-Caveat Lector-
RadTimes # 132 December, 2000
An informally produced compendium of vital irregularities.
"We're living in rad times!"
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QUOTE:
"Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the
winner of this year's presidential election, the identity of the loser is
perfectly clear. It is the nation's confidence in the judge as an
impartial guardian of the law."
--Justice John Paul Stevens, US Supreme Court [dissenting]
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How to assist RadTimes--> (See ** at end.)
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Contents:
---------------
--W's Coup d'Etat
--WANTED!
--Supreme Court vs. Democracy?
--Violent protests bracket EU economic meeting
--Seattle was only the beginning
--Seven new Ebola cases reported; death toll rises to 161
Linked stories:
*Democrats urge Gore to concede
*Wall Street looks to move on
*Overseas markets react to ruling
*Washington's new world weapon: climate change
*Pro-gun group dares the government to jail them
*High Court Ruling May Taint Court
*A good year for the bad guys
*New Spray Lets You Look Inside A Sealed Envelope
*British government plans to wiretap entire country
*Internet users win court battle to stay secret
*Clinton: pot smoking should not be prison offense
*Republicans to convene Florida legislature to impose Bush electors
*Britain's press warns that US election crisis threatens global stability
*Electoral Collage: How the World Votes
*Bush and Gore -- rotten to the core
*Right to vote at center of US election crisis
*Absentee vote cases provide evidence of Republican vote-rigging in Florida
*The political significance and historical implications of the US election
crisis
*Supreme Court halts Florida vote count: A black day for American democracy
*Democrats prostrate before Supreme Court assault on democratic rights
*US Supreme Court embraces a century-old legacy of racism and reaction
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Begin stories:
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W's Coup d'Etat
<http://www.consortiumnews.com/121300a.html>
December 13, 2000
By Robert Parry
Let it be remembered that Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the loser across the
United States by a third of a million votes, "won" the presidency through
two key acts of raw power.
Bush's campaign sponsored a violent demonstration by Republican activists
as ballots were about to be counted on Nov. 22. He then enlisted partisan
Republicans on the U.S. Supreme Court to prevent a statewide recount in
Florida before a Dec. 12 deadline.
On Nov. 22, about 150 rioters led by Republican congressional staffers
dispatched from Washington charged the offices of the Miami-Dade County
canvassing board as it was about to commence a partial recount of votes.
With the mob roughing up Democrats and pounding on the walls, the
canvassing board abruptly reversed itself and decided not to count those
votes after all.
Rather than criticize this bizarre attack on what was then a court-ordered
process, Bush reveled in its success.
His campaign sponsored a celebration for the demonstrators the next night
at a swanky hotel in Fort Lauderdale. The "president-elect" even called to
joke with the rioters about their Miami operation, according to the Wall
Street Journal [Nov. 27, 2000]. At the party, singer Wayne Newton crooned
Danke Schoen.
Then, after two more weeks of delays, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a
partial statewide recount to examine ballots that had been kicked out by
machines for supposedly having no choice for president.
On Saturday, Dec. 9, facing a deadline of Dec. 12 for certification of
Florida's electors, vote counters across the state began examining these
so-called "under-votes."
In the first few hours, the counters found scores of ballots with clear
votes for president that had been missed by the machines. Other ballots
were set aside for a judicial determination about whether a vote was
registered or not.
With Bush's lead at less than 200 votes and slipping, the Texas governor
played his trump card. He turned to his five arch-conservative allies on
the U.S. Supreme Court.
By a 5-4 majority, the court for the first time in U.S. history stopped
the counting of votes cast by American citizens for president. The majority
consisted of Justices William Rehnquist, Anthony Kennedy, Sandra Day
O'Connor, Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia.
In a written explanation, Scalia made clear that the purpose of the
extraordinary injunction against counting votes was to prevent Bush from
losing his lead and having "a cloud" cast over the "legitimacy" of his
presidency if the court decided to throw out the new votes.
Three days later, on Tuesday night only two hours before the Dec. 12
deadline was to expire, the same five justices issued a complex ruling that
reversed the Florida Supreme Court's recount order. The U.S. Supreme Court
cited a hodgepodge of "constitutional" issues, including complaints about
the lack of consistent standards in the Florida recount.
After having delayed any remedy up to the deadline, Bush's five allies then
demanded that any revised plan and recount be completed within two hours, a
patently impossible task.
