PATH: BS | Legal | Constitution-B-Gone

Christians Disrupt Hindu Prayer In Senate

Posted by Pile (9825 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


For the very first time, a Hindu delivered the morning invocation in the Senate chamber — only to find the ceremony disrupted by three Christian right activists. Check out the video.

READ MORE | 7 comments since 2009-11-21 20:25:35 | Comment on this Article

Be A Detective: Help Analyze FBI Documents

Posted by Pile (9295 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


The Electronic Frontier Foundation has managed through a FOIA request and other legal maneuvers to obtain thousands of pages of previously-classified FBI documents. Now they're asking you, the general public to help them pour through the documents and be the "checks and balances" that our government is sorely lacking.

READ MORE | 1 comment since 2007-07-13 19:45:18 | Comment on this Article

Olbermann: Bush Now A President Of A Rabid Corner Of The GOP

Posted by Pile (9125 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


In the wake of Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence for perjury, Keith Olbermann has a special comment on the depths to which Bush's white house have now sunk... See the video where this MSNBC anchor makes a very convincing case for demanding the resignation of Bush and Cheney.

READ MORE | 2 comments since 2007-07-22 02:45:44 | Comment on this Article

There May Soon Be A High Price To Pay For Taking Pictures In NYC

Posted by Pile (8913 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


[Beating Dead Horses]
Some tourists, amateur photographers, even would-be filmmakers hoping to make it big on YouTube could soon be forced to obtain a city permit and $1 million in liability insurance before taking pictures or filming on city property, including sidewalks.

New rules being considered by the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting would require any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a single public location for more than a half hour to get a city permit and insurance.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Supreme Court Rules Against Separation Of Church And State

Posted by Pile (10346 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


The Supreme Court ruled Monday that ordinary taxpayers cannot challenge a White House initiative that helps religious charities get a share of federal money.

The 5-4 decision (along predictable party lines) blocks a lawsuit by a group of atheists and agnostics against eight Bush administration officials including the head of the White House Faith-Based Office.

READ MORE | 2 comments since 2009-11-21 21:32:57 | Comment on this Article

White House May Be In Contempt Of Congress

Posted by Pile (8395 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


It's no secret the Executive branch has contempt FOR Congress, but now they may be in Contempt OF Congress.

House Judiciary Committee Democrats warned yesterday they would pursue a contempt of Congress motion if the White House fails respond to subpoenas for testimony and documents related to the firings of U.S. attorneys last year.

The deadline for a response is Thursday, June 28. If the White House does not comply, it opens the possibility of a constitutional showdown between the two branches. In an ironic twist, the Department of Justice (DoJ) would be called on to enforce the contempt motion.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Courts Tell Prez: You're Not Above the Constitution

Posted by Pile (7995 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


President George W. Bush's broad assertions of power in his war on terrorism are under assault by U.S. judges who have rejected his indefinite imprisonment of enemy combatants and the domestic spying program.

A pair of recent rulings, one from military judges and the other from a U.S. appeals court, delivered new legal setbacks for Bush's tactics in dealing with terrorism suspects held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or in the United States.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Don't Screw With The Phone Companies, Says Bush

Posted by ueberbill (8794 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


Picture this: you are a law-abiding citizen of the United States of America (well, the important laws, anyway). You make a phone call to anywhere--could be a cousin in Turkey, a friend in New Jersey, your congressman in D.C. You later find out that the phone company you used to place that call has been feeding all or some of this information to the government without any form of oversight and in violation of communications privacy laws. You're pissed and you're thinking about suing, right? Not so fast.

READ MORE | 1 comment since 2007-05-09 01:39:48 | Comment on this Article

Army Bans Soldiers From Posting/Talking Online

Posted by Pile (14016 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


The U.S. Army has ordered soldiers to stop posting to blogs or sending personal e-mail messages, without first clearing the content with a superior officer. The directive, issued April 19, is the sharpest restriction on troops' online activities since the start of the Iraq war. And it could mean the end of military blogs, observers say.

The administration is fond of saying everything is going great in Iraq and it's just the media who is distorting the truth. Well, I guess not letting the people who are over there report to the rest of the world would also be distorting the truth?

READ MORE

You're Free To Go...Not So Fast

Posted by Pile (8334 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]

[Military]
More than a fifth of the approximately 385 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been cleared for release but may have to wait months or years for their freedom because U.S. officials are finding it increasingly difficult to line up places to send them, according to Bush administration officials and defense lawyers.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

US Airways Doesn't Like To Be Criticized

Posted by Pile (13616 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]

[Mean People]
Let's say you're sitting in your seat on U.S. Airways and the flight attendant goes into the obligatory safety speech prior to takeoff. Only this one does the whole thing so fast you can hardly understand what is said. The guy next to you comments about the hasty demonstration, and the next thing you know you're in police custody and being investigated by the FBI... wait, what?

READ MORE | 1 comment since 2010-04-30 18:59:24 | Comment on this Article

Make Fun of Some Religion And The U.N. Will Break Your Thumbs

Posted by ueberbill (7980 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


A resolution has recently passed the U.N. Human Rights Council which calls upon member governments to "take resolute action to prohibit the dissemination including through political institutions and organizations of racist and xenophobic ideas and material aimed at any religion..." What that means in U.N.-eze is that people and governments must be nice to proponents of religion and must show respect and tolerance for all people's religious beliefs. But the resolution in the wrong hands could have some pretty unsavory consequences and there's one group on the planet who are just cynical, jaded, and smart enough to see it. They are...

READ MORE | 1 comment since 2007-04-09 11:19:15 | Comment on this Article

Busting The Whole Thing Wide Open

Posted by ueberbill (8064 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


Rep. Henry Waxman has sent a letter requesting the pleasure of the Secretary of State's company in April to testify before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which he chairs. The purpose of her little visit will be to discuss the claims by the administration that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger prior to our invasion. These claims were later discovered to have been based on forged documents. The reason this is a big deal is that it violates two Executive Orders and a section of the United States Code. But who would prosecute such a crime?

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

ISP Comes Forward Victim Of FBI "Gag Letters"

Posted by Pile (16502 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


The Washington Post has run a very interesting op-ed piece, one of the first, if not the first ever anonymous letter from someone who was ordered to be quiet on the issue of the Feds invading peoples' privacy.

The Justice Department's inspector general revealed on March 9 that the FBI has been systematically abusing one of the most controversial provisions of the USA Patriot Act: the expanded power to issue "national security letters." It no doubt surprised most Americans to learn that between 2003 and 2005 the FBI issued more than 140,000 specific demands under this provision -- demands issued without a showing of probable cause or prior judicial approval -- to obtain potentially sensitive information about U.S. citizens and residents. It did not, however, come as any surprise to me.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Bill Maher Says Americans Have Made Sacrifices

Posted by Pile (9327 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


In exploring reasons why the "War in Iraq" isn't going so well, some liberals say it's because Americans have not been asked to make sacrifices for the war. Bill Maher, in his "New Rules" segment on HBO's Real Time, has a different take.

READ MORE

Bong Hits For Jesus Heads For Supreme Court

Posted by Pile (11664 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


[Activists]
An Alaskan high school student decides to test the limits of free speech, and test it he will!

READ MORE | 1 comment since 2007-03-06 10:13:50 | Comment on this Article

McDonalds- You Want Missiles With That?

Posted by ueberbill (7578 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


Missiles are dangerous. That's just one of those things EVERYBODY knows--from a helicopter pilot shucking and jiving over Tikrit to an eight-year-old with an XBox 360. The problem for one North Carolina woman in Virginia is what a jury can DEFINE as a missile.

READ MORE | 2 comments since 2007-02-22 02:02:45 | Comment on this Article

Holy Equal Protection, Batman!

Posted by ueberbill (7418 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


A Moroccan man, Mounir el Motassadeq, has been sentenced following a conviction for his role in the September 11th attacks and for belonging to a terrorist organization. Once he has served his fifteen-year sentence, he will be deported back to Morocco. Where do you think this fair and equitable application of justice took place? America?

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

State Department Googles Sanctions Against Iran

Posted by Pile (6994 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


When the State Department recently asked the CIA for names of Iranians who could be sanctioned for their involvement in a clandestine nuclear weapons program, the agency refused, citing a large workload and a desire to protect its sources and tradecraft.

Frustrated, the State Department assigned a junior Foreign Service officer to find the names another way -- by using Google. Those with the most hits under search terms such as "Iran and nuclear," three officials said, became targets for international rebuke Friday when a sanctions resolution circulated at the United Nations.

READ MORE | 2 comments since 2006-12-11 20:27:31 | Comment on this Article

Starr Goes After Freedom Of Speech, Bong Hits

Posted by Pile (7210 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


The Supreme Court entered into a free-speech dispute Friday involving a high school student suspended over a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner, displayed off school property, but in view during a school event.

Former Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr represents the Alaska school board in this legal dispute over a student's banner.

Principal Deborah Morse ordered the 18-year-old senior to take down the sign, which he refused. This led to a 10-day suspension for violating a school policy by promoting illegal drug use.

READ MORE | 2 comments since 2006-12-04 11:41:49 | Comment on this Article

Torture Bill States Non-Allegiance To Bush Is Terrorism

Posted by Pile (7264 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


Buried amongst the untold affronts to the Bill of Rights, the Constitution and the very spirit of America, the torture bill (HR6166) contains a definition of "wrongfully aiding the enemy" which labels all American citizens who breach their "allegiance" to President Bush and the actions of his government as terrorists subject to possible arrest, torture and conviction in front of a military tribunal.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Senator Tries To Sabotage Public Access To Gov. Spending Info

Posted by Pile (7770 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


Senators Tom Coburn and Barak Obama have proposed S.2590, the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, legislation that would create a single website with access to information on nearly all recipients of federal funding. The bill cannot proceed, however, because one or more Senators placed a "secret hold" on it. Some say this attempt to bury the legislation prior to a vote is unconstitutional, in addition to downright un-American, un-democratic, and stupid.

Regardless of your political affiliation, the idea of a central web site where you can find out how your tax dollars are being spent seems like a good idea... a good idea to everyone except Alaskan Senator Ted "Internet is a series-of-tubes", "bridge to nowhere" Stevens! He seems to think such a resource would be a waste of taxpayer dollars!

Is there anyone in Alaska who isn't ashamed of this sorry excuse for a human being, Ted Stevens?

By the way, Mr. Stevens was also a principal architect of the Telco Act of 1996 which screwed over the public communications systems and paved the way for the consolidation of corporate media.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

American Bar Association: Bush Is Violating The Law

Posted by Pile (6394 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


About two weeks ago, on July 26, 2006, the American Bar Association issued a report condemning President Bush's use of "signing statements." These statements are essentially a "P.S." written underneath his signature on a piece of legislation that states how he interprets and intends to enforce the law.

The ABA had this to say:
"Presidential signing statements that assert President Bush’s authority to disregard or decline to enforce laws adopted by Congress undermine the rule of law and our constitutional system of separation of powers... To address these concerns, the task force urges Congress to adopt legislation enabling its members to seek court review of signing statements that assert the President’s right to ignore or not enforce laws passed by Congress, and urges the President to veto bills he feels are not constitutional."

Are we actually going to see any legislation to curtail the executive's overrun of all other branches of government? Expect this bill to be lost in committee by the totally neutered senate.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Laptops Can Be Searched At Border Without Warrant

Posted by Pile (7713 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


A business traveler protests the warrantless search and seizure of his laptop by Homeland Security at the U.S.-Canada border. A court case ensues and a three-judge panel unanimously says that border police may conduct random searches of laptops without search warrants or probable cause. These searches can include seizing the laptop and subjecting it to extensive forensic analysis.

One guy got 15 years in prison for images in his browser cache that he thought were deleted.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Wiretapping "Review" Bill a Wolf In Sheep's Clothing

Posted by Pile (7745 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


In the wake of concern by the public over the constitutionality of wiretapping efforts, a small herd of congresscritters, led by Republican senator Arlen Specter, have produced what appears to be a bill requiring judicial review of the wiretapping process. Sound good so far? Until you start reading the bill, and as usual, while it appears to leave one with the impression that the civil liberties of Americans are important and should be protected, actually strips even more rights away from the populace, and seeks to legitimize a means by which Americans can be monitored by the government without permission, review or checks and balances. Good thing our news media is letting people know about this..

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Administration Makes Themselves Immune To Investigation

Posted by Pile (6575 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


The NSA has denied clearance to the DOJ, in an effort to investigate the Bush administration's illegal use of wiretaps. It appears that the NSA now has a sort of pocket veto power when it comes to any investigation involving domestic(or otherwise) spying albeit legal or not.

