of carrying explosives when my younger siblings and my own children were dying? Then, when I was almost expecting death, they shouted at me: you can get dressed and go. They did not allow us to use the tractor. I held my sister Shahed in my arms Š but the soldiers said that the baby was already dead, so they forced me to leave her in the car. I tried to help my wife Ghada, who was completely burned, and they forced us to walk to the hospital. For about 300 meters the soldiers were
[MCM] Observers shut out of AZ recount
Observers Shut Out of Pima Recount Attorney General's criminal investigation procedures break ballot custody and make meaningful public observation impossible RTA Recount Situation Report: 3:00 p.m. Monday April 6th (aka: The Official Chronicles Of The Bored To Tears, Part One) by Jim March http://electiondefensealliance.org/Observers_Shut_Out_of_Pima_Recounthttp://electiondefensealliance.org/Observers_Shut_Out_of_Pima_Recount A total hand-recount of what are alleged to be the ballots voted in the 2006 Pima County Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) bond measure election is being conducted as I write. Eight teams of three people each (all Maricopa Elections Division employees) are doing the sort and stack method to pile ballots in three piles for each ballot question. It's impossible to overstate how tightly the information flow is controlled here, or how nontransparent the process is. The short form is that the preliminary counts are matching the official final totals from 2006, in broad strokes. Ballot forensics is going to be a factor here, and the chain of custody of these ballots (read: could they be fake?) is open to serious question. Background For those just joining us: This bond measure of May 2006 involved $2 billion worth of transportation contracts, which in turn affected housing boom issues. We now know there was a ton of fraud in the late lamented real estate boom; the question now is, was there also fraud in setting the preconditions for that boom, such as the RTA bond measure? There are a number of reasons to suspect the RTA race was rigged. In brief: The audit logs looked very funky; similar bond measures had failed repeatedly in years past; Pima elections officials had illegally peeked into early voting results by printing tallies of the scanned-in mail-in ballots; the election department's chief systems operator was spotted referring to a Microsoft Access advanced programmer's manual while using the Diebold central tabulator; and much more.1 (See http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/insider_election_fraud_pima_arizonapreceding articles documenting this investigation). Long-distance photo taken through a window with optical zoom, by Jim March Red circles indicate voters' marked ballot selections. AZ Attorney General Terry Goddard finally took a serious role by declaring the hand-count. But the way he handled it violated every standard possible in election transparency, and continues to do so. Goddard will tell you that he doesn't need to be transparent at all because this isn't an election-related recount. He's partially right: this recount is connected to a criminal investigation aimed at the people who run elections in Pima County. But the problem is, in order to treat these ballots the same way he would if, say, he raided the documents inside a crooked bank, he has to take sole control over the very engine of Democracy. He's set himself up to be the sole judge of what the people's will was in a real election. No one person can ever be allowed to take that control with zero oversight or observation. It leads to horrible dark places. Governments have murdered literally millions of people in order to gain that kind of sole control.2 When a single government official takes control over the processing of election information, even in this kind of situation, it's a step towards literal hell on earth. So What Has AG Goddard Done? 1.Over a month ago Goddard seized control over the ballots, taking them to points unknown and storing them in unknown conditions with zero oversight from any other government body, political parties or citizen observers. We still don't know where they vacationed. 2.They're now being counted by the Maricopa elections office in conditions designed to prevent observation -- most particularly preventing any independent counts of the vote totals. These conditions include: a. The AG's office told political parties to provide the names of three observers able to spent a week in Phoenix (120+ miles from Pima County) -- and then the AG's office would pick the final participant. In the case of the Democrats, they picked a retiree in his '70s over a younger lawyer with elections law experience. Fortunately the retiree is a very competent gent, but . . . he's not a lawyer. The Libertarians submitted just one name (mine) and the AG's office rejected me on security grounds citing the wrongful arrest I was subjected to in San Diego County, CA in 2005 -- never mind that all charges were rapidly dropped and changes to observation procedures were instituted statewide in direct response to my action. So the game is: Keep out as many knowledgeable observers as possible. b. The observers in the room aren't allowed any pens or pencils or any electronic note-taking gear. Mind you, this is a 100% hand count; electronic manipulation of
[MCM] Baghdad is now a city of walls
Powerful reports from Baghdad, by Guardian report Ghaith Abdul-Ahad. The whole city is divided up, with every neighborhood a walled sectarian compound; and even as the place has started bustling here and there, the general quiet is as tense as in a prison torn apart by gangs and guards, and only recently calmed down. (Yet the killing is still going on, but less openly and more efficiently than in the past.) We owe this shattered country everything. MCM From Imad Khadduri: Baghdad - City of Walls After six years of occupation, hundreds of thousands Iraqis dead, four to five million Iraqis displaced, five thousand American soldiers dead and tens of billions of dollars siphoned, one end result is that Baghdad is a City of Walls. This is a series of four videos (10-12 minutes each) by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, a Baghdad-born award-winning photographer and journalist for the Guardian. The series was shown on Al-Jazeera English channel in its Witness program. The last in the series (part 4) is the most recently filmed and is definitly worth seeing . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WkPAnIcZz8Witness - Baghdad City of Walls - 5 April 09 - Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WkPAnIcZz8Witness - Baghdad City of Walls - 5 April 09 - Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK8LGLDLmVQWitness - Baghdad City of Walls - 5 April 09 - Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK8LGLDLmVQWitness - Baghdad City of Walls - 5 April 09 - Part 4 . -- Imad Khadduri http://abutamam.blogspot.com/http://abutamam.blogspot.com --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Bank bailout even worse than you expected
TUESDAY, APRIL 07, 2009 Is the Geithner-Summers plan even worse than expected? by Chris in Paris on 4/07/2009 06:03:00 AM http://www.americablog.com/2009/04/is-geithner-summers-plan-even-worse.html And yes, even lower than the already low expectations. One might ask how the Obama team could deliver such a potentially lucrative deal for Wall Street and a bad deal for taxpayers, but Summers history of making millions on Wall Street may provide some guidance. I voted for change and I wouldn't mind seeing some on Wall Street in stead of this same old, same old. More from Columbia economics professor Jeffrey Sachs: Here's how. Consider a toxic asset held by Citibank with a face value of $1 million, but with zero probability of any payout and therefore with a zero market value. An outside bidder would not pay anything for such an asset. All of the previous articles consider the case of true outside bidders. Suppose, however, that Citibank itself sets up a Citibank Public-Private Investment Fund (CPPIF) under the Geithner-Summers plan. The CPPIF will bid the full face value of $1 million for the worthless asset, because it can borrow $850K from the FDIC, and get $75K from the Treasury, to make the purchase! Citibank will only have to put in $75K of the total. Citibank thereby receives $1 million for the worthless asset, while the CPPIF ends up with an utterly worthless asset against $850K in debt to the FDIC. The CPPIF therefore quietly declares bankruptcy, while Citibank walks away with a cool $1 million. Citibank's net profit on the transaction is $925K (remember that the bank invested $75K in the CPPIF) and the taxpayers lose $925K. Since the total of toxic assets in the banking system exceeds $1 trillion, and perhaps reaches $2-3 trillion, the amount of potential rip-off in the Geithner-Summers plan is unconscionably large. http://www.americablog.com/2009/04/is-geithner-summers-plan-even-worse.html --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Sarah Palin's sister-in-law arrested for burglary
But at least she brought her little girl along. The four-year-old was waiting in the car, MCM Sarah Palin's Sister-in-Law Arrested for Burglary http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20270168,00.html?xid=rss-msnbc S The Alaska wildlife tales just keep coming! Smoke has yet to settle from the feud between Levi Johnston - the former fiancé of Bristol Palin, who will appear on The Tyra Banks Show April 6 to discuss his sex life with the Alaska governor's 18-year-old daughter - and Sarah Palin, who issued a blistering statement condemning Johnston's decision to talk dirty on TV. (Johnston, 18, and Bristol Palin welcomed son Tripp last December and split earlier this year.) And now comes a new source of embarrassment for the former GOP vice-presidential contender: police in Sarah Palin's hometown of Wasilla have arrested the half-sister of her husband, Todd, for allegedly breaking into a house in a robbery attempt. According to the Anchorage Daily News, police say Diana Palin, 35, entered the home Thursday morning and made straight for a bedroom cabinet where cash was stowed. The house had already been burgled twice in recent weeks. This time the owner, carrying a gun, was waiting in a bathroom after seeing an unfamiliar car pull up outside. The owner, Theodore Turcott, reportedly confronted the intruder and detained her until police arrived. In a further twist in the case, Diana Palin's 4-year-old daughter was apparently waiting in the car outside, but entered the house before police arrived, a prosecutor said during a Palmer District Court hearing Friday. The little girl reportedly told police she had been in the house before. Diana Palin was taken into custody on felony burglary charges relating to two break-ins at the Turcott house. A spokeswoman for Gov. Palin declined the newspaper's request for comment. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Obama quietly EXPANDS Bush/Cheney's legal case for wiretapping
Obama Administration quietly expands Bush's legal defense of wiretapping program 04/07/2009 @ 10:01 am Filed by John Byrne http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_Administration_quietly_expands_Bushs_legal_0407.html In a stunning defense of President George W. Bush's warrantless wiretapping program, President Barack Obama has broadened the government's legal argument for immunizing his Administration and government agencies from lawsuits surrounding the National Security Agency's eavesdropping efforts. In fact, a close read of a government filing last Friday reveals that the Obama Administration has gone beyond any previous legal claims put forth by former President Bush. Responding to a lawsuit filed by a civil liberties group, the Justice Department argued that the government was protected by sovereign immunity from lawsuits because of a little-noticed clause in the Patriot Act. The government's legal filing can be read here (PDF). For the first time, the Obama Administration's brief contends that government agencies cannot be sued for wiretapping American citizens even if there was intentional violation of US law. They maintain that the government can only be sued if the wiretaps involve willful disclosure -- a higher legal bar. A 'willful violation' in Section 223(c(1) refers to the 'willful disclosure' of intelligence information by government agents, as described in Section 223(a)(3) and (b)(3), and such disclosures by the Government are the only actions that create liability against the United States, Obama Assistant Attorney General Michael Hertz wrote (page 5). Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is suing the government over the warrantless wiretapping program, notes that the government has previously argued that the government had sovereign immunity against civil action under the FISA statute. But he says that this is the first time that they've invoked changes to the Patriot Act in claiming the US government is immune from claims of illegal spying under any other federal surveillance statute. They are arguing this based on changes to the law made by the USA PATRIOT Act, Section 223, Bankston said in an email to Raw Story. We've never been fans of 223--it made it much harder to sue the U.S. for illegal spying, see an old write-up of mine at: http://w2.eff.org/patriot/sunset/223.php --but no one's ever suggested before that it wholly immunized the U.S. government against suits under all the surveillance statutes. Salon columnist and constitutional scholar Glenn Greenwald -- who is generally supportive of progressive interpretations of the law -- says the Obama Administration has invented a brand new claim of immunity from spying litigation. In other words, beyond even the outrageously broad 'state secrets' privilege invented by the Bush administration and now embraced fully by the Obama administration, the Obama DOJ has now invented a brand new claim of government immunity, one which literally asserts that the U.S. Government is free to intercept all of your communications (calls, emails and the like) and -- even if what they're doing is blatantly illegal and they know it's illegal -- you are barred from suing them unless they 'willfully disclose' to the public what they have learned, Greenwald wrote Monday. He also argues that the Justice Department's response is exclusively a product of the new Administration, noting that three months have elapsed since President Bush left office. This brief and this case are exclusively the Obama DOJ's, and the ample time that elapsed -- almost three full months -- makes clear that it was fully considered by Obama officials, Greenwald wrote. Yet they responded exactly as the Bush DOJ would have. This demonstrates that the Obama DOJ plans to invoke the exact radical doctrines of executive secrecy which Bush used -- not only when the Obama DOJ is taking over a case from the Bush DOJ, but even when they are deciding what response should be made in the first instance. Everything for which Bush critics excoriated the Bush DOJ -- using an absurdly broad rendition of 'state secrets' to block entire lawsuits from proceeding even where they allege radical lawbreaking by the President and inventing new claims of absolute legal immunity -- are now things the Obama DOJ has left no doubt it intends to embrace itself, he adds. Both the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the American Civil Liberties Union say the sovereign immunity claim in the context of the case goes farther than any previous Bush Administration claims of wiretap immunity. Writing about the changes to the Patriot Act last year, the EFF asserted that revisions to the Act involved troubling new developments for US law. Unlike with any other defendant, if you want to sue the federal government for illegal wiretapping you have to first go through an administrative procedure with the agency
[MCM] Court rules: Franken wins
And now the fun begins. MCM Breaking... http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7049MN SENATE ELECTION JUDGES COUNT FINAL BALLOTS, FIND FRANKEN WINS! Tally concludes finding 312 vote win for the Democrat, as Coleman prepares his final appeals But does the Republican have a legal leg to stand on?... FULL STORY, ANALYSIS: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7049http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7049 Brad --- Brad Friedman Publisher/Editor, The BRAD BLOG http://www.bradblog.com/http://www.BradBlog.com http://www.bradblog.com/ ___ BradBlogAlert mailing list bradblogal...@cville.com http://mail.cville.com/mailman/listinfo/bradblogalert You are subscribed as m...@mail.nyu.edu. To leave the list, send an email to bradblogalert-requ...@cville.com?subject=unsubscribe AOL members, please do not use the SPAM button. This is not spam! --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~--- inline: image001 62.jpg
[MCM] Geithner's dirty little secret
Asia Time Online - Daily News http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/KD03Dj02.htmlhttp://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/KD03Dj02.html Apr 3, 2009 Geithner's dirty little secret By F. W. Engdahl US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, in unveiling his long-awaited plan to put the US banking system back in order, has refused to tell the dirty little secret of the present financial crisis. By refusing to do so, he is trying to save de facto bankrupt US banks that threaten to bring the entire global system down in a new more devastating phase of wealth destruction. The Geithner proposal, his so-called Public-Private Partnership Investment Program, or PPPIP, is not designed to restore a healthy lending system that would funnel credit to business and consumers. Rather it is yet another intricate scheme to pour even more hundreds of billions of dollars directly to the leading banks and Wall Street firms responsible for the current mess in world credit markets, without demanding they change their business model. Yet, one might say, won't this eventually help the problem by getting the banks back to health? Not the way the Barack Obama administration is proceeding. In defending his plan on US TV recently, Geithner, a protege of Henry Kissinger and before his present posting president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, argued that his intent was not to sustain weak banks at the expense of strong. Yet this is precisely what the PPPIP does. The weak banks are the five largest banks in the system. The dirty little secret that Geithner is going to great degrees to obscure from the public is very simple. There are only at most perhaps five US banks that are the source of the toxic poison causing such dislocation in the world financial system. What Geithner is desperately trying to protect is that reality. The heart of the present problem, and the reason ordinary loan losses are not the problem as in prior bank crises, is a variety of exotic financial derivatives, most especially credit default swaps. In the Bill Clinton administration of 2000, the Treasury secretary was Larry Summers, who had just been promoted from number two under former Goldman Sachs banker Robert Rubin to be number one when Rubin left Washington to take up the post of Citigroup vice chairman. As I describe in detail in my new book, Power of Money: The Rise and Fall of the American Century, to be released this summer, Summers convinced president Clinton to sign several Republican bills into law that opened the floodgates for banks to abuse their powers. The fact that the Wall Street big banks spent some US$5 billion in lobbying for these changes after 1998 was likely not lost on Clinton. One significant law was the repeal of the 1933 Depression-era Glass-Steagall Act, which prohibited mergers of commercial banks, insurance companies and brokerage firms such as Merrill Lynch or Goldman Sachs. A second law backed by Treasury secretary Summers in 2000 was an obscure but deadly important Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. That law prevented the responsible US government regulatory agency, Commodity Futures Trading Corporation (CFTC), from having any oversight over the trading of financial derivatives. The new CFMA law stipulated that so-called over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives like credit default swaps, such as those involved in the AIG insurance disaster, (and which investor Warren Buffett once called weapons of mass financial destruction), be free from government regulation. At the time Summers was busy opening the floodgates of financial abuse for the Wall Street Money Trust, his assistant was none other than Tim Geithner, the man who today is US Treasury Secretary, while Geithner's old boss, the self-same Summers, is President Obama's chief economic adviser as head of the White House Economic Council. To have Geithner and Summers responsible for cleaning up the financial mess is tantamount to putting the proverbial fox in to guard the henhouse. What Geithner does not want the public to understand, his dirty little secret, is that the repeal of Glass-Steagall and the passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act in 2000 allowed the creation of a tiny handful of banks that would virtually monopolize key parts of the global off-balance sheet or OTC derivatives issuance. Today, five US banks, according to data in the just-released Federal Office of Comptroller of the Currency's Quarterly Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activity, hold 96% of all US bank derivatives positions in terms of nominal values, and an eye-popping 81% of the total net credit risk exposure in event of default. The top three are, in declining order of importance: JPMorgan Chase, which holds a staggering $88 trillion in derivatives; Bank of America with $38 trillion, and Citibank with $32 trillion. Number four in the derivatives sweepstakes is
[MCM] A call-to-arms from Don Siegelman
Dear Supporter, I need your help on a critical issue. Time is of the essence. I'm asking that you email influential editors and Attorney General Eric Holder. Attorney General Holder recently abandoned the conviction against former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R). His decision had nothing to do with the merits of the Stevens case, but was based on misconduct on the part of the Department of Justice. Attorney General Holder did the right thing. It's been a long time since we have seen the DOJ act courageously. Attorney General Holder's action gives me hope that justice can be restored and our democracy can be preserved. An important difference between the Stevens case and my case is that I was not accused of taking even a penny for myself. In my case there are many instances of government wrongdoing. American Trial Lawyer Magazine tagged me as America's number one Political Prisoner, Time Magazine said I was a victim of selective prosecution, and CBS's 60 Minutes exposed that the government used false testimony to convict me and withheld critical documents from my lawyers. The House Judiciary Committee even has sworn testimony that Karl Rove was involved in my prosecution as well as other serious prosecutorial misconduct. Attorney General Holder threw out the case against Ted Stevens because the government withheld information that could have been critical to the outcome of Senator Stevens' trial. There's far more prosecutorial misconduct in my case than in the Stevens case. Please http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=4K4saGRXq0eygRmr9hMOMpAtaBg1YafWread this letter from my lawyer to the Attorney General (PDF) which outlines some of those areas of misconduct. After reading the letter, please email the following editors commending Eric Holder for helping to restore justice by dropping the charges against Senator Stevens but suggesting that the gross prosecutorial misconduct in my case far exceeds the misconduct in the Stevens case. Tell them the Attorney General should investigate my case and that, when he does, he will find it cries out for justice and should also be dismissed. Please email your comments to: Adam Cohen, Editorial Page Editor of the New York Times at mailto:a...@nytimes.coma...@nytimes.com Fred Hiatt, Editorial Page Editor of the Washington Post at mailto:hia...@washpost.comhia...@washpost.com Bruce Dold, Editorial Page Editor of the Chicago Tribune at mailto:bruced...@tribune.combruced...@tribune.com Cynthia Tucker, Editorial Page Editor for the Atlanta Journal Constitutional at mailto:cynt...@ajc.comcynt...@ajc.com I am also asking that you write to Attorney General Holder at mailto:ask...@usdoj.govask...@usdoj.gov to express your support for his courageous step toward restoring justice and encourage him to help right the wrongs in my case as well. Sincerely, Don Siegelman Governor of Alabama 1999-2003 P.S. The cost of my legal defense has been an extraordinary burden on me and on my family. If you are so inclined, please http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=obwNYHSrHmsvebPezN%2Bmk498BscsYczYcontribute to my Legal Defense Fund by clicking here. Thank you so much for your continued support in these difficult times. http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=G7QugCRr3N%2B389CRwzz9FpAtaBg1YafW http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=dxU3EG05uRnq5mxkFvXctJAtaBg1YafW Paid for by Friends of Don Siegelman 2008 If you would like to remove yourself from the Friends of Don Siegelman email list, http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=%2BkzMxLpSsN6nfLNdJBaEeZAtaBg1YafWclick here to unsubscribe. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Voting news from MN, AZ, NY, TX (and more)
From John Gideon: Recounts! We have recounts. Minnesota's Senatorial recount appears to be done, as of today, with Franken gaining more votes than Coleman. The count of the NY-20 absentee ballots will begin tomorrow. This isn't a recount yet but will probably go that way after these ballots are counted. The criminal investigation recount in Arizona will go throughout this week, at least. AZ: Pima County - RTA Recount Situation Report: 3:00 p.m. Monday April 6th http://electiondefensealliance.org/Observers_Shut_Out_of_Pima_Recount LA: Ouachita Parish - No additional ballots found as machines opened in city council's District 2 race http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20090407/UPDATES01/90407009 ME: When non- U.S. citizens vote http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/other-views/story/987795.html MN: Coleman's chances down to 387 ballots http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2009/04/colemans_chance.php MN: Senate recount down to 387 ballots - and almost certain appeal As the three-judge panel nears a decision, both sides are preparing for the next step. http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/42532012.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUT MN: Franken extends lead over Coleman http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/42588822.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aU1yDEmP:QMDCinchO7DU MN: MN Senate Election Judges Count Final Ballots, Find Franken Wins! http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7049 NY: NY-20 - Supreme Court allows counting of paper ballots http://capitalnews9.com/content/headlines/136969/supreme-court-allows-counting-of-paper-ballots/Default.aspx NY: NY-20 - Absentee count to start Wednesday http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=787534 OK: Voter ID law stirs partisan passions http://www.edmondsun.com/statenews/local_story_096232015.html PA: Opinion - Pennsylvania doesn't need new voter ID law http://www.mcall.com/news/opinion/anotherview/all-c.6845588apr07,0,294517.story TX: Partisan split on display at voter ID hearing in Texas Legislature http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/state/stories/040709dntexvoterid.abdf7eea.html TX: Voter ID: House hear testimony, mulls changes in bill http://www.news-journal.com/opin/content/news/opinion/stories/2009/04/07/04072009_voter_id_edit.html **Articles and commentary included in Daily Voting News may not all reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or its allied organizations. The articles are all included for the information of the subscribers of Daily Voting News though we realize that the subscribers may not agree with the opinions given in all articles or in the commentary** *** If you receive Daily Voting News directly from John Gideon and VotersUnite and wish to unsubscribe, please send an email to jgid...@votersunite.org requesting that you be removed from circulation. If you get the email forwarded from someone else you must contact them to be unsubscribed. *** -- John Gideon Co-Executive Director VotersUnite.Org www.votersunite.org To encourage citizen ownership of transparent, participatory democracy. The Creekside DeclarationMarch 22, 2008 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Larry Summers is too dirty
Obama's Top Economic Adviser Is Greedy and Highly Compromised By Matt Taibbi, True/Slant Posted on April 10, 2009, Printed on April 10, 2009 http://www.alternet.org/story/136008/ But Summers, a leading architect of the administration's economic policies and response to the global recession, appears to have collected the most income. Financial institutions including JP Morgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch paid Summers for speaking appearances in 2008. Fees ranged from $45,000 for a Nov. 12 Merrill Lynch appearance to $135,000 for an April 16 visit to Goldman Sachs, according to his disclosure form. -- Washingtonpost.com So I guess that $45,000 speaking fee from Merrill Lynch wasn't technically a bribe because Summers wasn't named to Obama's economic transition team until Nov. 24 - a full 12 days later. I'm sure Larry Summers had absolutely no inkling whatsoever that he was going to be one of the key advisers to the new administration on Nov. 12. It likewise makes perfect sense that Merrill Lynch, a company just months removed from having to be rescued from bankruptcy by an 11th-hour, pseudo-state-subsidized buyout by Bank of America, would decide to spend $45,000 on a speaking appearance by Summers because, well, they really valued his economic expertise and his proven ability to rally the troops with his stirring rhetoric. It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that a) it was eight days after a Democrat was elected to the presidency; b) Summers had a long history of being one of the key policymakers in Democratic Party politics; and c) Merrill was absolutely not going to survive more than a few more months unless taxpayers forked over another 20 billion or so to cover the giant hole in Merrill's balance sheet that was, at that time, still being hidden from Bank of America and its shareholders. And how about that $135,000 appearance for Goldman Sachs in April, when Summers was already involved with Democratic Party politics again? That wasn't a surreptitious campaign contribution at all! But you have to give Goldman credit: it sure is thorough. It literally leaves no stone unturned. One has to love the sequence of events here. Back in 2004, Goldman chief Hank Paulson goes to SEC chief William Donaldson and petitions to have lending restrictions relaxed for the top five investment banks. Donaldson rolls over, the restrictions are relaxed, and it's a disaster, as the top five banks immediately overleverage themselves - two of the five, Bear Stearns and Lehman, would actually collapse, at least partially as a result of being insanely overleveraged. In the midst of this disaster, Paulson is named Treasury secretary. He does nothing about the worsening financial crisis until it is far too late, then allows one of Goldman's biggest competitors, Lehman, to fail while at the same time intervening on a huge scale to save AIG, which just happens to owe Goldman a ton of money. When AIG is bailed out, its government regulator is not in the room, but the new chief of Goldman, Lloyd Blankfein, is. In fact, Goldman Sachs ultimately receives about $13 billion of the money paid to AIG by the government in the bailout, reportedly getting paid 100 cents on the dollar for its AIG exposure, despite the fact that the bank claimed it wasn't going to suffer severe losses if AIG collapsed. Later, another former Goldman executive, Ed Liddy, is installed as head of AIG -- which just happens to get bailed out twice more, the last time to the tune of $30 billion. The last two bailouts of AIG take place after a former Goldman chief, Robert Rubin (who, incidentally, helped start this mess by ramming through a series of i-banker wet-dream deregulatory moves as Treasury secretary for Clinton in the 1990s), is named to the Obama transition team, joining Summers (who had already taken $135,000 from Goldman that year) and Timothy Geithner (a protege of another Goldman alum, John Thain, former president and chief operating officer and notorious scumbag). When it comes time for new Treasury Secretary Geithner to name a chief of staff, he chooses Mark Patterson, who is less than a year removed from working as a lobbyist for Š Goldman Sachs. Patterson's great contribution to society as a Goldman lobbyist was opposing a 2007 measure introduced in the Senate by presidential candidate Barack Obama to rein in executive compensation. I remember watching Obama the presidential candidate give a speech in Mason City, Iowa, in 2007. Obama had made a big show of not having registered lobbyists working for his campaign, and he promised that lobbyists won't work in my White House. The line was a hit and became part of Obama's stump speech. I must have heard it two dozen times. A little over a year later, he put a registered lobbyist of a bailed-out investment bank into a job whose primary responsibility is
[MCM] Is Obama the financial Dubya? (HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW)
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/haque/2009/04/dubya.html http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/haque/Umair Haque Edge Economy Is Obama the Financial Dubya? 5:34 AM Thursday April 9, 2009 As part of its sweeping plan to purge banks of troublesome assets, the Obama administration is encouraging several large investment companies to create the financial-crisis equivalent of war bonds: bailout funds. *** As well as BlackRock and Pimco, Legg Mason, another big mutual fund company, and BNY Mellon Asset Management, a big asset manager, have said they are interested in starting retail investment funds to participate in the government's plan. For the investment managers, the benefits are potentially large. These big firms can charge healthy fees to investors for taking part. They will also have the marketing prestige of being the firms the government turns to at a time of crisis to help sort out the country's financial mess. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/business/09fund.htmlNow, I'm pretty slow sometimes. So let me ask some stupid questions. Is there a reason that people can't just buy equity and debt in the plan, well, directly? Is there a reason middlemen get a guaranteed profit in a new segment? Is there a reason that only one side of the table is represented in this deal - the sell-side? How come the benefit to taxpayers is still not a part of the calculus? Here's the only reason I can come up with - and it's a lot worse than http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2009/04/from_japan_to_america_the_triu.cfmAmerica 2009 = Japan 1989. Obama is the new Dubya. When it comes to finance at least, the parallels are way (way) too striking to ignore. Consider: 1) Obama has discarded the advice of nearly every eminent economist in the world. 2) To go with the advice of his team. 3) Because access to him is apparently controlled tightly by Summers and Geithner. 4) So Obama is bubbled from the growing disbelief at his lack of economic literacy. 5) A plan that is likely to result in http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2009/0401_taxpayers_young.aspxmassive looting is blindly sailing ahead. 6) Policy is clearly biased in favour of those who can afford to buy it. Hence, banks win - again. 7) And it doesn't matter http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/2009/04/bank-credit-growth-drops-precipitously.htmlif policy works or not - so we get perverse policy after policy. You know what? Hiring some kids to revolutionize media is how Obama won an election. But the failure to do the same across the government is going to be how he blows his presidency. Here's the point: the same toxic managerial dynamics that poisoned the Bush presidency are already at work in the Obama administration's economic policy-making. And that's not a very good sign. Umair Haque Umair Haque is Director of the Havas Media Lab, a new kind of strategic advisor that helps investors, entrepreneurs, and firms experiment with, craft, and drive radical management, business model, and strategic innovation. Prior to Havas, Umair founded Bubblegeneration, an agenda-setting advisory boutique that helped shape the strategies of investors, entrepreneurs, and blue chip companies across media and consumer industries. Bubblegeneration's work has been recognized by publications like Wired, The Red Herring, Business 2.0, and BusinessWeek, and in Chris Anderson's Long Tail, to which Umair was a contributor. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] British cover-up in G20 death case
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/11/g20-pathologist-ian-tomlinsonPathologist in Ian Tomlinson G20 death case was reprimanded over conduct * G20 pathologist reprimanded over conduct * MP asks why first post mortem was held so quickly, and calls for public inquiry http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/paullewisPaul Lewis http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardianThe Guardian, Saturday 11 April 2009 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/11/g20-pathologist-ian-tomlinson#history-bylineArticle history http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/11/g20-pathologist-ian-tomlinson The initial post mortem examination of the man who died at the http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/g20G20protests after being attacked by a http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/policepolice officer, which found he had died of a heart attack, was conducted by a forensic pathologist once reprimanded about his professional conduct by the General Medical Council. Ian Tomlinson, a 47-year-old newspaper seller, died on April 1 after being assaulted at least once by officers policing the G20 demonstrations. He had been trying to walk home from work when he was confronted by police, hit with a baton and thrown to the ground. Two days later Home Office pathologist Dr Freddy Patel concluded Tomlinson had died of a heart attack. He has previously been reprimanded by the GMC, after he released medical details about a man who died controversially in police custody. In a second case, which raised questions about Dr Patel's findings, police dropped a criminal investigation after the pathologist gave it as his opinion that the victim, a woman, had died of natural causes. A man who lived in the flat where the body was found went on to murder two other women and mutilate their bodies. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/ipccIPCC) launched a criminal inquiry into Tomlinson's death after footage obtained by the Guardian showed he had been attacked from behind. Tomlinson had had his hands in his pockets and was walking away from police lines. Last night a second post mortem examination, intitiated by Tomlinson's family and the IPCC, was being carried out by Dr Nat Cary. A source with detailed knowledge of the IPCC investigation expressed surprise that the initial post mortem was referred to Dr Patel rather than the Forensic Pathology Services, a body of nine independent forensic pathologists, including Dr Cary, which usually deals with suspicious deaths in London and the home counties. The selection of Dr Patel could have been a jurisdictional issue relating to City of London authorities, the source said. Who chose the first pathologist and how? said David Howarth MP, the Liberal Democrats' justice spokesman. When the first post mortem came out saying natural causes so soon after his death, I thought that was too quick. He added: At the very least, there now needs to be a full and independent public inquiry into the Tomlinson case, and the actions of the public authorities in the days after his death. Who knew what - and when? The IPCC took over the criminal investigation into the death of Ian Tomlinson on Wednesday, after the Guardian published footage showing he had been hit with a baton and thrown to the ground by an officer in an apparently unprovoked assault. The Guardian included the video in a dossier of evidence handed to the IPCC that also contained statements from witnesses who alleged Tomlinson was assaulted by police at least once before he died. Dr Patel is on a Home Office register of accredited forensic pathologists, which is managed on behalf of all police forces by the National Policing Improvement Agency. Questions have twice been asked about his handling of suspicious death cases. In 1999 Dr Patel was disciplined by the GMC after he discussed the medical history of Roger Sylvester, a 30-year-old black man who died in police custody, outside an inquest hearing. He told reporters: I am aware from the medical records held at Whittington hospital that Mr Sylvester was a user of crack cocaine. Sylvester's family were devastated by the suggestion and contested that he been a user. Asked about the GMC reprimand last night by telephone, Dr Patel said: That is right. It happened a long time ago. In a separate case in January 2002, Dr Patel found that Sally White, 38, died of a natural causes resulting from heart disease. Her body was found locked in a bedroom in the Camden flat of Anthony Hardy, a 52-year-old psychiatrically-disturbed alcoholic. White's death was treated as suspicious until Dr Patel detailed the cause of her death as a heart attack. Hardy went on to kill two women, Elizabeth Valad, 29, and Brigette MacClennan, 34, and place their body parts in bin bags. Last night, Dr Patel said: As far as I know, my findings [in the Sally White case] stand as they were, and I wasn't criticised. He declined to comment on whether he was
[MCM] US chemical companies sued by Kurds over Saddam's poison gas attack
And maybe plaintiffs also ought to name some other, far more prominent US defendants, since the shipments of that gas, and other lethal weapons, were okayed by the Reagan/Bush administrations. If the Iraqgate scandal hadn't been shut down by Pres. Clinton at the start of his first term, the details of such high-level complicity would be much better known--in which case Poppy's son, perhaps, could not have run for president. MCM Ethnic Kurds file class action in Baltimore against chemical makers BEN MOOK Daily Record Assistant Business Editor April 9, 2009 5:32 PM http://www.mddailyrecord.com/article.cfm?id=11247type=UTTMhttp://www.mddailyrecord.com/article.cfm?id=11247type=UTTM Five survivors of the 1988 poison gas attacks of ethnic Kurds in Iraq have filed a class action lawsuit in Maryland claiming three American companies and the government of Iraq violated the Geneva Convention by using mustard and nerve gasses to kill tens of thousands of people. Filed in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, the lawsuit says the companies supplied the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein with the chemical precursors and compounds needed to make the poison gases used in the six-month long Operation Anfal. One of the companies, Alcolac Inc., was headquartered in Baltimore at the time of the attacks but is now defunct. Some of its assets were acquired by a French firm, Rhodia Inc., which is mentioned in the complaint but not named as a defendant. A spokesman for Rhodia, David Klucsik, said Alcolac was not acquired until 1989 - by a predecessor to Rhodia called Rhone-Poulenc. Rhodia, the chemicals arm of Rhone-Poulenc was spun off in 1998. Rhodia did not exist until 1998, Klucsik said. And, Rhone-Poulenc had no awareness of the allegations against Alcolac because the acquisition didn't occur until 1989. Kenneth McCallion of New York, the lead attorney in the case, told The Associated Press he filed the complaint in Maryland because all three companies have operations there and because Alcolac pleaded guilty in 1989 to knowingly violating export laws by shipping a mustard-gas ingredient that ultimately went to Iran. The lawsuit accuses the companies - Alcolac; West Chester, Pa.-based VWR International LLC; and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. of Waltham, Mass. - of selling lab materials and chemicals used in the manufacture of chemical weapons. Valerie Collado, spokeswoman for VWR International, said the company does not comment on pending litigation. The plaintiffs claim the use of mustard and nerve gases during the attacks is a clear violation of the Geneva Convention of 1925. The ban on the use of chemical weapons in warfare was respected even during the depths of World War II, when only Nazi Germany had sarin nerve gas, the complaint says. Attempt at genocide According to New York-based Human Rights Watch, Operation Anfal was an attempt at genocide of part of the Kurdish people in northern Iraq. The group said its investigation revealed that during Anfal - Arabic for the spoils - tens of thousands of ordinary Kurdish citizens were executed or disappeared. In addition, some 2,000 villages were destroyed, displacing hundreds of thousands of people. The Nashville-based Kurdish National Congress of North America, also a plaintiff in the case, has been working for years to build the case against the defendants and find a lawyer willing to tackle it, according to Dr. Kirmanj Gundi. Gundi, president of the Kurdish National Congress, said they never considered giving up, even though more than 20 years have passed since the attacks. We're doing this on the behalf of the tens of thousands of victims of the Anfal attacks, Gundi said. We still have wounded people in Kurdistan - the impact of the chemical attacks still affects the lives of people to this day. This will remain with our people for decades to come, he added. Burying the dead One of those who lived through the attacks was Meran S. Abdullah, 34, of Nashville. In 1988, Abdullah lived with his family in Ekmole, a village near the Turkish border that was under the control of Kurdish forces, known as the Peshmerga. On his last day in Ekmole, Abdullah said Iraqi airplanes bombed the village. And, while bombings were not uncommon, it became apparent that this time it was a chemical attack. As his mother, father and older brother stayed behind to gather personal effects, Abdullah and others headed to higher ground in the mountains nearby. He said his parents and brother were killed in the attack, their bodies found near a creek with suitcases still in their hands. After burying the dead, Abdullah and others hiked to a village on the Turkish border. Eventually, the refugees were let into Turkey. Abdullah said they did not attempt to go back to Ekmole after that. The Iraqi Army was after us, trying to kill us with tanks, planes and chemical bombs, he said. It was either stay there, or go back
[MCM] Rally for Parsons Fine Art faculty on 4/23!
