Civil Rights / Liberties

My Dearest, Darling, David Brooks ...
By Nance Gregg | Democratic Underground

I am prompted to respond to your most recent column because I can't help but wonder where the fuck you've been for the past eight years.

"You wouldn't know it some days, but there are moderates in this country - moderate conservatives, moderate liberals, just plain moderates."

Yeah, please forgive we liberals for forgetting you were out there - a situation undoubtedly triggered by the fact that you so-called "moderates" were busy plastering "Support the Troops" bumper-stickers on your cars, and affixing flag-pins to your lapels while the Bush administration was being - oh, yeah, what's the word? - IMMODERATE in every policy and action. Where were you then?

Bush's Blank Check - "A Definition of Tyranny"

Professor Jonathan Turley: "We're not a nation of chumps...we need a special prosecutor!"

5:46 mins.

US Justice Department memos: the specter of military dictatorship
By Bill Van Auken | WSWS

A set of nine secret memos released by the US Justice Department Monday reveal that in the weeks and months after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks the US government began erecting the legal scaffolding for a full-blown military dictatorship.

Attorney General Eric Holder declared that the release of the documents, which were posted on the Justice Department's web site, signaled a new era of "transparency and openness." The actions of the Obama administration in recent weeks, however, including the invocation of national security and state secrets to quell lawsuits challenging the worst abuses of the Bush era, make it clear that the threat revealed in these memos is far from over.

Cheney Deposition Is Ordered in Lawsuit by Protester
By Kirk Johnson | NYTimes

Former Vice President Dick Cheney will have to give his account — under oath, in a legal deposition — of what happened at a Colorado ski resort in June 2006 when a man stepped up to protest the Iraq war and was arrested, a federal district judge ruled Monday.

The protester, Steven Howards, sued five Secret Service agents in Mr. Cheney’s security detail after the encounter at the Beaver Creek resort. Mr. Howards’s lawyers have argued that Mr. Cheney’s version of events is crucial to getting at the truth.

DOJ Memos Reveal Legal Thinking Behind Controversial Bush Terrorism Policy
Legal Guidance Gave U.S. Military Broad Domestic Authority
By Ariane De Vogue, Pierre Thomas and Jason Ryan | ABCNews

The Justice Department today released nine national security legal opinions written by the Bush administration, and revealed that in the weeks before President George W. Bush left office, an administration attorney had disavowed all of them.

The newly released memos deal with warrantless wire tapping, executive power and the seizure of terrorism suspects, all of which were issues on which the Bush administration received criticism from civil liberties advocates.

Good work! those of you who called the White House to complain.

Rally is still on for tomorrow at noon!

By Corporate Crime Reporter [reporting what Chairman Conyers should be reporting himself but is apparently afraid to]

President Obama’s White House made crystal clear this week: a Canadian-style, Medicare-for-all, single payer health insurance system is off the table.

Obama doesn't even want to discuss it.

Take the case of Congressman John Conyers (D-Michigan).

Conyers is the leading advocate for single payer health insurance in Congress.

Last week, Conyers attended a Congressional Black Caucus meeting with President Obama at the White House.

During the meeting, Congressman Conyers, sponsor of the single payer bill in the House (HR 676), asked President Obama for an invite to the President’s Marchy 5 health care summit at the White House.

Guantánamo: The Definitive Prisoner List
By Andy Worthington | AndyWorthington.co.UK

Andy Worthington, London-based journalist and author of "The Guantánamo Files" (Pluto Press), today releases the first definitive list of the 779 prisoners held in the US prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Links to the list:

Part 1 (ISNs 002 to 200)

Part 2 (ISNs 201 to 496)

Part 3 (ISNs 497 to 732)

Part 4 (ISNs 743 to 10030)

If you want everyone in the United States to have health coverage simply paid for by the government for less money than we spend now, eliminating all health insurance companies, but allowing you to choose any private doctor or hospital of your choice, and boosting the economy with a net gain of 2.6 million jobs ...

and if you can be near a telephone or be in Washington, D.C., on March 5th, 10th, or 11th, keep reading.

Here's an announcement of the March 5th event from Physicians for a National Health Program:

White Coats To Crowd the White House Gate Thursday
March 5, 12pm -1pm The White House Lafayette Park, Washington, DC

Doctors criticize exclusion of single-payer advocates from summit

President Obama is holding a Healthcare Summit on Thursday, March 5th. Over 120 are expected to be in attendance, including representatives from Americas Health Insurance Plans, the largest group of private health insurance lobbyists.

