There’s a Secret Patriot Act, Senator Says

“We’re getting to a gap between what the public thinks the law says and what the American government secretly thinks the law says,” Wyden tells Danger Room in an interview in his Senate office. “When you’ve got that kind of a gap, you’re going to have a problem on your hands.”

What exactly does Wyden mean by that? As a member of the intelligence committee, he laments that he can’t precisely explain without disclosing classified information. But one component of the Patriot Act in particular gives him immense pause: the so-called “business-records provision,” which empowers the FBI to get businesses, medical offices, banks and other organizations to turn over any “tangible things” it deems relevant to a security investigation.

“It is fair to say that the business-records provision is a part of the Patriot Act that I am extremely interested in reforming,” Wyden says. “I know a fair amount about how it’s interpreted, and I am going to keep pushing, as I have, to get more information about how the Patriot Act is being interpreted declassified. I think the public has a right to public debate about it.”

That’s why Wyden and his colleague Sen. Mark Udall offered an amendment on Tuesday to the Patriot Act reauthorization.

The amendment, first reported by Marcy Wheeler, blasts the administration for “secretly reinterpret[ing] public laws and statutes.” It would compel the Attorney General to “publicly disclose the United States Government’s official interpretation of the USA Patriot Act.” And, intriguingly, it refers to “intelligence-collection authorities” embedded in the Patriot Act that the administration briefed the Senate about in February.

via There’s a Secret Patriot Act, Senator Says | Danger Room | Wired.com.

Report: Over Two Thousand Six Hundred Activists Arrested in US Protests so far, by obama regime

Since President Obama was inaugurated, there have been over two thousand six hundred arrests of activists protesting in the US.   Research shows over 670 people have been arrested in protests inside the US already in 2011, over 1290 were arrested in 2010, and 665 arrested in 2009.   These figures are certainly underestimate the number actually arrested as arrests in US protests are rarely covered by the mainstream media outlets which focus so intently on arrests of protestors in other countries.

Arrests at protest have been increasing each year since 2009.  Those arrested include people protesting US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Guantanamo, strip mining, home foreclosures, nuclear weapons, immigration policies, police brutality, mistreatment of hotel workers, budget cutbacks, Blackwater, the mistreatment of Bradley Manning, and right wing efforts to cut back collective bargaining.

These arrests illustrate that resistance to the injustices in and committed by the US is alive and well.  Certainly there could and should be more, but it is important to recognize that people are fighting back against injustice.

via Activist Post: Report: Over Two Thousand Six Hundred Activists Arrested in US Protests.

Zapatista March and the Drug War in Mexico

from UpsideDownWorld

On the morning of May 7, CIDECI-University de la Tierra of San Cristóbal de Las Casa (Chiapas) was filled withpeople. The palpable excitement in the air settled to a lull as they began to organize themselves in an orderly fashion: in the front, the EZLN Command and support base, faces covered with balaclavas or paliacates [traditional Mexican scarves]. In the back, communities taking part in the Other Campaign, collectives, human rights organizations, internationalists. Without any slogans or chants, they have been marching in silence towards the center of the city: their banners and placarads alone crying out, “No more blood on Mexican soil”, “Stop Calderón’s war”, “We’ve had it”.

Heeding the call to silence that poet and journalist Javier Sicilia, still grieving for his murdered son, dubbed a ‘March for Peace with Justice and Dignity’, this is the first step in the birth of a national movement against Calderón’s drug war and government impunity. Many have answered Sicilia’s call. Among them is the EZLN, which summoned Zapatistas and the Other Campaign to mobilize in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, resulting in more than 15,000 people assembling in silence, meant to express the impossibility of describing such profound pain. “We have to name the victims of the War on Narco-trafficking, to dignify them”, said Sicilia—and indeed, those names moved in procession among the colorful, low houses of this colonial Chiapan city, written on crosses carried by members of the Sociedad Civil Las Abejas de Acteal. The Sociedad Civil Las Abejas de Acteal has fallen victim to the kind of impunity that rules Mexico: paramilitary forces jailed for the murder of 45 congregants gathered in prayer in Acteal (1997) are now progressively being released.

