Bush - Ashcroft At It Again?

“Yes, Bush was minding his own business when 9-11 hit. He was in Texas taking a month long vacation after being on the job for 6 months and also ignoring the information in the intelligence meeting of August 6. Yes, you are right. Good point.”

“1] you're in denail. you never side with conservatives;ergo you're a liberal. it's not a 4 letter word

2]the border situation is a travesty. repubs want them for labor, dems want them for votes. neither wants to incur the voting wrath of 20-some-odd million hacked off hispanics. but homeland security is governments main job. that's why it's first in the constitution. that's why gearge washington always talked about it so much. it's their main job. to protect you from all enimies, foreign and domestic.


3]bush is telling you what you dont want to hear. i will bet you 5 million dollars that if a city gets nuked today, you and all the other libs here, in congress, on the news will all be blaming bush for not doing enough. some will even blame him for plotting tha attack directly. i have heard people suggest the he personally flew the planes into the WTC with a remote controll devise. take your black helicopter deliusions and go play in the soybeans.


4] yes, i do abree that the pendulem always moves. but it moves very slowly. it's like a giant ship going full speed. it can't do a 90 degree turn. it has to slow down first, then it has to turn gradually. it will be awhile before ot swings the dems way again. because people are waking up and smelling the flimflam that they have been pulling the last 30 years.


The shallow consider liberty a release from all law, from every
constraint. The wise see in it, on the contrary, the potent Law
of Laws." --Walt Whitman”

“For anyone who's interested Air Force One just flew over my neighborhood. We live a few miles down the road from Mayport Naval Base, where Bush is visiting today.”

“Strat, I thonk your boy is about to get a lot of people killed. I hope he doesn't, but it certainly is looking that way.

We'll see won't we?


Have you covered yourself on PLASTIC yet?

LOLOL


Conservatives rarely quote Whitman. You know he was gay don't you?”

“That knucklehead sure gets around........and we pay for his excessive and wasteful public relations campaigning.”

“Joe Lieberman is a Republican? I thought the logjam in Congress had something to do with worker protection and special interest protections but what do I know? You’re obviously well misinformed.”

“Kinda sounds like the blame you guys did to Clinton since day 1”

“you guys are all swinging at air. it's like your tryin to swat knats with a tennis racquet.


try to not insult or denegrate, rather adress what i said.




"Our country offers the
most wonderful example of democratic government on a giant scale
that the world has ever seen; and the peoples of the world
are watching to see whether we succeed or fail." --Theodore
Roosevelt”

“Have you covered yourself on PLASTIC yet?

(Y/N)”

“i'm gonna have buffalobabe do that tonight.

WHIP OUT THE BABY OIL!”

“


”

“<yikes>

I need bigger twist-ties....”

“I'd like to take a moment to address one of the most impressive pieces of poetic license I've ever been witness to:

yes, i do abree that the pendulem always moves. but it moves very slowly.(it's a pendulum metaphor!) it's like a giant ship going full speed.(It's a ship simile and it's FAST, not SLOW!) it can't do a 90 degree turn. it has to slow down first, then it has to turn gradually. it will be awhile before ot swings the dems way again. (It's a giant full speed swinging ship simile-metaphor moving slowly!)because people are waking up and smelling the flimflam that they have been pulling the last 30 years.

three quick questions, though - and please forgive my ignorance - what is flimflam, what does it smell like and how do you pull it?”

“It's a George C. Scott reference, b'gosh! And without the Giant Flag behind him (can you believe it?).”

“LOL!

BY GEORGE I THINK HE'S GOT IT!”

“"That knucklehead sure gets around........and we pay for his excessive and wasteful public relations campaigning."
- Tom Terrific

Tom, this is a laughable comment given the Clinton's penchant for taking Chelsea on extravagant vacations at public expense.”

“The aptly-named Slick Willie rears his head yet again (head metaphor).”

“Phaed beat me to the punch on the metaphor graph.

