Capitol Grilling: NEWS - Are we a Police State Yet?

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#113888 - 01-03-04 05:30 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
Anonymous Anonymous Unregistered	Good stuff, M.O.I.
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#113889 - 01-05-04 03:36 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
The Unsomnambulist The Unsomnambulist Member Registered: 08-03-01 Posts: 1658 Loc: Hollywood, CA	This is some disturbing stuff: Quarantining dissent How the Secret Service protects Bush from free speech When President Bush travels around the United States, the Secret Service visits the location ahead of time and orders local police to set up "free speech zones" or "protest zones," where people opposed to Bush policies (and sometimes sign-carrying supporters) are quarantined. These zones routinely succeed in keeping protesters out of presidential sight and outside the view of media covering the event. A recent St. Petersburg Times editorial noted, "At a Bush rally at Legends Field in 2001, three demonstrators -- two of whom were grandmothers -- were arrested for holding up small handwritten protest signs outside the designated zone. And last year, seven protesters were arrested when Bush came to a rally at the USF Sun Dome. They had refused to be cordoned off into a protest zone hundreds of yards from the entrance to the Dome." Police have repressed protesters during several Bush visits to the St. Louis area as well. When Bush visited on Jan. 22, 150 people carrying signs were shunted far away from the main action and effectively quarantined. Denise Lieberman of the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri commented, "No one could see them from the street. In addition, the media were not allowed to talk to them. The police would not allow any media inside the protest area and wouldn't allow any of the protesters out of the protest zone to talk to the media." Mike van Winkle, the spokesman for the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center told the Oakland Tribune, "You can make an easy kind of a link that, if you have a protest group protesting a war where the cause that's being fought against is international terrorism, you might have terrorism at that protest. You can almost argue that a protest against that is a terrorist act." Van Winkle justified classifying protesters as terrorists: "I've heard terrorism described as anything that is violent or has an economic impact, and shutting down a port certainly would have some economic impact. Terrorism isn't just bombs going off and killing people."
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#113890 - 01-05-04 12:13 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
Anonymous Anonymous Unregistered	So based on Van Winkle's statement, "You can almost argue that a protest against that is a terrorist act," the US under the Bush administration has now reached the point that free speech=terrorism. That's the new norm.
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#113891 - 01-05-04 10:41 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
Arkham Arkham Cosmic Muffin Registered: 07-10-03 Posts: 3574 Loc: Wisconsin "Eat cheese or ...	This says it all.
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#113892 - 01-05-04 10:56 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
firecracker too firecracker too Member Registered: 05-20-03 Posts: 14985	Unsom, that article was really disturbing. Freedom of speech has bit the dust since the Supreme Court appointed Bush. ABB, folks.
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#113893 - 01-05-04 11:16 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
The Unsomnambulist The Unsomnambulist Member Registered: 08-03-01 Posts: 1658 Loc: Hollywood, CA	I should note that I only posted excerpts from the article. There's more there, for those who didn't check out the link.
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#113894 - 01-13-04 12:21 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
Fish Boner Fish Boner Junior Member Registered: 10-02-01 Posts: 160 Loc: Newark, New Jersey	D.C. agrees to settle lawsuit with student photographers arrested at protest WASHINGTON, D.C. — The attorney for three Corcoran College of Art and Design students said Jan. 5 that the District of Columbia has agreed to settle a lawsuit alleging that police wrongfully arrested the students during a massive anti-war and anti-globalization protest in September 2002. Terms of the settlement have not been finalized, but Brian Malone, the students' attorney, said they could receive $7,000 to $10,000 each. In their lawsuit, the three students at the Washington college said they were taking photographs of the protest for a photojournalism class assignment when D.C. police arrested them on charges of failure to obey an officer of the law. The charges were later dropped. The students said they were bystanders and were not participating in the protest. -- snip "The government cannot simply fix upon an area of the city and decide that because some people are doing something they don't like then they should arrest everybody inside the area," Malone said. "The students' main interest was not that the city silenced them, because they were there for school, not to exercise their voices." In September 2003, the D.C. Office of Professional Responsibility released a report that found that police acted improperly when they cordoned off the park because officers failed to give protesters and bystanders a chance to disperse. The report also said the police probably violated the protesters' right to free speech and that police had no probable cause for arresting every person inside the park. Student Press Law Center
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#113895 - 01-13-04 02:40 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
The Unsomnambulist The Unsomnambulist Member Registered: 08-03-01 Posts: 1658 Loc: Hollywood, CA	I'm sure most people have seen this on the news by now: U.S. to color-code air passengers (from CNN) ...The U.S. Transport Security Administration (TSA) could start implementing the new security measures as early as the northern hemisphere summer. ...The scheme involves screening all passengers boarding at a U.S. airport and conducting background checks from a security database. In order for the system to work, the TSA is asking airlines and ticket bookers to hand over all their passenger records -- a move that is encountering some resistance. ...Under CAPPS II, TSA will obtain the passenger's full name, home address, home telephone number, birth date and some information about that passenger's itinerary. ...Once the person's identity is verified, the name is then run through federal law enforcement databases to see if the traveler is a known or suspected terrorist, or has been convicted of a violent felony. ...The passengers will then be assigned a security color-coding based on their potential risk to the flight. All passengers will receive a numeric and a color code. Those designated as "red" will be prohibited from flying. "Yellow" coded passengers will face secondary screening, similar to that now given to some passengers, and "Green" passengers will be allowed access to the plane. The new system promises to flag fewer, not more, (5% vs. 15%)passengers for extra security checks. CAPPS II follows on the heels of the current CAPPS system, which singles out some passengers for additional scrutiny because of certain factors -- such as whether they paid cash for their tickets, or purchased one-way tickets. ...The TSA also is working on a "parallel" program for people who voluntarily undergo lengthier background checks. Under the registered traveler program, also known as the "trusted traveler" program, people who submit to background checks will be issued an ID card with a biometric identifier, such as a fingerprint. Those travelers will also go through the initial screenings at airports, but will not get picked for secondary screening. Hatfield said the program is in the early development stages.
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#113896 - 01-13-04 03:23 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
Anonymous Anonymous Unregistered	When President Bush travels around the United States, the Secret Service visits the location ahead of time and orders local police to set up "free speech zones" What do you call the parts of the country OUTSIDE of those zones?
