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Panetta's gaffe

Leon Panetta, on his first visit to Iraq as secretary of defense last weekend, reached for a Bush moment ten years too late.
“The reason you guys are here is because on 9/11 the United States got attacked,” he said to the assembled troops at Camp Victory in Baghdad, according to the Washington Post. “And 3,000 Americans — 3,000 not just Americans, 3,000 human beings, innocent human beings — got killed because of al-Qaida. And we’ve been fighting as a result of that.”

Yeah, oops, gaffe, Mr. Secretary, right? That Iraq-al-Qaida connection thingy isn’t in the spin anymore, and Panetta’s assistant had to mop up afterwards, making sure no one misinterpreted the boss’s remarks as reopening an old “debate” by reiterating a long-abandoned lie.

Investigate Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch and other News Corporation executives are at the center of a shocking British media scandal that involves spying, bribery, corruption, a corporate cover-up and even murder.

We need to know if this media giant’s potential criminal behavior has crossed the Atlantic.1

Murdoch has amassed a worldwide media empire, which in America includes Fox News Channel, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post, and hundreds of local broadcast stations and cable channels.

For too long, Murdoch has used his enormous media power to get what he wants from Washington and insulate himself and his company from official scrutiny. If he has broken the law along the way, he needs to be held accountable.

Tell Congress: Investigate News Corp. and Rupert Murdoch now

These allegations are serious. Reporters at the Murdoch-owned paper News of the World allegedly hacked the phone messages of more than 4,000 people, including the voicemail of a 13-year-old girl who went missing and was later found murdered.

Years later: Human Rights Watch announces that Bush and Cheney tortured -- What gives?

Statutes of limitations for torture not resulting in death have passed. The DOJ has refused to prosecute 99 of 101 cases of torture-to-death that it looked at. Obama has long since publicly told the DOJ not to prosecute the CIA for torture. Obama's torture of Bradley Manning has been widely ignored. Rendition has been established as normal. Torturers have published confessional/bragging memoirs. Habeas corpus has been formally ended. The Bagram-Gitmo archipelago is here to stay. Torture continues in Iraq, Afghanistan, elsewhere. Assassinations have been established as the truly big new fashion. Harold Koh has replaced John Yoo as the Guy Who Will "Legalize" Anything. We've got more illegal wars going at once than ever before. Congress has practically dropped the pretense of a rule of law. The President can't clear his throat without opposing "relitigating the past," as if on the planet he comes from it is common to litigate the future. And Human Rights Watch has chosen this moment to announce that Bush and Cheney might just have been responsible for torture?

Female detective

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Evoking Charlie's Angels, 007, and The Bourne Identity, Thailand's most famous female detective adjusts her spy gadgets while preparing to hunt murderers, thieves, corrupt officials and people who cheat on lovers.

Neatly incognito and classically clandestine, Aumnaoyporn Maneewan, 42, follows her "target" anywhere, and usually confirms the crime.

"I am a private eye."

During 14 years of sleuthing, most of her cases have included lusty married men who enjoy secret trysts with a "second wife" or "minor wife," popularly known as a "mia noi."

About 90 percent of those adultery cases are true, says Aumnaoyporn, speaking a mix of English and Thai during an interview at her Decha & IBS Ltd office (http://www.decha.com).

"The first wife gives me the details, about what she suspects of the mia noi. I follow the husband, sometimes driving a car, sometimes walking. I use a tiny video recorder and other gadgets.

Indie journalists arrested in Greenfield last year return for accountability: Felony wiretapping among charges levied

Pete Eyre and Ademo Freeman (aka Adam Mueller) were arrested outside the Franklin County Jail by Todd M. Dodge of the Greenfield Police Department as they attempted to record the bailing out of a friend last July. On Monday, July 18th they hope to finally be vindicated at their trial held at Greenfield District Court.

The pair - advocates of transparency active with CopBlock.org and LibertyOnTour.com - have since their arrests sought to hold accountable those who violated their rights. Today two charges - a felony and a misdemeanor - against Eyre stemming from an unjust search of his vehicle parked blocks from the incident location, were dismissed. This is very telling.

Felony wiretapping is the most-serious remaining charge, though they are confident it too won't stick as they were told by a supervisor at the jail that they could film, no posted ban against filming existed, and no policy was ever produced to support later claims that recording was prohibited.

