Judge resigns seat on spy court

In a stinging rebuke to the Bush administration's covert domestic wiretap program, a federal judge who has been one of the judiciary's most intrusive and feisty critics of the Guantánamo Bay detention center quit a secret court that oversees U.S. intelligence wiretaps.


....''Apparently Judge Robertson did not want to aid and abet criminal NSA electronic surveillance,'' said a statement from the New York Center for Constitutional Rights, which has for four years alleged that the administration is overstepping its war powers -- in both its Guantánamo court and enemy combatant practices.

Bush Misses the Point on Spying...Again

"The Bush administration formally defended its domestic spying program in a letter to Congress late Thursday saying the nation's security outweighs privacy concerns of individuals who are monitored.

In a letter to the chairs of the House and Senate intelligence committees, the Justice Department said
President Bush authorized electronic surveillance without first obtaining a warrant in an effort to thwart terrorist acts against the United States."

This threadbare argument distorts the facts. Within the law, the Administration can tap phones for 72 hours while they seek a warrant from the secret FISA courts. These courts have NEVER denied a warrant. So what is the problem that led the Administration to refuse to even apply for warrants as required by the law? There are no delays under the current system, and the issuing of warrants has never been mentioned as a problem.

If the administration was worried that the warrants wouldn't be granted, then it suggests that there was precious little evidence that these wire taps were really directed at Al Qaida as the administration claims. Or was it simply that this Administration is addicted to operating outside the law?

Army aims to coax back former troops

Reuters reports that the U.S. Army, fresh off missing its latest annual recruiting goal, has launched an unprecedented effort to coax former troops to sign up again for active-duty military service. But it's not a sign of desperation.

The Army this month began contacting 78,000 people who previously served in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps to pitch them on the idea of leaving behind their civilian lives and returning for another stint in uniform, said Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon.

Unlike in the past, they now can return to the Army without giving up their previous rank or undergo the rigors of basic training, said Hilferty, who described it as the first program of its kind for the Army.

The Army fell about 7,000 short of its goal of sending 80,000 recruits into basic training in fiscal 2005, which ended September 30. Officials attributed the shortfall to the Iraq war and other factors. The fiscal 2006 recruiting goal again is set at 80,000.

Hilferty said the new program, which targets people who left the military within the past five years and particularly those who were in branches other than the Army, is not a sign of recruiting desperation."

Key Bush Intelligence Briefing Kept From Hill Panel

Bush knew that Saddam wasn't tied in with Al Qaida, from the very beginning. No suprise to those who have followed this closely. Cheney's claiming otherwise only continues his misconstruction of reality.

"Ten days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush was told in a highly classified briefing that the U.S. intelligence community had no evidence linking the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein to the attacks and that there was scant credible evidence that Iraq had any significant collaborative ties with Al Qaeda, according to government records and current and former officials with firsthand knowledge of the matter.

The information was provided to Bush on September 21, 2001 during the "President's Daily Brief," a 30- to 45-minute early-morning national security briefing. Information for PDBs has routinely been derived from electronic intercepts, human agents, and reports from foreign intelligence services, as well as more mundane sources such as news reports and public statements by foreign leaders.

One of the more intriguing things that Bush was told during the briefing was that the few credible reports of contacts between Iraq and Al Qaeda involved attempts by Saddam Hussein to monitor the terrorist group. Saddam viewed Al Qaeda as well as other theocratic radical Islamist organizations as a potential threat to his secular regime. At one point, analysts believed, Saddam considered infiltrating the ranks of Al Qaeda with Iraqi nationals or even Iraqi intelligence operatives to learn more about its inner workings, according to records and sources.

The September 21, 2001, briefing was prepared at the request of the president, who was eager in the days following the terrorist attacks to learn all that he could about any possible connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda. "

Cheney Continues Attacks on War Critics

It's interesting that Cheney has given up claiming that the Congress had the same information that the Whitehouse did, and has shifted to basically saying "trust us". Interesting too is his claim that the onus on Saddam was to prove that he didn't have weapons of mass destruction, as if the Whitehouse had no obligation to the American people to ensure that the reasons given for going to war actually had merit.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President
Dick Cheney denied on Monday that the administration was trying to stifle dissent by lashing out at
Iraq war critics, but said he drew the line at what he called shameless charges by some Democrats that the president distorted prewar intelligence.

"This is revisionism of the most corrupt and shameless variety. It has no place anywhere in American politics, much less in the United States Senate," Cheney said.

Cheney, who was a leading voice in the run-up to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion in warning of the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and links to al Qaeda, said the administration presented the best available intelligence about Iraq's weapons programs.

Cheney said it had not been Washington's responsibility to prove that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction before launching the 2003 Iraq invasion but it was up to Saddam to show that he did not have them.

Cheney acknowledged that "flaws in the intelligence are plain enough in hindsight." But Cheney added: "Any suggestion that prewar information was distorted, hyped, fabricated by the leader of the nation is utterly false."

Cheney's comments were the latest in an acrimonious political debate in Washington over the progress and origins of the war at a time when President George W. Bush's popularity rating is at its lowest.

Lie detectors may be next step in airline security | Tech News on ZDNet

Tech News on ZDNet

A new walk-through airport lie detector made in Israel may prove to be the toughest challenge yet for potential hijackers or drug smugglers.

Tested in Russia, the two-stage GK-1 voice analyzer requires that passengers don headphones at a console and answer 'yes' or 'no' into a microphone to questions about whether they are planning something illicit.

The software will almost always pick up uncontrollable tremors in the voice that give away liars or those with something to hide, say its designers at Israeli firm Nemesysco.

'In our trial, 500 passengers went through the test, and then each was subjected to full traditional searches,' said Chief Executive Officer Amir Liberman. 'The one person found to be planning something illegal was the one who failed our test.'

The GK-1 is expected to cost between $10,000-$30,000 when marketed. A spokesman for Moscow's Domodyedevo airport, which is using a prototype, said 'the tester (lie detector) has proved to be effective and we are in principle ready to use it.'

Cheney says war critics 'dishonest, reprehensible' - He's at it again.

Cheney says war critics 'dishonest, reprehensible' - Yahoo! News: "Cheney said the suggestion Bush or any member of the administration misled Americans before the war 'is one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired in this city.'"

When is Dick Cheney going to come back to earth, or at least develop some semblance of integrity? I remember clearly yelling at my TV during a Cheney interview when he maintainedthat Al Quaida and Saddam had 9/11 ties even after the 9/11 Commission and President Bush had admitted they didn't exist.

Why is his Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby, talking with every member of the press he can dial about Valerie Plame after her husband outted the Niger Yellow Cake story?

Why did Cheney set up his own intelligence group to second guess the CIA intelligence reports to the President. Why did senior CIA personnel quit the CIA saying that their views of Iraq had been ignored by the White House?

The is no kettle that Dick Cheney can fairly call black.

CIA "Black" Prisons Uncovered

No wonder the Bush Administration is fearful of the Senate bill to limit torture.

"According to the Washington Post, the prisons are referred to as "black sites" in classified U.S. documents and virtually nothing is known about who the detainees are, how they are interrogated or about decisions on how long they will be held.

About 30 major terrorism suspects have been held at black sites while more than 70 other detainees, considered less important, were delivered to foreign intelligence services under rendition, the paper said, citing U.S. and foreign intelligence sources.

The top 30 al Qaeda prisoners are isolated from the outside world, have no recognized legal rights and no one outside the CIA is allowed to talk with or see them, the sources told the newspaper."

Experts say US is losing war on terror

Two U.S. terrorism experts Daniel Benjamin and Steven Simon have have concluded the United States is losing the war on terrorism.

"Despite an early victory over the Taliban and al Qaeda in
Afghanistan, the two former Clinton administration officials say
President George W. Bush's policies have created a new haven for terrorism in Iraq that escalates the potential for Islamic violence against Europe and the United States.

America's badly damaged image in the Muslim world could take more than a generation to set right. And Bush's mounting political woes at home have undermined the chance for any bold U.S. initiatives to address the grim social realities that feed Islamic radicalism, they say."

Your Tax $ at Work

This spring, Republicans and Democrats voiced outrage over the news that independent counsel David M. Barrett was still pursuing a decade-long, $21 million investigation into a crime long confessed and paid for. Without debate, the Senate unanimously agreed to strip Barrett of further funding for his inquiry on former housing secretary Henry G. Cisneros.

But, prodded by conservative commentators, House Republican leaders grew convinced that Democrats were trying to suppress embarrassing revelations about the Clinton administration. The Senate provision was ditched behind closed doors, and Barrett and his staff continue to work -- at a cost to taxpayers of nearly $2 million a year -- on an inquiry that seemingly ended 13 months ago."

Pat Tillman Opposed the War in Iraq

An article in the SF Chronicle ( "FAMILY DEMANDS THE TRUTH
New inquiry may expose events that led to Pat Tillman’s death") describes the continuing efforts of Pat Tillman's family to get the truth about Pat's life and the circumstances of his death from the military. A fascinating article with some suprises including Tillman's belief that the war was illegal.

Does Bush believe in a role for government?

Looking at Dubya's performance in office can lead one to conclude that the President is seriously inept or just not very smart. The other possible conclusion is that the current administraton doesn't believe that government has a role in many of the areas for which it responsible. The result is an administraton that focuses on law and order or national defense but lets privatization and "free enterprise" pick up the pieces or that repays its political debts by awarding key positions in depleted agencies such as FEMA or HUD.

Bush: 'I take responsibility'

George W. Bush took responsibility on Tuesday for failures in the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

"Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that the federal government didn't fully do it's job right, I take responsibility," Bush said. "I want to know what went right and what went wrong."

Just what does taking repsonsbility mean to an administration that so highly prized 'accountability' during it's campaigns for office? How will this affect the constant reference to the 'blame game' by members of the administration?

Today's thoughts

'Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, wine in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming WOO HOO, what a ride!'

