Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
Rights and Liberties This Week: Citizen Arrests
Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
The Woman Who Could Have Prevented This Financial Mess Was Silenced by Greenspan, Rubin and Summers
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Democracy and Elections:
Memo to GOP: Minority Homeowners Did Not Cause Wall St. Meltdown
David Swanson
DrugReporter:
LSD Cured My Headache
Arran Frood
Election 2008:
Troopergate Investigator: Palin 'Unlawfully Abused Her Authority'
Environment:
The Meltdown We Really Can't Afford
Kerry Trueman
ForeignPolicy:
Obama Talks Tough About Afghanistan; Here's What He's Really in For
Anand Gopal
Health and Wellness:
Medical Research Recession: Funding Flatlined for Diabetes, Cancer, Alzheimer's
Rick Weiss
Hurricane Katrina:
From the Bayou to Baghdad: Mission Not Accomplished
Amy Goodman
Immigration:
What Part of It's An Utter Nightmare to Migrate Legally Don't You Understand?
Diego Graglia
Media and Technology:
Memo to Media: The Palin Rape-Kit Story Has Not Been 'Debunked'
Eric Boehlert
Movie Mix:
The "Battle in Seattle" and Beyond
Stuart Townsend
Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Our Next President Will Transform the Supreme Court
Ellen Goodman
Rights and Liberties:
Voter Election Guide to Human Rights and Civil Liberties
Sex and Relationships:
Why Everyone Loves Hot, Smart Older Women
Vanessa Richmond
War on Iraq:
U.S. Needs to Take in More Iraqi Refugees
Zainab Mineeia
Water:
Can the People Who Live in Coastal Towns Ever Be Safe From Hurricanes?
Lizzy Ratner
Enjoy shopping after Thanksgiving? Wal-Mart posted a record $1.43 billion in sales at its U.S. stores on Nov. 29, breaking the giant retailer's previous one-day record of $1.25 billion set in 2001. All of the shoppers who used credit or debit cards to help the store set its new one-day sales record can rest assured that their purchases were captured by the retailer's sophisticated information technology system, a Press Action story reports.
Speaking of shopping, its a good thing that Winona Ryder, just sentenced to probation and community service for stealing over 5,000 worth of clothing and jewelry, didnt have two prior theft convictions. Under Californias Three Strikes law, she could have ended up like Gary Ewing, who was sentenced to 25 years-to-life for stealing three golf clubs priced at $399 each, or like Leandro Andrade, who had two earlier convictions for burglary and was sentenced to 50-years-to-life sentence for stealing $153 worth of videotapes from two different Kmart stores.
In other arrests, an amateur photographer was picked up by the Denver police and interrogated for three hours because he attempted to take a photo of an area where Dick Cheney lived. The photographer, Mike Maginnis, said he was called "a threat to national security," a "raghead collaborator" and a "dirty pinko faggot", and told he would be arrested under the USA PATRIOT ACT, before finally being released--without being charged with a crime and without his camera. I feel safer now, dont you?
And Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen arrested in May and accused of meeting with Al-Queda operatives, may see a lawyer for the first time, a judge ruled this week. Up until this point, Jose Padilla, declared an "an enemy combatant" by the government, has been forbidden from meeting with attorneys. However, the judge also ruled that, once a citizen has been definitely classified as an enemy combatant, he or she can be held without charges and without legal representation, for as long as the government declares necessary.
Unlike Maginnis, most Americans may not yet be feeling the effects of the New-and-Improved-Ultra-Mega-Now-Were -Really-Secure Homeland Security Act, but those who generally feel the brunt of increased government and police presence are feeling it even more. Marcelo Ballve of Pacific News Service reports on how immigrant day laborers are dealing with increasingly hostile streets.
Finally, police officer Eduardo Delacruz , in a rare case of obeying a higher law, was suspended without pay and is facing possible dismissal because he stood up for homeless people against a new New York City intensified harassment policy. Delacruz is accused of refusing to arrest 44-year-old Stephen Neil, a homeless man who was trying to stay warm sleeping in a parking garage. In these times, doesnt this small act of independent thinking and refusing to follow orders qualify as good news?
Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »
| More News and Analysis: | ||
|
Troopergate Investigator: Palin 'Unlawfully Abused Her Authority' Rights and Liberties: The news isn't good for the Republican vice presidential nominee -- and is an unpleasant reminder of the power abuses of the Bush years. AlterNet. October 11, 2008. |
Troopergate: Palin's Abuse of Power -- A Lawyer's View Rights and Liberties: Cut through the legal language, and the abuse of power is as bad as anything we've seen in the Bush era. By oregondem, Daily Kos. October 11, 2008. |
The Woman Who Could Have Prevented This Financial Mess Was Silenced by Greenspan, Rubin and Summers Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace: A sad tale emerges of willfully arrogant behavior designed to undermine a wise woman's good judgment. By Katrina vanden Heuvel, TheNation.com. October 11, 2008. |