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- 
CLONING
NEWS
- "Cloning
ban to face debate: Congress could take up
dilemma over experiments." ... "Real or hoax, the claim that the world's
first human clone has been born puts the next step squarely into Congress's
court: Will it ban baby-making via cloning?" ... "The nation has no specific
law against human cloning. But the Food and Drug Administration, which
regulates human experiments, contends that its regulations forbid human
cloning without prior agency permission - permission it has no intention
of giving." -By Lauran Neergaard
-AP via -Boston/Globe
- Eliot
Spitzer - 
- "TIME
2002 Crusader of the Year: Eliot Spitzer: ... "Wall Street's Top Cop:
In a year when business let so many down, Eliot Spitzer fought back. How
a rich kid from the Bronx became the people's champion." ... "Spitzer opened
an investigation that in just a few months began fundamentally reshaping
America's financial markets. Analysts, Spitzer would show, were doctoring
their reports—which the public relies on for stock information—to win business
for their banks' investment arms or to downgrade companies that didn't
play ball. Insiders knew the scam; folks in the heartland had no idea.
Spitzer's aggressive pursuit of Merrill Lynch and, subsequently, a dozen
other Wall Street firms turned the tables. The new ethics he championed
are touching in their simplicity: analysts' ratings should reflect what
they actually believe. There has not been such an affirmation of what's
right since Moses and the Ten Commandments. "The system was rotten, and
no one seemed interested in fixing it," says Spitzer. "So we moved in.""
(1,
2,
3,
4)
-By Adi Ignatius -TIME
- Person of the Year
- 2002
- Eliot
Spitzer - OPINION
- "[New
York states Attorney General Eliot] Spitzer: Man Of The Year - Savior of
Capitalism?" ... "Using a New York state law, he
obtained some explosive internal emails from Merrill Lynch and secured
a $100m fine. This pushed a complacent Securities and Exchange Commission
into action, and finally yesterday Spitzer got the reward for his pursuit."
... "As part of the agreement forged with the Stock Exchange [full
details], the ten leading brokerages must pay $900 million in retrospective
relief, $450m to fund "independent" research and $85 million to "investor
education". The brokerages, including Solomon Smith and Barney, CSFB, Lehman,
Morgan Stanley and UBS Warburg, will not be allowed to reward CEOs with
IPO offerings, and must operate at arms length from no less than independent
analysts on each offering. (Since the brokers are still paying these independent
analysts' fees, it's hard to see how this cure will be truly effective.)"
... "But for the Bronx-born Spitzer, his legend is assured as a pugilist
populist attorney straight from central casting. He's taken on the mob,
the music pigopolists (for CD price fixing), low-paying employers, and
is currently suing President Bush for gutting the clean air act." -By
Andrew Orlowski -TheRegister.co.uk
- "California
May Bar Judges from Joining the Boy Scouts." ...
"he California Supreme Court is considering a proposal that would forbid
the 1,600 judges in the state to belong to the Boy Scouts because of its
refusal to accept gays." ... "California judges are prohibited from joining
groups that discriminate based on sexual orientation, but nonprofit youth
organizations are exempt. The Supreme Court took up the proposal to consider
changing the rule at the request of bar associations in San Francisco and
Los Angeles." -By Adam Liptak
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
- "Feds
Indict 7 in Texas Terror Probe: Feds Indicte
[sic] Employees of Texas Computer Firm and Hamas Leader on Terrorism-Related
Charges." ... "The leader of an Islamic militant group, his wife, and five
brothers work at a Texas computer firm were indicted on charges of trafficking
with terrorist states Libya and Syria, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced
Wednesday." ... """The war against terror is a war of accountants and auditors
as well as weaponry and soldiers," Ashcroft said. "We will pursue the financiers
of terror as well as pursue the thugs who do their work.""
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Four
men arrested in Texas by anti-terrorism task force."
... "Four men connected to a computer company that did business in the
Middle East were arrested by federal anti-terrorism agents early Wednesday
on money-laundering charges." ... "The four men worked at Infocom, a suburban
Richardson computer company that federal agents raided in September 2001."
-By Angela K. Brown -StarTribune.com
- Enron
News - "Panel
seeks Andersen attorney probe: House committee
asks DOJ to look at whether Nancy Temple committed perjury in Enron trial."
