Category: Need2No

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News From Iran

It’s damned near impossible to get any. Josh, aka NiteOwl has been producing The Green Brief for more than 2 weeks now. This is the best source of gathered sources which are verified as well as they can be, under the circumstances. Some of these things he reports I can somewhat verify, in that I have seen the same reports from very trusted sources. An extremely small set of sources. Josh is more connected to the #iranelection than I am. I trust him to be as accurate as is possible.

The following is from trusted reports from inside Iran and describes events of July 1st, 2009.

The Green Brief #15 (July 01)

I’m NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar – twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter – and I’ve been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. [B](My work is released under Creative Commons (CC). So use it freely)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Tuesday, July 01 in Iran.

In Spanish: http://tinyurl.com/l7mg48

In French: http://tinyurl.com/l5cmtl

In Dutch: http://tinyurl.com/nhl854

In Russian: http://tinyurl.com/lgs9r9

In Italian: http://tinyurl.com/loqauv

In Greek: http://tinyurl.com/lx6xh2

In Hebrew (Summary): http://tinyurl.com/kp22p4

~

Protests

1. There have been unconfirmed reports of a protest in Tehran today. There were reports of clashes in Rasht that could be partially confirmed. Clashes broke out when police tried to disperse people who were mourning dead protesters. A doctor and two nurses were badly beaten in Loghman Hospital in Tehran after they tried to stop security forces from arresting an injured protester from the facility. A tweet source talked to a Basiji in Tehran today. According to the source, the Basiji claimed that he was working for Islam, but hoped that he wouldn’t be forced to quell protests again.

2. Protests are being planned for tomorrow – although none could be fully confirmed. A number of Iranian women who’ve formed a quasi-group called Mourning Mothers have announced that they will gather at Laleh Park on Saturday to mourn the dead. Reports from Tehran suggest that shops are being closed earlier than usual. Several sources claimed that the city is in a virtual state of an unofficial curfew.

Political Statements

3. Mousavi today released his 9th statement since the elections. He said that, “No opportunity to illuminate the extent of this lie and its historic repercussions should be lost and that the liars and cheats are only sheltering behind the law to impose their intentions.” He added that it was his and “all Iranians’ revolutionary responsibility to not let the blood of thousands of martyrs to have been in vain.” He continued to say, “It’s our historic mission to continue our protest and not abandon the cause of regaining people’s rights.” He questioned the government’s legitimacy and said that he no longer believed the government to be lawful – a sentiment already recognized by the majority of Iranians. He called upon the Government’s Elite to help expose the election fraud by releasing evidence and documents currently in their possession.

4. Khatami criticized the government in a new, harsher tone that suggested outright contempt today. He called the elections a “coup d’état against democracy.” He asked, “How can the Iranian people calm down when their votes were stolen? When their blood is and has been shed? When they are being hauled away and arrested en masse? When the government and media blatantly ignore them?” He asked, “How is a National reconciliation even remotely possible in a country that is turning into a police state?” He went on to say that what’s happening now in Iran “is a direct violation of the very rights people are promised in the constitution.” He accused the media of attempting to provoke further unrest and violence and denounced the governments’ attempts at censorship. He predicted that Regime’s establishment would fail if this were to continue.

5. Khatami later met with several families of loved ones arrested during in the violence the past two weeks. He yet again asked for the release of those detained for protesting, including all political and media personalities. He slammed the Ministry of Interior for professing “obliviousness” over the fate of many of the detained.

6. A video of Ayatollah Hadi Ghaffari, another prominent Shi’ite cleric has surfaced in which he directly accuses Khamenei of sinning against the people by ordering arrests and killings. This is the second high-ranking cleric in two days who has been reported to criticize the government so harshly. Ayatollah Taheri, the former Imam of Isfahan’s Friday prayers’s mosque, criticized the government’s actions yesterday.

Government

7. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reportedly said today that there was as much truth to electoral fraud in Iran as there was for the Holocaust. (Ahmadinejad is a Holocaust denier.) Ahmadinejad reportedly cancelled his trip to Libya to attend an African summit today as well. The media reported that Ahmadinejad was too busy at work and there were ‘other priorities’ for him to get to. This comes at a time when some reformists abroad are secretly planning on creating a shadow government for Iran – according to unconfirmed reports.

8. The Imam’s Way Faction (a group of MP’s) of parliament, which is slightly pro-reform, asked the families of detainees to send them documented information about their arrested family members. More high-profile Iranians were arrested today. Among the arrested were: Saeedeh Kordinejad and Zoia Hasani -members of Mosharekat Party, Vahid Amoozadeh-Khalili – the son of another pro-reform personality and Omid Mosleh – a prominent film critic. Mosleh was later released. Mohammad Mostafayee, a prominent lawyer who had been arrested two days ago, was also released on bail today.

Arrests, Releases and Investigations

9. Vahid Amoozadeh-Khalili’s detention could only be confirmed today, although he had been missing for two days. A high-ranking official in the Police Department confirmed that 1,032 people had been arrested since the start of the protests. According to independent sources, the numbers are likely much higher. There was partial confirmation of the release of 4 other British Embassy’s local staffers from Iranian detention. One still remains under arrest. The government had previously claimed that some of the 9 staffers arrested were guilty of taking part in orchestrating the current unrest in Iran. This comes when the EU has threatened to pull out all its diplomatic missions from Iran if the staffers were not released.

10. The Iranian government claimed that the murder of Neda Agha-Soltan was in no way, shape, or form related to the recent ‘riots’. Iran’s Chief of Police announced today that one of the key eye-witnesses of Neda’s death, Arash Hejazi, is actually wanted by Interpol for unspecified crimes. The government had earlier claimed that the bullet that killed Neda was not shot by any weapon currently in use by Iranian Security Forces.

11. Mohmmad Ghouchani, the detained editor-in-chief of Etemade Melli, has denied reports published in IRG’s main media outlet Javan Daily that he confessed committing crimes and breaking the law in organizing protests. He also rejected Javan’s claim that he had been secretly trained in an Arab country to carry out subversion tactics. He claimed to not even own a passport.

Media in Iran and Miscellaneous

12. Etemade Melli will be published again starting tomorrow after being banned for a day by the government for reportedly attempting to publish Karoubi’s statements yesterday. Reports suggest that the government is now heavily censoring Etemade Melli as well as other newspapers in order to stop any such statements from getting out to the public. A reporter of government-owned Press TV has also quit his job over perceived bias in the station’s reporting of the events after the election.

13. Today, reporters accompanying the governor of Fars province and the Friday prayers’ Imam of Shiraz stumbled upon four unopened ballot boxes from the elections in Shiraz’s main library. Per electoral rules in Iran, all ballot boxes were supposed to be shipped to Tehran. According to reports, the governor promptly declared the contents of the boxes ‘national documents’ and asked the reporters not to report the incident.

