Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Fwd: [MCM] UC Davis spied on student fee hike protests
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mark Crispin Miller <markcrispinmiller@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 2:49 PM
Subject: [MCM] UC Davis spied on student fee hike protests
To: newsfromunderground@googlegroups.com
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. If you'd like to donate to News From Underground, please visit http://markcrispinmiller.com/donate - we appreciate your ongoing support.
Ways to unsubscribe, 1) send a blank email to newsfromunderground+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. PLEASE NOTE: you must unsubscribe using the SAME email with which you subscribed; 2) go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page.
For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com
From: Mark Crispin Miller <markcrispinmiller@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 2:49 PM
Subject: [MCM] UC Davis spied on student fee hike protests
To: newsfromunderground@googlegroups.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 22, 2011
Contact: Eric Lee (707) 479-6382 ca.ericlee@gmail.com
Like BART protests, internal documents reveal UC
has spied on student fee hike demonstrations
DAVIS, Ca. – BART actions to inhibit free speech activity isn't new to University of California students who earlier this year uncovered internal documents showing officials has conspired to monitor and control constitutionally-protected fee hike protests at UC Davis.
High-ranking University of California, Davis administrators including Chancellor Linda Katehi, several vice chancellors, more than 30 staff members, and campus police were involved, according to internal documents uncovered by students involved in the demonstrations.
Students and community members are particularly disturbed in light of similar Bay Area Rapid Transit police transgressions on the freedom to communicate.
"We feel threatened that public institutions like UC Davis and BART are actively pursuing policies that treat students and passengers respectively like criminals," said Eric Lee, a 21- year-old recent graduate of UC Davis who has been active in student anti-austerity protests for the past three years.
"In the throes of the current economic meltdown, it is perhaps more valid to question the criminality of dishonest actions taken against those who are trying to fight for a better life. It is a telling sign that decision makers in these institutions feel the need to incriminate others in order to avoid public pressure for their own, sometimes violent, actions," he said.
The documents, obtained through the state public records act, reveal high-ranking administrators, staff members, and leaders of the campus police department formed a network called the "Activism Response Team" to keep close tabs on student activists, including monitoring student Facebook activity, infiltrating protests and attempting to obtain information about "anticipated student actions," and individuals involved in the protests.
In one case, an undercover campus police officer marched with students in plain clothes and refused to identify herself as a member of the UCD police department. UCD has apologized, calling it a "mistake."
Students, faculty, staff, and the Sacramento and Yolo Chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union are extremely concerned about the deepening abuse of police power in publicly used spaces—both public transit terminals and college campuses.
Students take offense at these incursions in light of the political merit of campus protests against tuition hikes: undergraduate tuition at the University of California has increased by more than 40 percent since 2009 and 300 percent since 2001 as essential services have been cut, class sizes reduced, and lower proportions of in-state students admitted.
"Students worry about the precedent that is being set by a law enforcement apparatus that is using the pulpit of 'security' to restrict our rights as citizens of the United States and as human beings. Time and time again history has shown that the false cry of 'security' can only be used to roll back the hard-fought advances of a democratic society," Lee said.
"If we wish to learn from history, we must not sit idly as the pillars of democracy begin to erode and tremble in the wake of a polarizing and precarious reality.
"People, including students at a major university and commuters using public transportation, have the right to dissent without being "monitored" by a secret team of administrators and undercover police or having their right to communication impinged upon.
"If police or administrators wish to observe in a public fashion protests then that is their right. But it ought not to be done in manner more befitting a totalitarian regime than an open public university," he concluded.
-end-
Contact: Eric Lee (707) 479-6382 ca.ericlee@gmail.com
Like BART protests, internal documents reveal UC
has spied on student fee hike demonstrations
DAVIS, Ca. – BART actions to inhibit free speech activity isn't new to University of California students who earlier this year uncovered internal documents showing officials has conspired to monitor and control constitutionally-protected fee hike protests at UC Davis.
High-ranking University of California, Davis administrators including Chancellor Linda Katehi, several vice chancellors, more than 30 staff members, and campus police were involved, according to internal documents uncovered by students involved in the demonstrations.
Students and community members are particularly disturbed in light of similar Bay Area Rapid Transit police transgressions on the freedom to communicate.
"We feel threatened that public institutions like UC Davis and BART are actively pursuing policies that treat students and passengers respectively like criminals," said Eric Lee, a 21- year-old recent graduate of UC Davis who has been active in student anti-austerity protests for the past three years.
"In the throes of the current economic meltdown, it is perhaps more valid to question the criminality of dishonest actions taken against those who are trying to fight for a better life. It is a telling sign that decision makers in these institutions feel the need to incriminate others in order to avoid public pressure for their own, sometimes violent, actions," he said.
The documents, obtained through the state public records act, reveal high-ranking administrators, staff members, and leaders of the campus police department formed a network called the "Activism Response Team" to keep close tabs on student activists, including monitoring student Facebook activity, infiltrating protests and attempting to obtain information about "anticipated student actions," and individuals involved in the protests.
In one case, an undercover campus police officer marched with students in plain clothes and refused to identify herself as a member of the UCD police department. UCD has apologized, calling it a "mistake."
Students, faculty, staff, and the Sacramento and Yolo Chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union are extremely concerned about the deepening abuse of police power in publicly used spaces—both public transit terminals and college campuses.
Students take offense at these incursions in light of the political merit of campus protests against tuition hikes: undergraduate tuition at the University of California has increased by more than 40 percent since 2009 and 300 percent since 2001 as essential services have been cut, class sizes reduced, and lower proportions of in-state students admitted.
"Students worry about the precedent that is being set by a law enforcement apparatus that is using the pulpit of 'security' to restrict our rights as citizens of the United States and as human beings. Time and time again history has shown that the false cry of 'security' can only be used to roll back the hard-fought advances of a democratic society," Lee said.
"If we wish to learn from history, we must not sit idly as the pillars of democracy begin to erode and tremble in the wake of a polarizing and precarious reality.
"People, including students at a major university and commuters using public transportation, have the right to dissent without being "monitored" by a secret team of administrators and undercover police or having their right to communication impinged upon.
"If police or administrators wish to observe in a public fashion protests then that is their right. But it ought not to be done in manner more befitting a totalitarian regime than an open public university," he concluded.
-end-
You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. If you'd like to donate to News From Underground, please visit http://markcrispinmiller.com/donate - we appreciate your ongoing support.
Ways to unsubscribe, 1) send a blank email to newsfromunderground+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. PLEASE NOTE: you must unsubscribe using the SAME email with which you subscribed; 2) go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page.
For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com
http://www.google.com/profiles/technologiclee
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Fwd: [MCM] US Government can lie about its spying on Americans—and even lie to federal judges—for "national security," argues ObamaCo
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Mark Crispin Miller" <markcrispinmiller@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 21, 2011 5:39 AM
Subject: [MCM] US Government can lie about its spying on Americans—and even lie to federal judges—for "national security," argues ObamaCo
To: <newsfromunderground@googlegroups.com>
http://counterpunch.org/eberhardt08192011.html
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. If you'd like to donate to News From Underground, please visit http://markcrispinmiller.com/donate - we appreciate your ongoing support.
Ways to unsubscribe, 1) send a blank email to newsfromunderground+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. PLEASE NOTE: you must unsubscribe using the SAME email with which you subscribed; 2) go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page.
For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com
From: "Mark Crispin Miller" <markcrispinmiller@gmail.com>
Date: Aug 21, 2011 5:39 AM
Subject: [MCM] US Government can lie about its spying on Americans—and even lie to federal judges—for "national security," argues ObamaCo
To: <newsfromunderground@googlegroups.com>
http://counterpunch.org/eberhardt08192011.html
Judge Carney's Ruling
The US Government Won't be Charged With Perjury Even When It's Caught in a Lie
By SALLY EBERHARDT
A chilling court decision unsealed at the end of April by a federal judge in California's Central District reveals that the Obama administration is not only prepared to take advantage of the lies of the Bush administration, but is willing to up the ante. In a case that involved extensive surveillance of Muslim community groups and leaders, the Obama administration has now argued that the government not only can lie about its surveillance activities to American citizens but can, in turn, lie to federal judges when "national security" is involved. And, despite his strongly worded April 27 decision censuring the government for lying, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney ultimately ruled that the government can both withhold the requested surveillance documents and escape censure for lying.
Carney's ruling, which has gone under the radar of most mainstream and independent media (with a lone 420-word editorial in the Los Angeles Times being the only mainstream coverage), chastises the U.S. government. But, that's as far as Carney would go. The government will not be charged with contempt of court or perjury nor will it face any other kind of official sanction. In effect, the government can lie and conduct whatever kinds of surveillance it wants without accountability or repercussions for overreach.
The origins of the current case, Islamic Shura Council of Southern California et al. v. the Federal Bureau of Investigation, et al., stretch back to 2006 and involve six Muslim organizations - the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, the Council on American Islamic Relations-California (CAIR), the Islamic Center of San Gabriel Valley, the Islamic Center of Hawthorne, the West Coast Islamic Center, the Human Assistance and Development International, Inc.- and five Muslim community leaders. These men and groups were among the first Muslim Americans to meet and share information with the FBI after 9/11, and include individuals like Mohammed Abdul Aleem, who served as a government witness for the U.S. Department of Justice in a 2004 terrorism case in Idaho.
However, by May 2006, the plaintiffs began to feel increasingly that they themselves had become the targets of extensive government surveillance and so filed a joint request for their FBI files under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for any records detailing their monitoring or surveillance. After almost a full year had elapsed, on April 27, 2007, the government told nine of the plaintiffs that they had "no records responsive" to their request, and, in June 2007, the FBI sent a single redacted page to CAIR and three redacted pages to Hussam Ayloush, CAIR's Executive Director, and a plaintiff. Unconvinced by this report, the plaintiffs brought a lawsuit against the government, challenging the adequacy of the FBI's search.
In light of the lawsuit, the FBI conducted new searches and produced some 120 pages of documents that they heavily redacted or withheld entirely because they were claimed to be "outside the scope" of the FOIA request. This - it would later turn out - was the government's first instance of lying to the court. They had, of course, already lied to the plaintiffs in their previous correspondence with them which, as Judge Carney cited in his decision, was a curious tactic to take - as, under FOIA, they could have simply identified the "statutory and factual basis" for not releasing certain documents and, so, would have been well within current legal bounds for not issuing requested documents.
Faced with cross-motions by the government and the plaintiffs in the case, in April 2009 the Court ordered an in camera review of the FBI's searches (with only the government present) in order to determine the "propriety" of the FBI's "outside the scope" determinations. Shortly after this order was given, the government - which had now shifted from the Bush administration to the Obama administration - revealed to the court that it actually had identified other "responsive" documents but had never disclosed them to the court or to the plaintiffs. It was at this juncture, under Obama's watch, that the government asserted that it actually had the right to lie to the court because of national security.
Realizing that the government had, as Judge Carney's decision later worded it, "provided false and misleading information to the Court," Carney ordered two in camera hearings, again with only the government present, after which he issued a sealed order in June 2009. But the government immediately appealed this order and sought an emergency motion to stay the decision. In its ruling, the appellate court supported government secrecy. Judge Carney's decision - amended as per the appellate court's order to eliminate all statements which the government designated too sensitive - finally saw the light of day two years later, at the end of this April.
Citing the case of United States v. Richard M. Nixon, to explain why "the very integrity of the judicial system and public confidence in the system depend on full disclosure of all the facts," Carney rebuked the government's attempts to claim that its representations to the Court were not "technically false," writing that the government "cannot negotiate the truth with the Court" nor "under any circumstance affirmatively mislead the Court."
He went on to write that "the Government argues that there are times when the interests of national security require the Government to mislead the Court. The Court strongly disagrees. The Government's duty of honesty to the Court can never be excused, no matter what the circumstance."
But despite these fine sentiments, Carney (who is a George W. Bush appointee) was ultimately unwilling to impose any kind of penalty or even order that the requested FOIA documents be released, leaving the U.S. government with nothing to stop it from lying in court in the future. Under the basic rules of court, the actions of the FBI's lawyer, Marcia K. Sowles, appear to be clearly unethical; yet Judge Carney did not refer Ms. Sowles to a state bar for, at the very minimum, a disciplinary investigation. By failing to hold the government in any way accountable for lying, Judge Carney has succeeded only in ultimately bolstering the government's confidence in acting with impunity.
The government itself hinted at the new level of unfettered reach they now want in one section of their appellate brief that was not under seal, writing that the courts need to "give special deference to the Executive Branch when it invokes national security concerns."
That our government, four decades after the Pentagon Papers, is able to lie in a federal court, get caught and have no price to pay speaks volumes about the state of justice in the United States right now. While there are many things that shock the conscience about how this case played itself out, what might be most shocking is how it reveals the U.S. government's current understanding of the rule of law. As President Nixon once did, the current administration appears to see itself above the law. And despite issuing a strong rebuke in his decision, Judge Carney has given a green light both for the government's lying and for its invasive surveillance.
Sally Eberhardt works with Educators for Civil Liberties, researching civil rights issues post 9/11. She is founding member of Theaters Against War and has worked for human rights organizations in Britain and the U.S.A. She can be reached at sallyeb@earthlink.net.
You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. If you'd like to donate to News From Underground, please visit http://markcrispinmiller.com/donate - we appreciate your ongoing support.
Ways to unsubscribe, 1) send a blank email to newsfromunderground+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. PLEASE NOTE: you must unsubscribe using the SAME email with which you subscribed; 2) go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page.
For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Fwd: [MCM] Military contractors use fake Facebook identity to hack progressive orgs
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mark Crispin Miller <markcrispinmiller@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 4:03 PM
Subject: [MCM] Military contractors use fake Facebook identity to hack progressive orgs
To: newsfromunderground@googlegroups.com
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. If you'd like to donate to News From Underground, please visit http://markcrispinmiller.com/donate - we appreciate your ongoing support.
Ways to unsubscribe, 1) send a blank email to newsfromunderground+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. PLEASE NOTE: you must unsubscribe using the SAME email with which you subscribed; 2) go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page.
For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com
From: Mark Crispin Miller <markcrispinmiller@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 4:03 PM
Subject: [MCM] Military contractors use fake Facebook identity to hack progressive orgs
To: newsfromunderground@googlegroups.com
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/08/18/298081/hbgary-federal-us-chamber-persona/
Earlier this year, ThinkProgress obtained 75,000 private emails from the defense contractor HBGary Federal via the hacktivist group called Anonymous. The emails led to two shocking revelations. First, that an assortment of private military firms collectively called "Team Themis" had been tapped by Bank of America to conduct a cyber war against reporters sympathetically covering the Wikileaks revelations. And second, that late in 2010, the same set of firms began work separately for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a Republican-aligned corporate lobbying group, to develop a similar campaign of sabotage against progressive organizations, including the SEIU and ThinkProgress. 