I see the Bush Administration playing out two ways:

1. Bush's rhetoric, deceit and manipulation of the majority of idiot Americans pays off. We invade Iraq unilaterally (OK, the Limeys come along for the ride). Casualties on the US side are relatively low. For the rest of his tenure, he enjoys popularity telling everyone to enjoy the freedom and cheap gas America provides. The world hates us. Bush is re-elected. Terrorist attacks against the US continue.

2. Bush's rhetoric, deceit and manipulation of the majority of idiot Americans pays off. We invade Iraq unilaterally. Casualties on the US side are high. It's a drawn out war. The ME is thrown in to dischord. The Iraqi puppet govt. fails to be erected by the end of the Bush Admin's first go around. The US economy blows. Bush is ousted but the damage is done.

Either way, this guy is driving the country into the ground.”

“While you were watching the war on TV, Bush was raping the nation.”

“Shortly after al-Qa'ida's 9-11 attacks, President George Bush said:
"This WAR on terrorism will be fought on a number of fronts,
in different ways. The front lines will look different from the
wars of the past." A year later, Iraq's support for al-Qa'ida
was clear, prompting Mr. Bush to declare, "Facing clear evidence
of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof .... the smoking gun
... that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud." In his most
recent address to the nation, President Bush said, "It would take
just one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country
to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known."



it's not worht the risk. france is right. we need inspections. so bush is gonna send in 200,000 inspectors. they will find the WMD and destroy them. he had his chance. .....deal wit it”

“And our borders hang open!!!”

“the borders are a joke.”

“The border situation is an admittal
that this country can't survive without slavery.Nothing will be done to stop the flow until a bomb is carried across and buried in the white house lawn.”

“hope your wrong but i kinda doupt you are....

it's baffeling”

“slavery? The Mexicans working illegally here are still earning more than what they would in Mexico, or they wouldn't bother coming across the border. I just think slavery is a little too, um, dramatic of a word to use in this case.”

“can't blame them , i'd do it too. the thing is, who's slipping in amongst them?”

“When after all of these years our government has allowed the radical difference between two neighboring nations and have spent so much time and energy all over the rest of the world makes me believe that maybe whole countries have become slaves.”

“New Terror Laws Used Vs. Common Criminals

By DAVID B. CARUSO
Associated Press Writer

PHILADELPHIA -- In the two years since law enforcement agencies gained fresh powers to help them track down and punish terrorists, police and prosecutors have increasingly turned the force of the new laws not on al-Qaida cells but on people charged with common crimes.

The Justice Department said it has used authority given to it by the USA Patriot Act to crack down on currency smugglers and seize money hidden overseas by alleged bookies, con artists and drug dealers.

Federal prosecutors used the act in June to file a charge of "terrorism using a weapon of mass destruction" against a California man after a pipe bomb exploded in his lap, wounding him as he sat in his car.

A North Carolina county prosecutor charged a man accused of running a methamphetamine lab with breaking a new state law barring the manufacture of chemical weapons. If convicted, Martin Dwayne Miller could get 12 years to life in prison for a crime that usually brings about six months.

Prosecutor Jerry Wilson says he isn't abusing the law, which defines chemical weapons of mass destruction as "any substance that is designed or has the capability to cause death or serious injury" and contains toxic chemicals.

Civil liberties and legal defense groups are bothered by the string of cases, and say the government soon will be routinely using harsh anti-terrorism laws against run-of-the-mill lawbreakers.

"Within six months of passing the Patriot Act, the Justice Department was conducting seminars on how to stretch the new wiretapping provisions to extend them beyond terror cases," said Dan Dodson, a spokesman for the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. "They say they want the Patriot Act to fight terrorism, then, within six months, they are teaching their people how to use it on ordinary citizens."

Prosecutors aren't apologizing.

