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Consumerama
Draft Al Gore for President
Joanna Olson, please contact UnkNews
4th Amendment now has income requirement:
Supreme Court OKs warrantless searches of poor peoples' homes| |
Excerpt: The justices refused, without comment, to intervene in the case from San Diego County, where investigators from the local District Attorney's office show up unannounced at applicants' homes and conduct searches that include peeking into closets and cabinets. The visits do not require any suspicion of fraud and are intended to confirm that people are eligible for government aid ...
No one (except the impacted families) will care about this case, but it should be exceptionally concerning to everyone. Why will no one care? Because (once again) the erosion of civil liberties starts at the bottom of the economic ladder, with those who are least personally equipped to resist.
Comment: The only right we now have is the right to submit. Wig PERMANENT LINK |
Federal agents use cell phones to track people without cause | |
Excerpt: Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers.
In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring the government to demonstrate that there is probable cause to believe that a crime is taking place or that the inquiry will yield evidence of a crime. Privacy advocates fear such a practice may expose average Americans to a new level of government scrutiny of their daily lives.
Comment: I think you're only supposed to read the first sentence of this article, the one that says that criminals are being tracked using their cell phones. Okay, fine. Who has a problem with that? Please pay no attention to the second sentence, which directly contradicts the first. If these warrants are granted without probable cause, then they are using cell phones to track not just criminals, but whoever the hell they want. Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK |
Firefighters trained to report fire victims who express discontent with government| |
Excerpt: Unlike law enforcement officials, firemen can go onto private property without a warrant, not only while fighting fires but also for inspections. "It's the evolution of the fire service," said a Phoenix, AZ fire chief of his information-sharing arrangement with law enforcement.
Keith Olbermann raised the alarm about the program on his show Wednesday, noting that "if the information-sharing program works in New York, the department says it will extend it to other major metropolitan areas, unless we stop them." He then asked Mike German, a former FBI agent who is now with the ACLU, "This program seems to be turning [firefighters], essentially, into legally protected domestic spies, does it not?" |
Bush-Maliki agreement for "long term US presence" defies US laws, Iraqi Parliament| |
Excerpt: Monday's "declaration of principles" between President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki indicates the US will maintain a "long-term" presence in Iraq and involve itself closely in the Iraqi oil trade, backsliding on rules made in this year's two largest defense laws.
The 2008 Defense Appropriations Act, which Bush signed into law in mid-November, bars the United States from establishing permanent bases in Iraq and from exerting control over Iraqi oil. The 2008 Defense Authorization Act, which has passed the House and Senate and is expected to be sent to the president sometime in the next few weeks, contains similar language.
Under both acts, the US is forbidden "to establish any military installation or base for the purpose of providing for the permanent stationing of United States Armed Forces in Iraq." Although when Bush approved the Appropriations Act, he released a signing statement exempting himself from several of the law's provisions, the proscription against permanent bases was not one of them. |
New lawsuit against Blackwater: Guards weren't guarding anyone during massacre| |
Excerpt: The private military contractor Blackwater Worldwide has been hit with a new lawsuit over the September killings of seventeen Iraqis in Baghdad. Filed this week in U.S. District Court, the suit accuses Blackwater guards of ignoring orders and company officials of failing to administer drug tests.
According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, new evidence shows Blackwater guards had already dropped off the U.S. official they were guarding when they opened fire. The plaintiffs also accuses Blackwater of routinely sending guards on missions despite knowing at least one-quarter have used steroids or other "judgment-altering substances. |
California sues ES&S over sale of tampered voting equipment| |
Excerpt: [Secretary of State Debra] Bowen is suing ES&S for $9.72 million in penalties for selling 972 machines that contained hardware changes that were never submitted to, or reviewed by, the Secretary of State. Furthermore, she is seeking nearly $5 million to reimburse the five counties that bought the machines believing they were buying certified voting equipment.
"ES&S ignored the law over and over and over again, and it got caught," said Bowen, the state's top elections officer. "California law is very clear on this issue. I am not going to stand on the sidelines and watch a voting system vendor come into this state, ignore the laws, and make millions of dollars from California's taxpayers in the process." |
Ohio e-voting review makes a mockery of "recounts"| |
Excerpt: The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports ... that Ohio's Cuyahoga County -- ground zero in the nationwide e-voting debacle ... -- is holding a "recount" of their November 6 local elections by going back to the memory cards in their Diebold touchscreen voting machines and reprinting all the paper ballots, so that they can tabulate paper copies of the votes in compliance with a law that defines the paper record as the only official record of the vote. How stupid is this idea? |
Bush-appointed head of Rove inquiry
had evidence wiped from hard disks| |
Excerpt: The head of the federal agency investigating Karl Rove's White House political operation is facing allegations that he improperly deleted computer files during another probe, using a private computer-help company, Geeks on Call.
Scott Bloch runs the Office of Special Counsel, an agency charged with protecting government whistleblowers and enforcing a ban on federal employees engaging in partisan political activity. Mr. Bloch's agency is looking into whether Mr. Rove and other White House |
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Why haven't these men
been impeached, arrested,
and flown to the Hague for trial?