Revealed: Fake Facebook Identity Used By Military Contractors Plotting To Hack Progressive Organizations
By Lee Fang on Aug 18, 2011 at 12:05 pm
Corporate hacker Aaron Barr draws inspiration from Maxim magazine for his fake persona army.
In presentations obtained by ThinkProgress from the e-mail dump detailing the tactics potentially used against progressives, HBGary Federal floated the idea of using "fake insider personas" to infiltrate left-leaning groups critical of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's policies. As HBGary Federal executive Aaron Barr described in several emails, his firm could work with partner companies Palantir and Berico Technologies to manipulate fake online identities, using networks like Facebook, to gain access to private information from his targets. Other presentations are more specific and describe efforts to use social media to hack computers and find vulnerabilities among even the families of people who work at organizations critical of the Chamber.
In one email from the dump, Barr discusses a fake persona he created called "Holly Weber." She would be born in Portland in 1984, attend Reynolds High School, and work for Lockheed Martin after a stint in the Air Force. Earlier this week, Twitter users actually identified the phony account. Before it was taken down, ThinkProgress snagged screen shots of the fake persona's Facebook and LinkedIn accounts. (Barr also described his strategy for pretending to be teenagers online). View a screenshot of the fake account below:
Profile for "Holly Weber," a fake identity created by defense contractors to manipulate their targets
Barr, who sold his illicit talents to the highest bidder, appears to be drawing on Maxim for inspiration. A Maxim covergirl named Holly Weber was also born in 1984. Unlike Barr's creation, the Maxim one is real.
Hunton and Williams, the law firm representing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, had been immersed in talks with HBGary Federal, Palantir, and Berico to deliver on a $2 million deal to move forward with the hacking plot against the Chamber's critics. However, after Anonymous leaked HBGary's emails and a few reporters picked up on the story, the Chamber distanced itself from the deal. The emails show that HBGary Federal had also worked to sell "persona management" solutions to the U.S. government for cyber intelligence work.
You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. If you'd like to donate to News From Underground, please visit http://markcrispinmiller.com/donate - we appreciate your ongoing support.
Ways to unsubscribe, 1) send a blank email to newsfromunderground+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. PLEASE NOTE: you must unsubscribe using the SAME email with which you subscribed; 2) go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page.
For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com
http://www.google.com/profiles/technologiclee
Monday, August 15, 2011
Fwd: [MCM] Who were the five feds behind the raid on Rawesome Foods?
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mark Crispin Miller <markcrispinmiller@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 9:42 AM
Subject: [MCM] Who were the five feds behind the raid on Rawesome Foods?
To: newsfromunderground@googlegroups.com
http://www.naturalnews.com/033318_government_agents_Rawesome_Foods.html
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...)
(NaturalNews) The Rawesome Foods raid that took place August 3, 2011, is being publicly described by many as an act of "government terrorism" against innocents (http://www.naturalnews.com/033258_R...). And yet there has been very little information published about the names of the government instigators who masterminded these armed raids and oversaw the pillaging of Rawesome Foods and the destruction of tens of thousands of dollars worth of food.
Today, NaturalNews is publishing the names of five government agents who masterminded this raid and / or took part in the raid. This is all part of a campaign to protest these acts of government tyranny by sending emails, making phone calls, sending letters and otherwise making it very clear to these agents that We the People will not tolerate this kind of treatment.
As always, if you send emails to these people, keep the following important points in mind:
• Keep your emails civil. Be firm in your complaints but DO NOT make any threats or engage in illegal of threatening behavior against these individuals. NaturalNews does not condone acts or threats of violence.
• Remember that if you send them emails, they will have your email address, so in order to protect your privacy, it's always better to send emails from anonymous email sources such as Hotmail, Gmail, etc. Absolutely DO NOT send emails from your work or office email account.
• If you send emails or faxes, be sure to clearly state WHY you oppose these government actions against Rawesome Foods. Be clear in your message: Do you think the government has gone too far? Are you opposed to the government destruction of valuable food? Are you offended by the use of gun-toting, SWAT-style police officers as part of these raids? What specifically do you oppose in all this?
These people, in my opinion, represent the worst of runaway Big Government. They perfectly depict how government becomes an institution of evil that destroys private property, disrupts important resources in the food supply, denies infants and children important nutrition (raw goat's milk) and operates with extreme arrogance as if they are untouchable.
Your job is the help remind these people that we know who they are, and we're going to be keeping an eye on them from this point forward to make sure that they respect their role asservants of the People, not rulers over them.
It is crucial that government workers realize that when they are granted power by the People, they must exercise that power with discretion with the intention of serving the People, not conducting their own personal vendettas against individuals or small businesses they don't like.
Scarlett Treviso, Senior Special Investigator, California Dept. of Food and Agriculture
Milk and Dairy Food Safety division
Office phone: 949-716-8913
Email: streviso@cdfa.ca.gov
See the first Rawesome Foods raid warrant, signed by Scarlett Treviso:
http://uncheeseparty.files.wordpres...
Milk and Dairy Food Safety offices around California (with phone numbers):
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/AHFSS_...
General contact info for California Dept of Food and Agriculture:
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Contact_Us.html
Google search on Scarlett Treviso:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Scar...
