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Posted September 11, 2007

Recent News from September 10-11

 

CORRUPTION UPDATES 113

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1) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited. After the abstract there's analysis and commentary, links to related articles, and a link to the database with suggested search terms.

AP Poll: Most See Iraq War As Failure

 

By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer

 

SF Chron, September 11, 2007

 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/09/11/national/w000947D96.DTL

 

(09-11) 00:20 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

The public sees the Iraq war as a failure and thinks the U.S. troop buildup there has not worked, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll...

The pessimism expressed by most people — including significant minorities of Republicans — contrasted with the brighter picture offered by Gen. David Petraeus.

By 59 percent to 34 percent, more people said they believe history will judge the Iraq war a complete or partial failure than a success. Those calling it a failure included eight in 10 Democrats, three in 10 Republicans and about six in 10 independents, the poll showed...

Underscoring the public's negativity, four times as many predicted the war in Iraq would be judged as a complete U.S. failure as the number who see a complete success, 28 percent to 7 percent.

When the Gallup Poll asked the same question in September 2006, 52 percent said the war will be judged as a partial or complete failure, seven points fewer than the AP-Ipsos survey.

In the poll — taken in the days just before Petraeus' long-awaited appearance — more people rated the troop increase a flop than a success by 58 percent to 36 percent, with three in 10 Republicans joining majorities of Democrats and independents in foreseeing failure.

Positive reviews of the troop increase were at about the same level as they were in mid-January, just after Bush announced the buildup.

That didn't match Petraeus' appraisal.

The poll was conducted Sept. 6-9 and involved telephone interviews with 1,000 adults. It had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

CCusha

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., September , 2007

Also See:

96_2: Bush Wars Push Saudi Arabia out of American Axis

97_1: Bush Arms Everybody

97_3: Failed war, failed state, failed empire

 

Corruption Updates 33, 3rd article on the page, "Sen. Warner Gets Cold Feet Over War"

Corruption Updates 43, 6th article on the page, "Bush impeachment on the table, Hagel says: Hegel accuses Bush of Everything but High Crimes and Treason

Corruption Updates 45, 1st article on the page, "McCaffrey Paints Gloomy Picture of Iraq"

Corruption Updates 56, 5th article on the page, "Batiste: Army Career Behind Him, General Speaks Out on Iraq"

Corruption Updates 67, 1st article on the page, "'03 Iraq reports warned Bush: Bush is an Irresponsible Idiot"

Corruption Updates 79, 1st article on the page, "Iraq Ranks No. 2 of Failed States"

Corruption Updates 86, 2nd article on the page, Lugar shakes Capitol, calls Bush Iraq strategy a failure

Corruption Updates 108, 2nd article on the page, Report Finds Iraqi Government Precarious

Corruption Updates 113, 1st article on the page, Poll: Americans see War as Failure

Corruption Updates 113, 2nd article on the page, Poll: Iraqis see War as Failure

Iraq Links

Search the Corruption Database under

Iraqi War (33 Abstracts)

Generals

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2) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.

Poll Highlights Disconnect Between U.S. Commanders, Iraqis

 

By Megan Greenwell and Jon Cohen

Washington Post Staff Writers

Monday, September 10, 2007; 1:38 PM

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/10/AR2007091000528_pf.html

 

 

BAGHDAD, Sept. 10 -- Seven in 10 Iraqis believe the U.S. troop buildup in Baghdad and Anbar province has made security worse in those areas and nearly half want coalition forces to leave immediately, according to a new poll conducted by ABC News, the BBC and the Japanese broadcaster NHK.

In most areas, the poll reveals a basic disconnect between U.S. commanders' view of a steadily improving situation in Iraq and a bleaker outlook among Iraqis.

Fewer than one-quarter of Iraqis report that things in Iraq are going well, down from 35 percent in a similar poll released in March, while the number of people who expect conditions to improve in the next year has declined precipitously.

In November 2005, shortly before Iraq's historic open elections, 69 percent of residents said they believed life would be better in a year. But in the poll this March, only 40 percent had a positive outlook; now, less than a quarter of Iraqis, 23 percent, expect the country to be better off a year from now.

More than six in 10 Iraqis now say the U.S.-led invasion in spring 2003 was a mistake. That negative assessment is 11 percentage points higher than it was in March. For the first time, more than half of Shiites, 51 percent, say it was wrong for coalition forces to invade Iraq, an event that toppled a power structure in which minority Sunnis dominated Shiites and Kurds.

Nearly half of all Iraqis now want coalition forces out of the country immediately, a 12-point increase from March, but there were sharp sectarian and ethnic divisions on this subject. Nearly three-quarters of Sunnis want the troops to leave now, as do 44 percent of Shiites. Only about one in 10 Kurds want an immediate withdrawal.

Nearly six in 10 Iraqis say attacks on coalition forces are "acceptable," up six percentage points from March, including a 15-point jump among Shiites, 50 percent of whom now call such actions acceptable.

...overall, the Iraqi assessment of the situation remains dire. All of the 13 quality-of-life measures tested in the poll are rated poorly, including overwhelmingly negative appraisals of energy supplies and the availability of jobs. Only one -- the rating of local schools -- has improved from March.

Only a quarter of Iraqis report feeling "very safe" in their own neighborhoods, unchanged from March, just after nearly 30,000 additional U.S. troops started arriving. In Baghdad, where ratings of local conditions are particularly negative, none of those polled said they feel very safe, although fewer now feel "not safe at all" than in the March poll. Six in 10 believe that security is worse in Iraq than it was six months ago, and just 11 percent believe security has improved.

During the past six months, disapproval of the Shiite-led government is up 15 percentage points among Shiites to 47 percent. Among Kurds, it is up 24 points to 53 percent.As in March, nearly all Sunnis polled thought the government was doing a bad job.

As for the structure of the Iraqi government, more than six in 10 Iraqis support a unified country, with the central government in Baghdad. But again, sectarian divisions are stark. While 97 percent of Sunnis and 56 percent of Shiites want a single, unified country, only 9 percent of Kurds favor that approach. Forty-nine percent of Kurds want to divide the country into separate, independent states and another 42 percent would like Iraq to be a group of states with a federal government in Baghdad.

The poll was based on face-to-face interviews between Aug. 17 and 24, among a random national sample of 2,212 Iraqi adults. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. The fieldwork was conducted by D3 Systems of Vienna and KA Research Ltd. of Istanbul.

THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., September , 2007

In the US, as in Iraq, 60% of poll respondents rated the war as a blunder. At least we have one thing in common!

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Also See:


Corruption Updates 113, 2nd article on the page, Poll Highlights Disconnect Between U.S. Commanders, Iraqis

Iraq Links

Search the Corruption Database under

Iraq War

 

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3) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.

Clinton to cut ties with fundraiser

The Democrat's presidential campaign is refunding $850,000 linked to Norman Hsu, caught up in allegations of running a Ponzi scheme.

By Robin Fields, Chuck Neubauer and Dan Morain

Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

 

Los Angeles Times, September 11, 2007

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-hsu11sep11,0,1526846.story?coll=la-home-center

 

WASHINGTON — -- Confronted with the possibility that disgraced fundraiser Norman Hsu might be running an illicit investment scheme, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign announced late Monday that it was returning $850,000 from 260 donors associated with Hsu.

"I can tell you with 100 certainty that Norman Hsu is NOT involved in a ponzi scheme," wrote Samantha Wolf, who was a campaign finance director for the Western states."He is COMPLETELY legit."

In fact, Hsu was a fugitive wanted on a 15-year-old bench warrant stemming from an early 1990s investment fraud case.

The amount is one of the largest ever returned by a single candidate, and the action marked a sharp turn for the Clinton campaign.

Beyond his own contributions, Hsu was valuable as a so-called bundler, a person who collects checks from others and provides a stack of them to candidates. Bundlers have become especially important since recent campaign finance reform laws limited the amount a single individual can contribute to political causes.

Nearly all major presidential campaigns rely on bundlers, and most do the same minimal background checks that the Clinton campaign had employed.

Questions about Hsu were first raised in June by an Irvine businessman, Jack Cassidy, who contacted the Clinton campaign and party officials about his suspicions, which he had heard about through a friend.

"There is a significant probability that a man using the name of Norman Hsu is running a Ponzi scheme," Cassidy wrote to a California Democratic Party official on June 18 in an e-mail obtained by The Times. Describing the deal he understood Hsu was offering to investors, he wrote: "The math does not work!"

The party official passed Cassidy's concerns to Samantha Wolf, who rejected them.

On June 20, Cassidy sent an e-mail directly to Wolf.

"I am more than ever convinced that a man claiming to be a big fundraiser for Hillary Clinton is running a Ponzi scheme," he wrote. He said he feared that an associate "may lose her home" because of her participation in the scheme and cautioned Wolf that Hsu may be "using your good name in vane."

Cassidy said Wolf did not respond to the e-mail warning.

On Monday, Wolf declined to discuss Hsu or Cassidy's e-mails. She no longer works for the Clinton campaign, but did as recently as July. Before becoming a West Coast finance director, Wolf, a 2006 college graduate, was deputy Midwest/Northern Virginia finance director at Hillary Clinton for President.

The Hsu saga has evoked memories of scandals that plagued President Clinton's 1996 reelection drive, in which donors contributed large amounts to the campaign and the party under embarrassing circumstances.

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THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Political Crooks Collect Contributions from Scammers and Thieves

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., September , 2007

After experiencing yet another set of business failures in Commie China, Norman Hsu returned from Commie China and began living the high life in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Where did Hsu get the money to finance his luxurious lifestyle when he returned from bankruptcy in China? It is apparent that Hsu began bilking American investors to the tune of 70 millions, starting with 33 millions that a group of southern California investors sued Hsu for in 2002. A NY investment firm just filed a suit to recover 40 millions they claim Hsu defrauded from them.

Before Hsu defrauded American investors, he had spent a significant amount of money building up his luxurious lifestyle and credibility. Where did this "seed money" come from?

Hsu was buying something, and the Democrats were willing to sell. I'm betting that Hsu is a traitor as well as a political criminal, and was a conduit for Chinese money to influence the policies of the Democrapic party.  I'm betting that Billery was once again selling itself to foreign powers and donors, selling themselves to enhance the profits and power of China, in this case.

I'm betting that Hsu was contributing millions of bundled foreign contributions to buy the political protection required to allow China to continue to flood our markets with poisoned products made by virtual slaves in a country that has no health, safety, labor, or environmental protections.

That's what Hsu was buying from Billery and the rest of the Corporate Dems.

Also See:

The Clinton's have previous experience selling our country down the river, besides NAFTA:

Albion Monitor, Monitor Wire Services, 2-18-97, "More Questions About Clinton's Asian Donations"

March 30, 1998: Clinton's Asian superfunds - '96 campaign funds - Senate probe reports

Dec. 19, 1996, NY Times, "Money From Private Sources Helps Clinton and Associates With Bad Times and Good"

Corruption Updates 62, 10th article on the page, Clinton: Pakistani businessman, donor to Dems, returns to U.S. to face charges

A fine list of NY Times Articles detailing the scummy relationships between the Clintons and Foreign Thieves

 

The Clinton's Corporate Democracy:


Corruption Updates 33, th article on the page,
Corporate Democrats of the Democratic Leadership Council Laughs at democracy

See Right Web for an interesting profile of the DLC and its Corporate backers


Corruption Updates 59, 2nd article on the page,
At Wal-Mart, Clinton didn't upset any carts


Corruption Updates 62, 6th article on the page,
Suit Sheds Light on Clintons’ Ties to a Benefactor

Corruption Updates 62, 10th article on the page, Clinton: Pakistani businessman, donor to Dems, returns to U.S. to face charges


Corruption Updates 76, 4th article on the page,
Clinton: Fundraiser allegedly demanded stock


Corruption Updates 78, 6th article on the page,
Poll: Dem Voters Hate Candidates

Corruption Updates 93, 7th article on the page, He backs Clinton; her backers help him

Corruption Updates 97, 2nd article on the page, Executive privilege touchy for presidential hopefuls: Just a Reminder of why Bush is out of Control

Corruption Updates 109, 8th article on the page, Clinton: Yet Another Criminal Foreign Donor

more clinton is bribed Links

Democrats: party of the corporations

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Search the Corruption Database under

Clinton

 

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4) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.

FBI looks into disgraced donor's business

Investigators study the legitimacy of an investment pool operated by Hsu, a Democratic fundraiser, who was arrested last week.

By Robin Fields, Chuck Neubauer and Tom Hamburger

Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

 

Los Angeles Times, September 10, 2007

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-hsu10sep10,1,2010947.story?coll=la-politics-campaign&ctrack=1&cset=true

 

WASHINGTON — The FBI has begun examining a murky business venture run by disgraced Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu that paid out hefty profits over the last several years to investors, some of whom were pressed to make contributions to Hillary Rodham Clinton and other political candidates.

Sources told The Times on Sunday that a number of participants and their associates in Southern California and elsewhere had been in contact with the FBI about an investment pool operated by Hsu.

One associate, Irvine businessman Jack Cassidy, said he had tried to warn authorities and the Clinton campaign as early as June that he feared Hsu was running an illicit enterprise, but had gotten no response.

"Nobody picked up the ball," said Cassidy, who was not an investor but heard about Hsu's business from a friend.

Hsu, 56, has contributed or raised more than $1.2 million for Clinton and other Democrats, but has become a source of embarrassment since The Times revealed in late August that he was a fugitive wanted on a 15-year-old bench warrant stemming from an early 1990s investment fraud case.

Investigators as well as investors are questioning whether Hsu's current business was a legitimate bridge-loan investment pool, as those involved were told, or a Ponzi scheme.

Hsu, a self-described apparel executive, appears to have operated the investment business for at least four years under such names as Next Components and Components Ltd., according to sources.

His pitch for investors and his request for political donations reinforced each other, as he represented himself as a wealthy businessman and big player in Democratic politics, several investors said.

They were told their money was going into loan pools, some as large as $15 million, for businesses that needed short-term financing. Investors typically made at least a 6% profit in each 90-day period.

Now they say they are fearful that they will never recoup their remaining investments; some wonder if the bridge-loan pool ever existed or if they were just paid with money coming in from new investors. In the early-1990s criminal case against Hsu, he solicited investors for a venture purchasing and reselling latex gloves; investigators determined he never bought the gloves and accused him of running a Ponzi scheme.

The New York Times reported Sunday that financial records from one of Hsu's companies show a similar pattern of money flowing to and from people who later made political donations through Hsu to Clinton and others.

