Foster's Online

01/04/06

A new federal regulation making it easier for law enforcement to tap Internet phone calls is being challenged in court. Privacy and technology groups asked the federal appeals court in Washington on Tuesday to overturn a Federal Communications Commission rule that expands wiretapping laws to cover Internet calls -- or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Law enforcement agencies already can obtain a subpoena for the contents of VoIP calls from Internet access providers. But the FBI and others want the ability to capture the technology live and they want systems designed so it would be easy to do that. 'The whole process of innovation on the Internet would be seriously damaged,' said John Morris, staff counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology...

http://tinyurl.com/a8sh4


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Indianapolis Star

01/04/06

The Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to let the military transfer accused 'enemy combatant' Jose Padilla to Miami to face criminal charges in at least a temporary victory for the Bush administration. The justices overruled a lower court, which had attempted to block the transfer as part of a rebuke to the White House. The high court said it would decide later whether to consider the inmate's argument that President Bush overstepped his authority by ordering Padilla's indefinite detention in 2002...

http://tinyurl.com/djt24


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Washington Post

01/05/06

The members of a secret federal court that oversees government surveillance in espionage and terrorism cases are scheduled to receive a classified briefing Monday from top Justice Department and intelligence officials about a controversial warrantless-eavesdropping program, according to sources familiar with the arrangements. Several judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court said they want to hear directly from administration officials why President Bush believed he had the authority to order, without the court's permission, wiretapping of some phone calls and e-mails after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. ... The court is made up of 11 judges who, on a rotating basis, hear government applications for surveillance warrants. But only the presiding judge, currently Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, was notified of the government eavesdropping program. One judge, James Robertson, who also serves on the federal bench in Washington, resigned his seat on the surveillance court in protest shortly after the wiretapping was revealed by the New York Times in mid-December...

http://tinyurl.com/bppx6


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Incoming

William Rivers Pitt writes: All of official Washington is at this moment waiting with bated breath for the avalanche. Jack Abramoff, the disgraced super-lobbyist, has made a plea agreement in the massive prosecution against him and his cronies. Every talking head who has spoken on the subject has stated bluntly that the fallout from this plea deal will almost certainly result in the largest scandal to hit the capital in decades.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/010506Z.shtml

http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/06win/chem1.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/06win/chem2.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/06win/chem3.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/06win/chem4.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/06win/chem5.asp
http://www.nrdc.org/onearth/06win/chem6.asp


Informant: NHNE

Texas authorities arrest parents, kidnap their teenage daughter, and force her through chemotherapy against her will.

http://www.newstarget.com/016387.html


Informant: NHNE

Business will support Alito:

Corporate America should find some cheer in Alito's strictly conservative judicial philosophy.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/10/31/news/economy/alito_nomination/



U.S. Supreme Court Nominee Alito Seen as Ally by Businesses:

U.S. business groups, already cheered by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.'s appointment, anticipate getting another ally in Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito Jr.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=IPD4YP076GHT


From Information Clearing House

One represented corporate interests as a private attorney; the other often sided with employers in lawsuits filed by workers.

http://tinyurl.com/8ubwz


From Information Clearing House

Our history books tell us that George Washington was the father of the abomination America has become. Many around the world, including some Americans, have written off the possibility that the United States is capable of acting with morality and sanity. Yet hope remains on the horizon for our country.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11454.htm