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

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#153474 - 04-01-07 04:28 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: zeroflux]
BuffaloGal BuffaloGal Member Registered: 07-28-06 Posts: 12029	Bye-bye people; it's been fun. DHS demand for DNS master key alarms nations Sat Mar 31, 2007 at 04:03:53 PM PDT Slashdot and Cryptome report that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is demanding the master key for the DNS root zone - a demand that has other nations alarmed. With the master key, DHS would have control over the Internet, as Slashdot describes, quoting an "anonymous reader." The key will play an important role in the new DNSSec security extension, because it will make spoofing IP-addresses impossible. By forcing the IANA [Internet Assigned Numbers Authority] to hand out a copy of the master key, the US government will be the only institution that is able to spoof IP addresses and be able to break into computers connected to the Internet without much effort. The issue arose at Friday's meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in Lisbon, Portugal. Source Edited by zeroflux (04-01-07 07:30 PM)
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#153970 - 04-03-07 08:01 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: BuffaloGal]
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	It has now been revealed that the FBI in April 2002 detained a group of war protestors and then lied about it. Until today... Police Log Confirms FBI Role In Arrests A secret FBI intelligence unit helped detain a group of war protesters in a downtown Washington parking garage in April 2002 and interrogated some of them on videotape about their political and religious beliefs, newly uncovered documents and interviews show. For years, law enforcement authorities suggested it never happened. The FBI and D.C. police said they had no records of such an incident. And police told a federal court that no FBI agents were present when officers arrested more than 20 protesters that afternoon for trespassing; police viewed them as suspicious for milling around the parking garage entrance. But a civil lawsuit, filed by the protesters, recently unearthed D.C. police logs that confirm the FBI's role in the incident. Lawyers for the demonstrators said the logs, which police say they just found, bolster their allegations of civil rights violations. The probable cause to arrest the protesters as they retrieved food from their parked van? They were wearing black -- a color choice the FBI and police associated with anarchists, according to the police records... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#154538 - 04-07-07 10:12 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: toxteth o'grady]
BuffaloGal BuffaloGal Member Registered: 07-28-06 Posts: 12029	We've completely lost our minds. Tiny cameras the size of a fingernail linked to specialist computers are to be used to monitor the behaviour of airline passengers as part of the war on terrorism. Cameras fitted to seat-backs will record every twitch, blink, facial expression or suspicious movement before sending the data to onboard software which will check it against individual passenger profiles. Scientists from Britain and Germany are spending £25million developing a system which they hope will make it virtually impossible to hijack an airliner by providing pilots and cabin crew with an early warning of a possible terrorist attack such as 9/11. They say that rapid eye movements, blinking excessively, licking lips or ways of stroking hair or ears are classic symptoms of somebody trying to conceal something. A separate microphone will hear and record even whispered remarks. Islamic suicide bombers are known to whisper texts from the Koran in the moments before they explode bombs. The software being developed by the scientists will be so sophisticated that it will be able to take account of nervous flyers or people with a natural twitch, helping to ensure there are no false alarms. "We're trying to develop technologies that indicate the differences between normal passengers and those who may be a threat to others, or themselves," said Catherine Neary of BAE Systems. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/ar...in_page_id=1770
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#154696 - 04-09-07 07:46 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: BuffaloGal]
BuffaloGal BuffaloGal Member Registered: 07-28-06 Posts: 12029	More police state than not, IMO: Bob Herbert: 6-Year-Olds Under Arrest When 6-year-old Desre’e Watson threw a tantrum in her kindergarten class a couple of weeks ago she could not have known that the full force of the law would be brought down on her and that she would be carted off by the police as a felon. But that’s what happened in this small, backward city in central Florida. According to the authorities, there were no other options. “The student became violent,” said Frank Mercurio, the no-nonsense chief of the Avon Park police. “She was yelling, screaming — just being uncontrollable. Defiant.” “But she was 6,” I said. The chief’s reply came faster than a speeding bullet: “Do you think this is the first 6-year-old we’ve arrested?” The child’s tantrum occurred on the morning of March 28 at the Avon Elementary School. According to the police report, “Watson was upset and crying and wailing and would not leave the classroom to let them study, causing a disruption of the normal class activities.” After a few minutes, Desre’e was, in fact, taken to another room. She was “isolated,” the chief said. But she would not calm down. She flailed away at the teachers who tried to control her. She pulled one woman’s hair. She was kicking. I asked the chief if anyone had been hurt. “Yes,” he said. At least one woman reported “some redness.” After 20 minutes of this “uncontrollable” behavior, the police were called in. At the sight of the two officers, Chief Mercurio said, Desre’e “tried to take flight.” She went under a table. One of the police officers went after her. Each time the officer tried to grab her to drag her out, Desre’e would pull her legs away, the chief said. Ultimately the child was no match for Avon Park’s finest. The cops pulled her from under the table and handcuffed her. The officers were not fooling around. In the eyes of the cops the 6-year-old was a criminal, and in Avon Park she would be treated like any other felon. There was a problem, though. The handcuffs were not manufactured with kindergarten kids in mind. The chief explained: “You can’t handcuff them on their wrists because their wrists are too small, so you have to handcuff them up by their biceps.” As I sat listening to Chief Mercurio in a spotless, air-conditioned conference room at the Avon Park police headquarters, I had the feeling that I had somehow stumbled into the middle of a skit on “Saturday Night Live.” The chief seemed like the most reasonable of men, but what was coming out of his mouth was madness. He handed me a copy of the police report: black female. Six years old. Thin build. Dark complexion. Desre’e was put in the back of a patrol car and driven to the police station. “Then,” said Chief Mercurio, “she was transported to central booking, which is the county jail.” The child was fingerprinted and a mug shot was taken. “Those are the normal procedures for anyone who is arrested,” the chief said. Desre’e was charged with battery on a school official, which is a felony, and two misdemeanors: disruption of a school function and resisting a law enforcement officer. After a brief stay at the county jail, she was released to the custody of her mother. The arrest of this child, who should have been placed in the care of competent, comforting professionals rather than being hauled off to jail, is part of an outlandish trend of criminalizing very young children that has spread to many school districts and law enforcement agencies across the country. A highly disproportionate number of those youngsters, like Desre’e, are black. In Baltimore last month, the police arrested, handcuffed and hauled away a 7-year-old black boy for allegedly riding a dirt bike on the sidewalk. The youngster was released and the mayor, Sheila Dixon, apologized for the incident, saying the arrest was inappropriate. Last spring a number of civil rights organizations collaborated on a study of disciplinary practices in Florida schools and concluded that many of them, “like many districts in other states, have turned away from traditional education-based disciplinary methods — such as counseling, after-school detention, or extra homework assignments — and are looking to the legal system to handle even the most minor transgressions.” Once you adopt the mindset that ordinary childhood misbehavior is criminal behavior, it’s easy to start seeing young children as somehow monstrous. “Believe me when I tell you,” said Chief Mercurio, “a 6-year-old can inflict injury to you just as much as any other person.”
