-Caveat Lector-
RadTimes # 49 - September, 2000
aka "Shit That Matters"
An informally produced compendium of vital irregularities.
"We're living in rad times!"
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LUVeR Alternative News is offering a daily audio show using selected
stories from RadTimes & other non-mainstream sources. Check it out!
<www.luver.org>
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Breaking news from Prague:
<http://prague.indymedia.org/>
<http://praha.indymedia.org/>
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Contents:
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--Take Action Oct 3rd at the Presidential Debates
--Protesters Parade Through Prague
--Watching the riots
--Chicago group to review FBI e-mail surveillance plan
--Cuban spy case puts spotlight on U.S. eavesdropping
--High Court Accepts Heat-Detector Case
--Message From DownUnder
Linked stories:
*Just say yes to Ritalin!
*Protests Turn Violent At Prague World Bank-IMF Meeting
*Protesters Battle Police in Prague
*Chess and Drug Testing
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Begin stories:
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Take Action Oct 3rd at the Presidential Debates
Please Forward and Circulate Widely
CALL TO ACTION
COME TO BOSTON TO:
TAKE ACTION OCTOBER 3rd AT THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES
On October 3rd of this year the two major party candidates will gather
together to stage a spectacle of false democracy. The presidential debates
are intended to serve as a shining example of how politicians are
accountable to the people and how we have a choice in the decisions that are
made about our lives. In reality the debates are a corporate sponsored
puppet show where the candidates of the elite debate issues of little
importance to most Americans. The debate is a prime example of how the
electoral system leaves us with the false choice between numerous bought
politicians and ultimately offers no hope for ordinary people to have a
voice, let alone participate in the political process.
We want real, direct democracy that gives everyone power over the decisions
and resources that matter in our neighborhoods, towns, schools, and
workplaces. This is the only way we can the make lasting, positive social
and ecological changes that will rebuild our communities and our
environment. We can and will create direct democracy in our community
organizations, town meetings, neighborhood groups, rank and file unions and
grassroots movements.
Poverty and cuts in welfare, healthcare, education, public transportation
and social services while the rich get richer; police brutality, racism and
corruption; repression of grassroots activism; locking up of more and more
youth; gentrification of our neighborhoods; skyrocketing rents and
harassment of homeless people; political prisoners-like Mumia Abu Jamal-and
the death penalty; poisoning of our air and water and killing of our
forests; low wages, lousy, meaningless jobs, sweatshops and union busting;
the World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, and World Bank
forcing poverty, misery and environmental destruction around the globe for
corporate profits.
These problems are all rooted in the same undemocratic political and
economic system, controlled by big corporations, that hides behind staged
political elections. It's time we came together to stand up to this system
and create directly democratic positive alternatives! A new world is
possible and we are part of a global movement that is rising up to make it
happen. Join us.
Take Action at the October 3rd Presidential Debates
In response to this farce of democratic discussion we plan to hold our own
truly democratic debates in the only civic forum left to us; the streets. We
are planning an action, which would encompass communities from all parts of
society to come together in the streets to discuss the issues, which truly
affect our lives. We realize the current political powers have not and will
not rule in the interests of the people, and because of this we feel it is
our duty to help create a space where communities can begin to discuss how
to reclaim our political power in order to begin making the decisions about
issues which directly impact our lives. Come to Boston and take Direct
Action for REAL DEMOCRACY!!!!
Here is some of what is planned and what you need to know to come to Boston:
DIRECT ACTION COMMUNITY CONVERGENCE,
Friday, September 29 - Monday, October 3rd
Convergence time and places are still to be announced but there will be a
nightly spokes council meeting from Thursday Sept. 28th - Monday Oct 2nd.
Please call (617) 782-2313 for the location and schedule of the convergence.
The Direct Action Convergence will be a space for workshops including
nonviolent direct action, first aid training, media messaging, street
theater, puppets, art and more.
