CORRUPTION UPDATE 25
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1) THE ARTICLE ABSTRACTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN
THE LA TIMES, 12-7-06:
Nevada
judges can keep raising funds
“The state's high court decides against one of
several proposals to reform the judiciary.”
By Scott Gold, Times Staff Writer
December 7,
2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-judges7dec07,0,6803182.story?coll=la-headlines-politics
“CARSON CITY, NEV. — The Nevada Supreme
Court has rejected a proposal to prohibit judges from personally
soliciting or accepting campaign contributions.”
“In
a hearing earlier this week, Chief Justice Robert E. Rose had called
the measure a "serious proposal." But the court's seven
justices ruled unanimously that the measure would impose an
unconstitutional restriction on judges' right to free speech.”
“Most states have
such restrictions on their books, and several state courts have
upheld the measures.”
THE
COMMITTEE FOR DEMOCRACY CONDEMNS BRIBERY:
NEVADA
HIGH COURT OKS JUDICIAL BRIBERY AS FREE SPEECH RIGHT
How
the judge's “right” to free speech is impeded by
preventing them from taking bribes is beyond understanding. It
possibly limits the “free speech” of those who are
bribing the judges. But that would be paid speech, when they pay the
judges to say, and rule, the way they want them to.
The
real issue at stake is the proper balance between everyone's free
speech rights, the rights of the voter, and the need for an
independent judiciary.
The
Nevada Supreme Court failed to balance, or even protect, any of
these necessary elements of a good judiciary. They actually added
insult to the injury done by bribery, by elevating bribery to the
status of a Constitutionally protected right, over the right of the
voter to select their own representatives.
It
is especially galling that this decision was taken in the glaring
light of public exposure. Excellent reporting by the LA Times
exposed the abuses going on within Nevada's rotten judiciary, which
detailed the unsavory relationships between political contributors
and the judges.
Our
democracy is shamed by this decision of the Nevada Supreme Court to
affirm and protect the open corruption of Nevada's Judges.
Other
Articles on Nevada Judicial Corrution:
“Buy a Judge,” Corruption
Updates 1, last article on page.
“LA Times shames Nevada into fake
Judicial...Reform,” Corruption
Updates 6, first article on page. (“Fake Reform Predicted”)
Corruption
Updates 12, 2nd article on page,
“Fake Reform Completed”
“Campaign
Cash Mirrors High Court's Rulings,” Corruption
Updates 14, 4th article on page.
“ Bribery
and Corruption Engulfing Judicial Elections: Independent Judiciary a
Joke,” Corruption
Updates 19, last article on page.
“Nevada
debate on judicial bribery hinges on free speech.” Corruption
Updates #22
“Will
Freedom of Speech be Used as a Cover for Judicial Bribery in
Nevada,” CORRUPTION
UPDATES PAGE 24, seventh article on
page.
Other Articles on Judicial
Corruption:
“ Bribery
and Corruption Engulfing Judicial Elections: Independent Judiciary a
Joke,” Corruption
Updates 19, last article on page.
“Campaign Cash Mirrors High Court's Rulings,” Corruption
Updates 14, 4th article on page.
2) THE ARTICLE ABSTRACTED BELOW WAS ORIGINALLY
PUBLISHED BY AP, 12-8-06:
GOP
senator says war may be 'criminal'
By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer
Last Updated 2:49 pm PST Friday, December 8, 2006
http://dwb.sacbee.com/24hour/politics/story/3442285p-12622941c.html
“WASHINGTON (AP) - Oregon
Sen. Gordon Smith, a Republican who voted in favor of the Iraq war
in 2002 and has supported it ever since, now says the current U.S.
war effort is "absurd" and "may even be criminal."
“
“In an emotional speech on
the Senate floor Thursday night, Smith called for changes in U.S. policy that could include rapid pullouts of U.S. troops from Iraq. He said he never would have
voted for the conflict if he had known the intelligence that
President Bush gave the American people was inaccurate.”
“ "I for one am at the end of my rope when it comes to supporting
a policy that has our soldiers patrolling the same streets in the
same way, being blown up by the same bombs day after day,"
Smith said. "That is absurd. It may even be criminal. I cannot
support that anymore. ... So either we clear and hold and build, or
let's go home." ”
THE
COMMITTEE SAYS:
US
REPUB SENATOR FEARS WAR ILLEGAL
WHY
DID IT TAKE THREE YEARS TO CONFRONT THE LYING AND INCOMPENTENCE THE
WAS OBIVIOUS FROM THE BEGINNING?
A
FEW ALTERNATIVE VIEWS ON THE LEGALITY OF THE RATIONAL FOR THE WAR IN
IRAQ FOLLOW.
THE
TWO ARTICLES ABSTRACTED BELOW WERE PUBLISHED ON ARABICNEWS.COM ON
12-30-06:
3) A> THE ARTICLE SAYS:
UK Archbishop: Iraq war
'flawed'
ArabicNews.com
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/061230/2006123013.html
Iraq-UK, Politics, 12/30/2006
“UK
Archbishop-Iraq Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan William Friday
criticized two main planks of Prime Minister Tony Blair's policy in
the Iraq war and renewing
Britain's nuclear weapons as a deterrent.”
“Repeating
previous criticism that the decision to invade Iraq was "flawed,"
the head of the Anglican Church also suggested that he may yet
regret not doing more to prevent the war as a religious leader.”
“While visiting
the Middle East last week, he also accused the UK government of
placing Christians at risk through its actions in Iraq, which he
described as "short-sightedness" and based on "ignorance."
