| 18.Mar.2006 High tech helps airport screening switch Bonesmen run American industry and are often put in the Secretary of Commerce position by presidents. 00.000.2004 the world hardly noticed that the two "competing" presidential candidates, Bush + John Kerry, were both members of the secret society that runs its own drug wars + gladly desecrates Native American history. Australians are nervous about President George W. Bush's choice of a loyal Skull & Bones member as the new U.S. ambassador to that country. Former assistant attorney-general Robert McCallum is the new American diplomat in Australia, after the Bush Administration let Canberra go an entire year without a U.S. ambassador. McCallum, a tobacco-industry lawyer, has the deepest of connections to Bush. Both are members of the ultra-elitist Yale University secret society known as Skull & Bones. Also known as The Order of Death, The Order, The Eulogian Club and Lodge 322, the group conducts its Yale business at a windowless stone building called The Tomb. There are many Bonesmen in the Bush Administration. At least 11 have been identified. According to Professor Steve Freeman of the University of Pennsylvania it's easier to cheat democracy than Vegas Nearly half of all Americans say they want legal marijuana and they want it now. A new Zogby poll shows that 46% of all Americans agree that pot "should be regulated like alcohol." And on both the East Coast and the West Coast, clear majorities supported legalization -- 53% and 55%, respectively. The poll was commissioned by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, known as NORML. Shockingly, the people most opposed to regulating the legal sale of marijuana are those between 30 and 49 years old -- 58% of that age group is against it. That's even worse than with the elderly. Only 52 percent of Americans over 65 oppose making marijuana legal. "I don't know what I can do. But I do know one thing," Booher said Thursday. "If they'd have told the truth, there never would have been a violation." The deadly migration continues unabated, as the unstoppable avian flu was discovered in five more countries spanning thousands of miles. The woman who almost blew the government's chance to get the death penalty for an alleged 9/11 plotter has begun a counter attack. Carla Martin gained infamy when the judge in the Zacarias Moussaoui trial found she had been coaching witnesses. Yesterday she was placed on paid administrative leave and was named AOL's Employee of the Week. For a time it seemed that the death penalty would no longer be allowed as a possibility in the case. "It was one of the most bone-headed blunders ever seen in a high-profile federal case," said former U.S. attorney Kendall Coffey. Not surprisingly, Judge Leonie Brinkema relented, saying that capital punishment was still an option. But it appears irrevocable damage has been done to Martin's reputation and career. Now she and her lawyer are fighting back, saying she's been "viciously vilified." "Someone has decided they're going to throw her under the bus + that's exactly what's happened here," Howard said. He says that Martin will be presenting her case to Brinkema, explaining that she didn't know that what she was doing was wrong + that she didn't act alone. As Bush launched a series of speeches to drum up support for the war, a new round of ... I think this morning's Washington Post story points out just what a strange place America is in politically. It's strange to me that it is news merely because members of Congress from the President's own party asks a few questions about our national security. There was a time that the Congress actually thought that was their job, regardless of which party was in the White House. The NY Times has a major story today in which it spells out the flawed internal decision-making process early in the Iraq War. The story makes very clear that the problems we have in Iraq today are the result of decisions made by Bush's team very early on. Shorter version: Franks and Rumsfeld didn't need any advice because they thought they already had all the answers. Shorterst version: Disaster. In a prelude to the 2008 Presidential race, the Washington Post blog is reporting that Senator Evan Bayh has hired Marc Farinella to take over the helm of his PAC. Farinella engineered Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan's victory over Senator John Ashcroft in 2000. He's also the smartest political operative that I know. As someone famous once said, it is in times of crisis that one's true character is revealed. So what we now know about President Bush, is that he and his administration are profoundly imcompetent + when the President feared that was about to be exposed, he simply lied to cover it up. Three days after Hurricane Katrina wiped out most of New Orleans, President Bush appeared on television and said, "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." His staff has spent the past six months trying to take back, modify or explain away those 10 words. Rep. John Doolittle has been inducted into Public Citizen's Ethics Hall of Shame. Here are the highlights of his record: Today is Public Citizen's "National Call Out Corruption Day." To get more information on how to take part, click here. so applications like Google Earth will come closer than ever to a real-time look at the globe. By Joanna Glasner. Skull and Bones owns Deer Island, in the St Lawrence + uses it for an annual retreat. Both George Bush + Robert McCallum are members of Skull and Bones, the Yale society with a fixation on the symbols of death. The society is said to have the skull of the Apache chief Geronimo, dug up by Mr Bush's grandfather Prescott Bush, in a glass case. Its members have included presidents + generals +journalists + businessmen. 00.000.1832 General William Huntington Russell founded the Skull and Bones secret society Bonesmen, as they are called, are sworn to secrecy. Tradition demands that if someone mentions Skull and Bones its members should leave the room. Mr Bush, in his autobiography A Charge to Keep , wrote: "My senior year I joined Skull and Bones, a secret society. So secret, I can't say anything." About 100 have reached Jupiter's moon Europa - but they landed at 24 miles/sec. 'This must be rather frustrating if you're a bacterium that survived launch from Earth,' says a researcher. But 30 boulders from each impact reach Titan - and they land gently." From the article: "'I thought the Titan result was really surprising - how many would get there and how slowly they'd land,' Treiman told New Scientist. 'The thing I don't know about is if there are any bugs on Earth that would be happy living on Titan.' Titan's surface temperature is a very cold -179C and its chemistry is very different from Earth's." They claim: 'Over the course of millions of years, gravity exploited the density differences to create the structure of the universe---stars and galaxies separated by vast voids.' Thereby creating a 'structure' to the universe -- a kiddush cup. '...finds that the first stars---the forebears of all subsequent generations of stars and of life itself---were fully formed remarkably early, only about 400 million years after inflation. This is called the era of reionization, the point when the light from the first stars ionized hydrogen atoms, liberating electrons from the protons.' President Bush is alleged to have used its connections to get his first job. RAYMOND MARTINOT + his wife were the toast of the world cryonics movement. For years they were France's best preserved corpses, lying in a freezer in a chateau in the Loire Valley, in the hope that modern science could one day bring them back to life. Im Wahlkampf des Jahres 2000 hatten Bush und die heutige Außenministerin Condoleezza Rice die US-Interventionen in Somalia, Haiti und auf dem Balkan noch als "falschen Idealismus" kritisiert. Sie seien alarmiert über die hohen Kosten, die die Militäreinsätze + der Aufbau einer Demokratie im Irak + in Afghanistan verursachen. Gestern erst billigte das Repräsentantenhaus mit einem Sondergesetz zusätzliche Kriegsausgaben + gewährte weitere 67,6 Milliarden Dollar. 17.Mar.2006 Reporter ohne Grenzen: Protest gegen Anklage im "Cicero"-Fall 17.Mar.2006 Deutsche Welle: Sendeverbot in Usbekistan Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) https://wmap.gsfc.nasa.gov/ dass das Universum in den ersten Augenblicken seiner Existenz mit unvorstellbarer Geschwindigkeit gewachsen ist. Das, fügte Bennett hinzu, sei "ein Wachstumsschub, der jede Mutter und jeden Vater beängstigen würde". 10.Feb.2003 Lies Father, Lies Son -updte-Remarks to the 2nd edition... [ 1 ] on the Loose ... During the slaughter ... in bankrupt Germany , every ... a New World Order, ... hired the spook Dulles to keep his own alfatomega.com/index_00.html The Second World War - John Keegan "The Second World War is the ... # 1 THE WAR IN THE WEST ... During the critical months ... against Germany ... Germany ... the whole of its homepage.eircom.net/~odyssey/Quotes/History/Keegan_WW2.html Axis Powers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ...began to lose control of their territory holdings ... fought on the Axis side during World War ... Central Powers -- Germany 's allies in World en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_powers ANDREW L. SIMON: JOHN HUNYADI - HUNGARY IN AMERICAN HISTORY... Before + during WWI. Czech, Serb + Romanian nationalists exerted great propaganda efforts to ... with two distinctly imperial powers mek.oszk.hu/02000/02084/02084.htm Section 17: World Post War Themes: 1945-1989/Shaping of the Modern... ... imperial powers were so weakened by the two world ... During the War politics was less important ... 1 . Economy ... Rebuilding in Poland, East... academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/virtual/core4-17.htm PRELUDE TO REVOLUTION Germany lost 1 .8 million, Russia 1 .7 million ... classes sought to protect their holdings by ... to the First World War but one encountered... pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj76/trudell.htm 30.Aug.1939 - Part 2 ...connect the far-flung Imperial holdings , binding its ... are the "glorious dead" of World War I, 1 . 1 million ... between 1914 and 1918. www.usswashington.com/dl30au39b.htm The Imperial Attachment to the Suez Canal from 1914 to 1945 ...were followed by Germany ... a cornerstone of the new British holdings in ... in the imperial attachment to the Suez Canal during the era of www.louisville.edu/a-s/history/pat/nuxichurch.htm A military conflict, from August 1914 to November 1918, that The term home front, which was widely employed for the first time during World War I, perfectly ... to Germany under the Treaty of Frankfurt. www.is.wayne.edu/mnissani/wwi/encarta.htm 17.Mar.2006 Satellitenbild der Woche: Flächenbrände hüllen Texas in Rauch 17.Mar.2006 General Motors: Verlust 2005 weit größer als angenommen 17.Mar.2006 Kriegsgründe: USA veröffentlichen Papiere zu al-Qaida-Präsenz im Irak 17.Mar.2006 Durchbruch: Satellit erblickt die ersten Momente des Alls 17.Mar.2006 Gaza is still a prison: US-brokered agreements on Gaza are as worthless as every other lie the Palestinians have been told, 17.Mar.2006 Charley Reese : Check Your Beliefs : Let's play a fantasy game to check on our belief in human rights. 17.Mar.2006 The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy : Why has the US been willing to set aside its own security and that of many of its allies in order to advance the interests of another state? One might assume that the bond between the two countries was based on shared strategic. A must read . 17.Mar.2006 Look at the latins: In resisting the abuse of US power the Middle East has a lot to learn from Latin America 17.Mar.2006 Chavez pours oil on troubled waters : He is offering poor Americans hundreds of thousands of gallons of cut price fuel to help them heat their homes - Venezuela's response, he says, to the events of Hurricane Katrina. 17.Mar.2006 Secessionists threaten Venezuela’s unity: “It’s new evidence for a destabilization plan that North American imperialism, through the fascist government of George W. Bush, is carrying out in our country to torpedo and sabotage the revolutionary process.” 17.Mar.2006 Latin America Unchained: For decades the International Monetary Fund (IMF) served as one of the key pillars of the "Washington Consensus." Dominated by the White House, the Fund allowed successive administrations to control the economic policy of poorer countries in this hemisphere and beyond. 17.Mar.2006 Cuba Demands America Return Guantanamo Bay : In 1823, John Quincy Adams, the U.S. secretary of state, articulated the "ripe fruit" thesis, holding that Cuba would inevitably fall into U.S. hands as soon as it was no longer a Spanish colony 17.Mar.2006 Police attack Papuan students: "The Papuans, have been taken and beaten, kicked, hit with guns and threatened," he said. 17.Mar.2006 Embargoes on global arms trade have been total failure, says UN : Despite the UN naming hundreds of companies - including those in Britain - for allegedly violating embargoes imposed on countries engaged in bloody conflicts and repression, the system for bringing them to book has abjectly failed. 17.Mar.2006 Pigs at the trough: Former top U.S. general gets $200,000-a-year board gig : Recently retired Gen. Richard Myers, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who led the Pentagon into war with Iraq, hasn't stayed out of work long. 17.Mar.2006 More pigs at the trough: The Matthews Speaking Fee Controversy : The National Venture Capital Assocation (NVCA) confirmed that Matthews spoke at its 2005 Annual Meeting. NVCA told Think Progress that it booked Matthews through the Washington Speakers Bureau and that he received a fee of approximately $35,000. He received speaking fees from NCVA on at least two other occasions. 17.Mar.2006 GOP senators introduce eavesdropping bill : The ACLU said in a statement that the bill would allow "Americans' phone calls and e-mails to be monitored for 45 days without any court oversight and makes court review after that period optional" -- in violation of the Fourth Amendment's guarantees against unreasonable searches. 17.Mar.2006 US evangelicals warn Republicans : Prominent leaders from the Christian right have warned Republicans they must do more to advance conservative values ahead of the US mid-term elections. 17.Mar.2006 For folly, billions; for survival, pennies: Bush bankrupts the nation paying for a needless war -- while cutting budgets that could protect us against catastrophes like bird flu. 17.Mar.2006 Lawmakers attempt to block Tricare fee increases for retirees: With the backing of 13 military associations, a bill blocking the Bush administration’s planned Tricare free increases for military retirees was introduced Wednesday. 17.Mar.2006 Bomb Parts Pass Checkpoints at 21 U.S. Airports : Government investigators conducting undercover tests at 21 U.S. airports were able to get bomb materials through screening machines at all of them 17.Mar.2006 Sheila Samples: With Friends Like These: Most Americans are critically aware of the importance of security in the wake of 9-11. But with best friends and partners like the United Arab Emirates, the Carlyle Group and Halliburton controlling the house -- we have little time to worry about enemies at the gate. 17.Mar.2006 Quick! Vote while the black people are gone: Somehow, it seemed like a fair idea for Bush's Justice Dept. to allow elections to go forward in New Orleans before many of the refugees (overwhelmingly black and therefore overwhelmingly Democratic) have returned. 17.Mar.2006 Audio: Bill Moyers in Greensboro: Bill Moyers speaks to an audience in Greensboro about the challenge of covering religion, the importance of the environment + the controversy surrounding his public battle with Kenneth Tomlinson, former chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Moyers spoke as part of the Bryan Series, presented by Guilford College 18.Mar.2006 Comedy Centeral: Motion Censure: Clearly Bill Frist knows that revenge is a dish best served with confusing parliamentary rhetoric. 18.Mar.2006 Pepe Escobar : In the heart of Pipelineistan: Pipelineistan actors are actively discussing the possibility of limited US strikes against, for instance, the Bushehr plant, as was implied by a recent belligerent statement of the US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton. 18.Mar.2006 Manufacturing Consent for war: US accuses Iran of "unhelpful activities" in Iraq: U.S. officials in Iraq on Friday again accused Iran of meddling in its neighbour's internal affairs, saying the Islamic Republic was carrying out "unhelpful activities" there. 18.Mar.2006 Greg Moses: The Bush Doctrine of Nuclear Preemption : Do You Feel Safe With This Man's Finger on the Button? 18.Mar.2006 Americans slightly favor plan to censure : A new poll finds that a plurality of Americans favor plans to censure President George W. Bush, while a surprising 42% favor moves to actually impeach the President. 18.Mar.2006 Blair finally calls for Guantanamo to close : Tony Blair joined the growing calls for the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay to be closed after he was questioned about the claims of torture by two British residents held there 18.Mar.2006 Saddam Hussein turns the tables at US-run show trial: Hussein asked, "What about those who are dying in Baghdad? Are they not innocents? Are they not Iraqis? ... Just yesterday, 80 bodies of Iraqis were discovered in Baghdad. Aren't they innocent?" 18.Mar.2006 The Inside Story of the Invasion and Occupation of Iraq: Almost three years to the day after the war started, a new book titled "Cobra II" details the inside story of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The book is written by Michael Gordon, chief military correspondent for The New York Times + retired Marine general Bernard Trainor. Audio and transcript 18.Mar.2006 Video: The 50 Billion Dollar Robbery: : Following the Iraq war, billions of dollars of Iraq's money was directed to American companies to rebuild the country. But much of it remains unaccounted for + the BBC's Peter Marshall has been investigating startling allegations of post war profiteering. 18.Mar.2006 The time for accounting : The case against the Iraq war and occupation has been entirely vindicated. It must be brought to an end 18.Mar.2006 Video: Tony Benn Rallies Support for Anti-War Marches: Former Labour Government minister Tony Benn speaks in Manchester at a rally aimed at building support for the international day of action against war on 18th March 2003. This is the third anniversary of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Demos against war will take place in over 60 ciites araound the world on this date. 18.Mar.2006 A must watch 5 minute video 01-25284.h1 All that is required is proof of facts and circumstances that indicate an applicant is at risk for mishandling classified information , or that an applicant ... Our World: Trial of American Jewry The recent conviction of former Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin on felony charges of mishandling classified US government information and the passing of ... Exclusive: How the FBI set up AIPAC It is unclear whether the " classified " information was real or bogus. ... against Franklin from alleged espionage to mishandling of classified evidence. ... Roger Ailes Deutch eventually pleaded guilty to mishandling classified information (a misdemeanor) and paid a $5000 fine. Berger got a $10000 fine and lost his security ... Air Force Times - News - This Week's Air Force Times “I never had any intention of giving those documents to anyone at all,” he said, a day after pleading guilty to mishandling classified information. The New York Times > National > Convictions Dropped for Muslim ... An Army general on Wednesday dismissed the convictions in the case of a Muslim ... charges that included mishandling classified information at Guantánamo./FONT> Secrecy News 10/19/05 Pointing out the strange fact that non-government employees are being prosecuted for mishandling classified information , the Reporters Committee argued that ... The Seattle Times: James Yee Investigation: The Final Collapse, A ... Prosecutors' best hope for a conviction was on the two counts of mishandling classified documents, which carried a maximum of two years each. ... The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Evidence weak in Yee probe Yee, a West Point graduate who was held for 76 days in solitary confinement, charged with six criminal counts of mishandling classified information and ... Notra Trulock | Code Name KINDRED SPIRIT ... with a long track record of successful espionage convictions , later determined ... of mishandling classified information was nothing short of bizarre. ... Disarmament Diplomacy: - Wen Ho Lee Freed in Plea Bargain ... after pleading guilty to one charge of mishandling classified information. Unnamed Government Official, September 11: "We got a felony conviction. Disarmament Diplomacy: - Bitter Aftermath of Wen Ho Lee Plea Bargain ... to one of 59 charges of espionage and mishandling classified information . ... contained vital information - a claim rebutted with equal conviction by 25.Aug.2000 Online NewsHour: Nuclear Secrets- ... the Los Alamos scientist charged with mishandling classified nuclear weapons information , ... Do they want a conviction or do they want information ? www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/law/july-dec00/lee_8-25.html AIM Column - Chinese Spies Get Free Pass - May 20, 2003 ... for Lee's plea of guilty to one count of mishandling classified information. They also implied strongly that obtaining an espionage conviction might ... www.aim.org/aim_column/A179_0_3_0_C Accuracy In Media - Lee was eventually indicted on 59 counts of mishandling classified nuclear-weapons ... 00.0001986 -two weeks after his conviction- Lee committed suicide in jail. www.aim.org/aim_report/A1898_0_4_0_C Chinese Spies Get Free Pass ... Lee’s plea of guilty to one count of mishandling classified information. Prosecutors also implied strongly that obtaining an espionage conviction ... www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/5/20/141827.shtml Unknown News For the fifth time, the Army on Tuesday delayed the pretrial hearing for a Muslim chaplain accused of mishandling classified information at the US terror ... www.unknownnews.net/040224guan.html Interagency OPSEC Support Staff (IOSS) OPSEC Bulletin - What OPSEC ... The mishandling of information can put everything at risk + cost the lives of many Americans ... Our work is information + not all of it is classified. www.ioss.gov/bulletin.html Berger Is Planning To Plead Guilty In Documents Case - April 1 ... plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information , ... high altitude of Washington consulting to have a misdemeanor conviction. www.nysun.com/article/11494 JAG CENTRAL In a 2 page opinion, the court affirms the conviction and a reassessed sentence. ... the accused are both charged with mishandling classified information. Report Details More FBI Blunders in Wen Ho Lee Probe ... Originally charged with 59 felony counts, Lee pleaded guilty in September to one felony charge of mishandling classified information after the government's ... Spy Case Dismissed For Misconduct (washingtonpost.com) Though Leung was charged with taking classified documents, neither she nor ... unit viewed him as a source of classified information who had to be prevented ... NPR : Analyst Pleads Guilty in Pentagon Leak Case Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin pleads guilty to three of six charges of mishandling or disclosing classified information . His case has drawn attention ... William Jefferson & Hillary Clinton Facing prison after a drug conviction in ... John Deutch ("John M. Deutch, who has admitted mishandling classified information while serving as director of ... The Next Hurrah: Libby Indicted Fox analysts says convictions could carry up to 17 years and over a million dollars in ... To do that is technically mishandling classified information. Military Drops Guantanamo Chaplain Convictions MIAMI (Reuters) - The US military on Wednesday dismissed the convictions against ... charges that included mishandling classified information at Guantanamo. ... Say Anything: Rove, Libby Convictions Would Be Shortsighted ... Some of the banter about mishandling classified fits under that roof. ... Robert108, if Scooter withheld information about a conversation with his boss, ... (3/30/2004) Pentagon Was Determined To Convict "Guantanamo Spy" Of ... 2003, to the charges of mishandling classified information were added the ... He did not say it was because of his religious convictions or his race. ... www.albionmonitor.com/0404a/jamesyee3.html Dec. 5, 2004 0:09 | Updated Dec. 7, 2004 3:58 'Post' exclusive ... - View as HTML Knowingly transferring classified information to a foreign power can be a breach ... Franklin from alleged espionage to mishandling of classified evidence. ... www.franklingate.com/docs/jpost_fbi_setup_aipac.doc WorkingForChange-Rush to judgment: the Wen Ho Lee-ing of Capt ... whether the charges he is now facing -- mishandling classified documents, ... Under military law, conviction on these charges could result in a prison ... www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=16173 CNN.com - Transcripts First accused of spying, Captain Yee ultimately was charged with adultery and mishandling classified information while assigned to Task Force Guantanamo, ... Asian Law Caucus - ... effort led by the Asian Law Caucus to secure a hate crime conviction . ... twenty years was charged with 59 counts of mishandling classified information. Federal Crimes Blog - McNabb Associates, PC applies “only to convictions entered in any domestic court or to foreign ... James J. Smith, was arrested on charges of mishandling classified data, ... CHAPTER 7 THE WEN HO LEE SAGA CONTENTS THE FBI’S ATTEMPTS TO SET ... Lee's lawyers also contended that no American civilian had ever been criminally prosecuted for mishandling classified information , especially in the absence ... www.angelfire.com/ca3/jphuck/Book15Ch.7.html Islamic Information Office of Hawaii - Muslim Army chaplain ... And he noted that former CIA Director John Deutch was only reprimanded for breaching security regulations by mishandling classified information. Solidarity USA:Guantanamo Detainee\'s Attorney Reports on ... James Yee on accusations of mishandling classified information . Yee was one of four arrested by investigators looking into alleged security breaches at the ... MCRC Review - American Muslims: Settlements, Decisions GA - The military said that it was dropping all charges, including one of mishandling classified information , against Capt. James J. Yee, the former Muslim ... MCRC Review - American Muslims: Legal Briefs, Case Updates James Yee, a Muslim chaplain accused of mishandling classified information at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba, have proposed a settlement with the ... Obsidian Wings: Presented Without Comment One thing to note is that actual compromise (ie releasing classified information ) is treated far more seriously than potential compromise (ie mishandling ... TURMOIL AT TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE ... other lesser sex-related counts and one count of mishandling classified information. We can only wonder how many “sex case convictions ” did Tech. ... Boston.com/News/Local/Translator says zeal for job led to prison In January, Mehalba, who had been jailed after his arrest, pleaded guilty to mishandling classified material and lying to investigators. ... The Washington Monthly Contrary to conventional wisdom, Publius suggests that a conviction would be ... Question: Why not charge Libby with passing along classified information ? ... 