-
NSA Surveillance Watch: Two Lawsuits Filed Today to Seek End of President Bush’s NSA Electronic Surveillance Program
Legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights Bill Goodman,left, talks to media on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2006 in New York. This morning Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a lawsuit against President George W. Bush, the head of National Security Agency (NSA)and the heads of the other major security agencies, challenging the NSAs surveillance of persons within the U.S. without juridical approval or statutory authorization. An unidentified aide is in the background.
ASSociated Press: Groups Sue to Stop Domestic Spying Program
Two lawsuits were filed Tuesday in federal court that seek to end President Bush’s electronic eavesdropping program, saying it is illegal and exceeds his constitutional powers.
The lawsuits – one filed in New York by the Center for Constitutional Rights and the other in Detroit by the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups – say the program bypasses safeguards in a 1978 law requiring court approval of electronic monitoring.
Well, these groups have FINALLY done something besides bellow about President Bush’s NSA terrorist/Al Qaeda Surveillance program . Of course, they will lose at the United States Supreme Court but the attorneys will be very busy billing for the legal challenge which if successful will make America safer for terrorists.
Lawsuit #1:
The Center for Constitutional Rights is suing Bush, the head of the National Security Agency and the heads of the other major security agencies.
The organization, which represents hundreds of men held as enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, must now audit old communications to determine whether “anything was disclosed that might undermine our representation of our clients,” said Bill Goodman, the center’s director.
And Flap could care about terrorist or terrorist sympathizers who have been imprisoned as enemy combatants fighting against the United States? Why not just release them so they can continue their terrorist activities against Americans. The insanity of it ALL.
Lawsuit #2
The Detroit lawsuit, which names the National Security Agency and its director, said the program has impaired plaintiffs’ ability to gather information from sources abroad as they try to locate witnesses, represent clients, do research or engage in advocacy.
It was filed by the ACLU, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Greenpeace and individuals on behalf of journalists, scholars, attorneys and national nonprofit organizations that communicate with people in the Middle East, Asia and elsewhere.
A List of the plaintiffs with links is:
American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan
Council on American-Islamic Relations
Rabiah Ahmed
Arsalan T. IftikharNational Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Joshua Dratel (Statement)
Nancy Hollander (Statement)James Bamford, journalist/author (Statement)
Larry Diamond, Hoover Institution, Stanford University (Statement)
Christopher Hitchens, journalist/author (Statement)
Tara McKelvey, journalist/author
Barnett Rubin, New York University Center on International Cooperation
Background of Organizations and People Involved in the Lawsuit >>
The ACLU’s Press release is here: ACLU Sues to Stop Illegal Spying on Americans, Saying President Is Not Above the Law.
Andrew McCarthy at the National Review Online has How to “Connect the Dots†– Well, for one thing, you use surveillance.
Washington’s scandal du jour involves a wartime surveillance program President Bush directed the National Security Agency to carry out after al-Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001. The idea that there is anything truly scandalous about this program is absurd. But the outcry against it is valuable, highlighting as it does the mistaken assumption that criminal-justice solutions are applicable to national-security challenges.
Read it All
Michelle Malkin: YOU CAN’T “CONNECT THE DOTS…”
More blog reax to the ACLU lawsuit…
AJ Strata
All Things Beautiful
Stop the ACLU
Daily Pundit
Dread Pundit Bluto***
Jeff Goldstein helpfully translates the ACLU’s press release for you. Must-read.Stay tuned as the lawsuits progress through the federal court system and hearings begin in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Flap fears that the President will acquiesce to NSA program modifications before the United States Supreme Court rules on the existing program – thus rendering the lawsuits moot.
Will these modifications lead to a LESS SAFE America?
And who then will take the blame if another terrorist act takes place as a result of the failure to connect the dots……the ACLU, the Congress or President Bush?
Previous:
NSA Surveillance Watch: Specter Skeptical of Domestic Spy ProgramNSA Surveillance Leak Case Watch: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to Testify
NSA Surveillance Watch: AP Poll- Most Say U.S. Needs Warrant to Snoop? – RECYCLEDNSA Surveillance Leak Case Watch: Vice President Cheney Strongly Defends Eavesdropping Operation
Cox & Forkum: One Man’s Whistleblower
Global War on Terror Watch: Why the NSA Monitors Communications of Al-Qaida
NSA Surveillance Leak Case Watch: President Bush Defends NSA SurveillanceNSA Leak Case Watch: New York Times’ Reporter James Risen
NSA Leak Case Watch: Justice Deptartment Probing Domestic Spying LeakNSA Surveillance Watch: President Had Legal Authority to OK Taps
NSA Surveillance Watch: Calls for Congressional Hearings
Technorati Tags: NationalSecurityAgency, NSA, AssociatedPress, NSASurveillance, NSALeakCase, NewYorkTimes, RasmussenPoll, ArlenSpecter
-
Iran Nuclear Watch: Russia and China Do NOT Support Sanctions Against Iran
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks in Moscow, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2006. Lavrov said Tuesday that referring Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions is not the best way to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis, urging all nations involved to keep nonproliferation as their paramount goal. The permanent members of the Security Council, the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China, agreed during a meeting in London on Monday that Iran must fully suspend its nuclear program.
Reuters: Russia, China want talks not sanctions on Iran
Russia and China made clear on Tuesday they did not favor U.N. sanctions to induce Iran to scale back its nuclear program, and Tehran urged the European Union to return to the negotiating table.
A senior British official dismissed as “vacuous” the Iranian offer, contained in a letter from Javad Vaeedi, deputy head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Tehran should first halt all uranium enrichment work.
“Talks presuppose an obligation. The Iranian obligation was to stick to the moratorium,” Lavrov said. “Now Iran (has departed from) the moratorium on scientific research.”
Britain, France and Germany called off the talks last week after Tehran resumed uranium enrichment research, deepening Western suspicions that it is bent on acquiring the bomb.
Washington and its EU allies say it is time the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency sent Iran’s case to the U.N. Security Council, which could eventually decide to impose sanctions on Iran.
More evidence that the United States and Israel are ALONE in dealing with the Iran Nuclear Program.
The United States should prepare for an Iran waterway blockade and/or a military operation to seriously impair Iranian nuclear facilities.
All of this blah blah blah allows Iran to further improve their program to enrich uranium.
Previous:
Technorati Tags: Iran, Russia, China, SergeiLavrov, UnitedNations, UnitedNationsSecurityCouncil, EuropeanUnion
-
Michael Ramirez on Samuel Alito Confirmation Hearings
Technorati Tags: MichaelRamirez, SamuelAlito, SupremeCourt
-
Clarence Ray Allen Executed
In this photo released of Benjamin Vaughn, lower right, with his great uncle Clarence Ray Allen, lower left, and Allen’s son Roger Allen, upper left, and his wife, Dell Ray Allen, upper right, inside San Quentin Prison in San Quentin, Calif., Monday, Jan. 16, 2006, before the execution of Allen. Allen, 76, was sentenced to death for ordering the slaying of three people at a Fresno, Calif., market while he was behind bars in 1980 for another murder.
ASSociated Press: California Executes Oldest Inmate
California executed its oldest death row inmate early Tuesday, minutes after his 76th birthday, despite arguments that putting to death an elderly, blind and wheelchair-bound man was cruel and unusual punishment.
Clarence Ray Allen was pronounced dead at 12:38 a.m. at San Quentin State Prison. He became the second-oldest inmate put to death nationally since the Supreme Court allowed capital punishment to resume in 1976.
Allen, who was blind and mostly deaf, suffered from diabetes and had a nearly fatal heart attack in September only to be revived and returned to death row, was assisted into the death chamber by four large correctional officers and lifted out of his wheelchair.
Death penalty opponent Linda Avalos gives the peace sign as she holds a sign in front of San Quentin Prison in San Quentin, Calif., Monday, Jan. 16, 2006, before the scheduled execution of Clarence Ray Allen early Tuesday. Allen, 76, was found guilty of ordering the slaying of three people at a Fresno, Calif., market while was behind bars in 1980 for another murder.
FINALLY justice for his victims:
Mary Sue Kitts
Bryon Schletewitz
Douglas White
Josephine Rocha
The family of one of Allen’s victims, Josephine Rocha, issued a statement saying that “justice has prevailed today.”
“Mr. Allen abused the justice system with endless appeals until he lived longer in prison than the short 17 years of Josephine’s life,” the statement said.
And the final quote from the scum, Clarence Ray Allen, “It’s a good day to die. Thank you very much. I love you all. Goodbye.”
Justice in this case was justice delayed but not JUSTICE DENIED.A death penalty opponent holds a sign accusing California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of murder after the execution of convicted murderer Clarence Ray Allen at San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, California January 17, 2006. Allen, 76, who was deaf, legally blind and had difficulty walking, was pronounced dead at 12:38AM on Tuesday. Allen was convicted for ordering the murders of three people in 1980.
Previous:
Clarence Ray Allen Watch: United States Supreme Court Denies Stay of Execution
Clarence Ray Allen Watch: Federal Appeals Court Denies Reprieve
Clarence Ray Allen Watch: California Governor Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency
Clarence Ray Allen Watch: California Supreme Court Refuses to Block January 17 Execution
Clarence Ray Allen Watch: NO Clemency Hearing Vs. NO PUBLIC Clemency Hearing
Clarence Ray Allen Watch: NO Clemency Hearing
Clarence Ray Allen Watch: Americans With Disabilities Act – The Latest ExcuseClarence Ray Allen Watch: Asks for STAY of Execution
Clarence Ray Allen Watch: Petitions California Governor Schwarzenegger for Clemency
Technorati Tags: ClarenceRayAllen, JosephGrodin, ArnoldSchwarzenegger, SanQuentin
-
Day By Day by Chris Muir
Technorati Tags: DaybyDay, ChrisMuir, WalterCronkite