Sy Hersh: Dem Leadership Cooperating in Secret War against Iran

In Seymour Hersh’s article for The New Yorker, “Preparing the Battlefield“, Hersh claims that the Bush administration has been carrying out secret operations in Iran for some time now, with the funding and cooperation of the Democratic leadership in Congress. 

Bruno Won’t Seek Re-Election

Breaking News Alert

The New York Times

Monday, June 23, 2008 — 7:03 PM ET

—–

 

Joseph L. Bruno, N.Y. Senate Majority Leader, Won’t Seek Re-Election

 

Joseph L. Bruno, New York’s Senate Majority Leader, who has

been the state’s top Republican since 2006, won’t seek

re-election in the fall.

 

Read More:

http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na

Here’s the list of the Democratic congressmembers who disgraced our party and our nation yesterday:

Gary Ackerman (NY)
Jason Altmire (PA)
Mike Arcuri (NY)
Joe Baca (CA)
Brian Baird (WA)
John Barrow (GA)
Melissa Bean (IL)
Shelley Berkley (NV)
Howard Berman (CA)
Marion Berry (AR)
Dandord Bishop (GA)
Tim Bishop (NY)
Dan Boren (OK)
Leonard Boswell (IA)
Rick Boucher (VA)
Allen Boyd (FL)
Nancy Boyda (KS)
Corrine Brown (FL)
G.K. Butterfield (NC)
Dennis Cardoza (CA)
Chris Carney (PA)
Kathy Castor (FL)
Don Cazayoux (LA)
Ben Chandler (KY)
Travis Childers (MS)
Emanuel Cleaver (MO)
Jim Clyburn (SC)
Jim Cooper (TN)
Jim Costa (CA)
Bud Cramer (AL)
Joe Crowley (NY)
Henry Cuellar (TX)
Artur Davis (AL)
Lincoln Davis (TN)
Norm Dicks (WA)
Joe Donnelly (IN)
Chet Edwards (TX)
Brad Ellsworth (IN)
Rahm Emanuel (IL)
Eliot Engel (NY)
Bob Etheridge (NC)
Gabby Giffords (AZ)
Kirsten Gillibrand (NY)
Bart Gordon (TN)
Al Green (TX)
Gene Green (TX)
Luis Gutierrez (IL)
Jane Harman (CA)
Alcee Hastings (FL)
Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (SD)
Brian Higgins (NY)
Ruben Hinojosa (TX)
Tim Holden (PA)
Steny Hoyer (MD)
Paul Kanjorski (PA)
Dale Kildee (MI)
Ron Kind (WI)
Ron Klein (FL)
Nick Lampson (TX)
James Langevin (RI)
Dan Lipinski (IL)
Nita Lowey (NY)
Tim Mahoney (FL)
Jim Marshall (GA)
Jim Matheson (UT)
Carolyn McCarthy (NY)
Mike McIntyre (NC)
Jerry McNerney (CA)
Gregory Meeks (NY)
Charlie Melancon (LA)
Harry Mitchell (AZ)
Dennis Moore (KS)
Patrick Murphy (PA)
Jack Murtha (PA)
Solomon Ortiz (TX)
Nancy “Off the Table” Pelosi (CA)
Ed Perlmutter (CO)
Collin Peterson (MN)
Earl Pomeroy (ND)
Nick Rahall (WV)
Silvestre Reyes (TX)
Laura Richardson (CA)
Ciro Rodriguez (TX)
Mike Ross (AR)
Dutch Ruppersberger (MD)
John Salazar (CO)
Adam Schiff (CA)
David Scott (GA)
Joe Sestak (PA)
Brad Sherman (CA)
Heath Shuler (NC)
Albio Sires (NJ)
Ike Skelton (MO)
Adam Smith (WA)
Vic Snyder (AR)
Zach Space (OH)
John Spratt (SC)
Bart Stupak (MI)
John Tanner (TN)
Ellen Tauscher (CA)
Gene Taylor (MS)
Bennie Thompson (MS)
MARK Udall (CO)
Charlie Wilson (OH)
John Yarmuth (KY)

BlueAmerica and ColorofChange Ad

From Crooks & Liars BlueAmerica

One More Reason Why Russ Feingold Should Have Run for President

Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold
On the FISA Deal

June 19, 2008

“The proposed FISA deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation. The House and Senate should not be taking up this bill, which effectively guarantees immunity for telecom companies alleged to have participated in the President’s illegal program, and which fails to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans at home. Allowing courts to review the question of immunity is meaningless when the same legislation essentially requires the court to grant immunity. And under this bill, the government can still sweep up and keep the international communications of innocent Americans in the U.S. with no connection to suspected terrorists, with very few safeguards to protect against abuse of this power. Instead of cutting bad deals on both FISA and funding for the war in Iraq, Democrats should be standing up to the flawed and dangerous policies of this administration.”

Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) is a member of the Senate Judiciary and Intelligence Committees.

House Dems Cave in on FISA

 

CommonDreams.org has a description of what happened to another chunk of our civil liberties by Glen Greenwald.  Read the entire article.  This says it all:

The most succinct summary of what the Democrats just “negotiated” came from Russ Feingold: “The proposed FISA deal is not a compromise; it is a capitulation.” Numerous other Democratic office-holders and Congressional candidates scornfully characterized this bill for what it is, including Andrea Miller, a Democratic nominee for Congress in Virginia, who said: “We have a Democratic majority in the House and yet they seem to be as confused by the meaning of the Constitution as the Republicans.” 

I’m very disappointed to see Reps. Gillibrand and Arcuri, both Dems from New York, voting for this travesty and barking like “Blue Dogs” .

NYCLU: Members of Congress must vote NO on H.R. 6304, the FISA Amendments Act.

The FISA Amendments Act:

- Allows the government to conduct mass, untargeted surveillance of all communications coming into and out of the United States, without any individualized review, and without any finding of wrongdoing.

- Trivializes our system of checks and balances by permitting the government to continue surveillance programs even if the surveillance application is denied by a court. The government can continue to wiretap throughout the appeals process and use whatever it has gathered in the meantime.

- Ensures the dismissal of all lawsuits against the telecommunications companies that facilitated the warrantless wiretapping programs over the past seven years. The bill only requires companies to prove that the government issued requests for information, not that they were legal.

- Does not guarantee access to reports from the Administration about warrantless wiretapping to Members of Congress who are not on Judiciary or Intelligence Committees.

WFP: “Bacon & Eggs”–Albany Lobbyists Raided

Albany Times Union (Lyons and Odato): Sweeney connections to lobbyist examined

A federal criminal investigation is focusing on the relationship of lobbyist William D. Powers and former U.S. Rep. John E. Sweeney in connection with a series of federal grants that were steered to Powers’ clients, according to several people familiar with the probe. The probe is being overseen by the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section in Washington, D.C. Several people familiar with the case said it is centered on a period when Powers’ clients received the earmarks while Sweeney’s then-wife, Gayle, was working for Powers’ Albany-based lobbying firm. Armed with a search warrant, federal attorneys and FBI agents from Albany and Washington appeared at Powers & Co.’s 90 State St. office building on Friday. They confiscated files and interviewed employees who were encouraged to remain in the office during the search. It’s not clear whether Powers was present.

See also:

NY Times (Danny Hakim): Lobbying Investigation Prompts Raid of Albany Firm

NY Sun (Jacob Gershman): FBI Albany Raid Seen as Part of Wider Probe

Daily News (Elizabeth Benjamin): Feds raid office of GOP big, probe ties to fallen pol

Bacon & Eggs – Working Families Breakfast Reading
Sign up for Bacon & Eggs - Join the WFP

Yahoo! News: Senate Republicans block windfall taxes on Big Oil

AP - Saved by Senate Republicans, big oil companies dodged an attempt Tuesday to slap them with a windfall profits tax and take away billions of dollars in tax breaks in response to the record gasoline prices that have the nation fuming. Full Story

CAE Defense Fund: ARTIST CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES IN PRECEDENT-SETTING CASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 11, 2008

CONTACTS: 

Email: media@caedefensefund.org 

Dr. Steven J. Kurtz: (716) 812-2968 

Lucia Sommer, CAE Defense Fund: (716) 359-3061 

Edmund Cardoni, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center: (716) 854-1694

 

ARTIST CLEARED OF ALL CHARGES IN PRECEDENT-SETTING CASE 

Department of Justice Fails to Appeal Dismissal 

Kurtz Speaks about Four-Year Ordeal

 

Buffalo, NY–Dr. Steven Kurtz, a Professor of Visual Studies at SUNY at

Buffalo and cofounder of the award-winning art and theater group Critical

Art Ensemble, has been cleared of all charges of mail and wire fraud. On

April 21, Federal Judge Richard J. Arcara dismissed the government’s entire

indictment against Dr. Kurtz as “insufficient on its face.” This means that

even if the actions alleged in the indictment (which the judge must accept

as “fact”) were true, they would not constitute a crime. The US Department

of Justice had thirty days from the date of the ruling to appeal. No action

has been taken in this time period, thus stopping any appeal of the

dismissal. According to Margaret McFarland, a spokeswoman for US Attorney

Terrance P. Flynn, the DoJ will not appeal Arcara’s ruling and will not seek

any new charges against Kurtz.

 

For over a decade, cultural institutions worldwide have hosted Kurtz and

Critical Art Ensemble’s educational art projects, which use common science

materials to examine issues surrounding the new biotechnologies. In 2004 the

Department of Justice alleged that Dr. Kurtz had schemed with colleague Dr.

