Israel's onslaught on Gaza is a crime that cannot succeed

Seumas Milne: Israel's onslaught on Gaza is a crime that cannot succeed | Comment is free | The Guardian

Israel's onslaught on Gaza is a crime that cannot succeed

The US-backed attempt to bring Hamas to heel by overwhelming force is in fact more likely to boost the movement's appeal

Israel'sdecision to launch its devastating attack on Gaza on a Saturday was a"stroke of brilliance", the country's biggest selling paper YediotAharonot crowed: "the element of surprise increased the number ofpeople who were killed". The daily Ma'ariv agreed: "We left them inshock and awe".

Of the ferocity of the assault on one of themost overcrowded and destitute corners of the earth, there is at leastno question. In the bloodiest onslaught on blockaded Gaza since it wascaptured and occupied by Israel 41 years ago, at least 310 people werekilled and more than a thousand reported injured in the first 48 hoursalone.

As well as scores of ordinary police officersincinerated in a passing-out parade, at least 56 civilians were said bythe UN to have died as Israel used American-supplied F-16s and Apachehelicopters to attack a string of civilian targets it linked to Hamas,including a mosque, private homes and the Islamic university. Hamasmilitary and political facilities were mostly deserted, while policestations in residential areas were teeming as they were pulverised.

AsIsraeli journalist Amos Harel wrote in Ha'aretz at the weekend, "littleor no weight was apparently devoted to the question of harming innocentcivilians", as in US operations in Iraq. Among those killed in thefirst wave of strikes were eight teenage students waiting for a bus andfour girls from the same family in Jabaliya, aged one to 12 years old.

Anyonewho doubts the impact of these atrocities among Arabs and Muslimsworldwide should switch on the satellite television stations that arewatched avidly across the Middle Eastand which - unlike their western counterparts - do not habituallysanitise the barbarity meted out in the name of multiple wars on terror.

Then,having seen a child dying in her parent's arms live on TV, considerwhat sort of western response there would have been to an attack onIsrael, or the US or Britain for that matter, which left more than 300dead in a couple of days.

You can be certain it would be metwith the most sweeping condemnation, that the US president-elect woulddo a great deal more than "monitor" the situation and the British primeminister go much further than simply call for "restraint" on both sides.

Butthat is in fact all they did do, though the British government hassince joined the call for a ceasefire. There has, of course, been nowestern denunciation of the Israeli slaughter - such aerial destructionis, after all, routinely called in by the US and Britain in occupiedIraq and Afghanistan.

Instead, Hamas and the Palestinians of Gazaare held responsible for what has been visited upon them. How could anygovernment not respond with overwhelming force to the constant firingof rockets into its territory, the Israelis demand, echoed by westerngovernments and media.

But that is to turn reality on its head.Like the West Bank, the Gaza Strip has been - and continues to be -illegally occupied by Israel since 1967. Despite the withdrawal oftroops and settlements three years ago, Israel maintains completecontrol of the territory by sea, air and land. And since Hamas won thePalestinian elections in 2006, Israel has punished its 1.5 millionpeople with an inhuman blockade of essential supplies, backed by the USand the European Union.

Like any occupied people, thePalestinians have the right to resist, whether they choose to exerciseit or not. But there is no right of defence for an illegal occupation -there is an obligation to withdraw comprehensively. During the lastseven years, 14 Israelis have been killed by mostly homemade rocketsfired from the Gaza Strip, while more than 5,000 Palestinians werekilled by Israel with some of the most advanced US-supplied armamentsin the world. And while no rockets are fired from the West Bank, 45Palestinians have died there at Israel's hands this year alone. Theissue is of course not just the vast disparity in weapons and power,but that one side is the occupier, the other the occupied.

Hamasis likewise blamed for last month's breakdown of the six-month tahdi'a,or lull. But, in a weary reprise of past ceasefires, it was in factsunk by Israel's assassination of six Hamas fighters in Gaza on 5November and its refusal to lift its siege of the embattled territoryas expected under an Egyptian-brokered deal. The truth is that Israeland its western sponsors have set their face against an accommodationwith the Palestinians' democratic choice and have instead thrown theirpolitical weight, cash and arms behind a sustained attempt to overthrowit.

The complete failure of that approach has brought us to thisweek's horrific pass. Israeli leaders believe they can bomb Hamas intosubmission with a "decisive blow" that will establish a "new securityenvironment" - and boost their electoral fortunes in the process beforeBarack Obama comes to office.

But as with Israel's disastrousassault on Lebanon two years ago - or its earlier siege of YasserArafat's PLO in Beirut in 1982 - it is a strategy that cannot succeed.Even more than Hezbollah, Hamas's appeal among Palestinians and beyonddoesn't derive from its puny infrastructure, or even its Islamistideology, but its spirit of resistance to decades of injustice. So longas it remains standing in the face of this onslaught, its influencewill only be strengthened. And if it is not with rockets, itsretaliation is bound to take other forms, as Hamas's leader KhalidMish'al made clear at the weekend.

