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Mark Lillie Radio Talk
Friday, 18 August 2006
Thursday, 17 August 2006
Judge nixes warrantless surveillance
By SARAH KARUSH, Associated Press Writer 39 minutes ago A federal judge on Thursday struck down President Bush's warrantless surveillance program, saying it violated the rights to free speech and privacy, as well as the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution. U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit is the first judge to rule on the legality of the National Security Agency's program, which the White House says is a key tool for fighting terrorism that has already stopped attacks. "Plaintiffs have prevailed, and the public interest is clear, in this matter. It is the upholding of our Constitution," Taylor wrote in her 43-page opinion. The administration said it would appeal to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. "We're going to do everything we can do in the courts to allow this program to continue," Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said at a news conference in Washington. White House press secretary Tony Snow said the Bush administration "couldn't disagree more with this ruling." He said the program carefully targets communications of suspected terrorists and "has helped stop terrorist attacks and saved American lives." Taylor ordered an immediate halt to the program, but the government said it would ask for a stay of that order pending appeal. The American Civil Liberties Union, which brought the suit, said it would oppose a stay but agreed to delay enforcement of the injunction until Taylor hears arguments Sept. 7. The ACLU filed the lawsuit in January on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers who say the program has made it difficult for them to do their jobs. They believe many of their overseas contacts are likely targets of the program, which monitors international phone calls and e-mails to or from the U.S. involving people the government suspects have terrorist links. The ACLU says the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which set up a secret court to grant warrants for such surveillance, gave the government enough tools to monitor suspected terrorists. The government argued that the NSA program is well within the president's authority but said proving that would require revealing state secrets. The ACLU said the state-secrets argument was irrelevant because the Bush administration already had publicly revealed enough information about the program for Taylor to rule. The adminstration has decried leaks that led to a New York Times report about the existence of the program last year. Taylor, a Carter appointee, said the government appeared to argue that the program is beyond judicial scrutiny. "It was never the intent of the framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly where his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights," she wrote. "The three separate branches of government were developed as a check and balance for one another." Administration officials said the program is essential to national security. The Justice Department said it "is lawful and protects civil liberties." In Washington, Republicans expressed hope that the decision would be overturned, while many Democrats praised the ruling. "It is disappointing that a judge would take it upon herself to disarm America during a time of war," Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the decision shows the executive branch needs more external reviews. "The administration is wrongly convinced that it can run the country without Congress or oversight. This is their tragic failure, and the courts understand it," Rockefeller said. ACLU executive director Anthony Romero called Taylor's opinion "another nail in the coffin in the Bush administration's legal strategy in the war on terror." "At its core, today's ruling addresses the abuse of presidential power and reaffirms the system of checks and balances that's necessary to our democracy," he told reporters. One of the plaintiffs in the case, Detroit immigration attorney Noel Saleh, said the NSA program had made it difficult to represent his clients, some of whom the government accuses of terrorist connections. Saleh, a leader in Michigan's large Arab-American community, also said he believes many conversations between people in the community and relatives in Lebanon were monitored in recent weeks as people here sought news of their families amid the violence in the Middle East. "People have the right to be concerned about their family, to check on the welfare of their family and not be spied on by the government," he said. Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, is championing a compromise that would allow Bush to submit the surveillance program to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a one-time test of its constitutionality. But under Thursday's ruling that would not be enough, said Richard Pildes, a professor at New York University School of Law. Taylor suggests in her ruling that the program "would violate the Constitution even if Congress authorized it," Pildes said. "Until Congress actually addresses these questions, I would expect most appellate courts to be extremely reluctant to address many of the questions this judge was willing to weigh in on." While siding with the ACLU on the surveillance issue, Taylor dismissed a separate claim by the group over NSA data-mining of phone records. She said not enough had been publicly revealed about that program to support the claim and further litigation would jeopardize state secrets. The lawsuit alleged that the NSA "uses artificial intelligence aids to search for keywords and analyze patterns in millions of communications at any given time." Multiple lawsuits have been filed related to data-mining against phone companies, accusing them of improperly turning over records to the NSA. The data-mining was only a small part of the Detroit suit, said Ann Beeson, the ACLU's associate legal director and the lead attorney on the case. ___ Associated Press writer Katherine Shrader in Washington contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: Taylor's ruling: http://www.mied.uscourts.gov/eGov/taylorpdf/06%2010204.pdf Information on the case from the ACLU: http://www.aclu.org/nsaspying National Security Agency: http://www.nsa.gov Powered by Qumana
Posted by djsource1
at 5:13 PM PDT
Tuesday, 15 August 2006
Growing Cell Phone Penetration = Media Measurment Opportunity
From http://allaccess.com According to a MEDIA AUDIT survey, more AMERICAN adults use cell phones (73.7%) than watch prime time TV on an average day (60.7%) or regularly read the front page section of a newspaper (53%), which makes the cell phone the ideal media measurment device, according to MEDIA AUDIT President BOB JORDAN. Powered by Qumana
Posted by djsource1
at 10:50 AM PDT
HD2 Multicasting Growing, 18 More Markets Come Aboard
According to http://allaccess.com The HD DIGITAL RADIO ALLIANCE has announced that 18 new, local markets will begin HD2 multicast programming this FALL, marking the third wave of stations rolling out side channels under the ALLIANCE?s format-selection program. Powered by Qumana
Posted by djsource1
at 10:35 AM PDT
Thursday, 10 August 2006
Randi Rhodes Accuses Neal Boortz Of Racist Remarks
On the August 9 edition of CNN's Larry King Live, Air America's Randi Rhodes accused nationally syndicated radio host Neal Boortz of making slanderous statements against Muslims, and she urged King, his producers, and viewers to "go to mediamatters.org and look up what Neal Boortz has said." Rhodes accused Boortz of calling "every Muslim a raghead" and said that he "called Muhammad, who is their prophet, a raghead" and a "phony." Boortz denied Rhodes' accusations, stating, "If Randi can come up with an instance where I called all Muslims ragheads, I have a $5,000 donation to Air America." Boortz continued smearing Muslims on the August 10 broadcast of Cox Radio Syndication's The Neal Boortz Show, during which he stated, "It is perfectly safe to say all terrorists are Muslims. All of them. If it was not for the religion of Islam, this world would be a much, much, much more peaceful place today. If it were not for the religion of Islam, there would be many thousands, maybe tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people alive today living peaceful, happy, and fulfilled lives than there are. Agony, misery, death is occurring all over this world, brought to us by the wonderful, peaceful religion of Islam." Although Media Matters for America has not documented Boortz using the specific term "raghead," on the July 19 edition of his radio program, he called the prophet Muhammad "a phony rag-picker" and stated that Islam is "a religion of vicious, violent, bloodthirsty cretins." On the August 4, 2004, edition of his radio program, Boortz mocked Shahada (the Islamic creed), which reads, "There is no true God but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God." Boortz then stated, "Say that with conviction, folks, and the next thing you know, you're strapping on a suicide bomb." During the same broadcast, Boortz read from a book titled A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam. Boortz read a list of topic headings -- "It goes into things like the universe, and the cosmos, and how wind moves clouds" -- before making his point: "I'm looking for the part in here where it tells them to go out and kill people who aren't Muslims. And then I don't see it." Boortz then dismissed Muhammad as "a guy who got bored selling secondhand clothes," and then started a religion. From the August 9 edition of CNN's Larry King Live:
From the August 10 broadcast of Cox Radio Syndication's The Neal Boortz Show:
Posted by djsource1
at 5:17 PM PDT
GOP, Democrats clash over war on terror
WASHINGTON - Republicans and Democrats clashed over the war on terror on Thursday within hours of the disclosure of a thwarted terrorist plot in Britain, each side accusing the other of doing too little to deter the threat of attack. "We must implement the strong recommendations of the independent 9/11 commission to improve airport security screening at checkpoints," said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, stressing one of the party's principal campaign-year promises in its drive to gain control of Congress.
Ohio Republicans said the Democratic candidate for the Senate, Rep. Sherrod Brown (news, bio, voting record), had voted against money "for the very types of programs that helped the British thwart these vicious attacks." "I don't question his patriotism, but the fact is if Sherrod Brown had his way, America would be less safe," said Bob Bennett, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. Brown, who is challenging Republican Sen. Mike DeWine (news, bio, voting record), mentioned the billions spent on the Iraq war and said the thwarted attacks "underscore the need to refocus our resources on fighting the war on terror." The charges served as a reminder that with midterm elections less than three months away, not even an alleged attack to blow up passenger planes was off-limits to politics. Throughout the day, the accusations grew more heated with Republicans and Democrats criticizing each other for using the day's events for political gain. To be sure, both sides are seeking political advantage on national security. Voters will choose a new Congress Nov. 7, and polls show the public favoring Democratic control of Congress over Republicans who have been in power for a dozen years. Additionally, recent polls have found that the Republican edge on terrorism and protecting the country has eroded over the past few months. An Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted this week — but before news of the foiled terror plot — found that 40 percent approved of President Bush's performance on foreign policy and terrorism, down slightly from 44 percent in July. The percentage was still higher than the number of Americans who approve of his handling of Iraq, the economy and domestic issues. The disclosure Thursday that British officials disrupted terrorists' plans to blow up aircraft heading to the U.S. gave both Republicans and Democrats an opportunity to emphasize their positions on national security — and highlight the differences facing voters. "Freedom is never free, and we must never be complacent in defending it," House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said. Echoing the GOP's election-year message, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., added: "We must be on alert so that our nation does not suffer another attack like 9/11." "As a result of mismanagement and the wrong funding priorities, we are not as safe as we should be," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada countered. Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, added: "This is a stark reminder that the war on terrorism is global, and extends far beyond Iraq to our very shores." Not all Democrats echoed their leaders' refrain. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who intends to run as an independent after losing his Democratic primary to anti-war challenger Ned Lamont, said the foiled plot "should serve as the latest, most serious evidence that we are in a war against a brutal enemy that intends to attack us over and over again in the most indiscriminate way." Lamont said the Bush administration has been preoccupied with Iraq while national security and efforts to curb terrorism have suffered. "We need to change course, and that means standing up to this administration and fighting for our security in a rational, serious way," he said. In 2002 and 2004, the GOP sought to make the case that there hasn't been an attack on U.S. soil since 2001 because the Bush administration and Republicans have been diligent on national security. The GOP portrayed Democrats as weak on the issue and suggested that Democratic rule could endanger the country. In a sign that the issues will reverberate beyond this fall, potential 2008 presidential candidates weighed in on the scheme. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's office said he will activate the National Guard to help with security at Logan International Airport for the first time since the 2001 attacks. And, New York Gov. George Pataki, also a Republican, said the disrupted terror operation "underscores the need for continued vigilance, intelligence gathering and cooperation among law enforcement agencies and the public."
Posted by djsource1
at 5:11 PM PDT
Saturday, 5 August 2006
Landis Vows To Clear His Name
Posted by djsource1
at 9:27 AM PDT
Landis Test "B" Is Positive Title May Be Stripped
This is beyond dissapointing-Mark Lillie Aug 5, 2006
Posted by djsource1
at 8:09 AM PDT
Friday, 28 July 2006
Landis says testosterone levels that triggered drug test are natural
By MAR ROMAN, Associated Press Writer July 28, 2006
MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Floyd Landis said the high testosterone that showed up in a drug screening at the Tour de France is the result of his natural metabolism -- not doping of any kind -- and he will undergo more tests to prove it. "We will explain to the world why this is not a doping case but a natural occurrence," Landis said at a news conference Friday, his first public appearance since the test result cast doubt on one of the most stirring comeback wins in Tour history. Landis said in a Thursday teleconference that he had no idea what caused his elevated testosterone levels following the race's 17th stage last week, where he made his heroic charge into the Alps. But on Friday, he was adamant that the reading was the result of his natural physiology. "I would like to make absolutely clear that I am not in any doping process," said Landis, wearing a baseball cap turned backward and a white shirt with the name of his Phonak team. "I ask not to be judged by anyone, much less sentenced by anyone." Landis is still awaiting results from a backup sample, which will clear him if found to be negative. Switzerland-based Phonak said it would ask that the backup sample be tested in the next few days.
"I will procede to under go all these tests ... to accredit that the levels that I've had during the Tour and all my career are natural and produced by my own organism," he said. Until those tests are conducted, Landis said, "I ask not to be judged, or much less to be sentenced by anyone." If ultimately proven guilty, he could be stripped of the Tour title and fired from the team. The team suspended Landis after the International Cycling Union notified it Wednesday that he had an "unusual level of testosterone/epitestosterone" when his test was taken last Thursday, the day he staked his comeback in the Alps. Landis, a native of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, said he was shocked when told of the initial positive result. He said he had been tested six other times during the tour, and many other times during the year. His voice was subdued and at times downcast on the Thursday call, when he said he expected to clear his name but never to truly shake the disgrace of doping. But Landis turned defiant in his Friday appearance, chastising the media for implying that he was accused of doping and defending himself as an honest competitor who devoted his life to his sport. "I declare convincingly and categorically that my winning the Tour de France has been exclusively due to many years of training and my complete devotion to cycling," he said. "I was the strongest guy. I deserved to win, and I'm proud of it." Landis' positive test rocked the cycling world, already under a cloud following a wide-ranging doping investigation in Spain that led to the barring of several of the world's leading cyclists from the Tour. On the eve of the Tour's start, nine riders -- including pre-race favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso -- were ousted, implicated in a Spanish doping investigation. Their names turned up on a list of 56 cyclists who allegedly had contact with a Spanish at the center of the probe. Landis was not implicated in that investigation.
Posted by djsource1
at 12:06 PM PDT
Thursday, 27 July 2006
Christian radio To Porn Radio...
KINGSBURG, Calif. (AP) - A Central Valley radio station that once broadcast Christian music, sermons and Bible stories was edged out by a new format centered on sex. "Porn Radio" has replaced the religious radio format at KFYE-FM. The station was sold earlier this month and now promotes "all sex radio, all the time," by way of songs with suggestive titles and lyrics. The playlist includes "Why Don't We Do It in the Road" by The Beatles, "Sexual Healing" by Marvin Gaye and "Nasty" by Janet Jackson. Tamer songs are heated up by adding recorded moans and groans. "It would appear this is another of those promotions that are simply designed to create controversy," said longtime Fresno radio personality Ed Beckman. "This format belongs on Sirius or XM, not on over-the-air." The station tries not to cross the line, said owner Jerry Clifton.
Posted by djsource1
at 10:02 PM PDT
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