Stephen Calkins
Wed, 22 Mar 2006 10:56:23 -0800
The President and the Courts March 20, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/opinion/20mon1.html?th&emc=th Since the Republican majority has decided to allow President Bush to usurp Congress's role in matters of national security, the battle to save the constitutional balance of powers moves to the judiciary. If Congress wants to take the extreme step of suspending the Supreme Court's jurisdiction over habeas corpus, especially pending appeals, it must say so in unmistakable terms, which it has not done. Both the text and the legislative history of the Graham-Levin amendment demonstrate an intention to avoid touching pending cases. Moreover, the Constitution itself requires an "invasion" or a "rebellion" as a prerequisite for suspension of habeas corpus. It's hardly likely that the founding fathers intended to give Congress the right to eliminate judicial review during an ongoing international struggle against terrorism that may well go on for generations. --------- Rep. Murtha says Rumsfeld, Cheney should resign March 19, 2006 http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Rep._Murtha_says_Rumsfeld_Cheney_should_0319.html On Sunday's edition of Meet the Press with Tim Russert, Congressman John Murtha (D-PA) said that Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld should resign for misdecisions in the war in Iraq. Excerpts from transcript: REP. MURTHA: Here, hereâs what you should do, Mr. President. First of all, you should fire all the people who are responsible for that, which gives you international credibility. MR. RUSSERT: Including his secretary of defense? REP. MURTHA: Well, he, he shouldâwell, letâs say he should offer his resignation... MR. RUSSERT: What about the vice president? Should he offer his resignation? REP. MURTHA: Yeah. Well, certainly the vice president has been the primary force in running, running this war, and many of the mischaracterizations have come about. OK, I say fire some people, thatâs the first thing. Anybody thatâs been responsible, first of all, for the intelligence-gathering; second of all, for the characterization; and third of all, for the maintaining and running the war. For instance, from the national security office down to the secretary of defenseâs office. I mean heâs got to make that decision. ------- Bush Signs Bill That Didn't Pass Congress Paul Joseph Watson/Prison Planet.com | March 18 2006 http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/march2006/180306bushsigns.htm In an amazing development that has received almost no media attention, mainstream or alternative, President Bush again placed himself above the law and wilfully violated the Constitution by signing into law a bill that didn't pass both Houses of Congress. According to representative Henry Waxman, Bush signed into law a version of the Budget Reconciliation Act that didn't pass Congress. The discrepancy between the version Bush signed and the actual bill that passed equates to a value of $2 billion. Bush knew he was directly violating the Constitution and effectively acting as a despot because he received a call from the Speaker of the House before signing the bill, warning him that it had not been passed. The Presentment Clause of the U.S. Constitution states that before a bill can become law, it must be passed by both Houses of Congress. The reaction to this travesty needs to be a heck of a lot stronger than a Henry Waxman letter, impeachment proceedings on this alone need to be enacted before Bush starts rounding up his political enemies and shipping them off to Halliburton run internment camps. ---------- Britain breaks with the US over Iran By Patrick Seale (excerpt) http://www.jang.com.pk and http://www.jang-group.com DUBAI: Britain has told the United States that it will not take part in any armed action against Iranâs nuclear sites, according to diplomatic sources in London. Already facing huge public criticism for his participation in the Iraq war, Prime Minister Tony Blair is seeking to distance himself from Americaâs belligerent rhetoric towards Iran. Blair knows he would probably not survive the political storm if Britain joined in an attack on Iran. The concern in Whitehall, however, is that the Bush administration, egged on by Israel and its powerful friends in the United States, risks developing an unstoppable momentum towards war a war in which Britain clearly wants no part. There is a real fear that if Iran refuses to yield to pressure either by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or by the UN Security Council to which Iran was formally referred on March 8 then the US would be left with no other option than to strike. The US may indeed have boxed itself into a corner by its threats, which Iran has scornfully rejected. The view in Whitehall is that if America attacks Iran, it will have to do so alone or with Israel. In private discussions, British officials have made clear that any sort of military campaign against Iran would be "madness". Despite its close alliance with the US, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has departed publicly from aggressive statements by senior US officials. He has ruled out military action by Britain against Iran as "inconceivable". clip.. ---------- Criminalizing exposure of government