By Dave Lindorff

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton and other big city cops
are calling for a new system of “citizen watch” programs, allegedly to
help them spot hidden terrorists. I view this new call for a nation of
private spies with a deep suspicion born of experience with the LAPD
and its historic penchant for spying on law-abiding residents of that
city.

By Dave Lindorff

President Barack Obama, referring to the violent attacks on
protesters against the controversial election results in Iran’s
just-completed presidential election, this week lectured Iran’s
government, saying, “Peaceful dissent should never be subject to
violence.”

Referring to the tens and hundreds of thousands of frustrated and
angry Iranians who have taken to the streets accusing Iranian
authorities of rigging the election in favor of incumbent President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Obama said that “the Iranian people and their
voices should be heard and respected."

But there is a certain hypocrisy going on here.

Attorney Oversight

My girlfriend was an abused housewife, years prior to her separation she had sought marriage and mental health counseling. I have been assaulted by the police twice, one time they were trespassing on a dark night, we thought that they were the abusive husband seeking to assault my girlfriend again. The second time we were in a CVS pharmacy that had camera's throughout the store, we were returning from the Emergency Room because my girlfriend had a reaction to medication that was being used to treat severe anxiety and depression.

We were also persecuted by an attorney because the stress caused by the stalking, assaults, threats and courts caused my girlfriend to hemmorage and have an abortion. We became murderers.

The Gannett national paper USA Today in its photo spread on the gowns of the stars at the Oscars called attention to the orange ribbon worn by the stunning-as-always actress Julie Christie, but failed to accurately describe the message.

Saying she wore a read gown adorned by a small orange ribbon, the paper claimed that the decoration pinned to her dress was to symbolize the ACLU. In fact, as we all know, and as anyone knows who pays any attention at all to what's going on out in grassroots America, that ribbon symbolizes the demand for the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Brava to Ms. Christie for her important statement.

And a big Thb-b-b-b-bth! to USA Today for not having a clue!

_______________

In at least one area, President Bush is on the run.

Congress should run him to ground.

The issue, which should be of concern to Democrats, Republicans and independents alike, is illegal spying on Americans by the National Security Agency.

Back in 2005, the New York Times (after unconscionably holding the story for a full year) exposed the fact that Bush, in late 2001, had authorized the NSA to illegally begin a wide-ranging program of monitoring the phone calls and internet communications of Americans in direct and blatant violation of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). That act had been passed by Congress in 1978 precisely because of a similar spying program authorized by President Richard Nixon. It had turned out Nixon was using the NSA illegally to spy on political opponents both outside and inside his own administration.

Fellow Oregonians,

If passed, Ballot Measure 43 would force physicians to send a certified letter by mail notifying parents before an older teen, 15, 16 or 17 years old could have an abortion. There is no exception for victims of rape or incest, and it pushes the most vulnerable teens AWAY from the care of trained professionals like nurses and counselors.

We need you help. Join the ACLU of Oregon and the No on Ballot Measure 43 campaign for a massive get-out-the-vote telephone effort to defeat Ballot Measure 43 -- the government-mandated “parental notification” ballot measure sponsored by Oregon Right to Life. Your help is needed to reach and sway undecided voters to defeat this dangerous measure.

"Fat" Tony Scalia makes no bones about it. He'd repeal Roe v. Wade if given the chance. And says as much in a televised debate with the ACLU's president, Nadine Strossen. The debate in and of itself is a milestone for Scalia who's had a penchant for banning the media from his public appearances. Is this a public rolling out of the radical right-wing judicial agenda?

Scalia debates head of ACLU on TV
Justice Antonin Scalia on Sunday defended some of his Supreme Court opinions, arguing that nothing in the Constitution supports abortion rights and the use of race in school admissions. Scalia, a leading conservative voice on the high court, sparred in a one-hour televised debate with American Civil Liberties Union president Nadine Strossen. He said unelected judges have no place deciding politically charged questions when the Constitution is silent on those issues. Arguing that liberal judges in the past improperly established new political rights such as abortion, Scalia warned, "Someday, you're going to get a very conservative Supreme Court and regret that approach."...