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#113897 - 01-13-04 08:49 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
The Unsomnambulist The Unsomnambulist Member Registered: 08-03-01 Posts: 1658 Loc: Hollywood, CA	Face of a Protester: LAPD wants to ban ski masks from demonstrators’ wardrobes by Robert Greene LA Weekly The Los Angeles Police Department is seeking the fast track for new laws to ban face coverings, gas masks or even goggles at public demonstrations, where the devices could weaken officers who want to control crowds with pepper spray and other chemicals. The proposal advanced this week after Police Commission members dismissed any First Amendment objections as premature... If protesters wear scarves around their noses and mouths and swim goggles to protect their eyes at public gatherings, Hillman (Deputy Chief Mike Hillman, who heads the LAPD’s special operations bureau) told the commission, “the ability of that officer to gain compliance is restricted.” ...The Municipal Code currently bars thick wooden sticks and bottles from demonstrations, on grounds that they could be used as weapons. The LAPD is seeking to amend sections 55.07 and 55.08 to include metal poles and sticks, devices known as “sleeping dragons” that protesters use to chain themselves to fixed objects, masks “and similar devices intended to filter air,” rocks, projectiles, spray cans, wrist rockets, aerosol cans and chemical agents.
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#113898 - 01-13-04 11:34 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
Anonymous Anonymous Unregistered	chemical agents Our own WMD, sized for "security".
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#113899 - 01-17-04 08:30 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	First it was jetBlue; now it's Northwest Airlines. Confidential Passenger Data Used for Air Security Project Northwest Airlines provided information on millions of passengers for a secret U.S. government air security project soon after the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, raising fresh concerns among some privacy advocates about the airlines' use of confidential consumer data. The nation's fourth-largest carrier publicly asserted in September that it "did not provide that type of information to anyone." But Northwest acknowledged Friday it had already turned over three months of reservation data to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center by that point. Northwest is the second carrier to have been identified as secretly passing travelers' records to the government. The airline industry has publicly said it would not cooperate in development of a new government computer passenger screening program because of concerns the project would infringe on customer privacy. But the participation of two airlines in separate programs underscores the industry's clandestine role in government security initiatives. In September, JetBlue admitted that it turned over passenger records to a defense contractor and apologized to its customers for doing so.... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#113900 - 01-17-04 10:41 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
The Unsomnambulist The Unsomnambulist Member Registered: 08-03-01 Posts: 1658 Loc: Hollywood, CA	I know this is supposed to be a discussion-free thread, but in defense of Drudge Report, that site has been a great source to spot articles about the loss of our privacy, Big Brother, et al.
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#113901 - 01-22-04 11:23 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
American Patriot American Patriot Member Registered: 08-25-02 Posts: 10128	This may not be about police state, but it smacks of Soviet-era Russia... Infiltration of files seen as extensive Senate panel's GOP staff pried on Democrats By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff, 1/22/2004 WASHINGTON -- Republican staff members of the US Senate Judiciary Commitee infiltrated opposition computer files for a year, monitoring secret strategy memos and periodically passing on copies to the media, Senate officials told The Globe. From the spring of 2002 until at least April 2003, members of the GOP committee staff exploited a computer glitch that allowed them to access restricted Democratic communications without a password. Trolling through hundreds of memos, they were able to read talking points and accounts of private meetings discussing which judicial nominees Democrats would fight -- and with what tactics. The office of Senate Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle has already launched an investigation into how excerpts from 15 Democratic memos showed up in the pages of the conservative-leaning newspapers and were posted to a website last November. With the help of forensic computer experts from General Dynamics and the US Secret Service, his office has interviewed about 120 people to date and seized more than half a dozen computers -- including four Judiciary servers, one server from the office of Senate majority leader Bill Frist of Tennessee, and several desktop hard drives. But the scope of both the intrusions and the likely disclosures is now known to have been far more extensive than the November incident, staffers and others familiar with the investigation say. The revelation comes as the battle of judicial nominees is reaching a new level of intensity. Last week, President Bush used his recess power to appoint Judge Charles Pickering to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, bypassing a Democratic filibuster that blocked a vote on his nomination for a year because of concerns over his civil rights record. Democrats now claim their private memos formed the basis for a February 2003 column by conservative pundit Robert Novak that revealed plans pushed by Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, to filibuster certain judicial nominees. Novak is also at the center of an investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA agent whose husband contradicted a Bush administration claim about Iraqi nuclear programs. Citing "internal Senate sources," Novak's column described closed-door Democratic meetings about how to handle nominees. Its details and direct quotes from Democrats -- characterizing former nominee Miguel Estrada as a "stealth right-wing zealot" and describing the GOP agenda as an "assembly line" for right-wing nominees -- are contained in talking points and meeting accounts from the Democratic files now known to have been compromised. Novak declined to confirm or deny whether his column was based on these files. More at site... _________________________ GOP 2010: FEAR, IGNORANCE & DIVISIVENESS
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#113902 - 01-22-04 10:11 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
Anonymous Anonymous Unregistered	Sometimes the signs of a Police State are obvious, sometimes they're subtle. The independent "Stars and Stripes" is being threatened: "From FRANCIS HAMIT: During my time as an Army journalist I became very familiar with Stars and Stripes, which was always responsive to the legitimate security issues expressed by Command. In fact, I almost became a reporter there myself. I would say that the current budget attack does not come from the uniformed ranks at the Pentagon, who understand how valuable it is to have independent newspapers in a citizen army. No, I suspect this comes from the same people who exposed Plame's status as a CIA agent. These political appraratchniks don't want a free press, but rather one that does not question their actions and motivations. These are the same people who now try to vet serving two and three star flag officers for their political views. In other words, it's a Bush league operation." http://poynter.org/forum/?id=letters
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#113903 - 01-23-04 12:00 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
Tammany Tiger Tammany Tiger Junior Member Registered: 06-28-03 Posts: 199	Remember Admiral Poindexter's "Total Information Awareness" program? Privacy advocates are worried that it is coming back as a data-mining program called Matrix. Matrix details, among other things, the property, boats and Internet domains people own, their address history, utility connections, bankruptcies, liens and business filings. Law enforcement agencies in seven states--including Florida, Michigan, and New York--are using the program. Database Stirs Privacy Fears (Detroit News, January 23, 2004)
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#113904 - 01-24-04 06:43 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	They're still at it with the Matrix, reloaded? Listening to Asa Hutchinson defend CAPPS II on NPR was bad enough... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#113905 - 01-26-04 09:12 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	The USA Patriot Act has been struck down - again. There's hope for this country yet. Part of Patriot Act Ruled Unconstitutional LOS ANGELES - For the first time, a federal judge has declared unconstitutional a section of the USA Patriot Act that bars giving expert advice or assistance to groups designated foreign terrorist organizations. In a ruling handed down late Friday and made available Monday, U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins said the ban is impermissibly vague in its wording. The U.S. Justice Department (news - web sites) is reviewing the ruling, spokesman Mark Corallo said in a statement from Washington. Corallo called the Patriot Act — the federal anti-terrorism statute passed in the aftermath of Sept. 11 — "an essential tool in the war on terror" and asserted that the portion at issue in the ruling was only a modest amendment to a pre-existing anti-terrorism law. David Cole, a Georgetown University law professor who argued the case on behalf of the Humanitarian Law Project, declared the ruling "a victory for everyone who believes the war on terrorism ought to be fought consistent with constitutional principles." "It Is the first federal court decision declaring any part of the Patriot Act unconstitutional," he said. The case before the court involved five groups and two U.S. citizens seeking to provide support for lawful, nonviolent activities on behalf of Kurdish refugees in Turkey... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#113906 - 01-26-04 09:16 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
Anonymous Anonymous Unregistered	it will be appealed to a full court hearing.... ...betcha that decision is overturned.
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#113907 - 01-26-04 09:17 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	Dick Cheney sez we should always remember that the key to defeating terrorism is freedom..... which is why we need the USA Patriot Act. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Freedom is key to defeating terror says Cheney Dick Cheney (news - web sites), the US vice-president, said on Monday the key to defeating terrorism was a sustained effort to spread freedom around the Middle East, but cautioned that the task could take a generation or longer. In a speech to political and business leaders in Rome, Mr Cheney also urged countries pursuing weapons of mass destruction programmes to follow Libya's example and give up their ambitions for the sake of better external relations. However, Mr Cheney did not allude to last week's statement by David Kay, who resigned as the chief US weapons hunter in Iraq (news - web sites), that Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), the former Iraqi president, had no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction at the time of last year's US-led invasion.... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#113908 - 01-26-04 09:20 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	"...betcha that decision is overturned" If I was still in Texas, I'd betcha dinner at Joe T's... or Kim Son. _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#113909 - 01-27-04 12:07 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
Anonymous Anonymous Unregistered	One small step for preserving liberty. The next step back will be for the freedom-hating rwns to attack the judge. Judge Rules Part of Patriot Act Unlawful LOS ANGELES - A federal judge has thrown out a section of the USA Patriot Act that bars giving expert advice or assistance to groups designated foreign terrorist organizations. An attorney who argued the case on behalf of a civil liberties group said the ruling marks the first court decision to declare a part of the Patriot Act unconstitutional. In the ruling handed down late Friday and made available Monday, U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins said the ban is impermissibly vague in its wording.
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#113910 - 02-05-04 05:04 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
The Unsomnambulist The Unsomnambulist Member Registered: 08-03-01 Posts: 1658 Loc: Hollywood, CA	Buy another beer for the citizens of New York: N.Y. City Council Passes Anti-Patriot Act Measure By Michelle Garcia Special to The Washington Post Thursday, February 5, 2004; Page A11 New York City, site of the country's most horrific terrorist attack, Wednesday became the latest in a long list of cities and towns that have formally opposed the expanded investigatory powers granted to law enforcement agencies under the USA Patriot Act. The New York City Council approved a resolution condemning the law, enacted by Congress six weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, with a voice vote in its chambers a few blocks from the gaping hole at Ground Zero. "The Patriot Act is really unpatriotic, it undermines our civil rights and civil liberties," said council member Bill Perkins (D-Manhattan), the bill's sponsor. "We never give up our rights that's what makes us Americans." The resolution criticized the Patriot Act for allowing infringements on privacy rights. Among other provisions, the Patriot Act allows investigators to see citizens' library records and eases requirements for search warrants. The council requested that Congress deliver periodic reports accounting for the information and records on New Yorkers the federal government has culled under the Patriot Act, but the measure has no means to enforce that request. the whole story here
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#113911 - 02-08-04 02:25 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
Anonymous Anonymous Unregistered	This post was taken in its entirety from another forum. Wow: I remember when this happened in the 60s. Sat, Feb. 07, 2004 Feds Win Right to War Protesters' Records RYAN J. FOLEY Associated Press DES MOINES, Iowa - In what may be the first subpoena of its kind in decades, a federal judge has ordered a university to turn over records about a gathering of anti-war activists. In addition to the subpoena of Drake University, subpoenas were served this past week on four of the activists who attended a Nov. 15 forum at the school, ordering them to appear before a grand jury Tuesday, the protesters said. Federal prosecutors refuse to comment on the subpoenas. In addition to records about who attended the forum, the subpoena orders the university to divulge all records relating to the local chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, a New York-based legal activist organization that sponsored the forum. The group, once targeted for alleged ties to communism in the 1950s, announced Friday it will ask a federal court to quash the subpoena on Monday. "The law is clear that the use of the grand jury to investigate protected political activities or to intimidate protesters exceeds its authority," guild President Michael Ayers said in a statement. Representatives of the Lawyer's Guild and the American Civil Liberties Union said they had not heard of such a subpoena being served on any U.S. university in decades. Those served subpoenas include the leader of the Catholic Peace Ministry, the former coordinator of the Iowa Peace Network, a member of the Catholic Worker House, and an anti-war activist who visited Iraq in 2002. They say the subpoenas are intended to stifle dissent. "This is exactly what people feared would happen," said Brian Terrell of the peace ministry, one of those subpoenaed. "The civil liberties of everyone in this country are in danger. How we handle that here in Iowa is very important on how things are going to happen in this country from now on." The forum, titled "Stop the Occupation! Bring the Iowa Guard Home!" came the day before 12 protesters were arrested at an anti-war rally at Iowa National Guard headquarters in Johnston. Organizers say the forum included nonviolence training for people planning to demonstrate. The targets of the subpoenas believe investigators are trying to link them to an incident that occurred during the rally. A Grinnell College librarian was charged with misdemeanor assault on a peace officer; she has pleaded innocent, saying she simply went limp and resisted arrest. "The best approach is not to speculate and see what we learn on Tuesday" when the four testify, said Ben Stone, executive director of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, which is representing one of the protesters. Mark Smith, a lobbyist for the Washington-based American Association of University Professors, said he had not heard of any similar case of a U.S. university being subpoenaed for such records. He said the case brings back fears of the "red squads" of the 1950s and campus clampdowns on Vietnam War protesters. According to a copy obtained by The Associated Press, the Drake subpoena asks for records of the request for a meeting room, "all documents indicating the purpose and intended participants in the meeting, and all documents or recordings which would identify persons that actually attended the meeting." It also asks for campus security records "reflecting any observations made of the Nov. 15, 2003, meeting, including any records of persons in charge or control of the meeting, and any records of attendees of the meeting." Several officials of Drake, a private university with about 5,000 students, refused to comment Friday, including school spokeswoman Andrea McDonough. She referred questions to a lawyer representing the school, Steve Serck, who also would not comment. A source with knowledge of the investigation said a judge had issued a gag order forbidding school officials from discussing the subpoena. ON THE NET Drake University: http://www.drake.edu/ National Lawyers Guild: http://www.nlg.org/
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#113912 - 02-08-04 09:40 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	It was also in the Washington Post. Too bad NYC1 isn't here to remind us how the Patriot Act will not infringe on our liberties... University Records on Antiwar Meeting Sought DES MOINES -- In what may be the first subpoena of its kind in decades, a federal judge has ordered a university to turn over records about a gathering of antiwar activists. In addition to the subpoena for Drake University, subpoenas were served on four of the activists who attended a Nov. 15 forum at the school, ordering them to appear before a grand jury on Tuesday, the protesters said. Federal prosecutors declined to comment on the subpoenas.... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#113913 - 02-10-04 06:35 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
