Rain on me some more... The Homeland Security Department will to negate the Freedom of Information Act... The Patriot Act locking up, being secret, subverting our First Amendment rights... Bush the official master of war now that Congress passed their Constitutional responsibilities over... HEY anyone seeing this!

E-mail list [send]

YES!

New York Times - September 24, 2002

Gore Calls Bush's Policy a Failure on Several Fronts

By DEAN E. MURPHY

Former Vice President Al Gore accused the Bush
administration on Monday of weakening the war on terrorism
by turning the country's attention to Saddam Hussein.

READ IT

You GO Girl!

New York Times - September 18, 2002

Lemon Fizzes on the Banks of the Euphrates

By MAUREEN DOWD

But this time, the object of the containment strategy is not Saddam Hussein, but George W. Bush, the president with real bombs, not the predator
with plans to make them...

Thus, in just a few days, the Iraq crisis went from Saddam having a noose around his neck to W. being bound by multilateral macramé.... READ IT

"Enemy Combatant"

U.S. Detains Alleged Dirty Bomb Terrorist Bomb Plot Disrupted in Early Planning Stages

By Dan Eggen

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, June 10, 2002; 5:52 PM

An American citizen, with alleged ties to the al Qaeda terror network, has been arrested on suspicion of plotting to build and detonate a radioactive "dirty" bomb in an attack in this country, Bush administration officials said this morning... [more]

As we empower "our government" to deny due process of law we feed the words and beliefs of those who we seek to protect our citizens from.

So I have to ask who is the most dangerous here to our way of life?

This "Enemy Combatant" U.S. citizen who is now guilty until proven innocent? (Wouldn't it be better to prove his guilt in U.S. court?) [e-mail list]

Or "our" Attorney General who swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States? (Wouldn't it be better to prove to the world that the U.S. court system is the way to handle this?) [e-mail list]

Monday, June 10, 2002 - "Attorney General John Ashcroft announces that the U.S. government has arrested an alleged al Qaida terrorist who plotted to build and detonate a radiological "dirty" bomb. "[see video]

and there's more bad news...

Bush Developing Military Policy Of Striking First New Doctrine Addresses Terrorism

By Thomas E. Ricks and Vernon Loeb

Washington Post Staff Writers

Monday, June 10, 2002; Page A01

The Bush administration is developing a new strategic doctrine that moves away from the Cold War pillars of containment and deterrence toward a policy that supports preemptive attacks against terrorists and hostile states with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons... [more] [e-mail list]

1984 coming to your livingroom...

Source: ACLU Online

ASHCROFT USHERS IN NEW ERA OF DOMESTIC SPYING

In a disastrous move that could usher in a new era of illegal surveillance and
government persecution of dissidents, Attorney General John Ashcroft has
decided to rewrite longstanding restrictions on domestic spying by law
enforcement.

His decision threatens core civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and
Bill of Rights. It also demonstrates Ashcroft's seemingly unquenchable
appetite for new powers that will do little to make us safer but will
inevitably make us less free.

Take Action!
Help prevent a return to the bad old days of illegal government
surveillance and persecution. Click below to send a FREE fax to your Members
of Congress urging them to rescind Ashcroft's new guidelines:http://forms.aclu.org/L/www.aclu.org/action/spy107.cfm?MX=342&H=0

By rewriting the "Attorney General Guidelines," Ashcroft has dismantled a
central protection against unwarranted government surveillance. Under the new
guidelines, the FBI can freely infiltrate mosques, churches and synagogues and
other houses of worship, listen in on online chat rooms and read message
boards, even if it has no evidence that a crime might be committed.

Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU's Washington Office, said that the new
rules fail to recognize the central problems of the investigations before
September 11. "Federal law enforcement failed to analyze and act on relevant
information," Murphy said. "The Attorney General's solution to that failure
is to gather exponentially more information."

The guidelines were originally put in place after the FBI illegally spied on
and persecuted the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other political
dissenters in the 1950s and 1960s. In response to congressional investigations
into law enforcement abuse, the Justice Department adopted the guidelines to
limit the scope of acceptable surveillance and infiltration of religious and
political organizations.

"Dr. King's legacy is not just the gains made toward political and social
equality," said Marvin Johnson, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "His persecution
by law enforcement is a necessary reminder of the potential abuse when a
government with too long a leash seeks to silence voices of dissent."

An ACLU special report on this aspect of the King legacy can be found online at
(in PDF format):http://forms.aclu.org/L/www.aclu.org/congress/mlkreport.cfm?MX=342&H=0

The ACLU's "Brief Analysis of Proposed Changes to Attorney General Guidelines"
can be found at:http://forms.aclu.org/L/www.aclu.org/congress/l053002a.cfm?MX=342&H=0

J. Edgar Meuller: To fabricate an alibi for his nonfeasance, and to cover up his department's embarrassing cut of the counterterrorism budget last year, Attorney General John Ashcroft — working with his hand-picked aide, F.B.I. Director "J. Edgar" Mueller III — has gutted guidelines put in place a generation ago to prevent the abuse of police power by the federal government...." By William Safire, New York Times. June 3, 2002 [more]

Look over THERE at what we are going to do. Reform the FBI? So they can do domestic information gathering. Bush, Ashcroft and most of the unelected government [WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Justice Department's plan to give the FBI more domestic surveillance power "has gone too far," House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner R-Wisconsin said Saturday... more] again draws attention away from the core issues.

1) Bush what not honest - he faked surprise and outrage about 9/11 when he knew before hand that the threat existed.

2) Ashcroft continues to erode our civil liberties by conspiring with the FBI to spy on us even in church and not upholding the law that we are "innocent until proven guilty".

3) Cheney and his friends get richer while he plays "McCarthy" (research) and points the un-American finger at anyone who says that Bush is anything less than the best American this country has ever seen.

This FBI thing is about shifting attention - again.

It is time to counter this threat to what this country really stands for and the hope it could bring to the rest of the world. It is time to realize that the problem stems form exporting our cultural-capitalism without our democratic principals and supporting business interests (read oil) before people and the environment - both here at home and abroad.