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#213456 - 09-18-07 07:14 AM Cities cracking down on saggy pants [Re: BuffaloGal]
Bridge Bridge Member Registered: 03-06-03 Posts: 1263 Loc: America that Will Be	Okay, I'm no fan of the "baggy pants". I think it looks completely idiotic. But I have to think back to the Sixties, when long hair on men was outlawed in some places. Isn't this the same kind of thing? Young people trying to fit in with whatever they think their peer group is. Kids trying to look cool (or whatever euphemism passes for "cool" these days). In other words, I recognize that I am a complete curmudgeon when I see a kid with his pants around his knees and it just looks so silly. But making it illegal? What comes next, the fashion police? Wear white shoes after Labor Day, do hard time? What happened to that nation of rugged individualists? What happened to freedom of expression? What happened to freedom, period? I would no sooner tell you how to wear your clothes, than I would tell you how to wear your hair. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg. It just makes me giggle. Which, when you think of it, is not very manly, but still is not a crime. Okay, here's the article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070916/ap_on_fe_st/saggy_britches Cities cracking down on saggy pants By MATTHEW VERRINDER, Associated Press Writer Sun Sep 16, 2:35 PM ET It's a fashion that started in prison, and now the saggy pants craze has come full circle — low-slung street strutting in some cities may soon mean run-ins with the law, including a stint in jail. Proposals to ban saggy pants are starting to ride up in several places. At the extreme end, wearing pants low enough to show boxers or bare buttocks in one small Louisiana town means six months in jail and a $500 fine. A crackdown also is being pushed in Atlanta. And in Trenton, getting caught with your pants down may soon result in not only a fine, but a city worker assessing where your life is headed. "Are they employed? Do they have a high school diploma? It's a wonderful way to redirect at that point," said Trenton Councilwoman Annette Lartigue, who is drafting a law to outlaw saggy pants. "The message is clear: We don't want to see your backside." The bare-your-britches fashion is believed to have started in prisons, where inmates aren't given belts with their baggy uniform pants to prevent hangings and beatings. By the late 80s, the trend had made it to gangster rap videos, then went on to skateboarders in the suburbs and high school hallways. "For young people, it's a form of rebellion and identity," Adrian "Easy A.D." Harris, 43, a founding member of the Bronx's legendary rap group Cold Crush Brothers. "The young people think it's fashionable. They don't think it's negative." But for those who want to stop them see it as an indecent, sloppy trend that is a bad influence on children. "It has the potential to catch on with elementary school kids, and we want to stop it before it gets there," said C.T. Martin, an Atlanta councilman. "Teachers have raised questions about what a distraction it is." In Atlanta, a law has been introduced to ban sagging and punishment could include small fines or community work — but no jail time, Martin said. The penalty is stiffer in Delcambre, La., where in June the town council passed an ordinance that carries a fine of up to $500 or six months in jail for exposing underwear in public. Several other municipalities and parish governments in Louisiana have enacted similar laws in recent months. At Trenton hip-hop clothing store Razor Sharp Clothing Shop 4 Ballers, shopper Mark Wise, 30, said his jeans sag for practical reasons. "The reason I don't wear tight pants is because it's easier to get money out of my pocket this way," Wise said. "It's just more comfortable." Shop owner Mack Murray said Trenton's proposed ordinance unfairly targets blacks. "Are they going to go after construction workers and plumbers, because their pants sag, too?" Murray asked. "They're stereotyping us." The American Civil Liberties Union agrees. "In Atlanta, we see this as racial profiling," said Benetta Standly, statewide organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia. "It's going to target African-American male youths. There's a fear with people associating the way you dress with crimes being committed." _________________________ You are all my food.
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#214262 - 09-20-07 01:15 AM Florida Student Tasered [Re: zeroflux]
Kinky Plexiglass Kinky Plexiglass Hard Plastic Registered: 02-05-02 Posts: 130 Loc: Bethesda, MD	we feelin' that boot on our necks yet, america? Student from Weston Tasered at John Kerry forum GAINESVILLE -- A University of Florida student from Weston was stunned with a Taser and taken to jail on Monday after police say he disrupted an event with U.S. Sen John Kerry and refused to leave. The incident was caught on video, which has since been distributed on the Internet. Andrew Meyer, 21, was in the Alachua County Jail Monday night, according to jail records. He faces two charges: resisting an officer with violence and disrupting a school assembly. He's scheduled to appear in court at 9 a.m. today. Within hours of the arrest, articles about it and video of the entire incident were posted on Meyer's website, http://www.theandrewmeyer.com
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#216216 - 09-25-07 08:55 PM Re: Florida Student Tasered [Re: Kinky Plexiglass]
Baba O'Riley Baba O'Riley Member Registered: 08-23-04 Posts: 10846 Loc: Mountains of Va.	We may not be a police state but the "shadow government" sure wants to act like it: Updated 2:33 PM- WASHINGTON _ Vice President Dick Cheney will speak to a super-secret,conservative policy group in Utah on Friday during his second trip to the state this year. Cheney will address the fall meeting of the Council for National Policy, a group whose self-described mission is to promote "a free-enterprise system, a strong national defense and support for traditional Western values." The organization -- made up of few hundred powerful conservative activists -- holds confidential meetings and members are advised not to use the name of the group in communications, according to a New York Times profile of the group. "The media should not know when or where we meet or who takes part in our programs, before [or] after a meeting,'' a list of rules obtained by The Times showed. The group did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment. Czech Republic President Václav Klaus is also expected to address the Council for National Policy's meeting in downtown Salt Lake City. After his speech, Cheney will meet with Klaus, the vice president's office said Tuesday. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who ran the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, will also be in Utah on Friday but his campaign did not respond to a question about whether he would talk with the group. http://www.sltrib.com/ci_6992341 Ya gotta love government in the "sunshine" of a smoke filled back room.
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#223149 - 10-15-07 11:24 AM Insect Spy [Re: zeroflux]
zeroflux zeroflux Administrator Registered: 03-11-01 Posts: 6175 Loc: Arlington, Virginia	Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs. Vanessa Alarcon saw them while working at an antiwar rally in Lafayette Square last month. "I heard someone say, 'Oh my god, look at those,' " the college senior from New York recalled. "I look up and I'm like, 'What the hell is that?' They looked kind of like dragonflies or little helicopters. But I mean, those are not insects." Out in the crowd, Bernard Crane saw them, too. "I'd never seen anything like it in my life," the Washington lawyer said. "They were large for dragonflies. I thought, 'Is that mechanical, or is that alive?' " That is just one of the questions hovering over a handful of similar sightings at political events in Washington and New York. Some suspect the insectlike drones are high-tech surveillance tools, perhaps deployed by the Department of Homeland Security... Read Full Article
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#223150 - 10-15-07 11:26 AM News Thread - Articles Only [Re: zeroflux]
zeroflux zeroflux Administrator Registered: 03-11-01 Posts: 6175 Loc: Arlington, Virginia	This thread is a designated news thread. Please do not discuss news items in this thread. Limited commentary may be added along with posted articles, however please post responses elsewhere.
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#230249 - 11-01-07 05:21 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: zeroflux]
BuffaloGal BuffaloGal Member Registered: 07-28-06 Posts: 12029	Isn't technology wonderful? How long before this is used against protesters, citizens, people who ask the wrong questions...... Deployment of ray gun pushed up By Richard Lardner - The Associated Press Posted : Monday Oct 29, 2007 15:18:15 EDT QUANTICO, Va. — There’s no doubt this oversized ray gun can deliver the heat. The question is, how soon can the weapon, which neither kills nor maims, be delivered to Iraq? At a rain-soaked demonstration of the crowd-dispersal tool here Thursday, military officials said the Active Denial System — known for making intended targets feel as though they are on fire — could be deployed early next year. That’s much sooner than the estimate given when the weapon was first demonstrated in January — that it would be ready for fielding in 2010. More weapons still need to be built and undergo testing before being shipped, a slow-going process at odds with urgent demands from U.S. commanders for the device. What the troops may see as needless delays, Pentagon officials view as necessary steps toward fielding a weapon never used before in combat. The device uses energy beams instead of bullets and lets soldiers break up unruly crowds without guns. That means fewer civilian casualties, a key ingredient to success in Iraq. “We’ve been perfecting the art of the lethal since Cain and Abel,” said Marine Corps Col. Kirk Hymes, director of the Defense Department’s Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate. The goal now, he said, is to provide U.S. troops in hostile environments with a way to respond that is more potent than shouting but less final than shooting. To do so in a package that is safe, mobile and sturdy enough to withstand the rigors of combat shouldn’t be rushed. http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/10/ap_raygun_071026/
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#230265 - 11-01-07 09:30 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: BuffaloGal]
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	If this doesn't inspire the Democrats to oppose Bush more firmly, I don't know what will... Bush Tells Dems War Denial Is Dangerous ...Bush accused Congress of stalling important pieces of the fight to prevent new terrorist attacks by: dragging out and possibly jeopardizing confirmation of Michael Mukasey as attorney general, a key part of his national security team; failing to act on a bill governing eavesdropping on terrorist suspects; and moving too slowly to approve spending measures for the Iraq war, Pentagon and veterans programs. "Unfortunately, on too many issues, some in Congress are behaving as if America is not at war," Bush said during a speech at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. "This is no time for Congress to weaken the Department of Justice by denying it a strong and effective leader. ... It's no time for Congress to weaken our ability to intercept information from terrorists about potential attacks on the United States of America. And this is no time for Congress to hold back vital funding for our troops as they fight al-Qaida terrorists and radicals in Afghanistan and Iraq." Bush's remarks were his second in two days alleging inaction on Capitol Hill, which has been led by Democrats since January. This speech focused on measures related to the war on terror, while Wednesday's emphasized disputes between the White House and Congress over domestic issues... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#230280 - 11-01-07 10:52 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: toxteth o'grady]
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	Sometimes it's a good thing the wheels of Congress grind slowly. "Grind thoroughly, thoroughly grind..." Roadblock for Telecom Immunity In a blow to the Bush administration, the Senate Judiciary Committee's top Democrat and Republican expressed reluctance yesterday to granting blanket immunity to telecommunications carriers sued for assisting the government's warrantless surveillance program. Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and the ranking Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), had said that before even considering such a proposal, they would need to see the legal documents underpinning the program, which began after Sept. 11, 2001, and were put under court oversight in January. On Tuesday, the committee was given access to some of the documents. But Leahy said yesterday that he had a "grave concern" about blanket immunity, saying that "it seems to grant . . . amnesty for telecommunications carriers for warrantless surveillance activities." The activities seem to be "in violation of the privacy rights of Americans" and of federal domestic surveillance law, he said, noting that he is still "carefully considering" what is in the documents... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#231745 - 11-06-07 01:32 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: toxteth o'grady]
BuffaloGal BuffaloGal Member Registered: 07-28-06 Posts: 12029	This looks like paranoia, until you check her sources and documentation. Read the whole thing. ********** A "Paper Coup," and Blackwater Eyes Midtown Manhattan** I have argued that in the closing stages of a `fascist shift', events cascade. I am hearing about them, even across the globe. Here in Australia I hear from the nation's best-known feminist activist, and former adviser to Paul Keating, Anne Summers, who was also at the time this took place Chair of the Board of Greenpeace International. Summers was detained by armed agents for FIVE HOURS each way in LAX on her way to and from the annual meeting of the board of Greenpeace International in Mexico, and her green card was taken away from her. `I want to call a lawyer', she told TSA agents. `Ma'am, you do not have a right to call an attorney,' they replied. `You have not entered the United States.' Apparently a section of LAX just beyond the security line is asserted to be `not in the United States' -- though it is squarely inside the airport -- so the laws of the US do not apply. (This assertion, by the way, should alarm any US citizen who is aware of how the White House argued that Guantanamo is not `in the United States' - is a legal no-man's land -- so the laws of the US do not apply.) Toward the end of her second five-hour detention she asked, `Why am I being detained?' `Lady, this is not detention,' the TSA agent told her. `Detention is when I take you to the cells out back and lock you up.' -snip- Let us think like business consultants analyzing the decisions of a business that claims it is going to close its door in just a year. What kinds of decisions is it making? Here is a quiz, if you still doubt that we need to shift our thinking and recognize what appears to be 'a paper coup.': - Is building a US Embassy in Baghdad the size of eighty football fields and at a cost of well more than half a BILLION dollars evidence of short- or long-term thinking? - These walls would crumble if the next legitimate president independently ends the war. How about defending and expanding the basis for FISA violations at this late stage -- after all, these folks will be gone in a year? - How about the decision to fight so hard for a US attorney who will defend the view that the President is above the law? - Why would that matter so much in an administration folding its tents? - Why the rush to establish Guantanamo as a permanent part of the landscape and even seek money at one point to double its size -- if the next President, a truly independent Republican or Democrat, might just close it down? - Why the push to expand a war that makes no military or popular sense, rush through military tribunals that the next President might just disband, and, by the way, drum up a fresh new World War III? - Do the neo-cons advising Giuliani look like a fresh page for an independent, transparent election or an ideological continuity of government in themselves? - Do these look like the short-term tactics of a fading administration -- or the institutional strategic bases for some kind of new long-term beginning? - Why work so hard to make sure that the man who defended the infamous "enemy combatant" concept will be the new Attorney General? Increasingly, reputable figures are starting to talk about `a coup.' Jim Hightower notes in an important essay, "Is a Presidential Coup Under Way?," that a coup is defined in the dictionary as a sudden forced change in the form of government. (He also spells out the basis for a rigorously modeled impeachment and criminal prosecution.) Daniel Ellsberg's much-emailed speech on recent events notes that, in his view, a `coup' has already taken place. Ron Rosenbaum speculates in an essay on Slate about the reasons the Bush administration is withholding even from members of Congress its plans for Continuity of Government in an emergency -- noting that those worrying about a coup are no longer so marginal. Frank Rich notes the parallels between ourselves and the Good Germans. And Congress belatedly realizes as if waking from a drugged sleep that it might not be okay for the Attorney General to say the President need not obey the law. Congress may realize why Mukasey CAN'T say that `waterboarding is torture' -- the minute he does so he has laid the grounds for Bush, Cheney and any number of CIA and Blackwater interrogators to be tried and convicted for war crimes. They are so keenly aware that what they have been doing is criminal that laws such as the Military Commissions Act of 2006 have been drafted specifically to protect them and the torturers and murderers they have directed from criminal prosecution. That is why insisting that Mukasey say that waterboarding is torture is, in spite of the alarming apparent defection of Feinstein and Schumer, an important tactic and even the perfect opening for the impeachment bid that Kucinich is bringing on November 6th to be followed by Congressional investigations into possible criminality. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/a-paper-coup-and-black_b_71067.html
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#231746 - 11-06-07 01:39 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: BuffaloGal]
SirCaustic SirCaustic Master Chef Registered: 10-25-07 Posts: 9437 Loc: bigger and better TEXAS	i read it as far as the term "greenpeace".....then I started laffing and crying hysterically...... ....thanks for the incredible humor today......now I have to clean my monitor......i laffed so hard, I spit on my 'puter... .....that should be a skit on SNL...... _________________________ METSADA
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#232334 - 11-07-07 10:33 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: toxteth o'grady]
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	And it's a good thing there are whistleblowers... Former Technician 'Turning In' AT&T Over NSA Program His first inkling that something was amiss came in summer 2002 when he opened the door to admit a visitor from the National Security Agency to an office of AT&T in San Francisco. "What the heck is the NSA doing here?" Mark Klein, a former AT&T technician, said he asked himself. A year or so later, he stumbled upon documents that, he said, nearly caused him to fall out of his chair. The documents, he said, show that the NSA gained access to massive amounts of e-mail and search and other Internet records of more than a dozen global and regional telecommunications providers. AT&T allowed the agency to hook into its network at a facility in San Francisco and, according to Klein, many of the other telecom companies probably knew nothing about it. Klein is in Washington this week to share his story in the hope that it will persuade lawmakers not to grant legal immunity to telecommunications firms that helped the government in its anti-terrorism efforts. The plain-spoken, bespectacled Klein, 62, said he may be the only person in the country in a position to discuss firsthand knowledge of an important aspect of the Bush administration's domestic surveillance program. He is retired, so he isn't worried about losing his job. He did not have security clearance, and the documents in his possession were not classified, he said. He has no qualms about "turning in," as he put it, the company where he worked for 22 years until he retired in 2004. "If they've done something massively illegal and unconstitutional -- well, they should suffer the consequences," Klein said. "It's not my place to feel bad for them. They made their bed, they have to lie in it. The ones who did [anything wrong], you can be sure, are high up in the company. Not the average Joes, who I enjoyed working with."... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#267926 - 02-12-08 06:24 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: toxteth o'grady]
BuffaloGal BuffaloGal Member Registered: 07-28-06 Posts: 12029	So, you all going to put up with this? Maybe it's time to ask presidential candidates if they plan to bring back some of your freedoms in 2009. US customs agents can examine, copy data from searched laptops David Edwards and Mike Sheehan Published: Monday February 11, 2008 Customs agents have the prerogative to examine and even copy data from travelling citizens' laptops they search, CNN's American Morning reports. "A new alert for travellers: be careful what you store on your laptop or your BlackBerry when entering the United States," warns CNN's John Roberts. "Customs agents can examine your computer and even keep your private information." CNN reporter Jeanne Meserve adds ominously, "Your banking records, your music choices, your emails, your business contacts -- all can be examined, copied and stored by the government when you enter the country, if they're in an electronic device." One Pakistani-American IT consultant says that U.S. agents searched his computer on five occasions upon returning from overseas trips, even forcing him to give them access to confidential corporate information. Horrendous video at site: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Customs_agents_can_copy_data_from_0211.html
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#267961 - 02-12-08 08:22 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: BuffaloGal]
BuffaloGal BuffaloGal Member Registered: 07-28-06 Posts: 12029	Senate Approves Telco Amnesty, Legalizes Bush's Secret Spy Program By Ryan Singel February 12, 2008 The Senate overwhelming voted Tuesday evening to legalize President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program and grant amnesty to the phone companies that helped out with the domestic spying. The 68 to 29 vote is a major step in radically re-configuring 30 year-old limits on how the nation's spying services operate inside America's borders. The vote also deals a severe blow to civil liberties groups that are suing companies such as AT&T and Verizon for turning over millions of American's phone records to the government, and for helping the government wiretap American's phone and internet communications without a court order. The bill, which expires in six years, allows the government to install permanent wiretapping outposts in telephone and internet facilities inside the United States without a warrant. However, if those wiretaps are used to target Americans inside or outside of the country, the government would have to get a court order. However, if the target is a foreigner or a foreign corporation, and they call an American or an American calls them, no warrant is required. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/senate-approves.html
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#267981 - 02-12-08 08:55 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: BuffaloGal]
loosecannon loosecannon Member Registered: 10-30-05 Posts: 32056	I told you that the congress would cave. And 68 to 29 doesn't demonstrate that the dems were trying at all. Ya'll keep thinking that a dem sweep will make a huge diff but it won't. The Dems have changed. The bill allows the government to install permanent wiretapping outposts in telephone and internet facilities inside the United States without a warrant. However, if those wiretaps are used to target Americans inside or outside of the country, the government would have to get a court order. However, if the target is a foreigner or a foreign corporation, and they call an American or an American calls them, no warrant is required. and just how is anybody ever gonna know if a warrant was applied for when legally necessary if there is no oversight of any kind over the process? Huh? Nobody will know, this will be abused and there is no way we will ever find out unless somebody inside the government violates the law to reveal classified secrets. We are definitely fucked folks. And this is just one more in a looooooong series of ways in which we have sold out our own rights while we hoped that some politician would salvage them for us. It ain't happnin, and it won't happen if Obama or Hillary are elected. Good post Buff. _________________________ Rosie data mines your personal info, she's a cunt named Antz. And she needs to be banned, forever.
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#268042 - 02-12-08 10:43 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: loosecannon]
BuffaloGal BuffaloGal Member Registered: 07-28-06 Posts: 12029	I swear I'm going to write a short story called "The Tourist" about someone who quite innocently travels to the US. I will use actual cases to show what happens to this visitor who simply wants to vacation, sightsee and take a few pictures. It's ironic -- everyone I know who has defended the 2nd Amendment has done so on the basis that the people need to be armed in case their government becomes a tyranny. Yet it's happening, not with a bang, but a whimper. Nobody is expressing outrage at all. I would NEVER have believed it could happen in the US, given the strength of Americans' belief in their own democracy and system of government. At the same time, I can see how and why it is happening -- it has not happened through a single act, but by stealth, skirting the edges of legality, dressing it as patriotism, basing it in fear. There are actually Americans who think it's just fine that the Constitution on which the country is founded is being destroyed. Amazing.
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#268056 - 02-12-08 11:07 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: BuffaloGal]
loosecannon loosecannon Member Registered: 10-30-05 Posts: 32056	It is not amazing if you are inside it. It is us getting what we deserve. We are too partisan, too obedient, too ill informed, too distracted, too trusting, and most of all too corrupt. Ben Franklin predicted this. _________________________ Rosie data mines your personal info, she's a cunt named Antz. And she needs to be banned, forever.
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#268199 - 02-13-08 10:46 AM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: loosecannon]
Zulif Bystander Zulif Bystander Member Registered: 03-26-02 Posts: 46412	I don't know about too partisan, but I do agree that the 19 Dems who voted for lawlessness and amnesty for deliberate lawbreakers need to be challenged and run to ground. This truly is the earmark of a police state - the government can instruct anyone to break the law and the lawbreaker may do so with impunity. This is what the rwns led by Jr have brought to America. On top of the shame and disgrace of torturing, extreme rendition, the destruction of habeas corpus...the most lamentable, terrifying turns in our history. All thanks to little scaredy cats who think that two draft dodgers are going to know how to protect the US. _________________________ If gourcko was banned, why is "Frank" here?
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#268211 - 02-13-08 11:36 AM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: Zulif Bystander]
American Patriot American Patriot Member Registered: 08-25-02 Posts: 10128	Well, at least the terrorists can't hate us for our freedoms any more. _________________________ GOP 2010: FEAR, IGNORANCE & DIVISIVENESS
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#268212 - 02-13-08 11:38 AM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: American Patriot]
Zulif Bystander Zulif Bystander Member Registered: 03-26-02 Posts: 46412	Yeah, that's showing' 'em. Thanks, Jr! _________________________ If gourcko was banned, why is "Frank" here?
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#268214 - 02-13-08 11:45 AM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: Zulif Bystander]
loosecannon loosecannon Member Registered: 10-30-05 Posts: 32056	This truly is the earmark of a police state - the government can instruct anyone to break the law and the lawbreaker may do so with impunity. Well said and exactly on the mark. I can't even add anything to it. _________________________ Rosie data mines your personal info, she's a cunt named Antz. And she needs to be banned, forever.
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#268216 - 02-13-08 11:54 AM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: loosecannon]
Zulif Bystander Zulif Bystander Member Registered: 03-26-02 Posts: 46412	Give credit to Glenn Greenwald. He really has these guys figured out, most notably Rockefeller and Reid. _________________________ If gourcko was banned, why is "Frank" here?
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#268292 - 02-13-08 01:36 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: Zulif Bystander]
IPCRESS IPCRESS Cook Registered: 02-13-08 Posts: 2 Loc: Boston	Greetings. New member/first post. The definition of a Police State is when you need the government's permission do do anything. So, yes, we're in a Police State now. Did you see the vieo of the Florida cops tossing that quadriplegic guy out of his wheelchair? LINK I'm surprised they didn't Taser him, too. _________________________ The IPCRESS Blog
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#268297 - 02-13-08 01:38 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: IPCRESS]
Catz Catz Member Registered: 09-19-04 Posts: 46541 Loc: New Port Richey, Florida	The bill just passed that allows the communications business to spy. Poor widdle liberals, what are they to do? _________________________ Liberals are a dying breed
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#268376 - 02-13-08 03:05 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: Catz]
American Patriot American Patriot Member Registered: 08-25-02 Posts: 10128	Pussy: Poor widdle liberals, what are they to do? Likely spy on their political opponents when they take over the executive branch. _________________________ GOP 2010: FEAR, IGNORANCE & DIVISIVENESS
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#268381 - 02-13-08 03:11 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: American Patriot]
loosecannon loosecannon Member Registered: 10-30-05 Posts: 32056	well a few dems in Congress are getting vocal about not compromising, and condemning the Dems in the senate who are giving Bush more powers at our expense. Good for them, I hope they mean it. Prove to me that ya'll dems are working for us and not against us. _________________________ Rosie data mines your personal info, she's a cunt named Antz. And she needs to be banned, forever.
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#268466 - 02-13-08 07:15 PM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: IPCRESS]
BuffaloGal BuffaloGal Member Registered: 07-28-06 Posts: 12029	Originally Posted By: IPCRESS Greetings. New member/first post. The definition of a Police State is when you need the government's permission do do anything. So, yes, we're in a Police State now. Did you see the vieo of the Florida cops tossing that quadriplegic guy out of his wheelchair? LINK I'm surprised they didn't Taser him, too. Welcome, Ipcress - that's quite the maiden post. Unbelievable!
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#372172 - 11-27-08 12:43 AM Re: News Thread - Articles Only [Re: American Patriot]
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	"Likely spy on their political opponents when they take over the executive branch." Good idea. We should suggest it to Eric Holder. _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#385878 - 01-11-09 02:06 AM Re: NEWS - Are we a Police State Yet? [Re: zeroflux]
zeroflux zeroflux Administrator Registered: 03-11-01 Posts: 6175 Loc: Arlington, Virginia	Originally posted by Susano: The Marine Corps Air and Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC) Provost Marshal (head of a unit of military police) and the local California Highway Patrol office will begin working together 12/12 — and through the holiday season — in a joint effort to reduce accidents and drinking and driving. The combined mutual cooperation between the Marine Corps Military Police and State enforcement officers will begin somewhere along Highway 62. The CHP will set up DUI roadblocks with the presence of Military Police. A violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. http://bbvm.wordpress.com/2008/12/14/domestic-militarization-comes-to-san-bernardino-county/
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#385920 - 01-11-09 10:15 AM Re: NEWS - Are we a Police State Yet? [Re: zeroflux]
Catz Catz Member Registered: 09-19-04 Posts: 46541 Loc: New Port Richey, Florida	Is any of the land they will be doing this on, federal land? _________________________ Liberals are a dying breed
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#386495 - 01-12-09 09:37 PM Re: NEWS - Are we a Police State Yet? [Re: Catz]
BuffaloGal BuffaloGal Member Registered: 07-28-06 Posts: 12029	Are you all aware of this going on in Maryland? This piece is from a CBC columnist: The Americas The police and civil rights Maryland police and their weird war on 'terror' Last Updated: Thursday, January 8, 2009 \| Terrorism has become a rather elastic, overused term, especially since George W. Bush declared his global war seven and a half years ago. After the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration applied the term wholesale to a handful of foreign countries and what appeared to be entire populations. Recognizing an opening, other governments eagerly latched on, sometimes brandishing the word as a weapon against political opponents. But few entities, it might be said, jumped in with the enthusiasm of the Maryland State Police. The vigilant troopers didn't even need to look overseas for their targets. They found their terrorists right here, in the Quaker halls, churches, campuses, community centres and neighborhood gathering spots of the most prosperous state in the union. Oppose the death penalty? Must be a terrorist. Oppose the Iraq war? Terrorist. Anti-abortion? Interested in human rights? Opposed to government policy in general? Terrorist, terrorist, terrorist. Possible crime: human rights The details are still dribbling out, but it appears that for at least three recent years, the state police antiterrorism unit spied upon, infiltrated and documented groups of Marylanders who had the nerve to disagree with the policies of their government. The police acknowledge that at least 53 individuals made their terrorist-watch list but the real number could be much higher. The troopers zeroed in on Roman Catholic nuns, human rights activists and church groups. They monitored animal rights advocates and cyclists pushing for more bicycle lanes. They opened a dossier on Amnesty International. (That group's crime was listed as "human rights.") The troopers created files with titles like: "Terrorism: Anti-War Protesters," and "Terrorism: Anti-Govern," and "Terrorism: Environmental Extremists," and "Terrorism: Pro-Life." To Maryland's finest, even Quakers, the ultimate pacifists, constituted a "security threat group." It's all out there The troopers, of course, never wanted the public to hear about any of this. It would all still be secret, shielded in the name of national security, were it not for discovery laws and some smart lawyers. Now, some of their investigative reports, albeit redacted, are out in the open. And what they describe is fascinating — a naked, unvarnished police view of legitimate dissent in one of the world's most democratic countries. Most of the reports made public so far describe the infiltration of anti-death penalty groups in 2005 and 2006, when Maryland was preparing for two executions, which are rare in this state. Undercover police attended meetings and compiled lists of attendees who were then duly labeled and given police files of their own. Mike Stark, a national board member of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, was described as a "socialist" in one undercover dispatch and an "anarchist" in another. Students of political science might find that contradiction in terms amusing, but Stark doesn't. Death penalty activists, Stark told me this week, know they are generally regarded by police as pro-criminal, even subversive. "As activists," he said, "we consciously try to fight against that sentiment." But to be labelled a terrorist in an official file? "Creepy and disconcerting." said Stark. Law-abiding terrorists The spying produced some strange scenes. In one teleconferenced conversation with a death row prisoner, an undercover policeman in a Washington-area church wound up offering the condemned man words of comfort and support: "Be strong," he urged. But the agent was actually more interested in the call's other participants. One of them, doctoral student Shane Dillingham, was later classified as a terrorist. His possible crime was listed as anarchism. Weirdly, the undercover agents stressed repeatedly that none of the activists they were spying upon ever promoted violence or illegal activity. Quite the opposite. They constantly urged their colleagues to respect the law. At one rally, an anti-death penalty group handed out cards declaring that "in the spirit of Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King, Aung San Suu Kyi, and countless others, we believe injustice must be met and challenged. We engage only with love and respect for the inherent dignity of all human beings." The undercover trooper reported that sentiment and yet the investigation continued. In fact, the terrorist-chasers eventually extended their surveillance to all manner of social activists. Ratepayers beware This week, the Washington Post reported that consumers fighting a steep increase in Maryland electricity rates were also targeted by the troopers, while members of the DC Anti-War Network, which opposes the Iraq war, were designated white supremacists and terrorists. No explanation was given for that assessment. In the spirit of post-9/11 co-operative law enforcement, the Maryland troopers shared their investigative files with other agencies, ensuring that the "terrorists" they'd uncovered were entered into at least one national database. This effectively cast these people into the secret realm of lists used to deny security clearances, employment and even airline flights. "No one at Maryland State Police," concluded an independent investigation of the troopers' excesses, "considered whether it was appropriate to transmit information about peaceful protest groups to a federally-funded criminal intelligence database." In fact, Stephen Sachs, the former U.S. attorney who conducted the investigation after accounts of the police spying started appearing in newspapers, was evidently even more astounded by the attitudes of the many senior troopers he interviewed. "While the Maryland State Police employees with whom we spoke recognized that the individuals and groups under investigation here were not 'terrorists,' under any reasonable and accepted definition of that word," wrote Sachs, "none seemed to consider that a government agency's decision to label someone a terrorist, particularly when that label is included in an external database, could cause serious harm to that person's reputation, career and standing in the community." Furthermore, reported Sachs: "Many of the troopers and commanders whom we interviewed maintained, essentially, that it is better to be safe than sorry, and that even a remote risk to public safety justifies the infiltration of groups that plan lawful protests and demonstrations." 'Am I being paranoid' The Maryland State Police never laid a single charge of sedition or any other related crime against its targets. Officially, the force now regrets the spying. Its current director has called it "a waste of resources" and the troopers are reportedly in the process of "purging" their files. Stark is not comforted. "What does that mean?" he asked during an interview. "They've already put it into an interagency database. How many times has it been downloaded by various field agents and other agencies? How many times has it been re-indexed, reincorporated, merged into other databases, put on backup tapes that might be restored onto something else years from now? "Information is never destroyed. And then someday, it's like you don't get on a plane. Am I being paranoid?" Probably not. As Ottawa engineer Maher Arar can explain, your name can stay on lists down here even when you're cleared (as Arar was by the Canadian government). Guilt or innocence doesn't necessarily have anything to do with it. And of course, the Maryland troopers weren't the only police organization in the country hungry for a counterterrorism mission after 9/11. They've just had the misfortune of being dragged into the spotlight. There have been unspecific reports of other municipal and state forces doing the same sort of work. In his investigation, Sachs concluded that the constitutional rights of the troopers' targets were infringed. "Group advocacy and group dissent are part of the DNA of American democracy," he wrote. "Groups formed to express political and moral beliefs, and to seek changes in government policy, have long been viewed as guarantors of political and cultural diversity, as protectors of dissident ideas from suppression by the majority, and as agents of legal and social change." The state police didn't return my request for a discussion of dissent. And no one involved in any of the spying has been demoted, fired or reprimanded. In fact, the lead undercover agent has been promoted, twice. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/01/08/f-rfa-macdonald.html Was it Zero or Tox or both who complained about electricity rates? Wow, watch it.
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#386740 - 01-13-09 02:15 PM Re: NEWS - Are we a Police State Yet? [Re: BuffaloGal]
BuffaloGal BuffaloGal Member Registered: 07-28-06 Posts: 12029	Bump - because I think you need to read my post from yesterday. It affects you all, doesn't it?
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#386752 - 01-13-09 02:54 PM Re: NEWS - Are we a Police State Yet? [Re: BuffaloGal]
Catz Catz Member Registered: 09-19-04 Posts: 46541 Loc: New Port Richey, Florida	BG, who cares what a Canuckian thinks? _________________________ Liberals are a dying breed
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#387246 - 01-14-09 08:04 PM Re: NEWS - Are we a Police State Yet? [Re: Catz]
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	I do, Catz. Now quit harassing her. _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#387247 - 01-14-09 08:06 PM Re: Johannes Mehserle must be crapping his shorts [Re: toxteth o'grady]
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	Ex-Oakland officer charged with murder in shooting OAKLAND, Calif. — A former transit officer has been charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black man that set off violent protests, officials said today. Johannes Mehserle, 27, was arrested Tuesday in Nevada and today appeared briefly in court, where he waived extradition to California. He was expected to be returned to California later today. Witnesses said Mehserle, who is white, fired a shot into the back of 22-year-old Oscar Grant while the man was lying face down on a train platform at a station in Oakland. Grant and others had been pulled off a train after reports of fighting, as New Year’s Eve revelers were shuttling home after midnight. Alameda Country District Attorney Tom Orloff said he would not speculate on whether the charge would end up being first-degree murder or second-degree murder. "At this point, what I feel the evidence indicates, is an unlawful killing done by an intentional act and from the evidence we have there’s nothing that would mitigate that to something lower than a murder," Orloff said at a news conference announcing the charge. Mehserle’s attorney, Christopher Miller, planned a news conference later today at his office in Sacramento. The shooting, captured on cell phone cameras and widely viewed on the Internet, has inflamed long-running tensions between law enforcement authorities and many African-American residents. Hundreds of people have taken to the streets calling for the prosecution of Mehserle, with one rally last week spiraling into violence that resulted in more than 100 arrests and damage to dozens of businesses. Another demonstration was planned this afternoon. Mehserle surrendered without incident Tuesday at a family friend’s house in an upscale neighborhood on the east shore of Lake Tahoe in Douglas County, Nev., law enforcement officials said. Douglas County Undersheriff Paul Howell said he believes Mehserle went to Nevada for his own safety. "He just wanted to get out of the Bay Area due to the magnitude of the incident," Howell said. "He wasn’t trying to run."... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#399697 - 02-16-09 04:51 PM No police state for the police... [Re: toxteth o'grady]
BuffaloGal BuffaloGal Member Registered: 07-28-06 Posts: 12029	This could get interesting. Police brutality is often identified and proved through videos or photographs. We have several very big cases going on here, which would have been covered up without photographic evidence. This bears watching. Amazing how often "anti-terrorism" is invoked to curtail rights. No bobby pictures please, we're British New law could stop tourists, media photographers from snapping police Tourists in London may have to think twice before snapping holiday pictures of the iconic British bobby. A new anti-terrorism law went into effect Monday that could effectively bar photographers from taking pictures of police or military personnel in Britain. Outside of Scotland Yard, the headquarters of London's Metropolitan Police, some 200 photographers gathered Monday to protest the measures. Officials say the new laws are aimed at preventing terrorist groups from taking reconnaissance shots but photographers say they could be used to stop any pictures from being taken, especially images that depict police brutality or harassment. "This law makes it much more difficult to photograph any kind of public demonstration or riot," said Marc Vallee, a protester and photographer. "The police are already suspicious of photographers and this just gives them more ammunition to stop us at our work." Britain has come under fire in recent years for several measures that civil liberties groups say erode people's freedoms. In 2005, another law prohibited demonstrations around Parliament. The new act makes it a crime to "elicit, publish or communicate information" about British police officers or military personnel. Britain's Home Office said in a statement that the law is designed to protect police officers on counter-terrorism operations. In many cases, officers could allow photographers to keep taking pictures. In other cases, they could ask them to stop or threaten them with arrest. It is legal in Britain to take photographs in any public space, but photographers complain they have been harassed by police while working near airports, government buildings or railroad lines under the Terrorism Act of 2000, which gives police the right to stop, search and question anyone taking photographs. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/02/16/britain-cops-photgraphers.html
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#399703 - 02-16-09 05:23 PM Re: No police state for the police... [Re: BuffaloGal]
BuffaloGal BuffaloGal Member Registered: 07-28-06 Posts: 12029	U.S. "war on terror" eroded rights worldwide: experts -snip- Mary Robinson, who was the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights when al Qaeda militants flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, said the United States caused harm with some of the ways it responded. "Seven years after 9/11 it is time to take stock and repeal abusive laws and policies," the former Irish president said, warning that harsh U.S. detentions and interrogations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba gave a dangerous signal to other countries that could easily follow suit. While new U.S. President Barack Obama has announced he will close Guantanamo to break from the practices of his predecessor George W. Bush, Robinson said sweeping changes needed to take place to ensure Washington abandons its "war paradigm." "There has been severe damage and it needs to be addressed," she told a news conference in Geneva. "We are not more secure. We are more divided, and people are more cynical about the operation of laws." -snip- "We all have less rights today than we had five or 10 years ago, and if nothing happens, we will have even less," he told a Geneva briefing to launch an International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) report on counter-terrorism and human rights. The report found that many undemocratic states have referred to U.S. counter-terrorism practices to justify their own abuses, a trend Robinson said was particularly alarming. http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE51F36120090216
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#399707 - 02-16-09 06:26 PM Re: No police state for the police... [Re: BuffaloGal]
MrPHenryEsq MrPHenryEsq Member Registered: 06-03-05 Posts: 4063	Originally Posted By: BuffaloGal U.S. "war on terror" eroded rights worldwide: experts Mary Robinson, who was the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights when al Qaeda militants flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, said the United States caused harm with some of the ways it responded. "Seven years after 9/11 it is time to take stock and repeal abusive laws and policies," the former Irish president said, warning that harsh U.S. detentions and interrogations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba gave a dangerous signal to other countries that could easily follow suit. While new U.S. President Barack Obama has announced he will close Guantanamo to break from the practices of his predecessor George W. Bush, Robinson said sweeping changes needed to take place to ensure Washington abandons its "war paradigm." "There has been severe damage and it needs to be addressed," she told a news conference in Geneva. "We are not more secure. We are more divided, and people are more cynical about the operation of laws." ... "We all have less rights today than we had five or 10 years ago, and if nothing happens, we will have even less," he told a Geneva briefing to launch an International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) report on counter-terrorism and human rights. The report found that many undemocratic states have referred to U.S. counter-terrorism practices to justify their own abuses, a trend Robinson said was particularly alarming. http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE51F36120090216 We should worry about any of our soldiers who are captured and subjected to "enhanced interrogation" methods. It's on the heads of Bush, Cheney, Addington, Libby, Wolfie and the rest of the neo-cons as well as the sycophant enablers who supported and still support that crowd of criminals. I hope if they leave the country that they're arrested then tried for international war crimes.
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#399716 - 02-16-09 07:20 PM Re: No police state for the police... [Re: MrPHenryEsq]
BuffaloGal BuffaloGal Member Registered: 07-28-06 Posts: 12029	Apparently other nationalities have to worry if their soldiers are captured by American forces as well, PH. That's one of the points being made - it's no longer an American problem - it's now international.
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#399765 - 02-16-09 10:25 PM Re: No police state for the police... [Re: BuffaloGal]
MrPHenryEsq MrPHenryEsq Member Registered: 06-03-05 Posts: 4063	Originally Posted By: BuffaloGal Apparently other nationalities have to worry if their soldiers are captured by American forces as well, PH. That's one of the points being made - it's no longer an American problem - it's now international. Understood, but heretofore the 'bad guys' were supposedly constrained by that Geneva Convention thingee, as were we. Now that the Geneva Convention thingee was used for toilet paper by the Bushies along with the US Constitution, perhaps the only way to reassert that the Geneva Convention thingee is still in effect is to BRING THE SONSABITCHES TO TRIAL and lock them up in a non-US prison for the rest of their miserable lives.
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#400599 - 02-18-09 10:31 PM Re: No police state for the police... [Re: BuffaloGal]
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	"Mary Robinson, who was the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights when al Qaeda militants flew hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon in 2001, said the United States caused harm with some of the ways it responded." Hers is not an opinion to be treated lightly. Do you know that when you apply for a mortgage, you still have to sign an acknowledgment of the Patriot Act provisions? _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#439734 - 07-09-09 12:41 PM Re: No police state for the police... [Re: toxteth o'grady]
tlbshow2007 tlbshow2007 Prep Cook Registered: 11-29-06 Posts: 8112	Police State Anyhow, I am not known to shy away too much from being labeled, attacked, and/or ostracized. I have serious concerns for my country, where it is today, and where it’s headed. I have questions that I’ve been seeking answers for, which I want to share and discuss with you, openly and loudly, not in whispers. My main question pertaining to a police state is ‘aren’t we there?’ rather than ‘are we there?’ I keep scrutinizing the broad definitions and characteristics of a police state in every encyclopedia and other source I can get my hands on, then I check and compare those aspects with what we have today as a national security state, and every time I do this my checkmark list tells me we seem to be ‘there’ already: On Invoking, Creating and Maintaining Perpetual Wars: Our ambigious unending War on Terror, Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq On Control and Monitoring Mass Communication: NSA’s domestic spying on US Citizens are made legal & advocated as necessary On Search & Seizures with No Probable Cause or Judicial Oversight: FBI’s National Security Letters to be used on American Citizens with its Gag Order Provision On Controlling & Restricting Citizens’ Mobility: TSA’s ever expanding secretive No Fly List with the ‘known’ inclusion of One Million Americans On Government Operating in Extreme Secrecy: Government expenditures of nearly $10 BILLION to maintain tens of millions of secret documents and operations, and unconstitutional uses of Executive Privileges such as State Secrets Privilege On Control and Usage of Media as Government’s Own Propaganda Machine: The American Mainstream Media today is an extension and mouthpiece of the Federal Government On Silencing & Persecution of Dissent: Our government’s well-established record of its treatment of whistleblowers and critics, whether by gag orders or other overt and covert measures On General Disregard for Human Rights and Related International Laws: Our Government’s documented record on Rendition and Torture full story at source http://123realchange.blogspot.com/2009/07/introduction-makings-of-police-state.html
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#460618 - 09-20-09 09:10 PM Re: No police state for the police... [Re: tlbshow2007]
toxteth o'grady toxteth o'grady Uncivil Engineer Registered: 10-24-01 Posts: 64784 Loc: At the airport	I've heard of being ratted out by a nosy neighbor, but Wal-Mart? Parents sue Walmart, Ariz. over kids' bath photos PHOENIX — An Arizona couple accused of sexual abuse after trying to have bath-time photos of their children developed at Walmart are suing the state and the retail giant. A lawyer for Lisa and Anthony “A.J.” Demaree said the couple's three young daughters were taken away by Arizona Child Protective Services last fall when a Walmart employee found partially nude pictures of the girls on a camera memory stick taken to the store for processing. The attorney said Walmart turned the photos over to police and the Peoria couple were not allowed to see their children for several days and didn't regain custody for a month while the state investigated. Neither parent was charged with sexual abuse and they regained custody of their children — then ages 1½, 4 and 5 — but the Demarees say the incident inflicted lasting harm. The Demarees are seeking an undetermined amount of monetary damages from both Walmart and the state, and they have requested a jury trial. Richard Treon, the lawyer for the Demarees, said the images of the girls were part of a group of 144 photographs taken mostly during the family’s vacation in San Diego. There were at least seven to eight bath- and playtime photos of the girls. “There was nothing sexual about it,” Treon said. “This is a parent’s worst nightmare.” One lawsuit names Arizona, Peoria and the state Attorney General’s Office as defendants, alleging that employees from each defamed the couple by telling friends, family members and co-workers that the parents had “sexually abused” their children by taking pornographic pictures of them. A second lawsuit, naming Walmart as the defendant, says the company is at fault for not telling Anthony Demaree that it had an “unsuitable print policy” and could decide to turn any photos over to law enforcement... _________________________ "It's my party and I'll cry if I want to" --Abe Lincoln
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#462545 - 09-29-09 04:42 AM Re: Are we a Police State Yet? [Re: zeroflux]
Fazli Sameer Fazli Sameer Member Registered: 03-31-02 Posts: 1670 Loc: Middle East	The question we should all be asking ourselves is, "who is not a police state" on this planet? _________________________ The only hope for the world is to teach the kids that war is evil
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#499943 - 01-19-10 12:09 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet? [Re: Fazli Sameer]
Frank Frank Culinary Deity Registered: 05-09-09 Posts: 12287	I think it's funny how this thread screeched to a stop at the end of the Bush Administration -- even though Barack Obama is continuing the same policies. The same wiretapping. The same intrusive, time-consuming and humiliating treatment before boarding a plane. The same rendition. The same Guantanamo Bay. In fact, Obama went so far as to proclaim that the United States government has the right to detain unlawful enemy combatants indefinitely, without criminal charges. Even Bush never said that. And the left-wing retards at Capitol Grilling keep on licking Obama's boots, and posting remarks about how good they taste. _________________________ The Democratic Party Is A Criminal Enterprise
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#499946 - 01-19-10 12:17 PM Re: Are we a Police State Yet? [Re: Frank]
h.rapbrown h.rapbrown Member Registered: 07-11-01 Posts: 44592 Loc: Saginaw Valley	It's just Obama's boots. You boys(?) were licking Bush's balls and ass 24/7 and calling it dessert. _________________________
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