Contact the After Downing Street Coalition

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/12/17/18467586.php
Will NSA illegal Electronic Spying, be used to Seize Citizens’ Homes?

by Dan Scott

Stop “Retroactive Immunity” for Phone Companies that helped NSA spy on Americans!

Determining what NSA electronic surveillance can be used by police or introduced into court by Government, may be the next battle Americans have to fight.

Senator Dodd plans to Filibuster a FISA bill that will give “Retroactive Immunity” to Telecoms that helped NSA spy on Americans’ phone calls, faxes and emails? If the government provides the Telecoms “Retroactive Immunity” at least forty lawsuits filed against those companies will be trashed. Not so obvious is what will happen to NSA’s millions of illegally collected emails, faxes and personal phone call information that belong to U.S. Citizens? Will that information be deleted or copied?

Depending on the legal method U.S. Government devises to let the phone companies off the hook for spying on Americans, could set NSA free—to share its “illegally collected wiretap information” with local, state and federal police to initiate ordinary domestic criminal investigations.

Determining what NSA electronic surveillance can be used by police or introduced into court by Government, may be the next battle Americans have to fight. Previously prosecutors were not allowed access to the Justice Department’s intelligence files for domestic criminal prosecutions. In 2003 a court ruling lowered that barrier, allowing prosecutors to review old surveillance. In 2003, Attorney General John Ashcroft asked government prosecutors to review thousands of old intelligence files including wiretaps to retrieve information prosecutors could use in “ordinary criminal prosecutions.”

It is problematic Law enforcement agencies will want to use NSA’s old illegal wiretap evidence and other surveillance to go back decades to arrest Americans and/or civilly forfeit citizens’ homes, inheritances and business using a mere "preponderance of evidence" under Title 18 of the United States Code. The Patriot Act specifically mentions the provisions passed in Rep. Henry Hyde’s bill HR 1658 "The Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000." HR 1658 contained a "retroactive asset forfeiture provision" that was made retroactive for assets already subject to government forfeiture, "property already tainted by crime" providing that “the property” was part of or later connected to a criminal investigation that was in progress" when HR.1658 passed. In 2000 after HR1658 passed the old statute of limitations that gave government five years to seize property involved in crime died. Police now have five-years to seize property from “whenever they claim” they learned an asset was made subject to civil asset forfeiture. There are now over 200 U.S. laws that can subject property to civil asset forfeiture.

Imagine NSA sharing its illegal-domestic surveillance information with countless police agencies dependent on forfeiting Citizens’ property to pay their department operating costs. Police too easily can take an innocent person’s phone call or hastily written email out of context to allege a crime was committed. Imagine Police using the Patriot Act’s low standard of proof "a preponderance of evidence” to judge NSA illegal domestic wiretap information, perhaps to go back before 2000 to civilly seize a Citizen's home, business or other property. No conviction is required for the U.S. Government to civilly forfeit a Citizen’s home or business. Under the Patriot Act, witnesses can be kept secret while being paid part of the assets they cause to be forfeited.

Another Air Craft carrier has now been posted in the Persian Gulf, the need and greed for oil is ruining our planet and our lives, and the now known fact, that the knowledge and preclusions of 911 before it happened had been known and could have been prevented by people of this administration, is hard to bare. This administration's approval of torture and spying on the citizens of America without a warrant is a horrible truth. The occupation of Iraq is ongoing with no care for the health of our troops as it displaces over 4 million Iraqis and kills countless others, (over 1000,000.) On this now 5 year anniversary of "Mission Accomplished in Iraq" more Americans have died in Iraq than at the towers on 911, (then 129 soldiers killed now over 4000) and Bin Laden is still at large making Saddam Hussein look like an angel. Thousands of people are dying each day in our country because they can not afford health care, meanwhile the government and this administration thinks by sending money to the American people this will buy time so they can do more of the same.

