Free Republic

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, frustrated by the Justice Department's failure to explain the dismissal of charges against New Black Panther Party members who disrupted a Philadelphia polling place during last year's elections, has subpoenaed the department demanding records showing how the case was handled. David P. Blackwood, the commission's general counsel, said Tuesday in a letter to the Justice Department that efforts since June to obtain an explanation had proceeded "without any success" and the "dearth of cooperation" had prompted the commission to issue subpoenas. "We are both mindful of the sensitivity of the subject matter involved and...

A marathon deportation case against two Palestinian immigrants, pursued by the administrations of four U.S. Presidents over 20 years, has been dismissed. The ruling closes a Byzantine legal saga that wound its way through federal appellate courts, the U.S. Supreme Court and federal immigration boards, breaking new legal ground along the way. It ended at the Department of Homeland Security, where the dismissal order was entered Tuesday. One of the defendants, Khader Musa Hamide, said in an interview that he will never get over the experience of being under suspicion for 20 years but now "I can breathe better." A...

One in five Guantanamo Bay detainees is on hunger strike Guantanamo Bay (Roberto Schmidt/EPA) 33 detainees are being force-fed Tim Reid in Guantanamo Bay Nearly a fifth of the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay are on hunger strike with the aim of attracting the attention of Barack Obama, military officials have told the Times, with most of them being force fed. Of the 248 inmates inside the controversial US detention facility, 44 are refusing food, and 33 of those are receiving nutrition with tubes that are forced up their noses and into their stomachs. On election night, according to one...

Does America need a terrorist financier to secure its “freedom”? Sami al-Arian thinks so. His National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom poses as a watchdog for the Constitution, but he has focused his lobbying efforts on repealing anti-terrorist legislation. While Sami al-Arian himself has been arrested for being a prime financier for Palestinian Islamic Jihad (and likely one of its three founders), his political movement continues to threaten homeland security. Al-Arian founded the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom (NCPPF) in 1997 as a reaction to the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1996. The coalition’s stated goal “is to help change the...

Two leading civil rights groups plan to file lawsuits Tuesday against the Bush administration over its domestic spying program.... The Center for Constitutional Rights plans to sue on behalf of four lawyers at the center and a legal assistant there who work on terrorism-related cases at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba,... Similarly, the plaintiffs in the A.C.L.U. lawsuit include five Americans who work in international policy and terrorism, along with the A.C.L.U. and three other groups.... One of the A.C.L.U. plaintiffs, Larry Diamond, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, ... Also named as plaintiffs in the A.C.L.U. lawsuit are the journalist...

Michael Ratner (above, holding document) of the Center for Constitutional Rights rants against the country he hates most: the United States.* * * * * Much has already been written of the U.S. Supreme Court's lawless, nonsensical decision in Boumediene v. Bush that gives America's terrorist enemies unprecedented access to our civilian court system, but little has been written about the aggressively anti-American public interest law firm that helped to make it happen.* The nonprofit Center for Constitutional Rights, which acted as co-counsel in the case, is deeply enmeshed in the politics of terrorism (take one guess on whose side)...

Detention transformed doctor into man of peace Saudi carries no bitterness home as he ends San Antonio stay 05/25/2002 By DAVID McLEMORE / The Dallas Morning News SAN ANTONIO - Dr. Al-Badr Al-Hazmi sits easily on the carpeted floor of the mosque. He speaks with a soft intensity, the words spilling out as he describes the day his life was turned upside down. Stony-faced FBI agents whisked him from his San Antonio home a day after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He was flown to New York and secreted in a detention cell for nearly two weeks. Like hundreds...

French prosecutors throw out Rumsfeld torture case Fri Nov 23, 2007 12:27pm EST PARIS (Reuters) - The Paris prosecutors' office has dismissed a suit against Donald Rumsfeld accusing the former U.S. defense secretary of torture, human rights groups who brought the case said on Friday. The plaintiffs, who included the French-based International Federation of Human Rights Leagues (FIDH) and the U.S. Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), said Rumsfeld had authorized interrogation techniques that led to rights abuses. The FIDH said it had received a letter from the prosecutors' office ruling that Rumsfeld benefited from a "customary" immunity from prosecution granted...

A US human rights group says it is suing private security firm Blackwater for unspecified damages for war crimes and wrongfully killing Iraqi civilians. The Center for Constitutional Rights is acting on behalf of an injured survivor and three families of men killed by Blackwater guards on 16 September. The Iraqi government said the incident in which 17 people died was unprovoked. Blackwater denies firing without cause. The case has put a spotlight on private military contractors in Iraq. BLACKWATER USA FACTS Founded in 1997 by a former US Navy Seal Headquarters in North Carolina One of at least 28...

A Saudi suspected of being the "20th hijacker" in the Sept. 11 attacks has recanted his confession, saying he made false statements after he was beaten, abused and humiliated at Guantanamo, according to documents obtained Friday by The Associated Press. Mohammed al-Qahtani — who U.S. officials have said previously was subjected to harsh treatment authorized by former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld — denied knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks in his first appearance before a military panel at Guantanamo Bay in October. "I am a businessman, a peaceful man," al-Qahtani testified under oath, nearly five years after he was...

It's been two years since Hurricane Katrina and Rita ripped through the belly of the South, and survivors, along with various scholars and activists, are seeking to hold the US government responsible in a tribunal court hearing scheduled for this August. On Tuesday (July 17), New York City Councilman Charles Barron and former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney met at Manhattan's Center for Constitutional Rights for a press conference to discuss the upcoming trial. The tribunal will target President Bush, the US government, State of Louisiana, State of Mississippi, and various other agencies who were involved in the Katrina and Rita...

December 3, 2006: In the United States, a federal judge has ruled that the President does not have the authority to designate certain organizations as terrorist groups. This ruling is the latest round of lawfare against the war on terror. In this case, two foreign terrorist organizations, the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elan (LTTE), were the beneficiaries of this suit. Why is this case, filed on behalf of the Humanitarian Law Project, important? After all, a number of human rights groups have still been waging lawfare, largely on behalf of al Qaeda. This suit...

Rabih Haddad, a founder of an Islamic charity based in suburban Bridgeview, held meetings outside the U.S. more than a decade ago with members of terror groups linked to Al Qaeda, according to federal prosecutors. During his overseas trips, the Lebanese-born Haddad, who was arrested by immigration agents four months ago, was reportedly seen at facilities that housed and supported organizations tied to the terrorist network, government officials said. The accusations were contained in the more than 1,000 pages of documents from immigration court transcripts released Friday by the government. Their release came after a federal appeals court in Cincinnati...

The ACLU of Georgia is one of the crown jewels in the ACLU’s stable of state chapters. According to Gerry Weber, Legal Director of the ACLU of GA, the GA ACLU litigates approximately 40 cases. Weber stated this is the “highest caseload of any ACLU in the country.” The GA Chapter has successfully fought against the state Voter ID law, assisted Henry Co school system set up a Gay/Straight Alliance in the schools and attempted to overthrow the voice of the people in GA regarding same sex marriage. If an issue arises in the state that is in opposition to...

Last week, I reported how the ACLU is using unaccountable global governance bodies to find the United States in violation of a whole host of what they called “universal” human rights. As outrageous as this is, the ultra-Left Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) is planning something far more sinister. On November 14, 2006, the CCR plans to file a criminal complaint in a German court on behalf of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet, and...

As Posted on Drudge...Exclusive: Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abusehttp://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1557842,00.htmlAlso:# Alberto Gonzales, George Tenet also to be named...# Focus: Alleged roles in abuses committed at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo Bay...# Former Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski to testify on behalf of plaintiffs...# PENTAGON: NO COMMENT...

Worse Than The ACLU If you thought the left-wing American Civil Liberties Union was bad, wait till you read about the ultra-left "public interest" law firm called the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in “The Terrorists’ Legal Team.” The Center for Constitutional Rights is openly anti-American and pro-terrorist. Groups suspected of ties to terrorism give money to CCR. The granddaughter of the executed Communist spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg works there. The late (second) wife of the traitor Alger Hiss left money to CCR in her will. Actors Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon fund CCR, as does singer Natalie Merchant...

A new book by David Horowitz and Richard Poe has enraged the Left and alarmed many conservatives. It exposes the machinations of a radical clique working at the highest levels of government and finance to undermine American power. That book is The Shadow Party: How George Soros, Hillary Clinton and Sixties Radicals Seized Control of the Democratic Party. It hit the New York Times bestseller list in its first week in print. Here to tell us about The Shadow Partyis co-author Richard Poe, our esteemed colleague at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, where he serves as director of research. Mr....

Civil Liberties for Terrorists But Not for American TroopsBy Jacob LaksinFrontPageMagazine.com | June 21, 2006 In recent years the ranks of alleged victims championed by civil libertarians on the political Left have swollen to include everyone from the terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay, to anti-American radicals, to environmentalist ultras and illegal immigrants. But there’s at least one group ineligible for victim status under the legal Left’s guidelines: American troops.  This seems to be the lesson of the “Camp Pendleton Eight.” A group of seven Marines and one Navy corpsman, they are currently being held--reportedly under excessively harsh conditions--at the Camp...

To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor Contact: Connie Julian, 917-449-9064, Janet Yip 212-941-8086 or commission@nion.us News Advisory: From: International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration WHEN: January 10, 2006 at 1:30 p.m. WHERE: The White House, Walk-in Gate, across from Lafayette Park WEBSITE: http://www.bushcommission.org An unprecedented series of indictments alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity, in five separate areas, on moral, political, and legal grounds, will be delivered by a citizens' tribunal to President Bush at the front gate of the White House this Tuesday, January 10th. Named in the indictments are: President of...

One "plaintiff" in the nuisance lawsuits being filed against the Director of the NSA et al is none other than the granddaughter of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg -- Rachel Meeropol.Lest we forget, the Rosenbergs were executed in 1953 for helping to pass US atom bomb secrets to the Soviet Union. (Most fittingly, Julius's KGB nom de guerre was "Liberal.")True to her roots, Rachel is a Vice President of the New York City chapter of the communist National Lawyers Guild. She is also a fixture in some of the most ultra left organizations out there, such as The Children Of Resistance.Of...

Legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights Bill Goodman,left, talks to media on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2006 in New York. This morning Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a lawsuit against President George W. Bush, the head of National Security Agency (NSA)and the heads of the other major security agencies, challenging the NSAs surveillance of persons within the U.S. without juridical approval or statutory authorization. An unidentified aide is in the background. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh)

Many argue that communism will never be possible because of "human nature". The essence of this false argument is the belief that a communist society would consist of an all-powerful central government that would tell everybody what to do--and would therefore undermine the creative initiative of individuals and the search for happiness. • This argument is based on two false assumptions: (1) It assumes that a communist society will look like the former Soviet Union, or the current China, North Korea, etc (ie: corrupt police states with a feudal-style ruling class) (2) It assumes that people will only work in...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cmp/20050715/tc_cmp/165702500 UN Panel: No Single Nation Should Control Internet Addresses Aoife White Thu Jul 14, 9:38 PM ET BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP)--A U.N. panel created to recommend how the Internet should be run in the future has failed to reach consensus but did agree that no single country should dominate. The United States stated two weeks ago that it intended to maintain control over the computers that serve as the Internet's principal traffic cops. In a report released Thursday, the U.N. panel outlined four possible options for the future of Internet governance for world leaders to consider at a November "Information...

Here is the list so far for sponcers to this hate America fest: ANSWER Code Pink UFPJ NION Al Awda World Workers Party Ruckas Revolutionary Communist party Moveon.org ACORN Campus Antiwar Network International Socialist Org Greens Party Muslim Student Association CPUSA

WASHINGTON — Megan Watson, leader of Mainstream Moms, is so angry at military recruiters for invading schools to sign up unwary youth for combat in Iraq that she and her group launched an online movement, “LeaveMyChildAlone.org.” “They offer these trinkets to lure our children to enlist,” Watson said in a phone interview from her home in Bolinas, Calif. “This is very aggressive, demographic targeting to have conversations with our kids that should not be happening.” All branches of the military are falling short of recruiting goals as parents say, in effect, “Hell no! My kids won’t go!” Watson blasted the...

A.N.S .W.E.R.'s response to Bush:Hit the Streets September 24!Recognizing that the people of the United States have turned dramat ically against the war and occupation of Iraq, Bush went on national televi sion tonight to defend his imperial foreign policy. He repea tedly invoked September 11 as a pretext for the criminal and illegal war ag ainst Iraq. Bush took to the airwaves tonight because the antiwar m ovement is growing in strength. Our power poses a major poli tical obstacle to the continuation of the war and occupation. Now Bush has taken on the additional role of Recruiter-in-Chi ef, urging young people to sign up for military...

At the culmination of a gathering of global 'antiwar' groups in Istanbul to hold court on the liberation of Iraq led by the United States and the United Kingdom, the jurors who heard testimony against the liberators issued their findings which included a declaration of support for the terrorists in Iraq who are killing American, British and coalition soldiers and Iraqis.The World Tribunal on Iraq is endorsed by leading leftwing organizations from around the world including American-based groups like Not in Our Name Project, United for Peace and Justice, Code Pink and International ANSWER.The war on terror has reached a...

Germany's federal prosecutors have been asked to launch investigative proceedings against members of the U.S. cabinet. A U.S. human rights group filed war crime charges against U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other senior U.S. officials and military officers early this week, saying they were responsible for the torture and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib. Even though both the plaintiffs and the suspects are American, the complaint was filed on Tuesday with federal prosecutors at the Bundesgerichtshof in Karlsruhe. The human rights organization, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), led by its president Michael Ratter, said...

The Man Behind the Attack on Guantanamo By Rocco DiPippo FrontPageMagazine.com | June 16, 2005 The general leading the force to free the captive enemy from the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, and inflict a humiliating defeat on the United States is so-called “civil rights” and “Constitutional” attorney Michael Ratner. It was Ratner who led the way in recruiting elite lawyers to defend the enemy combatants being interrogated at Gitmo. But Ratner is a long-time leader of two pro-Communist and anti-American organizations who have for decades have lent aid and comfort to America's enemies in the Cold War and...

Neighbors dictate 'nice' home New houses in Monroe neighborhood forced to measure up MICHELLE CROUCH Staff Writer Bettye Howard's house in Monroe's Winchester community is your typical Charlotte area starter home: tall and narrow on a corner lot, three bedrooms, vinyl siding and a tiny front porch. Her neighbors hated it. They said it didn't fit in their community of ranch homes about 30 miles from uptown Charlotte. Monroe leaders agreed, and created a neighborhood program that is apparently the first of its kind in the region. Now, every new home in Winchester must have at least a 12-foot front...

In light of President Bush’s recent trip to Russia to celebrate victory over Germany in World War II, or the “Great Patriotic War” as the Soviets called it, it is useful to ask: why do historians, pundits, journalists, politicians the world over, and even Hollywood, celebrate World War II as the last “Good War” in American history? How does that conflict distinguish itself from Korea and Vietnam, wherein we faced anti-war opposition both at home and abroad? Why do we currently face such vicious resistance to the Global War on Terror from many of these same sources? The disunity of...

by Pete Vere, JCL Other Articles by Pete Vere, JCL Sifting the Wheat from the Tares: 20 Signs of Trouble in a New Religious Group 03/01/05 Since the closing of the Second Vatican Council, a number of new groups have arisen within the Church. Whereas many new groups start off on the right foot and maintain solid footing, others fall by the wayside. This may be due to poor doctrine or questionable practices. In This Article...Red Flags and Warning SignsFr. Morrisey’s 15 Warning SignsFive Additional Warning Signs from the International Cultic Studies Association Red Flags and Warning Signs As a canon...

The Pentagon expressed concern yesterday about a "frivolous" complaint filed against Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld by a leftist group that is using a new German law that claims the right to investigate war crimes anywhere in the world.     The reaction was in response to a Nov. 30 lawsuit filed in Berlin by the Center for Constitutional Rights, whose founders include liberal activist William Kunstler.     The New York-based center filed the German complaint against Mr. Rumsfeld and other U.S. officials on behalf of four Iraqis who, the complaint says, were abused by U.S. guards at the Abu Ghraib prison...

BERLIN, GERMANY — A group of American civil rights lawyers filed a criminal complaint in Germany on Tuesday, asking for an investigation of top U.S. officials including Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former CIA director George Tenet, saying they are responsible for acts of torture committed at Abu Ghraib. Attorneys from the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights said U.S. investigations of the Abu Ghraib abuses have not gone far enough and that they hope a German investigation will keep the situation at the top of the U.S. government’s agenda. “I expect a serious investigation by Germany and would...

"Charitable" Foundations: ATMs for the Left "Charitable" Foundations: ATMs for the Left By Ben Johnson FrontPageMagazine.com | March 2, 2004 One of the unlamented developments of this election year is the Democratic Party’s retreat to the Left. Although the media claim the party's voters have learned their lesson by settling for the “electable” John F. Kerry, a cursory examination of the Democrats shows they remain animated by anti-Bush furor. The party rank-and-file may have decided they prefer the sing-song cadences of John Kerry or the charming drawl of John Edwards to the red-faced shrieks of Howard Dean, but the message...

Click HERE to see a flyer with more information on David's new book.  In January 2004, President Bush delivered his annual State of the Union address. He reviewed the victories of the past two years in Afghanistan and Iraq, and assessed the war tasks ahead. Homeland security was prominent on the president’s agenda and its cornerstone was the Patriot Act, which Congress had passed in 2001 just after the World Trade Center attack. When the president came to the point in his address where he intended to ask legislators to renew the Act, there was an unscripted moment in...

  A Majority for Tax EvasionJuly 8, 2004  With country club indifference, the Supreme Court has protected the “rights” of terrorists...and left you, the taxpayer, holding the bill.  To be fair, Justices Scalia, Rehnquist and Thomas can still be counted as real Americans. From the Rasul vs. Bush decision of June 28th, six of the court's benchwarmers evaded the issue of barbarians murdering Americans and decided, “The question now before us is whether the habeas statute confers a right to judicial review of the legality of Executive detention of aliens in a territory over which the United States exercises plenary and exclusive...

The Ford Foundation was quick to claim credit for helping win the recent Supreme Court rulings on "affirmative action" (upholding the University of Michigan Law School's race-based admissions system) and "gay rights" (striking down a Texas law criminalizing homosexual activity). On its website, the multibillion organization proclaimed, "These landmark decisions reaffirm the Ford Foundation's values of social justice and bolster continuing work for racial, sexual and economic equality....foundation grantees played significant roles, from litigation to research to educating policy makers and the public." The Ford supported litigants included the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and the Mexican American Legal...

Cheerleaders for TerrorismBy Erick StakelbeckFrontPageMagazine.com | June 17, 2003 Two groups whom Islamic terrorists can count on for sympathy and support are radical lawyers and their counterparts in American law schools. Lynne Stewart is a hero of the National Lawyers Guild and a sought-after campus lecturer. While out on bail under indictment for colluding with a terrorist leader, she has been a sought-after speaker for law school audiences who relish her attacks on Attorney General John Ashcroft as a modern-day fascist and on her country for its imperialist and racist policies. Stewart made national headlines in April 2002 when she...

Totalitarian regimes in the Middle East have targeted the United States with a well-financed influence campaign that is being rooted in American politics. Veteran watchers of the "active-measures" programs of the former Soviet Union say this Islamist propaganda offensive bears an uncanny resemblance to the old Soviet international front operations and the broad parade of fellow travelers who used themes of peace, tolerance and civil liberties to advance Soviet strategic goals by weakening the United States at home and abroad. "Active measures" is a translation of aktivniye meropriyatya, a term of KGB tradecraft that spans the covert-action spectrum from disinformation...

The College Republicans of Connecticut College, in New London, CT, have launched a website. This organization has over 100 registered members, in a total student population of 1800. This website will list past and upcoming events the club will be sponsoring, etc. We are in the heartland of leftist thought. Check it out: Click here If you want to see what our rival organization, called "CCLeft," is doing go here

One of the unlamented developments of this election year is the Democratic Party’s retreat to the Left. Although the media claim the party's voters have learned their lesson by settling for the “electable” John F. Kerry, a cursory examination of the Democrats shows they remain animated by anti-Bush furor. The party rank-and-file may have decided they prefer the sing-song cadences of John Kerry or the charming drawl of John Edwards to the red-faced shrieks of Howard Dean, but the message spread by the party faithful will remain the same: George W. Bush is a “liar,” a “betrayer,” a “war criminal”...

