Gonzo, the whale in the Thames, died…
January 21st, 2006
This is an odd one — a 20 foot long Northern bottlenose whale was trying to beach itself in London yesterday, and died today. Here’s a blog about the whale
In the New York Times: Thames whale does not survive rescue attempt.
From the Guardian: Thames whale dies during rescue attempt Some photos here. And more photos here.
From the STrib: Rescuers try to save whale stranded in River Thames
LONDON รข?? A lost and distressed whale stranded in the River Thames died today as rescue workers attempted to ferry it out to sea for release, an animal rights group said.
For more on these whales, see Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust
STrib Letter of the Day — Risser does it again
January 19th, 2006
Here’s the hot topic in District 41 — School treats???? …yawn… to which she said, “You do realize speaking out against treats in schools is the most gutsy thing a citizen can do.” ummmmm, no… yawn… I don’t… sigh…and she says, “well yeah….but seriously, I have written about many hot issues, and the only time somebody called to rant into my phone was when I sounded off on this topic. It was a ‘how can you be against this…these little treats…they make life worth living’ rant.” Oh… my… Dog! I’m glad I don’t know… I don’t want to know… I think I’d rather be campaign manager for a bloodsucking gubernatorial candidate than fight yahoos over donuts in school (school bus dispatch experience would be a plus, eh?). On second thought, maybe I’ll fight the donuts… and if ya can’t beat ’em…
For the health of kids, drop the birthday treats
Here’s hoping candidates for public office consider the costly and lethal fallout from diabetes stated in your Jan. 17 editorial; here’s hoping they get the need to “insist on habit-changing help from every public and private enterprise that can give it.”
As a parent of two elementary schoolchildren I know treats are frequently provided during class time — for birthdays and parties, and sometimes as rewards. Even with the teacher’s statement that sugar causes energy surges and people need not provide birthday treats, during September in one classroom birthday treats were offered on seven days — Krispy Kreme doughnuts were the treat of choice. Cake was offered in the lunchroom for children with birthdays that month, too.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have state policy that encouraged parents to drop the birthday treats and have children bring in their favorite book instead? Perhaps a “Twain, not Twinkies” program? We could promote a love of literacy instead of contributing to a costly epidemic. It seems so logical; after all, education frequently competes for health care dollars.
JULIE RISSER, EDINA
Red Wing’s David Harris in the News
January 17th, 2006
Edina: Weapons protesters get a break they don’t want
The protesters at Alliant Techsystems say an Edina ordinance stifles their dissent. The city says it’s only trying to save money and streamline the courts.
From today’s STrib:
“It’s impossible to get into jail,” fumed protester David Harris, a 71-year-old surgeon from Red Wing, who fulfilled his court-ordered penalty from a previous trespassing conviction by publicly holding a sign that said simply, “Community Service.”
and this choice snippet:
Rachel Carlson, a research attorney at the League of Minnesota Cities, said it’s common for cities to enact trespassing ordinances to address property issues associated with snowmobiling, skateboarding and hunting. She knows of no other Minnesota city that adopted a trespassing ordinance to address war protesters, however.
The new Edina ordinance – nope, the STrib’s link isn’t working…
================================================
And here’s more on NSA spying from the New York Times, very scary indeed:
Spy agency data after Sept. 11 lead F.B.I to dead ends
In the anxious months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the National Security Agency began sending a steady stream of telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and names to the F.B.I. in search of terrorists. The stream soon became a flood, requiring hundreds of agents to check out thousands of tips a month.
But virtually all of them, current and former officials say, led to dead ends or innocent Americans.
F.B.I. officials repeatedly complained to the spy agency that the unfiltered information was swamping investigators. The spy agency was collecting much of the data by eavesdropping on some Americans’ international communications and conducting computer searches of phone and Internet traffic. Some F.B.I. officials and prosecutors also thought the checks, which sometimes involved interviews by agents, were pointless intrusions on Americans’ privacy
…
“We’d chase a number, find it’s a schoolteacher with no indication they’ve ever been involved in international terrorism – case closed,” said one former F.B.I. official, who was aware of the program and the data it generated for the bureau. “After you get a thousand numbers and not one is turning up anything, you get some frustration.”
