Supreme Court strikes a blow for the Fourth Amendment (a.k.a. Scalia's got your back, this time) by Stephen C. Webster Wait, what?In an unusual reversal of roles today, traditionally right-wing Supreme Court Justices formed a majority in a decision which expands, in practice anyway, citizens' Constitutional Fourth Amendment rights.From the Criminal Lawyer blog: In a stunning 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court today reversed its longstanding bright-line rule which had permitted warrantless car searches after an arrest, even when there was no concern for officer safety or the preservation of evidence. The case is Arizona v Gant.
Obama open to Hill probe of harsh interrogations by Raw Story The Obama administration appears to be backpedaling a bit regarding torture probes of former Bush officials.Obama told the White House press Tuesday that the four recent Bush administration memos authorizing harsh interrogations released “reflected, in my view, us losing our moral bearings,” and that while CIA employees who followed the guidelines should not be prosecuted, but that “with respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say that that is going to be more of a decision for the Attorney General within the parameters of various laws and I don’t want to prejudge that.”
Tax Protests Channel Enmity for Obama by Bill Berkowitz OAKLAND, California, Apr 17 (IPS) - Reports vary about how many people actually showed up at Tax Day Tea Party rallies in dozens of cities across the United States on Wednesday, Apr. 15 - the deadline for paying taxes in the U.S.OneNewsNow, the news service of the conservative Christian evangelical group, the American Family Association u one of the chief sponsors of the Tea (Taxed Enough Already) Parties - reported that "tens of thousands of protesters" showed up "to tap into the collective angst stirred up by a bad economy, government spending, and bailouts."
Connecting CIA Torture to Abu Ghraib by Robert Parry By blurring the lines between terrorism and combat – and by linking the 9/11 rationale to groups only tangentially connected to al-Qaeda – the Bush administration spread the policy of harsh interrogations far beyond terror suspects who worked directly for Osama bin Laden, newly released Justice Department memos reveal.
The Americans Are Revolting by Walter Brasch The Americans are revolting!All across the country—from Boston to Atlanta to San Antonio—thousands of Americans, inspired by Fox News and radio conservative talk show hosts, took to the streets to protest.They protested a fascist government that has restricted their freedom of speech and freedom of religion, protected by the First Amendment. They protested thousands of instances where the government infringed upon their rights of privacy, protected by the Fourth Amendment. They called out the government for violations of the rights of due process, protected by the fifth and sixth amendments. They protested the use of about $1 trillion to fight an unnecessary war in Iraq. They protested the apparently unregulated policies of the banks, money lenders, and Wall Street financiers who brought this nation into the current recession that has led to an 8.5 percent unemployment rate and several hundred thousand to lose their homes to foreclosure actions. They protested the fact that about 46 million Americans don't have health insurance, that as many as five million Americans are homeless, about a fourth of them veterans. They protested the use of torture, of the destruction of the environment, of the awarding of no-bid sweetheart deals worth hundreds of million dollars to companies that do business with the President and Vice-President.
Correcting America's dark chapter of torture by Pierre Tristam There's a bomb of a contradiction at the heart of what's passing for a debate on the torture regime of the past eight years. President Barack Obama calls those years of secret prisons and "enhanced interrogation techniques" a "dark and painful chapter in our history." That's not just a suggestion of something amiss. It's an admission and an indictment of wrongs, in terms that have been applied to atrocities like war crimes and slavery. The secret Bush administration memos Obama released -- the black book of those years, translating Soviet torture methods into "corrective" and "coercive techniques" like sleep deprivation, simulated drowning, beatings, starvation, hanging from hooks -- prove the point.
Housing Bubble Smackdown: "Shadow Inventory" portends an even bigger crash ahead by Mike Whitney Due to the lifting of the foreclosure moratorium at the end of March, the downward slide in housing is gaining speed. The moratorium was initiated in January to give Obama's anti-foreclosure program--which is a combination of mortgage modifications and refinancing--a chance to succeed. The goal of the plan was to keep up to 9 million struggling homeowners in their homes, but it's clear now that the program will fall well-short of its objective.
Torturing Judge Bybee: Make Him Eat His Own Words by Dave Lindorff If the day comes that Congress finally does its duty and begins an impeachment effort against 9th Circuit Federal Appeals Judge Jay Bybee, the former Bush assistant attorney general who in 2002 authored a key memo justifying the use of torture against captives in the Afghanistan invasion and the so-called "War on Terror," it would be fitting punishment to watch him squirm as his own words as a judge were played back to him.
