[CTRL] Controlled by the media?

[DIG Joanne Panettieri]

-Caveat Lector- Yesterday's NYC papers gave an interesting example of the media's manipulation of the public's opinion.  The Constitution of our country allows for peaceful demonstration, but now demonstrators are being labeled as "potential terriorists".   The front page of yesterday's NY Daily News had a picture of Judge Robert Sweet with the headline "JUDGE MENTAL  Cops fury at this Judge's nutty ban on anti-terror searches"  Under the article about the Judge's ruling 'giving an open door to terrorists' is an article about the 'Long history of the Judge's controversial rulings.' Folled later in the paper is an editorial about the Judge being nuts......  But the most amazing thing about this paper's presentation of this story is that the picture of the potential terriorists that they use (which unfortunately is so small that it's hard to see) is a picture of a peace demonstration from a group called "United for Peace and Justice"!  .... so just WHO are they trying to say are the TERRORISTS??" Joanne Panettieri Eleventh Hour Ministries Brooklyn, NY     Cops rip judge: 'It's giving an open door to terrorists' But NYCLU hails decision BY ROBERT GEARTY and MICHELE McPHEE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS In an attempt to 'encourage free _expression_ in a secure society,' a judge barred blanket searches of bags at protests outside the Republican National Convention. NYPD cops blasted a federal judge's ruling aimed at stopping them from searching demonstrators' bags outside the Republican National Convention, saying the decision gives "an open door to terrorists." Manhattan Federal Judge Robert Sweet's decision - made public yesterday - prohibits blanket searches of bulky bags and backpacks in the absence of a "specific threat." "In this day and age of terrorism, it's an extremely dangerous step in a very dangerous time in New York City," said an outraged Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives Endowment Association. "It's giving an open door to terrorists, and further handcuffing police at a time that they should be given a little bit more latitude," Palladino said. He said he plans to urge Mayor Bloomberg to appeal the ruling. Sweet's decision also limits how many streets the NYPD can close around Madison Square Garden, and prohibits cops from penning protesters behind metal barricades. The ruling does not prevent the use of hand-held metal-detecting wands around the perimeter of the convention. Sweet wrote that his ruling is an attempt to "define a resolution which can serve to encourage free _expression_ in a secure society." He described the preventive measure by police as an "invasion of personal privacy." Christopher Dunn, an attorney for the New York Civil Liberties Union, called it a "historic victory." But NYPD officials interpreted it another way - insisting their plan to handle protesters outside the convention would not be greatly affected by the ruling. They noted that Sweet conceded that blanket bag searches could occur on a case-by-case basis if police officials could demonstrate there was a specific danger to public safety. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the NYPD had frequently banned bags from large public gatherings or searched backpacks for explosives. "The court endorsed policies that Police Commissioner [Raymond] Kelly had already put into practice. It also articulated that threat is a reason to justify searches in certain instances," NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Paul Browne said in a statement yesterday. "The decision does not cause the Police Department to change any plans or tactics for safeguarding the Republican National Convention or the demonstrations associated with it. In effect, the court accepted existing department practices as reasonable and rational." Those practices were adopted after a 2003 anti-war rally ended with several cops being injured, and 240 demonstrators arrested. Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch declined comment on the ruling. Originally published on July 20, 2004   Long history of controversial rulings BY JOE WILLIAMS DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER Judge Robert Sweet Judge Robert Sweet knows a thing or two about generating controversy from the federal bench. Whether it's his support for the legalization of drugs or his opposition to plans that would have given first dibs on openings in public housing to working families, the 82-year-old judge appointed by former President Jimmy Carter has made rulings that have kept the appeals courts busy. "Prohibition isn't working," Sweet said in a 1989 speech. "We should legalize marijuana, heroin and crack." A deputy mayor in the Lindsay administration in 1967-69, Sweet once even ruled that it was legal to possess heroin so long as it was only trace amounts and it was in a syringe given out through the city's needle exchange program. In that 2002 ruling, Sweet ruled that it would be "bizarre" to make participation in needle exchanges criminal if the government itself is funding it. Sweet's controversial