Keyes: President 'has something to hide' about eligibility

By Bob Unruh

Alan Keyes, a 2008 presidential candidate who now is a plaintiff in one of the many lawsuits seeking to verify whether Barack Obama qualifies under the U.S. Constitution's requirements to occupy the Oval Office, says the tactics adopted by lawyers for the president confirm there is an issue for the courts to investigate.

Alan Keyes, who was the candidate of the American Independent Party, cited a recent exchange with lawyers representing Obama in which they warned they might seek monetary penalties against those raising the question of Obama's eligibility under the Constitution's requirement that the president be a "natural born" citizen.

"It confirms the common sense suspicion that he won't act forthrightly in this matter because he has something to hide," Keyes wrote on his blog after WND reported the warning about "sanctions" was raised by Obama's defense lawyers.

The onetime U.S. ambassador explained on his posting that those raising questions over Obama's elibigility – so far – have simply been ignored by courts.

"In effect, the courts are refusing the admit plaintiffs on this matter into the courtroom, thereby denying them justice," he wrote. "Madison wrote, 'Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It will be pursued either until it be obtained or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.'"

"The denial of justice is thus a despotic act that violates the basis not only of just government, but of civil society itself," Keyes wrote.

Obama voluntarily placed himself in the position of being asked to provide his information, he said.

"Given the Constitutional requirement, the only fact citizens need to justify their suit is the fact that Obama ran for president. He asked to be chosen, and therefore must answer the eligibility question," Keyes wrote,

Where's the proof Barack Obama was born in the U.S. or that he fulfills the "natural-born American" clause in the Constitution? If you still want to see it, join more than 240,000 others and sign up now!

"In the final analysis if the courts refuse to respect the Constitution, they are not the judges of their own action. The people must ultimately decide. Which is why I and others will use every outlet to inform them of the injustice being done not just to individuals but to the sovereign people as a whole," Keyes said.

WND has reported on multiple legal challenges that have alleged Obama does not meet the "natural born citizen" clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article 2, Section 1, which reads, "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President."

Some claim he was not born in Hawaii, as he insists, but in Kenya. Obama's American mother, the suits contend, was too young at the time of his birth to confer American citizenship to her son under the law at the time.

Other challenges have focused on Obama's citizenship through his father, a Kenyan subject to the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom at the time of his birth, thus making him a dual citizen. The cases contend the framers of the Constitution excluded dual citizens from qualifying as natural born.

Several details of Obama's past have added twists to the question of his eligibility and citizenship, including his family's move to Indonesia when he was a child and on what nation's passport he traveled to Pakistan in the '80s, as well as conflicting reports from Obama's family about his place of birth.

The Keyes case is being handled largely by Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation, but others playing a key role in the legal actions include Orly Taitz of California as well as Philip Berg, both of whom already have had their arguments rejected as not worthy of hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a commentary on the dispute, Keyes wrote that the suggestion of sanctions "confirms Obama's ruthless determination to destroy anyone who continues to seek the information the Constitution requires.

"Why should they demand penalties against citizens who are simply seeking the enforcement of the Supreme Law of the Land? It is simply because their persistence runs contrary to the will of a supposedly popular demagogue? This smacks of tyrannical arrogance. That Obama thus signals his intent to bring financial ruin on those who won't accept his cover-up of the circumstances of his birth is a tactical escalation," Keyes said.

"As one of the targets of this escalation, I need no more convincing proof of the ruthless disposition so far successfully masked by his empty rhetoric of hope and change. Obviously he means to offer hope only to those willing to surrender their most basic rights. To any who insist on questioning his actions, he offers the drastic change of ruin and destruction. So be it. We shall be among those who learn firsthand the meaning of the sacrifices made by the Founders of our free republic, as they pledged and gave up their lives, their fortunes and the world's esteem," Keyes said.

The legal sanctions being sought are not the only obstacle facing those who say they want to investigate the truth of Obama's eligibility. Four state lawmakers in Tennessee recently agreed to act as plaintiffs in a case being assembled by Taitz, and immediately were attacked by columnist Gail Kerr in the Nashville Tennessean, who compared their plan to "a resolution honoring the Easter Bunny for doing such a great job with the annual colored egg delivery system."

