Obama: Citizens should NOT expect Privacy on Cellphones

from CNET:

the Obama administration has argued that warrantless tracking is permitted because Americans enjoy no “reasonable expectation of privacy” in their–or at least their cell phones’–whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that “a customer’s Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records” that show where a mobile device placed and received calls.

Those claims have alarmed the ACLU and other civil liberties groups, which have opposed the Justice Department’s request and plan to tell the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia that Americans’ privacy deserves more protection and judicial oversight than what the administration has proposed.

See the article at: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10451518-38.html

FBI: Corruption Destroying the “Soul” of the United States

     In a recent speech, a veteran FBI agent remarked that corruption, on Wall Street and in the Halls of Politics, is destroying the “soul” of the US society. The UK’s Guardian reports:

One of the FBI‘s top agents warned yesterday that corruption in the US was increasing and tearing at the fabric of society.

Special agent John Gillies, who has led major anti-corruption drives during his 27-year career with the bureau, focused his words primarily on crooked financiers and unscrupulous officials.

However, he added that sporting heroes such as Tiger Woods were also to blame, letting down children who saw them as role models. The golfer is currently embroiled in scandal since his high-profile car crash on 27 November. “Money can’t buy everything,” Gillies said.

He told a chamber of commerce meeting in Boca Raton, Florida, that failures in personal ethics and integrity sowed the initial poisonous seeds of corruption in a society.

He said that fallen sporting heroes sent the wrong message to the young: that cheating was acceptable.

In a speech reported by Reuters, he said: “It really gets at the soul and fabric of the United States when people are out there corrupting. It all starts with simple ethics violations.”

For the full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/09/fbi-corruption-america

Justice Dept Begins Quashing Frredom of Speech; Freedom of Press

 (AP / CBS)

“In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day.”

“The subpoena (PDF) from U.S. Attorney Tim Morrison in Indianapolis demanded “all IP traffic to and from http://www.indymedia.us”; on June 25, 2008. It instructed Clair to “include IP addresses, times, and any other identifying information,” including e-mail addresses, physical addresses, registered accounts, and Indymedia readers’ Social Security Numbers, bank account numbers, credit card numbers, and so on.”

For the article: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/11/09/taking_liberties/entry5595506.shtml?tag=mncol;txt

UPDATE: This organization is a watchdog for Internet security and privacy concerns. They were able to assist the website in the above story to get the Justice Department to back off:

From EFF’s Secret Files: Anatomy of a Bogus Subpoena

How the Government Secretly Demanded the IP Address of Every Visitor to Political News Site Indymedia.us

http://www.eff.org/wp/anatomy-bogus-subpoena-indymedia

Obama WH straddles “Both” sides of Gay Marriage Debate

     The Obama team thinks that not permitting gay marriages is unfair, BUT, in the same court filing, they will continue to defend the Defense of Marriage Act because it is constitutional:

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration filed court papers Monday claiming a federal marriage law discriminates against gays, even as government lawyers continued to defend it.

Justice Department lawyers are seeking to dismiss a suit brought by a gay California couple challenging the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. The administration’s response to the case has angered gay activists who see it as backtracking on campaign promises made by Barack Obama last year.

In court papers, the administration said it supports repeal of the law.

Yet the same filing says the Justice Department will defend the statute in this case because a reasonable argument can be made that the law is constitutional.

Full story at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090817/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_gay_marriage

Politico: Obama Photo Reversal is just “Smoke and Mirrors” to make him look Good to both sides of the Argument

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22508.html

 

 

“However, a leading scholar on civil litigation rules, Stephen Yeazell of UCLA, said the law is clear that parties to lawsuits, including the government, can’t suddenly raise new arguments not presented to the district court judge who issued the initial ruling.

“It’s a pretty well-established principle that you cannot on appeal raise new arguments that you failed to raise in the court below. You have waived those arguments,” Yeazell said. “If they now want to take a different position and cite a different FOIA exemption it’s too late for that…I just offhand don’t think they have a whole lot of paddles in their canoe at this point.”

Criminal Prosecutions of Bush Lawyers not likely, But Justice is Suggesting Bar Sanctions for 2 of them; Career Destruction because we are Safe!

     As anyone in the legal profession will tell you, sanctions or disciplinary action from the state Bar Association is most feared. Thus, in its investigation of the legal memos that authorized enhanced interrogation techniques, the Justice Department is not going to pursue prosecuting these attorneys. Instead, however, Attorney General Eric Holder will recommend that at least two of them be reported and recommended for sanctions and disciplinary action from their respective Bar associations:

WASHINGTON – Bush administration lawyers who approved harsh interrogation techniques of terror suspects should not face criminal charges, Justice Department investigators say in a draft report that recommends two of the three attorneys face possible professional sanctions.

The recommendations come after an Obama administration decision last month to make public legal memos authorizing the use of harsh interrogation methods but not to prosecute CIA interrogators who followed advice outlined in the memos.

That decision angered conservatives who accused President Barack Obama of selling out the CIA for releasing the memos, and liberals who thought he was being too forgiving of practices they — and Obama — call torture. The president’s rhetoric, if not actual policy, shifted on the matter as the political fallout intensified.

Officials conducting the internal Justice Department inquiry into the lawyers who wrote those memos have recommended referring two of the three lawyers — John Yoo and Jay Bybee — to state bar associations for possible disciplinary action, according to a person familiar with the inquiry. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was not authorized to discuss the inquiry.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_interrogation_memos;_ylt=AuiQcQf3BjPp.64ogAJSe7Ws0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJuZ2pwZG9mBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwNTA2L3VzX2ludGVycm9nYXRpb25fbWVtb3MEY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMzBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2Z1bGxuYnNwc3Rvcg–

HuffPo Response to Tea Parties: Make AM Radio Liberal-Accessible

“The lesson from today I think is that Congressional Democrats and the Obama Administration should work together to make the public AM radio airwaves more competitive so more diverse voices are heard. As long as the Republicans and the Right hold on to their monopoly on AM radio they’ll be able to stage these kind of hate-fests easily and more often. I’d take the Tea Baggers seriously and move to use the FCC to open up the public airwaves and also use the Anti-Trust Division of the Justice Department to break up Rupert Murdoch’s media empire along with the other media corporations that have become as dysfunctional to our democracy as the “too big to fail” financial corporations.”

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/reporting-from-the-tea-ba_b_187465.html

Ok, from my humble perspective, the liberals have the same access to use the airwaves of American radio as the conservative talk shows have. the problem they have is that they do not have the financial support from their listeners (or lack of listeners). Be careful what you wish for– you want the Justice Dept. to disassemble Rupert Murdoch’s team; well, what aabout GE and NBC?