Censorship, Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, Human Rights, Surveillance, Truth to Power
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Jet Propulsion Engineers Win Injunction Over “Unconstitutional†Background Checks
Last year, twenty-eight senior scientists and engineers at Jet Propulsion Laboratory challenged the United States government and the California Institute of Technology in a lawsuit claiming that NASA’s new background investigations were unconstitutional. The scientists include members of the Mars Rover program are fighting Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 or (HSPD-12). This directive requires all federal employees and contractors to “voluntarily” sign a form allowing the government the right to investigate them “without limit” for two years- even if they leave government work during that time. NASA and Caltech employees were told, non-compliance will result in immediate termination.
In the interview Bob Nelson describes the drama in a Ninth Circuit Court decision: the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a temporary injunction at 4:40pm. The same day around 5pm, JPL managers were approaching the several hundred JPL employees who were non-compliant and reading them an order saying if you don’t comply by Monday, we will advertise your job. You have until 5pm today to decide.
A few minutes before 5pm Bob Nelson brought in a faxed copy of the order by the Ninth Circuit Court judge and told JPL managers that what they’ve done may be illegal, if you have a problem, consult your lawyer. The Ninth Circuit ruled that NASA and the DOJ were out of order and that Caltech was in the wrong for serving as an enforcer.
The lawsuit caused a lot of interest within Caltech alumni who then wrote to the board of trustees and later began to fund the lawsuit. Nelson says, “You can fight the system of a completely entrenched bureacracy that constantly rewrites the rule in their favor.”
Guest – Robert Nelson, Senior Research Scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratories and lead plaintiff in the JPL case.
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H.Bruce Franklin – War Stars: The Super Weapon and The American Imagination
Today we welcome cultural historian H Bruce Franklin, author of many books including The Most Important Fish In The Sea and one we will talk with him today titled War Stars: The Superweapon and The American Imagination. One review writes “this book reveals how and why the American quest for the ultimate defensive weapon, guaranteed to end all war and bring universal triumph to American ideals has led to the creation of forces increasingly capable of automated global annihilation.”
H.B. Franklin Interview Notes:
Franklin explores the influences of the collective imagination in movies, novels and stories from obscure pre-World War I fiction to modern classics such as Slaughterhouse Five and Dr. Strangelove. War Stars interweaves culture, science, technology and history to demonstrate how the American consciousness shapes ingenious new superweapons while creating its antithesis in art.
Guest – Bruce Franklin, American cultural historian who has authored or edited nineteen books on a range of subjects. As of 2008, he is the John Cotton Dana Professor of English and American Studies at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey. He first attained prominence as a Melville scholar and has served as president of the Melville Society. His award-winning books and teaching on science fiction played a major role in establishing academic study of the genre. His books on American prison literature have been said to open an entirely new field of study. His most recent work has focused on relations between the marine environment and American cultural history.
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Civil Liberties, Human Rights, Surveillance, Targeting Muslims, Truth to Power
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A National Model? LAPD Leads The Way In Local Counter-Terrorism.
Local police may be finding themselves on the frontlines of domestic counter-terrorism if a program launched recently by the Los Angeles Police Department is adopted in other large cities. Since 9/11 the government has tried to engage local police to do their counter-terrorism work for them, collecting so-called street level intelligence about suspicious activities that might predict another attack.
So far it hasn’t worked out that way. But an LAPD official has devised a possible solution that the LA Times calls “so cheap, so easy to implement and so innovative†that officials in DC are thinking of making it a national model for all police departments. What are the implications of the implications of having local police become intelligence officers. Jim Lafferty, Executive Director of the Los Angeles National Lawyers Guild says to start, many people may find themselves on more lists.
Guest – Jim Lafferty, Executive Director of the Los Angeles National Lawyers Guild, host of the Lawyer’s Guild Radio Program on Pacifica’s KPFK.
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The Radical Jack London: Writings on War and Revolution by Jack London, edited by Jonah Raskin
The Iron Heel, written by Jack London was one of the first dystopian novels chronicling a growing police state in the US. Part of the Iron Heel is also newly published in a reader titled The Radical Jack London, edited by Jonah Raskin. Reviews say that Jonah shows London to be America’s leading revolutionary writer at the turn of the twentieth century. Today we are joined in studio by Jonah Raskin and will examine comparisons of what London sets forth in his novel to what has happened to the United States since 9/11.
London set out to travel as a hobo by train, eventually arrested in Erie County, New York and spent time in a penitentiary. He wrote “The Road” which inspired Jack Kerouac. He spoke to bankers and businessmen about socialism and revolution. While wanting to meet the charismatic writer, the businessmen had listened but eventually responded, “we’re going to crush you.” London was a socialist, artist and propagandist.
Guest – Jonah Raskin, Professor and Chair of Communication Studies at Sonoma State University. He is also the author of American Scream: Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and the Making of the Beat Generation.