(Here are some pictures of the boxes as they can be clearly seen sealed. The last picture shows the Imam voting on Election Day, wearing a different robe. We cannot fully authenticate the pictures as no dates can be seen in the pictures.):
پایگاه مستقل خبر رسانی عبرت www.ebrat.ir

14. Chants of Allah o Akbar continued to rattle Tehran and other cities of Iran at dusk. A report published by the Guardian reports through a protester’s friend that the protester was arrested, beaten and raped. Here’s the full story on The Guardian’s website: Iran protester was arrested, beaten and raped, friend says | World news | guardian.co.uk

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. We currently are trying to get the Brief out in as many languages as possible. If you can translate the brief for us in a language other than English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch or Greek, please let us know. It comes out every day so it’ll be an every day thing so it’s for the long haul. But if you can even do a summary, it will be great! Email me on dbosca@gmail.com if you’re interested.

B. You could retweet this link and let more people know about what’s going in Iran.

C. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor and the Iranian Election – Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian’s Brain

Farsi:

Tor Browser Bundle

Tor: ?????? Tor

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: Torrents list � Rivolta in Iran

Original NiteOwl Greenbriefs at WhyWeProtest.net

Image via Wikipedia

News From Iran

It’s damned near impossible to get any. Josh, aka NiteOwl has been producing The Green Brief for 2 weeks now. This is the best source of gathered sources which are verified as well as they can be, under the circumstances. Some of these things he reports I can somewhat verify, in that I have seen the same reports from very trusted sources. An extremely small set of sources. Josh is more connected to the #iranelection than I am. I trust him to be as accurate as is possible.

The following is from trusted reports from inside Iran and describes events of June 30th, 2009.

Green Brief #14

I’m NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar – twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter – and I’ve been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. No news media outlets have been used. (All my work is released under Creative Commons (CC). You can freely use it and re-post it wherever you’d like to. Just provide a link to the original source at the bottom.)

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Tuesday, June 30 in Iran.

In Spanish: Green Brief #14 (June 30) En Espanol – Why We Protest – IRAN

In French: http://tinyurl.com/8fpx5

In German: Green Brief #14 (June 30) – Why We Protest – IRAN

In Italian: 30/06/2009: Report di fine giornata � Rivolta in Iran

1. 1. Today, people gathered at Vali Asr Square -the entire place was packed with Security Forces. Guards at Vanak Square were reportedly breaking car windows (those that honked their horns) which is a sign of the current protests. After security forces tried to arrest a young girl, some clashes broke out. (There was no further news about this event so confirmation is partial only.)

2. About 10 people were arrested at Tajrish Square after a group of people gathered there and chanted against the regime. Clashes were also reported at Satarkhan Street and Jomhori Street. The Independent Youth was also planning to organize a protest today in Tehran, however, reports were scarce and no confirmations could be obtained of the protests.

3. Today, more than 2,000 people gathered in front of the Islamic Republic Court in Urumieh asking about their detained relatives. So far, thousands have been rounded-up during protests, as well as during day and night-time raids all over the country. The number cannot be verified but it is said to be in the thousands. Mousavi and Karoubi have denied having sanctioned yesterday’s protests.

4. Mousavi has been reported by Iran Press TV to only be accepting of a new election. Mousavi’s campaign today called the widespread arrests “immoral and illegal.” Furthermore, they said that the torture of detained civilians could produce anti-revolutionary sentiments amongst the people, thus damaging the Islamic Revolution severely. There were reports of a National Strike being organized and propagated on Mousavi’s website, but it cannot be confirmed through independent sources.

5. The Iranian government has meanwhile banned Mousavi’s ally, Abolfazl Fateh, from leaving the country. Abolfazl Fateh today said that elections were “a deeply political concept and militarizing them was uncommon, costly and worrisome.” He said that their campaign would only release word on GhalamNet. Meanwhile, Mousavi’s website – GhalamNet – today denied sending new letters to the Guardian Council and rejected GC spokesperson’s claims yesterday about receiving fresh Mousavi demands. On the cyber side, Ayatollah Montazeri’s website has been taken down by the Ministry of Interior after he denounced the elections and called the government clamp-down on peaceful protesters against Islam.

6. Today, Khatami called for a change in the security presence on the streets of Iran, as well as for the formation of an independent commission to investigate complaints against the election. He added that, “force should not be used to make people do what one wants them to.” He added that the general trust of the Iranian people have been damaged by such tactics.

7. Karoubi announced in a letter to that Iranian people that he didn’t recognize the government’s legitimacy. Karoubi said that he entered the election for “change” and that hidden forces had blatantly changed the outcome. Karoubi objected to widespread arrests and asked officials for the immediate release of all detainees, as well as reparation of their reputation. He expressed readiness to work with individuals and groups because he perceived the republic, Iran and Islam to be in danger.

8. Ayatollah Taheri stated that Mousavi’s rights had been violated. Taheri – the former Friday Imam of Isfahan – called Ahmadinejad’s appointment illegal. He added that the old enemies of Imam [Khomeini] were sending the Islamic Republic to the museum with their actions [meaning it will be removed and become part of history if these actions don’t stop]. In response, a member of parliament today openly criticized Taheri and said that he was longer a senior cleric. After him, Pezeshkian – a reformist MP – told the parliament that God’s enemy was he who stood against the people.

9. Ahmadinejad declared that an attempt at a ‘soft overthrow’ of the regime had failed. This comes after a partial recount of 10% of the vote by the Guardian Council which resulted in slightly more votes of Ahmadinejad!!! Mohammad Yazdi, a cleric and member of the Guardian Council, announced today that he could personally testify as to the impartiality of the election. He added that Mousavi will be barred from taking part in any future elections.

10. Tehran’s notorious Evin prison is reportedly packed to capacity now and security forces are housing the detained in football stadiums. So many people are put in Tehran’s prisons that prisoners only have standing space. Reports say guards are preventing prisoners from sleeping by keeping them standing all night. Amnesty International today warned that the opposition leaders arrested in Iran were at risk of being tortured.

11. Maziar Bahari was forced to confess at a press conference that the protests were pre-planned and organized from abroad. Bahari is an adroit Iranian-Canadian Journalist and filmmaker, who has written for Newsweek and the New Statesman. Meanwhile,the torture of university students continues in the Ministry of Interior. Some Iranians traveling to Iran for the holidays have been taken in for questioning directly at the airport as they tried to leave the country. They were questioned because of updated information on their Facebook accounts.

12. There is still no news about Mojtaba Tehrani, an Etemad Melli correspondent. Three days have passed after his arrest. Another correspondent of Etemade Melli, Mahsa Amrabadi, who has been in detention for two weeks, has only been allowed to briefly call her family. Her whereabouts are unknown.

13. On the good side of things, Isfahan’s judicial sources announced the freedom from detention of 280 people who’d been arrested during the protests. Hundreds more still remain in detention. But today, it was announced that the legal prosecution of detained prisoners has started. The man in charge, Saeed Mortazavi, has led many to believe that dozens will probably be sentenced to death as he is notorious in seeking and getting death sentences for dissidents in Iran.

14. Police today entered Tehran University’s dorms at the request of the president of the university, reportedly. However, the president, Mr. Kohkan, later denied he had asked them to do so. Amir Hossein Shemshadi, in charge of Mousavi’s youth campaign, contacted his parents from inside Evin today and told them he would not be freed anytime soon

15. The Daily Khabar was stopped from printing its daily paper for the fourth time this week. Tehran public prosecutor and Cultural Ministry officials also stopped the publication of Etemade Melli newspaper today following its plans to publish a letter by Karoubi. Pressured by security forces, the session of the Journalists Union of Iran was also canceled. The sessions were to be focused on detained journalists.

