Future of Freedom Foundation
by Sam Bostaph

12/14/05

On August 3, 2005, a former youth minister in Vacaville, California, was at home watching a television report of the deaths of 14 more U.S. Marines in Iraq. Her eldest son, whom she deeply loved, had been killed 16 months earlier in Sadr City, Baghdad, by members of a Shi’ite militia group. Army Specialist Casey Austin Sheehan was ambushed and murdered while he was on a mission to rescue wounded soldiers. As part of the television report, there was shown a clip of President George W. Bush describing his preemptive war against Iraq and the subsequent occupation of that country as 'a noble cause,' one that justified the casualties among U.S. forces...

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0512e.asp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp



Cindy Sheehan
http://omega.twoday.net/search?q=Sheehan

Hawaii Reporter
by Earl Arakaki

12/13/05

A few weeks ago some friends gave me a pocket-sized pamphlet of the 'Declaration of Independence,' the 'Constitution of the United States of America,' and 'Amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America.' Upon reading it, I discovered, 'The first 10 amendments to the Constitution -- the Bill of Rights -- were ratified effective December 15, 1791.' This week, Thursday, December 15, 2005, is the anniversary of the 'Bill of Rights.' The Constitution was ratified in 1787, and the Bill of Rights four years later. Always believed individual rights were in place from day one, or thereabouts...

http://tinyurl.com/cp9kb


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Libertarian Enterprise
by Kevin S. Van Horn

12/11/05

Why has it been so hard for the American freedom movement to achieve any lasting, meaningful victories? Is it because our enemies are so powerful? Is it because so few really desire freedom? Or is it just possible that the seeds of failure lie within the activists themselves? The battlefield on which we are fighting is the human mind. The State's power rests primarily on the voluntary submission of its victims. If any sizable minority of the American populace had a clear understanding of the principles of liberty and a firm resolve not to submit to unjust 'laws,' their freedom could not be taken away. So the first order of business for the freedom movement must be to reclaim the territory of our own minds from the enemy...

http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle2005/tle347-20051211-04.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Black Enterprise

12/14/05

Allied with the New York Civil Liberties Union, Congressman Charles Rangel has launched a counter-offense to the Department of Defense's aggressive $1 billion drive to target people of color and people from low-income families- mainly black and Latino youth-for military service. In particular, Rangel and NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman cite a little-known provision made to the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002, which requires school districts to provide lists of their students with addresses and telephone numbers on demand to military recruiters, or risk losing federal funds. The NYCLU's 'No Student Left Unrecruited?' campaign charges that the DOD's tactics violate the privacy rights of young people and their families and established an unprecedented, intrusive, and abusive military presence in schools...

http://www.blackenterprise.com/ExclusivesEKOpen.asp?id=1459


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

MSNBC

12/14/05

A House committee investigating the government's response to Hurricane Katrina issued a subpoena Wednesday to force Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to turn over documents but stopped short of sending a similar legal demand to the White House. The subpoena commands Rumsfeld to produce internal records and communications about the Pentagon's response to the Aug. 29 storm, including efforts to send supplies to victims, stabilize public safety and mobilize active duty forces along the Gulf Coast...

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10470852/


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

USA Today

12/14/05

The Bush administration has denied requests from five states to increase food stamps for low-income families facing higher heating bills this winter. Maine, New York, Kansas, Virginia and South Carolina sought to raise monthly food stamp allotments by projecting what families will pay to heat their homes. The increases would have ranged from $8 to about $30 a month for families who pay their own utility bills...

http://tinyurl.com/bfrz6


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Las Vegas Review-Journal

12/14/05

President Bush said Wednesday the responsibility for invading Iraq based in part on faulty weapons intelligence rested solely with him, taking on the issue in his most direct and personal terms in the 1,000-plus days since the war's first shots. 'It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong,' Bush said. 'As president, I'm responsible for the decision to go into Iraq.' The president's mea culpa was accompanied by a robust defense of the divisive war...

http://tinyurl.com/2346c


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Indianapolis Star

12/14/05

Columnist Bob Novak, who first published the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, says he is confident that President Bush knows who leaked Plame's name. Novak said that 'I'd be amazed' if the president didn't know the source's identity and that the public should 'bug the president as to whether he should reveal who the source is.' Novak's remarks, reported in the Raleigh, N.C., News & Observer, came during a question and answer session Tuesday after a speech sponsored by the John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank...

http://tinyurl.com/cklep


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

CNN

12/14/05

Prime Minister Paul Martin escalated a war of words with the United States on Wednesday, telling Washington not to dictate to him what topics he can raise in the run-up to Canada's January 23 election. But U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins, who warned Canadian politicians on Tuesday not to bash the United States as part of their campaigning, denied on Wednesday he was trying to control the election debate...

http://tinyurl.com/8yqaw


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Detroit Free Press

12/14/05

Senate Republican leaders fought Wednesday to save the USA Patriot Act renewal from sinking under the weight of opposition from a bipartisan group that says the measure would give the FBI a dangerous amount of power. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., predicted that the legislation would survive a filibuster threat and pass before more than a dozen of the 2001 law's provisions expire Dec. 31. He got a boost from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who lobbied for the renewal briefly at a closed meeting of Republicans...

http://tinyurl.com/88chw


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp