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US gov wants to refang Patriot Act
By OUT-LAW.COM
Published Wednesday 1st June 2005 10:32 GMT
The US Justice Department wants to obtain sensitive customer records from
ISPs, according to the Associated Press. It is asking a court to overturn a
ruling that struck down sweeping investigative powers in the Patriot Act as
unconstitutional.
The Patriot Act is properly called the USA Patriot Act, an acronym for
Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to
Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism. It was passed in the weeks following 9/11
as an anti-terrorism measure.
While the Act has been widely criticised for undermining civil liberties in
the US, a lot of attention has focused on its treatment of what are known as
"National Security Letters", or NSLs.
Prior to the Act, the FBI was entitled, without court approval, to issue
NSLs that required ISPs and other communication providers to provide
sensitive customer records on suspected terrorists and spies. Since the Act
came into force, however, the FBI has been able to issue NSLs to obtain
information about anyone if the request is, in the FBI's opinion, "relevant"
to a terrorist investigation. Again, court approval is not required.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the New York Civil Liberties
Union and an unidentified ISP challenged the law last year. They were forced
to file their lawsuit under seal (meaning it must be dealt with
confidentially) to avoid penalties for violating gag provisions in the Act.
The lawsuit argued that the provision was worded so broadly that it could
effectively be used to obtain the names of customers of websites such
Amazon.com or eBay, or a political organisations membership list, or even
the names of sources that a journalist has contacted by email.
In September, Judge Victor Marrero of the Southern District of New York
struck down the NSL provision on the grounds that it violates free speech
rights under the First Amendment as well as the right to be free from
unreasonable searches under the Fourth Amendment.
Democracy abhors undue secrecy," said the Judge, who also struck down the
gag provision of the Act. "Under the mantle of secrecy, the
self-preservation that ordinarily impels our government to censorship and
secrecy may potentially be turned on ourselves as a weapon of self-destruction."
The Justice Department has now appealed, arguing, according to the
Associated Press, that the fact that the ACLU has been able to challenge the
NSL shows that the provision is constitutional.
But, speaking to the Associated Press, ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer explained
that the Patriot Act does not actually contain provisions allowing
challenges to be made to NSLs. That, he says, is why the ACLU filed the
lawsuit.
"Most people who get NSLs don't know they can bring a challenge in court
because the statute doesn't say they can," he said.
The Justice Department filing comes in the middle of Congressional debates
over the proposed reauthorisation and expansion of the Patriot Act.
On Thursday, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence held a closed-door
session to mark up legislation that would re-authorise, and expand, the
Patriot Act. The ACLU denounced the secret session, saying that the debate
and vote on a public law should be public.
© Pinsent Masons 2000 - 2005
Related stories
George Bush fears email privacy breach
Feds beg Congress to expand PATRIOT Act
PATRIOT Act author tapped for Homeland Security
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---------------------------------
Gary Webb's Last Story:
The Killing Game
by Ellen Komp
When investigative reporter Gary Webb was found dead of a gunshot wound on
December 10, 2004 the initial reports all called it an apparent suicide,
despite the fact that no crime scene details or reasons why Webb would have
taken his own life were revealed. The LA Times, which led what FAIR.org
called "damage control for the CIA" on Webb's San Jose Mercury News series
linking the CIA with drug trafficking, broke the story of Webb's death on
Sunday and all news outlets dutifully followed suit with their reports.
The Sacramento coroner's office, which has been deluged with phone calls
about the incident, confirmed that Webb had been shot two times in a
statement released the following Tuesday. The Sacramento Bee interviewed
Webb's ex-wife, Sue Bell, who said that Webb had been despondent over his
inability to get a job with a major newspaper and the theft of his
motorcycle just before his death helped push him to suicide, in her opinion.
The Bee reported Webb had paid for his own cremation earlier this year, had
just sold his house because he was unable to meet mortgage payments, and
shot himself with his father's .38 caliber gun.
Ed Smith, spokesperson for the Sacramento coroner's office, said by
telephone that the office would release no further information until the
case is closed, in perhaps two months' time. Smith said that it is not
uncommon for suicide victims to be shot twice, but would not say where the
bullets pierced Mr. Webb or if his fingerprints were found on the weapon.
According to Smith, no sheriff's investigator has been assigned to the case
and it was a Sacramento patrol officer who reported Mr. Webb's death to the
coroner.
Ray Horton of the Humboldt County coroner's office said in an interview for
KMUD radio in Redway that "the flags go up" at his office when a suicide
victim is shot twice. Two-shot suicides almost always involve smaller
caliber weapons, Horton said, adding that the fact that a .38 was used in
Webb's death "should be highly suspicious."
Webb, a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, was most famous for writing that
Nicaraguan drug traffickers had sold tons of crack cocaine in Los Angeles
and funneled millions of dollars in profits to the CIA-supported Nicaraguan
Contras during the 1980s. As was Senator John Kerry before him, Webb was
discredited for his investigations, even though a report by the CIA later
confirmed them. In 1997, then-Mercury News executive editor Jerry Ceppos
backed away from Webb's series, and later received an ethics award from the
Society of Newspaper Editors. After quitting the newspaper in December 1997,
Webb continued to defend his reporting with his 1999 book "Dark Alliance:
The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion."