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Bloch says he won't provide files
Excerpt: The decision by Special Counsel Scott J. Bloch escalates the confrontation between the Bush appointee and the White House, each of which is investigating the other.
Bloch's office is tasked with upholding laws against whistle-blower retaliation and partisan politicking in federal agencies. Earlier this year, Bloch directed lawyers in his office to look into charges that former Bush adviser Karl Rove inappropriately deployed government employees in Republican political campaigns.
Bloch had previously been targeted by the White House, which in 2005 asked the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to investigate allegations that Bloch had retaliated against whistle-blowers among his own staff members and improperly dismissed whistle-blower cases brought to the agency by others. |
Life in liberated Afghanistan & Iraq
6,000 Sunni Iraqis join pact with US| |
Excerpt: For about $275 a month -- nearly the salary for the typical Iraqi policeman -- the tribesmen will man about 200 security checkpoints beginning Dec. 7, supplementing hundreds of Iraqi forces already in the area.
Comment: So the headline is a lie: They're not "joining a pact", they're just being hired, presumably because their deaths won't make splashy American headlines like the deaths of American soldiers. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Corruption and theft soar in Iraq| |
Excerpt: "Stuart Bowen Jr., who runs the Office of the Special Inspector-General for Iraq Reconstruction, said Prime Minister Nouri Kamal al-Maliki actually undercut anti-corruption efforts this year by requiring that investigators get permission from his office before pursuing ministers or former ministers on corruption charges.
Maliki has also not rescinded a law, opposed by the Americans, that lets ministers exempt their employees from investigation.
'"Those two legal positions within the fledgling Iraqi government are incompatible with democracy," Bowen said in an interview. "My concerns about the corruption problem have risen."'
Comment: AH!! Sweet success. Sounds like Bush's idea of government to me. Wig PERMANENT LINK |
UN fears cholera in Iraq| |
Excerpt: The United Nations on Thursday said it feared an outbreak of cholera in Baghdad where at least 101 cases have been reported in the past three weeks. |
Iraqi lawmakers protest US guards| |
Excerpt: Iraq's largest Sunni Arab political bloc walked out of parliament on Saturday and its leader said he had been placed under house arrest after his son and dozens of members of his entourage were detained. |
Iraqi contractors frozen out of U.S.| |
Excerpt: Thousands of Iraqis whose support for the U.S. war effort in Iraq has put them and their families in grave danger at home are being excluded from a new fast-track system aimed at speeding up refugee resettlement in the United States for American allies, officials said Thursday. |
Four Iraqi civilians dead after US troops open fire on mini-bus
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FEMA's fake reporters get their promotions after all| |
Excerpt: After our item, and an investigation of what Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff called "one of the dumbest and most inappropriate things I've seen since I've been in government," we're happy to announce that [Cindy] Taylor and [Mike] Widomski appear to have been disciplined, FEMA-style.
They've received the promotions they were in line to get.
So, according to the External Affairs Weekly report for this week, Taylor is director of the Private Sector Division, and Widomski is deputy director of public affairs. |
White House pleads secrecy in Abramoff records| |
Excerpt: The administration agreed last year to produce all responsive records about the visits "without redactions or claims of exemption," according to a court order.
But in a court filing Friday night, administration lawyers said that the Secret Service has identified a category of highly sensitive documents that might contain information sought in a lawsuit about Abramoff's trips to the White House. |
Judge orders gov't to release telecom lobbying records| |
Excerpt: An electronic privacy group challenging President Bush's domestic spying program scored a minor victory after a judge ordered the federal government to release information about lobbying efforts by telecommunications companies to protect them from prosecution. ...
The Electronic Frontier Foundation wants to know about "discussions, briefings or other exchanges" telecommunications companies and members of Congress have had recently with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, according to Tuesday's court order. U.S. District Judge Susan Illston said "all responsive, non-exempt documents" or anything required to be released under the Freedom of Information Act must be turned over by Dec. 10. |
Telecom immunity: It's unconstitutional| |
Excerpt: For weeks now, we've been force-fed the fiction that Congress can, if it wishes, grant legal immunity to the telecoms for the anti-Constitutional invasions of privacy that they've perpetrated for years.
There might be something further from Constitutional truth, but that one is a whopper. "No ex post facto law ... shall be passed." The Constitution says that. There is no such thing as legal retroactive immunity for crimes already committed. |
There are more than three stooges
(and one of them will be America's next President)
Giuliani billed obscure city agencies $618,000 to
finance trips to the Hamptons to cheat on his wife| |
Excerpt: As New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses amassed during the time when he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan in the Hamptons, according to previously undisclosed government records.
Giuliani response to billing scandal turns out to be more lies
Excerpt: Joe Lhota, a deputy mayor in Giuliani's City Hall, told the Daily News Wednesday night that the administration's practice of allocating security expenses to small city offices that had nothing to do with mayoral protection has "gone on for years" and "predates Giuliani."