... "The House Energy and Commerce Committee ended its probe of Andersen's
role in the collapse of energy trader Enron by asking the Justice Department
Tuesday to look at whether Andersen in-house lawyer Nancy Temple was truthful
during congressional testimony." -Reuters
via -CNN /fn
- "Bush
Has Widened Authority of C.I.A. to Kill Terrorists."
... "The Bush administration has prepared a list of terrorist leaders the
Central Intelligence Agency is authorized to kill, if capture is impractical
and civilian casualties can be minimized, senior military and intelligence
officials said." ... "Despite the authority given to the agency, Mr. Bush
has not waived the executive order banning assassinations, officials said.
The presidential authority to kill terrorists defines operatives of Al
Qaeda as enemy combatants and thus legitimate targets for lethal force."
... "The president is not legally required to approve each name added to
the list, nor is the C.I.A. required to obtain presidential approval for
specific attacks, although officials said Mr. Bush had been kept well informed
about the agency's operations." ... "But the decision by the Bush administration
to authorize, under certain circumstances, the killing of terrorist leaders
threatens to thrust it into a murky area of national security and international
law that is almost never debated in public because the covert operations
are known only to a small circle of executive branch and Congressional
officials." (1, 2)
-By James Risen and David Johnstone
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
- Accounting
News - "Donaldson
to head SEC: Co-founder of DLJ and ex-NYSE
chief would succeed Pitt as top market watchdog." ... "Wall Street veteran
William Donaldson, the founder of the former firm Donaldson Lufkin &
Jenrette, is the Bush administration's choice to be the new chairman of
the Securities and Exchange Commission." ... "Donaldson, whose firm was
sold to Credit Suisse First Boston in 2000, was introduced by President
Bush at a news conference Tuesday." ... "The SEC has been under greater
scrutiny due to the attention given to accounting and corporate misdeeds
that resulted in the nation's two largest bankruptcies, at WorldCom and
Enron, and shook investors' confidence in the market."
-CNN /fn
- 
-
- "Australia
trial could set Web precedent." ... "Australia's
highest court ruled on Tuesday that a defamation case sparked by a story
on a U.S Web site could be heard in Australia, opening a legal minefield
for web publishers over which libel laws they must follow." ... "The
landmark ruling that an article published by Dow Jones & Co was subject
to Australian law -- because it was downloaded in Australia -- is being
watched by media firms as it could set a precedent over where Internet
publication occurs." -Reuters
via -CNN /Sci-Tech
- "Soldier
Pleads in Classified Photo Case: Soldier Pleads
Guilty in Attempted Sale of Photos of Top-Secret Military Facility." ...
"A soldier has pleaded guilty to trying to sell a newspaper photographs
of a top-secret bunker where U.S. government leaders would be taken in
a nuclear attack." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Judge
Rebuffs Effort to Obtain Records on Cheney [energy] Task Force."
... "In a case involving bedrock constitutional issues, a federal judge
today threw out a lawsuit brought by an agency of Congress against Vice
President Dick Cheney over the formulation of the administration's energy
policy." ... "Judge John D. Bates of Federal District Court found that
Comptroller General David M. Walker, the head of the General Accounting
Office, did not have sufficient standing to sue the vice president." ...
"Mr. Walker had asked the judge to order the White House to reveal the
identities of industry executives who helped the administration develop
its energy policy last year." -By David Stout
-NYTimes via
-AltaVista-News
-
"Nigerian
state stands firm on Sharia: "Support Sharia,
Allah's Law is Supreme," says a road sign on the way into the northwestern
Nigerian city of Gusau." ... "Sharia, the Islamic penal code, is certainly
a force to be reckoned with in Gusau, the capital of Zamfara state." ...
"Last week the state's deputy governor declared a fatwa religious edict
calling for the death of a Nigerian journalist for alleged blasphemy over
an article at the centre of a recent controversy surrounding the Miss World
beauty pageant." ... "The authorities seem to be standing firm, despite
the fact that Nigeria's two main Islamic bodies and religious leaders in
Saudi Arabia have harshly criticized the order."
-Reuters via -CNN
/World
-
- "Update:
Bush Creates ".Kids" Domain." ... "President Bush
signed into law on Wednesday a bill that would create a ".kids" domain
name, and certify that the domain was "safe" for minors." ... "The .kids
domain will actually be a subdomain of the ".us" suffix, and so will only
apply to web sites based in the U.S, such as "www.example.kids.us". Since
the domain is under the purview of the U.S. country code, it will be overseen
by the Department of Commerce." -By Mark Hachman
-ExtremeTech
- 
- "High schools
give it up for Pentagon: Law requires giving
recruiters access to juniors, seniors." ... "A little-noticed provision
in a new federal education law is requiring high schools to hand over to
military recruiters some key information about their juniors and seniors:
name, address and phone number." ... "The No Child Left Behind law, signed
last January, pumps billions into education but also gives military recruiters
access to the names, addresses and phone numbers of students in 22,000
schools. The law also says that schools must give the military the same
access to their campuses that businesses and college recruiters enjoy."
... "Students and parents who oppose the law can keep their information
from being turned over to the military, but they must sign and return an
“opt-out” form." -By Ken Maguire
-AP via -MSNBC
- "Supreme
Court reviews punishment of anti-abortion protesters:
Justices grapple with corruption law's use." ... "Anti-abortion protests
have become commonplace at clinics across the country. Now the Supreme
Court is being asked to clarify how to punish those who cross the line
into disruptive, even violent civil disobedience." ... "The National Organization
for Women (NOW) first filed a lawsuit on behalf of the clinics in 1986,
and the Court eight years later ruled in its favor. Leaders of the anti-abortion
movement, including Operation Rescue and the Pro-Life Action Network, filed
a new legal claim the justices will now decide."
-CNN
-
- "CIA
Target: Americans: Officials: U.S. Citizens
Working for Al Qaeda Can Be Killed in CIA Actions." ... "American citizens
working for al Qaeda overseas can legally be targeted and killed by the
CIA under President Bush's rules for the war on terrorism, U.S. officials
say." ... "The authority to kill U.S. citizens is granted under a secret
finding signed by the president after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that
directs the CIA to covertly attack al Qaeda anywhere in the world. The
authority makes no exception for Americans, so permission to strike them
is understood rather than specifically described, officials said." ...
"Previously, the government's authority to kill a citizen outside of the
judicial process has been generally restricted to when the American is
directly threatening the lives of other Americans or their allies." -By
John J. Lumpkin -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- 
- "Military trial
plans nearly done: Bush to decide which detainees
will be tried by tribunals." ... "The government is nearly ready to go
forward with military tribunals for suspected al Qaeda operatives in U.S.
custody in Guantanamo Bay and Afghanistan, pending completion of final
details and approval from President Bush, according to federal officials."
... "Pentagon General Counsel William J. Haynes II has met in recent weeks
with senior officials in other agencies, including the Justice Department,
to outline the plans that have been put in place for the tribunals, also
known as military commissions." -By Susan Schmidt
and Bradley Graham-WashingtonPost
via -MSNBC
TIA:
Total Information Awareness - 
- "Pentagon
Plans a Computer System That Would Peek at Personal Data of Americans."
... "As the director of the effort, Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter, has described
the system in Pentagon documents and in speeches, it will provide intelligence
analysts and law enforcement officials with instant access to information
from Internet mail and calling records to credit card and banking transactions
and travel documents, without a search warrant." ... "Historically, military
and intelligence agencies have not been permitted to spy on Americans without
extraordinary legal authorization." ... "In order to deploy such a system,
known as Total Information Awareness, new legislation would be needed,
some of which has been proposed by the Bush administration in the Homeland
Security Act that is now before Congress. That legislation would amend
the Privacy Act of 1974, which was intended to limit what government agencies
could do with private information." (1, 2)
-By John Markoff -NYTimes
via -LawMeme
TIA:
Total Information Awareness - Discussion
- "Search
Warrant Not Reuired." -LawMeme
- Microsoft
News - "The
Microsoft case: Antitrust overseers are named." ...
"Microsoft yesterday established a committee of directors to make sure
it obeys the law — a move mandated by a federal judge's Nov. 1 ruling in
the company's antitrust case." ... "Meeting a requirement to set up the
compliance committee, Microsoft appointed Harvard Business School professor
James Cash to lead the group, which also includes Merck Chief Executive
Raymond Gilmartin and former U.S. Labor Secretary Ann McLaughlin Korologos."