ConspiracyPlanet.com remarks that Webb joins artist Mark Lombardi, J.H.
Hatfield (author of "Fortunate Son"), and journalist Danny Casolaro as the
fourth 'suicide' by a researcher "who had a detailed understanding of the
structure and function of the Bush Crime Family." But liberal commentators
from the Nation to Counterpunch discounted such talk, wondering aloud why
Webb would be targeted so long after his explosive series was published.
Webb was most recently employed by the Sacramento News and Review as a
reporter for their Chico weekly. Chillingly, Webb's last article for that
paper was a cover story that ran on October 21, 2004 titled "The Killing
Game." It was an expose of the US Army's development of video games that
simulate warfare and its use of them to recruit young warriors.
According to Webb's article, the Army and civilian directors of a Navy think
tank at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey joined together in 1999 to
develop "America's Army," an online computer game used to attract computer
gamers into the military.
America's Army was released to the public on the July 4, 2002 (the first
fourth of July after 9/11). There are now more than 4 million registered
users of the game, mostly 13- and 14-year-olds, more than half of whom have
completed the required preliminary weapons training and gone online to play.
The Army says the game has 500 fan sites on the Web, and recruiters have
been busy setting up local tournaments and cultivating an America's Army
"community" on the Internet.
According to Webb's article, the Army has been collecting player information
in a vast relational database system called "Andromeda" that recruiters will
be able to use to look up a player's statistics if one of them shows up in a
recruiting office. Currently, Army game developers are in the process of
creating a statistics-tracking system that can tell how much time a player
spends online, how many kills he's made, which battlefields he's best at,
how many kills he averages an hour and similar minutiae.
"Suppose you played extremely well, and you stayed in the game an extremely
long time," military economist Col. Casey Wardynski told Webb. "You might
just get an e-mail seeing if you'd like any additional information on the Army."
Through an exclusive long-term contract the Army signed with the French
software company Ubisoft, America's Army will be out in a "console" version,
for use with Xbox and Sony game machines. Currently, it is playable only on
high-end PCs, "which reaches a certain demographic for household income,"
Wardynski tells an interviewer. "We'd like to reach a broader audience, and
consoles get you there. For every PC gamer, there are four console gamers."
Also in the works, he says, are an America's Army clothing line, comic books
and toy action figures.
When American's Army was released, Webb reported, Miami attorney Jack
Thompson went on ABC News and threatened to seek an injunction, saying it
wasn't the government's job to provide kill 'em games to youngsters. "He was
deluged with angry e-mail and allegedly received death threats," the article
states.
In an interview by telephone, Thompson said he reported death threats he
received by email through chatrooms to America's Army website administrators
after he appeared on ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings in 2002. He
called those idle threats, but opined, "I wouldn't be surprised if DOD
and/or the video game industry had [Webb] killed... A lot of money and power
is at stake." The commercial video game industry is grossing $15 billion
yearly, according to Thompson.
Thompson recently wrote a letter to Sen. John McCain calling for the ouster
of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld because of his support of the
Institute for Creative Technologies (ICI) at the University of Southern
California (USC). Thompson writes, "It is now known that ITC has taken
taxpayer dollars and created an urban warfare virtual reality simulator for
our soldiers a) which is being sold as a commercial game to civilian
teenagers, with Rumsfeld's approval, and b) and which is being used by
foreign terrorists to train their operatives to repulse our troops in Iraq."
On November 20, USC announced it received a second five-year grant for ICI,
with the U.S. Army more than doubling its support to $100 million. The
endowment represents the largest research grant ever received by USC. With
the $45 million the University has spent since 1999, it developed two games,
Full Spectrum Command (PC) and Full Spectrum Warrior (Xbox), which has since
become a top-selling consumer game. Imbued with a high level of artificial
intelligence (AI) capabilities, both games contain features tailored to the
Army's training methods and were developed with teaching personnel at the
infantry school at Fort Benning, Georgia, according to a USC press release.
In a bizarre coincidence, as reports of Webb's death were circulating,
Oracle software announced it finally succeeded in its hostile takeover of
PeopleSoft. Webb had worked for the state of California as a member of an
audit committee investigating former Gov. Gray Davis' controversial award of
a $95 million no-bid contract to Oracle Corp. in 2001. Tom Dresslar, a
spokesman for California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, was quoted in Webb's
obituaries around the state as a fellow member of that committee.
During the lead up to the announcement of the Scott Peterson death penalty
verdict on Monday, Fox News ran an interview with Oracle chief Larry Ellison
claiming the US economy is on the upswing, while the news runner at the
bottom of the screen attempted to debunk stories run by all the major
networks that Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko was
poisoned. Fox's Bill O'Reilly reportedly told his former producer that
critic Al Franken "would get a knock on his door" someday. What passes for
news and the thuggery that accompanies it in the wake of Gary Webb's passing
is even more chilling than his death.
Robert Parry, who published an article on Webb at www.consortiumnews.com,
also makes the case on that site for liberals to support independent media.
Webb's tragic apparent suicide makes it very clear that this is desperately
needed.
