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ARCHIVES NEWS Law News History Archives LAW ARCHIVES |
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US
- 
International
- 
Iraq
- 
Secret
- 
GOV
- 
Terrorism
- 
Intelligence
- Telecommunications
- E-Mail
- 
Privacy
- 
Politics
- 
Media
- 
Enforcement
- "US
investigates leak of spy program: Prosecutors focus
on disclosure to New York Times." ... "The Justice Department has opened
a criminal investigation into recent disclosures about a controversial
domestic eavesdropping program that was secretly authorized by President
Bush after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, officials said yesterday."
... "Justice Department prosecutors will focus on whether classified information
about the program was unlawfully disclosed to The New York Times, which
reported two weeks ago that Bush had authorized the National Security Agency
to monitor the international telephone calls and e-mails of people in the
United States without court-approved warrants, officials said." ... "The
case is the latest in a series of clashes between the media and the Bush
administration, which has aggressively enforced restrictions on classified
information and has frequently complained about media disclosures related
to terrorism or the war in Iraq." -By Dan Eggen -WashingtonPost
via -BostonGlobe
Secret
- Government
- Intelligence
- Civil
Liberties - Privacy
- Politics
- Media
- "Justice
Dept. Opens Inquiry Into Leak of Domestic Spying."
... "The Justice Department said today that it had opened a criminal investigation
into the disclosure of classified information about a secret National Security
Agency program under which President Bush authorized eavesdropping on people
in the United States without a court warrant." ... "The investigation apparently
began in recent days following a formal referral from the agency regarding
the leak, federal officials said on condition of anonymity." ... "The program,
whose existence was revealed in an article in The New York Times on Dec.
16, has provoked sharp criticism from civil liberties groups, some members
of Congress and some former intelligence officials who believe it circumvents
the law governing national security eavesdropping." -By
Scott Shane -NYTimes
Hackers
- 
Music
- 
Entertainment
- 
Computer
- 
Business
- 
Technology
- Consumer
- Privacy
- "Sony
BMG tentatively settles CD software suits." ... "Sony
BMG Music Entertainment has reached a tentative settlement with consumers
who filed a class action lawsuit over the music company's copy-protection
software on CDs, court papers show." ... "Consumers complained that the
technology -- known as XCP -- violated their rights by potentially leaving
computers vulnerable to hackers and allowing the company to track listening
habits." -Reuters
People
- Government
- 
Military
- Terrorism
- Civil
Liberties - Politics
- 
Illinois
- 
Florida
- 
Virginia
- "U.S.
Defends Conduct in Padilla Case: Supreme Court Asked
To Overrule 4th Circuit." ... "A federal appeals court infringed on President
Bush's authority to run the war on terror when it refused to let prosecutors
take custody of "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla, the Justice Department
said yesterday, as it urged the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene." ... "The
sharply worded Justice Department filing was the latest salvo in an increasingly
contentious battle over Padilla, a U.S. citizen arrested in Chicago [Illinois]
in 2002 and initially accused of plotting to detonate a radiological "dirty
bomb." Padilla was held for more than three years by the military before
he was indicted last month in Miami [Florida] on separate criminal terrorism
charges." ... "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit refused last
week to allow prosecutors to take custody of Padilla from the military
and rebuked the Bush administration for its handling of the high-profile
case. The Bush administration took strong issue yesterday with the Richmond-based
[Virginia] court's decision and appealed it to the Supreme Court." -By
Jerry Markon-WashingtonPost
Business
- 
Accounting
- 
Law
- "SEC
calls for clarity in executive pay." ... "Public
companies in the US could have to provide investors with valuations of
the pensions and stock options of senior executives as part of a far-reaching
overhaul of the disclosure rules on executive pay by the Securities and
Exchange Commission." ... "The chief US financial regulator is preparing
the first update of its disclosure rules on executive pay in more than
a decade, because of concerns that investors do not receive adequate information
about compensation. An important requirement could focus on executives'
pensions and options." ... "The median total pay of chief executives increased
by 30 per cent in 2004, according to a survey of 1,522 chief executives
by the Corporate Library, a corporate governance watchdog, published in
October." -By Andrew Parker
-FT.com via
-MSNBC
Hawaii
- 
History
- 
Museum
- "Group
hides native Hawaiian artifacts: Judge jails leader,
holds three others in contempt of court." ... "Leaders of a Hawaiian group
vowed not to divulge the location of a cache of native artifacts obtained
from a museum and then buried, despite the jailing of their director."
... "One of the four, executive director Edward Halealoha Ayau, was taken
into custody after refusing [Chief U.S. District Judge David] Ezra's order
to reveal the exact location of the 83 artifacts from the Bishop Museum."
-AP via -CNN
NY
- 
Internet
- Messaging
- Telecommunications
- 
Patent
- 
Search
Engine - Business
- "Google
Talk faces patent lawsuit." ... "A New York company
[Rates Technology (RTI)] is suing Google for patent infringement over the
voice-over-Internet portion of its Google Talk instant messaging and voice
chat program." ... "It alleges infringement on two of its patents for minimizing
the cost of long-distance calls using the Internet."" ... "RTI President
Jerry Weinberger returned a call seeking comment on Thursday and said his
firm also has sued Vonage and Cablevision over patent infringement." ...
""When a VOIP call can be transferred to the regular PSTN (telephone network),
the switching of that call infringes our patents," Weinberger said." -By
Elinor Mills -CNET
/News
Government
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Florida
- 
Oregon
- 
Ohio
- Virginia
- "Defense
Lawyers in Terror Cases Plan Challenges Over Spy Efforts."
... "Defense lawyers in some of the country's biggest terrorism cases say
they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security
Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al
Qaeda." ... "The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether
the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the government
withheld critical information or misled judges and defense lawyers about
how and why the men were singled out." ... "The expected legal challenges,
in cases from Florida, Ohio, Oregon and Virginia, add another dimension
to the growing controversy over the agency's domestic surveillance program
and could jeopardize some of the Bush administration's most important courtroom
victories in terror cases, legal analysts say." -By
Eric Lichtblau and James Risen (1, 2)
-NYTimes
UK
- EMail
- Business
- 
EU
- Privacy
- Telecommunications
- "Businessman
wins e-mail spam case." ... "A businessman has won
what is believed to be the first victory of its kind by claiming damages
from a company which sent him e-mail spam." ... "Three years ago the EU
passed an anti-spam law, the directive on privacy and telecommunications,
which gave individuals the right to fight the growing tide of unwanted
e-mail by allowing them to claim damages."-BBC
/News
Secret
- Government
- Law
Enforcement
- Law
- Privacy
- "U.S.
secret surveillance up sharply since Sept. 11." ...
"Federal applications for a special U.S. court to authorize secret surveillance
rose sharply after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the panel required
changes to the requests at a even greater rate, government documents show."
... "The Justice Department's reports to the U.S. Congress on the surveillance
court's activities show that the Bush administration made 5,645 applications
for electronic surveillance and physical searches through 2004, the most
recent year for which figures are available. In the previous four years,
the court received a total of 3,436." -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
Government
- Military
- Intelligence
- Secret
- Prisons
- Civil
Liberties - Privacy
- Law
- Media
- Politics
- "Fear
destroys what bin Laden could not." ... "One wonders
if Osama bin Laden didn't win after all. He ruined the America that existed
on 9/11. But he had help." ... "If, back in 2001, anyone had told me that
four years after bin Laden's attack our president would admit that he broke
U.S. law against domestic spying and ignored the Constitution -- and then
expect the American people to congratulate him for it -- I would have presumed
the girders of our very Republic had crumbled." ... "Had anyone said our
president would invade a country and kill 30,000 of its people claiming
a threat that never, in fact, existed, then admit he would have invaded
even if he had known there was no threat -- and expect America to be pleased
by this -- I would have thought our nation's sensibilities and honor had
been eviscerated." ... "If I had been informed that our nation's leaders
would embrace torture as a legitimate tool of warfare, hold prisoners for
years without charges and operate secret prisons overseas -- and call such
procedures necessary for the nation's security -- I would have laughed
at the folly of protecting human rights by destroying them." ... "If someone
had predicted the president's staff would out a CIA agent as revenge against
a critic, defy a law against domestic propaganda by bankrolling supposedly
independent journalists and commentators, and ridicule a 37-year Marie
Corps veteran for questioning U.S. military policy -- and that the populace
would be more interested in whether Angelina is about to make Brad a daddy
-- I would have called the prediction an absurd fantasy." -By
Robert
Steinback -Miami/Herald
Turkey
- Journalist
- Censorship
- Free
Speech - EU
- "Turkey
opens new case against journalist." ... "A Turkish
prosecutor has opened a new case against one of the country's leading Turkish-Armenians
for comments he made about an earlier prosecution." ... "Hrant Dink, editor
of the bilingual Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos, was convicted in October
of "insulting Turkishness" and received a six-month suspended sentence.
The case became one of several prominent prosecutions over speech that
prompted questions about Turkey's dedication to democracy from officials
of the European Union, which Turkey is trying to join."
-AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Government
- Terrorism
- Law
Enforcement - Law
- Telecommunications
- Business
- Internet
- Privacy
- Politics
- "Spy
Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report."
... "The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes
of telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the United
States as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush approved
after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to hunt for evidence of terrorist activity,
according to current and former government officials." ... "The volume
of information harvested from telecommunication data and voice networks,
without court-approved warrants, is much larger than the White House has
acknowledged, the officials said. It was collected by tapping directly
into some of the American telecommunication system's main arteries, they
said." ... "As part of the program approved by President Bush for domestic
surveillance without warrants, the N.S.A. has gained the cooperation of
American telecommunications companies to obtain backdoor access to streams
of domestic and international communications, the officials said." ...
"The government's collection and analysis of phone and Internet traffic
have raised questions among some law enforcement and judicial officials
familiar with the program." -By Eric Lichtblau and
James Risen
(1,
2)
-NYTimes
US
- 
Egypt
- Law
- "U.S.
Protests Jailing of Egyptian Opposition Leader (Update2)."
... "The U.S. government protested the conviction of Egyptian opposition
politician Ayman Nour on forgery charges and requested he be released from
jail." ... "Nour's conviction ``calls into question Egypt's commitment
to democracy, freedom and the rule of law,'' White House press secretary
Scott McClellan said in a statement. The U.S. calls on Egypt ``to release
Mr. Nour from detention.''" -By Carlos Torres -Bloomberg
Consumer
- 
Food
- 
Health
- "Labels
on food to list allergens more plainly: New federal
law intended to help consumers find ingredients that could sicken them."
... "A federal law effective Jan. 1 requires food labels to list ingredients
made from proteins derived from any of the eight major allergenic foods:
milk, eggs, fish, crustaceans, wheat, tree nuts, soybeans and peanuts.
The Food and Drug Administration says they account for 90 percent of all
food allergies." -AP
via -HoustonChronicle.com
Jerry
Lewis - 
Randy
"Duke" Cunningham
- Government
- Military
- Money
- Law
- Politics
- 
California
- "Close
ties make Rep. Lewis, lobbyist Lowery a potent pair."
... "From powerful positions on the House Appropriations Committee, California
[Republican Representative] Rep. Jerry Lewis has greenlighted hundreds
of millions of dollars in federal projects for clients of one of his closest
friends, lobbyist and former [Republican Represenatative from California]
state Congressman Bill Lowery." ... "Meanwhile, Lowery, the partners at
his firm [Copeland Lowery Jacquez Denton & White] and their clients
have donated 37 percent of the $1.3 million that Lewis' political action
committee received in the past six years." ... "One of the defense companies
that received federal contracts with [convicted California Republican Representative
Randy "Duke"] Cunningham's support was a Lowery client [Brent Wilkes' ADCS
Inc.]. And some of the money was disbursed when Cunningham was a member
of the defense appropriations subcommittee and Lewis was the committee
chairman." ... "Lowery, his partners and their spouses have contributed
$135,000 to Lewis' campaigns and political action committee over the past
decade, routinely giving the maximum allowed by law. Lowery also organizes
and hosts Lewis fundraisers. And many of Lowery's defense-contractor clients
contribute to Lewis as part of their lobbying strategy." ... "Taken together,
they have contributed $480,000 to Lewis' political action committee since
2000." ... "Last year Lewis used some of that money to wow the Republican
leadership with checks for $650,000 in "excess campaign funds" to help
maintain Republican control of the House." ... "In 1999 Lewis became chairman
of the defense appropriations subcommittee, which oversees more discretionary
spending than any other congressional body." ... "Despite that early demonstration
of fiscal toughness, earmarks in the defense bills exploded on Lewis' watch."
... "Many of the earmarks went to clients of Lowery's firm, which grew
even more prosperous when Lewis' principal defense-earmarks gatekeeper,
Letitia White, joined the firm in 2003." -By Jerry
Kammer with contributions by Denise Davidson, Erin Hobbs and Peter Uribe
-CopleyNews.com
via -SignOnSanDiego.com
Secret
- Government
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Law
- Privacy
- History
- Samuel
Alito
- "In
1984 memo, Alito defends domestic wiretaps." ...
"As a Reagan administration lawyer, Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito
argued that federal officials can't be sued for damages for wiretapping
Americans without warrants in national security cases, a document released
Friday showed." ... "Alito's position may complicate his prospects for
confirmation because its disclosure comes amid an uproar over a four-year-old
Bush administration counterterrorism operation that's been eavesdropping
on Americans without court approval." ... "President Bush's argument that
he has the legal and constitutional authority to direct the National Security
Agency to conduct the secret domestic surveillance operation is almost
certain to end up before the Supreme Court." -By Jonathan
S. Landay -Knight
Ridder via -MercuryNews
Samuel
Alito
- 
Women's- Abortion
- Health
- History
- Law
- "Alito
abortion memo drew cautionary response: Reagan administration
official said '85 correspondence should be kept quiet." ... "A June 1985
memo by Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito arguing that the Roe v. Wade
decision legalizing abortion should be overturned set off alarms in the
Reagan administration, prompting a senior official to caution that the
correspondence should be kept quiet, a new document released Friday shows."
... "In a recommendation to the solicitor general on filing a friend-of-court
brief, Alito said the government "should make clear that we disagree with
Roe v. Wade and would welcome the opportunity to brief the issue of whether,
and if so to what extent, that decision should be overruled."" ... "The
June 3, 1985 document was one of 45 released by the National Archives on
Friday. A total of 744 pages were made public."
-AP via -MSNBC
Samuel
Alito
- Women's
- Abortion
- Health
- History
- Law
- "Alito
Argued to Overturn Roe in 1985 Memo: Supreme Court
Nominee Samuel Alito Advocated Reversing Roe V. Wade in 1985 Memo." ...
"In paperwork released earlier from Alito's time in the Justice Department's
solicitor general's office, he recommended a legal strategy of dismantling
abortion rights piece by piece. And as part of an application for a job
as deputy assistant attorney general, Alito said the Constitution does
not guarantee abortion rights." -By Donna Cassata
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com
Italy
- EU
- US
- Egypt
-Intelligence
- "Italy
court issues EU arrest warrant for CIA team." ...
"A Milan court has issued a European arrest warrant for 22 CIA agents suspected
of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric from Italy's financial capital in 2003,
Prosecutor Armando Spataro said on Friday." ... "Milan magistrates suspect
a CIA team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off a Milan street and flew
him for interrogation to Egypt, where he said he was tortured."
-Reuters
California
- WalMart
- 
Employees
- Business
- Food
- "Wal-Mart
hit with $172.3m lunch bill." ... "A jury in Oakland,
California on Thursday ordered Wal-Mart, the largest US retailer, to pay
$172.3m to current and former employees, after finding that the company
had failed to respect their right to a 30-minute unpaid lunch break." ...
"The verdict is the largest penalty of its kind imposed by a court on the
retailer in a range of lawsuits that have accused it of deliberately allowing
its employees to work unpaid overtime, or to work during legally required
breaks." ... "State law in California requires employers to grant its workers
the 30 minute unpaid break, or to compensate them if they decline to take
the time." -By Jonathan Birchall
-FT.com via
-MSNBC
Government- Military
- Terrorism
- Civil
Liberties - Politics
- Florida
- "Terror
case challenges White House strategy: An appeals
court refused the government's request to have Jose Padilla transferred
to Florida for a criminal trial." ... "Suddenly, terror suspect Jose Padilla
seems a lot more dangerous to the Bush administration." ... "It has nothing
to do with his suspected involvement in Al Qaeda bomb plots, analysts say.
Rather, the administration worries that the US Supreme Court might agree
to hear Mr. Padilla's case and decide one of the most pressing constitutional
issues in the war on terrorism. And by all appearances, government lawyers
think they might lose." ... "The issue: Does President Bush have the power
as commander in chief to order the open-ended military detention of US
citizens that he deems enemy combatants?" -By Warren
Richey -CSMonitor
Jack
Abramoff
- Florida
- Political
- Business
- "Talk
of Plea by Lobbyist Has Hill on Edge." ... "[Jack]
Abramoff, a once-powerful lobbyist who is the subject of a federal influence-peddling
investigation, is considering a deal to plead guilty and cooperate with
prosecutors, according to sources familiar with the probe. That could open
the prospect that Abramoff will implicate any number of lawmakers and aides
who were part of his vast network of access." ... "Abramoff's former business
associate, Michael P.S. Scanlon, last month pleaded guilty to conspiring
to bribe public officials and to defraud tribes. He promised to cooperate
with the investigation." ... "In separate federal proceedings in Florida,
Abramoff has been indicted on fraud and conspiracy charges in connection
with his purchase of the Florida-based SunCruz Casinos gambling fleet.
His co-defendant, Adam R. Kidan, last week pleaded guilty and agreed to
testify against Abramoff. Abramoff's trial is set to begin Jan. 9." -By
Janet Hook and Chuck Neubauer
-LAtimes
Government
- Law
- Military
- Terrorism
- 
Alaska
- 
Oil
- 
Environment
- Health
- 
Education
- Jobs
- Money
- "Senate
Extends Patriot Act, Kills Alaska Drilling (Update1)."
... "The U.S. Senate broke a legislative logjam and cleared the way for
its holiday departure last night with a series of short-term compromises
that extended the Patriot Act and blocked drilling for oil in Alaska's
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge." ... "Democrats prevailed in getting Senate
Republican leaders to abandon the oil-drilling plan, which was attached
to the defense budget." ... "[House] Lawmakers passed a $142.5 billion
budget for health, education and jobs programs that cuts funding from last
year's spending plan, sending the measure to Bush for his signature. The
House approved the measure 215-213 on Dec. 14." ... "The health budget
reduces funding for the No Child Left Behind education initiative, special
education and job training. It freezes funding for the National Institutes
of Health and low- income heating assistance." -By
Catherine Dodge -Bloomberg
Secret
- Government
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Telecommunications
- EMail
- Privacy
- Politics
- "Judges
on Surveillance Court To Be Briefed on Spy Program."
... "The presiding judge of a secret court that oversees government surveillance
in espionage and terrorism cases is arranging a classified briefing for
her fellow judges to address their concerns about the legality of President
Bush's domestic spying program, according to several intelligence and government
sources." ... "Several members of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court said in interviews that they want to know why the administration
believed secretly listening in on telephone calls and reading e-mails of
U.S. citizens without court authorization was legal. Some of the judges
said they are particularly concerned that information gleaned from the
president's eavesdropping program may have been improperly used to gain
authorized wiretaps from their court." (1, 2)
-By Carol D. Leonnig and Dafna Linzer with contributions
by Julie Tate -WashingtonPost
Pennsylvania
- Religious
- Science
- Law
- 
Kansas
- "Advocates
of 'Intelligent Design' Vow to Continue Despite Ruling."
... "A federal judge's ruling in Pennsylvania that "intelligent design"
is religious fundamentalism dressed in the raiment of science has wounded
a politically influential movement." ... "Some politically influential
backers of intelligent design warned that U.S. District Judge John E. Jones
III, who was appointed by President Bush, so overreached that his ruling
will outrage and inflame millions of conservative and religiously observant
Americans." ... "Jones's expansively written decision incorporated the
scientific critique of intelligent design as pseudoscience in almost every
detail. Legally, that decision is not binding in other states, such as
Kansas, where the state school board is debating incorporating a critique
of Darwinian evolution into its state standards." -By
Michael Powell -WashingtonPost
US
- 
Arizona
- 
Mexico
- Drugs
- Terrorism
- Law
- Intelligence
- "Surprise
- terror war aids drug war: One Arizona border unit
sees marijuana haul triple." ... "As Congress and President Bush wrangle
over the USA Patriot Act, the Border Security bill, and other tools of
the war on terror, they may want to keep another law-enforcement group
in mind - the nation's drug-fighters." ... "That's because the war on terror
is proving to be a boon to the war on drugs. Drug seizures are up all along
the US-Mexico border. Nowhere is the trend clearer than along a desolate
118-mile patch of Arizona desert across the border from the Mexican state
of Sonora." ... "In what is rapidly becoming one of the highest drug-trafficking
and people- smuggling sectors along the border, US Customs and Border Protection
(CBP) officers there have seized 13,000 pounds of marijuana since Oct.
1, triple the amount captured in the same period last year. That year,
fiscal 2005, also set a record. The reasons for the success? Better intelligence-sharing,
increased manpower, and improved technology that border officials have
received in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks." -By
Faye Bowers -CSMonitor
Government
- Military
- Terrorism
- Civil
Liberties - Politics
- Florida-
"Court
Bars Transfer of Padilla To Face New Terrorism Charges."
... "A federal appeals court yesterday refused to authorize the transfer
of "enemy combatant" Jose Padilla to face new criminal charges, issuing
a strongly worded opinion rebuking the Bush administration and its handling
of the high-profile terrorism case." ... "In issuing its denial, the court
cited the government's changing rationale for Padilla's detention, questioning
why it used one set of arguments before federal judges deciding whether
it was legal for the military to hold Padilla and another set before the
Miami [Florida] grand jury." ... "In requesting the transfer to Justice
Department custody, the government suggested that the 4th Circuit vacate
its ruling allowing Padilla to be held as an enemy combatant. But the 4th
Circuit yesterday also refused to lift the earlier decision and suggested
that the Justice Department request was made to avoid further judicial
scrutiny." ... "The judges said prosecutors had left "an appearance that
the government may be attempting to avoid consideration of our decision
by the Supreme Court." They said they welcomed Supreme Court intervention
because of the "enormous implications" of the Padilla case." -By
Jerry Markon -WashingtonPost
Government
- Political
- Intelligence
- Privacy
- Law
- History
- "Limits
to power: Restrictions on domestic spying were put
in place for a reason." ... "It's an old argument. Back during the Vietnam
War, government photographers went to the anti-war demonstrations and took
pictures of the demonstrators. Protest leaders thought, probably correctly,
that their phones were tapped. Even I, a reporter covering the protests,
heard some odd clicking noises when I picked up the phone to make some
calls. And, of course, FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, who made his own laws,
eavesdropped on Martin Luther King Jr., among others, though we didn't
know it at the time." ... "Outside the law? John Mitchell, who was President
Richard Nixon's Attorney General, argued that the government didn't need
a warrant to tap the phone of any political dissenter it thought was a
threat to national security, which certainly does sound like the secret
police at work. But in 1972, the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that Mitchell
was wrong. Justice Lewis Powell, a Nixon appointee, wrote for the unanimous
court that the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution protects Americans
from "unreasonable searches and seizures" and that that freedom "cannot
be properly guaranteed if domestic security surveillances are conducted
solely at the discretion of the executive branch."" ... "President Bush
obviously thinks the court was wrong, since he ordered the National Security
Agency (NSA) in 2002 to begin eavesdropping on American citizens without
a court-issued warrant." -By Bruce Morton
-CNN
Secret
- Government
- Intelligence
- "Surveillance-court
judge quits in protest." ... "A federal judge has
resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence
cases in protest of President Bush's secret authorization of a domestic
spying program, according to two sources." ... "U.S. District Judge James
Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret court set up by the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act, sent a letter to Chief Justice John Roberts
Monday notifying him of his resignation without providing an explanation."
... "Two associates familiar with his decision said Tuesday that Robertson
privately expressed deep concern that the warrantless surveillance program
authorized by the president in 2001 was legally questionable." -By
Carol D. Leonnig and Dafna Linzer -WashingtonPost
via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
Government
- Military
- Intelligence
- Total
Information Awareness
- Secrecy
- Consumer
- Telecommunications
-Databases
- Privacy
- Law
-
West-Virginia
- Dick
Cheney - Terrorism
- "Bush,
Democrats swap charges over his approval of wiretaps."
... "The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Jay Rockefeller
of West Virginia, released a letter he wrote to Vice President Dick Cheney
on July 17, 2003, the day he learned of the surveillance in a meeting with
Cheney, three other lawmakers and the heads of the CIA and NSA. Rockefeller
expressed deep misgivings and said the program reminded him of Total Information
Awareness, a controversial Pentagon effort to mine credit-card data, cellphone
calls and even bank withdrawals to spot terrorist activity." ... ""These
concerns were never addressed, and I was prohibited from sharing my views
with my colleagues" by secrecy laws, Rockefeller said Monday. He accused
the president and his aides of "repeatedly misrepresenting the facts" in
recent days and demanded a "full investigation into the legal and operational
aspects of the program" now that the program has come to light." -By
Todd J. Gillman -DallasNews.com
via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
Environment
- Animals
- Terrorism
- Civil
Righs - Law
- Politics
- 
Indiana
- "F.B.I.
Watched Activist Groups, New Files Show." ... "Counterterrorism
agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have conducted numerous surveillance
and intelligence-gathering operations that involved, at least indirectly,
groups active in causes as diverse as the environment, animal cruelty and
poverty relief, newly disclosed agency records show." ... "But the documents,
coming after the Bush administration's confirmation that President Bush
had authorized some spying without warrants in fighting terrorism, prompted
charges from civil rights advocates that the government had improperly
blurred the line between terrorism and acts of civil disobedience and lawful
protest." ... "One F.B.I. document indicates that agents in Indianapolis
[Indiana] planned to conduct surveillance as part of a "Vegan Community
Project." Another document talks of the Catholic Workers group's "semi-communistic
ideology." A third indicates the bureau's interest in determining the location
of a protest over llama fur planned by People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals." (1, 2)
-By Eric Lichtblau -NYTimes
Alaska
- Gas
- Business
- Consumer
- "Alaska
sues BP, Exxon Mobil over natural gas: State claims
oil giants conspired to keep prices high." ... "An antitrust lawsuit filed
against Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP PLC claims the two oil giants are restricting
the nation's supply of natural gas and keeping prices at record highs."
... "The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Fairbanks, says
the two companies acted together to eliminate competition for the exploration,
development and marketing of natural gas from Alaska's North Slope to U.S.
markets." ... ""The only reason for them to collusively not to sell is
to try to continue the scarcity that has driven natural gas prices to historic
highs," said David Boies, the attorney for the Alaska Gasline Port Authority,
which filed the lawsuit." (1, 2)
-AP via -MSNBC
Pennsylvania
- Religious
- Science
- Education
- "'Breathtaking
Inanity': How Intelligent Design Flunked Its Test Case:
A federal judge minces no words as he comes down against evolution's rival."
... "Intelligent design is a religious idea and a Pennsylvania school board
may not introduce it into the classroom, a federal judge ruled today. Judge
John E. Jones III ruled that the Dover Area School Board improperly introduced
religion into the classroom when it required science teachers to read a
brief statement during the 9th grade biology class telling students that
evolution was “Just a theory” and inviting them to consider alternatives.
The only alternative specifically mentioned was “intelligent design,” the
notion that life is so complex that it could not possibly have been the
work of natural selection alone and must have been the work of an unspecified
creative intelligence. “We find that the secular purposes claimed by the
Board amount to a pretext for the Board's real purpose, which was to promote
religion in the public school classroom,” Jones wrote." (1, 2)
-By Sean Scully
-TIME.com
Government
- Telecommunications
- EMail
- Intelligence
- Law
- West-Virginia
- Cheney,
Dick - "Democrats:
Briefings weren't approvals for wiretapping." ...
"Some Democrats say they never approved a domestic wiretapping program,
undermining suggestions by President Bush and his senior advisers that
the plan was fully vetted in a series of congressional briefings." ...
""I feel unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse, these activities,"
West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the Senate Intelligence Committee's
top Democrat, said in a handwritten letter to Vice President Dick Cheney
in July 2003. "As you know, I am neither a technician nor an attorney.""
... "Rockefeller is among a small group of congressional leaders who have
received briefings on the administration's four-year-old program to eavesdrop
— without warrants — on international calls and e-mails of Americans and
others inside the United States with suspected ties to al-Qaeda."
-AP via -USATODAY
Iran
- Entertainment
- 
TV
- 
Radio- Music
- Religious
- Law
- History
- "Iran's
president bans all Western music." ... "Hard-line
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has banned all Western music from Iran's
state radio and TV stations — an eerie reminder of the 1979 Islamic revolution
when popular music was outlawed as "un-Islamic" under Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini." ... "But as revolutionary fervor started to fade, some light
classical music was allowed on Iranian radio and television; some public
concerts reappeared in the late 1980s." ... "In the 1990s, particularly
during the presidency of reformist Mohammad Khatami starting in 1997, authorities
began relaxing restrictions further." ... "Ahmadinejad's order means the
state broadcasting authority must execute the decree and prepare a report
on its implementation within six months, according to the IRAN Persian
daily." -AP
via -USATODAY
Government
- Military
- Intelligence
- Privacy
- Law
- Politics-
"Bush's
Snoopgate: The president was so desperate to kill
The New York Times' eavesdropping story, he summoned the paper's editor
and publisher to the Oval Office. But it wasn't just out of concern about
national security." ... "The problem was not that the disclosures would
compromise national security, as Bush claimed at his press conference.
His comparison to the damaging pre-9/11 revelation of Osama bin Laden's
use of a satellite phone, which caused bin Laden to change tactics, is
fallacious; any Americans with ties to Muslim extremists-in fact, all American
Muslims, period-have long since suspected that the U.S. government might
be listening in to their conversations. Bush claimed that "the fact that
we are discussing this program is helping the enemy." But there is simply
no evidence, or even reasonable presumption, that this is so. And rather
than the leaking being a "shameful act," it was the work of a patriot inside
the government who was trying to stop a presidential power grab." ... "No,
Bush was desperate to keep the Times from running this important story-which
the paper had already inexplicably held for a year-because he knew that
it would reveal him as a law-breaker." -By Jonathan
Alter -MSNBC/Newsweek
Secret
- Government
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Civil
Liberties - Privacy
- Law
- "Bush
strongly defends eavesdropping program." ... "President
Bush on Monday forcefully defended his administration's eavesdropping program
for terror suspects living in the United States as an essential element
of protecting Americans from a new enemy, and he said whoever unmasked
the secret plan had committed a "shameful act."" ... "As Republicans joined
Democrats in calling for a congressional inquiry into the domestic spying
program, the president insisted he had the legal and constitutional authority
to order surveillance. He said he was concerned about citizens' civil liberties
but denied suggestions that he had abused the power of the presidency,
and he vowed not to abandon the plan he approved after the 2001 terror
attacks." ... ""To say `unchecked power' basically is ascribing some kind
of dictatorial position to the president, which I strongly reject," Bush
said. "I am doing what you expect me to do, and at the same time, safeguarding
the civil liberties of the country.""
-ChicagoTribune via -MercuryNews
Secret
- Intelligence
- Telecommunications
- EMail
- Privacy
- Law
- "President
Bush Defends Secret Wiretaps, Urges Patriot Act Renewal."
... "In his final news conference of the year, President Bush offered a
stern defense of his ordering of secret wiretaps within the United States
and made a spirited plea for the renewal of the Patriot Act." ... "The
president's top priority was to quell the growing outrage over the revelation
on Friday by The New York Times of a widespread, ongoing domestic
eavesdropping program by the National Security Agency that has targeted
phone conversations and e-mail exchanges within the U.S." ... "Though the
disclosure of the covert domestic spying program has caused concern among
both Democrats and Republicans, with some calling for hearings into whether
it violates the Constitution, Bush vigorously defended his right to order
the program, which he said he has renewed more than 30 times."
-MTV.com /News
Secret- Government
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Privacy
- Law
- 
Wisconsin
- "Bush,
under fire, defends spy program: President says eavesdropping
policy is 'vital'." ... "President Bush acknowledged yesterday that he
has repeatedly authorized secret eavesdropping within the United States
without obtaining warrants, a policy that some critics called illegal.
The admission came one day after the president refused to address the issue."
... "Bush yesterday said he reauthorized the program more than 30 times
since the Sept. 11 attacks and vowed to continue it despite criticism by
some members of both political parties." ... "But Senator Russell Feingold,
a Wisconsin Democrat, urged the president to suspend the program immediately.
Feingold said the program violates a law that requires a court order for
such surveillance." -By Michael Kranish
-Boston/Globe
Secret
- Government
- Terrorism
- Privacy
- Politics
- Civil
Liberties - Law
- "Update
3: Bush Acknowledges Approving Eavesdropping." ...