DIRECT ACTION AT THE DEBATE
The initial proposal of the O3 coalition to the spokes council is for a mass
street party and people's debate to take place during the debates on
Morrissey Blvd, across the street from the U-Mass campus where the debates
will be taking place. We will be meeting in the northwest corner of
Columbus park at 6:45 PM on Oct. 3rd. We are currently developing
infrastructure for large scale street theater and a "debate in the streets"
where members of the community can take part in real direct democracy and
discuss the issues that really effect them in their daily lives.
There will also be a Mumia/ Prison Industrial Complex March (starting at 5
PM in Dudley Sq.), a Tour of Shame in Boston Financial District (starting at
noon at Park St. Station in Boston Common) and a variety of other events.
We strongly encourage affinity groups to come up with creative actions to do
during the day or in support of the street party that evening.
ACTION GUIDELINES
All participants in this action are asked to agree to these action
guidelines. Having this basic agreement will allow people from many
backgrounds, movements and beliefs to work together for this action. They
are not philosophical, political requirements placed upon you or judgments
about the validity of some tactics over others. These guidelines are basic
agreements that create a basis for trust, so we can work together for this
action and know what to expect from each other.
1. We will use no violence, physical or verbal, towards any person.
2. We will carry no weapons
3. We will not bring or use any alcohol or illegal drugs.
4. We will not destroy property
AFFINITY GROUPS:
Everyone participating in the action is asked to form or join an affinity
group which are self-sufficient, small, autonomous teams of people who share
certain principles, goals, interests, plans or other similarities that
enable them to work together well. The groups of 5-20 people should include
some support people who do not risk arrest and are committed to do support
before during and after the arrest stage of the action. Through a
decentralized, highly democratic and powerful process, AGs make and carry
out plans either individually in their own actions or with other affinity
groups in a mass action. When acting together, affinity groups choose a
spokes person to represent them at the Action Spokes Council. Because we
will be participating in multiple actions over several days, strong,
well-organized, and creative affinity groups will be essential to the
success of this event.
Affinity Groups are vital to any mass nonviolent action for providing
support and solidarity. By insuring familiarity and building trust with one
another we take care of each other and reduce the possibility of disruptive
behavior by police /provocateurs. Some affinity groups have stayed together
over long periods of time for political support while others come together
just for a particular action. Form an affinity group with your friends,
people from your town, neighborhood or workplace, from your organization or
community, with people you share some other affinity, interest or identity
with. Two or more affinity groups that have something in common, or want to
do similar actions should work together as a "cluster" of affinity groups.
If your affinity group is coming to Boston please e-mail us at
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
ACTION SPOKESCOUNCIL:
We will have our first Action Spokes Council on Thursday, Sept. 28 to
develop the best possible action plan for the debate. The Action Spokes
Council is the primary decision-making body for the overall action plan. It
is made up of representatives or "spokes" from affinity groups with
spokespeople chosen by each affinity group responsible for carrying their
groups plans, opinions and decisions to the spokescouncil and carrying
information and decisions back to their group. Using consensus, the Action
Spokes Council decides what the action and jail/court solidarity strategy
and framework will be. Once those have been agreed to, affinity groups (AGs)
will determine how they can best participate in and contribute to the
success of the overall action.
JAIL/COURT SOLIDARITY
Through jail solidarity we can take power in a situation designed to make us
powerless. We do this by making our decisions as a group, by acting in
harmony with each other, and by committing ourselves to safeguard each
other's well being. Every time there is a choice in the legal process, if
activists do not cooperate or things become more difficult for the
authorities. Solidarity tactics mean that people noncooperate as a group
unless the authorities agree to our demands. An overcrowded, expensive jail
and legal system create additional pressure. This can give us some control
legal consequences and get them over with more quickly, protect the
authorities from singling some people out for harsher treatment, resist
fines and probation, and extend the action to the prison and legal system
with the strength and community of a group, instead of as individuals. We
encourage action participants who are able, to clear their calendar in
advance for several days or a week or so after the action should it become
necessary to use a fill-the-jails tactics to win our demands. It is likely
that those who want or need to leave will be able to do so. The use of
jail/court solidarity will be discussed and decided on at the spokescouncil.
LEGAL
Please keep in mind: We do not have full legal support for this action. We
have assembled a team of legal observers and a small number of lawyers to do
support. We encourage you to talk to your affinity group about taking on a
greater level of support if you plan to get arrested.
NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION TRAINING:
All action participants will be encouraged to take a nonviolent direct
action training to prepare themselves for both the action and for jail and
court solidarity to deal with the legal system. We will have several
trainings during the convergence. Please come and prepare yourself for
action!
HOUSING
Boston is home to over 100,000 college students and we got a few hundred who
want to give you a place to sleep. Please contact the Campus Action Network
for more information on housing at (617) 547-5408 or e-mail at
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
SEE YOU IN BOSTON
For More information check out <http://www.bostonmobilization.org>, e-mail
us at
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or call us at (617) 782-2313.
In Solidarity,
the O3 Coalition
[FYI, media coverage will be provided at http://boston.indymedia.org. ]
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Protesters Parade Through Prague
<http://www.corpwatch.org/globalization/bretton/jl9-26.html>
[see website for photos]
Julie Light. Special to Corporate Watch
September 26, 2000, Prague
In a day of protests that were more colorful than violent, 9,000
demonstrators surrounded Prague's Congress Center where the World Bank and
IMF are holding their annual meeting. A standoff with police lasted more
than three hours before protesters decided to declare victory, retreat and
regroup.
However, small bands of protesters clashed with police, throwing rocks and
setting dumpsters on fire. Police responded with tear gas, stun grenades
and water cannons. The Czech news agency reported that 54 police and
several dozen protesters were injured. A spokesperson for INPEG, the
umbrella coalition that organized the demonstration, said the group
objected to the violence, which it felt would draw attention away from the
issues of the World Bank and IMF.
By nightfall, violent clashes between police and the so-called anarchist
"Black Bloc" continued. Protesters trashed a McDonalds in Wenceslas Square,
a tourist area and site of the "Velvet Revolution" that brought President
Vaclav Havel to power 11 years ago. The Independent Media Center reported
that police used tear gas and arrested 500 people in downtown Prague. The
Czech Republic has mobilized a formidable force of 11,000 police to control
the demonstrators.
Earlier in the day, thousands of peaceful demonstrators wound through the
streets of Prague. A small marching band entertained the crowd with Spanish
Civil War and Italian protest songs. A man, naked except for a fanny pack,
a dollar bill taped to his privates and anti-IMF slogans painted across his
body, strutted through the crowd. Two elderly Czech women stood on a curb
holding balloons bearing "Liquidate the Bank" slogans, smiling as the crowd
passed by. There were almost no police visible along the march route.
The protesters came from throughout Europe. A Greek telecommunications
union marched alongside Italian Communists and Greens. A Danish religious
based group rubbed shoulders with Spaniards decorated in balloons and face
paint. A rowdy contingent from the Italian group "Ya Basta" led chants.
There were large numbers of German, Dutch and French protesters, and a
delegation of about 50 made the trip from Poland. Demonstrators said they
were motivated by a sense of indignation at Bank polices that they say
deepen the gap between rich and poor worldwide.
"It's hard not to be ashamed or angry at what's going on," explained Ingrid
Steinitz, 60, of Denmark. "People are not able to make a living or see
their children grow up in the Third World because of [the World Bank/IMF's]
structural adjustment programs."
"The World Bank and IMF are just the tip of the iceberg," said Ritchie (who
chose not to give his last name) from Liverpool. "It's the multinationals
and governments supporting the Bank that are the problem," he added.
Noticeably absent from the protest was any strong Czech presence. Since the
Velvet Revolution there have been few street demonstrations in the Czech
Republic. "They came out into the streets to protest [during the Velvet
Revolution] and then they went home and sat back in front of their
televisions," one young Czech activist told Corporate Watch.
Standoff On The Bridge
The parade split into three marches, each headed to a strategic
intersection in an effort to encircle the Congress Center, similar to the
November demonstrations against the WTO in Seattle, and those against the
World Economic Forum in Melbourne earlier this month. The goal was to
prevent delegates from leaving the conference center.
A group of about 3,000 marchers reached the North entrance to the Nuselsky
Bridge leading to the Congress Center. They were met by more than 100
police in riot gear, four armored cars and two water cannons. Organizers,
shouting over a loud speaker, reminded protesters, in five languages, that
they were there to put their bodies on the line, not provoke police. The
plan was to try to push through the police lines in a carefully measured
confrontation.
About 60 protesters, well protected in improvised gear made out of
painters' jumpsuits padded with foam rubber and cardboard, formed the front
lines. One woman even wrapped a doormat around her waist for protection,
while others wore motorcycle helmets or hard hats. These demonstrators
positioned themselves immediately in front of the riot gear-clad police.
They tried four times to push through police lines. Police responded with
batons, while protesters used inner tubes to shield themselves from then
blows. Some demonstrators also wielded sticks. There were no apparent
injuries. At one point a protester threw a plastic bottle at police and was
scolded by other demonstrators. Protesters systematically dismantled the
police barricades, cheered on by the crowd every time they removed a
section of the metal barrier. However, they were unable to push back the
police lines and inch their way onto the bridge. Police, meanwhile, were
unable to push the protesters back with their shields and batons.
The standoff lasted more than three hours. There were tense moments, when
police appeared poised to break up the crowd with force. The protesters,
sensing there might not be anything to be gained by drawing out the
confrontation, decided to declare victory for having stood their ground.
They then retreated to a park about a mile away to regroup.
The situation on the other side of the bridge, where another group of
thousands of protesters were massed, was more volatile. While most
demonstrators adhered to their peaceful strategy, a small group entered
into violent confrontation with police. They reportedly heaved paving
stones and Molotov cocktails at police who responded with tear gas and
water cannons.
Later this evening, protesters gathered in front of Prague's Opera House
forcing delegates to cancel a planned reception. Others headed off to
another bridge where they faced off with police. Police helicopters
patrolled the city, late into the night.
Unlike Seattle, where mainstream press coverage acknowledged that vandalism
was caused by a handful of protesters, the Prague demonstrations, despite
their primarily peaceful character, may be remembered more for the street
battles between police and a small minority of renegades.
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Watching the riots
By BBC News Online's Steve Schifferes in Prague
Tuesday, 26 September, 2000
The Prague police thought they were well prepared for the anti-globalisation
protests against the IMF and World Bank.
But they had not figured on the guerrilla tactics of a small minority of
protesters who were committed to violence and managed to disperse around the
conference centre.
The day began in good spirits as about 5,000 protesters assembled in the
appropriately named Peace Square (Namesti Miru) about one mile from the
Congress Centre.
They were outnumbered by the 11,000 police as they approached the site of
the meeting, which is linked to the centre of the city by a high-level road
bridge.
The demonstrators had said they planned to block the delegates within the
conference complex.
As we watched the riot police assemble behind their water cannon and
armoured personnel carriers from our high-up hotel window, it began to look as
if the protesters' way was firmly blocked.
But as the stand-off continued, more and more people, led by a few
anarchists clad in black and bearing sticks, began to move around the building
to find various weak points which had not been guarded by police.
Music and missiles
Things soon turned violent as anarchists began to tear down barriers near a
rail line that runs under the road bridge.
There was the repeated sound of tear gas being fired, and black smoke as
riot police raced to the spot.
Soon there was also black smoke rising, as BBC camera crews filmed what
appeared to be petrol bombs thrown by the demonstrators.
The air was filled with the sound of police helicopters, firecrackers, and
ambulances, while the lone sound of a trumpet playing "We Shall Overcome"
wafted over the proceedings.
Ring-side seat
A little later, demonstrators managed to penetrate within 100 yards of the
Congress Centre itself by using a small tunnel under the rail line.
They occupied the Vysehrad metro station, which had been closed by the
authorities for the day.