wrongdoing http://edit.store.yahoo.com/lib/realityzone/UFNcrimetoexposegov.mht This article ( http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002157186 ), from Editor & Publisher reports that the proposed legislation for the so-called Terrorist Surveillance Act of 2006 to be introduced by Ohio Sen. Michael DeWine -- the principal purpose of which is to legalize the Bush Administration's illegal warrantless eavesdropping on Americans -- contains unprecedented provisions which create whole new categories of crimes designed to punish any future discussion of the President's eavesdropping activities, including by reporters: Reporters who write about government surveillance could be prosecuted under proposed legislation that would solidify the administration's eavesdropping authority, according to some legal analysts who are concerned about dramatic changes in U.S. law. The draft would add to the criminal penalties for anyone who "intentionally discloses information identifying or describing" the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance program or any other eavesdropping program conducted under a 1978 surveillance law. Under the boosted penalties, those found guilty could face fines of up to $1 million, 15 years in jail or both. Kate Martin, director of the Center for National Security Studies, said the measure is broader than any existing laws. She said, for example, the language does not specify that the information has to be harmful to national security or classified....excerpt from second link at top follows: "The bill would make it a crime to tell the American people that the president is breaking the law, and the bill could make it a crime for the newspapers to publish that fact," said Martin, a civil liberties advocate, Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the language would allow anyone â "if you read a story in the paper and pass it along to your brother-in-law" â to be prosecuted. "As a practical matter, would they use this to try to punish any newspaper or any broadcast? It essentially makes coverage of any of these surveillance programs illegal," she said. "I'm sorry, that's just not constitutional." clip.. ------ Launch of Iranian oil trading exchange unlikely to begin till at least midyear JOHN PARTRIDGE http://tinyurl.com/fhqty http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20060314.RIRAN14/TPStory/Busine As the nuclear standoff pitting Iran against the West continues, some conspiracy theorists are more focused on another plan that the Middle Eastern nation is pursuing. But they are jumping the gun if they still figure Iran is within days of launching a new international oil exchange that would sell its own and other Middle Eastern oil producers' black gold in euros rather than U.S. dollars -- and which, the theory goes, could ultimately torpedo the greenback and the U.S. economy. Despite repeated reports over the past 18 months or so that the planned bourse would finally open for business on March 20, 2006 -- and go head to head with the New York Mercantile Exchange and the ICE Futures Exchange in London -- the start date has been postponed by at least several months and maybe more than a year. "In the middle of 2006, we are able to start the bourse," Mohammad Asemipur, special adviser on the project to Iran's Oil Minister, said when reached in Tehran. The plan is to trade petrochemical products first, with a crude oil contract coming last, a rollout that likely will take three years, he said. "You can rest assured, there will not be a crude oil contract, Gulf-based, in my opinion, within a year -- and that would be really pushing it," Mr. Cook, a former director of ICE's predecessor, the International Petroleum Exchange, said when reached in Scotland. Kamal Daneshyar, chairman of Iran's Majlis [parliamentary] Energy Commission reportedly told the Iranian Students News Agency in December that the exchange would at first operate in both dollars and euros, but gradually move to the European currency exclusively. He was also quoted as saying that this would enable Iran to get even with the U.S. for the economic damages it has inflicted on the Islamic republic. As for trading oil in euros, Mr. Cook said the Iranians likely would find it very difficult, at least in the next several years. "Basically, there aren't enough euros in circulation, and nor are there likely to be." A full challenge to the U.S. dollar as the world central bank reserve currency, Mr. Engdahl added later, would entail a "de facto declaration of war on the 'full-spectrum dominance' of the United States today," and that is something no country or group of countries is yet willing to launch. --------- No Warrant. No Problem. Bush breaking into homes. by vmckimmey Mar 17, 2006 http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/3/17/204235/876 US News will publish a story that the Justice Department has authorized domestic search and seizure of homes and offices without warrant. The U.S. News article will be published on their site Saturday evening and will be the lead story in the magazine published Monday.Video on unwarranted searches: http://www.canofun.com/cof/forums/thread-view -------- British Jewry Tried To Stop Zionism - Edwin Montagu By Henry Makow PhD 3-12-6 http://www.savethemales.ca/001458.html Jews are taught that they are