Maine Liberty Journal

The Majlis (via What Really Happened):

Matt Duss flagged this video of Rep. Mike Pence (R-Indiana), a senior member of the Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives, talking to the Christian Broadcasting Network about why he unquestioningly supports Israel.

Pence is literally saying, Israeli officials should tell us what they want us to do, and we’ll support it. That’s an insane premise, and if you replace “Israel” with any other country, no U.S. politician would accept it.

I’m pretty pessimistic about Obama’s Middle East policies — but it’s worth remembering that Obama has to work within the confines of the U.S. political system, and there’s broad bipartisan consensus for Pence’s views on Israel (as he notes in the video).

Tags: National news by Editor
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Via Bangor Daily News (February 6, 2010):

Despite gallons of newspaper ink, hours of air time and untold clicks in the blogosphere, the effect of the tea party movement in local and national politics remains to be seen.

Even as supporters gathered Friday in Nashville, Tenn., for a National Tea Party Convention, some question whether it’s a movement at all, or rather a collection of isolated protests, just like similar events for any of a million other causes. Tea party organizers in Maine, though, say the influence of the events is not only enduring. It’s building.

“I have seen more people at political functions than have ever been there before,” said Lois Bloomer of Hermon, who ran two tea parties in Maine last year and has organized today’s Penobscot County Republican Caucus.

“There’s something definitely in the wind,” she said on Thursday. “People are stirred up.”

The establishment is trying hard to convince the masses that this “movement” is some fringe element of one far wing of the political spectrum. Certainly the last thing they want is for the “moderates” and the “mainstream” to get the impression that they have good reasons to be angry about the lies and fraud they’ve been getting from the Democans and Republicrats all these years. The harder the corporate media organs try to marginalize the disaffected segment of the population, the more I’m convinced that a genuine revolution might just be taking place.

Tags: National news, State news by Editor
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Via Washington Times (February 2, 2010):

The era of big government has returned with a vengeance, in the form of the largest federal work force in modern history.

The Obama administration says the government will grow to 2.15 million employees this year, topping 2 million for the first time since President Clinton declared that “the era of big government is over” and joined forces with a Republican-led Congress in the 1990s to pare back the federal work force.

Most of the increases are on the civilian side, which will grow by 153,000 workers, to 1.43 million people, in fiscal 2010.

The expansion could provide more ammunition to those arguing that the government is trying to do too much under President Obama.

Tags: National news by Editor
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Electronic Frontier Foundation Press Release (January 23, 2010):

A federal judge has dismissed Jewel v. NSA, a case from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) on behalf of AT&T customers challenging the National Security Agency’s mass surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans’ phone calls and emails.

“We’re deeply disappointed in the judge’s ruling,” said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. “This ruling robs innocent telecom customers of their privacy rights without due process of law. Setting limits on Executive power is one of the most important elements of America’s system of government, and judicial oversight is a critical part of that.”

In the ruling, issued late Thursday, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker held that the privacy harm to millions of Americans from the illegal spying dragnet was not a “particularized injury” but instead a “generalized grievance” because almost everyone in the United States has a phone and Internet service.

“The alarming upshot of the court’s decision is that so long as the government spies on all Americans, the courts have no power to review or halt such mass surveillance even when it is flatly illegal and unconstitutional,” said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston. “With new revelations of illegal spying being reported practically every other week — just this week, we learned that the FBI has been unlawfully obtaining Americans’ phone records using Post-It notes rather than proper legal process — the need for judicial oversight when it comes to government surveillance has never been clearer.”

Jewel v. NSA is aimed at ending the NSA’s dragnet surveillance of millions of ordinary Americans and holding accountable the government officials who illegally authorized it. Evidence in the case includes undisputed documents provided by former AT&T telecommunications technician Mark Klein showing AT&T has routed copies of Internet traffic to a secret room in San Francisco controlled by the NSA. That same evidence is central to Hepting v. AT&T, a class-action lawsuit that’s currently under appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.

Tags: Law, National news by Editor
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Via Pravda (January 25, 2010):

International arrest warrants have been requested for George W. Bush, Richard (Dick) Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Condoleeza Rice and Alberto Gonzales at the International Criminal Court, The Hague, Netherlands.

Professor of Law Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois College of Law in Champain, United States of America, has issued a Complaint with the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court against the above-mentioned for their practice of “extraordinary rendition” (forced disappearance of persons and subsequent torture) in Iraq and for criminal policy which constitutes Crimes against Humanity in violation of the Rome Statute which set up the ICC.

