Monthly Archives: September 2012

D.C. Speed cameras: Traffic enforcement or highway robbery?

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“Among the task force’s objectives is determining whether higher fines for speeding lead to improved driver compliance. There is much evidence to suggest that they do not. And yet, having raked in $66.7 million through the first three quarters of fiscal 2012 from speed and red light cameras, the city is gearing up to haul in an additional $86.2 million in 2013.  The economic pain caused by the high-tech crackdown cannot be overstated.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/speed-cameras-traffic-enforcement-or-highway-robbery/2012/09/11/dae4d874-fc54-11e1-8adc-499661afe377_story.html

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Uruguay takes ‘war on drugs’ in new direction: The state as dealer

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“The Broad Front – the center-left coalition that holds power – is proposing a state monopoly over the production and distribution of marijuana, making Uruguay the first national government to sell cannabis directly to citizens. The government says the measure is necessary to combat rising drug-related crime, decrease health risks for users, and counter ineffective US policies on drugs. But within Uruguay, interest groups have labeled the legislation totalitarian, while some international bodies argue it breaches global conventions.”

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2012/0919/Uruguay-takes-war-on-drugs-in-new-direction-The-state-as-dealer

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Italy upholds convictions of 23 CIA agents for imam kidnapping

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[‘Extraordinary rendition’ only applies to some…] “Italy’s top court Wednesday confirmed guilty verdicts against 23 CIA agents for the 2003 abduction of an Egyptian imam in Milan and ordered a re-trial for five Italian ex-spies accused of taking part.  The CIA agents were all being tried in absentia in one of the world’s biggest court cases against the US ‘extraordinary rendition’ programme to interrogate alleged Islamist militants after the September 11, 2001 attacks.  Italy’s justice ministry is now obliged to make a formal request for the extradition of the agents, legal sources said, but the United States has already refused.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/20/italy-upholds-convictions-of-23-cia-agents-for-imam-kidnap/

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Massachusetts Crime Lab Investigation; 34,000 Cases Tainted

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“As the press has been reporting over the last several days, serious misconduct at the Hinton crime lab in Jamaica Plain has led the Governor to close the lab. This lab handled evidence for prosecutions in Bristol, Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes, Nantucket, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, and Middlesex counties and the apparent misconduct dates from the present back to at least 2003.   This unfolding investigation indicates that some or all of the evidence from that lab is tainted and cannot support prosecutions. The spokesperson for the State Police has indicated that as many as 34,000 cases may be involved.”

http://www.macdl.com/Default.aspx?pageId=1403886

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California Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Bill Signed Into Law

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“California Gov. Jerry Brown Monday signed into law Assembly Bill 472, the ‘911 Good Samaritan Bill,’ aimed at reducing fatal drug overdoses by removing the threat of criminal prosecution for people who seek assistance for people suffering from them. California becomes the 10th state to enact such a law since New Mexico led the way back in 2007.”

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/sep/18/california_good_samaritan_drug_o

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Drug Sentences Driving Federal Prison Population Growth, Government Report Finds

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“The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that growth in the federal prison population is outstripping the Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) rated capacity to house prisoners and that the bulge in federal prisoners is largely attributable to drug prisoners and longer sentences for them.  The GAO reported that 48% of federal prisoners were drug offenders last year, and that the average sentence length for federal drug prisoners is now 2 ½ times longer than before federal anti-drug legislation passed in the mid-1980s.There are also now more than 100,000 federal drug prisoners, more than the total number of federal prisoners 20 years ago.”

http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/sep/13/drug_sentences_driving_federal_p

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Major Insider: The Vast Majority of Global Debt Will Be Defaulted On

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“The vast majority of debt in today’s world will be defaulted on, according to Philippa Malmgren, president and founder of London based Principalis Asset Management.  Speaking at the Irish Funds Industry Association’s 2012 Annual Global Funds Conference 2012 in Dublin yesterday, Malmgren, who, among many other roles, has served as a financial markets adviser in the White House, explained that there were a number of ways in which governments are likely to default over the next decade.”

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2012/09/major-insider-vast-majority-of-global.html

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Glenn Greenwald: The real criminals in the Tarek Mehanna case

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“In one of the most egregious violations of the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech seen in quite some time, Tarek Mehanna, an American Muslim, was convicted this week in a federal court in Boston and then sentenced yesterday to 17 years in prison. I’ve written before about the growing criminalization of free speech under the Bush and Obama DOJs, whereby Muslims are prosecuted for their plainly protected political views — but I urge everyone to read something quite amazing: Mehanna’s incredibly eloquent, thoughtful statement at his sentencing hearing, before being given a 17-year prison term.”

http://www.salon.com/2012/04/13/the_real_criminals_in_the_tarek_mehanna_case/

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Facebook yields to remove Hezbollah page under CIA pressure

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“Facebook has removed Hezbollah-related pages in what can be seen as another attempt by Washington to muzzle criticism of US policies.  A spokesman for the social networking website told Lebanon’s Daily Star that the company removed the official Facebook page for Hezbollah’s al-Manar television because it ‘incited violence’.  Due to Hezbollah’s appearance on a list provided by the State Department that contains names of organizations that may be involved in the ‘promotion of violence’, they have been removed from the site, Wolen claimed.”

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/08/22/257617/facebook-yields-to-drop-hezbollah-page/

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ACLU takes CIA to court over drone strikes

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“The programme has been repeatedly referenced in public by numerous senior officials, including by Obama himself and defence secretary Leon Panetta, but the spy agency has refused to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request from the civil liberties group because it says it will not confirm the secretive use of drones.  As a result the ACLU has gone to court to argue that the CIA cannot deny the existence of a programme that has been so widely reported, including in great detail in off-the-record briefings by administration and agency officials.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/19/aclu-takes-cia-to-court-over-drone-strikes/

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