rulings are not limited to drug cases. The judge has been blasted for striking down laws meant to keep streets safe; failing to send a wrongly freed felon back to prison, and jeopardizing the lives of two undercover FBI agents by revealing their identities. In a 2001 deadbeat dad case involving the son of boxing promoter Don King, Sweet ruled that Congress had overstepped its authority by trying to prosecute fathers who cross state lines to avoid paying child support under the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution. In May, in early rounds of the New York Civil Liberties Union's case against the city, Sweet ordered Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly to testify under oath about the city's practice of blocking access to demonstrations, searching protesters, using pens to contain demonstrators and using horses for crowd control. City lawyers unsuccessfully argued it would be a big mistake to publicize internal police practices and tactics considering terrorist threats to the city. A graduate of Yale Law School, Sweet served as an assistant U.S. attorney in the early 1950s. Originally published on July 20, 2004   Judge Sweet, how crazy are you? The federal judge who barred the New York Police Department from peeking into the bags of demonstrators outside and around the Republican convention next month deserves one response - and it's the only sane response in this era of suicide bombings and worse: defiance. Mayor Bloomberg, Commissioner Ray Kelly, please, go ahead and open every backpack, pocketbook and picnic cooler that gets within shrapnel distance of a crowd when the GOP comes to town in late August. Do what you must to protect the public safety regardless of Judge Robert Sweet's cavalier and dangerous edict. Sweet is plainly nuts. U.S. intelligence is warning that Al Qaeda is hellbent on disrupting the presidential election. New York City and Boston, where the Democrats will gather next week, are on high alert. The cops are planning to turn a huge area around Madison Square Garden into a frozen zone while searching every train that approaches Penn Station. And what is Sweet worried about? Not about bloodshed. No, he's concerned instead that a few picketers might be discomfited by having to show they're not carrying explosive devices packed with nails. On second thought, "nuts" is an understatement. Sweet works in a courthouse where visitors are gone over with a fine-tooth comb, and security officers guard him and every other judge. Yet, somehow, he fails to grasp the lessons of 9/11, or to understand how radically the world changed that day. So, blissfully secure himself, he told the cops yesterday that inspecting packages the way they're checked everywhere these days is forbidden at street protests. The ruling was received gleefully by the New York Civil Liberties Union, which insisted on perilously handcuffing the cops before the convention. Sweet also granted two lesser points to the NYCLU that are of no concern. They boil down to directing police to make it as easy as possible for demonstrators to get in and out of protest sites, which everyone agrees is a good idea, the NYPD included. In asking Sweet to bar bag searches, the NYCLU relied on the longstanding legal proposition that cops may search an individual only if there's reasonable suspicion that person is up to no good. Which makes no sense when terrorists are determined to wreak havoc by blending into a crowd. Perhaps recognizing the insanity of such a position, Sweet ruled the cops could search bags at a protest if they had information indicating that an attack could happen there. Which is only slightly less insane, because it requires the police to have a good idea that a bomb likely will go off at a particular place and time. In the real world, what the NYPD - and everyone in the city - knows is that an attack can come anytime and anyplace. And that's why Bloomberg and Kelly must tell Sweet to shove it.   On another note, yesterday's NY Post was full pages of JLo doing the tango.........with a little bitty article about the city's air quality hidden on page 10.     On page 10 of the NY Post in a bottom corner: GROUND ZERO BLDG. ASBESTOS HELL: POL July 20, 2004 -- U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler yesterday said tests show 150,000 times the acceptable level of asbestos in the vacant Deutsche Bank building at Ground Zero â and said the feds should make sure its dismantling doesn't put local residents at risk. The Manhattan Democrat referred to documents the bank cited in litigation with its insurers over responsibility for the cleanup, before the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. agreed to buy the 40-story tower for $90 million. Nadler said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, rather than the LMDC, should handle the project. AP www.ctrl.org DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substanceânot soap-boxingâplease! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'âwith its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright fraudsâis used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om