Attorney General John Ashcroft completed a 16-city tour this week defending the Patriot Act as key to preventing a second catastrophic terrorist attack. Federal prosecutors have brought more than 250 criminal charges under the law, with more than 130 convictions or guilty pleas.

The law, passed two months after the Sept. 11 attacks, erased many restrictions that had barred the government from spying on its citizens, granting agents new powers to use wiretaps, conduct electronic and computer eavesdropping and access private financial data.

Stefan Cassella, deputy chief for legal policy for the Justice Department's asset forfeiture and money laundering section, said that while the Patriot Act's primary focus was on terrorism, lawmakers were aware it contained provisions that had been on prosecutors' wish lists for years and would be used in a wide variety of cases.

In one case prosecuted this year, investigators used a provision of the Patriot Act to recover $4.5 million from a group of telemarketers accused of tricking elderly U.S. citizens into thinking they had won the Canadian lottery. Prosecutors said the defendants told victims they would receive their prize as soon as they paid thousands of dollars in income tax on their winnings.

Before the anti-terrorism act, U.S. officials would have had to use international treaties and appeal for help from foreign governments to retrieve the cash, deposited in banks in Jordan and Israel. Now, they simply seized it from assets held by those banks in the United States.

"These are appropriate uses of the statute," Cassella said. "If we can use the statute to get money back for victims, we are going to do it."

The complaint that anti-terrorism legislation is being used to go after people who aren't terrorists is just the latest in a string of criticisms.

More than 150 local governments have passed resolutions opposing the law as an overly broad threat to constitutional rights.

Critics also say the government has gone too far in charging three U.S. citizens as enemy combatants, a power presidents wield during wartime that is not part of the Patriot Act. The government can detain such individuals indefinitely without allowing them access to a lawyer.

And Muslim and civil liberties groups have criticized the government's decision to force thousands of mostly Middle Eastern men to risk deportation by registering with immigration authorities.

"The record is clear," said Ralph Neas, president of the liberal People for the American Way Foundation. "Ashcroft and the Justice Department have gone too far."

Some of the restrictions on government surveillance that were erased by the Patriot Act had been enacted after past abuses -- including efforts by the FBI to spy on civil rights leaders and anti-war demonstrators during the Cold War. Tim Lynch, director of the Project on Criminal Justice at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, said it isn't far fetched to believe that the government might overstep its bounds again.

"I don't think that those are frivolous fears," Lynch said. "We've already heard stories of local police chiefs creating files on people who have protested the (Iraq) war ... The government is constantly trying to expand its jurisdictions, and it needs to be watched very, very closely."

Newsday”

“"at it again," or at it still?”

“Creeping fascism, or fascist creeps?”

“If only Janet Reno had held this kind of power.”

“CBS/AP) The Bush administration suffered two big legal setbacks Thursday as a pair of federal appeals courts ruled against the way the government is handling terror suspects. In both cases, the courts decided the administration was denying the suspects their rights.

First, reports CBS News Correspondent Jim Stewart, came an order from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to release accused "dirty bomber" Jose Padilla from a military prison, or charge him in a civilian court.

Designated an "enemy combatant" by Mr. Bush, Padilla has never been charged and has met only briefly with a lawyer.

The ruling said "presidential authority does not exist in a vacuum, and this case involves not whether those responsibilities should be aggressively pursued, but whether the president is obligated, in the circumstances presented here, to share them with Congress," it added.

Then, less than three hours later, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals' in San Francisco weighed in on the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, ordering that the 660 prisoners there should have access to lawyers and the American court system.

And that was on top of a recent decision by the Supreme Court to hear arguments on similar questions. Put it all together, say analysts, and it's a huge legal defeat.

"The courts are beginning to really step up to the plate and question the legitimacy of these very broad assertions of power on behalf of the government," said David Cole of Georgetown Law School.

It's been an especially embarrassing week, too, for Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was personally rebuked by a Detroit federal judge for violating a gag order in a terror trial there.