Some protesters daubed slogans on the station with spray paint while others
shouted "fascist democracy" as another set of riot police moved smartly down
the steps of the station.
Hundreds of delegates left the Congress to watch the proceedings from a
bridge linking the conference centre to one of the main delegate hotels, the
Corinthia.
They were soon to get an even closer view of the protests.
As we watched, another group of a few hundred demonstrators managed to reach
that hotel, unnoticed by police.
Bystander hit
Led by a women dressed in bright feathers, and marching to the sound of
drums, they advanced on the hotel before the outnumbered police made a stand
on the Metro steps.
As delegates watched, some began throwing missiles, one of which hit a woman
watching from the balcony.
As the riot police arrived, some demonstrators tried to overturn cars and
waste bins to block their way.
But they were soon overcome, as the riot police charged and split them into
small groups.
Several people, including at least one woman, were hit repeatedly by the
police as they fell.
As the light began to fade, the protests appeared to subside, and it looked
like the delegates would get home to their hotels in the evening.
But it was not quite so simple. The police opened the metro line, while
keeping their barricades across the road bridge.
But as we boarded the train we discovered that it was not stopping in the
city centre.
Instead, thousands of delegates were sent by buses from the end of the tube
line to a heavily guarded assembly point, from where we eventually boarded
another bus for the hotels.
As we sped through the deserted streets, it was clear that the protesters
had proved once again that, despite their small numbers, they had been able to
make an impact on the world stage.
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Chicago group to review FBI e-mail surveillance plan
<http://cnews.tribune.com/news/tribune/story/0%2C1235%2Ctribune-tech-78251%2C00.html>
By Michael J. Sniffen, The Associated Press
September 26, 2000
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department hired a Chicago-based research
group Tuesday to analyze whether the FBI's "Carnivore" e-mail surveillance
system has adequate protections against abuse.
The IIT Research Institute is an independent, nonprofit research and
development organization associated with the Illinois Institute of
Technology. The department said the review team would include senior faculty
members from the Chicago-Kent College of Law.
The review of Carnivore, which has drawn criticism from Congress and civil
libertarians, will begin immediately and is to be completed in December. An
interim draft report will be made public for comment in late November. The
final report will be released for public comment in December.
The government will continue to use the system during the study. David
Sobel, counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which filed a
Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to obtain documents about the system, has
criticized the decision to keep it in operation while questions remain.
The department estimated the study would cost $175,000, but the exact amount
will depend on time and materials consumed.
The Carnivore system, installed by the FBI on the network of Internet
service providers, has software that scans Internet traffic as it moves
through that provider's network. The FBI says it configures the software to
capture e-mail to or from someone under investigation and that court orders
limit which e-mails agents can see.
But privacy advocates say only the FBI knows what Carnivore can do, and
Internet providers are not allowed access to the system. They ask why the
FBI retains control of Carnivore equipment and doesn't give it to Internet
providers so they can comply with court orders.
The project's goal is to see whether Carnivore increases the risk that FBI
agents or someone else - intentionally or unintentionally, legally or
illegally - will see electronic communications they have no right to see and
whether Carnivore can safeguard against that risk.
"The review team will have full access to any information they need to
perform their review," said Assistant Attorney General Stephen R. Colgate,
who led the selection team. "This organization has both the technical
expertise and the dedication to the project to provide the most thorough,
independent and timely review."
The government said 11 private and academic organizations bid to do the
project.
Some academics objected to department insistence on both security checks of
evaluation panel members and on veto power over any changes in that panel,
saying it could exclude critics of government surveillance. They also
criticized Justice's insistence on the right to edit the report. The
Massachusetts Institute of Technology withdrew from the bidding because of
its objections, said a senior Justice official, who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
That official said the security checks were designed only to exclude anyone
with a criminal record and the veto power over changes was to prevent the
government from paying for a Nobel Prize winner if the work was done by a
graduate student. The editing power, the official said, was included only so
business secrets of Carnivore software providers could be kept from the
public.
Kerry Rowe, a senior vice president of the IIT Research Institute, said he
was confident "what we find will be made available to the public." The work
will be done at the institute's information technology laboratory in Lanham,
Md., outside Washington, by the equivalent of six fulltime workers.
Legal experts were added to the team to help evaluate how a court order
would apply to the system, Rowe said. One of the team's legal experts,
Harold Krent, associate dean of Chicago-Kent College of Law, said legal
questions might include how Carnivore differentiates between people with the
same names, or those who use aliases. He said the system also must account
for people who might be using more than one Internet service provider, such
as America Online or Compuserve.
An internal Justice team headed by Colgate will review the report and
recommend to Attorney General Janet Reno whether any changes are needed in
Carnivore's design or use.
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Cuban spy case puts spotlight on U.S. eavesdropping
<http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/daily/detail/0,1136,35000000000119285,00.html>
by CATHERINE WILSON, Associated Press
Sep. 26, 2000
MIAMI -- In a 21st century case of cold war, the U.S. government wants to be
able to keep its secrets about intercepting Cuban communications, and
attorneys for five accused Cuban spies are demanding disclosures about U.S.
surveillance of anti-Castro groups.
The government doesn't want to be forced to say how it recorded
conversations between MiG fighter pilots and Cuban air traffic controllers
during the shootdown of two civilian planes flying in international airspace
between the United States and Cuba in 1996.
In turn, attorneys for five accused spies say at least two members of a
reputed 14-member ring were on the FBI payroll. The defense wants to get
government files to be able to point the finger of blame at anti-Castro
groups as part of a renewed request to get the trial moved out of their
stronghold in Miami.
In a final round of motions for the trial set Nov. 6, federal
prosecutors take pains to say that the method of U.S. eavesdropping is of no
importance to the trial, cite a danger to national security and make a
patriotic plea to keep secrets.
"The United States should not be required, as the price of a criminal
prosecution, to educate the Republic of Cuba or any other power that
accesses the court record on how to protect themselves from surveillance
where the information has no materiality to the defense," a government
motion said.
Prosecutors want to call as a witness an Air Force employee who worked
at an undisclosed facility in Florida to say she taped and monitored radio
conversations between MiG pilots and Cuban controllers before, during and
after the attack on Brothers to the Rescue planes Feb. 24, 1996. Reputed spy
ringleader Gerardo Hernandez is charged with murder conspiracy in the deaths
of the four fliers.
The government intends to call the Spanish-speaking radio monitor to
testify under a pseudonym to protect her identity, and her real name would
not be disclosed in court. Under the prosecution scenario, she would not be
required to identify her workplace, the purpose of the monitoring, the
recipients of the intercepted communications or the technical side of her
work.
The contents of the tapes were disclosed as part of an international
aviation investigation. A U.N. human rights investigator concluded in 1997
that the shootdown was a "premeditated act" by the Cuban government.
The five defendants were charged in 1998 with spying on U.S. military
installations and exile groups. The defense focuses on activities with exile
groups, saying the men were de facto U.S. agents when they infiltrated
groups "engaged in a series of campaigns to violently overthrow the Castro
regime," a motion said.
Cuba forwarded information collected by its agents to the U.S.
government during a wave of hotel bombings in Cuba in 1997, and at least two
bombings were thwarted at Cuban tourist centers with information gathered in
the United States from exile groups, the defense says.
A defense motion noted at least two accused Cuban spies were paid FBI
informants. Defendant Rene Gonzalez, a former Brothers pilot who joined the
exile Democracy Movement, is one. Juan Pablo Roque, a double agent who
returned to Havana on the eve of the shootdown, is another. Most people
indicted in the case reached plea bargains requiring cooperation with
prosecutors.
The defense wants any FBI records of illegal activity by 17 people or
exile groups, including the leading exile group, the Cuban American National
Foundation, and the paramilitary Alpha 66 and Omega 7.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard already has allowed defense attorneys
for Luis Medina, Antonio Guerrero, Ruben Campa, Hernandez and Gonzalez to
make trips to Cuba to investigate the case and take depositions that could
be used at trial.
