IT IS SO COLD IN WASHINGTON

Torture's "comeback" ends now from AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 27JUN11

TORTURE IS WRONG, PERIOD. IT IS NEVER JUSTIFIED, IT IS NEVER THE RIGHT, JUST, HUMANE OR LEGAL THING TO DO. Join Amnesty International's campaign against the propaganda campaign by proponents of torture, click the link to add your name to the call to end torture around the world. 

	Think the fight against torture is over? Think again.
	Torture didn't end after the Dark Ages, the Enlightenment, or the establishment of democracy. Torture continues, and yesterday we commemorated the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. And sadly, the US government's hands are far from clean. Just ask Maher Arar. In 2002 the US government unlawfully detained this Canadian engineer and father of two - likely on the basis of flawed intelligence from Canadian authorities - and sent him secretly, via Jordan, to Syria, where he was held for a year and tortured. Arar was eventually released without charge and completely exonerated by the Canadian government. In 2011, Arar is still waiting for an apology from the US government. Craig, join tens of thousands of other activists calling on President Obama and Congress to apologize to Maher Arar and begin the process of making things right. After all, torturing a human being is always wrong. Always. Yet somehow, there are those amongst us - both inside government and out - who just don't get it. Following the death of Osama bin Laden, torture proponents are out in force again, seeking to justify torture. But there's no justifying the unjustifiable. Fighting the use of torture around the world is one of Amnesty's signature issues. In the past 50 years we have made tremendous strides in pressing governments to criminalize the use of torture. But in the past decade, that progress has stalled. Impunity for torture is still the norm. That ends now. This Torture Awareness Month, we owe it to torture survivors worldwide to fight and win the torture "debate," making sure we end torture, once and for all. Join us by urging the US government to apologize to Maher Arar for their indefensible actions. Sincerely, Zeke Johnson Director, Security with Human Rights Campaign Amnesty International USA P.S. If you're on Twitter, we've got a special job for you. Help us put the pressure on President Obama and the State Department to formally apologize to Maher Arar - all you have to do is retweet!		Help us reach 50,000 signatures Demand an apology for Maher Arar! Even if you've already signed the petition, please share this message with others, so the US government will have no choice but to listen.
© 2011 Amnesty International USA | 5 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10001 | 212.807.8400

JUST FOR FUN TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF AMERICAN GOVT, CONSTITUTION AND BASIC LAW

Just for fun, I got 28 of 30 correct and I DID NOT CHEAT!

Independence Day Quiz

The 4th of July is the time when we celebrate our nation-- a time to reflect on the freedoms which we believe are not granted by our government, but are self-evident rights for all humankind.  Time for the Independence Day Quiz which asks,  "How much do you really know?"  Every day thousands leave their homelands to settle here in the land of the free.  Before they become citizens they are required to take a citizenship test and score 80%.  Could you pass this test if you took it today?   Our quiz is made up of 20 questions which were once used on the actual citizenship test.  We've added a few curveballs-- The last ten questions may be a bit harder, but a score of around 24 out of 30 is considered a passing grade. Below is a link to a 30-question test to see how well you know the U.S. government, the Constitution and basic laws. Supposedly 96% of all high school seniors failed the test, and 50+% of those over 50 did too!  Good luck!

http://games.toast.net/independence/

WikiLeaks: U.S. Demands Our Twitter Account Info 8JAN11

THE American government continues it's gestapo like campaign against Wikileaks and freedom of the press and freedom of speech and the concept of transparency this administration campaigned on in 2008 and the republicans did in the 2010 mid-term elections. Well done Twitter on making this public, I hope all other ISPs and social media providers do the same!


U.S. officials have issued a subpoena to demand details about WikiLeaks' Twitter account, the group announced Saturday, adding that it suspected other American Internet companies were also being ordered to hand over information about its activities.
In a statement, WikiLeaks said U.S. investigators had gone to the San Francisco-based Twitter Inc. to demand the private messages, contact information and other personal details of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and other supporters, including the U.S. Army intelligence analyst suspected of handing classified information to the site and a high-profile Icelandic parliamentarian.
WikiLeaks blasted the court order, saying it amounted to harassment.
"If the Iranian government was to attempt to coercively obtain this information from journalists and activists of foreign nations, human rights groups around the world would speak out," Assange said in the statement.
A copy of the court order, dated Dec. 14 and posted to Salon.com, said the information sought was "relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation" and ordered Twitter not to disclose its existence to Assange or any of the others targeted.
The order was unsealed "thanks to legal action by Twitter," WikiLeaks said.
Twitter has declined comment on the claim, saying only that its policy is to notify its users, where possible, of government requests for information.
Others named in the order include Pfc. Bradley Manning, the U.S. Army private suspected of being the source of some of WikiLeaks' material, as well as Birgitta Jonsdottir, an Icelandic lawmaker and one-time WikiLeaks collaborator known for her role in pioneering Iceland's media initiative — which aims to make the North Atlantic island nation a haven for free speech.
The U.S. is also seeking details about Dutch hacker Rop Gonggrijp and U.S. programmer Jacob Appelbaum, both of whom have previously worked with WikiLeaks.
Assange has promised to fight the order, as has Jonsdottir, who said in a Twitter message that she had "no intention to hand my information over willingly." Appelbaum, whose Twitter feed suggested he was traveling in Iceland, said he was apprehensive about returning to the U.S.
"Time to try to enjoy the last of my vacation, I suppose," he tweeted.
Gonggrijp expressed annoyance that court officials had misspelled his last name — and praised Twitter for notifying him and others that the U.S. had subpoenaed his details.
"It appears that Twitter, as a matter of policy, does the right thing in wanting to inform their users when one of these comes in," Gonggrijp said. "Heaven knows how many places have received similar subpoenas and just quietly submitted all they had on me."
WikiLeaks also voiced its suspicion that other organizations, such as Facebook Inc. and Google Inc., had also been served with court orders, and urged them to "unseal any subpoenas they have received."
Google and Facebook's London offices did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
U.S. officials have been deeply angry with WikiLeaks for months, for first releasing tens of thousands of U.S. classified military documents on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, then more recently posting thousands of classified U.S. diplomatic cables. U.S. officials say posting the military documents put informers' lives at risk, and posting diplomatic cables made other countries reluctant to deal with American officials.
Although its relations with the U.S. government have been ugly, WikiLeaks and its tech-savvy staff rely have relied heavily on American Internet and finance companies to raise funds, disseminate material and get their message out.
WikiLeaks' Facebook page, for example, counts 1.5 million fans and its Twitter following is upward of 600,000 followers. Until recently, the group raised donations via PayPal Inc., MasterCard Inc., and Visa Inc., and hosted material on Amazon.com's servers.
But the group's use of American companies has come under increasing pressure as it continues to reveal U.S. secrets.
U.S. officials have been examining possible charges against WikiLeaks and its staff following the series of spectacular leaks, which have embarrassed officials and tarnished Washington's image.
WikiLeaks denies U.S. charges that its postings could put lives at risk, saying that Washington merely is acting out of embarrassment over the revelations contained in the cables.

Help Fight the Government's Massive Spying Campaign Join the Expose and Expunge Movement 20DEZ10

AS a person who has had a FBI file since I was in the 9th grade (started during the Nixon years), and having proof of continued government surveillance of my activities (my brother who was in the USAF was denied a promotion and transfer to a missile silo because I was involved in anti-war protest (covert war in Central America) and involved with a No Nuke organization (Union of Concerned Scientist, just doing office drudge volunteer work for them), I know what it is like to have the government watch and listen in on my life....and though I have joked about it with my friends I do resent it. I am an American, a Christian and a left wing Socialist. I participate in non-violent civil disobedience , have been arrested at some of these protest, and am not afraid to speak out against threats to the Republic, threats to our civil and human rights. I resent the increasing erosion of the freedoms that I learned about in school, the freedoms so many in the military as well as in civil actions died for, resent the propaganda campaign of fear used against us to justify the attacks on the freedoms that have made our nation great. I hope you will sign on to this action by the Partnership For Civil Justice in defense of our freedom, our civil rights, our Constitution, our Republic! DON'T BE AFRAID, SIGN THE LETTER TODAY!

JusticeOnline.org Subscribe Help Fight the Government's Massive Spying Campaign Join the Expose and Expunge Movement Spread the word The Washington Post today has given extensive coverage to the U.S. government's massive and growing operation of domestic spying on the American people – a threat that the PCJF has been at the forefront of exposing and fighting. Please join the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund and thousands of others and sign the letter that states, "The people's rights protected under the Constitution are fundamentally diminished unless these illegal operations are halted." (Click here to read the letter.) The PCJF is also undertaking a People's Investigation and Audit using FOIA, public records demands and other legal means to compel disclosure and expungement. "We will not stand by and allow the Constitution to become a mere ornament affixed to a police state," emphasized Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder of the PCJF. As today's article states, "The Post findings paint a picture of a country at a crossroads..." where enshrined constitutional protections against government intrusion and surveillance into our lives are being dismantled in practice by a monster intelligence complex that uses national security as its pretext. The article details how, "Technologies and techniques honed for use on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan have migrated into the hands of law enforcement agencies in America." "The occupied people of Iraq have become the guinea pigs, and their land the testing ground, for the implementation of a new surveillance state in the United States," stated Mara Verheyden-Hilliard. The Post's report, "Monitoring America," includes that: The FBI's Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative contains 161,948 files on people who have not been accused of any crime, but simply were targeted for reporting by local or federal authorities, or even just a neighbor or stranger. The files include employment history, financial documents, photos and more.   The Department of Homeland Security's massive fusion center program -- which feeds into the FBI's Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative -- is so out of control that they can't account for the $31 billion in tax-payer funds they have handed out to state and local law enforcement.   There are no professional standards or qualifications for the "expertise" that is hired for training and advising law enforcement, and as such right wing and racist anti-Muslim so-called "experts" have been paid to advise and influence operations. A broad and diverse cross-section of leaders, human rights advocates, attorneys and legal scholars have come together to take a stand against these continuing violations. Please join them and add your name to the Sign-On Letter for the Expose and Expunge Campaign that demands that the government disclose and purge the data collected through its domestic spying and surveillance programs. Take Action Read and Sign the letter here. See the initial list of signers. If you have signed the letter, get five friends and family members to do so by clicking here. Make an urgently needed tax-deductible end of year contribution to support this critical campaign. Initial list of signers Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General Noam Chomsky Geronimo ji Jaga, former political prisoner held for 27 years Cindy Sheehan Cynthia McKinney Michel Shehadeh, LA8 defendant; Committee for Justice Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, co-founder Partnership for Civil Justice Fund Carl Messineo, co-founder Partnership for Civil Justice Fund Jennifer Harbury, Human Rights Lawyer Michael Ratner, President, Center for Constitutional Rights* Ron Kovic, author, Born on the 4th of July Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence Blase and Theresa Bonpane, Office of the Americas John Passacantando, former Executive Director, Greenpeace USA Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild Mahdi Bray, Executive Director, Muslim American Society Freedom Michael Berg, father of Nicholas Berg, killed in Iraq Brian Becker, National Coordinator, ANSWER Coalition Mounzer Sleiman, Vice Chair, National Council of Arab Americans Michael Prysner, co-founder, March Forward! Michael Avery, former President, National Lawyers Guild, professor Suffolk Law School Michael Steven Smith, Board of Directors, Center for Constitutional Rights* Carol Sobel, Civil Rights Attorney James Lafferty, Exec. Director, National Lawyers Guild Los Angeles Eric Mar, Board of Supervisors, City & County of San Francisco Shakeel Syed, the Executive Director of the Shura Council of Southern California* Marina Drummer, Angola 3 Defense Committee Frank Dorrel, Publisher, Addicted to War Mike Ferner, President, Veterans for Peace * Organization listed for identification purposes only. Sign-On Letter for the Expose & Expunge CampaignDisclose and purge data collected through illegal domestic spying and surveillance programs We the undersigned call on the Obama Administration and Congress to immediately begin identifying and expunging from all government databases the massive accumulation of information collected by the Bush administration’s illegal domestic spying operations on millions of people who broke no law. Some of these illegal spying programs were suspended and yet the government maintains the illegally collected data. These databases should be expunged. We also oppose the continuation of other programs initiated during the Bush era which continue on in wholesale data collection and mass surveillance, unchecked and unabated. For instance, federal agents, local law enforcement and U.S. military personnel, with input from private right-wing political groups, continue to collect and report surveillance data, including fabricated disinformation, to the 72 government Fusion Centers around the United States. Fusion Centers have been found to target political, student, and religious organizations and activities. The people of the United States have a legal right to be free from government surveillance, the type of which was initiated by the Bush administration on an enormous scale. Using the Sept. 11 attacks as a pretext, the Bush White House permitted the FBI, the National Security Agency, the CIA, Pentagon and other law-enforcement and military agencies to conduct unprecedented data collection against the people. Thousands have been targeted because of their political beliefs and activities, their religious beliefs, their race and ethnicity, or because they inadvertently fell into one of the many broad categories to justify and execute the sweeping data collection programs. This is the modern-day variant of the discredited witch-hunts of the 1950s. We call on the Obama Administration and Congress to order a complete audit of law-enforcement and military data and record-keeping systems and to disclose to the public the scope and parameters of data-collection on people and organizations in the United States. The people’s rights protected under the Constitution are fundamentally diminished unless these illegal operations are halted and the rights of all people are restored by the identification of data collection programs, and the expunging of those databases. I was arrested during the protest in the case below, still remember that fat pig Ramsey laughing while at the barricades about how they trapped all of us.....well, the joke is on the District now..... Becker, et al.      v. District of Columbia, et al.* U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Case No. 01-CV-811 (Class Action)   Mass Arrest of 600+ Lawful Protestors; Raid and Seizure of Activists' Meeting Hall; Confiscation of Political Literature; Brutal Beatings of Peaceful Activists The Partnership for Civil Justice has advanced a class action complaint against the Government for violations of protestors' rights at the April, 2000 Spring joint meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. This lawsuit challenges the disruption efforts of law enforcement against constitutionally protected First Amendment activities and mass political protest, and the unconstitutional trap and arrest tactics of law enforcement in the District of Columbia against mass assembly. The class portion of the Complaint was filed on behalf of nearly 700 protesters, journalists, tourists and bystanders who were trapped on all sides by police and then falsely arrested in an unconstitutional sweep of the streets during a demonstration against the Prison-Industrial Complex on Saturday April 15, 2000. The arrests were made in advance of days of anticipated protests, and were calculated to disrupt First Amendment protected activity. Many arrestees were put in preventive detention overnight, hogtied ankle to wrist, in harsh conditions as described in further detail in the Complaint. Other claims in this litigation relate to the unconstitutional raid and closure of activists’ meeting hall (the Convergence Center), as well as brutal beatings. The plaintiffs and the District of Columbia have reached a settlement of the case. Click here for the Joint Motion for Preliminary Approval. Click here for the Court's Order granting Preliminary Approval. * This case has been previously captioned as both Alliance v. District of Columbia and Fifty Years Is Enough v. District of Columbia.   AP: DC agrees to pay $13M over arrests of protesters Monday, November 23, 2009 Reprint Legal Times: City to Settle Mass Arrest Class Action for $13.7 Million Monday, November 23, 2009 Reprint Calling the Police Version of Events "Fanciful," Magistrate Judge Recommends the Court Find Mass Arrests Were False Thursday, February 28, 2008 U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola has issued a report and recommendation to presiding Judge Paul L. Friedman that summary judgment issue in favor of the Becker class declaring the mass arrest to be a mass false arrest. Magistrate Judge Facciola also recommended that Judge Friedman reject in entirety the District of Columbia's motion to dismiss the claims of all plaintiffs, including those who were beaten by police or suffered injuries when the MPD raided protestors' Convergence Center.l Multimedia Re-Creation of April 15, 2000 Sidewalk March Tuesday, September 11, 2007 The MPD persists in representing to the Court that the April 15, 2000 march that was ultimately subject to false mass arrest by the MPD was a riot. Rather than accepting these false claims at false value, the Partnership for Civil Justice has undertaken a massive review and compilation of the multi-media footage of the march. Bringing together the critical moments, selecting from scores of hours of police channel communications, command center dispatch announcements, reports from the overhead helicopter, MPD and civilian video, the PCJF has re-created the peaceful, law-abiding and, indeed, police escorted march from the moment it steps off (with police permission) to the moment when without warning the MPD uses a trap-and-arrest tactic to surround everyone including protestors, by-standers, journalists, tourists and legal observers. Please visit www.BeckerSettlement.com.