Meanwhile, the US andIsraeli-backed Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has been furtherdiminished by being seen as having colluded in the Israeli assault onhis own people - as has the already rock-bottom credibility of theEgyptian regime. What is now taking place in the Palestinianterritories is a futile crime in which the US and its allies are deeplycomplicit - and unless Obama is prepared to change course, it is likelyto have bitter consequences that will touch us all.

s.milne@guardian.co.uk

The Intriguing Death Of Top GOP Consultant Michael Connell

The Intriguing Death Of Top GOP Consultant Michael Connell

At 3:31 PM Friday, December 19, Michael L. Connell, a top Internet consultant for the Republican National Committee and for the Bush and McCain presidential campaigns, left Washington from the small airport in College Park, Md. Alone at the helm of a single engine Piper Saratoga, Connell's flight plan anticipated arrival at his hometown Akron-Canton Airport in a little over two hours, at 5:43 PM.

Instead, about three miles short of the Akron-Canton Airport, Connell's plane crashed to the ground in an upscale section of Lake Township, killing Connell instantly. "I was standing in the kitchen and I looked out the window and all I saw was fire," Taylor Fano told The Akron Beacon Journal. "It took out the flagpole and the cement blocks surrounding the flagpole . . . . It skidded across the driveway and right in-between a line of pine trees and a small fence around an in-ground pool."

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the accident and has not yet filed a report, but there was no immediate evidence of wrong-doing or sabotage.

Many in the blogosphere have called for further investigation of the crash, suggesting that Connell was about to provide crucial information in the case of alleged vote fraud in the 2004 Ohio presidential contest, and that that information would implicate Karl Rove and others in the Bush administration. [see update below]

Just last month, Connell was deposed in the ongoing case, King Lincoln Bronzeville Neighborhood Association v. Blackwell. According to accounts of the November 3rd deposition, Connell denied any knowledge of attempts to fraudulently manipulate 2004 Ohio vote counts.

There is, however, a more immediate and relevant question: How much will Connell's death, even if the accident was entirely without malfeasance, impede congressional committee investigations into the more controversial activities of the Bush administration over the past eight years - including the ongoing investigation into thousands of missing White House-RNC emails sent and received by some 22 White House political aides, including Rove. These emails are believed likely to shed light on the political firings of U.S. Attorneys, and to show if the White House had any role in controversial decisions to prosecute former Alabama Democratic Governor Don Siegelman.

After first emerging as a web consultant during the 1998 gubernatorial campaign of Jeb Bush, Connell quickly became a key member of the Republican brain trust and quickly became part of a small network of political consultants and lobbyists favored by Rove. He advised both Bush-Cheney campaigns, and was a regular consultant to the RNC and other GOP committees.

Connell, and his firms - New Media Communications, Govtech and Connell Donatelli Inc. - were part of a universe that included such other GOP operatives as Tony Feather and Jeff Larson of FLS Connect, Tom Synhorst of the DCI Group, and Jeff Averbeck of Smartech. Their companies have received millions of dollars from the Bush-Cheney campaign committees of 2000 and 2004 from the three major - national, congressional and senatorial - Republican Party committees; from such conservative interest groups as the National Rifle Association and Citizens Against Government Waste; from a host of corporations and trade associations seeking to remain in the administration's good graces; and from dozens and dozens of Republican House and Senate campaigns.

Two of Connell's firms received at least $8.78 million from the RNC from 2004 to 2008 and from the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign. FLS got $39.5 million between 2004 and 2008 from the RNC alone, and Smartech got $9.74 million from the RNC over the same period, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

These revenue reports only touch the surface. Before his death, Connell's New Media listed 90 clients on its web site from the Alabama Republican Party to the Business Roundtable to the Free Enterprise Fund, to the Republican Jewish Coalition to USAID. The scope of Connell's client list is a reflection of the Midas touch of the Bush administration in signaling to prospective clients which firms were in good stead.

As it stands now, whatever Connell knew about the activities of Karl Rove and other Republican operatives will go with him to his grave at St. Hilary Catholic Church in Fairlawn, Ohio. His family released a statement on the New Media web site declaring, "Mike was a devoted husband and father, who, with his wife of 18 years, raised a family of four wonderful children. Mike was also a committed man of faith, who regularly worshipped with his family at St. Hillary's and who lived his faith through mission work to help the poor and less fortunate at home and around the world. Finally, Mike was an engaged citizen, who was actively involved at all levels of our political system."