Kinky Plexiglass Kinky Plexiglass Hard Plastic Registered: 02-05-02 Posts: 130 Loc: Bethesda, MD	Those closed border posts will probably keep the terrists out. :rolleyes: Cross-Border Church Visit Costs Man $10,000 MONTREAL (Reuters) - Crossing the U.S.-Canada border to go to church on a Sunday cost a U.S. citizen $10,000 for breaching Washington's tough new security rules. The expensive trip to church was a surprise for Richard Albert, a resident of rural Maine who lives so close to the Canadian border the U.S. customs office is right next door to his house. Like the other half-dozen residents of Township 15 Range 15, crossing the border is a daily ritual for Albert. The nearby Quebec village of St. Pamphile is where they shop, eat and pray. snip The local U.S. customs station is closed on Sundays, so he just drove around the locked gate, as he had done every weekend since the gate appeared last May, following a tightening of border security. Two days later, Albert was summoned to the customs office, where an officer told him he had been caught on camera crossing the border illegally. Ottawa has granted special passes to some 300 U.S. citizens in that region so they can enter the country when Canadian customs posts are closed, but the United States canceled a similar program last May. Yahoo News
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#113914 - 02-10-04 08:30 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
NYC1 NYC1 Member Registered: 01-16-02 Posts: 5534	Too bad NYC1 isn't here to remind us how the Patriot Act will not infringe on our liberties... Anti-war inquiry unrelated to terror Probe focuses on unlawful entry at Camp Dodge By JEFF ECKHOFF and MARK SIEBERT 02/10/2004 Federal officials Monday said a grand jury inquiry involving four peace activists and Drake University is not part of an anti-terrorism investigation. U.S. Attorney Stephen Patrick O'Meara said late Monday that the investigation focuses on unlawful entry onto military property at Camp Dodge on Nov. 16, and whether plans were laid for that at a conference the day before at Drake. Suggestions that the investigation is related to the Patriot Act "are not accurate," O'Meara said. http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c2229999/23493867.html (emphasis added) Let's remember that an agreement to commit a crime is itself a crime, called conspiracy. Investigating whether a conspiracy occurred is a perfectly legitimate prosecutorial decision. That said, it seems to me that the subpoena was overbroad, and should have been quashed. The issue turns out to be moot anyway: U.S. Nixes Subpoenas Against Protesters By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: February 10, 2004 Filed at 6:14 p.m. ET DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Federal prosecutors withdrew a subpoena Tuesday ordering Drake University to turn over a list of people involved in an antiwar forum in November, as well as subpoenas ordering four activists to testify before a grand jury." link
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#113915 - 02-13-04 02:39 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
zeroflux zeroflux Administrator Registered: 03-11-01 Posts: 6175 Loc: Arlington, Virginia	Justice Dept. Seeks Hospitals' Records of Some Abortions WASHINGTON, Feb. 11 ? The Justice Department is demanding that at least six hospitals in New York City, Philadelphia and elsewhere turn over hundreds of patient medical records on certain abortions performed there. Lawyers for the department say they need the records to defend a new law that prohibits what opponents call partial-birth abortions. A group of doctors at hospitals nationwide have challenged the law, enacted last November, arguing that it bars them from performing medically needed abortions. The department wants to examine the medical histories for what could amount to dozens of the doctors' patients in the last three years to determine, in part, whether the procedure, known medically as intact dilation and extraction, was in fact medically necessary, government lawyers said. But hospital administrators are balking because they say the highly unusual demand would violate the privacy rights of their patients, and the standoff has resulted in clashing interpretations from federal judges in recent days about whether the Justice Department has a right to see the files. Article
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#113916 - 02-15-04 07:53 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
The Unsomnambulist The Unsomnambulist Member Registered: 08-03-01 Posts: 1658 Loc: Hollywood, CA	Interesting piece on student rights: Student Rights: A Handbook February 15, 2004, Deborah Petersen Swift Hartford Courant When we at Northeast heard that the Portland schools were going to let the dog out - the police dog, that is - a debate among the staff erupted immediately. "What gives them the right to send a drug-sniffing dog in to search lockers in the hallways and cars in the parking lot?" some wondered. "Lockers and parking lots are school property, teachers can search them anytime they want," another responded. "But don't kids have constitutional rights like the rest of us?" asked another. "Well, isn't there this in loco parentis thing. Teachers are essentially our kids' parents during the school day, right? Umph. Quickly, we realized that we didn't know as much as we thought about student rights. And, if we couldn't figure out whether teachers and police could search students, how could the kids? With the Portland Board of Education voting 5-1-1 on Jan. 20 to start using dogs to search lockers and parking lots, we figured it was time to learn more. The result is this: a survival guide for students in these dog- sniffing, drug- testing, locker-searching days. This manual, "Student Rights 101," is for you, kids. It tells you who can do searches, what they can search and when. Stick it in your book bag, tape it to your locker or put it in your desk. But don't be surprised if it gets found in a search... >>> much more here <<<
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#113917 - 02-18-04 02:35 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
The Unsomnambulist The Unsomnambulist Member Registered: 08-03-01 Posts: 1658 Loc: Hollywood, CA	5 Convicted of Violating Protest Ordinance Tue, Feb. 17, 2004 Associated Press CRAWFORD, Texas - Five peace activists arrested on their way to President Bush's ranch were convicted Monday of violating the city's protest ordinance. A jury deliberated about 90 minutes before returning the guilty verdicts against the five, who were given fines ranging from $200 to $500. They planned to appeal. "It's an overall picture of the complacency of our nation and how the president has this sort of no-protest zone around him at all times," Amanda Jack, 23, said in a story in Tuesday's Waco Tribune-Herald. The ordinance required 15 days' notice and $25 before the chief of police could issue a permit to protest within the city. The rule has since changed to allow for a seven-day notice. The attorney for the five said they were not demonstrating when they were arrested in May. When they were stopped by a police blockade, some had gotten out of their cars to negotiate with the officers, according to testimony. Trip organizer Lisa Fithian testified some protesters took out their protest signs to show them to the officers. >>> from here <<<
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#113918 - 02-20-04 12:50 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
zeroflux zeroflux Administrator Registered: 03-11-01 Posts: 6175 Loc: Arlington, Virginia	More proof that there isn't much of a difference between the authoritarian aspirations of Democrats and Republicans. Convention Plan Puts Protesters Blocks Away Protesters at this summer's Democratic National Convention in Boston may be confined to a cozy triangle of land off Haymarket Square, blocked off from the FleetCenter and convention delegates by a maze of Central Artery service roads, MBTA train tracks, and a temporary parking lot holding scores of buses and media trucks. - snip - Officials with the National Lawyers Guild and the ACLU of Massachusetts plan to meet with Boston Police Department representatives in the weeks to come to ask that the plan be changed. Boston police say no final decisions will be made for months, and stressed that they're open to input. The disappointment in the preliminary plans is likely to be the start of a protracted battle that has the potential to end up in court, as did a similar dispute at the 2000 Democratic convention in Los Angeles. Relegated to a parking lot blocks from the convention arena, protesters sued, and less than a month before that convention began, a federal judge ruled that the designated area was unconstitutional. Organizers were forced to move the area to a parking lot directly across the street from an arena entrance, in keeping with earlier federal court rulings that any legal demonstration be allowed within "sight and sound" of its intended audience. In New York City, where the Republicans will hold their convention this year, police are anticipating tens of thousands of protesters. No plans have been made for where protests will be allowed, but civil liberties groups have already raised concerns about potential police tactics. Some observers have predicted fewer protesters in Boston, in part because many of the groups that targeted delegates in Los Angeles are united in their dislike of President Bush. Still, civil liberties groups anticipate several thousand protesters here, with the war in Iraq, trade, and the environment among their top issues. In addition, several city unions -- most notably the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association -- are threatening to picket outside the convention if their contracts with the city aren't settled by July. Read Full Article
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#113919 - 02-22-04 12:12 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	On Friday, the Supremes decided to take up the case of Jose Padilla. With the Feds backpedaling on a number of these high-profile terror suspects, there is some hope that due process may yet trump executive privilege. _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#113920 - 03-09-04 11:47 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
Anonymous Anonymous Unregistered	The return of McCarthyism, with the military helping. Military Creeping Into Domestic Law Enforcement? IN A LITTLE-NOTICED side effect of the war on terrorism, the military is edging toward a sensitive area that has been off-limits to it historically: domestic intelligence gathering and law enforcement. Several recent incidents involving the military have raised concern among student and civil-rights groups. One was a visit last month by an Army intelligence agent to an official at the University of Texas law school in Austin. The agent demanded a videotape of a recent academic conference at the school so that he could identify what he described as "three Middle Eastern men" who had made "suspicious" remarks to Army lawyers at the seminar, according to the official, Susana Aleman, the dean of student affairs. And, this is the best and says it all Gen. Eberhart has stoked concern among civil-liberties advocates by saying that the military and civilians should be involved in developing "actionable intelligence" for the government. In September 2002, he told a group of National Guardsmen that the military and the National Guard should "change our radar scopes" to prevent terrorism. It is important to "not just look out, but we're also going to have to look in," he said, adding, "we can't let culture and the way we've always done it stand in the way."
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#113921 - 03-13-04 08:36 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	Talk about insult added upon injury - the Feds not only want the right to spy on your Internet activities, but they want YOU to pay for it! Easier Internet Wiretaps Sought The Justice Department wants to significantly expand the government's ability to monitor online traffic, proposing that providers of high-speed Internet service should be forced to grant easier access for FBI wiretaps and other electronic surveillance, according to documents and government officials. A petition filed this week with the Federal Communications Commission also suggests that consumers should be required to foot the bill.... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#113922 - 03-13-04 09:41 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
Anonymous Anonymous Unregistered	HEADS UP, ZERO. Easier Internet Wiretaps Sought Justice Dept., FBI Want Consumers To Pay the Cost The Justice Department wants to significantly expand the government's ability to monitor online traffic, proposing that providers of high-speed Internet service should be forced to grant easier access for FBI wiretaps and other electronic surveillance, according to documents and government officials. A petition filed this week with the Federal Communications Commission also suggests that consumers should be required to foot the bill. Law enforcement agencies have been increasingly concerned that fast-growing telephone service over the Internet could be a way for terrorists and criminals to evade surveillance. But the petition also moves beyond Internet telephony, leading several technology experts and privacy advocates yesterday to warn that many types of online communication, including instant messages and visits to Web sites, could be covered. Ashcroft wants to rape your on-line experience. Stupid f***-ups in the FBI can't find the anthrax person after years but they can invade everyone's privacy.
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#113923 - 03-28-04 01:01 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
American Patriot American Patriot Member Registered: 08-25-02 Posts: 10128	Calif. Home Power Bill Prompts Pot Probe CARLSBAD, Calif. - When police noticed Dina Dagy's family was spending $250 to $300 a month on electricity, they suspected a marijuana farm was flourishing under high-intensity lights inside their suburban home. What they found when they showed up with a drug-sniffing dog and a search warrant was a wife and mother who does several loads of laundry a day, keeps a dishwashing machine going, has three electricity-guzzling computers and three kids who can't remember to turn the lights out when they leave a room. "It's hard to believe a high utility bill would be enough to issue a state warrant," said Dagy, who is demanding the Police Department issue a written apology. Authorities say they have already apologized verbally several times and were only following proper procedures. Tracking down marijuana growers by reviewing electricity bills, they say, is a common practice. "I understand they feel something isn't appropriate here, but it is very much consistent with how search warrants are prepared," said police Lt. Bill Rowland. When authorities noticed how high the bill for the Dagy home was, they sent a police dog to the neighborhood, and it reacted as though it had smelled drugs. They also noticed the family had put its trash out that morning, something police say drug growers often do to hide the evidence. In the Dagys' case, however, it was trash day. When officers returned on March 19 with a search warrant, Dagy was volunteering at her son's second-grade class. She was heading back to her car when police arrived at the school, and she returned home and let them into the house. more at site... _________________________ GOP 2010: FEAR, IGNORANCE & DIVISIVENESS
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#113924 - 03-28-04 02:55 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	More on the insult-upon-injury front, as UMass-Amherst makes foreign students pay for Federal surveillance of their whereabouts. Only the foreigners are rising up and saying "we're not gonna take it"... UMass Students Withhold Surveillance Program Fees Graduate students at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst are outraged over a new school fee that pays for a federal program to track foreign students, and many are refusing to pay. The school began levying the $65 fee on 1,600 international students to cover the costs of participating in SEVIS, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System. The Justice Department created the database of foreign students after it was discovered that three hijackers in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks had remained in the United States despite violating the terms of their student visas.... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#113925 - 03-28-04 02:57 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	Police brutality alert in the Capital of Cool, Austin, Texas! An incident involving the cops and mace at the SXSW Conference has local hipsters worrying that the city's reputation may have been harmed irreparably... Conga Line Clash May Damage Austin\'s Image as Bastion of Cool Austin's twin mottos are splashed across bumper stickers and T-shirts all over town: "Live Music Capital of the World," a reference to the city's vibrant music scene, and "Keep Austin Weird," a reminder that the locals fancy their city an unusually free-spirited, tolerant place in the midst of cowboy country. But a recent scuffle between police and a Grammy-winning Los Angeles band has left many Austinites fretting the city may have sullied the images those slogans so proudly hype. At the end of its March 17 performance at Austin's South by Southwest music festival, Latin rock group Ozomatli led a nightclub crowd in a conga line into a crowded downtown street. Trouble was, it was 2:25 a.m. -- 25 minutes after a city noise ordinance prohibiting loud music outdoors takes effect. When police showed up, they said, the band's percussionist struck an officer with a drum, the officers sprayed tear gas, and the crowd chanted "Nazi police." Two musicians and a band manager were arrested. The band members were released, pending charges, but said they had done no wrong and vowed not to return to Austin. In letters to the Austin American-Statesman, Austinites bemoaned the damage to the town's reputation for coolness. "We'll be lucky if any acts with national stature decide to pay us a visit again," Hugh Sparks wrote to the American-Statesman.... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#113926 - 03-28-04 03:22 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	"Name? Well, you can call me Ray, or you can call me Jay, or you can call me RJ, or you can call me RJJ, but you doesn't have to call me Johnson..." Simple Question, Big Implications At first glance, Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada is a small, easy case. Indeed, it is so small and so easy that it never should have attracted the attention of the Supreme Court -- which heard oral arguments in the case last Monday. The facts are these: Larry Dudley Hiibel was arrested on the side of a road in Humboldt County, Nev., beside a parked pickup truck. The deputy sheriff who found him, standing outside the truck, was responding to a report by a concerned citizen that a man in a similar vehicle had been hitting a woman. The officer approached Hiibel, who was traveling with his teenage daughter, told him that he was conducting an investigation and asked Hiibel to identify himself. A routine request, perhaps, but Hiibel refused to comply. Eventually, Hiibel insisted that he would prefer to be arrested than to give his name, and he challenged the deputy to handcuff him. (The incident was captured on videotape by a camera installed in the sheriff's car.) During the exchange, the sheriff observed other things that tended to confirm the battery report and that gave him grounds to believe that Hiibel had been drinking and driving, according to the briefs, which do not make clear whether he was in fact driving. After asking Hiibel his name 11 times, the deputy arrested him. That move was prudent, proper -- and it should have been entirely uncontroversial. But life and law are messy, and small, easy cases have a way of raising large, difficult questions. The deputy did not arrest Hiibel merely for suspicion of battery or suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. He took Hiibel into custody for violating a Nevada law that requires people to provide identification when asked by an officer who has reasonable suspicion to believe that they have committed a crime. This law raises difficult constitutional questions that the Supreme Court has never squarely addressed.... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#113927 - 04-28-04 11:11 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	The Justice Department has become the private security force of ExxonMobil, and those wonderful antiterror provisions are now being used to harrass GreenPeace. Tiger Tussle ... The Texas litigation is part of a legal onslaught against Greenpeace that could have significant consequences for the future of peaceful protest in the United States. The Irving cases come on the heels of an unprecedented Bush Justice Department prosecution of Greenpeace. Attorney General John Ashcroft dusted off a federal maritime statute not used in more than a century to prosecute the organization for a 2002 incident during which two activists armed with a banner boarded a ship off the coast of Miami to protest illegal logging. Justice officials deny the Miami case is a political prosecution. A corporate spokesman for ExxonMobil said the company refuses to discuss ongoing litigation. “We are just not commenting, period,” said Tom Cirigliano, ExxonMobil spokesman. Phone calls to the Dallas DA’s office were not returned. But these three separate but simultaneous prosecutions against Greenpeace—the Miami indictment, possible felony charges by the Dallas DA, and the civil suit brought by ExxonMobil—illuminate a curious pattern, particularly in light of ExxonMobil’s role as one of the GOP’s most generous corporate patrons. Is there a government-industry conspiracy to clamp down on peaceful protests of the Bush administration’s pro-corporate policies? “There doesn’t need to be a direct connection,” believes John Pasacantando, GreenpeaceUSA’s executive director. “[There] is a mood in the country by a handful of elites that they do not want dissent and Greenpeace appears to be target A-1.”... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#113928 - 05-10-04 03:32 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
american woman american woman Moderator Magnifique Registered: 11-10-01 Posts: 4484 Loc: San Diego	Patriot Act Suppresses News Of Challenge to Patriot Act The American Civil Liberties Union disclosed yesterday that it filed a lawsuit three weeks ago challenging the FBI's methods of obtaining many business records, but the group was barred from revealing even the existence of the case until now. The lawsuit was filed April 6 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, but the case was kept under seal to avoid violating secrecy rules contained in the USA Patriot Act, the ACLU said. The group was allowed to release a redacted version of the lawsuit after weeks of negotiations with the government. "It is remarkable that a gag provision in the Patriot Act kept the public in the dark about the mere fact that a constitutional challenge had been filed in court," Ann Beeson, the ACLU's associate legal director, said in a statement. "President Bush can talk about extending the life of the Patriot Act, but the ACLU is still gagged from discussing details of our challenge to it." A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the case. ...
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#113929 - 05-10-04 05:50 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
american woman american woman Moderator Magnifique Registered: 11-10-01 Posts: 4484 Loc: San Diego	Military Personnel: Don\'t Read This! How a Pentagon email sought to contain the prison abuse scandal Saturday, May. 08, 2004 It's not exactly every day that the Pentagon warns military personnel to stay away from Fox News. But that's exactly what some hopeful soul at the Department of Defense instructed, in a memo intended to forbid Pentagon staff reading a copy of the Taguba report detailing abuse of detainees at prisons in Iraq that had been posted at the Fox News web site. An email to Pentagon staff marked "URGENT IT (Information Technology) BULLETIN: Taguba Report" orders employees not to read or download the Taguba report at Fox News, on the grounds that the document is classified. It also orders them not to discuss the matter with friends or family members. The emailed memo was leaked to TIME by a senior U.S. civilian official in Baghdad, who did not hide his disdain for the "factotums" in the Pentagon. "I do wonder how incredibly stupid some people in the Pentagon are," he emailed TIME. "Not only are they drawing everyone's attention to the report — and where it can be seen — but attempting to muzzle people never works." --Not from The Onion, swear to God.
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#113930 - 05-13-04 08:35 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	Louisiana, the state that gave us Britney Spears, now gives us the stupidest piece of legislation designed to combat the influence of Britney Spears. Yes, a Democrat thought this one up... Louisiana Bill Would Ban Low-Slung Pants BATON ROUGE, La. - A Louisiana state representative wants to make it illegal for people to wear low-slung pants that expose underwear — or more. But he's having trouble getting some of his colleagues to take him seriously. When the bill came up for debate earlier this week, Rep. Derrick Shepherd, a Democrat from the New Orleans suburb of Marrero, was met with catcalls on the House floor. The bill would make it a crime to wear clothing in public that "intentionally exposes undergarments or intentionally exposes any portion of the pubic hair, cleft of the buttocks or genitals." Launching a fiery speech in support of the bill, Shepherd said, "There comes a time in every society where we must draw a line of decency, where we must speak to a group of individuals who would flaunt the laws of our state, who would flaunt the morals of our community." The result: laughter from some and a facetious chant of "No more crack!" from Rep. Tommy Wright, D-Jena. Shepherd asked for a delay of a vote and the measure awaits action... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#113931 - 05-20-04 11:59 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	"... The Texas litigation is part of a legal onslaught against Greenpeace that could have significant consequences for the future of peaceful protest in the United States." Greenpeace beats the rap in Miami. A judge has dismissed complaints against the group, who were accused of piracy under a law written in 1872 after they boarded a ship full of illegal imported mahogany. Judge Dismisses Greenpeace Charges MIAMI, May 19 -- A federal judge dismissed criminal charges Wednesday against the environmental group Greenpeace, ending an unusual case that drew the ire of free-speech advocates and critics of the Bush administration. The activist group, known for its high-profile demonstrations, was criminally charged after two members were caught in April 2002 boarding a ship off Miami Beach that they believed was carrying 70 tons of illegally imported Brazilian mahogany. The activists spent a weekend in jail. But the case became a national cause celebre when the U.S. attorney's office here took the unprecedented step of seeking a criminal indictment of the organization itself, using an obscure 1872 law intended to dissuade brothel owners from boarding ships to lure sailors with prostitutes and liquor. The law had not been used in 113 years. Greenpeace's attorneys did not have to offer up evidence to counter the charges on Wednesday because U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan in Miami dismissed the case shortly after the prosecution presented its last witness following 1 1/2 days of testimony. "The Bush administration and its allies are bent on chilling dissent," said John Passacantando, Greenpeace's executive director. "This is clearly a big victory for America's tradition of free speech." Scott Anderson, a third-grade teacher from Moab, Utah, who was one of the two activists arrested in connection with boarding the cargo ship in 2002, said, "The checks and balances system worked. The message is: You cannot pick on advocacy groups." Carlos B. Castillo, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Marcos Daniel Jimenez, said the verdict would not alter the office's approach to handling protest cases. "The U.S. attorney's office remains undeterred in prosecuting those persons who illegally attempt to board ships at the Port of Miami or otherwise threaten port security," he said.... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#113932 - 05-27-04 01:22 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
Anonymous Anonymous Unregistered	Many of you may not know that under the BA, academic papers from certain countries may no longer be translated into English, circulated among American academics, commented on, or published in academic journals. The BA calls it "trading with the enemy." However, in the country famed for its free speech, this bit of Bush paranoia now affects children. This piece is frightening. Hard lessons from poetry class: Speech is free unless it's critical By BILL HILL 15 May 2004 Bill Nevins, a New Mexico high school teacher, was fired last year and classes in poetry and the poetry club at Rio Rancho High School were permanently terminated. It had nothing to do with obscenity, but it had everything to do with extremist politics. The "Slam Team" was a group of teenage poets who asked Nevins to serve as faculty adviser to their club. The teens, mostly shy youngsters, were taught to read their poetry aloud and before audiences. Rio Rancho High School gave the Slam Team access to the school's closed-circuit television once a week and the poets thrived. In March 2003, a teenage girl named Courtney presented one of her poems before an audience at Barnes & Noble bookstore in Albuquerque, then read the poem live on the school's closed-circuit television channel. A school military liaison and the high school principal accused the girl of being "un-American" because she criticized the war in Iraq and the Bush administration's failure to give substance to its "No child left behind" education policy. The girl's mother, also a teacher, was ordered by the principal to destroy the child's poetry. The mother refused and may lose her job. Bill Nevins was suspended for not censoring the poetry of his students. Remember, there is no obscenity to be found in any of the poetry. He was later fired by the principal. After firing Nevins and terminating the teaching and reading of poetry in the school, the principal and the military liaison read a poem of their own as they raised the flag outside the school. When the principal had the flag at full staff, he applauded the action he'd taken in concert with the military liaison. Then to all students and faculty who did not share his political opinions, the principal shouted: "Shut your faces." What a wonderful lesson he gave those 3,000 students at the largest public high school in New Mexico. In his mind, only certain opinions are to be allowed. But more was to come. Posters done by art students were ordered torn down, even though none was termed obscene. Some were satirical, implicating a national policy that had led usinto war. Art teachers who refused to rip down the posters on display in their classrooms were not given contracts to return to the school in this current school year. The message is plain. Critical thinking, questioning of public policies and freedom of speech are not to be allowed to anyone who does not share the thinking of the school principal. The teachers union has been joined in a legal action against the school by the National Writers Union, headquartered in New York City. NWU's at-large representative Samantha Clark lives and works in Albuquerque. The American Civil Liberties Union has become the legal arm of the lawsuit pending in federal court. Meanwhile, Nevins applied for a teaching post in another school and was offered the job but he can't go to work until Rio Rancho's principal sends the new school Nevins' credentials. The principal has refused to do so, and that adds yet another issue to the lawsuit, which is awaiting a trial date. -snip- Writers and editors who have spent years translating essays, films, poems, scientific articles and books by Iranian, North Korean and and Sudanese authors have been warned not to do so by the U.S. Treasury Department under penalty of fine and imprisonment. Publishers and film producers are not allowed to edit works authored by writers in those nations. The Bush administration contends doing so has the effect of trading with the enemy, despite a 1988 law that exempts published materials from sanction under trade rules. Robert Bovenschulte, president of the American Chemical Society, is challenging the rule by violating it to edit into English several scientific papers from Iran. Are book burnings next? Hill is a retired News-Journal reporter.