Judge Gerald Rosen "sanctioned" Ashcroft for his statements, calling them "serious transgressions." Ashcroft apologized.

Almost lost in the mix was a Syracuse University study which found the Justice Department has "tried 184 people on terrorism charges since 9-11," but has managed to get a "median prison term of just 14 days", and in "some cases, no jail time at all."”

“WITH A WHISPER, NOT A BANG

By David Martin San Antonio Current

Bush signs parts of Patriot Act II into law — stealthily

On December 13, when U.S. forces captured Saddam Hussein, President George W. Bush not only celebrated with his national security team, but also pulled out his pen and signed into law a bill that grants the FBI sweeping new powers. A White House spokesperson explained the curious timing of the signing - on a Saturday - as "the President signs bills seven days a week." But the last time Bush signed a bill into law on a Saturday happened more than a year ago - on a spending bill that the President needed to sign, to prevent shuttng down the federal government the following Monday.


By signing the bill on the day of Hussein's capture, Bush effectively consigned a dramatic expansion of the USA Patriot Act to a mere footnote. Consequently, while most Americans watched as Hussein was probed for head lice, few were aware that the FBI had just obtained the power to probe their financial records, even if the feds don't suspect their involvement in crime or terrorism.

The Bush Administration and its Congressional allies tucked away these new executive powers in the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004, a legislative behemoth that funds all the intelligence activities of the federal government. The Act included a simple, yet insidious, redefinition of "financial institution," which previously referred to banks, but now includes stockbrokers, car dealerships, casinos, credit card companies, insurance agencies, jewelers, airlines, the U.S. Post Office, and any other business "whose cash transactions have a high degree of usefulness in criminal, tax, or regulatory matters."


Congress passed the legislation around Thanksgiving. Except for U.S. Representative Charlie Gonzalez, all San Antonio's House members voted for the act. The Senate passed it with a voice vote to avoid individual accountability. While broadening the definition of "financial institution," the Bush administration is ramping up provisions within the 2001 USA Patriot Act, which granted the FBI the authority to obtain client records from banks by merely requesting the records in a "National Security Letter." To get the records, the FBI doesn't have to appear before a judge, nor demonstrate "probable cause" - reason to believe that the targeted client is involved in criminal or terrorist activity. Moreover, the National Security Letters are attached with a gag order, preventing any financial institution from informing its clients that their records have been surrendered to the FBI. If a financial institution breaches the gag order, it faces criminal penalties. And finally, the FBI will no longer be required to report to Congress how often they have used the National Security Letters.


Supporters of expanding the Patriot Act claim that the new law is necessary to prevent future terrorist attacks on the U.S. The FBI needs these new powers to be "expeditious and efficient" in its response to these new threats. Robert Summers, professor of international law and director of the new Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University, explains, "We don't go to war with the terrorists as we went to war with the Germans or the North Vietnamese. If we apply old methods of following the money, we will not be successful. We need to meet them on an even playing field to avoid another disaster."

Opponents of the PATRIOT Act and its expansion claim that safeguards like judicial oversight and the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable search and seizure, are essential to prevent abuses of power. "There's a reason these protections were put into place," says Chip Berlet, senior analyst at Political Research Associates, and a historian of U.S. political repression. "It has been shown that if you give [these agencies] this power they will abuse it. For any investigative agency, once you tell them that they must make sure that they protect the country from subversives, it inevitably gets translated into a program to silence dissent."


Opponents claim the FBI already has all the tools to stop crime and terrorism. Moreover, explains Patrick Filyk, an attorney and vice president of the local chapter of the ACLU, "The only thing the act accomplishes is the removal of judicial oversight and the transfer of more power to law enforcements agents."


This broadening of the Patriot Act represents a political victory for the Bush Administration's stealth legislative strategy to increase executive power. Last February, shortly before Bush launched the war on Iraq, the Center for Public Integrity obtained a draft of a comprehensive expansion of the Patriot Act, nicknamed Patriot Act II, written by Attorney General John Ashcroft's staff. Again, the timing was suspicious; it appeared that the Bush Administration was waiting for the start of the Iraq war to introduce Patriot Act II, and then exploit the crisis to ram it through Congress with little public debate.


The leak and ensuing public backlash frustrated the Bush administration's strategy, so Ashcroft and Co. disassembled Patriot Act II, then reassembled its parts into other legislation. By attaching the redefinition of "financial institution" to an Intelligence Authorization Act, the Bush Administration and its Congressional allies avoided public hearings and floor debates for the expansion of the Patriot Act.


Even proponents of this expansion have expressed concern about these legislative tactics. "It's a problem that some of these riders that are added on may not receive the scrutiny that we would like to see," says St. Mary's Professor Robert Summers.


The Bush Administration has yet to answer pivotal questions about its latest constitutional coup: If these new executive powers are necessary to protect United States citizens, then why would the legislation not withstand the test of public debate? If the new act's provisions are in the public interest, why use stealth in ramming them through the legislative process?”

“"Big Brother" is always watching!
Seems like we loose more of Constitutional rights everyday....
If they ever check me out, they will only see I pay Bills & Taxes. I only Buy, Gear, Beer & Porn.... Wait I have the same spending habits that Slick Willy did...LOL”

“Only the Guilty Need Fear.”

“So much for conspiracy theorists being right wingers.”

“OMG! THE ILLUMINATI JUST LANDED A BLACK HELICOPTER IN MY FRONT YARD! IT HAS A SKULL AND BONES PAINTED ON IT! HELLLLLLLLLLP!”

“I guess you could say that the ‘war on terror’ had a definite start, like traditionally defined wars do, but can you tell me when this ‘war’ will ever be over? What event would mark its end? There will never be complete victory. Certainly terrorists will always exist somewhere. Therefore this is less like a war and more like traditional crime fighting. Whatever laws we pass ceding individual rights to the government had better be laws we are willing to live with for a very long time. Are you ‘limited government’ types really so comfortable with government agents rifling through your finances without reasonable cause? I’m sure as hell not.”

“congress must have thought it was good legislation to pass it. government's job is to protect us. it is their #1 priority. it's their job. they are doing it to the best of their ability and america will choose republicans over democrats to do so. once again the bush jihadist(violin) are going to attack bush on this issue as being too liberal. it's laughable. after all the flack they raised over the patriot act, nobody could produce one single instance of a person's rights being violated. take a hike violin, you're gonna have a coranary dood....


you gotta admire their ferosity though......


JIHAD BUSH!”

“"nobody could produce one single instance of a person's rights being violated."

That's absolutely untrue and you should know better.

There is no judicial oversight whatsoever. They are not even required to report to Congress how often National Security Letters are utilized. How would anyone know if the law was being abused until far to late?

"congress must have thought it was good legislation to pass it"

Read the story strat. This was a single definition tucked away in the Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004. It was never debated on its merits.

Wake the #&%!$ up before it's too late!”

“And strat, while you're at it, hide your money in mason jars out back, in case the Bildebergers shut down all the banks. That's obviously where this is headed. The true powers that run the government, those mysterious old men in the English library are tightening their grip.”

“Here's a new book for you conspiracy fans... Blood, Money & Power: How L.B.J. Killed J.F.K. by Barr McClellan


and, This Just In ---


FBI Urges Police To Watch For People Carrying Almanacs

TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer Monday, December 29, 2003

URL:
sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/12/29/national1426EST0580.DTL

(12-29) 12:54 PST WASHINGTON (AP) --

The FBI is warning police nationwide to be alert for people carrying
almanacs, cautioning that the popular reference books covering
everything from abbreviations to weather trends could be used for
terrorist planning.

In a bulletin sent Christmas Eve to about 18,000 police
organizations, the FBI said terrorists may use almanacs "to assist
with target selection and pre-operational planning."

It urged officers to watch during searches, traffic stops and other
investigations for anyone carrying almanacs, especially if the books
are annotated in suspicious ways.

"The practice of researching potential targets is consistent with
known methods of al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations that seek
to maximize the likelihood of operational success through careful
planning," the FBI wrote.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the bulletin this week and
verified its authenticity.

"For local law enforcement, it's just to help give them one more
piece of information to raise their suspicions," said David Heyman, a
terrorism expert for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and
International Studies. "It helps make sure one more bad guy doesn't
get away from a traffic stop, maybe gives police a little bit more
reason to follow up on this."

The FBI noted that use of almanacs or maps may be innocent, "the
product of legitimate recreational or commercial activities." But it
warned that when combined with suspicious behavior -- such as
apparent surveillance -- a person with an almanac "may point to
possible terrorist planning."

The publisher for The Old Farmers Almanac said Monday terrorists
would probably find statistical reference books more useful than the
collections of Americana in his famous publication of weather
predictions and witticisms.

"While we doubt that our editorial content would be of particular
interest to people who would wish to do us harm, we will certainly
cooperate to the fullest with national authorities at any level they
deem appropriate," publisher John Pierce said.

The FBI said information typically found in almanacs that could be
useful for terrorists includes profiles of cities and states and
information about waterways, bridges, dams, reservoirs, tunnels,
buildings and landmarks. It said this information is often
accompanied by photographs and maps.

The FBI urged police to report such discoveries to the local U.S.
Joint Terrorism Task Force.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

If I try to fly commercial with my starcharts and binoculars, they'll put me under the jail.”

“Lol, wasn't I just mentioning the Farmer's Almanac to you about a week ago? Something about Stikmon's Lord of the Rings alter-ego and the phases of the moon or something.”

“i had a feeling stikmon was a bildaburger.....”

“The FBI is warning police nationwide to be alert for people carrying
dictionaries, cautioning that the popular reference books covering
everything from abbreviations to colloquialisms could be used for
terrorist planning.

In a bulletin to be sent New Years Eve to about 18,000 police
organizations, the FBI said terrorists may use dictionaries "to assist
with spelling for pre-operational planning."

It urged officers to watch during searches, traffic stops and other
investigations for anyone carrying dictionaries, especially if the books
are annotated in suspicious ways.

"The practice of researching potential targets is consistent with
known methods of al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations that seek
to maximize the likelihood of operational success through careful
planning," the FBI wrote.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the bulletin this week and
verified its authenticity.

"For local law enforcement, it's just to help give them one more
piece of information to raise their suspicions," said David Heyman, a
terrorism expert for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and
International Studies. "It helps make sure one more bad guy doesn't
get away from a traffic stop, maybe gives police a little bit more
reason to follow up on this."

The FBI noted that use of a dictionary or a thesaurus may be innocent, "the
product of legitimate educational or commercial activities." But it
warned that when combined with suspicious behavior -- such as
apparent surveillance -- a person with a dictionary "may point to
possible terrorist planning."

The publisher for Websters New Collegiate Dictionary said Monday terrorists
would probably find statistical reference books more useful than the
collections of terms in his famous publication of definitions and pronounciations.

"While we doubt that our editorial content would be of particular
interest to people who would wish to do us harm, we will certainly
cooperate to the fullest with national authorities at any level they
deem appropriate," the publisher said.

The FBI said information typically found in dictionaries that could be
useful for terrorists includes profiles of cities and states and
information about pronouns, verbs, adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, slang, translations, and synonyms. It said this information is often
accompanied by sketches and drawings. One such drawing shows the conning tower of a submarine, another show a gas mask. Definitely information which could only be valuable to a terrorist.

The FBI urged police to report such discoveries to the local U.S.
Joint Terrorism Task Force.”

“The FBI is warning police nationwide to be alert for people wearing
watches, cautioning that the popular electonic devices cover
everything from GPS to stopwatches could be used for
terrorist planning.

In a bulletin sent Christmas Eve to about 18,000 police
organizations, the FBI said terrorists may use watches "to assist
with target synchronization and pre-operational planning."

It urged officers to watch during searches, traffic stops and other
investigations for anyone wearing watches, especially if the watches
are synchronized in suspicious ways.

"The practice of designating potential targets is consistent with
known methods of al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations that seek
to maximize the likelihood of operational success through careful
planning," the FBI wrote.

The Associated Press obtained a copy of the bulletin this week and
verified its authenticity.

"For local law enforcement, it's just to help give them one more
piece of information to raise their suspicions," said David Heyman, a
terrorism expert for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and
International Studies. "It helps make sure one more bad guy doesn't
get away from a traffic stop, maybe gives police a little bit more
reason to follow up on this."

The FBI noted that use of watches or clocks may be innocent, "the
product of legitimate recreational or commercial activities." But it
warned that when combined with suspicious behavior -- such as
apparent surveillance -- a person with a pocket watch "may point to
possible terrorist planning."

The manufacturer of Timex Watches said Monday terrorists
would probably find GPS devises more useful than the
collection of timepieces in their catalog.

"While we don't doubt that our precision timekeeping would be of particular
interest to people who would wish to do us harm, we will certainly
cooperate to the fullest with national authorities at any level they
deem appropriate," publisher John Pierce said.

The FBI said information typically found in wristwatches that could be
useful for terrorists includes years, months, days, hours, and seconds in cities in all the states and
information about dates, appointments, anniversaries, airline and train schedules, speed, and some watches have a built in compass to locate
buildings and landmarks. It said this information is often
accompanied by photographs and maps.

The FBI urged police to report such discoveries to the local U.S.
Joint Terrorism Task Force.”

“"after all the flack they raised over the patriot act, nobody could produce one single instance of a person's rights being violated."

-- stratdewd
03:54:26 PM
12/29/03

U.S. Courts Rebuke Anti-Terrorism Policies

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Two influential U.S. courts dealt a double blow to the Bush administration's anti-terror policies on Thursday by ruling the government was violating the civil rights of so-called "enemy combatants" held in a South Carolina navy prison and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The findings by the powerful federal appeals courts in New York and San Francisco were the strongest legal rebuke to date of the administration's controversial policy of holding some suspects indefinitely without criminal charges and at the same time depriving them of access to lawyers.

In one of two widely watched cases, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York City held that President Bush does not have the power to detain an American citizen seized on U.S. soil as an enemy combatant.

In a 2-1 ruling on the case of New Yorker Jose Padilla, it said only the U.S. Congress can authorize such detentions and it ordered the government to release him from military custody within 30 days.

Padilla has been in custody in the United States for 19 months as a suspect in an alleged al Qaeda plot to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb."

In the other case, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that the United States cannot imprison "enemy combatants" indefinitely at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

In a 2-1 decision, the court said that such indefinite imprisonment was inconsistent with American law and raised serious concerns under international law. It also said that the more than 600 detainees should have access to lawyers.

"Even in times of national emergency -- indeed, particularly in such times -- it is the obligation of the Judicial Branch to ensure the preservation of our constitutional values and to prevent the Executive Branch from running roughshod over the rights of citizens and aliens alike," the Ninth Circuit panel said.




Slightly more than 600 people in just two cases, but who is counting?”

“
Prosecutor in Terror Case Sues John Ashcroft, Says Justice Department Interfered With Case

The Associated Press



WASHINGTON Feb. 17 — A federal prosecutor in a major terrorism case in Detroit has taken the rare step of suing Attorney General John Ashcroft, alleging the Justice Department interfered with the case, compromised a confidential informant and exaggerated results in the war on terrorism.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Convertino of Detroit accused the Justice Department of "gross mismanagement" of the war on terrorism in a lawsuit filed late Friday in federal court in Washington.


more...”

“Where's the trust, Violin?”