The columnist wrote that Obama's campaign already has released documentation of his birth.

"They put it on their Internet site. Obama's mother was a U.S. citizen. His father was from Kenya. The man was born on Aug. 4, 1961, in Hawaii. That, fellows, is a state. As in the 'United STATES of America.' It counts. See?" Kerr wrote.

Critics, however, have pointed out that the "Certification of Live Birth" posted by the Obama campaign and cited by various "truth" organizations is not the same as a birth certificate, and in fact under Hawaii law at the time was granted to babies who were not born in Hawaii.

Taitz wrote that her supporters should send "flowers, candy, banners, appreciation cards, teddy bears with big love sign and thank you sign to these courageous lawmakers: Eric Swafford, Glen Casada, Stacey Campfield and Frank Niceley."

The suggestion for sanctions came after Kreep sought records from Occidental College about Obama's attendance there.

The lawyer for the college, Stuart W. Rudnick of Musick, Peeler & Garrett, urgently contacted Fredric D. Woocher of Strumwasser & Woocher.

"This firm is counsel to Occidental College. The College is in receipt of the enclosed subpoena that seeks certain information concerning President-Elect Barack Obama," he wrote via fax. "Inasmuch as the subpoena appears to be valid on its face, the College will have no alternative but to comply with the subpoena absent a court order instructing otherwise."

Within hours, Woocher contacted Kreep regarding the issue, telling him, "It will likely not surprise you to hear that President-elect Obama opposes the production of the requested records.

"In order to avoid the needless expense of our bringing and litigating a Motion to Quash the subpoena, I am writing to ask whether you would be willing to agree voluntarily to cancel or withdraw the subpoena."

Woocher warned, "Please be advised, in particular, that in the event we are forced to file a motion to quash and we prevail in that motion, we will seek the full measure of monetary sanctions provided for in the Code of Civil Procedures."

Here is a partial listing and status update for some of the cases over Obama's eligibility:

• Philip J. Berg, a Pennsylvania Democrat, demanded that the courts verify Obama's original birth certificate and other documents proving his American citizenship. Berg's latest appeal, requesting an injunction to stop the Electoral College from selecting the 44th president, was denied.
  


• Leo Donofrio of New Jersey filed a lawsuit claiming Obama's dual citizenship disqualified him from serving as president. His case was considered in conference by the U.S. Supreme Court but denied a full hearing.


• Cort Wrotnowski filed suit against Connecticut's secretary of state, making a similar argument to Donofrio. His case was considered in conference by the U.S. Supreme Court, but was denied a full hearing.


• Former presidential candidate Alan Keyes headlines a list of people filing a suit in California, in a case handled by the United States Justice Foundation, that asks the secretary of state to refuse to allow the state's 55 Electoral College votes to be cast in the 2008 presidential election until Obama verifies his eligibility to hold the office. The case is pending, and lawyers are seeking the public's support.


• Chicago attorney Andy Martin sought legal action requiring Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle to release Obama's vital statistics record. The case was dismissed by Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Bert Ayabe.
  
  
• Lt. Col. Donald Sullivan sought a temporary restraining order to stop the Electoral College vote in North Carolina until Barack Obama's eligibility could be confirmed, alleging doubt about Obama's citizenship. His case was denied.
  
  
• In Ohio, David M. Neal sued to force the secretary of state to request documents from the Federal Elections Commission, the Democratic National Committee, the Ohio Democratic Party and Obama to show the presidential candidate was born in Hawaii. The case was denied.
  
  
• In Washington state, Steven Marquis sued the secretary of state seeking a determination on Obama's citizenship. The case was denied.
  
  
• In Georgia, Rev. Tom Terry asked the state Supreme Court to authenticate Obama's birth certificate. His request for an injunction against Georgia's secretary of state was denied by Georgia Superior Court Judge Jerry W. Baxter.


• California attorney Orly Taitz has brought a case, Lightfoot vs. Bowen, on behalf of Gail Lightfoot, the vice presidential candidate on the ballot with Ron Paul, four electors and two registered voters.

