the/diseased/republik

the Washington Post which alleges that the FBI " illegally collected more than 2,000 US telephone call records between 2002 and 2006 by invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to provide records." the report continues: "E-mails obtained by The Washington Post detail how counterterrorism officials inside FBI headquarters did not follow their own procedures that were put in place to protect civil liberties. The stream of urgent requests for phone records also overwhelmed the FBI communications analysis unit with work that ultimately was not connected to imminent threats. ... FBI officials told The Post that their own review has found that about half of the 4,400 toll records collected in emergency situations or with after-the-fact approvals were done in technical violation of the law. The searches involved only records of calls and not the content of the calls. In some cases, agents broadened their searches to gather numbers...

well, the white man is being called out over the financial disaster that is plaguing the world's economy: Speaking in Brasília at a joint press conference with Gordon Brown, the UK prime minister, Mr Lula da Silva told reporters: “This crisis was caused by the irrational behaviour of white people with blue eyes, who before the crisis appeared to know everything and now demonstrate that they know nothing.” He added: “I do not know any black or indigenous bankers so I can only say [it is wrong] that this part of mankind which is victimised more than any other should pay for the crisis.” Mr Brown appeared to distance himself from Mr Lula da Silva’s remarks. “I’m not going to attribute blame to any individuals,” he said. - source -

as talked about earlier , the department of Homeland Security is considering using the National Guard to fight Mexican drug lords on the US - Mexico border. from the BBC : Officials say Mexican drug gangs are active in 230 American cities. Phoenix, Atlanta and Birmingham are among the hardest hit, with a big increase in kidnappings and murders. “ We've got a big border with Mexico... I'm not interested in militarising the border ” US President Barack Obama Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has asked the federal government to send 250 National Guard reserve troops to help 150 already there supporting local law enforcement efforts against drug trafficking. Texas Governor Rick Perry has asked for 1,000 National Guard troops. Mr Rufe told a House homeland security subcommittee that the deployment of US military personnel and equipment would be a last resort if other agencies became overwhelmed. "We would take all resources short of DoD (Department of Defence) and Natio...

just a few overheads to give some perspective to an auspicious occasion.

remarks made by Mr. Putin @ the Speech at the 43rd Munich Conference on Security Policy 02/10/2007: (The speech was held in Russian. Find the English excerpts translation below.) " I am truly grateful to be invited to such a representative conference that has assembled politicians, military officials, entrepreneurs and experts from more than 40 nations. This conference’s structure allows me to avoid excessive politeness and the need to speak in roundabout, pleasant but empty diplomatic terms. This conference’s format will allow me to say what I really think about international security problems. And if my comments seem unduly polemical, pointed or inexact to our colleagues, then I would ask you not to get angry with me. After all, this is only a conference. And I hope that after the first two or three minutes of my speech Mr Teltschik will not turn on the red light over there. Therefore. It is well known that international security comprises much more than issues relating to...

01/06/2009: "If they all knew..." § 371. Conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States this is treason...? If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States, or to defraud the United States, or any agency thereof in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. If, however, the offense, the commission of which is the object of the conspiracy, is a misdemeanor only, the punishment for such conspiracy shall not exceed the maximum punishment provided for such misdemeanor. why the hell didn't they do something?! Now that we have intelligence experts, the military community, present and former administration, a Senator, and the media saying that they all knew the evidence was bullshit. Durbin's excuse is that he was sworn to secrecy. I don't know about Dick, I was...

the guy i love most to hate- former vice president Dick Chinstrap Cheney tells Politico that there is a “high probability” of a terrorist attack involving “a nuclear weapon or a biological agent of some kind” and that the current administration is “more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States. ...” Of course the last time Cheney warned us about a likely WMD attack he turned out to be a goofball with a $3 trillion quagmire to sell. Politico : “When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry,” Cheney said. Protecting the country’s security is “a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business,” he said. “These are evil people. And we’re not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek.” We all know Ol' Dick is cutesy with the wordp...

from the website Slashdot: "Former National Security Agency analyst Russell Tice, who helped expose the NSA's warrantless wiretapping in December 2005, has now come forward with even more startling allegations. Tice told MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on Wednesday that the programs that spied on Americans were not only much broader than previously acknowledged but specifically targeted journalists." - source -

Vice President Dick Cheney, in another stunning admission during his campaign to burnish the Bush administration’s legacy, said he personally authorized the “enhanced interrogations” of 33 suspected terrorist detainees and approved the waterboarding of three so-called “high-value” prisoners. “I signed off on it; others did, as well, too,” Cheney said about the waterboarding, a practice of simulated drowning done by strapping a person to a board, covering the face with a cloth and then pouring water over it, a torture technique dating back at least to the Spanish Inquisition. The victim feels as if he is drowning. Cheney identified the three waterboarded detainees as al-Qaeda figures Abu Zubaydah, Khalid Sheik Mohammed and al Nashiri. “That's it, those three guys,” Cheney said in an interview with the right-wing Washington Times.

The operation was launched early in the morning Troops in Pakistan's city of Islamabad have stormed the Red Mosque, after talks with radicals broke down. "It is a final push to clear the place of armed militants," said military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad. The army said at 20 militants were killed in the operation, as loud explosions and gunfire were heard. Twenty children escaped from the mosque, where women are also being held. Three soldiers are reported killed and some 20 others injured. The military operation began at about 0400 (2300 GMT Monday). The troops entered the compound and exchanged fire with the militants holed up inside. It is an anxious wait for those with relatives inside the mosque The army said 20 militants were killed and another 15 injured. Local medical officials said 20 government troops were injured, and three had died of their ...

US President George W Bush has invoked executive privilege to deny requests by Congress for the testimony of two aides over the firing of federal prosecutors. The row hinges on whether the attorneys were sacked for political motives. Democratic leaders say they could go to court to challenge Mr Bush's move. He invoked the same little-used power last month to withhold subpoenaed documents. The White House says Mr Bush is acting in good faith and has offered to let the aides do off-the-record interviews. The pair in question are Harriet Miers, former White House counsel, and Sara Taylor, former political director for the White House. Ms Miers has been summoned to appear under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday and Ms Taylor to testify before the House Judiciary Committee the next day. 'Unreasonable' demands The Democratic heads of the two judiciary committees had set a deadline of Monday for the White House to explain the first invocation of p...

Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

Internal memos show that four security contractors who were ambushed and killed in Iraq three years ago were told to go through the dangerous city of Fallujah when a safer route was available, a newspaper reported Sunday. The memos said a Blackwater USA supervisor also plucked two members of each six-man team for other work, reducing the teams' numbers and making them more vulnerable to attack, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported. Memos from the second team _ whose leader decided to go around Fallujah on March 31, 2004, and which wasn't attacked _ said the teams also were sent without maps, although other memos suggest maps were available, the newspaper said. "These reports were written by people who were not there," Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell told The Associated Press. "The answer to what really happened in Fallujah is a tragedy in which four brave men were killed." Tyrrell said she couldn't comment on specifics because of pending liti...

'In his remarkable book, Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar, Simon Sebag Montefiore does a service by focusing on the intimacies of power. In his detailed, highly readable account of Joseph Stalin's entourage, Montefiore shows how power is often a byproduct of informal interaction, a thing of the dinner table, the hunting expedition, the boudoir. 'But Montefiore also poses another question, one more specific to the Soviet leader. Why is it that the experienced, ruthless, conceited men and women around Stalin could so easily fall under his ruinous power, to the extent that some remained loyal even after the murder or imprisonment of members of their families? The answer is deceptively simple: There was no sovereign rule of law to mediate the relation. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s Stalin himself became the law, replacing the hard but more egalitarian conventions of the Communist Party. The absolute leader destroyed a system and replaced it with his own absolute ego. 'Ob...

amigoro writes to let us know about an appeals court ruling on Friday that holds that federal agents can snoop on an individual's web surfing, email and all other forms of Internet communication habits without a warrant . The court found recording this kind of information to be analogous to the use of a pen register. In 1979 the Supreme Court ruled that this technique did not constitute a search for Fourth Amendment purposes. fullstory and discusion @ slashdot .

A US appeals court has dismissed a case challenging President George W Bush's domestic surveillance programme. The judges in Cincinnati ruled 2-1 that the groups which brought the lawsuit, including the American Civil Liberties Union, had no legal right to sue. The ruling strikes down a lower court's order that found the programme, adopted after 9/11, to be unconstitutional. It allowed the government to monitor contacts between US citizens and terror suspects abroad, without a warrant. While President Bush says his wartime powers allowed him to authorise surveillance without the need for a warrant, critics say he violated Americans' civil liberties. Mr Bush decided not to renew the domestic spying programme in January this year. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the government would instead seek approval from a special court for wiretaps. FULL STORY AT THE BBC ...

"The BBC is carrying a story on new tightened New York anti-piracy legislation : A man has been been arrested, after smuggling video recording equipment into a theatre showing the new Transformers movie. 'Kalidou Diallo, 48, has been charged with unauthorized use of a video camera in a cinema. Under upgraded legislation, he could face six months in jail and fines of up to $5,000 (£2,487) if found guilty,' the BBC reports." --source: slashdot --

Intoxicate me, my cigarette And give me a scornful air, I want to stay cold and silent While hearing sweet confessions. These lyrics from Lucianne Boyer's 1930 song "Dans la Fumée" demonstrate not only the psychological power of the cigarette, but also its role as a cultural icon. A poster featuring Madame Boyer's troubled visage can be found in one of this city's quirkier museums, the six-year-old Musée du Fumeur. Actually a storefront with a couple of tiny rooms in the back, the 650-square-foot space was formerly a butcher shop -- which you'll be reminded of as you breathe in wafts of roasting chicken from the store nearby. Ironically, you won't be graced with the aroma of cigarette smoke until you step outdoors. ( Wall Street Journal article )

Vice President Dick Cheney has asserted his office is not a part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, and therefore not bound by a presidential order governing the protection of classified information by government agencies, according to a new letter from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to Cheney. Bill Leonard, head of the government's Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), told Waxman's staff that Cheney's office has refused to provide his staff with details regarding classified documents or submit to a routine inspection as required by presidential order, according to Waxman. In pointed letters released today by Waxman, ISOO's Leonard twice questioned Cheney's office on its assertion it was exempt from the rules. He received no reply, but the vice president later tried to get rid of Leonard's office entirely, according to Waxman. Leonard did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In a statement e-mailed to the Blotter on ABCNews.com, C...