LAND: The week in review Jan.23-29
Source: Liberty Action News Digest

LOTS of news this week ... bad and good ... from the dark side, 'Drug thugs kidnap Kubby on plane to avoid protesters' (Yes, Steve Kubby has returned to the US after exhausting all Canadian appeals to face a 120-day jail sentence for a [false] drug conviction in 2000 ... and the incarceration may kill him without access to medical marijuana.) The Kubby saga is the top story on the blogosphere right now ... to check for updates, go to Technorati.com and type Steve Kubby into the search engine. Hopefully, if enough attention is brought, Kubby will be allowed his medication. Also from the dark side, John Gilmore loses his appeal in Federal Court (he refused to show identification or undergo an especially rigorous search before boarding an airplane), Peter Demott (one of the St. Pat's Day Four) is sentenced in Federal court to 4 months in federal prison and 4 months in community confinement for the anti-war protest in 2003, China tightens restrictions on journalists' freedom of expression and Google caves in to the Chinese gov't, in the UK, Police stop, search 100 people a day, in Iran, blogger Ahmad Reza Shiri is found guilty again guilty of calling for a boycott of the elections in his blog 'Iran Azad' (Free Iran) and sentenced this time to three years behind bars, in South Korea: Crackdown on "malicious Internet posts" and in Philadelphia, a court orders Website to identify commenters.

But there was some GOOD news this week too ... Turkey drops charges against novelist Orhan Pamuk after an international outcry, the GA ACLU exposes Pentagon spy ring and the Feds to pay ACLU $200,000 in attorney fees to settle no-fly list dispute , Wisconsin towns put war on to referendum and a Chinese editor vows to fight censors.

Commentaries this week on the Steve Kubby saga ['Letter to a DA','You can kill a person; martyrs never die' and 'He doesn't have to die'], Bush's domestic spying ['They know they broke the law', 'Domestic spying, now and then', 'Looking over your shoulder','General reveals shaky grip on 4th Amendment', 'Stalking's just for government now'] the Patrio Act ['The Patriot police'], the Alito nomination ['Alito filibuster:It only takes one '] and more!

Two new actions this week, Protect your right to bio-identical hormone treatment by commenting to the FDA and Arms against War urges us to wear a white armband to protest the war in Iraq.

Til next week

For Freedom

Mary Lou


For these stories and daily updates
http://rationalreview.com/land

LAND: The week in review Jan.17-22
Liberty Action News Digest

Activists in NH 'seek to evict Souter, while gov't flunkies complain 'Most people here see this as an act of revenge and an improper attack on the judicial system," [State Rep] Kurk said. "You don't go after a judge personally because you disagree with his judgments." (Oh really? Why not?) On the NID front, DHS speculates on using 'biometric data' in 'Border crossing cards', but Chertoff assures us 'I don't think it's a national ID card.' (Oh really? What the heck is it, then?) Meanwhile, on the domestic security front, the misnamed DoJ assures us that illegal spying is really legal, while the conservative-liberal coalition 'Patriots to restore Checks and Balances' urges an independent investigation of the Bush spy plan, and even the pro-war Brit writer Christopher Hutchins joins as a plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking a ban on a domestic spy program. Hmm, interesting times make for interesting bedfellows ...

Lots more news this week ... an alleged plot by 'extremist memenbers of Fathers4Justice' to kidnap Tony Blair's son, the SCOTUS refuses to hear a "free speech zone" appeal, kids can't 'opt out' of the Pentagon dbase (even if their parents ask the Pentagon to remove their names... another reason, if one were needed, to keep your kids OUT of publik schools).

In sad news this week, 'Bark" of The Claire Files Forum and the Mental Militia left this world on Jan. 20 ... but 'frienship remains' ... and Loompanics announced it is closing its doors next month, after 30 years of providing 'underground' books to the freedom community. Both will be sorely missed.

Don't miss this week's batch of commentaries ... Knute Berger on 'Real IDocy', Wendy McElroy on the new cyberstalking law, William Rivers Pitt on 'The new fascism', Joan Wile on 'Why Grandma went to jail ' and much more!

Til next week

For freedom

Mary Lou

For these stories and daily updates
http://rationalreview.com/land

To subscribe to the weekly email digest go to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laotw

LIBERTY ACTION NEWS DIGEST
The week in review Jan.9-16

Plenty of news this week as the police state begins to kick in to high gear ... on privacy and the domestic spy scandal,as pols from both boots of the BOYN Party try to convince us that spying on Aunt Minne is necessary for the nations security, and the foxes prepare to investiogate the henhouse; on the National ID and the states realizing it'll cost 'em a cow and a calf, from the UK enforcement plans emerge for their NID and a lesson from the past, as law students in Montana seek pardons for WWI seditionists [yes, WWI, back in the 'good old days' which some look back on as a Shangri-la of constitutional freedoms ...]