16. The chants of Allah o Akbar continued tonight even though Basijis have threatened people with arrests and destruction of property if they continue to do so. One chanter has already been killed in the past days.

** Thank you all for translating! We still need more people with translations if they’re willing to do so. Email me if you are willing to help and if you are not asked to help, it still doesn’t mean you’re not AWESOME! You can still publish the translations on your blogs. @josh_612 and @gfanhoto please send me the link to your German and Portuguese translations at dbosca@gmail.com and anyone else who’s done another language! Everyone else, who wants to be part of this, please let me know. A hearty thanks to everyone and a special thanks to Sahar joon for proof-reading!

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. We currently are trying to get the Brief out in as many languages as possible. If you can translate the brief for us in a language other than English, Italian and Hebrew, please let us know. It comes out every day so it’ll be an every day thing – who knows for how long – so it’s for the long haul. But if you can even do a summary, it will be great!

B. You could retweet this link and let more people know about what’s going in Iran. The mainstream media has completely and utterly failed to get the message across so please, be the voice for Iranians.

C. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

http://torir.org

http://torir.brokep.com

http://img1.anonbw.com

Tor and the Iranian Election – Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian’s Brain

Farsi:

http://torir.org/index.html.fa

Tor: ?????? Tor

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: Torrents list � Rivolta in Iran

Helpers with expertise in the field of medicine, translation and such:

“Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir – WebIRC – AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments.”

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

People Inside Iran: Don’t believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

Original NiteOwl Greenbriefs at WhyWeProtest.net

Image via Wikipedia

News From Iran

It’s damned near impossible to get any. Josh, aka NiteOwl has been producing The Green Brief for 2 weeks now. This is the best source of gathered sources which are verified as well as they can be, under the circumstances.

Some of these things he reports I can somewhat verify, in that I have seen the same reports from very trusted sources. An extremely small set of sources. Josh is more connected to the #iranelection than I am. I trust him to be as accurate as is possible.

The Green Brief #13 (June 29)

I’m NiteOwl AKA Josh Shahryar – twitter.com/iran_translator on twitter – and I’ve been immersed in tweets from Iran for the past several hours. I have tried to be extremely careful in choosing my tweet sources. What I have compiled below is what I can confirm through my reliable twitter sources. Remember, this is all from tweets. No news media outlets have been used. (All my work is released under Creative Commons (CC). You can freely use it and re-post it wherever you’d like to. Just provide a link to the original source at the bottom.)

In Italian: http://giagro.wordpress.com/29062009…fine-giornata/

In German: http://kyrah.net/gr88/gb13.html

In Portuguese: http://tinyurl.com/mk8lta

In Hebrew (Summary) http://tinyurl.com/mqooe8

These are the important happenings that I can positively confirm from Monday, June 29 in Iran.

1. There was a human chain planned for today. The plan had been to form it between Tajrish Square and the Railway; however, the route was guarded heavily by Basijis, plainclothesmen and security forces. Nonetheless, people at gathered Mellat Park, Valiasr Field, Vanak and Valiasr Avenue and were trying to form a human chain. The police tried to disperse the crowd and stop the human chain from being formed. There were reports of clashes as well which cannot be fully confirmed. Reports of police smashing people’s windows for honking their horns and slashing their tires with knives.

2. Cell phone services were cut off around Valiasr as well as other parts of Tehran. The Basiji had Daneshjo Park under their control and helicopters were flying all over the place, especially over Valiasr. Today was one of the few times when the government cut off phone lines in order to disrupt communications between protesters and hinder their coordination of the event. During the event, several people were arrested as well. Most of Tehran was crawling with Basijis carrying sticks, some on motorcycles sporting camouflage vests. Protesters and some other people were wearing green wristbands in support of Moussavi.

3. Larijani, the speaker of the parliament today said that CNN had given money and cell phones to protesters to portray a wrong image of Iran. He added that the unrest was not an important event and it will be easily overcome and that it was just another experience for the Islamic Republic.

4. Two former Ministers of Interior have asked the Ministry of Interior to form an independent commission to investigate the problems related to the election. They have asked for the release of all the detained protesters as well and for the Iranian media to let protesters’ demands be heard. They have also requested an investigation into the deaths of protesters and other crimes committed during the protests and ask that people should be compensated for their losses.

5. Bijan Khajehpour a renowned Iranian political economist was detained at the airport in Tehran on Saturday upon arrival from the UK. Sources were unsure about his whereabouts but assumed he was in Evin prison. Dr. Mehdi Khazali, the son of Grand Ayatollah Khazali, who unlike his father is a critic of the government and Ahmadinejad, was also arrested. The Iranian media also announced the arrest of some people who were posing as Basijis. Yesterday’s arrest of Homa Roosta has now been confirmed to not be true.

6. Human rights groups claim that so far over 2,000 people are still in detention. Reports have surfaced that there is no more space left for women in Tehran’s official prisons. Human rights’ activists report on unsanitary and inappropriate conditions for imprisoned women protesters in Iran’s overcrowded jails. At least 60 of imprisoned women are in the public wards and have only been given a blanket and are forced to sleep in corridors.

7. Today, Amnesty International expressed concern about the political leaders who have been arrested and claimed that they faced torture in detention. This is while a member of the National Security Council announced today that they were not going to release any of the political prisoners any time soon.

8. Members of the National Security Council met with Khatami today. A special commission has been ordered to be formed by the Judiciary to take up the cases of the people arrested in the recent unrests. Ahmadinejad has reportedly asked the Judiciary to investigate the murder of Neda Agha-Sultan. In a letter, Ahmadinejad asked the head of the Judiciary for answers in the death and called the killing ‘suspicious’.

9. State TV says Iran’s top legislative body has confirmed Ahmadinejad victory in the disputed June 12th Presidential election after a partial recount. The Guardian Council’s leader, Jannati said that the GC deemed the complaints and irregularities irrelevant and thereby can confirm the results. Clashes were reported in Tehran after people took to the streets protesting the Guardian Council’s ruling. (This cannot be fully confirmed). People also started shouting ‘Death to Dictator’ on their roofs, after GC confirmed the victory of Ahmadinejad.

10. Since official results of Ahmadinejad’s win, only 11 countries congratulated Ahmadinejad on his ‘victory’. These countries are Tajikistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, the People’s Republic of China, Oman, Russia, Qatar and Venezuela.

11. The office of the Islamic Association of Sistan and Baluchestan University was set on fire by anonymous people today. The office is a hotbed of reform student activity.

12. Mohseni, Iranian Minister of Information, said today that he had met with Mousavi and had told him that the path he had taken had no end. He added that he told Mousavi that his insistence on annulling the election would achieve nothing but create more problems for him and his followers.

13. Five out of nine British Embassy staffers arrested earlier in the wee were released today. The rest are currently being held at an undisclosed location and include senior staff members. The government issued a statement saying that the detained staffers had connections with the unrest in Iran. . The EU threatened a mass pullout of its ambassadors from Iran if the staffers were not released.