When and if I get my government check, (which was borrowed from China to begin with and will probably go back to them because almost every thing here is made in China) I will be sending it strait away to fund organizations such as:
Congressman Robert Wexler,
http://wexlerwantshearings.com/
Congressman Dennis Kucinich
http://kucinich.house.gov/spotlightissues/documents.htm
After Downing Street
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org
to investigate the crimes of this administration for impeachment. Although this should have been done years ago, it is never to late to seek justice. Mind you I need the money just like anyone else in this me, me, me economy but I can think of no better way to spend this money wisely and help "nip it in the bud" so to speak. I feel I and we as a people have lost 8 years of our lives and I want retribution. I would also like your advice regarding the correct organization to get this done if you can think of a better alternative.

WE should seek investigations of these accounts on this administration, to name a few!

1. Violating the United Nations Charter by launching an illegal "War of Aggression" against Iraq without cause, using fraud to sell the war to Congress and the public, misusing government funds to begin bombing without Congressional authorization, and subjecting our military personnel to unnecessary harm, debilitating injuries, and deaths.

2. Violating U.S. and international law by authorizing the torture of thousands of captives, resulting in dozens of deaths, and keeping prisoners hidden from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

3. Violating the Constitution by arbitrarily detaining Americans, legal residents, and non-Americans, without due process, without charge, and without access to counsel.

4. Violating the Geneva Conventions by targeting civilians, journalists, hospitals, and ambulances, and using illegal weapons, including white phosphorous, depleted uranium, and a new type of napalm.

5. Violating U.S. law and the Constitution through widespread wiretapping of the phone calls and emails of Americans without a warrant.

6. Violating the Constitution by using "signing statements" to defy hundreds of laws passed by Congress.

7. Violating U.S. and state law by obstructing honest elections in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006.

8. Violating U.S. law by using paid propaganda and disinformation, selectively and misleadingly leaking classified information, and exposing the identity of a covert CIA operative working on sensitive WMD proliferation for political retribution.

9. Subverting the Constitution and abusing Presidential power by asserting a "Unitary Executive Theory" giving unlimited powers to the President, by obstructing efforts by Congress and the Courts to review and restrict Presidential actions, and by promoting and signing legislation negating the Bill of Rights and the Writ of Habeas Corpus.

10. Gross negligence in failing to assist New Orleans residents after Hurricane Katrina, in ignoring urgent warnings of an Al Qaeda attack prior to Sept. 11, 2001, and in increasing air pollution causing global warming.

We must do the right thing when we see wrong being done, lest our hands too have blood on them!!

Hope you feel the same.

Arlan Boll

9 Republicans Vote for Impeachment Hearings, 10 Abstain
by Ralph Lopez
Wed Jul 16, 2008 at 01:10:01 PM PDT

On Daily Kos, Ralph Lopez reports: In a stunning development which fell with the silence of a feather yesterday, 9 Republicans broke with their iron-fisted party to put country first, and voted to send Rep. Dennis Kucinich's article of impeachment HR 1345 to the Judiciary, where Chairman John Conyers will hold a hearings on abuses of power by the Bush administration, according to the Congressional Quaterly's CQToday. (Ten Republicans abstained in this critical moment.)

Those 9 Republicans are:

Congressman Kevin Brady (TX)
Phone: (202)225-4901
Fax: (202)225-5524
Email: rep.brady@mail.house.gov

Congressman Wayne Gilchrest (MD)
Phone 202-225-5311
Fax 202-225-0254

Congressman Walter B. Jones (NC)
Phone: 252-931-1003
Fax: 252-931-1002

Congressman Don Manzullo (IL)
Phone - (202) 225-5676
Fax - (202)225-5284

Congressman Tim Murphy(PA)
Phone: (202) 225-2301
Fax: (202) 225-1844 322

Congressman Ron Paul (TX)
Phone: (202) 225-2831

Congressman Dave Reichert (WA)
Phone: (202) 225-7761
Fax: (202) 225-4282

Congressman Christopher Shays (CT)
Phone: 202/225-5541
Fax: 202/225-9629

Congressman Mike Turner (OH)
Phone: (202) 225-6465
Fax: (202) 225-6754

One of the Republicans, Walter Jones, represents Camp LeJeune in North Carolina, one of the largest Marine bases in the country, and one which has borne heavily the sacrifice of the Iraq War.

