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11 January 2008 The presidential campaign of Barack Obama has issued a statement regarding reports of voter-registration irregularities in Louisiana that allegedly led to the denial of the vote to hundreds of people. The Obama campaign website published the following: "The Obama campaign submitted an urgent request for assistance to the Secretary of State’s Division of Elections today, after receiving widespread reports from Democrats across Louisiana who reported that they were not allowed to vote because their party affiliation had been switched." [Full Story] ELECTION IRREGULARITIES: WASHINGTON GOP PRIMARY CALLED WITH 242 VOTE MARGIN AT JUST 87% OF COUNT The presidential campaign of Mike Huckabee is "exploring all available legal options regarding the dubious final results for the state of Washington State Republican precinct caucuses". The state's Republican party halted the count at 87% of votes counted, a margin of just 242 votes separating John McCain from Mike Huckabee, and a reported 12,000 votes tallied to that point. [Full Story] SUPER TUESDAY PRIMARIES: NEW MEXICO FACES QUESTIONS OF PROCESS INTEGRITY IN DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS Reports from New Mexico are demonstrating a range of problems that faced voters during the Super Tuesday "nationwide primary" Democratic party caucuses there. The New Mexico caucus system is run by the party itself, and involves actual paper ballots, cast by each individual voting. But the list of voters eligible to participate is not maintained by the party itself or by the state, but instead by ES&S, an electronic voting-machine manufacturer. [Full Story] SUPER TUESDAY PRIMARIES: BALLOTING IRREGULARITIES REPORTED IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY, NEW JERSEY & GEORGIA As the most widespread presidential primary vote in US history took place yesterday, across the continent and beyond (American Samoa also voted), there were glitches, confusion and unjustifiable waits in states across the country. Three examples stand out: touchscreen machines failing in New Jersey, a suspiciously confusing ballot in Los Angeles, and multiple irregularities in Georgia, where long waits, questionable ID laws and more failing Diebold machines made voting a serious challenge by any rational standards. [Full Story] SUPER TUESDAY PRIMARIES: CLINTON, OBAMA DRAW EVEN, McCAIN TAKES COMMANDING LEAD IN GOP RACE The figures from the biggest day of primary voting in US history are coming in, and reveal a lot of interesting detail about the make-up of the campaigns. Sen. John McCain was the day's big winner, though he did not win enough delegates to seal the nomination. McCain, still struggling to convince many conservative Republicans, won 9 states on the day, including the big states of California, Illinois, Missouri, New York and New Jersey. [Full Story] TOUCHSCREEN VOTING MACHINES PUT IN QUESTION INTEGRITY OF US ELECTION PROCESS Across the United States, problems are being discovered with what are supposed to be the state of the art in balloting technology: digital touchscreen voting machines. Security questions were raised initially when the machines were widely distributed, by a handful of companies, with no hard-copy record of voters' intent, which led to a nationwide movement calling for "verified voting", or voter-verified paper trails. [Full Story] WHISTLEBLOWER FMR FBI AGENT SAYS CORRUPT US OFFICIALS MAY HAVE LET NUCLEAR SECRETS GO TO TERRORISTS Sibel Edmonds was a translator at the FBI when she overheard, in taped wiretaps, conversations that involved US officials at high levels organizing and taking bribes in exchange for dealing nuclear secrets to the black market. The Sunday Times, a London-based Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper, has now broken the story, after years of Edmonds being turned away by the US press, due to an unprecedented "state secrets privilege" gag order. The world press is taking note, while US media outlets continue to keep quiet or not investigate. [Full Story] GROUP OF 17 PROPOSES 'STRUCTURES & WORKING GROUPS' TO ACHIEVE BIPARTISANSHIP IN DC While speculation is widespread that the purpose of the Oklahoma meetings, involving 17 former and current politicians and public servants, is to announce the candidacy of New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent, for the presidency, the groups says it only wants to lay out a series of principles of bipartisanship in government, which they hope presidential candidates will adopt. The mass media rumor mill is suggesting the group will propose Bloomberg as an independent candidate for the presidency, with fmr. Democratic senator Sam Nunn as his running mate. [Full Story] IOWA CAUCUSES COMPLICATE, ELUCIDATE MEASURE OF VOTER SUPPORT Often treated by mass media reporting as an "idiosyncratic" or "archaic" process, the Iowa caucuses are voters' first opportunity to weigh the value of the spectrum of candidates running for the office of the presidency. A caucus is not a vote, as such, but rather a discussion that ends with voters standing in the corner —quite literally— of the candidate they support. [Full Story] ELECTIONS, CREDIT, FUEL COSTS, SOIL QUALITY, WATER POLICY & ACCESS TO FOOD CRUCIAL IN 2008 2008 will be a year in which the integrity of election processes, the quality and resilience of cultivated soils, the availability of credit to consumers, the affordability of homes and rentals, and access to affordable vital staples like food and water, as well as the cost of transportation, will affect economies the world over. Some economic analysts have said the combination of these factors, resulting instability or environmental degradation, and migration of affected populations, could mean the world is facing an unprecedented level of economic precariousness. [Full Story] PAULSON BOND PROPOSAL AIMS TO STAVE OFF FORECLOSURES The Secretary of the US Treasury Dept., Henry Paulson, has proposed a plan whereby Congress would approve new legislation allowing state and local governments to issue tax-exempt bonds to homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages who need to refinance in order not to suffer foreclosure. The plan would allow "innovative mortgage programs" to be kept at lower cost, allowing affected borrowers to keep their homes while they pay down potentially crippling loans. [Full Story] HOUSING MARKET CRISIS TIED TO SPECULATION, 'PREDATORY' LENDING As the crisis stemming from high-risk sub-prime mortgage lenders' collapse in the US spreads, the real estate market beyond US borders is being hit by what observers are calling the 'credit crunch', taking for granted this will affect all international financial endeavors, such is the situation. The governor of the Bank of England has now warned that the United Kindom is facing what should be its tightest economic year in a decade, warning that the slowdown could last into 2009. [Full Story] WEAK DOLLAR IS CANARY IN PROVERBIAL ECONOMIC COAL MINE Americans living overseas see the front edge of the dollar collapse. Life in Europe seems to be twice as expensive as just a few years ago, as Euro-driven price-inflation meets the rapid drop in the value of the dollar against major currencies, like the Euro and the British Pound Sterling. Americans at home are facing higher food prices, higher fuel costs, and an overall slowdown in home-buying. [Full Story] JOURNALISM STUDENT TASERED BY POLICE AFTER ASKING HARD QUESTIONS OF SEN. KERRY Last week, a journalism student attending a speech