Twisting 'Equal Protection'
The five conservatives may have taken pleasure, too, in applying "equal
protection" arguments to prevent the recount. Historically, Supreme Court
liberals have used "equal protection" principles to strike down
discrimination against African-Americans and other persecuted minorities.
Now, the five conservative justices were hoisting the liberals on their own
petard. The "equal protection" argument asserted that the votes of other
Florida citizens would be diluted if the ballots that had been kicked out
by voting machines were counted using standards that varied from county to
county.
The irony of the argument, however, couldn't be missed. In wealthier voting
precincts, new optical scanners were used to count votes and did the
counting so efficiently that few of the votes cast for president were missed.
In poorer precincts, where African-Americans and retired Jewish voters were
concentrated, older punch-card systems were used which failed to record
thousands of votes for president. Just as poor neighborhoods ended up with
older textbooks in their schools, they got stuck with antiquated voting
machines.
To correct this imbalance and to count those votes, the Florida Supreme
Court had ordered hand examination of those ballots statewide. In a few
hours on Saturday, that recount discovered scores of missed votes.
But the U.S. Supreme Court long the protector of the downtrodden in
American society was revealing itself in its new right-wing form. In
stopping the recount, the court's pro-Bush majority granted greater weight
to the votes cast in wealthier precincts.
The traditional use of the "equal protection" principle of the
U.S. Constitution had been turned on its head. The Constitution was now
being cited to protect the privileged to the detriment of the poor.
Besides this ironic interpretation of "equal protection," the U.S. Supreme
Court relied on "reasoning" that if applied fairly would have judged the
entire Florida election unconstitutional.
While excluding the hand recounts ordered by the Florida Supreme Court, the
U.S. Supreme Court allowed the inclusion of earlier hand recounting done in
Republican areas that had boosted Bush's total by hundreds of votes.
Also left in were scores of overseas absentee ballots, heavily favoring
Bush, that were counted after some Republican counties waived legal
requirements almost entirely.
Supposedly to avoid disenfranchising U.S. military personnel, ballots were
accepted even though they lacked signatures, witnesses and dates. In a
couple of cases, overseas ballots were faxed in and counted, clearly in
violation of state law.
In two better known cases in Seminole and Martin counties, Republicans were
allowed to fix errors on absentee ballot applications also in violation of
state law. The state courts ruled, however, that these ballots should be
counted, despite the irregularities, because the sanctity of the vote was
more important than technical voting rules.
Those situations all favored Gov. Bush.
Judicial Politics
Given the lack of consistent standards throughout Florida and the waiving
of technical legal requirements in other cases, a logical extension of the
U.S. Supreme Court's logic would be that the entire presidential election
in the Florida should be thrown out as unconstitutional.
Or if logic were again followed honestly rather than politically the
imperfect remedy of examining and possibly counting thousands of
"under-votes" should have been allowed to go forward.
But at those two crucial moments when American democracy hung in the
balance, Gov. Bush and his advisers turned first to violent demonstrators
to attack the offices of vote counters and then to political allies on the
U.S. Supreme Court to complete the coup d'etat.
In the memorable words of Justice Scalia, the leading Bush partisan, the
majority's concern was that a count of Florida's vote that showed Bush to
be the loser when the court might later make him the winner would not
square with the need for "democratic stability."
In a dissenting opinion on Dec. 12, Justice John Paul Stevens, an appointee
of President Gerald Ford, said the majority's action in blocking the
Florida recount "can only lend credence to the most cynical appraisal of
the work of judges throughout the land."
Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, appointees of President
Bill Clinton, said in another dissent, "Although we may never know with
complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's presidential
election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the nation's
confidence in the judge as an impartial guardian of the rule of law."
Yet, beyond those stern words about the U.S. Supreme Court's mockery of
democracy, worse could lie ahead.
The nation now must be aware that the U.S. Supreme Court long trusted as
the protector of the nation's democratic principles has been transformed
into a vehicle for upholding whatever partisan legal strategies George W.
Bush and his incoming Justice Department choose to direct against those who
stand in the way.
The "rule of law" could fast become a code word for tyranny.
With its Dec. 12 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has marked itself as the
ultimate weapon for its favored politicians to wield against their enemies.
That is the final cautionary tale of Election 2000, as the nation enters a
dangerous new era.
In the end, history must record that the U.S. Supreme Court made George W.
Bush the "winner" of the presidency, though he was the loser of the popular
vote, both nationally and apparently in the crucial state of Florida.
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WANTED! FOR OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE &
OTHER HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS:
-- THE "SUPREME COURT FIVE" --
An All Points Bulletin has been issued for the following individuals,
in connection with their most recent act of treachery.
William "Vote Suppressor" Rehnquist - Ringleader of the gang,
notorious for his early career in voter intimidation of blacks and
Latinos in Arizona. Sometimes referred to as Mr. Chief Injustice.
Antonin "the Enforcer" Scalia - Extreme Right-hand man to
Rehnquist, considered to be the most ruthless member of the gang.
Known as a "hothead", often needs to be restrained by other members.
Clarence "the Sidekick" Thomas (also known as "the Shadow")
He is generally observed in close proximity to Scalia, and rarely
acts on his own initiative. Said to rival Scalia in ruthlessness.
Anthony "the Choirboy" Kennedy - Often overlooked due to the
notoriety of the three "hardcore" members of the gang, but has
proven a willing accomplice in most of their crimes.
Sandra "Day is Night" O'Connor - Only female member of the gang,
she usually seems to waver, and often appears confused in public --
thereby provides cover for activities of the other gang members.
Acting in collusion with a nationwide Crime Family (known by its
initials, G.O.P.) -- of which they are leading members -- they were
assigned to carry out in full view of the public the final stages of the
Rigging of a Presidential Election, by preventing a full and complete
counting of votes in the State of Florida. This act must be seen as
an Obstruction of Justice of the gravest severity. The gang has a
long record of Felonious Assaults on the United States Constitution.
The five suspects were last observed leaving the Supreme Court
building in Washington, DC under cover of darkness. All were
wearing long black, robe-like garments, possibly with attached hoods.
It is not known what weapons may be concealed inside their robes --
however, they should be considered *extremely dangerous*.
This gang must be apprehended and brought to justice without
delay. It is already known with a high degree of certainty that
they intend to recruit additional members to their operation in
the near future. It is *imperative* that NO new gang members be
permitted to join the "Supreme Court Five" (to be "seated", in
gang terminology) at any time during the next four years.
This bulletin will be updated as further information becomes available.
[copyright (c) 2000 by Craig Gingold - may be circulated in its entirety
without permission, provided it is not altered and attribution is included]
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Supreme Court vs. Democracy?
Wednesday, December 13, 2000
Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * <http://www.accuracy.org> * [EMAIL PROTECTED]
DAVID COLE, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center, Cole said today: "The
U.S. Supreme Court has done what we all feared -- it has decided the
election itself, and has done so by a single vote. While the per curiam
attempts to mask this fact, only five Justices -- the five who likely voted
for George W. Bush on November 7 -- voted to bar any further recounts. That
they did so on grounds that there was insufficient time -- after their own
intervention had delayed matters -- raises serious questions about the
Court's legitimacy. In addition, it is ironic that the five conservative
Justices, who typically take the most restrictive view toward individual
rights, stopped the vote in the name of the equal protection clause."
RON DANIELS, [EMAIL PROTECTED], <http://www.tbwt.com>
Executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights and co-chair of
the National Malcolm X Commemoration Commission, Daniels wrote: "Though
election irregularities in Florida and across the nation were widespread,
the most egregious violation was the thousands of Blacks who did manage to
cast ballots only to have them thrown out by voting machines. This problem
was aggravated by the disproportionate locating of antiquated voting
machines in predominantly Black precincts in Florida. These are the ballots
that constitute the 'undercount' which would have been rectified by the
manual recount halted by the U.S. Supreme Court."
GWENDOLYN MINK, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Professor of politics at the University of California at Santa Cruz, Mink
said today: "The Supreme Court not only stole the 2000 election from the
people, it deranged our constitutional order. Yesterday's decision was not
just about who will be our president; it also was about the relationship of
the Court to democracy. In one fell swoop, the majority jettisoned 40 years
of jurisprudence promoting electoral equality. It set time limits on
democracy, and then let the clock run out. It cried 'equal protection,' and
then discarded votes that endanger its desired electoral outcome. It
pleaded 'state's rights,' and then knee-capped the Florida State Supreme
Court in interpreting state law. It claimed 'due process,' and then gave
the Florida legislature carte blanche to trample the people's rights in
elections. This is a throwback to the Lochner Era, when the Court contorted
the Constitution to suit its economic and political sympathies."
GREGORY PALAST, [EMAIL PROTECTED],
<www.salon.com/politics/feature/2000/12/04/voter_file/index.html>
Palast writes the column "Inside Corporate America" for the Observer of
London and is the author of a forthcoming book, "Democratic Regulation." He
said today: "A close examination suggests thousands of voters in Florida
may have lost their right to vote based on a flaw-ridden list of purported
'felons' provided by a private firm, ChoicePoint, with tight Republican ties."