Liu Xiaobo Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony Goes Ahead With Empty Chair 10DEZ10

THE prc shows the world it is still a repressive totalitarian regime, one the world hypocritically condemns for the government's refusal to allow Liu Xiaobo or a family member or representative to be in Oslo to accept the Nobel Peace Prize while investing heavily in china and so in fact funding the prc's human rights violations in china proper, Tibet, Xinjiang and their support of repression, genocide and war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, Burma / myanmar, and n korea. The American government's hypocrisy is especially glaring because of the attacks against Wikileaks for the release of diplomatic cables exposing U.S. manipulation, deception and propaganda campaigns and questional actions around the world.

OSLO, Norway — With his Nobel Peace Prize diploma and medal placed in his empty chair, imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo was given a standing ovation at the award ceremony Friday as dignitaries demanded his release.
It was the first time in 74 years the prestigious $1.4 million award was not handed over, because Liu is serving an 11-year sentence in China on subversion charges for urging sweeping changes to Beijing's one-party communist political system.
China was infuriated when the 54-year-old literary critic won, describing the award as an attack on its political and legal system. Authorities have placed Liu's supporters, including his wife, Liu Xia, under house arrest to prevent anyone from picking up his prize.
In China, both CNN and BBC TV channels went black at 8 p.m. local time for nearly an hour, exactly when the Oslo ceremony took place. Security outside Liu's Beijing apartment was heavy and several dozen journalists were herded by police to a cordoned-off area.
In his speech, Norwegian Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland called for Liu's release, receiving an unusual standing ovation at the international gathering.
"He has not done anything wrong. He must be released," Jagland said. He noted that neither Liu nor his closest relatives were able to attend the ceremony.
"This fact alone shows that the award was necessary and appropriate," Jagland said.
Liu's Nobel diploma and medal were placed on the empty chair marking his absence.
Norwegian actress Liv Ullman read Liu's final statement, "I Have No Enemies," which he delivered in a Chinese court in 2009 before he was jailed.

Story continues below

The Chinese Foreign Ministry described the award as a "political farce" and said it reflected Cold War mentality and infringed upon China's judicial sovereignty.
"(It) does not represent the wish of the majority of the people in the world, particularly that of the developing countries," ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing.
In Washington, President Barack Obama said he regretted that Liu and his wife were not allowed to go to the ceremony as he and first lady Michelle Obama did when he won the peace prize last year.
"Liu Xiaobo is far more deserving of this award than I was," he said.
Also Friday, a group of Nobel laureates, including former South African President F.W. de Klerk, Nazi death camp survivor and author Elie Wiesel and Northern Ireland politician John Hume, offered to mediate with the Chinese government for Liu's early release.
The last time a Nobel Peace Prize was not handed out was in 1936, when Adolf Hitler prevented German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky from accepting his award.
China had pressured foreign diplomats to stay away from the Nobel ceremony, with 17 other countries joining their boycott, including Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba. At least 46 of the 65 countries with embassies in Oslo accepted invitations. Serbia, which previously said it would stay away, announced Thursday it would now attend.
Some 1,000 guests, including ambassadors, royalty and other VIPs sat solemnly in atrium hall of Oslo's modernist City Hall for the ceremony, applauding occasionally during the speeches.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who attended with U.S. Ambassador Barry White, told The Associated Press that it was "an honor" for her to be there.
"It is really a joy of my official life. For decades we have worked for human rights in China and Liu Xiaobo has been a hero to all of us," she said.
About 100 Chinese dissidents in exile and some activists from Hong Kong also attended. Chinese dissident Wan Yanhai, the only one on a list of 140 activists in China invited by Liu's wife to attend the ceremony, said the jubilation felt by many at Liu's honor will be tinged with sadness.
"I believe many people will cry, because everything he has done did not do any harm to the country and the people in the world. He just fulfilled his responsibility," Wan told AP. "But he suffered a lot of pain for his speeches, journals and advocacy of rights."
Wan managed to travel to Oslo because he fled to the United States in May after Chinese authorities increased their harassment of his AIDS advocacy group.
Before the ceremony, 2,000 schoolchildren gathered outside city hall in a display of appreciation for Liu. Some handed letters to Jagland, hoping he could convey their greetings to the jailed laureate.
Jagland said awarding the prize to Liu was not "a prize against China," and he urged Beijing that as a world power it "should become used to being debated and criticized."
Outside Parliament, the Norwegian-Chinese Association held a pro-China rally with a handful of people proclaiming the committee had made a mistake in awarding the prize to Liu.
China's furious assault on Liu's award has reached proportions last seen during the Soviet and Nazi regimes. But even Cold War dissidents Andrei Sakharov of the Soviet Union and Lech Walesa of Poland were able to have their wives collect the prizes for them. Myanmar democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi's award was accepted by her 18-year-old son in 1991.
The Kremlin forced writer Boris Pasternak of the Soviet Union to decline his 1958 literature prize. French writer Jean-Paul Sartre declined the 1964 literature prize because he had consistently declined all official honors.
In 1973, North Vietnamese negotiator Le Duc Tho was awarded the peace prize jointly with U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger but said he could not accept it, citing continued fighting in Vietnam as his reason.
In the Swedish capital of Stockholm, the other Nobel laureates were being honored in a separate ceremony Friday. Winners in literature, physics, chemistry and economics were receiving their awards from Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf.