Day: April 12, 2008

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The Martial Law Act of 2006

Dandelion Salad

Updated on this post: Congress Quietly Repeals Martial Law Provision by James Bovard

by James Bovard
Speaking Truth to Power
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
11 April 2008

[According the the New York Times, the world is now in an unprecedented food crisis. A lot of very hungry people are likely to be in the streets in the not too distant future. Between the prices of food and Peak Oil’s impact on food transport, we can anticipate food riots in America just as so many other nations have experienced them throughout history.–CB]

Martial law is perhaps the ultimate stomping of freedom. And yet, on September 30, 2006, Congress passed a provision in a 591-page bill that will make it easy for President Bush to impose martial law in response to a terrorist “incident.” It also empowers him to effectively declare martial law in response to what he or other federal officials label a shortfall of “public order” – whatever that means.

It took only a few paragraphs in a $500 billion, 591-page bill to raze one of the most important limits on federal power. Congress passed the Insurrection Act in 1807 to severely restrict the president’s ability to deploy the military within the United States. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 tightened those restrictions, imposing a two-year prison sentence on anyone who used the military within the United States without the express permission of Congress. (This act was passed after the depredations of the U.S. military throughout the Southern states during Reconstruction.)

But there is a loophole: Posse Comitatus is waived if the president invokes the Insurrection Act.

…continued

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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Administration Set to Use New Spy Program in U.S.

Dandelion Salad

Congressional Critics Want More Assurances of Legality

By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 12, 2008; Page A03

The Bush administration said yesterday that it plans to start using the nation’s most advanced spy technology for domestic purposes soon, rebuffing challenges by House Democrats over the idea’s legal authority.

Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said his department will activate his department’s new domestic satellite surveillance office in stages, starting as soon as possible with traditional scientific and homeland security activities — such as tracking hurricane damage, monitoring climate change and creating terrain maps.

…continued

h/t: CLG

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

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Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear

Dandelion Salad

Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination.

by Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele
http://www.vanityfair.com
May 2008

Gary Rinehart clearly remembers the summer day in 2002 when the stranger walked in and issued his threat. Rinehart was behind the counter of the Square Deal, his “old-time country store,” as he calls it, on the fading town square of Eagleville, Missouri, a tiny farm community 100 miles north of Kansas City.

The Square Deal is a fixture in Eagleville, a place where farmers and townspeople can go for lightbulbs, greeting cards, hunting gear, ice cream, aspirin, and dozens of other small items without having to drive to a big-box store in Bethany, the county seat, 15 miles down Interstate 35.

Everyone knows Rinehart, who was born and raised in the area and runs one of Eagleville’s few surviving businesses. The stranger came up to the counter and asked for him by name.

“Well, that’s me,” said Rinehart.

As Rinehart would recall, the man began verbally attacking him, saying he had proof that Rinehart had planted Monsanto’s genetically modified (G.M.) soybeans in violation of the company’s patent. Better come clean and settle with Monsanto, Rinehart says the man told him—or face the consequences.

Rinehart was incredulous, listening to the words as puzzled customers and employees looked on. Like many others in rural America, Rinehart knew of Monsanto’s fierce reputation for enforcing its patents and suing anyone who allegedly violated them. But Rinehart wasn’t a farmer. He wasn’t a seed dealer. He hadn’t planted any seeds or sold any seeds. He owned a small—a really small—country store in a town of 350 people. He was angry that somebody could just barge into the store and embarrass him in front of everyone. “It made me and my business look bad,” he says. Rinehart says he told the intruder, “You got the wrong guy.”

When the stranger persisted, Rinehart showed him the door. On the way out the man kept making threats. Rinehart says he can’t remember the exact words, but they were to the effect of: “Monsanto is big. You can’t win. We will get you. You will pay.”

…continued

see

Letter to Hillary about Monsanto connections (02.03.08)

The World According to Monsanto – A documentary that Americans won’t ever see (full video)

GMO

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Evading spies in Tibet + Secret report from the roof of the world

Dandelion Salad

Jezza Neumann on undercover reporting: ‘It’s hard to explain that fear in your gut’

Evading spies in Tibet was harrowing for the journalist Jezza Neumann, but just a fraction of what locals suffer

Continue reading →

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Winston McCain – Plot Holes (video)

Dandelion Salad

Illustration and Text By Steve Brodner
Mother Jones
The New Yorker
April 9, 2008

Yesterday and today we’ve seen the now routine spectacle of Petraeus and Crocker coming to Washington to tell Congress and the rest of us to butt out of their war-thing. Surprisingly, Congress, even the Republicans, yesterday shouted back, ‘Hell no!” This from Dowd today: “They arrived on the heels of the Maliki debacle in Basra, which made it stunningly clear — after a ceasefire was brokered in Iran — that we’re spending $3 trillion as our own economy goes off a cliff so that Iran can have a dysfunctional little friend. Not good news, given Ahmadinejad’s announcement that his scientists are putting 6,000 new uranium-enriching centrifuges in place.”

And there sat McCain, strapped to this war. Here’s our film about that.

via www.newyorker.com (no longer available)

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Open Letter to George W. Bush by Ralph Nader

Dandelion Salad

by Ralph Nader
Friday, April 11. 2008

Dear President Bush,

Much of the world has condemned the violence and called on the Sudanese government to end the slaughter. You and your administration have, properly, called the mass killing “genocide,” and urged a peace process.

But the horror in Darfur continues. Tens of thousands more have been displaced in the last month. Violence has intensified in Western Darfur. Meanwhile, millions of displaced people are giving up hope of returning to their homes.

