Editorial from:  

When Attorney General John Ashcroft was a Republican senator from Missouri, he exhibited a distinct disdain for the Constitution. During his six years in the Senate, he actively attempted to alter the document in significant ways, sponsoring or supporting constitutional amendments on at least eight different issues. Now, as attorney general, Ashcroft doesn't have to bother with the consensus-building of the legislative process. He can simply issue rules and policies to shape constitutional law to his liking.

Editorial from:  

President Bush's plan to use secret military tribunals to try terrorists is a dangerous idea, made even worse by the fact that it is so superficially attractive. In his effort to defend America from terrorists, Mr. Bush is eroding the very values and principles he seeks to protect, including the rule of law.

"The President, who exercises a limited power, may err without causing great mischief in the State. Congress may decide amiss without destroying the Union, because the electoral body in which Congress originates may cause it to retract its decision by changing its members. But if the Supreme Court is ever composed of imprudent men or bad citizens, the Union may be plunged into anarchy or civil war."

- Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

By: Douglas Mattern  

A decade after the end of the Cold War, both the U.S. and Russia have thousands of nuclear warheads on a hair-trigger alert, ready to launch in a few minutes notice. This is utter madness, a monumental terrorism imposed on humanity by the nuclear powers.

Editorial from:  

First, the Justice Department rounds up more than a thousand people and holds them without letting anybody know the charges against them, or even who is being held.

We Can Only Guess What Secrets Bush Is Keeping

By: Marie Cocco  

Black smoke rises up from terrorism and war, perfect concealment for a Bush administration assault of a different kind. This other attack is on history itself.

"I think Jack Welch’s the smartest boss I’ve ever had and he signs my paychecks."

- Tom Brokaw, NBC News anchor

By: Al Martin  

The new Bush dictatorship is in full swing. Bush just signed a bill wherein the United States no longer has to provide a civilian trial for anyone who should stand accused of committing a terrorist act against the United States. Instead the government will now try said individuals in a "special closed military court." In this trial, the defendants will not even be allowed to present any exculpatory evidence that the adjudicating military body should deem "contrary to the security of the State or the domestic tranquility of the people".

As always, one has to look at the fine print of this new executive order for secret military tribunals. As usual, the word "terrorism" is once again being used to pull the wool over the American people's eyes, while we stand with our thumbs stuck up our asses, waving the American flag, our rose colored spectacles a darker tint than ever.

In fact, this executive order establishes military tribunals or kangaroo courts, which directly violate due process of law. It is, as of now, probably the most unconstitutional of all the unconstitutional laws that have been passed and incorporated into this new disingenuously named "USA PATRIOT Act of 2001".

This law then could be interpreted, so that the prosecutorial power of the government could be extended essentially to anyone who disagreed with State policy.

In other words, this latest "authority bill" constitutes another nail in the coffin of the US Constitution and further strengthens the argument that, as of now, the people of the United States have allowed their government to be a democracy in name only. The people of the United States have not only abdicated any authority over the power of their own government, but they have also abdicated their personal liberties and freedoms.

By: Joe Conason  

After listening to George W. Bush address the United Nations General Assembly on Nov. 10, the question is whether the Presidential suit is half-empty or half-full. Has Mr. Bush fully grasped the need to move beyond the unilateralist attitudes of his party, or is he merely mouthing platitudes that serve the needs of wartime?

"No longer does the judicial branch and an independent jury stand between the government and the accused. In lieu of those checks and balances central to our legal system, non-citizens face an executive that is now investigator, prosecutor, judge, jury and jailer or executioner. In an Orwellian twist, Bush's order calls this Soviet-style abomination 'a full and fair trial'."

- William Safire, in a New York Times editorial

Stolen from:  

...the Republicans want us trust the government to conduct secret investigations, secret detentions, and secret trials. We are asked to trust our government with these, the most precious of our rights, the very rights that define us as a free people, because the Republicans tell us our government is trustworthy.

Editorial from:  

As the Presidential Records Act of 1978 makes clear, this treasure trove of historical material belongs to the American people. Unfortunately, neither that law, nor the public's right to be informed about the workings of its government, dissuaded President Bush from signing an executive order earlier this month creating new barriers to obtaining a former president's papers.

By: Mark Benjamin  

Some lawmakers Wednesday (11/14/01) bristled at President George W. Bush's announcement that terrorist suspects might face military tribunals, building momentum in Congress to investigate a possible erosion of civil liberties during the administration's war on terrorism.