"President Bush said Saturday he has no intention of stopping his personal
authorizations of a post-Sept. 11 secret eavesdropping program in the U.S.,
lashing out at those involved in revealing it while defending it as crucial
to preventing future attacks." ... "Angry members of Congress have demanded
an explanation of the program, first revealed in Friday's New York Times
and whether the monitoring by the National Security Agency without obtaining
warrants from a court violates civil liberties."
-AP via -Forbes
UK
- Gay
- Law
- Religion
- "UK
Weddings: Straights Can Wait." ... "At last. Only
40 odd years since homosexuality was decriminalized here in England, same
sex couples will shortly be able to join together in civil (if not holy)
matrimony." ... "From Wednesday, gay couples can legally combine their
financial affairs, have next-of-kin rights at hospital and share in that
once exclusively heterosexual activity – divorce. It doesn’t sound like
the law is giving them much, but more than 12 hundred same sex couples
have already registered their intent to ‘marry’." ... "Now, I am told that
these will not be marriages in the eyes of God – because apparently he
would be absolutely furious with the idea of two people who love each other
making a life-long commitment to each other and forsaking all others ‘til
death do they part."-CBSNews
Turkey
- Law
- 
Author
- EU
- "EU
watches as trial of Turkish author adjourned." ...
"The trial of best-selling Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk was adjourned on
Friday in a case that has raised concern in the European Union over freedom
of expression in Turkey and its bid for EU membership." ... "Istanbul Judge
Metin Aydin said the trial would restart on February 7, 2006, to give the
Justice Ministry time to decide whether the case was in line with judicial
procedures at the request of the state prosecutor." -By
Ercan Ersoy with contributions by Daren Butler
-Reuters
Turkey
- Law
- History
- 
Switzerland
- "Dilemma
as Turkish writer’s trial is halted." ... "The trial
of Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish novelist accused of “insulting” his country,
was halted on Friday after the justice ministry failed to indicate whether
it wanted the trial to proceed." ... "Mr Pamuk is being prosecuted for
remarks he made in an interview with a Swiss newspaper earlier this year.
In it, he criticised Turkey for what he said was its denial of its historical
responsibility in the massacre of Armenians and Kurds starting in 1915."
... "Mr Pamuk is being tried under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code,
which makes it a criminal offence to “insult Turkishness, the republic
and state institutions” or otherwise “debase or denigrate” Turkish identity."
-By Vincent Boland -FT.com
Turkey
- Military
- Law
- Authors
- History
- Media
- TV
- Censorship
- "'Terrorised'
writers lament state's assault on free speech: Trial
of Turkey's greatest living author is focusing attention on attempts to
control public opinion." ... "Ertugrul Kurkcu has been hauled before the
judges for saying the wrong thing so many times that he has almost lost
count. "Six or seven trials, always acquitted, but I did get a 10-month
jail sentence from a military court for translating a Human Rights Watch
report," says the veteran leftwing Turkish dissident." ... "He took one
case to the European Court of Human Rights last year. The case was annulled
and the Turkish government paid him €5,000 compensation." ... "Mr
Kurkcu's problem is that he keeps colliding with the country's notion of
"Turkishness", and that spells danger for writers, historians and novelists,
who bring the wrath of the establishment down on their heads every time
they are deemed to have belittled it." ... "A raft of other regulations
make it possible for Turkey to muzzle, fine and pressure the publishing
industry, newspapers and television stations for stepping out of line.
Censorship flourishes, too, through requirements that manuscripts be submitted
to state authorities for approval and special licensing arrangements that
oblige the books industry to get official stamps before a book can be published."
-By Ian Traynor -Guardian.co.uk
Turkey
- Law- People
- History
- "Turk
writer's insult trial halted: The trial of Turkish
novelist Orhan Pamuk, accused of insulting his nation, has been halted
on its first day." ... "An Istanbul judge said the case needed approval
by the ministry of justice." ... "The ministry's permission is being sought
because of a dispute over whether Mr Pamuk is to be tried under Turkey's
old penal code or a recent, revised version." ... "The charges relate to
a magazine interview earlier this year in which Orhan Pamuk said: "One
million Armenians and 30,000 Kurds were killed in these lands and nobody
but me dares talk about it."" ... "Turkey maintains the deaths of Armenians
in conflicts accompanying the collapse of the Ottoman empire in the early
20th Century were not part of a genocidal campaign, arguing that many ethnic
Turks were also killed in that period." ... "Turkey also denies its efforts
to contain a separatist uprising in its Kurdish community in the 1980s
and 1990s can be classed as genocide."-BBC
/News
Turkey
- Law
- Author
- Journalists
- Switzerland
- "Judge
Halts Trial of Turkish Novelist." ... "The presiding
judge halted the trial of Turkey's best-known novelist Friday, saying the
court would need the approval of the Justice Ministry for the trial to
proceed." ... "Orhan Pamuk is accused of insulting Turkey's national identity,
a free speech case that has divided the nation." ... "He faces up to three
years in prison for saying to a Swiss newspaper in February that Turkey
is unwilling to deal with painful episodes in its treatment of the country's
Armenian minority or its continuing problems with its 12 million Kurdish
citizens." ... "Turkey has for years come under criticism for jailing journalists,
authors and activists for speaking their minds." -By
Suzan Fraser -AP
via -HoustonChronicle.com
Turkey
- Law
- Journalists
- Books
- EU-
"Trial
of Turkish author adjourned." ... "Mr Pamuk is on
trial for "denigrating" Turkishness, and faces up to three years in jail
if found guilty." ... "Mr Pamuk was charged under Article 301 of Turkey's
revised penal code, which has been widely criticised within the EU." ...
"The Independent Communications Network found 16 journalists had been put
on trial in Turkey in the first nine months of this year, with 12 of them
being found guilty." ... "The Publishers Association said that, in the
18 months until this summer, 37 authors were tried for criminal offences
in connection with the publication of 47 books." -Guardian.co.uk
Turkey
- Free
Speech - Journalism
- Law
- EU
- "Free
speech on trial in Turkey: The case of writer Orhan
Pamuk is being watched as a test of political reforms." ... "Like one of
his own characters, trapped between liberal yearnings and the reality of
an unforgiving state, Turkey's most celebrated novelist, Orhan Pamuk, is
slated to appear in court Friday to face charges of "insulting Turkish
identity."" ... "The high-profile free speech trial pits the aims of European-driven
reform in Turkey - which began EU membership talks last October - against
a fiercely nationalistic tradition that permits little challenge. Mr. Pamuk's
trial is one of more than 65 other free speech cases now under way in Turkey,
which are being closely watched by European observers, as a test of the
recent reforms." ... ""This is a tug of war in Turkey now, between those
who favor democratic and EU values, [against] those who are afraid of such
change - the hard-core nationalists who are willing to do anything to stop
that trend," says Haluk Sahin, a journalism professor at Bilgi University
and columnist for Radikal newspaper, who is also facing trial in February
under the same statute." ... ""[Nationalists] have decided that the legal
system is the soft underbelly," says Mr. Sahin. "And by using legal instruments
and their ties [to the judiciary], they can harm Turkey's prospects in
that big march toward the European goal."" -By Scott
Peterson -CSMonitor
Secret
- Government
- Military
- Terrorism
- EMail
- Telecommunications
- Law
- Politics
- History
- "Bush
Authorized Domestic Spying: Post-9/11 Order Bypassed
Special Court." ... "President Bush signed a secret order in 2002 authorizing
the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens and foreign
nationals in the United States, despite previous legal prohibitions against
such domestic spying, sources with knowledge of the program said last night."
... "For more than four years, the NSA tasked other military intelligence
agencies to assist its broad-based surveillance effort directed at people
inside the country suspected of having terrorist connections, even before
Bush signed the 2002 order that authorized the NSA program, according to
an informed U.S. official." ... "The effort, which began within days after
the attacks, has consisted partly of monitoring domestic telephone conversations,
e-mail and even fax communications of individuals identified by the NSA
as having some connection to al Qaeda events or figures, or to potential
terrorism-related activities in the United States, the official said."
... "It has also involved teams of Defense Intelligence Agency personnel
stationed in major U.S. cities conducting the type of surveillance typically
performed by the FBI: monitoring the movements and activities -- through
high-tech equipment -- of individuals and vehicles, the official said."
-By Dan Eggen with contributions by Dafna Linzer and
Peter Baker -WashingtonPost
Government
- Terrorism
- Law
- Civil
Liberties - Wisconsin
- 
Idaho
- "Senate
may decide fate of Patriot Act's expiring provisions."
... "The Senate was still weighing a proposed accord with the House to
extend the expiring 16 provisions of the law enacted in the wake of the
Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. But that compromise appeared to lack the
necessary votes to succeed." ... "The White House and its congressional
allies prefer to let the provisions expire and hold Democrats responsible
in next year's midterm elections rather than let opponents whittle away
at the law." ... "But the critics, who include senators with such wide-ranging
views as Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Republican Larry Craig
of Idaho, say they don't want the Patriot Act to expire — they just want
enough time to improve the bill to the point where it doesn't infringe
on American liberties." -USATODAY
US
- Mexico
- US
Immigration - Drugs
- Law
- California
- 
New
Mexico - 
Texas- Arizona
- "House
Votes for 698 Miles of Fences on Mexico Border."
... "House Republicans voted on Thursday night to toughen a border security
bill by requiring the Department of Homeland Security to build five fences
along 698 miles of the United States border with Mexico to block the flow
of illegal immigrants and drugs into this country." ... "The amendment
to the bill would require the construction of the fences along stretches
of land in California, New Mexico, Texas and Arizona that have been deemed
among the most porous corridors of the border." ... "The vote on the amendment
was a victory for conservatives who had long sought to build such a fences
along the Mexican border. But the vote was sharply assailed by Democrats,
who compared the fences to the Berlin Wall in Germany. Twelve Republicans
also voted against the amendment." -By Rachel L. Swarns
-NYTimes
US
- World
- Government
- Secret
- Telecommunications
- Intelligence
- Privacy
- Terrorism
- Law
- "Bush
Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts." ... "Months
after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National
Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United
States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved
warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government
officials." ... "Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence
agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international
e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United
States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track
possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said. The agency,
they said, still seeks warrants to monitor entirely domestic communications."
... "The previously undisclosed decision to permit some eavesdropping inside
the country without court approval was a major shift in American intelligence-gathering
practices, particularly for the National Security Agency, whose mission
is to spy on communications abroad. As a result, some officials familiar
with the continuing operation have questioned whether the surveillance
has stretched, if not crossed, constitutional limits on legal searches."
(1, 2,
3,
4,
5)
-By James Risen and Eric Lichtblau with contributions
by Barclay Walsh -NYTimes
Richard
Pombo
- 
Abramoff
- Money
- Lawmaker
- California
- 
Massachusetts
- US
- Northern
Mariana Islands - "Miller
presses Pombo to investigate Abramoff." ... "Rep.
George Miller (D-Calif. [Democrat-California]) continues to petition House
Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-Calif. [Republican-California])
for an investigation into indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s activities
on behalf of the Northern Mariana Islands." ... "Resources has sole jurisdiction
over the Marianas, whose government hired Abramoff in the late 1990s to
lobby Washington on its behalf." ... "Pombo has received more than $35,000
in contributions from Abramoff and Indian tribes he represented, including
$27,000 from the Mashpee Wampanoag of Massachusetts, which received federal
recognition from a bill Pombo passed through the committee in 2004." -By
Elana Schor -HillNews.com
IP
- Microsoft
- Wireless
- EMail
- Computer
- Net
- Business
- Texas
- "Microsoft
Sued Over Mobile E-Mail Patents: Mobile E-mail vendor
Visto has sued Microsoft, claiming Windows Mobile violates its patents.
Visto also teamed with NTL, which sued RIM." ... "Mobile e-mail technology
vendor Visto Thursday claimed that Microsoft's Windows Mobile 5.0 platform
violates its patents and has signed a licensing agreement with NTP, which
has sued Research In Motion for alleged patent violations." ... "In addition,
NTP has acquired an equity stake in Visto, the company said in a statement."
... "Visto said in a statement that it has filed a patent infringement
lawsuit against Microsoft in U.S. District Court in Texas that covers three
specific patents owned by Visto. The complaint asks the court to prohibit
Microsoft from improperly using Visto's intellectual property and asks
for compensation." -MobilePipeline.com
via -InformationWeek
EU
- Turkey
- Author
- Law
- History
- "Turkey,
not author, on trial, EU exec says: Many see test
of free speech in Istanbul today." ... "Orhan Pamuk, 53, was expected to
appear in court in the Istanbul district of Sisli, charged with "public
denigration of Turkish identity." The charge stems from an interview he
gave to a Swiss magazine in February in which he said that "30,000 Kurds
and 1 million Armenians were killed in these lands and nobody but me dares
talk about it."" ... "Pamuk, a prolific writer who has been compared to
James Joyce and Salman Rushdie, was referring to two of the most profound
issues in modern Turkey: The brutal repression of Kurdish separatists throughout
the past two decades and the genocide campaign perpetrated by Ottoman Turkish
forces from 1915 to 1918 that claimed the lives of about 1.2 million of
the collapsing empire's Armenian subjects." -By Amberin
Zaman -LAtimes
via -HoustonChronicle.com
Government
- Military
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Prisons
- Law
- Arizona
- "Bush
backs down on proposed torture ban." ... "President
Bush on Thursday abandoned his opposition to an anti-torture amendment
by Sen. John McCain in the face of overwhelming support for the measure
in Congress." ... "Bush backed down from a veto threat after being unable
to muster support from one-third of either the House or Senate, even though
his own Republican Party controls both chambers. The measure by McCain,
R-Ariz., is attached to the annual defense spending bill that funds the
war on terrorism." ... "The amendment says no one in U.S. government custody,
whether prisoner of war or terrorist," shall be subject to cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment," regardless of where the prisoner
is being held." -By John Diamond with contributions
by David Jackson -USATODAY
Military
- Intelligence
- Law
- Secrets
- Arizona
- "New
Army Rules May Snarl Talks With McCain on Detainee Issue."
... "The Army has approved a new, classified set of interrogation methods
that may complicate negotiations over legislation proposed by [Arizona
Republican] Senator John McCain to bar cruel and inhumane treatment of
detainees in American custody, military officials said Tuesday." ... "The
techniques are included in a 10-page classified addendum to a new Army
field manual that was forwarded this week to Stephen A. Cambone, the under
secretary of defense for intelligence policy, for final approval, they
said." ... "The addendum provides dozens of examples and goes into exacting
detail on what procedures may or may not be used, and in what circumstances.
Army interrogators have never had a set of such specific guidelines that
would help teach them how to walk right up to the line between legal and
illegal interrogations." -By Eric Schmitt with contributions
by Joel Brinkley -NYTimes
US
- World
- Iraq
- Death
Penalty - 
UN
- "Rice
Scolds Holdouts on Iraq Trial: Nations not aiding
the Hussein proceedings are ducking duty to law and human rights, she says."
... "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice sharply criticized other nations
Tuesday for failing to provide support for the trial of Saddam Hussein,
saying that the world community's "effective boycott of Saddam's trial
is only harming the Iraqi people."" ... "U.S. officials have differed with
many other governments almost from the outset of the war on how to conduct
trials of Hussein and top aides. The U.S. and its Iraqi allies wanted the
trials to be overseen by national authorities in Iraq, whereas officials
with the U.N. and from many other countries favored hybrid proceedings
with a larger international component." ... "Officials of other governments,
including many in Europe, have said they would avoid a proceeding they
feared could be seen as an American-run show trial. They also have been
put off by the possible death penalty, which is legal in Iraq and the United
States but banned in much of the world." -By Paul
Richter with contributions by Richard Boudreaux
-LAtimes
Privacy
- Law
- Terrorism
- "An
11th-hour drive to amend Patriot Act: Congress is
set to vote Friday on extending parts of the law, but some say privacy
needs protecting." ... "An unusual coalition of lawmakers and activists
opposed to parts of the USA Patriot Act is mounting a last push to persuade
Congress to take more time before voting to extend some of the law's most
controversial provisions." ... "At issue is whether Congress has been rigorous
enough in assessing how the Patriot Act - which the White House calls vital
to its war on terror - has been implemented. Many lawmakers were stunned
by recent press reports, denied but not corrected by the Justice Department,
that the FBI has issued as many as 30,000 "national security letters" since
the law was passed nearly unanimously in 2001. The letters order private
and public entities to turn over records and other private data about Americans
- and remain silent about it." -By Gail Russell Chaddock
-CSMonitor
Wireless
- Telecommunications
- Business
- Law
- "Cellphone
rulings could mean billions in tax refunds." ...