CQ said of Conyers' hearings:
The anticipated hearing would review more than a year of committee inquiry into such matters as the firing of U.S. attorneys, the leak of the identity of former CIA operative Valerie Plame and the information provided to Congress in the run-up to the Iraq War.
Kucinich has promised a surprise foreign official as a witness in the hearing. His article focuses on administration claims that Saddam possessed WMD in the run-up to the Iraq war, and that there was a connection between Hussein and 9/11.

Hit the media outlets: (PLEASE REPORT ON THE KUCINICH ARTICLE AND ON THE 9 REPUBLICANS WHO VOTED FOR IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS!)
letters@jackson.gannett.com,
theforum@usatoday.com,
oped@nytimes.com,
op-ed@latimes.com,
oped@phillynews.com,
ctc-COMMENT@tribune.com,
opinion@startribune.com,
letters@RockyMountainNews.com,
viewpoints@chron.com,
oped@newsday.com,
viewpoints@dallasnews.com,
shuntley@suntimes.com,
forum@sfchronicle.com,
my.turns@pni.com,
m_Pritchard@globe.com,
HeraldEd@herald.com,
oped@herald.com,
oped@starledger.com,
forum@plaind.com,
oped@news.oregonian.com,
editpg@freepress.com,
gailey@sptimes.com,
openforum@denverpost.com,
netaudr@abc.com,
nightline@abcnews.com,
2020@abc.com,
nightly@msnbc.com,
today@nbc.com,
dateline@nbc.com,
evening@cbsnews.com,
earlyshow@cbs.com,
hardball@msnbc.com,
msnbcreports@msnbc.com,
newshour@pbs.org,
ombudsman@npr.or

Keep hitting Congress (below) -- DO NOT LET UP -- RIGHT NOW IS CRUCIAL!

If you know any Republicans, ask them to call the 9 (above) in support!

CALL NOW:

House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, Jr.:
(202) 225-5126 (PLEASE SCHEDULE IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS RIGHT AWAY)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: (202) 225-4965 (THANK YOU FOR LETTING IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS BEGIN)

Call Toll Free 800-828-0498 & ask for your Rep.

(I AM VERY MUCH IN FAVOR OF IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS, AND AM VERY CONCERNED THAT THIS PRESIDENT WILL NOT BE MADE TO ANSWER FOR HIS ACTIONS, WHICH WERE LAID OUT IN DETAIL IN DENNIS KUCINICH'S ARTICLE ON TUESDAY, THE 15TH)

Or see http://www.house.gov/house

If we fail to motivate our Congressmen to call for Impeachment Hearings before the Election, we will lose all of our power to change America for four years.

LET'S MAKE IMPEACHMENT HAPPEN!!
Tobi Dragert

Hello All… Use the BELOW - IMAGE, IDEAS as U C fit... HELP IMPEACH Bush, Cheney - Impeachment Begins: - Be on Capitol Hill on Friday July 25th - PASS it ON,
Thank U, Roger@RogerART.com another Vet.

SEE July 25, 2008 Impeach IMAGES AT...

www.RogerART.com Scroll down

Life Imitates Art - Again - Title: ( TREASON, the TRIAL ) Oil & Paper on Canvas, 36 X 60 in. 1 of 20 Completed in 2001, Earth. by, Roger Drowne E.C.

Interview Roger Drowne E.C. anyGLOBALtime - July 19, 2008 to July 27, 2008 - if U want 2 – 603 569 1799 keep trying…

About his 20 - Patriot, Democracy, Protest, Paintings – Completed in 2001 – the Why, When, Where, Who, What, Inspiration, etc.

NOTE: ( Re-Written ) Declaration of Independence - Research Paper 4 Reference, Ideas, to complete composition, lay-out, time line, etc. works before paintings began….

Read it here… http://www.rogerart.com/Re%20Written%20D%20of%20C.htm

More info at… www.RogerART.com

Roger Drowne EC ( Earth Citizen ) Says:
Thank U All
See OUR Other Web Sites Below... AND

If U Want 2 Help,
End All War,
Clean Up OUR Earth,
Create Earth Ball Homes and Greenhouses,
Go 2...
http://www.RogerART.com/ - ( not a deliberate non profit… but is one anyway ( oops ) )

AND… Help, Create - 4 All Earth Citizens…
http://www.OneGlobalCommunity.com/- ( 501 C 3 non profit organization ) Help Wanted

AND 1. Earth Ball Abodes and GreenHouses…
http://www.EarthBall.org/- ( non profit organization ) Help Wanted

With OUR Own E.C.NEWS - Out-Lets All Around OUR Earth
http://www.EarthCitizenNEWS.com/- ( non profit organization ) Help Wanted

ALSO… We R and U Can (ALSO) Run 4…
http://www.PresidentOfPlanetEarth.com/- ( non profit organization ) Help Wanted

NEW, June 2008, RainbowREVOLUTION ( ongoing )
http://www.RainbowREVOLUTION.org

And 2. …

http://www.StepAheadU.com Help Wanted

Step Ahead University of Earth Citizens
Where All R Teachers & All R Students
Sharing Knowledge & Stuff With Each Other
All Around OUR Earth

some R under construction, now
YOUR HELP is WANTED
E-us 2 add your ideas 4 sites

OF - Earth Citizens…
BY - E.C. s
FOR - All - Citizens Around OUR Earth…

Thank You, Peace, Love & Later
Roger Drowne EC = ( Earth Citizen )
Contact us at… Staff@RogerART.com

NEW
“ HAPPY 4th of JULY, 2008 “
“ I HAVE A JOB ! “
,Thank You, bush, cheney, republican party on, all…
" I HAVE A JOB ! " ...
… DIGGING GRAVES
4 Y/OUR WAR DEAD
And MY STARVING global NEIGHBORS
… EFFICIENTLY
COVERING UP OUR CONSTITUTION,
YOUR BOGUS LIES and PILFERING,
WITH THEIR
… EXHUMED DIRT !
---------
new poem by, RogerART.com

more poems click here... 50 New Poems 2007 and 2008

another Open Letter 2 All Earth Citizens
from, Roger Hawes Drowne E.C.
July 14, 2008
Hello All, You… Yes U, My Family,
Friends and Friends not yet met.

You have a chance to re-establish and make clear just what is legal conduct, and what is not by putting the U.S. Constitution first, and common good of our Country first. (time’s up…) more info and original article at… http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/

( Karl Rove, (Bush Brain), was scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee Thursday July 10, 2008.
He didn’t show.
Not only that, the Committee was told that Rove had left the country )

Are we a Nation of Law or a lawless Monarchy?
Sat, 2008-07-12
You… My Family and Friends have a chance to re-establish and make clear just what is legal conduct, and what is not by putting the U.S. Constitution first, and common good of our Country first.
It is, in fact, your own sworn oath to do precisely this.
It is time to start defending the U.S. Constitution, and STOP protecting and defending the disreputable Richard Bruce Cheney and George Walker Bush.
Either you are with us, or you are with "them" (the criminals: Cheney and Bush) and against everything that this Nation and our Constitution is supposed to stand for.
This is not about politics or political calculation. It is about whether this Nation stands up and enforces The U.S. Constitution, The Bill of Rights, and the most basic of Human Rights, or whether this Nation instead establishes completely criminal conduct, the tyranny of mass-murder, and the arrogance of dictatorship ('unitary executive') as legal American public policy.
Over one million totally innocent people in Iraq, many of them little children and women, have been murdered without provocation.
Richard Bruce Cheney and George Walker Bush have also used our own sons and daughters recklessly as cannon fodder in a dishonest war based on propaganda and a marketing campaign of entirely phony scare tactics ('mushroom clouds', 'unmanned drones' from the militarily crippled Nation of Iraq).
Over 30,000 more Americans have been crippled and left deformed for life.
And this has cost American citizens hundreds of billions of dollars, that we do not have, and destroyed the reputation of this once honorable Country and replaced it as the home now of human torture, secret rendititions, the mass-violence of aggressive War, the use of illegal weapons such as White Phospersous, and civilian-killing Cluster Bombs, and other treachery.
In addition, our civil liberties have been systematically dismantled, and, due to the abuse of 'signing statements', even the laws of Congress itself have been made irrelevant.