34 Scandals of the Bush Administration The outcome: Let's see: Overturned convictions , lawsuits and feuding about a ... be espionage or could constitute the mishandling of classified documents. ... Spy of the Century? Agents claimed he had spent hours copying information from classified to unclassified ... He is accused of 59 counts of mishandling classified material, . www.gluckman.com/WenHoLee.html Nat' Academies Press, Information Technology for Counterterrorism ... The case ended with the dismissal of all but one charge of mishandling classified information and with the judge’s apology for the conduct of the government ... www.nap.edu/books/0309087368/html/28.html Judge Advocate General - Nautilus - View as HTML... that the evidence is insufficient to sustain her conviction for larceny. ... involving mishandling classified information bears out this conclusion. ... Eca 18 ... of mishandling classified documents and doing work that "posed a threat to the ... Beginning with infancy, orphans classified as severely disabled were ... www.hrw.org/wr2k/Eca-17.htm WAR ON TERRORISM/Legal Affairs/Spy court to review prosecutors ... Lee pleaded guilty to one count of mishandling classified information and ... He later joined a 2-1 decision overturning Oliver North's convictions for www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/09/01/MN220045.DTL The Militant - January 17, 2000 -- China 'spy scare' frame-up ... on 59 felony counts of mishandling classified information stored on computers at the ... An earlier "spy scare" 00.0001997 led to the conviction of another ... www.themilitant.com/2000/6402/640250.html ACLU in the Courts: US v. Wen Ho Lee (2) a specific Executive report written 00.0001999 that details "dozens of examples of systemic mishandling of classified information " at LANL, none of which ... March 30, 2004 Hon. Senator Diane Feinstein United States Senate ... - View as HTML truthout - Pentagon Spies Want More to Do Lets get the Truth Out, changing things for the better through information . ... charged with six criminal counts of mishandling classified information and ... truthout - The 34 Scandals of George W. Bush Lets get the Truth Out, changing things for the better through information . ... be espionage or could constitute the mishandling of classified documents. ... Roger L. Simon: Motor Scooter There's the Espionage Act + even mishandling classified information. And Fitz isn't going to go for something he can't get a conviction on in court. ... Keyword (AP) - The Muslim Army chaplain accused of mishandling classified ... <p> Mishandling of classified information by the legal staff at America's prison for ... freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=jamesyee American Prospect Online - ViewPrint But a source told the Prospect that Franklin expressed the conviction that the United ... As such, investigations of espionage and mishandling of classified ... MICHIGAN: Granholm vetoes bill on payday-loan fees ... mishandling classified documents and lying on a credit application. ... The Michigan Court of Appeals upheld last week the conviction of a Grosse Pointe ... ILA Vol. 19 No. 4 September 15, 2000 ... was arrested for mishandling classified information while working at Los ... fund offered for information relating to the arrest and conviction of the ... Behind the Homefront Search the archives: Send comments, leads ... Gerald E. Rosen is considering throwing out the convictions and starting over. ... a Muslim Army chaplain accused of mishandling classified information . NM&L (Summer 2004): Sources of Frustration He later pleaded guilty to one count of mishandling secure documents, ... of security efforts to control sensitive classified information had failed amidst ... Discourse.net: Law: Everything Else Archives After repeated complaints from defense lawyers that they could not proceed on the issue of mishandling classified information if it remained unclear whether ... Did Rumsfeld ban Iraq camera phones? | The Register Rosenberg quote several sources: "No one anticipates any rules soon, beyond the admonition that mishandling classified information - even by accident in an ... Counterintelligence News for the week of: March 7-13, 2004 A lawyer for a Muslim Army chaplain charged with mishandling classified information and insubordination inadvertently sent an e-mail to the media yesterday ... Larry Franklin Case--Pentagon analyst arrested 4 MAY 2005; Passed ... The FBI investigation into whether classified information was passed to the ... at worst, guilty of mishandling a classified document, not espionage. ... Committee on Human Rights of Scientists of the New York Academy of ... The committee marshaled the scientific community on behalf of Wen Ho Lee, the Chinese-American scientist accused of mishandling classified information , ... www.nyas.org/programs/human.asp CLASSIFIED EMPLOYMENTAPPLICATION - View as HTML + conviction record checks, reference checks + release of investigatory information possessed by any private or public employer or ... YudelLine: Self-Fulfilling Scapegoatism ... charged with six criminal counts of mishandling classified information and ... That conviction was set aside in April + his punishment was waived. ... INTEL DUMP - - Captain Yee was charged with an offense far less serious than espionage � mishandling classified information � and was held in solitary confinement in a ... INTEL DUMP - - A sampling of the major terror convictions since 9/11 highlights the problem ... The charges included adultery, mishandling classified information, ... www.intel-dump.com/archives/archive_2004_04_11-2004_04_17.shtml Insight on the News: Accused Chinese Spy Wen Ho Lee Stigmatized by ... A criminal conviction after a defendant has enjoyed a full opportunity to discredit ... He was accused of mishandling classified information , a commonplace ... www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1571/is_6_16/ai_59585390 Air Force Law Review: Analyzing the constitutional tensions and ... Fleming, (252) the accused was convicted of mishandling and failing to safeguard classified information . (253) During the trial, the military judge failed ... Shining Light In Dark Corners Cheney Ordered Release of Classified Information ? ... charged with six criminal counts of mishandling classified information and suspected of leading a ring ... man accused of failing polygraph, actually passed! Lee has pleaded innocent to 59 counts under the Atomic Energy and Espionage Acts for allegedly mishandling classified information. Translator says zeal for job led to prison - View as HTML released March 10 after serving 18 months in prison for mishandling classified documents and ... had brought classified information to his apartment. ... Napalm News ... was charged with six criminal counts of mishandling classified information and suspected of ... That conviction was dismissed altogether last April. ... Only a reprimand for Army chaplain - US Security - MSNBC.com He was eventually charged with mishandling classified material, ... Fidell said Monday he does not believe the information Yee possessed was classified , ... www.GovExec.com - Behind The Badge (12/1/01) An FBI review last summer revealed that several hundred laptops, some containing classified information , were unaccounted for. Management Checkup ... Free Ahmed Zaoui - or give him a fair trial Why is the classified information that forms the basis of the Security Risk ... There was an initial mishandling of the case, an attempt at cover-up, ... The Bard Observer ... obstruction of justice or mishandling of classified information .” ... To get a conviction on this account, Fitzgerald would have to prove that at least ... Daily Kos: Fort Huachuca: From Geronimo to Intelligence, Inc. ... later pled guilty to mishandling classified information and making false statements), ... but remained alive, strengthened his conviction in this power. ... Back Channels: The Intelligence Community ... in this AI that Lee had passed any classified information to the Chinese. ... His conviction included a mass media campaign, which divided France. ... Asiaweek.com | INSIDE STORY: The Spy of the Century? | 4/21/2000 Accused of mishandling classified material, Taiwan-born Wen-ho Lee is in jail, ... Agents claimed he had spent hours copying information from classified to ... www.pathfinder.com/asiaweek/magazine/2000/0421/is.main.html SIAM: Much Ado About Ancient Legacy Codes ... in which he substituted his own private conviction that China had indeed ... weapons program," and why his own mishandling of classified information was ... No Defense Trulock is now under investigation by the FBI for allegedly mishandling classified material. Despite all the criticism of Trulock, the New York Times's ... One Hand Clapping ... Cuba - is now facing only charges of mishandling classified information , ... their ducks in line if they expect to get a conviction at court-martial, ... alt.muslim - your muslim news community ... suspicion of espionage but later charged with mishandling classified data, ... "The Army's dismissal of the classified information charges against him ... summer 2004 bulletin.p65 - View as HTML The Head Heeb: Comment on Pollard II? And by mishandling I think that what we are seeing is a complete PR meltdown ... a pragmatic attitude toward espionage and leaks of classified information. From: Dawn Star <bratkid@e...> Date: Thu Sep 14, 2000 0:34pm ... Instead of facing life in prison upon conviction of any of the 39 most serious charges against him ... Lee did break the law by mishandling classified data. PoliPundit.com » What An Outrage ... all he could be convicted of is mishandling classified material. ... Angry enough to go to records of past convictions , find someone currently serving ... Hanover Community School Corp - View as HTML arrest and conviction record checks, reference checks + release of investigatory information possessed by any private or public. employer or any state, ... Case No. VSO-0221, 27 DOE ¶ 82792 (HO Cronin February 16, 1999) Consequently, the Individual's record in not mishandling classified materials is not ... (2)The Individual's conviction pursuant to the May 1983 arrest was . Department of Defense Polygraph Program: 1998 Report to Congress ... to a question concerning deliberately mishandling classified material. ... The employee also provided unauthorized classified information to the French ... constant.struggle The military said Friday night that it was dropping all charges, including one of mishandling classified information , against Capt. ... flawdlogic.org/archive/2004_03_01_archive.php Congressional Research Service - View as HTML mishandling of classified information relating to the incarceration of enemy ... charges and convictions have been returned in connection with terrorist ... POW org Miller only three days earlier dismissed all six criminal charges against Yee, including mishandling classified information and the lesser adultery and ... www.prisonerofwest.org/news/apr04/aljazeera_15apr04.htm The chances of Fitzgerald getting a conviction for mishandling of classified information is contingent on where the trial is held ... justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2005/10/rove_on_the_bub.html 10.Oct.2005-16.Oct.2005 JustOneMinute: ... is almost certainly weighing charges of mishandling classified information. Such a report, they said, should address "all indictments, convictions ... justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2005/week41/index.html Section 412 goes one step further than the practice of using classified ... www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001971210 The results will be unveiled when the programme airs. But early indications are that the volunteers had benefited from taking part. ' Some of them were ringing up and saying that this had totally transformed their lives or that they had had their first good night's sleep in five years,' said Morrow. 'A lot of people feel they are under-performing in their life, that they are letting themselves down, in terms of their ability to handle events or thinking that people at work are cleverer than them. This programme shows everyone can get smarter + feel better, if they do these things.' · Get Smarter in a Week, Saturday, BBC1 at 6.35pm and 9pm 00.000.1958 Darpa was founded to keep US military technology ahead of Cold War rivals. Its website says it has around 240 personnel and a $2bn (£1.1bn) budget. Supporters say much of its work has been successful, but it has also drawn criticism for unusable "blue-sky" projects. The foreign objects it suggests to be implanted are specific micro-systems - Mems - which, when the insect is fully developed, could allow it to be remotely controlled or sense certain chemicals, including those in explosives. The invasive surgery could "enable assembly-line like fabrication of hybrid insect-Mems interfaces", Darpa says. A winning bidder would have to deliver "an insect within five metres of a specific target located 100 metres away". The "insect-cyborg" must also "be able to transmit data from relevant sensors, yielding information about the local environment. These sensors can include gas sensors, microphones, video, etc." 'Assembly-line' Darpa believes scientists can take advantage of the evolution of insects, such as dragonflies and moths, in the pupa stage. "Through each metamorphic stage, the insect body goes through a renewal process that can heal wounds and reposition internal organs around foreign objects," its proposal document reads. DARPA SCHEMES Arpanet information processing system - a precursor to the internet Self Healing Minefield - the mines reconfigure themselves to fill gaps when one or more are stepped on Brain Interface Programme to wire soldiers directly into their machines Mechanical Elephant to penetrate dense Vietnam War jungle. Unused Policy Analysis Market - online futures market where "traders" wager on future terrorism and assassinations Computer game, Tactical Iraqi, to teach troops how to decipher Iraqi body language The British team presented details of its research to a major science conference in Texas, US. Scientists will have an early opportunity to examine the new ideas - Europe's Venus Express spacecraft is due to arrive at the planet next month for a two-year investigation of Earth's near-neighbour. Crater counters Researchers date planetary surfaces by looking at the distribution of their impact craters. In the aftermath of the Dubai ports deal, President Bush's approval rating has hit a new low and his image for honesty and effectiveness has been damaged. Yet the public uncharacteristically has good things to say about the role that Congress played in this high-profile Washington controversy. ... The government of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin proposed the law to help youths in the French suburbs who took to the streets last year, many unhappy with the lack of employment opportunities. The BBC's Caroline Wyatt in Paris says the worry for the French government is that, as in May 1968, French students are expressing wider disenchantment with a government that is seen as remote and out of touch. Employment aim Students fear the First Employment Contract (CPE), which passed into law last week, will erode job stability in a country where more than 20% of 18- to 25-year-olds are unemployed - more than twice the national average. Police also fired tear gas in the eastern city of Rennes and a small number of injuries were reported in Nancy, Nantes and Montpellier. Police put the number of protesters nationwide at 250,000 but organisers said it was double that. Student leaders cited an opinion poll showing 68% support for the protests, while union bosses called for further street protests on Saturday. Banners on Thursday read "Slave labour by the back door" and "If you take away our security, you'll pay". "You can't live with a knife at your throat," one of the protesters, 21-year-old film student Sophie Cojan, said. Police were under orders to be firm with troublemakers but to show general restraint, the interior ministry said. However, a group of about 300 masked protesters threw missiles at police, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. A newspaper stand + a number of cars were set on fire + protesters at the symbolic 00.000.1968 Sorbonne University - where street protests shook France - pelted police with stones + bottles and chanted slogans comparing them to the Nazi SS. Clashes went on into the evening and the interior ministry said there had been about 150 arrests in Paris, along with at least 50 more elsewhere. Two officers and a student were slightly hurt in scuffles in the northern Paris suburb of Raincy. Six people were arrested and two officers hurt in Vitry-sur-Seine, south-east of Paris. The worst violence was in Paris, where riot police fired rubber bullets and tear gas + was reported in some of the other 80 cities holding rallies. Protesters object to new two-year job contracts for under-26s which employers can break off without explanation. President Jacques Chirac has appealed for talks, but says the new law is important to fight unemployment. 'Slave labour' The march in Paris, which police said was attended by 30,000 but which organisers put at 120,000-strong, was mainly peaceful. You can't live with a knife at your throat Until they were switched off 00.000.1977, the instruments compiled massive amounts of data. Now that we are planning to return to the moon, the data has received renewed scrutiny. That duty fell to Clive R. Neal, associate professor of civil engineering and geological sciences at the University of Notre Dame. What he's learned doesn't bode well. "The moon is seismically active," he says. It turns out the moon regularly experiences four different type of quake: deep moonquakes far below the surface; vibrations from the constant barrage of meteors; thermal quakes caused by the expansion of the crust following two weeks without sunlight; and, most deadly of all, shallow moonquakes less than 100 feet below the surface. Not only do moonquakes reach levels of 5.5 on the Richter scale, they last 20 times as long as our Cowardly Congress gets a message from disgusted voters The same Israeli radicals who put a death curse on Prime Minister Yitshak Rabin only a month before his 1995 assassination say they also cast the grim spell on Ariel Sharon before his debilitating stroke. "This curse is known in the Aramaic language as a pulsa denura or 'lash of fire,' and was motivated by opposition to the policy of withdrawing Israeli settlements from Gaza," Fortean Times reported. U.S. (and a few Iraqi) forces have unleashed hell on the rest of the Iraqis, allegedly the largest attack since the start of the war more than 3 years ago Back in January came the not-shocking revelation that the Department of Homeland Security is teeming with porn freaks. This may help explain why for the second year in a row the department received an F for its computer security. That's the word from the House Government Reform Committee, whose annual report card has just been released. And DHS is not alone. In a show of solidarity, The Department of Health and Human Resources, the folks who urged us to stock canned tuna under our beds, also received an F. The Departments of Energy, Agriculture, Interior and Veterans Affairs? F, F and F. Allan Paller, director of research for the SANS Institute, a group in Bethesda, Maryland, experts in computer security training blames the report cards themselves. "It turns out that the vast bulk of the federal information security money is spent on documenting these systems, not on securing or testing them against attacks," Paller said. "Most [agencies] are spending so much on the paperwork exercises that they don't have a lot of money left over to fix the problems they've identified." The coffins were customers, the jars filled with embalming fluids. Thrilled with the rousing success in Iraq, Bush reminds Iran of his personal doctrine The nebula floats near the center of the Milky Way, some 25,000 light years away from Earth. Rapists are blocking highways and impersonating cops to attack women on N.M. highways American International Group New York - Wie das US-Unternehmen am Donnerstag nach Börsenschluss bekannt gab, fiel der Nettogewinn auf 444 Millionen Dollar oder 17 Cent je Aktie. Im Vorjahr hatte der Gewinn noch 1,6 Milliarden Dollar oder 62 Cent je Aktie betragen. Vor einem Monat hatte AIG angekündigt, wegen Betrugsvorwürfen und falscher Kontenführung 1,64 Milliarden Dollar zu zahlen. Dies ist die größte Summe, die ein Einzelunternehmen jemals gezahlt hat. Without inflation, the brightness variations over small patches of the sky would be the same as those observed over larger areas of the heavens. But the researchers found considerable differences in the brightness variations. "The data favors inflation," said Charles Bennett, a Johns Hopkins University physicist who announced the discovery. He was joined by two Princeton colleagues, Lyman Page and David Spergel, who also contributed to the research. Bennett added: "It amazes me that we can say anything at all about what transpired in the first trillionth of a second of the universe." The physicists said small lumps in the microwave background began during inflation. Those lumps eventually coalesced into stars, galaxies and planets. The measurements are scheduled to be published in a future issue of The Astrophysical Journal Story Images Click thumbnails for full-size image: U.S. Tries to Revise Moussaoui Ruling House approves $91.8 bln for wars, Gulf Coast Ex-Aryan Gang Member Says Gotti Sought Hit Mistrial Declared in Maryland Arson Case See Also Monster Scope to Dwarf Rivals Regret Is Alien to UFO Abductees Doom Rocket Man Preps for Liftoff Associated Press 11:26 AM Mar, 16, 2006 EST Physicists announced Thursday that they now have the smoking gun that shows the universe went through extremely rapid expansion in the moments after the big bang, growing from the size of a marble to a volume larger than all of observable space in less than a trillion-trillionth of a second. The discovery -- which involves an analysis of variations in the brightness of microwave radiation -- is the first direct evidence to support the two-decade-old theory that the universe went through what is called inflation. It also helps explain how matter eventually clumped together into planets, stars and galaxies in a universe that began as a remarkably smooth, super-hot soup. "It's giving us our first clues about how inflation took place," said Michael Turner, assistant director for mathematics and physical sciences at the National Science Foundation. "This is absolutely amazing." Brian Greene, a Columbia University physicist, said: "The observations are spectacular and the conclusions are stunning." 16.Mar.2006 Virusinfektion: Masur sagt US-Konzerte wegen Krankheit ab "Geniuses are not only supposed to be innovative thinkers - the ones who come up with new memes, technologies + art - they're also supposed to be kind + loving to competitors, thieves, ex wives + assholes." The feathers could have been present at different life stages or different seasons of the year. We just don't know, so that means it's still a good question." that is significantly less than the 00.0001989 70% expressing the same opinion, when high-profile acquisitions of U.S. firms by Japanese companies provoked widespread concern. "He had a relative, his grandfather, buried there and he sued to have the remains identified," Scharfenberger said. This proved to be a challenge. "There was not a stone on it," said Scharfenberger, describing the field. "It was tractor-trailer marks, beer cans, garbage, just whatever flew off the turnpike." While narrating a slide show that showcased some of the most interesting grave items uncovered at the site, Scharfenberger related the story of how over 3,000 human burials were bulldozed over in the 1940s to make way for the turnpike. "In the 1940s, one of the politicians must have just pocketed the money and said, 'Oh yeah, they got moved,'" said Scharfenberger. "Hudson County is not known for its pristine politicians up there." Eventually, over 3,000 graves were unearthed, both underneath and alongside the turnpike. Instead of relocating the burials as planned, the bodies were left in the ground and the turnpike simply built over it. It was not uncommon, he said, during the course of the excavation, to discover a human skull sticking out of a large concrete slab. 16.Mar.2006 Man Gets Five Years For Sodomizing McDonald's Employee A Bullitt County man is headed to prison for following what he thought were police orders to sexually abuse a teenage girl. It's a bizarre case with nationwide connections. There was something round, maybe a handball, floating in a puddle near the edge of the graveyard. Archaeologist Gerard Scharfenberger moved in for a closer look. close behind are two other increasingly mentioned descriptors: "idiot" and "liar . All three are mentioned far more often today than a year ago. 16.Mar.2006 Protest gegen Kündigungsschutz-Gesetz: 150 Festnahmen nach Krawallen in Paris Communication is most complete when it proceeds from the smallest number of words -- and indeed of syllables. --Jacques Barzun A Brief Chronological Compendium ? - 1900 1901 - 1990 1991 - 2000 Jan-Dec 2001 arriving at certain firm conclusions: 1: Censorship advocates are nuts. In actual fact I must admit that conclusion number one is a gross oversimplification. Despite that, it seems to be the kindest thing that one can say about censorship advocates. Return to Celebrate Freedom Index Surf to 2001, August 07: White House censures magazine for lack of censorship GeeDubya's administration has served notice that they will not cooperate with any journalist writing for Talk magazine. Dan Bartlett, the White House communications director, said the use of models to satirise the Bush teenagers was disrespectful. He was quoted as saying: Talk "has openly opposed and even mocked the first family's desire to keep the lives of their daughters private and have decided not only to report on it but go to great lengths to distort it." [Uh-huh! -- Su-u-u-u-u-u-ure it has! Problem is the Bush girls have made themselves newsworthy by getting busted for under-age drinking + that does make them public persons in a way they're being the President's daughters doesn't. See my comments and the entry for 27 Jan. In my books, this one is obviously just another case of Georgy-boy trying to hide his family's dirty linen and proof positive that GeeDubya has absolutely no sense of humor. --MN] Return to Chronology 07 Aug 2001 2001, November 04: Report of suppression of dissenting opinion By citizens of Sacramento. During a recent visit to Sacramento by Geedubya, some thirty anti-war protesters were kept away from the street the presidential motorcade was using, while non-protesters were allowed unrestricted access. The protesters were stopped by local mounted and foot patrol officers; ostentibly due to a request made by Secret Service agents during planning meetings for the event. Both agencies are ducking responsibility for the suppression and blaming the other. Return to Chronology 04 Nov 2001 2002, September 28: Observing a protest By Eleanor Eisenberg, executive director of the Arizona Civil Liberties Union. She was arrested while taking photographs of protesters at the Phoenix Civic Plaza during a presidential visit. Despite having taken part in numerous demonstrations, starting back during the Viet Nam war, this is her first arrest. Ms. Eisenberg is rather angered by this incident, contending that she did nothing to provoke an arrest. The police, however, state that she had been asked several time to clear an area the Secret Service had asked be closed for security + that she had resisted arrest. Return to Chronology 28 Sep 2002 2002, October 31: Free speech By Bill Neel. This Butler, Pennsylvania resident was arrested in Neville Island on Labour Day during a visit there by President Bush. Mr. Neel had refused to obey police directives to step into a free speech zone which had been allocated for dissenters. District Justice Shirley Rowe Trkula dismissed the disorderly conduct charge and returned Mr. Neel's protest sign; which read, "The Bush family must surely love the poor - they've made so many of them." Judge Trkula also chastised the Allegheny County police for having gone too far in curbing protests. [Such zones seem to be common to visits by the President and are apparently established by local police at the request of the Secret Service. This is the third case I am aware of wherein dissenting, lawful citizens were restricted to areas away from Bush while non-dissenters were allowed to approach the motorcade freely. --MN] Return to Chronology 31 Oct 