Email: tpowell@ph.lacounty.gov
Workplace: 5050 Commerce Drive, Baldwin Park, CA 91706
Phone: (626) 430-5150
Fax: (626) 851-3758
General website: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/
http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/90012...
Phone: 213-582-3394
Kelly Sakir's boss is Steve Cooley:
Phone: 213-974-3512
Government website:
http://da.co.la.ca.us/
Read the LA County's collection of lies about raw milk -- and their gloating over their armed raid on Rawesome Foods -- at:
http://da.co.la.ca.us/mr/080311a.htm
Sandi Gibbons is the Public Information Officer for the LA County District Attorney's Office. She would also be another good person to call with your protest:
Phone: 213-974-3525
DeLancey has been caught spreading grossly misleading information about raw milk to the New York Times, including the fear-mongering claim that drinking raw milk causes children to become "paraplegics." (Notice how she doesn't say that taking FDA-approved medications can cause you to DIE?)
Phone: 301-796-4668
Email: siobhan.delancey@fda.hhs.gov
1501 Capitol Avenue, Suite 6001
Sacramento, CA 95814-5005
We could not locate an email for LeCavalier. If you can find one, let us know and we'll update this article with it.
Her boss is Jesus Urrutia, Chief EHS
6851 Lennox Ave. # 310
Van Nuys, CA 91405
(818) 902-4470
From this listing of district offices:
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/eh...
The Director of Environmental Health for the County of Los Angeles is:
Angelo J. Bellomo
abellomo@ph.lacounty.gov
5050 Commerce Drive, Baldwin Park, CA 91706
Phone: (626) 430-5100
Fax: (626) 813-3000
You can also leave a message on the Environmental Health Emergency Hotline at (888) 700-9995
Or use their complaint form at:
http://admin.publichealth.lacounty....
(You can use this form to complain about Dept. of Public Health!)
The mastermind who plots the FDA's war against innocents is none other than Margaret Hamburg, the FDA Commissioner.
Phone number for her office: 301-796-5000
Main FDA number: 888-463-6332
Email address #1: margaretahamburg@aol.com
Email address #2: Margaret.Hamburg@fda.hhs.gov
Be sure to send to both!
Thanks go to this website for providing the emails:
http://tekgnosis.typepad.com/tekgno...
Your phone calls and emails to officials of Oak Park, Michigan helped Julie Bass win her freedom from the tyrants operating there (http://www.naturalnews.com/033186_J...).
Your complaints have also been heard loudly in Detroit Michigan where Maryanne Godboldo is facing multiple felony charges for refusing to medicate her daughter with psychiatric drugs: http://www.naturalnews.com/033295_p...
Now, your voice can make a measurable impact against the government agents involved in these outrageous actions against Rawesome Foods.
Join us in sending emails and making phone calls to voice your complaints against these out-of-control government bureaucrats -- people who I consider to be parasites on society who believe they rule by force (at the end of a gun) and run a totalitarianism dictatorship right here in America.
It's time to put these people in their place and make sure they know we are watching and paying attention -- and we will take action to protect our lives, our liberties and our pursuit of happiness, even in the face of total government oppression and intimidation.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. If you'd like to donate to News From Underground, please visit http://markcrispinmiller.com/donate - we appreciate your ongoing support.
Ways to unsubscribe, 1) send a blank email to newsfromunderground+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. PLEASE NOTE: you must unsubscribe using the SAME email with which you subscribed; 2) go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page.
For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com
From: Mark Crispin Miller <markcrispinmiller@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Aug 14, 2011 at 9:42 AM
Subject: [MCM] Who were the five feds behind the raid on Rawesome Foods?
To: newsfromunderground@googlegroups.com
http://www.naturalnews.com/033318_government_agents_Rawesome_Foods.html
NaturalNews publishes names of government agents who masterminded Rawesome Foods raid
Sunday, August 14, 2011by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...)
(NaturalNews) The Rawesome Foods raid that took place August 3, 2011, is being publicly described by many as an act of "government terrorism" against innocents (http://www.naturalnews.com/033258_R...). And yet there has been very little information published about the names of the government instigators who masterminded these armed raids and oversaw the pillaging of Rawesome Foods and the destruction of tens of thousands of dollars worth of food.
Today, NaturalNews is publishing the names of five government agents who masterminded this raid and / or took part in the raid. This is all part of a campaign to protest these acts of government tyranny by sending emails, making phone calls, sending letters and otherwise making it very clear to these agents that We the People will not tolerate this kind of treatment.
As always, if you send emails to these people, keep the following important points in mind:
• Keep your emails civil. Be firm in your complaints but DO NOT make any threats or engage in illegal of threatening behavior against these individuals. NaturalNews does not condone acts or threats of violence.
• Remember that if you send them emails, they will have your email address, so in order to protect your privacy, it's always better to send emails from anonymous email sources such as Hotmail, Gmail, etc. Absolutely DO NOT send emails from your work or office email account.
• If you send emails or faxes, be sure to clearly state WHY you oppose these government actions against Rawesome Foods. Be clear in your message: Do you think the government has gone too far? Are you opposed to the government destruction of valuable food? Are you offended by the use of gun-toting, SWAT-style police officers as part of these raids? What specifically do you oppose in all this?
Why these individuals represent truly BAD government
Here are the top government agents involved in this raid. It's also worth noting that most of them have been waging a long-term WAR against raw milk over the past several years. Many of these government agents are the very same people responsible for campaigns of threats and intimidation against other raw dairy operations, both in California and around the country.These people, in my opinion, represent the worst of runaway Big Government. They perfectly depict how government becomes an institution of evil that destroys private property, disrupts important resources in the food supply, denies infants and children important nutrition (raw goat's milk) and operates with extreme arrogance as if they are untouchable.
Your job is the help remind these people that we know who they are, and we're going to be keeping an eye on them from this point forward to make sure that they respect their role asservants of the People, not rulers over them.
It is crucial that government workers realize that when they are granted power by the People, they must exercise that power with discretion with the intention of serving the People, not conducting their own personal vendettas against individuals or small businesses they don't like.
Government agent #1: Scarlett Treviso
Helped mastermind the first raid on Rawesome Foods, and has been heavily involved in intimidation tactics against raw dairy farmers across California for years.Scarlett Treviso, Senior Special Investigator, California Dept. of Food and Agriculture
Milk and Dairy Food Safety division
Office phone: 949-716-8913
Email: streviso@cdfa.ca.gov
See the first Rawesome Foods raid warrant, signed by Scarlett Treviso:
http://uncheeseparty.files.wordpres...
Milk and Dairy Food Safety offices around California (with phone numbers):
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/AHFSS_...
General contact info for California Dept of Food and Agriculture:
http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/Contact_Us.html
Google search on Scarlett Treviso:
http://www.google.com/search?q=Scar...
Government agent #2: Terrence Powell
Terrance Powell, Bureau Director, Specialized Surveillance & Enforcement Bureau of Los Angeles County Department of Public HealthEmail: tpowell@ph.lacounty.gov
Workplace: 5050 Commerce Drive, Baldwin Park, CA 91706
Phone: (626) 430-5150
Fax: (626) 851-3758
General website: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/
Government agent #3: Kelly Sakir
Kelly Sakir is the assistant DA of Los Angeles County.http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/90012...
Phone: 213-582-3394
Kelly Sakir's boss is Steve Cooley:
Phone: 213-974-3512
Government website:
http://da.co.la.ca.us/
Read the LA County's collection of lies about raw milk -- and their gloating over their armed raid on Rawesome Foods -- at:
http://da.co.la.ca.us/mr/080311a.htm
Sandi Gibbons is the Public Information Officer for the LA County District Attorney's Office. She would also be another good person to call with your protest:
Phone: 213-974-3525
Government agent #4: Siobhan DeLancey
FDA Press Officer, participated in the investigation of Rawesome, covers Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, including food recalls.DeLancey has been caught spreading grossly misleading information about raw milk to the New York Times, including the fear-mongering claim that drinking raw milk causes children to become "paraplegics." (Notice how she doesn't say that taking FDA-approved medications can cause you to DIE?)
Phone: 301-796-4668
Email: siobhan.delancey@fda.hhs.gov
Government agent #5: Michelle LeCavalier
Michelle is an Environmental Health Specialist III at the Department Of Health Services:1501 Capitol Avenue, Suite 6001
Sacramento, CA 95814-5005
We could not locate an email for LeCavalier. If you can find one, let us know and we'll update this article with it.
Her boss is Jesus Urrutia, Chief EHS
6851 Lennox Ave. # 310
Van Nuys, CA 91405
(818) 902-4470
From this listing of district offices:
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/eh...
The Director of Environmental Health for the County of Los Angeles is:
Angelo J. Bellomo
abellomo@ph.lacounty.gov
5050 Commerce Drive, Baldwin Park, CA 91706
Phone: (626) 430-5100
Fax: (626) 813-3000
You can also leave a message on the Environmental Health Emergency Hotline at (888) 700-9995
Or use their complaint form at:
http://admin.publichealth.lacounty....
(You can use this form to complain about Dept. of Public Health!)
Government mob boss: FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg
The real mastermind behind all this is, of course, the head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a rogue government agency that's widely engaged in acts of domestic terrorismagainst the American people (http://www.naturalnews.com/033280_F...).The mastermind who plots the FDA's war against innocents is none other than Margaret Hamburg, the FDA Commissioner.
Phone number for her office: 301-796-5000
Main FDA number: 888-463-6332
Email address #1: margaretahamburg@aol.com
Email address #2: Margaret.Hamburg@fda.hhs.gov
Be sure to send to both!
Thanks go to this website for providing the emails:
http://tekgnosis.typepad.com/tekgno...
Take action now: Send emails and call these numbers to voices your complaints!
Previous protests organized by NaturalNews have been hugely effective at challenging tyrants and reminding them that they actions are completely unacceptable to freedom-loving Americans.Your phone calls and emails to officials of Oak Park, Michigan helped Julie Bass win her freedom from the tyrants operating there (http://www.naturalnews.com/033186_J...).
Your complaints have also been heard loudly in Detroit Michigan where Maryanne Godboldo is facing multiple felony charges for refusing to medicate her daughter with psychiatric drugs: http://www.naturalnews.com/033295_p...
Now, your voice can make a measurable impact against the government agents involved in these outrageous actions against Rawesome Foods.
Join us in sending emails and making phone calls to voice your complaints against these out-of-control government bureaucrats -- people who I consider to be parasites on society who believe they rule by force (at the end of a gun) and run a totalitarianism dictatorship right here in America.
It's time to put these people in their place and make sure they know we are watching and paying attention -- and we will take action to protect our lives, our liberties and our pursuit of happiness, even in the face of total government oppression and intimidation.
You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. If you'd like to donate to News From Underground, please visit http://markcrispinmiller.com/donate - we appreciate your ongoing support.
Ways to unsubscribe, 1) send a blank email to newsfromunderground+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. PLEASE NOTE: you must unsubscribe using the SAME email with which you subscribed; 2) go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page.
For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com
http://www.google.com/profiles/technologiclee
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Proto: the Language of Space/Time
Proto: the Language of Space/Time
Proto is a language that makes it easy to write complex programs for spatial computers, and MIT Proto is an implementation of that language, currently primarily maintained at BBN Technologies.
A spatial computer is a collection of devices distributed to fill space, where the difficulty of communicating between devices is strongly dependent on their geometric distance. Examples include sensor networks, robotic swarms, cells during morphogenesis, FPGAs, ad-hoc wireless systems, biofilms, and distributed control systems.
Proto is a language for programming spatial computers using a continuous space abstraction. Rather than describe the behavior of individual devices, the programmer views the space filled by the devices as an amorphous medium---a region of continuous space with a computing device at every point---and describes the behavior of regions of space. These programs are automatically transformed into local actions that are executed approximately by the actual network of devices. When the program obeys the abstraction, these local actions reliably produce an approximation of the desired aggregate behavior.
MIT Proto is our implementation of Proto, comprising a compiler, cross-platform virtual machine, simulator, code libraries, and tutorial material. MIT Proto is free, open-source software, licensed such that it can be used to create either free or proprietary projects.
MIT Proto has already been run on several platforms: Mica2 Motes, McLurkin's SwarmBots, the Topobo modular robotics platform, and Merakis on an iRobot Createrobotic base (though the kernel implementations for most of these platforms are not included the current release).
Manuals, tutorials, and other documentation for MIT Proto are included in the distribution.
Fwd: [MCM] Armed federal agents raid a health food club, drag volunteer to jail
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Mark Crispin Miller <markcrispinmiller@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 8:21 PM
Subject: [MCM] Armed federal agents raid a health food club, drag volunteer to jail
To: newsfromunderground@googlegroups.com
You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. If you'd like to donate to News From Underground, please visit http://markcrispinmiller.com/donate - we appreciate your ongoing support.
Ways to unsubscribe, 1) send a blank email to newsfromunderground+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. PLEASE NOTE: you must unsubscribe using the SAME email with which you subscribed; 2) go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page.
For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com
From: Mark Crispin Miller <markcrispinmiller@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 8:21 PM
Subject: [MCM] Armed federal agents raid a health food club, drag volunteer to jail
To: newsfromunderground@googlegroups.com
Armed Federal Agents Raid a Health Food Club, Drag Volunteer to Jail By Ari LeVaux, AlterNet
© 2011 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
-- By Ari LeVaux, AlterNet
Posted on August 7, 2011, Printed on August 8, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/151933/armed_federal_agents_raid_a_health_food_club%2C_drag_volunteer_to_jail
August 3rd was a telling day for the U.S. government's role in controlling our food safety and food security. In Los Angeles, the Rawesome raw food club was raided by armed federal and state agents who arrested a club volunteer and seized computers, file folders, cash, and $70,000 worth of perishable produce. The bail for volunteer James Stewart, 64, was set at $121,000 -- higher than the bail amounts assessed to narcotics dealers and domestic abusers in the courtroom that day. And, in a rare move, Stewart was denied the right to use a bondsman.
Of the thirteen counts against Stewart, 12 regarded raw milk and products made from raw milk that were distributed to club members in a Rose Avenue warehouse. (The other count involved unwashed, room temperature eggs). No illnesses have been reported in the club's 12-year history. And if a problem were to occur with the club's food, members say, they would be able to quickly figure out the source. This was the second such raid on Rawesome, the first having happened in June of 2010.
In addition to the seizure of virtually every file, hard drive, wallet, post-it note and receipt in Rawesome's office, the search warrant also demanded seizure of "cheese, cream, milk, whey, yogurt, butter, kefir, dietary supplements, and any other product deemed necessary for testing."
It remains to be seen if the coconuts, watermelons and buffalo meat taken from the Rawesome Food Club, as seen in this YouTube video, will be tested. What could they possibly test it for? Raw milk contamination? More than likely this food will be tossed.
