February 2009


The government is criminalising legitimate dissent under the guise of fighting ‘extremism’, a word for which it has no definition

Seumas Milne Guardian U.K. 2/16/09

For most of the past century, Britain’s secret state bugged, blacklisted and spied on leftists, trade unionists and peace campaigners, as well as Irish republicans and anyone else regarded as a “subversive” threat to the established order. (more…)

Audit report highlights ‘permanent erosion’ of freedoms since 1997

By Michael Savage, Political Correspodent Independent U.K. 2/20/09

The full extent of state powers to detain people without charge, cover up Government errors, hold the DNA of the innocent and share personal data between public bodies has been revealed in a devastating analysis of the erosion of civil liberties in Britain over the past decade. (more…)

The retrial of six inner-city Miami men accused of supporting terrorism will get under way with opening statements Wednesday following three weeks of jury selection. (more…)

By Noam Chomsky and Sameer Dossani Foreign Policy In Focus 2/18/09

February 10, 2009 — Noam Chomsky is a noted linguist, author, and foreign policy expert. Sameer Dossani interviewed him about the global economic crisis and its roots.

SAMEER DOSSANI: In any first year economics class, we are taught that markets have their ups and downs, so the current recession is perhaps nothing out of the ordinary. But this particular downturn is interesting for two reasons: First, market deregulation in the 1980s and 1990s made the boom periods artificially high, so the bust period will be deeper than it would otherwise. (more…)

Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman talked to Luce Guillen-Givins who is one of the first people ever to be charged under the 2002 Minnesota version of the federal PATRIOT Act. Guillen-Givins and 7 other members of the group RNC Welcoming Committee – also known as the “RNC 8” – were formally charged with conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism. (more…)

Cross-party group of British politicians writes to US president as David Miliband defends himself over Mohamed case

Richard Norton-Taylor Guardian U.K. 2/19/09

A cross-party coalition of MPs and human-rights campaigners has written to Barack Obama calling on him to publish secret documents that allegedly contain evidence of US and British complicity in torture. (more…)

By John Pilger johnpilger.com 2/19/09

When I returned from the war in Vietnam, I wrote a film script as an antidote to the myth that the war had been an ill-fated noble cause. The producer David Puttnam took the draft to Hollywood and offered it to the major studios, whose responses were favourable — well, almost. (more…)

Glenn Greenwald Salon 2/17/09

David Rivkin and Lee Casey are right-wing lawyers and former Reagan DOJ officials who, over the last eight years, have been extremely prolific in jointly defending Bush/Cheney theories of executive power. Today, they have one of their standard Op-Eds, this time in The Washington Post, demanding that there be no investigations or prosecutions of Bush officials. (more…)

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