In a telephone interview, Connell's wife Heather adamantly declared "he was a good man. He did nothing wrong. He wasn't about to talk, because there was nothing to talk about. Nobody did anything wrong. We won the elction fair and square. Deal with it." Asked if he ever spoke about the disputed emails, Heather Connell said "I have no clue about that. I just know it's not him."

A close friend who worked extensively with Connell in Republican politics said, however, that he believes Connell "was more involved in that than a lot of people were let to believe." This associate of Connell's, who first brought the accident to the attention of the Huffington Post, said Connell, who was deeply religious and firmly pro-life, may have been "developing second thoughts" after years of being convinced that "working for the Republican cause was doing God's work."

UPDATE:
An earlier version of this story claimed: "Connell's death provoked a groundswell of commentary among conspiracy theorists on the web, including Larisa Alexandrovna, Raw Story, Velvet Revolution, ePluribus Media, and TheZoo."

To be fair: Larisa Alexandrovna acknowledged that suspicions that Connell's death was the result of sabotage were unproven, and she urged that empirical evidence be pursued. Her articles and those that she cites legitimately raised questions that in many cases are worthy of pursuit (See Alexandrovna's letter concerning this story here.) I regret using "conspiracy theorists" to describe Larisa Alexandrovna, Raw Story, and the others.

Bush orders emergency bailout of the auto industry

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Bush orders emergency bailout of the auto industry
By Deb Riechmann, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – Citing imminent danger to the national economy, President Bush ordered an emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry Friday, offering $17.4 billion in rescue loans and demanding tough concessions from the deeply troubled carmakers and their workers. Detroit's Big Three cheered the action and vowed to rebuild their once-mighty industry, though they acknowledged the road would be anything but smooth as they fight their way back from the brink of bankruptcy.

The autoworkers union complained the deal was too harsh on its members, while Bush's fellow Republicans in Congress said it was simply bad business to bail out yet another big industry.

Bush, who signed the massive $700 billion rescue for financial institutions only this fall, said he was reluctant to approve yet another government bailout of private business. But he said that allowing the massive auto industry to collapse in the middle of what is already a severe downturn "could send our suffering economy into a deeper and longer recession."

Speaking at the White House, he also said he didn't want to "leave the next president to confront the demise of a major American industry in his first days of office."

President-elect Barack Obama, who takes office a month from Saturday, praised the administration action but warned, "The auto companies must not squander this chance to reform bad management practices and begin the long-term restructuring that is absolutely necessary to save this critical industry and the millions of American jobs that depend on it."

Obama will be free to reopen the arrangement from the government's side if he chooses, and the head of the United Auto Workers said the union would be appealing to the new president and the strongly Democratic new Congress on that subject.

Obama, commenting in Chicago as he named more economic Cabinet members, was noncommittal on possible changes. But he said he would "make sure that when we see a final restructuring package that it's not just workers who are bearing the brunt."

Stock prices rallied on Wall Street after Bush's announcement but faded late in the day, and the Dow Jones industrials declined 25.88 points. GM shares, however, jumped 22.7 percent and Ford shares 3.9 percent. Chrysler is not publicly traded.

Some $13.4 billion of the rescue money will be available this month and next — $9.4 billion of it for General Motors Corp. and $4 billion for Chrysler LLC, the two auto giants that have said they could be facing bankruptcy soon without government help. GM is slated to receive the remaining $4 billion in loans after more money is released from the financial rescue account. Ford Motor Co. says it doesn't need federal cash now but would be badly damaged if one or both of the other two went under.

Under terms of the loans, the government will have the option of becoming a stockholder in the companies, much as it has with major banks, in effect partially nationalizing the industry. Bush said the companies' workers should agree to wage and work rules that are competitive with foreign automakers by the end of next year.

And he called for elimination of a "jobs bank" program — negotiated by the United Auto Workers and the companies — under which laid-off workers can receive about 95 percent of their pay and benefits for years. Early this month, the UAW agreed to suspend the program.

Underscoring the automakers' peril — and how close the bailout is cutting to the edge — GM Chief Financial Officer Ray Young said the company expects to have the first money from the government by Dec. 29, just in time to pay suppliers.

CEO Rick Wagoner said, "The timing was specifically aligned with the timing we said we needed in order to make our payments on a timely basis, so we're right on schedule there."

The deal also calls for two-thirds of the automakers' debts to be converted to stock in the companies.

Also, Chrysler, GM and Ford were to pay billions into UAW-administered trust funds that will take over paying health care bills for hundreds of thousands of retirees on Jan. 1, 2010. The trusts, called Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Associations, were to last at least 80 years.

But if half the cash is swapped for stock, the trusts might not last that long if the value of the shares declines. Swapping stock for cash payments helps the cash-starved companies, though, because they have more money to spend on operations.

