This will read better with graphics attached where they fit in the article, at the web site; http://groups.yahoo.com/group/libertyunderground/message/3910 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
*NATIONAL SECURITY LETTERS* * * *Both the Bush and Obama administrations have been using -- and abusing -- so-called National Security Letters (NSL). These are used to spy on people and invade their privacy, with no probable cause, simply at the whim of the administration. We've returned to McCarthyism in this country, only instead of the Red Scare, we have the Terror Scare. Anything goes in the War on Terror (TM), a profit-making boondoggle for the security/military industry and a free pass for our authoritarian government. A recent FOIA request by the ACLU has revealed<http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/06/foia-request-forces-doj-to-reveal-national-security-letter-templates/>some of the abuses of this system. * ** ------------------------------ *PUBLIC HUMILIATION: A FAMILY VALUE?* * * * * ** *In an apparent attempt to make light of the fact that an 81-year-old man was forced to stand in public with his pants around his ankles, the Toronto Sun reported that actor William Shatner was chosen for a "random" search at LAX (Los Angeles). It's not enough that the TSA abuses people; no, we have to read a newspaper account that mocks those who are thus abused. I wrote about this the other day at TSA News<http://tsanewsblog.com/3751/news/william-shatner-other-celebrities-also-humiliated-by-tsa/>, and the Huffington Post<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/29/william-shatners-pants-fa_n_1637586.html> has now picked up on my article. Take a look at the reader comments to see how many people in this country think it's funny to laugh at other people's public humiliation. 1930s Germany, anyone?* ** ------------------------------ *LUV ACTION OF THE MONTH* * * *Every month LUV News urges its readers to support a worthy action. For July, we ask that you support Healthcare-Now. Healthcare-Now works year-round to move the nation toward a single-payer health care system. Health care is a human right. And now, with the Supreme Court's caving in to health care in the corporate interest, as opposed to the public interest, it's more important than ever to fight for this cause. Get more info here <http://luvnews.info/>.* ** ------------------------------ *Glenn Greenwald is a consistently fearless voice for civil liberties and the rule of law and against abrogations thereof. And he doesn't back down, no matter how many know-nothing ideologues -- of whatever stripe -- assail him. And plenty of people on the purported Left, who loved him when Bush was in power, now can't stand him. If that's not hypocrisy, I don't know what is. --Lisa Simeone* * * * * Tea Party "Treason" <http://www.salon.com/2012/06/29/tea_party_treason/> What powers should the president have against those who advocate open, violent revolt against the U.S. government?BY GLENN GREENWALD<http://www.salon.com/writer/glenn_greenwald/> The ThinkProgress blog today accuses<http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/06/29/509010/tea-party-obamacare-rebellio/> a U.S. citizen the Chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party, Roy Nicholson of treason; says ThinkProgress (emphasis in original): Of all the right-wing meltdowns following yesterdays decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act, this statement <http://msteaparty.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network> put out by the chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party may take the cake: When a gang of criminals subvert legitimate government offices and seize all power to themselves without the real consent of the governed their every act and edict is of itself illegal and is outside the bounds of the Rule of Law. In such cases submission is treason. Treason against the Constitution and the valid legitimate government of the nation to which we have pledged our allegiance for years. *To resist by all means that are right in the eyes of God is not rebellion or insurrection, it is patriotic resistance to invasion.* May all of us fall on our faces before the Heavenly Judge, repent of our sins, and humbly cry out to Him for mercy on our country. *And, may godly courageous leaders rise up in His wisdom and power to lead us in displacing the criminal invaders from their seats and restore our constitutional republic.* Despite Nicholsons repeated charge that the Obama administration is guilty of high crimes, the only treason in play here is the suggestion of an open revolt against the federal government. In light of this treason accusation, heres my question: does President Obama have the power to order Nicholson assassinated without charges or trial? Should he have this right? I asked<https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/218806660788011009> this question on Twitter, and fascinatingly virtually everyone who did not realize that I was referencing the Awlaki assassination<http://www.thenation.com/blog/163724/assassinating-awlaki-obama-can-kill-anyone-he-wants> reacted with extreme negativity, as though I had proposed something heinous, unthinkable and profoundly un-American. But whats the principled distinction that makes assassinating Awlaki acceptable but not Nicholson? The most likely answer is that Awlaki was in Yemen while Nicholson is in the U.S., but thats just a pragmatic difference, one that cannot make any legal or Constitutional difference: American citizens dont renounce their Constitutional protections against the U.S. Government when they leave the country. If the President has the legal authority to assassinate U.S. citizens without charges on the ground that they are allegedly plotting against the U.S. when theyre on foreign soil, then shouldnt the President have this same right for citizens on American soil? Think Progress celebrates<http://www.salon.com/2011/11/13/gop_and_tp_on_obamas_foreign_policy_successes/> the Awlaki assassination as an Obama success; would they do the same if the President ordered Nicholson ordered assassinated without charges? Obama defenders often justify Obamas assassination of Awlaki by equating it to Lincolns killing of Confederate soldiers (revealingly, justifying War on Terror abuses by pretending this war is analogous to the Civil War was also the long-standing favorite tactic<http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2005/12/idiotic-and-revealing-civil-war.html>of neocons during the Bush years). Leaving aside the painfully glaring differences between the two wars and the glaring difference between killing uniformed soldiers on a battlefield versus killing individuals in their homes far from any battlefield (see point 5<http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article22688.htm>) wouldnt acceptance of that analogy justify the targeting of Nicholson without due process? If Nicholson is in open revolt against the U.S. Government, then shouldnt the President order him killed? Think Progress accusation that Nicholson is guilty of treason is absurd the U.S. Supreme Court hasexpressly held<http://www.salon.com/2011/06/01/free_speech_4/> that the First Amendment free speech clause guarantees the right even to advocate violence or terrorism against government officials but that did not stop the Democratic think tank and many others from cheering Awlakis assassination. And heres a related question: for those who justified the due-process-free imprisonment of U.S. citizen Jose Padilla (who was arrested by the Bush administration on U.S. soil and then indefinitely detained without charges based on the allegation that he had joined Al Qaeda): should President Obama have the power to order Nicholson indefinitely detained without charges or trial? Would those who oppose such a power be guilty of advocating for traitors? In light of all this, does anyone have difficulty understanding the complaint that the U.S. Government has a radically different system of justice for Muslims than it does everyone else? The primary evolution of the War on Terror over the past several years has been the importation of its civil liberties erosions onto U.S. soil and applied to U.S. citizens on the claimed ground<http://www.salon.com/2012/02/08/the_grave_threat_of_homegrown_terrorism/> that Homegrown Terrorism is now the gravest threat. As the country largely cheered the due-process-free assassination of U.S. citizen Awlaki, is it really difficult to envision the same power being applied in cases like this? * * * * * Jacob Appelbaum, the Internet freedom activist and WikiLeaks associate, has been targeted by the U.S. Government in multiple ways despite never having been charged with any crime, including constant border harassment, laptop seizures, and the secret issuance of national security letters to his Internet providers and other services. Watch this short video<http://privacysos.org/node/727> as he takes advantage of the opportunity to question the FBIs Deputy General Counsel at an event at which she recently appeared: http://www.salon.com/2012/06/29/tea_party_treason/ ------------------------------ *If you wish to be removed from this list, please let us know* ** *To join the Liberty Underground news service email [email protected] with "join" for a subject* ** *You may also join our talk group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/libertyundergroundtalk/ if you would like to participate* ** *email: [email protected]* ** *Tell your friends about LUV News because some people just don't get it* [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! 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