Each week, we cover the stories that are just left out of the US propaganda machine. News that the people in charge, the corporations and your government want keep from the public eye.
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Salon:
"At this point, I didn't believe it was possible, but the Obama administration has just reached an all-new low in its abysmal civil liberties record. In response to the lawsuit filed by Anwar Awlaki's father asking a court to enjoin the President from assassinating his son, a U.S. citizen, without any due process, the administration late last night, according to The Washington Post, filed a brief asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit without hearing the merits of the claims.
That's not surprising: both the Bush and Obama administrations have repeatedly insisted that their secret conduct is legal but nonetheless urge courts not to even rule on its legality. But what's most notable here is that one of the arguments the Obama DOJ raises to demand dismissal of this lawsuit is 'state secrets': in other words, not only does the President have the right to sentence Americans to death with no due process or charges of any kind, but his decisions as to who will be killed and why he wants them dead are 'state secrets,' and thus no court may adjudicate their legality." -Glenn Greenwald
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/09/26-5
-->Why doesn't The New York Times express outrage at this further shredding of the US Constitution? The story printed by The NY Times was very balanced, with some quotes supporting extrajudicial assassinations and some against. Our newspaper of record did not see fit to make this a subject of an editorial, and didn't bother quoting Mr. Greenwald, a constitutional lawyer who has written two books on the abuse of executive power.
(UPDATE: On Sept 30, The New York Times finally published an editorial condemning Obama's civil liberties record.)
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Huffington Post:
"The war on dissent, rather than terrorism, continued full steam with FBI SWAT teams breaking down doors at 7 am Friday (Sept 24) morning and raiding the homes of several anti-war leaders and activists in Minneapolis, Chicago and possibly a couple other Midwest cities. Members of the FBI's 'Joint Terrorism Task Force' spent a few hours at each Minneapolis residence, seizing personal photographs and papers, computers and cell phones as well as serving Federal Grand Jury subpoenas on the various activists.
Obviously the scathing review of post 9-11 FBI 'terrorism investigations' targeting various peace and social justice groups completed by the Department of Justice Inspector General (IG) and just issued four days ago gave no pause to the FBI to reflect before continuing to do more of the same. Nor did accompanying media revelations about the FBI having improperly conducted surveillances of an antiwar rally in Pittsburgh; the Catholic Worker peace magazine; a Quaker activist, the Thomas Merton Center in Pittsburgh, of members of the environmental group Greenpeace and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and of a small student group of anti-war activists in Iowa City, Iowa who were targeted for 9 months in 2008.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/coleen-rowley/inspector-general-critici_b_738932.html
-->The New York Times reported the FBI break-ins, but failed to link them to the Department of Justice's highly critical report of other FBI "Terrorism Investigations."
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Haaretz Newspaper
"Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be the winner of the construction-freeze crisis: The 10-month suspension of building in the settlements will not be extended and the prime minister has given up nothing. Peace talks with the Palestinians will continue, the coalition is as strong as ever, and the government enjoys some freedom of movement regarding the settlers and the U.S. administration.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, his threats to the contrary, will not scuttle the peace talks that have barely begun just because Netanyahu isn't extending the freeze. U.S. President Barack Obama, preaching for the moratorium to continue, can't force it on Netanyahu on the eve of the congressional elections when his party's leaders are calling for negotiations to continue without regard to the settlements."
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/the-winner-in-the-settlement-row-is-netanyahu-1.315719
-->Refreshing analysis by the Israeli newspaper of the left. It is too bad that the American media can't seem to focus on Obama's inability or unwillingness to demand an end to the illegal settlements in the West Bank.