From Joel Schlemowitz: Support Our Union! Support Parsons Fine Art Faculty! When: Thursday, April 23, 12-1 pm Where: Directly in front of the New School administration building at 66 West 12th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues, New York City) What: ACT-UAW Local 7902, the union of part-time faculty at NYU and the New School, will sponsor a rally protesting mass dismissals of arts faculty at Parsons the New School for Design. In light of Interim Provost Tim Marshall's comment that the Parsons situation is very typical of what happens in the school every single semester, all the time, all over the place, the event will also highlight a range of administration actions targeting part-timers across the university. This is a critical time for part-time faculty at the New School, with negotiations looming in advance of our contract's expiration on September 1. Come out! Bring your faculty friends, your artist friends, your neighbors, your kids! Make a sign! Blow a whistle! Send Fine Art Chair Coco Fusco, Provost Tim Marshall, and President Bob Kerrey a Message They Can't Ignore! See the attached statement for further background on the dismissals of Fine Art faculty. For more information, call the union office at 212-432-2120. = ACT-UAW LOCAL 7902 STATEMENT ON FACULTY DISMISSALS IN PARSONS FINE ART On March 10, a dozen part-time faculty members in the Fine Art Department at Parsons the New School for Design received notice that their teaching contracts will not be renewed for fall 2009. ACT-UAW Local 7902 protests this unjust action and deplores the administrative mentality it represents. The union has filed a number of grievances related to the dismissals, but contract violations are only part of the problem. Administrators are trying to hide behind a smoke screen of curricular change and other management priorities to justify what amounts to the decimation of a department and the devastation of a faculty. This is both ethically wrong and institutionally counter-productive. It is needlessly cruel to hard-working faculty members at a time of terrible economic insecurity. It is also a terrible management decision, one that plays havoc with students' need for a stable, experienced faculty and a robust curriculum in subjects such as painting and drawing. It has set alarm bells ringing in the wider arts community, generating numerous statements of support for the Fine Art faculty and condemnation of the administration's actions from cultural institutions in New York and beyond. At a critical time for labor locally and nationally, this inflammatory move strikes a blow at our entire membership as we head into contract negotiations, with our current contract set to expire on September 1, 2009. Unfortunately, there is considerable truth in Interim Provost Tim Marshall's remark to a New York Times reporter that these dismissals are very typical of what happens in the school every single semester, all the time, all over the place. The Provost's comment, and the dismissals themselves, signal all New School part-timers (89% of the total university faculty) that we are viewed by the administration as expendable. Apparently our talents, experience, and past contributions count for nothing in the face of corporate-style innovation from above. We view this attitude as part and parcel of the problems that led to the December, 2008 New School faculty vote of no confidence in the administration of President Bob Kerrey. We call on Coco Fusco, the Chair of the Parsons Fine Art Department, to make a course correction and re-appoint the affected faculty. We call on Provost Marshall and the Deans to embrace a model of change that includes substantive involvement of all sectors of the faculty, part-time and full-time, in the planning process. We call on President Kerrey to honor his recent commitment to accord part-time faculty a meaningful voice in decisions affecting curriculum. By drawing on the creativity and capacity for innovation of proven facultycan--and must--break exciting new ground while preserving successful programs' existing strengths so as not to short-change our students. Artnet News April 3, 2009 Art Faculty Purge At Parsons The New School? http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/artnetnews/artnetnews4-3-09.asp New York Times April 4, 2009 Parsons Faculty Is Cut Amid Protests by Artists http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/04/arts/design/04pars.html?em --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com
[MCM] You guys wouldn't be in the White House without Tom, Tom Feeney's COS tells Rove
And that's probably true. (For those who want the proper background, do a Google search on Tom Feeney and Clint Curtis.) MCM Karl Rove accosted by ex-GOP chief of staff http://www.politico.com/blogs/anneschroeder/0409/Karl_Rove_accosted_by_ex_GOP_Chief_of_Staff.html Former Bush adviser Karl Rove was verbally accosted Thursday evening by an ex-chief of staff to former Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.). Rove was quietly having dinner at the tony restaurant Charlie Palmer Steak on Capitol Hill when he was aggressively approached by Jason Roe, the former Feeney staffer. Roe, now of Federal Strategy Group, was loud and boisterous toward Rove. He was apparently (still) upset over the following comments Rove made on Fox News, the day after the election, in which Feeney - along with many other Republicans - went down in flames. From FNC: Rove: It was a big night, no doubt about it, but look, the people who got defeated last night were people who had not done their homework and hadn't gotten ready for a tough race. You know, like this guy Feeney in Florida. Colmes: Tom Feeney, yes. Rove: Tom Feeney, who - who had a bunch of ethical issues raised and then voted against the rescue package. You know, voting against the rescue package was supposed to be a sure thing to get you elected in some quarters. Shortly thereafter, Roe had to be escorted away from the table. Charlie Palmer Steak management remained typically mum and wouldn't even confirm Rove's appearance to Shenanigans, but when asked if there was a fight, the reply was, Noo, this is a quiet family establishment. Rove, when contacted, had no comment. Roe, when contacted, also had no comment. UPDATE: According to people familiar with the back and forth, we hear this was the conversation between Roe and Rove: Roe walked over to the table, I'm Jason Roe. Rove: Oh, the famous Jason Roe. Roe: I don't know that I'm famous, but I'm Tom Feeney's former chief of staff, and I'm offended by your comments on Fox about Tom. You guys wouldn't be in the White House without Tom. And you made these really degrading comments about him that offended a lot of people. (Sidenote: Tom Feeney was the speaker of the Florida House of Representatives during the whole Bush/Gore 2000 recount.) Rove: Well, I have a file on the things Tom Feeney said about George Bush. Roe: That says more about you than me that you kept a file on Tom Feeney. This guy was so restrained in his desire to criticize the president - even against this staff's advice. Rove: I have a file. Roe: I'm right here. Tell me to my face what's in that file. Rove: I'll send you the file. Roe: Well, I hope the file is the beginning of the conversation and not the end. I would love to disabuse you of whatever you think of Tom Feeney's loyalty from this file. Rove: If you keep talking over me, this conversation's going to end right now. Then a lady came over to fill up Rove's water glass, breaking up Roe and Rove, and Roe returned to the bar. Rumor has it Rove was waiting to have dinner with former RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Vote-flipping in Kansas just last week (and more from DVN)
From John Gideon: Voters in Salina, Saline County, Kansas went to the polls this past Tuesday and some of them had their votes flipped by the county's ESS iVotronic machines. Our 'Featured' article talks about the vote flipping and gives some new information. Kansas was warned about 'vote flipping' in an October letter from the Brennan Center and Verified Voting. Naturally they ignored that warning. ESS has now admitted that their touch screens lose calibration during the day, from normal use, and that they have to be recalibrated on occasion. The county seems to be sure that no flipping was done without the voter noticing it; a baseless assumption. They think that the voters review their ballot before hitting the Vote button. That is a false assumption according to studies. The county also thinks they can go to the internal audit log to find out what happened. That is not possible because the voters touch on the screen happens before the audit log records anything. Featured - KS: Saline County - 'Vote flipping' was not unexpected http://www.salina.com/rdnews/story/vote-machine-4-9-2009 AL: Martin voter bill out of committee http://www.clantonadvertiser.com/news/2009/apr/09/martin-voter-bill-out-committee/ MO: In our view: Turning off the voters http://www.joplinglobe.com/editorial/local_story_099221553.html?keyword=topstory NV: Proposed Campaign, election law changes shelved http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12110973?nclick_check=1 NY: An Analysis: Scheduled Elections in Nassau County http://www.antonnews.com/floralparkdispatch/2009/04/10/news/elections.html NY: NY-20 - Murphy edging Tedisco in race for Congress http://www.bizjournals.com/albany/stories/2009/04/06/daily52.html NY: NY-20 - Democrat in NY-20 ups lead to 46 votes http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/democrat-up-8-votes-in-ny20-2009-04-10.html TX: Fort Bend County - Justice Department and Fort Bend County, Texas, Resolve Claims Alleging Voting Rights Violations http://www.examiner.com/p-327299~Justice_Department_and_Fort_Bend_County__Texas__Resolve_Claims_Alleging_Voting_Rights_Violations.html **Articles and commentary included in Daily Voting News may not all reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or its allied organizations. The articles are all included for the information of the subscribers of Daily Voting News though we realize that the subscribers may not agree with the opinions given in all articles or in the commentary** *** If you receive Daily Voting News directly from John Gideon and VotersUnite and wish to unsubscribe, please send an email to jgid...@votersunite.org requesting that you be removed from circulation. If you get the email forwarded from someone else you must contact them to be unsubscribed. *** -- John Gideon Co-Executive Director VotersUnite.Org www.votersunite.org To encourage citizen ownership of transparent, participatory democracy. The Creekside DeclarationMarch 22, 2008 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Cops attack protesting New School students
Here's some coverage much more forthright than the New York Times piece, which played what happened as a sort of Rashomon-style exercise in multiple perspectives. MCM New York police attack protesting New School students By Sandy English 13 April 2009 http://wsws.org/articles/2009/apr2009/news-a13.shtml In a display of brutality, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) arrested 22 students who had occupied the premises of the New School in Manhattan's Greenwich Village last Friday. Students were struck by police without provocation and thrown to the ground, and others were pepper-sprayed. Approximately 60 students occupied a New School building on Friday morning. The students were demanding the resignation of New School president Bob Kerrey, the former Nebraska governor and senator, and a Vietnam war criminal, as well as the school's autocratic executive vice president, James Murtha. More than 20 police, wearing helmets, carrying plastic handcuffs, and wielding batons and pepper-spray, appeared at the school as the occupation began at about 5:30 a.m. Police presence increased throughout morning, as the police put up barriers and crime-scene tape to seal off the area. Police vans and a truck from the Emergency Service Unit, the police unit that manages high-powered weapons and special siege and anti-riot tactics, appeared within a few hours. Soon, scores of police had surrounded the school building. Emergency medical personnel and the Fire Department were also on hand. According to the New York Times, by 11:00 a.m. there were more than 100 police vehicles present and several mounted officers. Police helicopters circled overhead. At about 11:30, police used bolt cutters to remove the chains used by the students to lock the doors and entered the building. They told the students to kneel on the ground and remove their backpacks. They were handcuffed one at a time. As some of the students tried to exit by a side door in the building, police pepper-sprayed them and forced them back inside. Police chased down protesters on sidewalks near the school, striking some and throwing them to the ground, as videos by independent photographs have documented. An NYPD spokesman, Paul J. Browne, denied pepper-spray or mace was used in the arrests, although, when later confronted with video evidence, he admitted that this had happened. Speaking of the unprovoked assault by one cop in attacking a protester, also caught on video, Brown told the media, He pushed him and he fell down. Students arrested face charges of burglary, riot and criminal mischief, and have been suspended from the New School pending administrative review. As the action was going on, President Kerrey announced that he no longer considered the protesters students. On Friday evening, more than 200 people, most of them students, assembled at nearby Union Square to protest the police behavior. The group spontaneously began to march toward Kerrey's residence on 11th Street, but was turned back by police who arrested at least two of the demonstrators. Donna Lieberman, executive director for the New York Civil Liberties Union, noted after viewing the video: What appears on the video is someone yelling at the cops and getting punched in the face for it and thrown to the ground and arrested. The Police Department has no authority to use physical force on somebody in this situation and they have no authority to arrest people for yelling at them; that is a violation of civil rights plain and simple. The faculty union, ACT-UAW Local 7902, which represents more than 4,000 part-time and adjunct faculty at the New School and at nearby New York University, issued a statement that said in part that it is gravely concerned with the Kerrey administration's harsh response to the New School students who recently occupied 65 Fifth Avenue, including a massive show of police force. Bob Kerrey has been a highly controversial figure since his installation as the New School's president in 2001 because of his role in the Thanh Phong Massacre in Vietnam in February 1969. That such a man could become the head of the New School, historically a left-leaning institution, whose faculty has included John Dewey, W.E.B. Dubois, James Baldwin and Hannah Arendt, was rightly seen by many students and faculty at the time as a travesty. At the time, the World Socialist Web Site noted that Kerrey's appointment testifies to the protracted decay of liberalism in the generation which has passed since conflicts over the Vietnam War rocked every college campus in America. Kerrey's appointment as president of the New School reflected the debased political environment that would allow the US government to again embark on a mass killing in another small country in a few years time, this time in Iraq-a war that enjoyed Kerrey's vocal political support. Kerrey's undemocratic methods of
[MCM] Under Cybersecurity Act, President could shut down Internet
And note the other two top stories here. MCM == April 13 Cybersecurity Act would give president power to 'shut down' Internet Greg Fulton -- Monday April 13, 2009 http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Cybersecurity_Act_seeks_broad_powers_0413.htmlhttp://rawstory.com/news/2008/Cybersecurity_Act_seeks_broad_powers_0413.html A recently proposed but little-noticed Senate bill would allow the federal government to shut down the Internet in times of declared emergency, and enables unprecedented federal oversight of private network administration. As firearms sales surge, Democrats drop assault weapons ban John Byrne -- Monday April 13, 2009 http://rawstory.com/news/2008/As_firearms_sales_surge_Obama_Administration_0413.htmlhttp://rawstory.com/news/2008/As_firearms_sales_surge_Obama_Administration_0413.html As firearms sales in the United States hit new highs, the Obama Administration and Democrats in Congress are squelching talk of a renewal of the assault weapons ban passed by Congress that lapsed in 2004, saying they don't want a distraction from their agenda and don't have the votes in Congress. Amazon sparks Web fury by de-ranking books with gay content Rachel Oswald -- Monday April 13, 2009 http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Amazon_sparks_Web_fury_by_deranking_0413.htmlhttp://rawstory.com/news/2008/Amazon_sparks_Web_fury_by_deranking_0413.html Amazon.com found itself at the center of a Web outcry over the weekend when word spread that the on-line sales company had abruptly de-ranked hundreds of book titles with gay subject matter on the grounds that they were too 'adult.' BLOG Krugman: 'Republicans have become embarrassing to watch' Post by Ron Bryneart -- Monday April 13, 2009 http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/04/krugman-republicans-have-become-embarrassing-to-watch/http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/04/krugman-republicans-have-become-embarrassing-to-watch/ Nobel prize winner Paul Krugman Pulls no punches in his latest New York Times op-ed. For more go to: http://www.rawstory.comhttp://www.rawstory.comhttp://rawstory.com/rawreplay/ http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/ RSS Feeds: http://rawstory.com/rss.phphttp://rawstory.com/rss.php http://feeds.feedburner.com/rawstory/gKpzhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/rawstory/gKpz Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Raw-Story/20324257234http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Raw-Story/20324257234 Twitter: http://twitter.com/rawstoryhttp://twitter.com/rawstory === Kyle F. Hence Director of Outreach mailto:k...@rawstory.comk...@rawstory.com http://www.rawstory.comhttp://www.rawstory.com = To be removed from The Rawstory Wire please reply with REMOVE in the subject line. To add your address please send an email to mailto:k...@rawstory.comk...@rawstory.com withADD in the subject line. If per chance you are receiving duplicates please let me know and I'll address it. Thank you. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~--- inline: Untitled 225.jpg
[MCM] Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand: A scandal made in Albany
New York David Paterson and Kirsten Gillibrand: New Senator, New Scandal The Governor's pick is genuine machine-made royalty By Tom Robbins published: January 28, 2009 UPI Photo/John Angelillo/Newscom http://radio.villagevoice.com/photoGallery/?gallery=850349 Soul of an old machine: Gillibrand, with accidental governor Paterson How wonderful that David Paterson has rescued us from having those grasping Kennedys snatch the state's open Senate seat. The family only has the greatest liberal blood in the country pulsing through its veins. Its collective dedication to public service famously claimed two lives. Through the darkest years of Reagan and the Bushes, Ted Kennedy kept hope alive on the Senate floor for decent laws that might offer affordable health care, fairness to workers, and education for the poor. The family's scandals, and there are a few, were always of the heart and the flesh. Now Teddy Kennedy is failing and his niece had this mid-life notion that, having helped an inspiring new president win election, she might be able to pick up the family mantle and make her own contribution. Maybe she was up to it; maybe she wasn't. But the plan dimmed when the media people decided she spoke with too many ums and ers and you knows to be trusted to represent New York. Did you ever hear reporters talk? It is why we only write things down. Most of us can't be trusted to intelligibly order a pizza. The other hitch in Caroline Kennedy's plans came when she picked up a Fatal Attraction-type admirer in the person of City Hall's resident billionaire. Michael Bloomberg never had the courage to make his own presidential endorsement (privately, he told people he liked McCain best; oh, yes, he did). Suddenly, here was Kennedy, his golden pass straight into the Obama White House. He saddled her with his own political hired guns, who promptly ran her dream right into the ground. We'll only know the truth of the last sad chapter of Caroline Kennedy's failed Senate bid if she decides to tell us, which isn't likely. She has too much class to talk about such things. Unfortunately, nothing that the governor or his people say about the entire affair is to be believed. They lied all Wednesday night when the rumors about Kennedy's exit from the race first surfaced. Then they lied some more on Thursday. It was a nanny problem, they said. Taxes. A bad marriage. This from a politician who confessed to affairs with women on the state payroll. Kennedy's people fired back and, at day's end, Paterson sued for peace, admitting there had been no such last-minute surprises about her candidacy. Then, on Friday, the governor stood before the press, surrounded by a gaggle of politicians, to introduce his own brilliant choice. He'd had two months to decide, but it took him until 2 that morning to make up his mind. And here she was, a 42-year-old Reese Witherspoon knockoff, legally blonde, all giggles and tee-hees, boasting an Ivy League education. She's put her Dartmouth schooling to such good use that she holds a 100 percent rating from the National Rifle Association and a four-square stance in favor of the death penalty. Kirsten Gillibrand has all of two years in elective office. Like Kennedy, she also hails from Democratic royalty. In her case, it's the Albany branch, where self-service precedes public service. Her father is a veteran political fixer and lobbyist. His connections stem from his fabulous mother-in-law, Polly Noonan, longtime confidante and presumed mistress to one of the most corrupt mayors in state history. Erastus Corning 2nd ruled Albany for more than 40 years, most of the time enhancing his family's fortunes while dodging grand juries. In 1972, when the state investigation commission looked at how graft and cost-plus contracts had inflated city expenses hundreds of times over, it called Corning's Albany the worst-run county in America. Rastus Corning loved Douglas Rutnik, Gillibrand's dad, so much that when the mayor died in 1983, he left him a politician's most sentimental and precious assets: his insurance company and his shotgun. There's no question I was like a substitute son for him, Rutnik told Paul Grondahl, Corning's biographer. The shotgun was from the hours the two spent together shooting small birds. The insurance firm was the result of a lifetime of favor collection: Its clients included all the saloon owners, contractors, and manufacturers who understood that the way to thrive in Albany was to buy your coverage from Corning. When Corning helped Nelson Rockefeller build the capitol's vast South Mall, every tradesman made sure the mayor's firm wrote his insurance. Corning's own wife and children were so outraged when he left the company to Rutnik and the Noonans that they sued to win it back. They lost. The substitute son embraced the surrogate father's lessons: His law firm became the faithful
[MCM] Geithner's rescue plan a load of bull, Congressional panel finds
Is Geithner's Game Up? Damning Report Calls BS on His Smoke-and-Mirrors Bank Rescue Plan By Mike Whitney, CounterPunch Posted on April 13, 2009, Printed on April 13, 2009 http://www.alternet.org/story/136306/http://www.alternet.org/story/136306/ On Tuesday, a congressional panel headed by ex-Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren released a report on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's handling of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). Warren was appointed to lead the five-member Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) in November by Senate majority leader Harry Reid. From the opening paragraph on, the Warren report makes clear that Congress is frustrated with Geithner's so-called Financial Rescue Plan and doesn't have the foggiest idea of what he is trying to do. Here are the first few lines of Assessing Treasury's Strategy: Six Months of TARP: With this report, the Congressional Oversight Panel examines Treasury's current strategy and evaluates the progress it has achieved thus far. This report returns the Panel's inquiry to a central question raised in its first report: What is Treasury's strategy? Six months and $1 trillion later, and Congress still cannot figure out what Geithner is up to. It's a wonder the Treasury Secretary hasn't been fired already. From the report: In addition to drawing on the $700 billion allocated to Treasury under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA), economic stabilization efforts have depended heavily on the use of the Federal Reserve Board's balance sheet. This approach has permitted Treasury to leverage TARP funds well beyond the funds appropriated by Congress. Thus, while Treasury has spent or committed $590.4 billion of TARP funds, according to Panel estimates, the Federal Reserve Board has expanded its balance sheet by more than $1.5 trillion in loans and purchases of government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) securities. The total value of all direct spending, loans and guarantees provided to date in conjunction with the federal government's financial stability efforts (including those of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as well as Treasury and the Federal Reserve Board) now exceeds $4 trillion. So, while Congress approved a mere $700 billion in emergency funding for the TARP, Geithner and Bernanke deftly sidestepped the public opposition to more bailouts and shoveled another $3.3 trillion through the back door via loans and leverage for crappy mortgage paper that will never regain its value. Additionally, the Fed has made a deal with Treasury that when the financial crisis finally subsides, Treasury will assume the Fed's obligations vis a vis the lending facilities, which means the taxpayer will then be responsible for unknown trillions in withering investments. From the report: To deal with a troubled financial system, three fundamentally different policy alternatives are possible: liquidation, receivership, or subsidization. To place these alternatives in context, the report evaluates historical and contemporary efforts to confront financial crises and their relative success. The Panel focused on six historical experiences: (1) the U.S. Depression of the 1930s; (2) the bank run on and subsequent government seizure of Continental Illinois in 1984; (3) the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s and establishment of the Resolution Trust Corporation; (4) the recapitalization of the FDIC bank insurance fund in 1991; (5) Sweden's financial crisis of the early 1990s; and (6) what has become known as Japan's Lost Decade of the 1990s. The report also surveys the approaches currently employed by Iceland, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and other European countries. This statement shows that the congressional committee understands that Geithner's lunatic plan has no historic precedent and no prospect of succeeding. Geithner's circuitous Public-Private Investment Program (PPIP)--which is designed to remove toxic assets from bank balance sheets--is an end-run around tried-and-true methods for fixing the banking system. In the most restrained and diplomatic language, Warren is telling Geithner that she knows that he's up to no good. From the report: Liquidation avoids the uncertainty and open-ended commitment that accompany subsidization. It can restore market confidence in the surviving banks, and it can potentially accelerate recovery by offering decisive and clear statements about the government's evaluation of financial conditions and institutions. The committee agrees with the vast majority of reputable economists who think the banks should be taken over (liquidated) and the bad assets put up for auction. This is the committee's number one recommendation. The committee also explores the pros and cons of conservatorship (which entails a reorganization in which bad assets are removed, failed managers are replaced, and parts
[MCM] Some truth about those pirates
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=ZdjVYngLXFye9ZkZ5muxcMEHSwcFk%2BAX http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=SYReB4%2FoFbQW9HDyLvwsFcEHSwcFk%2BAXWhy We Don't Condemn Our Pirates in Somalia By K'Naan, URB Magazine Can anyone ever really be for piracy? Well in Somalia, the answer is: it's complicated. http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=1u6%2FSxcEMbqhO%2FiTqySVjcEHSwcFk%2BAXRead more » AND: Johann Hari: You are being lied to about pirates Some are clearly just gangsters. But others are trying to stop illegal dumping and trawling Monday, 5 January 2009 Independent [UK] http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-you-are-being-lied-to-about-pirates-1225817.html Who imagined that in 2009, the world's governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy - backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China - is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder pantomime villains. They will soon be fighting Somalian ships and even chasing the pirates onto land, into one of the most broken countries on earth. But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labelling as one of the great menaces of our times have an extraordinary story to tell - and some justice on their side. Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the golden age of piracy - from 1650 to 1730 - the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage Bluebeard that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: pirates were often saved from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can't? In his book Villains Of All Nations, the historian Marcus Rediker pores through the evidence. If you became a merchant or navy sailor then - plucked from the docks of London's East End, young and hungry - you ended up in a floating wooden Hell. You worked all hours on a cramped, half-starved ship, and if you slacked off, the all-powerful captain would whip you with the Cat O' Nine Tails. If you slacked often, you could be thrown overboard. And at the end of months or years of this, you were often cheated of your wages. Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. They mutinied - and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively, without torture. They shared their bounty out in what Rediker calls one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century. They even took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals. The pirates showed quite clearly - and subversively - that ships did not have to be run in the brutal and oppressive ways of the merchant service and the Royal Navy. This is why they were romantic heroes, despite being unproductive thieves. The words of one pirate from that lost age, a young British man called William Scott, should echo into this new age of piracy. Just before he was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, he said: What I did was to keep me from perishing. I was forced to go a-pirateing to live. In 1991, the government of Somalia collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas. Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury - you name it. Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to dispose of cheaply. When I asked Mr Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention. At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish stocks by overexploitation - and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m-worth of tuna, shrimp, and lobster are being stolen every year by illegal trawlers. The local fishermen are now starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of
[MCM] Confirm Dawn Johnsen NOW!
http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=ggSb8M_3BALylI77uZjCWA..VIEW WEB PAGE | http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=ICZXmHzZOE9dESqEB7uXxw..TELL A FRIEND | http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=fIj8L0K6Ch6zyZWMMQnKCA..SUBSCRIBE http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=I05qBZ7qZUbkp2JgNX1Z-Q.. Please join me in signing the petition now. Please vote to confirm Dawn Johnsen to head the OLC, and reject all procedural efforts to derail the confirmation of this eminently qualified nominee. http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=kyi8taql7QpPMVHVYIbQkw.. Dear William, Republicans in the Senate are banding together and threatening to filibuster one of President Obama's best executive branch nominees to date: Dawn Johnsen, nominated to head the incredibly important Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) at the Department of Justice. The OLC plays a critical role in ensuring that the government plays by the rules. But under President Bush, the office was ground zero in providing the legal justifications for torture and warrantless spying, offering opinions that defied the Constitution, the Geneva Conventions and the Supreme Court. Dawn Johnsen is the right person to restore integrity to this vital office. Part partisan blackmail, part pander to the Religious Right, and on all levels, thoroughly soaked in hypocrisy, the GOP's opposition to Johnsen cannot go unanswered. And we can't let a filibuster succeed. http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=Q9ScZ6e51JfQUZRtCv0nVg..Please join me in signing PFAW's emergency petition to confirm Dawn Johnsen right now. Then ask five others to join the petition. Congress is in recess and we need to build this petition into a powerful lobbying tool before the Senate reconvenes and the Republicans have a chance to move forward with filibuster plans. Dawn Johnsen's confirmation is tremendously important for the same reasons she is being targeted. She's shown a fierce commitment to the fundamental constitutional values the Bush administration trashed. She was an outspoken critic of legal arguments coming out of the OLC -- arguments that supported torture and undermined privacy and due process. She put a voice to how we all felt, and made the case in clear, legal terms against what we all knew in our hearts was also morally wrong. It's easy to see why senators on the right, interested in protecting President Bush's legacy and burying his administration's misconduct, would fear Johnsen. And so they have resorted to distorting her record and attacking her qualifications. It's not only insulting to Johnsen, it demeans the intelligence of those who have to listen to it. Johnsen is eminently qualified, having actually headed the OLC in 1997 and 1998 as Acting Assistant Attorney General (due to the GOP holding up President Clinton's nominee to fill that slot at the time, Beth Nolan). Please, if you've needed to read this far to click and sign the petition, http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=6vm-dhwYn7mGqL8GT3IS5g..go ahead and do it now. We need your signature right away. As you may know, in addition to being a longtime board member of People For the American Way Foundation, I have long been an activist for a woman's right to choose. That's why I am so disturbed that the most vitriolic public attacks targeting Dawn Johnsen's nomination have been about her advocacy on behalf of reproductive freedom. The Religious Right -- as PFAW has said -- treats pro-choice bona fides as an instant disqualifier, but we can't let Republican senators who purport to be pro-choice get away with blacklisting Dawn Johnsen because the Right doesn't like her experience working for the right to choose. I promise that I'll be doing all I can to make sure Dawn Johnsen's confirmation succeeds. I hope you will be with me every step of the way. Sincerely, Kathleen Turner Actor, Activist, PFAW Supporter and PFAW Foundation Board Member P.S. It's equally important that after you sign the Dawn Johnsen petition, you ask others to do the same. Please share it with groups you are a part of, other activists you may know and your friends on Facebook or other online communities to which you belong. Use this link: http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=B4F1RvByyLjoTt7WS1LXtg..http://site.pfaw.org/DawnJohnsen http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=QUInPb1qWxr8w_FBG_fw_g..pfaw.org | http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=jLBFd02vYyH-rKDoVIXsbg..privacy policy | http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=ekeJAr8_mMPKmos9I2X1xQ..subscribe | http://site.pfaw.org/site/CO?i=r-yXAF6O5MYpv2o5iYokfKeGdeXRW7XIcid=1021unsubscribe | http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=xVknIT4GKD2IrE1Z3niGdg..contact us Do not reply directly to this e-mail. Please use mailto:p...@pfaw.org.p...@pfaw.org. 2000 M Street NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20036, 202-467-4999 http://site.pfaw.org/site/R?i=1DNYV1dsk29LKKxMn7ko1A.. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup.
[MCM] The sickest Justice
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/04/clarence-thomasLest we forget another of Bush Senior's crimes against democracy. (It was also Bush the Elder who introduced Mike Connell to Karl Rove and Dubya.) MCM Crime and Justice Clarence Thomas Is One Seriously Troubled Dude By Jonathan Stein | Mon April 13, 2009 12:01 PM PST http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/04/clarence-thomas This New York Times article on a rare public appearance by Justice Clarence Thomas -- a talk with high school essay contest winners -- is enough to make you feel sorry for the poor schmuck, if he wasn't on the most powerful court in the land and thus able to place the imprint of his neuroses and obvious self-loathing on the legacy of American jurisprudence. The article makes clear, simply by quoting the famously taciturn Thomas, that he believes he is dumber than all the other justices and a good number of law professors, and retreats into isolation (I tend to be morose sometimes) to nurse his wounds and brood. What an awful purgatory of an existence: to know you are a fraud, to know that everyone else knows you are a fraud, and yet to be locked into your job more or less for life. It's enough to ruin a person. And it appears it has. April 14, 2009 A Reticent Justice Opens Up to a Group of Students By ADAM LIPTAK WASHINGTON http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/us/14bar.html?_r=1hphttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/us/14bar.html?_r=1hp Justice Clarence Thomas has not asked a question from the Supreme Court bench since Feb. 22, 2006. He speaks only to announce his majority opinions, reading summaries in a gruff monotone. Glimpses of Justice Thomas in less formal settings are rare. But he turned up in a Washington ballroom the other night to respond to questions from the winners of a high school essay contest. His answers and the remarks that preceded them provided a revealing look at Justice Thomas's worldview these days. He talked about his own school days, reminiscing fondly about seeing a flag and a crucifix in each classroom. He talked about his burdens and his dark moods and about seeking inspiration in speeches and movies. And though the dinner was sponsored by the Bill of Rights Institute, he admitted to an uneasy relationship with the whole idea of rights. The institute had arranged for a fancy hot-pink lectern that glowed from the inside, and it was odd to see Justice Thomas, who is wary of ostentation, standing behind it. His plainspoken manner was in sharp contrast to his surroundings. I tend to be morose sometimes, the justice said. I am rounding the last turn for my 18th term on the court, he added, but his work - this endeavor, he called it, or, for some, an ordeal - has not gotten easier. That's one thing about this job, he said. You get a little tired. But he said he has found solace in his den. Sometimes, when I get a little down, Justice Thomas said wearily, he goes online. I look up wonderful speeches, like speeches by Douglas MacArthur, to hear him give without a note that speech at West Point - 'duty, honor, country.' How can you not hear those words and not feel strongly about what we have? He continued: Or how can you not reminisce about a childhood where you began each day with the Pledge of Allegiance as little kids lined up in the schoolyard and then marched in two by two with a flag and a crucifix in each classroom? A favorite movie can be a comfort, too. I have on many occasions or a number of occasions when things were becoming particularly routine gone down to my basement to watch 'Saving Private Ryan,' he said. I can't tell you why that particular movie, except we have it and it's about something important in our lives - World War II. The event, on March 31, was devoted to the Bill of Rights, but Justice Thomas did not embrace the document, and he proposed a couple of alternatives. 'Today there is much focus on our rights, Justice Thomas said. Indeed, I think there is a proliferation of rights. I am often surprised by the virtual nobility that seems to be accorded those with grievances, he said. Shouldn't there at least be equal time for our Bill of Obligations and our Bill of Responsibilities? He gave examples: It seems that many have come to think that each of us is owed prosperity and a certain standard of living. They're owed air conditioning, cars, telephones, televisions. Those are luxuries, Justice Thomas said. I have to admit, he said, that I'm one of those people that still thinks the dishwasher is a miracle. What a device! And I have to admit that because I think that way, I like to load it. I like to look in and see how that dishes were magically cleaned. He was asked how his religious faith influenced his work on the court. I think that it really gives content to the oath that you took, Justice Thomas said. You say, 'so help me God.' There are some cases that will drive you to your knees, he added. In those
[MCM] More on Sand's book: Israel Bartal's review
From Jeff Wallen: Hi Mark, I've been finding interesting the pieces you sent out on Shlomo Sand's book. I just returned a day ago from Siracusa, Sicily (I'm in Berlin, Germany for the semester), and learned while there of the large Jewish community that was there from the 1st C. AD until 1493, when they were kicked out. And they recently discovered a wonderful Mikveh (ritual bath) buried deeply beneath a building, apparently sealed off by the Jews when they left over 500 years ago. Here's another review of the Sand book which you might find of interest, written by Israel Bartal, a prominent Israeli historian (and whom I happen to know and respect; he chaired a panel at a conference I gave a paper at a year or so ago in Israel; he's a historian of Eastern European Jewry): http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/999386.html Being in Germany, all your emails are one of my main American glimpses of what's happening in the U.S. (I prefer to read the German newspapers, rather than looking online for American news). Hope you're well, Jeff --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Rev. Billy, Robert Hillary King to speak at NYU
From Drew Phillips: 1) NYC: 4/16 Reverend Billy blessing and exorcising Kimmel Center, commemorating Take Back NYU!'s February Occupation Take Back NYU! welcomes the Stop Shopping spiritual sensation (and NYC mayoral candidate!) REVEREND BILLY to NYU for a sermon on free speech and dissent outside the Kimmel Center. The sermon will commemorate the hundreds-strong show of support for Take Back NYU!'s February occupation, and exorcise spirits that led to the pepper-spraying and clubbing of demonstrators in the streets the night of 2/19. The sermon will be held at 7:30 on Thursday 4/16 outside NYU's Kimmel Center at 60 Washington Square South. He will begin speaking at 6:30 in Jerry H. Labowitz Theater at 715 Broadway and then will move to Kimmel at 7:30. 2) NYC: 4/16 talk by one of the Angola 3 (pushed back to 8.30 pm!) I was born in the U.S.A. Born black, born poor. Is it then any wonder that I have spent most of my life in prison? -Robert Hillary King FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE HEAP A Talk by Robert Hillary King, the Only Freed Member of the Angola 3 In 1970, a jury convicted Robert Hillary King (formerly known as Robert King Wilkerson) of a crime he did not commit and sentenced him to 35 years in prison. He became a member of the Black Panther Party while in Angola State Penitentiary, successfully organizing prisoners to improve conditions. In return, prison authorities beat him, starved him, and gave him life without parole after framing him for a second crime. He was thrown into solitary confinement, where he remained in a six-by-nine foot cell for 29 years as one of the Angola 3. In 2001, the state grudgingly acknowledged his innocence and set him free. The conditions King endured in Angola almost defy description, yet King never gave up his humanity, nor his tireless work towards justice for all prisoners. That work continues to this day, now from the outside - as he speaks out against the failures and inequities of the criminal injustice system, and fights to free his Angola 3 comrades Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, who have been behind bars for 36 years, most of them in solitary confinement. Robert King's story is one of inspiration, courage, and the triumph of the human spirit. Says Malik Rahim, co-founder of Common Ground Collective (in post-Katrina New Orleans): For a person to go through 29 years in one of the most brutal prisons in America and still maintain his sanity and humanity, that's what makes people want to listen to Robert. Co-sponsored by African Cultural Union and Students Creating Radical Change Thursday, April 16, 8:30 p.m. (NOTE THE TIME CHANGE!) Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South, Room 405. Free and open to the public --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Voting reforms that we don't need
Here, in a nutshell, is everything that's wrong with election reform as understood by Democrats in Washington. As you'll see from this piece in the National Journal, those would-be reformers are all flying blind, with eyes wide shut to what has actually been happening to the voters in this country. In their universe, for example, those millions who couldn't register to vote last year were the victims of mere administrative cluelessness and antiquated practices-- not the victims of a DoJ that had been purging voter rolls of Democats from coast to coast, or of party operatives who had dumped names of Democrats from voter rolls, or of operatives who had disfranchised countless other Democrats through voter caging. (All of this has been precisely documented.) In short, the reformers fail to note, or won't allow themselves to see, the flagrant partisan dimension to the problem; and so they cannot even start to solve it. Unable, or refusing, to perceive that it's the Bush Republicans who have subverted our elections, the reformers also can't or won't acknowledge that the voting systems now in place are there to help keep Democrats (and Independents) out of power. So they believe that there is nothing wrong with the computerized voting systems that are, by now, used nearly everywhere--systems that are manufactured and maintained (at vast expense) by private companies owned and run by highly partisan Republicans; and that, necessarily, conduct their vote-counts secretly; and that are highly insecure and eminently hackable. (It's notable--and cause for celebration--that the highest court in Germany has lately ruled against the use of computerized systems in elections.) That those machines--both DRE's and op-scans--are in general use today (processing roughly 92% of US ballots) is a predicament deliberately created by the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), which was drafted by Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), a close confederate of Jack Abramoff (whose money-laundering appears to have been dedicated mainly to providing funds to help the party steal elections). It was a dreadful piece of legislation, and ought to be repealed ASAP; but its grave flaws are quite invisible to the reformers, who see it merely as a half-step forward: Despite some improvements since Congress approved the http://www.fec.gov/hava/hava.htmHelp America Vote Act in 2002, last year's election pointed up the chronic problems that http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/rg_20081110_1139.phpcontinue to plague American voting. What are those improvements? The article doesn't say. And what of HAVA's ill effects? The article does not acknowledge them, but moves on quickly to those chronic problems that HAVA was presumably devised to solve, when it was HAVA that either caused them or made them worse than ever. Seeing nothing wrong with HAVA, these reformers also have no problems with e-voting--and so are now promoting on-line registration as a way to help those disenfranchised millions to reclaim their voting rights. But that idea is just as dangerous as the notion, also lately floated, of having military personnel (and others) vote on-line: a(nother) terrible idea, because the Internet is far too insecure a medium for such a vital civic institution as elections. However, there is one point the reformers do get right, and that's the need for solid data to help guide all efforts to protect our voting rights and make American elections accurate, secure and fair (efforts, certainly, that must also entail campaign finance reform--and media reform). In the article below, Doug Chapin of the Pew Center for the States, and Yale law professor Heather Gerken, both stress the need to base our rerform efforts on a sound empirical basis. And yet, as far as they're concerned, the stream of valid data is extremely thin, since data means, in their eyes, only certain numbers. So they do take note of all those millions who had trouble registering to vote last year--but not the fact that nearly all of them were Democrats, or that the DoJ had been conducting voter purges nationwide in Democratic precincts only, or that voter caging, by Republicans, had been conducted openly for years; or (to move away from registration woes per se) that, nationwide, there were crippling shortages of e-voting machines in Democratic precincts only, leading to long, long lines; or that both DRE's and op-scans were malfunctioning primarily in Democratic areas. Apparently, the evidence of such irregularities (and others)--news articles, and updates from election monitors, and tens of thousands of firsthand reports from citizens themselves--somehow don't count as data relevant to what we must now do to make the system function as it ought to in a democractic country. The fact is that the Democrats, and those presumed reformers working with them, cannot really be expected to arrive at real reform--because they all have earnestly supported the Republicans' reforms since
[MCM] John Prados to speak in DC (about his new book on the Vietnam war)
Hi, Mark: Please feel free to pass this announcement along to anyone you know in (or even outside) the DC area. Thanks. Best, Mike file://www.kansaspress.ku.eduwww.kansaspress.ku.edu PS: Here's a good description and cover image of John's book: file://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/pravie.htmlwww.kansaspress.ku.edu/pravie.html. The Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Southeast Asia Studies Presents A Book Discussion on Vietnam: The History of an Unwinnable War, 1945-1975 by John Prados John Prados Senior Fellow, National Security Archive George Washington University Discussants: Dale Andrade Senior Historian, U.S. Army Center of Military History Author of America's Last Vietnam Battle: Halting Hanoi's 1972 Easter Offensive Bernard Kalb Former Television Network Journalist The Vietnam war continues to generate intense controversy. While most people agree that the United States did not win the war, a vocal minority ask why victory never came, attributing our defeat to everything from domestic politics to the press. Our military never lost a battle--how then did it not win the war? John Prados takes a fresh look at both the war and the debates about it to produce a reassessment of one our nation's most tragic episodes. His book draws upon several decades of research, including recently declassified documents, newly available presidential tapes, and a wide range of Vietnamese and other international sources. Tuesday, April 28th, 2009 6:00 PM Kenney Auditorium 1740 Massachusetts Ave. NW Washington, DC 20036 A reception will follow. RSVP to Hmailto:sea...@jhu.eduusea...@jhu.eduuh with your name and affiliation by Friday, April 24th. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Warnings on HR 875
--- Original Message Subject: Re: [MCM] Scratch the previous item re: HR 875 Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:23:18 EDT From: mailto:mriversi...@aol.commriversi...@aol.com To: mailto:newsfromunderground+ow...@googlegroups.comnewsfromunderground+ow...@googlegroups.com Hello Dr. Miller, While I would agree that what was said about the bill in the original email wasn't true, I certainly wouldn't go so far as to say that it is a good bill. I've read a great deal of it (the nightmare of the food industry is becoming a pet project of mine) and perused what I haven't read carefully. The thing that is scary about the bill is the broad language it uses which, essentially, is setting the stage for future abuse in the form of regulation that could easily be structured to target non multinational agribusiness and eventually put certain types of farmers out of business like the above mentioned email claimed. One of a few items in the bill that raises alarms for me talks about registration of all food production facilities, which would include small independent farms, raising questions about exactly how deep the bureaucracy will get and to whom they will answer. This looks like a ridiculous overreaction to the recent salmonella outbreaks. Hope it doesn't pass. A few of the comments following this short piece have good points http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/09/hr-875-myth-sows-terror-a_n_185230.htmlhttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/09/hr-875-myth-sows-terror-a_n_185230.html --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Paul Minor's wife dies
From: Roger Shuler [mailto:rshuler3...@gmail.com] Sylvia Minor, wife of Bush DOJ victim Paul Minor, has died after a long battle with breast cancer. Thanks to our justice system, her husband of 41 years was not able to be with her at the end: http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2009/04/paul-minors-wife-dies-while-justice.htmlhttp://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2009/04/paul-minors-wife-dies-while-justice.html --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Red Cross calls for prosecution of Bush torture team
http://www.impeachbush.org/site/R?i=bhRfuL-_IPEFQCCdthPTqQ.. http://www.impeachbush.org/site/R?i=GEtJCSePMitCabZY_0oGWg..Click here to subscribe. http://www.impeachbush.org/site/R?i=7PH0wm0oWvk2x89J5r26Fg.. Bush Six Likely to Be Indicted Publicizing the indictment movement requires placing newspaper ads, organizing national call-in days to pressure Congressional representatives, intensive media work, teach-ins and educational forums. http://www.impeachbush.org/site/R?i=wz9YG5xPLUYqC7nQJ__1jg..Please consider taking a moment right now to make a donation to this new movement for the indictment of Bush. Spanish prosecutors have decided to press forward with a criminal investigation targeting former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and five top associates over their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens held at Guantánamo, according to Scott Horton, law professor and writer for Harper's Magazine and The American Lawyer. We are expecting a decision this week, the Spanish prosecutor's office told the Associated Press on April 14. In an extraordinary conclusion to a report by the International Committee of the Red Cross that was just released, the Red Cross recommended that: the US authorities investigate all allegations of ill-treatment and take steps to punish the perpetrators, where appropriate, and to prevent such abuses from happening again. The Red Cross report outlines the capture and interrogation and torture of high value detainees at CIA black sites.' The report evidences criminal conduct carried out by the Bush Administration. Coming from the Red Cross, this presents a major obstacle to those who would seek to block prosecution or suggest that the conduct carried out by Bush officials and the CIA could be considered lawful by any means. This report presents direct evidence of the brutality and illegality of the Bush/Cheney Administration's torture regime. The officials' actions constitute violations of international law including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which the United States ratified in 1992, and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which the United States ratified in 1994. Article 17 of the Third Geneva Convention of 1949 prohibits torture of prisoners and Article 32 of the Fourth Geneva Convention similarly protects civilian detainees. The Red Cross' demand for prosecution echoes the call from Ramsey Clark and the IndictBushNow movement: Indiscriminate killing of civilians, summary execution, arbitrary seizures of people and property, secret unlimited detention and torture have been authorized and widely practiced. We have extraordinary momentum on our side right now and we must seize the moment to make indictment and prosecution a reality. We will be taking out newspaper ads in Europe and in the United States. http://www.impeachbush.org/site/R?i=9_xIpjQXMNDBRJOQ9g-P1Q..Please consider taking a moment right now to make a donation to this new movement for the indictment of Bush. You can also help spread the word by http://www.impeachbush.org/site/R?i=jYADalINXAJ7Fj7Bw6B7xg..putting a IndictBushNow web button on your blog, website or social networking page, http://www.impeachbush.org/site/R?i=CXJw8USlq5r_rHmyPoSPIQ..sign the petition and http://www.impeachbush.org/site/R?i=zOifptjbZkoBk3MpRAjR7g..get three friends to do so. Please take action today, -- All of us at IndictBushNow.org http://pepib.convio.net/site/CO?i=B2OpyZs0KdwSf4Wr_yitKGhQALgaJ5jTcid=0Click here to unsubscribe. http://www.impeachbush.org/site/R?i=fpk2up4a39Vcd1xzrxHwWw.. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] A new campaign to Restore Justice at Justice!
Washington, DC Ilene Proctor PR (310) 858-6643 proc...@artnet.net Broad Coalition Of Organizations And Individuals Launches Restore Justice At Justice Campaign Demands Redress For Those Politically Prosecuted Under Bush Administration, Beginning With Governor Don Siegelman And Paul Minor Today a broad coalition of organizations and individuals dedicated to an honest and accountable government launched Restore Justice At Justice, www.RestoreJusticeAtJustice.com, a campaign to clean up the Department of Justice's sad record of political prosecutions under the Bush Administration. These organizations, representing hundreds of thousands of members, have a strong track record of spurring action on crucial issues. The coalition has sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, available on the Restore Justice At Justice website, requesting that he quickly investigate and identify those targeted, and vacate their convictions, beginning with Alabama ex-Governor Don Siegelman and Attorney Paul Minor. The coalition asserts that under the Bush administration, the Department of Justice was driven by ideology, and prosecutions were often used to settle scores and intimidate the opposition. The GOP, at the direction of Karl Rove, used the DOJ to target political enemies including Democratic contributors and those who were a threat to GOP electoral gains and big business interests. The Department was used as an arm of the White House to destroy these Democrats. This political profiling resulted in the criminal prosecution of many on the GOP list, including Don Siegelman and Paul Minor. Last week, Attorney General Holder ordered the dismissal of charges against Senator Ted Stevens because of prosecutorial misconduct, said coalition spokesperson Brad Friedman. Because targeted political prosecutions also constitute prosecutorial misconduct, AG Holder should apply the same standard to Siegelman, Minor, and all the others identified as targeted by the Bush DOJ, said Friedman. Siegelman and Minor were targets of political profiling, which is as unjust as racial profiling. President Obama and Attorney General Holder promised to return justice to the Justice Department and free the Department from politics. We demand that they do so. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the signers at RestoreJusticeAtJustice.com, has stated publicly that Paul Minor is an innocent man who was targeted by Karl Rove, prosecuted by crooked Justice Department prosecutors, and sentenced to a breathtaking 11-year sentence for non-violent, white collar crimes he did not commit, while Minor's wife of 41 years lies in a hospital dying from cancer, unable to utter the word l-o-v-e to her husband. Kennedy summarizes the case this way: Karl Rove's crooked henchmen at the U.S. Justice Department have turned this dignified gentleman's life into a horrible ordeal that is a disgrace to American democracy. **Late Monday, Sylvia Minor died without her husband by her side after the DOJ opposed Minor's bail pending appeal and a compassionate furlough. The campaign is spearheaded by VelvetRevolution.us http://http://www.velvetrevolution.us/ , a national non-profit affiliated with over 150 organizations. The coalition urges other organizations that care about justice to sign on to this campaign by sending an email to RestoreJusticeAtJustice(at)velvetrevolution.us. Individuals can sign on at www.RestoreJusticeAtJustice.com. Source: www.RestoreJusticeAtJustice.com http://www.RestoreJusticeAtJustice.comhttp://www.RestoreJusticeAtJustice.com --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Right's noise machine a threat to the Republic
My subject line alludes to David Brock's The Republican Noise Machine, which is still the best book on the history of that juggernaut. MCM Right-Wingers Are Desperately Trying to Destroy Obama, and the Cowardly Corporate Media Are Helping By Robert Parry, Consortium News. Posted April 16, 2009. The right-wing media still pull the reigns in DC, where they could sink the Obama presidency and even stymie a Democratic Congress. http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/136834/right-wingers_are_desperately_trying_to_destroy_obama%2C_and_the_cowardly_corporate_media_are_helping_/ Watching Glenn Beck of Fox News rant about progressive fascism -- and muse about armed insurrection -- or listening to mainstream pundits prattle on about Barack Obama as the most polarizing President ever, it is hard to escape the conclusion that today's U.S. news media represents a danger to the Republic. By and large, the Washington press corps continues to function within a paradigm set in the 1980s, mostly bending to the American Right, especially to its perceived power to destroy mainstream journalistic careers and to grease the way toward lucrative jobs for those who play ball. The parameters set by this intimidated (or bought-off) news media, in turn, influence how far Washington politicians feel they can go on issues, like health-care reform or environmental initiatives, or how risky they believe it might be to pull back from George W. Bush's war on terror policies. Democratic hesitancy on these matters then enflames the Left, which expresses its outrage through its own small media, reprising the old theme that there's not a dime's worth of difference between Democrats and Republicans -- a reaction that further weakens chances for any meaningful reform. This vicious cycle has repeated itself again and again since the Reagan era, when the Right built up its intimidating media apparatus -- a vertically integrated machine which now reaches from newspapers, magazines and books to radio, TV and the Internet. The Right accompanied its media apparatus with attack groups to go after troublesome mainstream journalists. Meanwhile, the American Left never took media seriously, putting what money it had mostly into organizing or into direct humanitarian giving. Underscoring the Left's fecklessness about media, progressives have concentrated their relatively few media outlets in San Francisco, 3,000 miles away -- and three hours behind -- the news centers of Washington and New York. By contrast, the Right grasped the importance of information warfare in a modern media age and targeted its heaviest firepower on the frontlines of that war -- mostly the political battlefields of Washington -- thus magnifying the influence of right-wing ideas on policymakers. One consequence of this media imbalance is that Republicans feel they can pretty much say whatever they want -- no matter how provocative or even crazy -- while Democrats must be far more circumspect, knowing that any comment might be twisted into an effective attack point against them. So, while criticism of Republican presidents -- from Ronald Reagan to the two Bushes -- had to be tempered for fear of counterattacks, almost anything could be said against a Democratic president, Bill Clinton or now Barack Obama, who is repeatedly labeled a socialist and, according to Beck, a fascist for pressuring hapless GM chief executive Rick Wagoner to resign. The Clinton Wars The smearing of President Clinton started during his first days in office as the right-wing news media and the mainstream press pursued, essentially in tandem, scandals such as his Whitewater real-estate deal, the Travel Office firings and salacious accusations from Arkansas state troopers. Through talk radio and mailed-out videos, the Right also disseminated accusations that Clinton was responsible for murders in Arkansas and Washington. These hateful suspicions about Clinton spread across the country, carried by the voices of Rush Limbaugh and G. Gordon Liddy as well as via videos hawked by Religious Right leader Jerry Falwell. While not accepting the murder tales, mainstream publications, like the Washington Post and the New York Times, often took the lead in pushing or exaggerating Clinton financial scandals. Facing these attacks, Clinton sought some safety by tacking to the Right, which prompted many on the American Left to turn on him. The stage was set for the Republican revolution of 1994, which put the GOP in charge of Congress. Only in the latter days of the Clinton administration, as the Republicans pushed for his ouster through impeachment, did a handful of small media outlets, including Consortiumnews.com and Salon.com, recast the war on Clinton as a new-age coup d'etat. SNIP --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To
[MCM] FL Repub proposes vast reform of voting rules
Just before Election Day, I debated one of Diaz de la Portilla's brothers, a lawyer working for the GOP. It was on Al Jazeera, whose gigantic Middle Eastern audience could not possibly have grasped the truth re: Florida's elections, because my adversary's every statement was a whopping lie, and I had little time to nail them properly. He lied with the belligerent vigor of a true believer (the brothers' parents are right-wing Cuban exiles), so he was either lying for the Greater Good (as he imagines it) or, in his own mind, not lying. In any case, it's interesting to note that his top talking-point was that the electoral process had been going swimmingly in Florida--no problem! This despite the (usual) news of long, long lines in Democratic precincts, due to systematic shortages and machine breakdowns: five-hour waits for (would-be) voters in Miami-Dade, six-hour waits for (would-be) voters in Ft. Lauderdale (where they ran out of paper ballots), seven op-scan machines kaput in Duval County, and so on. None of this made any difference to Diaz de la Portilla, who just kept saying that all was well at Florida's polls. I guess that wasn't really true; for now his brother Alex, a state senator, has come out with this sweeping plan for the reform of Florida's elections--a plan that's clearly meant to make it harder for all non-Republicans to vote, as critics have observed. Such fake reform--advanced by liberals and conservatives--will keep on getting serious attention, until we can break through with some hard truths about what's really happened to American elections, and what's really needed to reform them. Certainly it won't be easy--perhaps it isn't even possible--but our only option is to try, and keep on trying. MCM Overhaul of Florida Voting Rules Is Proposed By http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/gary_fineout/index.html?inline=nyt-perGARY FINEOUT Published: April 15, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/us/16florida.html TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Republican lawmakers, who control both houses of the Legislature, have proposed sweeping changes to the state's election laws, including new procedures on registering voters, and requiring voters to use a provisional ballot if they move shortly before an election. The rules would also prevent anyone, including those with video or audio equipment, from getting within 100 feet of a line of voters, even if that line is outside a polling place. This would also prevent anyone from offering legal advice to voters in line. State Senator Alex Diaz de la Portilla, a Republican from Miami and sponsor of the legislation, said the changes were a response to complaints and problems in the 2008 elections. We see where there were flaws, where there were holes that have to be filled, Mr. Diaz de la Portilla said. The legislation, for example, would bar election supervisors from placing anything on the envelope of absentee ballots that lists a voter's party affiliation. It would also give state election officials the ability to call for a recount and set new standards for audits of voting machines. Mr. Diaz de la Portilla said nothing in the legislation was intended to benefit any particular political party. But voting rights groups were critical of the legislation, as were Democratic lawmakers. We should be making democracy more open, not putting obstacles in the way of people accessing their government, said Senator Charlie Justice, a St. Petersburg Democrat. Elizabeth Westfall, a senior lawyer with the Advancement Project, a voting rights group, predicted that the measure would shut down voter-registration drives in Florida by outside groups like the http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_association_for_the_advancement_of_colored_people/index.html?inline=nyt-orgN.A.A.C.P. The legislation would require voter-registration groups to turn in applications within 48 hours after they are first filled out. This is really Draconian, Ms. Westfall said. She also criticized the provision that would require voters who move less than a month before an election to vote with a provisional ballot. She faulted the state for failing to make early voting easier. Gov. http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/charlie_crist/index.html?inline=nyt-perCharlie Crist ordered polling places to stay open longer last year to accommodate throngs of voters who showed up for early voting. Mr. Diaz de la Portilla defended the requirements for turning in voter applications promptly. He said it was important to make sure the state's voting rolls were accurate. People hold onto things and don't turn them in and don't meet deadlines, he said. Ever since the chaotic recount in the 2000 presidential election, Florida has repeatedly come under fire by voting rights groups and labor organizations. Some of the proposed changes may have to be reviewed by the
[MCM] Why has Spain reversed itself?
Why did Spain reverse itself re: prosecution of Bush/Cheney's torture team?
As Barry Sussman notes here, it makes no sense in light of how Spain dealt
with Pinochet:
Mark:
This ruling is wholly inconsistent with the Spanish court's handling of the
Pinochet matter. The court claims that, If one is dealing with a crime of
mistreatment of prisoners of war, the complaint should go against those who
physically carried it out.
I may be missing something, but this would appear to imply that General
Pinochet's prosecution required that he personally carried out the torture
of which his regime was accused.
I would like to know the back-story behind all of this. This is a very
disappointing result.
Barry
So did Obama have a hand in turning this thing off? David Swanson raises that
important question:
Obama Protecting Bush from Spain?
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/41766http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/41766
By David Swanson
The official story is that Spain has decided not to prosecute Bush's
torture lawyers. Yet the known facts suggest something else entirely.
1-We know that the prosecutor who initiated this effort wants to
prosecute Bush. He wrote about it months ago. We know that he and his
colleagues see targeting the lawyers first as a step in Bush's
direction and more likely to move forward than a case that starts at
the top.
2-We know from Scott Horton's reporting that Spain and the Obama
administration have been communicating about this case.
3-We know that the White House's press secretary was asked this week
about those communications and avoided answering the question at all,
rather than simply going with the story already reported that the
U.S. was just observing and gathering information.
4-We know that Obama wants to move forward, does not want to
prosecute Bush, and is going to extraordinary lengths to maintain and
expand the power of the presidency (including the power to detain
without charge, rendition, illegal foreign occupations and strikes,
the power to make treaties without Congress, rewriting laws with
signing statements, making laws with executive orders, keeping most
of Bush's signing statements and executive orders in place,
unprecedented claims of state secrets and classification and
sovereign immunity and executive privilege, the power to fire
whistleblowers, keeping memos and Emails secret, etc.)
5-We know that the top law enforcement official in Spain has made an
argument for dismissing the case against the lawyers that an 8 year
old would spot as an illegal absurdity, that was not a necessary
argument for dismissing the case, but that would be a necessary
argument for preventing a case against Bush. While he could have
argued, like Doug Feith, that those engaging in the torture or
ordering it were more culpable than the lawyers (as they are indeed),
he instead argued that ONLY those present for the torture are
culpable, thus exonerating Hitler, Pinochet, and every other official
who has ordered a crime from a distance.
6-We know that if the top law enforcement official in Spain lacked
the mental acumen of an 8 year old, Fox News would have pointed that
out to us during the past couple of days of xenophobic screeching.
7-We know that the rightwing was preparing big attacks on Obama for
allowing Spain to proceed, and that the official left was not going
to have his back. Senator Russ Feingold said yesterday that Spain was
behaving inappropriately.
These facts are at least extremely suggestive of a less than
independent decision by the Spanish to deny justice and stick to
looking forward, a decision that certainly does not follow public
opinion in Spain and was not predicted by reporters in Spain but was
predicted by Doug Feith on Fox News:
I hope and expect that the Obama administration will communicate to
the Spanish government that they - that they do not view this as
simply an attack against some former officials; they view it as an
attack on the U.S. government - because as I said, the principle
that's involved here would attack current officials as much as former
officials.