Lela Buttery, 29, a Rawesome member and part of the de facto support team that has coalesced around Stewart, says a bevy of high profile lawyers, including Charlie Sheen's attorney, have offered their services pro bono. Christopher Darden, who prosecuted OJ Simpson's civil suit, appeared at Stewart's arraignment just in time to get his bond lowered from $121,000 to $30,000 and strike a clause that prevented Stewart from using a bail bondsman.
Buttery says that when the bail amount was first read in court, it was almost comical. "We'd been watching child molesters and wife-beaters get [their bail set at] half that amount. James is accused of things like 'processing milk without pasteurization' and gets such a high bail amount... the felons in court burst out laughing."
Rawesome started 12 years ago as a small group of raw milk drinkers who would occasionally pool their money together for an order. Someone, often Stewart, would take the money to a local farm and score some fresh unpasteurized milk to be divided among the group. As more and more people joined, the club grew from a cooler in a parking lot to a rented storage space to the current warehouse. The inventory diversified as the club evolved, but the layout stayed minimal: in piles, barely labeled.
Rawesome members sign a form attesting "as a member of this private members-only club, I demand access to food that is 1) produced without exposure to chemical contaminants such as industrialized pesticides, fertilizers, cleansers or their gases; 2) complete with its natural unadulterated enzymes intact; 3) may contain microbes, including but not limited to salmonella, E.coli, campylobacter, listeria, gangrene and parasites; 4) the cows are grass-fed and the goats are pastured on a regular basis; 5) fowl are regularly given the opportunity to range outdoors and not fed soy products; and 6) eggs are unwashed and may have bacteria and poultry feces on them."
Last year's raid on Rawesome resulted in seizers of cash, computers and other equipment that have yet to be returned, says Buttery. It also resulted in Rawesome agreeing not to distribute raw milk from Santa Paula-based Healthy Family Farms, which had been supplying raw milk to Rawesome members.
California is one of the few states that allows the sale of raw milk, but only from dairies permitted by the state to do so. Healthy Family Farms, owned by Sharon Palmer, 51, had not kept up with its permitting, and Rawesome was ordered not to purchase HFF milk, which it didn't (Palmer disbanded the herd). Where the club does get its raw milk from is complicated, says Buttery, who mentions it is often stocked raw camel's milk. A biologist by trade, Buttery gushed about the immunoglobulin chemistry of raw camel's milk.
Although her dairy did not supply raw milk to Rawesome, Palmer and her employee Eugenie Bloch, 58, were also arrested on August 3, on nine counts including conspiracy to commit a crime and unlicensed business. Like Stewart they were initially held on bail amounts more appropriate for killers and rapists.
Later that day, as Stewart, Palmer, and Bloch languished in jail, Cargill issued a voluntary recall, 4 months after people began getting sick, of 36 million pounds of ground turkey traceable to its Arkansas plant. Cargill has a history of deadly outbreaks, is a major supplier to the nation's public school meal programs, and sells turkey under dozens of handles and brand names, none of which say "Cargill," reports Tom Philpott in Mother Jones.
Nobody at the plant or at Cargill has been charged with a crime.
While members of Rawesome who simply want to exercise their right to eat whatever they want to are getting bullied by armed multi-agency stings, our government agencies have no such powers of persuasion over corporations like Cargill. The USDA, which oversees the safety of meat products, can only issue "voluntary recalls" of products that have been infected with antibiotic-resistant pathogens.
And while the state of California and the federal government face unprecedented financial problems, considerable state and federal resources have been placed into an undercover investigation to root out information that nobody was trying to hide.
"Since the raid it's come out that we've been under investigation since June 30 of last year," says Buttery. "They've been monitoring us from unmarked vehicles, they have agents who have become members."
If the last week has taught us anything it's that raw milk advocates need better lobbyists in Washington D.C. How the courtroom drama plays out is anybody's guess, but Buttery doesn't think so many lawyers would be lining up to take on this case if it wasn't a winner. In the meantime, Stewart and his associates, and that space on Rose Ave in Venice, are prohibited from having anything to do with the exchange of raw milk. Which basically puts Rawesome out of business.
Or more accurately, out of cooperation.
Both Stewart and Bloch posted their bonds and were released by Friday, August 5th, but Palmer missed her arraignment that day. The mother of three children with a farm to take care of had been in jail since Wednesday, and her detention facility's transport got her to court too late for her arraignment. She'll have to wait until Monday, after five days in jail, for the opportunity to post bail.
Ari LeVaux writes a syndicated weekly food column, Flash in the Pan.
© 2011 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/151933/
You received this message because you are subscribed to Mark Crispin Miller's "News From Underground" newsgroup. If you'd like to donate to News From Underground, please visit http://markcrispinmiller.com/donate - we appreciate your ongoing support.
Ways to unsubscribe, 1) send a blank email to newsfromunderground+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com. PLEASE NOTE: you must unsubscribe using the SAME email with which you subscribed; 2) go to http://groups.google.com/group/newsfromunderground and click on the "Unsubscribe or change membership" link in the yellow bar at the top of the page, then click the "Unsubscribe" button on the next page.
For more News From Underground, visit http://markcrispinmiller.com
--
http://www.google.com/profiles/technologiclee
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)