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POPSDefense dept. opposed to franken's anti-rape amendment The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), is intended to address the type of Kafka-esque treatment Jamie Leigh Jones received from the U.S. justice system after she was gang-raped by fellow KBR workers. The defense contractor argued that her employment contract required that her claim be heard in private arbitration rather than in open court. Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/19/defense-department-oppose_n_326569.html
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POPSTop U.S. Scientist Arrested in FBI Sting Attempting to Sell Nuclear Secrets to Israel
The conduct alleged in this complaint is serious and should serve as a warning to anyone who would consider compromising our nation’s secrets for profit,” said David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security. … “From 1989 through 2006, Nozette held security clearances as high as top secret and had regular, frequent access to classified information and documents related to the US national defense,” the Justice Department said. … “In addition, Nozette allegedly offered to reveal additional classified information that directly concerned nuclear weaponry, military spacecraft or satellites, and other major weapons systems,” DOJ said. In addition to allegations against a network of moles said to be based at U.S. nuclear weapons facilities, Edmonds has also fingered current and former members of Congress, such as Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Dan Burton (R-IN), Roy Blunt (R-MO),Stephen Solarz (D-NY) and Tom Lantos (D-CA, deceased), as well as high-ranking Pentagon and State Dept.
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POPSIs this the end of ACORN??????????? Both the U.S. Senate and House have now voted to cut off federal funding for ACORN, and the Census Bureau has severed its ties with the organization..........Now how about the JUSTICE Dept...........doing their JOB!
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POPSJustice Dept. to Recharge Enforcement of Civil Rights To bolster a unit that has been battered by heavy turnover and a scandal over politically tinged hiring under the Bush administration, the Obama White House has also proposed a hiring spree that would swell the ranks of several hundred civil rights lawyers with more than 50 additional lawyers, a significant increase for a relatively small but powerful division of the government.
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POPSCheney Attacks Obama, Torture Investigations
A whole generation grew up thinking the principle repeated over and over again at the war crime trials after WWII were true: That saying you "were only obeying orders," was not a defense. But former VP Cheney says it is, that "legal memos," given to the CIA said it was okay. Cheney also says torture is okay because "it helped save American lives." Obama is doing great damage to our country, making us less safe, Cheney contends, because 1) These methods are needed to keep us safe and 2) He is sapping the morale of our CIA by allowing the newly announced investigations of the torture program by the Dept. of Justice. Besides being "offended," Cheney also announced that he hasn't decided if he will cooperate with the DOJ investigation. Of course there are lots of holes in the argument. If Hitler had his Justice Dept. write him a memo saying it was okay to murder 6 million Poles and 5.5 million Jews and millions of union organizers and anti-war activist, would that make it o
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POPSCIA threatened to kill children; rape mother Ah! There's nothing like the truth starting to show through the fading veneer. These were the techniques the Bush and Cheney authorized and then successfully hid from exposure, claiming we can't let the terrorist know our tactics. Note: the steps towards official Dept. of Justice (the Obama DOJ, not the DOJ of the Bush nightmare years)...an official prosecution took another big step. 8AM today it was announced this was recommended. 10AM today Obama appointed Attorney General, Eric Holder, has asked a federal prosecutor John Durham to investigate. So...the Bush Administration ignored clearly stated warnings and had the biggest domestic attack on US soil in our history (Um...not counting the British and our own Civil War). Then they turned to Nazi-like tactics of torture, secret prisons, kidnapping, holding people without trail...even, btw, murder of POW's (we haven't got much coverage of that - yet.). Then, starting a war based on deliberately fabricate lies. Just
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POPSJustice Dept. Report Advises Pursuing C.I.A. Abuse Cases With the release of the details on Monday and the formal advice that at least some cases be reopened, it now seems all but certain that the appointment of a prosecutor or other concrete steps will follow, posing significant new problems for the C.I.A. It is politically awkward, too, for Mr. Holder because President Obama has said that he would rather move forward than get bogged down in the issue at the expense of his own agenda. The advice from the Office of Professional Responsibility strengthens Mr. Holder’s hand. The recommendation to review the closed cases, in effect renewing the inquiries, centers mainly on allegations of detainee abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Justice Department report is to be made public after classified information is deleted from it.
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POPSSwiss bank to give Justice Dept secret names of rich US tax-cheaters Good government doing its job: Bravo, US Dept of Justice, for aggressively pursuing lawsuit against secretive UBS, in order to track down tens of thousands of super-rich Americans suspected of offshore tax dodges. Some tax-dodgers have come forward already, seeking lower penalties in return for 'fessing up. Justice says $20 billion is hidden in offshore accounts.
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POPSDon't Tread on U.S. Do they mean Code Pink which never missed an opportunity to bash the military and our “terrorist” former president? How about ACORN whose tactics have earned that organization indictments–and convictions? How about the New Black Panther Party whose attempt to intimidate voters in Philadelphia was referred to the Justice Dept.–which inexplicably dropped the case? How about MoveOn.org which called General Petraeus General “Betrayus” for “crime” of dedicating his life to protecting America? And who can possibly forget the countless number of left-wing college students on campuses across the country who have intimidated, harassed–and attacked–conservative speakers daring to exercise their First Amendment rights? Hypocrites one and all, but they pale in comparison to an administration headed by a former community organizer not only denigrating community organizing, but creating a website, flag@whitehouse.gov for Americans who wish to rat out their fellow Americans f
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POPSFirst Investigation of Cheney to Begin! The noose around the neck of these war criminals has been tighten and the pressure of thousands of activist and sympathetic politicians has finally paid off: Former U.S. VP Dick Cheney will be investigated. That means subpoenas, that means other info from witnesses maybe coming out - that means the house of cards of the wanna be fascist Bush Administration is now starting to officially crumble. This one issue could lead to other issues and Other Issues now more likely, I think, (issues like torture and beating POWs to death in their cells) -- these more likely to also be investigated -- and the issue of corrupting the justice dept. for political selective prosecutions also appears high on the agenda. Not seeking vengence but I feel we need to set precedent....no man (or woman) is above the law...when you violate the Constitution you will pay a price...when you mislead a nation into war with deliberately fabricated lies you will pay a penality. We need this precedent.
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POPSLatest Cheney & CIA Crime Exposed? Step-by-step the noose has been tightening around the neck of former U.S. VP Dick Cheney. Tens of thousands of citizens have kept up the pressure for accountability and like water pressure behind a large dam, the cracks are finally showing. In this clip, even conservative Republican Senator John McCain (who is against a torture investigation) now says - today on major TV Sunday news show -- that Cheney has to answer questions about this....that's the start. Karl Rove is finally, last week, being officially deposed by DOJ lawyers. This giving testimony, answering questions under oath, is also a start. Now, also reported, new AG Eric Holder is considering an investigation into the torture issue. A real investigation by the Justice Dept, with real potential legal consequences.(i.e. jail). I think the pressure had to keep on pushing and build up like this. Rome wasn't built in a day. Cleaning up a house flooded by crime doesn't happen overnight.
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POPSMore Gitmo Detainees Released Four Chinese Muslims detained at Guantanamo Bay prison were freed earlier this week and resettled in Bermuda. See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090611/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_guantanamo_uighur_detainees Obama's justice dept. has been going through the cases from Day One...now innocent people, some of whom had spent nearly a decade in jail and tortured during the Bush Administration, have been set free. From here the story spins off in many ways. Warmongers and critics of Obama fill the news claiming we are now "less safe." Communities throughout the USA and other nation don't want these freed prisoners in their nations or states; they are still stigmatized, It's not like there is an instant Hollywood "happy ending," or anything, more like a rescue team picking through the rubble of a collapsed building, rescuing what they can. A lot of religions allege compassion as a core belief. This would be a good time for it. Those who would ferment religious war still dominate th
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POPS"Stinging rebuke" of torture lawyers Justice Dept report concludes serious lapses of judgment; May ask state bar associations to consider disciplinary actions, including possible disbarment; but prosecution won't be recommended.
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POPSObama Admin Drops Charges Against AIPAC Israeli Spies The FBI tried to prosecute them, but Obama's Justice Dept. prevented it, after intimidating tactics (subpoenas to heavy weights for show) by AIPAC's lawyers. The two indicted were not the first: The indictment against Rosen and Weissman charged that they obtained and then disclosed to reporters and to an Israeli official classified information on U.S. policy toward Iran ...A former Defense Department official, Lawrence A. Franklin, previously pleaded guilty to providing Rosen and Weissman classified defense information and was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.
