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Civil Liberties, Abortion, Guns, & Crime |
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Supreme Court: Two noted law professors - one from the right and one from the left - suggest nonpartisan reforms to modernize and restore political balance to the Supreme Court. Their "Supreme Court Renewal Act of 2005" would guarantee judicial independence while de-politicizing the Court by limiting judges to 18-year terms and appointing a new judge every two years.
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A federal judge ruled Thursday (8-17-06) that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it.
U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers who say the program has made it difficult for them to do their jobs. They believe many of their overseas contacts are likely targets of the program, which involves secretly taping conversations between people in the U.S. and people in other countries.
The government argued that the program is well within the president's authority, but said proving that would require revealing state secrets.
The ACLU said the state-secrets argument was irrelevant because the Bush administration already had publicly revealed enough information about the program for Taylor to rule. DETROIT (AP)
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THEN George W. Bush said:
• 2001 "(T)here needs to be ... honest and transparent government."
• 2004 "In a society that is a free society, there will be transparency in the process."
• 2004 "Treasury Under Secretary Stuart Levey said that greater international vigilance of banks and other financial service providers has driven terrorist groups to seek other means of moving money across international borders. As the formal and informal financial sectors become increasingly inhospitable to financiers of terrorism, we have witnessed an increasing reliance by al-Qaida and terrorist groups on cash couriers." –U.S. State Dept.
• 2005 "The Terrorist Financing Unit of the Office of International Affairs works to maintain the international coalition against the financing of terrorism, especially by working with the Group of 7 Industrialized Nations (G-7) and International Financial Institutions (World Bank, International Monetary Fund, etc.)." White House
NOW Newspapers have revealed Watergate, The Pentagon Papers, Abu Ghraib, hidden CIA prisons, secret telephone surveillance and money tracking.
• 2006 "Disgraceful" disclosure, says G.W. Bush
In the past five years the government has mentioned many times that they are following the money to cut off the terrorists. The money tracking has not been as "secret" as is claimed. What was not obvious was the overlap between terrorists and everyone else; that is news.
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http://zfacts.com/p/322.html | 09/08/08 16:13 GMT
Modified: Fri, 27 Oct 2006 23:03:32 GMT
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Carbonomics
Fix the Climate
Charge OPEC
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Amazon
Perilous Times
Noted law professor traces the repression of free speech and prosecution of dissenters during times of national hysteria. Arguing that excesses are later corrected and repented in ways that ultimately strengthen our tradition of civil liberties, the author urges us to "take comfort ...in what we have not done since Sept. 11."
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