GOP Senator Kills Whistleblower Protection Bill on Last Day of Congress

By Rick Piltz
Climate Science Watch | December 24, 2010

A single Republican Senator, using the egregious parliamentary tactic of placing an anonymous 'hold' without having the integrity to offer a public justification, killed a major whistleblower protection bill that reform advocates have worked on for 12 years, and that had overwhelming bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. This Senator must be exposed and subjected to relentless political opposition for this betrayal of the public interest. The Democrats, if they are fit to govern, must abolish the secret hold on the first day of the incoming Congress.

The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act was a package of badly needed reforms that would restore meaningful whistleblower rights to federal government employees who blow the whistle on waste, fraud, or abuse in the federal government. Among its many contributions to the public interest, the legislation would have created specific protection for scientific freedom, making it an abuse of authority to censor, obstruct dissemination, or misrepresent the results of federal research — a protection for which the need is clear.

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U.N. Investigating Bradley Manning’s Detainment

Posted by Erin on December 27, 2010

The United Nations office for torture issues in Geneva is now investigating a complaint that the U.S.is torturing Bradley Manning. Manning is the detained Army private suspected of giving classified documents to WikiLeaks. He has been held in solitary confinement for seven months despite being an exemplary prisoner. Many experts believe that being held in solitary confinement for an extended period of time does constitute torture. The U.N. said it received a complaint from one of Manning's supporters alleging conditions at the brig amount to torture. According to the U.N., the complaint received alleges that Manning's physical and mental health are deteriorating in the face of continual solitary confinement. The office of Manfred Nowak, special lawyer on torture based in Geneva, confirmed that they are investigating the report. A spokesman for the Marines denied mistreating Manning, telling the AP he is being kept safe, secure and ready for trial.

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The New York Times backs the attack on WikiLeaks

By Alex Lantier
28 December 2010

With a brief Christmas Day editorial, "Banks and WikiLeaks," the New York Times editorial page finally broke its silence on the official campaign targeting WikiLeaks, the news site that has published leaked US diplomatic cables. The Times did so, however, only to give its backhanded support for the campaign, led by the Obama administration, against WikiLeaks.

The Times has maintained a complete silence in the face of the threats of prosecution against the web site, which have escalated in the wake of the leak of hundreds of thousands of State Department documents. It has said nothing about the calls for Julian Assange—the organization's founder—to be arrested, declared an enemy combatant and even assassinated.

Its first editorial on the persecution of WikiLeaks came at the bottom of the editorial page on Saturday. This obscure position itself highlights the newspaper's tacit support for the campaign against WikiLeaks.

Acknowledging that WikiLeaks "has not been convicted of a crime," the Times writes that "the financial industry is trying to shut it down." It cites the decision by Visa, MasterCard, PayPal and Bank of America to refuse to process transactions and donations involving WikiLeaks.

The editorial makes clear, however, that the Times has no principled objections to this attack on democratic rights and freedom of the press—which essentially amounts to a threat by US banks to strangle any news organization that falls afoul of Washington. Indeed, the New York Times apparently believes the banks should have such powers.

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--
Alan
Missouri, United States of Amerika

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Drug export banned in the U.K., executions delayed in the U.S.

Monday, December 27 2010 @ 01:17 PM EST

You can't kill by lethal injection without sodium thiopental, used to put the victims in a coma before two poisons are administered to kill them. So when the sole American provider ran out of its supply, states like Arizona and California turned to a British company that manufactured the same drug. But Change.org members lobbied British Business Minister Vincent Cable via his personal email address, and successfully compelled him to ban the sale under an old law that forbids the export of "execution equipment" like guillotines. Executions across the U.S. continue to be delayed because of the shortage.

by James Clark

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