When told budget officials from the administrations of Ed Koch and David Dinkins said they did no such thing, Lhota caved Thursday.
Comment: Giuliani and his people should be more careful about lying, because if their pants actually do catch on fire, I don't think the New York Fire Department's going to be in a big hurry to help them out. Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK
Giuliani's mistress used N.Y. Police as taxi service
Excerpt: Well before it was publicly known he was seeing her, then-married New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani provided a police driver and city car for his mistress Judith Nathan, former senior city officials tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com.
"She used the PD as her personal taxi service," said one former city official who worked for Giuliani. |
Ron Paul is now Republican frontrunner, according to fundraising| |
Excerpt: Republican Presidential candidate, Ron Paul, is now the frontrunner in the GOP race according to this months fund raising numbers. Paul rose over 10.3 million in the fourth quarter with a month left to go in the quarter. That number is double of what Paul raised in the third quarter.
By contrast, rival Fred Thompson raised $9,750,821 in the third quarter. Mitt Romney raised $9,896,719 in the third quarter, and Rudy Giuliani raised $10,258,019 in the third quarter.
Comment: Ron Paul is a scary candidate, but he's the best of the Republicans running (faint praise). He's scary in less murderous ways than the other Republicans, and he actually has some principles -- bonkers principles, of course, but that's better than no principles at all. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK
Paul says he won't support Republican nominee
Excerpt: [Congressman Ron] Paul called his Republican presidential rivals, including frontrunner Rudy Giuliani, "neo-conservatives" whom he couldn't support in the general election should his own bid fail.
"They think we're supposed to spread our goodness through force," Paul said. For example, none will pledge not to wage war on Iran, he said. "How could I support something like that?" |
Huckabee's record: Freed a rapist who became a killer,
destroyed gov't hard drives, misappropriated funds, raised taxes| |
Excerpt: Mike Huckabee comes with some serious baggage, and with his rise in the polls comes new scrutiny of his record as governor Arkansas, both in the media and by his opponents, who are quickly finding his record in Little Rock to be what opposition researchers might call a "target-rich environment." |
Giuliani's "statistics" are lies| |
Excerpt: In almost every appearance as he campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination, Rudolph W. Giuliani cites a fusillade of statistics and facts to make his arguments about his successes in running New York City and the merits of his views. ...
All of these statements are incomplete, exaggerated or just plain wrong. And while, to be sure, all candidates use misleading statistics from time to time, Mr. Giuliani has made statistics a central part of his candidacy as he campaigns on his record. |
McCain compares Ron Paul to Hitler| |
Excerpt: In a new low of despicable looniness, at the Republican debate in St. Petersburg, John McCain equated those Americans who want to stop militarily occupying Iraq with Hitler-enablers. He actually said that, saying that it was 'isolationism' of a sort that allowed Hitler to come to power.
It gives a person a certain amount of faith in one's fellow Americans that McCain was booed by the Republican crowd for this piece of calumny. Comparisons to Hitler should be automatic grounds for a candidate to be disqualified from being president. |
Why League of Women Voters calls presidential debates "frauds"| |
Excerpt: "The League of Women Voters is withdrawing its sponsorship of the presidential debate scheduled for mid-October because the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter," League President Nancy M. Neuman said today.
"It has become clear to us that the candidates' organizations aim to add debates to their list of campaign-trail charades devoid of substance, spontaneity and honest answers to tough questions," Neuman said. "The League has no intention of becoming an accessory to the hoodwinking of the American public."
CNN says American public can't be trusted to ask debate questions
Excerpt: But in an interview with Wired, CNN senior vice president David Bohrman defended CNN's methods, arguing that the public can't be trusted to choose intelligent questions. |
Giuliani does business with sheik who helped 9/11 mastermind elude FBI| |
Excerpt: In retrospect, Giuliani's embrace of the emir appears peculiar. But it was only a sign of bigger things to come: the launching of a cozy business relationship with terrorist-tolerant Qatar that is inconsistent with the core message of Giuliani's current presidential campaign, namely that his experience and toughness uniquely equip him to protect America from what he tauntingly calls "Islamic terrorists" -- an enemy that he always portrays himself as ready to confront, and the Democrats as ready to accommodate. |
Kerik vouches for Giuliani's character
Republicans will demand loyalty oath from all Virginia voters
Campaign volunteer lobs softball queries at Giuliani, but insists he's not a plant
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US says it has right to kidnap British citizens| |
Excerpt: A senior lawyer for the American government has told the Court of Appeal in London that kidnapping foreign citizens is permissible under American law because the US Supreme Court has sanctioned it. |
Lott resigns ahead of lobbying ban| |
Excerpt: Sen. Trent Lott's surprise resignation this week set off a leadership shuffle in Senate GOP ranks -- and talk that the No. 2 Republican is cashing in his 35 years on Capitol Hill for a K Street lobby shop.
It's rare for a US senator to resign during a term of office for reasons other than health, scandal, or quest for higher public office. It's happened only twice since World War II.
Moreover, Senator Lott's resignation takes effect just before a new ethics law kicks in that will extend the "cooling off" period -- from one year to two -- before an ex-lawmaker can lobby former colleagues.
Asked whether the new law had a role in his decision to step down, Lott said "it didn't have a big role in that decision."
Lott's brother-in-law indicted for bribing a judge
Excerpt: The indictment accuses Richard "Dickie" Scruggs of conspiring to pay the judge $50,000 to rule in his favor in a lawsuit brought by other attorneys who sought fees for work on Katrina insurance litigation.
Circuit Court Judge Henry Lackey reported the "bribery overture" to federal authorities and agreed to assist investigators in an "undercover capacity," according to the indictment.
Comment: I'm a little skeptical that this had anything to do with Lott's resignation. Would a man who refuses to resign after his praise of Strom Thurmond's racism was caught on tape really care about avoiding embarrassment over a corrupt in-law? It's still a good story, though. Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK |
Sub-prime mess enters a whole new level of scandal| |
Excerpt: US Senator Charles Schumer urged the regulator of the Federal Home Loan Bank system to probe cash advances to the largest US mortgage lender. The Atlanta bank has made $51.1 billion in advances to Countrywide as of Sept. 30, representing 37 percent of the bank’s total outstanding advances, Schumer wrote. At first glance, it appears that taxpayers’ trust is being used to bail out one of the biggest bad actors in the subprime story.
Comment: Millions of people lose their homes after being tricked into mortgages they couldn’t afford, and they get a lecture on financial responsibility. A large corporation loses money after this very same scam comes back to bite them, and the federal government can’t shovel buckets of taxpayer money at them fast enough. Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK |
Cops you won't see on TV's COPS
At second trial, Milwaukee cops finally convicted of beating biracial man| |
Excerpt: Three white former police officers were sentenced to long prison terms Thursday for the off-duty beating of a biracial man, an attack that outraged the city and sent protesters into the streets.
The trial is the second round in a case that has haunted Milwaukee. The three men were acquitted of most state charges by an all-white jury in April 2006, angering the community. Federal authorities filed the civil rights charges six months later. |
Tasering motorist in the back judged "reasonable"| |
Excerpt: Officials said Gardner could have issued the ticket without Massey's signature. The investigation found use of the Taser was justified because Massey had turned his back and put a hand near his pocket, Davenport said.
"For a law-enforcement officer, that is a very, very scary situation," he said.
Comment: Shooting an unarmed man in the back is now "reasonable." Hogwash! Watch the video. The worst the motorist could do walking away is moon the officer. Very threatening! SirJ PERMANENT LINK
Comment: Remember that just last week, the UN ruled that tasering constituted torture. But this country now finds torturing certain people completely reasonable. So at least we’re being consistent. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Police officer who ejaculated on motorist found not guilty| |
Excerpt: Four months earlier, Officer David Alex Park had stopped Lucy under similar circumstances. That time, he'd ignored a plastic drug baggie he'd found in her car and her suspended license. But the stop wasn't a waste of time. After friendly chit-chat, the officer had scored Lucy's phone number. Telephone records show that Park called the stripper the next morning. She told him she was too busy to meet. |
Cops can take DNA samples from non-violent felons
Stun gun used on pregnant woman in Ohio
Cop who lied about being stabbed faces ... no discipline
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91% of Americans say life in Canada would be better| |
Excerpt: Most telling of all was the answer to this question: "If you moved to Canada would you expect to have a better quality of life?" Yes, said 71 per cent of Italians, 82 per cent of the British, 85 per cent of Chinese, 87 per cent of Turks, 93 per cent of Israelis, 94 per cent of Indians and Russians. Yes, life in Canada would be better, said 91 per cent of Americans, living in the wealthiest, most powerful nation on earth. |
US scraps Annapolis resolution at UN after 'Israeli objections'| |
Excerpt: US Deputy Ambassador Alejandro Wolff informed the Security Council that the United States was pulling the resolution from consideration less than 24 hours after US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad introduced it and welcomed the "very positive" response from council members. |
Four more gay men describe sexual encounters with U.S. Sen. Craig| |
Excerpt: Four gay men, willing to put their names in print and whose allegations can't be disproved, have come forward since news of U.S. Sen. Larry Craig's guilty plea. They say they had sex with Craig or that he made a sexual advance or that he paid them unusual attention.
They are telling their stories now because they are offended by Craig's denials, including his famous statement, "I am not gay, I never have been gay." Those words, spoken on live national TV on Aug. 28, are now memorialized on a just-released-for-Christmas Talking Senator Larry Craig Action Figure.
Comment: To quote Senator Craig in a different context, “Thank you all for coming out today.” Madeline Zane PERMANENT LINK |
Bill Clinton falsely claims he always opposed Iraq war| |
Excerpt: The New York Times and Washington Post both failed to adequately challenge the dishonesty of former President Bill Clinton's declaration that he had been opposed to the Iraq War "from the beginning." Clinton, in fact, was a supporter of the war, both before the invasion and in the first year or so of the fighting. |
Bonkers judge may be removed from bench| |
Excerpt: "Everyone is going to jail, every single person is going to jail in this courtroom unless I get that instrument now," he bellowed at the court. He wasn't joking.
Comment: This schmuck had dozens of people illegally jailed because a cell phone rang in the courtroom -- and it's taken two and a half years to get him removed from the bench. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Vote for me or face 'humiliation': Putin| |
Excerpt: President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned Russians to vote for his party in elections or face a return to "humiliation" as a prominent critic accused him of leading Russia toward dictatorship. |
Chihuahua Leahy yips that Bush can't claim executive privilege,
since he allegedly was not involved in US Attorney firings| |
Excerpt: A Senate chairman acknowledged explicitly on Thursday that President Bush was not involved in the firings of U.S. Attorneys last winter and therefore ruled illegal the president's executive privilege claims protecting his chief of staff, John Bolten, and former adviser Karl Rove.
Sen. Patrick Leahy directed Bolten, Rove, former political director Sara Taylor and her deputy, J. Scott Jennings, to comply "immediately" with their subpoenas for documents and information about the White House's role in the firings of U.S. Attorneys.
"I hereby rule that those claims are not legally valid to excuse current and former White House employees from appearing, testifying and producing documents related to this investigation," Leahy wrote.
The ruling is a formality that clears the way for Leahy's panel to vote on whether to advance the citations to the full Senate. |
Trashing (or saving?) the planet
Global warming: Maybe ten years left before large-scale human
and economic setbacks and irreversible ecological catastrophes| |
Excerpt: The UN Human Development Report issued one of the strongest warnings yet of the lasting impact of climate change on living standards and a strong call for urgent collective action.
"We could be on the verge of seeing human development reverse for the first time in 30 years," Kevin Watkins, lead author of the report, told Reuters.Comment: I actually take this as good news, but I'm not sure it's true. My impression, just from the world's weather, is that we're already teetering on the brink of too late. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Global warming: Disasters quadruple over last 20 years| |
Excerpt: From an average of 120 disasters a year in the early 1980s, there are now as many as 500, with Oxfam attributing the rise to unpredictable weather conditions cause by global warming. |
12 states sue EPA for data on toxins| |
Excerpt: The state officials oppose new federal Environmental Protection Agency rules that allow thousands of companies to limit the information they disclose to the public about toxic chemicals, according to New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the lead attorney general in the lawsuit. |
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Five European nations allowed CIA rendition flights| |
Excerpt: Three years ago, The Sunday Times published flight logs of CIA civilian jets in Europe, setting off a controversy over the whether countries across the continent have been secretly involved in America's rendition of terrorist suspects to countries that carry out torture.
The row is now set to be reignited. Inquiries by Ana Gomes, a Portuguese member of the European parliament, have uncovered not only more CIA flight logs but also more sensitive military flight plans, which until now have remained a closely guarded secret. |
Delay in citizenship paperwork (Unplanned! Really!)
means new Americans will miss 2008 election| |
Excerpt: Millions of people who applied for naturalization and other immigration benefits to beat a midsummer fee increase are caught in a paperwork pileup that threatens the chance for some to become U.S. citizens in time to vote in next November's presidential election.
The failure to anticipate the swamp of applications has left some skeptical of the agency and uncertain whether the pileup is political.
"I hope there is no politics involved, but it makes me wonder when it's a Republican administration and those pushing anti-immigrant legislation are Republicans and the ones managing this process are Republicans," [union official Eliseo] Medina said. |
YouTube suspends account of anti-torture activist for posting torture videos| |
Excerpt: The video-sharing website YouTube today suspended the account of a prominent Egyptian anti-torture activist who posted videos of brutal behavior online.
Wael Abbas said some 100 images he had uploaded to the site were no longer accessible to users due to "complaints about the content".
Abbas, who this year won international recognition for his work in opposing the use of torture, claims the clips depicted police brutality, voting irregularities and anti-government demonstrations.
But a message on Abbas's YouTube user page now reads: "This account is suspended". YouTube, now owned by search engine giant Google, failed to respond to a written request for comment.
Comment: "Don't be evil" is supposedly the informal motto at Google (which owns YouTube). If anyone there still believes that line, this startlingly empty-headed decision -- protecting viewers from being offended by reality -- will be overturned and pronto.
Update Fox News says Abbas's account was restored by YouTube on Friday, but as of Monday morning, nobody else is reporting a happy ending. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Congressman ticketed in Chicago for Driving While Black| |
Excerpt: [Illinois Congressman Danny] Davis was stopped by two officers as he drove along 15th Street and Kedzie Avenue late Sunday night.
"I was totally shocked. If I had committed a traffic violation, I would pay the price. But I'm firmly convinced that the only reason the police stopped us is because there were four black people in the car. I guess they didn't have anything to do," he said.
Sickened by the events, Davis immediately drove to the district's police station to file a complaint but said "there was no one to file a complaint with." He plans to follow up with the district's commander. |
Putin signs law suspending Russia's participation in Europe armed forces treaty| |
Excerpt: President Vladimir Putin signed a law Friday suspending Russia's participation in the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe Treaty, intensifying pressure on NATO to make further concessions, said European diplomats.
