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Goodbye, First Amendment: 'Trespass Bill' Will Make Protest Illegal


RT.com
Wed, 29 Feb 2012 11:56 UTC
US park police detains a Christian religious activist
© AFP Photo/Jewel Samad
Washington: US park police detains a Christian religious activist during a pro-life demonstration in front of the White House in Washington on February 16, 2012.
Just when you thought the government couldn't ruin the First Amendment any further: The House of Representatives approved a bill on Monday that outlaws protests in instances where some government officials are nearby, whether or not you even know it.

The US House of Representatives voted 388-to-3 in favor of H.R. 347 late Monday, a bill which is being dubbed the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011. In the bill, Congress officially makes it illegal to trespass on the grounds of the White House, which, on the surface, seems not just harmless and necessary, but somewhat shocking that such a rule isn't already on the books. The wording in the bill, however, extends to allow the government to go after much more than tourists that transverse the wrought iron White House fence.

Under the act, the government is also given the power to bring charges against Americans engaged in political protest anywhere in the country.

Under current law, White House trespassers are prosecuted under a local ordinance, a Washington, DC legislation that can bring misdemeanor charges for anyone trying to get close to the president without authorization. Under H.R. 347, a federal law will formally be applied to such instances, but will also allow the government to bring charges to protesters, demonstrators and activists at political events and other outings across America.
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Bad Guys

General McCaffrey Privately Briefs NBC Execs on War with Iran

Glenn Greenwald
Salon
Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:23 UTC
Gen McCaffrey
© Reuters/Eliana Aponte
US General Barry McCaffrey
In 2009, The New York Times' David Barstow won the Pulitzer Prize for his two-part series on the use by television networks of retired Generals posing as objective "analysts" at exactly the same time they were participating - unbeknownst to viewers - in a Pentagon propaganda program. Many were also plagued by undisclosed conflicts of interest whereby they had financial stakes in many of the policies they were pushing on-air. One of the prime offenders was Gen. Barry McCaffrey, who was not only a member of the Pentagon's propaganda program, but also, according to Barstow's second stand-alone article, had his own "Military-Industrial-Media Complex," deeply invested in many of the very war policies he pushed and advocated while posing as an NBC "analyst":
Through seven years of war an exclusive club has quietly flourished at the intersection of network news and wartime commerce. Its members, mostly retired generals, have had a foot in both camps as influential network military analysts and defense industry rainmakers. It is a deeply opaque world, a place of privileged access to senior government officials, where war commentary can fit hand in glove with undisclosed commercial interests and network executives are sometimes oblivious to possible conflicts of interest.

Few illustrate the submerged complexities of this world better than Barry McCaffrey. . . . General McCaffrey has immersed himself in businesses that have grown with the fight against terrorism. . . .

Many retired officers hold a perch in the world of military contracting, but General McCaffrey is among a select few who also command platforms in the news media and as government advisers on military matters. These overlapping roles offer them an array of opportunities to advance policy goals as well as business objectives. But with their business ties left undisclosed, it can be difficult for policy makers and the public to fully understand their interests.

On NBC and in other public forums, General McCaffrey has consistently advocated wartime policies and spending priorities that are in line with his corporate interests. But those interests are not described to NBC's viewers. He is held out as a dispassionate expert, not someone who helps companies win contracts related to the wars he discusses on television.
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Take 2

Lisbon Replay: Ireland to hold referendum on EU tax treaty

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
The Telegraph, UK
Tue, 28 Feb 2012 03:48 UTC
Image

When the Treaty establishing the EU Superstate was passed, Ireland was made to vote a second time to ensure the correct result. More recently, Greek PM George Papandreou called a referendum on Greek acceptance of a gargantuan 'bailout' referendum, before retracting and being fired by Greece's EU/IMF creditors within 24 hours.
Ireland has shocked Europe with plans for a referendum on the EU's fiscal treaty, a move that risks an unprecedented fragmentation of the eurozone and a major clash with Germany.

Premier Enda Kenny said Dublin was acting on legal advice from Ireland's attorney-general that "on balance" the fiscal compact requires a vote under the country's constitution. "It gives the Irish people the opportunity to reaffirm Ireland's commitment to membership of the euro," he told ashen-faced members of the Dail.

