Our friends at Project Censored, a media research group at Sonoma State University, recently released their annual report of the most alarming stories that were virtually ignored by the national press last year and that will probably continue to be ignored in 2008. Columbia City Paper recapped underreported environmental stories last year, so for this installment we pulled out the most alarming stories specific to social and human rights issues. Sleep well… 

America’s Infrastructure for Sale

At least 20 states, including South Carolina, have adopted legislation allowing for public-private partnerships to build and maintain highways. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, the Carlyle Group and others have approached state legislators, urging them to sell off public highway and transportation infrastructure to their investors, often foreign companies, who then charge tolls and implement noncompete clauses that limit state governments from expanding and improving nearby public roadways. Proponents of the plans claim these deals are a way to cut highway maintenance expenses without raising taxes, while opponents worry that the new highway owners will be more concerned about their bottom lines than the upkeep and usability of our public transportation system.

In 2006, Indiana governor Mitch Daniels leased– for the remainder of most Indiana motorists’ natural born lives– a 157-mile stretch of Indiana toll road to a consortium of Spanish and Australian corporations called MIG-Cintra for $3.8 billion. As tolls eventually rise, the company, by some estimates, could generate $11 billion from the road until the contract expires (or is possibly renewed) in 2081. Texas governor, Rick Perry, reportedly singed a $1.3 billion contract with Cintra for a 40-mile toll road near Austin and has plans to build a 4,000 mile network of toll roads across the state. Cintra and other consortia also have designs on truck-only toll lanes on I-285 in Atlanta.

Transactions like those in Indiana and Texas have so far had the full support of the Bush administration. Tyler Duvall, the assistant secretary for transportation policy for the U.S. Dept. of Transportation, says the DOT has raised the idea with almost every state.

Sources: “The Highwaymen” by Daniel Schulman and James Ridgeway, Mother Jones, February 2007. Project Censored researchers: Rachel Icaza, Ioana Lupu, and Marco Calavita, Ph.D.

Habeas Corpus Repealed

With South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham standing over his shoulder, President Bush signed the Military Commissions Act (MCA) into law in October of 2006 with virtually no outcry from corporate media. The MCA repealed habeas corpus rights for “any person” deemed an “enemy of the state.” The writ of habeas corpus, which protects against illegal imprisonment and guarantees a prisoner’s right to trial by court, was officially signed into British law in 1679, though a version of it appeared in the Magna Carta as early as 1215. It was lauded by Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of America, as one of the greatest securities to liberty in the Constitution. President Bush’s removal of habeas corpus from the U.S. Constitution legalized military roundups of “enemies of the state” and lifelong imprisonment with no constitutional rights. And as commander-in-chief under military law, the president can decide what constitutes an “enemy.”

Though lauded as a means to combat foreign terrorists, language in the MCA also seems to deny habeas corpus to U.S. citizens suspected of aiding in a litany of crimes related to terrorism. It targets “…any person [who] in breach of an allegiance or duty to the United States, knowingly and intentionally aids an enemy of the United States.” Thus “any person” with “an allegiance to the United States” (i.e. an American citizen) even suspected of a terror-related crime can be rounded up and disappear into a federal prison, without trial.

When Democrats took control of Congress they began work to restore habeas corpus, though many expected stiff resistance from Republicans. In June, 2007 Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Arlen Spector (R-Pa.) successfully passed a bi-partisan bill called the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act through the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill is still under debate.

Sources: “Who Is ‘Any Person’ in Tribunal Law?” and “Still No Habeas Rights for You” by Robert Parry, Consortium, 2006. Project Censored: Bryce Cook, Julie Bickel and Andrew Roth, Ph.D.

Operation FALCON Raids

A federal police operation codenamed FALCON (Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally) continues to coordinate mass arrests across the country. Operation FALCON is the brainchild of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who resigned from his post last September amid charges that he lied during a Congressional hearing about his role in the firing of seven U.S. Attorneys. So far the FALCON raids boast tens of thousands of arrests, making it the largest dragnet in American history. It is also the first time in American history that all domestic police agencies have been put under the direct control of the federal government.

The national media praised the operation, emphasizing the sex offenders and gang members who were arrested. Locally, WLTX largely paraphrased a press release sent out by the U.S. Marshals. However, less than ten percent of the thousands arrested were sex offenders and less than two percent owned firearms, according to some reports.

