
Democracy Now! on death of White House Rove's computer guru, Mike Connell The December 22, 2008 edition of
Democracy Now! has a segment about Mike Connell, the Republican IT
Specialist who died in a plane crash last week.
A top Republican internet strategist who was set to testify in a case alleging election tampering in 2004 in Ohio has died in a plane crash. Michael Connell was the chief IT consultant to Karl Rove and created websites for the Bush and McCain electoral campaigns. Michael Connell was deposed one day before the election this year by attorneys Cliff Arnebeck and Bob Fitrakis about his actions during the 2004 vote count in Ohio and his access to Karl Rove’s email files and how they went missing,Rove's computer guru, Mike Connell dies in plane crash |
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| We can all be appalled
by this. WHY DID YOU MISS?!!!! |
Uhmmm, Cheney,
Bush....Where did all the money go? |
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| How did
Bush win? VOTE
STEALING with electronic voting machines? VOTE with PAPER!!!
See this example of hacked voting machines from Princeton University! Princeton scientists Hack Diebold - The funniest bloopers are right here |
--Ohio Sec. of State Sues eVoting Vendor for Dropped Votes (August 8, 2008) Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has filed a lawsuit against Premier Election Solutions seeking damages for dropped votes in Ohio's March primary election. Premier, which was formerly known as Diebold, makes the evoting machines used in half the counties in Ohio. Problems with dropped votes arose in 11 counties; the discrepancies were caught and final counts corrected. Officials from Butler County, where discrepancies were first detected, wrote to Premier in April asking for an explanation for the dropped votes. Premier responded with a report in May that suggested that the problems were due either to human error or to problems with antivirus software. A follow-up report suggested disabling antivirus software on voting tabulation machines, but they had been certified with the antivirus software installed.Brunner's lawsuit is a countersuit in response to one filed by premier in May requesting a court determination that the company had met its obligations as set out in contracts and warranties. http://www.computerworld.com/ http://www.informationweek. |
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| Expanding
Border Powers Create ‘Constitution-Free
Zone’ That Impacts Two-Thirds of Americans The extraordinary powers of customs and border agents to invade the privacy of individuals at the U.S. border are spreading inland. The efforts amount to a “Constitution-free Zone” that fully covers two-thirds of the American population. “The authorities can do things at the border that they could never do to citizens and residents inside our country under the Constitution,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. “Yet the government is asserting that some of these powers extend as far as 100 miles inside the actual border. It is a classic example of law enforcement powers expanding far beyond their proper boundaries -- in this case, literally.” Using the latest census data, the ACLU released a map showing the 100-mile “border region” claimed by the government, and cities and states that fall within it. The map shows 9 of the nation’s top 10 largest metro areas fall within the border zone. >> Learn more about ‘Constitution-Free Zones.’ |
ACLU
Releases Presidential Transition Plan to
Restore Civil Liberties In anticipation of the presidential election, the ACLU released a set of recommendations detailing steps that the new president should take to “clean house,” renew freedom, and restore the nation’s reputation. “This past administration has left us with a disastrous legacy of bad policy, abuse of power, and civil liberties violations,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the Washington Legislative Office. “The next president, whoever he is, must immediately begin the process of undoing this far-reaching assault on our nation’s freedoms and core values, and the ACLU’s ‘to do’ list provides a detailed roadmap for achieving that.” ”Actions For Restoring America,” outlines actions to be taken by the next president on his first day in office, in his first 100 days, and in his first year. The 83-page document proposes actions across a wide variety of topics, including national security, human rights, women’s rights, civil rights, drug policy, the rights of LGBT Americans, immigrants and prisoners, privacy and free speech. >>Read the entire ACLU transition plan including suggested executive orders, mandates and directives from the president. |
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States Throw Out
Electronic Voting Machines
from the returning-to-paper dept. posted by kdawson on Wednesday August 20, @08:16 (Government) http://politics.slashdot.org/ [0]Davide Marney passes along an AP story about the [1]thousands of voting machines gathering dust in warehouses across the country after states such as California, Ohio, and Florida have banned their use. Many of these machines cost $3.5K to $5K each. Local election boards are struggling to find ways to recover any of the cost of the machines, or even to recycle them. The picture in Ohio is the most confusing, as multiple court cases limit the state's options and result in a situation in which the discredited machines will nevertheless be used in the presidential election coming up in November. The state's new (Democratic) attorney general has just issued a rule banning the practice of election workers [2]taking the machines home with them the night before elections. Discuss this story at: http://politics.slashdot.org/ Links: 0. mailto:davide.marney@%5B% 1. http://ap.google.com/article/ 2. http://thelede.blogs.nytimes. |
A Few Speculators Dominate Vast Market for Oil Trading"Invstment banks had been frustrated with
the established exchange
because they really were never able to get control of it," said Michael
Greenberger, a law professor at the University of Maryland and a former
staff member at the CFTC. |
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Robert
Eringer
August
2, 2008 12:00
AM
The
Investigator
Few noticed
that President George W. Bush quietly revamped the role of
the
President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board earlier this year.
But
nobody
knows, until now, that a spy scare was one of the reasons to
precipitate
this change.The role of the advisory board, which President Eisenhower
created in 1956,
has been to monitor U.S. intelligence services and offer non-partisan,
expert
advise to the president on its conduct. In the mid-1970s, after the
exposure
of CIA abuses by the Church Committee, PFIAB's clout expanded to
investigate
crimes within the intelligence community, empowered by President Ford
to
report criminal activity directly to the attorney general.On Feb. 29,
President Bush signed an executive order that diminishes PFIAB's
authority and transfers the investigative powers to the director of
national
intelligence.This followed a lengthy FBI counterintelligence
investigation into the activities
of a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who they suspected of spying on
PFIAB
for Russia.It is believed in some quarters that Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin
personally recruited this colonel while Mr. Putin was posted to
Dresden,
East Germany, as a KGB intelligence officer. From 1985 to 1990 it was
Mr.
Putin's job to recruit spies in Germany, where U.S. military officers
serving
at NATO air bases were considered high priority targets.At that time,
the colonel was based at Borfink Air Force Base, where he
supervised top-secret U-2 and SR-71 reconnaissance flights over the
Soviet
Union.Soon after retiring from the Air Force, this colonel, in 1992,
organized
a trade delegation of Russians to the Principality of Monaco. Included
in
this delegation was an obscure political functionary from St.
Petersburg.
His name was Vladimir Putin. (Mr. Putin had resigned from the KGB a
year
before.) This delegation marked a Russian entry into Monaco, a tax
haven
that provides a variety of shielded opportunities to the very rich.A
Russian presence in Monaco has greatly proliferated during the past two
years. As if to consummate the relationship, Prince Albert II of Monaco
last
August vacationed for a week in Russia with Mr. Putin, as the Russian
president's
guest. More recently, the Russian state "gifted" Prince Albert with a
two-story,
three-bedroom dacha, which Russian builders constructed from scratch on
the
grounds of Roc Agel, the bachelor prince's country hideaway in the
French
Alps, high above his glamorous principality.Back to the mid-1990s, the
Air Force colonel created a business entity in
Monaco with a member of a prominent Monegasque family. Over a five-year
period
this entity is understood to have laundered $600 million through
Monaco's
banks for corrupt Russian interests -- funds reputedly channeled into
real
estate around Western Europe and further laundered through coded
accounts
at banks in Malta, the Bahamas, and the Turks & Caicos Islands.
An
estate
in Ireland was allegedly purchased on behalf of one "Andrey Vasiliyev,"
an
alias that Mr. Putin, while president, was known to use in
correspondence
with his intelligence chiefs.The colonel was also known to carry
suitcases full of cash -- presumably
on behalf of Russians, maybe for Mr. Putin personally -- from
Switzerland
to Monaco for deposit in local banks.Although his last annual salary in
the Air Force as an attachè was
about $60,000 -- and that by his own admission he "retired broke" --
the
colonel quickly amassed $10 million worth of real estate in Monaco,
London,
Malibu and Whistler, Canada, plus luxury cars, and a collection of
ultra-pricey
Ming Dynasty antiques.One of the Russians who figured into the
colonel's Monaco-based Russian money
laundering scheme was Viktor Bout, a former major in the GRU (Soviet
military
intelligence), nicknamed "The Bill Gates of Arms Dealing" and now in
custody
in Thailand, fighting extradition to the United States.Trouble for both
the colonel and Mr. Bout, 41, first began in February 2001
when a prosecutor in Belgium, under pressure from the United States
government,
issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Bout alleging that this merchant of
death
had laundered millions of dollars from illegal arms sales, including
the
sale of Russian military aircraft to the Taliban in Afghanistan,
pre-9/11.The colonel and his Monegasque partner, who has since died,
liquidated their
entity four months later and are understood to have destroyed the
company's
documentation. The colonel then left Monaco to lay low in his other
homes.However, the colonel still maintained a link to PFIAB, whose
meetings he
had occasionally attended while in the Air Force to "flap charts" for
senior
officers conducting presentations. The colonel, in retirement, had been
known
to boast to others that he was attached to PFIAB, and that he was
engaged
in running secret missions on its behalf.But he was lying. The colonel
neither sat on PFIAB's 16-member board nor
was he on its staff; nor does PFIAB have operational authority or
capability
to run missions.Yet when annual PFIAB meetings rolled around every
December, the colonel
traveled first-class to Washington, D.C., for precisely the same dates
and
holed up in five-star hotels -- The Willard or the Hay Adams -- a
stone's
throw from PFIAB's venue, the Old Executive Office Building adjacent to
the
White House.It is believed the colonel knew someone at PFIAB -- a board
member or staffer
-- whom he wined and dined at expensive restaurants and from whom he
weaseled
intelligence gossip about PFIAB briefings and discussions. And then
reported
everything he collected to the Russians.The colonel has apparently
gotten off scot-free, unless the FBI turned him
into a double agent. Obviously, they're not saying, and are otherwise
preoccupied
celebrating their 100th anniversary with a PR campaign.A call from The
Investigator to PFIAB for comment was referred to the White
House Media Office, which did not call back.
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Clinton and McCain and Bush Killed and Maimed for $3Trillion
Total war dead is 4,685, not 4,128 misinformed -- plus 80,000-800,000 others criminally ignored.



"If
you love wealth more than liberty, the
tranquility of servitude
better than the
animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your
counsel
nor your arms. Crouch down and
lick the hand that feeds you. May your
chains rest
lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our
countrymen."
Samuel
Adams, (1722-1803)
U.S. Founding Father and Public Enemy #1



Brett Dobbs says: "I found this the most useful guide to explain what has gone on with FISA. With flowcharts!"
1. It Eliminates the requirement that there be probable cause that a foreign target is a suspect of any kind — terrorist, criminal, ore “foreign agent.” They merely need be your French grandmother, as long as they are outside the United States and not a U.S. person, and if the government says wiretapping them is for the purpose of collecting “foreign intelligence information” (e.g., her Pommes Frites recipe)Understanding Recent Changes to FISA — A Visual Guide (Flowchart) (Ketchup and Caviar)2. It requires the cooperation of telecoms in these efforts
3. It eliminates of the need to specify a particular email address or phone number to be wiretapped
4. 1-3 together imply that certifications of wiretapping on individuals is not the issue. The point is to use telecom cooperation to target large collections of data on communications between U.S. Persons and foreigners. This implies data mining — where, for instance, because a foreign target has communications passing through a given domestic switch, any communications (domestic or international) passing through that switch are subject to collection, analysis, and storage. There are “minimization requirements” meant to ameliorate this, but it is unclear if they really help.


What is causing the high price of fuel?
The
oil price bubble is unfairly taxing American families and restricting
our nation’s economic potential. While everyone is aware that
supply
and demand constraints contribute to price increases, there’s
another
force at work that, like gravity, is invisible yet powerful. This force
is rampant speculation.
Every time you buy products such as food or gas, you are impacted by unregulated, secretive and often foreign commodities futures markets. Speculators in these markets are increasingly buying and selling commodities such as oil to sell again, rather than to use. As largely unregulated speculators pocket billions of dollars at your expense, the price of commodities has increased out of proportion to marketplace demands.
As speculators continue to dominate the market, the volume of oil traded “on paper” has been as high as 22 times greater than the volume of oil consumed. As prices rise, institutional investors have become active traders, turning commodities into just another asset class. This has caused severe market imbalance and upset the natural relationship between supply and demand. As a result, legitimate customers such as trucking companies, airlines, and consumers have been forced to purchase oil at unnecessarily higher prices. This has dramatically raised costs, resulting in needlessly high prices for American consumers and businesses.
How do they get away with that?
Over
the last 20 years, commodities markets have become increasingly less
regulated. Today, as many as 90 percent of all commodities trades occur
outside of the traditional marketplace exchanges. In these so-called
“Swaps trades”, parties secretly buy and sell
commodities with
absolutely no one watching. This means speculators can manipulate oil
prices and corner the market without anyone knowing.
In addition, other loopholes exist allowing increasingly sophisticated speculators to take advantage of consumers. For example, in 2000 Enron lobbied policy makers to permit some U.S. commodities exchanges to operate without normal oversight. This has allowed speculators to dodge public disclosure rules that would normally limit the number of trades an investor can make.



Dear Friend:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the FISA Amendments Act
of 2008. This bill passed in the House on June 20 with significant
support from both Democrats and Republicans and is currently before the
Senate.
Much of the controversy over this bill is rooted in the powers
granted to the executive branch. In addition to this
delegation of
authority, many are troubled by what has been termed "telecom
immunity." While I share your concerns about a more powerful federal
government, I believe that this bill does much more good
for our nation
than harm.
First of all, this legislation aims to facilitate the ability
of our defense intelligence organizations to collect information on
foreign threats in foreign nations-not spy on American citizens in
America.
When drafting the Constitution, James Madison insisted that
Congress be assigned the authority to "declare war" rather than the
authority to "make war." Madison stressed this distinction
because he
wanted the President to be able to respond promptly and effectively to
urgent national security threats without being blocked by legislative
gridlock in Congress.
The wisdom of the Founding Fathers still holds true today,
when, more than ever, our security forces must respond quickly to
terrorist threats if they are to prevent more attacks on our nation
This is why the President-not Congress or the judicial
branch-is charged with the duty to levy war as Commander in Chief of
our armed forces. According to Constitutional law, the
authority to
monitor operations such as conducting surveillance on foreign targets
in foreign countries in the interest of national security during
wartime clearly falls under the scope of the executive branch of the
government, and with good reason. This FISA bill reinforces
the wisdom
of James Madison and our Founding Fathers.
One must remember that this bill does not give the executive
branch a blank check to practice domestic surveillance on American
citizens. Limiting the scope of authority to foreign targets in foreign
countries, this legislation provides a process for judicial review by
federal courts should
time permit such action. Only in the most urgent
cases will individual FISA court orders be issued.
Secondly, I share your concerns over telecom immunity. Rest
assured that I will always support reasonable measures of governmental
oversight. Telecommunications companies aiding the government, however,
must have assurance that they will not be subject to frivolous lawsuits
for helping protect the country. By providing
liability protection, we
will facilitate these organizations' ability to ensure America's safety.
There will be no "blanket immunity" granted through this bill.
In order to receive civil liability protection, the Attorney General
must provide evidence that certifies that a telecommunications company
assisting the government in intelligence gathering was the subject of a
written request or directive certifying the authorization by the
President.
Representing you is a privilege. As always, I appreciate the
opportunity to hear from you about the issues before Congress. Please
do not hesitate to contact me regarding any matter where I may be of
assistance.
Member of Congress

Speech by a cop on interrogation techniques
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