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Articles from Dyre Portents

Eco-terrorism Case Revisited 2007-05-24 15:21:17 Last night I posted about a group of radical environmentalists that may be sentenced as terrorists and today I ran across a discussion over at TMV between Shaun Mullen and Captain Ed of Captain's Quarters that originally started about hate crime legislation but moved on to include terrorism laws.Captain Ed stated:"This is the problem with hate-crime legislation ? and perhaps with terrorist legislation as well . . .Both specifically criminalize motive, rather than leave them as a component of an objective crime itself. Beating up a gay person should carry the same penalties whether hate motivated it or not. Similarly, terrorism as a civil crime (ie, not in the context of foreigners attacking the U.S.) also creates a thought-police mentality that is pretty seductive to people determined to stamp out evil ? in their subjective opinion of it."and"I?m starting to think that hate crimes and terrorism designators both take us down a dangerous road. If the criminal act doesn?t carry enough d ...

Military Still Canning Gay Arabic Linguists 2007-05-24 11:53:39 From the AP:U.S. military continues to discharge gay Arab linguists, and Congress members seek hearingWASHINGTON: Lawmakers who say the military has kicked out 58 Arabic linguists because they were gay want the Pentagon to explain how it can afford to let the valuable language specialists go. Seizing on the latest discharges, involving three specialists, members of the House of Representatives wrote the House Armed Services Committee chairman that the continued loss of such "capable, highly skilled Arabic linguists continues to compromise our national security during time of war."(snip)Democratic Rep. Marty Meehan, who has pushed for repeal of the law, organized the letter sent to Skelton requesting a hearing into the Arab linguist issue. "At a time when our military is stretched to the limit and our cultural knowledge of the Middle East is dangerously deficient, I just can't believe that kicking out able, competent Arabic linguists is making our country any safer," Meehan said. Th ...

Lingere store clerk to be labeled a sex offender 2007-05-24 11:05:27 Police Raid Lingerie Shop LUBBOCK, TX -- An obscure law sends one local lingerie store clerk to jail. And now she may forever have to register as a sex offender.The lingerie store, Somethin? Sexy was raided by police last week for violating Lubbock`s sexually oriented business ordinance. "I feel like I`m in 1690 Salem, Massachusetts and we`re looking for a witch to burn" says the store?s owner. The witch: the owner of Somethin? Sexy. He`s speaking out about the raid of his shop and the arrest of his employee. Now, if convicted, the clerk will have to register as a sex offender. "I think it`s ridiculous. She`s not a sex offender, she was selling something that I had instructed them it was ok to sell, I think it`s ridiculous" he says. Earlier this month, four officers raided the shop, confiscating several toys deemed to be illegal by the Texas penal code. The code states "a person who possesses six or more obscene devices is presumed to possess them with intent to promote the same." In ...

House Passes Lame Gas Gouging Bill 2007-05-24 10:32:31 From the AP:WASHINGTON - The House, eager to do something about record high gasoline prices in advance of the Memorial Day weekend, voted narrowly Wednesday to approve stiff penalties for those found guilty of gasoline price gouging.The bill directs the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department to go after oil companies, traders or retail operators if they take ?unfair advantage? or charge ?unconscionably excessive? prices for gasoline and other fuels.The White House called the measure a form of price controls that could result in fuel shortages. It said President Bush would be urged to veto the legislation should it pass Congress.(snip)Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., its chief sponsor, in urging his colleagues to support the bill said the issue was whether ?to side with Big Oil (or) ... side with consumers who are being ripped off at the gas pump.?But Stupak was forced to soften the bill so that he could get it passed by requiring a president to first declare an energy emergency befo ...

France calls for tightening sanctions on Teheran 2007-05-24 09:45:49 File this one under WhodathunkitFrom the Jerusalem PostSarkozy calls to tighten sanctions on Teheran"French President Nicholas Sarkozy called Wednesday for sanctions on Iran to be tightened if the country does not adhere to the West's demands to cease its nuclear agenda. If Iran attains nuclear weapons, Sarkozy warned, a road to an arms race will be paved that could endanger Israel and southeast Europe, he said during an interview with a German magazine. Sarkozy announced that France will join the official US-led struggle against head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed ElBaradei, who recommended that Iran be allowed to enrich uranium in some of its nuclear plants. On Tuesday, American officials urged allies to back a formal protest against ElBaradei, saying his comments could hurt UN Security Council efforts to pressure Teheran over its enrichment program."Looks like we have our old ally back. ...