As the defense developed its theory that the accused Cuban spies were
helping the United States investigate exile groups, it decided to renew a
request to move the trial at least to Fort Lauderdale if not farther away.
The defense describes Miami as "a community that is undeniably and
strongly opposed to the Castro regime and its perceived sympathizers and
supporters" and a place that is not conducive to a fair trial.
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High Court Accepts Heat-Detector Case
Paris, Wednesday, September 27, 2000
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to use
the case of a man convicted of growing marijuana to decide whether the
police need a search warrant to use a device that detects heat coming
from someone's home.
The court said it would hear an Oregon man's argument that the use of a
heat-detecting device without a search warrant violated the constitution's
Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches.
Danny Lee Kyllo was arrested in January 1992 and
charged with growing marijuana at his home.
The police said they had used a thermal imaging
device and detected an unusual amount of heat coming from the roof over the
garage and from one wall. Officers then got a warrant and searched his
home, finding marijuana plants, growing equipment and dried marijuana.
Mr. Kyllo contended the marijuana plants should not
be used as evidence against him, saying the police could not use the
heat-detecting device without a warrant.
A federal judge ruled against him, and Mr. Kyllo pleaded guilty on condition
that he could appeal the search issue. He was sentenced to one month in
jail.
After an initial ruling in his favor, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
upheld the use of the device, saying it did not amount to a search.
In the appeal that was granted a review Tuesday, Mr. Kyllo's lawyer said the
case ''raises the fundamental question of whether the Fourth Amendment's
guarantee of personal security in one's home must yield to scientific
advances that render our traditional barriers of privacy obsolete.''
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Message From DownUnder
From: Bj <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Wed, 13 Sep 2000
Hi Yanks,
I thought you all would like to see the real figures from Down Under. It
has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by new law
to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by our own
government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million
dollars. The first year results are now in:
Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2 percent.
Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6 percent.
Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!
In the state of Victoria alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300
percent. (Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the
criminals did not and criminals still possess their guns!) While figures
over the previous 25 years showed a steady decrease in armed robbery with
firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12 months, since
the criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.
There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the
elderly.
Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has
decreased, after such monumental effort and expense was expended in
"successfully ridding Australian society of guns."
You won't see this data on the American evening news or hear your governor
or members of the state Assembly disseminating this information. The
Australian experience proves it.
Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun
control laws affect only the law-abiding citizens.
Take note Americans, before it's too late!
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Linked stories:
********************
Just say yes to Ritalin!
By Lawrence H. Diller, M.D.
<http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2000/09/25/medicate/index.html>
Parents are being pressured by schools to medicate their kids -- or else.
********************
Protests Turn Violent At Prague World Bank-IMF Meeting
<http://ens-news.com/ens/sep2000/2000L-09-26-11.html>
PRAGUE, Czech Republic, September 26, 2000 (ENS) - The annual meetings of
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group sparked violence
Tuesday as Czech police responded with tear gas and water cannon to
demonstrators' attempts to disrupt the meetings inside the Prague Congress
Center.
********************
Protesters Battle Police in Prague
<http://tm0.com/IHT/sbct.cgi?s=80180978&i=257423&d=448010>
PRAGUE - Black-masked protesters on Tuesday hurled cobblestones ripped
from Prague's medieval streets and attacked the police with homemade
gasoline bombs, trying desperately, and ultimately unsuccessfully, to
shut down a global finance meeting here.
********************
Chess and Drug Testing
<http://www.jointogether.org/jtodirect.jtml?U=83952&O=264578>
Drug czar Barry McCaffrey says tournament chess players
should be tested for drugs; a counterculture journalist
(Paul Krassner) ridicules the notion.
********************
======================================================
"Anarchy doesn't mean out of control. It means out of 'their' control."
-Jim Dodge
======================================================
"Communications without intelligence is noise;
intelligence without communications is irrelevant."
-Gen. Alfred. M. Gray, USMC
======================================================
"It is not a sign of good health to be well adjusted to a sick society."
-J. Krishnamurti
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