One investor said she made donations solely to stay in Hsu's good graces and knew others who did so as well.

"They knew they had to do it or they were out," said the investor, who asked to remain anonymous. "There were people who maxed out every credit card they had to give the maximum $4,600 in donations."

She said she opposed Clinton's presidential bid but gave money to her campaign anyway. "I can't stand the woman," the investor said.

Their donations were among those delivered in bundles by Hsu, making him especially valuable to candidates because recent changes in campaign finance laws have sharply limited the amount individuals can contribute.

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THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Clinton Collects Pyramid Scheme Contributions from Corporations and other criminals

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., September , 2007

One thing I know for sure about this particular investigation is that the FBI and US Attorneys will go for the most damaging investigation possible.

This will be very unlike their pursuit of Abramoff and the ring of criminals surrounding DeLay, Rove, and the Republican leadership, as well as the bulk of Republicans who received this tainted money in both Houses. These investigations were internally curbed to prevent the damage from spreading across the whole Repugnant Party.

This investigation will be very unlike the Administration's suppression of Repugnant corruption investigations. You can bet that nothing will happen in this one like the firing of US Attorney Lamb in San Diego to derail the Brent Wilkes Bribery and Corruption case. Good thing that one was squelched, as it too could have touched almost every Repugnant in Congress.

Although this investigation will be damaging to the Dems, it will not bring Billery down. What ticks me off is the system of bribery that our elections have devolved into. Both parties are playing a nasty game of deception and corruption with our sacred political system and our values. The investigations of Billery and Delay have common elements that make their similarities more striking than their differences. Let's compare and see which one is scummier, Billery or DeLay!

Both Billery and Delay were laundering special interest through "bundlers," who's role is to combine bribes to better purchase political influence. This one is a tie. They are equally scummy.

But Billery was receiving money that was extorted by Hsu, while Delay accepted funds that were extorted from Indian tribes and crusading Christians. Billery's money came from ruining people, while DeLay's money came from ruining Indians and duping Christians. This one's almost a tie, but Billery's fruits of extortion make her scummier than DeLay's Indian money, because the Indians were knowingly trying to buy political influence. Play with fire and get justly burned.

While DeLay used the money to buy and bribe the Repugnants into control of the Texas legislature, Billery is trying to use bribery money to capture the White House. Billery wins if Billery wins the White House, but DeLay did win the Texas Legislature, even if he can only enjoy it from a position of dishonor.

In terms of motivations, they both have grand visions of collecting vast sums of bribes to catapult them into holding great political power in their own hand, and are equally scummy in terms of motivation and the vision thing. Both seek power at the cost of values, ethics and honor, and are equally scummy as judged by their motivations.

In terms of methodology and effectiveness Delay wins hands down. Billery may win the White House and challenge Delay as the scummiest of the two, but so far the Repugnants still have Texas and the White House.

Delay and the Repugnants set up a machine of corruption that dominated Congress and captured Texas. Billery and the Dem's corruptions look amateurish and sloppy in comparison. DeLay is one of the most effective scumbags to come down the pike in a good while.

Despite Billery's sincerity motivation, and efforts to sell herself like a painted whore to the special interests, her efforts appear amateurish compared to the polished professionalism of Repugnant corruption.

DeLay wins the Battle of the Scumbags hands down. But the battle is not over: Billery still has a lot more of our country's assets to trade away for bribes before this campaign ends.

 

Also See:

The Dems are Corrupted Political Whores:

Corruption Updates 3, “Media Reports: Both Parties Corrupt

Corruption Updates 19, 1st article on page,TOP RECIPEINTS OF LOBBYISTS BRIBES ARE LEADERSHIP OF BOTH PARTIES

Corruption Updates 20, 1st article on page, 10-25-06, “PELOSI FUNRAISING FRENZY ASSURES SPECIAL INTEREST DOMINATION OF GOVERNMENT INDEPENDENT OF WHICH SIDE WINS IN NOV

Corruption Updates 20, 6th article on page, "DEMS RECEIVE SPECIAL INTEREST BRIBES ANTICIPATING VICTORY IN NOV"

Corruption Updates 21, 2nd article on page, 10-30-06: “SHADOW PARTIES (527S) INFUSE MILLIONS IN BRIBE MONEY INTO ELECTION SPECIAL INTERESTS SKIRT CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS TO MAINTAIN THEIR ILLIGIMATE AUTHORITY THROUGH POLITICAL BRIBERY

Corruption Updates 21, 8fh article on page, 11-1-06: “DEMS BIG CHANCE TO REAP THE REWARDS OF CORRUPTION POLITICAL VICTORY OPENS DOORS OF LOBBYING FIRMS TO DEMO INSIDERS: IT'S THE DEMS TURN TO ROB THE PUBLIC BLIND, AND BETRAY OUR DEMOCRACY

After the Election:

Corruption Updates 26, 1st article on page, 12-8-06, LOBBYISTS SEE NO CHANGE UNDER DEMS CORRUPTION PRESENTED AS FORCE OF NATURE, DEM CORRUPTION NATURAL

Corruption Updates 28, 1st article on page, 1-2-07: “LOBBYISTS HIRING-BRIBING DEMS SHIFTING FUNDS AND PERSONELL TO DEMS ASSURES NO REAL CHANGES

Corruption Updates 33, 4th article on page, “Lobbyists find new Congress is open for business

SF Chron, July 27, 2007; Dem leaders shield farm bill: Dems Preserve Subsidies to Corporate Agriculture

LA Times, July 29, 2007; Executive privilege touchy for presidential hopefuls: Just a Reminder of why Bush is Out of Control

LAT, July 31, 2007; House approves sweeping ethics bill: House does Everything EXCEPT DEMOCRACY

Corruption Updates 68, 1st article on page, "Dems drafting bill that could derail state warming law"

AP, August 1, 2007; House Drops Tougher Auto Fuel Economy: Dems Suck Corporate Cocks: Told you So

Bee, August 3, 2007; Fiendstien: Auditor (Husband) under fire reaps big profits: Feinstein Robs Elderly of HealthCare, and Profits Handsomely

SF Chron, August 4, 2007; Feinstein draws fire over vote for judge: Fiendstien was Never more that a Tool of Wealth and Power

Chron, August 5, 2007; House passes energy bill: Chronicle Covers Dems Asses

Washington Post, August 5, 2007; House Approves Wiretap Measure: Pelosi, Dems, Betray Constitution Again

Washington Post, August 12, 2007; How the Fight for Vast New Spying Powers Was Won: Dems-Repug Traitors Pass Illegal Spy Bill in Defiance of Constitution

NY Times, August 12, 2007; Democrats Say Leaving Iraq May Take Years: Dems Still Voting for Iraq War


Corruption Updates 109, 3rd article on the page, Dems say they will press Gonzales Inquires

 

See Commentary and links above

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Search the Corruption Database under

Clintons

Democrats

DeLay

Republicans

 

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5) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.

Editorial:

A brake on the Patriot Act

 

 

SF Chron, September 10, 2007

 

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/10/EDNBS195Q.DTL

 

IMAGINE THIS: Unknown to you, federal authorities read your phone records, check through your e-mails and sniff through online bank records. The phone companies and Internet firms can't say a word, and a judge is largely powerless to block a determined legal posse from having its way.