Should a Group of Radical Environmentalists Be Considered Terrorists? 2007-05-23 23:14:24 From ABC News:A Group of 11 Militant Environmentalists Could Be Sentenced as Terrorists Without Having Killed a SoulBy RUSSELL GOLDMAN The FBI has called them "the No. 1 domestic terrorism threat," and their members include four of the Bureau's 11 Most Wanted homegrown terrorists. Yet in more than 1,100 acts of arson and vandalism, the members of the Earth Liberation Front have never killed a single person. Defining terrorism has always been tricky, and in trying to do so, the federal government has acknowledged that there is "no single universally accepted definition of terrorism." But just as when it comes to identifying pornography, lawyers and law enforcement officers have traditionally relied on an ability to know it when they see it. The government saw it 16 months ago when federal agents arrested 10 members of the loose-knit activist group and an affiliate organization, the Animal Liberation Front, in an action called Operation Backfire. At the time of their arrest, Attorne ...

Bush Authorizes Ops Vs Iran 2007-05-23 13:45:06 From ABC News:Bush Authorizes New Covert Action Against IranThe CIA has received secret presidential approval to mount a covert "black" operation to destabilize the Iranian government, current and former officials in the intelligence community tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com. The sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject, say President Bush has signed a "nonlethal presidential finding" that puts into motion a CIA plan that reportedly includes a coordinated campaign of propaganda, disinformationand manipulation of Iran's currency and international financial transactions. moreMany have called ABC's releasing of this information irresponsible or treasonous. I see that as a gross overreaction. It only confirms what the Iranian government believes anyway. Although they might have been surprised by the nonlethal part. And that may have have been the point of the leak. ...

Bomb Plot Thwarted at Falwell's Funeral 2007-05-22 23:56:30 From ABC News:Student Arrested With Homemade Bombs, Three Other Suspects Sought May 22, 2007 ? Even in death, the Rev. Jerry Falwell rouses the most volatile of emotions. A small group of protesters gathered near the funeral services to criticize the man who mobilized Christian evangelicals and made them a major force in American politics -- often by playing on social prejudices. A group of students from Falwell's Liberty University staged a counter protest. And Campbell County authorities arrested a Liberty University student for having several homemade bombs in his car. The student, 19-year-old Mark D. Uhl of Amissville, Va., reportedly told authorities that he was making the bombs to stop protesters from disrupting the funeral service. The devices were made of a combination of gasoline and detergent, a law enforcement official told ABC News' Pierre Thomas. They were "slow burn," according to the official, and would not have been very destructive. moreTo stop protesters fr ...

Post Surge Plan Unveiled 2007-05-22 19:38:16 After the SurgeThe Administration Floats Ideas for a New Approach in IraqBy David IgnatiusTuesday, May 22, 2007; A15President Bush and his senior military and foreign policy advisers are beginning to discuss a "post-surge" strategy for Iraq that they hope could gain bipartisan political support. The new policy would focus on training and advising Iraqi troops rather than the broader goal of achieving a political reconciliation in Iraq, which senior officials recognize may be unachievable within the time available.The revamped policy, as outlined by senior administration officials, would be premised on the idea that, as the current surge of U.S. troops succeeds in reducing sectarian violence, America's role will be increasingly to help prepare the Iraqi military to take greater responsibility for securing the country.(snip)Here's a summary of the policy ideas the officials said are under discussion:· Train Iraqi security forces and support them as they gain sufficient intelligence, lo ...