2002 2002, November 01: Free speech lawsuit By Jan Lentz, Sonja Haught + Mauricio Rosas; two grandmothers and a gay activist. The suit was filed on their behalf by the ACLU. It alleges a wrongful arrest during a rally organized last year for President George W. Bush and Florida Governor Jeb Bush. This was on 04 Jun 2001. The three were apparently accosted by local and federal police officers at the rally for displaying dissenting opinions + forcibly removed in handcuffs even though they were demonstrating peaceably. They had even bought tickets to get into the event. They contend that other people with pro-Bush signs were not ordered to set aside their signs as they were theirs. They also contend that the officers used unnecessary force. A few criminal charges were laid, but then dropped. ACLU cooperating attorney W.F. "Casey" Ebsary, Jr. of Tampa wrote in the brief, "The protestors were entitled -- just like the hundreds of other people at the rally -- to lawfully exercise their free speech rights, but they were arrested in an attempt to silence them and shield the government from criticism." [Remember what I wrote previously about "free speech zones" being established by local cops at the behest of Secret Service goons? There is no doubt in my mind that this incident is part of a consistent pattern of behaviour. --MN] Return to Chronology 01 Nov 2002 2002, December 05: Allegations of wholesale rights abuse By Michael Maginnis. He claims that he had been arrested by Denver police and questioned by the Secret Service for photographing the hotel in which Vice-President Dick Cheney was staying. He claims that the agent interrogating him threatened him with charges under the USA PATRIOT Act + inflicted verbal abuse by calling him a "raghead collaborator" and a "dirty pinko faggot." He further stated that his arrest was made to disappear by the simple expedient of they're not keeping the records + that his camera and film was essentially stolen from him. [ CAVEAT LECTOR: 2600 Magazine says they'll follow up this incident as catch as catch can, but I'm not sure how much credibility to give it at all. I mean, "dirty pinko faggot"? That rhetoric sounds too supiciously outdated and too pat to be real. And "raghead" is hate speech for middle-easterners who wear turbans; most commonly of the Sihk faith. Not to mention that the agent's reported words and attitude come across as egregiously unprofessional. Of course, law enforcement agencies are not allowed to discriminate against political conviction + Maginnis could have gotten a redneck bigot type. The rest of the incident sounds pretty much like what one would expect in an operation controlled by the Secret Service, given the pattern of other allegations of rights abuse contained in this chronology and reported by mainstream news outlets. Also, a keypal of mine wrote that 2600 seems to be the sole source for this article, that it is not reproduced at any other news site or online magazine. Highly suspicious. This report should be considered untrustworthy. --MN] Return to Chronology 05 Dec 2002 2003, February 12: Anti-War poetry By American poets. First Lady Laura Bush had organized a symposium on the poetry of illustrious artists such as Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes + Walt Whitman. A number of the poets invited, however, wanted to exploit the occasion to protest the hostilities against Iraq; so it was cancelled. The cancellation was referred to as a postponement, but no future date was set for the event. It was reported at Freedom Forum Online that a spokesperson for Ms. Bush had explained that the symposium was not an appropriate forum for such a protest, commenting, "While Mrs. Bush respects the right of all Americans to express their opinions, she, too, has opinions and believes it would be inappropriate to turn a literary event into a political forum." Boston Globe Online reported a White House statement as saying, "It came to the attention of the First Lady's Office that some invited guests want to turn what is intended to be a literary event into a political forum. While Mrs. Bush understands the right of all Americans to express their political views, this event was designed to celebrate poetry." [See my commentary on this issue --MN] Return to Chronology 12 Feb 2003 2003, February 13: Dissenting opinion By Andrew J. O'Conner. This former public defender was arrested by Santa Fe police officers at 2100 hours in the St. John's College Library for the high crime of talking about George Bush in an online chat room. He was arrested at the terminal, handcuffed, taken to the police station + detained for approximately five hours for questioning by Secret Service agents from Albuquerque. The police accused him of making threatening remarks. Mr. O'Conner says he wrote that Bush was way out of control. Mr. O'Conner also speculated that he was being observed because at one time he had been involved with a pro-Palestinian group in Boulder, Colorado. The chat room he was in allowed face-to-face chat [via streaming video, I assume] + the woman with whom he was conversing wore a button saying "No war with Iraq". Earlier this same day, officials at the college + at the College of Santa Fe and Santa Fe Community College, had warned students and faculty that the FBI had been alerted to the presence of "suspicious" people on campus within the past month. Mr. O'Conner has said that he is going to sue everybody involved. [So the FBI was monitoring all internet traffic at three major schools and had someone picked up for expressing his political opinions about Bush as a suspicious person. Sweet. And my friends wonder why I go ballistic over the mere establishing of systems where shit like this is so patently a potential of the program. --MN] Return to Chronology 13 Feb 2003 2003, February 17: Dissenting tee shirt By Bretton Barber. This 16 year old, Dearborn High School junior, wore a tee shirt to school with a picture of George Bush Jr framed by the words International Terrorist. He was ordered to either take it off, turn it inside out, or to go home. He opted to go home. The rationale for this move offered by Dearborn Public Schools spokesman Dave Mustonen was, "It was felt that emotions are running very high. The shirt posed a potential disruption to the learning environment at the school. Our number one obligation is to make sure we have a safe learning environment for all of the students." Lindsey Hoganson, another 16-year-old junior, disagrees, however: "A lot of people are worried about the war. We talk about it at school a lot. Talking about it isn't going to disturb the learning environment, because the topic's already been brought up in school." [Smart kid. Smarter than the twits who are supposed to be seeing to her education. The basis for this action is that approximately 55% of the 17,600 students in the district are of Arabic extraction. What was not explained in the article I saw was how many of those students are in favour of hostilities against Iraq and how many are against and what kind of tensions there might be in the school. Prima facie, it appears very much that school officials decided that because Arab-Americans outnumber caucasians, then speech about American-Arabic relations should be suppressed as unpopular opinion. The .JPG of the tee-shirt was copied from a WireTap.com article from 25 Mar 2003 and is mirrored here without permission. --MN] 2003, March 12: George W. Bush caricature By Allison Moore, student. As part of Concordia University's annual Art Matters Festival, Moore drew a depiction of President Bush with an enormous trouser-fly extending outward from the front of his pants in the shape of the World Trade Center towers. The annual art festival is designed to make students "pay attention to art" + this piece was certainly provocative. Moore had intended the piece to provoke an attack + everyone expected it. This work was hanging in the mezzanine of the Henry F. Hall Building and visitors were encouraged to comment on the work by writing with felt pens on huge sheets of brown paper on the floor in front of the canvas. Comments ranged from condemnation to praise + the University received two official complaints; one of which was filed anonymously. On this day the work was torn down and a comment was written on the canvas itself, although the black-and-white drawing itself was not defaced. The piece was rehung until its scheduled dismantling on 15 Mar. Art Matters Festival co-producer Emily Pearlman was quoted as saying, "If the artist wants to take it down, it's up to her. It's a political statement, yes, but if the purpose of art is to make us ask questions, to think, then it is doing its job." Return to Chronology 12 Mar 2003 2003, March 19: Free speech condemned by fiat Dixie Chick Natalie Maines had uttered a criticism of George Bush, saying, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas." She said this in public the week previous to this one. Subsequent public outcry in the U.S. included groups of fans destroying Dixie Chick CDs en masse (reportedly with bulldozers) + a nation-wide boycott by Clear Channel radio stations and possibly others. On this day, a resolution was introduced in the South Carolina state legislature condemning her exercise in free speech. The resolution demanded that the Dixie Chicks toe the party line with charity performances for service members and their families. It passed by a vote of 50 - 35. [Basically: led by Rep. Catherine Ceips, 50 of the 85 members of the South Carolina legislature shit all over the Bill of Rights and the principle of free speech. Have a nice day you bunch of hillbilly yokels. And you and your cousin don't stay out too late on prom night. Somebody explain to me why it is in the U.S. it takes two years for a bill to become a law but human rights violations can be passed on the same day? (Yeah, yeah, . . . I know that a resolution is essentially meaningless snivelling. I don't care that it's meaningless snivelling, its the principle of the thing and the principle behind this resolution is one of suppression.) --MN] 2003, May 07: Free speech lawsuit By Gerald Rudolph. He is suing the Secret Service for the right to protest in areas where he can be seen by President Bush. In his lawsuit, he alleges that the Secret Service is treating anti-Bush protesters unfairly. The suit stems from an incident in which his sign was confiscated and he was ordered out of a restricted area and relegated to a "free speech zone" approximately a half a mile from where the president was speaking in Columbia in Oct 2002. Mr. Rudolph says that Bush supporters were allowed to keep their signs and remain the supposedly restricted area. One of the problems is that the boundaries of restricted areas seem to be fluid and depend on where on any given Secret Service agent wants them to be. Secret Service spokeswoman Jean Mitchell was quoted as commenting, "We're not prejudiced against who you're protesting for or against. We don't designate a protest area based on the message." This statement, however, seems to fly in the face of other reports about suppression of free speech by the Secret Service. 2003, May 08: Report on Dixie Chicks censorship movement In which the Chicks Strike Back and DJ's are punished for playing their songs. The cover of the 02 May issue of Entertainment Weekly features the three gloriously nude and magnificiently hot Dixie Chicks exercising their free speech rights. As you can see, no mammilae, genitalia, or even pubic areas are exposed, but the girls have a number of epithets, denigrations, praises + slogans stencilled on their bodies. Each stencil is of something the girls have been called for Ms. Maines having dared to commit high treason by criticizing George Bush Jr. This exercise in free speech is in direct response to the exercise of censorship being directed against them (and is mirrored here without permission). Meanwhile, Dave Moore and Jeff Singer have been suspended by station KKCS for daring to break the censorship ban against Dixie Chicks songs. There had been some talk about lifting the ban and the two DJ's got impatient and jumped the gun. The punishment was levied by station manager Jerry Grant. [I love it when people who properly understand that the answer to free speech is more free speech put that principle into action. Especially when they do it the way the Chicks have done here! Whoo-hoooo! --MN] 2003, May 08: Free speech lawsuit By Gerald Rudolph. U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Perry ruled that he was unable to grant Mr. Rudolph's request for an injunction against the Secret Service because there was insufficient evidence the agency had planned to infringe his free speech rights. However, the Secret Service promised to not interfere with his protest during Bush's visit to University of South Carolina commencement on 09 Apr. They also promised to reserve an area on a sidewalk about a block away from the entrance to the arena specifically for protesters without tickets. The only limit the Secret Service set for protesters who would be allowed inside because they have tickets is that signs must not be on pickets as the sticks of wood could be used as weapons. [In making his decision Judge Perry said, "I have only the October 2002 incident to look to. I know in the view of the plaintiff that's enough." It's certainly enough for me, but, then, I don't sit on the bench. I still say that the Secret Service is suppressing free speech and that it is a consistent pattern of behaviour, but I shall have to qualify that opinion by allowing as to how is seems to be a general trend rather than a concerted movement. Somebody needs to send a memo to all Secret Service offices to tell all agents to be more mindful of free speech rights. --MN] 2003, May 12: Criticism of the king By the Fair Taxes for All Coalition, Nebraska chapter. This group was relegated to a "free speech zone" well away from where President Bush was to enter the Airlite Plastics Co. plant in Omaha, Nebraska on a visit on this day. The group, which had contacted the Secret Service the week of 04 May, when it learned of the presidential visit, was told on 10 May that their designated rally location was