Bondholders may be left with a take-it-or-leave it proposition with the government requiring them to exchange two-thirds of their holdings for stock. But they, too, could try to negotiate with the Obama administration, said Pete Hastings, an auto industry corporate bonds analyst with Morgan Keegan & Co. in Memphis, Tenn.

If they don't take the deal, GM could wind up in bankruptcy and the bondholders would get little or nothing, Hastings said.

Though auto stocks rose on Friday, the companies' stockholders aren't out of the woods.

Provisions in the bailout agreement will force GM to produce more shares, diluting the value of its stock several times over, said Efraim Levy, a senior auto industry analyst with Standard & Poor's.

There's no way the automakers will be profitable next year, said Levy. Things could be different in 2010 if the market rebounds and cost cuts kick in, he said.

Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Friday that Congress should release the second $350 billion from the financial rescue fund that it approved in October to bail out huge financial institutions. Tapping the fund for the auto industry basically exhausts the first half of the $700 billion total.

If the carmakers fail to prove viability by March 31, they will be required to repay the loans, which they would find all but impossible. A firm will be deemed viable only if it can show positive cash flow and can fully repay the government loans.

Friday's rescue plan retains the idea of a "car czar" to make sure the companies are keeping their promises and moving toward long-term viability.

The short-term overseer will be Paulson. But the White House deputy chief of staff, Joel Kaplan, said that if the Obama team wants someone else installed to bridge the administrations, Bush is open to that.

The White House package is the lifeline desperately sought by U.S. automakers, who warned they were running out of money as the economy fell deeper into recession, car loans became scarce and consumers stopped shopping for their vehicles.

The carmakers have announced extended holiday shutdowns. Chrysler is closing all 30 of its North American manufacturing plants for four weeks because of slumping sales; Ford will shut 10 North American assembly plants for an extra week in January, and General Motors will temporarily close 20 factories — many for the entire month of January — to cut vehicle production.

Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli said the initial injection of capital would help the company get through its cash crisis and give it a push toward eventually returning to profitability. He said Chrysler was committed to meeting the conditions set by Bush in exchange for the money.

Though Ford didn't seek short-term aid, company President and CEO Alan Mulally said, "The U.S. auto industry is highly interdependent, and a failure of one of our competitors would have a ripple effect that could jeopardize millions of jobs and further damage the already weakened U.S. economy."

House Republican leader John Boehner called the plan "regrettable." He said that granting loans for automakers was never the intention when Congress passed the $700 billion plan to rescue financial institutions and that the new plan "has failed both autoworkers and taxpayers."

Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, chairman of the congressional oversight panel for the Wall Street rescue program, said a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, not loans rewarding decades of mismanagement, would have been a better decision.

Grover Norquist, president of the Americans for Tax Reform, sent a one-word letter to Bush that said in huge letters: "No."

Calif. AG urges court to void gay marriage ban

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Calif. AG urges court to void gay marriage ban


SAN FRANCISCO – The California attorney general has changed his position on the state's new same-sex marriage ban and is now urging the state Supreme Court to void Proposition 8.

Jerry Brown filed a brief Friday saying the measure that amended the California Constitution to limit marriage to a man and a woman is unconstitutional. He says it deprives gay couples of a fundamental right.

After California voters passed Proposition 8 on Nov. 4, Brown said he would fight to uphold the initiative in his role as attorney general, even though he personally voted against it.

He submitted his brief in one of the three legal challenges to Proposition 8 brought by same-sex marriage supporters.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The sponsors of Proposition 8 asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to nullify the marriages of the estimated 18,000 same-sex couples who exchanged vows before voters approved the ballot initiative that outlawed gay unions.

The Yes on 8 campaign filed a brief arguing that because the new law holds that only marriages between a man and a woman are recognized or valid in California, the state can no longer recognize the existing same-sex unions. The document reveals for the first time that opponents of same-sex marriage will fight in court to undo those unions that already exist.

"Proposition 8's brevity is matched by its clarity. There are no conditional clauses, exceptions, exemptions or exclusions," reads the brief co-written by Kenneth Starr, dean of Pepperdine University's law school and the former independent counsel who investigated President Bill Clinton.

The campaign submitted the document in response to three lawsuits seeking to invalidate Proposition 8, the constitutional amendment adopted last month that overruled the court's decision in May that had legalized gay marriage in the nation's most populous state.

Both Attorney General Jerry Brown, whose office is scheduled to submit its own brief to the court Friday, and gay rights groups maintain that the gay marriage ban may not be applied retroactively.

The Supreme Court could hear arguments in the litigation as soon as March. The measure's backers announced Friday that Starr, a former federal judge and U.S. solicitor general, had signed on as their lead counsel and would argue the cases.

Proposition 8's supporters assert that the Supreme Court lacks the authority or historical precedent to throw out the amendment.

"For this court to rule otherwise would be to tear asunder a lavish body of jurisprudence," the court papers state. "That body of decisional law commands judges — as servants of the people — to bow to the will of those whom they serve — even if the substantive result of what people have wrought in constitution-amending is deemed unenlightened."

The cases are Strauss v. Horton, S168047; City and County of San Francisco v. Horton, S168078; and Tyler v. State of California, S168066.

President Bush: Automakers to get $17.4B

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President Bush: Automakers to get $17.4B
By Deb Riechmann, Associated Press Writer 23 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration came to the rescue of the deeply troubled U.S. auto industry Friday, offering $17.4 billion in loans in exchange for concessions from carmakers and their workers.

"Allowing the auto companies to collapse is not a responsible course of action," President Bush said. Bankruptcy, He said that a bankruptcy was unlikely to work for the auto industry at this time and would deal "an unacceptably painful blow to hardworking Americans" across the economy.

One official said $13.4 billion of the money would be available this month and next, $9.4 billion for General Motors Corp. and $4 billion for Chrysler LLC. Both companies have said they soon might be unable to pay their bills without federal help. Ford Motor Co. has said it does not need immediate help.

Bush said the rescue package demanded concessions similar to those outlined in a bailout plan that was approved by the House but rejected by the Senate a week ago. It would give the automakers three months to come up with restructuring plans to become viable companies.

If they fail to produce a plan by March 31, the automakers will be required to repay the loans, which they would find very difficult.

"The time to make hard decisions to become viable is now, or the only option will be bankruptcy," Bush said. "The automakers and unions must understand what is at stake and make hard decisions necessary to reform."

Bush's plan is designed to keep the auto industry running in the short term, passing the longer-range problem on to the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama.

Police Get The Wrong House In Galveston, Allegedly Assault 12-Year-Old Girl

Houston - Hair Balls - Police Get The Wrong House In Galveston, Allegedly Assault 12-Year-Old Girl

Police Get The Wrong House In Galveston, Allegedly Assault 12-Year-Old Girl
Wed Dec 17, 2008 at 12:37:01 PM

It was a little before 8 at night when the breaker went out at Emily Milburn's home in Galveston. She was busy preparing her children for school the next day, so she asked her 12-year-old daughter, Dymond, to pop outside and turn the switch back on.

As Dymond headed toward the breaker, a blue van drove up and three men jumped out rushing toward her. One of them grabbed her saying, "You're a prostitute. You're coming with me."

Dymond grabbed onto a tree and started screaming, "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." One of the men covered her mouth. Two of the men beat her about the face and throat.

As it turned out, the three men were plain-clothed Galveston police officers who had been called to the area regarding three white prostitutes soliciting a white man and a black drug dealer.


All this is according to a lawsuit filed in Galveston federal court by Milburn against the officers. The lawsuit alleges that the officers thought Dymond, an African-American, was a hooker due to the "tight shorts" she was wearing, despite not fitting the racial description of any of the female suspects. The police went to the wrong house, two blocks away from the area of the reported illegal activity, Milburn's attorney, Anthony Griffin, tells Hair Balls.

After the incident, Dymond was hospitalized and suffered black eyes as well as throat and ear drum injuries.

Three weeks later, according to the lawsuit, police went to Dymond's school, where she was an honor student, and arrested her for assaulting a public servant. Griffin says the allegations stem from when Dymond fought back against the three men who were trying to take her from her home. The case went to trial, but the judge declared it a mistrial on the first day, says Griffin. The new trial is set for February.

"I think we'll be okay," says Griffin. "I don't think a jury will find a 12-year-old girl guilty who's just sitting outside her house. Any 12-year-old attacked by three men and told that she's a prostitute is going to scream and yell for Daddy and hit back and do whatever she can. She's scared to death."

Since the incident more than two years ago, Dymond regularly suffers nightmares in which police officers are raping and beating her and cutting off her fingers, according to the lawsuit.
Griffin says he expects to enter mediation with the officers in early 2009 to resolve the lawsuit.

We've got calls in to the officers' lawyer; we'll let you know if we hear something.

Update: This is from the officers' lawyer, William Helfand:

Both the daughter and the father were arrested for assaulting a peace officer. "The father basically attacked police officers as they were trying to take the daughter into custody after she ran off."

Also, "The city has investigated the matter and found that the conduct of the police officers was appropriate under the circumstances," Helfand says. "It's unfortunate that sometimes police officers have to use force against people who are using force against them. And the evidence will show that both these folks violated the law and forcefully resisted arrest."

Chase offers $400,000 in Chicago factory sit-in

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Chase offers $400,000 in Chicago factory sit-in
By Andrew Stern Andrew Stern

CHICAGO (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co offered $400,000 on Wednesday to help pay severance to laid-off workers occupying a Chicago factory, whose protest symbolizes resentment over the federal bailout of big banks while workers suffer.