The long march arrived at the Plaza de la Catedral—the very same one occupied by Zapatistas on January 1st, 1994. This time, 30 EZLN commanders awaited the crowd. Comandante David read a message from Subcomandante Marcos: “We are gathered here for the families of the dead, injured, mutilated, disappeared, kidnapped, and jailed having committed no crime. Because their only fault was to be born, or to live, in a country mismanaged by legal and illegal groups thirsty for war, death, and destruction. The government tells them that it will continue with its plan—the main objective of which is death, impunity. To fear in people’s every word, to see in every critique, every doubt, question, every call, the intent to overthrow this order is something quite appropriate to dictatorships and tyrants. Knowing how to listen with humility and attention what the people say is the virtue of a good government. We are here today to tell those good people who walk in silence, quite simply, that they are not alone”.

The EZLN’s participation was a big surprise: Zapatistas have not shown themselves in public like this for five years now. The long media silence was only broken in January of this year, with the communiqué published in response to the death of Don Samuel Ruíz, and the epistolary exchange concerning ethics and politics that Marcos has been having with the Mexican intellectual Luís Villoro. Re-reading these exchanges, one begins to realize that Marcos has had Sicilia on his mind for quite some time. He wrote to Villoro: “As I begin writing these lines, Javier Sicilia’s pain and anger—physically far away but close in ideals for some time—make echoes that reverberate in these mountains of ours. It is to be hoped that his legendary tenacity, which now summons our words and action, manages to express and bring together that anger and pain that is spreading everywhere on Mexican soil”. In his correspondence with Villoro, Marcos also mentioned the Chiapan governor Juan Sabines Guerrero who, he says, “persecutes and represses those who do not chime in with the false chorus of praise for his lies made into government policy, which persecutes defenders of human rights in the Coast and the Highlands of Chiapas and the indigenous people of San Sebastián Bachajón who refuse to prostitute their land, and which encourages paramilitary groups against indigenous Zapatista communities”.

In later communiqués sent out by the EZLN Command in the context of the march, references to repression in Chiapas (like those on marchers’ posters) have all but disappeared. In any case, it is important to remember what is happening in a State in which militarization, already very advanced, is going to intensify. The announcement of two new military bases on the border with Guatemala and the deployment of the Border Police—an entity whose creation was anticipated by the Migration Law designed to ‘protect’ Central American migrants in Mexico—are two examples. Of course, the real objective of such policing bodies and the army in Chiapas is not to protect citizens from narco-traffickers, but rather the interests of State companies, and to repress any expression of dissent.

In Mitzitón, for example, a stone’s throw away from the Rancho Nuevo military barracks, participants in the Other Campaign resist the construction of the San Cristóbal de Las Casas-Palenque highway, which would rip right through their community. In defense of the project, the government is supporting the Ejército de Dios paramilitary group, which continues to harrass members of the Other Campaign: in 2010, one participant was killed, and this May 7th, while the Zapatista march made its way through the streets of San Cristóbal de Las Casas, paramilitary forces fired on two women tending to sheep. Adherents of the Other Campaign from Bachajón, in the jungle, fight against the same mega-project, which aims to build a great tourist attraction in the waterfalls of Agua Azul. In Bachajón, the people live under the continued threat of OPDDIC [Organization for the Defense of Indigenous Rights 1] paramilitaries: in Feburary, at the entrance to the Agua Azul waterfalls, more than a hundred members of the Other Campaign—five of whom are still in prison—were arrested in a fiersome police operation. As always, in Feburary 19 people were detained on the Chiapas Coast, after a peaceful demonstration for the liberation of political prisoners. Among them were three lawyers for the Human Rights Center – Digna Ochoa. A few days after the march of silence, the father of one of the lawyers and member of the Autonomous Council of the Chiapas Coast, who participated in the Zapatista mobilization, was arrested as well.

The march on May 7th was an important demonstration of power for the EZLN, but the road to ‘Peace with Justice and Dignity’ in Chiapas is still very far.