"Phone customers are due $9 billion in tax refunds and a 3% cut in wireless
phone and long-distance bills, according to a series of federal court decisions."
... "But the federal government continues to collect the tax and requires
so much paperwork for refunds that only big corporations are likely to
benefit." ... "The Bush administration has not said whether it will appeal
to the Supreme Court." -By Dennis Cauchon
-USATODAY
US
Immigration - History
- Legal
- "Study:
Immigration grows, reaching record numbers." ...
"Despite tougher border scrutiny after 9/11, a total of 7.9 million immigrants
have come to the USA since 2000, more than in any other five-year period
in the nation's history, figures released Monday show." ... "Almost half,
or 3.7 million, entered illegally, according to an analysis of Census data
by the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C., group that advocates
controlling the flow of legal and illegal immigrants." ... "An estimated
11 million immigrants live illegally in the USA." -By
Haya El Nasser and Kathy Kiely -USATODAY
Alaska
- Oil
- Business
- Environment
- Law
- "White
House pushes Congress on Alaska drilling." ... "Bush
administration officials on Monday urged Congress to include opening Alaska's
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling in a broad budget-cutting
bill that could see a vote this week." ... "The Senate included ANWR in
its package of spending cuts. But the House-passed budget bill dropped
the ANWR drilling provision after a group of moderate Republicans threatened
to vote against the measure if the drilling language was included." ...
"The Bush administration stepped up its lobbying efforts to give oil companies
access to the refuge." (1, 2)
-By Chris Baltimore with contributions by Richard
Cowan -Reuters
Samuel
Alito
- Bill
Frist
- 
Tennessee
- West-Virginia
- Law
- "Fight
looms if Republicans change Senate rules." ... "Democratic
Sen. Robert Byrd warned on Monday that he would bring the U.S. Senate to
a virtual standstill if Republicans carry out a threat to change its rules
by outlawing filibusters on judicial nominations." ... "Byrd of West Virginia,
a staunch defender of the Senate's often arcane rules and procedures, was
responding to a comment by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist [Republican,
Tennessee], who said Sunday he might move to restrict filibusters if Democrats
try to block the nomination of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court."
(1, 2)
-By Richard Cowan -Reuters
Texas
- Tom
DeLay - Political
- 
Maps
- 2004
Election - "Supreme
Court to rule on Texas poll maps case." ... "The
US Supreme Court said on Monday it would rule on controversial maps for
electoral districts in Texas that were engineered by Tom DeLay, the former
majority leader in the House of Representatives, to increase Republican
strength in Congress." ... "The new maps, drawn in 2003, played a key role
in the 2004 congressional elections, when five incumbent Democrats in Texas
lost their seats in the House, boosting Republicans' majority on Capitol
Hill and enhancing Mr DeLay's image as a powerful political force." ...
"The high court review is also likely to draw fresh attention to recent
disclosures that staff attorneys at the US Department of Justice objected
to the Texas maps, arguing that they would disadvantage minority voters.
Those criticisms were over-ruled by senior political appointees at the
department." -By Holly Yeager
-FT.com
Iraq
- Law
- US
- Military
- "Early
Voting Begins in Iraq; Nine Killed." ... "Thousands
of Iraqi forces will be protecting polling stations, with U.S. and other
coalition troops ready to help in case of a major attack." ... "Most attention
has focused on Sunni Arabs, who largely boycotted the Jan. 30 election
to protest the continued U.S. military presence. That enabled the Shiites
and Kurds to dominate parliament, a move that sharpened communal tensions
and fueled the Sunni-dominated insurgency." ... "This time, more Sunni
Arab candidates are in the race, and changes in the election law to allocate
most seats by province instead of based on a party's nationwide total all
but guaranteed a sizable Sunni bloc in the next assembly." -By
Qassim Abdul-Zahra -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
California
- Los
Angeles - Law
- History
- "Gov.
Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency for Crips Co-Founder."
... "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced today that he would not grant
clemency to Stanley Tookie Williams, whose bid to avoid being put to death
shortly after midnight tonight has gained wide attention." ... "Governor
Schwarzenegger's decision not to halt Mr. Williams' execution by injection
at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday is his third rejection of a petition for a stay of
execution or clemency since he took office in 2003. Clemency has not been
granted to a death row inmate in California since 1967." ... "Mr. Williams,
51, is the co-founder of the Crips gang of Los Angeles and has been on
death row since 1981, following his conviction for murdering four people
in 1979." -By Sarah Kershaw and Shadi Rahimi .NYTimes
Death
Penalty
- Law
- California
- Illinois
- "Putting
Tookie in Context." ... "While I have opposed the
death penalty as long as I have been aware of it, the media attention generated
by the Tookie Williams case has left me with more ambivalence than outrage,
raising issues for me about the death penalty, the so-called criminal justice
system, gang violence, and the peculiar manner by which Black leaders set
priorities." ... "Stanley Tookie Williams is just one of the 3,415 people
on death row in the United States, just one of nearly 650 on death row
in California. More than 40 percent of those awaiting execution are
African American, even though we are less than 13 percent of the nation's
population." ... "The death penalty isn't fair – too many death row inmates
have been unrepresented or inadequately represented. Too many have been
convicted on faulty circumstantial or eyewitness evidence. Too many
mistakes have been uncovered after conviction, so many that the state of
Illinois has suspended executions indefinitely." -By
Julianne Malveaux -BET.com
Secret
- Government
- Wireless
- Telecommunications
- Technology
- Law
Enforcement - Law
- New
York
- Texas
- 
Maryland
- Noteworthy
- "Live
Tracking of Mobile Phones Prompts Court Fights on Privacy."
... "Most Americans carry cellphones, but many may not know that government
agencies can track their movements through the signals emanating from the
handset." ... "In recent years, law enforcement officials have turned to
cellular technology as a tool for easily and secretly monitoring the movements
of suspects as they occur. But this kind of surveillance - which investigators
have been able to conduct with easily obtained court orders - has now come
under tougher legal scrutiny." ... "In the last four months, three federal
judges have denied prosecutors the right to get cellphone tracking information
from wireless companies without first showing "probable cause" to believe
that a crime has been or is being committed. That is the same standard
applied to requests for search warrants." ... "The rulings, issued by magistrate
judges in New York, Texas and Maryland, underscore the growing debate over
privacy rights and government surveillance in the digital age." (1, 2)
-By Matt Richtel -NYTimes
Nebraska
- Police
- "Biker
cleared after 128mph chase: A US motorcyclist who
zoomed through Nebraska at over 128mph (205kph) has been cleared of reckless
driving." ... "Judge John Steinheider reluctantly ruled that speed alone
was not enough to prove reckless driving under Nebraska law." ... "Biker
Jacob Carman accelerated away from a traffic policeman after he was clocked
at 82mph (131km/h)." ... "State prosecutors admitted that they could have
won a conviction for speeding, but had opted to pursue a charge of reckless
driving." -BBC
/News
Israel
- World
- Law
- History
- "Crystal
joins Cross and Crescent: A diamond-shaped red crystal
on a white background is to join the Red Cross and the Red Crescent as
an emblem for ambulances and relief workers." ... "Geneva Convention member
states voted by a two-thirds majority for the symbol which ends a decades-old
row and opens the way for Israel to join." ... "Israel had been denied
entry because its Red Shield was not approved." ... "Relief workers and
ambulances bearing the Red Cross or Red Crescent symbols are protected
under international law." ... "The Red Shield of David - or Magen David
Adom - was not recognised by the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and Arab states
had blocked attempts to find an alternative symbol."-BBC
/News
US- 
South
Korea - Microsoft
- Computer
- Business
- "Microsoft
To Appeal Korean Antitrust Ruling: The company said
it will appeal the decision, a process that could take years, and added
that it does not plan to leave the Korean market as it had previously threatened
to do." ... "Microsoft said Wednesday that it plans to appeal a sweeping
decision leveled against it by the Korean Fair Trade Commission (KFTC)
and added that it does not plan to leave the Korean market as it had previously
threatened." ... "The KFTC's six-page findings were replete with complaints
of "tying" of various Microsoft products. The regulatory agency also leveled
a $31 million fine against the firm." ... "A translated version of the
findings said, "The KFTC found that the tying practices by Microsoft proved
to have eliminated competition and exacerbated monopolization of tied product
market including streaming media server, streaming media player and instant
messenger."" (1, 2)
-By W. David Gardner-InformationWeek
Virginia
- Religion
- Politics
- 
Seniors
- "Mayor
charged with defrauding charity." ... "The mayor
of the south-central Virginia city of Lynchburg was indicted over allegations
that he looted a church charity of more than $30,000 and defrauded two
people of their Social Security disability benefits." ... "Mayor Carl B.
Hutcherson Jr. was charged with fraud, making false statements to federal
officials and bank representatives, and obstruction of justice." ... "The
federal indictment, issued Dec. 1 and unsealed Wednesday, alleges that
Hutcherson was struggling to pay the bills at a funeral home he runs as
he took money from the disability recipients and a charity connected to
Trinity United Methodist Church, where he is pastor." -By
Sue Lindsey -APvia
-SeattlePI.NWsource
Government
- Education
- Money
- Seniors
- "Court:
Disabled Can't Escape Student Loans." ... "America's
seniors and disabled cannot escape debts from old student loans, the Supreme
Court ruled Wednesday, freeing the government to pursue Social Security
benefits as part of an effort to collect billions in delinquent loans."
... "The Bush administration had argued that the ability to withhold Social
Security benefits is an important tool in the pursuit of $5.7 billion in
student loan debt that is over 10 years old. Overall, outstanding loans
total about $33 billion." -By Gina Holland
-AP via -SFGate.com
Bill
Frist
- Rick
Santorum - Tom
DeLay
- Medical
- Law
- "Terri
Schiavo's widower takes aim at politicians." ...
"Terri Schiavo's widower launched a political action committee on Wednesday
aimed at defeating elected officials he accused of exploiting a tragedy
for political gain by trying to block court orders that allowed his brain-damaged
wife to die." ... "Michael Schiavo said in a news release that the group,
TerriPAC, would raise money to campaign against members of Congress, mostly
Republicans, who drafted and voted for legislation to intervene in the
case." ... "Among Republicans it is targeting are Senate Majority Leader
Bill Frist of Tennessee, Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Rep. Tom
DeLay of Texas." -By Jane Sutton
-Reuters
Iraq
- "Hussein
Trial Resumes in Ousted Dictator's Absence (Update1)."
... "The Baghdad trial of Saddam Hussein resumed today without the ousted
Iraqi dictator after a four-hour break caused by his refusal to attend."
... "``The court will continue the proceedings and will inform the defendant
about procedures during his absence,'' Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin
told the tribunal trying Hussein and seven codefendants." ... "The statutes
of the court trying Hussein entitle defendants to be tried in their presence,
while Iraq's 1971 law on criminal proceedings allows a trial to continue
in a defendant's absence if the person violated court rules." ... "Amin
cited the criminal proceedings law, saying it permitted the judges to continue
the trial in Hussein's absence." -By Alex Morales
-Bloomberg
US
- 
Germany
- 
Afghanistan
- Secret
- Military
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Prisons
- Law
- Politics
- VA
- "German
citizen held in secret prison sues ex-CIA director."
... "A German citizen whom the CIA abducted from Macedonia and held in
a secret prison in Afghanistan for five months sued former CIA Director
George Tenet on Tuesday, saying he'd been tortured." ... "[Khaled] Al-Masri's
lawsuit, filed by ACLU lawyers in Alexandria, Va. [Virginia], sheds light
on the CIA's secret practice of "extraordinary renditions," using special
teams to capture suspected terrorists and transport them to countries that
practice torture or to one of the agency's reported secret prisons in Eastern
Europe or Asia." ... "In the four years since the Sept. 11 attacks, the
CIA has captured about 3,000 people, including some top al-Qaida leaders,
according to a Washington Post report. Intelligence committees in Congress
have been told that the CIA's inspector general is investigating possible
"erroneous renditions."" ... "U.S. officials refuse to confirm or deny
the existence of secret prisons." -By Frank Davies
and Warren P. Strobel -MercuryNews
US
- Iraq
- 
Niger- Lewis
Libby
- Dick
Cheney - Military
- Politics
- Law
- "Plame
Is Set to Leave the CIA." ... "[Valerie] Plame, 42,
worked undercover for the CIA tracking weapons proliferation but saw her
clandestine career imperiled after she was identified as an agency operative
in the summer of 2003 in a syndicated column by Robert Novak." ... "Plame
is married to Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador, who was sent by
the CIA to Africa in February 2002 to evaluate claims that Saddam Hussein
was trying to buy weapons-grade uranium in Niger. Wilson found the claims
unverifiable and publicly criticized the intelligence used by the administration
to justify the war against Iraq." ... "Administration officials began a
campaign to discredit Wilson and identified Plame in conversations with
several journalists, potentially violating a law against unmasking undercover
agents. A federal grand jury recently indicted former [Vice President Dick]
Cheney aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on charges that he repeatedly lied
to investigators." -By Richard B. Schmitt
-LAtimes
Massachusetts
- 
Parents
- "Strange
Twist In Right-To-Die Case." ... "Lawyers for the
stepfather of an 11-year-old girl tried to convince Massachusetts' highest
court on Tuesday that he should have a say on whether his stepdaughter
is removed from life support. If the girl dies, he could face a murder
charge for allegedly taking part in the beating that left her comatose."
... "Jason Strickland is asking the Supreme Judicial Court to overturn
a juvenile court judge's decision allowing the state to remove Haleigh
Poutre from her ventilator and feeding tube." ... "CBS News correspondent
Sharyn Alfonsi reports that the girl's biological mother, Allison Avrett,
gave up her parental rights years ago and now she has no say in what happens
to Halleigh – but she wants life support to be removed." ... ""I want her
to rest," Avrett told Alfonsi. "Being kept alive like that, it's not a
life."" (1,
2)
-AP -CBSNews
California
- Entertainment
- Media
- Photos
- Privacy
- "Aniston
Sues Over Topless Photos: The actress accuses a paparazzo
of shooting images while she was in the privacy of her home." ... "A suit
filed by actress Jennifer Aniston accuses a paparazzo of invading her privacy
last month by using a powerful telephoto lens to take photos of her topless
or partially undressed in her home." ... "The suit filed Friday in Los
Angeles County Superior Court is the latest counterattack by Hollywood's
top stars against paparazzi, who are accused of becoming increasingly aggressive
as competition for images and the number of celebrity magazines has increased."
... "Aniston, star of the longtime NBC television hit "Friends," alleges
that Peter Brandt used "a high-powered telephoto lens" to capture images
of her partially clothed within her property in violation of California's
privacy laws." -By Richard Winton
-LAtimes
Florida
- Terrorism
- "Ex-professor
cleared on some terror charges." ... "In a stinging
defeat for prosecutors, a former Florida professor accused of helping lead
a terrorist group that has carried out suicide bombings against Israel
was acquitted on nearly half the charges against him Tuesday, and the jury
deadlocked on the rest." ... "The case against Sami Al-Arian, 47, had been
seen as one of the biggest courtroom tests yet of the Patriot Act's expanded
search-and-surveillance powers." ... "Al-Arian, a former University of
South Florida computer engineering professor, wept after the verdicts,
and his attorney, Linda Moreno hugged him. He will return to jail until
prosecutors decide whether to retry him on the deadlocked charges." ...
"Two co-defendants, Sameeh Hammoudeh and Ghassan Zayed Ballut, were acquitted
of all charges. A third, Hatem Naji Fariz, was found not guilty on 24 counts,
and jurors deadlocked on the remaining eight." -By
Mitch Stacy -MercuryNews
Iraq
- Political
- History
- "Hussein
faces victims amid shouts, chaos: As trial's first
witnesses take the stand, ex-Iraqi leader 'not afraid to be executed'."
... "The first witnesses took the stand Monday in Saddam Hussein's trial
and gave gripping accounts of torture and mass executions as the defiant
ex-president and other defendants tried to intimidate those testifying."
... "The outbursts punctuated an extraordinary eight-hour session in which
Hussein faced victims of his government's massacres in court for the first
time. The first witness, Ahmad Hassan Muhammad, 38, riveted the courtroom
with the scenes of torture he had witnessed after his arrest in 1982, including
seeing a machine that "looked like a grinder" with hair and blood beneath
it." ... "Standing 10 feet from Hussein, he described Baath Party officials
hurling a young boy out a window to his death. At one point, Muhammad briefly
broke down in tears as he recalled how his brother was tortured with electrical
shocks in front of their 77-year-old father." ... ""There were mass arrests
of men and women and children," Muhammad said. "Even if a child was 1 day
old, they used to tell his parents, 'Bring him with you.' "" -By
Robert F. Worth -NYTimes
via SFGate.com
Iraq
- Political
- History
- "Accounts
of Brutality Roil Hussein Trial: The deposed leader
is confronted by witnesses who tell of torture and attacks on their village.
He threatens and spars with them and the judge." ... "The first witnesses
to take the stand against Saddam Hussein confronted him Monday with chilling
testimony about an aerial assault on their village, mass arrests, torture
by electric shock, and executions after the Iraqi leader survived an assassination
attempt there." ... "Two witnesses, men now in their 30s, stood glaring
at the deposed leader a few feet away as each outlined his memory of the
horrors suffered in their youth. Hussein and some of his seven co-defendants
being tried in the slayings of 146 villagers repeatedly disrupted the proceedings
and furiously disparaged the charges." ... "Hussein and his co-defendants
are accused of ordering or carrying out the roundup, interrogation and
torture of about 1,500 villagers in Dujayl after a small group of gunmen
opened fire on the presidential motorcade July 8, 1982. They are also charged
with criminal destruction of tens of thousands of acres of village land."
(1, 2)
-By Richard Boudreaux with contributions by Borzou
Daragahi -LAtimes
Russia
- Civil
Liberties - Intelligence
- Politics
- "Russia
reins in 'foreign influence': The legislature wants
to tighten state control of 450,000 civic groups." ... "The headquarters
for Open Russia in downtown Moscow was known as "The Citadel" for its turreted
Gothic facade." ... "But these days a real bunker mentality prevails inside
the civic education center founded by now-imprisoned oil tycoon Mikhail
Khodorkovsky. Like many other Russian nonprofit groups involved with public
policy issues, it faces possible closure under new legislation that goes
before the Duma next week." ... ""I don't want to be a Cassandra, but I
fear the entire nonprofit sector in Russia is facing dark times," says
Irina Yasina, the center's program director. "There is spy mania in Russia,
and they are specially scrutinizing any organization that has foreign funding.""
... "All of Russia's estimated 450,000 civic groups - from community sports
clubs to charities and nationwide human rights movements - will need to
re-register next year with a special state agency. The sweeping amendments
to Russia's law on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), approved by a
Duma majority last month, would add up to levels of state control not seen
since Soviet times." (1, 2)
-By Fred Weir -CSMonitor
Tom
DeLay
- Texas
- Political
- Money
- "Judge
Upholds Most Serious Charges Against DeLay." ...
"A judge in Texas today dismissed part of a state indictment against Representative
Tom DeLay, who was forced out of his post as leader of the Republican majority
in the House two months ago after he was charged with conspiracy and political
fund-raising abuses." ... "Judge Pat Priest dropped conspiracy from Mr.
DeLay's indictment, but let stand for trial the more serious accusation
of money-laundering." ... "The judge said Mr. DeLay could not be prosecuted
on the charge of conspiracy to violate the state election code because
the applicable law did not take effect until Sept. 1, 2003, and the illegal
activity alleged by prosecutors occurred in 2002." -By
David Stout with contributions by Mark J. Prendergast and Shadi Rahimi
-NYTimes
US
- Iraq
- Politics
- "Saddam's
defense team walks out of resumed trial." ... "The
court in the Saddam Hussein trial allowed former U.S. Attorney General
Ramsey Clark and another foreign defense lawyer to address the session
Monday, reversing a ruling that had led the defense to walk out." ... "After
a 90-minute recess, Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin allowed Clark and
ex-Qatari Justice Minister Najib al-Nueimi to speak on the questions of
the legitimacy of the tribunal and safety of the lawyers."
-AP via -USATODAY
US- World
- Prison
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Law
- Arizona
- "McCain
won't concede on torture ban: Insists on language
prohibiting cruel, inhumane treatment." ... "[Arizona Republican] Senator
John McCain, a prisoner of war who was tortured in Vietnam, yesterday said
he will refuse to yield on his demands that the White House agree with
his proposed ban on the use of torture to extract information from suspected
terrorists." ... "''I won't," he said on NBC's ''Meet the Press" when asked
whether he would compromise with the Bush administration." ... "He is insisting
on his language that no person in US custody should be subject to ''cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment."" -By
Jim Abrams -AP
via -BostonGlobe
North
Carolina - 2004
Election - Computer
- Web
- Law
- "North
Carolina defends e-voting certifications." ... "It
has been a turbulent week for electronic voting systems in North Carolina."
... "Watchdog groups say the state "illegally" certified systems built
by two e-voting vendors just days after one admitted it couldn't meet stringent
new laws about disclosing its source code. Meanwhile, a voting-systems
manager defended the decision to award the contracts." ... "The rules were
aligned with actions taken this summer by the state legislature, which
passed changes to election laws that set new standards for e-voting machines
and decertified all the state's existing systems. Those changes came in
response to glitches encountered by one of the state's counties during
the 2004 presidential elections, resulting in the
loss of more than 4,500 votes." -By Anne Broache
-CNET
/News
California
- Religion- 
Library
- Law
- "Bush
administration backs prayer services at library."
... "The Bush administration is siding with a Christian group in its lawsuit
demanding rights to conduct prayer services at public libraries." ... "The
case concerns a [California] Contra Costa County policy allowing the public
to use free meeting rooms at its libraries, but prohibits "religious services
and activities."" -By David Kravets -AP
via -MercuryNews
Illinois
- Web
- Business- Consumer
- "Lawsuit:
AOL cheats customers with illegal billing." ... "A
lawsuit seeking to potentially cover hundreds of thousands of America Online
subscribers accuses the Time Warner (TWX)
unit of illegally billing customers by creating secondary accounts for
them without their consent." ... "The lawsuit, filed last month in [Illinois']
St. Clair County Circuit Court on behalf of 10 AOL customers in six states
says the company confused and deceived customers about the charges, stalled
them from canceling unauthorized accounts and refused to return questioned
fees." -AP
via -USATODAY
Samuel
Alito
- Abortion
- Law
- "Schumer
Asks Alito for More Abortion Info." ... "In the latest
Democratic challenge to Judge Samuel Alito, Sen. Charles Schumer on Thursday
urged the Supreme Court nominee to detail any role he played in drafting
the Reagan administration's 1985 request for reversal of a landmark abortion
rights ruling." ... "Schumer said in a letter that it was ``puzzling''
that Alito had omitted mention of the case in filling out a Senate Judiciary
Committee questionnaire that sought a detailed summary covering ``the nature
of your participation'' in litigation before the Supreme Court." -By
David Espo -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
US
- North
Carolina - Legal- History
- World
- "N.
Carolina carries out 1,000th execution." ... "Double
murderer Kenneth Lee Boyd became the 1,000th prisoner executed in the United
States since the reinstatement of capital punishment when he was put to
death by lethal injection on Friday." ... "Boyd, who was 57, died at 2:15
a.m. (0715 GMT) at Central Prison in North Carolina's state capital, Raleigh,
spokeswoman Pamela Walker of the Department of Corrections said." ... "Boyd,
a Vietnam war veteran with a history of alcohol abuse, was sentenced to
death for the murder in 1988 of his wife and father-in-law committed in
front of two of his children." ... "His execution drew world attention
because of its symbolism since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the death
penalty to be brought back in 1976 after a nine-year unofficial moratorium."
(1, 2,
3)
-By Andy Sullivan -Reuters
Samuel
Alito
- Employee- Consumer- Business
- Civil
Righs - Politics
- "Alito
wary of individual rights: Review's portrait of judge:
A non-partisan conservative who steadily backs authority." ... "During
his 15 years on the federal bench, Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito Jr.
has worked quietly but resolutely to weave a conservative legal agenda
into the fabric of the nation's laws." ... "A Knight Ridder review of Alito's
311 published opinions on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals -- each now
part of federal case law used to establish legal precedent and set public
policy -- found a clear pattern. Although Alito's opinions are rarely written
with obvious ideology, he has seldom sided with a criminal defendant, a
foreign national facing deportation, an employee alleging discrimination
or a consumer suing a large business." ... "A review of Alito's work on
dozens of cases that raised important social issues found that he rarely
supports individual-rights claims." -By Stephen Henderson
-KnightRidder via -MercuryNews
Samuel
Alito
- Abortion
- Politics
- Pennsylvania
- History
- "Alito's
role in trying to overturn Roe v. Wade detailed in papers."
... "As a Justice Department lawyer in the Reagan administration, Supreme
Court nominee Samuel Alito helped devise a legal strategy to persuade the
high court to restrict and eventually overturn Roe v. Wade, the historic
decision legalizing abortion." ... "In a memo disclosed Wednesday that
he wrote in 1985 as an assistant to the solicitor general, Alito recommended
that the administration submit a brief to the Supreme Court, asking it
to uphold a Pennsylvania law that imposed a variety of abortion restrictions
and "make clear that we disagree with Roe v. Wade."" ... "Alito argued
that stepping into the case, Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians
and Gynecologists, would be a more effective strategy for President Reagan
than a "frontal assault" on the landmark case and would not "even tacitly
concede Roe's legitimacy." Disagreeing with the administration's position,
the court struck down the law the following year." -By
Amy Goldstein and Jo Becker-WashingtonPost
via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
Australia
- US
- Business
- 
Home
- Health
- History
- "James
Hardie to Sign Asbestos Compensation Deal Today (Update3)."
... "James Hardie Industries NV, whose top executives quit last year amid
an asbestos probe, will today sign a A$1.6 billion ($1.2 billion) agreement
to compensate Australians sickened by its products." ... "James Hardie
is the biggest seller of home siding in the U.S., where it gets 80 percent
of its profit. In February, the company said it doesn't expect a significant
number of compensation claims in the U.S., where its subsidiaries never
used the asbestos." ... "James Hardie started using asbestos in Australia
in the 1920s. It began to phase out blue asbestos in 1968, and all products
were asbestos-free by 1986. The fibrous mineral has been linked to lung
cancer and mesothelioma, a form of cancer affecting the chest or abdomen."
-By Miriam Steffens -Bloomberg
Samuel
Alito
- Abortion
- Medical
- Politics
- "Alito
File Shows Strategy to Curb Abortion Ruling." ...
"As a lawyer in the Reagan Justice Department, the Supreme Court nominee
Samuel A. Alito Jr. played an integral role in devising legal strategy
to pare back the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade, documents disclosed
Wednesday show." ... "Judge Alito argued in a 1985 memorandum to the Reagan
administration's solicitor general that two pending Supreme Court cases
were an "opportunity to advance the goals of overruling Roe v. Wade and,
in the meantime, of mitigating its effects."" ... "And in a strongly worded
17-page legal analysis, he recommended advancing the administration's ultimate
case against Roe by defending state regulations requiring doctors to provide
women seeking abortions with information about fetal development, the risks
and "unforeseeable detrimental effects" of the procedure and the availability
of adoption services or paternal child support." (1, 2)
-By David D. Kirkpatrick
-NYTimes
John
Roberts
- 
New
Hampshire - Parent
-Abortion
- Woman
- Health
- "Roberts
signals support for abortion curbs: In high court
argument, chief justice hints at upholding New Hampshire law." ... "The
news in Wednesday's Supreme Court argument over New Hampshire's parental
notification abortion law was that the John Roberts era may be one in which
the right to get an abortion is further curtailed." ... "At least at first
blush, Roberts - hearing his first case as chief justice on abortion restrictions
- seemed to be trying hard to save the New Hampshire law from being declared
unconstitutional, as it was by two lower courts." ... "The U.S. Court of
Appeals for the First Circuit had ruled the entire New Hampshire law invalid,
partly because it did not provide an exemption for cases in which the doctor
decided that abortion was needed to prevent damage to the girl's health."
-By Tom Curry -MSNBC
Samuel
Alito
- Abortion
- Politics
- "Alito
Pushed Abortion Fight Under Reagan: Alito Pushed
for Step-By-Step, 'Eventual Overruling' of Abortion Rights As Reagan Lawyer."
... "As a young government lawyer opposed to abortion rights, Samuel Alito
argued for a legal strategy of chipping away at the landmark Supreme Court
ruling rather than mounting an all-out assault likely to inflict a defeat
on the Reagan administration, according to documents released Wednesday."
... ""No one seriously believes that the court is about to overrule Roe
v. Wade," the current Supreme Court nominee wrote in an internal Justice
Department memo on May 30, 1985. Referring to a high court decision to
review two abortion-related cases at the time, he asked, "What can be made
of this opportunity to advance the goals of bringing about the eventual
overruling … and in the meantime, of mitigating its effects."" (1, 2,
3)
-By David Espo -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
Samuel
Alito
- Law
- History
- Pennsylvania
- "Alito
to face questioning on affirmative action, voting rights."
... "[Pennsylvania] Sen. Arlen Specter, serving notice that he intends
to take up contentious issues raised in years-old writings by Judge Samuel
A. Alito Jr., asked the Supreme Court nominee Wednesday to be prepared
to clarify his views on affirmative action and voting rights." ... "In
a 1985 memo Alito wrote while seeking a promotion in the Reagan administration's
Justice Department, he said he disagreed with Supreme Court reapportionment
decisions in the 1960s that enforced the doctrine of "one person, one vote.""
... "Specter also noted that the case that established "one person, one
vote" had been "instrumental to ensuring that all people's votes are weighted
equally in our representative democracy."" -By Steve
Goldstein -KnightRidder
via -MercuryNews
US
- EU
- Secret
- Intelligence
- Prisons
- Terrorism
- "U.S.
to Respond to EU Questions on Prisons." ... "The
European Union has formally requested answers from the Bush administration
about reports of secret U.S.-run prisons for terrorism suspects in Europe,
and the United States will reply "to the best of our ability," the State
Department said Wednesday." ... "It would be illegal for the U.S. government
to hold prisoners in isolation and difficult conditions in secret prisons
in the United States. It has long been assumed that the CIA operates overseas
sites to get around U.S. law and to keep terrorism suspects out of the
jurisdiction of U.S. courts." -By Anne Gearan
-AP via-WashingtonPost
Samuel
Alito
- Abortion
- Politics
- "Alito
proposed anti-abortion strategy in 1985." ... "U.S.
Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, as a Reagan administration lawyer 20
years ago, outlined ways to limit abortion rights without overturning a
1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, a memo released on Wednesday
showed." ... "This strategy, Alito wrote as an assistant in the U.S. Solicitor
General's Office, could curb the landmark ruling without generating headlines
about a "stinging rebuke" of it." ... "The 1985 memo by Alito was a road
map on how to expand states' ability to regulate certain aspects of abortion."
(1, 2)
-By Thomas Ferraro and Joanne Kenen with contributions
by Richard Cowan and Donna Smith -Reuters
via -ABCNEWS.com
US
- Mexico
- US
Immigration - 2006
Election - Politics
- Police
- Worker
- Tucson
- Arizona
- "Bush
revives immigration reform push: Switching priorities,
he only touches on guest-worker plan." ... "President Bush promised a renewed
push for changes in immigration law Monday, reversing the priorities he
had set out nearly two years ago by emphasizing tougher border enforcement
and mentioning his controversial guest-worker program almost as an afterthought."
... "Bush joins several congressional Republicans in Congress, including
several likely presidential candidates, who intend to make an overhaul
of the nation's immigration laws a priority heading into the 2006 midterm
elections." ... ""Illegal immigration is a serious challenge," Bush told
a gathering of border enforcement officials in Tucson [Arizona]. "And our
responsibility is clear. We are going to protect the border."" -By
Carolyn Lochhead -SFGate.com
Samuel
Alito
- Police
- Privacy
- "Alito
Memos Supported Expanding Police Powers." ... "As
a lawyer in the Reagan Justice Department, Samuel A. Alito Jr., the Supreme
Court nominee, played an active role in advancing the administration's
efforts to expand law enforcement powers and limit restrictions on prosecutors,
documents released Monday by the Justice Department show." ... "The 470
pages of documents, which consist mainly of memorandums Mr. Alito wrote
as a deputy assistant attorney general in the office of legal counsel in
1986 and 1987, generally address routine matters or highly technical legal
issues. In several of the memorandums, however, Mr. Alito makes a series
of arguments espousing a broad view of law enforcement authority and a
skeptical view of proposals to protect individuals from legal investigations."
-By David D. Kirkpatrick
-NYTimes
US
- 
Zimbabwe
- Law
- "US
labels Zimbabwe Senate election a 'nonevent'." ...
"In a sign of growing U.S. animosity toward Zimbabwe's President Robert
Mugabe, a senior U.S. official dismissed as "a nonevent" last weekend's
Senate poll victory by the ruling party in the southern African nation."
... "Asked to comment on the election of a new upper chamber of parliament,
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Zimbabwe's new Senate was
created by Mugabe as a "source of patronage for ruling party politicians.""
