Law

Jury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law

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The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage.

Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a “lawful excuse” to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of “lawful excuse” under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage – such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire.

The not-guilty verdict, delivered after two days and greeted with cheers in the courtroom, raises the stakes for the most pressing issue on Britain’s green agenda and could encourage further direct action.

Read moreJury decides that threat of global warming justifies breaking the law

42 Percent Of State Public Schools Below Standards

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Forty-two percent of Connecticut public schools failed to meet performance standards required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, according to figures released by the state Department of Education today.

That list includes about 100 more schools than last year, reflecting heightened standards for schools.

Read more42 Percent Of State Public Schools Below Standards

Farmers See ‘Mark of the Beast’ in RFID Livestock Tags

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A group of community farmers, some of them Amish, are challenging rules requiring the tagging of livestock with RFID chips, saying the devices are a “mark of the beast.”

Michigan and federal authorities say the radio frequency identification devices (RFID) will help monitor the travels of bovine and other livestock diseases.

Related articles:
– Mandatory Microchipping In Adopted Pets
– CASPIAN RELEASES MICROCHIP CANCER REPORT

Read moreFarmers See ‘Mark of the Beast’ in RFID Livestock Tags

Lawsuit to Ask That Cheney’s Papers Be Made Public

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Vice President Cheney has said he does not have to make his papers public after leaving office because he is not part of the executive branch. A lawsuit to be filed today says they are covered under the 1978 Presidential Records Act. (By Alberto Pellaschiar — Associated Press)

Months before the Bush administration ends, historians and open-government advocates are concerned that Vice President Cheney, who has long bristled at requirements to disclose his records, will destroy or withhold key documents that illustrate his role in forming U.S. policy for the past 7 1/2 years.

In a preemptive move, several of them have agreed to join the advocacy group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington in asking a federal judge to declare that Cheney’s records are covered by the Presidential Records Act of 1978 and cannot be destroyed, taken or withheld without proper review.

The group expects to file the lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. It will name Cheney, the executive offices of the president and vice president, and the National Archives and chief archivist Allen Weinstein as defendants.

Read moreLawsuit to Ask That Cheney’s Papers Be Made Public

Israeli Police Recommend Indicting Olmert

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JERUSALEM – The Israeli police on Sunday recommended indicting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on charges including bribe-taking, fraud and breach of trust.

The recommendation, which followed a corruption investigation that unfolded over several months, has no legal weight of its own. The decision whether to charge the prime minister lies with the attorney general, Menachem Mazuz. It is likely to come in a few weeks, after Mr. Olmert has been granted a hearing. Mr. Olmert’s lawyers immediately issued a statement that the police recommendation had “no meaning.”

Read moreIsraeli Police Recommend Indicting Olmert

Actor Dennis Quaid Urges Congress to Allow Lawsuits Against Drug Companies

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(NaturalNews) Actor Dennis Quaid, whose newborn twins were nearly killed when a hospital error led to a massive drug overdose, urged Congress to preserve people’s ability to sue drug companies for injuries caused by their products.

Quaid and his wife are suing Baxter International, maker of the blood-thinning drug heparin, which nearly killed their children. The lawsuit alleges that Baxter knew that the labels on the child and adult doses of heparin were confusingly similar, as Baxter had already changed its labeling after three infants died from similar mix-ups. But the company failed to recall the older bottles with the confusing labels, leading to the error with Quaid’s children.

Yet lawsuits such as Quaid’s could be thrown out if the Supreme Court accepts the arguments of the Bush administration and the FDA that citizens should not be able to sue for injuries caused by an FDA-approved drug.

Read moreActor Dennis Quaid Urges Congress to Allow Lawsuits Against Drug Companies

U.S. Courts Now Consider Saliva to be a “Deadly Weapon” in HIV Trial

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(NaturalNews) An HIV-positive homeless man has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for “harassing a public servant with a deadly weapon” by spitting at a police officer.

According to the prosecutors, police responded to a call that 42-year-old Willie Campbell was passed out in front of a Dallas building in May 2006. Police tried to arrest Campbell for public intoxication, and he became agitated. He allegedly kicked and spat at several police officers, telling them that he had HIV.