The noble words of your administration and the outside world have not been enough to change the course of the Sudanese government.

The United States knows how to deploy its political power and influence. It is now time to put more political muscle behind the effort to end the genocide, and achieve a peaceful solution to this conflict.

One leverage point is normalization of relations with the Sudanese government. You and your administration should announce that the United States will not normalize its relationship with Sudan until the Sudanese government removes all obstacles to the full deployment of the multilateral United Nations-African Union peacekeeping operation (UNAMID), fully implements the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) and engages in good faith in a comprehensive, open and inclusive peace process in Darfur.

It is vital that the Sudanese government not be permitted to delay and derail UNAMID. A report in the International Herald Tribune succinctly captures the urgency of the situation:

“As Darfur smolders in the aftermath of a new government offensive, a long-sought peacekeeping force, expected to be the world’s largest, is in danger of failing even before it begins its mission because of bureaucratic delays, stonewalling by the Sudanese government and reluctance from troop-contributing countries to send peacekeeping forces into an active conflict.”

Rather than blaming the UN for delays, the United States should exercise leverage to accelerate the deployment of the personnel and resources that would make UNAMID into an effective force, and to overcome the Chinese government’s objections to deployment.

The United States has a complicated and interconnected relationship with China, but much more could be done to dissuade China from its ongoing support of the Sudanese government. The United States is willing to file claims against China at the World Trade Organization to protest failures to enforce patents, copyright and trademarks. Is it too much to ask for an equally robust effort to stop the slaughter of innocent human beings?

The U.S.’s Special Envoy for Sudan is the direct means for the United States to press Sudan to get peace negotiations jump-started and to remove obstacles to the full deployment of UNAMID. The Special Envoy’s office should be fully and adequately staffed, commensurate with the seriousness of his mission.

We look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Ralph Nader
Robert Weissman

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

see

Ralph Nader posts

Nader for President 2008

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Mukasey testifies before the Senate Appropriations Ctte on FISA & 9/11

Dandelion Salad

selise

20080410-Senate-Appropriations-Mukasey

Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

.

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More on Michael Mukasey’s false 9/11 and FISA claims

By Glenn Greenwald
SALON
April 11, 2008

(updated below)

The San Francisco Chronicle became one of the few media outlets to report on the multiple false claims about 9/11 and FISA in Michael Mukasey’s speech two weeks ago, as they adeptly summarized the key events in this article today. As the article, using the Lee Hamilton and other quotes reported here, put it: “It seemed like a sensational disclosure — a phone call that, if traced and monitored, could have allowed authorities to thwart the attacks — but it has proved difficult to verify.”

Also, Mukasey appeared yesterday before a Senate Appropriations subcommittee and was questioned on this matter by Pat Leahy:

On his third question, Leahy asked Mukasey to clarify a recent comment he made in San Francisco where he implied that the failure to listen in on a phone call from Afghanistan to the United States prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks had cost 3,000 lives.“Nobody else seems to know about this. Can you tell me what the circumstances were and why?” Leahy said.

“The phone call I referenced relates to an incoming call that is referred to in a letter in February of this year to House Intelligence Committee Chairman [Silvestre] Reyes [(D-Texas)] from Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and I,” Mukasey said.

“One thing I got wrong. It didn’t come from Afghanistan. I got the country wrong,” Mukasey continued without specifying the country where the call originated.

…continued

see

Mukasey Refuses to Say Yoo 4th Amendment Memo Withdrawn

The DOJ comments on the Mukasey controversy + The US establishment media in a nutshell

Lee Hamilton denies Michael Mukasey’s claim about 9/11 By Glenn Greenwald

Why doesn’t the 9/11 Commission know about Mukasey’s 9/11 story? By Glenn Greenwald

Mukasey-Michael

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Suicide by Soda: The Dangers of Aspartame By William Mac + Aspartame: Sweet Misery A Poisoned World

By William Mac
This Week in Time
featured writer
Dandelion Salad
April 11, 2008

Most people know that sodas are bad for health, but sodas aren’t THAT bad, right? If they were incredibly bad for us, then companies wouldn’t be able to sell the product. Besides, what does a company have to gain when the bulk of its clientèle croak? According to Dr. Betty Martini and a number of other doctors throughout the world, we as consumers should stop being so trusting of our token higher ups (corporations, FDA, CDC), especially when the dangerous neurotoxin Aspartame is included within hundreds of thousands of products that we guzzle down our gullets every day.

Continue reading →

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MIR: What Petraeus Didn’t Tell You

Dandelion Salad

linktv

General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker came to Capitol Hill to answer questions about the Iraq war. They talked about security, troop cuts among other things but one item was missing from their agenda. What did the General and the US Ambassador to Iraq forget to talk about?

Answer to this question and more on link TV’s Mosaic Intelligence Report.

For more information, go to http://www.linktv.org/mosaic

Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.youtube.com posted with vodpod

.

see

Petraeus

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Countdown: “Small Town” comments + Obama Responds + Worse than Watergate

Dandelion Salad

VOTERSTHINKdotORG

April 11, 2008

Obama Criticized over “Small Town” comments

Sen Obama Responds to Criticism over “Small Town” comments

Bush Admits Ordering Torture!

with John Dean

videocafeblog

Cheney’s Eyes

Keith and Dana Milbank have a bit of fun at Dick Cheney’s expense.

Worst Person

And the winner is….Bill O’Reilly. Runners up John McCain and Dick Cheney.