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May 5th, 2008
Cyclone kills nearly 4,000 in Myanmar
27 minutes ago
By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON (Reuters) - A devastating cyclone killed nearly 4,000 people and left thousands more missing in army-ruled Myanmar, which has yet to accept international offers of disaster assistance, state media said on Monday.
The death toll only covered two of the five declared disaster zones, where U.N. officials said hundreds of thousands of people were without shelter and drinking water in the impoverished Southeast Asian country.
"The confirmed number is 3,934 dead, 41 injured and 2,879 missing within the Yangon and Irrawaddy divisions," Myanmar TV reported three days after Cyclone Nargis, a storm with winds of 190 kph (120 mph), hit the Irrawaddy delta.
Earlier, official reports put the death toll at 351, but the number of casualties had been expected to rise as authorities reached hard-hit islands and villages in the delta, the rice bowl for the nation of 53 million.
Tomgram: Endless War
The Last War and the Next One
Descending into Madness in Iraq -- and BeyondBy Tom Engelhardt
The last war won't end, but in the Pentagon they're already arguing about the next one.
Let's start with that "last war" and see if we can get things straight. Just over five years ago, American troops entered Baghdad in battle mode, felling the Sunni-dominated government of dictator Saddam Hussein and declaring Iraq "liberated." In the wake of the city's fall, after widespread looting, the new American administrators dismantled the remains of Saddam's government in its hollowed out, trashed ministries; disassembled the Sunni-dominated Baathist Party which had ruled Iraq since the 1960s, sending its members home with news that there was no coming back; dismantled Saddam's 400,000 man army; and began to denationalize the economy. Soon, an insurgency of outraged Sunnis was raging against the American occupation.
After initially resisting democratic elections, American occupation administrators finally gave in to the will of the leading Shiite clergyman, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, and agreed to sponsor them. In January 2005, these brought religious parties representing a long-oppressed Shiite majority to power, parties which had largely been in exile in neighboring Shiite Iran for years.
Now, skip a few years, and U.S. troops have once again entered Baghdad in battle mode. This time, they've been moving into the vast Sadr City Shiite slum "suburb" of eastern Baghdad, which houses perhaps two-and-a-half million closely packed inhabitants. If free-standing, Sadr City would be the second largest city in Iraq after the capital. This time, the forces facing American troops haven't put down their weapons, packed up, and gone home. This time, no one is talking about "liberation," or "freedom," or "democracy." In fact, no one is talking about much of anything.
And no longer is the U.S. attacking Sunnis. In the wake of the President's 2007 surge, the U.S. military is now officially allied with 90,000 Sunnis of the so-called Awakening Movement, mainly former insurgents, many of them undoubtedly once linked to the Baathist government U.S. forces overthrew in 2003. Meanwhile, American troops are fighting the Shiite militia of Muqtada al-Sadr, a cleric who seems now to be living in Iran, but whose spokesman in Najaf recently bitterly denounced that country for "seeking to share with the U.S. in influence over Iraq." And they are fighting the Sadrist Mahdi Army militia in the name of an Iraqi government dominated by another Shiite militia, the Badr Corps of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, whose ties to Iran are even closer.
Ten thousand Badr Corps militia members were being inducted into the Iraqi army (just as the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was demanding that the Mahdi Army militia disarm). This week, an official delegation from that government, which only recently received Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with high honors in Baghdad, took off for Tehran at American bidding to present "evidence" that the Iranians are arming their Sadrist enemies.
Read More >>By Jo Mannies
May 5, 2008 @ 12:56 am
In Political Fix
According to an email from some Missouri supporters of Ron Paul, sent late Sunday night, the state Republican Party has scheduled a special “credentials meeting” for 10 a.m. Monday at the Blue Armory in Jefferson City.
At the meeting, according to the email, about 300 of the 1,900 elected delegates to the state GOP convention May 30-June 1 must disprove allegations that — presumably — accuse the targeted delegates of not being bona fide Republicans and/or not committed to supporting John McCain for president.
“The state Central Committee spent approximately $1,000 on certified mailings that do not even state the allegations,” said the email sent from one challenged delegate. “A small group of insiders in the Missouri Republican Party are attempting to prevent delegates, properly elected at their county caucuses, from attending the state Convention in Branson…
From the official end date of the fighting in early September 2007 until March 30th 2008, all of Majles Street was under the exclusive control of the Lebanese army. The amount of looting, arson and intentional destruction in Majles Street and in Nahr al-Bared Camp in general point to a systematic collective dispossession of the camp's residents by the Lebanese army.
The Lebanese army has so far strongly forbidden any filming or photographing in Nahr al-Bared. The army, their secret service and their local collaborators make sure that nobody breaks this unwritten law.
The 10-minute film documents the mentioned accusations in detail.
Full quality versions of this clip are available at: http://a-films.blogspot.com/2008/05/v...
Please check the a-films' website for further videos on Nahr al-Bared: http://a-films.blogspot.com
Miko Peled, The Electronic Intifada, 5 May 2008
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| (Nidal El-Khairy) |
Israel's assault on the people of Gaza is so horrendous that it will not soon be forgotten. This vicious attempt by Israel to destroy an entire nation has tipped the scales for good and Zionism will forever be remembered as a blemish in the history of the Jewish people. The people of Gaza, however, give us hope and they will forever be remembered for their courage and resilience during these trying times.
The people of Gaza, while being deprived of rights and resources, still find the inner strength and the belief in their destiny to send their children to school. There are close to 800,000 children living in Gaza; they make up more than half of the population. The mothers and fathers and teachers of Gaza are creating hope where others see none, and they are building a future where some would claim there is none. But the price of education in Gaza is dear as the number of children targeted by Israeli violence rises continuously.
In a previous article ("It's time to visit Gaza") I quoted from journalist Charles Glass' The Tribes Triumphant and I wish to do so again here. Glass, unlike CNN or any other news agency is not obsessed with violence but is impressed as we all should be by the children: "Thousands and thousands of children's feet padding the dusty paths between their mother's front doors and their schools ... Beautiful youngsters so innocent that they could laugh even in Gaza." One can only imagine the mothers preparing lunches for these children, and making sure their clothes are ready and clean as they send them off to school. But the road to school in Gaza is an uncertain one, and risk of death by Israeli death squads is imminent.
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By: Uri Avnery
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"When our Zionist fathers decided to set up a "safe haven" in Palestine, they had the choice between two paths:
, like the Spanish conquistadores and the Anglo-Saxon colonialists in America. Like, in their time, the Crusaders in Palestine.
***
They [the Zionists] brought with them the world-view of a bridgehead, a vanguard of Europe. This world-view gave birth to the Wall as a national symbol. It has to be changed entirely.
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When President Bush appointed General David Petraeus Commander (head) of the Multinational Forces in Iraq, his appointment was hailed by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post as a brilliant decision
. 05.05.2008
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“The Israeli flag is proudly displayed above the Sacred Ark alongside the American flag…”( in an orthodox synagogue in wealthy Georgetown, Washington DC. The entrance fee to the synagogue is $1000 for a single holiday.) “On each Sabbath the prayers include the benediction for the Israeli Jewish soldiers and the prayer for the welfare of the Israeli government and its officials. Many Jewish American Administration pray there. They not only don’t try to conceal their religious affiliation, but go to great lengths to demonstrate their Judaism since it may help their careers greatly. The enormous Jewish influence in Washington is not limited to the government. In the Washingtonian, medias a very significant part of the most important personages and of the presenters of the most popular programs on the TV are warm Jews…and let us not forget,in this context, the Jewish predominance in the Washingtonian
academic institutions.”
Avinoam Bar-Yosef (the Israeli daily newspaper) Ma’riv September 2, 1994 (translated by Israel Shahak).
***
The advance of Petraeus is a victory of the Zionist Power Configuration in its quest for American military leaders willing to pursue Israel’s agenda of sanctions and war against Iran. That is why the ZPC was a factor in the ousting of Admiral William Fallon, and why the main propaganda bulletin (the Daily Alert) of the Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations worked for and hailed his promotion to military overseer of the Middle East wars.
AIPAC and their bought and bonded Senators ensured Petraeus an easy time during his confirmation hearing and his unanimous endorsement. His appointment marks the first time that the Zionist Power Configuration has trumped the views and opinions of the majority of active and retired American military officers. How far Petraeus will go in ‘paying back’ his debt to his long-term Zionist backers for his meteoric rise remains to be seen. What is certain is that they will demand that he line up with the State of Israel in pushing forth toward a war with Iran.
It is neither military honor, nor patriotism, which will restrain Petraeus from pursuing the Zionist War for Israel agenda – but his future presidential ambitions. He will have to calculate whether a second Middle East war, which will please Israel and billionaire American (?) Zionist political fundraisers can offset voter discontent resulting from a war in which the price of oil will rise to $300 dollars a barrel and cost several tens of thousands of American casualties, will further his political ambitions.
The US has degenerated into a sorry state of affairs when its future course depends on the political calculus of a reckless General, a failed counter-insurgency ‘expert’ and ambitious politician pandering to billionaire political contributors working for a foreign colonial power.
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Deborah Palfrey AKA "D.C. Madam" Suicide Notes
9/11 Conspiracy Connection To DC Madam Murder
Palfrey told former NSA official that call girls had picked up information concerning foreknowledge of attacks
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Monday, May 5, 2008
Former NSA analyst and Navy intelligence officer Wayne Madsen tells the The Alex Jones Show that one of the key motives behind the DC Madam's murder may have been the information her call girls picked up from Washington's top brass concerning foreknowledge and government complicity in the 9/11 attacks.
Madsen also connected another suspicious death - that of former CIA agent Roland Carnaby who was gunned down by Houston police last week - to another individual who was involved in both the 9/11 cover-up and the D.C. Madam scandal, disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Noting that Palfrey and her defense team had tried to invoke the Classified Information Procedures Act in the U.S. District Court in Washington, which is only used when classified information or the names of people who are intelligence officers needs to be discussed, Madsen said Palfrey, "Had information which could have a bearing on the 9/11 attacks that some of her employees may have picked up information beforehand that would have been very useful to the 9/11 investigation."
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Sixty Years of Palestinian Displacement, Occupation and Suffering
by Stephen Lendman
On May 14, Israelis will commemorate the 60th anniversary of their "War of Independence" and founding of the Jewish State. It also marks 60 years of Palestinian Nakba suffering. The web site alnakba.org recounts the history:
***
Jews in Israel and around the world will commemorate May 14. It's the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel's founding. Thousands of other Jews everywhere along with everyone of conscience stand with the Canadian Palestine Support Network (CalPalNet). They cannot celebrate. They will not celebrate. They remember the Nakba. They know it continues. They condemn 41 years of occupation; the starving and bombing of Gaza; the oppressive Separation Wall; the theft of Palestinian land; the building of illegal settlements; the denial of the right of return; the killings, torture, imprisonment and harassment; the denial of basic human rights; and Israel's disdain for international law.
They "can (and) will continue (their) efforts to end these injustices, uphold international law," and support every UN resolution demanding it. "This is the only road map to peace." They, with millions of others, won't ever stop working for it."
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Indiana files to collect $360,000 from voting systems vendor MicroVote General Corp. for 198 violations of Indiana election law but continues to use them in the upcoming primary and general elections
MicroVote and ES&S Negligence Places Indiana Primaries in Jeopardy
Bev Harris
Posted on Sunday, May 4, 2008
In April 2008 when Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita announced the release of "record high" voter registration rolls, with 4.3 million voters set to vote in the Tuesday May 6 primary, he didn't mention that a whopping 1,134,427 voter registrations have been cancelled.
Now, the voter rolls are supposed to be tidied up prior to each election. Indiana's last general election was in Nov. 2006, and they have had a slew of special and general elections since then. So how have 1.1 million voters -- 26 percent of the current statewide list -- escaped the regularly scheduled voter registration cleanup squads? Who are these million voters and where do they come from?
One quarter-million of them come from just two northwestern Indiana counties: Lake and Porter. Lake County reports purging 137,164 voters and neighboring Porter County cancelled out 124,958 voters.