And from aol.com “news” yesterday:
Gore Assails Domestic Wiretapping Program
Former Vice President Says Bush Repeatedly Broke the Law
Can someone explain to me why this is a question?
And what good is a “poll” about this when most people don’t even recognize the Bill of Rights when it slaps them upside the head? Or when it’s taken away?
From Madison’s Capitol Times, they can’t see it when it’s right under their noses:
FBI missed internal signs of espionage
O’r the laa-aaaand of the freeeeeeeeeee
January 13th, 2006
We need to know that shakedowns are occuring — yet I hesitate to publish something like this, and I’m not about to say how it got in my inbasket. Land of the free…
This is an example of where we’re headed — where we are. Let’s all call up DHS and schedule appointments so we don’t have to wonder when they’ll come knocking on our doors.
—–Original Message—–
From: La Voz de Aztlan [mailto:aztlan_.news@aztlan.net]
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 3:15 PM
To: La Voz de Aztlan Subscribers
Subject: DHS: “La Voz de Aztlan has raised eyebrows in Washington”
DHS: “La Voz de Aztlan has raised eyebrows in Washington”
by Hector Carreon
La Voz de Aztlan
Los Angeles, Alta California, January 12, 2006 – (ACN) On the morning of
December 22, 2005, I noticed a business card that was left at the door
of my home. The card was from the US Department of Homeland Security and
had a handwritten note that said “Please call”. That afternoon I called
Los Angeles and spoke with the special agent whose name was on the card.
The DHS agent said they wanted to speak to me about “The Aztlan
Movement” and my organization. I answered, “Do you mean La Voz de
Aztlan?” I added, “La Voz de Aztlan is a news and information service.”
The special agent wanted to come to my home to speak to me personally on
the following day. We made a 8:30 a.m. appointment.
The knock on my door came at precisely 8:30 a.m. on December 23, 2005 as
my family was making final preparations for Christmas Day. On the other
side of my glass door were two gentlemen dressed in professional
business suits. I opened the door and we introduced each other. I
escorted them to my living room and introduced the two special agents to
two of my family members that were present. We all sat down and the lead
government agent began the conversation.
Among the first statements said by the special agent in charge was, “La
Voz de Aztlan has raised eyebrows in Washington”. He proceeded to ask
numerous questions about Aztlan. He said that he was not from the area
and wanted to know as much as possible about the “Aztlan Movement” and
my organization. I reiterated that “La Voz de Aztlan” is not an
organization per se but merely an Internet news service for Mexican and
Mexican-Americans in the US Southwest and in Mexico. I added that La Voz
de Aztlan, however, had attracted readership and subscriber from around
the globe.
He asked what Aztlan meant to me. I answered that Aztlan has many levels
of meaning. I said that “Aztlan” in the name of our news publication is
mostly symbolic. I gave both special agents the historic and cultural
basis for “Aztlan” . I mentioned that there exists historical Mexica
documents and old Spanish maps that point to an actual region called
“Aztlan” that existed in pre-Columbian times near the “four corners”
area of the US Southwest. I mentioned that according to ancient Mexica
(Aztec) lore, they were to migrate south to establish the great city of
Tenochtitlan (present day Mexico City) at a place where they were to see
a “sign”. The sign would be “An eagle on top of a cactus with a serpent
in its beak”. One of the special agents immediately recognized this
“sign” as being part of the Mexican flag.
At this point the conversation turned into “Aztlan” being a separatist
organization and whether I believed that the Southwest should separate
from Washington and become
part of Mexico. I said that there are many youths of Mexican descent
that believe in such a possibility but that my personal beliefs are more
in line with those of Professor Armando Navarro of the University of
California and of Professor Charles Truxillo of the University of New
Mexico. The special agent asked me whether I believed in the armed and
violent overthrow of the US government. I answered “no” and that I
believed in making social and political changes through the “ballot
box”.
The lead special agent also asked questions concerning a news report we
had on a legendary Iraqi sniper that our troops have nicknamed “Juba”.
The report included a link to a video on the server of “The Internet
Archive” at www.archive.org. “The Internet Archive” is funded by the US
Library of Congress but the video appears to have been produced by
Al-Queda. We have now removed two reports on “Juba” because of the
concerns communicated to us by the DHS.
There were numerous other questions concerning my education, employment
and military record with the US Army 2nd Armored Division. They asked
what kind of weapons I own and where in the house I kept them. They
asked whether I had friends and who were my associates. They asked about
Ernesto Cienfuegos, Roberto Cruz and my association with Dr. Armando
Navarro. They also asked how I got along with my neighbors.
At about this point, the second special agent got up and approached me
with a clip board and a document. He requested that I print my name on a
line at the top and sign at the bottom. I ask what it was for and he
answered that it was permission for them to examine my computer. All
this time the special agent in charge was in constant radio
communication with someone at a remote location. I had to decide on the
spot whether to grant permission or insist on a court warrant. I decided
that it would be the best course to continue to fully cooperate with the
federal agents and I sign the document. Right after I signed, the lead
agent radioed someone and within five minutes two more special agents
arrived to my home with suitcases of electronic equipment. The lead
agent asked me to escort them to my computer room where they spent two
hours copying the hard disk of my computer. I do not know what else they
did down there because I was kept busy by the other two agents upstairs
answering additional questions.
It was clear to me that the Department of Homeland Security had
conducted previous surveillance and investigations because they already
had much information on myself and our news publication “La Voz de
Aztlan”. The special agent in charge gave me the distinct impression
that they were acting on high level orders from Washington. We suspect
Congressman Tom Tancredo, the AIPAC or both. We are presently preparing
a “congressional inquiry” in an attempt to find out who was behind this
frightening invasion of privacy and government action that has “chilled”
our constitutional freedom of speech and of the press.
http://www.aztlan.net/homeland_security_incident.htm
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* La Voz de Aztlan
Website: http://www.aztlan.net
DHS Truck – Check out “>www.cryptome.org
Domestic Spying — it gets worse
December 25th, 2005
The layers of the onion peel away…
From the STrib: The Patriot Act’s Arsenal of Intrusion
I’ve had it with all the qualified language and “questions” and hemming and hawing… “misstatements” and denial…
Here’s another STrib article with a misleading headline:
Powell supports government eavesdropping
Powell said that when he was in the Cabinet, he was not told that President Bush authorized a warrantless National Security Agency surveillance operation after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” Powell said he sees “absolutely nothing wrong with the president authorizing these kinds of actions” to protect the nation.
But he added, “My own judgment is that it didn’t seem to me, anyway, that it would have been that hard to go get the warrants. And even in the case of an emergency, you go and do it.”
Always the realist, Powell notes:
Powell said Congress will need to judge whether Bush is correct in his assertion that he could approve eavesdropping without first obtaining court orders.
“And that’s going to be a great debate,” Powell said.
Here’re today’s revelations from the NYT
Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report
The volume of information harvested from telecommunication data and voice networks, without court-approved warrants, is much larger than the White House has acknowledged, the officials said.
…
What has not been publicly acknowledged is that N.S.A. technicians, besides actually eavesdropping on specific conversations, have combed through large volumes of phone and Internet traffic in search of patterns that might point to terrorism suspects. Some officials describe the program as a large data-mining operation.
…
The use of similar data-mining operations by the Bush administration in other contexts has raised strong objections, most notably in connection with the Total Information Awareness system, developed by the Pentagon for tracking terror suspects, and the Department of Homeland Security’s Capps program for screening airline passengers. Both programs were ultimately scrapped after public outcries over possible threats to privacy and civil liberties.
An April, 2002 post was on the money, asking the right questions:
Online Versus National Security
Yet here we are…
And today have the STrib asking the question: Was the president justified in spying on people without the court-approved warrants typically required in such cases?
Now, color me stupid, but why is this a QUESTION? All the folks “asked” about this seem clear it’s illegal! Yet the newspaper’s too cowed to state the obvious truth.