scapegoats but they don't learn it is the world government cabal that is using them. Using Zionist, Communist, Liberal, Feminist or Neo Con fronts, it dupes many Jews into advancing policies and beliefs that undermine society which is based on race, religion, nation and family. This gives the appearance Jews in general are responsible for the New World Order. It doesn't help that many Jews ignorantly deny this conspiracy exists and cry "anti-Semitism" every time a banker is criticized. It doesn't help that many have been conned into thinking they need Israel. In fact Israelis are being used to secure the Middle East for the Masonic British elite. The new Israeli Supreme Court building, funded and designed by Rothschilds, is replete with Masonic symbolism. (http://www.thegoldenreport.com/asp/jerrysnewsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=817&z=2) Some of the Rothschilds and their Jewish allies are part of this satanic conspiracy. But most Jews put their countries first, and would want no part of world government. Edwin Montagu, a gentle, sincere civilized man, is an example of such a Jew and an inspiration to us all. Related: "The Jewish Conspiracy is British Imperialism" http://www.savethemales.ca/000447.html ---------- St. Pat's 4 Letters to inmates Daniel Burns - 13182052 Peter DeMott - 10891-083 MDC BROOKLYN METROPOLITAN DETENTION CENTER P.O. BOX 329002 BROOKLYN, NY 11232 Clare Grady 01264-052 FEDERAL DETENTION CENTER P.O. BOX 562 PHILADELPHIA, PA 19106 Teresa Grady Broome County Jail P.O. Box 2047 Binghamton, NY.13902 -------- 10-page summary by 20 journalists from "Into the Buzzsaw" compiled Kristina Borjesson www.WantToKnow.info (excerpt) John Kelly is first author with Phillip Wearne of Tainting Evidence: Inside the Scandals at the FBI Crime Lab, which was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He is the former editor and senior writer for the National Reporter, a publication reporting on the CIA. According to the Central Intelligence Agency itself, as reported by the House Intelligence Committee, "The Clandestine Service of the CIA is the only part of the Intelligence Community, indeed of government, where hundreds of employees on a daily basis are directed to break extremely serious laws in countries around the world. A safe estimate is that several hundred times every day (easily 100,000 times a year), officers engage in highly illegal activities." (pp. 115) Government documents, including CIA reports, show that the CIA's crimes include terrorism, assassination, torture, and systematic violations of human rights. The report notes that CIA personnel are "directed" to commit crimes. (p. 117) CIA documents show that the CIA created, trained, and armed death squads in Guatemala as part of its coup and destabilization of the democratically elected government in 1954. In Honduras, the CIA's own inspector general reported that paid CIA assets at the highest level created and ran a death squad which, according to the Honduran government, murdered at least 184 people. The Senate Intelligence Committee proposed a bill that would immunize CIA offenders who violate treaties and international agreements while following orders. The bill passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on December 27, 2000. (pp.117-118) Former CIA General Counsel Sporkin revealed that the CIA, not the president, creates findings to fit preordained covert operations and sends the findings to the president for his signature. (p. 126, 127) ABC hired me to help produce a story about an investment firm in Hawaii that was heavily involved with the CIA. I had earlier provided the same story to BBC's Newsnight, which aired it. The story was fully documented, and nobody, including the CIA, was able to disprove the charges. Part of the report charged that the CIA had plotted to assassinate an American, Ron Rewald, the president of [the investment firm]. Scott Barnes who said on camera that the CIA had asked him to kill Rewald. [CIA Director William] Casey called ABC Chairman Leonard H. Goldenson. The call led to three meetings between ABC officials and Stanley Sporkin, CIA general counsel. On November 21, 1984, despite all the documented evidence presented in the program, Peter Jennings reported that ABC could no longer substantiate the charges, and that "We have no reason to doubt the CIA's denial." He presented no evidence supporting the CIA's position. That same day, the CIA filed a formal complaint with the FCC, written by Sporkin and signed by [CIA Director] Casey, charging that ABC had "deliberately distorted" the news. Casey asked that ABC be stripped of its TV and radio licenses. During this time, Capital Cities Communications was maneuvering to buy ABC. [CIA Director] Casey was one of the founders of Cap Cities. Cap Cities bought ABC for $3.5 billion, which was called a "bargain rate" by the trade media. Besides Casey, two other founders of Cap Cities had extensive ties to the intelligence community. Within months, the entire investigative unit [of ABC] was dispersed, and the commentator on the Rewald program was assigned to covering beauty pageants. Needless to say, my contract was not renewed. (pp. 132, 122)For Mr. Kelly's book Tainting Evidence: Inside the Scandals at the FBI Crime Lab,see amazon.com. (Steve's Note This means that ABC is a CIA run