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William Fisher

  • THE PRICE OF SECRECY
    20 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    By William Fisher
    During 2004, the Bush Administration issued more secret court orders, spent $148 creating new classified documents for every $1 spent releasing old ones, invoked the ‘state secrets’ privilege in court cases more frequently than ever before, and received 25 per cent more requests for documents under the Freedom of Information Act.
    These are among the findings of a new “Secrecy Report Card” prepared by
    OpenTheGovernment.org, a coalition of organizations dedicated to (…)

  • Senate’s Kabuki Dance With Roberts
    20 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)

    By William Fisher After three days of hearings on the confirmation of Judge John G. Roberts to be the seventeenth Chief Justice of the United States, what the public has learned is that the nominee appears to be as much Talmudic scholar as jurist. In the relatively few questions he did not duck altogether by saying they related to issues likely to come before the Court, or by claiming the views he wrote were those of the administrations he has worked for in the past, Roberts responded (…)

  • THE PRICE OF SECRECY
    10 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    2 comments

    By William Fisher
    During 2004, the Bush Administration issued more secret court orders, spent $148 creating new classified documents for every $1 spent releasing old ones, invoked the ‘state secrets’ privilege in court cases more frequently than ever before, and received 25 per cent more requests for documents under the Freedom of Information Act.
    These are among the findings of a new “Secrecy Report Card” prepared by
    OpenTheGovernment.org, a coalition of organizations dedicated to (…)

  • September 11, 2001 : ANYONE LISTENING?
    29 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    3 comments

    By William Fisher
    On September 11, 2001, a New York City police helicopter hovered above the World Trade Center.
    Two minutes earlier, the first of the twin towers had collapsed. It would be twenty-one minutes before the second tower was to collapse.
    “About 15 floors down from the top, it looks like it’s glowing red,” the pilot of one helicopter radioed. “It’s inevitable.”
    Seconds later a second pilot radioed, “I don’t think (the second tower) has too much longer to go. I would (…)

  • DIPLOMATIC ASSURANCES - WORTHLESS
    21 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    4 comments

    By William Fisher
    Countries that rely on ‘diplomatic assurances’ that other countries won’t torture transferred prisoners “are either engaging in wishful thinking or using the assurances as a figleaf to cover their complicity,” a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) charges.
    HRW said, “There is substantial evidence that in the course of the global “war on terrorism,” an increasing number of governments have transferred, or proposed sending, alleged terrorist suspects to countries (…)

  • AIR FORCE ACADEMY (AGAIN)
    19 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    By William Fisher
    A retired Army major general is throwing fuel on the hot issue of religious discrimination at the U.S. Air Force Academy by writing to commanders there to urge their backing a Christian evangelical rally for military personnel sponsored by Rev. Billy Graham’s ministry ? and signing his letters “Your Partner in the Gospel”.
    The academy, which has been dogged by allegations of harassment against non-Christian cadets, charged that Bob Dees has sent promotional literature (…)

  • LOOKING BACK AT LBJ
    11 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    By William Fisher
    In our country, we seem to revere only a few presidential speeches ? Waashington’s Farewell Address, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s First Inaugural, John F. Kennedy’s “Ask Not”, and a few others.
    But I have to confess that, while I have written thousands of words about the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it has been many years since I actually listened to the words President Lyndon B. Johnson used to introduce this legislation.
    I did that (…)

  • A WIN FOR SCIENCE!
    8 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)

    By William Fisher
    Hooray, a win for science!
    At last, there is something nice I can say about John H. Marburger III, President Bush’s science advisor.
    It’s about time. I have usually found myself being critical of Dr. Marburger for either being complicit or remaining silent as the Bush White House adopts anti-science policies or spins science to pander to the President’s base of right wing religious fanatics.
    I have disagreed with him on issues ranging from sex education (sex (…)

  • MACK VS. VENEZUELA
    30 July 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    5 comments

    By William Fisher
    As some Latin American analysts complain that Washington has declared "electronic war" on Venezuela with a plan to target the country for special radio and television broadcasts, it remains uncertain whether the project will ever get off the ground.
    If approved by a joint congressional committee, the broadcasts would be financed by the U.S. government and implemented through the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), the quasi-independent corporation established to (…)

  • SAUDI AND NIGERIA IN THE CROSSHAIRS
    30 July 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    By William Fisher
    Human Rights Watch is calling on Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to pardon three jailed advocates of peaceful reform and urging President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria to “show the world that he is serious about pursuing justice,” and “ensure that police torturers are held accountable for their crimes.”
    In Saudi Arabia, an appellate court in Riyadh upheld harsh prison terms of between six and nine years for the three after they attempted to circulate a petition calling (…)