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POPS Preening & Posturing anything disagreeable for the sake of our security. He talks baby talk to intelligence officers: "Don't be discouraged that we have to acknowledge potentially we've made some mistakes. That's how we learn." At the same time, Obama throws the door open to years of lawsuits and investigations that will do injustice to those who've served the country and will demoralize those still seeking to do so. As the Washington Post's David Ignatius, no defender of the Bush administration, put it, "Obama seems to think he can have it both ways--authorizing an unprecedented disclosure of CIA operational methods and at the same time galvanizing a clandestine service whose best days, he told them Monday, are 'yet to come.' Life doesn't work that way--even for charismatic politicians. Disclosure of the torture memos may have been necessary, but nobody should pretend that the disclosures weren't costly to CIA morale and effectiveness."
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POPSAfghan Women Protesting New 'Marriage Law' Pelted With Stones
"It was a risky protest," said Sabrina Saqib, a 28-year-old member of the lower house of Afghanistan's National Assembly and one of the protest organizers. "We had to show that there is solidarity among women … in Afghanistan. We are asking for justice." The aim of the protest, Ms. Saqib said, was to show that Afghan women are just as outraged at the new Personal Status Law as the international community. Passed quietly last month, the legislation — it applies only to the minority Shia Muslims, which make up 10 to 20 per cent of Afghanistan's 30 million people — requires, among other things, that women submit to sex with their husbands every four days with few exemptions. It also regulates when and why women can leave their homes. The unusual protest prompted a widespread backlash in the Afghan capital. At the mosque, which is home to Mohammad Asif Mohseni, the influential Shia cleric who has been an outspoken supporter of the law, a large group made up mostly of men . . . .
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POPSSen. Byrd Troubled, Warns Obama about Abuse of Power Sen Byrd (D), who raised issues about power with the Bush administration, is very evidently troubled about the abuse of power by the Obama administration. Byrd is the senior Senator and third in line of succession, therefore worthy of this counsel. If Obama does not heed him, of the same party, it will speak volumes. There is apparent reference to Obama's Justice Dept. which raised the issue of Executive Privilege itself to thwart investigation of the Bush administration in court. (See my Clipmark Obama Administration is Covering for Bush Administration ). Not a good sign, and all too familiar, which smacks of rule by Secrecy. Is there anything more anti-American, in the Constitution, than appointing "Czars"--unaccountable heads of agencies to do whatever they please? The term "Czar" has become all too familiar (Energy Czar, Drug Czar, etc) and accepted, always under the plea of "necessity".
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POPSBush Mastermind Karl Rove Subpoened by Congress This looks like a good start in hunting down and bringing some of these Bush political criminals to justice - and hopefully to jail. If they can get away with abusing people and trashing the nation's principles and laws - with no accountability at all -- why wouldn't someone like this not do it again? Rove screwing around with the Justice Dept. appears to be an issue that won't go away, for him and others. Basically it seemed they fired the DA's who wouldn't do their bidding, got the others to harasses the Democrats. A former Democratic governor wound up in jail. People were prosecuted and pursued year after year not because of a crime but because of politics. Without political power anymore, Bush & his ideas and his co-criminals have quickly been losing supporters or defenders. It's like watching one of the giant balloon floats in a parade suddenly deflate into a pile of wrinkled rubber. They say power changes people. Having no power seems to be bringing real chang
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POPSTreasury Moves Against NY Bank Allegedly Funding Iran . . . . . The U.S. government alleged that ASSA Corp. was created by Bank Melli to hold its interest in a building located at 650 Fifth Ave. in New York. The building's construction had been partly financed by a Bank Melli loan, Treasury said. ASSA Corp. co-owns the 36-story building through a partnership formed with the Alavi Foundation of New York, called 650 Fifth Avenue Co., the government said. The United States alleged that ASSA Corp. "has repeatedly transferred rental income generated from the 650 Fifth Avenue partnership back to Bank Melli through ASSA Co. Ltd." The government alleged that ASSA Corp. has shared financial and other information on a regular basis with Bank Melli. The department said its action does not interfere with the business or other activities of the building's tenants.
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