Robert Ferrell of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public

Health to illegally acquire two harmless bacteria cultures for use in one of

those projects. The Justice Department further alleged that the transfer of

the material from Ferrell to Kurtz broke a material transfer agreement, thus

constituting mail fraud.

 

Under the USA PATRIOT Act, the maximum sentence for these charges was

increased from five years to twenty years in prison.

 

Dr. Kurtz has been fighting the charges ever since. In October 2007, Dr.

Ferrell pleaded to a lesser misdemeanor charge after recurring bouts of

cancer and three strokes suffered since his indictment prevented him from

continuing the struggle.

 

KURTZ SUMS UP END OF FOUR-YEAR NIGHTMARE

 

Finally vindicated after four years of struggle, Kurtz, asked for a

statement, responded stoically: “I don’t have a statement, but I do have

questions. As an innocent man, where do I go to get back the four years the

Department of Justice stole from me? As a taxpayer, where do I go to get

back the millions of dollars the FBI and Justice Department wasted

persecuting me? And as a citizen, what must I do to have a Justice

Department free of partisan corruption so profound it has turned on those it

is sworn to protect?”

 

Said Kurtz’s attorney, Paul Cambria,  “I am glad an innocent man has been

vindicated. Steve Kurtz stared in the face of the federal government and a

twenty-year prison term and never flinched, because he believes in his work

and his actions were those of a completely innocent man. Clients like him

are a blessing, and although I have had many important victories, this one

stands at the top of the list.”

 

As coordinator of the CAE Defense Fund, a group organized to support Kurtz

from the beginning of the case, Lucia Sommer sees the end of the prosecution

as bittersweet, and like Kurtz, is thoughtful about the broader significance

of the case:  “This ruling is the best possible ending to a horrible

ordeal–but we are mindful of numerous cases still pending, and the grave

injustices perpetrated by the Bush administration following 9/11. This case

was part of a larger picture, in which law enforcement was given expanded

powers. In this instance, the Bush administration was unsuccessful in its

attempt to erode Americans’ constitutional rights.” 

 

Referring to the international outcry the case provoked, involving

fundraisers and protests held on four continents, Sommer said, “The

government has unlimited resources to bring and prosecute these kinds of

charges, but the accused often don’t have any resources to defend

themselves. This victory could never have happened without the activism of

thousands of people. Supporters protested, vocally opposed the prosecution,

and refused to let it go on in silence. And without their efforts at

fundraising, Kurtz and Ferrell would not have been able to defend themselves

from these false accusations.”

 

Sommer added that the next step for the defense will be to get back all of

the materials taken by the FBI during its 2004 raid on the Kurtz home,

including several completed art projects, as well as Dr. Kurtz’s lab

equipment, computers, books, manuscripts, notes, research materials, and

personal belongings.  The four confiscated art projects are the subject of

an exhibition entitled SEIZED on view at Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center

in Buffalo, NY, through July 18:

http://www.hallwalls.org/visual_shows/2008/show_seized.html.

 

BACKGROUND TO THE CASE

 

The case originated in May 2004, when Kurtz’s wife Hope died of heart

failure as the couple was preparing a project about genetically modified

agriculture for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. Police who

responded to Steve Kurtz’s 911 call deemed the Kurtzes’ art materials

suspicious and alerted the FBI. Kurtz explained that the materials (legally

and easily obtained basic life science equipment and two harmless bacteria

samples) had already been displayed at museums throughout Europe and North

America with absolutely no risk to the public. However, the following day,

Kurtz was illegally detained for 22 hours on suspicion of bioterrorism, as

dozens of agents from the FBI, Joint Terrorism Task Force, Homeland

Security, Department of Defense, ATF, and numerous other law enforcement

agencies raided his home, seizing his personal and professional belongings. 

After a federal grand jury refused to charge Kurtz with bioterrorism, Kurtz

and Ferrell were indicted on two counts of mail fraud and two counts of wire

fraud concerning the acquisition of  of harmless bacteria for one of

Critical Art Ensemble’s educational art projects. (Critical Art Ensemble is

the recipient of numerous awards for its projects, including the prestigious

2007 Andy Warhol Foundation Wynn Kramarsky Freedom of Artistic Expression

Grant, in recognition of twenty years of distinguished work:

http://www.creative-capital.org/index2.html.)

 

The Department of Justice brought the charges in spite of the fact that the

alleged “victims of fraud”–American Type Culture Collection and the

University of Pittsburgh–never filed any charges or complained of any

wrongdoing, and the fact that in bringing the charges the Department of

Justice was acting completely outside its own Prosecution Policy Relating to

Mail Fraud and Wire Fraud

(http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/eousa/foia_reading_room/usam/title9/43mcrm.htm).

 

 

For more information and extensive documentation, including the Judge’s

dismissal, please visit: http://caedefensefund.org