See Webb's last story at
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/chico/2004-10-21/cover.asp
By Ellen Komp © updated 12/17/04
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
---------------------------------
THE NATION
Memo on 9/11 Plotters Blocked
Note added: New disclosures show that CIA information knew in 2000 about two
Al Qaeda operatives in San Diego and it was squelched before reaching the FBI.
Now, I am not normally the paranoid type. But given the evidence that the
Israelis knew about the 9-11 operatives, and now this, it gives one pause. The
LA
Times carried the story on page 1 as the featured headline story on June 10,
but I haven't seen much discussion of it. The gist is that a memo to the FBI
on the 9-11 plotters was blocked by a high-level CIA operative who is unnamed,
and, quite possibly, some of the e-mail communication with this person has
been destroyed.
Start:
June 10. 2005
By Josh Meyer, Times Staff Writer
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-na-terror10jun10,1,2411329.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
WASHINGTON A chilling new detail of U.S. intelligence failures emerged
Thursday, when the Justice Department disclosed that about 20 months before the
Sept. 11 attacks, a CIA official had blocked a memo intended to alert the FBI
that two known Al Qaeda operatives had entered the country.
The two men were among the 19 hijackers who crashed airliners into the World
Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
If the FBI had received the official communique from the CIA's special Osama
bin Laden unit when it was ready for transmittal in January 2000, its agents
likely could have tracked down the men, according to U.S. intelligence
officials familiar with a newly declassified report of the Justice Department's
inspector general.
Officials involved in the case of alleged would-be hijacker Zacarias
Moussaoui had attempted to block release of the report, asserting that it would
compromise the outcome of his case. But Inspector General Glenn A. Fine went to
court and won release of the report after deleting the section on Moussaoui.
The report does not draw major new conclusions or disclose significant new
episodes about the months and years leading up to Sept. 11. Rather, it fills in
blanks and provides new details about previously known matters notably the
failure to learn sooner about Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, the so-called
San Diego hijackers.
An 18-month delay in the CIA's handing over of information about the two
hijackers to the FBI and other domestic law enforcement agencies had been
well-publicized. But the report's conclusion that an agent had written a memo
specifically designed for transmittal to the FBI to alert the bureau to the
men's
presence and that a supervisor deliberately had prevented it from being sent
is new.
The reason the CIA official, identified by the fictitious name "John," put a
hold on the communique remains a mystery, the report said. It said the
officials involved didn't recall the incident. Even when the author of the memo
followed up a week later with an e-mail asking if it had been sent to the FBI,
nothing was done.
The memo was written by an FBI agent on assignment to the CIA's special Bin
Laden unit. According to the report, rather than send his memo directly to the
FBI, he sent it to the deputy chief of the CIA unit because only supervisors
were authorized to send such memos to the FBI.
Fine's report contains extensive new detail about that incident, as well as
several already reported missed opportunities by the FBI to track down the two
men.
The report stops short of concluding that any of the failures was responsible
for allowing the Sept. 11 attacks to move forward. But it is sharply critical
of the FBI and CIA, laying out in 371 pages a series of systemic and
individual failures by the FBI in particular both internally and when
dealing with
other U.S. and foreign government agencies.
The report was compiled after Congress and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III
asked the inspector general to evaluate how the FBI had handled intelligence
before the Sept. 11 attacks. More extensive inquiries were done by a joint
House-Senate committee and by the federal 9/11 commission, which reached
similar
broad conclusions.
The report disclosed Thursday is an abbreviated version of a top-secret
report submitted in July to the FBI, CIA, Congress and the commission that
investigated Sept. 11.
In an interview Thursday, Fine said it would be "too speculative" to conclude
that the attacks could have been prevented had it not been for the failures
outlined in his report, which was based on interviews with dozens of FBI and
CIA officials and a review of thousands of top-secret internal documents.
"But there were very significant failures, both systemic and individual, and
we lay out the details behind them," Fine said.
His report made 16 recommendations to improve the FBI, including better
training and management of intelligence analysts, integrating FBI lawyers into
counterterrorism investigations, and creating clear procedures on how to
document
intelligence information received in informal briefings with other agencies.
In a statement, the FBI said it generally agreed with the inspector general's
findings and was already carrying out most of them.
"We enhanced our cadre of intelligence analysts with hundreds of new hires,
new training and a clear career path," the FBI statement said. "We changed the
criteria by which special agents, field offices and investigative programs are
evaluated to emphasize intelligence-related functions."
The report identifies five junctures, from March 2000 to August 2001, when
there were opportunities for the FBI to learn about Almihdhar and Alhazmi and
their presence in the U.S. Each episode has been previously reported, but not
in
such great detail.
The report documents day-to-day contacts among FBI, CIA and other officials
identifying them with names such as "John," "Mary" and "Rob" and, in many
cases, assessing their performance. It quotes extensively from e-mails they
sent
and handwritten notes they kept of meetings.
Typical was the mild criticism of an FBI employee, "Lynn," for failing to
respond to an e-mail from colleague "Jane" about the now-famous Phoenix memo.
That memo by an agent in the Phoenix bureau urged the FBI to investigate the
enrollment of Middle Eastern men in aviation schools, but it was never acted
upon.
"A response from Lynn may have prompted Jane to take some other step
.
