Feds: We'll imprison you without trial as long as we like

AP 2003 12 17

U.S. citizens classified as enemy combatants have to wait to get an attorney until they've provided intelligence to the government under a Bush administration policy that critics say treads on constitutional rights.

"It appears to be a very one-sided administration policy that places a U.S. citizen at the government's mercy. . ."

The government argues in federal courts that it has an absolute right to deny access to lawyers for enemy combatants, including U.S. citizens, and that such a decision is not subject to review by judges. . . .

...

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-enemy-combatants,0,3713078.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

While Saddam was Captured: Stealth enactment of the "Patriot II" legislation

Various Sources

While CNN and other media outlets are rejoicing because of the capture of Saddam Hussein, Bush again introduced new legislation last Saturday which increased the federal powers to investigate and reduces the privacy rights of American citizens :

H.R. 2417, INTELLIGENCE AUTHORIZATION AGREEMENT OF 2004

Whitehouse Statement on HR 2417 (December 13, 2003)
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/12/20031213-3.html

HR 2417 was cleared by the Congress on November 21, 2003
http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=4862&sequence=0

Comments of Ron Paul, Congressman for Texas on HR 2417 :
It appears we are witnessing a stealth enactment of the enormously unpopular "Patriot II" legislation that was first leaked several months ago. Perhaps the national outcry when a draft of the Patriot II act was leaked has led its supporters to enact it one piece at a time in secret. Whatever the case, this is outrageous and unacceptable. I urge each of my colleagues to join me in rejecting this bill and its incredibly dangerous expansion of Federal police powers.

http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/h112203.html

Bush signs bill extending FBI powers

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has signed legislation making it easier for FBI agents investigating terrorism to demand financial records from casinos, car dealerships, and other businesses.

The changes were included in a bill authorizing 2004 intelligence programs. Most of the details of the bill are secret, including the total cost of the programs, which are estimated to be about $40 billion. That would be slightly more than Bush had requested.

Bush signed the bill Saturday, the White House announced.

The bill expands the number of businesses from which the FBI and other US authorities conducting intelligence work can demand financial records without seeking court approval.

Under current law, "national security letters" can be issued to traditional financial institutions, such as banks and credit unions, to require them to turn over information. The bill expands the definition of financial institution to include other businesses that deal with large amounts of cash.

Supporters of the change say it will help authorities identify money laundering and other activities that fund terrorism. But some lawmakers and civil liberties advocates say the change does not provide enough safeguards to ensure that authorities will not violate the privacy of innocent people.

In other provisions, the bill:

Requires the CIA director to prepare a report as soon as possible on what intelligence agencies have learned from their experiences in Iraq.

Creates a Treasury Department office to work with intelligence agencies on fighting terrorist financing.

Creates pilot programs to share raw data between agencies.

Authorizes agencies to continue research on computerized terrorism surveillance suspended by the Pentagon.

© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.

Police to widen the City's 'ring of steel'

By Ross Lydall Local Government Correspondent, Evening Standard
18 December 2003

The "ring of steel" security cordon around the City is being extended in response to growing fears of a major terrorist outrage in London.

It will grow by a third, bringing an extra 45,000 City workers into the protection zone.

More spy cameras will be erected, and the City's police force will recruit nearly 50 extra officers. The measures come into force on Saturday for a six-month trial period.

...

http://www.thisislondon.com/news/articles/8226710?source=Evening%20Standard

U.S.: ‘Credible threat’ of major attack in Italy

St. Peter's Square, Leaning Tower of Pisa get special attention

Italian authorities have clamped unprecedented security coverage over the Vatican and other Christian landmarks after receiving a "credible threat" of a Christmastime terrorist attack, senior U.S. officials said Wednesday.

Over the past two days, officials within the Vatican and elsewhere in Italy have increased security near major Christian symbols, including St. Peter's Square. The step was taken based on a warning from the Mossad, the Israeli security service, that there was a "high index of probability" that "an important symbol of Christianity" would be the target of an attack between Christmas and New Year's, senior officials told NBC News on condition of anonymity.

...

http://msnbc.msn.com/Default.aspx?id=3741206&p1=01%7C%7C%7C%7C003

Bush overruled on US terror law


US President George W Bush does not have the power to detain an American citizen seized on US soil as an "enemy combatant", a court has decided.

The federal appeals court ruled that "dirty bomb" suspect Jose Padilla should be released from military custody into civilian detention.

Mr Padilla is thought to be the only US citizen since World War II to be detained on a presidential order.

Correspondents say the ruling is a blow to Mr Bush's war on terror.

Al-Qaeda claim

The enemy combatant classification is normally used for wartime prisoners who may be held without charge or trial and without access to lawyers.

"We are as keenly aware as anyone of the threat al-Qaeda poses to our country and of the responsibilities the president and law enforcement officials bear for protecting the nation," the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals said in its ruling.

"But presidential authority does not exist in a vacuum."

Prosecutors accuse Mr Padilla, a former gang member originally from New York City, of conspiring with the al-Qaeda network to blow up a so-called dirty bomb.

This is a device made of radioactive material and attached to conventional explosives which could potentially cause mass casualties, both from the blast and from exposure to radiation.

Analysis / Saddam could be offered deal

By Ze'ev Schiff, Haaretz Correspondent

ATHENS - Deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein could be offered a deal in which he would give his captors information on if and how he hid weapons of mass destruction and if he smuggled some of them into Syria. In exchange, he would face life imprisonment and not be executed for war crimes, senior Iraqis attending a conference here on the future of the region have hinted.
Saddam was captured, alive and well, on Saturday near his hometown of Tikrit. U.S. troops found him hiding in a subterranean hole. He did not resist.

The Iraqi figures also said that, even if the number of concealed weapons of mass destruction is not large, Saddam will certainly know who he appointed to take charge of the operation and in what area the weapons are being stored.

The possibility that Saddam transferred some of the weapons to Syria was raised on the eve of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, when satellite pictures showed convoys moving from Iraq to Syria. It is still unknown precisely what was transported in these convoys, but it is clear that this was a secret operation between Iraq and Syria.

...

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=371903&contrassID=1&subContrassID=8&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

Otřesná úroveň propagandistů "s hvězdami a pruhy"

Štěpán Kotrba

I v propagandě platí teritroriální zásada. Mysli globálně, jednej lokálně. Pokud se někdo pokusí o kobercový nálet svými historkami na celou zeměkouli, nesmí používat béčkových scénáristů.

Protože potom je to - béčkový - kýč, o kterém si každý myslí své. Stejné spektakulární kýčovitosti se dopouští ti, kteří už deset let papouškují prefabrikované nesmysly o zločinném Kavanovi a rozviřují stále tytéž historky, ve kterých už je přinejmenším jeden soudní rozsudek, který se o vině vyjádřil jinak, než je převládající "veřejné" mediální mínění. Případně netuše, co se stalo padesát metrů od nich, zkoumají diplomatické akce na druhém konci světa a přinášejí o nich své "zasvěcené" soudy. Takové propagandisty a "komentátory" mám nejraději, neb svou hloupost ukazují všem.

"V jednom z objektů, kde se v prachu povalovaly cihly a papírový odpad, jsme ucítili vůni drahých doutníků. Takových, jaké si v Iráku obyčejný smrtelník nemůže dopřát," řekl televizi Fox News seržant Daniel Saffeels (23) z Charitonu ve státě Iowa. "Bylo to jako v nějakém filmu. Jako když se mafiánský kmotr dopustí osudové chyby."

Saddáma zradily doutníky, Právo, 17. 12. 2003 >

"Uvidíme, jaký trest dostane. Ale myslím si, že si zaslouží ten nejvyšší. Protože nechal trpět svůj lid. Je to mučitel. Vrah. Je to sesazený tyran, který si zaslouží soud, poslední soud," řekl Bush. ... "Už jsem ho viděl. Viděl jsem, jak ho odvšivovali poté, co by vytažen z díry."

Bush: Saddám si zaslouží "nejvyšší trest", ABC/ČTK, 17. 12. 2003

...

http://blisty.cz/article.rb?id=16300&iid=1448

While one policeman forcibly subdues a demonstrator, another takes aim during the FTAA protests in Miami on Nov. 20.

"This is not America"

Chemical, Nuclear Arms Still 'Major Threat,' Cheney Says

Vice President Decries 'Cheap Shot' Journalism

By Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 17, 2003; Page A15

Vice President Cheney warned this week that "the major threat" facing the nation is the possibility that terrorists could detonate a biological or nuclear weapon in a U.S. city.


Cheney told commentator Armstrong Williams that the war on terrorism is "going to go on for a long time" and that U.S. soil remains vulnerable to al Qaeda, the network behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The vice president said one of his biggest worries is "the possibility of that group of terrorists acquiring deadlier weapons to use against us -- a biological weapon of some kind, or even a nuclear weapon."

"To contemplate the possibility of them unleashing that kind of capability -- of that kind of weapon, if you will, in the midst of one of our cities -- that's a scary proposition," he said. "It's one of the most important problems we face today, because I think that is the major threat."

Cheney also criticized what he considers a proliferation of "cheap shot journalism" about the administration. "People don't check the facts," he said

...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A6345-2003Dec16?language=printer

9/11 Chair: Attack Was Preventable


(CBS) For the first time, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that 9/11 could have and should have been prevented, reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinkston.

"This is a very, very important part of history and we've got to tell it right," said Thomas Kean.

"As you read the report, you're going to have a pretty clear idea what wasn't done and what should have been done," he said. "This was not something that had to happen."

Appointed by the Bush administration, Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, is now pointing fingers inside the administration and laying blame.

"There are people that, if I was doing the job, would certainly not be in the position they were in at that time because they failed. They simply failed," Kean said.

Albright thinks Bush hiding bin Laden

World Net Daily

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told Fox News Channel analyst Morton Kondracke yesterday she suspects President Bush knows the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and is simply waiting for the most politically expedient moment to announce his capture.

Kondracke made the announcement about what Albright told him backstage before an appearance on another Fox show on "Special Report With Brit Hume."
Kondracke was incredulous that a former secretary of state could believe something like that about a U.S. administration.

"She was not smiling when she said this," offered Kondracke, who believes Albright is serious about the conspiracy theory.

Albright is on a media tour to promote her new book, "Madam Secretary, A Memoir."

She was mildly critical of Bush administration policy in Iraq on camera in later appearances on "The O'Reilly Factor" and on MSNBC's "Hardball With Chris Matthews."

"I'm one of these people that said I understood the 'why' of the war, but I didn't understand the 'why now' or the 'what next,'" she told O'Reilly. "I still have a lot of questions. And I think that we don't know, frankly, what the effect of Saddam's capture is on the general situation in Iraq. President Bush and Secretary Rumsfeld have, in fact, warned about violence still going on, and the effect within the rest of the Middle East of a prolonged trial or an execution or generally how he is treated."

http://www.prisonplanet.com/121703hidingbinladen.html

pearljam145 writes that the "UK is planning to test biometric passports that will include face and iris or fingerprint recording and recognition for a 6 month period on 10000 volunteers. Read here for more details. A face recognition chip is going to be the primary biometric and iris or fingerprint scanning will be use as a secondary biometric. However face recognition might not be the perfectly viable solution since it has produced too many false positives in the past. Face recogntion to this date is not robust enough to support real time recognition in a crowd (more failures?). Only with cooperation of the subject does this system produce good results. So will face recognition join fingerprint and iris recognition in a long list of obtrusive recognition techniques?"

http://slashdot.org/articles/03/12/14/0111205.shtml?tid=134&tid=158&tid=191&tid=99

clanek zakladatele Autodesku, dnes duchodce ve Svycarsku :)

The Digital Imprimatur
How big brother and big media can put the Internet genie back in the bottle.
by John Walker
September 13th, 2003
Revision 4 -- November 4th, 2003

http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/digital-imprimatur/

PR neunavne jede dal

"CNN.com has an article about research that some major credit card companies (MasterCard and American Express) are putting into creating 'contactless' credit cards. These are similar to the Speedpass that ExxonMobil has been using for six years. What to people think about the prospect of this more widespread use of RFID? Is this something that will only lead to more credit card fraud, or will it provide more secure means of payment?" (The article comes from the Associated Press.
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/12/13/2230200

It was barely noted in the media, but this week the UN General Assembly voted on a series of resolutions on disarmament and security. And as the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy reports, "The United States consistently voted against the most important resolutions on nuclear and space disarmament."

The vote for bringing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty into force was 173 yeas against one truculent American nay.

We long ago signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty -- the treaty we roll up and use to smack the noses of places like Iran when they seek nuclear weapons -- and Article Six of the NPT requires us to work toward eliminating our own nuclear weapons stocks. Yet a Japan-sponsored resolution calling for all states to keep their word on this point was approved with 164 yeas against 2 nays -- with the United States and India opposing.

A resolution calling for negotiations to prevent nuclear weapons in space was adopted by a vote of 174 to zero. There were four abstentions: The United States and three client states, Israel, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands. (Those three may object to such a dismissive characterization -- but when a place like Micronesia implies it can't countenance any roadblocks in its inexorable march to domination of outer space, then I'm sorry but the client-state shoe fits.)

There were several other embarrassingly lopsided votes, and the Lawyers' Committee lays them all out here.

http://www.thenation.com/outrage/index.mhtml?bid=6

Zakázaná slova amerických učebnic se počítají na stovky

Po vykázání elitistických, sexistických, urážlivých, náboženských či příliš "silných" výrazů angličtina v učebnicích radikálně prořídla.

LOS ANGELES 29. května (ČTK/Reuters) - A kruci: Peklo již nemá místo v amerických učebnicích pro základní a střední školy. Ale nikdo v nich také neplachtí na jachtě, ani nehraje pólo. V učebnicích také nemůže nikdo o nikom říci, že má chlapeckou postavu, že je slepý, že je od narození postižený, případně, že je nejlepším mužem pro tuto práci, že je babizna, kotě, knihomol nebo dokonce barbar, píše agentura Reuters.
Všechna tato slova jsou totiž vykázána z amerických učebnic proto, že jsou příliš elitistická (pólo, jachta), sexistická (kotě, chlapecká postava), urážlivá (slepý, knihomol), diskriminující věkovou skupinu (babizna), nebo prostě příliš silná (oblíbené americké zaklení 'do pekla' nahrazeno kruci nebo hernajs). Bůh je také zakázaným slovem, protože on či ona (angličtina nemá rody) je příliš religiozní.
Kdo se chce seznámit s celým seznamem 500 vykázaných slov i s důvodem jejich zákazu, může se podívat do nové knihy profesorky Newyorské univerzity Dianne Ravitchové The Language Police (Jazyková policie).
Podle ní vydavatelé učebnic dějepisu a angličtiny trvají na tom, že neuplatňují cenzuru, ale pouze "pravidla ohledů" - ta byla poprvé zavedena v 70. letech, aby vykořenila pohlavní a rasové předpojatosti, a od té doby se výrazně rozrostla.
Mnoho lidí se tak v legraci snaží najít nový titul pro Hemingwayova Starce a moře (The Old Man and the Sea, doslova Starý muž a moře), kde je problematické snad každé slovo s výjimkou spojky "a" a členu "the". Starý diskriminuje věkovou skupinu, muž je sexistické a moře není možné použít, pokud student žije ve vnitrozemí a není s to pochopit koncept velkého množství vody, říká Ravitchová.
Ale fenomén dezinfikování slov a myšlenek se neomezuje jen na vydavatele učebnic, kteří chtějí mít co největší náklady, a proto se snaží nikoho neurazit. List The New York Times nedávno napsal, že vědci v Národním ústavu zdraví se ve snaze neurazit konzervativce ve vládě prezidenta George Bushe nejen vyhýbají slovům jako gay nebo homosexuál, ale vymýšlejí si i kódová slova. Reportér listu uvedl, že jednomu vědci doporučili nadřízení, aby návrh žádosti o grant "vyčistil" od těchto výrazů, i když se jeho výzkum zaměřoval právě na AIDS u homosexuálů.
Ale vláda není jediným zdrojem cenzury a omezení. Největší obchodní síť supermarketů Wal-Mart nedávno zakázala prodej příliš provokativních časopisů pro muže, i když nadále prodává sexy prádlo.
Podle Ravitchové má v amerických učebnicích pravice i levice to, co chce - například důraz na rodinné hodnoty i rovnost mezi etnickými skupinami. "Do učebnic dostali všichni svá oblíbená témata. Dějepisné texty třeba jen nerady kritizují nějakého diktátora, pokud není dávno mrtev. A i potom jsou výjimky, kdy je třeba Mao ce-tung chválen za modernizaci Číny, ale jeho totalitní vláda není zmíněna," řekla Ravitchová.
"Nemůžete v učebnicích uvést také Matička Rus nebo Otčina a to je hloupé a současně neuvěřitelné. Je to jako kdyby ožil 'newspeak' George Orwella," uvedla v narážce na manipulaci s řečí, kterou Orwell popisuje v románu 1984.
Podle Ravitchové vydávání učebnic kontrolují čtyři největší vydavatelé, kteří je prodávají po celých USA, a proto se snaží, aby jazyk v nich byl co nejméně potenciálně urážlivý. "Nechtějí kontroverze a nechtějí, aby se lidé rozčilovali," uvedla profesorka, která pracovala jako poradkyně pro vzdělání ve vládě prvního prezidenta George Bushe i jeho nástupce Billa Clintona.

http://ihned.cz/?s1=0&s2=0&s3=0&s4=0&s5=0&s6=0&m=detail&article[area_id]=10001075&article[id]=12861240&p=000000_detail

You are a KGB guy?? Cool ! My dad was head of CIA!

;)


"Saddam is an evil man"


"Saddam is a threat to every American"


"We know has has tons of biological and chemical weapons"


"He has noo-ku-lar weapons and can strike in 45 minutes"


"He has ties to Al-Qadea and may be involved with 9-11"


"We must fight a war against terror to be secure"


"No to war!"


"Bah, those liberal-hippy protestors don't bother me"


"Bush lied, people died"


"Rest assured we will find WMD"


"The Bush administration must go. This is an unjust war"


"Please calm down"


"I never said Saddam has weapons of mass destruction"


"See, no blood on my hands"


"Rummy must be smoking something"


"We found that one thing, uh, remember?"


"Ah well, it wasn't my fault we went to war"


"Whoa, wait a minute"


"I'll tell you why we went to war"


"Because God told me to"


"We went to free the Iraqi people"


"From a dictator we created"


"We also went to war to keep our kids free"


"Don't forget for peace!"


"One of these days we'll get that Bin Laden too"


"Forget him. Who will we bomb next?"


"Hmmm, North Korea is evil"


"Eh, maybe we should bomb Iran first"


"Don't forget about me"


"I've got some ideas about 'freedom' too"


"Freedom is slavery"


"Ignorance is strenth"


"And of course, war is peace"
_________________

A Net of Control

UNTHINKABLE: How the Internet could become a tool of corporate and government power, based on updates now in the works


By Steven Levy
NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL
Issues 2004 — Picture, if you will, an information infrastructure that encourages censorship, surveillance and suppression of the creative impulse. Where anonymity is outlawed and every penny spent is accounted for. Where the powers that be can smother subversive (or economically competitive) ideas in the cradle, and no one can publish even a laundry list without the imprimatur of Big Brother. Some prognosticators are saying that such a construct is nearly inevitable. And this infrastructure is none other than the former paradise of rebels and free-speechers: the Internet.

...

http://www.msnbc.com/news/998345.asp?cp1=1#BODY