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'Any person' has right to gun, state says Montana officials are saying that the United States already has resolved any questions about the 2nd Amendment's application, defining that "any person" has the right to bears arms. That's the issue at hand in a pending U.S. Supreme Court case originating in the District of Columbia, where authorities have banned handguns under the claim that such a limit is "reasonable" and therefore enforceable even given the rights granted by the 2nd Amendment. But officials in Montana, including dozens of state lawmakers as well as Secretary of State Brad Johnson, have joined together in a statement that the U.S. already has determined the application, and 2nd Amendment rights apply to "any person." In a joint resolution from the Montana leaders, including Congressman Denny Rehberg, they caution that should the Supreme Court decide to change the U.S. interpretation of the 2nd Amendment and allow those rights to apply only collectively, it would violate the contract under which Montana entered the union as a state. "The Montana Resolution cautions that a collective rights decision would violate the Montana contract for statehood because when that contract was entered the collective rights interpretation had not yet been invented and the individual rights view was an accepted part of the contract," an announcement from the leaders said. "A collective rights decision in [the pending court case] Heller would not only violate Montana's contract for statehood, but also Montana's customs, culture and heritage. We hope the Supreme Court will recognize and credit the contract argument, an argument unmentioned in any of the briefs submitted in the Heller case," said Gary Marbut, the president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association. The Montana contract is archived as Article I of the Montana Constitution. At the time the then-territory's "Compact with the United States" was agreed to by Congress, the Montana Constitution included the "right of 'any person' to bear arms," the group said....Go here to see the resolution and here to view the supporting argument.
Hearing Is Delayed on Contract for Ashcroft A Congressional hearing into lucrative no-bid contracts awarded by federal prosecutors has been postponed because the Justice Department has not indicated whether a leading witness, the United States attorney for New Jersey, Christopher J. Christie, will testify, Representative Frank Pallone Jr. said on Wednesday. The hearing, which had been scheduled for next Tuesday, was intended to review the process by which United States attorneys have selected law firms to monitor deferred prosecution agreements with corporations. While such arrangements have been used by United States attorneys across the country, Mr. Christie granted such a contract to his former boss, John Ashcroft. Awarding that 18-month contract, worth from $28 million to $52 million, to the former United States attorney general to monitor a medical prosthetics company has elicited criticism from Congressional Democrats, who have asked the Government Accountability Office to investigate....
Ex-border agent will fight fence 'tooth and nail' Charles "Dob" Cunningham patrolled the rugged shoreline of the Rio Grande here for more than 30 years as a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Now retired, he operates an 800-acre cattle ranch along two miles of the river that has been in his family for more than a half century. Illegal aliens and drug smugglers moving across his property have cut down his fences, created well-worn paths over his sprawling pastures, stolen ranch equipment and slaughtered and rustled his cattle. A pile of inner tubes used by those crossing the river sits near the corner of one his storage buildings, each shot "through and though" by the 74-year-old retired agent "so they won't be used again." One might assume that he would embrace a $1.2 billion government plan to build 370 miles of fence on the U.S.-Mexico border, including 65 miles stretching from the neighboring towns of Eagle Pass to the south and Del Rio on the north that would put a 15-foot high metal barrier along the river on his property. One might, but one would be wrong. "We don't need a fence here," Mr. Cunningham said, showing a wide smile under his dusty cowboy hat. "It might make some folks in Washington happy, but it would do little more here than to cut off our access to the river, to water — not just for our cattle but for the abundance of migrating wildlife that can be found all along this river. "I'm against this fence and I will fight it tooth and nail," he said. "And while a country has a right to secure its borders and fences do work in some places where there is nothing but sand and a straight line of sight, they won't work here. The politicians in Washington ought to know that." Instead of building a fence along the river in this remote and rugged area of south Texas, Mr. Cunningham thinks the government ought to be putting more "boots on the ground," demanding aggressive patrols and making better use of technology, including sensors and security cameras....
Arizona 'Virtual Fence' Gets Final OK A 28-mile "virtual fence" that will use radars and surveillance cameras to try to catch people entering the country illegally has gotten final government approval. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced approval of the fence on Friday. The fence, built by the Boeing Co., uses technology the government plans to extend to other areas of the Arizona border, as well as to sections of Texas. The projects could get under way as early as this summer, said department spokeswoman Laura Keehner. The virtual fence is part of a national plan to secure the southwest border with physical barriers and high-tech detection capabilities intended to stop illegal immigrants on foot and drug smugglers in vehicles. As of Thursday, 302 miles of fencing had been constructed. Chertoff said the virtual fence already is working. The virtual fence system includes 98-foot unmanned surveillance towers that are equipped with an array of sophisticated technology including radar, sensors and cameras capable of distinguishing people from cattle at a distance of about 10 miles. The cameras are powerful enough to tell group sizes and whether people are carrying backpacks that may contain weapons or drugs....
