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Politics : BuSab -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SmoothSail who wrote (5395)	11/17/2010 1:21:44 PM
From: joseffy	1 Recommendation Respond to of 23934

Why has Eric Holder been promoted and promoted over the years from being a local Washington DC government attorney to being the Obama/Holder Attorney General of the United States? Was McCarthy wrong? The US government is completely infiltrated with these rabid America-Haters. Look at what happened to J. Christian Adams and Christopher Coates when they objected to this same Eric Holder "Justice" Department's dropping of the New Black Panthers voting intimidation case.

To: SmoothSail who wrote (5395)	11/17/2010 8:55:31 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 23934

NY Jury Gives Al-Qaeda terrorist stunning acquittal on all but one charge in embassy bombing trial BY SCOTT SHIFREL, JOSE MARTINEZ AND LUKAS I. ALPERT NY DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS NOVEMBER 17TH 2010 nydailynews.com The first civilian trial of a Guantanamo detainee ended yesterday with the stunning acquittal of an alleged Al Qaeda operative on all but a single count. A federal jury convicted Ahmed Ghailani, 36, of conspiring to destroy U.S. buildings and property in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans. But the jury - after 4 1/2 days of deliberation - cleared Ghailani of more than 280 other counts, including the top charges of murder and murder conspiracy. Even though the charge he was convicted of carries a mandatory 20-year-to-life sentence, Ghailani appeared relieved, hugging his attorneys after the verdict was read in Manhattan Federal Court. The case was considered a test-run for the Obama administration's politically-charged effort to try Guantanamo Bay detainees - including Al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - in civilian court. The Department of Justice was muted in its reaction. "We respect the jury's verdict and are pleased that Ahmed Ghailani now faces a minimum of 20 years in prison and a potential life sentence," the department said in a terse statement. Rep. Pete King (R-LI), who has been a staunch opponent of such trials, called the mixed verdict "a disgraceful miscarriage of justice." "It shows how totally wrong the Obama administration is to bring a case like this to civilian court," he said. "He was acquitted of 224 counts of murder." The case underscores the challenges faced by prosecutors. Judge Lewis Kaplan barred a key witness from testifying because the man's name came to light while Ghailani was held at a CIA camp where suspects were allegedly tortured. "If this had been before a military tribunal, evidence that was blocked in this case would have been admissable," King was quick to point out. Edith Bartley, who lost her father and brother in the Kenya bombing was stunned Ghailani was cleared on any charges. "This man committed horrible acts and the fact that the jury found him guilty of conspiracy but not of the other counts is mind-boggling," she said. "He should be sentenced to life." The day before the 1998 bombings, Ghailani fled with a one-way ticket to Pakistan using an alias, prosecutors said. While on the run, he spent time in Afghanistan as a cook and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden and later as a document forger for Al Qaeda, authorities said. He was captured in 2004 in Pakistan and held at a secret CIA camp overseas. In 2006, he was transferred to Guantanamo and held there until last year. The defense argued that Ghailani was a "dupe" who was kept in the dark about the plot. They called no witnesses to testify on his behalf in the month-long trial. "This verdict is a reaffirmation that this nation's judicial system is the greatest ever devised," said defense lawyer Peter Quijano. "It is truly a system of laws and not men." RELATED NEWS • Survivors recount horror of embassy bombings • Error by trial • Prosecutor's star witness can't testify against terror thug

To: SmoothSail who wrote (5395)	11/17/2010 9:11:05 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 23934

NY Judge Lewis A. Kaplan was appointed by Bill Clinton. Prosecutors dealt blow as star witness can't testify against alleged Al Qaeda thug Ahmed Ghailani BY Scott Shifrel and James Fanelli DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS Wednesday, October 6th 2010 nydailynews.com The judge in the first civilian trial of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner dealt a major blow to prosecutors - and possibly all terror cases - Wednesday by tossing the government's star witness. The startling decision undermined the case against accused Al-Qaeda member Ahmed Ghailani, who is charged with bombing U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998. It could also potentially wreck the trials of other Gitmo prisoners, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's. Federal prosecutors had banked on the testimony of Hussein Abebe, a Tanzanian miner who allegedly sold Ghailani the dynamite used in the explosion. Instead, in a bold move, Manhattan Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan scratched Abebe from the witness list on the day the trial was to open. He said the testimony is inadmissible because CIA agents only learned of Abebe by coercively interrogating Ghailani at a rendition site outside U.S. soil. The "testimony would be the product of statements made by Ghailani to the CIA under duress," Kaplan said. He added that allowing Abebe to testify violated the law. "The court has not reached this conclusion lightly," Kaplan said. "It is acutely aware of the perilous nature of the world in which we live, but the Constitution is the rock upon which our nation rests." Legal experts said Kaplan's decision called into question how the government has collected evidence against all Gitmo prisoners. It also encumbered their prosecution in civilian courts - a policy President Obama has championed over military tribunals, they said. "This does not portend well for the government when they try to bring evidence for these other cases," said former federal prosecutor Robert Mintz. "Obviously, this is a significant setback for the government." Rep. Peter King (R-L.I.) called the decision another reason why civilian courts are the wrong place for Gitmo prisoners. "I think a judge in the military tribunal court would admit the witness and Ghailani's confession," King said. After the ruling, Kaplan postponed the trial for a week after prosecutors asked for time to consider an appeal. Ghailani's defense lawyer, Peter Quijano, praised Kaplan's decision, saying the prosecution's case was based on illegally obtained evidence. "We could not agree more," Quijano said. "This case will be tried upon lawfully obtained evidence only. Not torture. Not coercion. For our system of justice to work, the Fifth Amendment must apply to Ahmed Ghailani as much as any other defendant." Ghailani is the first Gitmo prisoner to be tried in a civilian court. He is charged with participating in a global conspiracy with Al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden and for his role in two Aug. 7, 1998, bombings at U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. The blasts killed 224 people and injured more than 5,000. Ghailani's case is seen as a test run before the civil prosecution of 9/11 plotter Mohammed. Read more: nydailynews.com

To: SmoothSail who wrote (5395)	11/18/2010 12:20:46 PM
From: Jorj X Mckie	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23934

I thought of you when I saw this youtube.com great commercial by EDS

To: SmoothSail who wrote (5395)	11/19/2010 11:44:52 AM
From: joseffy	2 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23934

TSA Makes Cancer Victim Remove Prosthetic Breast 11/19/2010 cbsnews.com (CBS) A flight attendant and cancer survivor said she was forced to remove and show her prosthetic breast to a TSA agent during a security pat-down. Cathy Bossi of Charlotte, who has been a flight attendant for the past 32 years, told CBS Affiliate WBTV that in August she was asked to go through the new full-body scanners at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. As a 3-year breast cancer survivor Bossi said she didn't want the added radiation through her body, but reluctantly agreed. "The TSA agent told me to put my ID on my back," Boss told WBTV correspondent Molly Grantham. "When I got out of there, she said because my ID was on my back, I had to go to a personal screening area." Bossi was taken to a private room where two female Charlotte TSA agents began what she calls an "aggressive" pat-down. Bossi said the exam halted when they got around to feeling her right breast - the one where she'd had surgery. "She put her full hand on my breast and said, 'What is this?' Bossi recalled. "And I said, 'It's my prosthesis because I've had breast cancer.' And she said, 'Well, you'll need to show me that.'" Bossi was asked to remove her prosthetic breast from her bra and show it to the agent. She said she did not take down the name of the agent because of the "horrific" nature of the experience. "It just blew my mind. I couldn't believe that somebody had done that to me,'" she told WBTV. Bossi has since contacted the flight attendants union's Legislative Affairs Team. She says there are better alternatives to such intrusive examinations. "There are blowers and there are dogs that could sniff out bombs," she said. "There's no reason to have somebody's hands touching your body parts." A TSA representative told WBTV that agents are allowed to ask to see and touch any passenger's prosthetic, but aren’t supposed to remove them. Later, the TSA contacted the station and said they would review the Bossi matter.