Leave it to the Bush administration to come up with creative and new ways to avoid getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar. This latest one involves them merely denying security clearance to investigators trying to find out the details of a massive, illegal wiretap operation on almost all Americans. Apparently only one company refused to cooperate: Qwest Communications.

Update: T-Mobile appears to also be taking a stand along with Qwest to fight illegal government snooping. Rumors are flying around that all cell calls are also being monitored.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Government Wants To Bury Spy Lawsuit

Posted by Pile (6026 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


When the government told a court Friday that it wanted a class-action lawsuit regarding the National Security Agency's eavesdropping on Americans dismissed, its lawyers wielded one of the most powerful legal tools available to the executive branch -- the state secrets privilege.

That privilege allows the government to tell a judge that a civil case may expose information detrimental to national security, and to ask that testimony or documents be hidden or a lawsuit dismissed.

This seems to be a recurring theme. We all should try it. Next time you get pulled over, tell the policeman, "It's a matter of national security." Go beat up and detain someone; stop their right of free speech and expression -- just say, "National security." And apparently you can get away with anything.

"In a nutshell, invoking the privilege shuts down the judicial process and it says that the courthouse doors are closed," said Aftergood. "In a society ruled by law, that is a subversive action."

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Upcoming New Orleans Election Already Causing Problems

Posted by Clare (8214 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


"I just read in this morning newspaper that the NAACP will challenge the election if they are not satisfied with the results.

READ MORE | 1 comment since 2006-03-15 17:32:46 | Comment on this Article

EFF Sues AT&T For Collaborating with NSA to Spy on People

Posted by RantMaster (6008 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T Tuesday, accusing the telecom giant of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by collaborating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in its massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications.

If you care about your privacy, now is a great time to join the EFF.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Bush Makes It A Crime To Annoy People Online

Posted by Pile (9963 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


It's no joke. Last Thursday, President Bush signed into law a prohibition on posting annoying Web messages or sending annoying e-mail messages without disclosing your true identity. As is the norm these days, this nasty law was snuck into another piece of legislation (Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act) at the last minute and approved by Congress.

READ MORE | 8 comments since 2007-01-09 11:11:27 | Comment on this Article

Bush Administration Does Dance To Avoid SCOTUS Appearance

Posted by Pile (6069 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


The Justice Department announced Tuesday criminal charges have been filed against Jose Padilla - the U.S. citizen who had been held for over three years in solitary confinement on a military brig in South Carolina.

You may ask, "What's the big deal? Keeping people indefinitely imprisoned without charging them or offering due process isn't anything new." Except:

1. This guy is an American citizen
2. Attorney General John Ashcroft stated that when the guy was arrested he was trying to perform a terrorist attack with a "dirty bomb" and the good 'ole feds stopped him, BUT those claims now have been completely dropped, and replaced with an ambiguous charge of "..conspiring to provide support to terrorists.."
3. The sudden indictment comes right when the Bush administration was supposed to appear (under oath) before the Supreme Court on this issue and the rights of he and other detainees.. now this likely won't happen because the administration has pulled a nasty trick and claims there is no need for them to testify on the legality of their violation of peoples' civil rights.

How convenient. Justice isn't blind. Justice isn't sleeping. Justice has been tied up, bludgeoned and tossed into the trunk of Dick Cheney's car.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Brit Could Face 10 Years In Prison For Having The Wrong Opinion

Posted by Pile (6352 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


[Activists]
Prosecutors on Tuesday filed charges against British historian David Irving for allegedly violating an Austrian law that makes Holocaust denial a crime, an official said.

You may disagree with the guy's opinion, but it's still hard to justify a prison sentence for having an opinion, however politically-incorrect it may be.

READ MORE | 3 comments since 2005-11-29 17:51:45 | Comment on this Article

Myths and Realities of the USA Patriot Act

Posted by Pile (6017 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


Think that the USA Patriot Act is no big deal? That there haven't been abuses or that the new powers granted aren't worth worrying about, or will not affect you? You need to read this report.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Bush Pulls All Stops to Block Access to Abu Ghraib Photos

Posted by Pile (6177 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]

[Military]
While the rest of the world has known for a long time, the public photos from the abuse at the US-run Abu Ghraib prison are merely the tip of the iceberg. There are lots of credible reports indicating what took place there was far worse than is commonly known: murder, raping of young boys, etc, and the Administrtation is intentionally trying to stall further investigation into the issue by various authorities.
On July 22, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) denounced the latest efforts of the Bush Administration to block the release of the Darby photos and videos depicting torture at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison facility. On June 2, 2004, CCR, along with the ACLU, Physicians for Human Rights, Veterans for Common Sense, and Veterans for Peace filed papers with the U.S. District Court, charging the Department of Defense and other government agencies with illegally withholding records concerning the abuse of detainees in American military custody. Since then, the organizations have been repeatedly rebuffed in their efforts to investigate what happened at the prison.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Supreme Court Sets Another Scary Precedent

Posted by Pile (5731 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


In the case of Grokster vs MGM, the court basically ruled that there was indeed a case for Grokster being liable for the copyright infringement perpetrated by the software's users.

With a precedent like this, almost any manufacturer of any object that could be used illegally might be held liable for the negligence of one of its users.

Think about it like this: Apparently the case centered around the degree to which these software products may have been designed to perpetrate illegal activity. Along those lines, wouldn't there be evidence to indicate that more guns are used illegally than legally and therefore all gun manufacturers should be held liable for the crimes committed by those using their products?

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Supreme Court: You Don't Own Your Own Land Anymore

Posted by Pile (8031 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


[Terroir-ism]
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses — even against their will — for private economic development.

It was a decision fraught with huge implications for a country with many areas, particularly the rapidly growing urban and suburban areas, facing countervailing pressures of development and property ownership rights.

The judges that voted that if some developer can claim taking your property will "create jobs" or help the community, they can: John Paul Stevens, Justice Anthony Kennedy, David H. Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer. Your supreme court at work, protecting your rights.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Congress May Now Stop You From Growing Your Own Vegetables

Posted by Pile (5858 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 against state medical marijuana laws, including Colorado's. The court's ruling was based on the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that "The Congress shall have power ... To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States..."

But how does someone growing a plant at home for personal use become a form of commerce "among the several states"? Nothing crossed a state line, nor did money change hands. It appears to be neither commerce nor interstate, so where does Congress get such authority? Answer: The Supreme Court's freakish interpretation.

The Denver Post has an excellent story outlining the misuse and abuse of the Commerce Clause, for which the Supreme Court is rapidly setting scary precedents which could give our government the authority to stop you from doing virtually anything that they claim would affect "interstate commerce." Growing your own vegetables would keep you from needing to buy from commercial institutions -- that's interfereing with interstate commerce. Want to ride a bike instead of buying a car? Uh oh! Use solar power? I wouldn't do that... it takes money away from larger corporations and the Supreme Court says Congress can now order you to stop such things. Scary!

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

FL Bill Lets Students Sue Teachers They Disagree With

Posted by Pile (5994 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


A group of republican lawmakers in Tallahassee, Florida have proposed a new bill that aims to stamp out “leftist totalitarianism” by “dictator professors” in the classrooms of Florida’s universities.

The Academic Freedom Bill of Rights [SIC], sponsored by Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, passed 8-to-2 despite strenuous objections from the only two Democrats on the committee.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Bush Administration Seeks To Secretize Everything

Posted by Pile (5899 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


Slate has a very scary article on how the Bush administration is pushing the boundaries of what previously public information should now be classified as secret and made unavailable to most people, citing terrorist concerns. What information may no longer be public? How about how taxpayer money is spent and Federal budgets, maps, old science archives that have been public for more than 50 years, government telephone directories, and much more. This plays right into the plan of the current administration to hide as much information on what the government is doing as it possibly can.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

Bush administration wants to hold terror suspects forever

Posted by Pile (5613 views) Add this story to MyYahoo Add this article to del.icio.us Submit article to Reddit Add story to Furl Add story to StumbleUpon [E-Mail link]


The Bush administration is preparing plans for possible lifetime detention of suspected terrorists, including hundreds whom the government does not have enough evidence to charge in courts, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

READ MORE | No comments | Comment on this Article

40 Articles displayed.

Pursuant to Section 230 of Title 47 of the United States Code (47 USC § 230), BSAlert is a user-contributed editorial web site and does not endorse any specific content, but merely acts as a "sounding board" for the online community. Any and all quoted material is referenced pursuant to "Fair Use" (17 U.S.C. § 107). Like any information resource, use your own judgement and seek out the facts and research and make informed choices.

Powered by Percleus (c) 2005-2047 - Content Management System

[Percleus 0.9.5] (c) 2005, PCS