Putin's action, two days before national elections, moved Russia a step closer to carrying out its threat to stop abiding by the accord on Dec. 12. U.S. and Russian arms control experts said they would step up negotiations over the coming days. |
Venezuela isn't the only Latin country considering charter changes| |
Excerpt: ...in Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, critics say, the proposed changes
would give presidents too much power.
"It is a battle between democracy and authoritarianism," said Valeria Merino, who until recently headed the Latin American Corporation for Development, an Ecuadorian democracy watchdog organization. "This has nothing to do with the left or the right ... but how you exercise power."
Comment: How can credible journalists write on this subject without referencing Bush-Cheney's power grab, and their helpers in the US Congress of past years? JR Mooneyham PERMANENT LINK |
Oregon Attorney General goes after RIAA| |
Excerpt: Now the Oregon AG has taken a step further, taking the offensive and filing legal papers demanding disclosure of the RIAA's investigative methods. The filing alleges that the RIAA may have spied on students and illegally obtained their Social Security numbers and other personal information. |
Windows XP outshines Vista in benchmarking test| |
Excerpt: Vista, both with and without SP1, performed over two times slower than XP with SP3 in the test, taking over 80 seconds to complete the test, compared to the beta SP3-enhanced XP's 35 seconds." ...
"Microsoft has had to allow PC manufacturers to continue to sell XP on new PCs, setting a deadline for the last sale at January 31. However, the pressure from manufacturers and consumers has been so great that Microsoft has been forced to extend the deadline another five months, until June.
According to Microsoft, sales of Vista have been picking up, with the software giant reporting 88 million units sold.
Comment: Sales of Vista have increased because in most cases it is the only choice. Example, Staples, which stocks only Windows Vista machines and is selling a nice Compaq desktop for less than $300. Microsoft is in a lot of trouble over this because a reasonable person may choose Linux or Apple over being abused by a monopolist -- it is wrong and bad. Hazel Burke PERMANENT LINK |
Israel sets Holocaust damages at $240 billion| |
Excerpt: More than $8 billion of one-time payments to Jews and non-Jews were negotiated in settlements between 1998 and 2001, and a substantial part was paid and distributed, the report says.
But this represents just a small fraction of the Jewish material damage during the Holocaust, and "there is much to be done in order to achieve a measure of justice" for survivors and their heirs, the report said. "Restitution can successfully be dealt with only by exceptional legal measures. ... In most countries, special, fast, and simple legislation is badly needed."
Comment: Please send the invoice to Mr. Hitler's government, because they are responsible. The rest of us, who for the most part were not even alive at the time, and indeed lost family killed in the war to STOP Mr. Hitler, are not liable for this debt. Indeed, it is Israel who owes the rest of the world a huge debt, both morally and financially for all that we sacrificed to stop Hitler. What Really Happened PERMANENT LINK |
Having fully ruined economy, Bush economic adviser steps down| |
Comment: "My work here is done," said Al Hubbard, chairman of President Bush's National Economic Council. |
Bush administration offers Paul Wolfowitz top State Department job| |
Entire item: Don't ever say the Bush administration doesn't take care of its own. Nearly three years after Paul Wolfowitz resigned as deputy Defense secretary and six months after his stormy departure as president of the World Bank -- amid allegations that he improperly awarded a raise to his girlfriend -- he's in line to return to public service. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has offered Wolfowitz, a prime architect of the Iraq War, a position as chairman of the International Security Advisory Board, a prestigious State Department panel, according to two department sources who declined to be identified discussing personnel matters. The 18-member panel, which has access to highly classified intelligence, advises Rice on disarmament, nuclear proliferation, WMD issues and other matters. "We think he is well suited and will do an excellent job," said one senior official. |
US, others pledge to protect journalists in war zones| |
Excerpt: The United States, Britain and France publicly pledged Thursday to take all necessary steps to ensure the safety of journalists in war zones.
Comment: The evidence that the US has targetted, harassed, and intentionally killed journalists in occupied Iraq is basically incontrovertible, so chalk this up as another lie from Bush-Cheney et al. Helen & Harry PERMANENT LINK |
Judge orders police to return 39 marijuana plants to couple| |
Excerpt: Brian Vincente, lawyer for the couple, hopes authorities have taken care of the plants as provided by the state's medical marijuana law, which was approved by voters in 2000.
"If they've allowed these plants to die, they've broken the law," said Vincente, executive director of Sensible Colorado, a non-profit advocacy group of medical marijuana patients. |
AT&T archives hold electronic records of 1.92 trillion telephone calls, going back decades| |
Excerpt: A former AT&T official who had detailed knowledge of the call-record database said the Daytona system takes great care to make certain that anyone using the database - whether AT&T employee or law enforcement official with a subpoena - sees only information he or she is authorized to see, and that an audit trail keeps track of all users. Such information is frequently used to build models of suspects' social networks. |
Robot air bombers require no pilots| |
Excerpt: Pre-production versions ... will be operational in February 2008, flown by Army aviators. Later aircraft, though, will be flown by non-pilot warrant officers.
But as one Predator pilot observes, "we're flying to take part in exercises and we're allowed to be in civilian airspace, 1000 feet away from jumbo jets. Who's going to like a non-rated Army officer doing that?" Another operator says simply: "In order to apply lethal force you should be a rated aviator." Underlying this: a real concern that if the Army has got it wrong, a blue-on-blue disaster or a midair will set back the development of UAVs by decades.
Comment: We don't have enough pilot error now. Wig PERMANENT LINK |
Republican Party disbands in Green Bay after chairman's child enticement arrest| |
Excerpt: State Republican leaders on Thursday downplayed the development, promising to remake the Brown County party. |
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This week's commentary
Learn to live on less
by Ace, Unknown News
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Excerpt: Our only conceivable exercise of protest at this point, probably worthless individually but possibly meaningful collectively, is economic boycott. This concept is not new (i.e.: Boston Tea Party). This dictatorship, like all others, is sponsored solely by Big Business: by Wal-Mart, Exxon, AT&T, Citibank and McDonald's and their evil ilk. Corporate Amerika benefits greatly from a fearful, totalitarian state, and they count on us citizens to never make the connection between our slovenly consumer habits and the fueling of a repressive political atmosphere. Every time we buy gas from Exxon, buy a Whopper at Burger King, pay for our credit card at Bank of America, watch a crappy movie on Showtime, troll MySpace for kicks or play with our little AT&T cellphones, we are feeding the monster that imprisons us. |
My take on the current Depressing situation
by Leon Fisher, Unknown News
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Excerpt: With everything going wrong, thanks to the greedy, disloyal traitors of Wall St and Washington who caused this mess to begin with, it is only right that the devious plans of these running dogs of Globalism should fail as well. |
So here's the plan
by Don Nash, Unknown News
When the revolution comes,
heavy handed moralizing
by JS Magruder, whynotresist.blogsome.com| |
Excerpt: This time of year we get all sorts of news stories telling us the best way to be charitable. I suppose, given the nature of the Internet, it makes some sense to read-up on an organization you are not familiar with-that's just common sense. What irks me is the message conveyed is that donations must be through a registered charity with a board of directors and paid employees. Personally, that's when I get uncomfortable. Don't misunderstand, if you want to donate to the United Way, don't let me dissuade you, but absence of a board of directors isn't a sign of a corrupt group -- I seem to recall a scandal not too many years ago about a director at the United Way mismanaging funds. ...
Look at it this way, I've been paying taxes for decades, and all those years I've been told that my money was going to feed people, house people, take care of those who are in desperate need -- and you know what? They fucking lied. Yeah, that's right, they used my taxes to starve and maim and kill and torture. How's that for appropriate channels and "services" to help people. Conversely, over the years I've tried to do what I could for people directly and yeah, maybe I was "scammed" but as far as I know, the guy I used to share lunch with in Harvard Square never starved, or maimed, or tortured or killed anyone-at least not through official, state sanctioned offices. I can't think of a single instance where a Catholic Worker I've met has taken the box of food, or clothing, or toiletries and done anything other than distribute it to the people that need it-directly. No board of directors, paid employees, or tax-exempt status. |
Previous commentary
Batten down your e-hatches
by Hazel Burke, Unknown News
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Excerpt: To defend against identity theft and various scams involving credit, there are steps that a reasonable person can take which are not very expensive ... |
Your government is killing you and your loved ones
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News
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Excerpt: When uranium burns, as described in the article, it does not (as implied in the coverage) conveniently stay put. These ultra-fine particles are raised into the atmosphere and spread throughout the world. You and your family are participating in a turkey shoot where you are the turkeys and the people using uranium as convenient weapons are the shooters. |
The first Thanksgiving, and the latest Thanksgiving
by Kevin Good, Unknown News
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Excerpt: To celebrate the bounty of food brought to our tables, the American settlers welcomed the Indians, who helped them survive a difficult year, to join in the feast and celebration. ... |
Yup, that'll do it
by Don Nash, Unknown News
Most of all we fear Fear
by Mr. Chuckles, Unknown News
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Excerpt: We know what happens when we are afraid, and we are afraid of allowing ourselves to become afraid. When we are afraid our heart races, legs shake, adrenaline pumps, and we sweat the pure stink of Fear as we get ready for Fight or Flight! When we are afraid we lose our rationality and become like animals. So we are justified in being afraid of fear ... up to a point. |
Happy Thanksgiving
by Michelle L., From Reason to Freedom| |
Excerpt: I am thankful that I am able to homeschool my 8 year old daughter; otherwise I might find myself in jail for not being current on her shots or worse, subjecting her to the military recruiters on campus that want to buy her future enlistment. |
JFK and Thanksgiving: 44 years later
by A Proud Liberal| |
Excerpt: Thanksgiving this year falls on the anniversary of the assassination John Fitzgerald Kennedy. It was forty-four years ago in Dallas that the direction of this country was irrevocably changed. Changed for the worse. There have been brief periods of hope only to have the downward spiral continue in even steeper rushes to oblivion. ...
Never refer to the Bush administration with deference. They are war criminals and need to be referred to as such. |
How John Edwards might save America
by Leigh Saavedra, My Town| |
Excerpt: So here is the question keeping me from sleep: If Senator Clinton is the least likely candidate to get us out of Iraq, then why are the majority of Democrats polled, those demanding that the war be ended, supporting her? I have no theories except to suppose that the voters do not yet know which candidates represent which stances.
We have two fine second-tier candidates, Senator Barack Obama, gaining a bit of ground lately but still running a distant second place to Clinton, and former Senator John Edwards, who runs some distance behind Obama. And yet the COMBINATION of votes expected for Obama and those for Edwards often overwhelm those in support of Clinton. The most common complaint made against these two second-tier candidates is that they are short on foreign policy experience. We sometimes forget that these two men have far greater foreign policy experience and general knowledge of the world than Governor Bush did when he ran against Al Gore in 2000. At that time, even Republicans who acknowledged Bush's lack of worldliness assured us (and themselves?) that he would have a staff to rely on, experienced people upon whose experience he could immediately draw. |
Bill O'Reilly's seasonal freak-out
by Wisco, Griper Blade| |
Excerpt: Fox News blowhard Bill O'Reilly has fired the first shot in the "War on Christmas," a seasonal PR stunt the religious right pulls every year to convince Christians that they're being oppressed in America. See, Christmas is under attack by "secular progressives." That's why, when you go to the mall, there aren't any Christmas decorations, no department store Santas, and no "Carol of the Bells" playing over and over and over and over and over on the Muzak speakers that seem to even be in the bathrooms. It's why there are no Christmas specials on TV and no Christmas movies at the theaters. It's why you have to go to special Christian stores to by Christmas wrapping paper and ornaments and trees and big inflatable snowmen. |
The heroics of Dennis J. Kucinich
by Maryann Mann, Atlantic Free Press| |
Excerpt: Dennis Kucinich was right on Iraq. The Congressman stood up to ideological war hawks, refusing to submit to the constitutional calamity of a preemptive invasion.
He was right on the PATRIOT Act. Kucinich lambasted the serpentine piece of legislation acting as a gateway to eroding our cherished civil liberties.
The Congressman is right on health care. Unlike slipshod "universal coverage" plans proposed by Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama (all of which attempt to incurably fix a broken, private system by virtually mandating that every American buy into it) Kucinich knows first hand that the only morally and economically satisfying version of health care is the one beginning with the words: not-for-profit. |
In the history of the American Republic, perhaps no political family has been more protected from scandal than the Bushes
by Robert Parry, Consortium News| |
Excerpt: Though the evidence is now overwhelming that President Bush was part of a White House cabal that leaked Valerie Plame Wilson's identity as a covert CIA officer and then covered up the facts, major newspapers, such as the New York Times and the Washington Post, continue to pooh-pooh this extraordinary scandal. |
History of lies and lies of history imperil America's mental health
by Herb Ruhs, MD, Unknown News
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Excerpt: If we are to liberate ourselves from this tyranny we I believe will need to examine carefully all, and rewrite much, of what we have been taught to think of as our history. |
Do we really love uniforms so much?
by JS Magruder, Unknown News
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Excerpt: I keep insisting I won't read the paper anymore because I don't need to be brutalized amid stories about the latest diet or shopping fad. If I'm going to be assaulted by brutish reality, there are places I can (and do) see it laid bare in all its ugliness. I don't need people pretending to be respectable as they engage in their violence of the mind. I really don't. |
Empire
by Don Nash, Unknown News
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Excerpt:
the delusion of empire
and
the ravages of war machines
fueling their engines
on slaughter
produces only atrocity
with a modicum of apathetic apocalypso |
Straight poop on the
Democrats' debate of 15-Nov-2007
by Mr Chuckles, Unknown News
| |
Excerpt: The reality is that the race is a huge fur-ball but "Big Media" has already selected Hillary Clinton and are giving her a free ride. Americans will believe just about anything they see on TV and they're seeing respected journalists like Wolf Blitzer treat her as a credible potential Leader of the Free World. There is nothing in Hillary's background to suggest leadership experience; she has run nothing. |
Some of us know better
and some of us never will
by Kathy Fisher, Unknown News
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Excerpt: I look at it this way: It's too late for the sheeple, they're well trained brainwashed. They'll buy and believe anything their masters tell them.
As for us? We are the gang that knows too much. In fact we know their next move and we predict their next blunder. Hell sometimes we even throw a wrench in their plans and make them go back to the drawing board ... |
Could a change of strategy be
in the works for Genocide-Man?
by Don Nash, Unknown News
What oil and natural gas pipelines can
tell us about possible WWIII alliances
by Marie K., Unknown News
| |
Excerpt: If geo-strategies and oil and natural gas really ARE the real issues behind 20th and now the 21st century wars/conflicts, then the plans related to new pipelines ought to provide some clues as to who would fight and who would become allies. |
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