Maher Arar is yet another victim of American torture, like Khaled El-Masri. How many more are there that we will

never hear about? mjh

Maher Arar
Maher Arar is a

34-year-old wireless technology consultant. Arar was born in Syria and at the age of 17, came to Canada with his family. He became a

Canadian citizen in 1991 and in 1997 moved to Ottawa.

In September 2002, Arar was in Tunisia, vacationing with his wife Monia

Mazigh and their two small children. On Sept. 26 while in transit in New York’s JFK airport, he was detained by US officials and

from there transferred to a Syrian prison.

In Syria, he was held in a tiny “grave-like” cell for ten months and ten days

before he was moved to a better cell in a different prison. He was beaten, tortured and forced to make a false confession.

CBC News Indepth: Maher Arar: Timeline

Oct. 27, 2005
A fact-finder appointed

by the Arar inquiry releases a report concluding that Arar was tortured when in Syrian custody three years ago. “I am convinced that his

description of his treatment in Syria is accurate,” Stephen Toope wrote. …

Oct. 6, 2003:
Arar returns to Montreal, 375 days

after U.S. immigration officials arrested him. …

Oct. 29, 2002:
Canada issues travel advisory to all Canadians born in Iran,

Iraq, Libya, Sudan or Syria to reconsider entering the United States. It follows a U.S. decision to photograph and fingerprint people

born in those countries who enter the U.S.

mjh’s

blog — America kidnapped me

Ohio

leads the way to a New American Fascism. If you look at the list of those voting, you’ll find Republicans and Democrats on both sides of

the vote. Stopping the erosion of our freedoms is a non-partisan activity. mjh

Bill Would Allow

Arrests For No Reason In Public Place

The Ohio Patriot Act has made it to the Taft’s desk, and with the stroke of a pen, it

would most likely become the toughest terrorism bill in the country. The lengthy piece of legislation would let police arrest people in

public places who will not give their names, address and birth dates, even if they are not doing anything wrong.

[I]t would also

pave the way for everyone entering critical transportation sites such as, train stations, airports and bus stations to show ID.

“It brings us frighteningly close to a show me your papers society,” said Carrie Davis of the ACLU, which opposes the Ohio Patriot

Act.

ACLU Urges Governor Taft to Veto

Ohio’s Patriot Act

The most controversial provisions were sections requiring people to provide identification to police

officers if they are traveling though “transportation infrastructure sites”, a provision requiring those applying for certain types of

licenses to fill out a questionnaire about ties to terrorism, and a section that aimed to discourage municipalities from speaking

out against the USA PATRIOT Act.

mjh’s blog — FBI Papers Show Terror Inquiries Into PETA; Other Groups Tracked

So, cops are free to pretend to be part of any group and even to agitate?

mjh

Police Infiltrate Protests,

Videotapes Show – New York Times By JIM DWYER

Undercover New York City police officers have conducted covert

surveillance in the last 16 months of people protesting the Iraq war, bicycle riders taking part in mass rallies and even

mourners at a street vigil for a cyclist killed in an accident, a series of videotapes show.

In glimpses and in glaring detail,

the videotape images reveal the robust presence of disguised officers or others working with them at seven public gatherings since August

2004.

The officers hoist protest signs. They hold flowers with mourners. They ride in bicycle events. At the vigil for the

cyclist, an officer in biking gear wore a button that said, “I am a shameless agitator.” She also carried a camera and videotaped the

roughly 15 people present.

Beyond collecting information, some of the undercover officers or their associates are seen on

the tape having influence on events. At a demonstration last year during the Republican National Convention, the sham arrest of

a man secretly working with the police led to a bruising confrontation between officers in riot gear and bystanders.

Until Sept. 11, the secret monitoring of events where people expressed their opinions was among the most tightly

limited of police powers.

I know this is rude, but it is very artfully done. mjh

From www.oldamericancentury.org/ via Cocoposts.

class="mine">Note that Bush asked for powers he was specifically denied by the Senate and then went on to act as if those powers were

granted, only later to claim they were granted when he knows they were not. He does what he want, when he wants, as he wants and lies

whenever he needs to — all for our good, of course. mjh

PS: I’m perfectly willing to believe Bush

either has no idea what was asked for and denied or can’t remember now. Does it really make things better if he is forgetful or stupid?

PPS: I’m looking for a poll that asks: “If you voted for Bush a year ago, would you vote for him today?”

Power We Didn’t Grant By Tom Daschle

On the evening of Sept. 12, 2001, the White House proposed that Congress authorize the use of military force to “deter and pre-empt

any future acts of terrorism or aggression against the United States.” Believing the scope of this language was too broad and ill

defined, Congress chose instead, on Sept. 14, to authorize “all necessary and appropriate force against those nations,

organizations or persons [the president] determines planned, authorized, committed or aided” the attacks of Sept. 11. With this language,

Congress denied the president the more expansive authority he sought and insisted that his authority be used specifically against Osama

bin Laden and al Qaeda.

Just before the Senate acted on this compromise resolution, the White House sought one last change.

Literally minutes before the Senate cast its vote, the administration sought to add the words “in the United States and”

States, potentially against American citizens. I could see no justification for Congress to accede to this extraordinary

request for additional authority. I refused. …

[A] strong bipartisan majority could not agree to the administration’s

request for an unprecedented grant of authority.

The Bush administration now argues those powers were inherently

contained in the resolution adopted by Congress — but at the time, the administration clearly felt they weren’t or it wouldn’t

have tried to insert the additional language.

IN THE KINGDOM OF THE HALF-BLIND By Bill Moyers

It has to be said: there has been nothing in our time like the Bush Administration’s obsession with secrecy.

This may seem self-serving coming from someone who worked for two previous presidents who were no paragons of openness. But I am only

one of legions who have reached this conclusion. See the recent pair of articles by the independent journalist, Michael Massing, in The

New York Review of Books. He concludes, “The Bush Administration has restricted access to public documents as no other before it.” And he

backs this up with evidence.

For example, a recent report on government secrecy by the watchdog group, OpenTheGovernment.org, says the Feds classified a record 15.6 million new documents in

Advisory Committee meetings in 2004 were completely closed to the public.

No wonder the public knows so little about how

this administration has deliberately ignored or distorted reputable scientific research to advance its political agenda

and the wishes of its corporate patrons. I’m talking about the suppression of that EPA report questioning aspects of the White House

Clear Skies Act; research censorship at the departments of health and human services, interior and agriculture; the elimination of

qualified scientists from advisory committees on kids and lead poisoning, reproductive health, and drug abuse; the distortion of

scientific knowledge on emergency contraception; the manipulation of the scientific process involving the Endangered Species Act; and the

internal sabotage of government scientific reports on global warming

It’s an old story: the greater the secrecy, the

deeper the corruption.

When

the Cutting Is Corrupted By E. J. Dionne Jr.

Only the voters can render a judgment on a politics of favoritism that has

created a new Gilded Age. It’s clear that the national government has placed itself squarely on the side of the wealthy, the

privileged and the connected. …

The Medicaid cuts include increased co-payments and premiums on low-income Americans,

and the budget assumes savings because fewer poor people will visit the doctor. …

Ah, say their defenders, but

these cuts will be good for poor people. According to the New York Times, Rep. Joe L. Barton (R-Tex.), an architect of the

Medicaid proposals, said the higher co-payments were needed to “encourage personal responsibility” among low-income people.

Spoken like a congressman who never has to worry about his taxpayer-provided health coverage.

And that

is just one instance among many of corporate interests being shielded from cuts, while child support enforcement and foster care programs

were sliced.