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Mohamad Shmaysani
05/05/2008
The repercussions of the revelation by the Filkka-Israel site of a massive security operation in Beirut's southern suburb have started to surface. According to the Israeli site, the huge security operation was supposed to deal a severe blow to Hezbollah by targeting one of its main cadres in Dahiyeh on April 25, but it was called off at the last minute. The operation was to take place with the coordination of Lebanese sides including MP Walid Jumblatt.
Israeli Internal Security forces stormed into the house and office of Professor Beni Simon, who revealed this critical information. They confiscated documents, his personal computer, CD's and all of his archive which apparently include documented information about the operation and the sides involved in it.
The Shabak gave further credibility to the Israeli professor's revelation and rushed to interrogate Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over how this critical piece of information was leaked from his office.
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Hezbollah Supporters Enforce General Strike With Burning Cars, Gun Battles
Saniora and Team Open Heavy Fire on Hezbollah
Beirut Declares Hezbollah Telecom Network Illegal
The writer Gordon along with Judith Miller provided us with the Saddam/Wmd frameup.
Related
Former UN weapons inspector says attack on Iran 'virtual guarantee'
BAGHDAD — Militants from the Lebanese group Hezbollah have been training Iraqi militia fighters at a camp near Tehran, according to American interrogation reports that the United States has supplied to the Iraqi government.
An American official said the account of Hezbollah’s role was provided by four Shiite militia members who were captured in Iraq late last year and questioned separately.
The United States has long charged that the Iranians were training Iraqi militia fighters in Iran, which Iran has consistently denied, and there have been previous reports about Hezbollah operatives in Iraq.
Reuters
"The basic message was that they believe the provisional death toll was about 10,000 with 3,000 missing," a Yangon-based diplomat told Reuters in Bangkok, summarising a briefing from Foreign Minister Nyan Win. "It's a very serious toll."
The scale of the disaster from Saturday's devastating cyclone drew a rare acceptance of outside help from the diplomatically isolated generals, who spurned such approaches in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
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| May 5, 2008 |
| Assassins of Peace The "war on terrorism" now consists of a worldwide campaign to fund the "good" terrorist groups |
| by Justin Raimondo |
| CNN reports that George W. Bush, with his disapproval rating shooting past 70 percent, is the most unpopular president in modern American history, or as long as they've been polling the question – less beloved than Richard Nixon in the weeks prior to his resignation, and, I'd guess, more despised than George III in 1776. Bush II is identified primarily in the public mind with the bane of his presidency, the Iraq war, and support for that, too, has reached a new low at 30 percent. Enthusiasm for our Iraqi misadventure hasn't cracked 35 percent in many months, in spite of all the malarkey about the "success" of the recent escalation. The domestic accompaniment of the "surge" in Iraq is the rising tide of sheer hatred directed at the War Party and all its works and minions. Yet they don't have anything to worry about this election year: the warmongers can continue on their mad course, oblivious to public opinion, or so they seem to believe, because a U.S. strike at Iran is clearly in the cards. The only question is when. As we count the days to the end of the Bush II era, the likelihood that the worst president in our history will go out with a bang increases on a daily basis. The latest evidence that zero hour approaches is reported by Andrew Cockburn, author, most recently, of Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic Legacy, and co-producer of the PBS documentary on Iraq The War We Left Behind. According to Cockburn, Bush has signed a presidential finding that greatly increases both the scope and seriousness of covert attempts to destabilize Iran and pave the way for war. |
Nir Rosen
Note from Steve Clemons. My colleague and friend Nir Rosen who has been one of America's most significant chroniclers of the Islamic dimensions of America's war in the Middle East has just become a regular contributer to The Washington Note. Please welcome him. And as always, the views he expresses are exclusively his own and not those necessarily of The Washington Note or mine. -- Steve Clemons
In June of 2003, two months after the United States conquered Iraq, I sat in on a briefing given by US Army intelligence officers in that most Sunni of Iraq's cities, Tikrit, to a couple of officers visiting from Baghdad. One of the American intelligence officers based in Saddam's famous hometown explained that they were worried about "Shiite fingers" from Iran "creeping" up to Tikrit to establish an Iranian style government.
At a time when the mostly Sunni Iraqi resistance had already established itself and its ability was improving, I was astounded by how stupid the notion of an Iranian threat in Tikrit was. I have remained shocked, like many journalists and academics familiar with the region and its languages, that the Americans have shown no improvement in their understanding of the Muslim world with which they are so deeply engaged militarily and as an imperial power.
