Lord Chief Justice: Sharia Law could have UK role
WalesOnline.co.uk
Jul 3 2008 Media Wales

SHARIA law could play a role in some parts of the legal system, the most senior judge in England and Wales said today.

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, emphatically ruled out the possibility of sharia courts sitting in this country or deciding penalties but explained comments made by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams.

But in a speech at the East London Muslim Centre in Whitechapel he said there was no reason why sharia principles could not be used in “mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution”.

Sharia – a set of principles governing the way that many Muslims believe one should live one’s life – suffered from “widespread misunderstanding” by the rest of the world, he added.

Lord Phillips said: “There is no reason why sharia principles, or any other religious code, should not be the basis for mediation or other forms of alternative dispute resolution.

[This guy obviously has NO CLUE as to which gender Sharia Law overwhelmingly favors...]

“It must be recognised, however, that any sanctions for a failure to comply with the agreed terms of mediation would be drawn from the laws of England and Wales.”

The Lord Chief Justice told his audience that severe physical punishments such as flogging, stoning and the cutting off of hands would not be acceptable.

He added: “There can be no question of such courts sitting in this country, or such sanctions being applied here.

“So far as the law is concerned, those who live in this country are governed by English and Welsh law and subject to the jurisdiction of the English and Welsh courts.”

The judge said the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, had been misunderstood when it was reported in February that he said British Muslims could be governed by sharia law.

Dr Williams suggested that sharia could play a role in “aspects of marital law, the regulation of financial transactions and authorised structures of mediation and conflict resolution”.

The Lord Chief Justice said today: “It was not very radical to advocate embracing sharia law in the context of family disputes, for example, and our system already goes a long way towards accommodating the Archbishop’s suggestion.

[Gee, more leniency towards wife-beaters now that Sharia is making inroads into the U.K.'s legal system...]

“It is possible in this country for those who are entering into a contractual agreement to agree that the agreement shall be governed by a law other than English law.”

Law enforcement officials say the proposed policy would help them do exactly what Congress demanded after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks: root out terrorists before they strike.

Although President Bush has disavowed targeting suspects based on their race or ethnicity, the new rules would allow the FBI to consider those factors among a number of traits that could trigger a national security investigation.

Currently, FBI agents need specific reasons - like evidence or allegations that a law probably has been violated - to investigate U.S. citizens and legal residents. The new policy, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press, would let agents open preliminary terrorism investigations after mining public records and intelligence to build a profile of traits that, taken together, were deemed suspicious.

Among the factors that could make someone subject of an investigation is travel to regions of the world known for terrorist activity, access to weapons or military training, along with the person's race or ethnicity.

More than a half-dozen senior FBI, Justice Department and other U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the new policy agreed to discuss it only on condition of anonymity, either because they were not allowed to speak publicly or because the change is not yet final.

The change, which is expected later this summer, is part of an update of Justice Department policies known as the attorney general guidelines. They are being overhauled amid the FBI's transition from a traditional crime-fighting agency to one whose top mission is to protect America from terrorist attacks.

"We don't know what we don't know. And the object is to cut down on that," said one FBI official who defended the plans.

Another official, while also defending the proposed guidelines, raised concerns about criticism during the presidential election year over what he called "the P word" - profiling.

If adopted, the guidelines would be put in place in the final months of a presidential administration that has been dogged by criticism that its counterterror programs trample privacy rights and civil liberties.

Critics say the presumption of innocence is lost in the proposal. The FBI will be allowed to begin investigations simply "by assuming that everyone's a suspect, and then you weed out the innocent," said Caroline Fredrickson of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey acknowledged the overhaul was under way in early June, saying the guidelines sought to ensure regulations for FBI terror investigations don't conflict with ones governing criminal probes. He would not give any details.

"It's necessary to put in place regulations that will allow the FBI to transform itself ... into an intelligence gathering organization in addition to just a crime solving organization," Mukasey told reporters.

The changes would allow FBI agents to ask open-ended questions about activities of Muslim- or Arab-Americans, or investigate them if their jobs and backgrounds match trends that analysts deem suspect.

FBI agents would not be allowed to eavesdrop on phone calls or dig deeply into personal data - such as the content of phone or e-mail records or bank statements - until a full investigation was opened.

The guidelines focus on the FBI's domestic operations and run about 40 pages long, several officials said. They do not specifically spell out what traits the FBI should use in building profiles.

One senior Justice Department official said agents have been allowed since 2003 to build "threat assessments" of Americans based on public records and information from informants. Such assessments could be used to open a preliminary investigation, the official said.

However, another official said the 2003 authorities are limited, tightly monitored by FBI headquarters in Washington and, overall, confusing to agents about how or when they can be used.

Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said the guidelines governing when to open a national security investigation are part of a "harmonizing" process that will not give the FBI any more authority than it already has. He declined further comment, but he and two other senior Justice officials, would not deny the changes as they were described to AP by others familiar with the guidelines.

"Any review and change to the guidelines will reflect our traditional concerns for civil liberties and First Amendment liberties and our traditional investigative emphasis on using the least intrusive means feasible," Roehrkasse said Wednesday.

Although the guidelines do not require congressional approval, House members recently sought to limit such profiling by rejecting an $11 million request for the FBI's security assessment center. Lawmakers wrote it that was unclear how the FBI could compile suspect profiles "in such a way as to avoid needless intrusions into the privacy of innocent citizens" and without wasting time and money chasing down false leads.

The denial of funding could limit the FBI's use of profiles, or "predictive models and patterns of behavior" as the government prefers to describe the data-mining results, but would not change the guidelines authorizing them. The guidelines would remain in effect until a new attorney general decided to change them.

Courts across the country have overturned criminal convictions when defendants showed they were targeted based on race. Racial profiling generally is considered a civil rights violation, and former Attorney General John Ashcroft condemned it in March 2001 as an "unconstitutional deprivation of equal protection under our Constitution."

President Bush also has condemned racial profiling as "wrong in America" and in a December 2001 interview had harsh words for an airline that refused to let one of his Secret Service agents board a commercial flight. The agent was Arab-American. "If he was treated that way because of his ethnicity, that will make me madder than heck," Bush said.

Immediately after 9/11, hundreds of Muslims and Arabs were detained, deported and monitored as the government urgently sought information that could prevent another attack. Despite efforts to repair and nurture relationships with those groups, Muslim- and Arab-Americans still complain of being singled out by federal security practices.

Martin Redish, a constitutional and civil rights scholar at Northwestern University School of Law, said courts are likely to give the FBI a lot of leeway in deciding how to open national security investigations.

"But it's a very fine line to be drawn when the basis of the investigation is dominated by the ethnic background of the subject," Redish said. "And when the investigation results in harassment, you have a serious constitutional concern."

Citing Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski and Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh - two white Americans - the ACLU's Fredrickson said: "Profiling has sent us in the wrong direction. ... I thought we learned our lesson in that regard."

___

On the Net:

Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov/

FBI: http://www.fbi.gov/

ACLU: http://www.aclu.org/

Suspect with alleged links to Osama bin Laden set free on bail in Britain
The Associated Press - via IHT
Published: July 3, 2008

LONDON: A major terrorist suspect alleged to have strong ties to Osama bin Laden has been set free on bail after spending more than seven years in jail, British officials said Thursday.

British and U.S. authorities alleged the suspect had been tied to an unsuccessful plot to bomb Los Angeles International Airport and other major targets eyed by Islamic extremists.

British officials, who have identified the 45-year-old suspect only by the letter "U," said he was freed from a high security prison in Worcestershire.

British court documents refer to the suspect only as "U" due to a court order that prevents him from being publicly named. The U.S. indictment against him identifies him by one of his aliases. His real name has never been revealed in any court documents.

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission on Thursday confirmed the release because an appeals court overturned a lower court ruling that would have allowed the suspect to be deported to his native Algeria.

The earlier ruling was based on the court's finding that "U" had "direct" ties to al-Qaida chief bin Laden and had also played a senior role at a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.

He was said to have formed his own terrorist group and forged close operational links to al- Qaida.

The suspect was also indicted on various terrorist charges in the United States, but that indictment has been withdrawn because a key witness declined to testify against him.

The court has barred journalists from identifying the terrorist organization "U" was involved with and has also kept news organizations from reporting the name of the town where he will live now that he has been set free on bail.

Other steps have been taken by the court to prevent images of "U" from being distributed to the public.

A Home Office spokeswoman said she could not comment on the case but that "very strict conditions" had been set that would limit the activities of "U" now that he is free. She spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policy.