Yet that's the way the Patriot Act has worked since its inception in the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In its hunt for domestic terrorists, the FBI has near-total power to sort through personal records in secrecy.

Surely, though, this feature isn't widely used or tapped only sparing in the worst cases? After all, this is a country built on due process and judicial review.

The FBI has increased its use of national security letters, the neutral-sounding term for directives to phone and Internet companies to cough up information. This tool, in place since 1986, was little used until the Bush administration ramped up its features. In 2005, the FBI sent out 19,000 letters seeking some 47,000 pieces of information and a total of 143,000 such requests from 2003 to 2005. Judges were largely powerless to interfere.

Until now. In a suit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, a federal judge last week moved to stop this wholesale invasion of basic rights. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero wasn't nice about it. He called the tactic "the legislative equivalent of breaking and entering, with an ominous free pass to the hijacking of constitutional values."

The judge made it plain. The courts, not just law enforcement, have a role in overseeing investigations that touch on personal rights. There must be checks and balances on federal authorities.

What especially irked Marrero was the fact that this wasn't the first time he'd considered the issue. In 2004, he objected to the same provisions, and the Justice Department responded by re-writing the Patriot Act eventually extended by Congress. The fixes did little to change the enormous weight given to the FBI in issuing the security letters.

The judge's ruling - combined with the overdue departure of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales - offer hope that this nation might pause to consider the magnitude of the liberties and values it has been sacrificing in the name of security.

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THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Can We Restore our Rights? Not Until we restore our Democracy

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., September , 2007

The Patriot Act is just one claw on the talons of tyranny that are shredding our Constitution and Rights. The links following give a history of the illegal searches conducted under this illegal law.

But the Patriot Act is just one aspect of the totality of surveillance the government has constructed. This linked Article follows the internal drama that roiled the Department of Justice when this criminal administration defeated the Fourth Amendment of our Constitution.

Also See:

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Corruption Updates 25, 8th article on the page, "FBI CHIEF DEFYS CONGRESSIONAL OVERSIGHT REFUSAL TO DISCLOSE ILLEGAL PROGRAM"

Corruption Updates 41, 5th article on the page, "FBI Violations May Number 3,000, Official Says: HOW DO YOU SAY ILLEGAL SEARCH? “National Security Letter"

Corruption Updates 112, 2nd article on the page, Judge Invalidates Patriot Act Provisions: Judge Throws Criminal "Patriot" Act back into President and Congress' Faces

For a more complete set of links about illegal searching click here.

Search the Corruption Database under

Illegal Searches


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6) The Article linked below was Abstracted from the source cited.

Guatemala awaits election results

Guatemalans have cast their ballots in presidential and parliamentary elections, after one of the bloodiest campaigns in the country's history.

 

BBC NEWS: September 10, 2007

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6986032.stm

More than 50 candidates, activists and their relatives were murdered in the run-up to the polls.

The top presidential contenders Alvaro Colom, a centre-left businessman, and a former general, Otto Perez Molina, have vowed to tackle crime and poverty.

Candidates need a 50% majority to avoid a second round run-off on 4 November.

But none are expected to register enough support needed for an outright win.

 

GUATEMALA ELECTION FACTS

14 presidential candidates

Voting mandatory

5.9m registered voters out of pop of 14.6m

Run-off on 4 Nov if no-one wins more than 50%

 

Of the 14 presidential candidates, Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchu is the best-known internationally, but she was trailing far behind the front-runners.

Organised gangs

Guatemala is still suffering the after-effects of the 1960-1996 civil war between leftist rebels and successive military governments, which left nearly a quarter of a million people dead or missing.

An official inquiry concluded that 90% of the crimes committed during the war were carried out by security forces. But very few people have been prosecuted.

According to experts, the violent paramilitary forces that fought during the war were never disarmed - they were just recycled and put to use by organised criminals.

Election violence has been blamed on a combination of attacks on politicians by shadowy armed groups and attempts by organised crime and drug gangs to win influence in political parties.

Like some other countries in Central America and the Caribbean, Guatemala has become a major transit route for the drugs trade into the US.

Other election issues are poverty and unemployment, and the situation of Guatemalans living in the US.


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THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

AMERICAN DEATH SQUADS STILL HAUNT GUATEMALA

AMERICA CAN'T CLOSE PANDORA'S BOX IN GUATEMALA, WHILE OPENING It in IRAQ

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., September , 2007

Central America has been ruled with an iron fist by Spanish Colonial Elites since the conquest.

These elites kept power by trading their country's resources, both human and natural, for American military, political, and economic support for their regimes.

American program began failing in the '70s, and by the early

'80s Regan pushed drugs into the United States, and death squads across Central and South America to prop up our tottering dictatorships with funds and guns. Our actions then still are driving events in Central and South America today.

A handy rule: We can take political power with force, but we cannot maintain political power with force. Unless we match our military force with an equally powerful political philosophy, (Such as freedom, justice, and democracy) we are doomed to walk down a long, bloody trail to failure.

We are at the end of our long, bloody trail in South America. South America is taking control of their political and economic affairs out of our hands, and are, for the first time in 500 years, almost in complete charge of their own affairs. Central America is not far behind South America.

The Agent of our Empire in Guatemala and Honduras during the formation of the death squads was John Negroponte. Today's death squads are the children of American foreign policy, the children of Negroponte, Poindexter, North, and the crew of criminals that was the Regan administration.

The death squads and military governments they supported have continued to use extra-judicial violence to maintain political and economic control over their people in Mexico, Guatemala, and Colombia,

Until we stop the corporate criminals in the United States from suppressing the constitution, perverting our democracy, and stealing our government, people around the world will continue to have their political and economic rights violently stolen from them.

Before we can bring the benefits of democracy and freedom to the world, we must establish them here.

Also See:

Corruption Updates 27, 5th article on page,”EGYPTIAN DICTATOR CHANGES CONSTITUTION FARCE OF AMERICAN “DEMOCRACY” EXPOSED BY...

Corruption Updates 36, 3rd article on the page, AMERICAN DEATH SQUADS STILL HAUNT GUATEMALA: AMERICA CAN'T CLOSE PANDORA'S BOX IN GUATEMALA, WHILE OPENING It in IRAQ

Corruption Updates 40, 9th article on page, “UNITED FRUIT NEVER STOPPED SUPPORTING DICTATORS WHO KEEP PEASANTS WORKING”

BBC NEWS, August 30, 2007; Amnesty pleads for Guatemala calm: American Death Squads still operating

BBC NEWS: September 10, 2007; Guatemala awaits election results: Nobody wins

NY Times, September 13, 2007; No Charges for Chiquita Executives: Fund Fascist Drug Gangs and Death Squads allied with Global Corporate Interests and Walk


Negraponte the criminal: Answers.com

Poindexter the criminal: Hereinreality.com

Past criminals in present administration: Fair.org

 

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Amnesty pleads for Guatemala calm

Amnesty International has called on all candidates in the upcoming elections in Guatemala to renounce violence after a spate of killings in the country.

BBC NEWS, August 30, 2007

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/6970733.stm

 

More than 40 local candidates, party workers and activists have been killed in the bloodiest campaign since the civil war ended in 1996.

In an open letter, the human rights group urged candidates to respect human rights and the rule of law.

Amnesty blames the crisis on a failure to hold to account those responsible for thousands of murders and incidents of torture during the country's 36-year civil war.

In the letter, deputy director of Amnesty's Americas programme Kerrie Howard argued that this had caused a "proliferation of clandestine groups who operate with absolute impunity".

She added that many of the groups had infiltrated state institutions.

'Message'

The most recent victim of the violence was killed on Tuesday.

Clara Luz Lopez, a centre-left political candidate who was running for a local council seat in the south-east of Guatemala, was shot dead while driving home after campaigning.

She was a member of the party of Rigoberta Menchu, the Nobel Peace Prize winner who is standing for president.

"This is a clear message for our candidates and for us," said Ms Menchu, the first Mayan woman to run for the presidency in Guatemala.

Earlier this month, the deputy head of a team of EU election monitors in Guatemala said his delegation was concerned that the violence would have a detrimental effect on the election and could tarnish the final result.

So far there have been no arrests in connection with the killings, which have not been aimed exclusively at any of the leading political parties.

Guatemala has one of the world's highest homicide rates, with close to 6,000 people killed in the country of 13 million last year.

 

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THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

See Commentary Above

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., September , 2007

Also See:

See Links Above

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Guatemala: Candidate Killed

By REUTERS

August 29, 2007

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/29/world/americas/29briefs-candidate.html?ref=

todayspaper&pagewanted=print

A candidate of the party of the presidential candidate Rigoberta Menchú, winner of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize, was shot dead by gunmen, the latest killing in the approach to the Sept. 9 election, in which 40 people have been killed. The candidate, Clara Luz López, was running for a seat on the Casillas City Council and was killed driving home after a day’s campaigning on Monday. The elections race has been the most violent since the country’s civil war ended a decade ago, as drug traffickers try to win political power to transport Colombian cocaine through Guatemala to Mexico and the United States.

 

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THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

See Commentary Above

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., September , 2007

Also See:

See Links Above

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An Opportunity for Wall St. in China’s Surveillance Boom

By KEITH BRADSHER

NY Times, September 11, 2007

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/business/worldbusiness/11security.html?_r=3&oref

=slogin&pagewanted=print

SHENZHEN, China, Sept. 7 — Li Runsen, the powerful technology director of China’s ministry of public security, is best known for leading Project Golden Shield, China’s intensive effort to strengthen police control over the Internet.

But last month Mr. Li took an additional title: director for China Security and Surveillance Technology, a fast-growing company that installs and sometimes operates surveillance systems for Chinese police agencies, jails and banks, among other customers. The company has just been approved for a listing on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company’s listing and Mr. Li’s membership on its board are just the latest signs of ever-closer ties among Wall Street, surveillance companies and the Chinese government’s security apparatus.

Wall Street analysts now follow the growth of companies that install surveillance systems providing Chinese police stations with 24-hour video feeds from nearby Internet cafes. Hedge fund money from the United States has paid for the development of not just better video cameras, but face-recognition software and even newer behavior-recognition software designed to spot the beginnings of a street protest and notify police.

Rep. Tom Lantos, the California Democrat who is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he was disturbed by a recent report in The New York Times about the development of surveillance systems in China by another company, China Public Security Technology,

Mr. Lantos called American involvement in the Chinese surveillance industry “an absolutely incredible phenomenon of extreme corporate irresponsibility.”

He said he planned to broaden an existing investigation into “the cooperation of American companies in the Chinese police state.”

Executives of Chinese surveillance companies say they are helping their government reduce street crime, preserve social stability and prevent terrorism. They note that London has a more sophisticated surveillance system, although the Chinese system will soon be far more extensive.

Wall Street executives also defend the industry as necessary to keep the peace at a time of rapid change in China. They point out that New York has begun experimenting with surveillance cameras in Lower Manhattan and other areas of the city, and that corporations make broad use of surveillance cameras in places like convenience stores and automated teller machines.

Mr. Lantos and human rights advocates contend that surveillance in China poses different issues from surveillance in the West because China is a one-party state where government officials can exercise power with few legal restraints.

Mr. Lantos is part of a Democratic Congressional majority that is increasingly eager to confront China at a time of high Chinese trade surpluses and considerable economic insecurity in the United States. He is also a longtime ally of Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House and a fellow Californian, who made her reputation in Congress as a critic of China on human rights issues.

Over the last year, American hedge funds have put more than $150 million into Chinese surveillance companies.

The Chinese government trade association for surveillance companies, which also regulates the industry, predicts that the surveillance market here will expand to more than $43.1 billion by 2010, compared with less than $500 million in 2003. Under the Safe Cities program adopted by the government last winter, 660 cities are starting work on high-tech surveillance systems.

Many Western experts, skeptical that China faces a terrorism threat, have suggested that the government may be using it as an excuse for tougher policies toward ethnic minorities in western China, notably Xinjiang Province, and toward Tibet.

Terence Yap, the vice chairman and chief financial officer of China Security and Surveillance Technology, said his company’s software made it possible for security cameras to count the number of people in crosswalks and alert the police if a crowd forms at an unusual hour, a possible sign of an unsanctioned protest.

Mr. Yap said terrorism concerns did exist. His company has outfitted rail stations and government buildings in Tibet with surveillance systems.

China Security and Surveillance has been aggressively raising money in the United States, including $110 million in convertible loans so far this year from the Citadel Group, a big hedge fund in Chicago. In the last 18 months, the company has used the money to acquire or make a deal to buy 10 of the 50 largest surveillance companies in China.

James Mulvenon, the director of the Center for Intelligence Research and Analysis, which does classified analyses of foreign military and intelligence programs for the Pentagon and other government agencies, said that Beijing clearly wanted the company to consolidate the industry.

“They’re really sort of the Ministry of Public Security’s national champion,” Mr. Mulvenon said of China Security and Surveillance. “In terms of the gear and building the surveillance society, they are the ones.”

After the company announced sharply higher sales and profit on Aug. 13, a succession of American hedge fund managers and investment bank analysts took turns on a conference call questioning and congratulating Mr. Yap.

Traded on the over-the-counter bulletin board market while waiting for the beginning of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, the company has raised almost all of its money through the Citadel loans and private placements of stock with 17 institutional investors in the United States, including the Pinnacle Fund and Pinnacle China Fund in Plano, Tex., and JLF, a hedge fund based in Del Mar, Calif.

The Pinnacle funds’ investments have risen six-fold in 17 months. The funds, which raise all their money in the United States, are also the main investors in China Public Security Technology, with a stake that has nearly tripled in value since February.

Each time China Security and Surveillance makes an acquisition, it holds an elaborate banquet, with dancers. The majority of the 500 or more people invited are municipal and provincial security officials, as well as executives of rival companies that may become acquisition targets.

“When they come, they hear central government officials endorsing us, they hear bankers endorsing us or supporting us, it gives us credibility,” Mr. Yap said. “It’s a lot of drinking, it’s like a wedding banquet.”

Lehman Brothers bankers and various Ministry of Public Security officials have spoken at such events, which have been held all over the country. One was at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where Mr. Li himself — of Project Golden Shield — addressed the crowd.

China Security and Surveillance has headquarters in Shenzhen, a high-tech manufacturing center in southeastern China, but two years ago it purchased a “shell” Delaware company with no operations but a listing on the American over-the-counter bulletin board market. It turned the Delaware company into its corporate parent.

China Public Security, also with headquarters in Shenzhen, incorporated in Florida in the same way to obtain a listing on the over-the-counter bulletin board.

Mr. Yap said on the conference call with Wall Street analysts and hedge fund managers in August that one of the company’s growth areas involved surveillance systems for Internet cafes; the government is trying to clamp down on users of the cafes in order to discourage pornography and prostitution.

Critics say the surveillance is aimed at catching democracy advocates, Falun Gong adherents and others the Communist Party regards as threatening, noting that rules for nightclubs are less rigorous, and do not require live feeds to police stations.

Mr. Yap said investment firms from Europe, the United States and Asia were so enthused about the surveillance market in China that he typically led a full-day tour each week to some of the company’s factories and installations.

At an aging Shenzhen police station, where the scuffed and peeling yellow walls look as though they have not been painted since the Cultural Revolution, a $100,000 bank of new video screens behind the duty officer’s desk shows scenes from nearby streets. In another neighborhood, the company has installed a $1 million system.

Many of the surveillance cameras are still assembled at a modest factory. But the company has used $20 million of the cash it raised in the United States to acquire a large industrial park with six just-completed factory buildings and six dormitories.

In Shenzhen, white poles resembling street lights now line the roads every block or two, ready to be fitted with cameras. In a nondescript building linked to nearby street cameras, a desktop computer displayed streaming video images from outside and drew a green square around each face to check it against a “blacklist.” Since China lacks national or even regional digitized databases of troublemakers’ photos, Mr. Yap said municipal or neighborhood officials compile their own blacklists.

To show off his systems, Mr. Yap strode across a nearby plaza flanked by apartment towers and a low-rise shopping area, pointing out tiny unobtrusive domes and tubes attached to various poles. “See, there’s a camera on the lamp pole, and another one over there and another one here,” he said. “Big Brother is watching you.

NEW CHINA LINKS PAGE

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THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

China Catches up with West: It's 1984 in China

Alex Wierbinski, Berkeley, Ca., August 12, 2007


The NY Times dropped the ball on this one. Their report makes it sound like American technology and funding are naturally and normally used to enhance the power of a commie police state to dominate its people as a normal event.

Equipping China with police state technology is not acceptable. This sale is repugnant to American Values.

Well, it's not repugnant to the paper that ran us into a criminal war. The Times is the same paper that has soft-sold the Bush Police State apparatus to the public, and constantly presents our Corporate Congress and Government as some type of legitimate democratic institution.The Times has no respect for our Constitution, and therefore is incapable of recognizing, or measuring the depth of corruption we swim in, nor is it able to locate the source or the solution to our political corruption.

And in the meantime, the Times reports our sales of police state tools to tyrannies around the world as if it is normal.

This is repugnant to the values of a democratic republic, but is acceptable to our corporate government and its lapdog corporate press.

 

Our Chinese "Friends" are Autocratic Dictators who we are Empowering With Trillions of Dollars of Irresponsible Manufacturing and Trade Profits

Alex, May 24, 2007, CU 59_7

The Chinese are using the profits from our trade to build missiles, fleets, and armies. The Chinese are expanding their global reach, using the profits from our trade to finance development in Venezuela and Sudan.

And the Chinese are also using these profits to build a high-tech domestic police state.

Funding, equipping, generally empowering China's Evil Government is not a problem to the leaders of either party. Why?

Because profits are more important to our globalized corporate politicians than the welfare of our country. While the China trade has empowered China, and swelled the profits of our corporations, it has impoverished our middle class, and made America dependent on offshore sources for our most basic needs.

The China Trade, in combination with illegal immigration, has impoverished Workers Here, pushing all the money, and political power, to the American Corporate Aristocracy.

Couldn't have done it without the cooperation of the Chinese. (And Mexico Too!)

A similar phenomena has occurred in China. A big chunk of the Chinese Peasantry has moved to the big city, and is being screwed over worse than any illegal in Los Angeles.

Moving American manufactures to China has concentrated a massive amount of Wealth into the hands of a very small group, giving birth to a nascent Chinese corporate aristocracy.

Our Corporate Aristocracy has no problem financing and arming dictators around the world. Providing the tools for authoritarian governments to impose police state powers on people around the world seems to offend none in our corporations, our corporate press or our corporate government.

Until we stop the corporations from buying our elections and politicians, our Corporate Aristocracy and its government will continue to have more in common with the Chinese "Commie" leadership, and other petty dictators around the world, than with our own people. Well, what's left of them.

I am amazed that our capitalists are not freaked out by the Chinese government's power to seize anything they want. I'm doubly surprised that they are funding a serious threat to their own domination of the world's resources. An even greater problem is that China has no reliable rule of law to define or defend corporate property.

Our corporations have become so greedy that their own greed is empowering China, the greatest threat to Western Global Dominance we have ever faced.

On the other hand, China does have one thing our corporations seem to be angling for here: a centralization of political and economic power in the hands of a small elite that controls the political, economic, and religious affairs of the whole country.

It is obvious that China's tyrannical government does not offend either our government or press's definitions of freedom or human rights. This is amazing considering their expansive range of civil and human rights abuses.

Abortion

I am really amazed that China's forced abortion policy has not attracted more attention from our President and his evangelical allies. I'm surprised that China's forced abortions are not a hot topic among the presidential candidates, considering what a political weapon abortion has been inside our country against our own citizen's rights.

It seems the Dems and Repugs will both tolerate forced abortions for the profits of the China trade. The Dems tolerate the human rights abuse, while the Repugnants prove themselves hypocrites before both god and man.

To all you Christians dealing with China: China Forces Women to have Abortions. Get your mind around that one, then keep cheering for, and participating in, the China Trade.

This is a rare moment when Human Rights and the Christian Right could actually fit together: they could both demand that China back away from imposing abortions, among other abominations, on its people.

But apparently our Christian President, and all the zealots who want to deny Abortions to women who want one here, have no problem making money in a country that imposes Abortions on unwilling women.

Maybe the Christians and Chinese would agree that the power to compel people is more important than what you compel them to do. Or not to do.

Tibet

To all you hippies, who see globalism as a way to hold hands with the world: China took Tibet, raped it, and calls it "China," and is flooding it with Chinese nationals. Yeah, let's all hold hands...

Environment

To the environmentalists: China is finishing off the destruction of the Climate that the United States started. China has no intention of curbing its massive domestic pollution, nor its production of greenhouse gasses. Like the US, China puts the economy before the environment.

In brief, China is one of the most unfree, greedy, and dirty countries on the face of the planet. And our relationship with China is accelerating and empowering all of these characteristics both here and there.

Also See:

NEW CHINA LINKS PAGE

Police State/Global  Reach

Corruption Updates 41, 9th article on the Page, "China jails editor for subversion"

Group calls on China to define 'state secret,' lat, 6-12-07

Corruption Updates 59, 7th article on page, "Chinese Police Arrest 28 in Riots Against Family Planning Laws"

Corruption Updates 92, 4th article on the page, Chinese Government Covers up Party Participation in Slavery

Corruption Updates 101, 1st article on the page, Abuses Belie China Pledge on Rights, Critics Say

Corruption Updates 101, 2nd article on the page, In China, a High-Tech Plan to Track People: China Catches up with West: It's 1984 in China

NY Times, July 17, 2007; Beijing’s Lack of Penalties in Labor Cases Stirs Outrage: Chinese Government Covers up Party Protection of Slavery

 

NY Times, August 17, 2007; At Asian Security Meeting, Russian and Iranian Criticize the U.S.: Russia-China and the rise of a New World Balance of Power

 

China: Yahoo assists police state, sf chron, 8-27-07

 

Los Angeles Times, August 31, 2007; Wealth, mystery surround Clinton donor Hsu: Globalism Profits Democrats: Foreign Bribery Welcome

 

Mexico to boost tapping of phones and e-mail with U.S. aid, lat, May 25, 2007

Corruption Updates 105, 10th article on the page, US Provides Police State Technology to Mexican Police State

 

SF Chron, August 27, 2007; Yahoo says it followed Chinese law in releasing user records: US Government, Corporations Assist Chinese Police State

 

Taleban 'getting Chinese weapons, bbc, 9-3-07

 

Wall St. Funds China’s Police State Surveillance Boom, China Catches up with West: It's 1984 in China....., NY Times, September 11, 2007

 

BBC, 9-18-07; Africa: China opens coffers for minerals

 

NYT, October 10, 2007; China Promotes Taiwan-Focused Military Officers: Who Owns Taiwan? US and China in Contest for Control of Taiwan

 

GOV.cn Tuesday, October 16, 2007; China not to attend six-nation meeting on Iran nuclear issue

 

Chinese Government Website, Oct 25, 2007; New Chinese Constitution: Our Chinese "Friends" are Autocratic Dictators who we are Empowering With Trillions of Dollars of Irresponsible Manufacturing and Trade Profits

NY Times, October 13, 2007; New China Hierarchy May Limit President’s Power

 

US: China’s Bitch, AP, 12-21-07

Hsu fraud supercharged by clinton connection, lat, December 3, 2007

China Finds American Allies for Security, NYT, December 28, 2007

Eased Rules on Tech Sales to China Questioned, NYT, 1-2-07

Moving in China? Be sure to register with the State, bbc, 1-9-08

 

China's N korea emergency plan: Take open control, telegraph, 1-9-08

 

Chinese police state tightens grip on peasants-with american police state technology, bbc, Wednesday, 9 January 2008

 

China institutes price controls on energy, food, nyt, January 10, 2008

 

Chinese police state seizes another person brave enough to expose their abuses, ap, 2-1-08

 

China and India agree closer ties, bbc, 1-14-08

 

four arrested in US for spying for China, telegraph, 2-11-08

four arrested in US-China spying, ft, 2-11-08

 

US Police State covers chinese police state,  afp, 3-11-08

China to shove olympic torch up tibet's ass, then top of everest, timesonline, 3-13-08

 

anti-china protests become violent in tibet, npr, 3-14-08

chinese Security Forces Swarm Tibet, lat, 3-15-08

china sets tibet protest deadline, bbc, 3-15-08

Tibet suspects put on parade as deterrent, sydney morning hearld, 3-21-08

As Tibet Erupted, China Security Forces Wavered, nyt, 3-24-08

Intellectuals in China Condemn Crackdown, nyt, 3-24-08

 

flame of shame: china olympic torch run

London torch run: Protester gets hands on torch, itv, 6 April 2008,

what's really going on here? Boycott Olympics, Ban China Trade: Stop US-chinese police state alliance, committee, 4-6-08

 

China vows to continue torch relay, guardian, 4-8-08

 

Olympic flame snuffed out in Paris, aljazeera, 4-07-08

French run videos:  worldone french news video. cnn: the domestic response in china.

london Torch run videos: al jazerra: the best, cnn: oh well.

 

sf torch run: the story in Pictures

 

China tightens its security for Olympic Games, timesonline, 7-11-08

 

India vs. China

India takes the high ground against China, asia times, 6-14-08

background: book review: Asia's awesome threesome, Rivals, by Bill Emmott, reviewed in asia times, 6-14-08

 

NEW CHINA LINKS PAGE

Environment

Corruption Updates 36, 6th article on the Page, "China about to pass U.S. as world's top generator of greenhouse gases"

U.S., China Got Climate Warnings Toned Down: Corporate Media Whitewash American S..., wp, 4-7-07

China puts economy before climate, bbc, 6-4-07

NYT, July 18, 2007; China: Challenge to World Bank Pollution Claim: China Makes American Corporations Billions at Cost of less than a Million

BBC, July 19, 2007; Toll rises in China rain storms: Ancient Records for Heat, Drought, and Rainfall Falling around the World

Corruption Updates 94, 8th article on the page, US puts economy before Climate

Big Oil: China & India demand massive increase in global oil production, consumption, NYT, Nov 7, 2007

 

 

Rice yeilds very sensitive to warming, BBC News, Tokyo, 12, 29, 07

China at minimum arable land for food safety, china daily, 2007-12-26

Yangtze almost dead, The Guardian, Thursday January 17 2008

The human epoch: The Scumocene, ScienceNOW Daily News, 24 January 2008

 

china counting high costs of continuing storm, reuters, 1-28-08

50 year storm, china daily, 1-28-08

china pounded by another freak storm, reuters, Jan 28, 2008

winter storms in china, bbc, 1-29-08

snow threatens winter crops, food shortages now, bbc, 1-31-08

Snow-hit China has 'new priority, bbc, 2-1-08

millions experience social collapse, au.news, 2-1-08

China 'not ready' for snow crisis, bbc, 2-4-09

 

WHO sees impending global food crisis, who, 4-7-08

Asian Food Crisis, five articles, 4-6-08

UN see global food crisis, impending famine, lat, 4-1-08

 

china: passed us as biggest polluter, negates all western co2 reductions, bbc, 4-15-08

 

towards famine. failure of globalism: global grain market closing, indonesia ends rice exports, ft, 4-15-08

 

China quake torrent crashes downstream, reuters, 6-10-08

Amazing Pictures: Reuters

China: We're #1 (in pollution)

China Increases Lead as Biggest Carbon Dioxide Emitter, nyt, 6-14-08

 

floods in north of china, bbc, 6-16-08

floods in south of china, ap, 6-16-08

 

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NEW CHINA LINKS PAGE

china economy

American Economic Security depends on China, Al, August 13, 2007

NY Times, August 14, 2007; Surge in Consumer Prices Stirs China’s Concern About Overheated Economy: China Faces Famine in Fall

BBC, August 8, 2007; Wealth gap 'spreads across Asia': Globalism Impoverishes Asia

Financial Times, August 12 2007; China affirms dollar’s global reserve status: American Economic Security depends on China

NY Times, September 12, 2007; Prices Surge in China; Trade Surplus Grows Wider

China is going to cut their reserve level of dollars, AFP, November 10, 2007

Big Oil: China & India demand massive increase in global oil production, consumption, NYT, Nov 7, 2007

US: China’s Bitch, AP, 12-21-07

Bush is China's Bitch II, NYT, 1-2-07. (also see: Bush is China's Bitch, I )

 

south asian food shortages, bbc, 9 January 2008

China's farms struggle to meet growing demand, BBC News, 1-5-08, Henan

China institutes price controls on energy, food, nyt, January 10, 2008

China at minimum arable land for food safety, china daily, 2007-12-26

China’s Inflation Rose to 7.1% in January, nyt, 2-19-08

 

Rice shortage grips Asia, several nations scramble to cope with regional crisis, manila times, 4-6-08