All three major parties back the treaty but analysts say there is a high risk of rejection by angry voters in the current fractious mood. The compact gives the EU intrusive powers to police the budgets of debtor states, and has been denounced as feudal bondage by Sinn Fein and Ireland's vociferous eurosceptics. The Irish voted "No" to both the Nice and Lisbon treaties before being made to vote again. Dublin has ruled out a second vote this time.

The Taoiseach's announcement sent the euro into sharp dive against the dollar, though it rebounded later. Europe's leaders thought they had tweaked the wording of the text just enough to avoid an Irish vote.

Ireland cannot stop the process since a quorum of 12 states brings the treaty into force, but it would be politically untenable to create a new eurozone structure that left one member in limbo.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacted with fury last November when Greece, which on Tuesday night approved €3.2bn of new budget cuts, unexpectedly called a referendum on the terms of its bail-out. Ireland's move may also rankle, even if deemed less capricious.
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Attention

Allegations of Election Fraud Demand Serious Response


The Calgary Herald
Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
Stephen Harper
© Chris Wattie/Reuters
Some of the Conservative reaction to the growing robocall scandal reminds us of Leslie Nielsen standing in front of an exploding fireworks factory in Naked Gun while telling a gathering crowd, "Move on. Nothing to see here."

On Monday, Tory Senator Mike Duffy blamed it on third parties. Conservative strategist Tim Powers called it opposition hysteria. On the weekend, Defence Minister Peter MacKay called it an isolated incident. In question period Monday, the unflappable Stephen Harper gave them all a lesson in crisis communications, saying that anyone with evidence of illegal acts should notify Elections Canada, as Harper says his party has done, so the agency can investigate and report back to the House of Commons. It's the only credible response.

With staff at a Thunder Bay call centre admitting they made live calls scripted by the Conservatives to mislead voters about polling station locations in hotly contested ridings, dismissing the allegations merely reinforces the reputation that this is a bullying, stop-at-nothing government that has muzzled everyone from scientists to veterans' advocates.

The Conservatives, after all, once hired a polling company to spread the false word that Liberal MP Irwin Cotler of Montreal intended to resign from Parliament - a tactic that Commons Speaker Andrew Scheer later called "reprehensible." Election fraud is serious. This is not Zimbabwe. If Harper doesn't want to be perceived as Canada's version of Robert Mugabe, he and his party have no choice but to co-operate fully with the joint Elections Canada-RCMP investigation currently underway.
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Bizarro Earth

Wyoming Narrowly Defeats Measure to Prepare for Apocalypse

Ruffin Prevost
Reuters
Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© unknown
US: Cody, Wyoming - In a sign of rising consumer confidence prevailing over go-it-alone pessimism in the Cowboy State, Wyoming lawmakers on Tuesday narrowly defeated a "doomsday bill" to help the state prepare for a total collapse of the U.S. government and economy.

The bill, rejected on a 30-27 vote by the state House of Representatives, would have allocated $16,000 for a panel of legislators and emergency managers to study various measures, including a new state-issued currency, for handling a range of apocalyptic scenarios.

The bill's chief sponsor, Republican Representative David Miller, originally had sought $32,000 to fund the task force, but the Joint Appropriations Committee later cut that amount in half. Republicans control both houses of the state Legislature.

House members on Monday had given the bill their initial backing after striking a "poison pill" amendment that mockingly asked whether Wyoming should purchase its own aircraft carrier and fighter jets.

"I guess a lot of people think if you're trying to prepare for a disaster, it makes you seem crazy," co-sponsor Kendell Kroeker said. "I was interested in it mainly because I don't think there's any harm in being well-prepared."
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Handcuffs

Interpol Says 25 Suspected Anonymous Hackers Arrested

Greg Keller
The Associated Press
Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© Jean-Philippe Ksiazek/AFP/Getty Images
Paris - Interpol said that 25 suspected members of the loose-knit Anonymous hacker movement have been arrested in a sweep across Europe and South America.

The international police agency said in a statement Tuesday that the arrests in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Spain were carried out by national law enforcement officers working under the support of Interpol's Latin American Working Group of Experts on Information Technology Crime.

The suspects, aged between 17 and 40, are suspected of planning coordinated cyberattacks against institutions including Colombia's defense ministry and presidential websites, Chile's Endesa electricity company and national library, as well as other targets.

The arrests followed an ongoing investigation begun in mid-February which also led to the seizure of 250 items of IT equipment and mobile phones in searches of 40 premises in 15 cities, Interpol said.

In Chile's capital, Subprefect Jamie Jara said at a news conference that authorities arrested five Chileans and a Colombian. Two of the Chileans are 17-year-old minors.
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Chess

Barack Obama Waives Rule Allowing Indefinite Military Detention Of Americans

Michael McAuliff
Huffington Post
Tue, 28 Feb 2012 19:28 UTC
obama
© Getty

Washington -- The White House released rules Tuesday evening waiving the most controversial piece of the new military detention law, and exempting U.S. citizens, as well as other broad categories of suspected terrorists.

Indefinite military detention of Americans and others was granted in the defense authorization bill President Barack Obama signed just before Christmas, sparking a storm of anger from civil libertarians on the left and right.

The new rules -- which deal with Section 1022 of the law -- are aimed at soothing many of their gravest concerns, an administration official said. Those concerns are led by the possibility that a law that grants the president authority to jail Americans without trial in Guantanamo Bay based on secret evidence could easily be abused.

"It is important to recognize that the scope of the new law is limited," says a fact sheet released by the White House, focusing on that worry. "Section 1022 does not apply to U.S. citizens, and the President has decided to waive its application to lawful permanent residents arrested in the United States."
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Dollar

Warren Buffett Says High Corporate Taxes Are An American 'Myth'

Bonnie Kavoussi
The Huffington Post
Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:10 UTC
Image
© Associated Press
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett speaks in Omaha, Neb., Monday, Nov. 14, 2011, at an event to raise money for the Girls Inc. charity organization.
Corporations, like the rich, aren't paying their fair share in taxes, billionaire investor Warren Buffett told CNBC on Monday.

Even while enjoying record profits, corporations last year paid just 12.1 percent of those earnings in taxes, their lowest tax rate since 1972, according to the Congressional Budget Office. At least thirty of the country's most profitable companies had a negative tax rate between 2008 and 2010.

Buffett, for one, says it's time to take notice.

"It's a myth that American corporations are paying 35 percent or anything like it," Buffett said, referring to the top marginal corporate tax rate. "Corporate taxes are not strangling American competitiveness."
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Sherlock

'Robocall' Probe Puts Tory Campaign in Guelph, Ontario Under Microscope

Stephen Maher and Glen McGregor
Edmonton Journal
Mon, 27 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© Postmedia News/The Windsor Star
Elections Canada is investigating whether robocalls in dozens of ridings across Canada, but mainly in southern Ontario, mislead voters.
Canada, Ottawa - An Elections Canada investigation into black ops "robocalls" was focused on a Conservative party campaign in Guelph, Ont., documents obtained by Postmedia News and the Ottawa Citizen show.

A court order executed on an Edmonton call centre in November specifically refers to records related to the campaign of Conservative candidate Marty Burke in Guelph, where many voters reported receiving pre-recorded messages that falsely claimed their polling stations had moved.

Since reports of that investigation came to light last week, Liberals and New Democrats have reported fraudulent calls in dozens of ridings across the country and the Conservatives have called on anyone with information to send it to Elections Canada - but the documents suggest any such investigation was more narrowly focused, at least in November.

A production order executed on RackNine Inc. in Edmonton compelled the company to turn over all emails, billing records and other correspondence between it and "the Conservative party general election campaign in Guelph."

The court order also required the Conservative-connected company to hand over the user names, passwords and IP addresses of anyone associated with the Guelph campaign who used RackNine between March 26 and May 31.

The order also required RackNine to release records of calls that used the number 450-760-7746. The Bell Canada phone number in Joliette, Que., appeared on call displays of some recipients of the fraudulent election day calls in Guelph.
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Whistle

Big Farma Once Again Walking All Over Your Safety - and the Constitution


Alliance for Natural Health
Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:12 UTC
Image
© Alliance for Natural Health
The agriculture industry is trying to make it a crime to be an undercover investigator at a factory farm. Goodbye, whistle blowers! Farewell, freedom of speech!

Last year, "ag gag" bills were introduced in a number of states. Happily, most were defeated due to overwhelming opposition from our grassroots activists, concerned citizens, and organizations of all political stripes. Unfortunately, many of these bills are back this year, and the dangers are even greater.

The bills introduced last year would have made it illegal to videotape or take a picture on a factory farm - even when an an illegal act was occurring. This is obviously unconstitutional; Iowa's attorney general even told their legislature so.
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