-By Kim Peterson -SeattleTimes.NWsource
- 
- "U.N.
passes Iraq resolution on weapons inspections:
Bush: 'All nations must continue to pressure Saddam'" ... "The United Nations
Security Council on Friday approved a resolution that demands unfettered
access for U.N. inspectors to search for weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq." ... "All 15 member states of the Security Council voted in favor
of the resolution." ... "Iraq has seven days to accept the resolution's
terms." ... "Within 30 days, Iraq must send the U.N. a list of its
weapons." ... "Within 45 days, Iraq must allow inspections to begin."
... "Iraq is accused of possessing weapons of mass destruction -- nuclear,
biological, chemical -- in violation of the ceasefire treaty it signed
when Baghdad lost the 1991 Persian Gulf War." -Report
contributed to by Jane Arraf -CNN
-
- 
-
- "US,
France agree on new Iraq resolution. " ... "The U.N.
Security Council set the vote for 10 a.m. EST after the United States and
its cosponsor Britain, at French urging, changed the wording in a key provision
that would declare Iraq in "material breach" of its U.N. obligations."
... "The change addresses concerns by France, Russia, Syria and others
that the original text would have let the United States determine on its
own whether Iraq had committed an infraction." -By
Edith M. Lederer -AP
via -Boston/Globe
- WorldCom
News - "SEC
Case Against WorldCom Grows: Agency Says Fraud
May Exceed $9 Billion." ... "The Securities and Exchange Commission expanded
its fraud case against WorldCom Inc. yesterday, saying the improper bookkeeping
at the telecommunications company stretches back to at least 1999 and the
total amount of fraudulent accounting may exceed $9 billion." -By
Christopher Stern-WashingtonPost
>TechNews
ELECTION
2002 - "GOP
in Control: Energy, Taxes and Judges Top List
of Priorities for Republicans." ... "Now, with the GOP making gains in
the House and taking a slight edge in the Senate, Bush is likely to be
able to move ahead with an agenda that includes making deeper cuts in taxes,
an energy bill that could see more national parks opened up to oil exploration
and logging, and a slate of conservative judges whose appointments have
been blocked." ... "The only area where Bush might face a challenge from
the party he carried to victory is his proposal to privatize Social Security,
a plan that lost a lot of its popularity in the collapse of the stock market
that saw many Americans take a hard hit to their retirement hopes."
-ABCNEWS.com
- Law
Enforcement
- "Interior
Department Struggles to Upgrade Its Police Forces."
... "The Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument, the Hoover Dam and
half of the Alaska pipeline are all protected against terrorist attack
and other threats by police forces that auditors have long described as
ill trained, poorly managed, dysfunctional and, in some instances, corrupt."
... "The department has more than 4,300 officers in seven agencies, including
the United States Park Police, the National Park Service and the Bureau
of Land Management. They are responsible for protecting most of the nation's
historic icons, like Mount Rushmore and the Washington Monument, some of
which have been the target of terrorist threats in the last year. But few
of the agencies have intelligence or terrorism offices, or the ability
to gather crime and enforcement statistics." (1, 2)
-By Joel Brinkley -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- Enron
News - "Enron
loss major blow to law firm: Vinson & Elkins
regroups after hit." ... "Dynegy has experienced it. So, too, has Arthur
Andersen." ... "And now the city's largest law firm, a historical pillar
of Houston's downtown establishment, is suffering through the repercussions
that come from a too-close association with Enron Corp." ... "A year after
Enron's collapse, Vinson & Elkins is beginning to jettison some of
its partners -- something that is rarely done at major law firms." -By
L. M. Sixel -HoustonChronicle.com
OPINION
- "Money
talks, Microsoft walks: Bill Gates lets out
a big "Whew!" as the court decides that what's good for Microsoft is good
for America." ... "This is the way the Microsoft antitrust suit ends: Not
with a bang but a whimper." ... "With their proposed settlement last autumn,
the hollow men of the Bush Justice Department had already gutted whatever
remnant of serious penalty or constraint against Microsoft that had been
won during the five-year legal process. Now, with that settlement largely
rubber-stamped by Federal District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, the endless
process is, if not over, close to a finale." -By Scott
Rosenberg -Salon
- "Federal
Regulators Sue Ernst & Young." ... "Federal regulators
say accounting giant Ernst & Young misstated the assets of a failed
Chicago-area savings and loan and deliberately delayed reporting the error
to the government." ... "The allegation came Friday in a $548 million fraud
and negligence lawsuit filed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
[FDIC]. It said the accounting firm was silent about the misstated assets
to avoid publicity that would hurt the $11 billion sale of its consulting
arm." ... "Ernst & Young, one of the so-called Big Four accounting
firms, issued a statement blaming Superior Bank's management and a slumping
economy for the collapse of the savings and loan, which was based in west
suburban Oakbrook Terrace." -By Mike Robinson
-AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
- "SEC
Chief Is Subject Of Probe: Pitt Failed To Disclose
Past Of Board Nominee." ... "The Securities and Exchange Commission ordered
an investigation into the actions of its own chairman yesterday, after
the agency's commissioners learned that Chairman Harvey L. Pitt failed
to tell them that his choice to head a new accounting oversight board chaired
the audit committee of a company being questioned about possible fraud."