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ARCHIVES
THE
COMMITTEE SAYS:
ARCHBISHOP
OF CANTERBURY REASSERTS CRITICISM OF WAR
REGRETS
NOT DOING MORE TO STOP WAR
4) B> THE ARTICLE SAYS:
Iraq deceit most shameful in
British history: Duke of Buccleuch
Iraq-UK,
Politics, 12/30/2006
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/061230/2006123007.html
“A Scottish duke,
with ancestors related to Britain's royal family, Thursday
castigated Prime Minister Tony Blair and other political leaders for
refusing to accept the catastrophe caused in Iraq by
the joint US-UK invasion in 2003.”
“ "However
realistic the non-existent weapons of mass destruction might have
been in the eyes of the Blair cabinet, and however unwise the
Conservative leaders were to believe Mr Blair, there can be no
excuse for all of them now failing to admit to being wise after the
event," he said.”
“The
hereditary peer, who is Britain's largest landowner, questioned
whether anyone would be able to trust politicians to refrain the
government from another "unprovoked act of aggression on a par
with Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939." "But for our
backing in 2002, the US might have refrained from making the world a
more dangerous place than ever before," he said in a letter to
the Guardian newspaper.”
THE
COMMITTEE SAYS:
ENGLISH
LORD COMPARES HITLER'S INVASION OF POLAND WITH IRAQ WAR
DUKE
OF BUCCLEUCH CHIDES TORIES AND LABOR FOR FABRICATING WAR RATIONAL
OUR
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC IS THREATENED MORE BY INTERNAL TRAITORS THAN
FOREIGN “TERRORISTS”
With
our attack on Iraq, the President committed a series of serious
domestic and international crimes. Domestically, the President lied
to Congress and the American people about why we went to war.
Internationally, a war crime was committed when we launched an
unprovoked, unjustified attack on Iraq.
If
we look at the logic of this war from the street level, we can see
that Bush's war justification offers a very bad example for our
children, and the world community, on how to conduct ourselves.
I
see a young man, standing before a judge being charged with murder.
He is proposing the Bush justification for war. He tells the judge
that he shot and killed his neighbor because he feared his neighbor
“was a bad guy,” and had to be killed to prevent him
from doing harm in the future.
The
judge would dismiss this excuse for murder as crazy, and throw the
book at the murderer. Any teacher in the schoolyard would punish a
violent child for attacking his classmate because “he's a bad
guy, and may hit me in the future.”
There
is no ethical, moral, or practical level on which our logic for
going to war makes sense, either when we went to war, or now. It
was, and is, a continuing criminal act. We were lied to when we went
to war.
The
immediate consequence of the President's domestic political crimes,
lying to Congress and the American people, is more criminal
activity. In the pursuit of this illegal war the President decided
our Constitution and laws were too restrictive for his tastes. Bush
has continued to illegally expand Presidential authority to break
all Constitutional restraints; Bush claims that the battlefield is
not just in Afghanistan and Iraq, but actually spreads across the
whole world.
Therefore,
Bush reasons, his power as Commander in Chief gives him the
exclusive power to decide who is an enemy and can be tortured,
murdered, and kidnapped anywhere in the world. No judges, no
warrants, no trials necessary. This power extends domestically. Bush
claims the right (divine?) to selectively ignore the parts of our
Constitution and laws he finds inconvenient.
Both
of these claimed powers are illegal, violating both the letter and
spirit of our Constitution, as well as the letter of the law itself.
The
Committee finds plenty of corruption of the mundane sort to fight
against. Yet the political crimes of buying and selling
influence, or using political office for self enrichment, or
defrauding the government and people of their money, pales in
comparison to the scale and nature of corruption that is directly
and openly attacking our Constitution, smashing the limitations on
illegal authority that preserve our freedom.
When
crimes are openly committed in direct violation of the clear meaning
and intent of our Constitution, by those sworn to defend it, we are
not just embroiled in a serious Constitutional crisis. We are
involved in a battle for the very life of our Constitution against
traitors on both sides of the aisle who long ago sold our
Constitution down the river in the pursuit of power and wealth. Bush's path towards scorning of the Constitution was blazed by
Dems and Repubs who long discarded the Constitution when it
obstructs their goals.
Political
campaigning has long been the training ground where politicians
learn that power, wealth, and corruption are more powerful, and more
important, than our Constitution. It was but a small step for Bush,
and our country, to move from corrupting elections and politicians,
to completely repudiating the Constitutional restraints on the
Presidency.
Today
we are seeing a virulent form of corruption that goes beyond the
typical corruptions of the greedy. These are corruptions that exceed
stealing elections, because they are stealing our democracy itself.
These corruptions do not just rob us of our money, they aim to rob
us of our most basic Constitutional rights and protections.
And
our politicians, our press, and most Americans stand silent as our
rights are trampled.
The
toleration of these Presidential crimes, in turn, have led to a
deepening of Congress' dereliction of duty, as they steadily fail to
do their duty, and confront these Presidential crimes. It may be
impossible for the parties to confront these crimes because both
parties participated in their commission.
Congress
sits in silence, submerged in its own corruption, as great crimes
are committed in our name. They talk of forgoing the “free
lunch,” and free corporate jet rides, but they are silent
about the billions of dollars of special interest bribes they
collect every year. They are silent about our illegal war and the
trail of lies that brought us to this point. They are materially and
spiritually corrupted.
Congress
has failed to show America, and the world, that the President is not
above the law, but must obey the law as any other citizen. The
President has openly, and repeatedly, broken the law, and less than
a handful of our representatives, and none of our corporate media,
have raised the alarm.
The
consequence of this illegal war is the utter breakdown of limits on
the authority of the President. This is a serious blow to our system
of checks and balances between the branches of government. The
system that the founders designed to prevent the rise of a tyrant.