by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), at the University of Florida, was cuffed, electrocuted and detained by police while posing a series of hard questions to the senator. He asked the 2004 presidential candidate why he conceded the 2004 election "on the day" when there were reports from several states of voter suppression. He went on to ask why Kerry does not push to impeach Bush for the Iraq war, and to prevent war with Iran, then finishes with a third question about whether Sen. Kerry was "a member of the same secret society as the president". [Full Story] JUDGE RULES PART OF PATRIOT ACT UNCONSTITUTIONAL A National Security Letter (NSL) is a secret document sent by federal investigators to an entity which is then required to pass along otherwise private information, much of which might not fit within judicial review under the protections of the Fourth Amendment. They are permitted only in cases allegedly linked to investigations of specific terror plots. Now, a federal judge has said the section of the USA PATRIOT Act that allows federal investigators to conscript individual citizens or organizations as domestic spies, in total secrecy under penalty of prosecution, violates First Amendment protections and is an assault on the Constitutional role of the judiciary. [Full Story] CALIFORNIA ELECTORAL COLLEGE PLAN MAY UNDERMINE NATIONAL ELECTION INTEGRITY The Electoral College is a procedural peculiarity enshrined in the Constitution, initially intended to protect the voting power of slave-holding states, which puts the very concept of majority rule in question. A California plan to "reform" the system would grant electoral college votes to the Republican party even if it doesn't win the state, which would rob the Democrats of votes they would not gain in any state controlled by Republicans. [Full Story] ATTORNEY GENERAL ALBERTO GONZALES RESIGNS US attorney general Alberto Gonzales has resigned his office, according to sources in the administration. Amid accusations of political abuses and incompetence, prominent members of Congress from both parties had been calling for Gonzales to step down, for several months. A probe into his role in the firing of 8 US attorneys in December of last year, allegedly for political reasons, has called into question his leadership at the Department of Justice. [Full Story] VOTER FRAUD & JUSTICE FIRINGS PROBES REVEAL DISAPPEARING PRESSURE GROUP, THE ACVR The American Center for Voting Rights (ACVR) was supposed to be a non-partisan NGO pushing for government action to combat what it alleged was a widespread problem with ballot fraud across the United States. When investigations revealed it was founded and operated by Republican campaign operatives, and that its allegations were largely fabricated, the organization literally disappeared from public view. And now it is increasingly difficult to find documents it published or links to information about its founders online. [Full Story] ENERGY INDEPENDENCE & CLIMATE PROTECTION: A BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE We are currently in the grips of the many problems inherent in a petroleum-centered economy and increasingly, business is seeing the urgent need to transition to a cleaner, more cost-effective, less politically hazardous, and economically and environmentally sustainable future. A video documentary now suggests the time has come when government, business and the public are aware of the need to build a comprehensively "new economy". [Full Story] ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES FLAWED ACCORDING TO UC STUDY A California government-sponsored study has "found that virtually all voting machines used in the state are vulnerable to hackers", creating a whirlwind of complaints from activists and defiance from manufacturers. Secretary of State Debra Bowen, along with voting rights activists have said the problem needs to be solved before next year's presidential primary elections. [Full Story] ETHICS REFORM LEGISLATION PASSES, BILL GOES TO WHITE HOUSE FOR SIGNING The House and Senate have both passed the conference-committee-resolved legislation to tighten constraints on donations from lobbyists and raise ethics standards in Congress. White House has criticized the legislation, though it is expected Pres. Bush will sign the bill into law. As reported by the LA Times "The measure grew out of a pledge by Democrats to 'drain the swamp' after they won majorities in both congressional chambers in last fall's elections. It passed the Senate, 83-14, after clearing the House, 411-8, earlier this week." [Full Story] DEMOCRAT-CONTROLLED SENATE GIVES PRES. BUSH POWER TO EAVESDROP WITHOUT WARRANTS The Democrat-controlled US Senate yesterday passed a bill that would authorize the president to not only continue, but to expand his use of extrajudicial wiretapping, a practice ruled unconstitutional last year by the Supreme Court. Analysts suggest that Democrats caved to White House rhetoric, for fear of being considered 'soft on terror'. Civil libertarians say the vote is a dark day for US Constitutional law. [Full Story] NIGHT-TIME PHONE-CALL FROM JUSTICE AIDE ASKED US ATTORNEY TO STALL GUILTY PLEA The investigation of the firing of 9 US attorneys late last year has the attorney general fighting off daily calls for his resignation. In each case, it appears there were political motivations for dismissing federal prosecutors whose records were generally outstanding or above average. John L. Brownlee, who was ultimately not fired, says he received a phone-call from a Justice official asking him to slow down on a guilty plea already negotiated. [Full Story] HIV CRISIS HITS MIGRANTS RETURNING TO RURAL MEXICO FROM US A new study has shown that the most serious risk rural Mexican women face of contracting HIV is by sexual intercourse with their own husbands, in cases where the husband is a migrant worker traveling to and from the US. The result of the irregular migration policy regarding the US-Mexico border is that men who migrate without papers to work in factories or on farms often spend large amounts of time alone, with no contact with their wives or families. [Full Story] FBI DIRECTOR TESTIMONY SUGGESTS GONZALES MISLED CONGRESS ABOUT OPPOSITION TO WIRETAPS FBI director Robert Mueller, the top law-enforcement agent within the Justice Department, testified before that House Judiciary Committee that there was in fact a heated confrontation between senior Justice Department officials and White House aides in 2004, regarding President Bush's warrantless NSA wiretapping program. Two days earlier, AG Gonzales had told the Senate there had never been any disagreements within the administration regarding the legality of the program. Mueller testified that the crisis was so severe, he had to intervene to prevent a wave of resignations at Justice. [Full Story] HOUSE, SENATE TO HOLD VOTES ON ETHICS REFORM The conference committee negotiating differences between House and Senate versions of ethics reform legislation have reached agreement, and the unified bill will be presented to both houses for a final vote, before being sent to the president for signature and passage into law. Negotiators reportedly worked late into the night of 27 July in order to resolve disagreement over language limiting contributions from lobbyists. [Full Story] REAL ID SCHEME OPPOSED BY SENATE The Democratic leadership in the Senate has garnered support to refuse funding for promoting a Republican-backed scheme whereby all US citizens would be forced to carry "national ID cards" by 2013. The vote cut a funding amendment to the Homeland Security appropriations bill; an amendment added by staunch opponent Max Baucus (D-MT) bars states from using any funding from the Homeland Security bill to enact the national ID card plan. [Full Story] ENERGY POLICY, OR THE UNNECESSARY PROLONGATION OF AN INEFFICIENT STATUS QUO? The US Congress is still working on producing legislation that would bring together federal law and executive regulatory policy in one comprehensive national energy strategy. The special consulting group organized in 2001 by the vice president wanted nuclear plants and "clean coal", but both carry huge costs for preventing or reversing high levels of contamination, and neither is broadly considered the "future" by scientific consensus. [Full Story] DEVELOPERS SUCCESSFULLY LOBBY TO SOFTEN WETLANDS CONSERVATION RULES In June 2006, the Supreme Court issued a ruling requiring that previously unprotected small or unmapped streams and waterways be brought under the 1972 Federal Clean Water Act. Isolated wetlands were to fall under this ruling, and the US government drafted a policy proposal that would regulate the development or filling of such wetlands. Now, new language added to the rules, seem to leave isolated wetlands without federal oversight. [Full Story] US SOCIAL FORUM DISCUSSES INDIGENOUS RIGHTS, ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, LINK TO IMMIGRATION POLICY The United States Social Forum (USSF) has taken up the issue of indigenous rights, as part of an evaluation of how civil society treats marginalized groups or deals with hardships they experience as a result of prevailing socio-economic conditions. The forum connects the issue of indigenous rights with the interests of other marginal groups struggling to resolve chronic social disadvantages, such as immigrants, homosexuals and political dissidents. [Full Story] BUSH ERASES LIBBY'S PRISON SENTENCE, LEAVES FINE INTACT Pressured for months to pardon Libby by hard-line voices in the conservative establishment, Pres. Bush opted to commute the 30-month prison sentence, leaving the former vice-presidential aide with a $250,000 fine. Libby was convicted of lying to federal prosecutors and obstruction of justice for his actions during the investigation of the leak of former CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity. [Full Story] THOUSANDS OF CENTRAL AMERICAN MIGRANTS RISK LIFE AND LIMB ON 'DEATH TRAIN' In what are often desperate attempts to reach the northern Mexico border, where they can cross into the US and escape endemic poverty, thousands of central American workers risk life and limb to reach better life. Lack of adequate policy for arranging, organizing transport for guest workers leaves disturbing tragedy in place of road to prosperity. [Full Story] BUSH, SENATE LEADERS REACH AGREEMENT ON LANGUAGE FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM BILL After more than a year of intense debate and heated opposition, a bipartisan group of senators have reportedly reached an agreement with the White House on language that would allow passage and signing for sweeping immigration reform legislation. The bill would give legal status to an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants, and would create a new merit-based system for approving visa applications. [Full Story] FMR ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL SAYS BUSH INTERVENED TO HALT MASS RESIGNATIONS OVER NSA PROGRAM Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, James Comey, former deputy attorney general, who acted as AG during Ashcroft illness in early 2004, said Pres. Bush intervened to halt a raft of resignations in protest over the policy clash. Comey reportedly had to rush to AG Ashcroft's hospital bedside to prevent White House officials from gaining authorization, despite official opposition from Justice Dept. lawyers and then acting AG Comey. [Full Story] BUSH ANNOUNCES PLAN TO REGULATE GASOLINE CONSUMPTION IN VEHICLES In response to a Supreme Court ruling 6 weeks ago that found carbon dioxide to be a pollutant eligible for regulation, Pres. Bush has announced he will order the EPA to regulated gasoline consumption for vehicles by the end of 2008. Bush said in the White House rose garden that the American people "expect action" on greenhouse gas emissions. Critics say the long delay in enacting the new regulations is designed to forestall the implementation of new standards in some states. [Full Story] US SUPREME COURT RULES EPA MUST REGULATE CARBON EMISSIONS In a lawsuit brought by 12 states, several cities and a dozen pro-environment organizations against the federal government, the US Supreme Court has handed down a narrow 5 to 4 ruling reversing Bush administration policy that avoids regulating carbon dioxide emissions. The Court says the Clean Air Act specifically authorizes the EPA to enforce such regulation in order to protect the public and effect clean air standards. [Full Story] SENATE VOTES 94 TO 2 TO STRIP BUSH ADMIN. OF POWER TO NAME FEDERAL PROSECUTORS WITHOUT REVIEW As calls increase in president's party, and in Congress, for the attorney general to resign, the Senate has voted overwhelmingly to strip the government of a special power to name federal proseucutors without an approval process. The investigations into whether political motivations were at play in the firing of 8 US attorneys last year let the Senate to vote 94 to 2 to oppose the special post-9/11 power. [Full Story] ATTORNEY GENERAL UNDER FIRE FOR POLITICAL DISMISSALS Investigations by the judiciary committees in both the House and the Senate are probing the suspicious nature of the untimely dismissal of at least 8 US attorneys, for what appear to be political reasons. The White House had claimed there was not strategy to fire en masse, until it was revealed that there was in fact consultation on firing all US attorneys and replacing them with political loyalists. [Full Story] JUSTICE DEPT. ADMITS MISTAKES IN FIRING US ATTORNEYS The Justice Department's new performance rating system has come under fire, after the firing of 8 US attorneys was called into question. The cases were not clearly cases of underperformance, but seemed to indicate there had been political motivations for the dismissals. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has now admitted that the program was not applied properly in some of those cases and promises to improve the evaluations policy. [Full Story] JURY FINDS LIBBY GUILTY OF LYING, OBSTRUCTION The case was complex and convoluted, and risked jeopardizing numerous fundamental values of American liberty and jurisprudence. One reporter was sent to prison and many were subpoenaed and forced to give up their sources. But special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has said the case is now closed, though no one has been charged with the leak of classified information itself. [Full Story] TEXT OF DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.'S 'I HAVE A DREAM' SPEECH I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. [Full Story] SEN. BARACK OBAMA ANNOUNCES BID TO WIN DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT IN 2008 US Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has announced his plans to run for president in the 2008 elections. He will face a tough field of heavyweight contenders, led by the star-power and financial backing of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), just to win the nomination of his party. The historic announcement, seen by many as the first African-American candidate with nationwide electability, brought thousands of citizens together to hear and witness the event. [Full Story] BUSH ANNOUNCES PLANS TO SEND 21,500 MORE SOLDIERS TO IRAQ After much speculation and many leaks, US pres. George W. Bush has announced he will send more than 20,000 additional soldiers into Iraq warzone, will require Iraqi government to take action against sectarian movements fomenting violence across Iraq. Bush also said that "Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me". [Full Story] US GUNSHIPS STRIKE TWO LOCATIONS IN SOMALIA Even as Somalia is struggling to withstand a resurgence in the violence that has beset the country for over 15 years, as the transitional government attempts to establish itself in the war-torn capital, Mogadishu, after a ground invasion by neighboring Ethiopia, the United States has launched at least two airstrikes against positions in the area of Ras Kamboni, Badmadow Island, in the south of the country. [Full Story] DEMOCRATS TO TAKE CONTROL OF CONGRESS FOR FIRST TIME IN 12 YEARS The Democratic party will take control of both houses of the US Congress today, as the president's party struggles to adjust to the idea of losing control of the legislative process. The November elections gave the Democrats a majority in both the House and the Senate, and they are already planning aggressive moves on key legislation for the first few days. [Full Story] VIRGINIA GIVES DEMOCRATS CONTROL OF THE SENATE The concession of Sen. George Allen (R-VA) to challenger Jim Webb gives the Democrats 51 seats in the Senate chamber, guaranteeing an outright majority, and control of both houses of Congress. The concession appears to seal the results of the midterm elections as a rejection of the methods and ideas of the party that has held power throughout the Bush presidency, and could significantly weaken his position as top executive. [Full Story] DEMOCRATS WIN HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, REPUBLICANS SUFFER HEAVY LOSSES AT POLLS Among the early news emerging from the 2006 midterm elections: Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy win by wide margins; embattled Republican senator Rick Santorum is ousted by Bob Casey, Jr., by margin of nearly 59% to 41%; Rep. Weldon loses seat in PA, largely due to corruption scandal; Democrats take control of House of Representatives. [Full Story] MANUAL FOR MARYLAND REPUBLICANS APPEARS TO OUTLINE PLAN TO BLOCK VOTES The Republican Party of Maryland has distributed an instruction booklet for party volunteers it plans to station at polling places which instructs them in how to prevent voters casting ballots. The document outlines the need to ensure that the law is followed and that no voter is denied their legal right to cast a vote, but includes language urging volunteers to tell judges they may face jail time if they do not do as asked by the Republican party voter challengers. [Full Story] CHENEY ENDORSES TORTURE DESPITE LEGAL BANS, UPROAR PROMPTS PLEDGES NOT TO TORTURE US vice president Dick Cheney has publicly announced his support for an explicitly banned method of torture. In a radio interview with Scott Hennen of Fargo, North Dakota, the vice president said that mock drowning is "a no brainer", claiming the procedure has been a "very important tool", despite its being specifically illegal under American law, both written and in judicial precedent, and formally banned by the Pentagon. [Full Story] BUSH SIGNS BORDER FENCE LAW, ESTABLISHING PERMANENT BARRIER ALONG 700 MILES OF MEXICO-US BORDER Before his party reached any agreement on proposed immigration policy reform legislation, Pres. George W. Bush yesterday signed a new law imposing harsh restrictions at US border crossings, establishing 700 miles of fencing to be patrolled by military, border guards, dogs, and drones. [Full Story] REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN BOB NEY PLEADS GUILTY TO BRIBERY, CONSPIRACY IN PROBE LINKED TO ABRAMOFF On 13 October, Rep. Bob Ney, a Republican from Ohio, admitted he gave political favors in exchange for bribes, pleading guilty on several counts. He will now face sentencing and is expected to resign his seat in Congress, though he has not given a date. Ney is the latest political casualty of a massive corruption investigation involving convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, anti-tax hawk Grover Norquist, disgraced Texan congressman Tom DeLay, and dozens of other influential Washington figures. [Full Story] FOLEY SCANDAL INVOLVES LEADERSHIP, MAY BE ROOTED IN ABUSE SUFFERED AS TEEN Shortly after it was revealed Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) had sent inappropriate and highly sexual e-mails to underage boys that had worked as interns on Capitol Hill, he was forced to resign. Now, Republican leaders in the House are facing accusations they took the issue as a political one and not a matter involving the well-being of children. Two criminal probes have been launched, which are expected to include a look at cover-up allegations. [Full Story] SECRET PRISONS & COERCIVE INTERROGATIONS UNDERMINE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY Until 12 days ago, the Bush administration maintained that there were no secret CIA-run "black-sites", extralegal prison camps where accused terror suspects were held incommunicado and beyond any judicial process. On 6 September, Pres. Bush admitted to constructing and managing the prison system through the CIA, and now his government is demanding that Congress sanction a system which circumvents Constitutional law and permits "alternative" methods of coercive interrogation, presently banned under international law. [Full Story] GENERALS, REPUBLICANS REVOLT AGAINST BUSH TORTURE POLICY Roughly three dozen retired generals, including former Sec. of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Colin Powell, have come out in opposition to the White House's latest attempt to transform the legal meaning of the Geneva Conventions ban on torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners. Senate leaders, behind John McCain (R-AZ) have also joined the rebellion, passing a measure that upholds the standing definition of the Geneva constraints on coercive interrogation. [Full Story] SENATE REPORT SAYS HUSSEIN NEVER HAD AL-QAEDA TIES As the 5th anniversary of the attacks of 11 September 2001 approach, the US Senate's Intelligence Committee has issued a report officially finding that Saddam Hussein never collaborated with al-Qaeda in any sense. In fact, he was hunting Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who would later name his organization "Al-Qaeda of Mesopotamia". Hussein was suspicious of the Islamist radicalism of al-Qaeda and did not view them as friendly to his regime and its interests. [Full Story] BUSH ADMITS TO SECRET JAILS WITH 'ALTERNATIVE' INTERROGATIONS Pres. Bush has acknowledged the existence of a secret network of CIA-run prisons, where an "alternative set of procedures" was used to extract information given up "unwillingly" by top terror suspects. The revelation suggests that some facilities existed on European soil, renewing allegations that have long been denied by European and US officials, and provoking calls for a probe into possible human rights violations. [Full Story] FEDERAL JUDGE STRIKES DOWN BUSH POLICY LOOSENING CONTROLS ON PESTICIDE USE U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour has struck down a Bush administration policy loosening regulation of toxic pesticides. He found the rule change "striking in its total lack of any evidence of technical or scientific support for the policy positions ultimately adopted" and further chastised the government for failing to properly apply the Endangered Species Act. [Full Story] WARRANTLESS NSA WIRETAPS RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL A federal judge in Detroit ruled early yesterday that Pres. Bush's NSA surveillance program, which uses wiretaps implemented with no judicial oversight, is unconstitutional. The ruling strongly enforced the point that there are "no powers not created by the Constitution" rejecting the AG's claim that the Congressional Authorization for the Use of Military Force (in Afghanistan) as a legal platform for sweeping new domestic powers. [Full Story] INVESTIGATIONS INTO BP'S OPERATIONS IN ALASKA WIDEN Global petroleum giant BP has been forced to shut down the entire supply from its Prudhoe Bay pipeline, due to corrosion that has caused several spills and threatens an environmental catastrophe. Now, US investigators are demanding sections of the pipeline be dismantled and sent as evidence to a criminal inquiry. [Full Story] UNKNOWN UPSTART, WAR CRITIC LAMONT OUSTS 3-TERM SENATOR One of the nation's top Democrats, 3-term senator Joseph Lieberman, candidate for vice president in 2000 and primary candidate for president in 2004, has lost his first statewide election in a quarter century. Upstart Ned Lamont gained momentum from activist groups who helped project his anti-war message to voters throughout the state. [Full Story] US STATE DEPT. TO WAIVE FEE FOR EVACUEES FROM LEBANON The United States Department of State has issued a statement saying it plans to waive any fees associated with US nationals' evacuation from the now wartorn Lebanese territory. The situation had provoked anger, as evacuation teams were late in arriving, and stranded Americans complained the proposed commercial fees were making it difficult to arrange their departure. [Full Story] CIA AGENT WHOSE COVER WAS BLOWN BY WHITE HOUSE LEAK FILES SUIT AGAINST VP In the summer of 2003, after victory had been declared in the invasion of Iraq, then career undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame's name was illegally leaked to the press by as yet undetermined government officials, effectively ending her undercover work and potentially endangering her life. Now she is filing suit against VP Cheney, Karl Rove, Lewis Libby, and 10 unnamed administration officials for maliciously blowing her cover. [Full Story] THE FOUNDING CHARTERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 230 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Sentido is adding to its online content the transcripts of the founding documents of the republic of the United States of America. From the Declaration of Independence: "IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776 ... We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..." [Full Transcript] SUPREME COURT FINDS GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEES' RIGHTS DENIED BY BUSH MILITARY TRIBUNALS Pres. Bush's efforts to assume new powers in personally judging accused al-Qaeda co-conspirators "enemy combatants", then crafting a unique, extralegal war crimes tribunal system, where certain rights are denied the defendants, have been rejected by the Supreme Court. The Bush administration must now file criminal charges, either in civilian criminal court or before a standard military court martial. [Full Story] ALITO BREAKS TIE, SUPREME COURT RULES 5-4 TO UPHOLD KANSAS DEATH PENALTY STATUTE New Supreme Court Justice Sam Alito broke the tie between the other 8 justices, leading to a 5-4 majority upholding Kansas' death penalty statute. The statute was challenged by a man sentenced to death under a statutory provision which causes sentencing to default to death when juries find convicted murderers are not among the worst offenders, some of whom will not face a death sentence. [Full Story] PAPERLESS TOUCHSCREEN IS NOT THE ONLY PROBLEM PARADIGM As noted by a Sentido reader, paperless touchscreen balloting machines are not the only machine-based voting technique vulnerable to tampering. Punch-card readers can be calibrated to miss, exaggerate or misread marked votes. And optical-scan paper ballots can record figures not accurately representing the markings on ballots. [Full Story] SECURITY OF U.S. ELECTIONS, VOTING RIGHTS NOT GUARANTEED The 2000 election process gave clear evidence that the established system for running elections and counting votes in the United States is not cohesive, not fool-proof and not secure against tampering. Congress took action to reform voting standards nationwide to "Help America Vote". But that legislation suffered one fatal flaw: while promoting the shift to touchscreen ballots, it did not require that electronic balloting machines produce a paper record that could be hand-checked. [Full Story] BILL PRESENTED TO PREVENT GOV'T TAMPERING WITH SCIENCE Rep. Brad Miller (D-NC) is to introduce an amendment to legislation currently under debate, which would restrict the executive branch's ability to gag scientists, manipulate their findings or demote those who disagree with official policy. The legislation would also require that scientists appointed to investigatory panels be selected for their credentials, not their political views. [Full Story] AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CALLS FOR EU GOV'TS TO BE HONEST ABOUT INVOLVEMENT IN RENDITIONS A new report by the human rights organization, entitled Partners in Crime, accuses 7 EU member states of collaborating in extrajudicial detentions and renditions to third countries or prison facilities where torture may be used. The report follows up on a Council of Europe investigation, headed by Swiss senator Dick Marty, which found that 14 EU states had been complicit in extralegal detentions and prisoner transfers. [Full Story] TWENTY-SIX STATES HAVE PASSED LEGISLATION REQUIRING PAPER TRAILS FOR ELECTRONIC BALLOTS Since the 2000 election, voting technology has become a major issue in US elections regimens and regulations; touchscreen balloting machines, which legislatures seem to have favored as a way to record votes accurately, eliminating the 'hanging chad' problem, were designed with no paper record and have proven insecure and susceptible to tampering. Now, 26 US states have passed laws requiring paper trails, and 13 more, plus Washington, DC, have proposed laws "not yet enacted". [Full Story] SAN DIEGO COUNTY SENT VOTING MACHINES HOME WITH POLL WORKERS ON EVE OF ELECTION Reports have emerged that according to the San Diego registrar of voters, poll workers in San Diego county took tamper-susceptible Diebold voting machines home on the eve of the election. In some cases, poll workers may have had unsupervised access to the machines for a week or longer. [Full Story] HIGH COURT ALLOWS DEMOTION FOR DISSENT The freedom of speech is one of the foundational rights under US constitutional law, as manifest in the First Amendment, because it affords the common citizen a protection against a basic authoritarian abuse of power. Now, the US Supreme Court has ruled 5 to 4 that public employees do not enjoy First Amendment protections while on duty. [Full Story] THE ILLUSION OF THE DEFINITE & INVASIVE 'OTHER' The identity of groups, or for that matter of individuals is not implacable, nor is it absolutely relative. It follows the vicissitudes of the human health and mind, and requires sincere dialogue with the other in order to reach its fullest potential. The push to establish a single national language can only be sustained on the basis of a number of false premises, all of which work against the interests of both a democratic society and American tradition itself. [Full Story] THE WALL GOES UP AGAINST ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION On Monday, George W. Bush announced a "five-point plan" for curbing illegal immigration and recognizing and regularizing the estimated 12 million immigrants living in the United States without proper residence or work permits. Now, as the Senate has voted to 83-16 to include a 370 mile protection barrier in its immigration reform legislation, the White House is enlisting major defense contractors to build the fence. [Full Story] THE NET WIDENS: WHAT ELSE ARE THEY MONITORING? Historian and expert NSA researcher Matthew Aid has told Salon.com that he believes it will be revealed in time that Internet service providers and cellphone companies also cooperated with the NSA spying and data mining programs. He offered no proof, but cited past examples of NSA overreaching and the key fact that the article exposing the collaboration of 3 major telecoms failed to explore the complicity or innocence of cable, cellular and Internet companies. [Full Story] NSA BUILDING DATABASE OF ALL PHONE CALLS MADE IN U.S. The National Security Agency, which has been the center of a major legal controversy over its eavesdropping on law-abiding American citizens without judicial approval, has now been revealed to be collecting phone records of tens of millions of people. The effort is reportedly part of a strategy to amass a record of all phone traffic in the US, no matter its purpose. [Full Story] GOV'T DOCUMENTS SHOW SURVEILLANCE OF FAITH-BASED PEACE GROUP New information acquired by the ACLU by way of the Freedom of Information Act, shows the FBI and the Joint Terrorist Task Force have been monitoring, infiltrating and spying on innocent, law-abiding individuals and both non-religious and faith-based activist groups whose activities are entirely peaceful and are protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. [Full Story] GOV'T POLICY UNLAWFULLY CRIMINALIZES COMMENT ON SCIENTIFIC FACT The global environment is, of course, a global issue, one that touches every life on the planet, and the science about it should be open and available to all. Past government policy and existing federal law mean that such scientific evidence should be readily available to the public. But now, it appears that several agencies are laboring to silence scientists who are researching climate trends and alterations. [Full Story] NEW ROUND OF MASSIVE PRO-IMMIGRANT DEMONSTRATIONS Peaceful rallies in more than 60 US cities took place yesterday, to protest against House Republicans' plans to classify all undocumented immigrants as felons, to build fortified wall between US, Mexico. Tens of thousands gathered in major cities, carrying banners reading "We are America" and waving American flags and flags of their countries of origin. [Full Story] PLANS MAY ALREADY BE UNDERWAY FOR IRAN STRIKE The New Yorker magazine has published a story by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh which cites sources with links to the Pentagon and to US intelligence as saying the Bush administration may already have plans to target Iran's nuclear research facilities with "tactical nuclear weapons", i.e. 'low-yield' bombs with radioactive fuel but massive destructive capability. [Full Story] COURT FILING CITES 'CONCERTED EFFORT' TO ATTACK CRITICS Regardless of whether the president or the vice president have done anything illegal, it is now clear that they were both involved in deliberately using classified national security information to smear a critic of their Iraq policy. This contradicts statements made as recently as last week which suggest that the president opposed any such use of sensitive information for personal or political gain. [Full Story] PRES. BUSH LINKED TO LEAK OF INFORMATION TO PRESS As the case against Lewis "Scooter" Libby proceeds, for violating the federal law prohibiting the disclosure of the classified identities of undercover agents, he has reportedly testified to a grand jury that Pres. Bush was directly involved in the leaking of other information to the press. [Full Story] AT&T SUED FOR VIOLATING LAW IN NSA DOMESTIC SPY PROGRAM AT&T was once the nation's telecommunications monopoly, and abuses there led to the break-up of the Bell monopoly and the regulation of telecoms, with the intent of encouraging competition and achieving the goal of forcing providers to serve the customers first. Now, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a lawsuit alleging that the telecommunications giant has violated federal law by assisting the government in spying on innocent Americans without any court authorization. [Full Story] AT LEAST 2 BODIES OF KATRINA VICTIMS FOUND IN NEW ORLEANS LOWER 9TH WARD Seven months after hurricane Katrina devastated the US Gulf Coast, officials have found the bodies of at least 2 more victims, with a third body possibly also that of a hurricane victim. Student volunteers were working to help remove debris and search for still missing victims in the Lower Ninth Ward, one of the most devastated sections of New Orleans, when they came upon human remains. [Full Story] OFFICIAL SECRECY POWER UNDERMINES FREE ENTERPRISE In American society, it's worth asking whether secrecy in the hands of the powerful is compatible with representative democracy. There is no secrecy power in the US Constitution, and no law enacted by Congress provides such power. In the case of the Crater Coupler, the government's assertion of a right to conceal all activities related to a covert operation, under official secrecy claims, actively allowed a major company to usurp the intellectual property rights of an inventor, by stripping that individual and his partners of the constitutional right to seek redress in court. [Full Story] REPUBLICANS NEGOTIATE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS TO GIVE $22 BILLION BREAK TO HMOs In mid-December, a group of Republican senators and representatives held closed door meetings during which they crafted new language to save HMOs $22 billion over 10 years. Democrats were excluded from both meetings and not permitted to alter or remove the new language before Senate approval on 21 December. [Full Story] EUROPE INVESTIGATION SAYS EU GOV'TS LIKELY KNEW OF RENDITION NETWORK Prelminary findings from the Council of Europe's investigation into human rights abuses and a secret CIA network of extralegal detention facilities report high probability that European governments knew what US forces were doing on their soil and in neighboring countries. [Full Story] JUSTICE DEPT. ISSUES REPORT DEFENDING WARRANTLESS WIRETAPS The US Justice Dept., under AG Alberto Gonzales, who advised Pres. Bush as White House Counsel, during the planning of the extrajudicial wiretaps, has issued a 42-page report that claims authorization for the wiretaps was implicit in the preliminary "Authorization for the Use of Military Force" (AUMF), passed after the attacks of 11 September 2001. Critics note a number of problems with the report and its premises. [Full Story] FMR VP AL GORE SPEAKS ON DANGERS OF EXTRA-CONSTITUTIONAL ABUSES Former US Vice President Al Gore gave what is being described as an historic non-partisan speech, calling for a passionate nationwide movement to defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States. Gore gave the speech in a non-partisan context, speaking at the Daughters of the American Revolution hall, with the express support and participation of Representative Bob Barr, Republican of Georgia. [Full Story] DATA SHADOWS & IMPROBABLE CONSENT Neither contracts nor "terms and conditions" including indemnities disclaimers, can be classified as legislation. They do not make or construct legal limits by themselves. Obvious as this may seem, it is a necessary introduction to the problem of the trade in personal information and "soft surveillance", whereby one is routinely subjected to interrogation, inspection and even physical search, not for having broken any laws or even aroused any reasonable suspicion, but simply because "that's policy". [Full Story] PRIVACY MAY BE KEY TO ALITO'S FATE Judge Samuel Alito, by most accounts named to become Associate Justice on the Supreme Court for his so exceedingly surpassing the ill-fated Harriet Miers in judicial experience, has tried to stay clear of the privacy issue. That is because privacy is essential in the Roe v. Wade ruling. But now, newly released documents seem to show Alito has expressed a lack of support for other constitutional privacy rights. [Full Story] JUDGE QUITS SECRET 'SPY COURT' IN APPARENT PROTEST Judge James Robertson —one of eleven members of the secret tribunal that hears cases related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and its sanctioned investigations— has resigned his post in protest. Judge Robertson reportedly told associates he believed Pres. Bush's order to the NSA to spy on Americans may violate federal law. [Full Story] NEW YORK TRANSIT STRIKE FREEZES CITY FOR 3RD DAY As New York City's public transport strike reached the end of its second day, it became clear the city was facing a difficult crisis. Reports began to mount of strangers helping strangers, sharing cars for rides into the city, and cab drivers were forced to reorganize their service to accommodate multiple fares simultaneously. Mayor has sought to depict strike as "illegal" and "selfish", says those who can least afford it are being harmed by transport inconvenience. [Full Story] FEDERAL JUDGE RULES REQUIRING 'INTELLIGENT DESIGN' IN SCIENCE CLASS UNCONSTITUTIONAL When the schoolboard for Dover, Pennsylvania, instituted a policy whereby "intelligent design" was required to be mentioned as a sort of disclaimer alternative to evolution in science classes, it sparked outcry across the state, the region and the nation. It led to all 8 members of the board being voted out of office and replaced with more moderate members of the community. [Full Story] CAN 'SHOOT-TO-KILL' BE LEGALLY JUSTIFIED AS A BLANKET SECURITY TACTIC? Media coverage related to the shooting of an innocent man on the boarding jetway to a Miami American Airlines flight has failed to take into account the most crucial questions. Why is "shoot-to-kill" necessary if agents are properly and adequately trained to use firearms and can "shoot-to-incapacitate"? This is the key question in the case of the American Airlines air marshal shooting, in which Rigoberto Alpízar, apparently suffering from bipolar disorder, was killed, despite being unarmed. [Full Story] BUSH AGREES TO McCAIN'S FULL BAN ON TORTURE, INHUMANE TREATMENT OF TERROR SUSPECTS President Bush has announced his support for Sen. John McCain's proposed ban on cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of detainees in the "war on terror". The White House had opposed the ban, and the vice president had actively lobbied Congress to include an exception for the CIA. Sen. McCain repeatedly refused to weaken the ban, and both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly to support it as written. [Full Story] BUSH PROMISES TO FULFILL MONETARY, AID PLEDGES TO REBUILD NEW ORLEANS Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans visited the White House yesterday, where Pres. Bush announced his intention to follow through on plans to rebuild the devastated city. The mayor has been vocal in calling for action from Washington, where he says political "constipation" is putting the future of his city at risk. [Full Story] NEW AP REPORT SAYS POLITICAL APPOINTEES OVERRULED JUSTICE DEPT. ADVICE IN 3 MAJOR CASES A new AP report says political appointees at the Justice Department have overruled, without explanation, extensively researched advice from career staff at least three times... Two of the cases involved election laws which Justice lawyers believed would abridge the rights of minorities and the third involved a radical reduction in the penalties sought against tobacco companies. [Full Story] CONGRESSIONAL HEARING ON RACE, CLASS IN KATRINA RELIEF DISASTER REVEALS EVIDENCE OF NEGLIGENCE, RACISM At the Hurricane Katrina Survivors' General Assembly, gathered in Jackson, Mississippi, evacuees from the Gulf Coast accuse the federal government of "criminal indifference", demanding reparations, investigations, and the "right to return" to their homes, even as New Orleans remains under a state of emergency. A Congressional hearing yesterday on race and class issues in the Katrina aftermath revealed intense suffering, brutal conditions and possible government negligence in handling relief. [Full Story] SERIOUS LEGAL PROBLEMS INHERENT IN GHOST FLIGHTS & 'EXTRAORDINARY RENDITION' The principal legal problem relating to alleged "ghost flights", secret interrogations and the policy of "extraordinary rendition" is the extralegal nature of all three techniques, designed to operate beyond the scope of ordinary legal constraints. Rendition is "extraordinary", because it evades the normal legal channels for processing criminal allegations, charges and suspects across international borders. [Full Story] RICE STAKES OUT "NUANCED" POSITION ON ABDUCTIONS, TORTURE Amid growing concern relating to press reports of undisclosed CIA flights through or over European nations, US Sec. of State Rice has sought to defend US policy. She affirmed that "The US does not permit, tolerate or condone torture under any circumstances", but admitted the US might make mistakes in the "war on terror", without specific reference to the alleged abduction of a German citizen who was later cleared. [Full Story] TEXAS REDISTRICTING FOUND ILLEGAL BY JUSTICE LAWYERS, FINDINGS OVERRULED2 December 2005 New documents show Justice Department lawyers unanimously found the Texas Congressional redistricting plan to be illegal. But that finding was overruled by top Justice officials and the staff involved in the research and analysis "were subjected to an unusual gag rule", this according to the Washington Post. [Full Story] AT LAST THERE IS DEBATE, THE STAKES HIGH & NO ONE PLEASED Last week, Rep. Murtha (D-PA), a decorated Vietnam war veteran, ranking Democrat on the House defense appropriations subcommittee, and a long-time hawk on military issues, called for an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. The announcement was seen as a radical policy shift, despite the fact that Murtha had been critical of the current war policy more than a year ago, and shocked the nation's capital into heated debate. [Full Story] SECRET CIA LANDINGS RAISE CONCERNS IN EUROPE Authorities on the Spanish island of Mallorca began complaining of alleged secret landings by CIA-linked planes, after a prominent local figure charged that, according to an unnamed source, at least 10 such stopovers occurred in early 2004, in the last months of the Aznar government. The flights are said to have been carrying "detainees" whose legal condition is considered a violation of international human rights laws. [Full Story] WASHINGTON POST REPORTS SECRET GLOBAL NETWORK OF EXTRAJUDICIAL CIA INTERROGATION CAMPS Dana Priest, a Washington Post writer, reported yesterday astounding revelations about the existence of a global network of secret CIA-managed prisons which appear to violate numerous provisions of international law. The so-called "black sites" are said to exist or to have existed in at least 8 countries, including in eastern Europe, a fact which has sparked outrage across the continent. [Full Story] LIBBY CHARGED WITH PERJURY, OBSTRUCTION, RESIGNS The office of the special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, investigating the leaking of the classified identity of an undercover CIA agent, announced Friday a 5-count indictment [PDF] against Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby. Libby was charged on 1 count of obstruction of justice, 2 counts of making false statements and two counts of perjury. [Full Story] US STATE DEPT. MANDATES NEW PASSPORTS WILL CONTAIN RFID TRACKING CHIPS The State Department has announced it will introduce new passports with electronic features such as Radio Frequency IDentification chips, intended to match information stored on these chips to the bearer's physical appearance, and to other information. Privacy advocates say the move is a giant leap toward a state of totalitarian interference in citizens' movements and personal information. [Full Story] PROSECUTOR DISCOVERS CHENEY WAS LIBBY'S SOURCE The New York Times is reporting that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has discovered, in notes from a previously unknown conversation between VP Dick Cheney and his chief of staff I. Lewis Libby, that Cheney informed Libby of the status of Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame as a CIA operative. [Full Story] ROSA PARKS, PIONEER OF NON-VIOLENT CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT, DIES, AGED 92 On 1 December 1955, during a time of widespread institutional racial segregation, African-American seamstress Rosa Parks refused to yield her seat at the front of a Montgomery, Alabama, bus to a white passenger. This act of defiance helped to bring about a nationwide non-violent protest movement against segregation and in favor of civil rights. Ms. Parks died Monday at her home in Detroit, from natural causes, at the age of 92. [Full Story] A VAST LEFT-WING CONSPIRACY, SAYS DeLAY Under indictment for conspiracy in an alleged scheme to raise illegal campaign cash and conceal it through manipulation of his Political Action Committee, Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), stepped aside earlier this week as House Majority Leader. Congressional rules require that he leave his post while facing indictment. He has been reprimanded by Congress three times already for "objectionable behavior". Dissatisfied Republicans are looking for new leadership. [Full Story] MILLER RELEASED FROM CUSTODY, TESTIFIES NYT reporter Judith Miller has reportedly received a formal waiver from her confidential White House source to testify. She was released from prison on 29 September, after agreeing to speak to the grand jury investigating the leaking of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's name by top government officials in the summer of 2003. By the time of her release, Miller had served 85 days in custody... [Full Story] CIA MEMO COULD YIELD CLUES IN LEAK PROBE Prosecutors have discovered a key piece of evidence in the investigation into the leaking of the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame by someone in the White House in the summer of 2003. The classified memo was authored in June 2003, just after Amb. Joseph Wilson published an article debunking the administration's Iraq-Niger uranium claims. [Full Story] ROBERTS NAMED TO REPLACE O'CONNOR ON SUPREME COURT John Roberts, currently a judge on the DC Circuit Federal Court of Appeals, has been named by Pres. George W. Bush to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Though some believe his nomination will be less contentious than other controversial "front-runners" discussed in recent days, liberals have criticized Roberts for his stance on abortion and on the separation of church and state, and he has been called "a corporatist"... [Full Story] WHAT THE LAW SAYS ABOUT LEAKING COVERT OP INFO The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, the applicable federal law, states that revealing "any information identifying such covert agent to any individual not authorized to receive classified information" constitutes a violation of the law and can result in $50,000 in fines and/or 10 years in prison. According to Matt Cooper, Rove told him Wilson's wife was an "agency" operative. [Full Story] WHO KNEW ABOUT THE LEAK? Evidence arising out of the notes and testimony of reporters subpoenaed by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in his investigation of the outing of an undercover CIA agent by administration officials points to the involvement of Karl Rove, Bush's top political advisor. As the evidence mounts, the White House has now begun to refuse to answer questions about the matter. Democrats openly call for Rove's dismissal. [Full Story] IS PRESS FREEDOM UNDER ATTACK BY SPECIAL PROSECUTOR? A new Economist article ends with a warning to serious journalists to "beware". Clearly something has shifted in the media climate, and in the political climate, where the rule of law, in a nation where the Constitution provides an absolute right to publish, has come to mean the government may dictate what news sources are and are not permissible, where press freedom runs afoul of particular prosecutions. [Full Story] JUDGE IMPRISONS REPORTER FOR REFUSING TO REVEAL SOURCE New York Times reporter Judith Miller has been jailed by a Special Prosecutor investigating the leak by White House officials of the identity of an undercover CIA agent to the press. Many believe it signals an assault on the First Amendment's vital "freedom of the press", moreso because many details of the case make it unclear what value Miller's testimony would have and whether other reporters (such as Robert Novak, who published the name itself) have faced similar prosecutorial rigors. [Full Story] CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO DEBATE AGAIN THREATENED As the US celebrates its Independence Day, marking the date when Independence from the British crown was officially declared in the year 1776, the coming senatorial showdown over the next nominee to sit for life on the Supreme Court puts the constitutionally enshrined filibuster right in jeopardy. [Full Story]
KEY BACK STORIES: This week, Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) circulated a petition among her colleagues in Congress, which called for an immediate halt to all planning for postponing the election. Within the first hour, it had 100 signatures, and was ultimately signed by 191 members of Congress, including Ms. Woolsey. Only 1 Republican member signed the petition, which again has raised concern among observers... [Full Story] FEDERAL APPEALS COURT FINDS PLANS FOR YUCCA NUCLEAR REPOSITORY INADEQUATE The federal appeals court for the D.C. circuit ruled last week that the plans for containing contamination from nuclear waste stored at the proposed Yucca Mountain, Nevada, facility, are inadequate and cannot proceed as written. The ruling is seen as a major setback for the government's controversial plan to remove all nuclear waste in the U.S. to the single repository under Yucca Mountain. [Full Story] |
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