The Justice Department has released a long-secret legal document from 2001 in which the Bush administration claimed the military could search and seize terror suspects in the United States without warrants.
The legal memo was written about a month after the Sept. 11 terror attacks. It says constitutional protections against unlawful search and seizure would not apply to terror suspects in the U.S., as long as the president or another high official authorized the action.
Even after the Bush administration rescinded that legal analysis, the Justice Department refused to release its contents, prompting a standoff with congressional Democrats.
The memo was one of nine released Monday by the Obama administration.
Secret Bush memos made public by Obama
Surveillance Court Quietly Moving
What workers have finally completed -- or perhaps not; few really know, and none would say -- is the nation's most secure courtroom for its most secretive court. In coming days, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court will move from its current base at the Justice Department and settle into a new $2 million home just off a public hallway in the District's federal courthouse.
French professor sacked over 9/11 conspiracy theory
An academic in France has been sacked by the Ministry of Defence after questioning the official version of events surrounding the 9/11 attacks. He now reportedly plans to sue the government.
Aymeric Chauprade lost his job allegedly over the introduction to his latest book about political crises around the world, and more specifically, that the 9/11 attacks in New York City and Washington D.C. were an orchestrated “American-Israeli conspiracy”. The Defence Minister had strong objections to the material, so Aymeric had to go.
Chauprade explained his firing by the Ministry of Defence as the result of him speaking about a subject that was considered off limits.
TVNL Comment: Imagine...off limits. We are not even allowed to talk about certain things. How is that for freedom and liberty?
MAJORITY OF GOVERNMENT ACTIONS ARE UNCONSTITUTIONAL
Patriots must defeat, impeach, and prosecute the traitors in government with the rule of law while making it very uncomfortable for them, but not harming a hair on their heads. Beg traitorous officials for nothing, call them names, picket them, and in all ways let them feel your absolute contempt; for if we should fail to get them out of office, the populace, when they feel the pain of total deprivation will revolt against the usurpers in a killing rage. If the government does not expect a deadly response for their treason, why are the police being militarized, military conducting training in cities, government trying to take our weapons, with large internment camps at the ready? Shades of Hitler’s Holocaust, history repeats.
U.S. government condemns "waterboarding" as torture
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder ruled out the use of "waterboarding" as an interrogation technique for terrorism suspects on Monday, calling it a form of torture that the Obama administration could never condone.
"Waterboarding is torture ... My Justice Department will not justify it, will not rationalize it and will not condone it," Holder, who his heading a review of the treatment of terrorism suspects, said in a speech to the Jewish Council of Public Affairs in Washington.
"Too often over the past decade the fight against terrorism has been viewed as a zero-sum battle with our tradition of civil liberties. Not only is that school of thought misguided, I fear that in actuality it has done us more harm than good," Holder said.
TVNL Comment: Waterboarding is a red herring. Much harsher interrogation methods were used. Actually, the word is "torture."
GOP senator Orrin Hatch's charity tied to massive pharmaceutical donations
A charity founded by a senior Republican lawmaker who was a key ally to the pharmaceutical industry received more than $170,000 in 2007 from drugmakers, far in excess of campaign finance rules had the money been donated to him directly, leaked documents show.
But his son is now the chief lobbyist for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the industry's lobbying group.
Study finds universal health care would cost less than bailouts
The biggest obstacle to an enhanced national health care system wouldn't be money, a study conducted by the Institute for Health and Socio-economic Policy found. The transformation of America's current health care system into a single-payer 'Medicare for all' system could cost six times less than the bank bailouts.
Gates: Obama wants all points of view, unlike Bush
As president, Bush was often dubbed "Incurious George" by his critics. In 2004, the Washington Post's Dan Froomkin noted that "while Bush is indeed assertive, he also often lacks curiosity and patience and has little interest in details." In 2005, the Associated Press reported that "Bush didn’t ask a single question during the final briefing before Katrina struck on Aug. 29." Even Bob Woodward's State of Denial, published in 2006, described Bush as "intellectually incurious."
It appears that Secretary Gates, in his far more diplomatic manner, may be conveying much the same assessment of his former boss.
Pentagon: Aid only for 'essential items'
The IDF can no longer use American foreign military aid to purchase "non-essential military items," The Jerusalem Post has learned.
According to defense officials, the Pentagon informed the Defense Ministry last month that the new instruction pertained to all countries receiving US foreign military financing (FMF), and not just Israel.
Officials said that according to the FMF regulations, the $3 billion that Israel receives was supposed to be used strictly for weaponry and defense-related projects. Over the years, however, the Pentagon made exceptions and allowed the IDF to purchase non-essential items such as covers for trucks, uniforms and even food for soldiers.
TVNL Comment: Of course Israel can still spend our money on illegal banned weapons.
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