As such, the Accused (mentioned above) are deemed responsible for the commission of crimes within the territories of many States signatories of the Rome Statute, in violation of Rome Statute Articles 5 (1)(b), 7 (1)(a), 7 (1)(e), 7 (1)(g), 7(1)(h), 7(1)8i) and 7(1)(k). Despite the fact that the USA is not a signatory State, the ICC has the jurisdiction to prosecute under Article 12 (2)(a) of the Rome Statute.

This Article stipulates that the Court may exercise its jurisdiction if one or more States in which the conduct in question occurred has accepted the jurisdiction of the Court. Furthermore, the forced disappearance of persons and torture in deemed by the Rome Statute as a Crime against Humanity, one which is still ongoing.

The Exercise of Jurisdiction may be activated under Article 13, with respect to a crime committed under Article 5 if the Prosecutor has initiated an investigation. Professor Boyle, in his issue of complaint, respectfully requested that such an investigation be initiated.

The issue of complaint states “about 100 human beings have been subjected to enforced disappearances and subsequent torture by the Accused”, adds that some of them could still be alive today, and that an investigation could save these lives. Regarding those whose enforced disappearances led to their deaths, the Complaint requests a process of explanation and clarification for what would be a murder investigation.

Tags: National news, World news by Editor
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Via AL.com (January 15, 2010):

A Maine defense contractor who bribed officials at the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command in Huntsville, Ala., has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Sixty-five-year-old Maurice “Moe” Subilia Jr. of Kennebunkport was described by prosecutors as one of the masterminds of the scheme. His brother and his son-in-law received lesser sentences of two and three years on Friday.

They pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy, money laundering and bribery.

Subilia had faced up to 40 years in prison. But attorney Toby Dilworth sought a penalty similar to the five-year sentence given to the government official accused of proposing the scheme. Dilworth says Subilia has cooperated and given up virtually everything he owns. He also suffers from heart problems and had a coronary bypass in October.

Tags: Crime & corruption, Military industrial complex, National news by Editor
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This guy was on track at one time to run DHS?

Via NY Daily News (10/21/2009):

Bernard Kerik – former NYPD police commissioner, one-time Homeland Security Secretary nominee, national Sept. 11 hero – has a new label. Inmate No. 210-717.

Kerik got his assigned number at the Westchester County jail after becoming the first NYPD commissioner to wind up behind bars when a judge revoked his bail Tuesday for trying to taint the jury pool in his upcoming corruption trial.

Officials at the Westchester County Jail in Valhalla refused to say if Kerik was put in isolation.

Kerik declined requests for media interviews while his lawyers vowed a prompt appeal to try to get him out.

A furious Judge Stephen Robinson threw Kerik in the clink after prosecutors said the former top cop and the head of his legal defense fund engaged in a subversive campaign to sway potential jurors.

Tags: National news by Editor
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Via AL.com (December 16, 2008):

A Maine businessman was charged today in a Birmingham federal court with bribing two missile defense officials at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville in exchange for millions of dollars in no-bid contracts.

Maurice Subilia is charged with paying Michael Cantrell $1.2 million over a six-year period ending in 2007, court records show. Cantrell served as the director for the Joint Center for Technology Integration at U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command.

Cantrell’s deputy, Douglas Ennis, was also charged as part of the conspiracy.

Subilia operated Fiber Material, a Maine-based composite material manufacturer that made a carbon product for the nose cones of missiles. He also operated companies — Lealagi Inc. and Sage Technologies LLC — that got subcontract work from the missile defense program in Huntsville.

Court records said Ennis traveled to Reagan National Airport in April 2004 where he received a suitcase containing $75,000. He was paid in cash, checks and wire transfers during the six-year period, authorities say.

“The integrity of our government contracting system is threatened by those who would pay bribes under the table to influence government actions,” U.S. Attorney, Alice Martin said. “My office will aggressively prosecute those threats.

“We anticipate that this case will be transferred to the District of Maine for disposition.”

Tags: Crime & corruption, Military industrial complex, National news by Editor
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Glenn Greenwald asks a series of great questions in his recent column.

Tags: National news by Editor
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AP (via MyWay & Drudge):

This would be a fantastic development, hopefully leading to mass resignations and a dramatic reduction in the size of the California state government.

Unfortunately, “[e]mployees would receive their full salary retroactively once a budget is signed”. At least there is the chance they would quit in the meantime…

Tags: National news by Editor
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A month or so old, but I never saw this mentioned in any news outlet at the time. From TSA:

Is it a police state yet?

Tags: National news, Police state by Editor
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