14. The spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Iran has stated that they don’t want to close any embassies. He added that the arrest of the local staff of some embassies was not breaking international conventions. He added the remaining four staffers will be dealt with according to the law.

15. Keyhan, a newspaper close to Khamenei, slammed Mousavi today and called him a criminal. Also in a TV confession, another of Mousavi’s staffers was forced to say that the Iranian election protests were preplanned. Press TV announced today that reports of Iranian soccer players being punished for wearing green bands during their game with South Korea are false, after FIFA inquired about their reported lifetime ban which was placed by the Iranian Football Federation.

*Today, the source that had claimed of reports of persiankiwi’s arrest has tweeted that she talked to persiankiwi and pk is still free. Pk told the source that they simply don’t have access to resources for tweeting at this point. **Also a HEARTY thanks to Amandapanda for spending her precious time and energy on debriefing me to help compartmentalize the work.

Read this if you want to help or get help!

Helpers:

A. We currently are trying to get the Brief out in as many languages as possible. If you can translate the brief for us in a language other than English, Italian and Hebrew, please let us know. It comes out every day so it’ll be an every day thing – who knows for how long – so it’s for the long haul. But if you can even do a summary, it will be great!

B. You could retweet this link and let more people know about what’s going in Iran. The mainstream media has completely and utterly failed to get the message across so please, be the voice for Iranians.

C. The government in Iran is still increasing internet filtering and throttling in an attempt to silence their people. Anonymous info shows that many in Iran are looking for proxy and Tor information in Tehran and all around the country. Please donate your bandwidth to help bring down the Iran Curtain. Here are links on how to help and get help on this:

English:

http://torir.org

http://torir.brokep.com

http://img1.anonbw.com

Tor and the Iranian Election – Bring down the Iran Curtain | Ian’s Brain

Farsi:

http://torir.org/index.html.fa

Tor: ?????? Tor

Help us set up more bridges on Tor here: Torrents list � Rivolta in Iran

Helpers with expertise in the field of medicine, translation and such:

“Medici Cu Internet is a collaboration between piratbyran.org, HackersWithoutBorders and werebuild.eu trying to organize contacts with medical expertise online since there are problems in Iran with hospitals being monitored by the government. Join the IRC-channel at #mci-ir – WebIRC – AnonNet or send an email to us at embassy [at] piratbyran.org for more info. Medical experts, Farsi-translators and people who know the medical situation in iran are welcome to join and collaboratively set up an index with common injuries and their best treatments.”

People Outside Iran: This is as clear and concise as I can be. I have not included ANYTHING that I have sensed to be remotely fishy, but humans always err.

People Inside Iran: Don’t believe a WORD of what I am telling you. Do what you think is best, keeping everything in mind. I know LITTLE of what you know so make your decisions based on your OWN judgment.

Original NiteOwl Greenbriefs at WhyWeProtest.net

Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.
If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.
If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.

~ Saadi

From the Youtube site:

This week Iranians turned out in record numbers not seen since the beginning of the Iranian revolution to change their current President Mahmood Ahmadinejad.

Their willingness to exercise their democratic right was both historic and uncommon in the Middle East. Iranians longed for change the same way people in the United States, and indeed worldwide, longed for a new beginning after the Bush years. They were tired of an increasingly delusional President who has thrown their country into economic turmoil and portrayed their country as a conflict seeking entity in the Middle East.

But today the same Iranian regime that has denied a dialogue with the world, denied human rights, denied democracy, denied the Holocaust, is blatantly denying the will of its people by committing massive election fraud to reelect Mahmood Ahmadinejad, and arresting journalists and opposition leaders in broad daylight.

Accepting this deception will be costly not only for the people of Iran but also for the people of the Middle East, with far reaching consequences worldwide.

As you read these words, the people in Iran have taken to the streets in nationwide protests. Despite brutal government suppression tactics the Iranian people are courageously fighting for their rights. As antiriot police batons crush the bones of demonstrators whose only protest is election fraud, Iranians are screaming for the world to hear them: WE DENOUNCE MAHMOOD AHMADINEJAD!

The people of Iran now ask for your support!

We do not expect you to fight our struggle but to help us fight it. We expect people worldwide to put pressure on their governments and politicians not to accept the legitimacy of the Iranian elections and the fraudulent presidency of Mahmood Ahmadinejad. Democratic societies worldwide must not leave the Iranian people alone now that they have risen to the challenge. Instead they need to align their policies with the will of the Iranian people.

Friends, we ask you not to let 70 million people in Iran be taken hostage. Any government that accepts Mahmood Ahmadinejad as the new president of Iran has betrayed the Iranian people, endangered world peace, and has no sympathy for human pain.

Iranian Artists in Exile

“Truly God does not guide those who transgress and lie.”

~~

Ahmadinejad’s Legacy

The Koran speaks truth when it says “Truly God does not guide those who transgress and lie.”

This is the aftermath of a visit from Ahmadinejad’s people. Remember: this isn’t about the candidates. It’s about a free peoples’ right to a fair election. At least, that’s what it started out as – it’s might be becoming something much worse.

The lone car alarm just cuts right through me.

First Hand

(Name removed by request) reports his own observations on the course of events of 15th June 2009 in Tehran

I left my home in Tajrish along with my family at 3 p.m. We went down Valiast Street which is the main northern-southern avenue in Tehran and entered the Evin Exp’way which leads to Enghelab Street. We knew that people are supposed to gather in Enghelab Sq. (Revolution Sq.) at 4 and march toward Azadi Sq. (Freedom Sq.). From Gisha Bridge onwards, we saw people walking down. Cars were blowing their horns and people were showing victory sign. We went to Navvab Street and parked our car at the end of the street. Then we took a taxi to bring us back to the Enghelab Street.

On our way, near Jomhouri Sq. (Republic Sq.), I saw a group of about 20 militia with long beards and batons on motorbikes. My hand was out of the car window with a little green ribbon (the sign of reformists) around my finger. One of the militia told me to throw that ribbon away. I showed him a finger. All of a sudden, about 15 people attacked me inside the car. They beat me with their batons and wanted to pull me out. My wife and my daughter who were sitting in the back seat cried and hold me tight. I also hold myself tight on the chair. They wanted to shatter the car windows. The driver went out and explained that he is a taxi and we are his passengers and he has no fault. After about 5 minutes,they left. My elbow hurts severely. Then, a young man from their group came and kissed my elbow! I told him: You know, I don’t hate you. I am like you with the only difference that I know more and you are ignorant. He apologized and left.
We joined the crowd in Enghelab Street.

Read carefully:
What I saw today was the most elegant scene I had ever witnessed in my life. The huge number of people were marching hand in hand in full peace. Silence. Silence was everywhere. There was no slogan. No violence. Hands were up in victory sign with green ribbons. People carried placards which read: Silence. Old and young, man and woman of all social groups were marching cheerfully.

This was a magnificent show of solidarity. Enghelab Street which is the widest avenue in Tehran was full of people. I was told that the march has begun in Ferdowsi Sq. and the end of the march was now in Imam Hossein Sq. to the further east of Tehran while on the other end people had already gathered in Azadi Sq. The length of this street is about 6 kilometers. The estimate is about 2 million people. On the way, we passed a police department and a militia (Baseej) base. In both places, the doors were closed and we could see fully-armed riot police and militia watching the people from behind the fences.