Longtime terrorist suspect Abu Qatada was freed on bail June 17 after government attempts to deport him failed. Abu Qatada's bail conditions will deny him access to computers or mobile phones and bar him from having any guests except for a doctor, a lawyer and children under 10.

He must also wear an electronic monitoring device and remain inside for 22 hours of every day.

Suit accusing Bush of acting illegally tossed
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer - SFGate
Thursday, July 3, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge in San Francisco dismissed a lawsuit Wednesday that sought to prove President Bush acted illegally in 2001 when he ordered the wiretapping of phone calls between Americans and suspected foreign terrorists without court approval.

Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker said an Islamic charity on the government's terrorist list could not use a crucial classified document - an accidentally released memo indicating the charity and its lawyers had been wiretapped - to show that it had been harmed by the surveillance program and thus had the right to challenge it in court. But the organization's lawyer said he wasn't giving up.

"We will now be marshalling all the nonclassified evidence we have to make our case," attorney Jon Eisenberg said. "We believe we can make a solid showing."

Walker gave lawyers for the now-defunct charity, Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, 30 days to file a new lawsuit relying on publicly available evidence to show it could reasonably believe it had been wiretapped.

Other suits challenging Bush's wiretapping program have all been dismissed on the grounds that plaintiffs who suspected their calls had been intercepted had no way to prove it.

About 40 lawsuits against telecommunications companies that allegedly shared phone and e-mail networks and customers' records with federal agents are also pending before Walker. The Senate, however, is scheduled to vote next week on legislation that would require dismissal of those suits.

The government inadvertently sent Al-Haramain a classified document in 2004 indicating that the organization and two of its lawyers had been wiretapped. The charity promptly returned the document at the government's request but has relied on its contents to pursue its lawsuit.

Civil liberties groups had hoped that Al-Haramain, the only plaintiff in the nation with actual evidence of wiretapping, would be able to obtain a ruling on whether the taps violated constitutional standards and a 1978 federal law requiring a court warrant for any such surveillance.

In Wednesday's ruling, Walker said Congress, in the 1978 law, had established "the exclusive means for foreign intelligence activities" - an apparent rejection of Bush administration arguments that the president has the constitutional authority to order wiretapping on his own.

But Walker said Al-Haramain faces an obstacle that may be insurmountable: The wiretap document remains a government secret and can't be used to prove that the onetime charity was affected by the surveillance program.

He noted that a federal appeals court ruled in November that Al-Haramain's lawyers also could not rely on their memories of the document to establish that the group had been wiretapped.

At the appeals court's August 2007 hearing, Eisenberg acknowledged that he couldn't establish the right to sue without evidence in the wiretap document. But he said Wednesday that the government has made disclosures in the last year, including a declaration last month that Al-Haramain was affiliated with al Qaeda, that might help him show the group had been under surveillance.

Terrorist profile: The Justice Department considers letting the FBI investigate Americans without any evidence of wrongdoing. A4

E-mail Bob Egelko at begelko@sfchronicle.com.

On the morning of June 30, US President Bush signed into law the Iraq Supplemental Funding Bill which includes an amendment allotting USD465 million to Mexico and Central America for anti–drug-trafficking and anti-terrorism measures, also know as the Mérida Initiative. At the signing President Bush commented that the initiative is a “national priority” for the United States. The signing comes four days after the law was approved by the Senate on June 26.

The initiative was originally criticized by the Mexican government for the human rights conditions it included, claiming that they imposed on Mexico’s national sovereignty. After an interparliamentary meeting between the United States and Mexico earlier this month, the bill was revised in Congress and much of the language defining these conditions was softened. The conditions that do remain include a report from the US Secretary of State on the progress of the Mexican judicial system in terms of human rights, an emphasis on police and military cooperation with civil trials for those who have been accused of human rights violations, and the creation of a mechanism for human rights consultation within the context of the initiative. Up to 15% of the funding could be withheld if these measures are not met.

Both international and Mexican social organizations have been critical of the weakened human rights conditions in the initiative and a lack of emphasis on arms trafficking and the narcotics market in the United States. As of the time of writing, there has been no reaction from the Mexican government.

More information:

Bush Signs War Supplemental (CBS 30/06/08)

U.S. includes rights language in Mexico anti-drug aid (International Herald Tribune 28/06/08)

WOLA Sees Shortcomings and Questions Priorities in Mérida Plan (27/06/08)

US/Mexico: Conditions placed on Mérida Initiative to be softened (SIPAZ 14/06/08)

US/Mexico: US Congress to vote on Merida Initiative (SIPAZ 13/05/08)

A Primer on Plan Mexico (Laura Carlsen 05/05/2008)

Wilson Center: Mérida Initiative Portal

More information in Spanish:

Bush promulga ley para financiar plan Mérida; 400 mdd son para México (La Jornada 30/06/08)

Firma Bush ley que aprueba recursos para Iniciativa Mérida (El Universal 30/06/08)

Critica HRW reticencia de México para aceptar supervisión sobre garantías (La Jornada 27/06/08)

Local social organizations take part in the state social forum “Guerrero: Where Poverty is Punished and Social Protest is Criminalized” [Source: Theres Hoechli]

On June 20 and 21, the Human Rights Center of the Montaña Tlachinollan celebrated its 14th anniversary with a statewide forum titled “Guerrero: Where Poverty is Punished and Social Protest is Criminalized.”

In the accord that was manifested at the end of the forum, 20 organizations from Guerrero and other states demanded among other things:

- an end to the criminalization of social struggle

- a stop to the militarization in indigenous regions

- the punishment of the military and civilian authorities that have committed grave human rights violations

- the immediate release of the cinco members of the OPIM, originally from the town of El Camalote, who are being held at the municipal jail in Ayutla de Los Libres

- compliance with the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteurs to the United Nations and the public human rights commissions

The human rights center also issued an abstract of their 14th annual report on the same theme. Among the issues highlighted between June 2007 and May 2008 are the 201 penal cases brought against social leaders within the state:

- 73 penal cases brought against social leaders

- 75 pending arrest warrants

- 9 closed proceedings with favorable resolutions

- 44 preliminary inquiries of social leaders in progress

The full report from the Human Rights Center of the Montaña Tlachinollan will be published in the coming months.

More information:

Human Rights Center of the Montaña Tlachinollan

By SANDY ARANETA
The Philippine Star

It has become clear to me that corruption in the justice system is a serious problem in several European countries - not only as a perception but also as a concrete reality... Corruption in the justice system often goes hand in hand with political interference. Ministers and other leading politicians do not always respect the independence of the judiciary and instead give underhand signals to prosecutors or judges on what they are expected to deliver. The distortive effect of such practices is even worse in countries where there are close links between the political leaders and big business. This is where greed tends to trump justice.

By XENIA RIBAYA
ABS-CBN Baguio

(Update: Killer of US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell, Juan Donald Duntugan, was given a life sentence for murder)

Both the defense and prosecution panels in the murder trial on the death of US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell are bracing for a court's upcoming promulgation of its verdict.

The verdict is expected to be read on Monday.

"We expect a conviction because of the admission of the accused, but it will not be for the crime of murder. It may be at most, homicide," said suspect Juan Donald Duntugan’s lawyer, Atty. Pedro Mayam-o in a phone interview.

In case Duntugan would be found guilty of homicide he would escape the maximum penalty of life imprisonment and would be meted a 20-year imprisonment instead, as stated under the Revised Penal Code.

The prosecution, meanwhile, is confident. "We are leaving it all to God. whatever happens is the will of God," said lead prosecution counsel, Atty. Raynaldo Agranzamendez, in a phone interview.

Campbell was declared missing on April 8, 2007. She was last seen alone, trekking through the rice terraces of Batad, Banaue, Ifugao. After ten days, her decomposing body was found buried in a shallow grave.

Coinciding with Campbell’s first death anniversary was the final hearing on the murder case of Duntugan at the Ifugao Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 34 in Banaue, Ifugao.

The defense presented their last witness, Police Officer 3 Arnold Daluyon, uncle of Duntugan who purportedly helped in the latter’s surrender to police officials.

After Duntugan surrendered to the authorities, he admitted killing Campbell stating that he thought she was his neighbor Emiliano Blas. Duntugan said he thought Blas, who he said was his enemy, was ready to attack him.

Presiding Judge Ester Piscoso-Flor of RTC Branch 34 then gave both the defense and prosecution panels 30 days to file their respective summary of the evidence presented in the trial.