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By Daniel Miessler on May 4th, 2008:
- Another terrorism incident here in the U.S. with a link to a group supposedly financed out of Iran, e.g. Hezbollah. Faux News shows the dead Americans and runs video of Hezbollah training camps and our nation of mouthbreathers spins up into another war frenzy.
- Iran “attacks” an American or Israeli military asset, e.g. plane, boat, etc. We respond by “returning” fire and the war starts when Iran defends itself.
- We find “proof” that Iran is making nuclear weapons for the purpose of waging war. We show some mushroom clouds and pictures of Jesus and get the illiterates ready for battle.
Thursday, April 3, 2008 3:36 PM EDT
The Project Manager for the Delaware Academy for Public Safety and Security, New Castle Attorney Thomas Little, signed a contract with Innovative Schools, a professional firm which will coordinate the mechanics of preparing the school for its eventual opening.
The process to find and fund a site for as many as six-hundred young men and women in Wilmington's inner city is underway.
Curriculum choices for students, who are to be called Cadets, range from SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) through prison guard, water rescue, paramedic, fireman, professional demolition and emergency response operator, according to a Board statement.
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Article published May 4, 2008
Report: U.S. not as 'free' as touted
May 4, 2008
By Betsy Pisik - NEW YORK — The U.S. political system is, at best, "a work in progress" according to an evaluation from the pro-democracy group Freedom House, which finds significant flaws in the U.S. criminal justice system, counterterrorism strategies and the treatment of minorities and immigrants.
In a 300-page report, titled "Today's American: How Free?", to be released tomorrow, the group subjects the United States to the scrutiny it more often applies to the Belaruses and Tajikistans of the world.
Despite concerns, today's America is "quite free," according to group, which constantly places the United States in the top tier with two dozen other nations based on civil liberties and political rights in its annual reports on freedoms around the world.
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May 4th, 2008
Gareth Porter, independent historian and journalist, discusses the war party’s many excuses to justify attacking Iran, how Cheney has been delayed in the attack by Sadr’s ability to strike at Americans in Iraq in response, Cheney’s successful gambit of trapping Rice and Gates into agreeing that the Mahdi Army must be defeated, how Admiral Fallon lost the fight with General Petraeus and his job because he wanted to bring most troops home by 2009 and how the U.S. military has it’s hands full by fighting against the majority of the majority in the Mahdi Army.
MP3 here. (36:05)
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Feds take over NCC fairgrounds for May training exercise
By PAT KINNEY
Courier News Editorand JENS KROGSTAD
Courier Staff Writer
WATERLOO--- Normal operations on the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds have been suspended for most of May as the federal government has leased out virtually the entire facility for a training exercise, NCC general manager Doug Miller said Saturday.
Miller said he could release few details. But activity on the NCC fairgrounds was apparent Saturday, as contractors installed massive generators adjacent to many buildings on the NCC fairgrounds and windows of many of the buildings were covered up, blocking views of any work going on inside. A number of large mobile home-size trailers also have taken up residence on the site in the past several weeks.
Miller said the federal government is leasing the fairgrounds through May 25 under an agreement approved by the NCC board. He and others close to NCC said no entity has leased out the entire fairgrounds for that long a period.
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WASHINGTON, May 3 (IPS) - Five years since U.S. president George W. Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech, critics say the administration has yet to show a credible way to actually "accomplish" the mission that could see a peaceful Iraq and a return home of U.S. troops.
Though the 2007 revamping of the counter-insurgency strategy, known as the "surge", has markedly reduced violence, political turmoil and ethno-sectarian strife still plague Iraq.The U.S. surge and its concurrent positive developments did create political space, but meaningful moves towards comprehensive political accords and reconciliation have yet to follow, said a pair of new Iraq reports from the International Crisis Group (ICG).
For example, the Sunni awakening, or Sahwa movement, that helped to slow violence in much of Baghdad and Anbar province by bringing in former insurgents and incorporating them into U.S.-funded militias, for example, leaves a new Sunni political landscape.