... "Final results announced on Monday showed Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party
won a broad majority in the 66-seat Senate, which will have the final word
on any new laws." -Reuters
Virginia
- Execution
- Law
- Politics
- North
Carolina - 
South
Carolina - "UPDATE
1-Virginia governor stops milestone U.S. execution."
... "Virginia Gov. Mark Warner halted the execution of a convicted murderer
who would have been the 1,000th person put to death in the United States
since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, a spokesman
said on Tuesday." ... "Since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty
in 1976 and executions resumed in 1977, 999 people have been executed in
the United States. North Carolina and South Carolina have scheduled executions
later in the week." -By Andy Sullivan
-Reuters
Samuel
Alito
- Law
- "Advocacy
Groups Targeting Vulnerable Senators on Alito Vote."
... "Groups on both sides began mobilizing supporters hours after Bush
announced Alito's nomination on Oct. 31. But the brewing battle has been
largely obscured by the decorum of Alito's courtesy calls to senators,
to whom he has offered reassuring words about his 15 years as an appeals
court judge. The effort has earned praise from many senators, including
some Democrats, who are impressed by Alito's intellect, judicial experience
and professed respect for legal precedent." ... "But if the ritual visits
to senators are mostly smiles, small talk and carefully calibrated promises
to interpret the law, not make it, the street-level campaign is something
else altogether. Both sides are framing their arguments in urgent and emotional
words -- hoping to sway what polls suggest is substantial but hardly insurmountable
sentiment for Alito to be confirmed. With a quarter to a third of Americans
still uninformed or undecided, both sides are working hard to win converts."
(1, 2)
-By Michael A. Fletcher-WashingtonPost
California
- Military
- Business
- Politics
- "Bribed
congressman resigns, pleads guilty to charges." ...
"The co-conspirators are not named in the charging documents. Public records
show relationships between [California Republican Randy "Duke"] Cunningham
and two contractors whom he helped get Pentagon work: MZM and ADCS. MZM's
former president, Mitchell Wade, bought Cunningham's former house, allowing
him to buy a more expensive house in Rancho Santa Fe. Brent Wilkes, founder
of ADCS, raised $105,250 in personal, company and employee campaign contributions
for Cunningham during the past decade. Neither Wade nor Wilkes has been
charged with a crime. Their lawyers declined to comment." ... "ADCS landed
more than $90 million in government contracts since 1997, when Cunningham
helped the company get one of its first Pentagon contracts. Wilkes also
provided a corporate jet for Cunningham to use on fundraising trips, campaign-finance
records show." -By Jim Drinkard and Matt Kelley
-USATODAY
Samuel
Alito
- New
York
- Government
- Military
- Business
- Politics
- Secrets
- "Alito dueled with
government ethics chief: As Justice Department lawyer,
court nominee fought over disclosure rules." ... "As a Justice Department
lawyer, Samuel Alito quarreled with the head of the government ethics office
over proposed requirements on personal financial disclosures, according
to documents released Monday." ... "Alito's 1987 letter was issued around
the time the ethics office said his boss, Attorney General Edwin Meese
III, had violated financial disclosure requirements over a $60,000 investment
with a businessman who was tied to Wedtech, a Bronx, N.Y. [New York], defense
contractor that was caught up in a wide-ranging federal investigation."
-AP via -MSNBC
Architecture
- Law
- "Piece
of Supreme Court building falls: Chunk of marble
falls onto where tourists normally enter; no one hurt." ... "A basketball-sized
piece of marble molding fell from the facade over the entrance to the Supreme
Court Monday, landing on the steps near visitors waiting to enter the building.
No one was hurt." ... "The chunk of Vermont marble was part of the dentil
molding that serves as a frame for nine sculptural figures completed in
1935. The piece that fell was over the figure of Authority, near the peak
of the building's pediment, and to the right of the figure of Liberty,
who has the scales of justice on her lap."
-AP via -MSNBC
California
- Military
- Politics
- "San
Diego-area Rep. Cunningham pleads guilty to bribery, resigns."
... "[California Republican] Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham tearfully resigned
Monday after pleading guilty to bribery and admitting he took $2.4 million
to steer defense contracts to conspirators using his leadership position
on a congressional subcommittee." ... "Authorities said Cunningham secured
defense contracts worth tens of millions of dollars for the people who
bribed him. The case grew from an investigation into the sale of his home
in wealthy Del Mar to a wide-ranging conspiracy involving payments in cash,
vacations and antiques from unidentified conspirators." -By
Elliot Spagat with contributions by Erica Werner
-AP via -MercuryNews
California
- Political
- Military
- Business
- "Rep.
Randy 'Duke' Cunningham Pleads Guilty, Resigns."
... "[California Republican] Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham resigned his
office today after pleading guilty to fraud, conspiracy to commit bribery
and tax evasion in a political corruption case." ... "U.S. District Judge
Larry Burns accepted the pleas from Cunningham, 63, including the congressman's
admission in federal court that he had accepted bribes in exchange for
performance of his official duties." ... "According to court papers, Cunningham
"demanded and received" a bribe from a defense contractor who paid an inflated
price for Cunningham's home in exchange for official favors." -By
Tony Perry -LAtimes
via -Newsday.com
Government
- Military
- Intelligence
- Terrorism
- Privacy
- Law
- Civil
Liberties - Politics
- Oregon
- "Pentagon
Expanding Its Domestic Surveillance Activity: Fears
of Post-9/11 Terrorism Spur Proposals for New Powers." ... "The Pentagon
has pushed legislation on Capitol Hill that would create an intelligence
exception to the Privacy Act, allowing the FBI and others to share information
gathered about U.S. citizens with the Pentagon, CIA and other intelligence
agencies, as long as the data is deemed to be related to foreign intelligence.
Backers say the measure is needed to strengthen investigations into terrorism
or weapons of mass destruction." ... "The proposals, and other Pentagon
steps aimed at improving its ability to analyze counterterrorism intelligence
collected inside the United States, have drawn complaints from civil liberties
advocates and a few members of Congress, who say the Defense Department's
push into domestic collection is proceeding with little scrutiny by the
Congress or the public." ... ""We are deputizing the military to spy on
law-abiding Americans in America. This is a huge leap without even a [congressional]
hearing," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore. [Oregon]), a member of the Senate Select
Committee on Intelligence, said in a recent interview." (1, 2)
-By Walter Pincus with contributions by Dan Eggen
-WashingtonPost
Ohio
- Texas
- 
Montana
- California
- Jack
Abramoff
- Tom
DeLay
- Political
- Business
- "Corruption
probe swells in Congress, lawyers say." ... "Justice
Department prosecutors investigating former lobbyist Jack Abramoff are
beginning to move on evidence pointing to possible corruption in Congress
and executive-branch agencies, lawyers involved in the case said." ...
"Prosecutors have told one lawmaker, Rep. Robert Ney, R-Ohio, and his former
chief of staff that they are preparing a possible bribery case against
them, according to two sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity."
... "Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Texas Republican now facing
separate campaign-finance charges in his home state, is one of the members
under scrutiny, the sources said. Others include Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont.
[Montana], Rep. John Doolittle, R-Calif. [California], and several other
members of Congress involved with Indian affairs, one of Abramoff's key
areas of interest." -By Susan Schmidt and James V.
Grimaldi -WashingtonPost
via -SeattleTimes.NWsource
Ohio
- Florida
- Political
- Business
- "Feds
probing SunCruz links to GOP: Federal investigators
are scrutinizing a $10,000 donation made five years ago by SunCruz Casinos
to a Republican campaign committee on behalf of an Ohio congressman." ...
"When U.S. Rep. Bob Ney assailed the owner of SunCruz Casinos in 2000,
it seemed puzzling that an Ohio lawmaker would go out of his way to attack
a South Florida businessman who was trying to sell his floating gaming
empire." ... "It turns out, according to federal investigators, Ney publicly
called SunCruz founder Konstantinos ''Gus'' Boulis a ''bad apple'' in exchange
for the company's new owners contributing $10,000 -- in his name -- to
a national campaign fund to help elect Republicans to Congress." -By
Jay Weaver-Miami/Herald
Samuel
Alito
- Family
-Woman
- Privacy
- Law
- Politics
- Advertising
- Pennsylvania
- Drugs
- "Alito
ad flap centers on strip search of woman, daughter."
... "When police in a small Pennsylvania coal town went to the home of
a suspected methamphetamine dealer, they sent for a female meter maid to
search the suspect's wife and 10-year-old daughter." ... "The woman took
the two to an upstairs bathroom, had them lift their shirts and drop their
pants and patted them down. Then she directed them downstairs, where they
sat on a couch while a Schuylkill County drug squad searched the home."
... "As a 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge, Alito found it acceptable
to search family members even if they were not specifically named in the
warrant. But his view came in a dissent to the 2-1 majority opinion written
by colleague Michael Chertoff then a judge, now the nation's Homeland
Security secretary who said that officers went beyond the terms
of the search warrant and were liable for potential damages."
-AP via -USATODAY
Texas
- 
Thanksgiving
- Politics
- "Protesters
Arrested Near President Bush's Texas Ranch." ...
"A dozen war protesters were arrested Wednesday for setting up camp near
President Bush's [Texas'] ranch in defiance of new local bans on roadside
camping and parking." ... "The protest was set to coincide with Bush's
Thanksgiving ranch visit." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
Military
- Terrorism
- Prison
- Florida
- South
Carolina - "Longtime
US detainee indicted: Charges make no mention of
'dirty bomb' plot." ... "Jose Padilla, the American citizen held in a military
prison for more than three years without charges filed against him, has
been indicted for allegedly providing support to Al Qaeda and conspiring
to attack US civilians overseas, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced
yesterday." ... "The indictment of Padilla and four codefendants by a Miami
[Florida] grand jury on Nov. 17 made no reference to his alleged involvement
in a plot to detonate a radiological device -- a so-called dirty bomb --
in the United States, the government's original rationale for holding Padilla
in a brig on a US Navy base in South Carolina." ... "But the indictment,
which transfers Padilla from military to federal custody, removes him from
judicial limbo, where he has languished since President Bush designated
him an ''enemy combatant," stripping him of his right to a trial in a civilian
court." -By Bryan Bender
-Boston/Globe
US
- Virginia
- 
Saudi
Arabia - Terrorism
- "Student
Convicted of Plotting With Al Qaeda to Kill Bush."
... "An Arab-American student from Virginia was convicted today, in one
of the most important terrorism trials since the Sept. 11 attacks, of plotting
with Al Qaeda operatives to assassinate President Bush and hijack airplanes."
... "A federal jury in Alexandria, Va. [Virginia], found Ahmed Omar Abu
Ali, 24, guilty on numerous charges of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism.
The jury rejected the defendant's accounts that his Saudi captors beat
and tortured him into confessing." -By David Stout
-NYTimes
Government
- Terrorism
- Civil
Righs - "'Dirty'
bomb suspect faces charges after three years." ...
"The Bush administration on Tuesday reversed course on one of the most
significant terrorism cases against an individual since the September 11
attacks, avoiding a showdown in the Supreme Court over whether it can indefinitely
hold "enemy combatants" without the review of a court." ... "The indictment
marks a big shift in a long-running case that has been criticised by civil
rights groups, who claimed the government's detention of a US citizen without
charge was a violation of the constitution." -By Stephanie
Kirchgaessner -FT.com
via -MSNBC
Government- 
Nuclear
- Terrorism
- Politics
- "Dirty
Bomb Suspect Padilla Indicted." ... "Jose Padilla,
a U.S. citizen held in a Navy brig as an enemy combatant for more than
three years, was charged Tuesday with being part of a North American terror
cell that sent money and recruits overseas to "murder, maim and kidnap.""
... "However, absent from the indictment were the sensational allegations
made earlier by top Justice Department officials: that Padilla sought to
blow up U.S. hotels and apartment buildings and planned an attack on America
with a radiological "dirty bomb.""" ... "The charges are the latest twist
in a case pitting the Bush administration's claim that the war on terrorism
gives the government extraordinary powers to protect its citizens, on one
side, against those who say the government can't be allowed to label Americans
"enemy combatants" and hold them indefinitely without charges that can
be fought in court." (1, 2)
-By Mark Sherman -AP
via-WashingtonPost
Texas
- Computer
- Music
- Entertainment- Company
- Privacy
- Hacking
- "Texas
sues Sony under anti-spyware law." ... "The state
[of Texas] sued Sony BMG Music Entertainment on Monday under its new anti-spyware
law, saying anti-piracy technology the company slipped into music CDs leaves
computers vulnerable to hackers." ... "Attorney General Greg Abbott accused
Sony BMG of surreptitiously installing "spyware" in the form of files that
mask other files Sony installed as part of XCP."
-AP via -USATODAY
Tom
DeLay
- Money
- Politics
- "Former
DeLay Aide Pleads Guilty." ... "Michael Scanlon,
a former partner to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiring
to bribe public officials, a charge growing out of the government investigation
of attempts to defraud Indian tribes and corrupt a member of Congress."
... "Scanlon, a former aide to Rep. Tom DeLay, entered the plea before
U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle and agreed to pay restitution totaling
more than $19 million to the tribes." -AP
via -CBSNews
Massachusetts
- Thanksgiving
- Food
- Business
- "Mass.
warns Whole Foods on Thanksgiving." ... "There'll
be no last-minute shopping for turkeys or trimmings on Thanksgiving Day
in Massachusetts." ... "The state has warned the upscale Whole Foods supermarket
chain that it will risk criminal charges under the state's centuries-old
"blue laws" if it goes ahead with plans to open on the holiday." ... "The
office of Attorney General Thomas Reilly issued a legal opinion after officials
at a Whole Foods competitor, Shaw's Supermarkets, wrote him a letter asking
him to block the opening, The Boston Globe reported."
-AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
US
- Iraq
- GOV
- Business
- North
Carolina - Prison
- "Ex-Convict
Took Bribes in Iraq, U.S. Says." ... "A North Carolina
man who was charged yesterday with accepting kickbacks and bribes as a
comptroller and financial officer for the American occupation authority
in Iraq was hired despite having served prison time for felony fraud in
the 1990's." ... "The job gave the man, Robert J. Stein, control over $82
million in cash earmarked for Iraqi rebuilding projects." ... "Along with
a web of other conspirators who have not yet been named, Mr. Stein and
his wife received "bribes, kickbacks and gratuities amounting to at least
$200,000 per month" to steer lucrative construction contracts to companies
run by another American, Philip H. Bloom, an affidavit outlining the criminal
complaint says." (1, 2)
-By James Glanz -NYTimes
Iraq
- Oil
- Business
- UN
- Legal
- History
- "Scope
of oil-for-food fraud 'overwhelming'." ... "It began
with the best of intentions and achieved its major goals: feeding the Iraqi
people while keeping dangerous weapons out of Saddam Hussein's hands."
... "Along the way, the United Nations' oil-for-food program metastasized
into the worst corruption scandal in U.N. history." ... "Three weeks after
a scathing report detailed the scope of the fraud — implicating governments,
former diplomats, businessmen and corporations — a relatively small number
of criminal investigations and other probes have begun." -By
Barbara Slavin -USATODAY
Idaho
- New_Hampshire
- Alaska
- Illinois
- Wisconsin
- 
Colorado
- Secret
- GOV
- Police
- Intelligence
- Civil
Liberties - Library
- Business
- Health
- Privacy
- Politics
- "Senators
Vow To Block Patriot Act." ... "Half a dozen senators
worried about civil liberties –three Democrats and three Republicans –
said Thursday they will try to block the measure to renew the Patriot Act,
CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss reports." ... "The most controversial parts
of the law that vastly expanded FBI powers after 9/11 expire at the end
of the year unless renewed. An agreement on a measure to do that between
the House and Senate doesn't include some minimal new protections these
senators want, including having a judge review broad secret warrants when
the FBI seeks information from libraries, hospitals and banks." ... ""If
further changes are not made, we will work to stop this bill from becoming
law," GOP Sens. Larry Craig [Idaho], John Sununu [New Hampshire] and Lisa
Murkowski [Alaska] and Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin [Illinois], Russ Feingold
[Wisconsin] and Ken Salazar [Colorado] said in a letter to the Senate Judiciary
and Intelligence committees." -AP
-CBSNews
Dick
Cheney - Secret
- Business
- Law
- Politics
- Nevada
- Alaska
- "Did
oil execs lie to Congress? Report contradicts big
oil execs testimony denying a White House meeting. Democrats seek probe."
... "Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said the executives
should return to Washington and set the record straight." ... "They should
"be brought back to the Congress, sworn in, and forced to testify again
about their involvement with Vice President Cheney's secretive energy task
force and all of the issues covered in the hearing," Reid said." ... "Republican
Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, who chaired last week's hearing, refused Democrats'
demands that the executives be sworn in under oath before they testified."
-Reuters via -CNN
/Money
Business
- Labor
- Seniors
- "Senate
Passes Bill to Require Full Funding of Private Pensions."
... "The Senate yesterday overwhelmingly approved a bill to strengthen
the nation's private pension system by requiring employers to pay higher
premiums to the government's pension insurance agency and toughening rules
for keeping plans adequately funded." ... "The Senate action came the day
after the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp [PBGC]. reported that the liabilities
it has assumed to pay the pensions promised by failed companies remain
more than $22 billion greater than its assets. The agency's executive director
said the agency will run out of money if nothing is done." ... "An analysis
last month by the PBGC concluded that neither the House nor the Senate
bill strengthens the agency as much as would the administration's original
proposals early this year." (1, 2)
-By Albert B. Crenshaw-WashingtonPost
Samuel
Alito
- Women's
- Abortion
- Health
- History
- Politics
- Pennsylvania
- Illinois
- "A
coauthor says Alito was instrumental in Roe v. Wade brief."
... "Samuel A. Alito Jr. played a major role in constructing the Reagan
administration's 1985 brief that argued for overturning the Supreme Court
decision legalizing abortion, according to one of the coauthors." ... "Albert
Lauber, who served with Alito in the solicitor general's office, said Alito
had been instrumental in drafting arguments for why the court should uphold
laws in Pennsylvania and Illinois, which imposed numerous restrictions
on abortions." ... "''Sam did make a major contribution to a brief which
did argue, among other things, that Roe should be overruled," Lauber said.
''He just didn't write that specific part of the argument."" ... "The Supreme
Court struck down some of the abortion restrictions, saying in the 5-4
decision, ''the States are not free, under the guise of protecting maternal
health or potential life, to intimidate women into continuing pregnancies.""
-By Michael Kranish
-Boston/Globe
Dick
Cheney - Secret
- Energy
- Law
- Politics
- Business
- Environment
- Alaska
- "Document
Says Oil Chiefs Met With Cheney Task Force." ...
"A White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met
with Vice President Cheney's energy task force in 2001 -- something long
suspected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by industry
officials testifying before Congress." ... "The document, obtained this
week by The Washington Post, shows that officials from Exxon Mobil Corp.,
Conoco (before its merger with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America
Inc. met in the White House complex with the Cheney aides who were developing
a national energy policy, parts of which became law and parts of which
are still being debated." ... "The executives were not under oath when
they testified, so they are not vulnerable to charges of perjury; committee
Democrats had protested the decision by Commerce Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)
not to swear in the executives. But a person can be fined or imprisoned
for up to five years for making "any materially false, fictitious or fraudulent
statement or representation" to Congress." -By Dana
Milbank and Justin Blum with contributions by Lucy Shackelford-WashingtonPost
GOV
- Military
- Money
- "Senate
approves $491 billion defense bill." ... "The Senate
unanimously passed legislation on Tuesday authorizing $491.6 billion in
defense programs, including policies on treatment of detainees likely to
prompt a dispute with the House of Representatives."
-Reuters
Government
- Intelligence
- Media
- Politics
- I.
Lewis Libby
- Dick
Cheney - "Post
reporter testifies in CIA leak probe." ... "Washington
Post editor Bob Woodward testified that a senior Bush administration official
told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame about a month before her identity
was publicly exposed, the Post acknowledged Wednesday." ... "Woodward told
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, who is investigating the leak of Plame's
identity, that the official talked to him about Plame in mid-June 2003,
the Post said. Woodward and editors at the Post refused to identify the
official other than to say it was not I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President
Dick Cheney's former chief of staff." -AP
via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Political
- Government
- Radio
- TV
- Media
- Editorial
- Money
- History
- "Report:
Former CPB chair violated law: Is accused of trying
to turn public radio, TV into GOP mouthpiece." .. "The former chairman
of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting broke federal law by interfering
with PBS programming and appearing to use political tests in hiring the
corporation's new president, internal investigators said Tuesday."
.. "The corporation - which funnels hundreds of millions of federal dollars
to National Public Radio, the Public Broadcasting Service and noncommercial
radio and television stations - was created by Congress in the late 1960s
to shield public broadcasting from political influence." .. "Specifically,
the report said [Republican Kenneth Y.] Tomlinson violated the Public Broadcasting
Act of 1967 and ethical standards by dealing directly with one of the creators
of the conservative-leaning "Journal Editorial Report," hosted by the editor
of The Wall Street Journal editorial page."
-AP via -MSNBC
Alaska
- Missouri
- Legal
- Environmental
- Politics
- "Alaska
oil-drilling measure may return." ... "Legislation
to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, apparently
scuttled in the House last week, may resurface quickly, Republican leaders
signaled Tuesday." ... "Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt, the acting majority leader,
told reporters there would be no attempt to reinsert the controversial
provision in deficit-cutting legislation pending in the House." ... "But
when asked about plans for a final House-Senate compromise measure, he
sidestepped. "It's too early to worry about" the final bill, he said of
a measure that is expected to be drafted in December."
-AP via -CNN
Animals
- Law
- "Grizzlies
Around Yellowstone to Lose Federal Protections."
... "Grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone National Park should be removed
from the endangered species list after 30 years of federal protection,
the Department of Interior said Tuesday." ... "Environmental groups are
split over the issue. The National Wildlife Federation supports ending
the protections, saying it would highlight the success of the endangered
species law. The Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club and
other groups say that too many threats still exist for the bears."
-AP via
-LAtimes
Samuel
Alito
- Pennsylvania
- Prisons
- Free
Speech - Media
-"Alito
Dissent Resonates in Supreme Court Case." ... "Judge
Samuel A. Alito Jr. is having an impact on the Supreme Court even before
the Senate takes up his nomination." ... "The justices agreed today to
hear a Pennsylvania prison warden's appeal — based on dissent by Alito
— that challenges a ruling that said that even the most disruptive and
dangerous prison inmates are entitled to receive newspapers and magazines."
... "Alito sided with prison managers last year when he dissented from
the ruling that said prisoners, even disruptive inmates who are held in
special cells, have a 1st Amendment right to receive newspapers and magazines."
-By David G. Savage
-LAtimes
Samuel
Alito
- Abortion
- Politics
- History
-"Alito
earlier opposed abortion." ... "U.S. Supreme Court
nominee Samuel Alito wrote 20 years ago as a lawyer in the Reagan administration
"that the Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion," The
Washington Times reported on Monday." ... "According to The Washington
Times, Alito wrote in the 1985 memo, a job application, to then Attorney
General Edwin Meese: "It has been an honor and source of personal satisfaction
for me to serve in the office of the Solicitor General during President
Reagan's administration and to help advance legal positions which I personally
believe in very strongly."" ... ""I am particularly proud of my contributions
in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court
that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution
does not protect a right to an abortion," added Alito, who got the new
job as a deputy to Meese." -By Thomas Ferraro
-Reuters via
-BostonGlobe
Samuel
Alito
- Political
- Job
-Abortion
- Religion
- Maps-"Alito
Voiced Opposition to Abortion Rights on Job Application."
... "U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito Jr. said on a 1985 job application
that he disagreed with the high court's ruling that there is a constitutional
right to abortion." ... "Alito also said he disagreed with the court's
rulings during the 1960s that outlawed organized prayer in public schools,
expanded criminal defendants' rights and gave courts supervision of legislative
redistricting. He gave those views in an application for a political job
in the Justice Department during Ronald Reagan's presidency. At the time,
Alito was an assistant to the solicitor general." -By
James Rowley -Bloomberg
US
- Iraq
- Secret- Military
- Terrorism
- Politics
- Law
- "Asterisks
Dot White House's Iraq Argument." ... "President
Bush and his national security adviser have answered critics of the Iraq
war in recent days with a two-pronged argument: that Congress saw the same
intelligence the administration did before the war, and that independent
commissions have determined that the administration did not misrepresent
the intelligence." ... "But Bush and his aides had access to much more
voluminous intelligence information than did lawmakers, who were dependent
on the administration to provide the material. And the commissions cited
by officials, though concluding that the administration did not pressure
intelligence analysts to change their conclusions, were not authorized
to determine whether the administration exaggerated or distorted those
conclusions." ... [Furthermore] "... Bush does not share his most sensitive
intelligence, such as the President's Daily Brief, with lawmakers. Also,
the National Intelligence Estimate summarizing the intelligence community's
views about the threat from Iraq was given to Congress just days before
the vote to authorize the use of force in that country." ... "In addition,
there were doubts within the intelligence community not included in the
NIE. And even the doubts expressed in the NIE could not be used publicly
by members of Congress because the classified information had not been
cleared for release. For example, the NIE view that Hussein would not use
weapons of mass destruction against the United States or turn them over
to terrorists unless backed into a corner was cleared for public use only
a day before the Senate vote." -By Dana Milbank and
Walter Pincus-WashingtonPost
Bill
Frist
- Secret
- Military
- Prisons
- Law
- "Frist
concerned more about leaks than secret prisons."
... "Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he is more concerned about
the leak of information regarding secret CIA detention centers than activity
in the prisons themselves." ... "Frist told reporters Thursday that while
he believed illegal activity should not take place at detention centers,
he believes the leak itself poses a greater threat to national security
and is "not concerned about what goes on" behind the prison walls."
-AP via -CNN
California
- Virginia
- Political
- Business
- Law
- Privacy
- Secret
- Intelligence
- "Secret
military spending gets little oversight." ... "A
USA TODAY analysis of MZM-related campaign contributions shows how the
company's growth and its political activities became intertwined at key
moments. In more than 30 instances, donations from MZM's political action
committee or company employees went to two members of the House Appropriations
Committee — [California Republican Randy] Cunningham and Rep. Virgil Goode,
R-Va. [Virginia] — in the days surrounding key votes or contract awards
that helped MZM grow." ... "For example, MZM's political action committee
gave Cunningham $5,000 in 2003 the day before his appointment to a congressional
panel negotiating the final version of the defense budget. Ten days later,
the day after the House passed the final Pentagon spending bill, Wade gave
Cunningham $2,000." ... "Both lawmakers sit on the subcommittee overseeing
the Pentagon's spending and have acknowledged putting language in bills
that created or expanded contracts that went to MZM." -By
Matt Kelley and Jim Drinkard -USATODAY
Hawaii
- Military
- 
Flying
- Intelligence
- "Stealth
engineer facing federal indictment." ... "A federal
grand jury in Honolulu has returned a six-count indictment against a B-Two
stealth bomber engineer already accused of selling U-S military secrets
to foreign countries." -AP
via KPUA
Texas
- 
Maine
- Gay
- Law
- "Texas
Voters Approve Ban on Gay Marriage." ... "Texas voters
Tuesday overwhelming approved a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage,
making their state the 19th to take that step. In Maine, however, a proposal
to repeal a new gay-rights law was trailing in early returns." ... "In
Maine, early returns indicated voters were spurning a measure placed on
the ballot by a church-backed conservative coalition that would repeal
a gay-rights law approved by lawmakers earlier this year. The lawmakers
expanded the state's human rights act to outlaw discrimination based on
sexual orientation, a step already taken by the five other New England
states." -By David Crary
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
Iraq
- Law
- "Second
Lawyer in Saddam Trial Assassinated." ... "Three
masked gunmen in a speeding Opel assassinated a second lawyer in the Saddam
Hussein trial Tuesday, casting doubt on Iraq's ability to try the case
and leading a prominent war crimes prosecutor to urge moving the proceedings
to another Arab country." ... "Adel al-Zubeidi, lawyer for former Vice
President Taha Yassin Ramadan, died when bullets were sprayed his car in
a largely Sunni Arab neighborhood of western Baghdad. The shots also wounded
Thamir al-Khuzaie, attorney for another co-defendant, Saddam's half brother
Barazan Ibrahim." -By Robert H. Reid
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
Dick
Cheney - Lewis
Libby
- Law
- Politics
- "Poll:
Libby indictment hits major nerve." ... "The recent
indictment of Vice President Cheney's top aide has struck a nerve with
the American public. Four in five, 79%, said the indictment of former Cheney
aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on perjury and other charges is important
to the nation, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center for the People
& the Press." ... "Pew noted that in September 1998, 65% said President
Clinton's lies under oath were important." -By Will
Lester -AP
via -USATODAY
Karl
Rove
- Dick
Cheney - Lewis
Libby
- Law
- "White
House staff begins ethics classes: 3,000 workers
to attend mandatory briefings in wake of CIA leak case." ... "President
Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, was not among the first group,
although he was expected to attend an ethics class later this week." ...
"The ethics course comes after Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief
of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was indicted on five counts of obstructing
justice, perjury and lying in the two-year investigation into the leak
of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity." ... "If convicted, Libby,
who resigned from his post in the White House, faces a maximum sentence
of 30 years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty."
-Reuters via -MSNBC
Business
- Privacy
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- "Lawmakers
Call for Limits on F.B.I. Power to Demand Records in Terrorism Investigations."
... "Republicans and Democrats in Congress called on Sunday for greater
restrictions on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's ability to demand
business and personal records in terrorism investigations without a judge's
approval and to retain the records indefinitely." ... ""We should not ever
give up freedom on the basis of fear, and any freedom that we give up should
be limited in time and limited in scope," Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma
Republican who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, said on the NBC
program "Meet the Press."" ... "Mr. Coburn and other senators were responding
to an article on Sunday in The Washington Post about the government's increasing
use of what are known as national security letters to demand records from
businesses and institutions, without a judge's approval, to aid in terrorism
and intelligence investigations." -By Eric Lichtblau
-NYTimes
US
- Iraq
- Dick
Cheney
- Military
- Intelligence- Politics
- 
Listen
- "Cheney
Positions on Iraq, Detainees Under Scrutiny." ...
"Criminal charges against former White House aide I. Lewis Libby have focused
new attention on the man he worked for. Vice President Dick Cheney's support
for the Iraq war and for exempting detainees in the war on terror from
the conventional rules of treatment and interrogation has brought him in
conflict with strong forces elsewhere in the government, including Congress."
-By Don Gonyea -NPR
/News
US
- World
- Dick
Cheney - Military
- Intelligence
- Politics
- Law
- Arizona-
"Cheney
Fights for Detainee Policy: As Pressure Mounts to
Limit Handling Of Terror Suspects, He Holds Hard Line." ... "Over the past
year, Vice President Cheney has waged an intense and largely unpublicized
campaign to stop Congress, the Pentagon and the State Department from imposing
more restrictive rules on the handling of terrorist suspects, according
to defense, state, intelligence and congressional officials." ... "Just
last week, Cheney showed up at a Republican senatorial luncheon to lobby
lawmakers for a CIA exemption to an amendment by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.
[Arizona]) that would ban torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners.
The exemption would cover the CIA's covert "black sites" in several Eastern
European democracies and other countries where key al Qaeda captives are
being kept." (1, 2)
-By Dana Priest and Robin Wright with contributions
by Charles Babington and Josh White-WashingtonPost
US
- Guantanamo
Bay - 
Cuba
- Military
- Terrorism
- "Supreme
Court to rule on Guantánamo trials." ... "The
US Supreme Court agreed on Monday to rule on whether President George W.
Bush has the power to use specially established military commissions to
try detainees held in the war on terrorism." ... "The court's decision
to hear the case will delay further the Pentagon's efforts to find a legal
mechanism for dealing with hundreds of detainees at Guantánamo Bay,
Cuba, some of whom have been held there for nearly four years." -By
By Edward Alden -FT.comvia
-MSNBC
Texas
- Austin
- Gay
- Religion
- Law
- "Prop
2 brings KKK to Austin, to the dismay of both sides:
Some question the Klan's motives in entering debate on gay marriage." ...
