The Many Faces of US Politics...

[Groucho]

FBI accused of violating Muslims' rights at mosque
By ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: Feb 23, 2011 13:46 Updated: Feb 23, 2011 13:46

LOS ANGELES: Two civil liberties groups have sued the FBI, claiming that one of the agency's former informants was ordered to target Muslims for surveillance when he infiltrated a California mosque.

The ACLU of Southern California and the Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed the lawsuit Tuesday in federal court, the Washington Post reported.

The lawsuit alleged that ex-FBI informant Craig Monteilh violated Muslims' constitutional rights of freedom of religion by conducting "indiscriminate surveillance" because of their religion.

The suit named the FBI and seven of its agents and supervisors, and sought class-action status, unspecified damages and a court order instructing the FBI to destroy or return the information Monteilh collected.

FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller told The Associated Press she could not comment on the lawsuit, but she emphasized that the FBI does not target religious groups or individuals based on their religion.

The agency "does not investigate houses of worship or religious groups, but people who are alleged to be involved in criminal activity, regardless of their affiliations," Eimiller said.

Monteilh infiltrated an Orange County mosque and helped build a case against an Afghan-born man who was arrested on terrorism-related charges in 2009.

The lawsuit claimed that Monteilh's handlers — FBI agents Kevin Armstrong and Paul Allen — instructed him to collect e-mail addresses, phone numbers and other information about Muslims and "explicitly told Monteilh that Islam was a threat to America's national security," according to the Post.

The two agents declined to comment to the newspaper.

[heganboy]

Fox *News Chief in bother

(*news = no semblance of news but rather things we think you'd like to hear)

from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/nyregion/25roger-ailes.html

Affidavits Say Fox News Chief Told Employee to LieBy RUSS BUETTNER

It was an incendiary allegation — and a mystery of great intrigue in the media world: After the publishing powerhouse Judith Regan was fired by HarperCollins in 2006, she claimed that a senior executive at its parent company, News Corporation, had encouraged her to lie to federal investigators two years before.

The investigators had been vetting Bernard B. Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner who had been nominated to become secretary of Homeland Security and who had had an affair with Ms. Regan.

The goal of the News Corporation executive, according to Ms. Regan, was to keep the affair quiet and protect the then-nascent presidential aspirations of former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Kerik's mentor and supporter.

But Ms. Regan never revealed the identity of the executive, even as her allegation made headlines and she brought a wrongful termination suit against HarperCollins and News Corporation.

But now, affidavits filed in a separate lawsuit reveal the identity of the previously unnamed executive: Roger E. Ailes, chairman of Fox News.

What is more, the documents say that Ms. Regan taped the telephone call from Mr. Ailes in which Mr. Ailes discusses her relationship with Mr. Kerik.

It is unclear whether the existence of the tape played a role in News Corporation's decision to move quickly to settle Ms. Regan's lawsuit, paying her $10.75 million in a confidential settlement reached two months after she filed it in 2007.

Depending on the specifics, the conversation could possibly rise to the level of conspiring to lie to federal officials, a federal crime, but prosecutors rarely pursue such cases, said Daniel C. Richman, a Columbia University law professor and former federal prosecutor.

"In the scheme of things there are other priorities, and these are not necessarily easy cases to make," Mr. Richman said.

Of course, if it were to become public, the tape could be highly embarrassing to Mr. Ailes, a onetime adviser to Richard Nixon whom critics deride as a partisan who engineers Fox News coverage to advance Republicans and damage Democrats, something Fox has long denied. Mr. Ailes also had close ties with Mr. Giuliani, whom he advised in his first mayoral race. Mr. Giuliani officiated at Mr. Ailes's wedding and intervened on his behalf when the Fox News Channel was blocked from securing a cable station in the city.

In a statement released on Wednesday, a News Corporation spokeswoman did not deny that Mr. Ailes was the executive on the recording.

But the spokeswoman, Teri Everett, said that News Corporation has a letter from Ms. Regan "stating that Mr. Ailes did not intend to influence her with respect to a government investigation."

"The matter is closed," Ms. Everett said.

Ms. Everett declined to release the letter, and Ms. Regan's lawyer, Robert E. Brown, said the News Corporation's description of the letter did not represent Ms. Regan's complete statement.

The new documents emerged as part of a lawsuit filed in 2008 in which Ms. Regan's former lawyers in the News Corporation case accused her of firing them on the eve of the settlement to avoid paying them a 25 percent contingency fee. The parties in that case signed an agreement to keep the records confidential, but it does not appear a court order sealing them was ever sent to the clerk at State Supreme Court in Manhattan, and the records were placed in the public case file.

Discussion of the recorded conversation with Mr. Ailes emerges in affidavits from Ms. Regan's ex-lawyers who are seeking to document the work they did on her case and for which they deserve the contingency fee. They describe consulting with a forensic audio expert about the tape.

No transcript of the conversation is included in the court records.

But Brian C. Kerr, one of Ms. Regan's former lawyers, describes in an affidavit the physical evidence he reviewed as "including a tape recording of a conversation between her and Roger Ailes, which is alluded to throughout the complaint" that Mr. Kerr and another lawyer, Seth Redniss, drafted for Ms. Regan.

That complaint said that News Corporation executives "were well aware that Regan had a personal relationship with Kerik."

"In fact," the complaint said, "a senior executive in the News Corporation organization told Regan that he believed she had information about Kerik that, if disclosed, would harm Giuliani's presidential campaign. This executive advised Regan to lie to, and to withhold information from, investigators concerning Kerik."

Mr. Redniss, in his affidavit, referred to "a recorded telephone call between Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News (a News Corp. company) and Regan, in which Mr. Ailes discussed with Regan her responses to questions regarding her personal relationship with Bernard Kerik."

"The 'Ailes' matter became a focal point of our work," Mr. Redniss continued.

The dispute involves a cast of well-known and outsize personalities: it also includes some New Yorkers who have suffered spectacular career meltdowns.

Mr. Kerik, was sent to prison last year after pleading guilty to federal charges including tax fraud and lying to White House officials.

The law firm Ms. Regan hired to draft her complaint against News Corporation was headed by Marc S. Dreier, whose firm was cast into bankruptcy in 2008 when he was charged with a $100 million fraud scheme. The firm's suit seeking the contingency fee from Ms. Regan is being led by the bankruptcy trustee handling the dissolution of the firm. Mr. Redniss was a co-counsel to the Dreier firm.

Ms. Regan's own crash was remarkable in itself. While often controversial for her book choices, which ranged from literary novels to sex advice from a pornography star, her imprint at HarperCollins had become one of the more financially successful in the business.

The end came quickly in late 2006. Rupert Murdoch, the News Corporation chairman, was quoted saying it had been "ill advised" for her to pursue "If I Did It," a hypothetical murder confession by O. J. Simpson. A novel that included imagined drunken escapades by Mickey Mantle drew another round of outrage.

Then News Corporation said Ms. Regan had been fired because she made an anti-Semitic remark to a Jewish HarperCollins lawyer, Mark H. Jackson, in describing the internal campaign to fire her as a "Jewish cabal."

In her suit in 2007, Ms. Regan said the book controversies had been trumped up and the anti-Semitic remark invented to discredit her, should she ever speak out about Mr. Kerik in ways that would harm Mr. Giuliani's image. The new court documents expand upon that charge and link it to Mr. Ailes.

Mr. Redniss wrote in an affidavit that Ms. Regan told him that Mr. Ailes sought to brand her as promiscuous and crazy.

"Regan believed that Ailes and News Corp. subsidiary Fox News had an interest in protecting Giuliani's bid for the U.S. presidency," he wrote.

As part of the settlement in January 2008, News Corporation publicly retracted the allegation that Ms. Regan had made an anti-Semitic remark to Mr. Jackson, who has since been promoted to general counsel of Dow Jones & Company, the News Corporation subsidiary that owns The Wall Street Journal.

The court records examined by The New York Times this week — which have subsequently been taken out of the public case file — also reveal another interesting footnote. After Ms. Regan fired her lawyers, a seemingly unlikely figure came forward to help settle the case: Susan Estrich, a law professor and a regular Fox commentator whose book Ms. Regan had published, according Ms. Regan's affidavit.


William K. Rashbaum contributed reporting.

[muppet]

The degree of effort you'll go to to find an angle in an attempt to justify a complete disaster like this on tax payers takes any confusion I've had on how Ireland found itself in the financial situation it's in 

Funny how your ideas on waste from inept politicians differ so much depending on whether the discussion is on the US or Ireland 
Pathetic!

I'm not justifying anything. I couldn't care less whether Obama gives you all free 10 litre- SUVs or makes you all walk everywhere.

The US gives more in aid to Israel, for no return, than this stimulus package. I take it you are equally upset at that particular 'disaster like this on tax payers'.

[Tyrones own]

I'm not justifying anything.

Not successfully anyway, hard as you're trying!

I couldn't care less whether Obama gives you all free 10 litre- SUVs or makes you all walk everywhere.

You seem to have an awful lot to say on the subject for someone who couldn't care less 

The US gives more in aid to Israel, for no return, than this stimulus package. I take it you are equally upset at that particular 'disaster like this on tax payers'.