--
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David Swanson is the author of the upcoming book Daybreak: Undoing
the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union by Seven
Stories Press and of the introduction to The 35 Articles of
Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush published by
Feral House and available at Amazon.com. Swanson holds a master's
degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia. He has worked
as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs
including press secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential
campaign, media coordinator for the International Labor
Communications Association, and three years as communications
coordinator for ACORN, the Association of
[MCM] Jennifer Brunner is beyond reproach: Cliff Arnebeck
Cliff Arnebeck replies to Michael Collins: Michael: In regard to the destroyed 2004 Ohio ballots, it was not generally reported that the matter of criminal activity in that election was referred to the criminal division of the Ohio AG's office, as part of a settlement exploration in our King Lincoln case. When SOS Brunner received the information from the boards of elections that many ballots (1.8 million) had been destroyed or could not be accounted for, she promptly gave these responses to the Ohio AG's office. The AG informed the chambers of the federal court and me, as trial counsel to the plaintiffs. Our case had prompted the court order protecting the ballots. Subsequently, the AG's office provided me with a complete set of all of the responses from the boards of elections. These are posted on the web site of FreePress.org in their entirety. When this matter became public, SOS Brunner first indicated that culpability in the matter was for the court to determine, and then, criticized former SOS Blackwell for not having properly advised the boards of elections in this matter. SOS Brunner was correct. SOS Blackwell instructed the boards of elections about the proper procedure for destroying ballots. While he transmitted the court order prohibiting destruction, SOS Blackwell did not advise the boards of elections of their mandatory duty to obey the court order, or, as SOS, order them not to destroy the ballots. Please let me know if you have any further questions in this matter. Best regards, Cliff --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Gillibrand's vote challenged in Tedisco/Murphy race
Tedisco (i.e., the GOP) is fighting tooth and nail to wipe out Democrat Scott Murphy's lead in the election to fill Gillibrand's House seat. This has now entailed a wholly groundless challenge to the absentee ballot cast by Gillibrand herself. As you'll see in the comment below (by Kads), Nate Silver gives Tedisco a one-in-500 chance to turn this thing around. And yet the GOP will fight to win--regardless of the will of the electorate, or the letter (or the spirit) of the law. Perhaps the party plans to take this all the way to SCOTUS, as they no doubt intend to do with Coleman's case. This is just one way in which the GOP subverts democracy, while the Democrats just sit there, twiddling their thumbs. MCM Serving Columbia and Dutchess counties since 1785 Wednesday, April 15, 2009 Gillibrand's vote challenged Murphy still has slight lead over Tedisco By Jamie Larson COLUMBIA COUNTY- In an astounding legal maneuver, the legitimacy of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's absentee ballot was challenged by Republican lawyers for congressional candidate James Tedisco Tuesday, at the Columbia County Office Building at 401 State St. in Hudson. Tedisco and his opponent, Democrat Scott Murphy, are in the middle of a too-close-to-call special election to fill Gillibrand's seat in Congress and every vote counts, including that of the woman the candidates wish to replace. Lead lawyer for Tedisco in Columbia County Tuesday, Vinney Messina, challenged the senator's ballot on the grounds that, though she sent in an absentee ballot, she was in Columbia County on Election Day. Both Democratic Board of Elections Commissioner Virginia Martin and Republican Deputy Commissioner Michael Nabozny overruled the challenge, but Gillibrand's ballot was still put aside as a precaution because there will be a court decision on ballot eligibility Wednesday in Dutchess County Supreme Court. Thirty-five other challenges have also been overruled by both party commissioners and have been put in a separate pile for evaluation after today's court ruling. Gillibrand's office responded to the challenge quickly after it heard the news, saying, The Republicans’ challenge is frivolous and without merit. This is part of their larger attempt to disenfranchise legal Democratic voters and delay the inevitable Democratic victory in the 20th. Every day that the national Republicans waste with their dishonest stalling tactics is another day Upstate New Yorkers are deprived their member of Congress. Sen. Gillibrand looks forward to working with Scott Murphy in Congress to support President Obama's plans to turn this economy around and create good paying jobs. Gillibrand says she had intended to be in Washington, D.C. on the day of the special election for a Senate vote and that is why she requested an absentee ballot. She says the challenge lacks further foundation because, while she was in the 20th Congressional District on Election Day, she was not in Columbia County. Gillibrand has a home on Mt. Merino and is registered to vote in Greenport. The senator's office also pointed to an election law decision on the issue of the challenge. There was no law that required the actual absence by the voter during the time the polls were open for an absentee ballot to be validly cast. The question was not to consider the voter’s physical capabilities on the day of the election, but rather the voter’s expectations at the time of applying for an absentee ballot. [Sherwood v. Albany County Board of Elections, 265 AD2d 667, 696 NYS2d.287] Along with Gillibrand's vote, 18 Columbia County election districts were counted Tuesday, covering five towns and half the districts in the city of Hudson. Murphy gained another 130 county votes and Tedisco gathered up 72, putting their four-day county total--spanning 13 municipalities--at: Murphy 251, Tedisco 127. Two-hundred and fifty ballots have been challenged, 26 have been voided due to voter error and one was left blank. Tedisco's legal team has cast the vast majority of challenges--36 ballots were challenged in Hillsdale alone. County attorney Daniel Tuczinski will appear in Dutchess County Court 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. today on the county’s behalf as the counting of ballots continues. According to The Associated Press, the state Board of Elections reports that unofficial counts Tuesday show Murphy with 77,982 votes total and Tedisco with 77,935. Reader Comments The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of RegisterStar.com. stonepound wrote on Apr 15, 2009 2:04 AM: Democracy delayed is democracy denied! Kads wrote on Apr 15, 2009 11:58 AM: This election may be too close to call but that doesn't mean the best election forecaster in the US isn't making a prediction. Nate Silver says Tedisco has just a 1 in 500 chance of winning. This sheds some light on why Tedisco is not only challenging every
[MCM] John Ennis weighs in on SoS Jennifer Brunner
From John Ennis: As long as Brunner's term as Ohio S.O.S. is still being evaluated, I would like to offer my appraisal. While in Ohio in 2008, both for promoting my election theft doc Free for All! as well as organizing for Video the Vote, the issue of early voting was fiercely fought by the Ohio G.O.P. While this issue had already been passed by the legislature, the GOP particularly took issue with Golden Week, the week in October when people could register and then vote immediately. Because this allowed poor people and students to vote in numbers they never had before, there was all the Republican resistance you would imagine, and then some -- court challenges, threats, press conferences, writing down license plates of early voters, etc. While Jennifer Brunner had maintained a thoroughly non-partisan demeanor throughout her term, even in the face of being called a partisan rogue like her predecessor Ken Blackwell, in these crucial months leading up to the national election Brunner went to the mat to keep early voting open and accessible. It was a continual fight until Ohio was called for Obama. This is not to endorse her or anyone else for Senate, or to offer blanket approval for her term as S.O.S. Further, for purposes of disclosure, S.O.S. Brunner briefly appears in Free for All! But so does Cliff Arnebeck, as well as the now former AG of Ohio who received the 2004 election ballot destruction case, and also Ken Blackwell and Mark Crispin Miller. john w ennis http://www.freeforall.tvwww.freeforall.tv http://www.videothevote.orgwww.videothevote.org On Apr 16, 2009, at 8:31 AM, Mark Crispin Miller wrote: Cliff Arnebeck replies to Michael Collins: Michael: In regard to the destroyed 2004 Ohio ballots, it was not generally reported that the matter of criminal activity in that election was referred to the criminal division of the Ohio AG's office, as part of a settlement exploration in our King Lincoln case. When SOS Brunner received the information from the boards of elections that many ballots (1.8 million) had been destroyed or could not be accounted for, she promptly gave these responses to the Ohio AG's office. The AG informed the chambers of the federal court and me, as trial counsel to the plaintiffs. Our case had prompted the court order protecting the ballots. Subsequently, the AG's office provided me with a complete set of all of the responses from the boards of elections. These are posted on the web site of FreePress.org in their entirety. When this matter became public, SOS Brunner first indicated that culpability in the matter was for the court to determine, and then, criticized former SOS Blackwell for not having properly advised the boards of elections in this matter. SOS Brunner was correct. SOS Blackwell instructed the boards of elections about the proper procedure for destroying ballots. While he transmitted the court order prohibiting destruction, SOS Blackwell did not advise the boards of elections of their mandatory duty to obey the court order, or, as SOS, order them not to destroy the ballots. Please let me know if you have any further questions in this matter. Best regards, Cliff --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] The mote in Russia's eye
Whatever Russia does to thwart democracy is unacceptable, and that includes their fiddling with the vote in Moldova, and their apparent steps to get the OSCE to pull its punches (see below). I have to note, however, that the OSCE's coverage of our own elections under BushCo was quite poor, as they appeared to pull their punches then as well. (There was, of course, the big exception of their rightly protesting Ken Blackwell's blunt refusal to allow their two men in Ohio even to get near a polling-place, much less venture into any.) What this country needs--what all democratic countries need--is a global conference on election fraud and vote suppression; and one that takes places here, NOT because the US does it right: on the contrary. It should be hosted here because the problem has in fact been worse in the United States than it has been in many other countries (as Jimmy Carter candidly told NPR in 2006). The best way to approach the global problem, therefore, would be to face it as a problem that afflicts us here as well. So let's not cluck our tongues at what they're doing in Russia, or bitch about the (alleged) vote-theft in Venezuela, until we face the truth about elections here. MCM OPINION Christian Science Monitor Russia goes after election monitors By the Monitor's Editorial Board - Wed Apr 15, 5:00 am ET Russia goes after election monitors The gold standard in international monitoring of elections is in danger of losing its value. The latest warning sign comes from the tiny country of Moldova, once part of the Soviet empire and now the poorest country in Europe. For several years, Russia has tried to weaken the world's champion of democratic elections, the 56-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). This is the body, set up during a warming period of the cold war, that has impartially judged so many elections in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union - and whose judgments Russia blames for sparking democratic color revolutions on its doorstep. But the OSCE's impartiality has come into question over Moldova's disputed parliamentary elections of April 5. The country, sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, has been shaken by violent protests against the apparent sweeping win of the Communist Party, which has led the country since the elections of 2001. Young protesters and opposition groups claim fraud, and results of a recount are expected Friday. The OSCE, however, deemed the election generally free and fair, noting blandly that further improvements are required. It has since complained about Moldova's treatment of journalists covering the election, and says in a confidential report obtained by Reuters that the human rights of some arrested protesters may have been violated. Not all OSCE monitors, however, agreed with group's overall positive assessment of the election. Baroness Emma Nicholson, a British member of the European Parliament, told the BBC that she saw hundreds and hundreds of voters stopped and turned away. When she finished observing ballot counting at 1 a.m., the Communists stood at about 35 percent, but at 8 a.m. they had nearly 50 percent. The baroness, experienced in monitoring in this part of the world, feared manipulation had taken place completely invisibly. She and several colleagues tried to get really tough points into the OSCE's statement, she said, but they were rejected. The problem is that it was an OSCE report, and in the OSCE are, of course, the Russians, and their view was quite different, quite substantially different. Credible accounts such as this give the impression that Russia is making headway in its attempt to dilute the OSCE's influence in human and civil rights, a goal Moscow has been working toward for several years. For its own parliamentary elections in December 2007, Moscow delayed so long in granting visas to OSCE observers and placed so many restrictions on them, that the Vienna-based group did not monitor the vote. The following year, the OSCE did not monitor Russia's presidential election for similar reasons. Russia has also enlisted six neighborhood allies in an official effort to de-emphasize election monitoring and human-rights work by the transatlantic OSCE. Moscow Co. want the group instead to focus on economic, political, and military security. The reform effort, which would require consensus, has so far failed. But in 2010, Russia's friend Kazakhstan takes over the chairmanship of the OSCE. It will be the first time that a nondemocratic nation will lead this international body. Russia would like nothing better than to check this check on authoritarianism. If it succeeds, the OSCE could find itself without influence or credibility in a strategic region still struggling to emerge from the post-Soviet era. More important, voters would be without an impartial judge to tell it as it is. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You
[MCM] Opponents of e-voting are black helicopter types, says TX commissioner
That's really not the most important item in this article, but it was so outrageous that I had to put it in the subject line. What's most significant in this (rather murky) article is the trend toward all electronic voting in Williamson County, Texas, and the link between that move and early voting. MCM County considers backing all electronic voting By mailto:newsd...@thehuttonews.comPhilip Jankowski http://www.taylordailypress.net/articles/2009/04/15/news/news05.txtTaylor Daily Press: County considers backing all electronic voting The specter of all electronic voting may perturb conspiracy theorists, or the black helicopter types, as Commissioner Lisa Birkman classified some at Tuesday's meeting of the Williamson County Commissioners Court. But Commissioners were unable to put their full support behind pending legislation in the Senate and House that would allow for counties to become all electronic on Election Day. I think it is the way of the future, County Judge Dan Gattis said during the discussion, but according to Birkman, several people in her precinct still would rather have the peace of mind of seeing their votes cast on a paper ballot. Williamson County currently offers a paper and electronic system for voting on Election Day. Over the past few elections, more and more voters have opted to use the electronic machines, according to county election administrator Rick Barron. A big piece of that trend is continued upturns in the amount of people choosing to vote early. About 70 percent of voters voted early in November, and typical early voting turnout for a municipal election is about 60 percent, Barron said. Early voters can only use electronic machines because of the paper nightmare that would arise from the use of limited polling places. On any given Election Day with a prominent state or national race, the county will have polling locations set up in all of its 99 precincts. However during early voting, those locations are condensed into regional polling places that allow county voters to cast their ballot anywhere in the county. Current legislation would allow countywide polling places on Election Day. Currently, the practice is not permitted, Barron said. It's much more convenient for the voter, Barron said. We'd be able to reduce the number of polling places to about half. But doing so would mean all polling places would have to be electronic only. The amount of paper necessary to ensure a voter from an East Williamson County precinct would have a proper paper ballot available at a polling place in Cedar Park is cumbersome to the point that it makes the practice impractical and nearly impossible, Barron said. To enact a countywide, all-electronic voting system would require purchasing more than 450 new voting machines at a price tag of between $600,000 and $800,000, Barron said. However, the high price tag could be offset by the drastic cutback in the amount of labor needed to conduct an election. By cutting the number of polling places in half, the amount of people needed on Election Day drops from about 600 to 300, Barron estimated. Election workers make between $8 and $10 an hour, he said. Paper ballots also cost about 29 cents per ballot. Pending legislation is also in the works to authorize counties to use electronic voting machines that print voting selections on paper as a way to check a ballot. However, Barron said using that technology would be a vast cost to the county. Printers costing about $800 apiece would be required for all voting machines. Since the county began using electronic voting machines, the machines have been involved in one error in 2006, when 6,500 more votes were counted than cast. However, the miscount has been attributed to user error and the administrator involved is no longer with the county. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Holder will not prosecute CIA employees for TORTURE
and our government, he added, will indemnify all those who have been fined or penalized in any way, and represent them in congressional investigations. MCM Holder: CIA Officials Will Not Be Charged for Harsh Interrogation Tactics [sic] Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. said Thursday that CIA officials who used harsh interrogation tactics [sic] -- including waterboarding -- on suspected terrorists would not face prosecution and that the government would provide free legal representation to any official sued for their participation in the now-banned interrogation program. In a statement today, Holder also said the government would indemnify intelligence officials for any monetary judgment or penalty imposed against them and represent them in congressional investigations. Holder's remarks accompanied the release of one secret legal opinion the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel issued to the CIA in August 2002 and three the office issued to the agency in May 2005. Click http://legaltimes.typepad.com/files/olc-memo---eits---final-redact-comp---01-aug-02.pdfhere for 2002 opinion; and http://legaltimes.typepad.com/files/olc-memo---combined-eits---final-redact-comp---10-may-05.pdfhere, http://legaltimes.typepad.com/files/ldwcym-olc_051020052_bradbury46pg.pdfhere, and http://legaltimes.typepad.com/files/part-2---olc-memo---combined-eits---final-redact-comp---30-may-05.pdfhere for the 2005 opinions. (Be warned: The files are large.) Here is the Justice Department statement in full: The President has halted the use of the interrogation techniques described in these opinions, and this administration has made clear from day one that it will not condone torture, said Attorney General Eric Holder. We are disclosing these memos consistent with our commitment to the rule of law. Holder also stressed that intelligence community officials who acted reasonably and relied in good faith on authoritative legal advice from the Justice Department that their conduct was lawful, and conformed their conduct to that advice, would not face federal prosecutions for that conduct. The Attorney General has informed the Central Intelligence Agency that the government would provide legal representation to any employee, at no cost to the employee, in any state or federal judicial or administrative proceeding brought against the employee based on such conduct and would take measures to respond to any proceeding initiated against the employee in any international or foreign tribunal, including appointing counsel to act on the employee's behalf and asserting any available immunities and other defenses in the proceeding itself. To the extent permissible under federal law, the government will also indemnify any employee for any monetary judgment or penalty ultimately imposed against him for such conduct and will provide representation in congressional investigations. It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the Justice Department, Holder said. After reviewing these opinions, OLC has decided to withdraw them: They no longer represent the views of the Office of Legal Counsel. Posted by Joe Palazzolo on April 16, 2009 at 03:33 PM in http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/justice_department/Justice Department --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] That was no heart attack
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Latest news, sport, business, comment and reviews from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk http://www.guardian.co.uk/News http://www.guardian.co.uk/ukUK news http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/g20-police-assault-ian-tomlinsonG20 police assault on Ian Tomlinson Ian Tomlinson died of abdominal haemorrhage, says coroner http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2009/apr/07/g20-police-assault-videoLink to this video A second post mortem on Ian Tomlinson, the passerby who died at thehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/g20G20 protests, shows that he died from an abdominal haemorrhage, not a heart attack. The cause of the injury has not been established, but investigators will now have to decide whether alleged http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/policepolice assaults on the 47-year-old newspaper vendor contributed to his death. The dramatic shift in the criminal inquiry into the alleged assaults by the Independent Police Complaints Commission came today after the results of the second post mortem were revealed. Police previously said Tomlinson had died of a heart attack. Tomlinson collapsed and died around 7:25pm on April 1, shortly after being attacked by at least one riot officer. He had been attempting to walk home from work when he was confronted by lines of riot police. An officer was suspended and a criminal inquiry launched after the Guardian revealed footage showing the attack on Tomlinson from behind. Today the City of London Coroners Court released the following statement: On 9 April 2009 HM Coroner for the City of London opened and adjourned the inquest into the death of Ian Tomlinson. In so doing he received evidence of identification and the provisional findings and opinion as to the medical cause of death, from a report prepared by consultant forensic pathologist Dr F Patel, instructed by HM Coroner to conduct the post-mortem examination. The pathologist's final opinion must await the completion of additional tests. Dr F Patel made a number of findings of fact including descriptions of a number of injuries and of diseased organs including the heart and liver. He found a substantial amount of blood in the abdominal cavity. His provisional interpretation of his findings was that the cause of death was coronary artery disease. A subsequent post-mortem examination was conducted by another consultant forensic pathologist, Dr N Cary, instructed by the http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/ipccIPCC and by solicitors acting for the family of the late Mr Tomlinson. Dr Cary's opinion is that the cause of death was abdominal haemorrhage. The cause of the haemorrhage remains to be ascertained. Dr Cary accepts that there is evidence of coronary atherosclerosis but states that in his opinion its nature and extent is unlikely to have contributed to the cause of death. The opinions of both consultant pathologists are provisional and both agree that their final opinions must await the outcome of further investigations and tests. These are likely to take some time. The IPCC's investigation into the death of Ian Tomlinson is ongoing. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Call for a real investigation of Bush/Cheney's torture program
Via Gianni Ortiz: http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=hqLRK0ODKhJQI8Ks=hmK4KkOZIqI0KdP5LzHm=mwL3JhPULjJ9H Infamous torture memos were released yesterday, just as Amnesty activists are meeting with Congress calling for accountability. http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=ktJXL9PPIkIXKiJs=hmK4KkOZIqI0KdP5LzHm=mwL3JhPULjJ9HAdd your voice to theirs. Call for an independent investigation into torture. In a pivotal moment in our call for accountability, yesterday the Obama administration finally released the four infamous memos crafted to provide legal cover for the U.S. torture program. You and I know there is no legal form of torture. But Obama wants us to believe that this is a time for reflection, not retribution. We've done plenty of reflecting, and the information in the memos only confirms what we've known all along. Torture is illegal under both domestic and international law and no set of legal memos can change that. Within hours of their release, the memos fueled new speculation that there is just too much out there now for Congress to ignore calls for accountability. http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=nmL3KlM8KmL0JtJs=hmK4KkOZIqI0KdP5LzHm=mwL3JhPULjJ9H Incredibly, our lobby week is wrapping up today, giving us an amazing opportunity to push Congress on accountability, when they're most receptive to our calls, both in person and online. http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=feJNIUNvFgJIJXKs=hmK4KkOZIqI0KdP5LzHm=mwL3JhPULjJ9HSend a letter now to Congress calling for a full and independent investigation. Before today, major editorial boards from the Boston Globe, Salt Lake City Tribune, and Philadelphia Inquirer threw their hat into the ring, calling for accountability. While we may have convinced editorial boards, it's Congress that has the power to setup independent investigations. This is the last day of our lobby week. While Amnesty members finish up their meetings, let's hit Congress from both on and offline. http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=ihKTI3OHLjIPK7Js=hmK4KkOZIqI0KdP5LzHm=mwL3JhPULjJ9HSend an email to your elected officials and tell them that you want to know the truth about torture. Once members of Congress realize they can't turn down the buzz about torture in their own districts, they'll have to confront the issue in Washington. The Obama administration has truly taken some important steps to correct past mistakes. Just a week ago, the CIA announced that it is no longer operating any of the secret overseas prisons used to detain terror suspects. While correcting some of these bigger problems certainly puts us on the right path, it doesn't tell us how we veered so far off in the wrong direction. By this time, anyone who isn't the slightest bit curious about how we became a nation that tortures needs a wake-up call. And we're just the group to give it to them! Thanks for standing with us, Njambi Good Director, Counter Terror with Justice Campaign http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=lkIZJcPTKmLWIhIs=hmK4KkOZIqI0KdP5LzHm=mwL3JhPULjJ9H http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=enJLKRNrEfKJKXLs=hmK4KkOZIqI0KdP5LzHm=mwL3JhPULjJ9H http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=hqLRK0ODKiJQI7Ks=hmK4KkOZIqI0KdP5LzHm=mwL3JhPULjJ9H DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE. Messages sent to this email address are not read. If you have a question or comment, please use our interactive online help system. Subscribe to our RSS feeds. http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=ktJXL9PPIlIXKhJs=hmK4KkOZIqI0KdP5LzHm=mwL3JhPULjJ9H http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=edKLIRMrHfLML0Is=hmK4KkOZIqI0KdP5LzHm=mwL3JhPULjJ9H http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=hgIRI0ODJiJTJaLs=hmK4KkOZIqI0KdP5LzHm=mwL3JhPULjJ9H http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=kjKXJ9PPLlI0LkKs=hmK4KkOZIqI0KdP5LzHm=mwL3JhPULjJ9H http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=nmL3KiM1KoL7JuJs=hmK4KkOZIqI0KdP5LzHm=mwL3JhPULjJ9H © Copyright 2009 | Amnesty International USA | 5 Penn Plaza | New York, NY 10001 | 212.807.8400 http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=mlK2KbPNJbIRLkKs=hmK4KkOZIqI0KdP5LzHm=mwL3JhPULjJ9HRemove yourself from this mailing. http://www.kintera.org/TR.asp?a=feLOLQNlH4LEJ0Js=hmK4KkOZIqI0KdP5LzHm=mwL3JhPULjJ9HRemove yourself from all mailings from Amnesty USA. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Powell knew
http://www.pubrecord.org/torture/836-documents-show-red-cross-told-powell-iraqi-prisoners-were-tortured.htmlDocuments Show Red Cross Told Powell Iraqi Prisoners Were Tortured By Jason Leopold The Public Record Thursday, 16 April 2009 11:32 http://www.pubrecord.org/torture/836-documents-show-red-cross-told-powell-iraqi-prisoners-were-tortured.html In March 2003, after Iraqi troops captured several U.S. soldiers and let them be interviewed on Iraqi TV, senior Bush administration officials expressed outrage over this violation of the Geneva Convention. If there is somebody captured, President George W. Bush told reporters on March 23, 2003, I expect those people to be treated humanely. If not, the people who mistreat the prisoners will be treated as war criminals. No one in the Bush administration, however, acknowledged the extent of their own violations of rules governing humane treatment of enemy combatants. Nor did the U.S. news media offer any context, ignoring the U.S. handling of Afghan War captives at Guantanamo Bay in 2002 and the fact that the U.S. military also had paraded captured Iraqi soldiers before cameras. During those heady days of embedded war correspondents reporting excitedly about Bush's shock and awe invasion, what Americans got to see and hear was how the Iraqi violation of the Geneva Convention - the videotaped interviews - demonstrated the barbarity of the enemy and justified their punishment as war criminals. Bush's fury over the POW interviews echoed across Washington. It is a blatant violation of the Geneva Convention to humiliate and abuse prisoners of war or to harm them in any way, declared Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke on March 24. That same day, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told the BBC, The Geneva Convention is very clear on the rules for treating prisoners. They're not supposed to be tortured or abused, they're not supposed to be intimidated, they're not supposed to be made public displays of humiliation or insult, and we're going to be in a position to hold those Iraqi officials who are mistreating our prisoners accountable, and they've got to stop. On March 25, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld added, In recent days, the world has witnessed further evidence of their [Iraqi] brutality and their disregard for the laws of war. Their treatment of coalition POWs is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. Hypocrisy Exposed It would take months and years - as documents from Bush's first term were gradually released to the public - to reveal the extent of the Bush administration's hypocrisy. For instance, it's now known that the International Committee of the Red Cross began an investigation of U.S. war crimes in Iraq from the first days of the invasion, interviewing Iraqis captives from March to November 2003. On Jan. 15, 2004, ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger expressed his concern to Secretary of State Colin Powell about the Bush administration's attitude regarding international law, specifically an op-ed by then-State Department legal adviser William Taft IV in the Financial Times four days earlier. In that op-ed, Taft wrote that there was no law that required the U.S. to afford due process to foreigners captured in the war on terror. American treatment of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba is fully consistent with international law and with centuries-old norms for treating individuals captured in wartime, Taft wrote. We are engaged in a war. It's unclear what Kellenberger cited in Taft's column, because the recently released minutes of the meeting were heavily redacted. But the conversation segued into Powell asking Kellenberger where in addition to Afghanistan, did ICRC have problems with notification and access to detainees? Powell is quoted as saying we are confident of our legal position, (referring to legal adviser Taft's op-ed), but we also know the world is watching us. The next month, the ICRC gave Bush administration officials a confidential report which found that U.S. occupation forces in Iraq often arrested Iraqis without good reason and subjected them to abuse and humiliation that sometimes was tantamount to torture in violation of the Geneva Conventions. Some excessive violence, including the use of live ammunition against detainees, had led to seven deaths, the ICRC report said. According to the allegations collected by the ICRC, ill-treatment during interrogation was not systematic, except with regard to persons arrested in connection with suspected security offences or deemed to have an 'intelligence' value, the report said. In these cases, persons deprived of their liberty under supervision of the Military Intelligence were at high risk of being subjected to a variety of harsh treatments ranging from insults, threats and humiliations to both physical and psychological coercion, which in some cases was tantamount to torture, in order to force
[MCM] Looking for John McTiernan (email only)
If you or anyone you know has his contact info, I would appreciate knowing it. MCM --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Tea party robo-calls
Those tea parties are pure astroturf--expensive propaganda stunts with very little mass support. And now they're using robo-calls to try to grow that bogus movement. MCM From Greg Dinger: Hi Mark, Just received about a 10-second robo-call from this number: Wildmon JK 210 892 1130 As I wasn't prepared for it, I don't recall the precise words, but the voice said something like: America, are you aware of the tea parties happening across the nation? It is time to awake and pay attention! Greg Dinger GreyBeard Design Group Web Development, Hosting and ASP Scripting http://www.greybearddesign.com/www.GreyBeardDesign.com --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Nadler calls for special prosecutor re: BushCo's torture program
Nadler Asks for Special Prosecutor for Torture
By David Swanson
Congressman Jerrold Nadler has just publicly asked that the Attorney
General appoint a special prosecutor. Please
http://www.house.gov/nadler/contact.shtmlTHANK HIM, and please ask
him and http://prosecutebushcheney.orgask your congress member to
jointly send to Eric Holder
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/39727the letter that Nadler
and 55 other congress members sent to Michael Mukasey requesting a
special prosecutor last summer, or an
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/41743updated version thereof.
Here is a release from Nadler's office:
CONGRESSMAN JERROLD NADLER
8th Congressional District of New York
Nadler Applauds Obama Administration's Transparency on Torture Memos
Renews Call for Special Prosecutor and Congressional Investigation
NEW YORK, N.Y. - Today, Congressman Jerrold Nadler (NY-08), Chair of
the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights
and Civil Liberties, praised President Obama and the Department of
Justice for releasing four legal memos on the torture of detainees
that had previously been concealed by the Bush administration. Rep.
Nadler, however, called on the Obama administration to go further and
appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and, if necessary,
prosecute those responsible for authorizing the torture. He also said
that a Congressional investigation is absolutely warranted. Rep
Nadler released the following statement:
While I applaud the Obama administration for releasing these torture
memos in the spirit of openness and transparency, the memos' alarming
content requires further action. These memos, without a shadow of a
doubt, authorized torture and gave explicit instruction on how to
carry it out, all the while carefully attempting to maintain a legal
fig leaf.
These memos make it abundantly clear that the Bush administration
engaged in torture. Because torture is illegal under American law -
as the U.S. is a signatory to the Convention Against Torture - we are
legally required to investigate and, when appropriate, to prosecute
those responsible for these crimes.
I commend President Obama for his unequivocal rejection of torture
and for his resolve to move forward. The President's intentions are
honorable, but don't go far enough. All history teaches us that
simply shining a light on criminal acts without holding the
responsible people accountable will not prevent repetition of those
acts.
I have previously urged Attorneys General Gonzalez and Mukasey to
appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the torture abuses of the
Bush administration, and now I will convey that same necessity to
President Obama and Attorney General Holder. We sorely need an
independent investigation that will provide accountability for these
terrible crimes. This investigation should not be a witch-hunt to
punish those rank-and-file C.I.A. operatives who acted in good faith
on Justice Department instructions. At the very least, those who
wrote and authorized the memos knowing full well that they were
instructing others to torture must be held accountable to the law.
We must have a criminal investigation if the U.S. is to reclaim its
moral authority and prevent repetition of these crimes.
As Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights said
yesterday, 'Whether or not to prosecute law breakers is not a
political decision. Laws were broken and crimes were committed. If we
are truly a nation of laws . . . a prosecutor needs to be appointed
and the decisions regarding the guilt of those involved in the
torture program should be decided in a court of law.'
Furthermore, the revelations contained in these memos make it
abundantly clear that we need additional Congressional oversight
hearings on this matter. We intend to hold such hearings.
Finally, I particularly want to thank the American Civil Liberties
Union for their role in bringing these memos to light and for their
vigilant efforts to ensure that the United States government does not
engage in torture.
Following are the memos released yesterday:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/20090416_memos.pdfhttp://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/20090416_memos.pdf.
###
Jerrold Nadler has served in Congress since 1992. He represents New
Yorks 8th Congressional District, which includes parts of Manhattan
and Brooklyn.