JPMorgan Chase's offer, announced by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, who has been mediating the dispute, follows on Bank of America Corp's pledge to make an unspecified, limited loan to Republic Windows & Doors on behalf of the 250 workers.

Both banks are creditors of Republic, a family-owned window and door manufacturer that fell victim to the housing downturn and shut down on Friday.

The workers, who were given three days' notice of the closure, have occupied the shuttered plant since then, demanding a legally mandated 60 days' pay for severance, and accrued vacation pay.

JPMorgan Chase's $400,000 pledge was described by Gutierrez as capital, and how the transfer would be structured was still to be worked out, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Democrat said.

Bank of America said its additional loan to Republic would have to be negotiated, as its previous line of credit to the company had "maxed out."

Several hundred supporters of the workers marched on Bank of America's Chicago offices, where negotiations among the parties were set to resume for a third day.

The worker sit-in that began on Friday has become a symbol of Main Street resentment of the federal bailout of Wall Street banks, which Bank of America has tapped for $15 billion and JPMorgan for $25 billion.

President-elect Barack Obama and other politicians have voiced support for the workers' cause, arguing that the Wall Street bailout was not serving its purpose to loosen credit for Main Street businesses.

Democratic Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, on the day before he was charged with corruption in office, had said he was ordering a withdrawal of state business from Bank of America. A spokeswoman for the governor said it was "premature" to discuss what actions were being taken, since there were promising signs that the factory dispute was nearer a resolution.

FREE LEONARD PELTIER!

FREE Leonard Peltier page

THE CASE OF LEONARD PELTIER

Leonard Peltier is guilty only of caring about his people and his family. If we don't do something to assist in his release - you could be the next person convicted and sentenced just for caring, or maybe your spouse, or your daughter or your son.
Leonard is an American Indian serving two consecutive life sentences in a federal penitentiary, even though there is NO CREDIBLE EVIDENCE that he is guilty of anything. He is a political prisoner of the U.S. Government!!!


The Shoot Out

On June 26, 1975 two FBI agents allegedly searching for a young Indian man accused of stealing a pair of used cowboy boots, spotted several men in a red pick-up truck. They followed the truck briefly. The occupants of the truck pulled into the Jumping Bull property. Shots were fired though no one knows who fired first. Soon the situation exploded into a firefight involving 30 or so Indian men, women, and children and eventually over 150 FBI agents, BIA police, US Marshals and the local police known as GOONs. Some of these arriving in armored personnel carriers, and within minutes of the first shots. Two agents and a young Indian activist died that day. Within hours of the shootout, according to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, which labeled it "a full scale vendetta", hundreds of paramilitary equipped, combat-clad FBI agents and US Marshals staged a dragnet through the reservation in a fever of revenge in which men, women, and children were terrified and properties and homes were ransacked.
There has never been ANY investigation into the death of the Native American killed that day. See more on this here. NONE! The FBI does not even acknowledge his death in their many, many press releases about the "incident".


The Set-up

Leonard had been previously identified as an AIM member by the FBI and targeted by their notorious COINTELPRO program which "neutralized" people by slander, attack, and arrest. Fearing no possibility of a fair trial and at the request of his elders, he fled to Canada where he was later arrested and extradited by affidavits manufactured by the FBI, and that the government now concedes were FALSE and FABRICATED. NOTE: This means the extradition was in fact an illegal act, and the Supreme Court of Canada has stated (in 1989) that if the extradition was fraudulent, Leonard should be returned to Canada, where he would be a free man. Read here, how the Canadian Minister of Justice has obviously become a pawn and puppet to the wishes of the U. S. Department of Justice.