Ah when in doubt it's back to Israhell...the old faithful
Seriously...how do ye haters get out of bed in the mornings 

[muppet]

I'm not justifying anything.

Not successfully anyway, hard as you're trying!

I couldn't care less whether Obama gives you all free 10 litre- SUVs or makes you all walk everywhere.

You seem to have an awful lot to say on the subject for someone who couldn't care less 

The US gives more in aid to Israel, for no return, than this stimulus package. I take it you are equally upset at that particular 'disaster like this on tax payers'.

Ah when in doubt it's back to Israhell...the old faithful
Seriously...how do ye haters get out of bed in the mornings 

The usual Tyrone's Own post of assumptions, lies and diversions.

I pointed out the errors in your calculation. You as usual made absurd deductions based on the fact that someone disagreed with you. I don't care about Obama, is that so hard to understand?

I pointed out that the US spends more on aid to Israel than on the car stimulus programme and now I am an Israel hater? How the hell did you deduce that?

[Tyrones own]

I'm not justifying anything.

Not successfully anyway, hard as you're trying!

I couldn't care less whether Obama gives you all free 10 litre- SUVs or makes you all walk everywhere.

You seem to have an awful lot to say on the subject for someone who couldn't care less 

The US gives more in aid to Israel, for no return, than this stimulus package. I take it you are equally upset at that particular 'disaster like this on tax payers'.

Ah when in doubt it's back to Israhell...the old faithful
Seriously...how do ye haters get out of bed in the mornings 

The usual Tyrone's Own post of assumptions, lies and diversions.

I pointed out the errors in your calculation. You as usual made absurd deductions based on the fact that someone disagreed with you. I don't care about Obama, is that so hard to understand?

I pointed out that the US spends more on aid to Israel than on the car stimulus programme and now I am an Israel hater? How the hell did you deduce that?

You pointed out one error which I gave you... I then asked you to go ahead and use HB's numbers..which of course didn't suit your agenda 
Again, would you be as defensive had the two Brians for instance come up with such an inept plan at tax payers expense 

[muppet]

I'm not justifying anything.

Not successfully anyway, hard as you're trying!

I couldn't care less whether Obama gives you all free 10 litre- SUVs or makes you all walk everywhere.

You seem to have an awful lot to say on the subject for someone who couldn't care less 

The US gives more in aid to Israel, for no return, than this stimulus package. I take it you are equally upset at that particular 'disaster like this on tax payers'.

Ah when in doubt it's back to Israhell...the old faithful
Seriously...how do ye haters get out of bed in the mornings 

The usual Tyrone's Own post of assumptions, lies and diversions.

I pointed out the errors in your calculation. You as usual made absurd deductions based on the fact that someone disagreed with you. I don't care about Obama, is that so hard to understand?

I pointed out that the US spends more on aid to Israel than on the car stimulus programme and now I am an Israel hater? How the hell did you deduce that?

You pointed out one error which I gave you... I then asked you to go ahead and use HB's numbers..which of course didn't suit your agenda 
Again, would you be as defensive had the two Brians for instance come up with such an inept plan at tax payers expense 

You gave me nothing. At least now you have admitted an error.

It was pointed out that HB's 3:1 ratio could be interpreted as paying for itself in 3 years. That is what I was referring to.

As for the two Brians, they have bankrupted a generation of Irish. I have posted a thousand posts here attacking their ineptitude and incompetence.

However they had a car scrappage scheme here too. I didn't attack it because anyone can see there was some logic to it. Car sales were an all time low, old cars are less efficient and more dangerous than brand new ones. It mightn't quite make us all rich but it isn't worth attacking unless of course your agenda is to simply attack everything your chosen enemy does, says or wears.

[tyssam5]

Whatever about the figures on gas prices, was the program not intended more to stimulate the auto industry

The only auto industry stimulated was the Japanese industry 
Obama didn't have the cop on to limit the plan to American made cars 

The 3 billion versus 350 millions comparison makes no sense. The payout was by the government, the 'saving' was not 'us' it would have been the end users of the new vehicles

*shakes head

Top two makers to benefit were Ford and Toyota. Toyota makes plenty of vehicles in the US.

[Tyrones own]

Whatever about the figures on gas prices, was the program not intended more to stimulate the auto industry

The only auto industry stimulated was the Japanese industry 
Obama didn't have the cop on to limit the plan to American made cars 

The 3 billion versus 350 millions comparison makes no sense. The payout was by the government, the 'saving' was not 'us' it would have been the end users of the new vehicles

*shakes head

Top two makers to benefit were Ford Honda and Toyota. Toyota makes plenty of vehicles in the US.