Near Sharif University of Technology where the students had chased away Ahmadinejad a few days ago, Mirhossein Mousavi (the reformist elect president) and Karrubi (the other reformist candidate spoke to people for a few minutes which was received by cries of praise and applause. I felt proud to find myself among such a huge number of passionate people who were showing the most reasonable act of protest. Frankly, I didn’t expect such a political maturity from emotional Iranians who easily get excited. My family and I had put stickers on our mouths to represent the suppression. Placards that people carried were different; from poems by the national poet Ahmad Shamlu to light-hearted slogans against Ahmadinejad. Examples include: ” To slaughter us/ why did you need to invite us / to such an elegant party” (Poem by Shamlu). ” Hello! Hello! 999? / Our votes were stolen” or ” The Miracle of the Third Millenium: 2 x 2 = 24 millions” (alluding to the claim by Government that Ahmadinejad obtained 24 million votes) , “Where is my vote?” , ” Give me back my vote” and many other.

We arrived in Azadi Square where the entire square was full of population. It is said that around 500,000 people can be accommodated in this huge square and it was full. Suddenly we saw smoke from Jenah Freeway and heard the gunshot. People were scared at first but then went forward. I just heard the gunshots but my sister who had been on the scene at that part told me later that she saw 4 militia came out from a house and shot a girl. Then they shot a young boy in his eye and the bullet came out of his ear. She said that 4 people were shot. At least one person dead has been confirmed. People arrested one of the Baseeji militia but the three others ran away when they ran out of bullet. At around 8 we went back on foot. On the way back people were still in the street and were chanting Allah Akbar (God is Great).

I was coming home at around 2 a.m. In parkway, I saw about ten buses full of armed riot police parked on the side of the street. Then I saw scattered militia in civil clothes with clubs in hand patroling the empty streets. In Tajrish Square, I saw a very young boy (around 16) with a club who was looking at the cars to see if he can find something to attack. I don’t know how and under what teachings can young boys change into militia.

I came home. Tomorrow, people will gather again in Valiasr Square for another peaceful march toward the IRIB building which controls all the media and which spreads filthy lies. The day before Yesterday, Ahmadinejad had hold his victory ceremony. Government buses had transported all his supporters from nearby cities. There was full coverage of that ceremony where fruit juice and cake was plenty. A maximum of 100,000 had gathered to hear his speech. These included all the militia and the soldiers and all supporters he could gather by the use of free TV publicity.

Today, at least 2 million came only relying on word of mouth while reformists have no newspaper, no radio, no TV. All their internet sites are filtered as well as social networks such as facebook. Text messaging and mobile communication was also cut off during the demonstration. Since yesterday, the Iranian TV was announcing that there is no license for any gathering and riot police will severely punish anybody who may demonstrates. Ahmadinejad called the opposition as a bunch of insignificant dirt who try to make the taste of victory bitter to the nation. He also called the western leaders as a bunch of “filthy homosexuals”.

All these disgusting remarks was today answered by that largest demonstration ever. Older people compared the demonstration of today with the Ashura Demonstration of 1979 which marks the downfall of the Shah regime and even said that it outnumbered that event.

The militia burnt a house themselves to find the excuse to commit violence. People neutralized their tactic to a large degree by their solidarity, their wisdom and their denial to enage in any violent act.

I feel sad for the loss of those young girls and boys. It is said that they also killed 3 students last night in their attack at Tehran University residence halls. I heard that a number of professors of Sharif University and AmirKabir University (Tehran Polytechnic) have resigned.

Democracy is a long way ahead. I may not be alive to see that day. With eyes full of tear in these early hours of Tuesday 16th June 2009, I glorify the courage and bravery of those martyrs and I hope that their blood will make every one of us more committed to freedom, to democracy and to human rights.

Viva Freedom, Viva Democracy, Viva Iran

p.s.: If you find this report of any value, please share it with as many people as possible. Facebook is filtered and internet is very slow in Iran. Please somebody put this on facebook.

You can follow the situation in Iran on twitter using the hashtag #iranelection

Remember: this isn’t about the candidates. It’s about a free peoples’ right to a fair election.

via bigtweet

“If Iran Sleeps Tonight, It Will Sleep Forever”

From the Youtube site:

Dozens of moderate clerics and reformist political leaders in Tehran and around Iran have been arrested. Mousavi himself is apparently not under house arrest, although he is “being closely monitored by police,” which sure SEEMS like house arrest. Ayatollah Khameni has restated his position that the election results were fair.

UPDATE: There seems to be significant violence going on at universities around the country, as well as hundreds of arrests and reports of tear gas in the dorms.

The Koran speaks truth when it says “Truly God does not guide those who transgress and lie.”

Yeah, Revolution

If the video jumps a bit, keep in mind that folks all around the planet are watching it, and it’s streamed to each of them from one site, through others like Wordout. Watch it all.

To the wonderful folks in Iran I want to say “Good Luck. Don’t falter. The costs of freedom are nothing compared to the costs of giving up. Keep the faith you know is real. You will win if you just don’t give up.”

Stay informed:
Constantly updated reports
this at YahooNews
This Blog From Inside Iran

(edited)
Of Human Events

HCR 6 is a resolution introduced in New Hapshire to, uhmm – CLARIFY – the state’s position on The US Constitution, The US Federal Government, and the several states’ relationships with each other. It makes for a very interesting read, even if it is legalese. I hope you’ll read through it, slowly and maybe even a couple of times.

This is a big step for a state government to take.

HCR 6 – AS INTRODUCED

2009 SESSION

09-0274

09/01

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 6

A RESOLUTION affirming States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles.

SPONSORS: Rep. Itse, Rock 9; Rep. Ingbretson, Graf 5; Rep. Comerford, Rock 9; Sen. Denley, Dist 3

COMMITTEE: State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs

ANALYSIS

This house concurrent resolution affirms States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles.

09-0274

09/01

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nine

A RESOLUTION affirming States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles.

Whereas the Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, Part 1, Article 7 declares that the people of this State have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent State; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, pertaining thereto, which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegated to the United States of America in congress assembled; and

Whereas the Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, Part 2, Article 1 declares that the people inhabiting the territory formerly called the province of New Hampshire, do hereby solemnly and mutually agree with each other, to form themselves into a free, sovereign and independent body-politic, or State, by the name of The State of New Hampshire; and

Whereas the State of New Hampshire when ratifying the Constitution for the United States of America recommended as a change, “First That it be Explicitly declared that all Powers not expressly & particularly Delegated by the aforesaid are reserved to the several States to be, by them Exercised;” and

Whereas the other States that included recommendations, to wit Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island and Virginia, included an identical or similar recommended change; and

Whereas these recommended changes were incorporated as the ninth amendment, the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people, and the tenth amendment, the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people, to the Constitution for the United States of America; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring:

That the several States composing the United States of America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submission to their General Government; but that, by a compact under the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and of amendments thereto, they constituted a General Government for special purposes, — delegated to that government certain definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary mass of right to their own self-government; and that whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force; that to this compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party, its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party: that the government created by this compact was not made the exclusive or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitution, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases of compact among powers having no common judge, each party has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of the mode and measure of redress; and