"The two men are so chummy now that when Mr. Bush called Mr. Putin to invite him to the ranch, the Russian president said he was looking forward to riding horses with the American president. Mr. Bush had to explain that he doesn't ride. He prefers to saddle up his jeep or his golf cart, Gator, around the ranch."

- Maureen Dowd, on the phony 'rancher', our 'Commander-in-Thief', George aWol Bush

By: Robert Scheer  

Once again, we're being sold on the devil theory of history. Not that Osama bin Laden doesn't fit the bill as the Satan of the moment, just as Saddam Hussein did in the previous Bush Administration. But it's dangerous nonsense to suggest, as President Bush does, that we're up against an evildoer the likes of whom we've never seen.

By: Paul Krugman  

You may have seen the story about the businessman who allegedly used the attack on the World Trade Center to make off with other people's money. According to his accusers, Andrei Koudachev stole $105 million that had been invested with his firm, falsely asserting that the sum had been lost in the collapse of the towers. It's not entirely clear whether he is accused of stealing the money before Sept. 11, then using the disaster to cover his tracks, or of taking the money after the fact; maybe both.

It's too bad that so many of our leaders are trying to pull the same trick.

Parents Could Face Death Penalty in Girl's Fatal Beating

By: Carlos Sadovi  

The parents, who are Jehovah's Witnesses, allegedly claimed in videotaped confessions that they beat their daughter with an inch-thick section of rubberized electrical cable filled with strands of wire while they were exacting a biblical punishment of 40 lashes minus one, three times, investigators said.

By: George Lardner Jr. and Peter Slevin  

Bush said the tribunals are needed because "mass deaths, mass injuries and massive destruction of property" from future terrorism could "place at risk the continuity of the operations of the United States government". It is "not practicable", he said, to require the tribunals to abide by the "principles of law and the rules of evidence" that govern U.S. criminal prosecutions.

By: Chris Floyd  

It won't come with jackboots and book burnings, mass rallies and fevered harangues. It won't come with "black helicopters" or tanks on the street. It won't come like a storm - but like a break in the weather, that sudden change of season you might feel when the wind shifts on an October evening: Everything is the same, but everything has changed. Something has gone, departed from the world, and a new reality has taken its place.

As in Rome, all the old forms will still be there: legislatures, elections, campaigns - plenty of bread and circuses for the folks. But the "consent of the governed" will no longer apply; actual control of the state will have passed to a small group of nobles who rule largely for the benefit of their wealthy peers and corporate patrons.

By: Bill Kauffman  

We are not yet living in a police state; not even close. But neither are we quite living in America any more. Erstwhile civil libertarians endorse national ID cards. The ominous whisper of a military draft is in the air. When in the privacy of the family homestead I ventured the opinion that the 11 September attacks were a wicked response to wrong-headed US intervention in the Middle East, a dear family member counseled, "Don't say that too loud, Bill. Someone will report you to the police". She was serious.

Editorial from:  

As the Bush administration moves to restrict liberties, there's one path that should not be taken: the use of torture to extract information from suspected terrorists or accomplices.

By: Harley Sorensen  

If you throw a frog into a pot of hot water, they say, he will jump out immediately. If you put that same frog into a pot of cold water and then turn on the heat, he'll stay there until he boils to death.

I have no idea whether that story is true, but it does make a point.

While we have little difficulty recognizing immediate threats, more subtle dangers often escape our attention.

The "Patriot Act" is a direct result of the national panic and suspension of good judgment that has followed the events of Sept. 11. It is one of those subtle dangers that often escape our attention.

Editorial from:  

During the confirmation hearing of Attorney General John Ashcroft, Democratic senators wanted to know whether Ashcroft's religious and ideological conservatism would influence federal law enforcement on controversial social issues. At the time, Ashcroft promised to apply the law objectively, even if it meant going against his personal beliefs. Now senators who took him at his word must feel betrayed.

By: Tom Teepen  

Whoa. Get a rein on the war horses. Some are starting to run in the wrong direction.

Attorney General John Ashcroft has gone from reasonably asking for a little more legal elbow room as the FBI and other Justice Department agencies charge after terrorism to casually chucking whole chunks of the Constitution.

By: Ron Fournier  

President Bush signed an order Tuesday (11/13/01) that would allow the government to try people accused of terrorism in front of a special military commission instead of in civilian court.

Time lapse photo of 'Puff' in action. Each trace represents 5 rounds fired at approx. 4000 rounds per minute!

The AC-130H "Spectre" gunship's primary missions are close air support, air interdiction and armed reconnaissance. Other missions include perimeter and point defense, escort, landing, drop and extraction zone support, forward air control, limited command and control, and combat search and rescue.