Incorrect... Ford only topped the list of the most popular traded in vehicle
against the shiny new Japanese models.

[dec]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32567404/ns/business-autos/

Toyota Motor Corp. led the industry with 19.4 percent of new sales, followed by General Motors Co. with 17.6 percent and Ford Motor Co. with 14.4 percent.

The Toyota Corolla was the most popular new vehicle purchased under the program. The Honda Civic, Toyota Camry and Ford Focus held the next three top spots. All four are built in the United States.

[Tyrones own]

You gave me nothing. At least now you have admitted an error.

I admitted nothing...to beat you at your own pandantics, I simply allowed you to run with the oil at $100 instead of $70 to have you realize that it made feck all difference on the grand scheme of the ineptitude!

It was pointed out that HB's 3:1 ratio could be interpreted as paying for itself in 3 years. That is what I was referring to.

Interpreted    can you name many Government programmes that ever actually pay for themselves  No... this one just happened to be extra special is that it?

As for the two Brians, they have bankrupted a generation of Irish. I have posted a thousand posts here attacking their ineptitude and incompetence.

So it's OK for you to berate and highlight inept politicians in Ireland but no one else should be allowed the same opportunity without being attacked for everything they say, do or wear 

However they had a car scrappage scheme here too.

And how many Billion did that one Fcuk the Irish tax payers out of 

[muppet]

You gave me nothing. At least now you have admitted an error.

I admitted nothing...to beat you at your own pandantics, I simply allowed you to run with the oil at $100 instead of $70 to have you realize that it made feck all difference on the grand scheme of the ineptitude!

It was pointed out that HB's 3:1 ratio could be interpreted as paying for itself in 3 years. That is what I was referring to.

Interpreted    can you name many Government programmes that ever actually pay for themselves  No... this one just happened to be extra special is that it?

As for the two Brians, they have bankrupted a generation of Irish. I have posted a thousand posts here attacking their ineptitude and incompetence.

So it's OK for you to berate and highlight inept politicians in Ireland but no one else should be allowed the same opportunity without being attacked for everything they say, do or wear 

However they had a car scrappage scheme here too.

And how many Billion did that one Fcuk the Irish tax payers out of 

This is a car scrappage scheme. Look at the actions of your beloved George W. Bush and you are ranting on about a car scrappage scheme. Bush put $700 Billion into Wall Street & its ilk. He has spent unknown billions on 2 wars. But you are ranting on about a car scrappage scheme. Do you have a vested interest in this scheme failing or something?

[Tyrones own]

You gave me nothing. At least now you have admitted an error.

I admitted nothing...to beat you at your own pandantics, I simply allowed you to run with the oil at $100 instead of $70 to have you realize that it made feck all difference on the grand scheme of the ineptitude!

It was pointed out that HB's 3:1 ratio could be interpreted as paying for itself in 3 years. That is what I was referring to.

Interpreted    can you name many Government programmes that ever actually pay for themselves  No... this one just happened to be extra special is that it?

As for the two Brians, they have bankrupted a generation of Irish. I have posted a thousand posts here attacking their ineptitude and incompetence.

So it's OK for you to berate and highlight inept politicians in Ireland but no one else should be allowed the same opportunity without being attacked for everything they say, do or wear 

However they had a car scrappage scheme here too.

And how many Billion did that one Fcuk the Irish tax payers out of 

This is a car scrappage scheme. Look at the actions of your beloved George W. Bush and you are ranting on about a car scrappage scheme. Bush put $700 Billion into Wall Street & its ilk. He has spent unknown billions on 2 wars. But you are ranting on about a car scrappage scheme. Do you have a vested interest in this scheme failing or something?

Ah so we're moving on now if it's not Israhell it's bush..
Actually yes..I made out like a bandit having invested in the Japanese auto industries while shorting GM

[Groucho]

Pakistan's intelligence ready to split with CIA
By KATHY GANNON & ADAM GOLDMAN | AP

Published: Feb 24, 2011 23:30 Updated: Feb 24, 2011 23:30

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's ISI spy agency is ready to split with the CIA because of frustration over what it calls heavy-handed pressure and its anger over what it believes is a covert US operation involving hundreds of contract spies, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press and interviews with US and Pakistani officials.

Such a move could seriously damage the US war effort in Afghanistan, limit a program targeting Al-Qaeda insurgents along the Pakistan frontier, and restrict Washington's access to information in the nuclear-armed country.

According to a statement drafted by the ISI, supported by interviews with officials, an already-fragile relationship between the two agencies collapsed following the shooting death of two Pakistanis by Raymond Davis, a US contracted spy who is in jail in Pakistan facing possible multiple murder charges.

"Post-incident conduct of the CIA has virtually put the partnership into question," said a media statement prepared by the ISI but never released. A copy was obtained this week by the AP.

The statement accused the CIA of using pressure tactics to free Davis.

"It is hard to predict if the relationship will ever reach the level at which it was prior to the Davis episode," the statement said. "The onus of not stalling this relationship between the two agencies now squarely lies on the CIA."

The ISI fears there are hundreds of CIA contracted spies operating in Pakistan without the knowledge of either the Pakistan government or the intelligence agency, a senior Pakistani intelligence official told the AP in an interview. He spoke only on condition he not be identified on grounds that exposure would compromise his security.

Pakistan intelligence had no idea who Davis was or what he was doing when he was arrested, the official said, adding that there are concerns about "how many more Raymond Davises are out there." Davis was arrested Jan. 27 in Lahore after shooting two Pakistanis. A third Pakistani was killed by a US Consulate vehicle coming to assist the American. Pakistan demanded the driver be handed over, but the AP has learned the two US employees in the car now are in the United States.

Davis has pleaded self-defense, but the Lahore police upon completing their investigation said they would seek murder charges. The ISI official told the AP that Davis had contacts in the tribal regions and knew both the men he shot. He said the ISI is investigating the possibility that the encounter on the streets of Lahore stemmed from a meeting or from threats to Davis.

US officials deny Davis had prior contact with the men before the incident, and CIA spokesman George Little said any problems between the two agencies will be sorted out.

"The CIA works closely with our Pakistani counterparts on a wide range of security challenges, including our common fight against Al-Qaeda and its terrorist allies," he said.

"The agency's ties to ISI have been strong over the years, and when there are issues to sort out, we work through them. That's the sign of a healthy partnership." The CIA repeatedly has tried to penetrate the ISI and learn more about Pakistan's nuclear program. The ISI has mounted its own operations to gather intelligence on the CIA's counterterrorism activities The ISI is now scouring thousands of visas issued to US employees in Pakistan. The ISI official said Davis' visa application contains bogus references and phone numbers. He said thousands of visas were issued to US Embassy employees over the past five months following a government directive to the Pakistan Embassy in Washington to issue visas without the usual vetting by the interior ministry and the ISI. The same directive was issued to the Pakistan embassies in Britain and the United Arab Emirates, he said.

Within two days of receiving that directive, the Pakistani Embassy issued 400 visas and since then thousands more have been issued, said the ISI official. A Western diplomat in Pakistan agreed that a "floodgate" opened for US Embassy employees requesting Pakistani visas.

The ISI official said his agency knows and works with "the bona fide CIA people in Pakistan" but is upset that the CIA would send others over behind its back. For now, he said, his agency is not talking with the CIA at any level, including the most senior.

To regain support and assistance, he said, "they have to start showing respect, not belittling us, not being belligerent to us, not treating us like we are their lackeys." NATO and US operations in Afghanistan could be adversely effected by a split between the ISI and the CIA. Washington complains bitterly about Pakistan's refusal to go after the Pakistani-headquartered Haqqani network, which is believed to be the strongest fighting force in Afghanistan and closely allied with Al-Qaeda.

The ISI official said Pakistan is fed up with Washington's complaints, and he accused the CIA of planting stories about ISI assistance to the Haqqani network.

Relations between the CIA and ISI have been on a downward slide since the name of the US agency's station chief in Pakistan was leaked in a lawsuit accusing him of killing civilians in a drone strike.

Fearing for his safety, the CIA eventually pulled the station chief out of the country. ISI leaders balked at allegations that they outed the CIA top spy in their country. Former and current US officials believe the station chief fell out of favor, but the Pakistanis say this is not the case Those accusations and the naming of ISI chief Shujah Pasha in a civil lawsuit in the United States — filed by family members of victims of a November 2008 attack in Mumbai, India, by insurgents — started the downslide in relations, the ISI official said.

To help repair the crucial relationship, the CIA earlier this year dispatched a very senior officer to be the new station chief who was previously the head of the European Division, one of the most important jobs in the National Clandestine Service, the agency's spy arm.

The spy agencies have overcome lows before. During President George W. Bush's first term, the ISI became enraged after it shared intelligence with the United States, only to learn that the then-CIA station chief passed that information to the British. The incident caused a serious row, one that threatened the CIA's relationship with the ISI and deepened the levels of distrust between the two sides. At the time Pakistan almost threw the CIA station chief out of the country.

[DrinkingHarp]

I spy with my little eye people who are in a conspiracy theory