Four men were initially accused of murder in the deaths of agents Williams and Coler. One was the young Indian man who they claimed they were coming to the camp to arrest for the alledged theft of a pair of used cowboy boots. All charges against him were dropped. Two of the men were acquitted before a jury. They were found "NOT GUILTY" by reason of self defense. The jury rightly concluded that the men had no way of knowing that the two FBI agents - in plain clothes and driving unmarked cars, were federal agents. When gunfire started, these men who were already used to the reign of terror that was going on - having already lost at LEAST 50 of their friends and relatives - killed and their deaths remain UNINVESTIGATED to this day, well they returned fire as anyone would. Leonard Peltier was in the camp that day, and he says he did fire in the direction of the two vehicles, but he had no more idea of exactly what was going on than the two men who were acquitted of the same charges. Leonard, once away from the Jumping Bull property, had fled to Canada, thus he did not stand trial with the two men who were acquitted. But - once these two were acquitted, the FBI decided to concentrate their "full prosecutorial weight against Leonard Peltier." Once they convinced Canada to extradite him, (using illegal and false affidavits) he was returned to the custody of the U.S. The FBI couldn't allow Leonard to stand trial in the same place that the two other men had been acquitted in, so they went "judge shopping". They found what they were looking for in North Dakota - a judge who had a reputation of being very hard on Indians. The handpicked judge, favored by the FBI for his anti-Indian reputation, refused to allow evidence of self defense in Leonard's trial. Information from the acquittals of his codefendants was also ruled inadmissible. Jurors were convinced by the court that AIM "snipers" would kill them at any time. The windows of the courtroom were painted black to "protect" the jury. The bus that took the jury to and from the courthouse also had it's windows painted black to "protect" the jury. The jury was keep sequestered and heavily guarded. In short Leonard Peltier was convicted before his trial even began. Manufactured evidence presented by the FBI in the form of false ballistics tests, and illegally withheld evidence in the form of ballistics test that proved that the evidence they submitted was false. They never proved that Leonard even owned the gun that they attributed the fatal shots as having come from. The gun was in such bad shape from being in a fire - it could not be fired, so there was no reliable way to prove it had even been on the Jumping Bull property that day. But, the FBI was out of people to pin this on, so they made sure the evidence all pointed to Loenard. He was convicted and sentenced to two consecutive life terms.


Government Has No Evidence

The government has subsequently changed its theory on who killed the agents and today admits they have NO IDEA WHO KILLED THEM. This change of theory came about during an appeal when a judge suggested to the prosecution that the evidence was, at best, merely circumstantial. The government then argued that they had tried Leonard as both the murderer and aider and abettor. According to the final decision of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, Peltier's trial and previous appeals had been riddled with FBI misconduct and judicial impropriety including: coercion of witnesses, perjury, fabrication of evidence, and the suppression of exculpatory evidence which could have proved his innocence. The Court called the FBI's misconduct "a clear abuse of the investigative process". Yet they ruled against a new trial for Leonard Peltier because they were "reluctant to impute further improprieties to them (FBI)." Recently it was discovered that a terrible error had been made during the appeal by Leonard's own attorney during which he mistakenly agreed with the judge regarding the testimony of Norman Brown. What the attorney and the judge did not realize was that Brown had recanted his testimony at trial and stated he had been coerced by the FBI. He further stated that he never saw Peltier anywhere near the bodies of the agents. We also now know that other agents were stationed around the area prior to the start of the firefight, in direct contradiction to their testimony at trial. This was discovered in September 1995 following the release of radio communications from the South Dakota Attorney General's office. A document has been unearthed stating that almost two months prior to the day of the shoot-out, the FBI was planning "paramilitary law enforcement...on Indian land", specifically, Pine Ridge. It may also be noted that the highest buildup of agents to civilians occurred just six days prior to the tragic incident.


Conclusion

It is obvious to anyone with a conscience that the government was planning to attack the AIM encampment, perhaps in the hopes of diverting attention from an illegal land transfer, or perhaps as a way to stop Senator Frank Church's Committee from investigating the FBI's COINTELPRO program in regard to Native struggles. That investigation was initiated just prior to the shoot-out. It was halted the day after "due to the deaths of the agents." With recent developments in Washington, DC proving the FBI grossly participated in illegally doctoring and manufacturing evidence to ensure criminal convictions, more attention MUST be paid to this renegade organization's past misconduct. Congressional hearings/investigations are critical! Ask your Senators and Representatives to call for a full investigation of the FBI. Remind them of Waco Texas and Ruby Ridge. The FBI is a rogue agency and it's out of control.


Recent Developments

During a parole hearing in December 1995, US prosecutor Lynn Crooks admitted again that no evidence exists against Peltier. He further stated that the government never really accused him of murder and that if Peltier were retried, the government could not reconvict. The Parole Board, however, decided not to grant parole because Peltier continues to maintain his innocence (they stated that Peltier had not given a "factual and specific account of (his) actions...consistent with the jury's verdict of guilt") and because he was the only one convicted. As ridiculous as this reasoning sounds, it has thus far held up. A petition for executive clemency after nearly 7 years from the time it was filed with the Department of Justice, was refused by William Clinton. Clinton pardoned several of his friends and business partners, but says he never seriously thought of any such pardon for Leonard.


FREE LEONARD PELTIER!

How Freddie Mac halted regulatory drive

Print Story: AP IMPACT: How Freddie Mac halted regulatory drive - Yahoo! News

AP IMPACT: How Freddie Mac halted regulatory drive
By Pete Yost, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – When the Washington Nationals played their first-ever baseball game in the nation's capital in April 2005, two congressmen who oversaw mortgage giant Freddie Mac had choice seats — courtesy of the very company they were supposed to be keeping an eye on.

Efforts to tighten government regulation were gaining support on Capitol Hill, and Freddie Mac was fighting back. The baseball tickets for home opener were means of influence.

According to confidential company documents obtained by The Associated Press, Reps. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, and Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa., spent the evening in hard-to-obtain seats near the Nationals dugout with Freddie Mac executive Hollis McLoughlin and four of Freddie Mac's in-house lobbyists.

Kanjorski declined comment through a spokeswoman. Ney ultimately served a federal prison term after pleading guilty to trading political favors for a golf trip to Scotland, other gifts and campaign donations in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

The Nationals tickets were bargains for Freddie Mac, part of a well-orchestrated, multimillion-dollar campaign to preserve its largely regulatory-free environment, with particular pressure exerted on Republicans who controlled Congress at the time.

Internal Freddie Mac budget records show $11.7 million was paid to 52 outside lobbyists and consultants in 2006. Power brokers such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich were recruited with six-figure contracts. Freddie Mac paid the following amounts to the firms of former Republican lawmakers or ex-GOP staffers in 2006:

_Sen. Alfonse D'Amato of New York, at Park Strategies, $240,000.

_Rep. Vin Weber of Minnesota, at Clark & Weinstock, $360,297.

_Rep. Susan Molinari of New York, at Washington Group, $300,062.

_Susan Hirschmann at Williams & Jensen, former chief of staff to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, $240,790.

Freddie Mac's chairman and chief executive, Dick Syron, and McLoughlin, senior vice president for external relations, used Clark and Weinstock extensively, Weber said in an e-mail Friday.

"I personally met with the CEO several times and with Hollis and his team regularly," Weber said in the e-mail. "Clark and Weinstock worked effectively and intensely for Freddie Mac under Dick Syron and Hollis McLoughlin."

The tactics worked — for a time. Freddie Mac was able to operate with a relatively free hand until the housing bubble ultimately burst in 2007.

Now Freddie Mac and its sister company, Fannie Mae, are in financial collapse and under government control. Congress is investigating how it all happened. Lawmakers have planned a hearing Tuesday.

The records obtained by the AP reflect growing concern within Freddie Mac over a chorus of criticism from Republicans worried that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae had grown too big. The two companies owned or guaranteed over $5 trillion in mortgages.

The Bush administration and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan were sounding the alarm about the potential threat to the nation's financial health if the fortunes of the two mammoth companies turned sour. They did eventually, when they took on $1 trillion worth of subprime mortgages and when their traditional guarantee business deteriorated. Commercial banks regarded Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae as competitors and were anxious to pick up business that would result from scaling back the two companies.

Pushing back, Freddie Mac enlisted prominent conservatives, including Gingrich and former Justice Department official Viet Dinh, paying each $300,000 in 2006, according to internal records.

Gingrich talked and wrote about what he saw as the benefits of the Freddie Mac business model.

Dinh wrote a legal analysis of private property rights that viewed a hypothetical government-enforced sale of Freddie Mac assets as constitutionally suspect.

In 2005, Freddie Mac hired political consultant Frank Luntz, a Washington fixture whose specialty is choosing the right buzz words to achieve a particular goal. The records AP obtained do not cover 2005 and Freddie Mac refuses to confirm that it brought Luntz on board. But four people familiar with events at Freddie Mac at the time confirmed the Luntz hire. All four spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they fear reprisals if their names were revealed. Luntz did not respond to efforts to contact him through his office.

The AP previously described, in October, how Freddie Mac thwarted efforts to bring a tough regulatory bill sponsored by Republican Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, John Sununu of New Hampshire, Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and John McCain of Arizona to a full Senate vote.

At a meeting days after Hagel's bill went to the full Senate, Syron and McLoughlin berated the company's in-house lobbyists for failing to keep Hagel's bill corralled in committee, said the four people familiar with events at Freddie Mac at the time.

Freddie Mac shifted into high gear, secretly paying a Republican consulting firm, Washington-based DCI Group, $2 million to kill Hagel's legislation. The covert lobbying campaign targeted Republican senators in 2005-06.

According to the newly obtained records, DCI's deployment was part of a broader campaign that targeted mainly Republicans on Capitol Hill.

The internal Freddie Mac documents show that 17 of the lobbying firms and consultants paid in 2006 were specifically directed to focus on Republicans and four on Democrats, with varying targets for the rest.

McLoughlin hired his own personal political strategist, Republican consultant Harry Clark, paying Clark's firm $440,494 in 2006 out of McLoughlin's executive office budget, according to the records obtained by AP.

Even the office that served as the sole source of federal regulation over Freddie Mac was targeted.

Lobbyist Geoffrey P. Gray was paid $240,000 in 2006 to focus in part on the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, according to the records.

Last week, Gray did not return calls to his office. On Friday, Freddie Mac declined to comment. A lawyer for Syron, one of the scheduled witnesses at Tuesday's congressional hearing on the collapse of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, did not return a phone call seeking comment.