For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
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Violent protests bracket EU economic meeting
Published Friday, Dec. 8, 2000, in the San Jose Mercury News
BY RAY MOSELEY
Chicago Tribune
NICE, France -- Four thousand political extremists attacked
banks, looted shops and wrecked cars Thursday in the center
of this Riviera resort as European leaders opened their most
important summit meeting in many years.
Police retaliated with tear gas and clubs, and 20 officers
were injured, at least one seriously, by the rock-throwing
demonstrators, who were denounced by French President
Jacques Chirac and other European leaders.
The demonstrators, including anarchists as well as
extremists from the left and right, appeared to have been
inspired by anti-capitalist, anti-globalization street
protests that disrupted world trade talks in Seattle last
year.
At a branch office of the Banque Nationale de Paris, a few
blocks from the summit conference center, the demonstrators
torched the facade with a Molotov cocktail, smashed windows
and glass doors, hurled paint at the building, dragged bank
computers into the street and smashed them, then set fires
inside the bank.
They spray-painted ``Death to money'' in French and ``Smash
capital'' in Spanish on the front of the bank. At a nearby
savings bank they smeared paint over an ATM and
spray-painted on a wall, ``Police everywhere, justice
nowhere.'' Several blocks away, they wrecked cars and
smashed shop windows.
The demonstrators, hiding their faces behind masks,
identified themselves in graffiti as members of ETA, the
Basque separatist movement in Spain; Direct Action, a French
anarchist group; the National Front, a French right-wing,
anti-immigrant party; and Italian young Communists.
The early-morning violence coincided with the opening of a
European Union summit whose main task is to adopt a treaty
that will prepare the 15-nation European Union for expansion
to 27 or more members, most from Eastern Europe. Expansion
will require changes in voting among members, dropping
national vetoes on some issues and other reforms.
The summit is scheduled to end Saturday, but divisions among
European leaders on many key issues run so deep that French
officials say the meeting is likely to continue on Sunday
and may even run into Monday. That would make it the longest
summit in EU history.
At a news conference, Chirac, the summit host, condemned the
protesters and said they tried to stop fire trucks from
reaching the scene of the bank fire they set.
``This sort of behavior is a disservice to democracy and
inappropriate,'' he said. ``It shows that a small number of
people prefer to have recourse to violence rather than
demonstrating peacefully in full respect for others.''
French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said the demonstrators
had been ``quite scandalously engaging in violence. They
would like to stop the summit, something that in France and
Europe is beyond their powers.''
Jospin said everyone wants globalization regulated, and the
protesters ``dishonor the cause they seek to defend.'' He
drew a contrast between their violence and a peaceful
demonstration by 60,000 European trade unionists Wednesday
evening in support of more employment protection and other
social goals.
European Commission President Romano Prodi said the violence
was ``utterly intolerable.''
In its main business of the day, the summit issued a
proclamation titled ``A Charter of Fundamental Rights of the
European Union.'' The charter covers many issues, ranging
from condemnation of capital punishment to defense of the
right of free expression.
Inspired mainly by the French presidency of the European
Union, the document is controversial because of various
clauses dealing with workers' rights. The French and others
wanted the charter to be part of the treaty adopted at the
summit, but in the face of opposition agreed to issue it as
a non-binding proclamation instead.
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Seattle was only the beginning
December 5, 2000
By Pamela White
Colorado Daily
U. Colorado
(U-WIRE) BOULDER, Colo. -- A year has already passed since
more than 50,000 anti-globalization protesters gathered in
Seattle. Opposed to the human-rights, environmental and
economic abuses associated with rape-and-run capitalism and
global corporatization, they came from across the United
States and beyond in an attempt to shut down a week-long
meeting of the World Trade Organization.
And they succeeded -- at least for a while.
Concerned citizens managed -- largely without violence -- to
bring WTO business to a halt for one day, while making it
difficult at best for delegates to meet the other four.
Like a pebble dropped in a vast, dark lake, the event caused
a ripple that has spread and continues to spread today.
Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Prague,
Melbourne, Australia; Windsor, Ontario; Ft. Benning, Ga.,
and Cincinnati -- the battle has been joined on more fronts
than anyone could have imagined last December.