Read moreU.S. Courts Now Consider Saliva to be a “Deadly Weapon” in HIV Trial

EU is throwing habeas corpus out of the window

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British citizens could be convicted in their absence by foreign courts for traffic, credit card or other criminal offences under plans approved in principle by the European Parliament.

The proposals would allow citizens to be extradited automatically under fast-track procedures at the request of another European Union country on the basis of a decision by the foreign court.

The overwhelming adoption by the Parliament of the proposals, which now go to the Council of Ministers, was condemned yesterday as “throwing habeas corpus out of the window”.

Philip Bradbourn, the Conservative justice and home affairs spokesman in the European Parliament, said: “This initiative would enable courts to pass judgments in absentia. It goes against one of the most fundamental corner-stones of British justice – that the accused has a right to defend himself at trial. If other EU countries want to go ahead with this proposal that’s their choice, but the British Government should have no part [of it].”

Read moreEU is throwing habeas corpus out of the window

Legal bid to stop CERN atom smasher from ‘destroying the world’

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The world’s biggest and most expensive scientific experiment has been hit by a last minute legal challenge, amid claims that the research could bring about the end of the world.


Opponents fear the machine may create a mini-black hole that could tear the earth apart Photo: PA

Critics of the Large Hadron Collider – a £4.4 billion machine due to be switched on in ten days time – have lodged a lawsuit at the European Court for Human Rights against the 20 countries, including the UK, that fund the project.

Read moreLegal bid to stop CERN atom smasher from ‘destroying the world’

Police Using G.P.S. Units as Evidence in Crimes

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Like millions of motorists, Eric Hanson used a Global Positioning System device in his Chevrolet TrailBlazer to find his way around. He probably did not expect that prosecutors would use it, too – to help convict him of killing four family members.

Prosecutors in suburban Chicago analyzed data from the Garmin G.P.S. device to pinpoint where Mr. Hanson had been on the morning after his parents were fatally shot and his sister and brother-in-law bludgeoned to death in 2005. He was convicted of the killings this year and sentenced to death.

Read morePolice Using G.P.S. Units as Evidence in Crimes

Bush quietly seeks to make war powers permanent, by declaring indefinite state of war

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As the nation focuses on Sen. John McCain’s choice of running mate, President Bush has quietly moved to expand the reach of presidential power by ensuring that America remains in a state of permanent war.

Read moreBush quietly seeks to make war powers permanent, by declaring indefinite state of war

LARRY SINCLAIR vs. BARACK OBAMA: DELAWARE CHARGES DISMISSED

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By Larry Sinclair

Ladies and Gentlemen:

I will not be traveling to Delaware, I will not be going to trial in Delaware and I have not plead guilty to any crimes in Delaware.

I was arrested in Washington, DC on June 18, 2008 by DC Police without ever being shown any warrant of any kind. DC Superior Court, Magistrate Judge A. Melendez, in cooperation with the office of US Attorney Jeff Taylor, ordered me held without ever producing any warrant, denied me medical access to prescribed medication, phone access to counsel and more.

On June 23, 2008 I was turned over to the custody of the Delaware Attorney Generals Office and driven to Wilmington, Delaware with no ID, no wallet (which the DC Police refused to allow me to carry with me upon my arrest on 6-18-08), where I was released on PR Bond. I was forced to remain in Delaware until July 4, 2008 to appear at a 7-03-08 arraignment, paid $10,500 in Attorney fees, forced to return to Delaware for a hearing on 8-11-08 (travel expenses), been accused by the Delaware Attorney General’s office of sending their employee’s threatening and disrespectful emails (completely untrue), and have been smeared by the Delaware News-Journal with completely false claims, with the same done by Politico.com’s Ben Smith; HuffingtonPost.com; The New Republic; and more.

All of this by the way in the name of Barack H. Obama and Joseph R. Biden III.

Read moreLARRY SINCLAIR vs. BARACK OBAMA: DELAWARE CHARGES DISMISSED

Lawsuit questions Obama’s eligibility for office

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Citizenship claim at issue

Pennsylvania’s former deputy attorney general and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton supporter Philip J. Berg has filed a lawsuit in federal court in Pennsylvania accusing presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama of lying about his U.S. citizenship, which would make him ineligible to be president.

