tagged w/ Freedom Threat
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The primary problem with the US Patriot Act is best summarized by the US Supreme Court:
“Does the Constitution permit Executive officials to detain an American citizen indefinitely in military custody in the United States, hold him essentially incommunicado and deny him access to counsel, with no opportunity to question the factual basis for his detention before any impartial tribunal...”
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court delivered a mixed verdict relative to this case (03-6696 Hamdi v. Rumsfeld) in that it was ruled that the U.S. government has the power to hold American citizens and foreign nationals without charges or trial, but that detainees can challenge their treatment in U.S. courts.
For further information on what you can do about the US Patriot Act (pro or con), please refer to the Get Involved section:
Let your elected officials know what you think. Also, take advantage of the ACLU's free email-fax-letter sending service (enter your ZIP code at bottom of page). You can delete the default message and write about any topic you wish.
Consider HR 3171 - The Benjamin Franklin True Patriot Act.
Consider S 1709 / HR 3352 - Security and Freedom Ensured (SAFE) Act of 2003.
Consider distributing the CCAPA Leaflet in your area (leafleting information is available).
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety.” - Benjamin FranklinThe primary problem with the US Patriot Act is best summarized by the US Supreme... more
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by Derek
Ken Saro-Wiwa, an environmental activist tortured and killed by the Nigerian government in 1995, may finally get justice served as Shell Oil and a senior company executive face human rights abuse charges on May 26, including execution and torture.
“After the injustice of the original crime against my father, having to watch legal arguments [by Shell] using the highest-paid lawyers in the world is sickening. You can’t describe how painful that is to go through.” - Ken Wiwa, son of Saro-Wiwa
Saro-Wiwa, a television writer and businessman, campaigned on behalf of the Ogoni people, leading peaceful protests against oil companies’ environmental damage in the Niger Delta, and was hanged along with 8 other activists. Admissions of bribes to many prosecution witnesses in exchange for giving evidence against the activists were later discovered.
The suit alleges that Shell, by paying police to protect its oil pipeline, subsidized the reign of terror by security forces, and also attempted to bribe witnesses to testify against Saro-Wiwa. The lawyers gained permission under the alien tort statute (giving non-US citizens the right to file claims in US courts for international human rights violations) to bring the case to a New York federal court. No damages have been specified yet, but the company could be liable for hundreds of millions of dollars, according to legal experts.
If Shell is found liable, it will be a first for a multinational company to be found guilty of human rights abuses.
It’s about time.
Image: AdamL212 at Flickrby Derek
Ken Saro-Wiwa, an environmental activist tortured and killed by the Nigerian... more
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The State of New York Division of Cemeteries has sent out “Mass Fatality forms” to cemeteries in that state to collect data about their ability to deal with the high volume of casualties that would occur if their were a flu pandemic or other disaster. The form letter that this office received was dated April 4, 2007, so clearly preparation for such disasters has been ongoing for some time.
Along with other data, cemetery officials were asked in this survey:
“Should a prolonged mass fatality disaster or pandemic flu occur in your community would your cemetery be able to provide temporary or permanent internment space for a significant number of disaster or flu deaths in additional to your current burial services?”
Cemetery owners were also asked to detail the business structure and capacity of their facilities, including proximity to roads, train lines and airfields. The Division of Cemeteries requested data to calculate the number of acres that could be made available “at 950 graves per acre.”
It is clear that emergency and disaster forces are being mobilized at the state and federal level. There is no data to predict what disasters could come – forces of nature, false-flag attacks, biological attacks/ flu outbreaks, quarantines etc. However, a pattern of data including news items, reports, photos and tips have all pointed to an incremental gearing up for a cataclysmic situation that includes mass casualties.
Whether it is half a million plastic coffin liners videotaped at a truck depot, or massive expansion at dozens of cemeteries across the country or FEMA and Homeland Security agents preparing for an avian bird flu outbreak, it is clear that government agencies are expecting something to happen and their agencies are expanding in accordance.
As previously reported, a number of incidents have demonstrated a federal preoccupation with a mass casualty incident – and it started before 9/11 ever happened.
The state of Colorado issued an executive order in 2000 asserting its authority to bury victims in mass graves and/or cremate bodies under emergency situations.
Jim Erickson of The Rocky Mountain News reported February 8, 2003 that:
The state of Colorado could seize antibiotics, cremate disease-ridden corpses, dig mass graves under extreme circumstances, and executive orders drafted for use in the event of a bioterrorism attack.
D.H. Williams reported in February, on an Indiana county municipal official who received detailed requests from FEMA, and the Department of Homeland Security in regards to locations for mass graves, preparations for regional refugees, preparations for economic collapse, and budget cuts under a GM collapse, as well as the locations of major installations, emergency assets, and more.
The official says that he became concerned about the intentions of the FEMA, and DHS officials after repeated meetings where scenarios were discussed that included a bird flu outbreak, as well as fires, floods, and earthquakes.
The authorities have warned in their white papers that United States could face rioting; financial collapse seems very possible; and now it is clear that preparations include widespread death, and emergency conditions.
What do they see coming?The State of New York Division of Cemeteries has sent out “Mass Fatality... more
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The horror that is unfolding in Sri Lanka becomes possible because of the silence that surrounds it. There is almost no reporting in the mainstream Indian media -- or indeed in the international press -- about what is happening there. Why this should be so is a matter of serious concern.
From the little information that is filtering through, it looks as though the Sri Lankan government is using the propaganda of "the war on terror" as a fig leaf to dismantle any semblance of democracy in the country, and commit unspeakable crimes against the Tamil people. Working on the principle that every Tamil is a terrorist unless he or she can prove otherwise, civilian areas, hospitals and shelters are being bombed and turned into a war zone. Reliable estimates put the number of civilians trapped at over 200,000. The Sri Lankan army is advancing, armed with tanks and aircraft.
Meanwhile, there are official reports that several "welfare villages" have been established to house displaced Tamils in Vavuniya and Mannar districts. According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, these villages "will be compulsory holding centres for all civilians fleeing the fighting". Is this a euphemism for concentration camps? Mangala Samaraveera, the former foreign minister, told the Telegraph: "A few months ago the government started registering all Tamils in Colombo on the grounds that they could be a security threat, but this could be exploited for other purposes, like the Nazis in the 1930s. They're basically going to label the whole civilian Tamil population as potential terrorists."
Given its stated objective of "wiping out" the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, this malevolent collapse of civilians and "terrorists" does seem to signal that the government of Sri Lanka is on the verge of committing what could end up being genocide. According to a UN estimate, several thousand people have already been killed. Thousands more are critically wounded. The few eyewitness reports that have come out are descriptions of a nightmare from hell.
What we are witnessing, or should we say what is happening, in Sri Lanka -- and what is being so effectively hidden from public scrutiny -- is a brazen, openly racist war. The impunity with which the Sri Lankan government is being able to commit these crimes actually unveils the deeply ingrained racist prejudice that is precisely what led to the marginalization and alienation of the Tamils of Sri Lanka in the first place. That racism has a long history -- of social ostracism, economic blockades, pogroms and torture. The brutal nature of the decades-long civil war, which started as a peaceful protest, has its roots in this.
Why the silence? In another interview Samaraveera says that "a free media is virtually non-existent in Sri Lanka today." He talks about death squads and "white van abductions", which have made society "freeze with fear." Voices of dissent, including several journalists, have been abducted and assassinated. The International Federation of Journalists accuses the Sri Lanka government of using a combination of anti-terrorism laws, disappearances and assassinations to silence journalists.
There are disturbing but unconfirmed reports that India is lending material and logistical support to the Sri Lankan government in these crimes against humanity. If the reports are true, it is outrageous. What of the governments of other countries? Pakistan? China? What are they doing to help or to harm the situation?
In the Indian state of Tamil Nadu the war in Sri Lanka has fueled passions that have led to more than 10 people immolating themselves. The public anger and anguish, much of it genuine, some of it cynical political manipulation, has become an election issue.
It is extraordinary that this concern has not traveled to the rest of India. Why is there silence here? There are no "white van abductions" -- at least not on this issue. Given the scale of what is happening in Sri Lanka, the silence is inexcusable. MThe horror that is unfolding in Sri Lanka becomes possible because of the silence that... more
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Watch out: 50,000-volt Tasers are deployed in London this week; meanwhile, a new model can 'instantly incapacitate' multiple people at a time.
"Development of weapons that allow police to tase en mass is not good news," says Hashad. " ... Would you be willing to go to a protest knowing that police on the scene were armed with Taser Shockwave? I wouldn't bring my daughter, which means that I might have to stay home. Maybe that's the point."
It is not clear what model of Taser London police are using at the G20 summit. But with the UK embracing Taser technology, it is only a matter of time before the kinds of fatalities seen regularly in North America start showing up across the Atlantic. The company doesn’t seem concerned, though. The British version of Taser International's website, www.taser.co.uk, boasts: "0% long term injury. 94% success rate."