And a battle it has been, with more than 100,000 activists
having put themselves on the line in the United States alone
against an increasingly hostile and militarized police
force. With the aid of unrepentantly violent U.S. Marshals,
the police have committed acts of unprovoked violence,
striking the first blow in Seattle and deliberately
targeting reporters with rubber bullets in Los Angeles.
The ripple made by the Battle in Seattle would be larger if
newspapers and television had reported the facts. Rather
than people reading about brave police and "militant
protesters," readers would have learned that the police had
begun bashing heads before a single window was smashed. They
would have read about the group of protesters that sat
singing peacefully in a park -- until riot police arrived
and began literally beating them on their heads with batons.
They would have read about the locals who were held from
their homes by police -- then sprayed with pepper spray by
those same police when they applauded the cops' departure
from their neighborhood.
The past year has provided horrific images that many of us
will never forget: activists with missing teeth, torn skin,
and bleeding faces in Seattle; police on motorcycles
deliberately driving over the prostrate bodies of protesters
in D.C.; panicked youth fleeing a concert in L.A. under a
hail of rubber bullets.
And absurd images: a police chief displaying chili peppers
confiscated from the activists' kitchen; a standoff between
puppet-makers and police in Philly that resulted in the
apprehension of many street puppets; Clinton giving a speech
in the Staples Center about how much better off the United
States has been under Democratic leadership while cops cut
the power to protesters' TV outside.
But it has provided wonderful images, as well, images that
hint at new possibilities: a young woman in a yellow
raincoat dancing with a grin on her face in front of
hundreds of police clad in riot gear; thousands of activists
arriving simultaneously at intersections around the
International Monetary Fund and locking down to the sounds
of drums and cheers in D.C.; street puppets, dancing,
fire-eating, Native drumming -- and some rather unorthodox
cheerleading.
It's like nothing we've seen in the United States since
Vietnam. But unlike the activism of the '60s, this movement
isn't the creation of one particular generation or class of
people. It isn't just white college students from middle-
and upper-class families who've been protesting the WTO, but
grandmothers, high school students and blue-collar workers.
And it's growing.
Still, there's a lot of work to be done, both in educating
the American TV-addicted masses and in bridging the gap
between the middle-class experience of most progressives and
the struggle that defines the lives of colonized peoples,
including those within our own borders. A conscious effort
must be made to reach out to those who don't understand the
issues -- and to those whose daily lives make the violence
of Seattle seem trivial.
Often, Americans tend to think of themselves as leading the
way, whether with regard to technology or entertainment.
When it comes to social revolution, however, we are
following, just waking up from a comfort-induced stupor.
Seattle did not spark a global movement -- it simply joined
one that was already in motion.
Regardless of how you look at it, Seattle was and is cause
for celebration. Changing the world is a long-term process.
And we've shown we're up to the challenge.
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Seven new Ebola cases reported; death toll rises to 161
December 13, 2000
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) --
Seven new cases of the Ebola virus have
been identified in Uganda in the past 72 hours, and the death toll
has risen to 161, a health official said Tuesday.
The death and two of the new cases were reported in Masindi
district, 200 kilometers (125 miles) northwest of Kampala, Dr. Alex
Opio, assistant director for national disease control, said.
The five other new cases were identified in the northern town of
Gulu, 360 kilometers (225 miles) north of the capital, where the
outbreak of the deadly virus was first confirmed on Oct. 14, Opio
said.
``In Gulu, things are getting better,'' Opio told a briefing.
``The number of newly detected cases is getting fewer and fewer,
and if it continues like this, Ebola, within a few weeks will be
history.''
He said health workers will, however, continue informing
Ugandans how to avoid contracting the disease. Since the outbreak
began, 407 Ebola cases have been confirmed.
Opio said the response to an appeal for more volunteer health
workers had been encouraging, and by Tuesday 20 volunteers
including nurses, doctors and paramedics were ready to be deployed
in the affected districts.
Experts from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the World Health Organization and Doctors Without
Borders are in Uganda helping authorities to contain the disease.
On Monday, Dr. Paul Onek, head of health services in Gulu, said
authorities were monitoring the health of more than 4,000 people
who had had contact with Ebola victims in northern Uganda.
The Ebola virus can take up to two weeks to incubate. Once the
first flu-like symptoms develop, the patient can transmit the virus
through contact with bodily fluids, such as mucus, saliva and
blood.
In later stages, the victim begins bleeding internally, vomiting
blood and producing bloody diarrhea and eventually bleeding from
all orifices. At this point, and for a short time after death, the
patient is most contagious.