CERESO No.5

June 26, SIPAZ members visited six detainees at the Center for the Social Reinsertion of Sentenced Prisoners (CERSS, formerly know as CERESO) in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, all of whom are members of the organization “The Voice of the Llanos" (La Voz de Los Llanos), adherents of the Other Campaign.

The detainees, who refer to themselves as political prisoners, carried out a hunger strike/fast between March 4 and April 5 of 2008 and again on May 24 declaring their innocence and demanding their immediate release. On April 17, as a consequence of the strike, they were made victims of violence perpetrated by other detainees who were not prevented from doing so by the authorities.

They stated that, “We know that our cases, in which we are considered guilty, are under revision. We want them to take notice of our struggle and protest. We want our release as soon as posible. Our cases are based on false accusations and crimes attributed under torture. The government has raised an iron fist against us. We are asking for freedom without violence, through a peaceful struggle, in the Voz de Los Llanos and the Voz del Amate. We want a solution to this problem we are faced with, we want freedom.”

On June 27, the spokesperson for the Voz de Los Llanos, Tiburcio Gómez Pérez, contacted SIPAZ by phone in order to make public their communiqué. You can hear the communiqué in Spanish below.

[audio=http://www.fileden.com/files/2008/6/27/1978670/080627%20-%20Comunicado%20Voz%20de%20los%20Llanos_edited.mp3]

More information in Spanish:

• Breve resumen de los casos de los integrantes de la Voz de Los Llanos

• Acción Urgente - Represión a presos indígenas en el CERESO 5 (Frayba, 22/04/2008)

Mexican Interior Minister, Juan Camilo Mouriño Terrazo [Source: Ecos de la Costa]

On June 26 the US Senate approved the amendment, slated for the current fiscal year, that was passed by the House on June 19, 2008. The initiative puts aside USD400 million for Mexico and USD65 million for Central America in training and equipment to fight drug-trafficking and terrorism. The amount approved is some USD85 million less than President Bush proposed initially. The amendment will now be sent to the president for approval, which should occur in the next few days. The Mérida Initiative forms part of the Iraq Supplemental Funding Bill, amounting to USD162 billion in spending.

The amendment establishes a “shared responsibility” between the US and Mexico in the fight against drug trafficking, designating USD215.5 million to support programs initiated by the Mexican government to combat drug trafficking as well as USD116.5 million for “military cooperation” between the two countries. Another USD20 million will go towards the “building of institutions and support for the civil society.” In addition USD5 million is slated for “human rights training” among the police, public prosecutors and prison administrators as well as USD3 million in “support of NGOs and civil society.”

The original initiative, which was criticized by Mexican President Felipe Calderón’s government, was revised to cut the unilateral human rights “conditions” imposed by the US. No explicit demands in regards to conditions or “certification” mechanisms appear in the final version of the initiative.

In a press conference held by the Mexican Interior Minister, Juan Camilo Mouriño Terrazo, he denied that the initiative implies the presence of US police or military agents within Mexico. He also stated that “The Mexican government congratulates the US Legislature on their decision and reiterates the pledge to prioritize the fight against organized crime, with the understanding that international cooperation is a fundamental component.”

In the last 18 months the Mexican government has spent some USD7 billion in programs to fight drug-trafficking and drug cartels in Mexico that move cocaine from Colombia to consumers in the US. In the past year in Mexico 1400 people have been killed in drug-trafficking related violence.

More information:

• Mexico welcomes approval of US drug aid (AP 28/06/08)
• US Senate approves war funds bill (BBC 27/06/08)
• US/Mexico: Conditions placed on Mérida Initiative to be softened (SIPAZ 14/06/08)
• US/Mexico: US Congress to vote on Merida Initiative (SIPAZ 13/05/08)
• A Primer on Plan Mexico (Laura Carlsen 05/05/2008)
• Wilson Center: Mérida Initiative Portal

More information in Spanish:

• Avala el Senado de EU el plan para lucha antinarco en México (La Jornada 27/06/08)
• La Iniciativa Mérida vendría a incrementar las violaciones a las garantías individuales (La Jornada Michoacan 26/06/08)
• Da México bienvenida a la Iniciativa Mérida (Excelsior 27/06/08)
• Acepta México términos de la Iniciativa Mérida (El Universal 27/06/08)

~ An Affront to Justice ~

~ A Wake Up Call ~
for All Who Seek to End Violence Against Women and Children
by Marie De Santis
Women's Justice Center
www.justicewomen.com

On June 13, 2008, Sonoma County District Attorney Stephen Passalacqua fired Miriam Gaon, our county's most veteran victim advocate. Miriam has worked in our DA’s office for 19 years orienting countless crime victims through the justice process. She has also fought vigorously on a daily basis for victim's rights in a DA's office that routinely attempts to trample those rights.

When prosecutors mislead victims telling them there's 'not enough evidence' to prosecute their cases, for example, Miriam tells victims the truth and presses prosecutors to do their jobs. There's no doubt, DA Passalacqua has fired Miriam Gaon because she has stood openly for the ethical pursuit of justice in an office that has shown nothing but contempt for both ethics and justice, and for the community it's sworn to serve, especially for women and children.

Miriam's firing not only exposes the mounting dangers for victims of violence against women and children in our own local DA's office. It also spotlights the impossible conflicts of interest and the inevitable repressions unleashed when advocates are paid by, or in any way contractually bound to, law enforcement, as is most victim advocacy today.

Miriam's firing is an urgent wake up call for the immediate need to re-invent independent victim advocacy as a critical step in pushing the justice system to respond properly to violence against women and children.

GONE ARE THE JUSTICE MAKERS

Miriam Gaon is only the most recent in a long string of top tier DA prosecutors and professional staff who have been driven out or dismissed by Passalacqua. By the end of his first term in 2007, 19 of the office's 43 prosecutors were gone.

Most disturbingly, among them were nearly all the veteran level 4 prosecutors most experienced and commited to dealing with violence against women. One way or another, each had confronted Passalacqua's legal misconducts, his sexism, or his incompetence, and they were out. With the firing of Miriam, we are left with a DA's office of sycophants, most of whom are willing to be complicitous in Passalacqua’s ever more flagrant abuses of power, as outlined further on.

For years Miriam endured the retaliations and harassment heaped on her by the past and current DA for her own strong voice for victims. She has been suspended, her office has been gutted and stripped bare, she has been banned by the former DA from entering superior court, and more. Each time, the women's community has had to launch a fight to get her status reinstated.

Despite the constant stress of working under these conditions, Miriam's courage to fight for victims’ rights has never buckled. Moreover, in the course of her career, she has developed extensive expertise in child sex abuse and homicide cases, and, in fact, was assigned to those cases at the time of her termination.

SUFFER THE CHILDREN

As just one example of the daily corrosive conditions under which Miriam worked, consider this incident just prior to the administrative leave that ended in her firing.

The DA child sex abuse prosecutors had been flat out refusing to meet with the child victims until the very last minute before these children were needed to testify. Sometimes the prosecutors weren't even getting the subpoenas out to the children's guardians until the night before. When Miriam protested these practices, one of the prosecutor's said to her, "I don't need to bring these children in, we can do these cases without them." (This is just one more of the hundreds of ways prosecutors have shown their disregard and distaste for dealing with crimes of violence against women and children.)

Miriam wasn't the only one disgusted by this mounting mistreatment of the child victims. An attorney who represents children who have been removed from their home by the county was also outraged that the children she represented were being jerked into the criminal courts at the last minute without adequate preparation. In fact, this attorney was so upset that she was reticent to continue delivering kids to the DA's office under these conditions.

In an attempt to correct the situation, Miriam arranged a meeting between the DA child sex abuse prosecutors, the attorney for the children, and herself. The prosecutors agreed to a date. On the day of the meeting, the attorney for the children and Miriam waited for the prosecutors: and they waited, and waited, and waited. The prosecutors had stood them up, in one more show of the malignant contempt our DA's office has for any one who would challenge their abuses.

EVER MORE FLAGRANT ABUSES

Miriam's firing is a terrible loss to the community. It poses particular danger to victims of violence against women and children who depend on Miriam's knowledge and courage to stand up to prosecutors who try to sweep the women and their cases out the door. But the loss of Miriam, along with the earlier hemorrhaging of veteran attorneys and staff, threatens safety and justice for the entire community.

Consider just these few already publicized outrages perpetrated by DA Passalacqua in just the last couple years. Consider that this is only the visible tip. And that it's only going to get worse:

** The DA systematically denies justice to rape victims. In 2005, the most recent year for which we have statistics, 177 cases of adult rape were reported to police, and that same year, DA Passalacqua obtained only 7 rape convictions.

** DA prosecutors knowingly present false state expert evidence to the court in the homicide case against Zack Rutledge and mislead the court on key evidence in the child pornography case against John Mark Karr. (Both these cases were ultimately dismissed because of these deceptions, with the judges in both cases openly expressing their shock and disgust at the prosecutorial misconduct. The DA re-filed the Rutledge case which then ended in acquittal.)

** DA prosecutors withhold exculpatory expert evidence from the court in the homicide case against Corbin Esterling. The case wasn’t dropped until 2 days after Passalacqua won election to a second term, though the exculpatory evidence had existed for months, and though Esterling was in jail.

** The DA refuses to file criminal pimping charges against Raman and Rita Patel, despite the fact that Judge Mark Tansil has ruled in the civil case (May, 2008) that the evidence rises to the criminal level of "beyond a reasonable doubt", and despite the fact that the Patels managed a mega operation of multiple pimps who police found to prostitute minors, and kidnap, traffic, and falsely imprison prostitutes. Santa Rosa police were furious the DA didn't pursue the case. And the public should be, too.

** Latina rape and domestic violence victims are routinely denied all protection and justice when their perpetrators are quickly whisked off to Mexico courtesy of our justice system before prosecution of their cases - only to have these perpetrators quickly return here to continue or escalate their crimes.

** And in a May 22, 2008 column Chris Smith reports on an ominous foreshadowing of what will become even more standard fare with Miriam out of the office. In his column and in a later conversation with us, Smith tells of a 15-year-old girl who is totally disgusted because the DA plead out her perpetrator in lieu of trial to one felony count when the perpetrator had been originally charged with 15 felony counts. The girl had been sexually molested for three years on a weekly basis by a local radio announcer, and she wanted to testify. This kind of give-away plea deal in even the most egregious cases where the victim is willing to testify is classic Stephen Passalacqua.

Furthermore, the girl found out about the completed plea deal through a newspaper article on the deal. California state law (Penal Code 679.02(a)(12)) requires that prosecutors consult with the victim PIOR to the deal being presented before a judge. Such blatant violations of victims’ long standing statutory rights is also classic Stephen Passalacqua. The mishandling of the whole case is also the classic situation in which Miriam Gaon was so successful in intervening on behalf of the victims before the injustices are finalized.

There is one other feature of Passalacqua's tenure that should be noted here. Throughout his one and a half terms in office, in the most outrageous mockery of reality, Passalacqua has put on an array of maudlin pubic bell ringing ceremonies and a sundry ‘dog and pony’ shows proclaiming his dedication to victims. The public must not be fooled!

A WAKE UP CALL FOR ALL WHO SEEK TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Miriam's firing also sheds light on deep seated problem that goes beyond the injustices of our own DA's office, and should be a wake up call for all who seek to end violence against women.

Over the last 15 years, coincident with the influx of large federal funding, the whole U.S. violence against women movement has become increasingly embedded in the systems we most need to change. Most victim advocates now work directly for, or are contractually connected to law enforcement. Caught in this profound conflict of interest, most advocates have not withstood the pressure.

The federal funding originally started out requiring rape and domestic violence advocacy centers to obtain letters of cooperation from local law enforcement, including from district attorneys, as a condition of funding. This starting point should have been warning enough, as right from the beginning it gave law enforcement veto power over the movement's funding - and, in fact, it was used in exactly that way.

The retaliatory destruction of our own county's rape center, Women Against Rape, was brought about by our local law enforcement's threats, delays, and refusals to sign the required funding letters. This was law enforcement's swift and punishing response to the center’s activist stance, in particular for exposing law enforcement's role in the domestic violence homicide of Maria Teresa Macias.

More recently, over the last decade, the funding relationships between law enforcement and the anti-violence women's movement have grown ever more contractual pulling victim advocacy into a tighter and tighter marriage with law enforcement. Not surprisingly, as with many marriages between men and women, the two became one, and the one was law enforcement. Police and prosecutors, both locally and around the country, have wasted no time in exerting their tightening control over the advocates; repressing the voices of most, and retaliating against those who wouldn't be repressed.

IT'S TIME TO RE-INVENT INDEPENDENT VICTIM ADVOCACY

The results, both here in Sonoma County and around the country, have been inevitable. Social change goals of the movement have been replaced by social service goals. Vigorous advocacy for women and children's rights leads to discipline, retaliation, and firing of the advocate. Advocacy has melted down to counseling and holding victims' hands while she is trampled and shunted out the door by the system.

Victims think they have an advocate who will fight for their rights in the system, not knowing that they are dealing with someone who is beholden to parrot for the system. The leading edges of the violence against women movement have been blunted. Efforts have been reduced to mopping up the human debris left in the patriarchy's wake. The Miriam Gaon's who can resist the pressure are few and far between.

Yes, we must protest Miriam's firing. And we must also solve the deeper problem, and re-invent a truly independent women's movement to end the violence.

PROTEST MIRIAM'S FIRING!

DEMAND DISCIPLINE FOR DA STEPHEN PASSALACQUA!

Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
575 Administration Dr., Rm 100A
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Tel (707) 565-2241

California State Bar
Attorney Complaints
1.800-843-9053
Calling from outside CA
213-765-1200

California District Attorneys Assoc.
921 11th St, Ste. 300
Sacramento, CA 95814
Tel (916) 443-2017

Office of Victims Services
California Attorney Generals Office
PO Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244
Tel 877-433-9069

National District Attorneys Assoc.
Violence Against Women Group
89 Canal Center Plaza, Ste 510
Alexandria, VA 22314

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Violence Against Women Section
1889 F St, N.W.
Washington, D.C., 2006

Source:  Women's Justice Center/Centro de Justicia Para Mujeres

Ano ang ibig sabihin nito? Gustong patunayan ng DILG undersecretary na nasa pangangalaga  pa rin ng mga awtoridad ng Pilipinas ang convicted rapist na si Daniel Smith kahit siya pa ay nasa teritoryo ng Amerika. Kung ating paniniwalaan si Undersecretary Corpus, si Smith ngayon ay nakatira sa isang 40-foot container van na nasa loob ng US Embassy grounds na sa Maynila.

Nais pang linawin ni Undersecretary Corpus ay wala na sa kanyang detention room si Smith dahil ang building na kinaroroonan nito ay ni-renovate.

Naku Maningning, may privacy na kayong dalawa ni Daniel Smith kung papayagan kang bumisita sa kanya. Pero hindi kaya mas maigi kung sa National Bilibid Penitentiary na lang siya patitirahin (stay or detain, huwag malisyoso) sa halip na sa US Embassy pa siya na teritorya ni Uncle Sam?

Daniel Smith still in RP, DILG assures victim's supporters

Daniel Smith is still in the country.

This was what a Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) official on Thursday assured supporters of rape victim "Nicole" that the convicted rapist has not left the country for the United States.

To prove this, DILG Undersecretary Marius Corpus showed members of Task Force Subic Rape (TFSR) pictures of him and Daniel Smith with newspapers dated last May 27 and June 20.

Corpus said Smith has been living in a 40-foot container van within the US Embassy grounds in Manila, because the building where his detention room was is currently being renovated.

Smith has gained some weight and tries to get out of his depression by cooking, Corpus said.

He is also only allowed to go out of the container van for health reasons, such as sun exposure and when he goes to the gym.

All these information was made public after TFSR trooped to the DILG office Thursday morning to appeal to Corpus to allow some of their representatives to personally visit Smith at the US Embassy where he is detained.

Pangging Santos, one of the coordinators of TFSR, said they are happy that Corpus finally showed them proof that Smith is in the country.

Santos said they suspected that Smith has already left because there has not been any concrete news or evidence from the DILG that Smith is indeed here, until now.

The group was given copies of the picture, but despite this, they are still requesting Corpus to bring some of their members on his next visit to Smith.

Corpus said he will try his best to convince US authorities for some of Nicole's supporters to visit Smith, because this is not part of the agreement between the US and the Philippines.

The agreement only allows two members of the DILG and two members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to visit Smith every now and then.

Santos said they are being vigilant about the Smith case after they heard reports that his conviction could be reversed by the Court of Appeals anytime soon. Niña Corpus, ABS-CBN News

 

By Associated Press - via NYSun.com
June 26, 2008

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court says Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, the justices' first definitive pronouncement on gun rights in American history.

The court's 5-4 ruling strikes down the District of Columbia's 32-year-old ban on handguns as incompatible with gun rights under the Second Amendment. The decision goes further than even the Bush administration wanted, but probably leaves most firearms laws intact.

The court had not conclusively interpreted the Second Amendment since its ratification in 1791. The amendment reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

The basic issue for the justices was whether the amendment protects an individual's right to own guns no matter what, or whether that right is somehow tied to service in a state militia.

Justice Scalia, writing for four colleagues, said the Constitution does not permit "the absolute prohibition of handguns held and used for self-defense in the home."

In dissent, Justice Stevens wrote that the majority "would have us believe that over 200 years ago, the Framers made a choice to limit the tools available to elected officials wishing to regulate civilian uses of weapons."

He said such evidence "is nowhere to be found."

[gallery]  

     Maybe I should start with an intriguing 3 subject post that deals with multi-threaded and interwoven topics of high concern and importance... 

     Mumia Abu-Jamal is one of the numerous African American men who have been put on death row; and not only put on death row, but put on death row unjustly due to a racist and oppressive justice system. This justice system has resulted in black men making up 40 percent of the nations prisoners whilst only making up 13 percent of the nations population. This is one of those many moments where the race card needs to be pulled from the deck and played in every hand. Mumia is a skilled award-winning Pennsylvania journalist and activist who exposed police violence against minorities and government fraud and secrecy; such as covertly tapping into the phone lines and computers of Americans. Mumia wrote many articles and produced commentary on these issues along with many others, and with the government’s secrets out, Mumia became a threat to the ‘national security’ of a quasi-democracy run on fear, white privilege, and political advantage. The Constitution is a minor obstruction that can be ignored in times of danger (Mumia).

The United States government has waved the wand of national security countless times such as in the fabricating of information about Iraq attempting to purchase uranium from Niger to construct nuclear weapons. At this stage it has been proven that this was most certainly false and that the Bush administration (run by Cheney and Rove) was only concerned with acting as an outside force in the Middle East and Southwestern Asia in order to secure western access to oil within that region. So to cover this up, the government simply made false claims then covered it with the veil of national security. Congress has passed many laws to make what is illegal, legal for the government to carry out and people like Mumia have been aware of this and made it their duty to spread the  word. An intelligent black man has always been seen as a threat, therefore Mumia had to be taken out of the picture.

Mumia has been on death row since 1982 as he was wrongfully arrested and sentenced for the shooting of a police officer. Information surrounding Mumia’s case (accessible via freemumia.org) shows that there has been new evidence, including the recantation of a key eyewitness, new ballistic and forensic evidence and a confession from Arnold Beverly (one of the two killers of Officer Faulkner) which point to Mumia’s innocence; yet for the last 25 years Mumia has been locked up 23 hours a day, denied contact visits with his family, had his confidential legal mail illegally opened by prison authorities, and put into punitive detention for writing his first of three books while in prison, Live From Death Row (Freemumia.org). Any moral being should be able to take one look at this situation and clearly see that something is wrong. But in this day and age you can no longer tap people on the shoulder to raise awareness, you have to hit them over the head with a sledgehammer; and sometimes they still won’t even get it.

The lives of blacks are repeatedly cut short before even being allowed to develop and grow into fruition as more people of color live in prison cells than in college dorms. "It's one of the great social and economic tragedies of our time," said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the Urban League. "It points to the signature failure in our education system and how we've been raising our children." (Ohlemacher). The oppression of blacks has been a never-ending story and the fight to win back our communities and liberation is one fought with great compassion and stamped with legendary regard. However, we still have a lot of work cut out for us and must continue to move forward, as today’s African American community is in a very sad state. We are bombarded on a daily basis with news coverage of gang violence, drugs, and blacks being incarcerated. All who live in the communities that are prone to house these issues can see the effects that drugs and violence have on our people.

Rap and Hip-Hop music has given Black men a voice that is heard all over the world, but for the most part it has not been used positively to help liberate and educate fellow blacks (but has been used to do so on occasion). However, it has negatively herded blacks into solely relying on the life within street culture to make a living, which is shown in William Oliver’s article The Streets. Producing rap is an art and freedom of speech does not mean being free to degrade black people. Blacks have used rap music for “Glorifying violence and drugs, placing money and material things above all others, and worst of all, depicting our beautiful Black sisters in the ugliest and most disrespectful manner”, stated congressman Bobby Rush in his speech at the Simeon Career Academy.

“Black females are your mothers, your sisters, your best friends, and your futures. Do not let anyone tell you that they are hoe’s, they are objects, that they are not worthy of anything other than your utmost love and respect. Black women are the foundation of our communities……take it upon yourself, from this moment on to stand up for them, fight for them, be their protectors. The easiest way for anybody to come in and tear our communities apart is if we, as men, fail to defend our women- our mothers and our sisters. If a white man came and said the things about our Black women that some of these rappers are saying, we would consider it an act of war against us.” – Bobby Rush

One could now pose the question of why it is that we allow this to happen rather than taking the stance of being responsible for holding each other accountable for our words and our actions. Never will anyone come in to save black communities (and we should not expect them to) if we do not take it upon ourselves to help ourselves. It is naïve and ridiculous to sit around waiting and expect the government to come in and clean things up (even though they should take action); instead, we must take the stand in working to better our situations, and restore respect and dignity to our communities.

Whites have looked down upon blacks since long before the founding of this nation, so we cannot expect the future to look much different if we do not do anything about it. There has been an unfortunate declining significance of race, which is due to the gaps in class amongst black people. “People make the claim that there is no black community and that the black middle class do not identify with blacks, but with being American” – Dr. Anthony Montero. You never hear the argument that whiteness ceases to exist but instead increases. For white America being black is a crime and is led to the solution of becoming as white as possible in your black body (Montero). This goes hand in hand with the notion of whiteness as discussed in Lucius T. Outlaw Jr.’s article, Rehabilitate Racial Whiteness and also with the notion of how white people claim ‘not to see race’; which is simply denying someone their ethnicity and denying something important about that person. To eradicate these issues blacks must help themselves, and must get involved, starting from the individual level and continuing all the way up through the family, the church, the school, and community organizations (Rush).

With blacks having to start from the bottom there has been a great amount of poverty within the black community. This leaves most of the nations wealth and money in the hands of educated whites that want nothing more than to keep their wealth and keep the gap between the rich and the poor as large as possible. Information collected by Nader.org shows that the poorest fifth of American homes earn around 3.7 of the nations wealth whilst the richest fifth earns 83 percent of the nations wealth. The top fifth of households own more than 83 percent of the nation's wealth, while the bottom 80 percent less than 17 percent. The top 1 percent owns over 38 percent of the nation's wealth, more than double the amount of wealth controlled by the bottom 80 percent. The top 1 percent's financial wealth is equal to that of the bottom 95 percent (Nader). Black people have socially and economically been in the bottom fifth percent. As of 2005, unemployment rates amongst Blacks were 9.7%, compared to 4.2% for the country as a whole and the annual median income in 2003 was $30,000 for Blacks, while whites made $44,000, over $14,000 more per household (Rush). If steps toward maneuvering through this white supremacist capitalist system are not taken things will continue to stay that way and have the potential to get even worse

Discriminatory practices such as municipal redlining, mortgage steering, and denying mortgage credit to blacks has left black people inexplicably without homes, stated Congressman Rush. He pointed out that only 48.5% of Blacks own homes, compared to 70.5% of whites among households with moderate incomes and blacks are more likely to be unemployed, make less when they are employed, and are still denied loans to buy homes at a rate far lower than that provided to whites, even when they are qualified. This is all a direct result of white privilege; which allows all whites, no matter their social class, an opportunity to move up in class while blacks are stifled and kept socially immobile.

Strategies for black liberation must start in the area where there is a large inequality between African Americans and others, which is the field of education. In this area blacks have fallen far behind whites, and have even begun losing ground nationwide to Hispanics and other minorities on standardized test scores in both reading and math. But today’s black youth will in a heart beat go out of their way to attend Howard University’s homecoming, recite words to the hottest songs and be aware of all the latest fashions whilst not being aware of any social, economical of political current events or having a strong concern with achieving an appropriate education. It is sad to see that while 80% of African Americans attained high school diplomas, only 17% have a bachelor degree, and only 1% of Blacks have an advanced degree. This problem is in many ways in our control as we must make a greater effort to stress to our children the importance and value of education.

The Black Community is a long ways off from being obsolete yet far from being adequate and all of these statistics and issues formulate a very depressing picture of the black community, but hope must never be lost. Pain and suffering have always been the headline of our history in this country but we have time and time again overcome the obstacles set before for us. The problems we face are real and blacks must shake of the comfort of fantasy and deal with reality. We must stand strong and be thoughtful, meticulous, and relentless as we strive for liberation and work together for our common good and have everyone fulfill their goal. It is our duty to continue the legend of our ancestors and control our own destiny. That means, individually and collectively, we must take it upon ourselves to make a difference in our homes and our community by taking on the mind-set of Socratic thinking; as addressed by Dr. Cornell West; and striving for ideological and moral clarity. 

"It took Pleasure to make me & Pain to give birth to me..." - Kev

I got the sms from his staff indicating that the Chief Justice was near our conference venue. When it was time, I signaled our National Director to go down with me to welcome the Chief Justice.

http://compassionateconsiderations.wordpress.com/2008/05/14/how-great-is-our-god/

This was the answer to this prayer I blogged about last month. Finally, the Chief Justice was here.

"how are you Rex?" - he asked as I shook his hand to welcome his arrival.

We climbed the 5 level stairs of the Christian Development Centre while we engaged him in small talk.

"Justice Puno, you don't know how this means to all of us..." I told him.

"I get invited to speak to a lot of conferences but I like to address the churches more..."

The brothers gave him a standing ovation when he entered the conference room. What an awesome privilege. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was about to give his keynote speech.

I went straight to the podium and had to catch my breath for awhile. I pulled out the 9-page Curriculum vitae emailed to me by his staff. I pre-selected the things I read and what an honor to introduce the Chief Justice himself.

I included in my introduction the powerful lesson in humility that the Chief Justice taught me. He was the Senior Associate Justice at that time. I was privileged enough to attend the same batch of leaders who attended the Haggai Leadership Institute in Singapore, back in 2004.

We were required to surrender our passports to the organizers. I was very hesitant to do that because the passport was the only valid international form of identification that I had. I turned behind me and saw the Chief Justice standing in line, a couple of people behind, nonchalantly holding his passport to surrender to the organizers. I approached him and asked about the "validity" of this requirement and he just simply said "it is okay, we can surrender our passports."

If the highest ranking government official of the batch was willing to do that, how much more should I be willing to do the same?

The men at the conference stood up and gave him another ovation as he stood up and went to the podium.

He acknowledged the lengthy introduction and really inspired us when he said "I would have preferred to have been introduced simply as... he is a brother who happens to be the Chief Justice..."

Our relationship with him is not because of his high government position, but by the precious blood of our Savior jesus Christ.

He talked about the need for righteousness in the country, righteousness for the leaders who govern and more importantly, righteousness for everyone. And that begins with our individual hearts.

After his talk, Ptr Eugene Guzon gave him our certificate of appreciation, the fruit basket prepared for him. Afterwards, Dan Rogers, Director of WCG -USA Administration blessed him with a prayer.

I whispered to the Justice that we were taking him to dinner. But he whispered back that he needs to be in UP to receive the Centennial Award as the MOST DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS.

Ooopss, I worried about my 15-seat reservation and pre-ordered dinner at Josephines!

We all clapped our hands and acknowledged him for that honor.

He indulged us for pictures to be taken. I was the one calling for people to join in the group and the participants quickly assembled themselves around him. After the second picture, he turned to me and said "Rex, you should come and join us..."

He needed to leave soon but clearly he was in no rush. "We have the siren anyway so we can move through the traffic" On the way out of the hall, I introduced to him my wife "Justice, this is my wife Sheila".

What a magnanimous man. He stopped, shook the hand of my wife and leaned over to give her a kiss and a hug. ( Wifey would later brag that she was the only one hugged by the Chief Justice...!)

We accompanied him downstairs. He briefly asked about the Haggai batch in 2004 and I told him that I am still in communication with one of our batchmates. He shared his Haggai-related trip to Australia this August and I could not help but be amazed at the humility of this man.

His security detail and driver and other staff met us downstairs. One staff opened his car. He shook my hand for the last time and said "mauna na ako..." (I'll go ahead)

His security detail also smiled and waved their hands as the two vehicles drove off.

I was really blown away by his humility. He was a very gracious man. His voice sounded older now but the same friendliness he has shown while we were in Singapore was still there. I could not help but smile because of the awesome grace he has shown us. They drove through the traffic from Manila to address our conference, and then drive through the traffic all the way to the University of the Philippines. I was very conscious about all these but he reassured me by saying "meron naman kaming wang-wang, mabilis lang yan" ( we have the siren, it will be easy to get through the traffic.)

I headed back upstairs to present the Leveling of Expectations to the participants. I could not seem to erase my smile as I thanked God again and again for the favor He has given us.

"A brother who happens to be the Chief Justice of the Philippines..."

I could almost hear another great and awesome brother, whose humility and obedience is beyond what we have ever seen or heard.

I could hear Jesus say "I am not just a brother. I am your Savior and Lord!"

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080623_the_hedonists_of_power/

Posted on Jun 23, 2008

By Chris Hedges

Washington has become Versailles. We are ruled, entertained and informed by courtiers. The popular media are courtiers. The Democrats, like the Republicans, are courtiers. Our pundits and experts are courtiers. We are captivated by the hollow stagecraft of political theater as we are ruthlessly stripped of power. It is smoke and mirrors, tricks and con games. We are being had.

The past week was a good one if you were a courtier. We were instructed by the high priests on television over the past few days to mourn a Sunday morning talk show host, who made $5 million a year and who gave a platform to the powerful and the famous so they could spin, equivocate and lie to the nation. We were repeatedly told by these television courtiers, people like Tom Brokaw and Wolf Blitzer, that this talk show host was one of our nation’s greatest journalists, as if sitting in a studio, putting on makeup and chatting with Dick Cheney or George W. Bush have much to do with journalism.

No journalist makes $5 million a year. No journalist has a comfortable, cozy relationship with the powerful. No journalist believes that acting as a conduit, or a stenographer, for the powerful is a primary part of his or her calling. Those in power fear and dislike real journalists. Ask Seymour Hersh and Amy Goodman how often Bush or Cheney has invited them to dinner at the White House or offered them an interview.

All governments lie, as I.F. Stone pointed out, and it is the job of the journalist to do the hard, tedious reporting to shine a light on these lies. It is the job of courtiers, those on television playing the role of journalists, to feed off the scraps tossed to them by the powerful and never question the system. In the slang of the profession, these television courtiers are “throats.” These courtiers, including the late Tim Russert, never gave a voice to credible critics in the buildup to the war against Iraq. They were too busy playing their roles as red-blooded American patriots. They never fought back in their public forums against the steady erosion of our civil liberties and the trashing of our Constitution. These courtiers blindly accept the administration’s current propaganda to justify an attack on Iran. They parrot this propaganda. They dare not defy the corporate state. The corporations that employ them make them famous and rich. It is their Faustian pact. No class of courtiers, from the eunuchs behind Manchus in the 19th century to the Baghdad caliphs of the Abbasid caliphate, has ever transformed itself into a responsible elite. Courtiers are hedonists of power.

Our Versailles was busy this past week. The Democrats passed the FISA bill, which provides immunity for the telecoms that cooperated with the National Security Agency’s illegal surveillance over the past six years. This bill, which when signed means we will never know the extent of the Bush White House’s violation of our civil liberties, is expected to be adopted by the Senate. Barack Obama has promised to sign it in the name of national security. The bill gives the U.S. government a license to eavesdrop on our phone calls and e-mails. It demolishes our right to privacy. It endangers the work of journalists, human rights workers, crusading lawyers and whistle-blowers who attempt to expose abuses the government seeks to hide. These private communications can be stored indefinitely and disseminated, not just to the U.S. government but to other governments as well. The bill, once signed into law, will make it possible for those in power to identify and silence anyone who dares to make public information that defies the official narrative.

Being a courtier, and Obama is one of the best, requires agility and eloquence. The most talented of them can be lauded as persuasive actors. They entertain us. They make us feel good. They convince us they are our friends. We would like to have dinner with them. They are the smiley faces of a corporate state that has hijacked the government and is raping the nation. When the corporations make their iron demands, these courtiers drop to their knees, whether to placate the telecommunications companies that fund their campaigns and want to be protected from lawsuits, or to permit oil and gas companies to rake in obscene profits and keep in place the vast subsidies of corporate welfare doled out by the state.

We cannot differentiate between illusion and reality. We trust courtiers wearing face powder who deceive us in the name of journalism. We trust courtiers in our political parties who promise to fight for our interests and then pass bill after bill to further corporate fraud and abuse. We confuse how we feel about courtiers like Obama and Russert with real information, facts and knowledge. We chant in unison with Obama that we want change, we yell “yes we can,” and then stand dumbly by as he coldly votes away our civil liberties. The Democratic Party, including Obama, continues to fund the war. It refuses to impeach Bush and Cheney. It allows the government to spy on us without warrants or cause. And then it tells us it is our salvation. This is a form of collective domestic abuse. And, as so often happens in the weird pathology of victim and victimizer, we keep coming back for more.

Chris Hedges, who was a Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times, says he will vote for Ralph Nader for president.

The Ottawa Citizen featured the story about the Muslim boy's beating and quoted a 22-year-old "moderate" Muslim man named Mohammed Khawaja from a local mosque who said, "I didn't think something like that would happen in Orleans --- it's shocking."

Two and a half years later, that same "moderate" Muslim, Mohammed Khawaja, was taken into custody for allegedly being an instrumental player in an international plot by Islamic extremists to set off explosions in Britain...

Of course, we find that to be, "not so shocking."

Terrorist accused now in court
The Ottawa Sun
By SUN STAFF - June 23, 2008

Accused terrorist Mohammed Momin Khawaja arrived at the Elgin Street Courthouse around 9:15 this morning.

The accused was escorted in one of four vehicles that arrived at the courthouse before proceeding to the underground parking lot.

Tactical officers were seated in the front seat wearing masks.

Security is tight at the courthouse with the trial expected to start at 10 a.m.

Concrete barricades have blocked off the semi-circlular driveway at the courthouse.

Inside the building lies courtroom No. 37 where the spectacle that will be the trial of Khawaja -- the first Canadian charged under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act -- begins.

It's been four years in the making. The Ottawa software developer, who was arrested in March 2004, stands accused of being an instrumental player in an international plot by Islamic extremists to set off explosions in Britain.

It's a role that Khawaja and his supporters vehemently deny.

Five members of the British terrorist group Khawaja is accused of aiding were found guilty by a London court in 2007 and are serving life sentences. Two others were acquitted. Although Khawaja was named as a co-conspirator during the London trial, he has only been charged in Canada.

DAMAGED REPUTATION

International attention will be paid to the Ottawa court proceedings, which will either solidify or damage Canada's reputation as a country capable of prosecuting an anti-terrorism case.

It will also place under scrutiny the federal Anti-Terrorism Act, which civil liberties advocates have denounced as an attack on individual rights.

A devout Muslim who was born in Canada, Khawaja worked with Foreign Affairs and Internatinal Trade as a computer programmer until his arrest. His family lives in Orleans and his father, Mahboob Khawaja, is a respected scholar and author.

[Red flag!!!]

Khawaja's family and supporters reject the allegations that he is a terrorist, saying his upbringing and religious beliefs dispel the notion he was involved in a violent act.

All this and more will play out in courtroom No. 37 over the next four months.

It's a drama with high stakes for everyone involved and regardless of the outcome will mark a turning point in Canada's handling of suspected terrorist activity on its own soil.

The Grail Movement Cult, inspired by the book "In the Light of Truth: The Grail Message," by Oskar Ernst Bernhardt, under the pseudonym, Abd-ru-shin, is a religious sect that has been around since the 1940s.

The Grail Movement Cult has approximately 20,000 members worldwide, but operates predominantly in Western Europe.

The Grail Movement Cult's members believe In the Light of Truth to be more important than the Bible and the teachings of Jesus.

Which brings me to Islam.

Like the Grail Movement Cult, Islam steals from Christianity and Judaism in an effort to attract adherents of those religions by deceptively claiming a commonality between them. Like the Grail Movement Cult, Islam considers their "Truth" to be more important than a supposedly "corrupted" Bible; which contains the teachings of Jesus the Christ.

Like the Grail Movement Cult, Islam has MANY barbaric and evil practices and doctrines at its core which directly contradict what Christ taught through his many words AND actions. Not to mention that many of Islam's teachings and practices violate numerous Western laws - such as pedophilia, polygamy, wife beating, and "honor" killings.

So, that being said, I am amazed at the number of Christians who are willing to give the demonstrably false religion of Islam a "free pass" in the name of "religious tolerance," while decrying others, such as the Grail Movement Cult; both of which falsely lay claim to Christian modalities in an attempt to deceive the ignorant among us.

No religion is above criticism.

[’sister’ Barbora Skrlova]

Cannibal mum fed son's flesh to relatives
Metro.co.uk

A boy's flesh was fed to cannibal relatives after his mum kept him locked in a cellar, a court has heard.

Ondrej Mauerova, 8, was partially skinned by his relatives who then ate the raw human flesh, a court has heard. Klara Mauerova - a member of a sinister religious cult - wept in court as she admitted torturing her son Ondrej and his ten year-old brother Jakub.

The two boys told how their mother and relatives had also stubbed cigarettes out on their bare skin, whipped them with belts, and tried to drown them.

The court heard how the family had sexually abused them and even made them cut themselves with knives. They said they were kept in cages or handcuffed to tables and made to stand in their own urine for days.

The sick abuse was discovered when a man in Brno in the Czech Republic installed a TV baby monitor to keep watch on is newborn child.

But it picked up a signal from an identical monitor next door showing one of the victims beaten, naked and chained in a cellar.

Sick Mauerova is understood to have installed it so she could gloat over her victims' suffering from the comfort of her kitchen.

Police were called, and the boy and his brother, as well as what appeared to be a 13-year-old girl were freed.

At that time police did not realise the 13-year-old, who had been formally adopted, was really 34-year-old Barbora Skrlova - one of the children's torturers.

She later ran away to Norway but was found earlier this year by Czech cops who brought her back to the Czech Republic to face trial.

Her "brother", eight-year-old Ondrej, had been locked and chained in the cellar by his mother Klara for months.

He had been gagged so he could not scream and beaten as well. It later emerged his brother Jakub had also been abused.

Mauerova has admitted abusing her children but she said she had been manipulated by her sister Katerina and Skrlova.

All three of them had been part of a cult called the Grail Movement which claims to have hundreds of followers in Britain as well as tens of thousands of others world wide.

Katerina Mauerova and Skrlova and another relative are all accused of involvement in the abuse of the boys.

The court has also heard claims that the abuse of the boys was co-ordinated by a man known only as the "Doctor" who sent mobile phone text messages to the Mauerova sisters telling them how to abuse the two boys.

Local media have said that the sinister figure could be one of the leaders of the Grail Movement the women were involved with.

The trial continues.

Scoopit!

Well it is Saturday again, and as usual it is not difficult to find topics for Adam's Saturday Rant.

First this week

Lightbulbs

Adam never thought he would find himself ranting about light bulbs. Well, here he is doing just that. You might say I was incandescent with rage. OK, bad joke I know, but could not resist it.

The proposal that we move to long life bulbs is just simply silly. Who is going to compensate me and many thousands of others for fittings which will need to be replaced.

Why should I have to use bulbs that contain toxic mercury?

In my experience the bulbs do not last that well, and several times bulbs puchased have had to be returned as faulty.

Why should I use expensive bulbs that do not give sufficient light in many cases?

This is just another example of the creeping domination of our lives By an intrusive state. What next - telling us what to eat? No, they are doing that now.

We have to stand up for ourselves and demand that the state get out of our lives. We are not the servants of the state, the state should be our servant.

More and more the state is behaving in an Orwellian manner, under the guise of doing good.

Well enough I say. I am an adult human being not a cipher.

Secondly

Liquor Stores and crime

Following the tragic murder of Mr Navretj Singh in Manurewa we have had the politicians rushing to show they are taking action.

Well to Adam they appear to be going after the wrong target. The crime is being blamed on the fact that there are too many liquor stores. Indeed, Adam has seen some comments on articles and blogs suggesting that liquor should be sold through state controlled outlets.

The wowsers are having a collective orgasm at the thought of another set of regulations and the ability to tell us what we can and cannot do.

First off Adam has seen no suggestion that the criminals who shot Mr Singh were drunk, so how is this an alcohol fuelled crime?

Second, given the tone of some comment you might be forgiven for thinking that Mr Singh was the criminal and the criminals were the victims. Horse manure.

The reason this crime took place is because there is an underclass in this country, brought about by poor education, welfare dependency and a lack of hope. This has nothing to do with alcohol, but with inadequate government, parenting and a lack of personal responsibility.

Until, we can better motivate people and enable them to move beyond welfare these appalling incidents will continue to happen. This will only occur if, and when we can start to move beyond institutionalised welfare dependency for a large segment of society.

Requiring social impact statements for liquor stores will only give sustenance to the petty minded, the wowsers, meddling jobsworths and bureaucrats. It will do absolutely nothing to deal with the real social ills.

The actions announced to date are a figleaf of actions, which mean nothing in reality other than to impose a burden on legitimate businesses. However, they enable the politicians to claim they have acted to deal with the problem.What a crock. Makes you want to spew.

Thirdly

Tagging

Now do not get me wrong, Adam is firmly against tagging, but I think the law passed this week is stupid. If under 18s can get alcohol, they will surely be able to get cans of spray paint. Further, is there a regulation that says taggers are automatically under 18.

What we need is enforcement of existing law. Stiff fines, which are collected and not forgiven and community service, including being required to clean up their damage.

All too often vandals, such as taggers, are fined. Then they fail to pay their fines and eventually many of them seem to have their fines forgiven. If they cannot pay cash, seize their personal property such as stereos, or cell phones.

This is an area where Adam thinks John Key has the right idea with 'boot camps'.

These people need a short sharp stint of strong, discipline.

Scoopit!

Court’s ruling squanders US habeas rights
LjWorld.com

When the terrorists attack again — as Homeland Security has repeatedly warned us they will — how many survivors will be consoled because the Supreme Court and the State Department looked out for the “rights” of terrorists before the rights of their dead loved ones?

Will the dead be wrapped in a copy of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling granting foreign detainees, whose mission is to destroy our Constitution, our country and way of life, the right to appeal to U.S. civilian courts to challenge their detention, a right that should be reserved only for American citizens? Perhaps inside the caskets can go a statement by the State Department refusing to close Islamic schools underwritten by the government of Saudi Arabia, which teach visceral hatred of Jews, Christians and all things Western.

To the second issue first. Despite the recommendation from a federal panel that the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Va., be closed for promoting hate, the State Department won’t go along. State has jurisdiction because as part of the Saudi government, the school is subject to the Foreign Missions Act. A local Democratic politician running for Congress won’t support the closing of the school, either.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom looked into reports that the school was teaching hate. The school promised to clean up the textbooks. The commission looked again to see if the school had done so and concluded it had not. In addition to vilifying Jews, children are taught it is permissible for a Muslim to kill a non-Muslim and those who convert from Islam. We are allowing a training ground for future terrorists on American soil.

In addition to whatever harm is caused by terrorists who manage to win their freedom, the Supreme Court decision will cause collateral damage. Granting terrorists seized on the battlefield access to civilian courts also sends another message; America is not serious about winning the war. It tells them they can “game” the system, demanding rights and protections unknown in their countries of origin.

According to Justice Antonin Scalia, 30 former detainees have “allegedly” returned to the battlefield to kill American troops and others. On whose hands should be their blood? Who should be held accountable for the blood of Americans killed by terrorists who have gained their freedom courtesy of a federal judge, a judge who has usurped the authority and judgment of the executive branch and the military? This is bound to demoralize our soldiers who will wonder why they should bother to seize terrorists at all if they are just going to be released. They might kill them all in the field, but then they would probably be court-martialed.

The U.S. Constitution (Article 1, Section 9) says, “The privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it.” Justice Anthony Kennedy, one of Ronald Reagan’s biggest mistakes (Justice David Souter being George H.W. Bush’s even bigger mistake) wrote that the same rights granted to American citizens also cover non-citizens by virtue of their presence on land controlled by the U.S. military, even though that land is Cuba.

Have we not been invaded? Didn’t the 9/11 terrorists “invade” America for the specific purpose of harming us? What is the purpose of the Saudi Islamic Academy and similar religious sites around the country if not to serve as cover for terrorists intent on endangering the public safety?

The next attack probably won’t come by airplane. It will come in a shopping mall, or a school, or on Wall Street, or possibly all three. It will occur simultaneously in many places and probably kill more than the nearly 3,000 who died in 2001. Perhaps someone who manages to extricate himself from Guantanamo, thanks to a liberal judge, will lead the attack. What will the Supreme Court and State Department say to cleanse the blood from their hands?

— Cal Thomas is a columnist for Tribune Media Services.

TNR first reported to us that upon his release from prison, he celebrated by releasing a book in which he urged Muslims to commit terrorist attacks in the West, explaining that fighting a holy war is obligatory for all Muslims and they must 'terrorise' non-believers.

And now, he wants to continue his not-so-stealth Jihad in anonymity:

Abu Qatada launches legal bid to ban pictures of him enjoying his freedom - because it 'violates his privacy'

By Daily Mail Reporter
19 June 2008

Abu Qatada is to launch a legal-aid funded court bid to prevent the public seeing pictures of him enjoying his freedom.

The man known as Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in Europe has instructed lawyers to seek a court order keeping new pictures of him secret.

The move came within hours of him being freed from prison after he won his fight against deportation from Britain.

His release follows a court ruling in April banning ministers from extraditing him to Jordan.

Qatada, of Acton, will claim that any picture of him violates his 'right to privacy' under the Human Rights Act - the same act he used to gain his freedom.

The 47-year-old can only leave his house for two hours each day while wearing an electronic tag.

The curfew also bans him from having contact with bin Laden but allows him to live with his family in his Edwardian semidetached home and claim benefits of £1,000 a month.

The eight-page bail order bars Qatada from associating with hook-handed hate preacher Abu Hamza.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has pledged to appeal against the court ruling preventing his deportation, which was on the grounds that he could face torture in Jordan.

Qatada has been convicted in his absence in the Middle East of involvement with terror attacks.

Ms Smith said: 'The Government's priority is to protect public safety and national security and we will take all steps necessary.'

Qatada's legal move - which would establish an unprecedented right of 'privacy' if successful - came as it emerged that two other men with alleged terror links - named U and Y in court papers - are also set to be bailed.

Both arrived in Britain to claim asylum and cannot be deported to their native Algeria.

“She says people do not believe crime has fallen, and think the law is stacked in favour of offenders' rights.” (source) What is at issue here are people’s beliefs about crime, not actual crime figures. This kind of emphasis is not surprising among the post modern left: once you accept that facts are mere social constructs, it becomes unimportant how high the incidence of crime really is. Note also the notion of offenders’ rights: this very categorisation takes it as given that people are known to be offenders in advance –quite a different notion from the old fashioned concept of due process establishing whether the defendant has committed an offence or is merely being accused of it.

This is followed by some of the usual harebrained ideas such as wasting more resources (e.g. on a “public commissioner on crime”) and some gimmicks (“She recommends that offenders serving community sentences be made more "visible" …”). The most worrying proposal is the one to extend provisions for anonymous witness statements to the elderly, the disabled and anyone who claims to fear reprisals, i.e. anyone. The latter suggestion not only would limit a defendant’s ability to confront and question his accusers, it would also render the justice system yet more Kafkaesque.

9/11

It's that simple. When we prosecuted the terrorists that tried to blow up the WTC in 1993, we gave them the same rights that civilian criminals got. First, this is a national security issue, not a civil rights one. Those terrorists had access to all the national security information because the accused has the right to all the information the prosecution has. Therefore they had lists of hundreds of terrorists and people of interest that they handed over to individuals like Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden blew the whistle and we lost it all. Again the liberals snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Second, in 1996 when Sudan had Osama bin Laden, they wanted to hand him over to Bill Clinton. President Clinton said we didn't have a reason to hold him (legally speaking) so we let him go. One, if we had used Gitmo we wouldn't have had 9/11. And if we followed our Constitution and yes, even International Law, we would have had Osama facing justice and no 9/11. Habeas Corpus is a constitutional Presidential power and no one should take it away. And nowhere in our Constitution does it grant enemy combatants rights, nor in international law. We imprisoned over thousands of Germans in Europe, and the Supreme Court said it did not have the authority to rule on a case similar to Boumediene v. Bush right after World War 2. Do not squander our hard-fought rights to enemy combatants. We are the United States of America not the United Countries of the World. We are a republic and let's start acting like it.

Barack Obama is losing his bearings.  This is the same guy who a couple of months ago proclaimed that John McCain was losing his bearings, when in fact Obama is the one who’s slipping off the circuit board.  Speaking to NBC News Monday night Barack Obama expressed his desire to treat terrorists as regular criminals.  He referenced the bombers of the WTC in 1993, and how they were caught, prosecuted and are currently serving sentences in U.S. jails.  Obama said “The administration