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Civil Liberties, Climate Change, Extraordinary Rendition, Guantanamo, Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, Impeachment, Iran, Iraq War, Surveillance, Targeting Muslims, Torture, Truth to Power
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House Judiciary Committee Hears Impeachment Resolution.
For nearly eight years, President Bush and Vice President Cheney have manipulated and lied to the U.S., and not without the help of Congress and the mainstream media. Here on Law and Disorder we’ve been with listeners during 4 of those 8 years, chronicling the injustices of the “global war on terror.” Now, in this late stage of the Bush/Cheney administration, Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich is pushing for impeachment. Last week the house voted 238 to 180 to send a single article of impeachment to the Judiciary Committee. The same committee that stopped Kucinich’s impeachment effort is allowing a hearing on Bush’s reasoning for taking the country to war in Iraq. In Kucinich’s words it is quote “deceiving Congress with fabricated threats of Iraq WMDs to fraudulently obtain support for an authorization of the use of military force against Iraq.” Kucinich: citizen petition.
If this article of impeachment is tabled, Kucinich says he would then begin to propose other articles. There are 35 articles of impeachment, among them are:
- Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government
- Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes,
- Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives, 4. Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act,
- Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to “Black Sites” Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture
House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers Jr. told Congressional Quarterly, “We’re not doing impeachment, but he can talk about it.†Kucinich says holding George W. Bush and Dick Cheney accountable now, could prevent an attack on Iran.
- Conyers Tries To Kill Impeachment Hearings Before They Start.
- Impeachment Hearing? – Do Not Accuse, Do Not Name Names, Do Not Say Impeach.
- CSPAN Coverage: Watch Impeachment Hearings.
Guest – Ohio Congressman, Dennis J. Kucinich
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The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.
Members of the Bush administration may soon be questioning if they will be prosecuted for war crimes. George W. Bush and other senior officials have enjoyed years of immunity from criminal lawsuits but, once out of office, they can be held accountable.
Bugliosi: Will U.S. State Attorney Generals and District Attorneys do the right thing?
In his latest book, The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder, Vincent Bugliosi lays out the legal framework of a meticulously researched case that puts George W. Bush on trial in an American courtroom for the murder of nearly 4,000 American soldiers fighting the war in Iraq.
One strategy in The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder is to establish jurisdiction in the cases for Attorney Generals in each state and also the approximately 900 district attorneys in the counties of those states. Bugliosi says it’s not unreasonable to believe that at least one prosecutor will be courageous enough to step up. Bugliois says, one of the key pieces of evidence to prosecute George W. Bush is the Manning Memo from January 31, 2003.
Manning Memo: In March 2003, Bush said that if Saddam Hussein did not give up his weapons of mass destruction, Iraq would face war. But earlier, in a January 31 closed-door meeting, Bush told his British buddy Tony Blair that the attack would take place even if no WMDs were found. Indeed, George and Tony candidly conceded that the discovery of such weapons was unlikely. This deliberate deception is revealed in a confidential five-page memo written by David Manning, Blair’s top foreign-policy advisor, who was at the meeting. Manning records that both Bush and Blair were uptight that the WMDs were not going to be found, so George W offered another fabrication to give them an excuse to attack. He suggested that the U.S. would paint one of our own surveillance planes in the colors of the United Nations and fly it over Iraq, hoping that Saddam would be provoked into shooting it down. Then the U.S. and Brits could invade, claiming that they were retaliating for Saddam’s attack on the UN.
Bugliosi: Points To Consider
- While young soldiers age 18, 19, who never had a chance to live out their dreams, were getting blown to pieces in Iraq. Bush was having a lot of fun and enjoying life to the very fullest.
- George Bush took 908 days off / about 36 percent of his presidency.
- Juxtaposing Hussein with 9/11 – then saying later Hussein was involved in a terrorist relationship with Al-Qaeda. Al Qaeda was trained in Iraq in making bombs and poison.
- You have troops over there in Iraq fighting thinking that its payback time … so you have this grotesque spectacle.
- The white paper that congress saw never had the intelligences of the 16 US agencies, that Hussein was not an imminent threat. Opinons were changed into facts while dissenting opinions deleted.
Guest – Vincent Bugliosi, former prosecutor and bestselling author of many books including The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder.
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Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, Guantanamo, Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, Iraq War, Supreme Court, Targeting Muslims, Torture, Truth to Power
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Update: Canadian Rendition Victim Maher Arar
Last month, in the Maher Arar case, the Federal Court of Appeals ruled a 2-1 majority refusing to hold US authorities accountable for complicity in torture abroad. As Law and Disorder listeners may remember, Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen, traveling back to Canada, was picked up at JFK airport in 2002, detained in solitary confinement for 2 weeks by the US government then deported to Syria where he was interrogated and tortured. Cases involving diplomatic assurances in North America.
Last year, a Canadian commission of inquiry cleared Arar of any links to terrorism and he was given a 10.5 million dollar settlement. Since then, the United States refused to clear his name and now this majority decision rules that his constitutional claims can not be heard in federal court for two reasons. The first reason was based on national security, the second because Mr. Arar, a dual citizen of Canada and Syria, does not have constitutional, due process rights.
Guest – Maria LaHood, Attorney with the Center For Constitutional Rights.
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Deepening Economic Crisis: How Deep, Where Is It Headed, Who is Accountable?
To many, the recent economic downturn could be a rough patch to a full collapse as a financial crisis hits the nation’s markets; add in that the United States is nine months into a significant acceleration in expected energy and food price increases. The distressful interaction is known as a “scissors crisis” among economists. We’ll also discuss the economic sub-genres, such as Military Keynesianism, GWOT spending, and housing markets. This, while Californians made a run on IndymacBank, the biggest bank crisis since 1984. Indymac was started by three former high level people from Countrywide.
Quote: “Even though Iraq is a bad idea, the value of the US military to this country is rising not falling.”
Guests – Rick Wolff, Professor of Economics at University of Massachusetts at Amherst Rick teaches at the Brecht Forum and the New School in New York City. (Read Rick’s article, Economic Blues in the Monthly Review)
Max Fraad Wolff , freelance researcher, strategist, and writer in the areas of international finance and macroeconomics. Max’s work can be seen at the Huffington Post, The AsiaTimes, Prudent Bear, SeekingAlpha and many other outlets.
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Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, Guantanamo, Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, Iraq Veterans, Iraq War, Supreme Court, Surveillance, Targeting Muslims, Torture, Truth to Power
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Abu Ghraib Torture Lawsuits Target Military Contractors in US Courts.
Four former Abu Ghraib detainees are suing two U.S. military contractor corporations and three individual contractors. The four were wrongly imprisoned, tortured and later released without charge. According to the complaints, the defendants abused detainees physically and mentally and then destroyed documents, videos and photographs; prevented the reporting of the torture and abuse to the International Committee of the Red Cross. They actually hid detainees and other prisoners from the Red Cross; and misled non-conspiring military and government officials about the state of affairs at the Iraq prisons.
The defendants are CACI International Inc. and CACI Premier Technology, Inc., of Arlington, Va.; L-3 Services Inc., an Alexandria, Va.-based division of L-3 Communications Corp. and three individual contractors, Adel Nakhla, of Maryland, Timothy Dugan, of Ohio, and Daniel Johnson, of Seattle.
Guest – Attorney Susan Burke with Burke O’Neil LLC.
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ACLU To Prevent Deportation Of Egyptian To Torture
The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Pennsylvania challenged the government’s efforts to deport an Egyptian torture victim of Sameh Khouzam. The government claims to be relying on unreviewable “diplomatic assurances” from Egypt that it will not torture him upon his return. Last January, in the first decision of its kind, a federal district court sided with the ACLU and ordered the government to stop the deportation of Sameh Khouzam based on such secret and unreliable promises and release him under conditions of supervision.
However, the Bush administration appealed this ruling, claiming that the executive branch has unfettered authority to deport Khouzam and to detain him indefinitely pending his legal proceedings. Khouzam, a Christian who came to the United States in 1998 fleeing religious persecution in Egypt and a charge of murder, was granted protection from deportation under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) in 2004. This after a federal appeals court found that he would likely be tortured if sent back to Egypt.
Guest – Lee Gelernt, senior staff attorney with ACLU who is working on Sameh’s case.
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Last week, Courage to Resist, Veterans for Peace, and Project Safe Haven took to the streets of major US cities in a national day of action. Recently, the Canadian Federal Court sided for the first time with a US war resister, disagreeing with the Immigration and Refugee Board decision and ordering a re-hearing for military deserter Joshua Key, his wife Brandi, and their four children.
Josh Key moved to Canada during a 2 week leave from the Army. On July 4th, 2008, Joshua Key won a Federal Court appeal thus forcing the Refugee board to re-examine his asylum claim of conscientious objector and Iraq war veteran. The court ruled that Key had been forced to systematically violate the Geneva Conventions as part of his military service in Iraq and that such misconduct amounts to a legitimate refugee claim.
In another case, former National Guard soldier Corey Glass of Fairmount Indiana is facing deportation from Canada. He was recently told that his application to stay in Canada for “humanitarian and compassionate†reasons has been rejected. This, as Pentagon officials suggest he has been discharged and the U.S. Army is not seeking to persecute Glass. But Glass’ lawyer, Alyssa Manning of Parkdale Legal Community Services, says the reports are untrue. Manning says quote “He would be a felon, he’d be criminally inadmissible to Canada; he’d potentially be imprisoned as well as subjected to non-traditional punishment such as ‘hazing’ (within the military)
Canada: Abide by resolution – Let U.S. war resisters stay!
Guest – Matthis Chiroux with Iraq Veterans Against the War.
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