... "Former FBI and CIA director William H. Webster told Pitt about his
association with Washington-based U.S. Technologies Inc. more than a week
before the SEC approved Webster by a 3 to 2 party-line vote last Friday.
The new board, intended to restore investor confidence, was created by
legislation passed after accounting scandals at Enron Corp., WorldCom Inc.
and several other major companies cost investors and employees billions
of dollars." -By Kathleen Day, David S. Hilzenrath
and Shannon Henry-WashingtonPost
- "SEC
investigates choice of Webster for board." ... "The
Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday opened an investigation into
the selection of former FBI director William Webster to run a new five-member
board to oversee the embattled accounting industry, amid escalating calls
for SEC chairman Harvey Pitt to resign. The White House said it stood by
Pitt, but also said it did not have all the facts in the matter." ... "Pitt
requested the probe under pressure from fellow SEC commissioners, some
of whom have publicly complained that he bowed to pressure from the accounting
industry last month when he selected Webster to run the new board instead
of another, more experienced candidate." -By Sue Kirchhoff
-Boston/Globe
Enron
News - "Ex-Enron
Executive Indicted on 78 Counts." ... "A federal
grand jury on Thursday handed up a 78-count indictment accusing fired Enron
executive Andrew Fastow of engaging in fraud, money laundering, and other
crimes to enrich himself and create the "illusion of business skill and
success" at the ruined energy giant." ... "The indictment added a new charge
that Fastow, 40, allegedly obstructed justice by trying to persuade former
protege Michael Kopper, who is cooperating with prosecutors, to destroy
computer records." ... "The order to Kopper, who pleaded guilty Aug. 21
and implicated his former boss in a series of fraud and kickback schemes,
came in August and September 2001." -By C. Bryson
Hull -Reuters/Business
-West
Coast Port Lockout
- "Union
points finger at shippers, Justice Department in filing."
... "The West Coast dockworkers union blames mismanagement by shipping
companies for slow movement of cargo, saying Pacific Maritime Association
members are trying to make longshoremen look bad." ... "In documents filed
yesterday with the Justice Department, the International Longshore and
Warehouse Union also said the department appears to blame longshoremen
for the backlog. The union says the department has not asked the maritime
association to respond to union charges that its mismanagement is keeping
ports clogged." -By Frank Vinluan -SeattleTimes.NWsource
- 
- Iowa
pregnancy privacy challenge.
- "Judge
Drops Pregnancy Records Request." ... "A Buena Vista
District Court judge has vacated an order that would have required Planned
Parenthood to turn over pregnancy records." -By Pat
Mack -KTIV
Sniper
- "Sniper
search: a communication strategy: A man was
fatally shot Tuesday at a Maryland bus stop, as police continue to seek
contact with the killer." ... "As the sniper investigation grinds on, the
issue of communication among the shooter, the police, and the media has
emerged as one of the most intriguing yet exasperating facets of the case."
... ""The media are not just sitting off to the side reporting this case.
They are an active member of this complex dynamic between perpetrator,
victim, and law enforcement, and how they conduct themselves in that mix
will impact how the outcome plays out," says Jerrold Post, a psychology
expert at George Washington University and a former CIA profiler." -By
Gail Russell Chaddock -CSMonitor/buy
-
- Iowa
pregnancy privacy challenge.
- "Judges
Lifts Pregnancy Records Order: Judge Lifts
Order for Pregnancy Records Sought in Investigation of Abandoned Baby."
... "A judge on Tuesday lifted an order that would have required Planned
Parenthood to provide pregnancy-test records that authorities had hoped
would lead them to the mother of a dead baby boy."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
Sniper
- "Police
Ask Caller in the Sniper Make Contact." ... "In a
fitful effort at communication through the public airwaves, the police
disclosed that the person they are desperately trying to reach — the sniper
himself, in the view of many detectives — had made his own telephone call
to them since a note was left on Saturday at the scene of the latest shooting,
in Ashland, Va." ... "No details of the Ponderosa Steakhouse note have
been released other than that it was more than two pages long. Its content
clearly did not ease detectives' fears that the sniper may strike again
at any moment in some fresh direction out beyond the Washington hub." (1,
2)
-By Francis X Clines with Christopher Drew -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
Sniper
- "Police
Want to Talk More to Sniper-Case Caller." ... ""The
person you called could not hear everything that you said; the audio was
unclear and we want to get it right," Montgomery County Police Chief Charles
Moose said at a televised news briefing, making clear he was sending a
message." ... ""Call us back so that we can clearly understand," Moose
said, speaking in Rockville, Maryland, where a task force investigating
the case is based." ... "He gave no details on who the caller might be
-- a tipster or even possibly the sniper -- or when the call was received."
-By Mark Wilkinson -Reuters
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Bush
Seeks to Cut Back on Raise for S.E.C.'s Corporate Cleanup."
... "Less than three months ago, President Bush signed with great fanfare
sweeping corporate antifraud legislation that called for a huge increase
in the budget of the Securities and Exchange Commission to police corporate
America and clean up Wall Street." ... "Now the White House is backing
off the budget provision and urging Congress to provide the agency with
27 percent less money than the new law authorized. Administration officials
say their proposed increase is enough and that other budgetary needs, like
the military and security against terrorism, make it impossible to afford
more." ... "Harvey L. Pitt, the commission's chairman, has acknowledged
through a spokesman that the administration's level of financing will not
allow it to undertake important initiatives." (1, 2)
-By Stephen Labaton-NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- 
- "Indonesia
passes emergency terrorism laws." ... "Indonesian
President Megawati Sukarnoputri has signed into law two decrees expanding
powers of police to deal with terrorism in the wake of last weekend's deadly
bomb attacks on the island of Bali." ... "The new laws give authorities
sweeping powers to detain terror suspects without charge for up to six
months and provides for the death penalty for convicted terrorists." ...
"The new laws will be made retroactive to cover those responsible for the
Bali bombings." -AP
-Reuters -CNN
- "Rivals:
Microsoft is up to old tricks: Without protocols,
competing gadgets, software won't work as well on Windows." ... "As Microsoft
awaits court approval of its landmark antitrust settlement with the government,
the company has angered some competitors by tightly limiting the technical
data it promised to release." ... "In order to gain access, a company would
have to use Microsoft's "Passport" identity authentication system, then
request and sign two forms -- one of them promising secrecy -- just to
see the license terms and find how much Microsoft is charging for the information."
-AP via -CNN
Sniper
- "Barbara
Starr: Military joins sniper probe." ... "The aircraft
to be used are the RC-7 and U-21 -- small fixed-wing planes packed advanced
technology, including sensors. They are all-weather planes that have the
capability of operating round the clock." ... "STARR: Under the posse comitatus
law, which dates back originally to 1878, no military involvement [is allowed]
in law enforcement. And that means they can't pursue, they can't target,
they have no powers of arrest." ... "But in recent years, what has come
to happen is the military can provide assistance, and of course, the best
example is the drug enforcement issue, drug interdiction." ...
-CNN
- "Appeals
court stands behind jailhouse lawyer privilege:
Convicts can continue to consult fellow inmates until trial settles matter."
... "The U.S. Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court's injunction allowing
a convicted Tama killer to get legal advice from his fellow inmates at
the Iowa State Penitentiary." ... "Archie Robert Bear and three other inmates
are challenging the Fort Madison prison's decision to ban prisoners from
seeking legal advice from each other and to do away with the prison's "red
star" envelope system prisoners use to communicate with each other on lawsuits
and criminal appeals." ... "Before it was abolished in July 2001, the envelopes,
which were marked with a crimson star, allowed jailhouse lawyers -- inmates
with a knowledge of law -- to receive information and dispense legal advice."