Extraordinary Measures

A new memo shows just how far the Bush administration considered going in fighting the war on terror.
By Michael Isikoff | Newsweek Web Exclusive
Mar 2, 2009

In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the Justice Department secretly gave the green light for the U.S. military to attack apartment buildings and office complexes inside the United States, deploy high-tech surveillance against U.S. citizens and potentially suspend First Amendment freedom-of-the-press rights in order to combat the terror threat, according to a memo released Monday.

Many of the actions discussed in the Oct. 23, 2001, memo to then White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's chief lawyer, William Haynes, were never actually taken.

By Dave Lindorff

The dithering and ducking going on in the Obama White House and the Holder Justice Department over the crimes of the Bush administration are taking on a comic aspect.

On the one hand, we have President Obama assuring us that under his administration, there will be respect for the rule of law, and on the other hand we have this one-time constitutional law professor and his attorney general declaiming that there is no need for the appointment of a prosecutor to bring charges against the people in the last administration, in the CIA, in the National Security Agency and in the Defense Department and the military who clearly have broken the law in serious and felonious ways.

What gets silly is that America is either a nation of laws…or it isn’t. It is either a place where “nobody is above the law”…or it isn’t.

There is really no middle ground here.

By Leigh Ann Caldwell, Swing State

One group is being left out of the White House’s health reform forum Thursday: supporters of single payer health care.

President Obama has promised an open discussion as he begins an aggressive push for health care reform. Obama said Monday he is “bringing together business and labor, doctors and insurers, Democrats and Republicans” to discuss.

Progressive Democrats of America and Physicians for a National Health Program, leading proponents of expanding Medicare, government-run health care to cover all Americans, have not been invited and are “seeking” and invitation.

John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has become Congress’ leader for single payer. He has authored H.R. 676, the model bill for single payer advocates, which has 59 cosponsors. He too has not yet received an invitation.

Department of Justice Releases Nine Office of Legal Counsel Memoranda and Opinions

The Department of Justice today released two previously undisclosed Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memoranda and seven previously undisclosed opinions.

"Americans deserve a government that operates with transparency and openness," said Attorney General Eric Holder. "It is my goal to make OLC opinions available when possible while still protecting national security information and ensuring robust internal executive branch debate and decision-making."

Upgrade Palestinian rights
As it freezes an upgrade of relations with Israel, the EU should now demand respect for human rights, especially for children
By Seth Freedman | Guardian UK

The disproportionate and indiscriminate actions by Israeli forces during Operation Cast Lead rightly earned Israel's leaders international opprobrium, and in some cases the verbal outrage was backed by concrete sanctions. Having last year declared an upgrading of relations with Israel, the EU decided last month to put the process on hold in the wake of the carnage in Gaza.

Part 1

Court rejects Obama bid to stop wiretapping suit
By Devlin Barrett | Associated Press

The Obama administration has lost its argument that a potential threat to national security should stop a lawsuit challenging the government's warrantless wiretapping program.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Friday rejected the Justice Department's request for an emergency stay in a case involving a defunct Islamic charity.

Yet government lawyers signaled they would continue fighting to keep the information secret, setting up a new showdown between the courts and the White House over national security.

Top International Law Experts Call on US Administration to Reject War Paradigm, Reform Counter Terrorism Policies

This week the Eminent Jurists Panel, an independent body of experts convened by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), will present the results of a worldwide investigation into the impact of counter-terrorism laws and practices on human rights in Washington D.C.. The report Assessing Damage, Urging Action is the result of a three-year investigation that draws on sixteen hearings covering forty countries in all regions of the world.

Homeland Offense
Washington contemplates deploying the Armed Forces for domestic law enforcement.
By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos | American Conservative

Whether well-founded or not, fears abound that the new BCT assignments to the homefront foreshadow abuses of executive power; that a president could use the threat of terrorism or an actual attack to invoke the Insurrection Act and call in battle-hardened troops to suppress social disorder or political dissent....“What we have here is a little backward...We are sending the National Guard and Reserves overseas and taking the active duty out of combat fighting to remain here in the United States. What’s going on?”

Prosecutors Prepare Charges Against Final 'Enemy Combatant' in U.S.
By Carrie Johnson and Julie Tate | Washington Post

Federal prosecutors are preparing to charge Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri with providing material support to al-Qaeda terrorists in a groundbreaking move that would put the alleged sleeper agent under the jurisdiction of the U.S. court system, according to sources familiar with the issue.

Indicting Marri in a federal court marks a significant change from the policies of the Bush administration, which had argued that al-Marri should be tried in a military tribunal proceeding and that he could not use American courts to contest his legal status.

This is a fabulous letter from a UC Berkeley prof asking the Chancellor to fire John Yoo. Please write to him and thank him: delong@econ.berkeley.edu
Click "Read more" to read it.

WASHINGTON, DC – Following markup of the DC House Voting Rights Act (H.R. 157) in the House Judiciary Committee today, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (Md.) announced that the House will vote on the legislation next week.

“With today’s markup, Congress is one step closer to bringing representation to the people of this city. And I am happy to report that I, with the help of the three distinguished Members here with me, will bring the DC voting rights bill to the floor of the House next week.

“Next week, we will be voting to keep a promise that is nearly two and a quarter centuries overdue. It was the promise of our founders, a promise put into words by the Father of the Constitution, James Madison, when he wrote that the people of the federal city ‘will have had their voice in the election of the government which is to exercise authority over them.’

Nursing Home Watchdogs Muted by Bush Regulation
By Cindy Skrzycki | Bloomberg

The Bush administration shut off a source of information last fall about abuse and neglect in long-term care facilities that people suing nursing homes consider crucial to their cases.

The change that affects the $144 billion nursing-home industry occurred with no public notice or attention, perhaps because of the array of last-minute rules that President George W. Bush’s appointees rushed out before leaving Washington last month.

“This is pretty stunning,” said Mark Kosieradzki, a plaintiff attorney in Plymouth, Minnesota. “Nobody was told. It was just done.”

This public forum on solving the U.S. healthcare crisis was held in Charlottesville, Va., on February 23, 2009. Do attempt this at home by inviting these and other great speakers:

What could go wrong? According to the New York Times it's very serious and professional, and “the sense of the room [of lobbyists] seemed to be that Congress should leave details to a group of experts." I feel healthier already.

Protest the New York Post for its racist cartoon!

WHEN: Friday, Feb. 20, 4:45 PM
WHERE: News Corp. Building, 1211 Ave. of the Americas, bet. 47th and 48th Streets

We are United for Peace and JUSTICE.

We who continue to work for peace in Iraq and Afghanistan must make our voices heard against the vicious racism displayed by the New York Post in its recent cartoon. The fight for peace cannot be separated from the fight for justice.

The cartoon printed in Wednesday's New York Post depicts 2 white cops who have just shot a monkey saying "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill." On the previous page, there is a picture of President Obama signing the stimulus bill. Given the historic racist imagery depicting black people as monkeys, there is no way to construe this as anything but a revoltingly racist attack on the President.

Get involved now!
http://www.dcvote.org

Washington D.C. (February 19, 2009) -- Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and two other Members of Congress today sent a letter to the CEO of General Motors, Mr. Richard Wagoner, Jr., to propose a different kind of auto industry rescue plan that eliminates the competitive disadvantage of inflated health care costs.

As health care costs continue to spiral out of control, the brunt is borne in large part by employers that provide health care. General Motors and other U.S. automakers have significantly higher health care costs than their international competitors -- as much as $1400 per car. In the letter, Members of Congress point out that the adoption of H.R. 676, the United States National Health Care Act, would level the playing field and stimulate the economy.

Sharpton Pissed At Post: Activist calls for protest tomorrow; demands explanation for paper's "dead monkey/stimulus cartoon." | EurWeb

*In no uncertain terms Reverend Al Sharpton is taking aim at the NY Post over a cartoon that apparently represents President Barack Obama as a monkey killed by NYPD, because one officer says to other, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill."

Here's a statement by Rev Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network:

New York, NY (February 18, 2009) -- The cartoon in today's New York Post is troubling at best, given the racist attacks throughout history that have made African-Americans synonymous with monkeys.

Tolan lawyer: City of Bellaire tried to silence our case
By Taylor Timmins | KHOU.com

Lawyers for Robbie Tolan, the man who was shot by Bellaire police in front of his home, struck back at the department and the city in a press conference Wednesday, saying they refused to let their case die.

Attorney David Berg said the City of Bellaire sent the Tolans' legal team what he described as a threatening letter, saying they shouldn’t be talking publicly about the case.

Berg waved the letter in the air as he said his team and the Tolans won’t be silenced.

Berg said he had a message specifically for Bellaire Mayor Cindy Seigel.