Climate Concern Unites Natives at UN Conference in Anchorage by Elizabeth Bluemink Decked out in flowing African garb, Mary Smat marveled Monday over how she ended up on the other side of the world from her home in Kenya, attending an international climate change meeting in Anchorage.Smat, a Masai woman, is anxious about her work in Anchorage over the next week: helping craft a joint statement about climate change to be signed by indigenous groups from around the globe, she said.
Cheney Demands Release of CIA Memos Proving Torture 'Success' by Ewan MacAskill and Robert Booth Former US vice-president Cheney says CIA memos showed torture methods such as waterboarding delivered 'good' intelligenceThe former US vice-president Dick Cheney has called for the disclosure of CIA memos which reveal the "success" of torture techniques, including waterboarding, used on al-Qaida suspects under the Bush administration.
Treating the CRAP: Maybe Our Toxic Paper Solution Needs Sanitary Engineers Not Financial Types by Fred Cederholm I’ve been thinking about treatments. Actually I’ve been thinking about water, droughts and floods, utilities, wastewater, toxicity, and solutions. It rained most of Sunday and the forecast is for continued showers thru Tuesday morning. With all the rain and snow endured in the Northwest, the Midwest and the Northeast this past Fall, Winter, and Spring it is hard to conceive that significant parts of the US and the planet are beginning their third year of major drought. Our water deficits since 2007 have been more than erased, but the same cannot be said for California, the Southwest, Texas, and the Southeast down thru much of Florida. Rationing plans are already being discussed.
Ain't No Accountin' For Folks Taste by Jon Faulkner The U.S, for the last few decades, has been seriously hurt by the leadership Americans chose. Obama will very likely be defeated in 2012 by a landslide victory of the G.O.P. The new ultra rightist government will renew its attacks upon the U.S. Constitution, and whatever still exists of the Constitutional protections once afforded Americans will be further diminished. Social programs, including the big one, Social Security, will be dissolved and whatever is left of the trust fund will be handed over to private investors. Old folks should be making plans for other health and living arrangements. The U.S. will descend into true Third World status, and its influence in the world will diminish further. Unless that is, the rightist government begins a new era of imperialist aggression beginning with any nation unable to defend itself.
Hackers break into fighter jet program by Capital Hill Blue Computer spies have repeatedly breached the Pentagon's costliest weapons program, the $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.The newspaper quoted current and former government officials familiar with the matter as saying the intruders were able to copy and siphon data related to design and electronics systems, making it potentially easier to defend against the plane.
Former astronaut: Man not alone in universe by CNN (CNN) -- Earth Day may fall later this week, but as far as former NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell and other UFO enthusiasts are concerned, the real story is happening elsewhere. Mitchell, who was part of the 1971 Apollo 14 moon mission, asserted Monday that extraterrestrial life exists, and that the truth is being concealed by the U.S. and other governments.
FBI's newest 'Most Wanted' terrorist is American by Devlin Barrett WASHINGTON – A fugitive animal rights activist believed to be hiding outside the United States has become the first domestic terror suspect named to the FBI's list of "Most Wanted" terrorists.Daniel Andreas San Diego, a 31-year-old computer specialist from Berkeley, Calif., is wanted for the 2003 bombings of two corporate offices in California.
Clinton, Bush booked for joint Toronto appearance by John Ibbitson WASHINGTON — Former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush will appear together in Toronto next month on a public stage for the first time since Mr. Bush ended his presidency, in a remarkable twist on the cultural cold war that Barack Obama and others are trying to lay to rest.
Miami officials will be asked to tap city funds for Marlins stadium parking by Charles Rabin Miami commissioners are being asked to dip into the lifeline of local government -- the general fund -- to help build the parking complex around the Florida Marlins' baseball stadium.A month ago, when city commissioners voted 3-2 in support of the stadium plan, administrators offered everything but a flat-out guarantee that the city's general fund -- which pays for fire, police and other services -- would not be touched.
Children in Peril by Bob Herbert With so much attention focused on the banking system and arguments over bailouts, the plight of America’s children in this severe economic downturn is getting short shrift.Official statistics are not yet readily available, but there is little doubt that poverty and family homelessness are rising, that the quality of public education in many communities is deteriorating and that legions of children are losing access to health care as their parents join the vastly expanding ranks of the unemployed.
Supreme Court declines review of case where jurors consulted Bible by Stephen C. Webster The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to review a case which rendered the death penalty after jurors reportedly consulted the Bible.“In the appeal, Khristian Oliver’s defense said jurors reviewed a biblical passage stating that a murderer who used an iron object to kill ’shall surely be put to death.’ Jurors were deciding whether to sentence Oliver to death for shooting and bludgeoning his victim with the barrel of a gun,” reported the Associated Press.