"Twelve members of the Ku Klux Klan clamored against gay marriage at a
pre-election rally Saturday, struggling to regain relevance in a society
that recoils from its racist past." ... ""We're asking Texans to support
Proposition 2 because God supports it, not because the KKK supports it,"
said Steven Edwards, calling himself the Texas Grand Dragon of the American
White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan." -By Polly Ross
Hughes -AP
-HoustonChronicle.com
US
- World
- Karl
Rove
- Political
- Government
- Radio
- Television
- Language
- Media
- "Rove
friend is at center of inquiry." ... "Kenneth Tomlinson,
who is also a close friend of Karl Rove, the White House political guru,
was removed last week from the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
after its inspector general concluded an investigation that was critical
of him. That examination looked at his efforts as chairman to seek more
politically conservative programs on public radio and television in the
United States." ... "But Tomlinson remains an important official as the
chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, whose members include
the secretary of state. It supervises the U.S. government's foreign broadcasting
operations, including the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Sawa
and Alhurra, transmits programs in 61 languages and says it has more than
100 million listeners each week." ... ""People involved in the inquiry
said that investigators had already interviewed a significant number of
officials at the agency and that if the accusations were substantiated,
they could involve criminal violations." -By Stephen
Labaton with contributions by Steven R. Weisman
-NYTimes via -IHT.com
Samuel
Alito
- Law
- Politics
- Texas
- West-Virginia
- "Nominee
Is Said to Question Church-State Rulings." ... "Senators
of both parties said Thursday that Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., President
Bush's choice for the Supreme Court, had told them he believed the court
might have gone too far in separating church and state." ... "Senator John
Cornyn, a Texas Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said that Thursday
in a private meeting Judge Alito expressed empathy for "the impression
that the court's decisions were incoherent in this area of the law in a
way that really gives the impression of hostility to religious speech and
religious expression."Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia,
said after his own meeting with the judge that he, too, was "very satisfied"
that Judge Alito had said he believed the court had erred by going too
far in prohibiting government support for religion at the risk of hampering
individual expression of religion." -By David D. Kirkpatrick
-NYTimes
Oregon
- Gay
- Politics
- "Judge
Upholds Oregon Gay Marriage Ban." ... "A judge on
Friday upheld a gay marriage ban adopted by Oregon voters last year, rejecting
claims that the amendment made too many changes at once and interfered
with local government." ... "In his ruling, Marion County Circuit Judge
Joseph Guimond backed supporters of the law who said the measure only clarified
marriage law in a single, simple sentence." ... "The Oregon amendment,
passed overwhelmingly in November 2004 as Measure 36, reads: ``It is the
policy of Oregon, and its political subdivisions, that only a marriage
between one man and one woman shall be valid or legally recognized as a
marriage.''" -By Brad Cain
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
Samuel
Alito
- Drug- Parents
- Privacy
- Law
- "Alito
shows a different side in his dissents." ... "The
facts of the case were stunning: A 10-year-old was strip-searched in her
home by police officers whose warrant authorized only the search of her
father, a suspected drug dealer." ... "To the other judges who heard the
case, the law seemed clearly on the girl's side: The very purpose of a
warrant is to limit the scope of permissible searches." ... "But Supreme
Court nominee Samuel Alito saw it differently. And his ruling opens a window
onto one facet of his judicial philosophy." ... "Alito said the girl's
search, while unfortunate, was justified because supporting documents broadened
the warrant's sweep. It was a technicality, he said, that the particulars
were left out of the warrant itself, and that was no reason to punish good
cops who were just doing their jobs." ... "He was the only judge hearing
the case who thought the police acted properly." -By
Stephen Henderson -Knight
Ridder via -MercuryNews
US
- Iraq
- Lewis
Libby
- Dick
Cheney
- Intelligence
- Politics
- 2006
Election - "Ex-Cheney
aide pleads not guilty in CIA leak case." ... "Vice
President Dick Cheney's former top aide [I. Lewis Libby Jr.] pleaded not
guilty Thursday to five criminal charges of lying to or impeding investigators
in the case of the leaked identity of a covert CIA agent whose husband
was a prominent critic of the Iraq war." ... "It was left unclear when
a trial - in which Cheney and other top officials might be called to testify
- would begin. But chances appeared considerable that it would unfold over
several weeks next year, which is a midterm election year in the United
States, giving Democrats a prime opening to assail the Bush administration's
handling of Iraq war intelligence." -By Brian Knowlton
-IHT.com
Samuel
Alito
- Massachusetts
- Business
- "Plaintiff
alleges Alito conflict: Says judge should have recused
self." ... "Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. ruled in a 2002 case in favor of
the Vanguard mutual fund company at a time when he owned more than $390,000
in Vanguard funds and later complained about an effort to remove him from
the case, court records show -- despite an earlier promise to recuse himself
from cases involving the company." ... "The case involved a Massachusetts
woman, Shantee Maharaj, who has spent nearly a decade fighting to win back
the assets of her late husband's individual retirement accounts, which
had been frozen by Vanguard after a court judgment in favor of a former
business partner of her husband." ... "Her lawyer, John G. S. Flym, a retired
Northeastern law professor, said in an interview yesterday that Alito's
''lack of integrity is so flagrant" in the case that he should be disqualified
as a Supreme Court nominee." -By Sarah Schweitzer
and Michael Kranish -Boston/Globe
Samuel
Alito
- Law
- "Senate
aims for vote on Alito in January." ... "The Senate
Judiciary Committee announced on Thursday it will begin hearings on January
9 on U.S. Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, with an eye on holding a
full Senate vote on January 20 on President George W. Bush's pick for the
court." -Reuters
US
- Afghanistan
- 
Thailand
- Guantanamo
Bay - Cuba
- Military
- Terrorism
- Secret- Prisons
- Law
- Noteworthy
- "CIA
Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons: Debate Is
Growing Within Agency About Legality and Morality of Overseas System Set
Up After 9/11." ... "The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of
its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern
Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement."
... "The secret facility is part of a covert prison system set up by the
CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight
countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern
Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba,
according to current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from
three continents." ... "The hidden global internment network is a central
element in the CIA's unconventional war on terrorism. It depends on the
cooperation of foreign intelligence services, and on keeping even basic
information about the system secret from the public, foreign officials
and nearly all members of Congress charged with overseeing the CIA's covert
actions." ... "It is illegal for the government to hold prisoners in such
isolation in secret prisons in the United States, which is why the CIA
placed them overseas, according to several former and current intelligence
officials and other U.S. government officials." (1, 2,
3, 4) -By Dana Priest with contributions by Julie
Tate -WashingtonPost
Australia
- Police
- Terrorism
- Civil
Liberties - Law
- "Australia
says has intelligence on terror threat." ... "Australia
has received specific information about a possible "terrorist threat" to
the country, Prime Minister John Howard said on Wednesday, but Australia's
medium security alert remained unchanged." ... "Howard refused to give
any details about the nature or location of the threat, but said the government
would rush through changes to anti-terror laws to enable police to respond."
... "The new laws, which have been criticised by human rights and civil
liberties groups, will allow police to detain suspects for seven days without
charge, and use electronic tracking devices to keep tabs on suspects."
-By James Grubel -Reuters
via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
Texas
- Austin
- Tom
DeLay - Law
- "DeLay
Succeeds in Having Judge Removed." ... "Former House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay won the first skirmish in his conspiracy and
money laundering case today when a Texas judge was removed from presiding
over the trial after DeLay's attorneys showed he has been a significant
financial contributor to Democratic causes." ... "District Judge Robert
Perkins of Travis County, Texas, was removed at the close of a hearing
in the state capital in Austin when a separate Texas district judge, brought
out of retirement, ruled that Perkins' history of making 34 donations in
the last five years to Democratic candidates and organizations suggested
he would not be impartial in hearing the trial of the Republican member
of Congress." -By Richard A. Serrano
-LAtimes
US
- Afghanistan- 
Indonesia
- Terrorism
- Law
- "Pentagon:
Top al-Qaida operative escaped." ... "A man once
considered a top al-Qaida operative escaped from a U.S.-run detention facility
in Afghanistan and cannot testify against the soldier who allegedly mistreated
him, a defense lawyer involved in a prison abuse case said Tuesday." ...
"Omar al-Farouq was one of Osama bin Laden's top lieutenants in Southeast
Asia until Indonesian authorities captured him in the summer of 2002 and
turned him over to the United States." ... "A Pentagon official in Washington
confirmed Tuesday evening that al-Farouq escaped from a U.S. detention
facility in Bagram, Afghanistan, on July 10." -By
Alicia A. Caldwell with contributions by Katherine Shrader and Robert Burns
-AP
via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Samuel
Alito
- Law
- Politics
- "Potentially,
the First Shot in All-Out Ideological War." ... "Conservatives'
willingness to scuttle Ms. Miers's nomination without so much as a hearing
cast doubt on their longstanding insistence that all judicial nominees
should be entitled to an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor without the
threat of a filibuster, and some Democratic nose counters suggested that
a filibuster to block Judge Alito was very much on the table. A bipartisan
agreement by 14 centrist senators to avoid filibusters in all but extraordinary
cases, still fresh when Mr. Roberts was named, may well now carry less
force." ... "But it remains to be seen just how big the fight will be."
-By Todd S. Purdum -NYTimes
Lewis
Libby
- Dick
Cheney
- Political
- Secrecy
- "The
legal case against I. Lewis Libby: how strong? What
the judge allows the jury to hear will be critical to the outcome of the
case, say legal analysts." ... "When Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald
began his investigation in December 2003, his instructions were to identify
who leaked the name of a CIA agent to columnist Robert Novak and determine
whether that action violated any secrecy laws." ... "Nearly two years later,
the answer to that question appears to be that no secrecy laws were clearly
and intentionally violated. But along the way to attempting to discover
the truth about the original leak, Mr. Fitzgerald encountered a senior
White House official who he says attempted to obstruct his investigation."
... "Now, with the prospect of a long-drawn-out, and politically charged
trial in Washington, a new question emerges:" ... "Why would I. Lewis Libby,
who resigned Friday as Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, risk prison
to thwart a special counsel's investigation?" -By
Warren Richey -CSMonitor
Samuel
Alito- Pennsylvania
- Women- Abortion
- "Alito
has hefty résumé and record that recalls Scalia's."
... "Among his [judge Samuel Alito Jr.] noteworthy opinions was his lone
dissent in the 1991 case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in which the Third
Circuit Court struck down a Pennsylvania law that included a provision
requiring women seeking abortions to notify their spouses." ... "On the
spousal notification law, Alito wrote, "The Pennsylvania legislature could
have rationally believed that some married women are initially inclined
to obtain an abortion without their husbands' knowledge because of perceived
problems - such as economic constraints, future plans, or the husbands'
previously expressed opposition - that may be obviated by discussion prior
to the abortion."" ... "The Supreme Court, in a 6-to-3 ruling, struck down
the spousal notification, but Chief Justice William Rehnquist quoted from
Alito's opinion in his dissent." -AP
via -IHT.com
Samuel
Alito
- Pennsylvania
- Worker
- 
Water
- Environment
- Politics
- "Many
of Alito's rulings have been at odds with Supreme Court."
... "Samuel Alito once wrote that employees who allege sex discrimination
ought to have a tougher time proving their claims. The Supreme Court disagreed."
... "Alito once argued that Congress hadn't granted state workers the family-leave
benefits that are mandated for other employees. The high court rejected
his thinking again." ... "And Alito, now President Bush's choice to replace
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, once embraced a standard that would make it
harder to punish water polluters. But the Supreme Court didn't go along."
... "In Alito's 15 years of rulings on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals
in Philadelphia [Pennsylvania], many of his interpretations of federal
law and the Constitution are at odds with established thinking and practice,
and ultimately they've been rejected by large majorities on the high court
he hopes to join." -By Stephen Henderson
-Knight Ridder via
-MercuryNews
Samuel
Alito- Political
- Abortion
- Privacy
- Worker
- Capital
Punishment - Law
- "Partisan
divide already forming over Alito pick." ... "Ironically,
[Harriet] Miers — who had no judicial legacy — leaves a political precedent
that could haunt Republican supporters of Alito in the coming weeks." ...
"Conservatives had argued during the nomination of Supreme Court Chief
Justice John Roberts earlier this year that it was inappropriate to probe
how a nominee might come down on issues such as abortion rights. But when
it became clear that Miers had no strong public track record on issues
like abortion, many conservatives pressed for her or the White House to
produce more evidence she was not a closet liberal. The White House even
suggested that Miers' membership in an evangelical church should calm conservative
fears." ... "Democrats are likely to recite the GOP's probe of Miers in
pushing Alito to talk in detail about his views on a host of issues, from
the right to privacy to worker protection laws to capital punishment."
-By Chuck Raasch -USATODAY
Samuel
Alito
- Pennsylvania
- Parents
- Women
- Abortion
- Health
- Politics
- "Alito
has previously endorsed abortion restrictions." ...
"President Bush's new Supreme Court nominee has a clearer track record
on abortion and would become a tie-breaking vote in deciding how far the
government can go to restrict women's access to the procedure." ... "As
a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, Alito
voted in 1991 to uphold a Pennsylvania law that included a provision requiring
women seeking abortions to notify their spouses. That case went to the
Supreme Court, where justices used it to reaffirm Roe v. Wade."
-AP via -USATODAY
Nevada
- Samuel
Alito
- Harriet
Miers - Politics
- "Judge
Samuel Alito Chosen by Bush for Supreme Court (Update8)."
... "U.S. President George W. Bush, seeking to rebound from a failed Supreme
Court nomination, chose conservative appeals court judge Samuel Alito Jr.
for the seat and set up what may be a bitter battle with Senate Democrats."
... "Alito, 55, has a markedly different resume than that of White House
Counsel Harriet Miers, whose nomination Bush withdrew last week amid opposition
from conservatives." ... "Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada
said in a statement that he is ``disappointed'' in the choice. He said
he wants to learn ``why those who want to pack the court with judicial
activists are so much more enthusiastic about him than they were about
Harriet Miers.''" -By Greg Stohr
-Bloomberg
Samuel
Alito
- Pennsylvania
- New
Jersey - Law
- History
- "Samuel
Alito's conservative views earned him nickname 'Scalito'."
... "Samuel A. Alito has been a strong conservative jurist on the [Pennsylvania]
Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a court with a reputation
for being among the nation's most liberal." ... "Dubbed "Scalito" or "Scalia-lite,"
a play not only on his name but his opinions, Alito, 55, brings a hefty
legal resume that belies his age. He has served on the federal appeals
court for 15 years since President George H.W. Bush nominated him in 1990."
... "Before that Alito was U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey
from 1987 to 1990, where his first assistant was a lawyer by the name of
Michael Chertoff, now the Homeland Security secretary." -By
Donna Cassata -AP
via -HoustonChronicle.com
Texas
- Parents
- Health
- "Judge
orders cancer patient returned to her parents, who opposed treatment."
... "A 13-year-old cancer patient who was put into foster care after her
parents refused to allow radiation treatment will be reunited with her
family, a judge ruled Monday." ... "Faced with her deteriorating health,
state district Judge Jack Hunter said Katie Wernecke would be better off
with her family in Corpus Christi [Texas] than in the custody of the foster
parents she was assigned by Child Protective Services."
-AP via -Canada.com
US
- Iraq
- Lewis
Libby
- Dick
Cheney
- Military
- Intelligence
- Politics
- "Cheney's
top aide indicted in leak case." ... "Lewis "Scooter"
Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff and a key architect
of the Iraq war, was indicted Friday on felony charges of perjury, making
false statements and obstruction of justice for allegedly impeding the
grand jury investigating the CIA leak case." ... "The five-count indictment
alleges that Libby lied to FBI agents who interviewed him on two occasions,
perjured himself during two appearances before the grand jury, and obstructed
justice when he "knowingly and corruptly endeavored to influence, obstruct
and impede" the grand jury's efforts to find out who leaked Valerie Plame's
status as a covert agent to reporters during the spring of 2003." ... "Within
minutes of the indictment, Libby resigned his post." -By
Zachary Coile -SFGate.com
Telecommunications
- Business
- "Verizon,
SBC Takeovers Approved by Justice Department (Update3)."
... "Verizon Communications Inc. and SBC Communications Inc., the two largest
U.S. telephone companies, won Justice Department approval for their planned
acquisitions, putting them a step closer to completing the deals." ...
"Verizon's $8.44 billion purchase of MCI Inc. and SBC's $16 billion takeover
of AT&T Corp. were cleared on the condition that they each divest fiber-optic
networks that run to 350 buildings serving business customers, the Justice
Department's antitrust unit said in a statement today in Washington." ...
"Some states have yet to sign off on the acquisitions, which are scheduled
to be completed by early next year. Verizon and SBC, two of the so-called
``Baby Bells,'' will control the nation's two biggest long-distance providers
and gain access to new corporate customers." -By Robert
Schmidt -Bloomberg
Harriet
Miers - Abortion
- Law
- "Embattled
Supreme Court nominee bows out." ... "Beleaguered
by conservative critics, White House Counsel Harriet Miers withdrew her
nomination today for a Supreme Court seat, and President Bush promised
to move quickly to find a new nominee to fill the high court's pivotal
swing seat." ... "Miers' withdrawal of her troubled nomination, which she
formalized in a four-paragraph letter to Bush this morning, was widely
seen as a victory for conservatives who are frank in saying they want a
nominee who will vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision
that legalized abortion. Miers was nominated to replace Justice Sandra
Day O'Connor, who has been a pro-abortion rights vote, and who