--
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David Swanson is the author of the upcoming book Daybreak: Undoing
the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union by Seven
Stories Press and of the introduction to The 35 Articles of
Impeachment and the Case for Prosecuting George W. Bush published by
Feral House and available at Amazon.com. Swanson holds a master's
degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia. He has worked
as
[MCM] Lots of news you may have missed, from Consortiumnews.com
From Robert Parry: Editor's Note: Because we've been publishing more stories, some readers say they miss some that fly by. So, each month, we'll point out some special stories from the previous month. Here is a selection from March, focusing on the decline of the U.S. news media and the war-crimes case against George W. Bush: http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=BnCfHk2U4AHM9rnQS%2F%2F8iRxyEq5cTy%2BwThe American Media Misdiagnosis, by Robert Parry, looking at journalism's plight. (March 2, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=hiXJ%2Fjilcu%2B3mBMKTXnZdBxyEq5cTy%2BwJustice Memos Gave Bush Total Power, by Jason Leopold, regarding John Yoo's memos on all-powerful presidents. (March 3, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=7x2kvXR9ohjBpVPADRJ0s2rpzK87qZAQHow Close the Bush Bullet, by Robert Parry, examining the narrow miss for the American Republic. (March 4, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=4yuC3BRJn98SzbHO2RkRjhxyEq5cTy%2BwIran in the Crosshairs by Gareth Porter and Ray McGovern, assessing the pressures for a new Mideast war. (March 4, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=FFLa4hseBSINx2GXQud6bRxyEq5cTy%2BwWar Crimes and Double Standards by Robert Parry, reviewing how the U.S. treats atrocities differently. (March 5, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=wS%2BB5HYre46DjJzaGJh0jhxyEq5cTy%2BwNeocons Wage War on a Realist by Robert Parry, exploring the neocon jihad against former U.S. ambassador Chas Freeman. (March 6, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=6O%2Bt%2B1RCbH%2B%2BWq9Te7ZxAhxyEq5cTy%2BwTimidity Derailed Obama Intel Choice by Ray McGovern, dissecting the defeat of the Freeman nomination. (March 11, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=e%2B0ObCMgqKJol1zj8Y1unRxyEq5cTy%2BwCan Obama's Change Find El Salvador by Don North, previewing the likely leftist victory with echoes to the Cold War. (March 11, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=aUH2iuuf51c%2Fe4lJMVAbqRxyEq5cTy%2BwWho's Pro-Life? by Lynne Gillooly, questioning how the abortion issue is framed. (March 12, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=tVHe2lqzILp4F9oHjAkb8BxyEq5cTy%2BwWar Crimes American Rejectionism by Peter Dyer, tracing the history of the laws of war and the recent U.S. resistance. (March 13, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=nAHSU%2F0M%2FkCwglGuXIAXIRxyEq5cTy%2BwWPost Is a Neocon Propaganda Sheet by Robert Parry, decribing the decline of a once-great newspaper. (March 15, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=f2XeeFJ%2B%2B02eVTBW675cVBxyEq5cTy%2Bw'CIA's Panetta Is Falling Short by Melvin A. Goodman, lamenting how the CIA bureaucracy turned Leon Panetta's head. (March 18, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=v0kIwG7%2FwqfBpVPADRJ0s2rpzK87qZAQIndentured Servants, Circa 2009 by Barbara Koeppel, exploring the desperate world of immigrant labor. (March 18, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=D%2FJOJC9fDXszg%2B5qwo4A5RxyEq5cTy%2BwLosing the Oxygen of Journalism by Gray Brechin, reviewing what the nation loses with the decline in newspapers. (March 19, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=mMZis%2BlDLRXKff%2BgDgypDBxyEq5cTy%2BwFraming Obama -- by the WPost by Robert Parry, looking at the power the Washington Post retains to shape issues. (March 19, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=KkFEmLfkFtzmGRoxjr1PixxyEq5cTy%2BwWPost Elitists Feel for Wall St. Brethren, by Robert Parry, assessing class solidarity over bonues. (March 22, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=bCIQ59JEn0U0ylNQaDOnGWrpzK87qZAQBush's Lawyer-Shopping for Torture, by Jason Leopold, chronicling how President Bush put ideological lawyers in key spots. (March 24, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=pRx6uEVsD%2BS2WJpUDlp3QhxyEq5cTy%2BwLost History Hurts Obama's Iran Bid by Robert Parry, explaining what the two sides don't know or won't admit. (March 26, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=VWrIL0gx0VeFq7HVjkpVBGrpzK87qZAQNo Angry Mob, But a Movement by Michael Winship, discussing the emergence of a new populism. (March 27, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=OBaxB9FlRcpHVceL6CX2khxyEq5cTy%2BwWelcome to Vietnam, Mr. President by Ray McGovern, comparing President Obama's Afghan escalation to that earlier war. (March 28, 2009) http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2c=1V5KRWrY3o5iMvdpzScfNBxyEq5cTy%2BwDemocrats Duck Bush Torture Probe by Jason Leopold, noting the changed Democratic tone about investigations.(March 30, 2009) To produce and publish these stories - and many more - costs money. And except for book sales, we depend
[MCM] Fight for a strong bill on global warming
Now that the US has turned the corner on C02 emissions, let's get down to work. We need, first, to pay attention to the stark realities of what's become of Mother Earth--and what will certainly become of her, and sooner than you think, if we don't act. One place to start: Congress, which must pass a forceful bill ASAP. MCM http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFLpA/zj3c/Nw2X Hi Mark, Representatives Henry Waxman and Ed Markey recently began one of the most important legislative fights of our lives, a comprehensive bill that finally addresses the dangers of climate change. http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFLpA/zj3c/Nw2XHelp us defend the bill from Big Oil and others intent on seeing it fail. » Previous attempts at a meaningful climate bill failed because of the former Administration and a Congress that couldn't get effective legislation past entrenched Big Oil interests. But we can't take for granted that it will be easier now that those interests are no longer in the majority. With their deep pockets, opponents of the bill could easily outspend its supporters, by as much as 20 to 1. That's why your help is so necessary. With your support and the critical leadership of President Obama and several key Congressional champions, we can overcome the odds and pass a strong bill this year. http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFLpA/zj3c/Nw2XPlease act today and help pass a strong global warming bill. » Take action link: http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFLpA/zj3c/Nw2Xhttp://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFLpA/zj3c/Nw2X Thanks for taking action! Samer ThePetitionSite http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFLpA/zj3c/Nw2XWe Need a Strong Global Warming Bill http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFLpA/zj3c/Nw2X http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFLpA/zj3c/Nw2X The issue becomes more urgent every day -- new satellite data shows that the average wintertime sea ice cover in the Arctic in 2005 and 2006 was only nine feet thick, a significant decline from the 1980s. http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFLpa/zj3c/Nw2XForward to a friend http://www.care2.com/go/z/e/AFLpA/zj3c/Nw2XRead the petition To stop receiving this newsletter, visit: http://www.care2.com/newsletters/unsub/3/0/7261679/3d818cb6http://www.care2.com/newsletters/unsub/3/0/7261679/3d818cb6 or send a blank email message to: mailto:ng-u-3-7261679-8610729-13184516-be365...@australia.care2.comng-u-3-7261679-8610729-13184516-be365...@australia.care2.com Care2.com, Inc. 275 Shoreline Drive, Suite 300 Redwood City, CA 94065 http://www.care2.comhttp://www.care2.com --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] BBC: World's forests at grave risk
Key role of forests 'may be lost' By Mark Kinver Science and environment reporter, BBC News Coniferous forests are particularly susceptible to climatic changes http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/science/nature/8004517.stm Forests' role as massive carbon sinks is at risk of being lost entirely, top forestry scientists have warned. The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) says forests are under increasing degrees of stress as a result of climate change. Forests could release vast amounts of carbon if temperatures rise 2.5C (4.5F) above pre-industrial levels, it adds. The findings will be presented at the UN Forum on Forests, which begins on Monday in New York. Compiled by 35 leading forestry scientists, the report provides what is described as the first global assessment of the ability of forests to adapt to climate change. The fact remains that the only way to ensure that forests do not suffer unprecedented harm is to achieve large reductions in greenhouse gas emissions Professor Andreas Fischlin, Assessment co-author We normally think of forests as putting the brakes on global warming, observed Professor Risto Seppala from the Finnish Forest Research Institute, who chaired the report's expert panel. But over the next few decades, damage induced by climate change could cause forests to release huge quantities of carbon and create a situation in which they do more to accelerate warming than to slow it down. Debate defining The scientists hope that the report, called Adaption of Forests and People to Climate Change - A Global Assessment, will help inform climate negotiators. Warm winters have allowed spruce beetles to cause widespread damage The international climate debate has focused primarily on emissions from deforestation, but the researchers say their analysis shows that attention must also be paid to the impacts of climate change on forests. While deforestation is responsible for about 20% of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, forests currently absorb more carbon than they emit. But the problem is that the balance could shift as the planet warms, the report concludes, and the sequestration service provided by the forest biomes could be lost entirely if the Earth heats up by 2.5C or more. The assessment says higher temperatures - along with prolonged droughts, more pest invasions, and other environmental stresses - would trigger considerable forest destruction and degradation. This could create a dangerous feedback loop, it adds, in which damage to forests from climate change would increase global carbon emissions that then exacerbate global warming. The report's key findings include: * Droughts are projected to become more intense and frequent in subtropical and southern temperate forests * Commercial timber plantations are set to become unviable in some areas, but more productive in others * Climate change could result in deepening poverty, deteriorating public health, and social conflict among African forest-dependent communities The IUFRO assessment will be considered by delegates at the eighth session of the UN Forum on Forests, which has the objective of promoting the management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forest. Co-author Professor Andreas Fischlin from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology commented: Even if adaption measures are fully implemented, unmitigated climate change would - during the course of the current century - exceed the adaptive capacity of many forests. The fact remains that the only way to ensure that forests do not suffer unprecedented harm is to achieve large reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] BBC: Americas on alert for sea level rise
Americas on alert for sea level rise Coastal areas in parts of Mexico are among those under threat By James Painter BBC Latin America analyst http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7977263.stm Climate change experts in North and South America are increasingly worried by the potentially devastating implications of higher estimates for possible sea level rises. The Americas have until now been seen as less vulnerable than other parts of the world like low-lying Pacific islands, Vietnam or Bangladesh. But the increase in the ranges for anticipated sea level rises presented at a meeting of scientists in Copenhagen in March has alarmed observers in the region. Parts of the Caribbean, Mexico and Ecuador are seen as most at risk. New York City and southern parts of Florida are also thought to be particularly vulnerable. The 2007 IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report suggested that sea levels would rise by between 19cm (7.5 inches) and 59cm by the end of this century. But several scientists at the Copenhagen meeting spoke of a rise of a metre or more, even if the world's greenhouse gas emissions were kept at a low level. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7977263.stm#mapClick to see a map showing the cities most at risk Melting of the polar ice sheets is one of the main drivers behind the new estimates. A rise of one metre will irreversibly change the geography of coastal areas in Latin America, Walter Vergara, the World Bank's lead engineer on climate change in the region, told the BBC. For example, a one-metre rise would flood an area in coastal Guyana where 70% of the population and 40% of agricultural land is located. That would imply a major reorganisation of the country's economy. Mr Vergara and other experts are also concerned about the effect on the large coastal wetlands in the Gulf of Mexico. Rising sea levels coupled with severe storms could be devastating These new data on sea level rises are alarming, says Arnoldo Matus Kramer, a researcher on climate change adaptation at Oxford University. When combined with the exponential growth of urbanisation and tourism along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican Caribbean, it is extremely worrying. A November 2008 study by UN-Habitat on the world's cities pointed out that in most Caribbean island states, 50% of the population lives within 2km (1.2 miles) of the coast. They would be directly affected by sea level rise and other climate impacts. The Bahamas, the Guyanas, Belize and Jamaica have been pin-pointed by the World Bank as being particularly at risk from a one-metre rise. The coastal plains around the city of Guayaquil in Ecuador, the country's main economic hub, are also known to be vulnerable to a combination of sea level rises, storms and sea surges. A recent study by researchers at Espol, a science institute in Guayaquil, suggested that even a half-metre sea level rise would put the storm drainage system in the southern part of the city under severe strain, possibly causing it to collapse. Fishing threatened Ecuador's lucrative fishing industry, which is a mainstay of the economy, would also be threatened. A one-metre sea level rise would add another layer of threat to the shrimp and other fishing industries', says Espol's Pilar Cornejo, the author of a UN report on the issue. According to a recent World Bank study of more than 80 developing countries, Ecuador features among the top 10 countries likely to be most affected by sea level rise when calculated as a percentage of its GDP. Argentina, Mexico and Jamaica also appear in the top 10 when measured by the impact of a one-metre rise on agricultural lands. Scientists stress that uncertainties remain about future sea level rises, including the behaviour of the giant polar ice sheets, the time span over which rises will take place, and their interaction with existing coastal conditions. Communities dependent on fishing are vulnerable to sea level changes Another factor is the effect global warming will have on Amoc - the giant circulation of the Atlantic whereby warm sea water flows northwards in the upper ocean and cold sea water goes southwards in the deeper ocean. New research led by Dr Jianjun Yin at Florida State University suggests that whereas South American coastal cities are not at threat this century from an extra sea level rise caused by Amoc, New York City and the state of Florida are. New York would see an additional rise of about 20cm (7.8in) above the global mean due to Amoc by the turn of the century, according to Dr Yin's research published this year in the journal, Nature Geoscience. Florida would experience less than 10cm (3.9in). A one-metre rise could be a disaster for parts of Florida, particularly in the southern part of the state, Dr Yin told the BBC. Sea level rise superimposed on hurricane vulnerability makes for a very worrying situation. Mr Vergara is not
[MCM] 7 steps to feed the planet (and beat back the agribusiness giants)
Food Rebellions: 7 Steps to Solving the Food Crisis Resistance to the trade and 'aid' policies that displace farmers and increase hunger. By Eric Holt-Gimenez http://www.yesmagazine.org/article.asp?id=3331 April 16, 2009, YES! Magazine The World Food Program describes the current global food crisis as a silent tsunami, with billions of people going hungry. Hunger is, indeed, coming in waves, but not everyone will drown in famine. The recurrent food crises are making a handful of corporations very rich-even as they put the rest of the planet at risk. Built over half a century, largely with public grain subsidies and foreign aid, the global food-industrial complex is made up of large corporations that sell grain, seed, chemicals, and fertilizer, along with global supermarket chains and food processors. When these players first came on the scene, world agriculture was different. Forty years ago, the global South had yearly agricultural trade surpluses of $1 billion. After three Development Decades, they were importing $11 billion a year in food. Immediately following de-colonization in the 1960s, Africa exported $1.3 billion in food a year. Today it imports 25 percent of its food. International trade agreements and pressure from the global North opened up entire continents to cheap, subsidized grain from the North. This put local farmers out of business, devastated local crop diversity, and consolidated control of the world's food system in the hands of multinational corporations. Today three companies, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), Cargill, and Bunge control 90 percent of the world's grain trade. The official prescriptions for solving the world food crisis call for more subsidies for industrialized nations, more food aid, and more so-called Green (or Gene) Revolutions. Expecting the institutions that built the current flawed food system to solve the food crisis is like asking an arsonist to put out a forest fire. When the world food crisis exploded in early 2008, ADM's profits increased by 38 percent, Cargill's by 128 percent, and Mosaic Fertilizer (a Cargill subsidiary) by a whopping 1,615 percent! For decades, family farmers the world over have resisted this corporate control. They have worked to diversify crops, protect soil and native seeds, and conserve nature. They have established local gardens, businesses, and community-based food systems. These strategies are effective. They need to be given a chance to work. The solutions to the food crisis are those that make the lives of family farmers easier: re-regulate the market, reduce the power of the agri-foods industrial complex, and build ecologically resilient family agriculture. Here are some of the needed steps: 1.Support domestic food production. 2.Stabilize and guarantee fair prices to farmers and consumers by re-establishing floor prices and publicly owned national grain reserves. Establish living wages for workers on farms, in processing facilities, and in supermarkets. 3.Halt agrofuels expansion. 4.Curb speculation in food. 5.Promote a return to smallholder farming. On a pound-per- acre basis, family farms are more productive than large-scale industrial farms. And they use less oil. Because 75 percent of the world's poor are farmers, this will address poverty, too. 6.Support agro-ecological production. 7.Food sovereignty: Recognize the right of all people to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound methods and their own food systems. The political will to take these steps must come from informed social movements. These movements already exist, and are gaining strength in the face of the food crisis. Together we can fix the food system and solve the food crisis once and for all. [Eric Holt-Gimenez wrote this article as part of Food for Everyone, the Spring 2009 issue of YES! Magazine. Eric is executive director of Food First. This article was adapted from 'The World Food Crisis.' Find the full-length version at www.foodfirst.org.] _ Portside aims to provide material of interest to people on the left that will help them to interpret the world and to change it. Submit via email: modera...@portside.org Submit via the Web: portside.org/submit Frequently asked questions: portside.org/faq Subscribe: portside.org/subscribe Unsubscribe: portside.org/unsubscribe Account assistance: portside.org/contact Search the archives: portside.org/archive --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit
[MCM] ImpeachBybee.org
ImpeachBybee.org http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=12935991PROCESS=Take+ActionCLICK HERE to ask Congress to impeach Jay Bybee. The New York Times finally http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/41835wants somebody impeached and it's Jay Bybee. A Spanish judge is http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/41807seeking an indictment of Jay Bybee. Jay Bybee's legal memos were thrown out by the Bush administration. Jay Bybee http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/41784signed memos authorizing torture. Jay Bybee is a federal judge with a lifetime appointment. Lawyers have been held accountable for the crime of pretending to legalize crimes before, see: http://firedoglake.com/2008/04/13/deja-vu-all-over-again-us-v-joseph-altstoetter/US v. Joseph Altstoetter. Any act complicit in torture is a felony under US law. Every single crime is in the past. Looking forward means looking forward to a world in which abuse and criminality cannot be deterred. http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=12935991PROCESS=Take+ActionCLICK HERE to ask Congress to impeach Jay Bybee. I was following orders is a Nazi excuse. CIA employees are civilians and don't get orders. I was following lawyers' advice could permit absolutely anything because there is nothing a lawyer cannot be paid to say is legal. The advice came after the torture began and the torture was never limited to the approved techniques. Secret laws produced as royal decrees are not laws at all, but their drafting can be a crime, and in the case of Bybee's memos violated the Convention Against Torture. http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=12935991PROCESS=Take+ActionCLICK HERE to ask Congress to impeach Jay Bybee. We can restore power to Congress AND begin to deter future abuses through one absolutely necessary action. http://capwiz.com/pdamerica/issues/alert/?alertid=12935991PROCESS=Take+ActionCLICK HERE to ask Congress to impeach Jay Bybee. ___ Media mailing list Post: me...@lists.mayfirst.org List info (to subscribe or unsubscribe): https://lists.mayfirst.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/media To Unsubscribe via email Send email to: media-unsubscr...@lists.mayfirst.org Or visit: https://lists.mayfirst.org/cgi-bin/mailman/options/media/mark.miller%40nyu.edu To Subscribe via email Send email to: media-subscr...@lists.mayfirst.org You are subscribed as: mark.mil...@nyu.edu --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~--- inline: Untitled 226.jpg
[MCM] John McTiernan indicted
Yes, the one whose documentary, The Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove, is out there blowing many minds. MCM 'Die Hard' director indicted in wiretaps case April 17, 2009, 11:56 PM EST http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=404590GT1=28101 LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A federal grand jury on Friday indicted a Hollywood director who had withdrawn a guilty plea to a charge accusing him of lying to federal agents investigating a celebrity wiretapping case. John McTiernan, who directed Die Hard and Predator, was indicted on two counts of making false statements to the FBI about private investigator Anthony Pellicano and one count of perjury for allegedly lying to a federal judge while trying to withdraw his guilty plea. His attorney, S. Todd Neal, said the indictment is really nothing new and promised to rigorously defend his client. The prosecutor has taken one count and tried to expand it into more charges in a new indictment, he said. There seems to be retribution because John refused to play ball the way the prosecutors wanted and because we were successful on appeal. McTiernan pleaded guilty in 2006 to making knowingly false statements to an FBI agent about Pellicano, whom he admitted hiring to wiretap a business associate. But before he was sentenced, McTiernan asked the judge to withdraw his plea, arguing he didn't have adequate legal representation, was jet-lagged and under the influence of alcohol when he pleaded guilty. The judge refused so McTiernan, 58, appealed to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which vacated his four-month sentence and ruled that he was entitled to a hearing on whether he could withdraw his plea. In February, he was allowed to reverse his plea. Pellicano was convicted last year of wiretapping film producer Charles Roven for McTiernan and bugging phones of celebrities and others to get information for his clients. He was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Bureau of Prisons answers to AG Holder
So there's no way he could not have overruled them, and allowed Paul Minor to attend his wife's funeral. MCM From: Jill Simpson [mailto:djsimpson...@yahoo.com] I wanted your readers to know that the DOJ chain of command directly places AG Holder over the head of the Bureau of Prisons. You can check this out at the DOJ website. Folks don't buy that Mr Holder couldn't have picked up the telephone and let Mr Minor go to the funeral. He could have, and that is why he remained silent. In fact, the buck stops with him. I discovered the DOJ chain of command chart when they were jerking Don Siegelman around, flying him from here to there. AG Holder just needs to come out and admit he ain't going to do anything to help Paul Minor, Gov. Siegelman, Mr Teal or Mr. Scrushy. He should admit that the only folks he has helped has been Republican phone-jammer James Tobin and Republican Senator Ted Stevens. Amazingly, Holder found the time to respond to their pleas for help but not to answer calls from Democrats who put his boss in office. One has to wonder what kind of file Karl Rove has on Holder, since it was recently reported by the press that Karl keeps files even on his GOP allies. .DANA JILL SIMPSON --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] US Marine arrested at Logan Airport
US Marine arrested at Logan By John C. Drake, Globe Staff http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/04/us_marine_arres.html?s_campaign=8315 A US Marine was arrested today at Logan International Airport after federal airport screeners discovered a gun, bomb-making materials, and ammunition in his checked baggage, State Police and Transportation Security Administration officials said. Corporal Justin Reed, 22, of Jacksonville, N.C., was booked on US Airways Flight 877 to Charlotte, N.C., said TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis. She said Reed had arrived on a flight from Las Vegas this morning. TSA screeners in Terminal B called State Police at 7:10 a.m. after a screen discovered the following items in his checked baggage: a locked handgun box containing a semi-automatic handgun, a fully loaded gun magazine, several boxes of 9 mm and 7.62 mm ammunition, three model rocket engines containing an explosive mixture, military pull-type fuses, switches, electronics kit boxes with various components, and a hand grenade fuse assembly with detonator. Reed was charged with possession of an infernal machine and possession of a concealed weapon in a secure area of an airport. He was booked at the State Police barracks at Logan and held in lieu of $50,000 bail. He will be arraigned at East Boston Municipal Court on Tuesday. Davis said it is legal to have a firearm in checked baggage but that it must be declared to security officials. The passenger in this case had not declared the weapon, she said. Davis said all checked baggage on domestic flights is required to be screened by TSA on originating flights. Reed's bags had to be screened again at Logan because baggage handlers inadvertently routed them to baggage claim instead of onto his connecting flight to Charlotte. Typically bags are not rescreened during a layover, she said. Davis said TSA was actively investigating why the gun and explosive materials were not detected during the screening in Las Vegas. * * * * * TV news report from Charlotte: http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/stories/wcnc-041909-sjf-marinedetained.efb1ee36.html --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] It's official: Bush et al. will NOT be prosecuted
So it's also official: Barack Obama is no Lincoln. He's a Ford. MCM It's official: No U.S. prosecution of Bush officials http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/04/its-official-no-us-prosecution-of-bush-officials/ Bad news for anyone hoping that President Obama might still be open to the possibility of prosecution of high-level Bush officials: It ain't gonna happen. That much was close to being certain before the torture memos were released Thursday. But the statement from Obama released with those shocking memos included this sentence: In releasing these memos, it is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution. By singling out CIA interrogators to assure them they will not be subject to federal prosecution, I thought perhaps he was leaving room for future prosecution of higher ups. Given that he released such explosive materials almost without redactions, I thought perhaps he might allow himself to be influenced by shifting popular sentiment. Nope: Obama's right-hand man, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, explicitly rejected that possibility this morning on ABC's This Week. Emanuel said that the president believes Bush officials should not be prosecuted either and that's not the place that we go. Not that that should surprise anyone: Obama said as much from almost his first day in office, when he told reporters he wasn't interested in a proposed Capitol Hill truth commission. That commission, of course, still hasn't happened, as our elected representatives reach across the aisle to block any prosecution suggestions. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina: I think it would be disaster to go back and try to prosecute a lawyer for giving legal advice that you disagreed with to a former president. Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri: I don't think we want to look in the rearview mirror. It ain't gonna happen. -Jeremy Gantz --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Is this the moment for a Special Prosecutor? (Elizabeth de la Vega)
http://www.truthout.org/042009ROf Black Holes and Radio Silence Monday 20 April 2009 by: Elizabeth de la Vega, t r u t h o u t | Perspective http://www.truthout.org/042009R (Photo: Jim Young / Reuters) A former prosecutor examines the special prosecutor debate. There is no doubt that sometime in 2002 - if not before - Bush administration officials and their lawyers began orchestrating a torture campaign, which they calculatedly attempted to justify through specious legal memos. They continued to abuse prisoners, and to conceal that mistreatment from Congress and the public, through at least 2008. In all of this conduct, they have committed grave crimes for which they must be held accountable. I believe this to be a national imperative of the highest order. I have pored over every available book and report about torture, disturbing as they are, and I have read the lurid facts and twisted legal reasoning laid out in the Office of Legal Counsel torture memos just released by the White House. I am increasingly outraged by the day, disgusted by years of inaction, and impatient for results. Consequently, I would like nothing more than to join with so many friends and associates whom I respect in calling for immediate appointment of a special prosecutor. Unfortunately, however, I can't do it. Not yet. We must have a prosecution eventually, but we are not legally required to publicly initiate it now and we should not, as justifiable as it is. I'm not concerned about political fallout. What's good or bad for either party has no legitimate place in this calculus. My sole consideration is litigation strategy: I want us to succeed. And our best hope of doing that is to unflinchingly assess - just as any lawyer would do when contemplating choices of action in a case - what we would have tomorrow if we got what we think we want today. We should obviously think twice about pursuing an intermediate goal, however satisfying it may appear, if it would be counterproductive in the long term. There are times when it's smarter to wait before taking a prosecutive step and this is one of them. I know that what I have to say may not be popular, but the stakes here are too high to ignore bad facts - i.e., those that might run counter to our position or the course we've decided to take. So, it's better, I think, for me to tell you what I know to be true about grand jury investigations and the requisites of preparing a criminal case for indictment and trial - even though you might not like to hear it. Then you can make this assessment yourselves. First, the bottom line: From the perspective of anyone who wants Bush and Cheney and their top aides to be held accountable for their crimes, the designation of some sort of independent prosecutor right now would be the worst possible eventuality. It's a move that has so many downsides - and holds so few real benefits - that I would be more inclined to question President Obama's motives if he appointed a special prosecutor than if he did not. There is a reason why former prosecutor Arlen Specter - a Republican senator from Pennsylvania - has voiced support for a special prosecutor, while former prosecutors Patrick Leahy and Sheldon Whitehouse - Democratic senators from Vermont and Rhode Island, respectively - would prefer a public inquiry. What is it? Well, for starters, there is - under currently available US law - no such thing as a truly independent prosecutor. There has not been since 1999, when the independent counsel statute expired. Accordingly, regardless of the title given this individual - and whether she were tapped from inside or outside the Justice Department - this appointee would, at a minimum, be required to follow internal DOJ policies and her delegated authority could be revoked at any time. (The regulations that authorize appointing a non-DOJ attorney as special counsel - found at 28 C.F.R. Part 600 et. seq - actually make possible substantially more attorney general oversight into prosecutorial decisions.) Under existing federal law, in other words, the notion of a special prosecutor who would be entirely free from political and institutional influence is illusory. Given that fact - and that it is ordinarily an extremely dumb, not to mention unethical, idea to announce investigations - when an administration does announce that it is naming a special counsel of any sort, it is largely a public-relations maneuver. The president thereby appears to be committed to the rule of law, but is, in fact, parking an extremely inconvenient problem in a remote and inaccessible lot. Once this happens, all who wish to avoid the issue have a ready excuse. The president can refuse to comment because there is an ongoing criminal investigation. (Remember Bush's press person, Scott McClennan?) And members of Congress from either party can look the other way, because - again
[MCM] Thom Hartmann: Call Holder NOW and tell him to dump Leura Canary
She's STILL US Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, and a key player in the railroading of Don Siegelman: http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/The_Permanent_Republican_Majority_1125.html http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/leura_canary/ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-fiderer/scandals-surrounding-don_b_146677.html She's operates from deep inside the pocket of Karl Rove, and should therefore be out of that position. MCM From: MARILYN NOYES [mailto:marno...@msn.com] Thom Hartmann opened his show this morning (4/21/09) saying that people should back off calling Holder's office on the torture issue for the time being, and that we should be calling to ask Holder to remove Leura Canary from her position now. We should ask that all the Bush-appointed U.S. attorneys should be removed from office. And we should ask for the charges against Don Siegelman should be dropped. He said that Eric Holder is a good guy and that we should be polite and respectful when we call. He gave out the phone number: 202-514-2001 Thom said that Don Siegelman's case is the one that can most substantially lead to the prosecution of Karl Rove. I'm sure I didn't get this down quite accurately, because I was trying to listen to the program, type, think and remember, all at the same time. That's too many tasks for me to juggle at once. LOL But you get the idea. Bravo, Thom! Now he's talking about the spying on Jane Harman and asking how many Congressmen and Senators were blackmailed by the Bush Administration. I swear, I feel like I died and went to heaven. It feels like things are coming to a head in this country. FINALLY!!! FINALLY!!! Yes! --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] David Swanson responds to Elizabeth de la Vega
Response to Elizabeth de la Vega: Disagreement with a Friend and a Hero By David Swanson 1. If we do not extend the statutes of limitations, the careful and considered delay will be immunity 2. The Senate as a whole will never ever approve any useful investigation except in committees, but it might convict following an impeachment that changes public awareness 3. Congressional hearings produce relatively little 4. Congress should extend the statutes of limitations, bust the media monopolies to produce more reporting, and reissue and enforce the outstanding subpoenas into which lots of careful work went over the past 2 years 5. Leahy joined the DOJ in pushing a commission as a substitute, not as a first step, and anything like that begun before a special prosecutor is begun will be treated as a substitute 6. Impeaching Bybee should begin at once 7. A House select committee looking into restoring Congressional power and restricting presidential should begin at once or after a prosecution begins, but Conyers' or Leahy's proposal for a commission created by both houses will not go anywhere. 8. House and Senate committees should hold hearings, including to reissue all the outstanding subpeonas. 9. I just don't want a hearing begun that is seen as a substitute for enforcing laws, and I don't see an argument for delaying enforcing laws. 10. Betsy knows the law and means well and I'm open to being convinced by her, but haven't been yet. And I won't be unless the problem of statutes of limitations is addressed at a minimum. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Change the World revisited
It sad how much this still rocks. MCM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D0bdW8Fs2U --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Coleman files appeal with MN Supreme Court ( more from DVN)
From John Gideon: In today's news we have one of the many articles reporting that Norm Coleman has filed an appeal of his court loss with the Minnesota state Supreme Court. Will this be the final step before the state finally has a second Senator? We've also got a lot more on the voter suppression bill before the Florida legislature. The governor has now said he is not happy with the bill. He wouldn't use the V word but he came awful close. National: Voting machine expert criticizes clueless industry report http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/04/voting-machine-expert-criticizes-clueless-industry-report.ars AL: House OKs bill allowing overseas Internet voting http://www.nbc13.com/vtm/news/local/article/house_oks_bill_allowing_overseas_internet_voting/68721/ CA: Press Release - Secretary of State Debra Bowen Announces Vote-By-Mail Ballots Available for May 19 Special Election http://www.sos.ca.gov/admin/press-releases/2009/DB09-024.pdf FL: Voting Rights for the Elderly, and Much More, Now Under Fire by Florida Republicans http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7083 FL: Election activists say bill in Florida Legislature is bad news http://www.beacononlinenews.com/news/daily/1653 FL: Bill would make voting difficult, Dems say http://www.pnj.com/article/20090420/NEWS01/90420021 FL: Crist doesn't like elections bill http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2009/04/crist-doesnt-like-elections-bill.html FL: Letter To Governor From Mayor of Tampa http://blogs.tampabay.com/files/mayorioriosletter.pdf MD: Frederick - City Notes - A democratic dilemma http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/reporters_notebooks_display.htm?StoryID=89205 MN: State Effort Matters in Protecting Military Ballots http://www.nationaldefensecommittee.org/index.php/state-effort-matters-in-protecting-military-ballots/ MN: Coleman files Senate appeal with state Supreme Court http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/senate/43301772.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUjc8LDyiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU NC: Cumberland County - Inside Politics: Cumberland purges 20,000 voters http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=324196 PA: Allegheny County - Canvas Reports Activists say county must test more voting machines http://www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A61863 TN: Sullivan County - Election Chief: No Worries for May Balloting http://www.tricities.com/tri/news/local/article/election_chief_no_worries_for_may_balloting/23147/ TX: Photo ID bill must be OK'd by federal officials Under Voting Rights Act, US Attorney General will advise Legislature on bill http://www.dailytexanonline.com/photo-id-bill-must-be-ok-d-by-federal-officials-1.1723496 **Articles and commentary included in Daily Voting News may not all reflect the opinions of VotersUnite.Org or its allied organizations. The articles are all included for the information of the subscribers of Daily Voting News though we realize that the subscribers may not agree with the opinions given in all articles or in the commentary** *** If you receive Daily Voting News directly from John Gideon and VotersUnite and wish to unsubscribe, please send an email to jgid...@votersunite.org requesting that you be removed from circulation. If you get the email forwarded from someone else you must contact them to be unsubscribed. *** -- John Gideon Co-Executive Director VotersUnite.Org www.votersunite.org To encourage citizen ownership of transparent, participatory democracy. The Creekside DeclarationMarch 22, 2008 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Bush torture team's Nazi defense: Andrew Sullivan
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/04/the-case-of-richard-wilhelm-hermann-bruns-et-al.htmlThe Case Of Richard Wilhelm Hermann Bruns, Et Al. Andrew Sullivan http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/04/the-case-of-richard-wilhelm-hermann-bruns-et-al.html Longtime Dish readers will know what I'm referring to. It is a famous war crime prosecution against Nazi officers in occupied Norway, and the trial took place in 1946. The men were accused of using enhanced interrogation techniques - or in the original German http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verschaerfte_Vernehmungverschaerfte Vernehmung - against captives. The Dish's first coverage of this case can be read http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/05/verschfte_verne.htmlhere. The online account of the trial can be found http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/WCC/bruns.htm#1.%20THE%20OFFENCES%20ALLEGEDhere. Two things are worth noting. The first is the Nazi definition of the term enhanced interrogation. Here's the formal description: http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/.a/6a00d83451c45669e201156f3ffbb6970c-popup Notice how the Nazis ensured that doctors were present at all times so that they could monitor the captives' response to torture and make sure they didn't die or suffer visible permanent injuries that could embarrass the regime in public (see the Bradbury and Bybee memos for the Bush equivalent). Notice the careful measurement of how many times someone can be beaten (another Cheney innovation). And notice that we are not talking about waterboarding - something even the Nazis excluded from their enhanced interrogation methods. In the case of Bruns, et al., this translated to http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/WCC/bruns.htm#1.%20THE%20OFFENCES%20ALLEGEDthese charges: On 19th December, 1942, Bruns was present at the interrogation of a sick Norwegian. Leg screws were fastened to his legs and he was beaten with various implements. Later he was thrown unconscious into a cellar, where he remained for four days before receiving medical attention. Between 1942 and 1945, Bruns used the method of verschärfte Vernehmung on 11 Norwegian citizens. This method involved the use of various implements of torture, cold baths and blows and kicks in the face and all over the body. Most of the prisoners suffered for a considerable time from the injuries received during those interrogations. Between 1942 and 1945, Schubert gave 14 Norwegian prisoners verschärfte Vernehmung, using various instruments of torture and hitting them in the face and over the body. Many of the prisoners suffered for a considerable time from the effects of injuries they received. So you have the abuse of someone with a pre-existing injury (Zubaydah), neglect of prisoners (ubiquitous at Bagram, Abu Ghraib and testified to by FBI agents at Gitmo), measured beatings, sensory deprivation, sleep deprivation, and hypothermia or cold baths (also documented in the Bybee and Bradbury memos and the ICRC report). Now check out the defense against the charge of war crimes: All three defendants appealed to the Supreme Court. Their appeal was based on the following arguments : (a) That the acts of torture which the defendants had committed were permitted under International Law as reprisals against the illegal Military Organisation whose activities were at variance with International Law. (b) That the acts were carried out on superior orders and that the defendants acted under duress. (c) That the acts of torture in no case resulted in death. Most of the injuries inflicted were slight and did not result in permanent disablement. Do these defenses sound familiar? They failed in court. And while modern Americans debate whether we can even use the word 'torture' with respect to these techniques, previous generations, closer to the reality of war and torture than we are, had no qualms. The punishment for these crimes was the death penalty. Peace, Liz Liz Rich lizrich...@aol.com A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100126575x1221621490x1201450102/aol?redir=http:%2F%2Fwww.freecreditreport.com%2Fpm%2Fdefault.aspx%3Fsc%3D668072%26hmpgID%3D62%26bcd%3DAprilfooter421NO62See yours in just 2 easy steps! --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] More on facebook