In other news, a jailed "no-fly" victim hires legal team and several columnists announce they are on the 'no fly list'[for no apparent reason], RSF kicks off its online freedom campaign and Students for Sensible Drug Policy announce 'The Drug Czar's coming to a town near you'. Commentaries on the Alito hearings and the 'death knell for individual rights' and 'expanding presidential powers', the plight of Cory Maye, the new bankruptcy laws ['Real terrorists rape consumers'], 'Advice from an old man' on the possiblities of a reinstated draft, a sad farewell to the hero of My Lai, Hugh Thompson, an excellent poiece from L. Neil Smith 'Fool me twice' on trusting NEITHER boot of the BOYN, a call for solidarity in the antiwar movement, as the "I" word [impeachment] begins to filter into even the mainstream press.

Interesting times, indeed.

Til next week

For Freedom

Mary Lou

For these stories and daily updates
http://rationalreview.com/land

LAND: The week in review Jan.2-8
Source: Liberty Activist News

From the dark side, the US plans Afghan jail for terror suspects, and shuts down soldiers blogs, gov't web sites are tracking visitors (in violation of the gov't rules) and the Wyoming Supreme Court upholds random searches; a jailed Turkish Cyber-dissident's hunger strike enters second week as the Turkish gov't speech suppression moves from writers to barkeeps and Microsoft kowtows to Chinese censors. On the bright side, the Kelo battle goes on, despite ruling, groups prepare to fight the Alito nomination, civil libertarians go to court over wiretap rule for Internet calls and an anti-war activist draws a cheering crowd in Hawaii. Excellent commentaries contunue to roll in on the Bush attack on the Constitution (Presidential snooping damages the nation, Too high a price to pay for security) ... we aren't yet seeing 'The quiet death of freedom' .....

Til next week

For freedom

Mary Lou


For these stories and daily updates go to
http://rationalreview.com/land

LAND: The week in review Dec.26-Jan.1
Source: Liberty Action News Digest

Ah, the final week of 2005 .... From the dark side, the UK gov't announces you can now be arrested for ANY crime, a Kansas man is fined for anti-war sighs in his own yard ... but in the UK and in Austria, hackers and activists fight back against gov't 'spy cams, in the UK Thousands turn out to defy hunting ban, in Guantanamo hunger strike numbers surge, in Maine a parade permit law is struck down, throughtout the US SLAPP law suit victims fight back ... with counter SLAPPs, and war tax protest spreads as just plain old folks join in the 'low key rebellion' of not paying the 'war tax' on their phone bills. A sad note, labor organizer Clinton Jencks, who'led mineworkers in New Mexico in a strike depicted in the classic movie 'Salt of the Earth', died this week at 87.

During this usually quiet week between Christmas and New Year's, columnists were unusually active, spurred by the domestic spying scandal to get in their licks against 'Big Brother Bush' before well, who knows WHAT might be the next strike against our freedom. As many of us have been pointing out since 9-11, the mainstream is finally beginning to catch on that 'Police state powers are our biggest threat' and folks ARE waking up ['Waking up to a Bill of Rights culture', 'Going too far']. And the mainstream media was filled with editorials such as 'Protect life and liberty ' [Philadelphia Inquirer], 'Police state powers are our biggest threat ' [New York Observer], 'A shocking contempt for the law ' [New York Daily News],'Big Brother is watching' [Oakland Trubune]

But guess what ... it's up to us, the folks who caught on early to what was really 'going down' ... to keep up the pressure, to keep talking about the Bill of Rights culture, to validate and encourage the urges towards freedom in our newly awakened friends ...

The coolest action this week: proposed by a mainstream newspaper, the Oakland Tribune ('Big Brother is watching') ... to collect 537 copies of George Orwell's '1984' and send them to each member of Congress ... has been picked up by libertarians and is being promoted as the 'Stop Big Brother Project'. And encourage everyone you know to 'Demand Congress investigate illegal wiretapping' ... at this point, the administration is only interested in investigating who leaked the story to the NY Times.

If 2005 was the year of the awakening ... what will 2006 bring?

Til next week

For freedom!!

Mary Lou

For these stories and daily updates
http://rationalreview.com/land