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#113933 - 05-27-04 11:24 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	Some parts of the country have become a police state sooner than other parts. I sure hope Caustic doesn't live too near these dildos... The Passion of Johnson County ...Johnson County dubs itself “the county of character.” Many of its towns and cities are “cities of character.” An organization called the International Association of Character Cities (IACC) promotes the initiative. The IACC shares a 10-story building in Oklahoma City with Character First, the supplier of the millions of dollars of merchandising that it uses to advertise its message of character laced with evangelical overtones. State Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth (R-Burleson) suggested to county officials that they join the Cities of Character Initiative (CCI). The goal of the CCI is to inspire people to adopt whatever character traits the self-appointed guardians of morality dictate. Each month, a different character trait is announced, publicized in city mail-outs, touted at city council meetings, and taught to the kids in the public schools. For example, Burleson’s character trait for May is attentiveness, defined in the city’s latest progress report as “showing the worth of a person or task by giving my undivided cooperation.” While the character initiative can be seen as a relatively benign exercise in groupthink, it forms part of a wider campaign by a network of local religious conservatives who control much of the area’s Republican Party and, by extension, local government. After the war in Afghanistan, some folks in the county took to calling this circle the Talibaptists. The activities of the Talibaptists have kept Johnson County in the news over the years. There was, for instance, the Satanist couple that tried to set up an on-line coven-supply business out of Cleburne, the county seat, during the Internet boom of the early 1990s. The Sunday after The Wall Street Journal ran a story about the satanic business, it was the subject of sermons in almost every church in the county. The couple was invited to leave town. And there was the time in 1996, shortly after the grand opening of the new Burleson High School, that a group of parents asked the school district to install a giant pair of red gym shorts on the anatomically correct statue of an elk in the school’s foyer—lest the sight inspire their youngsters to have sex. That one made the Dallas/Fort Worth news. A year later, a small group of curse-averse residents demanded that the Burleson school board ban books and plays that contain “dirty words.” Among the would-be book banners: Arlene Wohlgemuth. “I have never read To Kill a Mockingbird,” Wohlgemuth declared during one contentious school board meeting, “but, if it has those words in it, it doesn’t belong in our schools.” None of this attention, however, quite prepared Johnson County for what happened when word got out that a Burleson mother had been arrested for selling a pair of penis-shaped dildos. If that wasn’t scandal enough, shortly thereafter a well-respected Republican Texas House candidate was exposed as a cross-dresser just days before the April primary runoff election.... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#113934 - 05-28-04 12:07 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
zeroflux zeroflux Administrator Registered: 03-11-01 Posts: 6175 Loc: Arlington, Virginia	FBI's "National Security Letters" Threaten Online Speech and Privacy EFF Urges Court to Find USA PATRIOT Act Powers Unconstitutional San Francisco, CA - EFF this week filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the ACLU in a suit challenging the constitutionality of National Security Letters (NSLs). Authorized by the USA PATRIOT Act and issued directly by FBI agents without any court supervision or show of probable cause, the letters are used to demand detailed information about people's Internet communications from ISPs, web mail providers, and other communications service providers. The people whose private data is searched are not notified, and every letter is accompanied by a gag order that prohibits the letter's recipient from ever revealing its existence. In its brief, EFF argues that the portion of the PATRIOT Act authorizing these warrantless government demands is unconstitutional, violating both First Amendment free speech rights and the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure. "Using National Security Letters, the FBI can see what websites you visit, what mailing lists you subscribe to, whom you correspond with, and much more - all without judicial oversight of any kind," explained EFF Staff Attorney and Bruce J. Ennis/ Equal Justice Works Fellow Kevin Bankston. "Yet this unrestrained power to examine innocent citizens' First Amendment activities online is merely one of the unconstitutional surveillance authorities granted to the FBI by the PATRIOT Act." A favorable judgment in the ACLU's case would prohibit the FBI from using NSLs any further. Co-signatories to the EFF brief include the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Online Policy Group, Salon Media Group's division the WELL, and the U.S. Internet Industry Association. Full Press Release EFF amicus brief in the case - PDF EFF analysis of PATRIOT Section 505 - National Security Letters(NSLs)
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#113935 - 05-28-04 02:43 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
american woman american woman Moderator Magnifique Registered: 11-10-01 Posts: 4484 Loc: San Diego	Survey Finds U.S. Agencies Engaged in \'Data Mining\' WASHINGTON, May 26 - A survey of federal agencies has found more than 120 programs that collect and analyze large amounts of personal data on individuals to predict their behavior. The survey, to be issued Thursday by the General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of Congress, found that the practice, known as data mining, was ubiquitous. In canvassing federal agencies, the accounting office found that 52 were systematically sifting through computer databases. These agencies reported 199 data mining projects, of which 68 were planned and 131 were in operation. At least 122 of the 199 projects used identifying information like names, e-mail addresses, Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers. The survey provides the first authoritative estimate of the extent of data mining by the government. It excludes most classified projects, so the actual numbers are likely to be much higher. The Defense Department made greatest use of the technique, with 47 data mining projects to track everything from the academic performance of Navy midshipmen to the whereabouts of ship parts and suspected terrorists. Senator Daniel K. Akaka, Democrat of Hawaii, who requested the report by the accounting office, said: "I am disturbed by the high number of data mining activities in the federal government involving personal information. The government collects and uses Americans' personal information and shares it with other agencies to an astonishing degree, raising serious privacy concerns." A federal advisory committee appointed by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said last week that Congress should pass laws to protect the civil liberties of Americans when the government scans computer records and data files for information about terrorists. Newton N. Minow, chairman of the committee, said he and other panel members would formally present their report to Mr. Rumsfeld on Thursday. The panel said federal agencies should generally be required to obtain court approval "before engaging in data mining with personally identifiable information" on United States citizens. It also said that federal investigators should, if possible, work with anonymous data, stripped of personal identifiers, and use the minimum amount of data needed to achieve their purpose. The panel was created to quell a political uproar over a Pentagon plan to hunt terrorists by monitoring e-mail messages and fishing through huge databases of financial, medical and travel information. The accounting office defined data mining as the use of sophisticated technology, statistical analysis and modeling to uncover hidden patterns and subtle relationships in data, and to infer rules that allow for the prediction of future activity. Of the 199 data mining projects, 54 use information from the private sector, like credit reports and records of credit card transactions. Seventy-seven projects use data obtained from other federal agencies, like student loan records, bank account numbers and taxpayer identification numbers. In its catalog of data mining, the accounting office listed these projects: ¶The Internal Revenue Service mines financial data to predict which individual tax returns have the greatest potential for fraud and which corporations are most likely to make improper use of tax shelters. ¶The Defense Intelligence Agency mines data from the intelligence community and searches the Internet to identify people, including United States citizens, who are most likely to have connections to foreign terrorist activities. ¶The Department of Homeland Security seeks clues to possible terrorist activity by looking for patterns in myriad records of crimes, arrests and unusual behavior, traffic tickets and incidents involving the possession of firearms. James X. Dempsey, executive director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, a civil liberties group, said: "In many cases, the private sector is subject to stricter standards than the government. The Fair Credit Reporting Act, for example, imposes limits on commercial uses of personal financial and other data, but there are virtually no limits on government uses."
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#113936 - 05-29-04 10:37 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
TarteDeLune TarteDeLune Grilla Grrrl Registered: 06-18-03 Posts: 3294	Vigilante censorship After displaying a painting of U.S. soldiers torturing Iraqi prisoners, a San Francisco gallery owner bears a painful reminder of the nations unresolved anguish over the incidents at Abu Ghraib -- a black eye and bloodied brow delivered by an unknown assailant who apparently objected to the art work.
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#113937 - 05-29-04 11:42 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet?
american woman american woman Moderator Magnifique Registered: 11-10-01 Posts: 4484 Loc: San Diego	Reminder that zero designated this thread as "not meant for discussion, but rather to assemble a record of news stories pertaining to the subject matter." Feel free though to start another thread or post to an existing one if you'd like to discuss an article posted here.
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