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Kudos from feline: One of the many things I love about this chatroom is knowledgable people who can instantly gratify my need to be informed, and immediately exchange ideas - I love it!

Demanding Truth, Justice and Accountability in Government

U.S. District Judge Orders Immediate Halt to Warrantless NSA Spying

Reed31463

"U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy as well as the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution." ABC News

Senator Specter and BushCo are still scheming to shred the Constitution, but they are encountering increasing resistance in the courts and in Congress. Meanwhile the fragile cease fire in Lebanon should not delude anyone into thinking a regional war has been avoided. BushCo desperately needs a major war in the Middle East to divert attention from further exposure of their covert dictatorship.

I recently found this site: Anti-war.com. Justin Raimondo appears to have the facts straight regarding the current situation in Lebanon. Showdown over Iran May 29, 2006

Dragged by the polls, that is, which show – except for the Fox News poll – a majority of Americans oppose a military strike against the Iranians. And dragged, also, by Republican lawmakers and activists, who are tired of having to defend the indefensible war in Iraq, and are made ill by the thought of another – potentially far worse – strategic disaster unfolding in Iran. A war-weary – and increasingly Bush-weary – GOP is wary of new "conquests" by those little Napoleons in the Pentagon, and prominent Republicans are trying to get the White House to put on the brakes before our collision course with Tehran reaches a tragic denouement.

snip

War with Iran will probably not begin with a frontal assault by the U.S. and/or Israel on Iran's alleged nuclear weapons facilities, or even a skirmish along the Iraq-Iran border. Look to Lebanon and Syria for the first battlegrounds of this developing regional war. The Israelis know perfectly well that Iran's nuclear ambitions, if they ever materialize, are not an immediate threat: their real concern is their volatile northern border, where their deadly enemies – Hezbollah – are an effective obstacle to Israeli influence. The Israelis are also looking to exploit growing opportunities to make trouble in Syria, where the restive Kurds are their reliable allies, and the brittleness of the Ba'athist dictatorship is an invitation to regime change.

Israel is using the U.S. as a mighty lever to pry apart its hostile Arab neighbors, as per the "Clean Break" plan laid out by a team of advisers to the Israeli government in 1996 – including Pentagon bigwig Douglas Feith, Richard Perle, and others prominent in the ranks of the War Party. The atomization of Iraq into its constituent ethno-religious parts is just a prelude to similar developments already well advanced in Lebanon, and steadily eroding the standing and legitimacy of the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.

Now fast forward six weeks to the current crisis and Justin had this to say: Israel crosses the line Phase two of "Clean Break" is now underway.

With Saddam out of the way, the second phase of the "Clean Break" scenario is unfolding before our eyes. And the propaganda war is going just as well as the military aspect of the campaign: the Israelis are no fools. They realize they can't proceed without the tacit complicity of the U.S. and the Europeans, who must be made to look the other way as the IDF commits war crimes on the ground. Under the pretext of avenging the "kidnapping" of one of their soldiers – and, more recently, two more – they have unleashed a military assault planned well in advance of the allegedly precipitating incidents.

While I do not approve of the excessive use of force Israel has shown, especially attacking known international civilian facilities such as Beirut International Airport, I also disapprove of Hezbollah's actions and retaliations against Israeli citizens. I believe JC's statement and position are most reasonable and best way forward for the US in this situation.

Meanwhile, all of this Middle East crisis coverage is distracting attention away from the RNC fears the most: the newsmedia spotlight on their accountability issues and the failure of Congress to investigate FISA and Geneva Conventions violations.

In the wake of US District Judge Walker's opinion to not dismiss the EFF NSA lawsuit, a quick google search shows that in the midst of this distraction, despite the opinion set forth by Walker, US District Judge Kennelly recently threw out a lawsuit. In his opinion, "requiring AT&T to confirm or deny whether it has disclosed large quantities of telephone records to the federal government could give adversaries of this country valuable insight into the government's intelligence activities," thereby upholding the DoJ's "state secrets" argument.

Like a fly one has to keep swatting, Senator Specter has proposed his S 2453 White House NSA Spying Litigation Relief Act and his new bill, playing soon at theater near you, S. 3731 The Signing Statements Litigation Relief Act.

The American Bar Association needs to wake up or smell the jail cell. Instead the ABA's current plan is to embark on an education campaign to inform the voters of the problem.

We the people must relay this simple message to the American Bar Association: We know the problem -- it's you. One solution is for the ABA to outline for the public a plan to assert the rule of law. A better solution is for other judges to join Anna Diggs Taylor and strike down blatantly unconstitutional BushCo policies.