-By Jeff Reinitz -WCFCourier.com
- "Illinois
puts death penalty on trial." ... "Clemency hearings
are scheduled to begin this week for almost every prisoner facing the death
penalty in the US state of Illinois." ... "The cases of 142 murderers -
convicted of killing around 250 people - will be reviewed with the possibility
that the state's Governor George Ryan will commute all their sentences
to life in prison." ... "Governor Ryan, who leaves office in January, was
the first to declare a moratorium on executions three years ago after three
murder convictions were overturned with new examinations of DNA evidence."-BBC/News
- "Congress
Passes Iraq War Resolution: Congress Approves
Use of U.S. Military Force to Confront Iraq, Send Resolution to White House."
... "Congress approved the use of America's military might against Iraq,
reinforcing President Bush's insistence that Saddam Hussein's government
had no other option but to disarm. "The days of Iraq acting as an outlaw
state are coming to an end," Bush said." ... "After days of solemn debate,
both the House and Senate passed and sent to the White House a resolution
authorizing the president to use military force, if necessary, to compel
Iraq to get rid of its biological and chemical weapons and disband its
nuclear weapons program." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
-West
Coast Port Lockout
- "Bush
Gets The Goods Moving." ... "Judge Alsup will hold
a hearing in a week on whether to grant a full 80-day injunction. Such
an order would push the dispute past the Christmas buying season, past
the November elections--and, perhaps, past the start of the war, if it
comes." ... "The judge issued a temporary restraining order that expires
Oct. 16. On that day, he will hold a hearing to determine whether to impose
the 80-day cooling-off period as mandated by Taft-Hartley at that time.
Both sides expect the judge to do so." -By Dan Ackman
-Forbes
-West
Coast Port Lockout
- "Bush
Invokes Taft-Hartley Act to Open West Coast Ports."
... "In seeking to suspend the shutdown for 80 days, Mr. Bush became the
first president to successfully invoke the Taft-Hartley Act emergency provisions
since President Richard M. Nixon sought to stop a longshoremen's strike
in 1971." ... "Mr. Bush said he was worried about the movement of military
supplies. The Pentagon often uses commercial shipping lines to send supplies
and equipment overseas, and those lines would undoubtedly fill that role
from the busy West Coast ports if fighting erupted in Iraq or elsewhere
in the Middle East." -By David E. Sanger with Steven
Greenhouse -NYTimes
via -AltaVista-News
- "Profiler:
Sniper case publicity a balancing act." ... "One
of the lead investigators in the Washington, D.C.-area sniper shootings
lashed out at the media Wednesday." ... "Montgomery County, Maryland, Police
Chief Charles Moose was upset that information about a tarot card left
near the scene of the most recent shooting -- and inscribed with the message,
"Dear Policeman: I am God" -- had been leaked to the media."
-CNN
-West
Coast Port Lockout
- "West
Coast Ports Set to Reopen After Court Intervenes in Labor Dispute."
... "Workers may need as long as two and a half months to clear the backlog
of goods caused by the 10-day lockout at 29 major Pacific ports." ... "The
most often-cited study estimated total harm to the economy from the labor
strife at between $1 billion and $2 billion a day. The study, prepared
for the shippers' association by Martin Associates of Lancaster, Pa., estimated
the cost of a 10-day stoppage at $19 billion."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
-West
Coast Port Lockout
- "Bush
Wins End to West Coast Lockout." ... "President Bush
won an 80-day halt to a management lockout of West Coast ports on Tuesday
as a federal judge granted a court order to reopen the docks and start
clearing a huge backlog of cargo from more than 200 ships now idled offshore."