From Danielle Holke: The other thing people should know: when you deactivate your account, the data remains. You need to make a request to delete the account: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16929680703http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16929680703 I've had friends who've deactivated their accounts, thinking they deleted them, only to discover months later that their legacy data was still within the Facebook system. Danielle --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] It's not just Facebook
From Robert Glenn Plotner: It's *all* being aggregated. Not just Facebook. The entire internet (and beyond). Search engines like Google crawl everything, *even our personal websites,* the data mined. And if Google can do it that easily, you know that Big Brother goes even further. Facebook's primary reason for doing this is to serve targeted (read more profitable) advertising. I don't know that on the scale of things that it harms me if FB sees that I'm a fan of Van Morrison and serves me an ad for tickets. I also don't understand how the government could use that against me. Surely, they already know I've been a member of Greenpeace for 25 years without FB's help. However, the link between tracking and marketing is more questionable when it comes to the political as it allows both the Republicans (VoterVault) and the Democrats (VoteBuilder) to target voters. That robocall and that piece of propaganda mailing you received was likely precisely targeted by what they know about you via hundreds of demographics. In other words, you are expressly made a patsy, told only specific information/disinformation in such a way to create a psychological/emotional reaction against the idea or opponent they want defeated. To take that one step further, such methods when applied by precinct could easily serve as a technological roadmap for election tampering, rigging, suppression. My bet is that this has already happened. But it's not just internet activity. It's every purchase you make with your bank card. Your magazine subscriptions. Your group affiliations. Your charitable contributions. Your coupon usage. Yep, NewsCorp owns SmartSource, the maker of the coupon inserts that arrive in your Sunday paper. Any idea why? Robert - Original Message - From: mailto:mark.mil...@nyu.eduMark Crispin Miller To: mailto:newsfromunderground@googlegroups.comnewsfromunderground@googlegroups.com Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2009 8:54 AM Subject: [MCM] More on facebook From Danielle Holke: The other thing people should know: when you deactivate your account, the data remains. You need to make a request to delete the account: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16929680703http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16929680703 I've had friends who've deactivated their accounts, thinking they deleted them, only to discover months later that their legacy data was still within the Facebook system. Danielle No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.comwww.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.12.2/2072 - Release Date: 04/21/09 16:48:00 No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.12.2/2074 - Release Date: 04/22/09 08:49:00 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Marcy Winograd on Harman/AIPAC
Harman's Wiretap Woes and the AIPAC Cabal by Marcy Winograd How ironic that I made my decision to challenge Jane Harman in 2006 after watching her Meet the Press interview in which she lambasted the New York Times for breaking the story about the Bush administration's massive illegal wiretapping. Oh my God, I told my husband, who was doing Sunday sit-ups in front of the television set, this woman needs to be challenged -- on the wiretaps, on the war, and on her collusion with the Bush mob. By the time I poured my coffee and grabbed my cell phone, I was off and running, campaigning as an insurgent Democratic Party peace candidate in the 36th congressional district. Now we see another page in the script, if we believe reporter Jeff Stein that Harman's sycophantic defense of the FISA violations was part of the deal: She, in return for then-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' help in halting an FBI investigation, would do her best to defend and deflect attention from the illegal wiretaps. The fact that Harman, herself, was wiretapped, perhaps with good reason, is simply serendipitous poetry. And now it gets interesting. Will the Democratic Party establishment ignore this latest development in a longstanding corruption scandal? With Harman's next primary more than a year away, ignoring her quid-pro-quo may seem to be a viable strategy. But if ignoring it doesn't work, then the party establishment may need to distract people with something even more insidious than a Democratic Party congresswoman in bed with agents of a foreign power. Diverting attention elsewhere could make establishment Democrats do something they have been reluctant to do -- prosecute the Bush administration torturers, shine the spotlight on those who gave the orders and provided legal cover to waterboard and more. This is the kind of cover a progressive Democrat could relish. Since the Harman-AIPAC story broke - again -- friends and bloggers, including members of the Progressive Democrats of America have emailed me, asking, Will you run again in 2010? My response has been, Or sooner? (Politicians, even grassroots activists like myself, know how to answer a tough question with a question.) Whether Harman and the Democratic establishment can stand this heat, this pall, remains to be seen, though I wouldn't be surprised if a special election snuck up on us before 2010. The best part about this story is not what we know, but what we don't know, the questions that beg to be answered. Who was going to lobby House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to make Harman the Chair of the Intelligence Committee? Maybe a moneyed bundler or perhaps even a congressperson connected to AIPAC, a true-believer in Israel, someone who would never raise a question about illegal Israeli settlements, home demolitions, 1948 massacres of Palestinian villages, or Israeli occupations of Lebanon. Right after the 2006 primary, Israel invaded Lebanon. As the Israeli bombs turned Lebanese neighborhoods into blood-filled craters, Harman went on television to justify the invasion. Never mind the carpet bombing. Days later, after I, together with LA Jews for Peace, organized demonstrations in front of the Israeli consulate, Harman invited me and a dozen others who worked on my campaign to meet with her in her office. I begged her, literally begged her, to call for a cease-fire in the middle east. She wouldn't hear of it and drew back when I suggested she at least talk to members of Americans for Peace Now, an American offshoot of an Israeli peace group. Was Harman a true believer in Israel and AIPAC or was she caught up in a script that had spun out of control? Hard to say -- given the fact that so many of our Los Angeles-area law makers, from Howard Berman, Chair of the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, to Henry Waxman, Chair of the House Energy Committee, have yet to raise a critical question about Israel's use of white phosphorous and DIME explosives weapons in the open-air prison of Gaza. As much as this story is about Harman, about her collusion with a Bush administration bent on breaking the law, it is also about the pernicious influence wielded in Washington by lobbyists for a foreign government. Israel. Let us remind Harman and the rest of Congress that they represent the people of the United States of America. Marcy Winograd, Co-founder Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles LA Chapter of Progressive Democrats of America 4/21/09 #### The Harman-AIPAC Story: A Timeline (tpm) By http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/zrothZachary Roth - April 20, 2009, 5:29PM CQ's http://static.cqpolitics.com/harman-3098436-page3.html?docID=hsnews-03098436cpage=1blockbuster story, about a wiretap that picked up Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) discussing the AIPAC spying case with a
[MCM] Struggling US cities using private guards
Cash-Strapped Cities Try Private Guards Over Police Oakland, Facing Pressure to Crack Down on Crime, Is Among Towns Seeking to Improve Safety While Reducing Spending By BOBBY WHITE http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124027127337237011.html# OAKLAND, Calif. -- Facing pressure to crack down on crime amid a record budget deficit, Oakland is joining other U.S. cities that are turning over more law-enforcement duties to private armed guards. The City Council recently voted to hire International Services Inc., a private security agency, to patrol crime-plagued districts. While a few Oakland retail districts previously have pooled cash to pay for unarmed security services, using public funds to pay for private armed guards would mark a first for the city. Hiring private guards is less expensive than hiring new officers. Oakland -- facing a record $80 million budget shortfall -- spends about 65% of its budget for police and fire services, including about $250,000 annually, including benefits and salary, on each police officer. In contrast, for about $200,000 a year the city can contract to hire four private guards to patrol the troubled East Oakland district where four on-duty police officers were killed in March. And the company, not the city, is responsible for insurance for the guards. Oakland is not alone in seeking to improve public safety while reining in spending. This month, the Chicago City Council, facing a possible $200 million budget deficit, proposed expanding the responsibilities of private armed security forces by authorizing them to write traffic citations. In New Orleans, neighborhood committees have sought to expand special tax incentives to pay for private security for neighborhood patrols. In Oakland -- a city east of San Francisco with about 400,000 people -- hiring security guards is the latest nontraditional measure in its attempt to reduce crime. Last year, Mayor Ron Dellums announced a partnership with the Guardian Angels, a volunteer crime patrol organization, in the midst of a rash of restaurant-takeover robberies. The partnership disbanded after authorities apprehended suspects in the robberies. Though violent crime in the city was down in the first three months of 2009 from a year ago, the city remains one of California's most violent, with 124 homicides last year and about 25 so far this year. Police also must deal with long-running tensions with residents: The killing of an unarmed man by transit police in January sparked weeks of protests, and two months later the four officers were killed in East Oakland by a parolee. Oakland police say they consider unarmed guards acceptable, but don't support armed guards. People want to go with armed guards because they believe it's cheaper, but they lack adequate training [and] background checks, said spokesman Jeff Thomason. Oakland police are better prepared for this city's streets than a few security guards. But some local leaders say that with a record budget deficit they have few options to reduce the city's violence. We need a cost-effective answer to the crime we are facing, said Ignacio De La Fuente, a City Council member representing East Oakland who has led the push for armed guards. He added that he is confident the security company's armed guards -- who will have state-certified public-safety training -- are up to par. Mr. Dellums's spokesman, Paul Rose, says the mayor is concerned that private guards would lack proper training, putting the city at greater risk of lawsuits stemming from a shooting or other mishap. Mr. Dellums and Oakland's police union support an alternative plan, to be introduced Tuesday, that calls for the $200,000 dedicated for the private guards to be used for overtime for four police officers who would patrol the East Oakland area on foot. International Services, based in Torrance, Calif., declined to comment for this story. The company's chief executive, Sam Karawia, is a reserve deputy sheriff for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department as well as the deputy director for the department's homeland-security-support unit. When other U.S. cities have hired uniformed guards to patrol downtown districts, they most often have acted more as cleanup crews and neighborhood ambassadors than security officials. In the 1990s, retailers in crime-plagued locales began to organize business improvement districts, which collected fees for area enhancements, including hiring armed guards who functioned as backups to local police. A February study of the 30 improvement districts in the downtown Los Angeles region said districts with the guards register significantly less crime than areas without them. Conducted by the Rand Corp., a policy research organization based in Santa Monica, Calif., the study found that from 1994 to 2005, violent crime dropped on average 8% more compared with the rest of the city during that period. Some areas of New Orleans
[MCM] Barbarians get bit
From Paul Roberts: Today I lectured at the National Defense University in Washington DC. I was supposed to be there in person but for various reasons could not. We arranged to use Skypes for a live video presentation. At 9AM this morning (April 22), I received a call that the US government had shut down all of its access systems, including video conferencing, because hackers had successfully penetrated the bullet-proof Pentagon security and stolen the plans for the new secret F-35 jet fighter. I did my lecture audio. Decades ago I read Arnold Toynbee who wrote that the Romans, being technologically advanced, built roads into barbarian territories, roads that the barbarians used to conquer Rome. We built the Internet and electronic data base, but does the analogy hold? The question is: Who are the barbarians? What barbarian force rivals the US in committing crimes against humanity? Who, since the Mongols, has been as destructive of countries and their civilian populations as the US? Can a country as incompetent as the US afford the enemies its hegemonic ambitions create? --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] My Tortured Decision
April 23, 2009 Op-Ed Contributor My Tortured Decision By ALI SOUFAN FOR seven years I have remained silent about the false claims magnifying the effectiveness of the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques like waterboarding. I have spoken only in closed government hearings, as these matters were classified. But the release last week of four Justice Department memos on interrogations allows me to shed light on the story, and on some of the lessons to be learned. One of the most striking parts of the memos is the false premises on which they are based. The first, dated August 2002, grants authorization to use harsh interrogation techniques on a high-ranking terrorist, Abu Zubaydah, on the grounds that previous methods hadn't been working. The next three memos cite the successes of those methods as a justification for their continued use. It is inaccurate, however, to say that Abu Zubaydah had been uncooperative. Along with another F.B.I. agent, and with several C.I.A. officers present, I questioned him from March to June 2002, before the harsh techniques were introduced later in August. Under traditional interrogation methods, he provided us with important actionable intelligence. We discovered, for example, that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. Abu Zubaydah also told us about Jose Padilla, the so-called dirty bomber. This experience fit what I had found throughout my counterterrorism career: traditional interrogation techniques are successful in identifying operatives, uncovering plots and saving lives. There was no actionable intelligence gained from using enhanced interrogation techniques on Abu Zubaydah that wasn't, or couldn't have been, gained from regular tactics. In addition, I saw that using these alternative methods on other terrorists backfired on more than a few occasions - all of which are still classified. The short sightedness behind the use of these techniques ignored the unreliability of the methods, the nature of the threat, the mentality and modus operandi of the terrorists, and due process. Defenders of these techniques have claimed that they got Abu Zubaydah to give up information leading to the capture of Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a top aide to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and Mr. Padilla. This is false. The information that led to Mr. Shibh's capture came primarily from a different terrorist operative who was interviewed using traditional methods. As for Mr. Padilla, the dates just don't add up: the harsh techniques were approved in the memo of August 2002, Mr. Padilla had been arrested that May. One of the worst consequences of the use of these harsh techniques was that it reintroduced the so-called Chinese wall between the C.I.A. and F.B.I., similar to the communications obstacles that prevented us from working together to stop the 9/11 attacks. Because the bureau would not employ these problematic techniques, our agents who knew the most about the terrorists could have no part in the investigation. An F.B.I. colleague of mine who knew more about Khalid Shaikh Mohammed than anyone in the government was not allowed to speak to him. It was the right decision to release these memos, as we need the truth to come out. This should not be a partisan matter, because it is in our national security interest to regain our position as the world's foremost defenders of human rights. Just as important, releasing these memos enables us to begin the tricky process of finally bringing these terrorists to justice. The debate after the release of these memos has centered on whether C.I.A. officials should be prosecuted for their role in harsh interrogation techniques. That would be a mistake. Almost all the agency officials I worked with on these issues were good people who felt as I did about the use of enhanced techniques: it is un-American, ineffective and harmful to our national security. Fortunately for me, after I objected to the enhanced techniques, the message came through from Pat D'Amuro, an F.B.I. assistant director, that we don't do that, and I was pulled out of the interrogations by the F.B.I. director, Robert Mueller (this was documented in the report released last year by the Justice Department's inspector general). My C.I.A. colleagues who balked at the techniques, on the other hand, were instructed to continue. (It's worth noting that when reading between the lines of the newly released memos, it seems clear that it was contractors, not C.I.A. officers, who requested the use of these techniques.) As we move forward, it's important to not allow the torture issue to harm the reputation, and thus the effectiveness, of the C.I.A. The agency is essential to our national security. We must ensure that the mistakes behind the use of these techniques are never repeated. We're making a good start: President Obama has limited interrogation techniques to the guidelines set in the Army Field
[MCM] Condi OK'd torture in July '02
And Rummy signed off on 15 torture techniques c. three months later. (See the NYTimes piece below.) MCM Rice gave early approval for CIA waterboarding, Senate report reveals * Go-ahead in July 2002 is first known official approval * Finding suggests greater Rice role than she admitted http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/ewenmacaskillEwen MacAskill in Washington, http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/stephenbatesStephen Bates and agencies http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardian.co.uk, Thursday 23 April 2009 12.27 BST http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/23/condoleezza-rice-cia-waterboarding#history-bylineArticle history Condoleezza Rice: gave the first known official approval of waterboarding, Senate report claims. Photograph: Stefan Zaklin/EPA http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/23/condoleezza-rice-cia-waterboarding Condoleezza Rice gave permission for the CIA to use waterboarding techniques on the alleged al-Qaida terrorist Abu Zubaydah as early as July 2002, the first known official approval for the technique, according to a report released by the Senate intelligence committee yesterday. The revelation indicates that Rice, who at the time was national security adviser and went on to be secretary of state, played a greater role than she admitted in written testimony last autumn. The committee's http://armed-services.senate.gov/Publications/Detainee%20Report%20Final_April%2022%202009.pdfnarrative report (pdf) also shows that dissenting legal views about the interrogation methods were brushed aside repeatedly. The mood within the Bush administration at the time is caught in a handwritten note attached to a December 2002 memo from Donald Rumsfeld, the then defence secretary, on the use of stress positions. I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing limited to 4 hours? he asked. The intelligence committee's timeline comes a day after the Senate armed services committee http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/22/torture-bush-administration-senate-reportreleased an exhaustive report detailing direct links between the harsh interrogation programme of the CIA and abuses of prisoners at the US prison at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/guantanamo-bayGuantánamo Bay in Cuba, in Afghanistan and at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. The latest report, which compiles legal advice provided by the Bush administration to the CIA, indicates that Rice personally conveyed the administration's approval for waterboarding Zubaydah to the then CIA director, George Tenet, in July 2002. Last autumn, Rice acknowledged to the armed services committee only that she had attended meetings where the CIA interrogation request was discussed. She said she did not recall details. Within days, the justice department secretly approved the use of waterboarding. Zubaydah underwent waterboarding at least 83 times in August 2002. In the years that followed, according to yesterday's report, there were numerous internal legal reviews, suggesting government lawyers were concerned that methods such as waterboarding might violate federal laws against http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/torturetorture and the US constitution. Bush administration lawyers continued to validate the programme, but the CIA voluntarily dropped the use of waterboarding after 2005. The 232-page armed services committee report, the most detailed investigation yet into the background of torture, undercut the claim of the then deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, that the abuse of prisoners in Iraq was the work of a few bad apples. Its release yesterday added to the debate raging within the US after President Barack Obama, who regards the techniques as torture,http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/21/obama-prosecution-torture-memos-bush-administrationopened the way for possible prosecution of members of the Bush administration. Carl Levin, the Democratic chairman of the committee, said: The paper trail on abuse leads to top civilian leaders, and our report connects the dots. The report shows a paper trail going from Rumsfeld to Guantánamo to Afghanistan and to Iraq. The report says: The abuse of detainees in US custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of a few bad apples acting on their own. The fact is that senior officials in the http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usaUnited States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorised their use against detainees. The report, the result of an 18-month inquiry, revealed that the administration rejected advice from various branches of the armed services against using more aggressive techniques. The military questioned the morality and the reliability of information gained. The report condemned the techniques adopted, saying: Those efforts damaged our ability to collect accurate intelligence that could save lives, strengthened
[MCM] Murder, sadism and torture: BushCo was the combo deal
Murder, Sadism and Torture: The Bush Administration Was the Combo Deal Submitted by mark karlin on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 9:57am. EditorBlog THE BUZZFLASH EDITOR'S BLOG By Mark Karlin http://buzzflash.com/articles/node/8289 It's not considered politically correct -- even among the high-profile progressive political blogs that are now quoted by the D.C. Beltway corporate media -- to accuse the Bush Administration of murder and sadism. It's the wave now to urge an investigation of the torture memos and potential prosecution, but the reality that torture resulted in the murcers of an untold number of detainees in the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld Gulag is not discussed much. That's why I wrote a BuzzFlash Editor's Blog yesterday, The Legal Case Against Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Et Al., Is Murder One, Not Just War Crimes. Yet, as much as I agree that the torture memo authors should be tried (and Judge Bybee impeached), the MSM and progressive Internet focus on the memos discounts and dishonors the justice that is necessary for those perhaps hundreds of detainees -- many of them, if not most of them, innocent of any actual crimes -- who were murdered as a result of torture. This reminder of murder in the name of the War on Terror clearly makes many Americans uncomfortable. But if one becomes a denier of death by torture, such as the one detailed in Taxi to the Dark Side, one is conceding one of the biggest right wing talking points: how can it be torture if no one died? The reality is that many did indeed die from torture, but the Bush Administration went to great lengths to ensure that the highest profile Al Qaeda detainees were not murdered, just so that they could make the case of no harm, no foul. Yet, such life-saving torture precautions were not taken at Guantanamo, Bagram, Abu Ghraib and the many other prisons around the world where lower level detainees were tortured, many of whom died as a result or just disappeared. This is not speculation; this is fact. For 8 years, we were not only under the rule of an administration with reckless disregard for life (remember that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died as a result of the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld initiated war there, as well as thousands of American soldiers), we were under the government of a president and senior staff who were stimulated by exercising power over who should live and who should die. There is no question that George W. Bush, going back to his erotic thrill over setting the record for executions as Governor of Texas, barely conceals an inner sadistic streak that no doubt probably began with blowing up squirrels as a child. And Cheney and Rumsfeld just regard any non-American life as cheap and expendable in pursuit of American control over the world's natural resources. The Washington Post last year reported that Bush's inner circle met regularly in the basement of the White House and approved specific torture measures. It was also reported that Bush personally viewed torture videotapes of at least one high profile Al Qaeda member before the CIA allegedly destroyed the evidence. Everything that is now being revealed in documented form, we pretty much knew before, except now we are seeing the written text. Cheney was using torture not to get more information to prevent terrorist attacks, but to try and get a top Al Qaeda operative to recite Cheney's script that Osama bin Laden was connected to Saddam Hussein, a meme that Cheney has never stopped repeating. Unfortunately for Cheney, it is not true and so he needed to waterboard a couple of Osama's lieutenants more than 200 times in a month in order for them to make up the Osama/Saddam link to get him off the hook. That's a War Crime, a regular crime and just plain sadistic. Rumsfeld thought himself a Master of the Universe. With reckless disregard for the truth in his blathering Pentagon briefings and reckless disregard for life in the torture protocol he had distributed to all the military sites of interrogation around the world (along with parallel CIA guidelines), he joined his sadistic partners in sanctioning torture unto death. As I noted yesterday, how quickly we have forgotten the tortured dead of Abu Ghraib that we saw in body bags as military and contracted interrogators mocked the bodies. How quickly we have forgotten even the surely understimated accounts of homicides issued by the Pentagon. How quickly we have forgotten the suicides by torture in Guantanamo. How quickly we have forgotten people like the innocent Afghani taxi driver who would have been just another unknown victim of two days of deadly torture if not for Alex Gibney's brilliant and grueling documentary. So while the blogosphere and some of the corporate media debates about what should happen to the attorneys who wrote up the torture memos, BuzzFlash wants to know when Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld will be charged with murder? In all likelihood
[MCM] DC Council wants Sequoia to yield documents
DC Council Special Committee asks judge to enforce subpoena http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/04/dc-council-special-committee-asks-judge-to-enforce-subpoena.htmlhttp://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/04/dc-council-special-committee-asks-judge-to-enforce-subpoena.html A special D.C. Council committee investigating widespread errors in two primary elections last year asked a D.C. Superior Court judge yesterday to enforce a subpoena against the company that provides voting machines to the District. Lawyers from Jenner Block and Hunton Williams, who are representing the committee, argue that Sequoia Voting Systems voting machines failed during primary elections held on Feb. 12 and Sept. 9, and source code and other voting materials will show whether sleeper glitches are to blame for glaring errors. One of the errors mentioned in court filings are election returns that showed nearly 4,759 votes were cast in the Sept. 9 primary election in Precinct 141 even though the precinct has only 2,388 registered voters. Lorelie Masters, a partner at Jenner Block representing the special committee, tells the BLT that similar errors were replicated in several other precincts. She adds that outside of Sequoia's software failing, there's no logical explanation for how these anomalies occurred. On Sept. 18, the special committee slapped Sequoia with a subpoena to obtain documents and other materials, including the source code data. Sequoia, which has provided voting materials and machines to the District for over 20 years, has so far refused to comply with the subpoena, saying that the materials either aren’t relevant or are proprietary. In court filings, Masters says the special committee has tried to reach a compromise with Sequoia, offering to have the source code data sealed under a protective order. But Sequoia fired back that the District must post a $20 million bond before it would turn over source code data. Masters says, I've never seen anything like this happen before, and the special committee obviously did not pursue it. The company has argued previously that the fault lies not with its software or equipment, but on some type of electrical or static discharge that might have taken place. In a statement, Councilmember Mary Cheh, chairwoman of the Council Board of Elections and Ethics Investigation special committee, says Sequoia has no legal justification for its position. Sequoia's source code is critical to our investigation, Cheh says. We can[t move forward without it. The special committee has spoken to all of the people who ran the election, now we need to look at the software that administered it. In addition to Masters, the team of lawyers representing the special committee includes Jenner Block associates Kristina Filipovich, Caroline Lopez, Damien Specht and Nicholas Stephanopoulos. Hunton Williams has partner Virginia Albrecht and associates Aaron Flynn, and E. Carter Chandler Clements working on the case. Sequoia does not have a lawyer listed on the docket. A spokeswoman for Sequoia was out of the office, and did not immediately return voicemails. Posted by Jeff Jeffrey on April 24, 2009 at 02:57 PM in http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/dc_courts_and_government/D.C. Courts and Government --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Tedisco throws in the towel
Yet another sign that the Republicans are finished. (All the more reason to watch out for them) MCM April 24, 2009 http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_04/017898.phphttp://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_04/017898.php TEDISCO CONCEDES, STEELE SWEATS? It took a little longer than expected, but Republican Jim Tedisco http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/goper-tedisco-concedes-ny-20-special-election.phpconceded the special election in New York's 20th today, and Rep.-Elect Scott Murphy (D) is headed for Capitol Hill. Murphy takes over in the seat from its previous Democratic occupant, Kirsten Gillibrand, whose appointment to the United States Senate set up the special election for this marginal district. The election was on March 31, three and a half weeks ago, but it took this long to get a winner because it was so close and involved a lengthy process of counting and litigation of absentee ballots. Still not all of the ballots have been reported in, but it became very clear over the last few days that there was really no way Tedisco could have pulled it off. Murphy's victory, while expected as the vote tallies came in, is nevertheless something of an upset win for Democrats. New York's 20th is a Republican district -- as recently as 2006, GOP voter registrations in the district outnumbered Democratic registrations by 15 points -- and Republicans http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/03/31/the-race-to-watch-today/invested heavily to win this race. For that matter, Tedisco is a well-known leader in the state legislature, while Murphy only moved to the district three years ago. It was, at least on paper, a race Republicans should have won. They didn't. Which leads us to the next question: just how painful is this defeat for RNC Chairman Michael Steele? He not only poured a lot of money into this race, Steele also pointed to New York's 20th as a race that would help turn things around for the Republican Party. Back in January, http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/01/31/rnc-chairman-steele-three-elections-the-gop-can-win/Steele boasted, That win will send a powerful signal to the rest of the country ... that our game is not up, That seemed like safe bravado in January, when Tedisco looked like a sure thing. But that win has become that loss. Does that mean, by Steele's reasoning, that a powerful signal has been sent to the rest of the country that the Republican Party's game is up? There were some rumors in February that a GOP defeat in this special election would put Michael Steele's job in jeopardy. Something to keep an eye on. -mailto:sbe...@washingtonmonthly.comSteve Benen --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~--- inline: image001 68.gif
[MCM] Sam Seder's absentee vote also challenged by Tedisco
Tedisco's having given up the fight should not distract us from how dirtily he and his party waged it, fighting tooth and nail to force a victory in the election to fill Kirsten Gillibrand's House seat. This is how he would have won--indeed, the only way he could have won. The fact that the Republicans are over as a national party doesn't mean that they won't keep on trying to win. On the contrary: They will continue trying to play exactly as they've played it since 2000. MCM Tedisco Tries To Make Roadkill Of Sam Seder's Ballot By http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/kleefeldEric Kleefeld - April 23, 2009, 5:39PM http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/04/tedisco-tries-to-make-roadkill-of-sam-seders-ballot.php We can now add another illustrious name to the list of absentee voters whose ballots in the NY-20 special election have been challenged by the campaign of GOP candidate Jim Tedisco: Sam Seder, the liberal talk-radio host with Air America! Sam http://twitter.com/SamSeder/status/1588124171posted a message on Twitter yesterday: NY20th race Tedisco challenged my absentee ballot. 4 days before the election I was jury foreman for a trial in NY20th. Challenge Fail. The Tedisco camp had previously challenged U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's ballot -- the person that Tedisco is seeking to replace in Congress -- and now Sam is on the list, too. The jury had served on March 26 and March 27, and Election Day was March 31. Since this past October, Sam has maintained a second place in New York City for his radio job, and voted absentee because he would be at work on Election Day. Other than the need to be in New York City for work, he has been living full-time in Columbia County. In fact, I was able to confirm with Columbia County Democratic election commissioner Virginia Martin that Sam's ballot has indeed been challenged by the Tedisco campaign -- on the grounds that he does not legitimately live in the district. Martin overruled the challenge, while the Republican deputy commissioner sustained it, keeping the vote out of the count until further notice. Sam told me that he found out through a friend of his who had contacted the county for the list of challenged ballots. He was sending out e-mails to people saying, check on this list to see if your name was on it, Sam said. And he was quite surprised to find his name on the list: I thought there was no way that my ballot was gonna be challenged. Sam was none too impressed when I told him that the Tedisco campaign alleged that he wasn't a resident of the district. Jerks, he said. I mean, I could tell you I've attended far more Livingston town meetings than Jim Tedisco has. He added: I just think it's ironic that this guy doesn't live in the 20th, and he's challenging my residency. And Sam's service on a jury should be proof enough that he's a resident. Columbia County commissioner of jurors Loretta Salvesvold could not confirm for me the circumstances of any individual juror, but she could explain to me the general law that eligibility for jury service is dependent on a person's primary residence being in that area -- that this is where the person spends most of their time. An e-mail for comment to the Tedisco campaign has not been returned. (Also, it is indeed true that Tedisco doesn't live in the district. However, the federal Constitution does not have a district-residency requirement, only a state-residency requirement. There are in fact House members on both sides of the aisle right now, who either don't live in their districts or didn't at the time when they were first elected -- and this number goes up significantly if we count the ones who really live in Washington.) --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~--- inline: sam-seder-dc.jpg
[MCM] NYTimes editorial on Don Siegelman
A great step forward by the Times. Let's use it to push Holder toward proper treatment of Don's case. (Throwing out the case, and starting an investigation of all those who forced it, would be proper treatment.) And let's also use it to induce the Times to call for a thorough investigation of the hundreds of selective prosecutions by Rove's DoJ. MCM The Siegelman Case The New York Times Editorial April 25, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/25/opinion/25sat4.htmlhttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/25/opinion/25sat4.html Attorney General Eric Holder's recent decision to drop all of the charges against Ted Stevens, the former Republican senator from Alaska, because of prosecutorial misconduct raises an important question: What about Don Siegelman? A bipartisan group of 75 former state attorneys general has written to Mr. Holder asking him to take a fresh look at the former Alabama governor's case. He should do so right away. Mr. Siegelman was convicted in 2006 on dubious corruption charges. He spent nine months in prison before being released on appeal, and he faces years more behind bars. He has long insisted that the case against him was politically motivated and that prosecutors engaged in an array of professional and ethical violations. Many aspects of the case require further scrutiny. United States Attorney Leura Canary is the wife of a prominent Republican political operative who was a strong opponent of Mr. Siegelman. Her office prosecuted Mr. Siegelman. Ms. Canary said that she recused herself from the prosecution, but questions have been raised about whether she actually did. Mr. Siegelman's supporters have long argued that he was targeted by the Justice Department because he was Alabama's leading Democratic politician and stood a good chance of once again being elected governor [as he had been in 2002: a victory that was stolen from him--MCM.] A Republican lawyer in Alabama, Jill Simpson, has said that she heard Ms. Canary's husband, William Canary, say that he had discussed the prosecution with Karl Rove, the senior White House political adviser. In the case of Mr. Stevens, who was convicted of felony charges for failing to disclose gifts and services, Mr. Holder was so troubled by the way the prosecution was carried out that he decided to drop the case entirely. According to the Siegelman camp, at least three of the same officials who have been accused of prosecutorial misconduct in the Stevens case were involved in Mr. Siegelman's prosecution. If true, this alone would seem to justify a thorough investigation of the case. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Jesus Killed Muhammad
Here's another link to Jeff Sharlet's new Harper's piece, which I can't recommend strongly enough. MCM This week at KILLING THE BUDDHA We thought you might be interested in this bit of Buddha-killing: http://killingthebuddha.com/mag/dogma/jesus-killed-mohammed/Jesus Killed Muhammad Jeff Sharlet The crusade for a Christian military. - The KtBniks mailto:cont...@killingthebuddha.comcont...@killingthebuddha.com http://www.killingthebuddha.com/http://www.killingthebuddha.com You're receiving this friendly but unsolicited message because we thought you might be interested. You're on no list and will receive no others. Forgive us for the bother! --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Mimi Kennedy's letter to the Times, re: Don Siegelman
From: mimi kennedy Sent: Sunday, April 26, 2009 1:15 AM To: mailto:lett...@nytimes.comlett...@nytimes.com Re: Governor Don Siegelman's prosecution by Bush's Justice Dept. As a child, I heard about writers, artists and politicians in Communist Russia being imprisoned and hospitalized, careers ruined, for false reasons, because they were considered a threat to the government's Party. It can and did happen here. Don Siegelman's second term win as governor of Alabama was mysteriously flipped in the wee hours by a corrected electronic opti-scan count in a single county behind closed doors. His indictment, by Rove-friendly U.S. Attorneys for crimes never charged against Republicans who behaved similarly, was followed by conviction and humiliating treatment - strip search and solitary confinement. The press took little notice. Rove was successful in disappearing a popular southern Democrat he'd targeted, early on, as a threat to his GOP southern strategy. This case is one of the worst abuses in the U.S. Attorney scandal and Justice Dept corruption. It must be reviewed so nothing like it can ever happen again. Mimi Kennedy Chair, Progressive Democrats of America Van Nuys, CA 91406 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Irish dump e-voting, go back to hand-counting paper ballots
Irish reject e-voting, go back to paper http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/irish-reject-e-voting-go-back-to-paper.arshttp://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/04/irish-reject-e-voting-go-back-to-paper.ars The Irish government has given up on e-voting and is moving back to paper. The cost of continuing with the failed system is too high, and the crisis-stricken country is too cash-strapped. File this in the exporting democracy category, or not: a recent report from Europe serves as a reminder that serious problems with e-voting aren't just an American malady, although it's much easier to move back to paper ballots if your country is fairly small. Just ask the Irish, who have http://www.environ.ie/en/LocalGovernment/Voting/News/MainBody,20056,en.htmannounced their decision to scrap their e-voting system and return to paper. Ireland has already put about $67 million into building out its e-voting infrastructure, but the country has apparently decided that it would be even more expensive to keep going with the system than it would be to just scrap it altogether. In a statement, Ireland's Environment Minister John Gormely blamed the decision partly on the economic crisis, which has had an impact of nearly Icelandic proportions on the country's real estate market and banking system. It is clear from consideration of the Report of the Commission on Electronic Voting that significant additional costs would arise to advance electronic voting in Ireland. This decision has been taken to avoid such costs, especially at a time of more challenging economic conditions. The financial and other resources that would be involved in modifying the machines in advance of implementation could not be justified in present circumstances, Minister Gormley said. Ireland's decision that it can't bear the continued costs of e-voting is merely the latest in an ongoing string of such decisions, in which states like http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2006/12/8338.arsOhio and http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2007/01/8745.arsFlorida have said that it's just too expensive to limp along with what is, in essence, a failed, poorly planned, large-scale IT infrastructure deployment. Few governments that scrap their existing e-voting systems go all the way back to paper like Ireland, though. In the case of Florida, for instance, the state moved totally to optical scan machines (and then it http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2008/09/floridas-latest-e-voting-crisis-likely-due-to-human-error.arsstill managed to screw up an election). --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Must-read piece on the secret count in Pima County, AZ
From Dave Griscom: I have just blogged an article by attorney Bill Risner recently submitted as a Letter to the Editor of the Tucson Citizen, a daily newspaper. Since it does not seem to have been published yet, I have composed my own title for it: http://impactglassman.blogspot.com/AZ Attorney General Recounts Pima County RTA Ballots in Secret, Foiling Citizen Efforts to Determine Whether or Not this $2 Bn Initiative Was Stolen (for future reference http://impactglassman.blogspot.com/2009/04/az-attorney-general-recounts-pima.htmlhttp://impactglassman.blogspot.com/2009/04/az-attorney-general-recounts-pima.html) This is a beautifully written, highly expert, and very, very important progress report on the shaky status of honest elections in our United States. Please do read it. Dave David L. Griscom Residence: San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico (not mailing address) We receive snail mail sent to the following address: 3938 E Grant Rd #131 Tucson, AZ 85712-2559 Phones in Mexico: 52 622 226 1495 (52=Mexico country code) 1 520 829 4601 (VoIP: This is a U.S. domestic call) URL: http://www.impactglassresearchinternational.com/http://www.impactglassresearchinternational.com/ Blog (Politics, Economy): http://impactglassman.blogspot.com/http://impactglassman.blogspot.com/ Blog (Geology): http://impactglassheretic.blogspot.com/http://impactglassheretic.blogspot.com/ Bio: http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgriscomhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgriscom --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] FL election bill is STILL A THREAT!
From: mailto:kind...@comcast.netKindra Muntz: Everyone, We are not out of the woods yet. Keep the pressure on, and get the message to voters in every county in Florida to call their State Senator and Representative to KILL the elections bill. We don't want it IN ANY FORM. We don't need it. Find your Senator HERE: http://www.flsenate.govhttp://www.flsenate.gov Find your Representative HERE: http://www.myfloridahouse.govhttp://www.myfloridahouse.gov Kindra Muntz President, Sarasota Alliance for Fair Elections (SAFE) Co-Founder, Florida Voters Coalition Member, VoteTrustUSA Leaders Member, RoundTableOnVoting safev...@comcast.net www.safevote.org 941-497-1764 Election bill stalls during house session -- byJames Miller http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Florida/flaSTAT01POLS042509.htm TALLAHASSEE -- An elections bill that has galvanized civil liberties groups and Florida Democrats up to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson was left Friday in a sort of legislative limbo. The House didn't take up the bill in its week-ending session, despite a proposed rewrite that eliminated many of the provisions that had brought together critics. The Legislature's session is scheduled to end next Friday, and for the bill to have life the Senate must pass a version and send it to the House, according to the office of the House Republican majority. Senate action remained a possibility, though. I think the sooner we have a concrete bill that we can work with as we prepare for the 2010 elections, the better, said Sen. Mike Haridopolos, a Melbourne Republican, adding that he planned over the weekend to look at a rewrite that had been discussed by House Republicans. The original proposal was criticized for, among other things, prohibiting interaction with voters at polling places; blocking use of retirement center and neighborhood association identification cards and creating a registration system for people who get paid to circulate state ballot-initiative petitions. http://realestate.news-journalonline.com/HOMES http://jobs.news-journalonline.com/JOBS http://www.news-journalonline.com/autos/AUTOS http://www.news-journalonline.com/class/STUFF http://www.news-journalonline.com/shopping/SHOP 'http://adserver2.news-journalonline.com/advertpro/servlet/click/zone?zid=87cid=1360mid=1059pid=0default=falserandom=14025791timestamp=20090426081901test=falsereferrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.news-journalonline.com%2FNewsJournalOnline%2FNews%2FFlorida%2 'http://adserver2.news-journalonline.com/advertpro/servlet/click/zone?zid=88cid=1853mid=1892pid=0default=falserandom=94649618timestamp=20090426081901test=falsereferrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.news-journalonline.com%2FNewsJournalOnline%2FNews%2FFlorida%2 'http://adserver2.news-journalonline.com/advertpro/servlet/click/zone?zid=86cid=1815mid=1284pid=0default=falserandom=73137565timestamp=20090426081901test=falsereferrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.news-journalonline.com%2FNewsJournalOnline%2FNews%2FFlorida%2 'http://adserver2.news-journalonline.com/advertpro/servlet/click/zone?zid=89cid=1230mid=1115pid=0default=falserandom=29187602timestamp=20090426081901test=falsereferrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.news-journalonline.com%2FNewsJournalOnline%2FNews%2FFlorida%2 http://www.news-journalonline.com/autos Search for Cars, Trucks Motorcycles from local dealers! http://realestate.news-journalonline.com/ Search thousands of local listings! Location: [-- Select -- \/] Bedrooms: [-- Select -- \/] Max Price: [No \/] http://jobs.news-journalonline.com/ Search thousands of Local, State and national jobs! Keyword Search: sales http://newsjournal.careers.adicio.com/careers/jobsearch?new=1searchType=advancedAdvanced Search http://www.news-journalonline.com/shopping/ View ALL News-Journal Display Ads! http://www.news-journalonline.com/shopping/View Newspaper Ads Online. Click here! http://www.news-journalonline.com/class/ Search ALL News-Journal Classified Ads! Keyword Search: [ ] http://www.news-journalonline.com/class/View All Classified Categories 'http://adserver2.news-journalonline.com/advertpro/servlet/click/zone?zid=125cid=1833mid=1842pid=0default=falserandom=78726389timestamp=20090426081901test=falsereferrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.news-journalonline.com%2FNewsJournalOnline%2FNews%2FFlorida% 'http://adserver2.news-journalonline.com/advertpro/servlet/click/zone?zid=347cid=1913mid=1889pid=0default=falserandom=92976628timestamp=20090426081901test=falsereferrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.news-journalonline.com%2FNewsJournalOnline%2FNews%2FFlorida% NEWS · http://www.news-journalonline.com/Front page · http://www.news-journalonline.com/local.htmLocal · http://www.news-journalonline.com/florida.htmFlorida · http://www.news-journalonline.com/nation.htmNation/World · http://www.legacy.com/News-JournalOnline/Deaths · http://www.news-journalonline.com/politics.htmPolitics · http://www.news-journalonline.com/beach.htmBeach / Environment ·
[MCM] John Gideon ailing
Some dreadful news about John Gideon, a heroic election integrity activist, and the driving force behind Daily Voting News. MCM http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7102http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7102 Blogged by Brad Friedman on 4/27/2009 12:29PM News About Our Friend John Gideon... Some troubling news came in last night concerning John Gideon, my friend, colleague, frequent BRAD BLOG guest blogger and the years-long publisher of the indispensable Daily Voting News. Allow me to defer to the announcement just released by Ellen Theisen, John's partner at VotersUnite.org... From: Ellen Theisen Date: Mon Apr. 27, 2009 11:18am PT Subject: To John Gideon's friends Our friend and colleague, John Gideon collapsed in his home on Sunday morning where he was discovered by his family and rushed to the hospital. Medical staff told me last night (Sunday) that he was in very critical condition. And today he remains in the ICU, with a preliminary diagnosis of meningitis. Brad Friedman and I have been in regular contact with John's family, and I'm leaving now to go to the hospital in Seattle, which is the best neurological facility in the entire region. Starting tomorrow, some of us will be taking steps to cobble together a perhaps somewhat truncated version of the Daily Voting News in order to attempt to fill his shoes until his return. But as you all know, they are very big shoes to fill. Please send your good thoughts to John and his family. I will, of course, keep you updated as I learn anything more. Ellen Theisen Co-Director www.VotersUnite.Org I'll certainly do my best to keep you all up to date here on John's condition as things warrant and/or change. I plan on doing my best to keep things rolling here in the interim as usual, as I suspect he'd like me to, and to help Ellen in getting out the DVN as well as possible during his absence, which we all pray won't be long. But thanks for your patience, in advance, if I'm slowed down a few steps here for a bit, as I suspect I may be, while doing my best to work with Ellen and John's family in support... --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Apologists for torture just won't quit
The tribunes of the right are standing up for torture--which Joe Scarborough has now justified as an expression of rational fear, while David Frum asserts, against all evidence, that we don't know whether BushCo's torture program helped ensure the nation's safety. http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/04/27/scarborough-rational-fear-a-reason-for-torture/http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/04/27/scarborough-rational-fear-a-reason-for-torture/ http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/politics/2009/04/27/walsh_frum/index.html?source=newsletter Actually, we do know that there's not a shred of evidence to back the claim that BushCo's torture program helped protect the nation from another terrorist attack. In fact, there's evidence suggesting that the program only sparked the regime's bogus terrorist alerts. And there is something else we know: that torture is immoral. It's wrong. That's why the Reagan DoJ rightly prosecuted a quartet of Texas cops for waterboarding suspects to extort confessions: Jason Leopold | Reagan's DOJ Prosecuted Waterboarding Case http://www.truthout.org/042709Jhttp://www.truthout.org/042709J It's getting pretty tiresome listening to these people try to argue that the torture had some salutary practical intention or effect. When you waterboard somebody over 180 times-- somebody, moreover, who had already spilled his guts under legitimate interrogation-- you're not doing it because you want to get some useful information, or for any other rational reason. You're doing it because you like to do it, like to have it done. MCM == April 27 Cheney should release Iraq memos, outed CIA agent's husband says By John Byrne -- April 27, 2009 http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/04/27/cheney-should-release-iraq-memos-outed-cia-agents-husband-says/http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/04/27/cheney-should-release-iraq-memos-outed-cia-agents-husband-says/ The husband of the CIA agent outed by the Bush Administration in the wake of the Iraq war demanded Monday that former Vice President Cheney release transcripts of his testimony in the CIA leak case after Cheney publicly called for more documents to be declassified in the war on terror. Rove mocked spending on flu preparedness By Raw Story -- April 27, 2009 http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/04/27/rove-mocked-spending-on-flu-preparedness/http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/04/27/rove-mocked-spending-on-flu-preparedness/ Bush's Brain doesn't appear to be quite so prescient in the face of a potential global flu epidemic. Iraq PM: Deadly US raid 'breach' of security pact Agence France-Presse -- Monday April 27, 2009 http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Iraq_PM_Deadly_US_raid_breach_0427.htmlhttp://rawstory.com/news/2008/Iraq_PM_Deadly_US_raid_breach_0427.html BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said a US raid on Sunday in which a policeman and a woman were shot dead was a breach of a landmark security pact with Washington. Exposed: Geithner's ties to Wall St. By JO BECKER and GRETCHEN MORGENSON The New York Times -- April 26, 2009 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/business/27geithner.html?_r=1hphttp://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/business/27geithner.html?_r=1hp For more go to: http://www.rawstory.comhttp://www.rawstory.comhttp://rawstory.com/rawreplay/ http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/ RSS Feeds: http://rawstory.com/rss.phphttp://rawstory.com/rss.php http://feeds.feedburner.com/rawstory/gKpzhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/rawstory/gKpz Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Raw-Story/20324257234http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Raw-Story/20324257234 Twitter: http://twitter.com/rawstoryhttp://twitter.com/rawstory === Kyle F. Hence mailto:k...@rawstory.comk...@rawstory.com http://www.rawstory.comhttp://www.rawstory.com = To be removed from The Rawstory Wire please reply with REMOVE in the subject line. To add your address please send an email to mailto:k...@rawstory.comk...@rawstory.com withADD in the subject line. If per chance you are receiving duplicates please let me know and I'll address it. Thank you. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~--- attachment: New_Logo_2.jpg
[MCM] Harper's cover story, Jesus Killed Muhammad, on newsstands tomorrow!
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102563209807s=779e=001gb1xanoQ6orefDZOaLOGxVAkoGn_nI6pI1Ep823a1q2GRGQweOUZYJZ_B0HGJFX77vBLUcjH54j8EI_UfDYoIxJsXYg5PMVnLsK4kQ6ASDP57RJ7IouYbOcBG7F3xh9S AVAILABLE ON NEWSSTANDS TOMORROW, APRIL 28th! http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102563209807s=779e=001gb1xanoQ6org-Pk0ju4xJBxvvfKDCZ-7AYr8Iv5-nAnsG38xVmjrLBEUoH5rvsIc7CRA0n-VfSFkh1Tsn-Ubt-QVOuCz3dy2f6KHA23o3voWt802mCekcYRCB8R0gntK7ld6wnlAvfHVramQH-K8kA== The May 2009 issue of Harper's is arriving on newsstands tomorrow, April 28th, 2009! Subscribers also have instant access to this article at http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102563209807s=779e=001gb1xanoQ6org-Pk0ju4xJBxvvfKDCZ-7AYr8Iv5-nAnsG38xVmjrLBEUoH5rvsIc7CRA0n-VfSFkh1Tsn-Ubt-QVOuCz3dy2f6KHA23o3voWt802mCekcYRCB8R0gntK7ld6wnlAvfHVramQH-K8kA==Harpers.org To view the newsstand cover, http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102563209807s=779e=001gb1xanoQ6opFW-2peeZsVJxyiXCXNCRUnD4uxzdvU4pmZPsOIj5wuLuo5R8tG1dqElNQHf-or2X7QYCcTcTxJWpff3E1UkdbwsL2fFd7JDBOll-Ra1fuH6rCBuiLh7dL6_mP5gi9rtfL89so14LOKupcFE3dvLGNvZ44lk02I4J5WkNwyMUw5JS047qcbjOuclick here. For Immediate Release: April 16, 2009 Media Contact: Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications (202) 265-3000 Harper's Magazine Cover Story: Evangelical Proselytization Still Rampant in U.S. Military Under Obama Administration, Offending Officers Continue to Serve, Promoted ALBUQUERQUE – The May issue of Harper's Magazine (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102563209807s=779e=001gb1xanoQ6ooS60OtsfSa2P88jaduasi5CsmSZ_4DczTl9sgn2rTViFoUwOP4P4jRv_Yg09J0QiI3K_3xgrxabtRv8HfaUnKfZkheFA0v8j8=www.harpers.org) reveals the continued practice of Christian evangelical proselytization in the American military and a lack of recourse within the Obama administration, according to a leading civil rights watchdog group prominently featured in the magazine's cover story. The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF: http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102563209807s=779e=001gb1xanoQ6orefDZOaLOGxVAkoGn_nI6pI1Ep823a1q2GRGQweOUZYJZ_B0HGJFX77vBLUcjH54j8EI_UfDYoIxJsXYg5PMVnLsK4kQ6ASDP57RJ7IouYbOcBG7F3xh9Swww.militaryreligiousfreedom.org) and its founder and president Mikey Weinstein were profiled by Jeff Sharlet in his piece for Harper's Magazine, “Jesus Killed Mohammed: The Crusade for a Christian Military.” Mr. Weinstein is the nation's leading advocate for the protection of individual soldiers' constitutional rights to religious freedom and a frequent critic of the U.S. military hierarchy's blind eye to efforts to evolve the nation's military into a modern day band of Christian crusaders. “Every man and woman who joins our military swears an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States and it is unforgiveable that many continue to dictate how, when and to whom a soldier can pray while in uniform,” said Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). “The Harper's Magazine report by Jeff Sharlet exposes shocking new instances of bigotry and evangelical proselytization within our nation's military that emboldens our enemies, endangers our soldiers on the battlefield and threatens the core of our country. Equally disturbing is Mr. Sharlet's revelation that despite President Obama's well-publicized efforts to show the Muslim world that this is not a war against Islam, numerous offending officers and military professionals responsible for these actions continue to serve in high-ranking and influential positions, and many of them stand to be promoted.” In Mr. Sharlet's piece, Mr. Weinstein shares his experiences with anti-Semitism as a “doolie” at the U.S. Air Force Academy; his advocacy and legal counsel on behalf of thousands of active duty soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen afflicted from religious persecution in the line of duty; and his continued call for reforms within the Pentagon to restore the U.S. military's adherence to its constitutional responsibilities. Additionally, Mr. Sharlet interviewed a number of current and retired military officers and professionals on their thoughts and experiences regarding the protection and evasions of religious liberties in the military. His report details a number of known and unknown instances of evangelical proselytization within the military, both domestically and in the war theater. The following are examples of evangelical proselytization practices detailed in the Harper's Magazine cover story: An Easter Sunday raid on Iraqi insurgents in 2004. Special Forces Officers, inspired by a showing of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, wrote the words “Jesus Killed Mohammed” in Arabic on their Bradley Fighting Vehicle and shouted the saying in both English and Arabic to entice Muslim soldiers into the open before embarking on an attack to put down the insurgency. A meeting of an underground all-male, cadet-led prayer group at the U.S. Air Force Academy where members discuss, among other things, the
[MCM] Shattered myths about the torture program (Scott Horton)
The Stomach-Turning Truth About Bush's Torture Programs By Scott Horton, The Daily Beast Posted on April 28, 2009, Printed on April 28, 2009 http://www.alternet.org/story/138625/http://www.alternet.org/story/138625/ In the space of a week, the torture debate in America has been suddenly transformed. The Bush administration left office resting its case on the claim it did not torture. The gruesome photographs from Abu Ghraib, it had said, were the product of a few bad apples and not of government policy. But the release of a series of grim documents has laid waste to this defense. The Senate Armed Services Committee's report-adopted with the support of leading Republicans senators John McCain, John Warner, and Lindsey Graham-has demonstrated step by step how abuses on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan had their genesis in policy choices made at the pinnacle of the Bush administration. A set of four Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel memoranda from the Bush era has provided a stomach-turning legal justification of the application of specific torture techniques, including waterboarding. As public and Congressional calls for appointment of a prosecutor and the creation of a truth commission have proliferated, President Obama stepped in quickly to try to turn down the heat. A commission would not be helpful, he argues, and he has made plain his aversion to any form of criminal law accountability. Republicans, meanwhile, bristle with anger as they attempt to defend against the flood of new information. But, in the end, Obama's assumption that the torture debate has run its course and that the country can now move on, as http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124052010393349643.htmlconservative pundit Peggy Noonan urged, may rest in some serious naïveté: Karl Rove and Dick Cheney have different ideas. They're convinced that Bush-era torture policy is a promising political product for a party down on its luck. Its success on the political stage is just one more 9/11-style attack away. The latest disclosures can best be grouped in terms of the destruction of a series of long-enduring myths and the emergence of some new truths. The Broken Myths 1. Torture was connected to some rotten apples, mostly enlisted personnel from rural Appalachia who were improperly supervised. The Senate Armed Services Committee meticulously documents the abuses that were chronicled at Abu Ghraib, Bagram Air Base, and other sites and links them directly to techniques that were approved by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and other senior officials in the Bush administration. Even in the case of Abu Ghraib, it shows step-by-step how directions given by Rumsfeld that the harsh techniques he adopted for Guantánamo be imported to Iraq, specifically for use on high-value detainees at the Abu Ghraib facility. Among the 232-page report's conclusions: The abuse of detainees in U.S. custody cannot simply be attributed to the actions of 'a few bad apples' acting on their own. The fact is that senior officials in the United States government solicited information on how to use aggressive techniques, redefined the law to create the appearance of their legality, and authorized their use against detainees. 2. The torture techniques were derived as a last resort, only after other techniques had failed and that interrogators in the field pushed for their use. The report shows, however, that the effort to identify and seek authority to use harsh new techniques started shortly after 9/11-that is, in 2001, well before there were any prisoners on whom they could be used. It also shows that the effort had its origin in the White House, specifically in the office of Vice President Cheney and involved a series of persons who had Cheney's confidence. Conversely, the report and other documents emerging since its release shows that interrogators in the field raised sharp objections to the use of the techniques and steadily questioned their efficacy. The team dealing with one prisoner, for instance, voiced the view that he had already furnished all the evidence he was likely to produce and that further waterboarding would be pointless. Nameless higher-ups overrode their judgment. That group might well include Cheney, who is known to have maintained a sharp interest in this particular detainee and kept on his desk a file marked detainees in which he collected data related to the use of torture. The Senate report documents a series of military officers who raised objections against the use of torture and insisted that their opposition be recorded. And today http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/24/AR2009042403171.htmlafurther report has emerged from July 2002 (just as the OLC memos were being commissioned), in which the military's Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (JPRA) expressly referred to the techniques which were being
[MCM] On Siegelman's case (and others), Obama has to get it right
From: Roger Shuler [mailto:rshuler3...@gmail.com] Why is it critical for the Obama administration to support thorough investigations of the Don Siegelman case and other justice-related matters? Because the long-term success of the Obama presidency might depend on it: http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2009/04/siegelman-case-why-obama-must-get-it.htmlhttp://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2009/04/siegelman-case-why-obama-must-get-it.html Sunday, April 26, 2009 http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2009/04/siegelman-case-why-obama-must-get-it.htmlThe Siegelman Case: Why Obama Must Get It Right on Justice Issues Pressure seems to be growing on the Obama administration to support complete investigations and accountability regarding apparent wrongdoing in the George W. Bush Department of Justice (DOJ). Obama needs to be listening. The long-term success of his presidency might depend on it. The New York Times on Saturday opined that Attorney General Eric Holder http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/25/opinion/25sat4.html?_r=1should take a fresh look at the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman. Such a review becomes even more imperative, the Times notes, now that Holder has asked that charges be dismissed against former U.S. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) because of prosecutorial misconduct in his case. Wrongdoing by prosecutors probably was at least as grave in the Siegelman case, probably more so, the Times notes: Many aspects of the case require further scrutiny. United States Attorney Leura Canary is the wife of a prominent Republican political operative who was a strong opponent of Mr. Siegelman. Her office prosecuted Mr. Siegelman. Ms. Canary said that she recused herself from the prosecution, but questions have been raised about whether she actually did. Mr. Siegelman's supporters have long argued that he was targeted by the Justice Department because he was Alabama's leading Democratic politician and stood a good chance of once again being elected governor. A Republican lawyer in Alabama, Jill Simpson, has said that she heard Ms. Canary's husband, William Canary, say that he had discussed the prosecution with Karl Rove, the senior White House political adviser. Sources say The New York Times is not just writing editorials on the Siegelman case. Times reporters also are checking into the curious relationship between two Alabama newspapers--The Birmingham News and the Mobile Press-Register--and prosecutors in the Siegelman case. And Justice Department investigators, checking into the same issue, have found substantial evidence of improper connections between prosecutors and Alabama journalists regarding the Siegelman case. Christine Bowman, at BuzzFlash, writes that http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/analysis/726Holder must build on momentum from the recent release of Bush torture memos to conduct a thorough cleansing at the DOJ. Like the Times, Bowman focuses on the Siegelman case: One DOJ conservative ideologue who needs to be dumped immediately is http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/22/us/22justice.html?_r=1Leura Canary, the US Attorney in Alabama who prosecuted and jailed Democratic Gov. Don Siegelman. (He's out and mounting an appeal now.) Thom Hartmann urged listeners to his April 21 radio show to call Eric Holder's office at 202-514-2001 and politely urge him to replace her. Why is it critical that Obama pay attention to these calls for justice at Justice? Much of the good he is likely to accomplish in his presidency could go down the drain if he doesn't. Veteran journalist Robert Parry has written that perhaps http://legalschnauzer.blogspot.com/2008/11/could-obama-repeat-bill-clintons.htmlthe biggest mistake of Bill Clinton's presidency was his decision to give the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations free passes on corruption. That caused Americans to view the Reagan and Bush legacies in a much more favorable light than they would have if wrongdoing had been exposed. In business lingo, Clinton allowed the Reagan/Bush brand to not be tarnished. And that led to the disastrous presidency of George W. Bush, which undid much of what Clinton had accomplished. What does the Reagan/Bush brand of Republicanism stand for? It personifies greed, graft, corruption, income inequality, financial speculation, lax regulation, international cluelessness, economic decay, environmental degradation, and more. Obama has said he wants to look forward and not backward. But if he doesn't look back and make sure wrongdoing is exposed, another president in the Reagan/Bush mold will come along and undo much of what Obama now is working to achieve. The bottom line? If Obama doesn't get it right on justice issues, much of his effort in other areas is going to be wasted. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To
[MCM] Times reporter seeks adults who've had to move in with their parents (email only)
Friends, I'm looking for someone to interview outside of New York and really need your help. According to US Census data, the high number of layoffs and unfavorable economic conditions have forced many grown adults to move back home with their parents, and some parents to move home with their adult children. For a story about the ups and downs of this living arrangement, do you know anyone who fits the bill? Or more specifically, do you know someone outside of New York who might know someone who fits the bill? I ask because it's been really hard for me to find people in this situation, mainly because living quarters in NY are typically tight so this doesn't occur as often in the Big Apple as it does elsewhere. Thank you for forwarding this to anyone who might know someone either whose kids have moved back home with them, or whose parents have come to live with them. I'm not looking for young adults who move home after college because they haven't yet found a job. Rather, the people I'm looking for are full-fledged adults who previously established their own households, but had to give that up due to economic circumstances. I am reachable at the below email and phone. Thanks so much for your help! Regards, Julie Julie Scelfo, Reporter The New York Times 620 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018-1405 ph: (212) 556-8704 fax: (212) 556-5999 jsce...@nytimes.com --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] INN forced to halt production on Free Speech TV
From a donor to FSTV and INN: FSTV Gags Independent National Newscast The Free Speech TV network (FSTV), widely perceived as a progressive broadcast provider, has forced its daily evening news show, International News Net (INN), to cancel production. Now in its seventh year as a reliable source of high-quality, in-depth daily reporting on world affairs, INN has now been forced to halt production through a pattern of discriminatory revenue- sharing and scheduling practices. These include selective blocking of the viewer donor base, discriminatory revenue-sharing, and exclusion from prime-time scheduling in key communities. Both INN and its parent FSTV network are viewer-supported. But FSTV has now refused requests from INN, as well as major donors and guests for the newscast, to be scheduled at airtimes convenient for viewers on the West Coast--where financial support for both FSTV and INN have traditionally been strongest. Meanwhile, FSTV has arbitrarily allowed on-air fundraising and prime time access for other daily informational programs. As a result of FSTV policies, unfairly favored programs are growing disproportionately, while INN, denied the same advantages, has faced extinction. Ironically, FSTV has used the highly-reputed INN brand to raise money for itself, but does not allow INN, its so-called broadcast partner, to make on-air appeals for funding--or even to share in the revenues gained from the network's annual two-month fundraising drive, to which INN has drawn many viewers. INN believes that the world of alternative media has been severely harmed by FSTV's treatment of its flagship program. Without an independent platform such as INN to challenge and inform the mainstream media, countless journalists will have one place less to tell their vital stories; and INN's international audience will be deprived of a great independent daily global newscast. In the recent past, I have contributed $x, to both FSTV and INN. Therefore, as a donor and a citizen who wants to stay informed, I ask that FSTV made a good faith effort to come to terms with INN. Sincerely Rich M For more information, please contact: INN: Lenny Charles: Creator, Producer, on air 917-293-8509 Claire Brown: Interviews and guest database 310-479-9698 Val Van Cleve: news 212-431-5987 Tom Kiely: Creator, on air interviews 917-837-1211 FSTV: Jon Stout FSTV general manager 303-442-8445x116 Eric Golatis FSTV program director 303-442-8445x108 Than Reader FSTV operations manager 303-442-8445x102 Ashley Seymor FSTV development 303-442-8445x128 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] FBI's new way of tracking terrorists in cyberspace
http://users.chartertn.net/tonytemplin/FBI_eyes/ --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] In memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa
From Joel Shitney: Friends, Ken Saro-Wiwa was a writer/environmentalist, lobbying Shell Oil to stop polluting his part of Nigeria. The junta arrested Ken and used a kangaroo court to have him hanged. This month, a court in New York will decide if Shell was at fault for Ken's death. But this Saturday, in partnership with our dear friends at PEN, Guernica brings you an event in commemoration of Ken, with his son and others, and moderated by our good friend Okey Ndibe. Please forward... May 2, 2009 | Standing Before History: Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa Introduction by http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/786Larry Siems, with http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/759Ken Wiwa, http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/668/prmID/1832Richard North Patterson, with a reading by http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/645Steve Connell and http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/680Sekou; moderated by http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/765Okey Ndibe Cosponsored by http://www.guernicamag.com/blog/996/standing_before_history_rememb/Guernica magazine and the Martin E. Segal Theatre, The Graduate Center, CUNY On November 10, 1995, Nigeria's military dictatorship hanged Ken Saro-Wiwa, one of the country's most acclaimed and popular writers and the leader of a grassroots environmental movement in the oil-rich but impoverished Niger Delta. The region still seethes with unrest and many of the issues Saro-Wiwa gave his life to raise will be the subject of a http://wiwavshell.org/resources/campaign-video/lawsuit opening in New York this month against oil interests for complicity in his murder. Join Ken Wiwa Jr. and author Richard North Patterson for a discussion of Ken Saro-Wiwa's literary and political legacy, with readings from Saro-Wiwa's work by Steve Connell and Sekou. When: Saturday, May 2, 2009: 1-2:30 p.m. Where: Elebash Recital Hall, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue/34th Street [http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/3443/prmID/1831directions] Free and open to the public MUST WATCH: http://wiwavshell.org/resources/campaign-video/http://wiwavshell.org/resources/campaign-video/ -- Joel Whitney http://www.GuernicaMag.comwww.GuernicaMag.com 646 981 3937 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] In memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa (cleaned-up version!!)
From Joel Whitney: Friends, Ken Saro-Wiwa was a writer/environmentalist, lobbying Shell Oil to stop polluting his part of Nigeria. The junta arrested Ken and used a kangaroo court to have him hanged. This month, a court in New York will decide if Shell was at fault for Ken's death. But this Saturday, in partnership with our dear friends at PEN, Guernica brings you an event in commemoration of Ken, with his son and others, and moderated by our good friend Okey Ndibe. Please forward... May 2, 2009 | Standing Before History: Remembering Ken Saro-Wiwa Introduction by http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/786Larry Siems, with http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/759Ken Wiwa, http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/668/prmID/1832Richard North Patterson, with a reading by http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/645Steve Connell and http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/680Sekou; moderated by http://www.pen.org/author.php/prmAID/765Okey Ndibe Cosponsored by http://www.guernicamag.com/blog/996/standing_before_history_rememb/Guernica magazine and the Martin E. Segal Theatre, The Graduate Center, CUNY On November 10, 1995, Nigeria's military dictatorship hanged Ken Saro-Wiwa, one of the country's most acclaimed and popular writers and the leader of a grassroots environmental movement in the oil-rich but impoverished Niger Delta. The region still seethes with unrest and many of the issues Saro-Wiwa gave his life to raise will be the subject of a http://wiwavshell.org/resources/campaign-video/lawsuit opening in New York this month against oil interests for complicity in his murder. Join Ken Wiwa Jr. and author Richard North Patterson for a discussion of Ken Saro-Wiwa's literary and political legacy, with readings from Saro-Wiwa's work by Steve Connell and Sekou. When: Saturday, May 2, 2009: 1-2:30 p.m. Where: Elebash Recital Hall, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue/34th Street [http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/3443/prmID/1831directions] Free and open to the public MUST WATCH: http://wiwavshell.org/resources/campaign-video/http://wiwavshell.org/resources/campaign-video/ -- Joel Whitney http://www.GuernicaMag.comwww.GuernicaMag.com 646 981 3937 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Two tributes to John Gideon
From Bo Lipari: For John Posted on April 28th, 2009 by bolipari http://www.nyvv.org/boblog/2009/04/28/for-john/ This morning I woke to the impossible news that my friend John Gideon was gone. Somehow, a big, vibrant man I had seen just a few weeks ago, would no longer be there; a fisherman who went out each and every day to bring in a daily catch of information to feed the many depending on him would not be returning with the evening tide. I first met John about 6 years ago when the nascent Election Integrity movement was just a couple of handfuls of people around the country beginning to connect via email. I've been trying hard to remember what we first talked about, and exactly how we hooked up, but try as I might the details are lost in time. Over the years as the network grew, we emailed, talked, but met in person only four times. In this virtual community of ours, this is the way of things - lots of communication, very little face time. When he started Daily Voting News I was impressed with the simplicity and brilliance of the idea - a clipping service about all things Election Integrity. Early on I used to scour the New York State papers for articles, and send John anything I found for DVN. But it didn't take too long to realize that John was way better than I was at finding articles, turning up even obscure little pieces about New York that I missed completely. It wasn't long before I'd just wait for my copy of DVN to hit my Inbox to find out what was being said that day about New York on the web. John was one of those rarest of persons who believe that if we are going to get democracy right, we've got to get elections right, and if we're going to get elections right, someone is going to have to roll up their sleeves and pitch in every single day and do the grunt work. John got up every single day and did the grunt work. And in doing so, he helped me in bigger ways than just the essential resources he provided. He helped me get up every morning and do my work, because even when I felt discouraged, even when I was dejected, even when I felt just too damn tired to go on, I knew over there on the other coast my friend John Gideon was already awake and working for democracy. Mortality bites, leaving us with memories, regrets and wishes. I last saw John just a few weeks ago at a conference in Seattle. At the end of the conference I went over to him to say goodbye, but I was hurrying to get outside to take pictures before the good light faded, so I just gave him a pat on the back, and a handshake, and joked that I'd see him next year. Now I regret that I didn't forget about the damn camera and had stopped to talk with him a bit, had given him a big hug, had told him how much he inspired me, and how much he had done for us and how much we all needed him. But I didn't, I just said goodbye and left. Tomorrow I'll get up and go on with this work. Today, I need to grieve for John Gideon, my colleague, my provider, my friend. Goodbye John, you left us too soon, we mourn your loss. From Bev Harris: John Gideon: 1947-2009 - Loss of a giant voice in election integrity One of the nation's leading election integrity watchdogs, John Gideon, 62, passed away Monday April 27. Gideon was editor of the very widely distributed Daily Voting News, featured on Bradblog. Together with Ellen Theisen, he co-founded the prominent election integrity Web site VotersUnite.org. In the early days of Black Box Voting, John Gideon played an important role by corresponding with each and every new member in our forums. He also helped assist VerifiedVoting.org when it was a fledgling organization. He succumbed rather suddenly to bacterial meningitis. He passed away with his family by his side. John Gideon earned a reputation for painstaking accuracy. He developed a breadth of knowledge about certification processes and all major voting machines. Yet more impressive (for some of us middle-aged folk), he had an amazing ability to remember details whenever needed, synthesizing knowledge from thousands of articles, research papers and visits. Always courteous, he was respected by election officials, secretaries of state, voting rights attorneys, and the often-raucous grass roots election reform community. Gideon was consistently intellectually honest, demonstrating the ability to consider new ideas and rethink old ways, whether or not it was popular. Once he latched onto key concepts for election transparency, he held onto them with the stubbornness and backbone required of great patriots. Sometimes you can't replace important voices in a civil rights movement. I don't think we'll ever be able to match John's unique voice. I do have confidence, however, that his vast and effective communications reach developed many new voices, and that together the individuals John Gideon inspired will at least help to fill the hole we're left with in our hearts, and in our
[MCM] John R. MacArthur tells us why You Can't Be President
This is the video of a talk Rick gave at the McNally Jackson Bookstore a few months ago. Although the posting of the video is surely tardy, the talk, and the book that is its subject (You Can't Be President), are as fresh as breaking news: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=07E4DD7D0BA45819 You can also link to the above at News from Underground, my blog at http://www.markcrispinmiller.com. (For those of you who are reading this on the blog, just glance over to the right.) MCM --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] A solemn tapdance by the NYTimes' Public Editor
NYT Public Editor Dances Around 'Brutal Truth' of Torture http://mediabloodhound.typepad.com/weblog/2009/04/from-article-17-of-the-geneva-conventionno-physical-or-mental-torture-nor-any-other-form---of-coercion-may-be-inflicted-on.html Clark Hoyt's New York Times public editor column on Monday, Telling the Brutal Truth, brings the ongoing debate over whether waterboarding is torture to brave new heights of absurdity. Hoyt opens the column: A LINGUISTIC [all caps are Hoyt's] shift took place in this newspaper as it reported the details of how the Central Intelligence Agency was allowed to strip Al Qaeda prisoners naked, bash them against walls, keep them awake for up to 11 straight days, sometimes with their arms chained to the ceiling, confine them in dark boxes and make them feel as if they were drowning. Reading this, you might think, Finally, in its news pages, the Times is going to call waterboarding what it is and what it always has been since its first recorded use during the Spanish Inquisition -- torture. Plain and simple. Yet you would be gravely disappointed. For Hoyt then writes: Until this month, what the Bush administration called 'enhanced' interrogation techniques were 'harsh' techniques in the news pages of The Times. Increasingly, they are 'brutal.' (On the editorial page, they long ago added up to 'torture.') Such wordplay echoes the deadpan satiric riffs of The Marx Brothers, Monty Python and George Carlin. It's hardly a stretch to imagine Groucho, Cleese or Carlin, in the role of a buffoonish government official or a radio or TV anchor oblivious to the inanity of his own news copy, delivering these lines in which Orwellian jargon is dispensed to the breaking point of all reason and laughter is the only sane response...when such lines are intended as comedy. Of course, the screamingly obvious subtext, the 800 lb. gorilla juggling chainsaws under klieg lights, if you will, is the absurdity that what's in question here is not whether to call the techniques such as waterboarding torture but rather whether to call them harsh or brutal. The following paragraph encapsulates Hoyt's stubborn unwillingness to actually fulfill his column's title -- Telling the Brutal Truth -- and the obfuscation he employs to keep the focus away from the 800 lb. gorilla called Torture. Simultaneously, and preposterously, when taking into account what's actually at stake here, he portrays the Times' editorial struggle over whether to use harsh or brutal as a noble journalistic enterprise worthy of praise. The choice of a single word involved separate deliberations in New York and the Washington bureau and demonstrated the linguistic minefields that journalists navigate every day in the quest to describe the world accurately and fairly. In a polarized atmosphere in which many Americans believe the nation betrayed its most fundamental ideals in the name of fighting terror and others believe extreme measures were necessary to save lives, The Times is displeasing some who think 'brutal' is just a timid euphemism for torture and their opponents who think 'brutal' is too loaded. Thus, the preponderance of this column lies almost wholly within these pointless parameters, as ludicrous as two emergency room doctors pedantically debating whether the point-of-entry of a new patient's gunshot wound was his chest or his back as the patient bleeds to death on the operating table. Hoyt provides he said/she said examples to show how the public has reacted. But in doing so, in this context, he turns the very idea of news reporting -- that it should be based on fact rather than opinion -- on its head and, in effect, concedes that Times editors, on news stories as serious as torture, are allowing public sentiment to color their reports. Robert Ofsevit of Oakland, Calif., asked, 'Why can't The New York Times call torture by its proper name?' He added, 'Please find more backbone and fulfill your journalistic responsibilities by describing these immoral and illegal practices for what they were.' Theodore Murray of Cambridge, Mass., said that if The Times fails to adopt the word torture, 'you perpetuate the fantasy that calling a thing by something other than its name will change the thing itself.' But Cynthia Jacobson of Phoenix said The Times is 'outrageously biased' to use a term like brutal. 'The Times has simply placed itself as one actor in a political fight, not a neutral media outlet,' she wrote. And herein lies the crux of what Hoyt -- who is supposed to be the Paper of Record's ombudsman, not its cheerleader -- should be addressing in this column: 1) If the Times called techniques such as waterboarding torture in its reporting, which it should based on U.S. and international law, legal experts, historians, military judges, combat veterans and human rights organizations, and described, however briefly, what that torture entailed, then the use of
[MCM] Two on Sen. Specter's votes
Ding Dong, The Witch Ain't Dead. by Chris Floyd http://www.counterpunch.org/floyd04292009.html The reaction to Specter's turning of his blood-spattered coat (or rather, his re-turning, as he began his political life as a Democrat) has been marked by the total amnesia that is the chronic affliction of our dozy, cozy media mandarins. The idea that Specter will vote in lockstep with the Democratic leadership's wishes, thus providing a filibuster-proof majority, is, of course, ludicrous, and flies in the face not only of Specter's own extensive (and deeply conservative) legislative record, but also the record of the current Democratic Party in the Senate. They can't even get real Democrats to vote their way on every issue. (Nor should we want them to; mindless factional conformity is hardly something to aspire to -- although our media analysts seem to think it's the cat's meow.) As for Specter's bolting presaging the death of the GOP, what can one say? This is a level of political analysis worthy of a 12-year-old who just started watching CNN for the first time a few months ago. Backed by the nation's wealthy elite and most powerful corporations, in control of statehouses and city halls across the land, buttressed by lavishly funded think tanks, political operations and a vast network of partisan media outlets -- and supported by tens of millions of ordinary citizens -- the Republican Party is not going to die or wither away anytime soon. Any more than the Democratic Party died after the much-larger wipeout it suffered in the Reagan landslide of 1984, or the so-called Republican Revolution of 1994. If the Republican Party didn't die in 1964 or1944, when it was thrust much farther to the margins than it is now, it is not about to expire or even become irrelevant in the imperial politics of our day. Anyway, wasn't it just a few years ago we were talking about a permanent realignment of American politics to the Right, under the unbreakable, unshakeable strategies of the great helmsman, Karl Rove? Such permanent realignments generally have a short shelf-life. But it seems our progressive triumphalists are just as giddily oblivious of history as their Bushist predecessors. From Jerry Policoff: I doubt today's Senate vote on the conference report to accompany S. Con Res. 13 (which deals with reconciling the different versions of the House and Senate budget bills) was all that important, but I could not help but be struck by the vote. It passed with 53 ayes and 43 nays (3 not voting). Evan Bayh and Robert Byrd joined 41 Republicans INCLUDING ARLEN SPECTER (yes, they are still listing Specter as a Republican) in voting nay. One might have thought that, for appearance sake if nothing else Mr. Specter might have at least considered sitting this one out if he could not bring himself to vote with the Democrats. http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111session=1vote=00173http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=111session=1vote=00173 Grouped By Vote Position YEAs ---53 Akaka (D-HI) Baucus (D-MT) Begich (D-AK) Bennet (D-CO) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Brown (D-OH) Burris (D-IL) Cantwell (D-WA) Cardin (D-MD) Carper (D-DE) Casey (D-PA) Conrad (D-ND) Dodd (D-CT) Dorgan (D-ND) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Gillibrand (D-NY) Hagan (D-NC) Harkin (D-IA) Inouye (D-HI) Johnson (D-SD) Kaufman (D-DE) Kerry (D-MA) Klobuchar (D-MN) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (ID-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) McCaskill (D-MO) Menendez (D-NJ) Merkley (D-OR) Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Pryor (D-AR) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Sanders (I-VT) Schumer (D-NY) Shaheen (D-NH) Stabenow (D-MI) Tester (D-MT) Udall (D-CO) Udall (D-NM) Warner (D-VA) Webb (D-VA) Whitehouse (D-RI) Wyden (D-OR) NAYs ---43 Alexander (R-TN) Barrasso (R-WY) Bayh (D-IN) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burr (R-NC) Byrd (D-WV) Chambliss (R-GA) Coburn (R-OK) Cochran (R-MS) Collins (R-ME) Corker (R-TN) Cornyn (R-TX) Crapo (R-ID) DeMint (R-SC) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johanns (R-NE) Kyl (R-AZ) Lugar (R-IN) Martinez (R-FL) McCain (R-AZ) McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK) Nelson (D-NE) Risch (R-ID) Roberts (R-KS) Shelby (R-AL) Snowe (R-ME) Specter (R-PA) Thune (R-SD) Vitter (R-LA) Voinovich (R-OH) Wicker (R-MS) --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on
[MCM] CDC was warned of flu 18 days before WHO alert
Company warned officials of flu 18 days before alert was issued By Les Blumenthal| McClatchy Newspapers http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/67283.htmlCompany warned officials of flu 18 days before alert was issued | McClatchy WASHINGTON - A Washington state biosurveillance firm raised the first warning about a possible outbreak of swine flu in Mexico more than two weeks before the World Health Organization offered its initial alert about a public health emergency of international concern. Both federal and international health officials had access to the warning from Veratect Corp. Later e-mails calling attention to the company's subsequent report that the disease was possibly spreading in Mexico were sent to 10 officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Robert Hart, the company's chief executive. Hart said he wasn't sure why health officials didn't act sooner. They have a lot of other responsibilities, Hart said on Thursday. But every day makes a difference. CDC officials in Atlanta said they were aware of Veratect's claims and hadn't been working with the company. We have nothing to add about their claims, said CDC spokesman Llelwyn Grant, adding that the CDC and other public health agencies had plans in place to deal with a flu pandemic and responded rapidly once they became aware of the Mexican outbreak. Veratect, based in Kirkland, Wash., uses a technique known as data mining to automatically search tens of thousands of Web sites daily for early signs of looming medical problems or civil unrest anywhere in the world. Anything of interest is turned over to a team of 35 analysts to determine its significance and to post on the company's Web site. The company markets access to its Web site to government agencies, businesses and others and has tried unsuccessfully to sell its service to the CDC, the World Health Organization and the Department of Homeland Security. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., who talked with the CDC, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies as late as January about Veratect, said the federal government had made a mistake in not purchasing the company's program, especially in light of the flu outbreak. I am very upset about this, Dicks said. Not to have it is totally ridiculous. This is a perfect example of why they needed this and now we are paying a price. Earlier this year, Hart said, Veratect gave free access to its Web site to the CDC and the WHO on a trial basis. On April 6, 18 days before the WHO issued its alert, Veratect reported on its Web site a strange outbreak of respiratory disease in La Gloria, Mexico, noting that local residents thought the outbreak was linked to contamination from pig breeding farms nearby. Hart said the information was available to the CDC and many state and local health authorities. The company's server showed an epidemiologist at the Pan American Health Organization, which is part of the World Health Organization, looked at the message about the La Gloria outbreak twice, on April 10 and 11, Hart said. Ten days after the warning was first issued, on April 16, Veratect reported the disease was possibly spreading in Mexico with an unspecified number of atypical pneumonia cases detected at a hospital in Oaxaca. Because of the heightened concern, an automated e-mail was sent to 10 people at the CDC to notify them the report was available. With the outbreak apparently spreading, Hart said the company's chief scientist, James Wilson, called people he knew at the CDC's Emergency Operations Center on April 20 to alert them to what was happening in Mexico. At that point, the CDC was focused on possible swine flu events in Texas and California, and a physician at the emergency operations center indicated the CDC was not aware of the spreading outbreak in Mexico, Hart said. We thought this deserved immediate attention and they started looking at it, Hart said. Four days later, the World Health Organization made its announcement. Veratect's warnings came as President Barack Obama prepared for his trip to Mexico, arriving in Mexico City on April 16. The White House said Thursday that an Energy Department staffer who was part of the advance team for Obama's visit is suspected of having contracted swine flu in Mexico and transmitting it to his family in Maryland. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the man, who wasn't identified, never got within six feet of the president. Hart said his company's system operated as it was supposed to. We don't make predictions, he said. We give the earliest wisp of smoke before the fire. Hart said he wasn't critical of the CDC or other health organizations, adding that what was needed was an effective global health monitoring system that Veratect should be a part of. Hindsight is great and it's hard to say whether (the delay) altered anything, he said. The only way to stop anything like this is to break the
[MCM] More on swine flu
From Dr. Meryl Nass: The way I would tell if the virus were lab-made would be to look at its genome and compare with existing influenza strains. I doubt it has been decoded yet (it will be soon) though these viruses change fast. Pending that information, I do not think things are suspicious yet . . . especially given what seems to me like low virulence. More likely, the flu viruses recombined with swine genes from pigs at Smithfield Farms, a massive industrial farming enterprise located at the epicenter of the epidemic. Flu viruses commonly recombine in both pigs and many types of birds, so having a mix of genes from different hosts is not at all as strange as it sounds. Recall that SARS had about a 50% death rate. It dropped after very aggressive treatment at a level Canada (and only a first world country) could provide. The 1918 flu had a 1-2% death rate, still horrendous. This one does not appear to have anywhere near those rates. Other flu strains that looked pretty scary died out after a few months. We see the worst cases first in a new illness; the less severe cases do not get typed. Given that, this death rate seems pretty tame. But we still are missing an awful lot of information. If someone who has been in contact with people exposed in Mexico, or otherwise is at high risk for this strain, starts coughing, develops a temp of at least 100 degrees or a sore throat--she should wear a mask and stay in her room as much as possible, preferably with the window open to lower the viral count indoors. We do not yet know whether Tamiflu will be very helpful or not. Theoretically it should provide some benefit, used early. She should get a nasal swab (NOT the rapid test, which has low accuracy), but use a PCR method or viral culture to look for influenza A. If positive, the specimen should be sent to the state lab for typing for H1N1. Meryl Meryl Nass, MD Mount Desert Island Hospital Bar Harbor, Maine 04609 W 207 288-5081 ext. 1220 C 207 522-5229 H 207 244-9165 pager 207 818-0708 http://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.comhttp://anthraxvaccine.blogspot.com http://www.anthraxvaccine.orghttp://www.anthraxvaccine.org --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[MCM] Specter's flip just doesn't matter: William Rivers Pitt
And please let's not forget that, in his big push on behalf of Clarence Thomas (a/k/a the best man for the job), Specter took a big dump on Anita Hill. The complete transcripts of those hearings are in print: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Transcripts-Clarence-Thomas-Anita-Hearings/dp/0897334086/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8s=booksqid=1241192991sr=1-1 MCM http://www.truthout.org/042909A Truthout Original It Just Doesn't Matter Wednesday 29 April 2009 by: William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Columnist http://www.truthout.org/042909A As the news of Arlen Specter's defection to the Democratic Party rolled across the news waves yesterday, I kept hearing Bill Murray from the movie Meatballs in my head: It just doesn't matter! It just doesn't matter! It just doesn't matter! Which is not entirely true, of course. The fallout after Specter woke up on the left side of the bed on Tuesday has been entirely entertaining, largely hilarious and just significant enough to warrant a little serious attention ... but that's just politics, which is also the entire reason Specter jumped. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans, claimed Specter, but that's a lot of hooey; as a Republican, Specter consistently supported several of the most extreme right-wing pieces of legislation ever presented before the Senate. No, Specter flipped for one simple reason: He was facing an insurmountable primary challenge from his right flank, in the guise of conservative House member and former Club For Growth president Pat Toomey. Down by double digits in the polls, Specter did the simple math, figured his chances of re-election were far stronger if he campaigned under the Democratic banner, and ran into the waiting arms of his colleagues across the ideological aisle. For the GOP and its supporters, the defection brings yet another shock to an already decimated Republican system; this was rough news for them and no mistake about it. A parade of long Republican faces and clenched Republican jaws have been marching across television screen since the announcement to denounce Specter, the Democrats, President Obama, and pretty much anything else that came into their sight. A lot of people said, well Specter, take McCain with you, and his daughter, growled Rush Limbaugh after the news came out. RNC Chairman Michael Steel said in a statement, Let's be honest. Senator Specter didn't leave the GOP based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record. With Specter's departure, goes the media refrain, the last vestiges of so-called moderate Republicanism are on the verge of being swept away entirely. But is Arlen Specter actually a moderate, and does his departure actually change anything? Consider Specter's most significant votes over the last eight years, wrote Salon's Glenn Greenwald on Tuesday, ones cast in favor of such definitive right-wing measures as: the war on Iraq, the Military Commissions Act, Patriot Act renewal, confirmation of virtually every controversial Bush appointee, retroactive telecom immunity, warrantless eavesdropping expansions, and Bush tax cuts (several times). Time and again during the Bush era, Specter stood with Republicans on the most controversial and consequential issues. Arlen Specter, continued Greenwald, is one of the worst, most soul-less, most belief-free individuals in politics. The moment most vividly illustrating what Specter is: prior to the vote on the Military Commissions Act of 2006, he went to the floor of the Senate and said what the bill 'seeks to do is set back basic rights by some 900 years' and is 'patently unconstitutional on its face.' He then proceeded to vote YES on the bill's passage. Specter's ideological inconsistency even extends to the act of switching parties, as evidenced by his reaction when James Jeffords (I-Vermont) dumped the GOP in 2001 and briefly handed majority control of the Senate to the Democrats. Specter said then-Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords' decision to become an independent was disruptive to the functioning of Congress, reported The Los Angeles Times on Wednesday. He proposed a rule forbidding party switches that had the effect of vaulting the minority to majority status in the middle of a congressional session. ' If somebody wants to change parties, they can do that,' Specter said at the time. 'But that kind of instability is not good for governance of the country and the Senate.' Pretty funny stuff right there. The supposedly big deal for Democrats is the fact that, once Al Franken finally wends his way past Republican roadblocks and takes his Minnesota Senate seat, the addition of Specter to the Democratic caucus lifts their majority to the much-ballyhooed number
[MCM] Did Rice admit to criminal conspiracy? ( more from Raw Story)
== May 1 Rice may have admitted to conspiracy, former Nixon counsel says By David Edwards and John Byrne -- May 1, 2009 http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/05/01/john-dean-rice-may-have-admitted-to-conspiracy/http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/05/01/john-dean-rice-may-have-admitted-to-conspiracy/ In little-noticed comments Thursday, the former White House counsel for President Richard Nixon John Dean said Thursday that former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may have unwittingly admitted to a criminal conspiracy when questioned about torture by a group of student Contractors paid $1,000 a day to supervise, design torture program By Raw Story -- May 1, 2009 http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/05/01/contractors-paid-1000-a-day-to-supervise-design-torture-program/http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/05/01/contractors-paid-1000-a-day-to-supervise-design-torture-program/ Two former military officers, both psychologists, were paid $1,000 a day by the Central Intelligence Agency to supervise the torture and waterboarding of US detainees, according to a report published late Thursday. Charges against Israeli lobbyists in espionage case to be dropped By John Byrne -- May 1, 2009 http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/05/01/charges-against-israeli-lobbyists-to-dropped/http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/05/01/charges-against-israeli-lobbyists-to-dropped/ The Justice Department will drop charges against two former lobbyists for the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, the Washington Post is set to report. GOP IT guru's sisters question events surrounding his death By Stephen C. Webster -- April 30, 2009 http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/04/30/gop-it-gurus-sisters-question-events-surrounding-his-death/http://rawstory.com/08/blog/2009/04/30/gop-it-gurus-sisters-question-events-surrounding-his-death/ The sisters of Michael Connell, a GOP IT consultant and former associate of Karl Rove who died in a plane crash last December, are now questioning the circumstances surrounding his death. BLOG NYT Public Editor tap dances around 'Brutal Truth' of torture http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/05/nyt-public-editor-dances-around-brutal-truth-of-torture/http://rawstory.com/blog/2009/05/nyt-public-editor-dances-around-brutal-truth-of-torture/ Clark Hoyt's New York Times public editor column on Sunday, Telling the Brutal Truth, brings the ongoing debate over whether waterboarding is torture to brave new heights of absurdity. For more go to: http://www.rawstory.comhttp://www.rawstory.comhttp://rawstory.com/rawreplay/ http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/ RSS Feeds: http://rawstory.com/rss.phphttp://rawstory.com/rss.php http://feeds.feedburner.com/rawstory/gKpzhttp://feeds.feedburner.com/rawstory/gKpz Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Raw-Story/20324257234http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Raw-Story/20324257234 Twitter: http://twitter.com/rawstoryhttp://twitter.com/rawstory === Kyle F. Hence mailto:k...@rawstory.comk...@rawstory.com http://www.rawstory.comhttp://www.rawstory.com = To be removed from The Rawstory Wire please reply with REMOVE in the subject line. To add your address please send an email to mailto:k...@rawstory.comk...@rawstory.com withADD in the subject line. If per chance you are receiving duplicates please let me know and I'll address it. Thank you. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~--- inline: Untitled 235.jpg
[MCM] 9/11 witnesses intimidated by Bush/Cheney's minders
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_alladdress=389x5575093 All the more reason to demand a new--that is to say, a real--investigation. (See below.) MCM From: AJ mailto:ajlei...@fas.harvard.eduajlei...@fas.harvard.edu Subject: [9-11-290] Petitions To: mailto:9-11-...@meetup.com9-11-...@meetup.com Date: Thursday, April 30, 2009, 7:28 AM If you will be in or near New York anytime between now and July 3rd, its your responsibility to help get people to sign the petition for a new investigation of 9/11. We currently have just over 35,000 signatures and need 75,000 (40,000 more) in order to guarantee a spot on the ballot for voters to choose whether or not they'd like a new investigation. This amounts to getting a bit over 600 petitions a day! This will be difficult, but NOT impossible. Only people who are registered NYC voters can sign it, so tell anybody and everybody you know that could sign it. Go to http://www.nyccan.org/http://www.nyccan.org/ for more details. Need more motivation? If you go to Union Square in Manhattan and get at least 12 people per hour to sign the petition, you will make $15/hour. I've already gotten one friend to do it just for the money even though he has no interest in 9/11 truth. Try to get as many people involved as possible! If there are 150 or so people in this group (I believe there are), and each one of us works for just 22 total hours, we'll hit 75,000 by July 3rd. I realize this is a Boston list, but I'm sure not all of us will be in Boston for the summer. I plan on getting at least 1,000 sigs during the month of June by both working in Union Square and going door-to-door in other boroughs like Queens and Brooklyn. We should all try to make this sort of commitment if we can. If everybody pitches in, we can really make a HUGE difference. Thanks, and sorry for the lengthy message. -- Please Note: If you hit REPLY, your message will be sent to everyone on this mailing list (http://us.mc01g.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=9-11-...@meetup.com9-11-...@meetup.com) This message was sent by AJ (mailto:ajlei...@fas.harvard.eduajlei...@fas.harvard.edu) from http://www.meetup.com/boston911truth/Boston 9/11 Truth. To learn more about AJ, visit his/her http://www.meetup.com/boston911truth/members/9206328/member profile To unsubscribe or to update your mailing list settings, http://www.meetup.com/account/comm/click here Meetup Support: mailto:supp...@meetup.comsupp...@meetup.com 632 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 USA --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's News From Underground newsgroup. To unsubscribe, send a blank email to newsfromunderground-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com OR go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the Unsubscribe or change membership link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the Unsubscribe button on the next page. For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
