Blog of Rights
Jenny
Egan
05/23/2008

Using "Terror" to Squash Dissent

By Jenny Egan at 1:24pm

Word is going around Minneapolis that the FBI is looking for a few good spies to break up the dangerous world of vegan potlucks. That's right — the nation's newest terrorist threat is not from explosives or Al Qaeda — you should be worrying about the imminent threat of soy dogs and tasteless, overly dry chocolate cake.

The FBI is actually looking for moles to infiltrate the not-so-shady world of bicycle enthusiasts and vegetarians to learn more about protests planned for the 2008 Republican National Convention. The problem with this infiltration is that they aren't just seeking to disrupt crime, they are trying to stop the protests altogether. At the 2004 RNC convention in New York, the police cracked down on political speech, protest, and dissent. The NYCLU has tons of great documents that chronicle how the NYPD went about using fear over "terrorism" to justify squashing free speech. This summer's conventions, in Minneapolis and Denver, are shaping up to be a redux of the 2004 debacle — anyone else remember the "free speech zone" cages? —where the FBI used the guise of Joint Terrorism Task Forces to suppress speech.

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05/01/2008

Happy Law Day!

By Jenny Egan at 12:59pm
As you might have heard, today is 50th anniversary of Law Day, and to show that President Bush is taking today seriously, he's even given Law Day a theme this year!
The theme of this year's Law Day, "The Rule of Law: Foundation for Communities of Opportunity and Equity," recognizes the fundamental role that the rule of law plays in preserving liberty in our Nation and in all free societies. We pay tribute to the men and women in America's legal community. Through hard work and dedication to the rule of law, members of the judiciary and the legal profession help secure the rights of individuals, bring justice to our communities, and reinforce the proud traditions that make America a beacon of light for the world.

Not a bad sentiment, I know. I agree with it, actually. But when it comes from mouth of one George Walker Bush, the words, 'Today, we are reminded of that past and look toward a hopeful future as we work to secure the liberty that is the natural right of every man, woman, and child' one cringes a bit. Securing liberty, he says, on a day where the U.S. prepared to conduct a trial against an empty chair at Guantanamo? Celebrate free society on a day that it's announced that a secret court has more than doubled the number of secret warrants approved in the last seven years?

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04/22/2008

CIA: Out of Touch Much?

By Jenny Egan at 12:43pm
I was just doing a little light reading this morning, on the New York Times website, about Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay when something caught my eye. Right there, atop a photo of Kal Penn and John Cho in orange jumpsuits was this:



A CIA recruitment ad. Odd.

So I did a little more poking and went
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04/08/2008

Standing Up for Fair Trials

By Jenny Egan at 3:47pm
There's been a lot of chatter in the last few months since Colonel Morris D. Davis, former chief prosecutor for the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, revealed that prosecutions there were being affected by undue political pressure. His assertions about the timing and evidence garnered by tortur
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02/25/2008
Guantánamo

Orange Ribbons on the Red Carpet

By Jenny Egan at 2:32pm
?The hype around this year's Oscars, which took place last night at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre, seemed to be triple because the writer's strike meant that the usual precursor shows like the Golden Globes were stiff, studio-shot affairs. So there were even more eyes peeled for dresses, style, and statements last night.

The ACLU was right in the mix. The first major nominee down th
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02/20/2008

Former Guantánamo Military Prosecutor: Commissions Are Rigged

By Jenny Egan at 3:55pm
It's hard not to mention a certain marsupial in relation to Guantanamo and the military commissions the government is attempting to hold when you read this story from The Nation. The former chief prosecutor there, Col. Morris Davis, says that, in 2005, he met with Pentagon General Counsel William Haynes,
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01/11/2008

Close Guantanamo NYC Action Update

By Jenny Egan at 3:42pm
So the plan this morning was to infiltrate the Today show viewing audience. We wanted millions of home viewers to see people wearing orange today and make sure people took note that this is the six-year anniversary of the arrival of the first prisoners at Guantanamo Bay's detention facility. The Today show has an outdoor studio audience, visible through the windows behind the anchors. The only problem was - we had to be subtle because the Today show screens out "political" protest. They also run on a time lag, ostensibly to keep streakers away, but which is also handy for switching camera shots and making sure no one with a message that might matter (not that "HI MOM" isn't an important sentiment, but you can always call the lady after the show).

I arrived at a very prompt 5:51 a.m. Here's how it went down after that:

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01/08/2008

Guantanamo: Six Years Too Many

By Jenny Egan at 3:34pm
On January 11, 2002, 20 prisoners were led off a C-141 transport plane from Afghanistan and onto awaiting buses at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. From there, they were loaded onto a ferry and finally driven into the now-notorious Camp X-Ray. There they were kept for months on end in 6- by 8-f
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11/07/2007

Make That Three Torture Memos

By Jenny Egan at 1:28pm
The frustrating thing about doublespeak is not its untruth - lies can be called out and disproven. No, the frustration with doublespeak is that there is no position to pin down at all. The Bush administration continues to say "we don't torture" out of one side of their mouths while saying "it's necessary" out of the other. It's just damn near impossible to wrestle with that level of Read More»
11/01/2007

Court Reviews President's Wartime Power Grab

By Jenny Egan at 9:46am
Does the President want to implement a policy of presidential prerogative trumping the Constitution, international law, and... well...everything - not just on foreign soil, but in America's heartland as well?

It sometimes seems that way. It was smack dab in the heart of the Midwest that Ali Saleh al-Marri was arrested in 2001. At the time, al-Marri was living with his wife and five children
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