As
the articles above demonstrate, social and political leaders in
parts of the world friendly to the US are concluding that the US is
engaged in a tyrannical, criminal war of aggression.
The
reform of American political corruption is as necessary for people
around the world as it is for the people of the United States.
BUSH'S
CLAIMS TO UNLIMITED POWERS:
Corruption
Updates 16, 1st article on page, October
5, 2006, “BUSH
TRAINING CONGRESS TO OBEDIENCE PROBLEM TEACHING THEM TO
ROLL OVER WHEN THEY ARE ASLEEP”
Corruption
Updates 22, 7th article on page, “Reid
Threatens Bush with Oversight”
Corruption
Updates 23, 4th article on page, “Bush
Claims to Unlimited Power Contested”
Corruption
Updates 23, 8th article on page, “Harmon
Calls Wiretapping Illegal”
Corruption
Updates 23, 9th article on page, NYTIMES,
12-3-06: “TIMES
SOFTPEDALS PRESIDENTIAL WAR CRIMES AND DOMESTIC CRIMES. LEAVE
IT TO THE TIMES TO PUT LIPSTICK ON PIGS”
Corruption
Updates 25, 2nd article on
page, December 8, 2006, “GOP senator
says war may be 'criminal'”
Corruption
Updates 25, 7th article on
page, 12-6-06, “Italy Seeks Indictments of C.I.A.
Operatives in Egyptian’s Abduction”
Corruption
Updates 25, 8th article on page,
12-6-06, “Senators rap FBI over domestic spying”
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of Page
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5) THE ARTICLE ABSTRACTED BELOW WAS PUBLISHED BY AP ON
12-6-06:
EPA may
drop lead air pollution limits
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer
Published 6:22
pm PST Wednesday, December 6, 2006
“WASHINGTON
(AP) - The Bush administration is considering doing away with health
standards that cut lead from gasoline, widely regarded as one of the
nation's biggest clean-air accomplishments.”
“Battery
makers, lead smelters, refiners all have lobbied the administration
to do away with the Clean Air Act limits.”
“The
EPA says concentrations of lead in the air have dropped more than 90
percent in the past 2 1/2 decades.”
“But Rep.
Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the incoming chairman of the House Committee
on Government Reform, called on the agency to "renounce this
dangerous proposal immediately," because lead, a highly toxic
element, can cause severe nerve damage, especially in children.”
“ "This
deregulatory effort cannot be defended," Waxman wrote EPA
Administrator Stephen Johnson.”
“The
EPA has repeatedly missed the deadlines set under the Clean Air Act,
incurring the legal wrath of environmental groups.”
“In
July, a Washington-based trade group for all U.S. lead battery
makers wrote a top EPA air quality official to urge that the agency
remove lead from its list of air pollutants.”
“ "That
is not to say that air emissions of lead should be uncontrolled, or
that no steps should be taken to address public health concerns
arising from lead use," the Battery Council International said.
"But many other regulatory vehicles exist for meeting these
concerns." “
THE
COMMITTEE OBSERVES THAT SPECIAL INTERESTS WILL BUY THEIR PROFITS
FROM POLITICIANS WITH OUR BLOOD:
BATTERY
LOBBY BRIBES ENDANGER HEALTH
BUSH
REPAYS BRIBES WITH OUR HEALTH AND WELFARE BY ATTEMPTING TO KILL LEAD
STANDARDS
Every
special interest with two cents to rub together is trying to buy
extra profits at the expense of our welfare, from “our”
politicians. They want us to pay for the damages they do to the
public and our environment. They want us to subsidize their profits
by paying to clean up their messes. Since politics has become a game
of money, more times than not, they will purchase their profits by
sacrificing our blood, treasure, and safety. This must end.
There
are many deadly compounds and activities that we use to pursue our
lifestyle. Making sure that the businesses using these compounds and
activities do not cause widespread harm in their pursuit of profit
is a certain duty of our government.
But
our government has been purchased by the special interests, and they
have given up their duty to protect our basic safety and welfare for
special interest bribes. Big bribes come in to our politicians from
the special interests they are supposed to regulate. After election,
the politicians fail to responsibly regulate the industries that
bribed them.
The
politician's reward for their treachery is a constant flow of bribes
sufficient to maintain their political office, and a fat job with
the special interests when they finish screwing the public.
The
only way to stop this bribery is to stop it. We must stop the
politicians from accepting any money from any source other that
voters qualified to vote in their election. Only then we will have a
chance to be able to elect representatives that will represent the
local people, rather than the special interests. Only then will we
get politicians that they will be able to formulate sensible,
responsible regulations.
Regulations
that will protect the responsible businesses who pay the cost of
doing their business, while punishing those who injure the public,
or pass their clean-up costs onto the public.
For
other articles detailing the threats to the public by special
interest bribery,
Corruption
Updates 1, 2nd to last article on the page, “Big
Oil Owns our Politicians”
Corruption
Updates 2, 6th article down, “Contribute to
Win, Big Contribs try to Trump State Safety Laws”
Corruption
Updates 3, 2nd article on page, “Big Business
Spends Lawmakers into Compliance”
Corruption
Updates 4, 1st article on page, “Checks in,
Laws Out, It's that Simple”
Corruption
Updates 10, 5th article on page, “DO
BRIBED POLITICIANS PROVIDE SAFE REGULATION OF PIPELINES, OR ANYTHING
ELSE?” AP IN BEE.