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Daily Star staff
Monday, May 05, 2008
SIDON: German ambassador to Lebanon Hansjorg Haber said on Sunday after visiting Palestinian refugee camps in the South that his country fully supported the Lebanese efforts and the government's initiative in improving the refugees' living conditions. Haber said that the harsh living conditions that Palestinian had to endure shocked him "and went beyond anything he ever saw or heard in the media."
However, the ambassador expressed satisfaction with the security situation within the camps as he safely walked around the streets of Sidon's Ain al-Hilweh camp, renowned for its instability.
"There is nothing to fear. I feel safe and the situation seems to be stable," he said.
Haber visited a number of medical and health institutions as well as cultural sites inside the camps.
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121, May 2008
The Nakba
By Ingrid Jaradat Gassner and Hazem Jamjoum
At the beginning of the 20th century, most Palestinians lived inside the borders of Palestine, which is now divided into Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. At that time, Palestine was one of several Arab territories that were part of the Ottoman Empire, and the indigenous Arab population aspired for independence and sovereignty.
There was good reason for optimism because the British High Commissioner in Egypt had promised that Britain would support Arab independence in exchange for support of the Allied war effort to bring down the Ottoman regime (MacMahon-Hussein correspondence),i and US President Woodrow Wilson had announced his doctrine of self-determination for the post-World War I order.ii Moreover, the victorious states of the First World War appeared to abide by these promises. The Anglo-French Declaration (1918), for example, stated that the goal was
By Ingrid Jaradat Gassner and Hazem Jamjoum
At the beginning of the 20th century, most Palestinians lived inside the borders of Palestine, which is now divided into Israel and the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. At that time, Palestine was one of several Arab territories that were part of the Ottoman Empire, and the indigenous Arab population aspired for independence and sovereignty.
There was good reason for optimism because the British High Commissioner in Egypt had promised that Britain would support Arab independence in exchange for support of the Allied war effort to bring down the Ottoman regime (MacMahon-Hussein correspondence),i and US President Woodrow Wilson had announced his doctrine of self-determination for the post-World War I order.ii Moreover, the victorious states of the First World War appeared to abide by these promises. The Anglo-French Declaration (1918), for example, stated that the goal was
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'Children Killed In Gaza' video taken down by Youtube - New copy here!
We didn’t mean to kill them
B. Michael
Published: 05.04.08, 10:20 / Israel Opinion
We really didn’t mean to do it. Again we didn’t mean to do it. We have never meant to do it. Yet as usual, even though we didn’t mean it – we hit them. We hit them 1,000 times already without meaning to do it. We have killed a total of 1,000 Palestinian children since the second Intifada broke out on September 29, 2000. A thousand.
We already have a special procedure for cases where a Palestinian child dies as a result of a misfired missile, a misaimed shell, an unfocused helicopter, or a distracted sniper. At first, we deny a child even died. Later we argue that his own people killed him. Later we issue explanations and excuses and scenarios that only become dumber with the passage of time.
Then comes the turn of the “investigating officer” (it will never be an investigating judge, a scrutinizing observer, or an inquisitive civilian. It’s always an officer) who proceeds to issue some nonsense that clears us of any wrongdoing. Ultimately, we declare that the evil Arabs are at fault, because they take cover among civilians.
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Abbas’s moment of truth |
| [ 04/05/2008 - 11:53 PM ] |
 |
| News Analysis by Khalid Amayreh
Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas feels quite depressed these days, having been unceremoniously told by President Bush that the US administration won’t pressure Israel to halt Jewish settlement expansion nor commit itself to a total Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967. Some of Abbas’s aides have described his recent visit to Washington as the “straw that broke the camel’s back.” Abbas himself described the visit as “a clear failure.” One Palestinian commentator from Ramallah labeled the visit “ a gigantic and monumental fiasco,” arguing that it amounted to a virtual breakdown of Abbas’s entire strategy of counting on the Bush administration to create a viable and contiguous Palestinian state, with East Jerusalem as its capital. |
Big Brother listening in
By Sylvie Barak: Monday, 05 May 2008, 4:36 PM
A US court report on wiretapping shows that the phenomenon is up by 20 per cent on last year, reaching its highest ever level, with not even a single surveillance application turned down in the whole of 2007.