Higher Civil Fines Against Employers for Immigration Violations Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey today announced higher civil fines against employers who violate federal immigration laws. The announcement was made in a joint briefing today with Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff about newly enacted border security reforms put in place by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. Under the new rule, which was approved by Attorney General Mukasey and Secretary Chertoff, civil fines will increase by as much as $5,000. The new rule will take effect on March 27, 2008, and will be published in the Federal Register early next week. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, employers who violate employment eligibility requirements are subject to civil monetary penalties. Employers may be fined under the Act for knowingly employing unauthorized aliens or for other violations, including failure to comply with the requirements relating to employment eligibility verification forms, wrongful discrimination against job applicants or employees on the basis of nationality or citizenship, and immigration-related document fraud. For each of these violations, the employer has the right to a hearing before an administrative law judge in the Executive Office for Immigration Review. Under the new rule and applicable law, civil penalties for violations of the Immigration and Nationality Act are adjusted for inflation. Because these penalties were last adjusted in 1999, the average adjustment is approximately 25 percent....
More Iraqis with false passports found in Mexico Another two Iraqis with false Bulgarian passports were detected and detained at the airport in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. Now, Mexican officials are reportedly investigating "a network that could be made up of Mexicans operating in Greece who are selling false Bulgarian passports for ten thousand dollars to European and Middle Eastern citizens." Last year 28 illegals from Iraq were detected at the airport in Monterrey (El Porvenir said there were 23, seventeen of them in a single event) The latest two, "Wisam Gorgies", 34 yr. old male, and "Rana Nazar Peyoz", 26 yr. old female, flew from Madrid and said they obtained the false passports in Greece; their aim was to reach the United States.
The two are to be taken to Saltillo, Coahuila, for further determination of their status.
Courts unable to keep up with border arrests The government has started cracking down on illegal border crossers in the Tucson Sector. But limited resources in Arizona's federal-court system are blocking the goal of prosecuting everyone who enters the country illegally. The Border Patrol has referred 757 cases to authorities since the government began prosecuting illegal crossers in the Tucson area on Jan. 14. Up to 42 are prosecuted daily, and there are plans to prosecute up to 100 cases a day in the busiest human-smuggling area on the border. But federal courts in Tucson can hold only 60 immigration defendants a day, and even if they could handle the 100-a-day workload, that amounts to prosecuting only 10 percent of those arrested by the Border Patrol. Still, officials expect the threat of prosecution and prison time to deter illegal crossers. The Operation Streamline policy, which has proved effective in the Yuma Sector and two parts of Texas, involves filing charges against nearly everyone caught crossing the border illegally....
Eminent Domain? Only If You're Rich There seems to be a few planned holes in Homeland Security's proposed border wall. Not holes for people like Eloisa Tamez, for whom the proposed 18-foot wall would go directly through her backyard and destroy her property. No, those are holes planned in the wall for multi-million dollar resorts and homes: While the border wall will go through her backyard and effectively destroy her home, it will stop at the edge of the River Bend Resort and golf course, a popular Winter Texan retreat two miles down the road. The wall starts up again on the other side of the resort. Just 69 miles north, Daniel Garza, 76, faces a similar situation with a neighbor who has political connections that reach the White House. In the small town of Granjeno, population 313, Garza points to a field across the street where a segment of the proposed 18-foot high border wall would abruptly end after passing through his brick home and a small, yellow house he gave his son. "All that land over there is owned by the Hunts," he says, waving a hand toward the horizon. "The wall doesn't go there." In this area everyone knows the Hunts. Dallas billionaire Ray L. Hunt and his relatives are one of the wealthiest oil and gas dynasties in the world. Hunt, a close friend of President George W. Bush, recently donated $35 million to Southern Methodist University to help build Bush's presidential library....
Chertoff denies border-community snub Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff yesterday rebutted accusations by city and county officials on the Texas-Mexico border that the department had failed to consult with them about the construction of a border fence, but he said he is not willing to debate the issue "endlessly." "Now in building this fence, you know, we seek the cooperation of landowners, state and local leaders and members of the border communities," Mr. Chertoff said. "We do interact. We are willing to listen to concerns. We're willing to have suggestions. "On the other hand, as I've made clear, we're not willing to have endless debate. We're not willing to kick the can down the road indefinitely," he continued. "We have made a commitment to the American people to get the job done, and we are going to live up to that commitment."....