These heavily armed aircraft incorporate side-firing weapons (two M61 20mm Vulcan cannons - 4000 to 6000 rpm, one L60 40mm Bofors cannon - 100 rpm, and one M102 105mm cannon - 6 to 10 rpm), integrated with sophisticated sensor, navigation and fire control systems to provide surgical firepower or area saturation during extended loiter periods, at night and in adverse weather. The sensor suite consists of a television sensor, infrared sensor and radar.

The AC-130H is an excellent fire support platform with outstanding capabilities. With its extremely accurate fire control system, the AC-130H can place 105mm, 40mm and 20mm munitions on target with first round accuracy. The crew of these aircraft are extremely proficient working in military operations in urban terrain [MOUT] environments.

By: Kevin Carmody  

Texans could soon lose their right to know exactly what pollutants an industry is dumping into the air they breathe.

For a quarter-century, the emissions data that companies submit to Texas environmental agencies have been public information that must be disclosed on request. A community's right to information affecting its health is so basic it even trumps a company's claim that the emissions data are a trade secret, then-Texas Attorney General John Hill ruled in 1975 and 1976.

"I hereby determine that assisting suicide is not a 'legitimate medical purpose'... and that prescribing, dispensing, or administering federally controlled substances to assist suicide violates the CSA." (emphasis added)

- John 'the annointed one' Ashcroft

By: Bryan Zepp Jamieson  

Never mind what 650,000 voters in Oregon decided. Never mind that the Supreme Court, in 1997, ruled unanimously that states have the right to determine so-called "right to die" laws. We have a crackpot religious whack for attorney general, and his Jesus has whispered in his ear that good, god-fearin' Amerkins like Jesus don't hold with letting people die without a whole lot of pain and suffering.

By: James Higdon  

Every week the little emperor, and the anti-justice department issue a fresh warning that more Americans are about to be murdered in massive numbers. In answer to this, we are force fed the Patriot Act. This piece of constitutional sedition, passed by all Republicans and almost all Democrats (that many now admit they never read in full) pretends to attack foreigners who come to this country with terrorism on their minds. Make no mistake, this act is so loosely worded that, as I write this, Ashcroft could decide, in a heartbeat, that this writing supports a terrorist cause. He could then have me arrested without a warrant, hold me incommunicado, confiscate my property, search all of my personal effects and, now that he has decided that this unconstitutional act gives him the right to monitor conversations between client and legal counsel, deny my Sixth Amendment right to an attorney. All of this can be done - right now - without the slightest measure of judicial oversight. Understand this - he has the power to drop me behind bars for life without legal representation, and thereby the benefit of a fair trial, based on nothing more than my dissent and his response to it.

If you have openly dissented against this illegal administration, you - yes, you - are also in danger. George W. Bush and John Ashcroft, while issuing bogus terror warning after bogus warning, claiming that another massive attack (even involving nuclear weaponry) is just around the corner unless we give them the vast tools to fight terrorism, are putting a loaded gun to the head of every American citizen and brazenly asking, "What would you rather have - your life or your rights?". It is now unpatriotic to demand the rights we have fought for and protected for over two hundred years. With this in view, students of history should not fail to apply a comparison to what happened on September 11^th with the Reichstag and Nazi Germany.

"The national government will maintain and defend the foundations on which the power of our nation rests. It will offer strong protection to Christianity as the very basis of our collective morality. Today Christians stand at the head of our country. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit. We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theatre, and in the press-in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of LIBERAL excess during the past [few] years."

- Adolph Hitler

"Reason should be destroyed in all Christians."

- Martin Luther

By: Gary St. Lawrence  

Did you know that members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted on Oct. 26 to give themselves another round of raises? This time, our illustrious elected officials - by a vote of 374 for and 52 against - decided to increase their salaries by $12,105, raising their total pay and allowances to $157,105.

Isn't it wonderful in this time of economic near-crisis, decades-high unemployment rates, massive and repeated corporate layoffs and downsizing and divisive uncertainty about who's working and who isn't, that the people we elect to lead us can give themselves a substantial raise nearly every year?

In 1975, the annual congressional salary was $44,600. In 1990, it was $97,500. Beginning Jan. 1, 2002, that salary is $157,105. Does he mean 2002? Has your salary increased by 48 percent in the past decade? Has your salary even increased 13 percent since 1999? According to the U.S. Congress Disbursing Office's quarterly report, our congressmen can answer yes to all of the above.

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