There is no known medical cure for the disease, but victims
aggressively treated with fluids to fight dehydration stand better
chances of survival.
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Linked stories:
********************
Democrats urge Gore to concede
<http://itn.co.uk/news/20001213/world/01uselection.shtml>
Al Gore's hopes of becoming the next US President seem to be slipping away
following the Supreme Court's judgment. The nine judges stopped short of
handing the election to the Republican candidate but ruled that the case
should be sent back to Florida's Supreme Court.
********************
Wall Street looks to move on
<http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeatBIZ.asp?/news/502659.asp>
Financial analysts predicted a short-term rally on Wall Street after the
U.S. Supreme Court dealt a crushing blow to Vice President Al Gore on Tuesday.
********************
Overseas markets react to ruling
<http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeatBIZ.asp?/news/502740.asp>
Europe's main markets edged lower Wednesday morning, giving up earlier
gains after the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for the election victory
of George W. Bush.
********************
Washington's new world weapon: climate change
<http://www.transnational.org/forum/meet/2000/Chossu_GreenHouseHAARP.html>
The important debate on global warming under UN auspices
provides but a partial picture of climate change; in addition to
the devastating impacts of greenhouse gas emissions on the
ozone layer, the World's climate can now be modified as part
of a new generation of sophisticated "non-lethal weapons."
Both the Americans and the Russians have developed
capabilities to manipulate the World's climate.
********************
Pro-gun group dares the government to jail them
<http://www.canoe.ca/CalgaryNews/cs.cs-12-13-0014.html>
More than 11,000 Albertans who belong to the Law-abiding
Unregistered Firearms Association, a Canadian gun rights group,
have anounced their intention to ignore a Jan. 1 deadline for
obtaining a firearms license under a controversial law known as
Bill C-68.
********************
High Court Ruling May Taint Court
<http://news.findlaw.com/ap/a/p/1131/12-13-2000/20001213051234500.html>
********************
A good year for the bad guys
<http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeatBIZ1.asp?/news/493727.asp>
We now know hackers can shut down the world's biggest Web sites, sneak
inside Microsoft's computer system, raid credit card databases, and of
course, write viruses which bring the entire personal computing world to
its knees. Now what?
********************
New Spray Lets You Look Inside A Sealed Envelope
<http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns226930>
********************
British government plans to wiretap entire country
<http://www.observer.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4099838,00.html>
The British government has admitted that it is seriously
considering a proposal to log every telephone call made and
received by the public, all e-mails sent and received and every
Web page viewed and store the information for seven years.
********************
Internet users win court battle to stay secret
<http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2659940,00.html>
A New Jersey court ruling reaffirmed the right of Internet users to
retain their anonymity when posting on message boards. This is
the first such case to come down on the side of privacy and
stands as an important precedent. (12/4/00)
********************
Clinton: pot smoking should not be prison offense
<http://live.altavista.com/e?efi=467&ei=2330214&ern=y>
President Clinton, whose administration has battled against
state-level efforts to loosen restrictions on marijuana, now
tells Rolling Stone that people should not be jailed for using
or selling small amounts of the drug. (12/7/00)
********************
Republicans to convene Florida legislature to impose Bush electors
<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/dec2000/elec-d07.shtml>
********************
Britain's press warns that US election crisis threatens global stability
<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/dec2000/brit-d07.shtml>
********************
Electoral Collage: How the World Votes
<http://tm0.com/sbct.cgi?s=80180978&i=281837&d=680914>
Democracy is still a low-tech, old economy business.
********************
Bush and Gore -- rotten to the core
<http://antiwar.com/szamuely/sz120100.html>
by George Szamuely
"For once the pundits are right. Florida Fiasco 2000 has indeed
been an education in American democracy. We never realized until
now how rotten, dishonest and corrupt it really is." (12/1/00)
********************
Right to vote at center of US election crisis
<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/dec2000/elec-d09.shtml>
********************
Absentee vote cases provide evidence of Republican vote-rigging in Florida
<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/dec2000/semi-d09.shtml>
********************
The political significance and historical implications of the US election
crisis
<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/dec2000/dn-d11.shtml>
********************
Supreme Court halts Florida vote count: A black day for American democracy
<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/dec2000/elec-d10.shtml>
********************
Democrats prostrate before Supreme Court assault on democratic rights
<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/dec2000/elec-d12.shtml>
********************
US Supreme Court embraces a century-old legacy of racism and reaction
<http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/dec2000/mcph-d12.shtml>
********************
======================================================
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