In addition, other cases cited on the RightSideofLife blog as raising questions about Obama's eligibility include:

• In Texas, Darrel Hunter vs. Obama later was dismissed.
  
  
• In Ohio, Gordon Stamper vs. U.S. later was dismissed.
  
  
• In Texas, Brockhausen vs. Andrade.
  
  
• In Washington, L. Charles vs. Obama.
  
  
• In Hawaii, Keyes vs. Lingle, dismissed.

WND senior reporter Jerome Corsi had gone to both Kenya and Hawaii prior to the election to investigate issues surrounding Obama's birth. But his research and discoveries only raised more questions.

The governor's office in Hawaii said there is a valid certificate but rejected requests for access and left ambiguous its origin: Does the certificate on file with the Department of Health indicate a Hawaii birth or was it generated after the Obama family registered a Kenyan birth in Hawaii, which the state's procedures allowed at the time?

Veterans May Have Been Exposed to Contaminants When Getting Colonoscopies, Clinic Says

By Bill Poovey

VA Clinic Warns of Possible Contaminant Exposure

Chattanooga, Tenn. (AP) - Thousands of patients at a Veterans Administration clinic in Tennessee may have been exposed to the infectious body fluids of other patients when they had colonoscopies in recent years, and now VA medical facilities all over the U.S. are reviewing their own procedures. ....

CA ON THE BRINK

By JUDY LIN

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - California lawmakers on Monday were locked in a frustrating search for one more vote to approve a $42 billion budget-balancing plan state leaders say is needed to stave off fiscal disaster.

The stalled effort prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to make good on an earlier promise to begin the layoff process for thousands of state workers, though under the state's process it would take months for anyone to actually be laid off.

Lawmakers were in session for a state-record 30 hours before disbanding Sunday night, with many of them looking haggard and worn out after a futile attempt to secure the necessary votes. They regrouped Monday, but the expected budget votes kept getting pushed back.

Lawmakers have been trying to pass a combination of spending cuts, tax hikes and additional borrowing negotiated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and leaders of both parties, who warn that California faces insolvency unless the Legislature enacts a midyear budget fix to close the projected $42 billion budget shortfall through June 2010.

The plan continues to fall short of votes because rank-and-file Republicans have refused to agree to $14.4 billion in higher taxes. Lawmakers believe there are enough GOP votes in the Assembly, but the Senate has fallen short by one.

State workers have been furloughed because of the budget crisis, some 2,000 public works projects are on hold and tax refunds and payments to vendors have been delayed. The state controller says the state will run out of cash at the end of the month if lawmakers do not act. ....

NSA identifies top 25 programming errors

(Compiler's note: A must read.)

Security Strategies Alert By M. E. Kabay

The critical importance of integrating security into programming is obvious to anyone who thinks about it, and it has been the subject of countless minatory or sometimes pleading articles. Google "secure programming" as one example of appropriate keywords and you’ll find nearly a million hits.

Back in 2001, I wrote five columns on the subject which I later collected and updated as the short paper “Programming for Security” that’s currently on my Web site.

Microsoft’s Michael Howard and Steve Lipner published Writing Secure Code, Second Edition (2003), The Security Development Lifecycle (2006); and Michael Howard and David LeBlanc wrote Writing Secure Code for Windows Vista (2007).

Now the National Security Agency, working with MITRE Corp., SANS, and dozens of industry experts from many other organizations, has published a valuable list of the top 25 most dangerous programming errors. The best description of the project that I have found is the SANS Institute report. SANS provides a detailed summary of the issues, including this introduction:

"Today [January 12, 2009] in Washington, D.C., experts from more than 30 U.S. and international cyber security organizations jointly released the consensus list of the 25 most dangerous programming errors that lead to security bugs and that enable cyber espionage and cyber crime. Shockingly, most of these errors are not well understood by programmers; their avoidance is not widely taught by computer science programs; and their presence is frequently not tested by organizations developing software for sale.

"The impact of these errors is far reaching. Just two of them led to more than 1.5 million web site security breaches during 2008 - and those breaches cascaded onto the computers of people who visited those web sites, turning their computers into zombies."

SANS provides a list of the errors with a link from each to the MITRE database called the Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE). That site explains:

"International in scope and free for public use, CWE provides a unified, measurable set of software weaknesses that is enabling more effective discussion, description, selection, and use of software security tools and services that can find these weaknesses in source code and operational systems as well as better understanding and management of software weaknesses related to architecture and design."

The list itself divides the errors into three major categories:

• Insecure interaction between components.
• Risky resource management.
• Porous defenses.

Readers will find the threat model that was used in ranking the weaknesses particularly interesting. It presupposes a relatively skilled hacker intent on data theft or theft of resources and willing to invest at least 20 hours per target software package. The full process used in selecting the top 25 is documented and there’s also a list of 23 weaknesses that almost made it into the list.

This research project will be enormously valuable to working programmers, instructors in computer science, computer engineering and information assurance programs, and students in those disciplines.

Failure to save East Europe will lead to worldwide meltdown

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

The unfolding debt drama in Russia, Ukraine, and the EU states of Eastern Europe has reached acute danger point ....So we watch and wait as the lethal brush fires move closer.If one spark jumps across the eurozone line, we will have global systemic crisis within days. Are the firemen ready?

Intelligence community assesses cyber threat

by Ben Bain

This year’s annual threat assessment from the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) found that malicious cyber activity grew more sophisticated, targeted and serious during the past year and that trend is expected to continue during the next year. The assessment also said the intelligence community expects disruptive cyber activities to be part of future political or military conflicts.

The unclassified findings of the assessment were presented by DNI Dennis Blair before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee Feb. 12. Blair’s predecessor, Mike McConnell, presented cited a similar trend regarding cyber threats in the 2008 annual report.

The release of this year’s assessment came days after the Obama administration said it will conduct a full-scale review of the government’s cybersecurity efforts. That review will include a look at the multiyear, multibillion-dollar Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative (CNCI) that started in January 2008.

The report said threats to the information networks of the United States come from nation-states, criminals and terrorist groups have expressed a desire to use cyber means to target the United States.

“Each of these actors has different levels of skill and different intentions; therefore, we must develop flexible capabilities to counter each,” the report said. “We must take proactive measures to detect and prevent intrusions from whatever source, as they happen, and before they can do significant damage.”

The report also said that, although work remained, there is “an unprecedented unity of effort across a broad coalition of government agencies, members of Congress, and leaders of industry,” but that the CNCI must remain a long-term national priority.

Blair also testified that it was important to include cyber defense from the “very first building block” of a new smart grid electrical system. Blair also said that he feels terrorist groups are most focused on using other methods of attack.

Blair also said cyber is not the area where he thinks terrorists have the greatest skills for the greatest destruction.

“I think that they have other terrible things that they can do to us that they are working on harder, they're better able to do and they seem to be more motivated to do – so it’s possible, but I don’t think the combination of terror and cyber is the nexus that we are most worried about.”

In today's intelligence hierarchy, who really runs the show?

By Pam Benson

In the old world, the CIA director ruled. He not only ran the spy agency, but he wore a second hat as director of Central Intelligence.

The DCI was ostensibly responsible for coordinating the activities of all 16 agencies and departments which make up the intelligence community.

Then came along the DNI (Director of National Intelligence) in 2005 -- a product of intelligence reform following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Those intelligence failures were proof that you needed one person to focus exclusively on guiding the community.

Running the CIA in itself was a full-time job. The DNI would oversee the entire intelligence community while the CIA director concentrated on running the spy agency.

But there's a problem with this setup. Although the DNI was given more input into budgets and personnel than the DCI had, the DNI's powers are limited and somewhat vague. The intelligence chief has a say in lots of things, but there's no real muscle behind his decisions. It's not like the defense secretary, who has absolute authority over all department components.

Outgoing CIA Director Mike Hayden recently told reporters there is natural tension between the CIA and DNI, but it's "not a bad structure."

He did suggest, however, that the DNI's office was getting a bit bloated. "Americans being Americans, they're going to fill up their day trying to doing something impactful," he said, "which means between the two of us there's going to be a trench line ... out there."

And how did departing DNI Mike McConnell respond to Hayden's quip?

"Anytime you have organizations that have similar interests, you're going to have disputes," he said. "And particularly if the two leaders aren't working together and having a partnership and so on, the warfare at the trench level gets to be pretty much a raging battle."

McConnell said he had a good professional relationship with Hayden, so they made it work. But he added, "we don't have a department of intelligence. If this were the Department of Defense, there wouldn't be any question, but it isn't."

CIA nominee Leon Panetta got into the middle of the dispute during his confirmation hearing.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, wanted to know Panetta's understanding of the relationship between the CIA and the DNI. Would he be under the supervision of the DNI?

Initially, Panetta said he reported to the DNI and performed the tasks assigned to him by the DNI, but then he added: "we are an operational arm, just like the [National Security Agency], just like the [National Reconnaissance Office], and I believe the role of the DNI is to coordinate all our activities..."

Well, the NSA and the NRO are part of the Defense Department and report directly to the Defense Secretary, not the DNI. The CIA is the only intelligence agency that is not part of another department.

A bit baffled by Panetta's response, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, asked him point blank, "Is the DNI your boss or not?" Panetta's answer, "The DNI is my boss."

It makes you wonder how Panetta and the other new guy -- DNI Dennis Blair -- will play in the sand box.

DNI Annual Threat Assessment

(Compiler's note: H'mmmmm...)

Editorial - Washington Times

Democratic critics of the Bush administration howled for years about the alleged "politicization" of the intelligence community. Behold the Obama administration´s first major IC product, where politics seems to have played a visible role.

In a statement that dovetails nicely with the Obama administration's hurry-up offense on the stimulus bill, Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair highlighted the global economic crisis as leading national security challenge in introducing the Intelligence Community Annual Threat Assessment to the Senate's intelligence committee. "The longer it takes for the recovery to begin, the greater the likelihood of serious damage to U.S. strategic interests," Director Blair said. He also stated that there is a "widely held perception that excesses in U.S. financial markets and inadequate regulation" were responsible for the crisis, which frames the argument in a way favorable to those seeking to impose stringent controls on markets.

While it is true that the downturn in the global economy will have an impact on national security for the United States (and most other countries), it will present as many opportunities as challenges. The report itself acknowledges that the decline in oil prices "may put the squeeze on the adventurism of producers like Iran and Venezuela," not to mention Russia. Also it states that the crisis gives the U.S. "the opportunity to fashion new international global structures that can benefit all."

Also worthy of note is that the news release that accompanied Blair's testimony highlighted four primary emerging areas of concern: the global economic crisis; global climate change; resource scarcity; and cyber security. But it is unclear why these areas were given special emphasis.

In the forty-five page statement, the economic crisis is covered in the first two pages, and the latter three issues appear briefly in the back. Blair admitted in his statement that most of these are "not traditionally viewed as 'threats' to U.S. national security." They are more properly viewed as strategic conditioning factors. Furthermore these sections largely discuss potentials – things that could happen, might happen, or may happen – rather that things that are happening.

Actual, ongoing threats – grouped down in the "also" section of the press release - such as the continuing war against violent extremism and the arc of instability in the Middle East (including the Iranian nuclear and missile programs), take up 18 pages in the front of the report. The 17 pages that follow deal with regional issues requiring immediate action, such as social meltdown in Mexico, high seas piracy, and other specific challenges. These are well-defined threats the intelligence community can play a role in combating. They are challenges that fall more naturally under the rubric of national security. They comprised the majority of the report. But they were not part of the Obama administration's legislative agenda last week. The administration may want us to ignore the elephant in the room, but they need to remember that he is armed and dangerous.

People NOT Buying Bailout

Very Interesting stats on the bailout....

33 Minutes - Protecting America In The New Missile Age

(Compiler's note: This is a must read it item.)

from National Terror Alert Center

A ballistic missile from a foreign enemy would take 33 minutes to reach the United States. With each passing day, this becomes a growing danger to America, yet our government has failed to build the missile defense systems capable of defending us against such attacks.

Our enemies are attempting to stockpile arsenals that threaten our freedom and prosperity. North Korea and Iran are the most prominent, but this also includes Russia, China and other nations that have missiles capable of killing Americans in very large numbers and threatening our allies.

The proliferation of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles to rogue states such as Iran and North Korea pose a grave danger to the lives of all Americans.

North Korea is currently developing a long-range ballistic missile that could soon carry a nuclear warhead all the way to Alaska or California. Iran already has missiles that can reach Europe, and could soon acquire nuclear weapons. These countries could share their missile and nuclear technologies with terrorists, who would in turn be able to directly threaten New York City and other American cities with short-range missiles.

Once terrorist-supporting states get their hands on a nuclear missile, they would be free to attack us and our allies with impunity, knowing full well we would think twice before sending our armed forces into a country that could retaliate with nuclear missiles. They would be emboldened to threaten their neighbors, assert dominance in their region, and further destabilize dangerous situations. Thus, they would gain sanctuary from which to export more terrorism.

via Missile Defense - 33 Minutes Overview.

Introducing the Harley-Jihad

from Jihad Watch

Jahanam's Angels (note the turban)

In whatever era or place, here are the Sunnis and Shias at it once again -- this time in the guise of "bikers" warring in Sydney, Australia.

"Religious divide drives bikie war," by Dylan Welch for SMH.com, February 16:

AN ANCIENT religious enmity is at the centre of a new conflict in the Sydney bikie scene, with a new gang comprised mainly of Sunni Muslims warring with a group of bikies with a Shiite Muslim background.

While detectives continue to investigate the February 4 bombing of a Hells Angels clubhouse in Crystal Street, Petersham, police and other sources are indicating that the city chapter of the Comanchero is involved in an escalating feud with a new club, Notorious.

The president of Notorious is a Lebanese-Australian with a long-standing association with a bikie from a colourful Sydney Sunni Lebanese family. The two are among Sydney's original "Nike" bikies - sporting white sneakers, fashionable T-shirts and clean-shaven instead of the traditional boots, dirty vests and bushy beards - and both are from Sunni families from Sydney's west.

Notorious is considered by gang squad detectives to be the prime suspect in the Crystal Street bombing. One of its mottos is "Only the dead see the end of war" and its "colours", or coat of arms, is a turbaned skeleton holding twin pistols with "Original Gangster" beneath it. Today is the first time the club's colours have been revealed publicly.

On the other side of the conflict is the president of the Comanchero City Crew, a Beirut-born Shiite who grew up in the St George area. Comanchero has been one of the motorcycle gangs that have embraced the new breed of "Nike" bikie, and have been recruiting from the Lebanese and Islander communities for several years.

Traditionally, Lebanese Muslim migrants to Sydney have been geographically and religiously divided. The Sunni majority live in Sydney's west and south-west, mainly around Auburn and Bankstown, while the Shiite minority live in the St George area. "The two groups have no love lost between them," a senior police source told the Herald.

They have been fighting since the Sunni bikie, one of Sydney's most well-known gangsters, became president of the Nomads Parramatta chapter in the late 1990s.

In 2006, he was jailed over a Newcastle shooting. The following year, the Parramatta chapter's Granville headquarters was bombed, allegedly by the Comanchero, and the chapter subsequently disbanded.

A few of its members formed Notorious, probably at the request of the Sunni bikie.

"[The Sunni bikie] left the Nomads while he was on remand," said an investigator who has watched the two groups for years. "He was telling people he was planning to start up his own club. Around about the same time, Notorious appeared."

Unlike the Sunni bikie and the Notorious president, the Comanchero City Crew president was born in Beirut and grew up in Sydney's southern suburbs. He appeared on television in 2005 following the Cronulla riot and Maroubra reprisal violence, when he met members of the Bra Boys to calm tensions.

When the Herald asked the president of the Hells Angels city chapter about the bombing, he was succinct: "I've got nothing to say, thank you."

But bikie sources said the Angels believe Notorious may be responsible for the attack, which closed down Crystal Street for a day and damaged seven neighbouring businesses.

Neither police nor the Hells Angels have established why Notorious may have attacked the club, though the senior police source offered a simple answer: "They're just bloody crazy."

In the latest violence, a Comanchero member was shot in the leg when he was confronted by five Hells Angels at a park in Silverwater on February 7.

Secret police target government critics

The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin

LONDON

– Jacqui Smith, the United Kingdom's home secretary who already is embattled over claims she has "misappropriated" housing allowances, now has approved a new and ultra-secret intelligence unit to spy on groups opposed to government policies, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

Called the Confidential Intelligence Unit, the agency will be housed in a high-security annex at Scotland Yard and will report directly to Smith.

The unit will have the same powers as MI5 to mount secret surveillance operations and recruit informers who will provide details of "domestic extremists" – this will include those in discussion to call strikes affecting rail and air transport.

Alarmed human rights organizations have described CIU as being "no different to the East German Stasi or the old KGB."

The unit is modeled on one that MI5 ran during the Cold War when the Security Service was ordered to spy on trade unionists and anti-nuclear campaigners. It led to the compiling of files on students at British universities in the 1960s and 1970s.

Among the files MI5 still holds are surveillance records on two senior members of the present Gordon Brown government, Business Secretary Lord Peter Mandelson and Justice Minister Jack Straw.

Discussion on Nationalization of U.S. Banks

This is a video that you may have missed.

Fed-up teller quits bank over Mexican IDs

(Compiler's note: A must read item.)

By Chelsea Schilling

A personal banker in Arlington, Va., is quitting his job after Chevy Chase Bank, one of the largest and best-known banks in the Washington, D.C., region, announced it will begin accepting consular cards from customers who many suspect are illegal aliens.

The bank announced its "Hispanic Banking Initiative" during a pilot program and is now accepting Matricula Consular de Alta Seguridads, or MCAS, at all of its branches so customers without U.S. government IDs may open accounts.

The MCAS is an identification card issued to foreign nationals living in the U.S. by the Mexican government via their 47 consulates. The National Council of La Raza estimates that more than 350 financial institutions currently accept them. Customers with the IDs – including illegal aliens – are able to open checking and savings accounts, order check cards, safe deposit boxes, cashier's checks and wire billions of dollars to Mexico.

"I was becoming stressed out at work because I just knew in my heart that if someone came to me with this card I couldn't just compromise my principles and open an account for them," Chevy Chase personal banker Albert Thompson told WND.

The U.S. banking system relies on Social Security numbers to track accounts, verify identity and report taxable earnings to the government.

"Accepting the Matricula skirts that issue," Bankers Online reports. "Many Mexicans who work in the United States do so in order to send money back to their homes in Mexico. FDIC says about $18 billion is wired annually from the U.S. to Mexico. Many U.S. banks have welcomed the IDs as a way to get a cut of this activity by profiting from the handling charges on the wires and increased deposits." ....

"What effort the consulates actually go through to verify that person's identity and location is questionable, which is why the bank requires an additional proof of residency – like a U.S. cell phone bill," he said. "It's as simple as that – a cell phone bill with an address in the U.S. and that card. Then we just take their word for it."

The U.S Treasury allows financial institutions to accept the Matricula Consular card as a valid form of ID. On Oct. 21, 2002, it issued a USA PATRIOT Act statement to Congress proposing rules that would require financial institutions to create customer identification and verification programs for all new accounts.

However, it states, "[T]he proposed regulations do not discourage bank acceptance of the 'matricula consular' identity card that is being issued by the Mexican government to immigrants."

But in 2003, the FBI Assistant Director Steve McCraw testified before Congress about terrorist and identity fraud threats associated with consular ID cards.

"The Government of Mexico has been particularly aggressive in marketing the use of its consular ID card, the Matricula Consular," his testimony revealed. "The crucial element in the acceptance of any consular ID card is the ability to verify the actual true identity of the bearer of the card. In today's post-9/11 world, this element is all the more important because, in order to protect the American people, we must be able to determine whether an individual is who he purports to be."

McCraw said foreign nationals who are in the United States legally have little need for Matricula Consular cards because they have passports available to prove identity, open bank accounts, gain access to federal facilities, board planes and obtain driver's licenses.

"It is believed that consular ID cards are primarily being utilized by illegal aliens in the United States," he said.

....After the U.S. government conducted extensive research on the Matricula Consular card, the Department of Justice and FBI concluded it is "not a reliable form of identification, due to the non-existence of any means of verifying the true identity of the card holder."

McCraw listed the following problems with the foreign ID:

• First, the Government of Mexico has no centralized database to coordinate the issuance of consular ID cards. This allows multiple cards to be issued under the same name, the same address, or with the same photograph.

• Second, the Government of Mexico has no interconnected databases to provide intra-consular communication to be able to verify who has or has not applied for or received a consular ID card.

• Third, the Government of Mexico issues the card to anyone who can produce a Mexican birth certificate and one other form of identity, including documents of very low reliability. Mexican birth certificates are easy to forge and they are a major item on the product list of the fraudulent document trade currently flourishing across the country and around the world. A September 2002 bust of a document production operation in Washington state illustrated the size of this trade. A huge cache of fake Mexican birth certificates was discovered. It is our belief that the primary reason a market for these birth certificates exists is the demand for fraudulently-obtained Matricula Consular cards.

• Fourth, in some locations, when an individual seeking a Matricula Consular is unable to produce any documents whatsoever, he will still be issued a Matricula Consular by the Mexican consular official, if he fills out a questionnaire and satisfies the official that he is who he purports to be.

McCraw said the consular card is vulnerable to forgery and that 90 percent of the estimated 2 million IDs in circulation are simply laminated cards without security features. He listed two major criminal threats posed by the cards, and one potential terrorist threat.

The first criminal threat emerges as illegal aliens use the ID cards as "breeder documents" for establishing a false identity. At the time of the report, McCraw said 13 states used the consular ID for providing driver's licenses.

"Once in possession of a driver's license, a criminal is well on his way to using the false identity to facilitate a variety of crimes, from money laundering to check fraud," he said. "And of course, the false identity serves to conceal a criminal who is already being sought by law enforcement."

These criminals often open bank accounts under several different aliases and may have numerous IDs with the same photo and different names.

The second criminal threat McCraw listed concerns human smuggling across U.S. borders.

"Federal officials have arrested alien smugglers who have had as many as seven different Matricula Consular cards in their possession," he said. "The cards not only conceal the identity of the smuggler, they also serve as a magnet for the victims who are enticed to entrust their lives to the smugglers, believing that the Matricula Consular that awaits them will entitle them to all sorts of benefits within the United States."

Despite the gravity of the first two threats, McCraw called the terrorist threat "most worrisome." While federal officials have come across people from different countries who have consular IDs, most are citizens of Central or South American countries – but least one individual of Middle Eastern descent has also been arrested in possession of a consular card.

He said, "The ability of foreign nationals to use the Matricula Consular to create a well-documented, but fictitious, identity in the United States provides an opportunity for terrorists to move freely within the United States without triggering name-based watch lists that are disseminated to local police officers."

McCraw said terrorists can transfer money from one financial institution to another and even board planes using the cards as identification.

Former Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., also warned against the acceptance of consular cards.

"The only people who benefit from having such an ID are those who have come illegally and have broken our laws," he said.

In a June 12, 2003, letter to Secretary Colin Powell, he wrote, "... using their consular offices here as lobbying agents to help undermine our immigration laws is an outrage and the State Department's apparent acquiescence in this endeavor is even more incredible. … If you do not take steps to halt our cooperation and support of this practice, our country will see a virtual tidal wave of such cards issued to illegal alien by their embassies and consulates in the U.S."

On Sept. 14, 2004, Congress rejected a proposal that would have prohibited financial institutions from accepting consular IDs – and U.S. financial institutions continued to tap the market by offering banking services to illegal aliens.....

Unthinkable

BRITISH and French nuclear submarines which collided deep under the Atlantic could have sunk or released deadly radioactivity, it emerged last night.....