Corruption Updates 16, 4th article on the page, "EPA STANDARDS WILL KILL YOU: SPECIAL INTEREST BRIBERY BRINGS AMERICA DEATH"
Corruption
Updates 21, 9th article on page, “White
House under Investigation for Censoring Science”
Corruption
Updates 24, 4th article on page, “ BIG OIL OWNS
INTERIOR DEPARTMENT”
Corruption
Updates 24, 5th article on page, NYTIMES,
12-3-06, “LOBBYING
BY TRUCKING INDUSTRY BRINGS DEATH TO NATION'S HIGHWAYS INSURANSE AND SAFETY LOBBIES HAVE INSUFFICIENT BRIBE
MONEY TO STOP TRUCKING LOBBY FROM GUTTING SAFETY RULES”
Corruption
Updates 25, 5th article on page, AP,
12-6-06, “BATTERY
LOBBY BRIBES ENDANGER HEALTH BUSH REPAYS
BRIBES WITH OUR HEALTH AND WELFARE BY ATTEMPTING TO KILL LEAD
STANDARDS”
Corruption
Updates 25, 6th article, AP,
12-6-06, “FARM
LOBBY BRIBES ENDANGER HEALTH GRASSLEY (R-IOWA) REPAYS
BRIBES BY KILLING EPA REGULATION OF FARMS
Corruption Updates 32, 2nd article on the page, "BUSH TRIES TO KILL CHEMICAL RULES, SCIENCE, AND INTEGRITY IN ONE FELL SWOOP: INTEGERTY FALLS, RULES AND SCIENCE DAMAGED, BUT STILL STANDING
Top
of Page
The Latest Index of Political Bribery
previous indexes you may find interesting
Read Articles describing how the Democrats represent Corporations
Links: Bribing, Silencing, and politically Manipulating Science
Read more about political Censorship of Science
Articles about howBIG MONEY RUNS POLITICS
Our politicians sell our health
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ARCHIVES
6) THE ARTICLE ABSTRACTED BELOW WAS PUBLISHED BY AP ON
12-6-06:
Last minute move would delay EPA rule
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer
Published 5:16
pm PST Wednesday, December 6, 2006
“WASHINGTON (AP) - Farmers would be off the
hook for costly air pollution cleanups under an obscure provision
slipped into a tax bill that may be the last act of this Congress.”
“Buried in the fine print of the bill filed
Wednesday, the measure by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles
Grassley, R-Iowa, would forbid the Environmental Protection Agency
from applying the Clean Air Act to dust and soot from farms until
2012.”
“Groups that have lobbied for the provision
include the American Soybean Association, the National Pork
Producers Council, the National Association of Wheat Growers, the
National Turkey Federation and the National Cattlemen's Beef
Association.”
THE COMMITTEE SAYS
FARM
LOBBY BRIBES ENDANGER HEALTH
GRASSLEY
(R-IOWA) REPAYS BRIBES BY KILLING EPA REGULATION OF FARMS
Now
we get the privilege of paying for cleaning up the farm lobby's air
pollution mess. What did this cost? Mr. Grassley's price to
subsidize farm pollution was the $423,991 that the agricultural
interests bribed him with.
This
“investment” (bribe) by the Ag lobby likely brought them
a return of tens of millions.
See: OpenSecrets.org,
to find out who Mr. Grassley really works for.
Also see citations following the previous article,
above, for more cases of our democracy, and therefore our public
safety, compromised by bribery.
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7) THE ARTICLE ABSTRACTED BELOW WAS PUBLISHED BY THE
NEW YORK TIMES ON 12-6-06:
Italy Seeks Indictments of C.I.A. Operatives in
Egyptian’s Abduction
By IAN FISHER and ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/06/world/europe/06italy.html?_
r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
“ROME, Dec. 5 — Italian prosecutors
asked Tuesday for the indictment of the country’s former
intelligence chief, along with 25 operatives of the Central
Intelligence Agency, for their involvement in the kidnapping of a
militant Egyptian cleric from Milan in 2003.”
“Nicolò Pollari, the former chief of
military intelligence, was replaced by the Italian government last
month, possibly in anticipation of his indictment. On Tuesday,
prosecutors in Milan asked for his indictment for what they said was
his collaboration with American agents in the abduction of the
cleric, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar.”
“The indictment asks for the trials of 26
Americans, all but one of whom were C.I.A. agents, including two who
were the top agency officials in Italy at the time. The other
American cited in the indictment is an Air Force colonel at the
American air base in Aviano, from which Mr. Nasr says he was flown
to an American air base in Germany, then to Egypt, where he claims
he was tortured.”
“Mr. Pollari, 63, has maintained his
innocence, claiming that he cannot defend himself adequately without
breaching national security laws.”
“Mr. Berlusconi has repeatedly denied any
knowledge of the abduction. Intelligence experts say it is highly
unlikely that American agents would have carried out the kidnapping
without high-level approval in the Italian government because the
American action would have violated the sovereignty of a close
ally.”
The COMMITTEE Observes:
ITALY CHIEF OF
INTELLIGENCE, 25 CIA OPERATIVES INDICTED FOR KIDNAPPING
CRIMES OF BUSH
ADMINISTRATION TOLERATED IN US, BUT NOT IN ITALY
The
repercussions of our country's criminal behavior around the world
are coming home to roost. The same American sponsored kidnapping and
torture that causes little problem when employed in Saudi Arabia,
Syria, and Egypt, not to mention Guatemala and etc, is scandalizing
Europe, and is causing a political crisis in Italy.
The
real, immediate cost to America, is a loss of faith by the world in
America's stated goals in global diplomacy, as well as the methods
we use to pursue our goals. The real cost is a global loss of
credibility, and the loss of the moral high ground that we had
occupied for so long.
As
we have changed how we pursue our goals, from public diplomacy,
under the rule of law, to publicly claiming the right to employ
secret kidnapping, torture, and open ended ended non-judicial
(illegal) “detentions,” the governments and people of
the world are adjusting their goals and methods accordingly.