1. The name is misleading. “The Organization for the Defense of Indigenous Rights (OPDDIC), considered a paramilitary group for years by the indigenous communities of the Selva Lacandona and recently reactivated, is emerging as principal threat to the coexistence of indigenous communities, with the open support of the PRD government of Juan Sabines Gutie’rrez.” See “En;Jornada,OPPDIC: counterinsurgency group in Chiapas, Feb 13”, http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.politics.zapatista.chiapas95/922. See also “OPDDIC Leader Pedro Chulín Offers His ‘Total Support’ to Governor Juan Sabines”, http://www.narconews.com/Issue45/article2560.html.

Chaos in Yemen’s capital, government buildings aflame

Yemenis fled the capital on Wednesday to escape gunbattles between loyalists and opponents of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who said he would make no more concessions to those seeking his ouster.

Sporadic machinegun fire rang out for the third day in the sandbagged streets around the mansion of an influential tribal leader who has backed protesters seeking to overthrow the longtime ruler after repeated international mediation failed.

Black smoke rose from the compound of Sadiq al-Ahmar, at the center of the clashes that have killed more than 40 people since Monday, when his guards first exchanged fire with loyalist forces they accused of stockpiling weapons at a nearby school.

Authorities closed Sanaa airport and flights were being diverted after clashes broke out with tribesmen loyal to Ahmar, a security official told Reuters, adding that some airlines had begun cancelling flights to Yemen on Tuesday.

“What happened was a provocative act to drag us into civil war, but it is limited to the Ahmar sons. They bear responsibility for shedding the blood of innocent civilians,” Saleh told selected media including Reuters.

“Until this second, they are attacking the Interior Ministry. But we don’t want to widen the confrontation,” he said. “They have chosen this and they made the wrong decision to confront the state with this kind of violence.”

Four people were killed and 11 wounded, the defense ministry said, blaming Ahmar’s men. Witnesses and officials said Ahmar’s backers took over several ministry buildings near his compound.

The fighting, the most sustained clashes in Sanaa since protests against Saleh’s rule began in February, erupted on Monday, a day after the president refused at the last minute to sign a Gulf-brokered deal that would ease him out of power.

Saleh has backed out twice before, but Sunday’s turnabout, after loyalist gunmen trapped Western and Arab diplomats in the United Arab Emirates embassy for hours, appeared to have sparked a major reaction.

General Ali al-Mohsen, a regional army commander who has sided with protesters, called on the armed forces to defy Saleh.

“Beware of following this madman who is thirsty for more bloodshed,” Mohsen said in a statement.

Both sides blamed each other for the violence, which the opposition said could start a civil war. The bloodshed dimmed prospects for a political solution to a popular revolt inspired by protests that swept aside the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia.

“I think there’s a real risk that violence can escalate, and we see a move toward low intensity civil war,” said Shadi Hamid, analyst at the Brookings Doha Center.

“There’s a real loss of faith in the political process after Saleh refused to sign a deal several times. That really cast doubt on whether Saleh has any real commitment to letting go of power voluntarily,” he added.

CONTROL OF MINISTRIES

Saleh said the deal remained on the table, despite his repeated failure to sign: “I am ready to sign within a national dialogue and a clear mechanism. If the mechanism is sound, we will sign the transition of power deal and we will give up power.”

“No more concessions after today,” he said.

In the capital Sanaa, fighters in civilian clothes roamed the streets in some districts and sporadic bursts of machinegun fire punctuated the air.

Long lines of cars snaked out of the city, bags piled high on their roofs, even as gunmen blocked entrances to prevent tribesmen from bringing in reinforcements, witnesses said.

The situation calmed slightly in the afternoon as mediators tried to seal a truce. Yet in the neighborhoods close to the fighting, men fled with suitcases and women carried their babies in the streets, seeking safety elsewhere.

“It’s no longer possible to stay in Sanaa. The confrontations will reach all parts of the city,” said Murad Abdullah as he left by car. “I am afraid for my life. I will go to my village in Ibb. The situation there is safe.”

