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Protecting Habeas Corpus PDF Print E-mail

Human Rights USA has taken the lead role in challenging “habeas stripping” in several refugee and terrorism cases. Thus far, the courts have exhibited considerable reluctance to reach the core issue: whether aliens’, refugees’, or terror suspects’ fundamental rights to habeas review protected under the Suspension Clause have been violated. The courts instead try to avoid dealing directly with challenges to the constitutionality of habeas-stripping provisions contained in legislation passed by Congress, preferring instead to consider “alternative mechanisms” for judicial review. Unfortunately, the courts’ hesitance to deal fully with the issues raised by “habeas stripping” has contributed to the prolonged and arbitrary detention of hundreds awaiting habeas review. The government's strategy of forestalling considerations of the substantial merits of the claims raised in the terrorism cases -- by forcing the detainees and the courts to deal with procedural and jurisdictional issues -- has enjoyed considerable success, at the expense of affording proper legal remedies to those detained individuals.

Human Rights USA continues pushing the courts to issue clearer guidance on “habeas stripping” and has filed briefs in a number of cases pending at all levels of the federal court system. For example:

* We challenged (and are still in the process of challenging) the placing of restrictions on access to habeas corpus proceedings in terrorism cases.
* Our organization challenged the use of special military tribunals (as opposed to regular criminal courts) to prosecute alleged terrorists, particularly in cases like Al-Marri (543 U.S. 809 (2004)) which involve U.S. residents.

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 was passed by Congress in response to the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which held that President Bush could neither detain terror suspects without providing some level of due process, nor detain terror suspects without Congressional authorization. The MCA, in addition to authorizing the detention of terror suspects, also purports to eliminate access to habeas corpus for Guantanamo detainees. The MCA further restricts judicial review in terrorism cases by:

* Granting immunity from lawsuits to CIA agents and U.S. officials carrying out renditions to torture and other abuses against terrorists; and
* Making Geneva Convention protections unenforceable in U.S. courts.

Human Rights USA has filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, challenging these policies as violations of international law. We have also encouraged criminal prosecutions, in the U.S. and abroad, of high-level U.S. officials implicated in torture abuses.

See below for documents related to our challenges to restrictions on habeas corpus:

Al Odah:

* Our amicus brief filed in support of Khaled Al Odah, raising the arguments that the Geneva Conventions apply to all detainees and are judicially enforceable in habeas proceedings, and that the Legislative Branch's Authorization of the Use of Military Force (AUMF) does not authorize the government to violate international law.
* Our subsequent amicus brief in support of Al Odah, after the passage of the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 (DTA), arguing that all detainees have access to habeas corpus to challenge their detention, notwithstanding the "habeas-stripping" provisions of the DTA.
* Our additional amicus brief , arguing against the retroactive application of the DTA to detainee cases in which habeas petitions had already been filed, and also charging that the revocation of access to habeas corpus constitutes a violation of the Suspension Clause, because the DTA does not provide an adequate and effective alternative to habeas corpus.

Criminal Complaints:

* Human Rights USA's Criminal Complaint filed with Attorney General John Ashcroft in 2004, requesting the investigation and prosecution of U.S. officials implicated in the torture of detainees.
* Our Letter and Memorandum to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in 2006, urging for the appointment of independent counsel to investigate and prosecute crimes associated with "extraordinary renditions."
* Formal request for a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States, filed in 2007, to investigate whether the Military Commissions Act of 2006 violates international law, treaties, and human rights standards.

World Organization for Human Rights USA - Protecting Habeas Corpus.

I went to see the movie, essentially because I had to. I was pretty much forced to go by family and friends, and obviously I’ve stopped talking to all relatives and acquaintances because of it.

I was forced to sit through an eternity of inanity. While my physical body sat in the movie house for little over two hours. My mental state withered and died a thousand deaths, and lived for a thousand eternities. Each and every second was elongated, into a timeless vacuum, a vacuum of dire, tired, meaningless condescension.

I’d never contemplated suicide before I watched this movie, but as I sat, bored shitless, cringing at every one liner and each forced monotonous grunt from Harrison Ford I started wondering,

“Would it be possible to drive this straw through the arteries in my neck? Could I somehow strangle myself with my own tie? Maybe, if I eat enough Minstrels, and sweet candy treats, I’ll die from a cardiac arrest…”

Alas, it was not possible to drive the straw into the arteries in my neck, I tried, a lot.

And each and every time I tried to strangle myself with my tie I found only that when I passed out, my grip loosened, much like the skin on Mr. Fords withered face, and I was welcomed to the realms of hell 5 minutes later by Harrison Ford’s visual battle with arthritis.

Watching Indiana Jones IV, is like watching a sky diver jumping out of a plane, without a parachute, landing flat on his face… Before the plane even takes off.

I think I would have found more enjoyment in watching my parents have sex than I found in watching this movie…

In fact, I’m so confident in this fact, that right now, I will rate Indiana Jones VI 2/10, whilst I will rate watching your parents having sex a nice round 9/10.

Don’t trust me? Watch your parents having sex, then watch Indiana Jones, come back and tell me, which sucked more?

“What was so wrong with the movie?” You ask, in a weary tone, as if tired of hearing people like me, who are never satisfied.

Well there was a lot wrong with this movie, here’s a list.

1. Harrison Ford.

Harrison Ford is the biggest problem this movie suffers from. He’s like a cancerous, scabby, puss satchel, growing just behind your ball sack. You want to get rid of it, you want to scratch it, but you know it’ll burst all over your balls if you do, so you’re stuck. In an endless indecisive battle with your own will. Until you eventually convince yourself, “it’s not that bad.” Having Harrison Ford in this movie, is as bad as having a cancerous, scabby, puss satchel growing behind your balls.

The man seems so dead inside, like he’s given up on acting, in every seen you get the distinct feeling that Harrison Ford doesn’t want to be there, he doesn’t want to be acting. Every line he delivers sounds so weak and forced that the only comparison I can make is the squeak of minor, feigned “joy,” a woman gives, when a man with a 2 inch penis is penetrating her. That’s how much strength Mr. Ford delivers his lines with in this movie. The strength of a bored, dry, unsatisfied, woman with a 2 inch penis inside her vagina.

At first I thought, “it’s just because he’s old, he was great in all the old ones.” It took me a while to realise this, but that thought, was nothing more than my inner child grasping for an explanation, an excuse for Mr. Ford pissing all over a part of all that I nostalgically held dear. I went home and watched the old movies again… He sucks in all of them, he delivers his lines with just as little passion in the previous movies.

(A snippet of advice, if you see this movie, and are disappointed, don’t watch the old ones again, let yourself believe the lie that they were the best thing since strawberry toothpaste. It’s better than realising you were a dumb-assed kid who watched trash.)

When will people finally accept that Harrison Ford is old. He is too old to be accepting starring roles, he needs to learn to accept that he needs to take the back seat from now on, but he will never learn to do that, unless the public stop pandering to him. Ladies. Harrison Ford, is not hot, I hate to tell you this, he might have been “cool” and “classy” when you were 16, but not anymore, he’s old, his face looks like a melted bag of candle wax, and he’s neither as manly nor as grizzly as you like to think he is.

Let me put it this way, you wouldn’t let an elderly man, working past retiring age, who was clearly confused and lost in the whole process handle your bank accounts and your mortgage, so why do you accept it in cinema? Acting is no different from any other job.

Harrison Ford is a terrible actor, I realise this movie could not have been made without him, but perhaps that's just it, maybe this movie should just not have been made…

2. The CGI Gopher.

As the movie begins you are literally invited to a dirge-fest by a CGI piece of computerised dog shit. Why do we need to use CGI in everything? It’s so dire. Believe it or not guys, good movies are made without insanely up to date computer graphics, the worst part is, I’ve seen far better CGI in far less known movies. The CGI was truely terrible and just makes everyone feel awkward and slightly sick of George Lucas’ wave of bullshit.

The thing that gets me, is they could have trained a gopher to do what the CGI gopher did, and kept the entire screen looking real, instead of some half and half mix of space-jam like twat juice.

3. Indiana Jones‘ dad is dead. Sorry for spoiling the surprise.
This was re-affirmed by the truly moving line, “it seems we’ve reached that age in life where life starts taking away instead of giving.” Yea, great script writing you cock, let’s summarise the death of this man’s father in some semi-intellectual bullshit you got from a woman’s health magazine…

4. Area 51, for some unknown reason is guarded by about 7 or 8 men.

Why? All America’s secrets, even at that time, would have had considerably more men guarding it. Instead of seeing what anonymous, eye-witness reports of the area have said to be, “confined by walls of barbed wire”, “surrounded by dogs and armed officers,” we get two men at a toll booth with a sign that says they’re authorized to shoot any civilian who walks into the area.

Which is a bit defunct considering you’d probably also have to shoot any civilian who saw said sign on an American military installation. So in essence it probably would have been easier on the days work, and the conscience of the American military as portrayed by George Lucas to not have the sign up…

Also, Area 51, according to George Lucas has a shit storing policy. It’s just boxes everywhere in a warehouse with no organisation. Although now I’m admittedly just nit picking like a prick.

5. The Russian accents are shit.

I’m pretty sure this is meant to be an inward reference to past movies where the accents were all abysmal, but to be honest I just don’t care, 2 hours of, “you vil find for uz de creeestal skol” does start making a man want to rip off his own genitalia and jam as much of it in his ears as he can…

6. Crystal Skulls are dumb, aliens are dumb, claiming the aliens are actually inter-dimensional beings just so they’re not technically aliens, and you can claim you didn’t just live off your sci-fi legacy, is dumb… Take all that shit out and replace it with something good.

This point speaks for itself.

7. Masses of poorly thought out scenes and physics.

It’s a crystal skull, it has special properties, we get it. What we don’t get is why your movie defies basic laws of physics at every twist and turn through it’s labyrinth of illogicality.

First off, In one of the first scenes Indiana has to lead Russians to a box in Area 51. The box is supposedly massively magnetised, so much so that he can throw gun powder in the air and it will fly towards said box…

Ok, I buy that, except that being around something that powerfully magnetic would cause side effects in people somewhat similar to sea sickness, and I saw no sea sickness from anybody. I could have over-looked this fact if when they got to the box there weren’t so many illogical happenings around it.

A mans glasses are sucked onto the lid of the box. Why would a metal box become magnetised because of what’s in it that’s magnetic? That only happens when metal is perfectly suspended inside a round hollow magnet of massive strength. Why does everyone’s guns work beside something so magnetically powerful it can drag gun powder hundred of metres? Why does something that can draw all the hanging ceiling lights, in the room, in the same direction as it, when they move the box do little more than make dog tags levitate when the soldiers stand beside it.

People should have felt sick being near it too long, dog tags should have been ripped off, guns should have stopped working, and the cars they loaded it onto should have stopped working.

(This is all within one of the first scenes remember.)

How do you manage to fall off three massive mother-fucker water-falls without dying or even sustaining a minor injury?

Is it just me, or would Indiana Jones, or would he not, be fucking dead after being shot into the air by a nuclear blast, regardless of whether or not he was in a “lead lined fridge?”

Why the hell does Indiana Jones run after the Russians who were just trying to kill him shouting “Wait for me!” When the nuke’s about to go off? Only 5 minutes ago he was running away from them, and they were trying to kill him. Why would they wait?

Why the fuck does Indiana Jones’ son command an army of monkeys, and where the fuck did he learn to swing from vines, and why the fuck has this movie turned into fucking Tarzan?

How in God’s name can Indiana Jones translate a language that hasn’t been seen in thousands of years in a matter of seconds?

8. This movie is “just another sequel.”

I think I speak for every man woman and child on the planet when I say, “no more fucking sequels, prequels or remakes, please for the love of God, we have a mind which has an inexhaustible imagination, and all Hollywood can throw at us is sequels, prequels and remakes, and on the odd occasion that it doesn’t, we’re given a regurgitated story, with slight differences in location and characters in the hopes we wont notice, AND I’M FUCKING TIRED OF IT.”

I download movies now, on principle, fuck the movie industry, it abandoned me, and people like me a long time ago, they pissed on my childhood memories, they ruined my favourite movies and then they wonder why the general public download. We download, because it’s like eating a grape from the supermarket as you do your shopping. We don’t care about your jobs or your movies anymore, you’ve lost that level respect. We do it because we know we’re going to be completely and utterly disappointed by your dirge, and instead of wasting £20 on a completely over-priced DVD we’ll just steal your crap until you start making something good.

You make a good movie, and I swear to God, I will go pay to see it, and I’ll buy it, but until that day, I’m gonna keep downloading, and you brought it upon yourselves.

9. Ox is dumb and pointless.

The way he is introduced to the story is so fucking annoying. Why is it, in every movie, it has to be spelt out for me who new characters are. You either develop their stories, or let me figure it out myself, you don’t throw in two lines of direct explanation, almost in narrative form, from Indiana Jones, about his past with a new character, it makes your audience feel stupid, when in reality, they aren’t, you’re just shit at making movies.
Ox is, and probably will be, for the rest of my life, the worst character introduction I’ve ever seen in a movie. BAR NONE.

10. This movie suffers from all the exact same problems as the last crusade does.

Remember The Last Crusade? When we were fed 20 minutes of crap about Indiana Jones as a boy, getting a scar, and developing a fear of snakes that we really didn’t fucking need at all. Remember when under the library Kazim threw a match into a catacomb that Indiana had a lit torch in and the whole thing erupted in flames because of gas build up? This movie is filled with inane, non-sensical, nostalgic, backtracking crap like that, on a less grand scale, instead of a 20 minute sequence, we’re given a bad script which has the 20 minutes spaced out at 5 minute intervals, every 5 minutes the plot is explained for us, new characters are given a back story through some weak assed narratory lines, from Mr. Ford, that nobody needs, and every past joke is played on beyond all fair reasoning.

11. Every one liner in this movie sucks. Every. Single. One.

The one liners of this movie, are not one liners, because they are funny one line statements, they are one liners, because nobody will ever fucking use them again.
“I’m getting too old for this.” - Just because you’re using it in reference to how much everyone else uses it, doesn’t make it God damned funny.
“You’re a teacher?”
“Part-time.”
The delivery of this one was poor, “part-time” was delivered in such a matter of fact way that nobody could ever find it funny.
There were more, I just can’t be bothered remembering them, because it sickens me to even think about this movie and write about it, let alone having to remember it.

Things that are more enjoyable than watching this movie:

Shitting yourself in public.
Watching your parents have sex.
Suicide.
Watching your parents have sex with animals.
Giving yourself an enema.
Cutting off your nipples and gluing them to your face.
Suicide.
Mowing the lawn.
Catching Scabies.
Going to work.
Not watching this movie.
Suicide.
Fighting a badger.
Gouging your own eyes out with a rusty butter knife then asking a fat lady with herpes to urinate in your eye sockets…

Other movie titles considered for Indiana Jones IV were:

Indiana Jones IV : Why we should never have made a new movie.
Indiana Jones IV : The quest to fill our pockets with cash by pissing on what you love.
Indiana Jones IV : The battle with arthritis.
Indiana Jones IV : The never ending story.
Indiana Jones, and the search for a plot that doesn’t crawl up it’s own ass and die only to shit itself out in it’s own ass, creating a ridiculous shit-stained paradox.

Lo había soñado infinidad de veces; otra cosa es que los sueños se realicen.

Y sí, es posible coincidir con gentes de buen verbo y mejor enfoque.

Sinceramente, yo no sé despotricar contra ciertas cosas, o cuestiones, u objetos de la ira, sin perder las formas por el camino. Pero él sabe cómo hacerlo, el otro pasa por ahí sin mancharse, aquél tira de un entusiasmo tan ramificado como punzante....

A mi modo he encontrado un hogar, lejos de la redacción terrorista y esa tilde caprichosa que, entre líneas, te confiesa no tener ni puta idea de nada. Ellos lo saben, y están cerca. De uno aprendes el tono, de otro el cómo, el cómo tratar éste o ése objeto.

Si es que se puede ser feliz con poca cosa, aunque tan sólo se trate de un blog...

Viel verändert hat sich eigentlich nicht, ausser das ich jetzt 5 Tage bei Area bin anstatt 3 wegen der Berufsschule. Das frühe aufstehen fällt weg (muss erst um 9 Uhr morgens aus dem Bett), das viele lernen für Klausuren usw.

Was ich aber ein wenig vermisse sind meine Freunde aus der Schule, die ich jetzt nur noch selten wegen den Arbeitszeiten sehe.

Allerdings haben wir vor in Kontakt zu bleiben, meist stehen dafür dann Wochenende, Feierabend und ICQ zur Verfügung.

Alles in allem bin ich aber sehr zufrieden mit meiner momentanen Situation, 5 Minuten Weg zur Arbeit, humane Arbeitszeiten und nette Kollegen.

Andrew Symeou

AN ENFIELD teenager faces an agonising five-week wait before he learns whether he will be extradited to Greece on manslaughter charges.

Andrew Symeou, 19, appeared at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court this morning for an extradition hearing.

It relates to the death of international roller hockey player Jonny Hiles, who died last summer after being punched and falling from a nightclub podium on the Greek holiday island of Zante.

Mr Hiles, from Cardiff, was airlifted to Athens due to the severity of his injuries but died the day before his 19th birthday.

Mr Symeou, who has launched an online petition in a bid to get the trial moved to the UK, was bailed to return to the same court on Monday, August 12, when a decision will be made as to whether to extradite him to Greece.

Under Greek laws, Mr Symeou faces a sentence of up to five years in prison for manslaughter.

* To sign the petition to get the court case heard in the UK visit www.justice-for-symeou.com

* To sign the petition to stop extradition without evidence visit

http://www.petition.co.uk/howes_family_extradition_fight_please_help

Jul 7 2008 WalesOnline

A BRITISH student who is wanted by the Greek authorities over a manslaughter allegation was not present when a Welsh teenager suffered fatal injuries, his father said today.

Andrew Symeou, 19, is wanted for questioning over the death of Jonathon Hiles, 18, who suffered head injuries when he fell from a podium at a nightclub on the island of Zakynthos in July last year.

The Bournemouth University student was arrested last month after a European arrest warrant was issued by Greek authorities and a hearing today was due to decide if he would be handed over to face questioning.

After the decision was delayed, his father Frank Symeou said: “No one has even asked Andrew where he was on the night of the incident. Greek police want to extradite him but have not yet asked him ’Where were you that night?’

“He wasn’t there. There was a group of eight boys that went on holiday together. None of them were there at the time.

“The incident was at 1.10am and they didn’t get there until about 4am.”

Mr Hiles, from Llandaff North, Cardiff, fell from a podium at Rescue nightclub, on the island also known as Zante, on July 20 last year. It is alleged that he was pushed.

The talented roller hockey player was taken to hospital in Athens, where he died on July 22.

Frank Symeou said: “No evidence of the alleged offence has been presented to a British court.

“The accuser does not have to demonstrate that there is a proper case to answer provided that the European warrant has been correctly completed.

“The accused person can be sent to a foreign country without a British court being satisfied that justice is being done.

“Anyone can be extradited without anyone considering whether there is sufficient evidence to go to trial.”

He said prima facie evidence should be required before extradition could be granted.

Speaking outside City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court which today adjourned the extradition decision until August 12, Symeou’s father said he was relieved.

“It’s one step at a time. It gives us enough time to try to put a case together.

“We want a hearing held in England, in English not Greek, where we trust the system and we trust the police.”

During today’s short hearing, John Jones, representing Symeou, said Greek police had obtained witness statements using force and he believed Symeou could not expect fair treatment if he was extradited.

Symeou did not speak to reporters but looked tearful as he hugged family and friends outside the court.

Around 30 people carried banners opposing extradition which they held up outside the court.

The slogans read: No to EU extradition; Justice for Andrew and Jonathon; British accused, British victim, British witnesses, British justice.

Symeou’s solicitor, John Tipple, said after the hearing: “For justice to be done it needs to be done here.”

He said Symeou is third generation Greek Cypriot but spoke little Greek.

Symeou, who was arrested on June 26, was remanded on bail until August 12 on condition he resides at the family home. His mother pledged surety of £20,000.

His passport was seized by police.

Mr Hiles represented the Great Britain roller hockey team at various age groups and also played ice hockey for Cardiff Devils’ junior team.

The Symeou family is being supported by Ukip MEP Gerard Batten who added: “If I was the family of the boy who was killed, I would want to see justice done.

“I would want the right person charged and the right person tried.”

He called for the European arrest warrant to be “scrapped”, adding: “This means the British courts can’t protect a British person.”

Dutch Liberal MEP Sophie In’t Veld was becoming irritated. Whenever she tried to board a flight in America – something she does several times each year – she was delayed by special security checks, subjected to questioning, additional searches of her bags and screening for explosives.

‘No one has ever accused me of involvement with terrorism or organised crime,’ In’t Veld said. ‘So I tried to discover why I was being singled out.’

Security expert In’t Veld, 41, wrote to three US government departments – State, Justice and Homeland Security – asking what they had on her in their files.

She especially wanted to know whether she had unjustly been deemed ‘high-risk’ under a scheme known as ATS, the Automated Targeting System.

It is a secret computer database whose conclusions can, under American law, be shared with a wide range of US and foreign government agencies and in some cases, employers.

Despite invoking America’s Freedom of Information Act, In‘t Veld got nowhere. Last week, she filed a US lawsuit, the first of its kind, demanding access to her records.

‘They say there are means of redress if US agencies hold damaging but inaccurate information about you,’ she said. ‘They don’t seem to work.’

Her case comes at a critical juncture. Since the start of this year, operating almost entirely beneath the public radar, the US Government has been making a concerted, multi-faceted push for unrestricted access to vast volumes of personal data held by governments on this side of the Atlantic.

What the US is after goes far beyond the ability to make requests case by case. They seek the ability to go on electronic fishing expeditions among British and other European databases held by law enforcement, immigration, financial and other official bodies – without even having to inform the databases’ custodians, let alone their subjects.

Some of this information – misleading police intelligence reports based on malicious hearsay, for example – might well turn out to have much more serious consequences than whatever titbit is responsible for inconveniencing Ms In’t Veld at airports.

Theoretically, it could lead to the extradition of British subjects to face criminal trial in America on the basis of unverified information derived from UK files, even in cases where authorities in Britain do not consider prosecution justified.

The 2003 Extradition Act has already made American extradition requests effectively immune to legal challenge, by removing any need for a prima facie case.

Last week Statewatch, the civil liberties monitoring group, obtained a copy of the final report of a group of senior US and European Union officials – the ‘High Level Contact Group on information sharing and privacy and personal data protection’.

Supposedly, its job was to agree some international standards to ensure the rights of EU citizens will remain protected under agreements to make European data available to America. In practice, these safeguards look alarmingly weak.

The report says the Americans want instant information from EU members’ databases for ‘the prevention, detection, suppression, investigation or prosecution of any criminal offence’, as well as ‘non-criminal judicial or administrative proceedings’ – in other words, pretty much anything.

It is difficult to read the report’s final section without feeling chilled. There is, for example, no prohibition on supplying details of someone’s ethnic origins, political, religious or philosophical beliefs, or personal information about health or sexual life.

Confidential data transferred to America under the terms of the document could also include details of personal investments, bank and credit-card spending.

All information could be disseminated to US agencies, and in some circumstances, to third countries.

There must, the report promises, be ‘independent oversight’. Yet it accepts that, sometimes, decisions could be taken by machines.

For example, a computerised warning making it impossible to board an aircraft might be issued because a piece of American software determined a person posed a threat.

The report says such ‘automated decisions’ can be taken ‘without human involvement’, as long as there are ‘appropriate safeguards in place, including the possibility to obtain human intervention’.

‘In the real world, such protection is meaningless,’ said Tony Bunyan, Statewatch’s director. ‘If there’s no right to be informed what a database says about you, the first you’re going to know is when you’re wrongly arrested, when you don’t get that job, or when you can’t get on that plane.’

While the High Level Contact Group has been busily diluting future data protection, the Americans have spent the past several months making some sweeping, more immediate demands.

Their chosen vehicle is the Visa Waiver Programme – the system that allows British and most EU citizens to visit America without passport visas. Henceforth, under the 9/11 Commission Act, passed in the US last year, visa waiver countries will be obliged to agree to stringent new security standards – including access to data.

In the words of the Act, decisions on whether to allow nations visa-free travel will depend on whether America decides they are ‘actively co-operating with the US to prevent terrorist travel, including sharing counter-terrorism and law enforcement information’.

America’s demands – set out in May by Richard Barth, assistant secretary for Homeland Security – in recent secret negotiations with the EU and individual states have been extraordinarily broad.

What the US sought, Barth said, was ‘requirements to provide certain information on air passengers, serious crimes, known or suspected terrorists, asylum and migration matters, and timely reporting of lost and stolen passport data, as well as co-operation on airport and aviation security.’

Of course, sharing information internationally can play a key role in combating terrorism and serious crime. But it is vital there must be rigorous methods of quality control and means to correct inaccurate records.

Neither Barth nor his officials have made any mention of this.

Yet another secret EU document leaked to Statewatch suggests Europe has already conceded America’s requests without putting up resistance on these key issues.

Dated April 11, it is the EU ‘mandate’ setting out the terms of Europe’s negotiating position – and accepts as its starting point that the EU should ‘explore the scope for agreement’ to the provisions of the 9/11 Act.

The document does say that any US-EU deal must ‘comply with fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals including the rights to privacy and data protection’. But as to how this lofty objective might be achieved, it is silent.

‘The safeguards are so minimal they might as well not exist,’ Bunyan said. ‘I’ve yet to see an occasion where Europe has refused American demands. They are in effect the 28th member of the EU.’

Civil libertarians like former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis have, rightly, become concerned at British Government measures such as 42-day detention for terrorist suspects.

But for most ordinary citizens, the pressure to share data from across the Atlantic is a far greater threat.

Chand has a 51 inch vertical leap... which of itself is pretty amazing. It also enables the rather diminutive player to make some absolutely amazing dunks.
Best you see for yourself.

As the post implies, this is a rant, so here goes.

First off, I hated the title.  Are UFO's real?  Of course they're real.  UFO's are merely what they say they are:  Unidentified Flying Objects.  I believe some people overlook the acronym and associate it automatically with aliens.  However, UFO is a term used quite frequently by the military, police force, etc. to describe aircraft that haven't been identified as belonging to a specific group or country yet.  Obviously this is nit-picking on my part, but come on, the title was a bit insulting.

Secondly, I was quite irritated that it was 4 (and at one point 5) on 1 for the most part.  Bill Nye versus 5 nuts.  Though he was holding his own, it was incredibly unfair.  Bill had limited time to respond to everyone and in some cases wasn't even given the apportunity to do so.  This, I'm sure, swayed some viewers to believe the conspiracy theorists, after all, they did get to talk more.  Fortunately, the times Bill was able to respond, he responded well and logically.

I was quite entertained at the conspiracy theorists when they presented "evidence" which consisted of a couple photos and the stories of a few people working on or near the area in which this top secret activity occurred.  Some of the photos were so badly done, it was obvious they were doctored, while others, though impressive at a glance, get less impressive as you examine them further.  Beyond that, the only "evidence" they present is stories-and that's what they are, merely stories, and they're inconsistent nonetheless.

Here's my take on the events.  As if you couldn't tell from reading this far, I obviously do not think that extraterrestrials were involved in any of the events in Roswell.  I haven't done extensive research on this, and this argument may not be the best there is, but I do feel it makes sense.  I think it's quite obvious there is no need for extraterrestrials to be involved at all for several reasons, but two really stick out for me:

1.  This was a top secret area controlled by the government/military.  Obviously it was top secret for a reason.  Now, conspiracy theorists will tell you that this was because of the alien activity, but I disagree.  The military was using newly discovered technologies, not brought by aliens, but through scientific research, to create and test new aircraft and weapons.  Obviously the area wouldn't have been as top secret if we were using the same technologies as the entire world had been using to that point.  It was important we didn't allow anyone to obtain this technology, as it gave us the advantage.  This wasn't to prevent people from finding out about aliens, but simply to protect this vital technology from getting into the hands of someone who would use it against us.

2.  I feel that the UFO conspiracy may be a conspiracy itself.  Honestly, I think the idea was genius.  If we could get people talking about all this nonsense with aliens and technology beyond the reaches of modern science, it was both intimidating and diverting.  The very talk of all of these things was enough to prevent people from really realizing what was going on.  People were more interested in seeing aliens than the technology our military was using.  I'm not saying that this was planned, but I'd go to lengths to say the government/military didn't mind when people started focusing less on what they were doing and instead on how?  When the answer was very simple, scientific research.

As I said, I am certain there is more compelling information out there for both sides.  These were just a few thoughts I had and wanted to share them.  If anyone has any evidence for either side I'd be glad to hear it.  I look forward to hearing some responses.

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Sumber: HP

For that, I had to really reset my brains...that meant looking forward to the visceral junk-food thrills that George Lucas™ and Steven Seag...oooopps, I mean Spielberg™'s combined homage to b&w serial cliffhangers of the Twenties/Thirties promises to deliver.

Just to jog your memory...original theatrical trailer for Raiders of the Lost Ark

WWII is over...that means instead of nasty Nazis, we now have curvaceous Commies (in the person of Cate Blanchett's Irina Spalko character, who styles herself as "Stalin's fair-haired girl" while looking like a toned-down dominatrix) and their lunkheaded allies (Yes. It was in the news. Russia's Communist Party were even considering a "fatwa" against Ford and Blanchett, accusing them of being "running dogs for the CIA". Now that beats a Communist Party of the Philippines spokesman blaming President Arroyo for Crispin Beltran's death. How rich.) In the opening sequences, we see Indy being taken for a ride by a pair of Feds (who look like Don Vito's consiglieres) all the way into Area 51 in Nevada. His money-grubbing comrade Mac (you can always rely on a Brit actor to play someone who can literally stab you on the back. How rich.) betrays Indy on a posse of Russkies under Spalko's command. The ensuing fight triggers a nuclear explosion, where Indy-boy saves his ass by hiding out in a lead-lined refrigerator in the suburban mock-up town next to the testing center (Indy in the suburban jungle??? How rich.)

Well, Indiana's back teaching college students but he finds his sinecure under peril for his association with Mac. He considers a long furlough in NYC but his idyll gets interrupted when Mutt Williams (Shia LaPoo ...oops, I mean LeBoeuf) steps into his life , vrooming onto the scene like Marlon Brando in "The Wild One" (Mr. Brando may be rolling in his grave on this one...but that...Phil of the Future!!! As me?????)

Next thing he knows, he (Mutt in tow) is off to Peru (supposedly to investigate the Nazca lines being messages from extra-terrestrial "gods")...where he bumps into - tan tan-an-annnn!!! Marion Ravenwood!!! His barmaid-paramour from Raiders of the Lost Ark is at it again, still on the trail of lost cities and the treasures they contain within. From Peru, the destined trio venture into the heart of the Amazon jungle, where they do not so much as worry about piranha and candiru but ravenous, carnivorous fire ants by the gajillion. Eventually joining them would be that oh-sooo-reliable turncoat Mac and Oxley, a former colleague of Jones who appears to have been driven mad by a Crystal Skull that he has in his possession.

A lushly-photographed and innovatively-executed chase-scene-cum-swordfight takes place in the jungles, followed by the temple scene involving a puzzle-based unlocking (methinks this was better done, though, in National Treasure: Book of Secrets). John Hurt really does steal his scenes as the addled Oxley, while Ray Winstone's Mac does provide nefarious comic relief. Thankfully, Cate Blanchett resists pushing the camp envelope as Irina Spalko - she could have become Natasha Fatale if she tried.

Boris & Natasha from the original Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons

Harrison Ford is still in the game, quipping away danger as usual; I'm pretty much amazed as to how his pushing-60 frame could withstand the falls and bruises he encounters in his adventures (liked the way he backed into the truck's windscreen). Shia, in fairness, pulls a decent Brando impresh (complete with switchblade flicking skills); that should, however, rekindle interest into the original's Fifties body of work.

Kinda surprised though, as to how this film managed to get by with a GP-rating in local cinemas even if there was a mild amount of swearing (though thankfully none of the F--- and M-F variety). Loyal fans may be pleased at references to the other Indy films carefully placed within this one (for starters, check out what's with the booty being stored over at Area 51.)

All that I can say is that I'm satisfied (inspite of the rather corny cliche ending) and Indy can now lay his hat and whip to rest (No Mutt, not yet...)

Movie reviews

ANALYSIS: Funny moment, and excellent movie.  In its honor, below I'm going to give you access to a remarkable, recently declassified document describing one of America's boldest Cold War technical achievements.  If you've ever run (or wanted to run) a high-tech company or program, like Tony Stark in the movie, you'll appreciate the startling scope of the work - and if you've recently worked in DoD or the Intelligence Community you'll marvel at how they did it "in the good old days."

A few days ago I wrote about the A-12 high-altitude spy plane, the once-top-secret precursor to the more heavily publicized SR-71. Since the program was declassified last fall, a long-retired A-12 has now been installed over in the parking lot at CIA headquarters at Langley. 

This morning I got a comment on my blogpost from none other than Col. Ken Collins, USAF ret'd and legendary A-12 pilot for the CIA, who was present at the Langley unveiling ceremony last fall.  It means a lot for a guy like Ken (flying call sign "Dutch 21") to have written in response to my post: "This is a great article for an amazing triple-sonic aircraft, the world’s first Mach 3.3, 90,000 feet combat aircraft… one year before the SR-71 was deployed. I flew them both."  Here's more on Ken and his colleagues, and here's a great story of the time Ken had to eject....

So how does a government agency wind up being able to accomplish such engineering feats as those required to build an A-12?  At the Langley unveiling ceremony last fall, CIA Director Gen. Hayden's remarks captured the audacity of the project as it began in the waning years of the Eisenhower Administration: "The goal was an aircraft that could outrun any Soviet missile. [Lockheed's Kelly] Johnson, the visionary behind development of the U-2, shared his idea for something even more revolutionary: A long-range, radar-evading plane that would fly three miles higher and more than four times faster than the U-2."

If you've ever had the pleasure of overseeing a multimillion-dollar secret program, as I did repeatedly at DIA for four years, you know that there are challenges to managing a distributed engineering program within the contraints of secrecy and government red-tape.  Yet I was doing so in the era of instantaneous global communications; I could get my engineers and managers on classified "face-phones" (desktop videoteleconferencing or DVTC machines) at the press of a button, from Korea to the Middle East or simply from another floor in the DIA building; I could call up spreadsheets and project files with a snap to track the current status of work; we even had some projects tracked in SharePoint wiki's updated by distributed users in realtime.  

Imagine the challenges of an enormous program like designing and building a revolutionary craft like the A-12 - and doing so in the strictures of secrecy at the height of the Cold War.  Plus, no email! 

It boggles the mind.  They were giants in those days....  So Ken Collins' pride in the plane made me hunt down the story of how it was done.

I recommend that anyone with an interest in technology, aviation, management, or even Cold War history, read Clarence "Kelly" Johnson's own account of how the storied Lockheed Skunk Works accomplished building this early stealth aircraft.  The CIA has done you a favor: they've recently declassified the official "History of the OXCART Program" which he wrote in the summer of 1968, as OXCART was shutting down and the SR-71 took on the single mantle of aerial high-altitude manned reconnaissance.  

You can get this formerly "Top Secret" History document here on the CIA's list of declassified A-12 documents  - see "History of the OXCART Program" near the bottom of the first-page list. The 25-page report is eye-opening, offhandedly funny in places, and remarkably candid.  The description of a decade of innovative work captures,  as Gen Hayden said in his remarks last fall, an important lesson we can draw from OXCART: "pioneering scientific achievement requires not only genius, but patience and discipline."

And by the way, just to remind you of the flavor of just how cool and extraordinary the A-12 program was, here's a snippet from pilot Ken Collins' own description of his induction into the CIA's Project OXCART published online for the A-12 and SR-71 alumni group:

At this phase (April 1961) of the overall evaluation we did not know for what we were being evaluated... I was scheduled for my “astronaut” physical at the Lovelace Clinic in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is the same facility that the original astronauts received their medical evaluations. It was also the medical facility for the original U-2 pilots. I discovered this after I ran into and met Francis Gary Powers at the clinic.... I was told that it was not the astronaut program, but a project to fly and test an exotic new airplane for the Central Intelligence Agency. Still there was no pictures or any other details....

The first time I saw the A-12 or even heard the name was in December 1962 after I arrived at Area 51. Colonel Doug Nelson, Project Operations Officer, took me to the hangar and let me walk in by myself. What an amazing sight! There were no hangar lights. The sunrays entered the upper hangar windows illuminating only the nose and the spikes. As your eyes adjusted to the restricted light, you began to take in its sleek length, the massive twin rudders and its total blackness.  A vision that will never be forgotten."

Go here for more photos of the A-12 and its sister ships.  Anyone still wondering how the rumors got started of UFO's at Area 51?

Postscript: By the way, if you've seen "Iron Man," you'll find it funny that one apparent model for Stark Industries is Lockheed Martin  - a comparison that has been blogged about, with one blog-commenter from the world of LMCO employees claiming that "Lockheed Martin gave Jeff Bridges a day with LM VPs and a VIP tour of its facilities, so he could get an idea of what its like to work for a DoD contractor!!"  If you're interested in the real-life story of Lockheed genius Kelly Johnson and his Skunk Works programs, you can read his own autobiography, "Kelly," or the broader history "Skunk Works" by Ben Rich.

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