Hacking the recalls: Why we must have hand-counted paper ballots and citizen exit polls

It goes without saying that the outcomes of the nine Senate recall elections scheduled in Wisconsin will be of intense interest to most of the UW-Madison community. Forecasting the outcome of elections weeks in advance is always a risky business; nevertheless, we offer the following bold prediction:

In at least some cases, the candidate receiving the lesser of the actual votes cast — perhaps, in fact, the candidate you passionately opposed — will be declared the official victor.

Chances are, you either think we are nuts or you are already upset with the dismal state of elections in Wisconsin, if not the country. Either way, we hope this article will change your view of both (a) the security of the elections and (b) the ability of ordinary citizens like you to improve that security.

Here’s a second prediction which gets to the heart of the real problem:

No one — not the Government Accountability Board, not the media, not any elected official, and most certainly not you – has the slightest hope of ever disproving our first prediction in light of current election procedures and practices.

Mass Call-In to CNN Monday, July 11, 2011

Join us in a coordinated mass call-in to CNN on behalf of Leonard Peltier. Shut CNN down until they realize they have a story.

On Monday, July 11th, at 10 a.m. (Eastern Time), start calling with your statement. It is important that the calls to CNN start promptly at 10 a.m. Insist that they cover the injustice posed by the continuing imprisonment of Leonard Peltier. Advise them of Leonard’s current situation (see Leonard Peltier in the Hole), and tell CNN personnel that they should contact the Leonard Peltier Defense Offense Committee at 701-235-2206 for information and referrals.

Then call back and ask for specific news anchors to cover/respond. Remember to be firm, but polite. Tell them freedom for Peltier is the only solution to this 35+-year injustice.

They may tell you that they get their stories from their affiliates (local) channels. While this is true, it is also true that they cover both whatever they wish and stories that demand coverage. We MUST demand coverage.

Call CNN at 404-827-1500 at 10 a.m., Monday, July 11, 2011.

The "There's Plenty of Money Act of 2012"

112th CONGRESS
1st Session
To highly resolve that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the United States of America.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 12, 2011
A BILL

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the Start Doing Our Damn Jobs Act of 2012.

SEC. 2. STOP KILLING PEOPLE

(a) The combined appropriations of the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and all military appropriations made through the Department of State, the Department of Energy, and all other military appropriations shall never be more than twice the funding, in absolute dollars, spent on its military in the previous year by the highest military-spending nation on earth other than the United States of America.

(b) The Department of Defense will be audited annually by the United States Congress.

We just stopped Congress from giving the power of war to presidents

"What's the point?" "We never win!" "Why bother trying?"
This time we won.
This is the point. Congressman Buck McKeon and Senator John McCain proposed to give Obama and all future presidents dramatically expanded powers to launch wars. They wanted to do so as part of the same "Defense Authorization Act" in which the House was restricting Obama's warmaking in Libya.

Activist groups like RootsAction pushed back. A great deal of support was generated for an amendment to strip the offending language out in the House, but the amendment failed. RootsAction, and other organizations, demanded that the Senate remove it:

At the same time, the House rejected amendments that would have limited or ended U.S. warfare in Afghanistan, and rejected an amendment that would have stripped Section 1034 from the bill. That section is perhaps the most fundamental change to the structure of our federal government that has ever appeared likely to pass through Congress, as it would effectively give the power to make war to all future presidents. We must demand that the Senate remove Section 1034.

Students and Workers Unite! Protect Ohio voters

Senate Bill 159 could impact thousands of Ohio voters ability to make their voices heard in the upcoming election. There is still a possibility that the senate will try and pass the Voter ID Bill SB 159 on July 11th. To stop that from happening we're asking you to write to email the Senate President to let the senate know, we wont let them withhold our right to vote this November.

a href=http://tinyurl.com/VoteNoNiehaus>Let Senate President Niehaus know that you do not support HB 159, the Photo ID Bill

Please forward this message to anyone and everyone who will join us and take action today!

While some of you might know me, others probably don’t. My name is Will Klatt and I’ll be the Ohio Student Organizing Coordinator through the 2011 election as part of the We Are Ohio campaign. I’ve been involved in the student movement since 2005 and since graduation in 2009 have been working on a number of union and community organizing drives. I’m excited to be working with you to make sure youth in Ohio have a voice and making sure that SB 5 is repealed.

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