at the back entrance of the plant; which is a half a mile away and out of sight of news cameras and reporters covering the event. Patrick Pannett, a leader with Nebraska chapter, was quoted as saying, "There really isn't a viable or visible opportunity for us to get our point across. It's just a blatant political move." and, "Are they going to put the pro-Bush supporters who didn't get tickets a half-mile away? I doubt it." Jack Gould, of Common Cause Nebraska, a political watchdog group, commented, "They're willing to go through security. They're not terrorists. It's more a question of freedom of speech. Any group that's responsible and willing to go through the security and background checks should be allowed to be there." Return to Chronology 12 May 2003 2003, May 28: Report on opposition to suppression by the Department of Justice By eleven members of U.S. Congress. Ten democrats and one Texas republican wrote to the Attorney General urging him to stop the prosecution of Brett Bursey, who was arrested after refusing to comply with directives by Secret Service agents to retire to a free speech zone at Columbia Metropolitan Airport on 24 Oct 2002. The area, apparently designated specifically for protesters, was a half a mile from where the speech was delivered. Although local charges against Bursey were dropped, federal authorities are still pursuing the case under a statute that allows the Secret Service to restrict access to areas during a presidential visit. [Except if they are going to restrict access to a given area, they have to restrict access for everyone, not restrict only those who dissent and allow those who support. --MN] Return to Chronology 28 May 2003 2003, July 17: Report of being investigated by the FBI for reading in public By Marc Schultz. A freelance writer with Creative Loafing + independent newspaper, he was interviewed by two FBI agents over an incident where he had been reading an editorial on politics. The piece in question was Hal Crowther's Weapons of Mass Stupidity from the Weekly Planet, a free independent out of Tampa and sister paper to Creative Loafing , which is based in Atlanta. Mr. Schultz wrote in his piece about the interview that one agent said to him, "I'll tell you what, Marc. Someone in the shop that day saw you reading something + thought it looked suspicious enough to call us about. So that's why we're here, just checking it out. Like I said, there's no problem. We'd just like to get to the bottom of this. Now if we can't, then you may have a problem. And you don't want that." Weapons of Mass Stupidity is a political polemic as much as an anti-biased-media polemic. It is a most acerbic assessment of Rupert Murdoch and his Fox News network, as well as staff members Bill O'Reilly and Nick Cavuto. The piece mixes the two in that it derides Fox News for a blatant pro-Bush administration bias in its reporting and editorial stance, but it is also very highly critical of the posturing by George Bush jr. and his administration. Return to Chronology 17 Jul 2003 2003, August 06: Free Speech lawsuit By Joe Redner, Adam Elend + Jeff Marks. They are suing the Secret Service, the local Sheriff's office, the University of Southern Florida + Sun Dome Inc., the company which operates the public university's arena. The three had been arrested by Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies in Nov 2002 at a campaign rally for Gov. Jeb Bush, because they would not move into the Secret Service designated free-speech zone. The rally which was held at the University of South Florida, was specifically to protest such zones. This zone was about a half a mile away from the event being picketed. As is usual with such incidents, supporters of the president + in this case of the governor as well, were allowed free access to the limits of security. Return to Chronology 06 Aug 2003 2003, September 23: Free Speech lawsuit By the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of four advocacy organizations. The ACLU filed the lawsuit in federal court in Pennsylvania, asking the federal courts to prevent the U.S. Secret Service from keeping anti-Bush protesters far away from presidential appearances while allowing supporters to display their messages up close. Witold J. Walczak, legal director for the ACLU's Greater Pittsburgh chapter, commented, "The pattern we found was at presidential and vice presidential appearances, protesters were restricted to areas where they were out of sight, out of earshot and often out of mind. Protecting our nation's leaders from harm is important. Protecting our nation's leaders from dissent is unconstitutional." The four advocacy groups are: National Organization for Women; United for Peace and Justice, an anti-war group; ACORN, an advocacy organization for low- and moderate-income families; and USAction, a group that supports universal health care and better public education and which opposes the Iraq war and Bush's tax cuts. [Secret Service spokesman John Gill was quoted as saying, "The Secret Service does not comment on pending litigation. However, we have a long-standing policy of recognizing the constitutionally protected right of the public to demonstrate and voice their views to their elected officials." Given the consistent pattern of behaviour of the Secret Service toward protesters and dissidents, I consider that statement to be utter bullshit. --MN] Return to Chronology 23 Sep 2003 2003, October 01: Report on disposition of free speech case By Bretton Barber. On 29 Sep, U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Duggan ruled that Mr. Barber had a right to wear a tee shirt to school with a political message on it. Judge Duggan wrote in his ruling, "There is no evidence that the T-shirt created any disturbance or disruption," and, "The record does not reveal any basis for (the assistant principal's) fear aside from his belief that the T-shirt conveyed an unpopular political message." [In this case the message was unilaterally deemed to be unpopular by a reactionary without any indication that it actually was unpopular. The ruling does, however, support those opinions which actually are unpopular by weight of numbers. --MN] 2003, October 03: Report of U.S. censorship of Al Jazeera It was reported at ArabNews.com in an article on 03 Oct + in a follow up article on 04 Oct, that the Unites States had employed an egregious use of political force to get two cartoons pulled from the news service's web sites. John R. Bradley, a Managing Editor, wrote of the incident: The two cartoons were pulled "without any hesitation" from both the Arabic and English language websites after a US government official complained about them, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. One cartoon was of so-called "green card soldiers", young Latino men shown going through an immigration tunnel to emerge from the other side as US soldiers ready to leave for military service in Iraq. The other was of the Twin Towers imploding + two giant fuel pumps rising to replace them from the ashes. Neither cartoon is now available in Al-Jazeera websites' cartoon archive. "The journalists on the Arabic language website didn't give a damn," the source said, "but those on the English site were furious. However, their complaints were dismissed." The revelation that Al-Jazeera was so easily cowed by US pressure over the "offensive" cartoons will be seen by many to undermine its combative and independent image. According to the article of 04 Oct, the Bush administration had effected the censorship of Al Jazeera by threatening economic and political sanctions: If Al-Jazeera failed to reconsider its news content, the e-mail reported the committee as having concluded, the US would in turn have to reconsider its relations with Qatar. Suggestions made, the Al-Jazeera journalist wrote, included transferring its largest military Gulf base to another Gulf state, minimizing its civilian presence, canceling the 50-year-old defense treaty between the US and Qatar + withdrawing most other US support for the tiny Gulf state. [So much for the land of the free and the home of the brave. You can see the cartoons, in animated .GIF format at The Memory Hole web site. --MN] Return to Chronology 03 Oct 2003 2004, January 06: Political activism outside Secret Service Speech Free zones By Brett Bursey. On this day U.S. Magistrate Bristow Marchant ruled that Mr. Bursey had been protesting peacefully and was not engaged in any "wantonly criminal" act, but also defended the government's view of the importance of restricted areas for the president's safety. He found Mr. Bursey guilty of trespass under an obsure and seldom invoked 1971 law and fined him five hundred dollars, but also ruled that Mr. Bursey would not have to pay pending his appeal. The conviction was based on Mr. Bursey's inability to provide evidence in support of his contention that the Secret Service had discriminated against dissidents by relegating them to a Free Speech Zone a half a mile away from the president. You can see the article at the First Amendment Center, or see the article at The State.com of South Carolina. There are too many details in this case to include them all here. [For my money Bursey sells himself short when he says activists like Madison and Jefferson were far braver than he is. I'd rank him right up there with them. --MN] Return to Chronology 06 Jan 2004 2004, May 07: F ree U s G W By Frank Van den Bosch. This resident of Montfort, Wisconsin was subjected to three censorial actions while engaging in a peaceful protest during a presidential motorcade. According to the motion asking that the citation be dismissed, Mr. Van den Bosch was standing along a street in Platteville on this day, with his sign, waiting for Bush's motorcade to pass. Police told him he could not display the sign, so he changed it to read, "Free Us G W", adding "End the Occupation" on the back. A few minutes after that another police officer came over and ordered him to surrender the sign. Instead, he rolled the sign up and moved to the back of the crowd. As Bush went by he unrolled the sign and held it up, For that, the police handcuffed him and took him to the police station, where he was photographed, fingerprinted, cited $243 for disorderly conduct + then released. Van den Bosch had written the letters "R E E" and "S" in tiny print + according to Platteville Police Lt. Tom Schmid, a business owner along the street had complained about the sign. The officers also thought children might see it. Mr. Van den Bosch, a member of the social issues group Southwest Peace Fellowship, commented about his arrest, "It's just a creeping theocratic fascism that's moving into the land here, where dissent is unpatriotic." [Schmid is quoted as saying, "We had to take some action. If we were wrong, then the citation will be voided and taken care of that way. That's the way the system is supposed to work." No, dumbass, that is not how the system is supposed to work. The assumption is of innocence, not of guilt. The way the systmem works is: when in doubt, do not arrest. And even if a child was to see the sign, how many of them would know that F U G W stood for, "Fuck You, George W. [Bush]"? And even if they did, there are court rulings to the effect that "Fuck (this)" is protected speech. This is a clear and present free speech rights violation. --MN] 2004, May 07: Dissenters denied entrance to Bush event in Dubuque By -- nobody's really sure, since the principals involved are ducking responsibility. President George Bush was in Dubuque to speak at the convention center on this day, at what was billed as a public event, but only self-proclaimed Bush supporters could get in. Security personnel at the entrance, apparently members of the Dubuque County Republican Party, asked people about their political leanings and turned away those who did not support the President. In an article published on 20 May, following up the story broken by the Dubuque Telegraph Herald, Matthew Rothschild, of the Progressive , (and reprinted at Common Dreams News Center) reported the following personal anecdotes by a few of those who were turned away. Bill Ward, member of the 45th Infantry Division during World War II: "When I got up there, they asked to see my license and so forth + I showed it to them. And then this young guy asked, 'Are you a Bush backer?' "And I said, 'No, I didn't vote for him the first time + I'm not going to vote for him this time.' "And he said, 'Get out.' "I said, 'I don't have to take this crap. I'm a World War II vet.' "He said, 'Escort him out.' "I said, 'I don't need an escort. I can find my way out.' (Ward proceeded right down to the offices of the Telegraph Herald. "I was teed off," he says.) Nick Lucy, Vietnam veteran and past commander of the American Legion in Dubuque; "I blow taps two or three times a week for veterans.": "One of my Republican friends, a prominent businessman, gave me two tickets," he recalls. "I promised to go because I've seen almost every President since Johnson." But once he got to the checkpoint, the security staff said, "You're name is not on the list," he says. Lucy explained who had given him the tickets + he suggested that the security staff call up his Republican friend then and there. "I don't care who you want me to call," one of the security people said, according to Lucy. When Lucy tried to take the man's picture, "he put his notebook in front of his face," Lucy says. And then the man told the police to get him out of there, Lucy recalls. Jan Oswald and three other members of Women in Black were also denied entrance, even though they had proper tickets: "I went the morning they were giving out tickets," she says. "It was a two-and-a-half-hour wait in the Dubuque Building, which is downtown." The screening process was obvious, she recalls. "Everyone was being asked whether they supported the President, or were they registered Republicans, or would they put up a sign in their yard or a sticker in their car," she says. But for some reason, when she got to the front of the line, the woman handing out tickets let her buy four of them without any questions asked, except for the names and phone numbers of all four women, Oswald says. On May 7, since she had a ticket, she expected to get into the event. "We walked up to the check people + we had our drivers' licenses out and the tickets, so they looked up our names and they said we were on the list to get in. But then a gentleman said, 'You do not look like the kind of people who are here for the right reasons,'" she recalls. "I responded, 'You know, I'm an American. I've got a ticket that matches. I have identification + I want to see the President.' "The man said, 'This is a private affair. You are not welcome.' At that point, he ripped up our tickets." Matt Trewartha, student of political science at Northeast Iowa Community College: He stood in line for an hour and a half on May 3 to get a ticket for himself and three friends. While there, he acknowledged to another person in line that he was not a Republican or a Bush supporter but nor was he a Kerry supporter. When he got to the front, he was told he would not be able to get a ticket because of the comment he made about not supporting Bush, he says. "I'm a nineteen-year-old political science major + I thought it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity to see the President in my hometown," he says he told the ticket people. But to no avail. Trewartha then asked what he was supposed to do about the three tickets he was trying to buy for his friends. "Well, as long as they're Bush supporters they can come on down and get their own tickets," the man told him, according to Trewartha. Trewartha's professor of American history, Ralph Scharnau, upon hearing of his troubles, decided to give him one of his own tickets. "The day before the event, I went back to the same office and explained the situation and asked whether I could transfer the names on the tickets," Trewartha says. "And they said it was absolutely no problem. But then someone came out and said, 'Sir, you look familiar. You were here Monday. And you couldn't get a ticket then + you can't get one now.' I said, 'Can I at least have my ticket back so I can give it back to my professor?' And she said no." Arthur Roche, coordinator of Dubuque Peace and Justice: He also waited in line for two hours to get his ticket. Unlike Trewartha, he got a ticket. But he did not gain entry into the event. "As I was approaching the gate, a guy said, 'You need to have your ID and your ticket out,' so I did that + the woman asked to see them, so I gave them both to her," Roche explains. "She raised her eyebrows when she saw my name + she said, 'Just a moment please,' and walked about twenty feet away to confer with three men. She and one or two of those guys came back over to me and said, 'Sir, you're not invited. You'll have to leave.' She handed me my driver's license and my ticket back + then one of the guys grabbed the ticket out of my hand, tore it in half + threw it in the garbage." Roche says he tried to retrieve it, but the man said, "You can't have that. That's our property. You'll need to leave now." The Chairman of the Dubuque County Republican Party, Steve Bateman said the screening policy was not his idea + is quoted, "I wasn't in charge of President Bush coming to Dubuque. The Bush campaign ran the event." The Bush campaign did not return phone calls for comment. [And you were just following orders in perpetrating this wholesale civil liberties violation, so you consider yourself blameless, right? Ever hear of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials? --MN] 2004, July 14: Report that a vague and overbroad restriction is struck down By McLennan County Court-at-Law Judge Tom Ragland. On 09 Jul he dismissed all charges against five anti-war activists who were arrested and convicted of protesting in violation of a city ordinance in Crawford (Texas, locale of the Bush Jr. ranch) in 2003. He ruled that the ordinance was "overly broad on its face and in the manner in which it was implemented and enforced by the City of Crawford and therefore contravenes the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America." The five defendants, Tricia Major, Michael Mashicek, Amara Malizewski, Ken Zarifis and Amanda Jack, were on their way from Austin to President Bush's ranch in May 2003 to protest the war in Iraq when they were arrested and put in jail overnight. They had not even been demonstrating at the time of the arrests, but were stopped by a police blockade and some had gotten out of their cars to try to negotiate with the officers. Return to Chronology 14 Jul 2004 2004, July 15: Anti-Bush T-shirts By Jeff and Nicole Rank. This couple had worn tee shirts with the slogan Love America, Hate Bush to the President's Fourth of July speech in Charleston. Because it was billed as an official Presidential appearance and not a campaign stop, the White House tried to keep people from bringing political paraphernalia into the event; White House spokesman Taylor Gross explained, "As a general rule, when the White House does an official event for the president, we don't allow any political signage in. That's either for or against." People managed to slip campaign buttons and political t-shirts into the event anyway; the Ranks wore shirts over their anti-Bush T-shirts when they went through the Secret Service's security check. The police did let some people who brought political items stay for the speech, including two children who wore anti-Bush shirts to the speech. Others, however, were asked by White House officials to cover up or leave, including six people sporting items supporting the president's re-election bid, Gross said. The Ranks were approached by an event staff member who told them to cover their anti-Bush T-shirts or leave. When they refused, the staff called the police and they were handcuffed, escorted out of the event + ticketed for trespassing. After court opened for business at 7:30 a.m. on this day, assistant City Attorney Dolores Martin dismissed the charges against the Ranks because city code does not cover trespassing on Statehouse grounds. [Core political speech is not allowed at political events. . . . How's that again? Boy, I'd like to know how long that policy has been place. --MN] Return to Chronology 15 Jul 2004 2004, August 07: Mixed signals about loyalty oaths By the party faithful. Both George Bush and John Kerry pledged they will not require "loyalty oaths" from those wishing to attend future appearances in West Virginia. Some residents of New Mexico were refused tickets to hear the Vice President speak at an event near Albuquerque, during the last week of Jul, unless they signed an oath that they "endorse George W. Bush for re-election". Whereas there will be no such pledges in W.Va., New Mexico GOP officials reportedly said they plan to require signed loyalty pledges at future Bush-Cheney campaign events + apparently stated that they are meant to curb demonstrations by anti-Bush activists; in short: the purpose of the oaths is to specifically violate free speech provisions. Despite Bush's pledge, Republican National Committee spokesman Yier Shi said on 05 Aug, "If we feel our event will get disrupted again, we will use the same method to make sure it's a positive event." 2004, August 26: F ree U s G W By Frank Van den Bosch. Andrea Baker said that city of Platteville, Wisconsin, will pay $12,086.45 through its insurer to settle the federal free-speech violation claim filed on behalf of Frank Van den Bosch. The stipulation that led to the dismissal is a release of all claims of liability. The charge of disorderly conduct, with its attendant fine of 243 dollars had already been dismissed. Police Chief Earl Hernandez said his officers were responding to a complaint and had no choice but to issue the citation: "The way our ordinance was written + it has since changed, a complaint from one person is enough for us to respond + we had about six complaints." The law had not allowed for any latitude. That ordinance has since been rewritten to allow responding officers a degree of discretion. 2004, August 29: Students banned from just listening to Bush By the Secret Service. Once again the Secret Service summarily barred private citizens who had already gotten tickets from attending a campaign event. This is the third such incident in West Virginia alone. Students Jeff Rogers and Jessica Williams, both of Wheeling, got tickets for this rally from a friend, but when they got to the ticket table a Secret Service agent said he believed Rogers worked for Kerry's advance team, which Rogers denies, although he had interned with the Ohio County Democratic Party. Ms. Williams was undecided. The two thought they would compare Bush's speech with what they'd heard from Kerry on his July 31 visit to the city. Mr. Rogers is quoted, "I was just there to listen ... and get a perspective of what he thinks about the issues. Neither one of us was going to cause any disturbance. We were just going to respectfully listen + afterward, process through what we agreed with and disagreed with." He is further quoted, "They said, 'We're not going to let you in. Nice try, though.'" A separate incident along the same lines ended differently, however. John Prather was briefly ejected from the rally but then allowed to return. The source article wrote of the incident thusly: Prather was removed from a Bush rally in Cambridge, Ohio, on July 31 and came to the Wheeling event to find out whether he had been blacklisted. He stood quietly in line with no campaign memorabilia, wearing a T-shirt with the phrase, "D is for Democracy." But once inside, a campaign volunteer found him. "He asked whether I was a Bush supporter. I said no + he said, 'This is a Bush rally. We don't want other people here'" The volunteer then took his ticket. Outside, the volunteer asked a Secret Service agent where to send protesters. The Secret Service person asked me, 'Are you leaving of your own accord?'" "I said, no + he said, 'Escort him back in.'" This incident was attributed to an overzealous volunteer. Return to Chronology 29 Aug 2004 2004, September 04: Report on King George -- off with his head bumper sticker as a threat By Derek Kjar. He was visited by the Secret Service after neighbors complained about an anti-Bush sticker on his car. The decal, which Kjar printed from a web source, had a cartoonish depiction of Bush's head wearing a crown, with the words, "King George -- off with his head." Special agent Lon Garner, who is in charge of the Service's Denver field office, confirmed the investigation + said agents had ruled out a threat to the president. He said it was the agency's job to investigate all reported threats to figures under Secret Service protection -- including Democratic candidate John Kerry + is quoted, "We are bound by law. We take them very seriously, regardless of who the protectee is." [Having been a security agent for nine years I can fully agree with and support law enforcement attitudes towards taking all threats seriously. What I take exception with is that these neighbours who essentially turned in a false alarm do not seem to have been chastised for abuse of due process. To be fair: at bottom, one would have to apply the reasonable person standard in any trial against someone making baseless accusations about anti-Bush proponents. On the flip side, trying some knee-jerk reactionary for making such accusations would have the same chilling effect on those who would be honest whistleblowers that violating press confidentiality would have. This sort of thing, however, is a perfect example of why the TIPS program would never have worked. Too many people would have exploited it to turn in dissenters. I predict that if Bush is re-elected, there will be an increase in such incidents. It's a safe bet, because, 1: there will certainly be more anti-Bush protest; 2: some Bush supporters will be emboldened by a sense of security. --MN] Return to Chronology 04 Sep 2004 2004, September 14: Anti-Bush tee shirts By Jeff and Nicole Rank. This couple filed a federal lawsuit alleging their First Amendment rights were violated at the 04 Jul event from which they were removed in handcuffs. Nicole Rank's shirt had the words "Love America, Hate Bush" on the back and Jeff Rank's had "Regime change starts at home" on the back. Their lawsuit was filed in federal court in Charleston by the American Civil Liberties Union + names as defendants: Gregory Jenkins, deputy assistant to the president and director of the White House Office of Presidential Advance + W. Ralph Basham, director of the U.S. Secret Service. The couple is asking that any policy that led to their arrest be declared unconstitutional + are seeking unspecified monetary damages for emotional harm. Spokesmen for the Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Justice refused to comment, both saying their agencies did not comment on ongoing litigation. The Charleston City Council and Mayor Danny Jones have publicly apologized to the Ranks. Mayor Jones has said the police officers who arrested the Ranks were told to do so by Secret Service agents. A spokesman for the Secret Service, Charles Bopp, had previously said the agency did not direct the arrests. The event was not a campaign event, but an official visit. 2004, October 18: Trial for an exercise of free speech By the Smoketown Six. In Jul, when President Bush was in Pennsylvania, enroute to Lancaster County, six men stripped down to thong underwear and formed a human pyramid on the motorcade route to protest the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq. They were arrested by the police and on 09 Jul were charged for disorderly conduct. The men said they were trying to shame the president by re-creating an image of naked prisoners who had been forced to assume a similar position by U.S. soldiers in Abu Ghraib. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $300 fine [apiece?]