The United States and Saudi Arabia, both targets of foiled attacks by a wing of al Qaeda based in Yemen, have tried to defuse the crisis and avert any spread of anarchy that could give the global militant network more room to operate.

U.N. Secretary Genera Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman Martin Nesirky said Ban was deeply troubled by the clashes in Sanaa and called for further peace efforts and an immediate end to the fighting, while Britain reiterated calls on Saleh to sign the exit deal.

But a peaceful outcome looked ever less likely.

Witnesses and officials said supporters of Ahmar, head of the Hashed tribal federation to which Saleh’s Sanhan tribe also belongs, were controlling several ministry buildings near the Ahmar compound including trade and tourism, as well as the offices of the state news agency Saba.

Ahmar’s fighters had also attacked the headquarters of the interior ministry, the courtyard of which came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades, witnesses said.

Televised images of the Ahmar compound showed tribesmen rushing through opulent but dusty halls, their floors spattered with blood, as they helped colleagues wounded in the fighting.

“This is an attempt to drag the revolution from its peaceful path,” opposition politician Hamid al-Ahmar, brother to Sadiq al-Ahmar, said on Al Jazeera television.

“But this is understood, and it won’t affect the path of the revolution. The popular revolution.”

TEPCO finally admits to multiple nuclear core meltdowns

the operators of the fukushima nuclear power complex have dishonored their ancestrors and families for all time by trying to cover their asses, rather than admit to their inability to understand or operate a nuclear power facility. more disgracefully still, they have not offered their lives in apology. they shame their ancestors.

what else are they and the japanese governemnt lying about?

Meltdowns confirmed at Fukushima reactors 

The operator of the nuclear power plant at the centre of a radiation scare after being disabled by Japan’s earthquake and tsunami has confirmed that there had been meltdowns of fuel rods at three of its reactors.

Tokyo Electric Power Co said overnight (NZ time) meltdowns of fuel rods at three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant occurred early in the crisis triggered by the March 11 disaster.

The government and outside experts had said previously that fuel rods at three of the plant’s six reactors had likely melted early in the crisis, but the utility, also known as Tepco, had only confirmed a meltdown at the No.1 reactor.

Tepco officials said a review since early May of data from the plant concluded the same happened to reactors No.2 and 3.

The preliminary finding, which was reported to Japan’s nuclear safety agency, represents part of an initial effort to explain how events at Fukushima spiralled out of control early in the crisis.

Also overnight, the government appointed Yotaro Hatamura, a Tokyo University professor of engineering who has studied how complex systems and designs fail, to head a committee that will investigate the cause and handling of the nuclear crisis.

The moves came as a team of investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency began a two-week visit to Japan to prepare a report on the accident to be submitted to the United Nations agency in June.

Some analysts said the delay in confirming the meltdowns at Fukushima suggested the utility feared touching off a panic by disclosing the severity of the accident earlier.

“Now people are used to the situation. Nothing is resolved, but normal business has resumed in places like Tokyo,” said Koichi Nakano, a political science professor at Tokyo’s Sophia University.

Nakano said that by confirming the meltdowns now, Tepco may be hoping the news will have less impact. The word “meltdown” has such a strong connotation that when the situation was more uncertain more people would likely have fled Tokyo, he said.

Engineers are battling to plug radiation leaks and bring the plant 240km northeast of Tokyo under control more than two months after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and deadly tsunami that devastated a vast swathe of Japan’s northeast coastline and tipped the economy into recession.

The disaster has triggered a drop of more than 80 percent in Tepco’s share price and forced the company to seek government aid as it faces compensation liabilities that some analysts say could top $100 billion (62 billion pounds).

Japanese trade minister Banri Kaieda said the government would approve the formation of a committee later on Tuesday that will make sure Tepco follows through with restructuring plans.

Tepco officials said damage to the No.2 reactor fuel rods had begun three days after the quake, with much of the fuel rods eventually melting and collecting at the bottom of the pressure vessel containing them.

Fuel rods in the No.3 reactor were damaged by the afternoon of March 13, they said.

Japanese samurai preferred to die with honour, voluntarily plunging a sword into the abdomen and moving it left to right in a slicing motion