Real ID: Security From What, May I Ask? Another measure being implemented in the name of protection and security is the Read ID Act (RIDA). Last week, former Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA) wrote a piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on the threats to our liberty inherent in this act. Let me briefly summarize. * The Tenth Amendment forbids Uncle Sam to regulate state-issued driver's licenses and identification cards. * The RIDA would undermine the First Amendment right to petition for redress of grievances by requiring a RIDA-compliant card to enter any federal building, including the office of your congressman or senator. * The RIDA would undermine the Second Amendment by requiring a RIDA-compliant card in order to purchase a firearm. * The RIDA could undermine the Ninth Amendment by requiring RIDA-compliant card to board an airplane or even to travel between states. (Ze papers, please.)* Citizens could be required to show a RIDA-compliant card in order to vote in federal elections. * A veteran could be denied access to a VA hospital because he or she did not possess the required RIDA-compliant card. * Under RIDA, you would have no recourse to correct erroneous information or fight identity theft....
GOA Blasts Michael Sullivan As "Unfit for Office" Gun Owners of America's Executive Director, Larry Pratt, today blasted BATFE nominee Michael Sullivan as "unfit for office" -- characterizing him as being "as anti-gun as Ted Kennedy." In a series of answers to interrogatories submitted by Louisiana Republican Senator David Vitter, Sullivan revealed that: * He would not rescind BATFE's policy of revoking federal licenses for simple paperwork violations not involving "criminal intent;" * He would not back down on BATFE's illegal and abusive policies of harassing gun show attendees; * He supports anti-gun legislation by New York Democrat Chuck Schumer, but opposes pro-gun legislation dealing with interstate transfers sponsored by conservative Republicans; * He defends revoking a license of a dealer with a 99.96% accuracy rate -- a rate which is far better than BATFE's. In fact, in dozens of responses to questions posed by Vitter, Sullivan refused to even feign a conciliatory tone....
Error let's FBI spy on entire email network The FBI on Friday revealed that human error led to surveillance of an entire email network back in 2006, rather than the single email address approved by the secretive court which approves domestic wiretaps and other forms of e-surveillance. Although the alleged mistake came to light in an Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) Freedom of Information Act (FIA) lawsuit, the internet service provider involved remains unpublished, due to the classified nature of the work involved. Back doors were built into the nation's telecommunications infrastructure back in the mid-nineties which allow for almost immediate real-time surveillance of phone conversations - cellular or otherwise - emails, and other forms of electronic communications that pass through the networks of the telecommunications industry. The ISP involved allegedly misinterpreted a warrant for one email address to be a warrant for - ahem - the entire network. This kind of mass negligence is really only the flip-side of a surveillance system that allows for almost immediate mass surveillance by the government and its cronies in the telecommunications industry. This latest controversy comes as President Bush continues to demand that Congress provide retroactive immunity for telecommunications companies involved with illegal warrantless wiretapping of American citizens, and is sure to fan the flames of that ongoing debate....
The invasion of America When President Nixon was in his pre-Watergate heyday, he ordered the FBI and the CIA to electronically monitor the private behavior of his domestic political adversaries. Shortly after Nixon resigned, investigators discovered hundreds of reports of break-ins and secret electronic surveillance. None of it was authorized by warrants, and thus all of it was illegal. But it had been conducted pursuant to the president's orders. Nixon's defense was, "When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal." He made that infamous statement in a TV interview years after he left office, but the attitude espoused was obviously one he embraced while in the White House. He, like his present-day successor, rejected the truism that the 4th Amendment of the Constitution, which prohibits the government from conducting electronic surveillance of anyone without a search warrant issued by a judge based on probable cause of a crime, restrains the president. In response to the abuses during the Nixon administration, Congress enacted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, in 1978. The law provides that no electronic surveillance may occur by anyone in the government at any time under any circumstances for any reason other than in accordance with law, and no such surveillance may occur within the U.S. of an American other than in accordance with the 4th Amendment. The 4th Amendment was written in response to the Colonial experience whereby British soldiers wrote their own search warrants, thus literally authorizing themselves to enter the private property of colonists. The amendment has been uniformly interpreted by the courts to require a warrant by a judge; and judges can only issue search warrants after government agents, under oath, have convinced the judges that it is more likely than not that the things to be seized are evidence of crimes. This standard of proof is called probable cause of crime. It is one of only two instances in which the founders wrote a rule of criminal procedure into the Constitution itself, surely so that no Congress, president or court could tamper with it....