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Friday, January 6, 2006
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Fast, Loose, and Out of Control. DN> Three influential Republicans Senators are condemning President Bush for claiming he has the authority to ignore a new law banning the torture of prisoners during interrogations. Bush signed the torture ban just last week. But he also quietly issued what is known as a signing statement in which he lays out his interpretation of the new law. In this document Bush declared that he will view the interrogation limits in the context of his broader powers to protect national security. Legal experts say this means Bush believes he can waive the anti-torture restrictions. This is not sitting well with some Republican Senators, including John Warner, who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, John McCain and Lindsey Graham. Graham told the Boston Globe, "I do not believe that any political figure in the country has the ability to set aside any law of armed conflict that we have adopted or treaties that we have ratified." [John Robb's Weblog]
This isn't at all surprising. After all, the new law just says that the government has to abide by the existing laws that already made torture illegal. Since Bush was perfectly willing to ignore those laws, why would anybody expect him to suddenly start abiding by them now just because Congress said "pretty please?"
5:41:26 PM 
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Man Shot 25 times by Police, Charged with Attempted Murder. Officer Howard Morgan was pulled over by police for driving without his lights on. Within minutes he was shot 25 times by police. Miraculously, he survived. As a result of the incident, Morgan is charged with four counts of attempted murder against police officers, three counts of aggravated battery and a weapons charge. Despite a background in law enforcement and a clean record, bond was set at $2,000,000. Can you guess his race?
Morgan, a Chicago police officer for eight years and currently a railroad officer, says, "Only through God's grace do I sit before you to talk to you."
Morgan's attorneys say he never shot at police."Howard has committed no crime whatsoever," said retired Judge Leo Holt, who is representing Morgan. "In my years as a practicing attorney and the 18 years that I sat on the bench, I've never seen a bond like it," Holt added. "People charged with murder who were out on less bond."
The police claim a man with long experience in law enforcement became so upset at a minor traffic stop that he fired on officers and had to be shot 25 times. He survived to tell his tale, so he was charged with the attempted murder of the officers who shot him 25 times. His bond was also set at $2,000,000, making it nearly impossible to bail out. It would be very convenient for certain people if he were killed in the Cook County Jail, wouldn't it? Read the complete article and decide for yourself if the police account sounds credible. By noemail@noemail.org (Michael Paladin). [Police State USA]
The article mentions that two of the cops were also shot. Reading between the lines, here's what I suspect happen:
Some cops notice a black man driving a nice car (that he can afford because he's also a cop) and automatically assume he must have stolen it. They pull him over and call in lots of backup, then pull him out of the car to search him. At this point, while the trigger-happy cops are standing all around him in a semi-circle, one of them notices the gun he's carrying (because he too is a cop) and they all start blasting away. And since they're standing in a semi-circle, and cops are notoriously bad shots, they manage to shoot each other as well as the victim. At this point they panic and make up a story about how the victim fired first.
9:23:18 AM
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From kaba:
"By a very conservative estimate, a hundred million people have died
at the hands of their own governments in this century. Given that
record, how bad could anarchy be?" -- Joseph Sobran
[End the War on Freedom]
9:13:37 AM
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#
Higgs at The Independent Institute -
Traveling Sheep - commentary on the Taking Scissors Away goons'
change, in mid-December, of their "rules": more searches and a few
formerly-banned items allowed. No real change. It's still the case
that the only reason for the airport sekurity gauntlet is to turn
Americans into good sheep for the new police state. [cafe]
If airplanes have not been hijacked and air travel has not been
substantially disrupted (except by the government's security measures)
during the past four years, it is probably because nobody really tried
very hard to achieve these objectives. If someone had made a serious
attempt, he almost certainly would have succeeded. (Forget that moron,
the shoe bomber; besides, even he was thwarted only by the passengers'
quick reactions.) Of course, one thing such a determined malefactor
would not have tried was a plan that exposed his efforts to discovery
or interruption by the airport security system. The generals, it is
said, always prepare for the last war. Likewise, the TSA prepares to
prevent the last hijacking. Or pretends to do so.
In view of what a farce the whole degrading, obnoxious, contemptible,
outrageous system actually is, one has to wonder why it was put in
place to begin with and why it remains in place years later in more or
less its initial form. Perhaps we can find a clue in the recent
statement of BWI Airport spokesman Jonathan Dean: "The traveling
public is accustomed to security protocols and procedures." Therefore,
do not worry about the recent amendments to the system: "The new
actual changes aren't dramatic."
Which is to say, the system remains much as it was before: a
degrading, obnoxious, contemptible, outrageous farce. It's also a
blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,
although the government's lap-dog judges say otherwise. I know that I
am not the only person in America who looks at this thuggery as I
do. So what's going on?
[End the War on Freedom]
More from the article:
Strange as it might seem, most people get used to being treated as criminals or inmates in a concentration camp. Americans are no exception. Keep beating them down, and eventually you will produce a thoroughly cowed and compliant herd, a mass of pliant raw material in the hands of their political masters, perfectly willing to sacrifice their dignity rather than irritate an airport-security thug and be made to miss a flight. And heaven forbid that they write their congressional representative to complain. Such impudence might get them placed on some black list at the TSA or even at the FBI. Best to keep quiet, stay in line, act as they are ordered to act. Even making jokes, an airport sign I saw in Houston warned, might result in your arrest; so nobody jokes.
9:03:15 AM
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© Copyright
2006
Ken Hagler.
Last update:
2/1/2006; 1:30:12 PM.
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