That the Constitution of the United States, having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations, slavery, and no other crimes whatsoever; and it being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also declared, that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people,” therefore all acts of Congress which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other than those so enumerated in the Constitution are altogether void, and of no force; and that the power to create, define, and punish such other crimes is reserved, and, of right, appertains solely and exclusively to the respective States, each within its own territory; and

That it is true as a general principle, and is also expressly declared by one of the amendments to the Constitution, that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people;” and that no power over the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or freedom of the press being delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, all lawful powers respecting the same did of right remain, and were reserved to the States or the people: that thus was manifested their determination to retain to themselves the right of judging how far the licentiousness of speech and of the press may be abridged without lessening their useful freedom, and how far those abuses which cannot be separated from their use should be tolerated, rather than the use be destroyed. And thus also they guarded against all abridgment by the United States of the freedom of religious opinions and exercises, and retained to themselves the right of protecting the same. And that in addition to this general principle and express declaration, another and more special provision has been made by one of the amendments to the Constitution, which expressly declares, that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press:” thereby guarding in the same sentence, and under the same words, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press: insomuch, that whatever violated either, throws down the sanctuary which covers the others, and that libels, falsehood, and defamation, equally with heresy and false religion, are withheld from the cognizance of federal tribunals. That, therefore, all acts of Congress of the United States which do abridge the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, are not law, but are altogether void, and of no force; and

That the construction applied by the General Government (as is evidenced by sundry of their proceedings) to those parts of the Constitution of the United States which delegate to Congress a power “to lay and collect taxes, duties, imports, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States,” and “to make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the powers vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof,” goes to the destruction of all limits prescribed to their power by the Constitution: that words meant by the instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of limited powers, ought not to be so construed as themselves to give unlimited powers, nor a part to be so taken as to destroy the whole residue of that instrument: that the proceedings of the General Government under color of these articles, will be a fit and necessary subject of revisal and correction; and

That a committee of conference and correspondence be appointed, which shall have as its charge to communicate the preceding resolutions to the Legislatures of the several States; to assure them that this State continues in the same esteem of their friendship and union which it has manifested from that moment at which a common danger first suggested a common union: that it considers union, for specified national purposes, and particularly to those specified in their federal compact, to be friendly to the peace, happiness and prosperity of all the States: that faithful to that compact, according to the plain intent and meaning in which it was understood and acceded to by the several parties, it is sincerely anxious for its preservation: that it does also believe, that to take from the States all the powers of self-government and transfer them to a general and consolidated government, without regard to the special delegations and reservations solemnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace, happiness or prosperity of these States; and that therefore this State is determined, as it doubts not its co-States are, to submit to undelegated, and consequently unlimited powers in no man, or body of men on earth: that in cases of an abuse of the delegated powers, the members of the General Government, being chosen by the people, a change by the people would be the constitutional remedy; but, where powers are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of the act is the rightful remedy: that every State has a natural right in cases not within the compact, (casus non foederis), to nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by others within their limits: that without this right, they would be under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever might exercise this right of judgment for them: that nevertheless, this State, from motives of regard and respect for its co-States, has wished to communicate with them on the subject: that with them alone it is proper to communicate, they alone being parties to the compact, and solely authorized to judge in the last resort of the powers exercised under it, Congress being not a party, but merely the creature of the compact, and subject as to its assumptions of power to the final judgment of those by whom, and for whose use itself and its powers were all created and modified: that if the acts before specified should stand, these conclusions would flow from them: that it would be a dangerous delusion were a confidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety of our rights: that confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism — free government is founded in jealousy, and not in confidence; it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited constitutions, to bind down those whom we are obliged to trust with power: that our Constitution has accordingly fixed the limits to which, and no further, our confidence may go. In questions of power, then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. That this State does therefore call on its co-States for an expression of their sentiments on acts not authorized by the federal compact. And it doubts not that their sense will be so announced as to prove their attachment unaltered to limited government, whether general or particular. And that the rights and liberties of their co-States will be exposed to no dangers by remaining embarked in a common bottom with their own. That they will concur with this State in considering acts as so palpably against the Constitution as to amount to an undisguised declaration that that compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers of the General Government, but that it will proceed in the exercise over these States, of all powers whatsoever: that they will view this as seizing the rights of the States, and consolidating them in the hands of the General Government, with a power assumed to bind the States, not merely as the cases made federal, (casus foederis,) but in all cases whatsoever, by laws made, not with their consent, but by others against their consent: that this would be to surrender the form of government we have chosen, and live under one deriving its powers from its own will, and not from our authority; and that the co-States, recurring to their natural right in cases not made federal, will concur in declaring these acts void, and of no force, and will each take measures of its own for providing that neither these acts, nor any others of the General Government not plainly and intentionally authorized by the Constitution, shall be exercised within their respective territories; and

That the said committee be authorized to communicate by writing or personal conferences, at any times or places whatever, with any person or person who may be appointed by any one or more co-States to correspond or confer with them; and that they lay their proceedings before the next session of the General Court; and

That any Act by the Congress of the United States, Executive Order of the President of the United States of America or Judicial Order by the Judicatories of the United States of America which assumes a power not delegated to the government of United States of America by the Constitution for the United States of America and which serves to diminish the liberty of the any of the several States or their citizens shall constitute a nullification of the Constitution for the United States of America by the government of the United States of America. Acts which would cause such a nullification include, but are not limited to:

I. Establishing martial law or a state of emergency within one of the States comprising the United States of America without the consent of the legislature of that State.

II. Requiring involuntary servitude, or governmental service other than a draft during a declared war, or pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

III. Requiring involuntary servitude or governmental service of persons under the age of 18 other than pursuant to, or as an alternative to, incarceration after due process of law.

IV. Surrendering any power delegated or not delegated to any corporation or foreign government.

V. Any act regarding religion; further limitations on freedom of political speech; or further limitations on freedom of the press.

VI. Further infringements on the right to keep and bear arms including prohibitions of type or quantity of arms or ammunition; and

That should any such act of Congress become law or Executive Order or Judicial Order be put into force, all powers previously delegated to the United States of America by the Constitution for the United States shall revert to the several States individually. Any future government of the United States of America shall require ratification of three quarters of the States seeking to form a government of the United States of America and shall not be binding upon any State not seeking to form such a government; and

That copies of this resolution be transmitted by the house clerk to the President of the United States, each member of the United States Congress, and the presiding officers of each State’s legislature.

Thanks to Karl Denninger at The Market Ticker.

I am Jon, a citizen of The Sovereign State of North Carolina.

This is the table of contents. For the full pdf text of the report, click HERE.

REINING IN THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY

Lessons and Recommendations Relating to
the Presidency of George W. Bush

House Committee on the Judiciary Majority Staff Report to
Chairman John Conyers, Jr.

January 13, 2009

Foreword . . 9
Executive Summary . . 16
Preface: Deconstructing the Imperial Presidency . . . 24
The September 25, 2001, War Powers Memorandum . . . 27
Critique of John Yoo’s Flawed Theory of Presidential Supremacy . . 32
The Need for a Judiciary Committee Staff Report . . 40

Section 1 – Politicization of the Department of Justice . . . 41
I. Politicization of the Prosecution Function. . . 43
A. Hiring and Firing of U.S. Attorneys and other Department Personnel . . 43
B. Selective Prosecution . . . 50
II. Politicization of the Civil Rights Division . . . 54
A. Factual Background . . . 54
B. Committee Actions . . . 56
III. Findings . . . . . . . . . 63
Politicization of the Prosecution Function . . . . 63
Politicization of the Civil Rights Division and Voting Rights Enforcement . . . 69

Section 2 – Assault on Individual Liberty:
Detention, Enhanced Interrogation, Ghosting and Black Sites, Extraordinary
Rendition, Warrantless Domestic Surveillance, and National Security and Exigent Letters. . . 72
I. Detention . . 74
A. Factual Background . . . 74
November 2001 Decision to Try Detainees, Including U.S. Citizens, in Military Commissions . . . 75
December 2001 Decision to Hold Detainees at Guantanamo . . . 78
The Administration’s Public Defense of Its Guantanamo Policies . . . 78
B. The Bush Administration’s Detention Policies in the Courts . . . 81
The President’s Power to Detain an American Citizen Captured in Afghanistan Without Judicial Review (Hamdi) . . . 81
The President’s Power to Establish Military Commissions to Determine Validity of Detention (Hamdan) . . . 85
The President’s Power to Order Detention of Persons Without Access to Federal Courts – Rasul and Boumediene . . . 87
The President’s Power to Order the Military Detention of an American Citizen Seized by Civilian Authorities in the United States (Padilla) . . . 89
The President’s Power to Order Military Detention of Lawfully Admitted Alien Seized by Civilian Authorities in the United States (al-Marri) . . . . 103
C. Committee Action . . . 107
II. Interrogation . . . 110
A. Factual Background . . . 110
December 2001toFebruary 2002 – Determinations That the Protections of the Geneva Conventions, Including Common Article III, Do Not Apply to Guantanamo Detainees . . . 110
The August 1, 2002 Torture Memorandum . . . 112
August 1, 2002 – Waterboarding Approved for CIA Use . . . 114
October 2002 to March 2003 – Development of Techniques for Use at Guantanamo . . . . 115
John Yoo’s March 14, 2003, Torture Memorandum . . . 118
Use of Harsh Interrogation at Guantanamo . . . 120
Migration of Guantanamo Interrogation Techniques to Abu Ghraib . . . 121
Role of High-level Officials . . . 122
The Congress and the President Battle over Interrogation Techniques. . . 123
Destruction of CIA Waterboarding Videotapes . . 127
B. Committee Action . . . 128
Effectiveness of Enhanced Interrogation . . 128
Potential Criminal Liability for Destruction of Videotapes.. . 130
OLC Opinions Concerning Enhanced Interrogation and Potential Legal Liability Thereto . . . 131
III. Extraordinary Rendition, Ghosting and Black Sites . . . 137
A. Factual Background for Legal Memoranda . . . 137
B. Committee Action . . . 142
IV. Warrantless Surveillance . . . 146
A. The Genesis of the Bush Administration’s Warrantless Surveillance Program . . . 146
B. Internal Disagreements as to the Program’s Legality; Disclosure of the Program by The New York Times in December 2005 . . . 148
C. Bush Administration’s Public Statements Concerning Warrantless Surveillance . . . . 153
D. Concerns About Legality and Effectiveness of the President’s Warrantless Surveillance .. . . 156
E. Additional Scrutiny and Legislative Activity in the 110th Congress . . . 161
V. National Security Letters (NSLs) and Exigent Letters . . . . 166
A. The Increased use of NSLs Subsequent to 9/11 and the Enactment of the PATRIOT Act and PATRIOT Reauthorization Act . . . 166
B. March 2007 Justice Department Inspector General Report and Subsequent Committee Hearings . . . . 167
C. March 2008 Justice Department IG “Assessment of Corrective Action” Report and Subsequent Committee Hearings . . . 170
VI. Findings . . . 173
Detention . . . 173
Interrogation . . . . 175
Extraordinary Rendition, Ghosting and Black Sites . . . 176
NSLs and Exigent Letters . . 181

Section 3 – Misuse of Executive Branch Authority . . . 185
I. Presidential Signing Statements . . . 185
A. Historical Background . . 186
B. The Bush Administration’s Use of Signing Statements . . . 187
The McCain Amendment on Treatment of Detainees . . . 188
USA PATRIOT Act . . . 188
Affirmative Action . . . 188
Whistleblower Protections . . . 189
C. Committee Actions . . . 189
II. Rulemaking Process . . . . 191
A. Factual Background . . . 191
B. Executive Control by the Bush Administration .. . . 193
Executive Order 13422: Expanding White House Political Control Over Rulemaking . . . 193
Greater Specificity and Market Analysis Requirements . . . 194
Heightened Scrutiny of Significant Guidance Documents . . . 194
Greater Emphasis on Cost-Benefit Analysis . . . 195
Greater Role for Political Appointees in the Rulemaking Process . . . 196
C. Efforts by OIRA to Control Rulemaking . . . 196
Direct Intervention by the Administration to Control Rulemaking . .. . 197
Using Directives and Other Means to Circumvent Formal Rulemaking. . . . 198
Midnight Rulemaking . . . 199
D. Lack of Transparency . . 201
III. Findings . . . 203
Abuse of Presidential Signing Statements . . . 2034
Rulemaking Process . . . 205

Section 4 – Retribution Against Critics . .. . 208
I. The Leak of Valerie Plame Wilson’s Covert CIA Identity and Its Aftermath . . 208
A. The July 2003 Disclosure by the Press . . . 208
B. The Bush Administration’s Response to the Leak .. . . 209
C. The Libby Indictment and Trial: Evidence of a White House Leak . . 211
D. Mr. Libby’s Conviction, Sentence, and Presidential Grant of Clemency. . . 216
E. Committee Actions . . . 218
The Leak . . . . 218
The White House’s Response to the Leak . . . 219
The President’s Grant of Clemency . . . 221
II. Retaliation Against Other Administration Critics . . . 224
Military Officers – Including Former General Eric Shinseki . . . . 225
Former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill and Economic Advisor Lawrence Lindsey .. . . 225
Counter-terrorism Czar Richard Clarke . . . 226
Army Core of Engineers Chief Contracting Office Bunnatine Greenhouse. . . 227
III. Findings . . 228
The Leak of Valerie Plame Wilson’s Covert CIA Identity . . . 228