Paul & Paula Revere, Ride Again in 2001-8 - 36 X 48 in. compleated in 2001
50 + Roger Drowne - Protest, Patriot, Democracy Painting - click here... http://www.rogerart.com/22%20+%20PROTEST%20PAINTINGS.htm
The U.S. Constitution says that Congress SHALL Impeach, (not "may if it is convenient"), the executive when such crimes against our Constitution and mankind have been committed.
If Congress refuses to use the Impeachment clause in the presence of these horrific crimes against our Nation, our Constitution, and against mankind now, then when would Impeachment ever apply?
Congress, by doing nothing now, will have set the bar for Impeachment so high as to be essentially stripped completely from the American experience altogether. Therefore, free license by the executive branch to commit horrific crimes at will is only inevitable, and the co-equal separation of powers will be destroyed. A message will have been sent to all future Presidents and Vice-Presidents, that this is all acceptable, legal, permissible conduct.
Our Nation will soon devolve into a de-facto Monarchy, whereby the U.S. Constitution itself is null and void, and the basic Human Rights of man are only at best selectively applied. How can you simply stand there and do nothing, while this happens to our beloved Nation? Is this what you wish to be remembered for?
Furthermore, by taking no action and refusing to enforce the U.S. Constitution, the Congress is itself violating the principles of the U.S. Constitution, and is itself acting as a direct accomplice and a willing accessory to the 35 Articles (Crimes) committed by these plainly corrupt officials, Cheney and Bush.
History also shows that when investigations were first held against Richard Nixon, Impeachment was initially unpopular, but it became clearly supported by the majority of law-abiding Americans once the criminal evidence was discovered, and Nixon was forced to be held accountable. Government accountability is always supported by the public throughout history, and the more serious the crimes the MORE it is overwhelmingly supported.
History shows that the Democratic Party then won the 1974 midterm elections in a landslide, and then the Presidency in 1976. Cheney and Bush today are already the most unpopular figures to hold their respective offices in modern U.S. History -- even without prosecution, and holding them accountable to the law will only disgrace and embarrass them further.
But as stated previously, this is not about politics. It is about whether all future Presidents and all future Administrations have now: the legal right to start the mass-violence of aggressive War for specious reasons, the legal right to torture human beings, the legal right to wiretap American citizens, the right to ignore at will the very Laws of Congress, and the legal right to destroy and disregard the U.S. Constitution itself at their pleasure -- all with no possible recourse.
This is what non-action assures. It assures that this history will be repeated (McCain, Jeb Bush, etc.) again, and that the conduct of Dick Cheney and Bush will be now legitimized as "non-criminal", acceptable conduct - no longer subject to recourse.
History will regard yourselves, all of U.S. and this Congress as cowardly, treasonous accessories to these awful crimes, and as the willful enablers of these Bush-Cheney crimes. For such crimes and horrible abuses can never just happen in a vacuum. Evil only can only triumph when good men decide to do nothing. This will be your own legacy and history. You may as well print on your tombstone, "I let this happen".
The blood of millions of innocent lives is on your own hands. Hanging in the balance, is new aggressive acts of mass violence (War) against Iran -- this time possibly involving Nuclear Weapons, and based once again on more trumped-up fear and falsehoods. Yet you have a chance to re-establish and make clear just what is legal conduct, and what is not (Cheney, Bush) by putting the U.S. Constitution first, and common good of our Country first.
It is, in fact, your own sworn oath to do precisely this.
It is time to start defending the U.S. Constitution, and STOP protecting and defending the disreputable Richard Bruce Cheney and George Walker Bush.
Either you are with us, or you are with "them" (the criminals: Cheney and Bush) and against everything that this Nation and our Constitution is supposed to stand for.
Please PASS THIS ON to OUR - FAMILY and FRIENDS around OUR Earth...

Thank U, Roger Drowne E.C.

RogerART.com & -
EarthBall.org & -
OneGlobalCommunity.com & - EarthCitizenNEWS.com & - pResidentOfPlanetEarth.com -

soon, ( Step Ahead U )( GLOBAL ) University - " Where All Earth Citizens R Teachers and Students" )

The McCain Campaign seems to be unravelling, and top Republicans are deserting it, but this is no time to let up or relax. Between dirty tricks, an all-out fear campaign, a possible October surprise, voter suppression and rigged elections, this snake can still bite.

This being said, it’s beginning to look like there could be be a huge Democratic win on Nov. 4. Will that merely launch more centrist, triangulating politicians into office, or will it have lasting consequences? That will turn in part on how we work to keep together and build on the huge movements that have formed around the Obama campaign and other races around the nation!

Hundreds of thousands of campaign workers and volunteers are starting to think about what a victory would mean, what to do next. Now is the moment to start talking with them about building ongoing grass-roots movements to carry on the spirit and work of the campaign after the elections.

Even in victory, the end of a political campaign can be bitter-sweet. The excitement, the camaraderie, the dreaming and planning together suddenly halts. There’s a celebration party, hugs and handshakes, promises to stay in touch and keep the flame alive, and then everyone goes home. But the need to keep the campaign movements alive this time is especially urgent and widely felt.

Even Obama has said that this is just the opening round of the battle for his agenda, and that holds doubly true for progressives - aware as we are of his ties and obligations to the corporate rich and his dangerous proposals for military escalation. We all know that the lobbyists never sleep. Will the campaigners go home and leave the field to them? How, they are wondering, can they go on affecting events after the election? How can they keep those they are electing from being turned?

Thus it is foreseeable that thousands will want to keep their campaigns together, continue to build on them and stay involved in shaping the direction of the country. Perhaps the Obama campaign will attempt to capitalize on this and build a movement. We'll want to look at the potential of that if and when it happens. But our goal must be a movement that is bottom-up, controlled by its base and sufficiently independent of the national power centers to be able to represent the people.

Such movements have emerged from past campaigns, including DemocracyForAmerica.com (DFA), which emerged from the Dean Campaign of 2004 and is still active. Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), however, is particularly well positioned to keep alive and channel the energy coming out of this year’s campaigns. Founded by activists from the Kucinich Campaign of 2004, it aligns with the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Caucus members John Conyers, Jr., Maxine Waters and Barbara Lee among others sit on its Board, and it played a key role in the stunning electoral victory of November 2006.

PDA has been active in the struggles against vote fraud, for ending the wars and occupations and bringing the troops home, and for impeaching Bush, for single-payer health care, against bailing out the bankers and for a response to the economic crisis that focuses on investing in a sustainable future and keeping people in their homes and working.

PDA’s “inside-outside strategy” - working inside the Democratic Party to return it to its roots as the party of the working people, and outside in movements for peace and justice - is reflected in the presence on its Board of leaders from a broad array of movements, from Medea Benjamin of Global Exchange to Jodie Evans of CODEPINK and Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. of the Hip-Hop Nation - and David Swanson and John Bonivaz of AfterDowningStreet. It's an impressive list.

PDA now has over 200 local chapters, and its goal is an active chapter in each of the 435 Congressional Districts. Working at the local level with Greens, Netroots groups, labor and communty groups it plays a vital part in organizing - neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block - to restore democracy to America.

PDA and electoral politics are not the only games in town, but they are a good choice for the people who have put out so much for the Obama Campaign. We must not just stand by while they call it a day and drop out. We should be suggesting they join their local PDA chapter with us, or organizing one if none exists.

What happens over the next four years will be shaped by the leadership we give now!