Friday, June 14, 2002

What happened the last time we gave the FBI free reign The SF Chronicle last weekend published an 8 page special section on how the FBI and Governor Reagan worked together to  stomp the student movement at Cal in the 60's, and to smear Clark Kerr's name with disinformation. A good and timely reminder of why all the restrictions that Ashcroft just took off the FBI were put on in the first place. See: http://sfgate.com/news/special/pages/2002/campusfiles/ Excerpts: The Chronicle's report was based on FBI records obtained after a 17-year legal battle under the Freedom of Information Act. The FBI refused to turn over many records on the grounds that they concerned law enforcement, but five federal judges found that many of the FBI's activities were unlawful and ordered more than 200,000 pages of the files released. The documents show that the FBI: -- Sent the White House a report on Kerr containing allegations that he was disloyal -- even though the bureau knew they were false. -- Schemed with then-CIA Chief John McCone to leak derogatory reports about students and faculty to Edwin Pauley, a senior member of the university's Board of Regents, who used them in his efforts to oust Kerr. -- Gave a secret briefing about alleged subversion on campus to Gov. Reagan, who had vowed to fire Kerr during his 1966 campaign for governor. Kerr was dismissed by UC's governing Board of Regents on Jan. 20, 1967, at the first board meeting attended by the newly elected Reagan. The whole thing started because In early 1960, Hoover became furious over an essay question on UC's English aptitude test for high school applicants that asked: "What are the dangers to a democracy of a national police organization, like the FBI, which operates secretly and is unresponsive to public criticism?" Sounds like a very Bush/Ashcroftian thing to get furious about. Permalink  9:39:59 AM   Google It!  What do you think?  [] comments.

Shredding the constitution, continued According to the Washington Post, Bush has decided to have the military hold Jose Padilla, US citizen, indefinitely, and not to put him on trial. Bush claims "even citizens can qualify as "enemy combatants" ­ the legal term the Justice Department argues allows a person to be held without trial" and "the executive branch alone has the power to decide when a person qualifies as a combatant". It turns out, according to another Washington Post article, that Ashcroft had planned to try Padilla, but didn't have enough evidence. The Justice department held him for a month in jail, but two days before the Justice department was going to be required to bring him to a secret hearing in front of a judge, they declared him a "enemy combatant" and transferred him to the military. When the President can declare a citizen an enemy and have the army grab him and lock him up, we aren't living in a democracy. Permalink  9:36:58 AM   Google It!  What do you think?  [] comments.