9-20-07

Is "Jena 6" Connected to Katrina and 2008 Presidential Races?

The "Jena 6" media coverage reminds me of Pat Tillman, and media coverage surrounding his murder. So far the Miami Herald is the only on line newspaper I have visited which did not post an article on "Jena 6." The Houston Chronicle, LA Times, Boston Globe, Wilmington Star News, New York Times, Huffingtonpost.com, Sun-Sentinel.com, Palm Beach Post all have as I type a "Jena 6" article posted. I have read about a Washington DC antiwar march with 100,000 participants two weeks after the event and not a word mentioned in the media at the time of the march.

Why do BILLIONS of people on this planet not trust the Little George Administration? There is always a method in their propaganda. Pat Tillman was shot in the back. Not by friendly fire. A contract murder for one purpose and one purpose only. Improve comrade Little George's horrible poll numbers as a result of Abu Grahaib. So the question is this. Is the coordinated "Jena 6" propaganda as sinister in motive as the Pat Tillman contract killing? Let's hope not. You can go to the bank knowing anytime we have a nationwide coordinated publicity push, as in the "Jena 6" coverage, its idea comes from the bottom of the Neocon's propaganda septic tank. So let's look at some of the possible motives behind "Jena 6."

Embarrass Louisiana. Racism. "Jena 6" will promote hatred between the races. Who is right and who is wrong is not as important as future fear and hatred generated and promoted. Why do the Neocon political experts want to promote hatred between races during political season? Divert possible presidential candidate questions away from the November 2006 vote, mandate of the people to pull our military troops out of the Mid East, Iraq and Afghanistan, no new escalation of war to Syria and Iran, and transfer news coverage and potential candidate questions to racial tensions at home. Boy does at home racism have far reaching tentacles. Racists may even compare Al Sharpton rhetoric with rhetoric attributed to bin Laden, although bin Laden has been dead for years. Neocons want Al Sharpton stirring racial tensions in the USA.- A hot tempered Al Sharpton diverting political discussion about bringing the troops home to a bunch of "he said, she said" in Jena, La. Jena 6 has nothing to do with the number of bridesmaids in a White House wedding and don't forget the La, it certainly does not stand for Los Angeles. Louisiana is a big part of this national propaganda. Katrina is a big thorn in the side of the Little George Administration that won't go away until it stops trying to make Louisiana the perfect communi$t police state. Part of the nationwide media coverage of "Jena 6" is to embarrass Louisiana. My guess is the Federal Reserve Fraud intends to own New Orleans and Louisiana in exchange for money to rebuild. Louisiana and David Vitter want the money to rebuild to benefit the people of Louisiana. communi$t$ don't work that way.

For some reason I felt Al Sharpton was involved in the "Jena 6" protest movement to promote the military draft. "Search" for "Al Sharpton and the draft" came up with no Sharpton connect to the military draft, but bingo, did you know there is a move underway to draft Al Sharpton to run for President 2008? So now the Al Sharpton "Jena 6" big news makes sense as a political story. We know Little George and the Neocons want the military draft. If Al Sharpton wants to sit in the front of the bus, ie. news coverage and political contributions, he is going to have to give the Neocons what they want. Racial tensions. Military draft. Obama in the news. Louisiana embarrassed.

A fun past time for me is watching the presidential script writers in action. Writing in Al Sharpton, which actually I like Sharpton, he is a good speaker and witty, but it makes me wonder if a new Republican will enter the presidential race 2008 soon as well. Picking the next USA President is not really a decision of the American people, it is a decision made by the Federal Reserve Fraud, and these guys plan way ahead. To my mind the Federal Reserve Fraud will not find another person on this planet who will do their bidding as well as comrade Little George, so the real game is watching how they keep him in office. A secondary plan involves Clinton and Obama. God works in mysterious ways and what bad guys do for evil God allows to take place for good.

September and October are known for stock market crashes and certainly when Alan Greenspan lowered Federal Funds Rate to .025 % it was on orders by the Federal Reserve Fraud and part of a plan just as September 11 is part of their plan. The stock market bubble generated by Alan Greenspan's .025 % interest rates is popping and by all rights the stock markets should crash (Stock markets go up when they get cash and go down when they loose cash. Another MPK,Jr. truism.) . The Federal Reserve Fraud have engineered this potential stock markets crash, probably to force desperate people to go along with expansion of wars, ie invasions and nuking of Syria and Iran, as cures. A favorite expression of a good friend, MPK,Jr., there is a lot of slip between the sip and the lip, may come in play, even with the oh so evil and oh so smart Rothchilds.

In struts Mr. David Vitter. Do you know what he was a part? Mr. Vitter worked with other Republicans to defeat the immigration bill. Can't you hear Karl Rove. Those Republican "so_s," they just screwed up one of my favorite presidential hot button issues, immigration.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/28/AR2007062800963_pf.html

To that, Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), among the bill's most aggressive foes, snapped: "To suggest this was about racism is the height of ugliness and arrogance

The immigration bill had it passed would have been an election season hot topic that would have diverted attention away from withdrawing our troops from the Mid East. Immigration is very important to making this country a communi$t police state.

Mr. Vitter is also upset with Harry Reid, because Harry Reid is preventing a vote to take place in the US Senate which would open the way for Louisiana getting money to help it get on its feet again.

Neocons are attacking Louisiana and Mr. Vitter from all directions. It boils down to money. In my opinion the worst of the worst is the Federal Reserve Fraud. They are communi$t$ and they want all the money. Logic dictates Federal Reserve Fraud wants Louisiana and the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina rebuilt in such a way as they make all the money and Louisiana rebuilt is a model communi$t police state. Louisiana is bucking them in some way. David Vitter and Louisiana is under attack because they are not dancing the Federal Reserve Fraud communi$t jig, is my guess. Karl Rove and the bad guys always, always go for sexual dirt. If it is not there, they make it up. It is unConstitutional to go after members of Congress for anything that is not a felony, and basically no sexual gossip is a felony. This country has got to stop the bad guys from controlling important legislation by attacking members from a non felony sexual nature.

Why is the Little George Administration behind the nationwide "Jena 6" propaganda. Presidential 2008 Politics. Puts on the back burner the serious issue, Why are we in Iraq?" by introducing racism 2008 as political issue to go along with Karl Rove's three other favorite election season hot button issues, abortion, gays, and immigration. Embarrass Louisiana. The people of Louisiana are responsible for the Katrina aftermath problems (because Louisiana is a racist state) and not the Neocon communi$t$.

Glenn Greenwald
Wednesday September 19, 2007 07:26 EST
Are Democrats planning still worse FISA capitulations?
(updated below - Update II - Update III)

The enactment in August by the Democratic Congress of new eavesdropping powers for the President was one of the worst, if not the single worst, acts of capitulation to the Bush White House. The only comparable disgrace was the Democrats' complete failure even to attempt a filibuster of the Military Commissions Act, largely due to their decision to allow John McCain, John Warner and Lindsey Graham to speak for them so that they did not have to participate in the debate. Once those three GOP Senators predictably blessed the MCA, Democrats had no strategy and thus actively enabled the abolition of habeas corpus along with the other abuses that Act legalized.

The FISA capitulation, though, was probably even worse. It occurred when they supposedly control the Congress. They enlarged the President's powers under the very law that he has been violating for years. They gave the Bush White House what it demanded even though the White House continues to provide them with no meaningful information about what was done during all those years when they eavesdropped on Americans in secret. And Democrats passed the law in a frenzy, under the crassest and most transparent exploitation of the Terrorist Threat ("a Terrorist attack is about to happen in DC and the blood will be on your hands unless you pass the bill we dictate").

Ever since that debacle, many Democrats have clung to the illusion that all of this will be fixed because the bill was passed with a six-month sunset provision and, some hope, the next time things will be different. But far, far more likely than the Democrats reversing what they have done when re-visiting FISA is the prospect that they will make it worse still, by giving the Bush administration even more of what it wants.

Specifically, almost immediately after the Democrats enacted the new FISA, the Bush White House and DNI Mike McConnell began demanding that Congress quickly go further by providing retroactive immunity to telecom companies who participated in warrantless eavesdropping by shielding them from the consequences of having broken the law. Once it had what it wanted on FISA, the White House decreed (bolded commands in original):

Our Work Is Not Done -- This Act Is A Temporary, Narrowly Focused Statute To Deal With The Most Immediate Needs Of The Intelligence Community To Protect The Country. When Congress returns in September, the Intelligence Committees and leaders in both parties will need to complete work on the comprehensive reforms requested by Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell, including the important issues of providing meaningful liability protection to those who are alleged to have assisted our Nation following the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Buried within an article in the New York Times this morning from James Risen is this passage, strongly suggesting that Congressional Democrats are ready, as always, to do what they are told:
Mr. McConnell argued on Tuesday that the expanded surveillance powers granted under the temporary measure should be made permanent.

He also pushed for a provision that would grant legal immunity to the telecommunications companies that secretly cooperated with the N.S.A. on the warrantless program. Those companies, now facing lawsuits, have never been officially identified.

Democratic Congressional aides say they believe that a deal is likely to provide protection for the companies.

Granting retroactive immunity to telecom companies for past lawbreaking is so plainly unjustifiable, even dangerous, that it ought to require no real debate. That Congressional Democrats are even considering submitting to this demand, let alone that they are likely to do so, dispels any doubt about what they really are.

First, retroactive immunity turns the "rule of law" into an even greater mockery than it has been for the last six years. The central premise in granting immunity is that telecom companies did nothing wrong -- even if they violated the law -- because they cooperated with warrantless spying at the behest of the President.

But we don't actually live in a country where private actors are permitted to commit crimes and violate laws provided that the President tells them that they should. The President has no greater power to authorize others to break the law than he does to break the law himself. Quite the contrary, Article II of the Constitution imposes the opposite obligation: "he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." Lawbreaking is still illegal even if George Bush says it should be done. Does that principle really need to be explained?

Second, the Bush administration -- by refusing to disclose whose conversations were illegally surveilled -- has successfully prevented any direct legal challenges to its warrantless eavesdropping activities. The Sixth Circuit this year dismissed the lawsuit brought by various citizens alleging the Bush administration illegally spied on Americans on the ground that the inability of any specific plaintiff to prove they were subject to that surveillance means that no citizen has "standing" to challenge the legality of the program. As a result, the 2006 ruling by Judge Anna Diggs Taylor that Bush's warrantless eavesdropping activities violated both federal criminal law and the U.S. Constitution was vacated (without its substantive findings disputed).

The pending lawsuits against AT&T and other telecommunications companies for having violated the law by enabling warrantless eavesdropping on Americans' telephone conversations is one of the very few remaining avenues (though not yet the only one) for obtaining a court ruling as to whether the NSA spying program -- which the President ordered for five years at least -- was illegal. If Democrats do what the Times article suggests they are prepared to do, i.e. grant retroactive immunity to telecoms, that would compel dismissal of those lawsuits, which in turn would destroy what is perhaps the last chance for ever obtaining a judicial determination as to whether the President broke the law. What possible rationale would lead them even to consider such a thing?

Third, and perhaps most importantly, a Congressional grant of immunity for past lawbreaking would amount to a bipartisan endorsement of Bush's illegal eavesdropping program. To remove consequences for illegal behavior is, by definition, to approve of that behavior. Laws with no consequences for violations are meaningless. And those who seek to shield lawbreakers from accountability are endorsing the lawbreaking.

This underscores what I think is a critical point that cannot be emphasized enough. In late 2005 and early 2006, when I and others first began writing about the assault on our Constitution from this administration in the wake of the NSA scandal and the Jose Padilla travesty, the overarching issue was lawlessness. The administration's most radical and disturbing "terrorism" policies were undertaken without any legal authorization whatsoever, and frequently, in direct violation of the law.

But over the past twelve months, that has become less and less true. On every front of executive power -- from surveillance to detention to interrogation -- what was previously covert, lawless radicalism has now become the legally authorized and Congressionally endorsed policy of the United States, on a bipartisan basis.

On a strictly quantitative level, it is true that Republicans have been more supportive than Democrats of these policies -- in the sense that more Democrats cast votes against them -- but Democrats have done nothing meaningful to stop any of it, even when they could. Indeed, paradoxically, Democrats have actively enabled and endorsed this extremism more and more as they have gained more power. As a result, what were the illegal policies of the Bush administration have become lawful as the result of a Congress which does nothing when executive lawbreaking is revealed except enact legislation to legalize the behavior.

If the Democratic Congress ends up not only renewing and making permanent the vast new warrantless surveillance powers granted the President under the new FISA, but also provides retroactive immunity to telecom companies which violated the law, then illegal warrantless eavesdropping will be every bit as much a by-product of the Democratic Congress as it is one of the defining abuses of the lawless Bush administration.

Last October -- when Republicans still controlled the Congress -- the Bush White House tried but failed to force Congress to legalize warrantless eavesdropping and provide this immunity. Karl Rove made the failure to legalize warrantless eavesdropping a central feature of his midterm election campaign, and Republicans got crushed.

Thus, the very idea that the Bush White House would be able to force enactment of FISA legislation once Democrats controlled the Congress would have seemed unfathomable, at least to many people. But after watching the Democrats meekly sit by and allow abolition of habeas corpus and then, when in control of Congress, grant the President vast new surveillance powers without receiving anything in exchange, it is inescapably clear that there are no limits on the willingness of Congressional Democrats to enable the President's worst excesses. If this NYT story is accurate and they really do intend to provide this retroactive immunity, their joint responsibility for most of the excesses of the Bush administration will be virtually complete.

UPDATE: Making the White House's demand for retroactive immunity all the more outrageous is that it is all based on the alleged judgment of Mike McConnell that such immunity is Vital to National Security. Yet McConnell, aside from having proven himself to be entirely untrustworthy in the standard Bush way when it comes to such claims, is the last person who ought to be listened to when it comes to the telecom debate. As much as any other single American, McConnell has extensive private sector connections with the very telecommunication companies for which he is now demanding immunity.

Indeed, McConnell's ties to the very companies that would most benefit from immunity are so deep and numerous that it really rises to the level of conflict of interest for him to demand -- on national security grounds, no less -- that they be granted full immunity from liability for past illegal acts. He is, in essence, demanding immunity for vast numbers of his former partners, clients, associates and scores of business interests in which he had, if not still has, a substantial stake. That Democrats would grant immunity based on his demands for it makes the whole spectacle all the more repugnant.

UPDATE II: Today's efforts by Senate Democrats, led by Chris Dodd and Pat Leahy, to repeal part of the Military Commissions Act and restore habeas corpus is a good example of how Democrats are quantitatively better on these issues, though often in ways that make little difference. According to Dodd campaign aide Matt Browner Hamlin, there is a chance that they can get 60 votes in support of cloture on this bill to restore habeas. All Democrats and several Republicans in the Senate have vowed to vote for cloture, and several other "moderate" Republicans are still undecided. FDL has the information for targeting the key GOP swing Senators.

Having the Senate and House vote to restore habeas corpus and thus vote to reverse the worst aspect of the many atrocious provisions of the MCA would be a welcome development. But the chance that habeas would actually be restored now is non-existent, since the President would veto the bill and they would not get 67 votes to override.

Having allowed enactment of the MCA back in October, it is nice that Senate Democrats are leading this effort, and some -- including Dodd and Leahy -- are undoubtedly passionate about it (though that passion failed to mount a real resistance effort last October when it would actually have protected habeas). But these efforts are more symbolic than anything else. "Terrorist suspects" detained indefinitely by the Bush administration will have no greater opportunity to contest the accusations against them even if they get the cloture votes.

UPDATE III: The vote to restore habeas failed, 57-43 in favor of cloture (3 votes shy of the 60 needed to overcome a GOP filibuster). All Democrats favored cloture, along with 6 Republicans. But the vast majority of Senate Republicans (37 out of 42) blocked the restoration of habeas corpus.

With regard to FISA immunity, JAO in comments makes the important point that FISA, from its inception, already provided that telecoms would be immune from liability if the Attorney General certified that the law did not require a warrant for the surveillance that they allowed. Presumably, that means that with regard to what they did over the last six years, they had no such certification for at least some of Bush's warrantless activities which they enabled.

They may have lacked this certification because Ashcroft refused to provide it, and/or because Ashcroft was kept in the dark about some of what they were doing, and/or because they are concerned about the period of time when (as we now know, as a result of James Comey's testimony) the DOJ refused to certify the legality of the surveillance activities (and threatened to resign en masse if it continued), and Bush ordered it to continue anyway. If we lived in a society with either an open government or a Congress that understood its oversight responsibilities, we would know why the telecoms lacked this certificate and thus are in need of retroactive liability. Since we don't, we're left to guess.

-- Glenn Greenwald

Printed without permission.

Bush Mum On Reports Israel Attacked Syria
President Refuses Comment On Accusations That Israel Bombed Alleged Nuclear Facility

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20, 2007

The least dangerous least expensive way to stop the Federal Reserve Fraud and the bad guys is contribute to Randy Crow - Democrat for President.