Section 5 – Government in the Shadows:
Executive Privilege, Secrecy, and the Manipulation of Intelligence . . . 233
I. Executive Privilege . . . 234
A. Formal Assertions of Executive Privilege . . . 234
Pushing the Boundaries Early On . . . 234
FBI’s Valerie Plame Leak Investigation . . . 235
EPA Investigation . . . 236
Investigation Into the U.S. Attorney Firings by the House and Senate Judiciary Committees . . . 238
B. Withholding Documents or Testimony Without Formally Asserting Executive Privilege . . . 242
II. Improper Use of State Secrets and Other Authorities . . . . 245
A. Abuse of State Secrets . . . . 245
Extraordinary rendition . . . . 245
Warrantless Wiretapping Program . . . 246
Employee lawsuits . . . 247
B. Abuse of Other Authorities . .. 248
Classification . . . 2485
FOIA Requests . . 251
Presidential Records Act . . . . 252
Vice President’s Office . . . 253
III. Manipulation and Misuse of Intelligence . . . . 253
IV. Findings . .. . . 263
Expansion of Executive Privilege . . 263
State Secrets Privilege . . . 264
Abuse of Classification and Other Authorities . . . 265
Manipulation and Misuse of Intelligence . . . 266

Section 6 – Policy Recommendations . . . 270
General . . 270

1. The Congress and the Judiciary Committee should pursue document and witness
requests pending at the end of the 110th Congress, including subpoenas, and the
incoming Administration should cooperate with those requests. . . . . 270

2. Congress should establish a Blue Ribbon Commission or similar panel to investigate the broad range of policies of the Bush Administration that were undertaken under claims of unreviewable war powers, including detention, enhanced interrogation, ghosting and black sites, extraordinary rendition, and warrantless domestic surveillance. .. . 271

3. The Attorney General should appoint a Special Counsel, or expand the scope of the present investigation into CIA tape destruction, to determine whether there were criminal violations committed pursuant to Bush Administration policies that were undertaken under unreviewable war powers, including enhanced interrogation, extraordinary rendition, and warrantless domestic surveillance. . 271
Politicization of the Department of Justice . . . 272

4. The incoming Administration should review and consider strengthening the policy limiting contacts concerning prosecution and enforcement matters. . . 272

5. The incoming Administration should continue the customary practice of replacing U.S. Attorneys at the outset of the Administration. . . . 273

6. Congress should expand Justice Department Inspector General jurisdiction. . . 273

7. The incoming Administration should improve the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) and the functioning of the immigration courts. . . 274

8. The Department of Justice should rescind the policy prohibiting career voting section employees from making recommendations as to whether the Department should object to proposed voting changes. . . . 274

9. The Department of Justice should revise the Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses Manual. . . . 2746

10. Congress should enact comprehensive election reform legislation. .. . 275
Assault on Individual Liberty: Detention, Enhanced Interrogation, Ghosting and Black Sites, Extraordinary Rendition, Warrantless Domestic Surveillance, and National Security and Exigent Letters . . . 276

11. The Department of Justice should reform its Office of Legal Counsel. . . 276

12. The incoming Administration should close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. . . 277

13. The incoming Administration should require that all persons arrested in the United States be subject to civilian law enforcement procedures with requisite due process guarantees. . . . 278

14. The incoming Administration should end torture and abuse. . . 278

15. The incoming Administration should end the CIA program of secret detention and abusive interrogation. . . 279

16. The incoming Administration should end the Bush Administration’s practice of the extraordinary rendition of terror suspects. . . . . . 280

17. The President, the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Director of the National Security Agency should implement policies to ensure that there is no “reverse targeting” used under authorities created by the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. . . 281

18. The President, the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Director of the National Security Agency should
implement policies to ensure that foreign intelligence surveillance is limited to
targeted collection. . . 281

19. The incoming Administration should ensure full implementation of Inspector General recommendations concerning the FBI’s use of NSLs. . . 282

20. The incoming Administration should withdraw the proposed Justice Department rule on criminal intelligence system operating policies and carefully review and revise as needed the Attorney General’s guidelines for FBI operations. . 283

21. The President should nominate and bring into operation the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. . . . 283

22. The President should renew efforts to implement U.S. obligations under human rights treaties. .. . . 284

23. The incoming Administration should review and consider modifications to Bureau of Prisons use of authority under Special Administrative Measures. .. . 284

Misuse of Executive Branch Authority . . . . 285

24. The President should end abuse of presidential signing statements. . . . 285

25. The incoming Administration should restore rulemaking from the White House to
traditional agency authority consistent with congressional intent and the public interest. . . 2857

26. The incoming Administration should make rulemaking more transparent, understandable, and informative, thereby permitting greater accountability to Congress and the public. . . . 285

27. The incoming Administration should rein in “Midnight” rulemaking, which implements the priorities of a lame-duck administration even though a new President has been elected. . 286

Other Incursions by the Executive Branch . . . . 287

28. The incoming Administration and Congress should restore the full protection of the attorney-client privilege. . . . 287

29. Congress should enact press shield legislation. . . 287

30. The incoming Administration should limit the ability of Executive Branch officials to prevent victims of terrorism from recovering for their losses. . . 288

31. Congress should pass legislation holding Administration-designated contractors in Iraq and elsewhere responsible for their criminal misconduct. . . 289

32. The Department of Justice should issue guidelines to require transparency and uniformity of corporate deferred and non-prosecution agreements. . . . 289

Retribution Against Critics . . . 290

33. Congress should consider legislation concerning the exercise of clemency involving government officials. . . . 290

34. Congress should enhance and strengthen protection for Executive-Branch whistleblowers. . . 291

Government in the Shadows: Executive Privilege, Secrecy, and the Manipulation of Intelligence . . . . 291

35. Congress should enact changes in statutes and rules to strengthen Congress’ contempt power. . . 291

36. The incoming Administration should establish procedures for asserting Executive Privilege. . . 292

37. The incoming Administration and Congress should prevent abusive assertion of the state secrets privilege. . . . . 293

38. The incoming Administration and Congress should improve the system for classification and declassification. . . 293

39. Congress should consider legislation requiring the President to publicly announce the declassification of classified materials. . . . 294

41. The President should rescind Bush White House memoranda that significantly restrict the use and disclosure of non-classified information. . . 295

42. The President should place the Office of FOIA Ombudsperson in the National Archives. . . . . 2968

43. The incoming Administration should restore the accessibility of presidential records. . . . . 296

44. Congress should modernize the Presidential Records Act. . . 296

45. The incoming Administration should clarify the applicability of rules of access to the Office of the Vice President. . . . 297

46. The incoming Administration should eliminate overly restrictive “Gang of 8″ briefings in favor of more effective mechanisms. . . 297

47. The incoming Administration mandate steps to avoid manipulation and misuse of intelligence. . . 298

Endnotes . . . 300

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I am Jon. You can read the full text HERE.

The Thin Blue (And Red) Line

Interesting graphic showing the ‘nominal’ rate (that’s the figure the that gets the most media coverage) plotted against the ‘Total’ rate (which is self-explanatory). Read the blue line on the left side and the red line on the right side.

Thanks to Barry at The Big Picture for passing this along.

A Slice Of The Pie

How much is 13%, anyway. What would that look like?

Take a pie. Cut it the way you normally do, by halving it 4 times. Now eat a piece.

That’s how many folks can’t find enough, or any, work. One in every 8 working-aged Americans.

You may as well go ahead and eat another piece of that pie. Before this is all over that number will most likely double, so go ahead and take out another piece.

Now, look at that pie. One quarter of it’s gone. At least that many folks are going to be hurting for a job. That’s 1 out of every 4 Americans. And the stuff that The Obama is talking about won’t do a thing to help it.

So look around. Who’s next?

I am Jon. Do your homework.