media source.) -- -- -- Gary Webb was an investigative reporter. He won a 1990 Pulitzer Prize, received the 1997 Media Hero award, and in 1996 was named Journalist of the Year. In 1996, he wrote a series of stories, entitled Dark Alliance. A CIA-linked drug and stolen car network provided weapons and tons of high-grade, dirt cheap cocaine to the very person who spread crack through LA and from there into the hinterlands. We have compelling evidence that the kingpins of this cocaine ring enjoyed a unique relationship with the US government that has continued to this day. (pp.145-146) The Mercury News officially backed away from Dark Alliance, after that. (p. 153) The CIA's knowledge and involvement had been far greater than I'd ever imagined. Agents and officials of the DEA had protected the traffickers from arrest, something I'd not been allowed to print. At the start of the Contra war, the CIA and Justice Department had worked out an unusual agreement that permitted the CIA not to have to report allegations of drug trafficking by its agents to the Justice Department. (p. 154) Do we have a free press today? Sure we do. It's free to report all the sex scandals it wants, all the stock market news we can handle, every new health fad that comes down the pike, and every celebrity marriage or divorce that happens. But when it comes to the real down and dirty stuff-stories like Tailwind, the October Surprise, the El Mozote massacre, corporate corruption, or CIA involvement in drug trafficking-that's where we begin to see the limits of our freedoms. In today's mass media environment, sadly, such stories are not even open for discussion. Back in 1938, when fascism was sweeping Europe, legendary investigative reporter George Seldes observed that "it is possible to fool all the people all the time-when government and press cooperate." Unfortunately, we have reached that point. (p. 156) The book "Dark Alliance" at amazon.com Steve's Note: Gary Webb continued to do exposes on the CIA and was found with two gun shots in his head a year ago, (labeled a 'suicide'). -- -- -- Michael Levine is a 25-year veteran of the DEA turned best-selling author and journalist. The Chang Mai factory the CIA prevented me from destroying was the source of massive amounts of heroin being smuggled into the US in the bodies and body bags of GIs killed in Vietnam. (p. 165) My unit, the Hard Narcotics Smuggling Squad, was charged with investigating all heroin and cocaine smuggling through the Port of New York. My unit became involved in investigating every major smuggling operation known to law enforcement. We could not avoid witnessing the CIA protecting major drug dealers. Not a single important source in Southeast Asia was ever indicted by US law enforcement. This was no accident. Case after case was killed by CIA and State Department intervention and there wasn't a damned thing we could do about it. CIA-owned airlines like Air America were being used to ferry drugs throughout Southeast Asia, allegedly to support our "allies." CIA banking operations were used to launder drug money. (pp. 165, 166) In 1972, I was assigned to assist in a major international drug case involving top Panamanian government officials who were using diplomatic passports to smuggle large quantities of heroin and other drugs into the US. Manuel Noriega, head of the CIA, George HW Bush authorized a salary for Manuel Noriega as a CIA asset, while the dictator was listed in as many as 40 DEA computer files as a drug dealer. (pp. 166, 167) The Mujihadeen in Afghanistan, the Bolivian cocaine cartels, the top levels of Mexican government, Nicaraguan Contras, Colombian drug dealers and politicians, and others, were allowed to flow unimpeded drugs into the US. On July 17, 1980, drug traffickers actually took control of a nation. Bolivia at the time [was] the source of virtually 100% of the cocaine entering the US. CIA-recruited mercenaries and drug traffickers unseated Bolivia's democratically elected president, a leftist whom the US government didn't want in power. Immediately after the coup, cocaine production increased massively, until it soon outstripped supply. This was the true beginning of the cocaine and crack "plague." (pp. 167, 168) The CIA along with the State and Justice Departments had to combine forces to protect their drug-dealing assets by destroying a DEA investigation. How do I know? I was the inside source. I sat down at my desk in the American embassy and wrote the kind of letter that I never myself imagined ever writing. I detailed three pages typewritten on official US embassy stationary-enough evidence of my charges to feed a wolf pack of investigative journalists. I also expressed my willingness to be a quotable source. I addressed it directly to Strasser and Rohter, care of Newsweek. Two sleepless weeks later, I was still sitting in my embassy office staring at the phone. Three weeks later, it rang. It was DEA's internal security. They were calling me to notify me that I was under investigation. I had been falsely accused of everything from black-marketing to having sex with a married female DEA agent. The investigation would wreak havoc with my life for the next four years. (pp. 168-171) An associate of mine was sent into Honduras to open a DEA office in Tegucigalpa. Within months he had documented as much as 50 tons of cocaine being smuggled into the US by Honduran military people who were supporting the Contras. What was the DEA response? They closed the office. (p. 175) Sometime in 1990, US Customs intercepted a ton of cocaine being smuggled through Miami International Airport. A Customs and DEA investigation quickly revealed that the smugglers were the Venezuelan National Guard headed by General Guillen, a CIA "asset" who claimed that he had been operating under CIA orders and protection. The CIA soon admitted that this was true. If the CIA is good at anything, it is the complete control of American mass media. The New York Times had the story almost immediately in 1990 and did not print it until 1993. It finally became news that was "fit to print" when the Times learned that 60 Minutes also had the story and was actually going to run it. (pp. 188, 189) In the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, the FBI had a paid informant, Emad Salem, who had infiltrated the bombers and had told the FBI of their plans to blow up the twin towers. Without notifying the NYPD or anyone else, an FBI supervisor "fired" Salem, who was making $500 a week for his work. After the bomb went off, the FBI hired Salem back and paid him $1.5 million to help them track down the bombers. But that's not all the FBI missed. When they finally did catch the actual bomber, Ramzi Yousef (a man trained with CIA funds during the Russia-Afghanistan war), the FBI found information on his personal computer about plans to use hijacked American jetliners as fuel-laden missiles. The FBI ignored this information, too. Learn about Mr. Levine's books and radio show: http://www.expertwitnessradio.org. Steve's Note: According to the NY Times report, (during the 1993 WTC bombing trial), Salem told investigators and the court that the FBI was involved in the bombing. Ron Kuby, one of the defendant's attorneys in the case stated: "The article on the FBl being involved in the World Trade Center bombing actually understated the evidence. The informer, Emad Salem, is actually on tape saying that he built the bomb that ultimately blew up the World Trade Center." "In addition, we have received information that he was visually observed at the scene of the bombing shortly after the bombing took place. Shortly after that, he was admitted to the hospital, suffering from an ear problem that was consistent with exposure to blast. The mastermind is the government of the United States. It was a phony, government engineered conspiracy to begin with. It would never have amounted to anything had the government not planned it." http://www.serendipity.li/wot/adam.htm Famous civil rights lawyer William Kunstler died the evening after this information was released in court, (of a supposed heart attack), delaying the trail and suppressing the information that Kunstler had uncovered concerning the FBI's involvement. -- -- -- Pierre Salinger announced to the world on November 8, 1996, that he'd received documents from French intelligence proving that a US Navy missile had accidentally downed [TWA Flight 800]. That same day, FBI's Jim Kallstrom called a press conference to deny Salinger's allegations. [At the press conference,] Kallstrom rattled off a prepared speech, and then it was time for questions. A man raised his hand and asked why the Navy was involved in the recovery and investigation while a possible suspect. Kallstrom's response was immediate; "Remove him!" he yelled. Two men leapt over to the questioner and grabbed him by the arms. There was a momentary chill in the air after the guy had been dragged out of the room. Kallstrom acted as if nothing had happened. (pp. 290, 291) A few weeks after the FBI's visit to CBS, I received my walking papers. Law enforcement consultant Paul Ragonese eventually got his walking papers, too. Ragonese was replaced by none other than the FBI's TWA 800 task force chief, James Kallstrom. (p. 307) Ms. Borjesson co-hosts WBAI's Expert Witness Radio Program at http://www.expertwitnessradio.org. -------------- Peoplenomics 3/20/06 Post at Yahooogroups (excerpt) One of our correspondents who does something semi-military and writes in from various hotspots (Afghanistan and Iraq's green zone among only places) who calls himself "The Wandering Texan" is back on US soil and wonders why no one is paying attention to Chinas take over of many things south of us: "Just got back to the US. Before leaving the Mideast an old government friend suggested I make a pass through some of our old stomping grounds in Central and South America. I must say I was a bit taken back by what I found. There is a recent and quite strong Chinese military presence in all of the region. Advisers are everywhere, and a large number of former allies are now going to China for military training. I saw a large number of Chinese men and equipment in southern Mexico. There is Chinese military all over Panama. As you might guess there are starting to provide their Latin friends with Chinese equipment. clip.. *** DO NOT POST ILLEGAL INFORMATION. Identifying agents is a criminal offense. Please also respect the rights of other individuals. *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. CIA Tradecraft is making it available without profit to CIA Tradecraft Yahoo! 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