all the good stuff I came across today

December 4, 2008 - Thursday

GITMO Military Prosecutor Breaks His Silence - Cases Based on Hearsay

NATO backs US missile shield over Russian protest

Gates: Active force, reserves must integrate

Cluster bomb treaty: 100 countries set to sign

Norway initiates negotiations on a treaty outlawing cluster munitions

Gates: Military looking at quicker Iraq withdrawal

Auto Sales Hit New Lows; GM Sales Plunge 41%

Merrill Lynch will still offer bonuses after losing billions

Corporate Debt Protection Costs Climb Amid Depression Concern

In Iraq, KBR Partner Confines 1,000 Slave Workers in Windowless Warehouses

Iraqi guards open fire on KBR migrants workers - riot about deportation

Bailout Ballpark - Citi pays Mets $400 million for Naming Rights to new ballpark

NBC airs McCaffrey on "Afghan security forces" without disclosing his ties to DynCorp training them

Blackwater Plans Effort Against Piracy - Worldwide Mercenary Navy ?

November job cuts jump 148% from November 2007

Private sector sheds 250,000 jobs in November

Conservatives cherry-pick 1930s unemployment figures in continued assault on New Deal

NAFTA - Free Trade - Trade Agenda at a Crossroads

Ike clean-up workers report wage theft

IDF drawing strike on Iran nuc facilities not including coordination with the United States

Ahmadinejad: Iranian economy in danger

Mercenaries, Sonic Blasters No Match for Pirates

Pirates chase, open fire on U.S. cruise ship

AFRICOM China and Congo Resource Wars GEOECONOMICS

Mumbai Terrorists Were On Cocaine & LSD

The International Backers of the Mumbai Attacks

U.S. Warned India in October of Potential Terror Attack

IRS Ponders Offshore Tax Shelters—and So Do We

Amero to become USA’s new currency when dollar collapses

HSBC Fund Returns to Buying Gold to Hedge Against Inflation

Under banking pressure Bush Co eased lending rules and Ignored Warnings

State Governors to ask for $176B in federal aid

Treasury: We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Rules

TREASURY DEPARTMENT HAS NO IDEA WHERE THE 700 BILLION IS

Auditors fault Treasury policing of bailout funds

Bailout Contractors Hired By Treasury Not Subject To Conflict Of Interest Rules

Chronicling the Surveillance Control Grid Civics News

Bush faces new challenges to spying powers - Chalanges to RetroActive Immunity

Ohio: Hungry? Turn In Your Guns, Get some Food

Big Brother police to get 'war-time' power to demand ID in the street

Behavioral Screening The Future Of Airport Security

DNA database: one million 'innocent' DNA profiles possibly expunged

Starwars style holographic 3DTV could be a reality by 2018

Ultrasound-Activated Microbubbles Fight Cancer

Cops: Father had 9-year-old drive during 'beer run'

Man says God ordered him to ram vehicle at 100 mph

Conseptual GMO Square Trees Are Ready to Become Lumber

The Sickening Secret of Mirror's Edge - New Video Game MAKES YOU VOMIT

A comet orbiting our Sun may be an interloper from another star system

Dead Ringers - A look at phone calls from the deceased The Paranorman Pastor

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, Allison Janney, John C. Reilly, Marc Shaiman, and many more...

Walrus plays saxophone

Obama names Bill Richardson commerce secretary

Bob Dylan - Love Minus Zero/No Limit

yeah yeah...

ARE YOU LIVING IN THE CONSTITUTION FREE ZONE?

visit the ACLU website for more

Using data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, the ACLU has determined that nearly 2/3 of the entire US population (197.4 million people) live within 100 miles of the US land and coastal borders.

The government is assuming extraordinary powers to stop and search individuals within this zone. This is not just about the border: This " Constitution-Free Zone" includes most of the nation's largest metropolitan areas.

We urge you to call on Congress to hold hearings on and pass legislation to end these egregious violations of Americans' civil rights.

The problem

* Normally under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the American people are not generally subject to random and arbitrary stops and searches.
* The border, however, has always been an exception. There, the longstanding view is that the normal rules do not apply. For example the authorities do not need a warrant or probable cause to conduct a “routine search.”
* But what is “the border”? According to the government, it is a 100-mile wide strip that wraps around the “external boundary” of the United States.
* As a result of this claimed authority, individuals who are far away from the border, American citizens traveling from one place in America to another, are being stopped and harassed in ways that our Constitution does not permit.
* Border Patrol has been setting up checkpoints inland — on highways in states such as California, Texas and Arizona, and at ferry terminals in Washington State. Typically, the agents ask drivers and passengers about their citizenship. Unfortunately, our courts so far have permitted these kinds of checkpoints – legally speaking, they are “administrative” stops that are permitted only for the specific purpose of protecting the nation’s borders. They cannot become general drug-search or other law enforcement efforts.
* However, these stops by Border Patrol agents are not remaining confined to that border security purpose. On the roads of California and elsewhere in the nation – places far removed from the actual border – agents are stopping, interrogating, and searching Americans on an everyday basis with absolutely no suspicion of wrongdoing.
* The bottom line is that the extraordinary authorities that the government possesses at the border are spilling into regular American streets.

Call you Congressman and Senators to find out if they even know about this!

Senate switchboard: 202-224-3121.

House switchboard: 202-225-3121

White House switchboard: 202-456-1414

visit the ACLU website for more