. Paula Knudsen, the ACLU attorney who will defend them, commented, "The First Amendment protects many types of speech. What the defendants did in this case was clearly protected by the First Amendment, even though some people found it offensive." [It is not entirely clear from the source article from what that charge stems exactly. It seems that particular charge might have been laid because some people might have been offended by the thongs, which would cover only the pubis in front, but leave the cheeks of the buttocks fully exposed. While leaving little to the imagination, the strategic areas would still have been covered. --MN] [ Addendum (30 Oct 2004: ) An article by Dan Eggen of The Washington Post + which was reprinted at Truthout.org, reported that charges against the Smoketown Six had simply been dropped. Lancaster County's Republican district attorney dropped the charges, declaring that their "symbolic conduct" was protected by the First Amendment. The article looks at the tactic of arresting protesters and then never bringing them to trial. Christopher Hansen, an ACLU lawyer who tracks arrests and removals, is quoted, "Every president wants to suppress speech at one point or another. That said, the incidents seem to be more numerous this time around." It also illustrted some of the ducking responsibility that goes on over incidents such as those chronicled here. A spokesman said that the Secret Service strives to stay out of any confrontations or disputes that do not involve a security threat and that the agency is often wrongly identified as being involved in arrests. "As long as there's no security threat, the responsibility for removing someone from the site is the responsibility of the site's sponsor," said spokesman Tom Mazur. At the very least, local agencies would take their cue for enforcement from the Secret Service and react accordingly + the Secret Service will always err on the side of protecting the President. --MN] Return to Chronology 18 Oct 2004 2004, November 16: Report on a talent show protest song as terrorist threat By the "Tali-banned". During the week of 07-13 Nov, at Boulder High School (Colorado), an impromptu band of students and one teacher was rehearsing Bob Dylan's Vietnam-era protest song "Masters of War" for a talent show scheduled for 12 Nov. An unidentified student misheard the song lyrics and claimed that the group had modified the lyrics to: "George Bush, I hope that you die/And your death will come soon." She told her mother, who phoned it in to a radio-talk show + that brought the Secret Service down on the group. The group changed its name from "Tali-banned" to "Coalition of the Willing" under the urging of the faculty, but it was reported on this day that the Secret Service investigation was continuing even though it was clear that the "threat" was simply misunderstood lyrics and the talent show was over and done with on the previous Friday evening. Return to Chronology 16 Nov 2004 Surf to Return to Celebrate Freedom Index Die Vogelgrippe ist noch immer eine Tierseuche. Allerdings fanden Wissenschaftler jetzt heraus: Das Protein, das dem H5N1-Virus das Andocken an menschliche Zellen ermöglicht, ist dem von anderen Pandemie-Viren viel ähnlicher als gedacht. Mit ihren - nach menschlichen Maßstäben - unglaublich schnellen Reproduktionszyklen führen Viren Evolution auf der Überholspur vor. Binnen weniger Jahre können sie durch Mutation und Selektionsdruck ganz neue Eigenschaften erlangen. Welche, lässt sich nur schwer vorhersagen. Deshalb vergleichen Virologen die Entwicklung aktueller Virenstämme mit der Evolution älterer Erreger. 16.Mar.2006 Guantanamo: Hilferuf vor dem zehnten Selbstmordversuch 16.Mar.2006 Eklat im Parlament: Linkspartei mit Streikwesten im Bundestag 16.Mar.2006 Vogelgrippe-Geschäft: Der Hühnertöter "Nach Ihrer Entscheidung wissen wir ehrlich gesagt nicht, ob es sich für uns überhaupt noch lohnt weiterzumachen", sagte Chefankläger Robert Spencer am Dienstagabend bei einer Telefonkonferenz mit Richterin Brinkema, weiteren Staatsanwälten und dem Verteidiger Edward MacMahon, wie aus einer gestern veröffentlichten Transkription hervorging. Die Anklage fordert Todesstrafe wegen Beihilfe zum 3000fachen Mord: Sie will nachweisen, dass der bereits drei Wochen vor dem 11. September festgenommene Franzose mit einer rechtzeitigen Enthüllung des Komplotts den Behörden hätte helfen können, die Anschläge zu verhindern. 16.Mar.2006 Republican attacks on "activist judges" have inspired multiple death threats against Supreme Court justices. 16.Mar.2006 Senate Votes to Raise Debt Limit (That's $30,000 per family), on a 52-48 vote + sent to President Bush a bill raising the ceiling on the national debt to nearly $9 trillion and preventing a first-ever default on U.S. Treasury notes. "When it comes to deficits, this president owns all the records," said Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. 3/17 16.Mar.2006 The Torture Judge: U.S. court rules our government can break international laws to keep us safe. "...if Judge David Trager's ruling is upheld in an appeal to the Supreme Court, the CIA and other American officials will be told 'they have a green light to do to others what they did to Arar' ?- no matter what international or U.S. laws are violated in the name of national security." Frightening. 3/16 16.Mar.2006 https://www.cannonfire.blogspot.com/In which case, we have a precedent that adds some weight to my theory as to what MZM and Foxcom have been up to. Permalink Gordon Thomas' biography of Robert Maxwell tells the story of how the Israelis got hold of PROMIS + engineered a "back door" into the software; they then found ways to make sure that the intelligence services of many nations (China, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, even the USSR) got hold of and used this reconfigured program. Whatever they heard, Mossad overheard . (For more, see here.) 00.000.1970 -In the early s- the CIA bugged Nixon's staffers (+ probably even the Oval Office itself), using pretty much the same tactics. (MZM is the one that seems to have actually done stuff -- as opposed to the Wilkes empire, which was largely a series of false fronts.) Even the red-staters might awaken from their intellectual slumber if they learn that Bush appointed as Homeland Security Director the lawyer for one of Mohammed Atta's co-conspirators. Permalink 01.Sep.2005 -after a three-week investigation into Able Danger... The DoD admitted they have found three other witnesses in addition to Shaffer + Philpott who confirm Able Danger had produced a chart that "either mentioned Atta by name as an al-Qaida operative [and/or] showed his photograph." Four of the five remember the photo on the chart. The fifth remembers only Atta being cited by name. The Pentagon describes the witnesses as "credible" but did not rule out the possibility their recollections were faulty. What evidence backs the current attacks on the "Atta identification" story? It's pretty thin. Most of the latest stories do not mention him -- or the harrassment he has undergone since going public -- although this column in the Washington Post resorts to smears and name-calling: That testimony is here. Read it with an open mind. I don't think Shaffer's historical allusions serve his purposes; even so, this testimony hardly seems paranoid or messianic -- especially if you compare it to, say, Oliver North's blatherings before the Iran/contra committee. Of course, more than one person saw the picture + defense contractor J.D. Smith recognized Atta's picture on the chart by his distinctive cheekbones. Weldon had previously indicated that the picture stood out because lawyers had put yellow stickies over it, an odd thing to do if the picture didn't exist. The reason they put the stickies over it + the whole basis for Weldon's original comments, was that they were using legal technicalities to thwart the Pentagon's efforts to prevent a terrorist attack. The legal technicalitites were based on the fact that Atta's green-card status protected him from further investigation, which of course meant that they had to know who Atta was, know he had a green card + know that the picture they were covering with stickies was a picture of Atta. Not to his informants. It's all his fault. For those of you who do not recall, Able Danger was the name of the Pentagon "data mining" unit which 11.Sep.2001 -well before-identified Mohammed Atta as a potential terrorist threat -- + even had his picture up on a flow chart - In fact, the team had placed Atta in the USA at a time when he was, according to the official chronology, in Germany. 16.Mar.2006 Jericho-Effekt: Kadima-Partei profitiert von Gefängniserstürmung 16.Mar.2006 Kommunikation: Frosch quakt in Ultraschall 16.Mar.2006 Dinosaurier: Computer macht Tyrannosaurus Beine 16.Mar.2006 Heute in den Feuilletons: "Nichts formulieren, was die Hoffnung tötet" 16.Mar.2006 'Israel subjected US detainees to traumas' : Americans have repeatedly suffered physical + psychological trauma while detained by Israeli security forces, a US court was told Tuesday during a hearing about the alleged torture of a man accused of funnelling money to Hamas. 16.Mar.2006 We warned of prison attack, says Israel : · UK and US told what to expect if they pulled out 16.Mar.2006 Lebanese forces stifle anti-US protest: Thousands of Lebanese security forces mobilised outside the US embassy to block a demonstration against "American-British collusion" with Israel in a prison raid in Jericho earlier this week. 16.Mar.2006 A Palestinian View : A practical guide to a successful nonviolent strategy 16.Mar.2006 Packed Finkelstein talk draws 'real outrage' : Finkelstein, the son of two Holocaust survivors who teaches political science at DePaul University in Chicago, spoke about his views of the "fabricated, concocted, illegitimate" Israeli-Arab conflict, while outside at least 150 members of the local Jewish community quietly protested the event. 16.Mar.2006 Pro-Israel Activists Block U.S. Travel Reform : Jewish organizations played a leading role in defeating the effort, launched in response to the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, to ban privately funded trips for members of Congress. 16.Mar.2006 U.S. Votes Against U.N. Human Rights Council: The new Human Rights Council is meant to replace the 00.000.1946 -founded- 53-member Commission on Human Rights to censure countries abusing their own citizens. 16.Mar.2006 America can't block UN's new human rights body : AGAINST strong American opposition the United Nations has overwhelmingly voted to establish a new body to promote human rights around the world. 16.Mar.2006 The U.S. Gulag Prison System : The shame of a nation and a crime against humanity 16.Mar.2006 Torture Inc. Americas Brutal Prisons: Savaged by dogs, Electrocuted With Cattle Prods, Burned By Toxic Chemicals, Does such barbaric abuse inside U.S. jails explain the horrors that were committed in Iraq? 16.Mar.2006 Moussaoui judge asked to allow FAA testimony: Prosecutors seeking the death penalty for al Qaeda terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui yesterday asked a judge to reconsider her ban on testimony from aviation security specialists coached by an outside lawyer. 16.Mar.2006 Chris Floyd: Bush Puts America on Death Row : In yet another of those momentous degradations of public morality that go unremarked by the ever-vigilant watchdogs of the national media, Bush slipped a measure into the revamped "Patriot (sic) Act" he signed last week that will allow him to expedite the death penalty process across the land, the Austin American-Statesman reports. 16.Mar.2006 Sheila Samples: With Friends Like These: Most Americans are critically aware of the importance of security in the wake of 11.Sep.2001 . But with best friends and partners like the United Arab Emirates, the Carlyle Group + Halliburton controlling the house -- we have little time to worry about enemies at the gate. 16.Mar.2006 America can't block UN's new human rights body : AGAINST strong USA opposition the UN has overwhelmingly voted to establish a new body to promote human rights around the world. 16.Mar.2006 Senate Votes to Raise Debt Limit : The Senate, on a 52-48 vote, sent to President Bush a bill raising the ceiling on the national debt to nearly $9 trillion + preventing a first-ever default on U.S. Treasury notes 15.Mar.2006 Global Economic Hegemony: A New Kind of Warfare? -By Kaleem Hussain The result was a military strike by the U.S. and it’s allies and subsequently in ample time the dollar was restored as Iraq’s oil export currency. Continued 16.Mar.2006 MI5, Camp Delta + the story that shames Britain : There is no evidence in the record, classified or unclassified, which supports the military's determination that these are enemy combatants. None. 20.Mar.2006 - + go head to head with the New York Mercantile Exchange + the ICE Futures Exchange in London - the start date has been postponed by at least several months + maybe more than a year. 16.Mar.2006 America's nuclear hypocrisy undermines its stance on Iran: Even as he was telling Iran not to produce nuclear weapons, President Bush was urging Congress to pay for a new nuclear weapon designed to destroy underground military facilities 24.Jun.2005 He was shot dead as he approached a US checkpoint. 24.Jun.2005 -In the previous weeks- Salihee had documented, for the Knight-Ridder news agency, dozens of cases of men being dumped at morgues after having been detained by the Wolf Brigade, the most notorious unit among the Special Police Commandos + under the direct command of a US officer. Building consent for Iran attack: Rice steps up rhetoric against ‘troubled state’ Iran: Condoleezza Rice on Thursday raised the diplomatic temperature over the nuclear stand-off with Iran, accusing the country of lying about its activities and again calling it a “central banker to terrorism”. 16.Mar.2006 US restates strike-first policy, warns Iran : Making no apologies for the war in Iraq, the USA reaffirmed its strike-first policy of preemption + warned that Iran may pose the biggest threat to US national security. 16.Mar.2006 Video: John Bolton Interview: Will the U.S. attack Iran? 16.Mar.2006 Terrorists or Resistance Fighters: America’s Dilemma in Iraq : When your homeland is occupied by foreign troops, extraordinary courage seems to come naturally. Yes, you would. Continue Air bursts are horrible enough, doing incredible destruction through heat, shock + high initial radiation. The fallout from an air burst is registered around the world. A surface or subsurface burst is even deadlier + more long lasting. Continued |