Gas Prices Close to All Time High 2007-05-22 16:40:06 Regular Unleaded Just Shy of '81 MarkBy Steven MufsonWashington Post Staff WriterTuesday, May 22, 2007; D01Gasoline prices last week came within a half penny of tying the modern era's inflation-adjusted record set in March 1981, the Energy Department said yesterday.The nationwide price of unleaded regular gasoline hit $3.218 a gallon, barely below the adjusted $3.223 a gallon level 26 years ago. Behind the rise were high crude oil prices and disruptions in output at oil refineries.The 1981 record was set two years after the Iranian revolution brought down the pro-American shah, seven months after war broke out between Iraq and Iran and two months after President Ronald Reagan ended U.S. oil price and allocation controls.The current rise in prices has been harder for consumers to understand. While Nigerian insurgents have curtailed production by about 800,000 barrels a day, there hasn't been any major cut in crude oil supplies, and crude oil inventories are adequate.Instead, industr ...

Rev. Jerry Falwell Laid to Rest 2007-05-22 16:00:52 Thousands Turn Out for Falwell FuneralBy SUE LINDSEYThe Associated PressTuesday, May 22, 2007; 2:35 PMLYNCHBURG, Va. -- Thousands of mourners attended the funeral Tuesday of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the folksy evangelist who built the Moral Majority into a conservative Christian empire that influenced national politics.The funeral returns Falwell to his roots _ the Thomas Road Baptist Church, where he started as a young preacher in 1956 with just 35 parishioners in an old abandoned soda bottling plant.Today, his son Jonathan Falwell leads Thomas Road Baptist, and the sanctuary seats 6,000.More than an hour before the service, crowds were being directed to overflow seating in Liberty University's 10,000-seat basketball arena and its football stadium. About 300 police and other personnel were helping manage the crowd, Lynchburg Police Chief Charles W. Bennett Jr. said.More than 33,000 people had viewed Falwell's body over four days as it lay in repose."He was a champion of the fundamen ...

Dems set war bill without Iraq timeline 2007-05-22 14:37:33 By DAVID ESPO, AP Special CorrespondentMon May 21, 7:15 PM ET In grudging concessions to President Bush, Democrats intend to draft an Iraq war-funding bill without a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops and shorn of billions of dollars in spending on domestic programs, officials said Monday. The legislation would include the first federal minimum wage increase in more than a decade, a top priority for the Democrats who took control of Congress in January, the officials added. While details remain subject to change, the measure is designed to close the books by Friday on a bruising veto fight between Bush and the Democratic-controlled Congress over the war. It would provide funds for military operations in Iraq through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year. Democrats in both houses are expected to seek other opportunities later this year to challenge Bush's handling of the unpopular conflict. Democratic officials stressed the legislation was subject to ch ...

Compromise Immigration Bill Stalls 2007-05-22 14:06:53 Immigration Compromise Faces New OppositionProposal Stays Alive, But Foes Lie in WaitBy Jonathan WeismanWashington Post Staff WriterTuesday, May 22, 2007; A01The Senate voted last night to move forward on an overhaul of immigration laws, but even proponents of the delicate compromise proposal conceded that the furor over the deal was surpassing their expectations and endangering the plan.The 69 to 23 vote masked deep troubles from the right flank of the Senate, as well as from the left. Opponents of even conducting a debate on the measure included some unexpected voices, such as freshman Sens. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Bernard Sanders, an independent liberal from Vermont. Several conservatives -- and some liberals -- made it clear that they cast a vote to proceed only in order to fundamentally change the proposed legislation in the coming days.With dozens of amendments planned, traps being laid by opponents could upset the fragile coalition that drafted the measure. What's more, Senat ...

Road Trip 2007-05-17 08:22:24 See ya on Monday! ...

Presidents Nominates War Czar 2007-05-15 20:47:50 ABC News Learns Pentagon Official Selected to Oversee Iraq, Afghanistan WarsAfter a frustrating search for a new "war czar" to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, ABC News has learned that President Bush has chosen the Pentagon's director of operations, Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute, for the role. In the newly created position of assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan policy and implementation, Lute would have the power to direct the Pentagon, State Department and other agencies involved in the two conflicts. Lute would report directly to the president and to National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Filling the position had become a priority for the White House, after a handful of retired generals told the White House they did not want the job. Among them, retired Marine Corps four-star Gen. Jack Sheehan, who proved an embarrassment to the White House after he wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post saying there were "huge shor ...