Governments
around the world are following our example, and openly using
arbitrary violence, kidnapping and torture against their own people,
and anyone else by simply labeling them as a “terrorist.”
Many
would argue that this is nothing new. “Things have always been
like this,” say the apologists. It is indisputable that
America has supported a long line of tyrannical governments in Asia,
South America, Africa, and the Middle East. But we denied authorship
of our crimes. We disputed that the murders by death squad, the
“disappearances,” and torture even existed, let alone
were done with our direct knowledge and participation in these
events. Those days are over.
Today,
we openly acknowledge and defend the use of kidnapping, torture, and
murder. The nature and the methods used by our unsavory allies are
no longer held offshore, and at arms length from direct American
involvement. Where we had always disavowed torture and kidnapping,
and pretended the abuses we sponsored did not exist, we now claim
the right to use these illegal tools ourselves.
Now,
the previous wall of artificial separation between us and our crimes
has fallen: Our government is using kidnapping and torture directly,
at home and in the nations of our European allies, as well as our
traditional third world torturing grounds. We have dropped the use
of proxies, and now use kidnapping and torture ourselves.
This
should be no surprise to us. It was foolish to think we could
support and use other countries to do our dirty work, without
getting dirty ourselves.
It
was only a matter of time before we fell into the cesspool of
illegal violence, torture, and terror that we have imposed on other
peoples, and have encouraged and tolerated when used by
dictatorships allied with the US.
We
have fostered and preserved violent, undemocratic dictatorships in
the middle east for decades. Our Arabic allies in the middle east
are tyrannical, arbitrary governments who use American Military,
economic and political power to repress their own people, with our
consent. Their power is based on the use of violence, kidnapping,
torture, and long illegal detentions paid for with American tax
dollars, and carried out with American weapons and technology.
And
now, we kidnap and torture too. A criminal American government has
brought these illegal tools home, and is publicly defending these
crimes, pretending to have a legal basis to commit crimes against
humanity and our Constitution.
No
such basis exists.
Bush
= Criminal:
Corruption
Updates 16, 1st article on page, October
5, 2006, “BUSH
TRAINING CONGRESS TO OBEDIENCE PROBLEM TEACHING THEM TO
ROLL OVER WHEN THEY ARE ASLEEP”
Corruption
Updates 21,
7th article on page, “Ex-judges: Detainee law
unconstitutional”
Corruption
Updates 22, 7th article on page, “Reid
Threatens Bush with Oversight”
Corruption
Updates 23, 4th article on page, “Bush
Claims to Unlimited Power Contested”
Corruption
Updates 23, 8th article on page, “Harmon
Calls Wiretapping Illegal”
Corruption
Updates 23, 9th article on page, NYTIMES,
12-3-06: “TIMES
SOFTPEDALS PRESIDENTIAL WAR CRIMES AND DOMESTIC CRIMES. LEAVE
IT TO THE TIMES TO PUT LIPSTICK ON PIGS”
Corruption
Updates 25, 2nd article on
page, December 8, 2006, “GOP senator
says war may be 'criminal'”
Corruption
Updates 25, 7th article on
page, 12-6-06, “Italy Seeks Indictments of C.I.A.
Operatives in Egyptian’s Abduction”
Corruption
Updates 25, 8th article on page,
12-6-06, “Senators rap FBI over domestic spying”
Corruption
Updates 31, 1st article on
page, 1-17-07, “AG criticizes judges for terror
rulings”
Corruption
Updates 31, 2nd and 3rd articles on page, “Deputy Assistant Secretary for
the Indefensible,” and “A
Bush appointee's crude gambit on detainees' legal rights”
Corruption
Updates 31, 6th article on page, 1-17-07, “Secret Court to
Govern Warrantless Taps”
Corruption
Updates 31,
7th article on page, 1-19-07, “Pentagon
Revises Its Rules on Prosecution of Terrorists”
Corruption
Updates 31, 8th article on page, 1-19-07, “Pentagon
sets rules for detainee trials”
Corruption
Updates 32, 3rd article on page, “PRESIDENT
TRIES END RUN AROUND CONSTITUTION:CLAIMS ACTIONS ARE SECRET, AND
ABOVE OVERSIGHT”
Corruption
Updates 34, 4th article on page, “BUSH
KIDNAPPING ON TRIAL IN GERMANY: WHY IS GERMANY HOLDING US TO
THE RULE OF LAW?”
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8) THE ARTICLE ABSTRACT BELOW WAS PUBLISHED BY AP ON
12-6-06:
Senators rap FBI over domestic spying
By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer
Published
8:19 am PST Wednesday, December 6, 2006
“WASHINGTON (AP) - Senators frustrated by
scant details on the Bush administration's domestic eavesdropping
program on Wednesday rapped FBI Director Robert Mueller for refusing
to show how it has curbed terrorist activity in the United States.”
“Mueller said he was unable to talk about the
warrant less spying program because it is classified.”
“His answer annoyed senators, who said their
constitutionally protected oversight was being hampered by the
administration's stonewalling.”
“ "When done poorly or without proper
safeguards and oversight, data banks do not make us safer, they just
further erode Americans' privacy and civil liberties," said
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the panel's incoming chairman. He said
the administration "has gone to unprecedented lengths to hide
its own activities from the public, while at the same time
collecting and compiling unprecedented amounts of information about
every citizen." “
“Later, Mueller also said the FBI could better
fight terrorists if authorities had stronger subpoena power to
determine if threats are valid, and if search and surveillance tools
granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court could be
expanded.”
“He was also scolded by Sen. Dianne Feinstein,
D-Calif., for ranking violent crime prevention as less of a priority
than public corruption and organized crime cases.”