Instead
the [memo] languished," the report said.
One of the well-known missed opportunities was the fact that Almihdhar and
Alhazmi had rented a room in the Lemon Grove home of a well-established local
FBI informant. In a footnote, the report discloses that the informant was paid
$100,000 in 2003 for his work over the years. However, he never told his FBI
handler important details about Almihdhar and Alhazmi, and said afterward that
he had known nothing about their terrorist connections or plans.
The report does not name the informant, but he has been identified elsewhere
as Abdussattar Shaikh.
The report's findings come as the FBI faces continued criticism of its
intelligence-gathering efforts, with some lawmakers and others calling for
those
functions to be taken over by another agency or by the new national
intelligence
director.
CIA officials had little comment, noting that the focus of the report was on
the FBI's performance before Sept. 11. Fine also noted that his scope did not
include evaluating the CIA's handling of pre-Sept. 11 intelligence.
Then-CIA Director George J. Tenet has vigorously disputed some of the
criticisms of his agency, but Thursday attributed the CIA's failure to turn
over
information about Alhazmi and Almihdhar to his agents' being overwhelmed,
exhausted and understaffed.
Days after a meeting of Al Qaeda operatives in Malaysia in January 2000, the
CIA's Bin Laden specialists drafted a flurry of memos about the two men, their
suspected terrorist connections and Almihdhar's possible ties to the 1998
bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa. Some of the memos were based in part
on
intelligence provided by the National Security Agency. The CIA was also in
possession of a photocopy of Almihdhar's Saudi passport and valid multi-entry
visa to the U.S.
Several cables from the CIA's Bin Laden desk disseminated the information to
agency officials around the world including to one of the unit's special
agents detailed to the FBI's Washington field office, according to Fine's
report.
That employee, "Dwight," began drafting a memo addressed to the FBI's Bin
Laden unit chief at bureau headquarters and to its New York field office. The
memo contained virtually all of the details known to the agency, including
Almihdhar's passport and visa information, which listed his intention to stay
in New
York.
But at 4 p.m. that day, another CIA Bin Laden desk officer, "Michelle," added
a note to the memo: "pls hold off on [memo] for now per [the CIA deputy chief
of Bin Laden unit]."
Eight days later, in mid-January, "Dwight" sent an e-mail to "John," asking
why it hadn't been sent: "Is this a no go, or should I remake it in some way."
The CIA was unable to locate a response to the e-mail. Fine's report
concludes that the CIA didn't turn over documentation of the electronic memo
until
Fine's investigators came across a reference and specifically asked for it in
February 2004. That came so late in the investigation that it delayed release
of
the report and caused many more CIA and FBI officials to be interviewed, the
report says.
Ultimately, Fine's investigators gave up trying to find an explanation.
Records show that the CIA didn't forward the information about Almihdhar and
Alhazmi to domestic law enforcement officials until late August 2001, when it
asked that the men be put on watch lists.
Times staff writer H.G. Reza contributed to this report from Orange County.
=============
Peace is patriotic!
Michael Santomauro
Editorial Director
253 West 72nd street #1711
New York, NY 10023
http://www.RePortersNoteBook.com
Available for Talk-Radio interviews 24hours 212-787-7891
http://reportersnotebook.com/newforum/indexforum.html
---------------------------------
Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2005 8:14 PM
Subject: NWO bunch openly discusses Pan American Union
>
>
> http://www.infowars.com/articles/nwo/nwo_chiefs_discuss_dismantle_border_pan_am_union.htm
>
> New World Order Chieftans Openly Discuss Dismantling US Border and
> Bringing Us into the Pan-American Union
>
> CNN | June 10, 2005
>
> It was reported on Lou Dobbs last night that the traitors to the United
> States are finally coming out from their positions under the rocks. The
> Council on Foreign Relations has published a report which articulates the
> plan to subvert the Constitution by dissolving our nation in favor of a
> continental government. The media has kept a pretty tight lid on this
> treason until now. The 1986 amnesty, NAFTA, CAFTA have been stepping
> stones towards the dissolution of our national sovereignty.
>
> Here is the transcript from last night's program -
>
> DOBBS: Border security is arguably the critical issue in this country's
> fight against radical Islamist terrorism. But our borders remain porous.
> So porous that three million illegal aliens entered this country last
> year, nearly all of them from Mexico.
>
> Now, incredibly, a panel sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations
> wants the United States to focus not on the defense of our own borders,
> but rather create what effectively would be a common border that includes
> Mexico and Canada.
>
> Christine Romans has the report.
>
> (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
>
> RELATED:
>
> Internationalizing US Roads
>
> Mexico and U.S. put "Security Perimeter" on fast-track
>
> North American IPv6 Task Force
>
> Council on Foreign Relations Joins Leading Canadians and Mexicans to
> Launch Independent Task Force on the Future of North America
>
> Experts call for common North America border
>
> Panel calls for secured border perimeter with U.S., Canada, Mexico
>
> Task force urges creation of 'Fortress America'
>
> New PNAC/neocon front group pushing tri-national ID on 9/11 corpse
>
> CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On Capitol Hill,
> testimony calling for Americans to start thinking like citizens of North
> America and treat the U.S., Mexico and Canada like one big country.