In South Carolina, between August 16 and 31, 2007 authorities arrested 540 fugitives in a FALCON roundup. According the regional FBI office in Columbia, “of the 540 fugitives arrested 66 were wanted sex offenders.” The bureau mentioned four alleged gang members and one teen wanted for murder in Florence. It is unclear what the other 469 people were charged with. Following a FALCON roundup in S.C. in 2005, the Greenville News listed 77 of those arrested under the category “other.”

Online watchdog group SourceWatch posed this question: Why did state and local authorities wait for federally orchestrated raids to conduct regular police work against known sex offenders and suspected murderers? And with what were the “others” charged?

Source: SourceWatch. Project Censored: Erica Haikara, Celeste Winders and Ron Lopez, Ph.D.

Federal Act labels animal rights activists as terrorists

The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) was signed into law on November 27, 2006 and can be used to prosecute animal rights activists for “animal enterprise terrorism.” Many worry that it indicates a growing trend to treat dissent as terrorism. Theoretically, AETA violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments by criminalizing formerly protected modes of expression.

Opponents of the law worry that its wording is too vague, citing that a protester is subject to arrest for any actions that “interfere with” or cause “profit loss” to the animal enterprise (which could include employee whistle-blowing or undercover investigations into labor practices, environmental violations or animal cruelty). The National Lawyers’ Guild and New York City Bar Association among over 150 other groups directly oppose the Act.

In 2006, the ACLU sent a written letter of opposition to Congress, stating, “Lawful and peaceful protests that, for example, urge a consumer boycott of a company that does not use humane procedures, could be the target of this provision because they ‘disrupt’ the company’s business. …The bill will effectively chill and deter Americans from exercising their First Amendment rights to advocate for reforms in the treatment of animals.”

The Republican controlled House Judiciary Committee scheduled AETA to be passed or nullified by voice vote. The vote on the bill was reportedly held hours earlier than scheduled with only about six out of 435 legislators present. Of the six present, only Dennis Kucinich voted against it. Shortly after the bill passed, the Fur Commission USA reportedly distributed an announcement proclaiming “Mission Accomplished!”

Sources: David Hoch and Odette Wilkens, Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, March 9, 2007; Will Potter, Green is the New Red, November 14, 2006. Project Censored: Sverre Tysl and Scott Suneson

Legislation is technically moving America toward martial law

The same day President Bush signed the Military Commissions Act into law, he also signed the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007, which grants the commander-in-chief the power to station military troops anywhere in the U.S. and take control of state-based National Guard units without the consent of state governors in order to “suppress public disorder.”

The Act facilitates mass roundups (a la Operation FALCON) of protesters and others and reportedly contains provisions to supply local police units with technology and weaponry designed to suppress dissent. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) entered into the Conressional Record that he believes language in the bill “…subverts solid, longstanding posse comitatus statutes that limit the military’s involvement in law enforcement, thereby making it easier for the President to declare martial law.”

On April 24, 2007, Major General Timothy Lowenberg, Adjutant General of the Washington National Guard testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee in opposition of the act, voicing his concern that Bush signed the Act into law without first consulting with state governors. He also spoke about the recently created domestic military command called NORTHCOM which the president can use to “…invoke the new Martial Law powers if he concludes state and/or local authorities no longer possess either the capability or the will to maintain order.”

The Department of Defense now has a civil disturbance plan in place codenamed GARDEN PLOT. Major Tom Herthel of the U.S. Air Force recently laid out the military’s rules of engagement when implementing GARDEN PLOT. According to Herthel the rules allow for lethal force during domestic “civil disturbance operations.”

Sources: “Bush Moves Toward Martial Law” by Frank Morales. Toward Freedom,, October 25, 2006. Project Censored: Phillip Parfitt, Julie Bickel and Andy Merrifield, Ph.D.

Comments

Add New Search

Write comment
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Website:
Title:
UBBCode:	-color-aquablackbluefuchsiagraygreenlimemaroonnavyolivepurpleredsilvertealwhiteyellow -size-tinysmallmediumlargehuge
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

Powered by !JoomlaComment 3.25

3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

---