Don't argue with an idiot; people watching may not be able to tell the difference."

Surprise? FBI spies on Bush critics

Those who remember when the CIA and FBI engaged in spying on left wing groups, Martin Luthur King Jr., ordinary citizens, and Nixon's "enemies list" may not be surprised to learn that the FBI is up to the same old tricks. In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, the FBI is again armed with expanded powers to collect information on ordinary citizens. And it has been doing so.

That is what the FBI itself disclosed in federal court yesterday. It acknowledged that it has collected 1,173 pages of files on the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 2,383 on Greenpeace, the environmental advocacy group, and an undetermined number of files on an organisation called United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), a coalition of more than 1,000 antiwar groups. The coalition allegedly was planning protests at the time of the Republican Party National Convention in New York.

...Beau Grosscup, a professor of international relations at California State University and author of ”The Newest Explosions of Terrorism: Latest Sites of Terrorism in the 90s and Beyond”, told IPS, ”All one has to do is look at the annual FBI report on terrorism to discover that as they watch the ACLU, Earth First, Greenpeace and the peace movement, they refuse to apply their political attention to the violence of the rightwing and in particular anti-environmental groups.”

Alcohol and driving don't mix, even in the tank

We knew it was too good to be true....

A study released from University of California-Berkeley finds that for every unit of energy yielded by ethanol, it takes 1.3 units to produce it from corn, and is nearly 3 times more expensive than gasoline per unit energy delivered. The study didn’t take into account the $3B in federal and state subsidies that are given out to ethanol producers every year, which means that the true cost of ethanol is likely even higher. Ethanol is widely used as a fuel additive across the country, and in some areas can be found as a blend where it’s the primary source of energy (so-called E85 is comprised of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, and must be used only in vehicles designed for it). Since ethanol can be made from corn or other sources of biomass, it’s attracting much attention as a source of renewable energy.

Additionally, ethanol might lead to more pollution than the highly toxic MTBE that it replaces. This is because bacteria in the soil prefer ethanol to gasoline (a choice that many of our readers will agree with), and therefore will break down less gasoline before it reaches underground water sources.

Fans of biodiesel will find that their fuels didn’t fair much better, with soybeans yielding similar results to corn-based ethanol, and sunflower-based biodiesel production requiring 2.2 times the amount of energy the fuel eventually yields.

Bullying the troops from the pulpit

Evidently the investigation of excessive recruiting and influence of evangelical chaplains at the US Air Force Academy was only one indication of the growing influence of evangelicals in the military. Here's an account of a weekend event sponsored by the Air Force:

"There were personal testimonies about Jesus from the stage, a comedian quoting Scripture and a five-piece band performing contemporary Christian praise songs. Then hundreds of Air Force chaplains stood and sang, many with palms upturned, in a service with a distinctively evangelical tone. It was the opening ceremony of a four-day Spiritual Fitness Conference at a Hilton hotel here last month organized and paid for by the Air Force for many of its United States-based chaplains and their families, at a cost of $300,000. The chaplains, who pledge when they enter the military to minister to everyone, Methodist, Mormon or Muslim, attended workshops on "The Purpose Driven Life," the best seller by the megachurch pastor Rick Warren, and on how to improve their worship services."

See link for entire article from NY Times.

Pew Survey: U.S. Image Still Thumbs Down Overseas

Even China ranks higher than the US in a 16 nation survey conducted by the Pew Global Attitudes Project. While Americans score high as hardworking and inventive, we are also thought of as violent, greedy and immoral.

The magnitude of America's image problem is such that even popular U.S. policies have done little to repair it. President George W. Bush's calls for greater democracy in the Middle East and U.S. aid for tsunami victims in Asia have been well-received in many countries, but only in Indonesia, India and Russia has there been significant improvement in overall opinions of the U.S.

Head of Central Command Says Cheney Wrong on Iraq

While Rumsfeld was out supporting the contention that Iraq is not a quagmire, his own General was contradicting the rosy view of Iraq being painted by Vice President Cheney.

'During a tense Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, Army Gen. John Abizaid, who as head of Central Command is the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, declined to endorse Vice President Dick Cheney's assessment that Iraq's insurgency was in its "last throes."

Abizaid said insurgents' strength had not diminished and that more foreign fighters were coming into Iraq than six months ago. "There's a lot of work to be done against the insurgency," Abizaid said, adding: "I'm sure you'll forgive me from criticizing the vice president."'

Jack Kilby, inventor of integrated circuit, dead at 81 - Jun. 21, 2005

The man who made as big a contribution to American industry as Thomas Edison or Alexander Bell died on Tuesday. Too few people know his name.

"Kilby, 81, made the discovery 47 years ago, when, as a recently hired engineer at Texas Instruments Inc. (Research), he was left to work alone in a laboratory while most of his 7,500 colleagues were taking a company-wide summer vacation leave.

As a new hire, Kilby did not qualify to take a vacation in August 1958.

"It was a very quiet time and he got a lot done," said Pat Weber, 65, a long-time colleague and friend of Kilby's".