Criminal Activity Continues to go Unchecked

I have been hearing this is true for about two years now, but I find it just amazing that the story keeps making it out into the public and yet nothing ever gets done about it. When you hear that Bush wants blanket immunity for telecommunications companies' involvement/compliance in the wiretapping program, it's exactly about this very aspect: wiretapping BEFORE 9/11 or the so-called need to do so for "security reasons." There was no reason to break the law and invade Americans' privacy without probable cause, and there never will be!

AT&T engineer says Bush Administration sought to implement domestic spying within two weeks of taking office
John Byrne
Published: Sunday December 16, 2007
Nearly 1,300 words into Sunday's New York Times article revealing new details of the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program, the lawyer for an AT&T engineer alleges that "within two weeks of taking office, the Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”

In a New Jersey federal court case, the engineer claims that AT&T sought to create a phone center that would give the NSA access to "all the global phone and e-mail traffic that ran through" a New Jersey network hub.

The former AT&T employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Times said he took part in several discussions with agency officials about the plan.

"The officials, he said, discussed ways to duplicate the Bedminster system in Maryland so the agency “could listen in” with unfettered access to communications that it believed had intelligence value and store them for later review," Times reporters Eric Lichtblau, James Risen and Scott Shane wrote. "There was no discussion of limiting the monitoring to international communications, he said."

“At some point,” he told the paper, “I started feeling something isn’t right.”

"Two other AT&T employees who worked on the proposal discounted his claims, saying in interviews that the project had simply sought to improve the N.S.A.’s internal communications systems and was never designed to allow the agency access to outside communications."

AT&T's spokesman said they didn't comment on national security matters, as did a spokesman for Qwest, which was also approached but apparently rebuffed the plan. The lawyer for the engineer and others in the New Jersey case says AT&T's internal documents would vindicate his clients.

“What he saw,” Bruce Afran, a New Jersey lawyer representing the plaintiffs, told the Times, “was decisive evidence that within two weeks of taking office, the Bush administration was planning a comprehensive effort of spying on Americans’ phone usage.”

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I must add that Qwest was severely sought after by government officials, due to what I believe was revenge for non-compliance to the illegal request to wiretap millions of innocent Americans! The owner of Qwest currently sits in prison for some sort of business fraud charges, that were surely trumped up in order to set an example to other companies that might consider not complying. Tyranny at it's worst.

Are we also going to let the administration bully Congress and the people into giving them a free pass for their illegal activities? Perhaps the legality point could be considered arguable after 9/11, but Congress has absolutely NO EXCUSE for not going after the administration for their egregious actions prior to the attack! This sole act sits near the very top of the long list of impeachable offenses, and I say that's exactly why Congress has proven grossly negligent in their duties of oversight in this case.

Since this article was in today's New York times, this presents the perfect opportunity to remind our congressional members that we will not condone their giving a free pass to the companies that chose to violate our rights! Send them a link to this article, and let them know you have not forgotten about it, nor do you think it is appropriate for them to continue to ignore this serious violation that is clearly known to exist.

Contact Congress

UPDATE: Chris Dodd is filibustering the retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies RIGHT NOW! Support Dodd's filibuster!!! Contact your member of Congress to implore them to support the filibuster.

Bye, Bye Civil Liberty Pie...

I'm pleased to see that the story about the Tasored student has been blasted through media outlets. However, I think that the vast majority of Americans have no idea how often this sort of thing has been happening, nor that it's been happening for several years now too. On the other hand, I imagine that the majority of those reading me here are quite aware of this fact, and I thought I'd lend a little info to back this assertion when discussing this matter with nay-sayers. I'm personally shocked at the amount of people I've seen spread across the internet that have said "the guy deserved it," or attempting to justify it by saying he was resisting arrest. REALLY? What exactly was the legal premise upon which he was arrested for the first place?!?!? As far as the argument for resisting arrest goes, I suggest these people read the Supreme Court rulings on unlawful arrest:

"An illegal arrest is an assault and battery. The person so attempted to be restrained of his liberty has the same right to use force in defending himself as he would in repelling any other assault and battery." State v. Robinson, 145 ME. 77, 72 ATL. 260

"Citizens may resist unlawful arrest to the point of taking an arresting officer's life if necessary." Plummer v. State, 136 Ind. 306."

Being obnoxious is not a crime, and over zealousness is not legally punishable by brute-force or law. Therefore, I post again the quote from Albert Einstein that I think is most pertinent to this matter:

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."

My man told me that if he'd been there, he'd most likely have been keeping that guy company in jail that night. Neither one of us could live with ourselves, allowing that to happen right in front of us and I certainly would've ended up in jail with them both. We are by no stretch of the imagination violent people, but when it comes to police brutality that violates constitutional rights - forget about it, we hate bullies! It's seriously shameful and even frightening how the people there not only allowed, but actually cheered this fascist reaction right before their eyes. No matter what "side" you're on politically, this should have been seen as a total affront to our freedom of speech. The Constitution and our First Amendment right is far from a partisan issue! If we don't defend everybody's right, then soon enough we'll find that NOBODY will be able to exorcise it. You can't support the right to be extended ONLY to those you agree with - that's 100% anti-patriotic. Whatever happened to "Sticks & stones..." people?
Remember, "First they came for the Jews..." and I seriously doubt that any American wants to find themselves with nobody left to speak out for them, when they want to express themselves - WAKE UP SHEEPLE!

So here are a few examples of how our rights to peacefully assemble and speak our minds are being violated by our system and it's officials:

Last year posted on You Tube, another student being Tasered inside the UCLA library. The main difference between what happened a few days ago and this episode from last year is that the students witnessing this atrocity were vigilant citizens. They asked for badge numbers and tried to ask why this was happening. How did we go from that to now? Is it really just a matter of it happening in California as opposed to happening in Florida? Or is it a result of another year since, of desensitization and growing acceptance of such treatment of Americans?

