Lawyers Donna Newman and Andrew Patel told the high court in papers filed Tuesday that the justices must step in "to preserve the vital checks and balances" on the president.

http://tinyurl.com/acr8a


From Information Clearing House



Strange Twists in the Padilla Case:

The case was just days away from going to the Supreme Court when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced that it would abandon its nearly 4 year struggle to establish the president’s “inherent right” to declare an American citizen an enemy combatant, thereby stripping him of all his constitutional rights. Why?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11406.htm

Lawyers for an Islamic scholar, a Fort Lauderdale computer programmer and an Ohio trucker want federal judges to determine whether evidence used against their clients was gathered by a secret domestic spying program.

http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/story?section=nation_world&id=3766706


From Information Clearing House

The Marine Corps is paying $100,000 apiece for a revamped military jeep that some critics call a rip-off of taxpayers, according to a news report Thursday.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/12/29/news/military_jeep/


From Information Clearing House

By Manuel Valenzuela

With each day that passes that we remain passive, silent and indifferent, becoming submissive to further corporatist control over our lives, we are helping to cement the unforgiving future of our progeny and of a once great nation.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11403.htm

Jan Lundberg recounts his cross-country odyssey destined for Washington, DC, where he engaged in five conferences, speaking on peak oil and petrocollapse.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/122905EA.shtml

US President George W. Bush calls indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff "an equal money dispenser" who helped politicians of both parties. Campaign donation records show Republicans were a lot more equal than Democrats. Between 2001 and 2004, Abramoff gave more than $127,000 to Republican candidates and committees and nothing to Democrats, federal records show. At the same time, his Indian clients were the only ones among the top 10 tribal donors in the US to donate more money to Republicans than Democrats.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122905Q.shtml

An internal review finds that efforts aimed at the Balkans, in northern Africa, break no laws. But a defense official says they might backfire. A top Pentagon official, chief spokesman Lawrence DiRita, said he was concerned that a Pentagon practice of hiring news reporters to advance a US government agenda could draw criticism, and that an ever larger military role in shaping public opinion overseas might have negative consequences.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122905Y.shtml

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3851/


Informant: jensenmk

From ufpj-news

TruthOut
by William Rivers Pitt

12/29/05

'Now take this all one step further,' I said, 'since you asked about the Patriot Act. Think about that Section 215 and the sneak-and-peek stuff. I told you they need to see a judge first to come into your home, to search and bug your stuff. But this whole NSA deal shows that Bush and these guys don't give a hoot in hell for judges, warrants or the process of law. They're going to do what they want to do, warrant or not. We've got a situation now where Bush and his people could not only be ordering the surveillance of Americans, but could also be authorizing home invasions, and all without any kind of warrants and oversight. What does that sound like to you?' 'Fascism,' he said without hesitating. 'This is the reason,' I said with a smile, 'why I don't talk politics at the bar. I have a way of going on and on until the paint peels. But let me ask you one last question.' 'Shoot,' he said. 'As a Bush supporter,' I said, 'how far are you willing to go to support the guy? How much individual liberty, how many laws, are you willing to give up to Bush before we lose the country? How far is too far?' Ty didn't have anything to say at first. 'This,' he finally muttered, 'is too damned far'...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122905A.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Common Dreams
by Norman Solomon

12/29/05

Journalists should be in the business of providing timely information to the public. But some -- notably at the top rungs of the profession -- have become players in the power games of the nation's capital. And more than a few seem glad to imitate the officeholders who want to decide what the public shouldn't know. When the New York Times front page broke the story of the National Security Agency's domestic spying, the newspaper's editors had good reason to feel proud. Or so it seemed. But there was a troubling backstory: The Times had kept the scoop under wraps for a long time. ... Perhaps in 2007 we will learn that the New York Times had an explosive story about other ongoing government violations of civil liberties or some other crucial issue, but held it until after the November 2006 congressional elections. In that case, quite a few media critics and other journalists could recycle their pieces about giving the Times the benefit of the doubt and appreciating the quality of the crucial story that finally appeared...

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1229-37.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp