The Founders' inspired vision of limited government has been kept alive by the hard work and generosity of Americans who truly cherish individual Liberty average people like you and me.

In the toughest times times like we are facing right now in the life of our nation freedom fighters have always stepped forward for America—armed with whatever it takes and at whatever sacrifice—to answer the call to defend our liberty. That's how America was born and how we, as a free and sovereign nation, have survived.

I have not known a time when the threats to our Liberty and the Founders' vision have been greater than they are today. For Liberty to survive, it is imperative that we confront these new threats, in all of their ugly forms, both foreign and domestic.

We continue to see a major economic crisis unfolding in our nation. New government programs are started daily, and future plans are being made for even more costly government expansion. All are based on the belief that we're in this mess because free-market capitalism and sound money failed. The obsession is with more spending, bailout of bad investments, more debt, and further dollar debasement. Many are saying we need an international answer to our problems with the establishment of a world central bank and a single fiat reserve currency.]]>Supreme Court Sends ACLU Torture Photos Case Back To Appeals Courthttp://gangstergovernment.squarespace.com/blog/2009/11/30/supreme-court-sends-aclu-torture-photos-case-back-to-appeals.htmlGangster Government2009-11-30T23:14:45ZThe U.S. Supreme Court today sent back to an appeals court a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union for the release of photos depicting the abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody overseas. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in 2008 that the photos must be released to the public, but Congress recently enacted legislation that permits the Secretary of Defense to exempt the photos from FOIA. Defense Secretary Gates invoked that legislation earlier this month. The Supreme Court has now vacated the Second Circuit's original decision and ordered that it reconsider the case in light of the new legislation and Secretary Gates' certification.
 
"We continue to believe that the photos should be released, and we intend to press that case in the lower court," said Steven R. Shapiro, Legal Director of the ACLU. "No democracy has ever been made stronger by suppressing evidence of its own misconduct."

The ACLU has been litigating for the release of the photos for several years. A district court in New York ruled in 2005 that the government had not justified the withholding of the photos, and the appeals court upheld that ruling in 2008. The appeals court denied the government's petition for rehearing en banc in 2009. President Obama initially said that he would abide by the Second Circuit's decision and release the photos, but his administration changed course earlier this year and petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the case. Before the Supreme Court could adjudicate the government's petition, however, Congress enacted legislation that permits the Defense Department to exempt photos from FOIA.

http://www.aclu.org/national-security/supreme-court-sends-aclu-torture-photos-case-back-appeals-court

In a recent press release, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., argues that constitutional objections to the individual mandate are "nonsensical," because "the power of Congress to regulate health care is essentially unlimited." We eagerly await your orders, ma'am!

Pelosi is wrong, but that doesn't mean the court can be counted on to strike down Obamacare. Legislators have an independent obligation to consider the constitutionality of the laws they're debating — and the individual mandate is flagrantly unconstitutional.

In answer to the question "by what authority?" Reid's bill offers the Commerce Clause — the go-to provision for friends of federal power. That clause gives Congress the power "to regulate Commerce ... among the several states."

It was a modest measure designed to regularize cross-border commerce and prevent interstate trade wars — so modest, in fact, that Madison described it in the Federalist as a clause that "few oppose, and from which no apprehensions are entertained."

http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11003

Republican members of Congress and what masquerades as a “conservative” media are outraged that the Obama administration intends to try in federal court Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of 9/11, and four alleged co-conspirators.

The Republican and right-wing rant that a trial is too good for these people proves what I have written for a number of years: Republicans and many Americans who think of themselves as conservatives have no regard for the US Constitution or for civil liberties.

They have no appreciation for the point made by Thomas Paine in his Dissertations on First Principles of Government (1790): “An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”

Republicans and American conservatives regard civil liberties as coddling devices for criminals and terrorists. They assume that police and prosecutors are morally pure and, in addition, never make mistakes. An accused person is guilty or government wouldn’t have accused him. All of my life I have heard self-described conservatives disparage lawyers who defend criminals. Such “conservatives” live in an ideal, not real, world. They desperately need to read The Tyranny of Good Intentions.

The team is tasked with assessing the group's assets, which is likely to result in a large scale sell-off of assets as varied as the QE2 cruise liner; Turnberry, the golf course that hosted this year's Open Championship; and a raft of properties.

A spokesman for the Dubai department of finance confirmed that all options and asset sales would be considered, except for the DP World subsidiary that bought P&O, the British ports company. "I'm sure all of the assets of Dubai World will be reviewed," he said. "The QE2 is one of them. It's part of the restructuring process, though it's too early to say whether there's any sale in mind."

The neighbouring emirate of Abu Dhabi is seen as one of the main buyers of Dubai's assets. Last year when rumours about Dubai's debt problems first started, sources said Abu Dhabi had offered to buy Emirates but Dubai had so far refused to part with its flagship carrier.

Abu Dhabi is also said to be interested in Emaar, the property company that owns the Burj Dubai skyscraper, the Dubai Mall shopping centre, and Dubal, Dubai's aluminium company.

However, the assets in Dubai World are more likely to be sold first. The group's biggest problem area is thought to be Nakheel, its property arm that owns the Palms, the ambitious man-made islands. Nakheel also has two hotel chains, one of which owns the Turnberry Hotel.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/businesslatestnews/6673264/Rothschild-appointed-to-help-sell-Dubai-World-assets.html

Under the new powers, Danish police will be able to detain people for up to 12 hours whom they suspect might break the law in the near future. Protesters could also be jailed for 40 days under the hurriedly drafted legislation dubbed by activists as the "turmoil and riot" law. The law was first announced on 18 October.

The Danish ministry of justice said that the new powers of "pre-emptive" detention would increase from 6 to 12 hours and apply to international activists. If protesters are charged with hindering the police, the penalty will increase from a fine to 40 days in prison. Protesters can also be fined an increased amount of 5,000 krona (671 Euros) for breach of the peace, disorderly behaviour and remaining after the police have broken up a demonstration.

The Danish police also separately issued a statement in August (pdf) applying new rules and regulations for protests at the climate conference, warning that "gatherings that may disturb the public order must not take place".

Earlier this month, the Guardian published a letter by environmental activists that described the new law as "deeply worrying" and called for the Danish government to uphold their right to legitimate protest.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/26/denmark-police-powers-copenhagen

Pittman suffered from heart-related illnesses. The precise cause of his death wasn’t known, said his friend William Karesh, vice president of the Global Health Program at the Bronx, New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society.

A former police-beat reporter who joined Bloomberg News in 1997, Pittman wrote stories in 2007 predicting the collapse of the banking system. That year, he won the Gerald Loeb Award from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, the highest accolade in financial journalism, for “Wall Street’s Faustian Bargain,” a series of articles on the breakdown of the U.S. mortgage industry.

“He was one of the great financial journalists of our time,” said Joseph Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University in New York and the winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize for economics. “His death is shocking.”

Pittman’s fight to make the Fed more accountable resulted in an Aug. 24 victory in Manhattan Federal Court affirming the public’s right to know about the central bank’s more than $2 trillion in loans to financial firms. He drew the attention of filmmakers Andrew and Leslie Cockburn, who gave him a prominent role in their documentary about subprime mortgages, “American Casino,” which was shown at New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival in May.

‘One Reporter’

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Meyer said attitudes towards Iraq were influenced to an extent not appreciated by him at the time by the anthrax scare in the US soon after 9/11. US senators and others were sent anthrax spores in the post, a crime that led to the death of five people, prompting policymakers to claim links to Saddam Hussein. . . .

On 9/11 Condoleezza Rice, then the US national security adviser, told Meyer she was in "no doubt: it was an al-Qaida operation" . . . It seemed that Paul Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld's deputy, argued for retaliation to include Iraq, Meyer said. . . .

But the anthrax scare had "steamed up" policy makers in Bush's administration and helped swing attitudes against Saddam, who the administration believed had been the last person to use anthrax.

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http://www.recombinomics.com/News/11280901/WHO_D225G_Vac.html

While European markets staged a modest but nervous rally after heavy sell-offs this week, investor sentiment remained jittery amid a scramble to assess the broader fallout of the problems of Dubai World.

“There is still nervousness,” said Chris Furness, strategist at 4Cast consultancy. “This has made people recognise the risk of a systemic global ripple.”

Market watchers said the investor fears had been heightened by continuing lack of hard information coming out of the Gulf over the warning by Dubai World that it intends to request to delay payments for six months on its debts.

“Right now, none of us know where the story might go over the next week,” said Steven Major, global head of fixed income strategy at HSBC.

Amid concerns that markets in the Gulf will be hammered when they reopen on Monday – and that pressure will mount on banks with exposure to Dubai – investors are looking to Abu Dhabi, the main financial powerhouse in the United Arab Emirates federation, to calm nerves. The crisis has undermined the assumption that Abu Dhabi and the federation would bail out Dubai. So far there has been no statement from the federal government or Abu Dhabi.

A rally in the stocks of European banks exposed to Dubai helped the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index recover 1.2 per cent. However, Tokyo suffered a 3.2 per cent fall, its biggest one-day decline in almost eight months.

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