Global rice shortage intensifies, mainla times, 4-6-08

Conversion of rice fields created rice shortage, yehey! 4-6-08

Cost of rice "stable" in China, chinaview, 4-6-08

what's really going on here? Impending Global Famine, committee, 4-6-08

 

WHO sees impending global food crisis, who, 4-7-08

Asian Food Crisis, five articles, 4-6-08

UN see global food crisis, impending famine, lat, 4-1-08

 

towards famine. failure of globalism: global grain market closing, indonesia ends rice exports, ft, 4-15-08

 

Biggest grain exporters halt foreign sales, ft, 4-16-08

Steep rise in Chinese food prices, bbc, 4-16-08

rising concern: inflation creating headaches for asian policymakers, economist, 4-15-08

 

Rice traders hit by panic as prices surge, ft, 4-17-008

 

China's inflation carries long-term risks: intro to China’s economic mechinism, Asia Times, May 1, 08

 

China: Massive Earthquakes This Week, usgs

Vast lakes forming on blocked rivers, bbc, 5-26-08

Rainy season starting in China, china times, 5-27-08

 

Unnatural roots of the food crisis, bbc, 6-2-08

food-energy crisis destabilizing countries around the world, bbc, 6-6-08

push at g8 to end global energy subsidies as unrest rises around the world, bbc, 6-7-08

 

India China tighten credit in face of rising inflation

India Rate Rise Means BRICs to Suffer in Price Fight, bloomberg, 6-11-08

What the "Commies" are doing about global meltdown:

The People’s Republic of China Gov.ch (china official site)

Details of real-estate stimulus package published gov.ch

China cuts rates 0.27 points, fifth reduction in three months gov.ch

 

People’s Daily, (china.gov)

Chinese leader: Use crisis as driving force for economic restructure ch-people’s daily (internal econ development-the race!)

China cuts interest rates to bolster economy cd (Again, to stim domestic development)

 

US National welfare Secondary to Corporate Profits in China Trade, alex, 12-07

 

China: Earthquake, Inflation and Populism

Why Grandpa Wen has to care, economist, 6-12-08

China's inflation carries long-term risks: intro to China’s economic mechanism, Asia Times, May 1, 08

 

 

 

American Economic Security depends on China, Al, August 13, 2007

 

NEW CHINA LINKS PAGE

 

china links: Deadly Trade

china links: econ links

china links: environment

china Links: Police State

china Links: Military Power

china domestic security-military Links

 

NEW CHINA LINKS PAGE

 

Search the Corruption Database under

Supporting Dictators

China

Environment

 

 

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Rule changes coming soon for issue ads

Thursday, August 23, 2007

(08-23) 04:00 PDT Washington - --

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/23/MNSRRMP5V.DTL

In June, Chief Justice John Roberts and a bare majority of his colleagues blew up a key provision of the campaign finance overhaul that Congress passed in 2002.

Now the Federal Election Commission has begun to piece together the fragments that remain to determine what language can be used in issue-oriented political ads paid for with corporate or union cash.

The decision could have tremendous influence in the coming campaign season, beginning with the presidential primaries, because of the flood of such ads expected to be financed by labor, business and other groups.

Using the Supreme Court's opinion as a guide, the commissioners will develop guidelines telling groups what they can and cannot say in ads. The rules will be intended to make clear when an ad is lobbying Congress on an issue - and therefore is permitted - and when an ad crosses the line into electioneering. The commission will enforce the rules, and groups will be subject to fines if they violate the restrictions.

Legal experts said the commission will rely heavily on a key paragraph in the court's opinion, which comes closest to defining what qualifies a commercial as "express advocacy" for a candidate and should be prohibited. The court's decision said such an ad would be barred if there is "no reasonable interpretation other than as an appeal to vote for or against a specific candidate."

The McCain-Feingold legislation passed by Congress in 2002 to reduce the influence of big money in campaigns had prohibited corporate and union financing of issue ads in the days before an election that mentioned a candidate by name. Forbidding the naming of candidates was an important provision. Congress was looking for a well-defined restriction to do away with the sham issue ads that purport to be about a controversy but amount to an attack on a candidate. The groups remained free to run such ads if a separate political action committee paid for them.

Roberts, who wrote the majority opinion, established a new rule: "A court should find that an ad is the functional equivalent of express advocacy only if the ad is susceptible of no reasonable interpretation other than as an appeal to vote for or against a specific candidate."

The opinion has sparked a fierce debate among campaign finance lawyers over what kind of political messages should be allowed under new, and some say vague, guidelines set out in the 5-4 decision released near the end of the court's term.

Two election law specialists who have blogs, Robert Bauer in Washington and Richard Hasen of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, have gone back and forth with rival interpretations of the ruling. Hasen has staked out the position that the Supreme Court has "eviscerated" long-standing prohibitions on the use of corporate and union money to finance campaign advertising.

Jan Baran, an election law specialist, said the ruling left a lot of room for the groups that have historically rolled out issue ads in the weeks before an election. "There may be very little that can be restricted," Baran said. "Even in a debatable case, the court said the tie goes to protected speech."

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THE COMMITTEE SAYS:

Supreme Court to Overrule Voter Franchise in Defense of Corporate "Free Speech"

Originally written April 27, 2007, before the Supreme Court Screwed us yet again:

Here it is: The Supreme Court is going to officially allow free speech to be used as a cover for corporate participation in elections that will completely overwhelm the franchise rights of average voters.

Corporate Free Speech will now trump the sovereignty of the voter.

How? First, by granting political Free Speech Rights to Corporations, allowing the virtually unlimited corporate wealth to overwhelm voter's contributions in the Bribery Arms Race.

This farce's sole goal is to allow the individuals who own and control the Corporations to side-step contribution limits, and use their Corporations as a megaphone to amplify their own political voices with the full power and wealth of their Corporations. But that is only the beginning.

The Court is going to magically expand these illegal, and unconstitutional, Corporate "speech rights," by allowing Corporations to use their vast wealth to overpower the voice of the local voters through direct Propaganda supporting their Corporate Candidates.

It will be de facto contributions outside the limits or reporting rules presently regulating political contributions.

The will and power of the Voters will be cast aside by this anti-democratic ruling. Hell, the Corporations financed the politicians who appointed the Supreme Court. What would you expect?

The Supreme Court will empower the Corporations to wield more power and influence in our elections than any individual voter.

And, as it is today, the most powerful Corporations will wield the most power in politics, extending the political control of our parties, elections, and government which they already enjoy.

I hope I'm wrong, and the Supreme Court will stop non-voting entities from manipulating our elections and making our government no more than a cheap whore for Corporate wealth and power.

But I'm not. The Supreme Court is already composed of the tools of our Corporate polity, and they will wreck our Constitution and democracy to serve their Corporate Masters. Just look at the tools who appointed them.

I hope I'm wrong, but I don't fear the truth. I deal with it.

Do you?

 

Also See:

Corruption Updates 3, 1st article on page, “FCC Quiets Big Money Voices for Now: Problematic limits on Free Speech Upheld

Corruption Updates 21, 2nd article on page, Unregulated groups put millions in election

Corruption Updates 22, 6th article on page “MONEY WINS IN ALMOST EVERY POLITICAL RACE

Corruption Updates 32, 4th article on the page, Supreme Court to Review issue ads

Corruption Updates 52, 4th article on the page, Justices may ease limits on 'issue ads'

Corruption Updates 113, 10th article on the page, Rules Changes for "issue Ads"

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