“ "Gangs are killing more people in this
country than organized crime ever did," Feinstein said. "And
that's just a fact." “
“Responding, Mueller said that if the FBI
didn't go after crooked public officials and organized crime cases,
"it will not be investigated." He called public corruption
cases the FBI's "top criminal investigative priority,"
noting that more than 1,000 government employees have been convicted
over the last two years with the FBI's help.”
THE COMMITTEE TAKES NOTE THAT:
FBI
CHIEF DEFYS CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT
REFUSAL
TO DISCLOSE ILLEGAL PROGRAM REVEALS ONGOING CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS:
SENATORS, MEDIA SEEM UNAWARE OF DEPTH OF CRISIS
When governments commit crimes, they invoke
“national security” to hide their crimes. It is natural
for criminals to want to keep their crimes a secret. But few
criminals have the power of the government to hide their crimes.
Usually, criminals hide their crimes from the
government, rather than using the government to hide their crimes.
Crazy times, but the clearly Unconstitutional nature of these
government crimes reveals that the excuse of “national
security” is being used as a cheap facade to cover criminal
behavior in the highest offices in the land.
Don't believe a word said by our politicians and
press on these illegal searches. Refer to, and Believe the
Constitution.
The Constitution clearly states that,
The
right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be
violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause,
supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the
place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Now let's be clear. The Constitution sets the
standard of no “unreasonable” searches, and names the minimum standards for a reasonable search.
Many politicians and legal “experts”
read the Fourth Amendment up to the term “unreasonable
searches and seizures.” They then ignore the rest of the
Amendment, which clearly defines the minimum standard of a
“reasonable” search. These “experts,” and
our politicians, have replaced the firm, clear standards of our
forefathers with their own distorted interpretation of the 4th Amendment which neutralizes the clear intention of the Constitution
to prohibit arbitrary searches.
No legitimate American Government has the right to
search without warrant supported by probable cause issued by a
judge.
The Committee defers to the wisdom of the Founders,
and rejects the Unconstitutional actions of our presently corrupted
government.
Do not pay any heed to those traitors who attack our
basic Constitutional rights. Rather, we must realize these people
are enemies of the Constitution they were sworn to protect, and they
are enemies of the people's right to have security in their
persons, possessions, and homes.
Our forefathers would
be spinning in their graves if they knew our representatives stood
by silently, if not aided, the government's repeal of the Fourth
Amendment.
Our politician's illegal revisions of our
Constitution make them illegitimate, and demonstrates the necessity
of a through reform of our political system.
(See Link List at the end of the
previous article)
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9) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS PUBLISHED BY AP ON
12-6-06:
Nominee for Pentagon watchdog withdraws
By JOHN SOLOMON, Associated Press Writer
Published 3:07 pm
PST Wednesday, December 6, 2006
“WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush's nominee to
be Pentagon inspector general has withdrawn from consideration,
meaning the Defense Department likely will start a second year
without its chief watchdog even as the military spends billions a
month in Iraq.”
“The inspector general's office is charged
with investigating waste, fraud and abuse inside the military, and
it has been without a presidentially appointed leader for more than
a year. The last inspector general, Joseph Schmitz, stepped down in
August 2005.”
“Career officials have been running the
office, but the watchdog has been criticized for being slow to get
staff on the ground to investigate issues in Iraq and for shying
away from examining the National Security Agency's electronic
surveillance program.”
The Committee notes that:
PENTAGON
WITHOUT FRAUD WATCHDOG FOR 2ND YEAR AS IRAQ WAR FRAUD SPIRALS OUT OF
CONTROL
WE
WILL NOT GET AN INSPECTOR GENERAL UNTIL A HALLIBURTON EXECUTIVE, OR
DEFENCE LOBBYIST, IS AVAILABLE
When our government breaks the law, you can be
assured that they will not investigate, nor reveal, their own
crimes. Heck, they will not hire investigators, and fire the ones
they have.
The Presidency has exceeded its Constitutional
limits, openly defying the Constitution and the Law. The Congress
has failed to oversee, or check these crimes, becoming an accessory
before and after the fact.
The “free” press sits silent, acting
more like a lapdog of power, that a watchdog of freedom, while our
country openly commits international and domestic crimes
unprecedented in our history.
It is past time for good people to reassert the
democracy our Constitution calls for. It is past the time for our
people to force the government back within the Constitutional
framework that gives our government legitimacy. It is past time for
our people to demand the restoration of the free press.
It is time to require that our politicians be
elected democratically, that our government operate
Constitutionally, and that our press be freed from the corporate
monopoly that has captured it.
Failure to take these steps puts the future of our
freedoms at risk, and threatens free people and governments around
the world.
Our choice is clear: Serve our ideals and our
country, or be subservient to illegitimate wealth and political
power.
Today, most Americans serve the illegitimate
political power of the wealthy and powerful. Today, most Americans
have chosen luxury over honor.
Tomorrow, when the costs of their dishonor comes
due, they will regret their choice.
Also See:
Corruption
Updates 13, 3rd article on page, “U.S.
firm botching jobs...”
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10) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS PUBLISHED BY THE NEW
YORK TIMES ON 12-8-06:
Labor Presses for Measure to Ease Unionizing
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/washington/08labor.html?pagewanted=print
“Claiming a major role in the Democrats’
victory last month, labor leaders are pressing Congressional
Democrats to enact a measure to make it easier for workers to
unionize.”
“Labor leaders see the measure as pivotal to
stop a slide in union membership that has lasted decades. But many
businesses and Republicans oppose the bill, which would allow employees at a
workplace to unionize as soon as a majority sign cards expressing
support to join a union.”
“With the percentage of workers in unions
sinking to 12.5 percent, the lowest in more than 60 years, labor
leaders say the right to organize has been severely compromised,
especially by aggressive antiunion campaigns that companies mount
for organizing drives.”
“Labor officials say relying on signed cards
rather than the traditional secret-ballot elections will make it
easier for workers to unionize. Such elections frequently turn into
months of battles between management and labor, with union
supporters often being fired.”
“Charlie Norwood, a Georgia Republican who is
chairman of the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections,
denounced the bill for card checks.”
“In calling card
checks unfair, Mr. Norwood said union thugs had used physical force
to have workers sign pro-union cards. Opponents of card checks also
say they are conducted so quickly that companies do not have a
chance to explain to workers why they should not join unions.”
“Pointing to the benefits of card checks,
Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America,
said his union had organized 22,000 workers at Cingular Wireless
using them over the past two years. Mr. Cohen said a big problem
with secret-ballot elections was that in the weeks leading up to
them companies often terrorized pro-union workers by spying on them
and firing or demoting them.”
THE COMMITTEE SAYS
CAN
UNIONS BENEFIT FROM DEM VICTORY?
DEMS
PROGRAM IS “FREE TRADE” AND FREE IMMIGRATION: CAN UNIONS
SURVIVE IN THIS ENVIRONMENT?
For the last 30 years labor has been a party to its
own destruction. Rather than fighting for fair working conditions,
and the policies necessary to achieve them, the unions have drawn a
circle around elite workers, abandoning everybody else to labor in
third world wage and working conditions. The result is that wages
have plunged, union membership plummeted, and the middle-class has
been forced downward, toward third world peasant conditions.
Our jobs have been shipped to foreign countries, and
foreigners have uncontrollably flooded the US, to fill jobs here
because our politicians and special interests are more interested in
lowering wage and benefit standards than protecting the general
welfare of this country. And the unions sit silent.
The unions have drawn a circle around the only
membership they have left: government workers, and a few elite
trades. During a long history of sweetheart deals between the Unions
and Democrats, government workers have gained excellent wages and
benefits while the rest of us have been forced to third world wages
and poverty. The elite trades have been dwarfed by the growth of
non-union trade craft.
The unions have sold American Labor down the river
in exchange for better conditions and wages for their narrow, elite
memberships.
The political and demographic situation does not
favor decent conditions for American labor, no matter which party is
in power. The basic conditions both parties agree on is that
American Jobs will be done by foreigners here or abroad.
The endless supply of cheap, subservient labor, both
in this country, and around the world, assures that demands for
wages and benefits that maintain American living standards can be
ignored, and that conditions will continue to decline for our
American working classes.
labor policy based on unlimited offshoring, and
illegal immigration, assures that the children of the immigrants
will continue to suffer under the abuses that their parents, and our
bribed political leadership, brought to our working classes.
Until a political party actually advocates a fair
immigration and labor policy that serves the general welfare of all of our country, rather than the desire of employers for cheap labor, labor policy
will continue to favor unrestricted, irresponsible growth, and
continue to damage the living and working conditions for American
workers.
We can be assured the costs of bread, rent,
electricity, water and land will continue to rise, while the wages
of labor continue to drop. It is a simple function of supply and
demand. We live in a flood of cheap labor, cheapening wages, while
our resources diminish, vastly increasing costs, and corporate
profits.
This is not good for the middle class. But it is
excellent for those who are bribing our politicians.
And the unions will continue to be irrelevant for
90% of our workers, no matter which party is in charge.
11) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS PUBLISHED BY THE NEW
YORK TIMES ON 12-8-06:
Longtime Lawmaker, Under Cloud, Fights to Stay On
By ADAM NOSSITER
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/08/us/politics/08jefferson.html?pagewanted=print
“NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 7 — One of the last
undecided House races has played out here as the fierce bid for
survival of a veteran politician whose career is threatened by a
federal corruption investigation.”
“On Saturday, for the second time in two
months under Louisiana’s idiosyncratic
runoff system, Representative William J. Jefferson has to present
himself to the voters.”
“...if Mr.
Jefferson wins, his victory will have the potential to embarrass the Democrats and Louisianans eager
to prove to federal aid officials that they have left behind the
corrupt past.”
“Having
been rejected by his own state party and become a pariah to the
financial establishment here, Mr. Jefferson is counting on his
inner-city base to look past the F.B.I. accusations and rally around
him as it has since he was first elected in 1990.”
“Court documents depict Mr. Jefferson as
trying to use his position to extract cash from a businessman whom
he was helping win contracts.”
“His
connections to the poorest neighborhoods through allies, charities,
community agencies and relatives run deep. Federal prosecutors are
looking at the financing of minority-oriented charities with ties to
the Jefferson family, state officials said several weeks ago.”
THE
COMMITTEE OBSERVES THAT
POSTERBOY OF DEM
CORRUPTION FIGHTS FOR SURVIVAL
JEFFERSION OF LOUISIANA
STRUGGLES TO FEND OF BRIBEY CHARGES IN FINAL RUNOFF
The Democrats
were thrown out, by Newt, for corruption. Now, the Republicans have
been thrown out for their corruptions.
The parties
have proven themselves equally corrupt, merely passing the gavel to
the other party when the people throw out the majority party. Each
party protecting their mutually shared system of bribery and
corruption.
And the people
still vote for one or the other. Stop that! Both parties are
corrupt. Stop voting for “the lesser of two evils.” Vote
for anyone except the party hacks who have stolen our democracy.
It is time for
the people to wake themselves up, and stop this pendulum of
corruption from endlessly swinging between the Democratic and
Republican regimes of corruption.
It is time for
the people to identify the shared foundation of corruption that has
captured both parties, and destroy it before it completely destroys
our country.