In an effort to lawfully post notice of the march protesting the occupation, set for September 15th, police came to arrest and harass the people from the ANSWER coalition. Say what you will about the organization itself; I've worked with them and they are extremely careful to obey all laws and regulations. Watch the video, there was no violence or even civil disobedience going on. Of the 192 people arrested at the occupation protest on the 15th, only five or so still remain in jail (in correlation to prior charges). Can anybody tell me why they needed to be arrested in the first place? Crossing the police lines was the official explanation, but that obviously didn't hold water or I'd think they would've remained in jail or been released on bail until trial - but no, they were simply released. Eerily this echoes of the thousands of "terror suspects" released without any explanation from Guantanamo, doesn't it? Even more disturbing was that a few people were sprayed with chemicals, and that detail is barely visible or rarely reported in the news.

During the Petraeus hearing, a Reverend was jumped on and forced to the ground by at least five officers and thrown to the ground so hard that his f'in leg was broken! Come on, you can't tell me that a clergyman was so out of line, or doing something so offensive in the halls of Congress that it warranted arrest and putting him in the hospital. This is completely obscene. Here is the Reverend Yearwood telling his side of that story.

Almost a year ago one of Code Pink's members was banned from DC for an entire year, or she faced six months jail time. This is just another ludicrous absurdity! At least the incident with the student a couple days ago got one of the co-founders of Code Pink into the mainstream!

If you are unaware of the abuses and incredible acts of brutality perpetrated on the victims of Katrina, then you need only Google it to get thousands of results for that as well.

There is a great book that was released last spring that chronicles the rights violations that have occurred to ordinary people since 9/11, some for the most benign acts. It's called, "You Have No Rights; Stories of America in an Age of Repression" by Mathew Rothschild.

So where does this end, and how?
I say it ends in fascism if we don't act to prevent it from continuing, and that it can only be cured by exorcising the rights afforded us by our beloved Constitution. The ability to exorcise our civil rights is literally the foundation that our democracy depends upon for its very existence.

Welcome to Amerika - PAPERS PLEASE!

"The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it."
~ Albert Einstein



On another scary Gestapo-like note...
The protest against the Iraq war/occupation last Saturday, there were 190 people arrested and chemical spray was used on a few people too! As I searched for a link that included the mention of the chemical spray, MANY articles that came up in Google have since been erased - nor was there even a single large publication still running that part of the story. I bet you're just as shocked as I am about the lack of accurate media coverage...NOT. If you are surprised, I suppose no flags went up for you about Fox censoring the celebrities that attended the Emmy's and commented on the occupation the other night either. Fox? Censor? NO WAY!!!

I guess free speech is crime, unless you parrot Bush that is. Is it absolutely clear now that the peace movement is considered a serious threat to this administration?

God help us; She may be the only one left that can save our right to free speech.

"First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me."
Pastor Martin Niemöller

Fear Fuels All Evils

So here we are, one week into the tuberculosis scare, and it seems to be working. Forget that on the very first day they reported that he wasn't contagious. The real scare should have been about our lack of national security. He was on the no-fly lists, but was able to drive right in across the border, legally? Not that I'm at all surprised, ALL the terrorists from 9/11 entered the US legally. That's why the latest immigration bill is ineffective when it comes to preventing terrorism. It's not about higher security measures being taken, it's about enabling a slave-labor class in the US - so the Corprotocracy can enjoy the benefits of cheap labor. It's hard to believe that Americans really want yet another class of impoverished Americans to be developed; but people will actually argue that it's better than immigrants "stealing jobs" from them, or paying a higher price for anything (which would mean the people that worked to produce it weren't working in inhumane conditions). NOPE! Cheap goods, slave labor, and plenty of encouragement for corporations to outsource or move abroad so they can compete instead. This is just another example of how Americans will support bad policy, merely because they have sucked-up the fear and eaten it whole.

Going back to the tuberculosis thing... Yesterday, there was a bioterrorism drill in LA. Of course, there have been emergency drills going on for decades, but there has been a surge in bioterrorism drills since 9/11. I think the tuberculosis scare provided the perfect opportunity to conduct this test, make it public, and further scare the public into thinking about the "ever looming threat." This is no doubt how Americans have become so willing to give up our civil rights, and those of everybody around us along with them. I was shocked when it seemed apparent that the majority of Americans didn't care about the rights of detainees' right to habeas corpus; don't they understand that even by a grave mistake that they could end up in their position without the ability to even know why they are being detained? Worse yet, there are CIA secret detention centers where there are innocents being held captive, and at least 39 of which are know to have gone missing! In regard to the ongoing rhetoric about bioterrorism goes, I find the latest Presidential Directive especially disturbing. It enables Bush to claim anything he wants an emergency, domestically OR internationally, and completely shut down the authority of congress - essentially calling Marshall Law into effect, and have the entire country at the mercy of White House rule (under the new shadow government defined within this same directive)! I find this new authority that Bush has given himself far more horrific than the "threat" these inept "plots" or even tuberculosis poses (we only need look at the example the government set when they abandoned the health care needs for Katrina victims and 9/11 NYFD to know that there will be no help for us).

I found this well done synopsis of the latest Democratic debates, and it demonstrates what I had said before about how convenient the JFK so-called "terrorism plot" story arrived just in time to try and point the "weak on terrorism" finger right at Democrats once again.



Come on America, stop allowing yourself to be compelled by fear when it comes to making decisions to support policies or when forming opinions. Fear only begets hate, and it always results in hasty and poor decision making, if not down right racism. Not to mention, that it's been the main reason why our beautiful democracy and our civil rights have been allowed to be dismantled piece by piece.