... "In San Francisco, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup said the
government had met the requirements for an injunction to reopen the ports
and issued a temporary restraining order with a fuller hearing set for
Oct. 16." -By Andrew Quinn -Reuters
via -ABCNEWS.com
-West
Coast Port Lockout
- "Courts
Are Port Option for Bush Under Act." ... "The [1947]
Taft-Hartley Act, passed over the protests of the labor movement and the
veto of President Harry Truman, is a sweeping piece of legislation that
curtails some of the union rights workers had won in the 1935 National
Labor Relations Act." -Reuters
via -ABCNEWS.com
-West
Coast Port Lockout
- "Taft-Hartley
Act no quick-fix for port dispute." ... "If President
Bush decides to intervene in the labor dispute that has shut down West
Coast ports since Sunday, a resumption of work would be neither quick nor
assured." ... "Under the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, Bush would have to appoint
a fact-finding panel and try to convince federal courts on the West Coast
that the dispute would "imperil the national health or safety." If the
courts agree, they can order the ports to reopen and keep running for up
to 80 days." -By Peter Szekely
-Reuters via -Forbes
-West
Coast Port Lockout
- "Bush
to Intervene in Port Lockout." ... "President Bush
will take the first step toward ending a labor dispute between West Coast
port workers and shipping lines Monday by forming a board of inquiry to
make a quick assessment of the economic damage and determine whether the
two sides are negotiating in good faith." ... "Bush is forming the board
under the Taft-Hartley Act, hours after talks broke down between the union
and management Sunday night." -By Leigh Strope
-AP via -Seattle-PI.com.NWsource
OPINION-
-
- "Rule
of law or renegade? Iraq crisis will tell, ex-inspector
says." ... "The looming war in Iraq will define the United States either
as a democracy dedicated to the rule of law or a renegade empire, says
Scott Ritter, the controversial former chief U.N. weapons inspector in
Iraq." ... "He said the Bush administration has used the Sept. 11 tragedy
to further the right's agenda -- not to make the nation more secure." ...
"By accusing dissenters of being unpatriotic, he said Bush has created
a climate in America that stifles democratic values of free and open discussion
of issues." ... ""Democracy is about involvement, criticizing, debate,
that's what makes this country work," Ritter said." -By
Chris McGann -Seattle-PI.com.NWsource
- STEM
CELL NEWS
- "Nancy
Reagan Fights Bush Over Stem Cells." ... "Mr. Bush
sharply limited such research. At 81, the former first lady is obliquely
but persistently campaigning — through friends, advisers, lawmakers and
her own well-placed calls and letters — to reverse the president's decision."
... "Mrs. Reagan believes that embryonic stem cell research could uncover
a cure for Alzheimer's, the disease that has wiped out her husband's memory.
She was dismayed, friends say, when the White House took issue on Monday
with a new California law that encourages embryonic stem cell research."
... ""A lot of time is being wasted," she told a friend last week who was
given permission to pass her words on to The New York Times. "A lot of
people who could be helped are not being helped."" -By
Alessandra Stanley -NYTimes
via -Google-News
OPINION
- "House
GOP bill protects bad doctors, HMOs and nursing homes from accountability;
patients lose crucial rights." ... "Just 5 percent
of American doctors are responsible for half the malpractice in the United
States, according to a new analysis of federal data by the consumer group
Public Citizen." ... "The analysis was released as the U.S. House of Representatives
is scheduled to consider legislation that would make it more difficult
for injured patients to hold their doctors accountable for negligence."
-Citizen.org
-
- 
- "Tex.
Women Charged With Selling Mexicans' Babies:
Mothers Illegally Brought to U.S., Prosecutors Say." ... "A Texas adoption
agency worker and her daughter are facing federal and state charges in
what authorities say was a scheme that lured dozens -- and possibly hundreds
-- of young pregnant Mexican women to the United States to sell their babies."
-By Amanda Zamora-WashingtonPost
- "[Illinois]
Islamic charity charged again after court victory."
... "A federal judge Friday threw out perjury charges against a Chicago-area
Islamic charity and its leader, but prosecutors quickly filed new, related
charges just a few hours after the stunning courtroom ruling." ... "Prosecutors
have alleged in court that Palos Hills-based Benevolence International
Foundation and its executive director, Enaam Arnaout, have ties to Osama
bin Laden's terrorist network, but defense lawyers have blasted the government
evidence as weak and tenuous." -By Matt O'Connor and
Laurie Cohen
-ChicagoTribune
-
- 
- "U.S.
pilots face charges in Afghan bombing of Canadians."
... "The U.S. Air Force is expected to announce criminal charges as early
as Friday against two American F-16 fighter pilots who mistakenly bombed
Canadian troops in Afghanistan in April, killing four and injuring eight,
U.S. defence officials said on Thursday." -By Charles
Aldinger -Reuters/Asia
Enron
News - 
-
- "Enron
probe indicts three British bankers." ... "Federal
prosecutors in Houston on Thursday indicted three British bankers on wire
fraud charges in connection with an Enron Corp. deal considered a critical
piece of the case being built against former Chief Financial Officer Andrew
Fastow." -By C. Bryson Hull
-Reuters via -Forbes
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