>
> ROBERT PASTOR, IND. TASK FORCE ON NORTH AMERICA: The best way to secure
> the United States today is not at our two borders with Mexico and Canada,
> but at the borders of North America as a whole.
>
> ROMANS: That's the view in a report called "Building a North American
> Community." It envisions a common border around the U.S., Mexico and
> Canada in just five years, a border pass for residents of the three
> countries, and a freer flow of goods and people.
>
> Task force member Robert Pastor.
>
> PASTOR: What we hope to accomplish by 2010 is a common external tariff
> which will mean that goods can move easily across the border. We want a
> common security perimeter around all of North America, so as to ease the
> travel of people within North America.
>
> ROMANS: Buried in 49 pages of recommendations from the task force, the
> brief mention, "We must maintain respect for each other's sovereignty."
> But security experts say folding Mexico and Canada into the U.S. is a
> grave breach of that sovereignty.
>
> FRANK GAFFNEY, CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY: That's what would happen if
> anybody serious were to embrace this strategy for homogenizing the United
> States and its sovereignty with the very different systems existing today
> in Canada and Mexico.
>
> ROMANS: Especially considering Mexico's problems with drug trafficking,
> human smuggling and poverty. Critics say the country is just too far
> behind
> the U.S. and Canada to be included in a so-called common community. But
> the
> task force wants military and law enforcement cooperation between all
> three
> countries.
>
> UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Indeed, an exchange of personnel that bring Canadians
> and
> Mexicans into the Department of Homeland Security.
>
> ROMANS: And it wants temporary migrant worker programs expanded with full
> mobility of labor between the three countries in the next five years.
>
> (END VIDEOTAPE)
>
> ROMANS: The idea here is to make North America more like the European
> Union.
> Yet, just this week, voters in two major countries in the European Union
> voted against upgrading -- updating the European constitution. So clearly,
> this is not the best week to be trying to sell that idea.
>
> DOBBS: Americans must think that our political and academic elites have
> gone
> utterly mad at a time when three-and-a-half years, approaching four years
> after September 11, we still don't have border security. And this group of
> elites is talking about not defending our borders, finally, but rather
> creating new ones. It's astonishing.
>
> ROMANS: The theory here is that we are stronger together, three countries
> in
> one, rather than alone.
>
> DOBBS: Well, it's a -- it's a mind-boggling concept. Christine Romans,
> thank you, as always.
>
> There is no greater example than our next story as to why the United
> States
> must maintain its border security with Mexico, and importantly, secure
> that
> border absolutely. The police chief of the violent Mexican border town,
> Nuevo Laredo, was today executed. It was his first day on the job.
>
> Alejandro Dominguez, seen here at his swearing-in ceremony, was ambushed
> by
> a number of gunmen several hours just after that ceremony as he left his
> office. The assassins fired more than three dozen rounds that struck
> Dominguez.
>
> He was the only person who volunteered to become Nuevo Laredo's police
> chief. The position has been vacant for weeks after the previous chief of
> police resigned. The town is at the center of what is a violent war
> between Mexican drug lords. The State Department has issued two travel
> warnings for Americans about that area just this year. And amazingly, the
> Mexican government calls those State Department warnings unnecessary.
>
> Still ahead, the military recruiting crisis is escalating. New questions
> tonight about the viability of the all-volunteer military. General David
> Grange is our guest.
>
> And "Living Dangerously," our special report. Rising population growth in
> the West, dangerous water shortages, the worst drought arguably ever.
> We'll have that report for you next.
>
> (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
>
> RECOGNIZING the contributions of the OAS and other regional and
> sub-regional mechanisms to the promotion and consolidation of democracy in
> the Americas;
>
> RECALLING that the Heads of State and Government of the Americas, gathered
> at the Third Summit of the Americas, held from April 20 to 22, 2001 in
> Quebec City, adopted a democracy clause which establishes that any
> unconstitutional alteration or interruption of the democratic order in a
> state of the Hemisphere constitutes an insurmountable obstacle to the
> participation of that state's government in the Summits of the Americas
> process;
>
> "The terrorist catastrophes in New York and Washington swept away media
> comment on other global events taking place on September 11, 2001.
> Virtually obscured on that historic agreement reached in Lima, Peru by the
> foreign ministers of the Organization of American States (OAS) on the
> Inter-American Democratic Charter.
>
> You'd never guess it from the ho-hum reportage of the Establishment press,
> but the recently concluded Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico,
> was a revolutionary event of major magnitude. The two-day summit (January
> 12-13) attended by President Bush marked another step forward in a
> long-term agenda to abolish national borders and merge the countries of
> the Western Hemisphere into a regional Free Trade Area of the Americas
> (FTAA). The general spin by most of the media analysts is that the
> conference hosted by Mexican President Vicente Fox did not accomplish
> much, ending with a harmless declaration but little consensus among the
> hemispheric leaders.
>
> The truth is far different. The summit's final statement, the Declaration
> of Nuevo Leon, commits the 34 nations to courses of action that have
> little or nothing to do with increasing trade - the ostensible purpose for
> creating the FTAA - but much to do with destroying our borders, soaking
> U.S. taxpayers for billions of dollars more in foreign aid, and promoting
> socialism throughout the hemisphere. The Declaration, for instance,
> included a call for tripling the funding of the Inter-American Development
> Bank (IDB)
> for loans to Latin American businesses. The IDB - like the World Bank, the
> International Monetary Fund and other multi-lateral lending agencies - has
> a horrible record of corruption and of funding statist projects that have
> saddled Latin Americans with a crushing debt burden. With a huge infusion
> of new IDB bribe money for business and political leaders, the FTAA
> architects will be able to overcome much of the current resistance south
> of the border
> to their merger plans.
>
> Mexico and U.S. put "Security Perimeter" on fast-track
>
> Mexidata | May 20, 2005
> By José Carreño
>
> Washington, D.C.- Task force groups from the U.S. and Mexico are working
> together, on a fast-track basis, on in-depth reforms to national security
> relations between the two countries.
>
> The delegations are working on the creation of a "North American Security
> Perimeter," that among other factors includes the identification of
> targets vulnerable to terrorism along the common border.
>
> Gerónimo Gutiérrez, Mexico's Undersecretary of Foreign Relations, said
> that the negotiations are going well, with an initial session for
> proposals scheduled for June.
>
> The border area security plan is being discussed at the U.S. Department of
> Homeland Security and Mexican National Security and Investigation/Research
> Center (Cisen) levels.
>
> National security officials and analysts noted that authorities in both
> countries have suggested the possibility of terrorist attacks on tourist
> destinations frequented by U.S. citizens.
---------------------------------
Hi Larry,
On nukes and soil :- consider that after the 1st bomb dropped on Hiroshima
grass was growing within 3 weeks .!!
Chernobyl is full of lush green and animal life !!
I have re appraised my thoughts on nukes :
Consider:
We have had non stop explanation of the dangers of nukes since end ww11!
nobody as such has dropped a nuke anywhere other than testing as a bomb (
not mini nukes)
It is continually used as a threat and is by most of the public perceived as
the worst weapon ,and yet there are many more far more lethal weapons.
Consider the oligarchs have as an ongoing objective to keep us in a state
of fear until their NWO takes over.
Depleted uranium is we are told in abundance ( Mr Aspartame aka Rumsfeldt)
and others have visited Iraq where we are told the levels are high would these
cowardly creeps risk their lives? ( soldiers are encapsulated in DU when in
tanks)
Ok we are continually told this or that radiation will require x'1000 years
to be safe how do they arrive at this ,also round numbers are very suspicious
Consider how we are lied to over so many issues.on health ,finance,history
etc.esp ww11, global warming. oil shortages.
Hitler said tell a BIG lie often enough and the public will beleive it.
Yes we need organic seeds on hand but not pesticides ( lets not clear the
oligarchs pesticide sytocks.
I will repeat to make in roads IMHO : folks need to throw out all TV's stop
buying newspapers ( 1 month perhaps) many accept that we are controlled by the
media so why support them and the rubbish that they call "NEWS" !!!!!!! which
gives information over load and confusion. Above all avoid buying junk food,(
ie manufactured dishes (TV dinnners)) and sodas reg or diet. avoid fat free
,sugar free products..
Build up your immune systems avoid FLUORIDATED WATER even bathing or showering
in it is bad .
Stop panicking at the drivel and scaremongering the media dumpon us ( why is
good to dumptv & papers.)
An Old saying worry about the things you can solve but do not worry about the
things you cannot .
HAVE some faith pray
---------------------------------
Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2005 7:48 AM
Subject: The [US] constitutional militia, slavery, & contemporary "Gun Control"
This is probably one of the most thoroughly researched articles on the "right
to bear arms" that has been done in the USA. Dr Vieira is working on a new
project, based upon the American Constitution's Militia Acts, which needs wide
support.
Please Network...
THE CONSTITUTIONAL MILITIA, SLAVERY,
& CONTEMPORARY "GUN CONTROL"
by Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr., Ph.D., J.D.
Edwin Vieira, Jr., holds four degrees from Harvard: A.B. (Harvard College),
A.M. and Ph.D. (Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), and J.D.
(Harvard Law School).
"...The Militia Acts of pre-constitutional times mandated no licensing
requirements for the inhabitants' private possession of arms. They established
no general control over firearms by public officials--to the contrary, firearms
were required to be in every man's own hands, "at his usual place of abode". No
one worried about being punished for possessing a firearm and
ammunition--rather, penalties attached for not having them always available, in
good working order. No one feared that public officials would conduct
house-to-house searches to find and take away armaments--instead, "a sight"
could be demanded only to make sure that every man actually had immediately
accessible to him at home a suitable, functioning firearm and ammunition for
his own personal use. And public officials were concerned, not that the people
possessed too many firearms, but that they had too few." [Emphasis added.
Remember Waco!]
"...General "gun control" was an important "badge and incident" of
slavery--indeed, the most crucial of all, because without it the slaves could
not possibly have been "kept in due Subjection and Obedience". Therefore, today
the Thirteenth Amendment must outlaw all general "gun control", except as to
those individuals who have actually been "duly convicted" of "crime" and for
their "punishment" have been sentenced to a term of "slavery [ ]or involuntary
servitude", during which they may be "kept in due Subjection and Obedience" by
being disarmed, even after being released from prison. (What violations of law
may rightfully be considered a "crime" deserving of "slavery [ ]or involuntary
servitude" is, however, another question. Arguably, a "felony" as understood in
the Colonies--that is, "an offence which occasions a total forfeiture of either
lands or goods, or both, at the common law; and to which capital or other
punishment may be superadded, according to the degree of
guilt"[10]--could qualify.) In any event,
the Thirteenth Amendment's implicit limitation on general "gun control" puts
sharp teeth in the explicit guarantee of the Second Amendment that "the right
of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed". For vanishingly
few Americans would knowingly tolerate the imposition of any of the "badges and
incidents" of "slavery [ ]or involuntary servitude" as "punishment" for any but
the most serious "crime[s]" and the most hardened, recidivistic offenders."
"...To my readers:
I am now working on a constitutional program of "homeland security" based on
"the Militia of the several States". This is probably the most important
project on which I have ever embarked. It will also be the most difficult to
fund, because next to no one among the powers that be, "conservative" or
"liberal", wants to see the Militia revitalized.
Therefore, I appeal to common Americans for whatever financial support they can
offer to advance this work. Contributions should be marked "Militia Project",
and mailed to me at 13877 Napa Drive, Manassas, Virginia 20112. All
contributions will be hypothecated to this work only.
Even if you cannot contribute, please drop me a line to let me know that you
believe this effort is important. "
The full article at: http://www.newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwin15.htm
---------------------------------
Sent: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 2:36 PM
Subject: GM Plans to Cut 25,000 U.S. Jobs
GM Plans to Cut 25,000 U.S. Jobs by 2008
By JOHN PORRETTO, AP
When, Pray Tell, Will The Spoiled Amerikan Worker Learn??
Bob
WILMINGTON, Del. (June 7) - General Motors Corp. plans to eliminate 25,000
manufacturing jobs in the United States by 2008 and close plants as part of a
strategy to revive North American business at the world's largest automaker,
its chairman said on Tuesday.
Speaking to shareholders at GM's 97th annual shareholder meeting in Delaware,
Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner said the capacity and job cuts should
generate annual savings of roughly $2.5 billion. GM now employs 111,000 hourly
workers in the United States.
Wagoner revealed the cutbacks as he laid out a four-step strategy to invigorate
GM's North American operations, its biggest and most troubling part. Already
this year, GM's U.S. market share has fallen from 27 percent a year ago to 25.4
percent, much of the loss at the expense of Asian automakers such as Toyota
Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co.
Wagoner focused on four priorities: increasing spending on new cars and trucks;
clarifying the role of each of GM's eight brands; intensifying efforts to
reduce costs and improve quality; and continuing to search for ways to reduce
skyrocketing health care expenses.
He noted that health-care expenses add $1,500 to the cost of each GM vehicle.
This puts GM at a ''significant disadvantage versus foreign-based
competitors,'' Wagoner said.
General Motors shares rose 53 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $30.95 in late morning
trading on the New York Stock Exchange. GM's shares have tumbled to their
lowest price in more than a decade, and Fitch Ratings and Standard and Poor's
Ratings Services both reduced the company's bond rating to ''junk'' status last
month.
Billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian's offer to purchase 28 million GM shares at
$31 apiece, boosting his stake to about 9 percent from 4 percent, expires later
today.
Wagoner said it was vital for the company to cut costs by improving efficiency
at its manufacturing plants. He said plant closings and idlings in recent
months will reduce assembly capacity in North America from 6 million in 2002 to
5 million by the end of this year.
GM spokesman Edd Snyder said the company wouldn't release further details
Tuesday about which plants might be closed.
''What was contained in the speech is what we have right now,'' Snyder said.
Messages were left Tuesday morning with the United Auto Workers.
GM already has closed or discontinued production at several facilities this
year. The company shut a factory in Linden, N.J., in April and a factory in
Baltimore in May, affecting around 2,000 employees. The company also closed two
plants in Lansing, Mich., last month, although those 3,500 employees are
expected to find work at other GM facilities in the city.
''Let me say up front that our absolute top priority is to get our largest
business unit back to profitability as soon as possible,'' Wagoner said.
Part of that bid involves negotiating with the UAW and other unions,
discussions that are ongoing.
Wagoner said the talks, which he described as intense, have focused on a
cooperative approach to significantly reduce GM's health care costs. GM's
health care tab for its 1.1 million current and former workers and their
families is more than $5 billion a year and rising.
''We have not reached an agreement at this time, and to be honest, I'm not 100
percent that we will,'' Wagoner said of the ongoing talks with its unions.
''But all parties are working hard on it, in the spirit of addressing a huge
risk to our collective futures while providing greater security and good
benefits for our employees.''
To date, the UAW has indicated it won't reopen its contract, which expires in
2007, and agree to pick up a larger share of soaring health care costs.
What happens if GM can't reach an agreement with the UAW promptly?
''I don't believe it serves a useful purpose to speculate on that,'' said
Wagoner, the CEO since 2000 and chairman since 2003.
''Let me just emphasize our very strongly preferred approach is to do this in
cooperation with the UAW because we're convinced that's the best way for our
employees, stockholders and all our constituents,'' he said.
Aside from growing health care and pension costs, GM has had lackluster sales
lately of its highly profitable trucks and sport utility vehicles, which have
been hurt by high fuel prices.
GM's sales were down 5 percent in the first five months of the year, and the
automaker reported a $1.1 billion loss in the first quarter.
Wagoner said another part of the company's strategy is making GM's eight brands
more distinct from each other. Chevrolet and Cadillac will continue to have
full vehicle lineups, he said, but the company's other six brands - GMC,
Pontiac, Buick, Saturn, Saab and Hummer - will be more tightly focused on niche
markets.
''In some cases, such as Pontiac and Buick, it will mean fewer but stronger
entries in the future,'' Wagoner said.
Wagoner said the company also plans to put less emphasis on incentives and
focus more effort on selling GM vehicles in top markets like New York, Miami
and Los Angeles.
---
AP Auto Writer Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit contributed to this report.
---------------------------------
A Bubble Ready to Pop?
No Money Down
This property is a steal
A storm is on the horizon. Just because its another hurricane season, the
tempest ready to engulf will not be tracked by eyes in the skies. A
forecast for this whirlwind wont be made on the weather channel or by a
meteorologist. The climate that triggers this downpour is financial. The
causes for this calamity have been brewing for decades. The major fronts
that push the airstreams toward disaster are well known. Balance of trade
deficits, federal debt financed by foreigners, soaring government
liabilities, loss of viable wages for domestic employment and offshore
exodus of any job that improves the bottom line of transnational
corporations. But have you heard of the other gusts that will blow your
house down?
The actual net worth of ordinary Americans is sliding into a sinkhole. Don
t allow yourself to be confused, net worth is not simply what is left after
you subtract your debt from what you own. The real value of your financial
worth is the purchasing price power available in the marketplace after you
liquidate all your worldly possessions. Forget about your borrowing
abilities, the sky is the limit is a major contributing factor to this
tornado. It just doesnt add up. Factor in the underlying underreported
inflation, look at your after tax (from all jurisdictions) income and, if
you are honest with yourself, ask if you can afford to buy your own house?
Oh, the heaven of low interest rates pray that they be eternal!
Speculation on pre-construction real estate makes every condo a castle.
Leverage and turn over the contract to the next investor is the latest
rage rags to riches and prosperity. Hot spots wont cause melanoma sun
spots, just tanning hues of that universal green federal reserve notes.
The more you make the bigger your next re-invest. Defer and push off into
the future those capital gains, trade up get affluent the old fashion way by
earring it . . .
Now if you are one of these neophytes and late coming to the party, the
building sector is booming. Only a Neanderthal wants to pay off their home
and stay there forever. But in the slight possibility that you might one
day want to fall into this Paleolithic clan, will you be able to have enough
money to pay the bills and stay in your own abode? Real Estate taxes far
out pace that non-existent inflation. Replacement cost insurance climbs
higher than a gable roof or the price of boarding up all those windows.
Just rebuild if you take a hit. As we all know, they arent making ocean
view land anymore.
Buy now before it goes up tomorrow
Real Estate is different from other markets - RIGHT?
Just look at all your passive income bank savings, bonds and stock
dividends they are just rolling in, surely this income will pay for the
cost of holding and carrying all that expensive real estate? Hey, this isn
t the South Seas, its America and the only bubble that attaches to the
siding is used up gum. The safest place in the world is your own home, so
why worry about paying it off or affording the upkeep, your seasonal rental
investments will cover any shortfalls.
Banks know how secure all those mortgages and equity loans are, thats why
they love to package them for resale. Those new bankruptcy laws just mean
you will need to sell off a couple of condos to keep funding youre your own
primary fun house. No problem, the bazaar of sizzling sale prices covers
all sins. This market is different from those risky internet stocks, they
werent making a profit. So what if you have a little shortfall on rental
fees, you chose not to lease but to own! Your wealthy, just look at your
financial statement . . .
So lets pose the big question. Are you able to buy your own house at
current asking prices? Are you able to afford the new assessment in
property tax on the higher selling price? Can you pay the elevated cost of
homeowner insurance? You know that those 80% minimum value full replacement
coverage clauses with their 70% content coverage translates into kingly sums
to pay for possessions that you dont even own. Hey, thats the American
way, stay ahead of the curve mandate the coverage before you borrow more
money to buy the contents. Its OK, you are now successful and numbered
among the newborn rich.
If by your own blunder you reside in a section of the country that isnt
experiencing this boomtown prosperity, you can become a prospector. Fools
gold wont be found in the fields of estate planning - Trump style. Time
sharing is for the holiday pleasure seeker, you are a home owner, be proud
pay those accelerated bills. Fuel, electric, phone, cable, DSL escalate but
you are secure as long as the ADT bill is paid.
Dont worry about a bubble, the fizz still flows through the straw. Suck it
up and enjoy the refreshment. Bread lines all serve croissants and you don
t need to tip the illegal waiters. You are living the dream and there is
little risk of a repossession nightmare. You can always buy back your house
at auction. Ditech your life - keep the hope alive!
SARTRE June 13, 2005
---------------------------------
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