Taser use is down in Canada
One place where the Taser trend actually appears to be changing is Canada, where high-profile taser deaths, along with a recent study on the dangers of Tasers, are leading to a serious rethinking of the weapon. Four months after a Canadian report found that the type of Taser model most often used by police officers can significantly raise the risk of cardiac arrest --Watch out: 50,000-volt Tasers are deployed in London this week; meanwhile, a new model... more
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Thursday, March 19, 2009 The House passed a bill yesterday which includes disturbing language indicating young people will be forced to undertake mandatory national service programs as fears about President Barack Obamas promised civilian national security force intensify.
Despite denials that Obama plans to institute a mandatory program of national service, his original change.gov website stated that Americans would be required to complete 50 hours of community service in middle school and high school and 100 hours of community service in college every year. The text was only later changed to state that Americans would be encouraged to undertake such programs.
In addition, Obamas Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, publicly stated his intention to help create universal civil defense training in 2006.
The bills opponents — and there are only a few in Congress — say it could cram ideology down the throats of young volunteers, many of whom could be forced into service since the bill creates a Congressional Commission on Civic Service, reports Fox.
We contribute our time and money under no government coercion on a scale the rest of the world doesnt emulate and probably cant imagine, said Luke Sheahan, contributing editor for the Family Security Foundation. The idea that government should order its people to perform acts of charity is contrary to the idea of charity and it removes the responsibility for charity from the people to the government, destroying private initiative.
Lee Cary of the conservative American Thinker warns that Obamas agenda is to, tap into the already active volunteerism of millions of Americans and recruit them to become cogs in a gigantic government machine grinding out his social re-engineering agenda.
CFR luminary Gary Hart hit back at critics, claiming in a Huffington Post piece that, Resistance to expanded public service programs can be expected from the ideologically sclerotic, those who occupy the negative ground between government as the problem and government as our enemy.
The frightening prospect of Obamas mandatory government servitude is covered in-depth in Alex Jones new documentary blockbuster, The Obama Deception.Thursday, March 19, 2009 The House passed a bill yesterday which includes disturbing... more
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Claiming that the GM varieties are more dangerous than the 9/11 and 26/11 attacks, Bhatt said the ‘bioterrorism’ can poison the entire mankind and hence it must be stopped forthwith.
Express News Service
First Published : 27 Mar 2009 04:12:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 27 Mar 2009 03:25:46 PM IST
BHUBANESWAR: Screening of documentary
‘Poison on the Platter’ today added a new dimension to the fight against genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and foods in the State with Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt taking the centrestage and terming the emergence of whole situation due to ‘bad governance’.
The documentary, narrated by Bhatt, is part of an ‘alarm mechanism’ so that the society would take note and act, he said adding it would be ‘food for thought’ as it points to a grim future and informs that our daily food can even lead to death.
Claiming that the GM varieties are more dangerous than the 9/11 and 26/11 attacks, Bhatt said the ‘bioterrorism’ can poison the entire mankind and hence it must be stopped forthwith.
Apart from Bhatt, founder director of Centre of Cellular and Molecular Biology and Supreme Court nominee to Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) Dr Pushpa Mittra Bhargava, food security analyst Dr Devinder Sharma, scientist Jaffrey Smith and activists Kavita Kuruganti and Aruna Rodrigues, who were cast in the film, dwelt upon the same issue.
‘‘The GEAC is a rubber stamp and is sold to the industry,’’ said Sharma adding if there was a single clause in the legislation that the chairman of the apex body should be taken to task if GM foods cause health damage, there would be no GM food in India. Even the documentary has shown that how no less a person than Sri Sri Ravishankar exhorts the biotech lobby to refrain from promoting GM food till it is proved ‘scientifically safe’. Yoga Guru Swami Ramdev is against the food from drastically altered genome or making inter-species genetic maneuvering.
‘Genetic Roulette’ author Jaffrey Smith pointed out that the GM alternatives led to scores of deaths and thousands took ill by the time the source of the problem was discovered. Later, while interacting with the audience, Sharma pointed out to much disturbing facts that even food supplied through ICDS and relief materials provided by the US-based agencies during various natural calamities in the country were ‘GM-based’.
‘‘A technologically advanced nation like US is not permitting a 100 per cent cultivation of Bt cotton in one field and farmers have to go for a mix of 80:20 with the latter being the natural ones, but in India the farmers are allowed to go for 100 per cent GM cotton even in smaller fields, thus increasing the risk factors”, Sharma added.Claiming that the GM varieties are more dangerous than the 9/11 and 26/11 attacks,... more
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PRIYA ABRAHAM
Mahesh Bhatt (centre) at the premier of his documentary in Bhubaneswar on Thursday. Pix: Sanjib Mukherjee
Bhubaneswar, March 26: Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt today added his voice to the growing protests against genetically modified (GM) food in the country.
In his home production, Poison on the Platter — directed by Ajay Kanchan — that was screened in the capital today, Bhatt conveyed an anti-GM food message and stressed that Indian consumers deserved more than verbal assurances regarding the safety of GM food.
Mahesh Bhatt is the chief narrator in the documentary that also carries opinions of experts and spiritual and political leaders and activists and describes incidents involving GM food, reported worldwide. It also portrays citizens as guinea pigs in an unregulated worldwide experiment involving GM food.
Incidentally, BT Brinjal is the first GM food ready for release in India and is also making inroads to Orissa.
BT Cotton has already become a controversy, as thousands of cattle have died after grazing on BT Cotton fields, while farmers and those handling the cotton have come down with severe allergies.
Stating that the film is based on facts and reviewed scientific studies, the filmmaker added that the hazards of GM food would dwarf catastrophes such as nuclear attacks, floods, cyclones and world wars. “It is akin to bio-terrorism,” said Bhatt, addressing the media today.
Spiritual leaders such as Baba Ramdev and Ravishankar are a part of the film as well and are heard exhorting the biotech lobby to refrain from promoting GM food — till it is found to be scientifically safe. “The emerging voice in new India clearly does not wish to have anything to do with this unnatural food,” Baba Ramdev is heard saying in the film.
The film, which raises the question of whether the India is GM free, has Bhatt heading to a supermarket and pointing out packets containing corn and soya imported from US. More than 70 per cent of these crops are genetically modified in US, he points out.PRIYA ABRAHAM
Mahesh Bhatt (centre) at the premier of his documentary in Bhubaneswar... more
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Red Alert! Today We Become a Police State!
The GIVE Act H.R. 1388, Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act, is a bill now being reviewed in Congress. I do not know if it will pass and become law. I think it resembles the real estate debacle in so far as it needs a lot of inept compliance to get anywhere.
Instead of a sharp sword that took skill and time to create, the wording of this bill reminds me of a huge heavy blunt club with a few nails embedded in the tip. But therein is its very power. The words are purposefully indistinct and vague. A paid-off judge armed with a bunch of legalistic scribbles that can be interpreted the way he wants is empowered to do injustice.
Stepping back in time a bit, when I first saw Mr M's article about this bill I did not know what to think.
"The 12th amendment to the Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act (GIVE), that was just rubber stamped by the Senate, states, “Amendment to prohibit organizations from attempting to influence legislation; organize or engage in protests, petitions, boycotts, or strikes; and assist, promote, or deter union organizing.
"This is being attached to a bill that will make military service mandatory and which will create a seven-million person domestic army under direct authority of the Federal government. And they're going to be trained into believing that trying to influence legislation, engaging in protests, signing a petition, boycotts, striking, or to assist, promote, union organizing, will be an act against our government and under those guidelines, under the still in place Patriot Act, be considered an enemy combatants and can be interned without charge indefinitely."
There are NO jobs in this country for our people. Especially young ones coming out of school now. What do you think happens to so many young people when they can't find work? They join the MILITARY don't they?
So now, with these civilian brigades they are talking about, most of America's youth will be joining.. following me yet? They are intending to hook everyone in this "volunteerism" brigade to an electronic base to keep track of their whereabouts at all times. Which by the time they are through recuiting will be EVERYONE. Since they mention even seniors in their plan, I'm sure Obama's Social Security and Medicare cuts will force this group into the "corporation's" brigade as well.. And the word "corporation" is fascist enough is it not?
Now go back and read the second amendment I posted in my previous comment. If you do a little critical thinking it's certainly not a big leap at all to come to the conclusion that it means the final end to any freedom of speech in this country. With nearly every citizen being part of this process due to lack of jobs and income the implications are chilling to say the least. The free speech cages, tasers and sprays that they use on us at protests and on the streets and airports are bad enough but in this amendment that has been "approved" they are saying we aren't even allowed to speak out against the government without punishment by law.
Wake up. This is how Nazi Germany started with their youth brigades and E Germany with their Stasi. Those people thought they were a great idea too. After all who doesn't want to serve their country? But how can a free country ask it's citizens to spy on each other in the name of freedom? How can a free country ask it's citizens to give up their civil liberties while serving their country in a civilian capacity as this amendment seems to do?
Is this the America you want? Isn't this the America you saw under George W Bush and rejected?"Red Alert! Today We Become a Police State!
The GIVE Act H.R. 1388, Generations... more
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