The report notes that last year alone, 2,208 wiretaps were authorised by the courts, most having been requested by US state authorities, with only 457 being requested by Federal Agencies. This is significantly higher than the 1839 requested in 2006.
According to the report, citizens shouldn’t have to worry about big brother listening in on their phone calls unless they are involved in drug deals or, in very rare incidents, murders and assaults. A whopping 81 per cent of portable devices (including pagers and mobile phones) monitored in 2007 were related to drugs busts, with only 6 per cent being reserved for potential murder suspects. Maybe that’s because drugs are lucrative and wiretapping is a costly business, wracking up a hefty cost of $48,477 per investigation.
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Melanie Scarborough
2008-05-05 07:00:00.0
WASHINGTON -
Imagine trying to go about your business every day, walking around the city with a stranger dogging your steps, hovering within inches of your face and constantly taking your picture.
How furious would you be if you complained to police and were told you had to tolerate such behavior because there is no expectation of privacy in public?
Reasonable people would argue that there is a difference between observation and intrusion: One expects to be observed on the street; one does not expect to be stalked.
Indeed, the law makes such a distinction. So if stalking is illegal for citizens, why should it be permissible for governments? That is precisely what the federal and local governments engage in via the surveillance cameras installed around Washington — a practice that will become even more invasive after the D.C. government links feeds with thousands more cameras, as it recently announced it will do.
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Attorney General Menachem Mazuz published the indictment in a letter sent to parliament speaker Dalia Yitzik requesting the removal of Avraham Hirshson's parliamentary immunity in view of the indictment.
The 37-page indictment included charges of embezzlement, graft and money laundering of over one million dollars that Hirshson had allegedly carried out when he headed the National Workers Federation between 1998 and 2005.
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Mezan Center: “69, including 20 children and 16 women, killed by the army in April in Gaza”
Saturday May 03, 2008 09:29 by Jenka Soderberg - IMEMC News
If four Israeli children, ranging from one year old to six years old, were killed by a Palestinian bombing, it would likely make the front page of most major US newspapers. But four Palestinian children, killed in their home by an Israeli tank shell on April 28th, will probably not even make the back pages of the paper, let alone the front.
Why is this? Are their lives any less valuable? Are the 986 Palestinian children who have been killed since 2000 any less important than the 119 Israeli children who have been killed in that same time period? It seems that the editors of the major US papers think so -- according to a study by If Americans Knew, the major media in the US reported on 100% of Israeli children's deaths, and just 18% of Palestinian children's deaths in the time period studied.
It is up to the media to provide a fair and accurate account of the conflict, and by failing to report on Palestinian deaths, the paper is contributing to a false narrative of the conflict in which the daily death toll of Palestinian civilians goes relatively unreported (as does the imprisonment of the Palestinian people into enclaves, the illegal takeover of Palestinian land, home demolitions, and all the other daily injustices resulting from the Israeli military occupation), while the infrequent bombings of Israeli civilians become huge media events - and often, front page news.
On Monday, April 7th, 2008, a youth named Sharif Bajes Farid Shatiya, crossed Road 557 with his family`s flock of sheep, on his way back to the village Salem near Nablus. Road 557 leads to the settlement Elon Moreh, and only Jews are allowed to use it. Sharif was 15 years old, and was the fourth shepherd to cross the road with his flock. A bus driver from the Dan Co-operative, called Arnon Shay, who was driving his bus there, hit Sharif and killed him. The impact of the hit was so strong that Sharif was flung a distance of 70 metres. Sharif`s donkey and five sheep died in the accident as well. Many more sheep were injured. The driver sped off and escaped to the settlement Elon Moreh. The Ariel settlement police arrested him and released him on bail.
The next day, Tuesday April 8th, 2008, a MachsomWatch activist at Taysir checkpoint heard a soldier serving in the Nahal (religious) unit, who was also a settler from Elon Moreh, describing the accident to a friend, shouting as he described how the day before a bus had killed `some little Arabush, what a laugh it was, what a show, with the boy smeared all over the road...`
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Friday, May 2, 2008; A20
ASOUTH FLORIDA courtroom was the setting for a remarkable scene last week. After failing to w