We must break
the link of bribery between the special interests, the parties, and
the politicians. Today, power flows from the top, from our rich and
powerful people and special interests, downward to the parties and
politicians, and then downward, onto the heads of our citizens.
We must break
this unconstitutional, illegitimate hijacking of our democracy, and
restore the citizen as the source of power and success for the
politicians and parties. We must restore the upward flow of
authority, from the people, to the politicians. Until we do, our
government will continue to be illegitimate by our own
Constitution's standards.
Until we do,
our democracy will continue to be a mockery of itself.
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12) THE ABSTRACT PRINTED BELOW WAS PUBLISHED BY THE SF
CHRONICLE ON 12-6-06:
Dems
warn Bush on Iraq funding
New majority in Congress
will seek to influence policy on conduct of war
-
Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Wednesday,
December 6, 200
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/12/06/MNGQFMQAMH1.DTL
&type=printable
“(12-06) 04:00 PST Washington -- House Democrats sent a strong signal to President
Bush on Tuesday that they will attach conditions he is likely to
find unpalatable, perhaps even unacceptable, to his anticipated
request early next year for another $100 billion or more to pay for
the war in Iraq.”
“At the least, Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi of
San Francisco and other leaders of the incoming
Democratic majority said they will seek to enforce greater
transparency for the billions of dollars in contracts that the
Pentagon pays private firms to perform numerous functions in Iraq.”
“One of
her deputies, Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, said the debate over
more money for Iraq "will be a turning
point for a new direction for Iraq." “
“Asked
if that means calling for withdrawals, he said, "We are now at
the beginning of figuring out those questions in the proper way."
“
“A good part of
what the Democrats will do depends on what policy changes Bush
makes. In addition to the Baker-Hamilton study group, the Pentagon
is conducting a policy review that was started before Bush named
Robert Gates to replace Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Gates
said Tuesday at his confirmation hearing that the administration
will consider all options because of the policy failures in Iraq.
Gates may be confirmed as early as today.”
“Among
those who spoke to the Democratic caucus was Rep. John Murtha,
D-Pa., a longtime military booster and former Iraq war
supporter who turned against the war more than a year ago. Murtha,
who will chair the military appropriations subcommittee when the
Democrats take control Jan. 4, promised vigorous oversight of how
money for Iraq is spent.”
“But
there are divisions among the Democrats. Rep. Dennis Kucinich,
D-Ohio, passed out a seven-page paper to his colleagues calling on
them to vote against future funds for Iraq as a
way to end the war. "The American people will have trouble
understanding any of us who say we oppose the war and simultaneously
vote to fund it," he said.”
“Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, who has voted
against past war appropriations bills, said she will vote against
the next one.”
“ "The voters gave us our marching orders
last month. They want this war to end," she said.”
“And
Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Petaluma, who also has been in the small
minority to vote against war funds, said the House should call for
withdrawal and tell Bush that it will not approve any further war
supplemental spending bills.”
“On that last
point, there is wide agreement among the Democrats. They say that by
removing the war funding from the regular appropriations process the
administration has deepened the budget deficit and hidden the war's
true cost.”
“Democratic rule
takes shape”
“Rep. Nancy Pelosi announced the Democratic
Party leadership's choices to run six top House committees.
Confirmations are expected today. The six Democratic chairs are:”
“Rep. John Dingell of Michigan --
Energy and Commerce Committee”
“Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin --
Appropriations Committee”
“Rep. Charles Rangel of New York --
Ways and Means Committee”
“Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts --
Financial Services Committee”
“Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina --
Budget Committee”
“Rep. Louise
Slaughter of New York --
Rules Committee”
THE
COMMITTEE SAYS:
DEMS PRETEND TO RESIST
WAR
LACK OF ANY UNIFYING
POLICY/PLATFORM ASSURES DEMS WILL TALK, BUT NOT ACT, AGAINST
CRIMINAL PRESIDENT AND CRIMINAL WAR
The Dems are
giving out mixed signals. First, it's reported that Pelosi nixed
impeachment moves, repealing the tax cuts, and withholding funds for
Iraq. Then it's reported that the Dems are taking a hard line, and
will impose strict oversight on the Executive branch.
What is clear,
is that the Dems won the last election by standing silent while the
Repubs self-destructed. They have stood silently while our
Constitution has been shredded in public. And this dishonorable
strategy brought them victory.
The Dems
strategy of political victory by standing silent as our military and
Constitutional crisis deepened, has now left them in legislative
disarray. As they stood for nothing in the last election, they are
having a hard time standing for anything after the election. They
have no principal, policy, or plan to deal with our Constitutional
and military crisis.
The Dems are
apparently putting together a policy agenda on the fly, with no real
idea of where they are, how good and evil differ, and what direction
they are taking the country toward.
The Dems are
too deeply involved in systematic political corruption to make
anything but superficial changes in the system of bribery.
The Dems were
too involved in supporting the lies that led to this war to oppose
this war.
The Dems
policy is only going to emerge in response to events, not as a
product of any reasoned, or principled stand.
The Dems are
giving no indications that they will conduct our business by firm
Constitutional, or even basic ethical standards.
So look for a
Democratic policy to emerge in response to the blowups and crisis we
see approaching on the horizon, instead of having a plan, based on
ethics or principals, that anticipates these upcoming problems and
navigates around them.
As the Dems
have no plan, nor ethics to guide their actions by, we can expect
our international and domestic crisis will continue to deepen.
Corruption
Updates 23, 4th article on page, “Bush Claims
to Unlimited Power Contested”
Corruption
Updates 23, 9th article on page, “Times Soft
pedals Presidential War and Domestic Crimes”
GO TO:
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Corruption Updates: Page
24
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26
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