Mr. Berg is one of a faction of Clinton supporters who haven’t heeded the party’s call for unity, filing the suit just days before the opening of the Democratic National Convention, which will nominate Mr. Obama as the party’s presidential candidate.

Read moreLawsuit questions Obama’s eligibility for office

Lone accountant takes on IRS and wins

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In this Feb. 25, 2005 file photo, Charles Ulrich talks about taxes from his
Charles Ulrich talks about taxes from his Baxter, Minn. home. (AP Photo)

WASHINGTON – It took seven years, but Charles Ulrich did something many people dream about, but few succeed at: He beat the IRS in a tax dispute.
Not only that, but tax experts say potentially millions of other taxpayers could benefit from his victory.

The accountant from Baxter, Minn., challenged the method the IRS has used for more than 20 years to tax shares and cash distributed by mutual life insurance firms to their policyholders when they reorganize as public companies.

A federal court recently agreed with his interpretation.

“There’s a tremendous amount of money at stake,” said Robert Willens, a New York City-based tax analyst at Robert Willens LLC. “Tens of thousands of people could be in line for a refund.”

Read moreLone accountant takes on IRS and wins

Nutricide – Criminalizing Natural Health, Vitamins, and Herbs

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The Codex Alimentarius is a threat to the freedom of people to choose natural healing and alternative medicine and nutrition.

Ratified by the World Health Organization, and going into Law in the United States in 2009, the threat to health freedom has never been greater.

This is the first part of a series of talks by Dr. Rima Laibow MD, available on DVD from the Natural Solutions Foundation, an non-profit organization dedicated to educating people about how to stop Codex Alimentarius from taking away our right to freely choose nutritional health.

Source: Google Video

Law Professor: Counter Terrorism Czar Told Me There Is Going To Be An i-9/11 And An i-Patriot Act

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“…but the reality was that the Patriot Act was prepared way in advance of 9/11 and it sat dormant, awaiting an event to justify its implementation.”

“In the days after the attacks it was passed in the House by a majority of 357 to 66. It passed the Senate by 98 to 1. Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex) told the Washington Times that no member of Congress was even allowed to read the legislation.”

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– Law Professor: Counter Terrorism Czar Told Me There Is Going To Be An i-9/11 And An i-Patriot Act:

Stanford Law professor Lawrence Lessig details government plans to overhaul and restrict the Internet

Amazing revelations have emerged concerning already existing government plans to overhaul the way the internet functions in order to apply much greater restrictions and control over the web.

Lawrence Lessig, a respected Law Professor from Stanford University told an audience at this years Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference in Half Moon Bay, California, that “There’s going to be an i-9/11 event” which will act as a catalyst for a radical reworking of the law pertaining to the internet.

Lessig also revealed that he had learned, during a dinner with former government Counter Terrorism Czar Richard Clarke, that there is already in existence a cyber equivalent of the Patriot Act, an “i-Patriot Act” if you will, and that the Justice Department is waiting for a cyber terrorism event in order to implement its provisions.

During a group panel segment titled “2018: Life on the Net”, Lessig stated:

Read moreLaw Professor: Counter Terrorism Czar Told Me There Is Going To Be An i-9/11 And An i-Patriot Act

House passes new surveillance law

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WASHINGTON (AP) – The House Friday easily approved a compromise bill setting new electronic surveillance rules that effectively shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits arising from the government’s terrorism-era warrantless eavesdropping on phone and computer lines in this country.

The bill, which was passed on a 293-129 vote, does more than just protect the telecoms. The update to the 30-year-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is an attempt to balance privacy rights with the government’s responsibility to protect the country against attack, taking into account changes in telecommunications technologies.

Read moreHouse passes new surveillance law

2003 torture memo released by Pentagon – NOW

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Justice Department document said Bush could ignore torture bans

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon on Tuesday released a now-defunct legal memo that approved the use of harsh interrogation techniques against terrorism suspects, saying that President Bush’s authority during wartime trumps any international ban on torture.

The Justice Department memo, dated March 14, 2003, outlines legal justification for military interrogators to use harsh tactics against al-Qaida and Taliban detainees overseas – so long as they did not specifically intend to torture their captors.

Even so, the memo noted, the president’s wartime power as commander in chief would not be limited by the U.N. treaties against torture.

Read more2003 torture memo released by Pentagon – NOW