With Matt Drudge’s recent revelation that John Kerry is as faithful to his second wife as he was to his old Vietnam “brothers,” the senator’s presidential campaign may depend more than ever on the actions of his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry. While the mainstream media has thus far overlooked the alleged infidelity, media outlets have also overlooked a far more important story: The former Mrs. John Heinz is also in bed – financially – with the radical Left.   Teresa Heinz Kerry has financed the secretive Tides Foundation to the tune of more than $4 million over the years. The...

Freedom of speech permits supporting terrorism, as long as you are only providing "expert advice and assistance" to groups the federal government has designated as “foreign terrorist organizations.” So says a California district judge, in a decision that can only be disheartening for those on the frontlines of the struggle against terrorism. We can hope the decision will be set aside on appeal, but it nevertheless shows how vulnerable our legal instruments are against international terrorism -- and how powerful the influence is of those who would dismantle existing Homeland Security legislation. The Decision In a decision released January 26,...

How Profiling Saved My LifeBy Nicholas StixToogood Reports | December 16, 2003 Gettin’ PaidIt was just after 9 p.m. on a school night, and Dennis, Steve, Michael, maybe another guy and myself were on the corner, by the parking garage of a fancy apartment building a block away from our slummy neighborhood. Dennis, the ringleader was 14, Steve was 15, I was 13 and Michael was 12.Along comes an unmarked car, and Det. Kevan and some other plainclothes guys jump out, and hassle us. Stupid Det. Kevan, the jerk. Father of Jimmy, the bully, who was my age, and Jimmy’s...

Gettin’ Paid It was just after 9 p.m. on a school night, and Dennis, Steve, Michael, maybe another guy and myself were on the corner, by the parking garage of a fancy apartment building a block away from our slummy neighborhood. Dennis, the ringleader was 14, Steve was 15, I was 13 and Michael was 12. Along comes an unmarked car, and Det. Kevan and some other plainclothes guys jump out, and hassle us. Stupid Det. Kevan, the jerk. Father of Jimmy, the bully, who was my age, and Jimmy’s oldest brother, who was an even crazier bully. (The two...

<p>The legislator who successfully pushed for changes in Minnesota's conceal-and-carry handgun laws acknowledged Friday that a crime she committed as a teenager could keep her from getting a permit.</p> <p>Rep. Lynda Boudreau, R-Faribault, said that as a teenager she and another girl were convicted of robbing two Faribault grocery stores and that she was placed on probation. Calling it a "foolish incident" and pointing out that no weapons or violence were involved, Boudreau said her juvenile record should not preclude her from obtaining a gun permit under the new law, scheduled to take effect later this month. She said, though, that a sheriff might retain the right to deny her a permit because of the information on her juvenile conviction.</p>

EDITORIAL: More handguns, more anxietyLeader editorials are written by Publisher Matt McMillan and Editor Doug HannemanThursday, May 08, 2003 Imagine this summer, while at a city park, you encounter an argument between two men. Words become heated, and one man draws a pistol from his jacket. The other man flees for his life.Sadly, the Minnesota Legislature and Gov. Tim Pawlenty have laid the groundwork for this situation to occur. By adopting the Minnesota Personal Protection Act, most residents can now receive permits to carry a concealed handgun almost anywhere.At Hutchinson City Center. At South Park's playground, where the door to...

LAWYERS from British and US organisations are looking at the possibility of an international inquiry into war crimes that their governments might have committed in Iraq. "We want to establish regular and impartial procedures to establish whether war crimes have been committed," said Phil Shiner, of the British group Public Interest Lawyers. Shiner spoke at a news conference where Michael Ratner, president of the US Centre for Constitutional Rights, warned that the principle of "victor's justice" was legally unacceptable. "It is not only Saddam's crimes that have to be examined," he said today. The regime of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein...