Indymedia Server Raided by FBI 1150
jaromil writes "Today at about 18:00 CET FBI raided the indymedia servers hosted by Rackspace both in US and England. At present, the italian indymedia and numerous other local IMC websites are obscured, while the reasons why the hard drives were taken are still unknown."
Gag? (Score:5, Interesting)
Given that Rackspace seemed reasonably communicative about the Swiss Secret Service issue, I wonder if the "no comment" implies some invocation of the Patriot Act [aclu.org].
what about diebold? (Score:4, Interesting)
Diebold threatened the italian indymedia website, along with other
IMC hosted there, one year ago, for hosting documents discussing
the numerous scandals about their voting system.
This case was taken up by the EFF and they WON in court.
Now, just before the elections in USA, Diebold is coming back
under cover to strike back.
Of course they will never declare Diebold is behind all this.
Then who would be next, slashdot? just search "Diebold" in the archives if you
don't remember well wassup...
of course, just my 2 cents
Re:Freedom of speech is a noble thing (Score:2, Interesting)
But, TFA that I read on nyc.indymedia.com has a quote from Rackspace saying the request came from Swiss authorities.
I read elsewhere that they got in some shit for publishing photos and identities of undercover swiss cops.
I'm sure they know what they did, but they won't say anything so long as they can lead everyone to believe it's "evil Bush" behind it all.
at what stage does identification become scary? (Score:5, Interesting)
if you stood outside the entrance, took photos of the people going in and published them, would that be the same thing? if its a public place whats the problem?
has there been intimidation? or is this just fear because its the republicans in power?
there are plenty if privacy concerns just by being a voter, your details are available to be seen locally (speaking as a UK citizen myself). and if you don't tick the right box then hell its available to anybody who wants it, anywhere, possibly for cross referencing with the phone book so burglars can find your phone number if if looks like you are out. well having a pretty rare name and being involved in something where a lot of people know i've got a load of expensive gear - i don't register to vote. I know people who have been repeatedly hit and vanloads of equipment nicked.
as another point, really is there any need to go? its on the telly. like all political conferances its just preaching to the converted and you are just there to applaud on cue to make the pictures look good.
Re:Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Freedom of speech is a noble thing (Score:5, Interesting)
If (a), what on earth does this have to do with terrorism or indeed the FBI. If (b), this is public info, they just collated it. Again, what does this have to do with the FBI, or indeed terrorists.
Re:Freedom of speech is a noble thing (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Why is this "my rights online" (Score:2, Interesting)
> independant media source that was taken down by the FBI for reasons
> unknown....
Saying indymedia is a 'media' site is more absurd than claiming slashdot is part of the media. indymedia is a political site, and prides itself on riding as close to the edge of the law as they think they can get away with.
So lets lose the 'The Man is supressing the press.' angle. Rackspace wouldn't have coughed up the server without the proper legal paperwork so everyone just chill until the facts come out as to what sort of evidence they are looking for. Try to keep in mind that the FBI isn't usually one of the rogue elephant agencies and for this case several different governments probably all had to sign off on it.
some background (Score:5, Interesting)
See link [wired.com] for more info.
French law and photos of the police (Score:1, Interesting)
AFAIK (but of course IANA(French)L...) is is illegal to publish photos of police in France and this is why the info about the two under cover cops in the photos and the actual photos were taken down from the IMC site, almost a week ago...
If these photos is the excuse that the FBI are using then I suspect that it is just an excuse...
Re:Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press! (Score:2, Interesting)
Because when the cops grab those hard disks, they have a warrant in their hands that says why they're grabbing the disks: the suspects intend for people to take violent action, which is of course illegal.
In this case, what they've been told is: "As the request originated with the Swiss police, I can only speculate on what they saw or what they were concerned about."
In other words, this is different because we're not seeing any Constitutionally guaranteed due process.
Where can they go? (Score:3, Interesting)
Why do I suspect that IM's drives will be returned to them wiped clean? Shutting down any nationwide media outlet is a pretty scary thing. Agree or disagree with them, they still qualify for "freedom of the press". Or atleast they did. I serious hope this is not a trend before the November Elections.
Decentralize the Servers (Score:3, Interesting)
In fact, this is what Freenet [sourceforge.net] is designed for.
Decentralise and conquer!
IMCs are like the guerillas of news media. They should start (contuinue) using this to their advantage.
Re:"They hate us for our freedom!" (Score:1, Interesting)
America's bourgeois nature (life, liberty, and property ownership) is what sets it apart from the European model where power is held at the top and it trickles down to its subordinated 'chattel' population.
Admittedly, this is an American perspective only and few Americans in a politically-correct world would agree (out loud).
Re:Clarification Please (Score:3, Interesting)
Before you conspiracy theorists get too upset... (Score:2, Interesting)
This all could be related to IRS suspecting a violation of tax law.
Not being too informed about indymedia in particular, this is just a guess on my part. However, the way that other
Maybe they raided Indymedia for SPAMMING (Score:3, Interesting)
Indymedia...
Google is my friend. Google Group search for Indymedia in news.admin.net-abuse.* (email and sightings especally)...
64 threads [google.com] (some with hundreds of examples of related spam) sight some examples.
What does SPEWS, SPAMHAUS, and other DNS RBL's say? Nothing. Take it with a grain of salt.
How will this affect US based companies? (Score:4, Interesting)
The sooner OPEC switches to the Euro and isolation of the US world bully begins, the better IMHO.
Re:Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press! (Score:5, Interesting)
And these "reports" of campaign HQ shootings: let's see some citations. You're not talking about the one attended by the serial baby-crying sign dropper, Republican agent provocateur, are you? If you really believe this crap, you better change the channel from Fox News, maybe go outside and talk to some humans. Maybe someone would explain you that "Communist blacklisting" was the rightwing authorities secretly locking out unpopular workers from legitimate jobs. Today, it's known as "no fly lists" and "terrorist watch lists", and "Florida voter purge lists" - all created by Republican authorities to suppress the fair representation of Democrats and other opposition to their fascism. That doesn't make their opponents communists.
Right to bear resemblence to arms. (Score:3, Interesting)
In the 1996 Alabama Supreme Court race between Democratic incumbent Kenneth Ingram and Republican challenger Harold See, Rove printed anonymous fliers attacking See, his own client. The purpose was "'to create a backlash against the Democrat,' as Joe Perkins, who worked for Ingram, put it to me," Green writes.
I find it totally predictable that a Bush apologist would get behind this Republican terrorism. Have you taken all the shots you can?
Re:"They hate us for our freedom!" (Score:3, Interesting)
You may consider this a success, I consider this (and other similar cases) a perfect example of the system failing.
Re:What is there to know? (Score:2, Interesting)
As originally drafted, or as it stands now?
here's why we need independent media (Score:2, Interesting)
TV station reports that Bush has been elected President [boingboing.net]
Re:"They hate us for our freedom!" (Score:3, Interesting)
subversion (Score:4, Interesting)
One only has to look at the sesuire of CNN's equipement after Robert Novack revealed that Valerie Plame was an undercover CIA agent to conclude that indymedia is being treated equally.
Oh hold on... that never happend! Oh well So much for Freedom of Press!
That any media organization whatever would have it's harddrives, presses, or any other method of publication seized without explaination or public discourse is an afront to a free society and should be seen as a crime against the people.
Bush 1895!
Sod that. (Score:3, Interesting)
OpenAFS or Coda.
As long as a single server survives your sites stay up.
Re:all depends on your perspective (Score:5, Interesting)
That is complete, utter, biased, trolling, ideologist bullshit, and so is your +5, Insightful.
Instead of generalizing, why don't you get to know some real, non-radical right-leaning people? (Of course, I can judge the left based on the radicals but that wouldn't be fair either, no?) You'll find they are people, just like you. Most of the time, they even have the same concerns. They just differ on priority levels and solutions.
Oh, how convenient it is for you to dismiss "the right" as, apparently literally, animals. You are much, much more part of the problem than the solution.
Re:Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press! (Score:2, Interesting)
This is complete utter bullshit. The majority of arrests were of the bicycle brigade which WAS blocking streets and making it difficult for many old and infirm people to get home. Our old subway system doesn't have elevators in most stations, so people who can't use stairs are stuck riding the bus or taking taxis. Is it fair to force some old lady to sit in a bus for an hour because some communist students can't figure out how to persuade people in more rational fahions than blocking streets?
The other arrests occurred after police officers were attacked, one of whom is going to be seriously fucked up for the rest of his life. There is ample video footage of surround protestors doing NOTHING to stop the perpetrater of that crime from nearly kicking the cop to death, and many encouraged it.
Thankfully, I am not in a position of power because people like that would be executed for failing to act as a responsible citizen. It is a basic staple of civilized society to come to the aid of your fellow citizens.
None of those protestors would have been arrested if they stopped the violence and informed police who the criminal was.
And the usual random assortment of graffiti, vandalism, and silliness on both sides. Which is almost certainly just drunk partisan college student asshats.
Another non-NY resident talking about shit he doesn't know about.
The graffitti is EVERYWHERE. It is much more coordinated than random acts of spray painting. People use stencils, custom graphics are added to subway advertising, and fliers are applied to private property. This is all in addition to the regular bullshit involving markers and spraypaint.
Lists of names don't kill people. People kill people. With guns and lists of names. Why do you want to outlaw the lists of names?
I agree with your license plan. All protestors in the future must be licensed, and their names, telephone numbers, home address, and place of employment must be published on a city website.
Re:due process? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Right or wrong doesn't matter... (Score:3, Interesting)
Once hardware is seized like this, it and everything on it will never be returned. Whether you are guilty or not.
In the past ten years we've seen the courts get savvy to (some) electronic equipment. Search and seizure of documents involves taking the documents, because you need the physical documents to read them. Search and seizure of data on a computer involves copying the information off the hard drive, then leaving with that copy.
The more technically-literate courts will no longer allow the police to get a warrant for your computer itself, only the data on the computer. Unless, that is, they need serial numbers or fingerprints, not just "this is the data that was on your computer on date x/x/x."
This is why, if you're ever served with a search warrant, it's important to read it. The police are infamous for taking more than was involved in the warrant, and you will have a very, VERY difficult time getting it back.
So, the question becomes: how did the FBI get a warrant for seizure of equipment (not just data)?
I believe that if the warrant turns out to have been for the data and Rackspace provided the hardware, then there might be civil liability involved.
Of course, the whole damn question is moot if it's PATRIOT: you'll never get to see the warrant.
Makes me wonder: if you can only see a warrant after 5 years, and the statute of limitations for unlawful execution of a warrant is 3 years.... Made up numbers, of course.
This is another reason why you want judicial review of warrants: what the police are allowed to take or search changes over time. When it's the police deciding what to search or take, they take what's easiest for them.
Side note: this is true even if you have review inside the organization. One thing that a judge will do that an internal board will almost never do is say: "Fuck the cost, and fuck the extra time it'll take you. This is the way you're going to do it, or you won't do it at all."
The internal board is always mindful of the budget.
Re:Huge mistake by the feds. (Score:3, Interesting)
It certainly will galvanize their supporters.
As for the rest of the population, most will never hear of it unless the rest of the media picks it up. Perversely, this will only happen if Indymedia is wrong and the major media give a damn about what's going on in the country. If Indymedia is right and they're all corporately controlled mouthpieces for the hegemony, then it will get no mention or only a perfunctory "The anarchist terrorist al-Jazeera subsidiary Indmedia was raided by the FBI today to seize evidence of Emmanual Goldstein's trechery..."
Personally, I think Indymedia is half right, and I think most of the major media neither know nor care about Indymedia enough to cover it, or else they don't think it will interest the public. They're too busy preparing stories about the candidates' facial expressions during the debates.
Re:Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press! (Score:3, Interesting)
There was an item in the news today that someone fired several shots into the Republican headquarters in some city. In the Carolinas, I believe. So, just because you can't think of it doesn't mean there isn't violence directed at the GOP.
Re:Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press! (Score:1, Interesting)
I agree, it's a threat. Shut them down, eh?
Re: Nothing known, but political motivation possib (Score:3, Interesting)
Given that the demographics behind Indymedia and behind various open-source projects overlaps to significant degree, it's the virtually only possible reaction to the mounting pressure.
Re:Kinda short on information (Score:3, Interesting)
They probably do have authority to do that. The demand is being made to a US entity on US soil.
It does get interesting if the demand cannot be complied with without violating European and/or British law. This might be the case here as European laws prohibit exporting data bases to countries lacking adequate privacy law, such as the US. So by making those disks available to the FBI, Rackspace could be violating European privacy laws. It would depend upon what was on them and also whether those laws contain exceptions to cover these cases.
There is (or used to be) a law in Britain making it illegal to assist the US in attempts to enforce their laws on British territory (ie to claim extra-territorality (sp?) ). I doubt that that applies in this case.
Re:Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press! (Score:5, Interesting)
I live in New York City and that's the most ridiculous crap I've ever read. Many of my friend were arrested. Dozens if not hundreds of people I know were there. Dozens of New York City organizations representing thousands of people were there.
One of my friends were held (for well over 24 hours) with a family of French tourists who had made the terrible mistake of stepping out of their hotel while the police were rounding them up.
They were, apparently, very upset because they didn't speak English well and of course the police would not tell them what they were charged with -- or attempt to communicate with them in any way!
For some reason people think that the Republican National Convention somehow trumps the Constitution. I personally don't get it.
Re:"They hate us for our freedom!" (Score:3, Interesting)
Of course, being free to speak your mind isn't all that useful if your country is overrun with crime and someone will shoot you for saying something they don't like, but that's really another issue (having well-functioning law enforcement and justice systems).
Too much crime in the US just shows that 1) we have too many laws which create criminals and black markets, such as all the anti-drug laws, and 2) we have a dysfunctional society which rewards people for committing crime, or makes it too difficult to support themselves legally. This has little or nothing to do with liberty.
Too many people in jail is simply a function of the crime rate.
Firing people isn't really oppression, and it's rather disingenuous to make that comparison I think. Oppression is the government putting you in a concentration camp because you were born in the wrong place or to the wrong people, or slavery, or not being allowed to participate in the political process. At-will employment practices are just a labor vs. management issue. You're free to start your own business, and never fire anyone. Of course, I think there's a good case to be made that it's impossible to compete with large, entrenched companies, but that's just a fine issue dealing with taxation, anti-trust laws, etc. It's certainly not oppression.
Now if you want to seriously talk about ways that freedom is lacking in the US, there are some real examples, such as Dmitry being arrested for making a speech, the DeCSS issue, anything to do with the DMCA, people being held in Guantanamo, the PATRIOT act, etc. Pointing out America's crime problem is just distracting from the issue currently under discussion.
Re:due process? (Score:3, Interesting)
I urge you to take a look at the history of anon.penete.fi, the anonymous remailer, and how it got shut down due to being raided for the name of a person who posted secrets about Scientology, and the police were falsely told that anon.penet.fi had actually been used to steal the secret documents. (The documents in question had been available in California court records for years: the Scientologists just wanted them secret because they're so embarassing.)
Unfortunately, the provisions of the new "Patriot Act" are so nasty that if invoked, RackSpace may be prohibited from even admitting that they were raided. Take a look at the Patriot Act provisions about getting names from libraries of who checks out books and the inability of the library to every discuss the matter: the law is incredibly nasty.
Re:How will this affect US based companies? (Score:2, Interesting)
Here's one possible source for the reference:
This is a small snippet from something I ran across here: http://www.ratical.org/ratville/CAH/RRiraqWar.html [ratical.org]
important enough to fire up your mail client (Score:5, Interesting)
so, let's force the people with access to start asking questions.
nytimes [mailto]
newsweek [mailto]
o'reilly [mailto]
msnbc [mailto]
plus you can go to various other websites and fill out their forms--CNN, for example.
again, no sides taken, but let's try and cause a stink--this is a big deal. I'll even make it easy for you--copy'n'paste!
The FBI has effectively shut down Indymedia.org (IMC) by issuing an order to RackSpace US to hand over server hard drives located in London. As a result, over 20 local Indymedia sites have been shut off. At this time, no one knows why the FBI wants the drives or what they are investigating. It is also unclear why Rackspace US complied with a demand for materials held by Rackspace UK. Indymedia is a vocal critic of the Bush Administration, and also of the mass media. There is some history of this administration's dislike of Indymedia: before the RNC, there was a Secret Service order to shut down nyc.indymedia.org, which was organizing protests. More information can be found at the general Indymedia site, http://www.indymedia.org.
Speaking as an impartial observer... (Score:2, Interesting)
Would Karl Rove do a thing like that? (Score:2, Interesting)
Would Karl Rove, the man George W. Bush nicknamed "Turd Blossom", do something destructive to get George W. Bush re-elected? The books say he would.
Books about those who designed
the Bush administration's deliberate dishonesty
There are many excellent people in the Republican political party in the United States. But there is are people who say they are Republicans who might be called "Re-money-cans". (There is no "public" in Remoneycan.) They are only interested in money and power and they achieve them by using dishonesty as a tool. For example, the Remoneycans have been running advertisements on U.S. television claiming that George W. Bush is a more experienced military leader than John Kerry, who opposes him for the 2004 presidential election. During times when people in the U.S. feel threatened, a large percentage of them feel that violence is the only answer, and the ads manipulate that feeling. The ads may be very convincing if the viewer does not know the truth, that John Kerry is much more experienced, as the Military Service Records for Bush and Kerry [findlaw.com] show. Also see the essay Bush's Military Records Show He Shirked [failureisimpossible.com].
Boy Genius: Karl Rove, The brains behind the remarkable political triumph of George W. Bush by Lou Dubose, Jan Reid, and Carl M. Cannon, 2003, PublicAffairs. Reviews: Powell's [powells.com] Barnes & Noble [barnesandnoble.com] Amazon [amazon.com]
The secret of Karl Rove's success is that U.S. voters don't want to believe there is widespread corruption in their government. Therefore, if lies are extreme enough, they will be accepted.
President George W. Bush has a habit of giving disrespectful nicknames to those with whom he works. "Boy Genius" is one of President Bush's nicknames for Karl Rove. President Bush also calls Karl Rove, "Turd Blossom". The term refers to a flower that grows in the feces of a cow.
Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove made George W. Bush presidential by James Moore and Wayne Slater, 2003, John Wiley & Sons, New York, New York, USA. Reviews: Powell's [powells.com] Barnes & Noble [barnesandnoble.com] Amazon [amazon.com]
An Amazon review about the present U.S. president, George W. Bush, quotes the book: "Karl Rove matters to all Americans, many who have never even heard his name. While the president chafes at the description of Rove as 'Bush's Brain,' he can hardly deny that every policy and political decision either goes through, or comes from, the consultant," write the authors, leading them to pose the question, "Who really runs this country?"
Bad Boy: The life and politics of Lee Atwater by John Brady, 1997, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Reading, Massachusetts. Reviews: Barnes & Noble [barnesandnoble.com] Amazon [amazon.com]
Lee Atwater and Karl Rove worked together, but Lee died of a brain tumor when he was 40. Mr. Atwater also had no interest in government policy, but only in how to get someone elected. For example, see the top of page 103 of the hardcover edition: "Indeed, Lee had no interest in the policy loop." Another quote, about his sexual involvement with women other than his wife, from page 151: "He [Lee Atw
Consequence of name release (Score:2, Interesting)
http://www.basetree.com/photos/no-rnc/republican-
Big deal, and in any case the list of names was reposted from the Tampa Tribune (and other sources):
http://www.tampatrib.com/FloridaMetro/MGBLDGQ6LXD
Disclosure: I occasionally post photos to Indymedia but I have nothing do with the day-to-day operations. In other words: I know nothing!
Re:Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press! (Score:2, Interesting)
During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety beheaded people that "did not want to be free." Not surprisingly, this interim government of the Jacobin were the first "terrorists."
Terrorism started as a tool of government. Now, everybody can be a terrorist. Yay for the democratization of terror.
I have no doubt that these Indymedia assholes would try a Committee of Public Safety given half a chance.
Re:Indymedia != Independent? (Score:3, Interesting)
If you want to know about what the media actually does, check out a documentary like "Independent Media In a Time Of War" (feat. Amy Goodman). It's filled with facts like this one, from FAIR: [fair.org]
A report about the war coverage [fair.org] reveals that "Nearly two thirds of all sources, 64 percent, were pro-war, while 71 percent of U.S. guests favored the war. Anti-war voices were 10 percent of all sources, but just 6 percent of non-Iraqi sources and 3 percent of U.S. sources. Thus viewers were more than six times as likely to see a pro-war source as one who was anti-war; with U.S. guests alone, the ratio increases to 25 to 1."
The five companies, for the record, are NewsCorp, Disney, Viacom, General Electric, and AOL TimeWarner- between them, 90% of the television news audience.
NewsCorp is easy to show (see: Fox), for Disney, take a look at the whole Eisner/Farhenheit 9-11 story, for Viacom, check out MTV refusing to air paid spots against the war, for General Electric- well, General Electric is a major arms manufacturer, so I shouldn't need to go any further than that- and for AOL TimeWarner and to reinforce all of the above, well, there's the FAIR source I already cited.
Then there's radio, where you have ClearChannel hosting pro-war rallies, and pressuring its stations not to air anti-war songs.
The reason why Republicans may get confused when I say the media is right-wing is because they assume that the Democrats are left wing. It's an unfortunate reality that both Republicans and Democrats are centrists, and the center of participating Americans is far to the right.
Re:Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press! (Score:2, Interesting)
``Bush-Cheney campaign workers in three Florida cities said they were intimidated by chanting labor union activists.''
Yes, there were AFL-CIO protesters there, but has any *independent* person or persons confirmed the Bush campaign's version of events? How do we know the people causing the damage were really with the AFL-CIO, if we were inclined to scepticism on this point? The story you cited doesn't help us with that question.
Re:Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press! (Score:3, Interesting)
That's right they would not. It's not liberals that are doing that. It's most likely right wingers who already do those types of things trying to make liberals look bad.
Liberals tend to do things like form human chains and lock themselves to objects. The right wingers OTOH have a history of killing and burning crosses.
BTW. I would love to be wrong. I would love it if the liberals finally stopped being wimpy and started killing republicans. It's about time to stop being a doormat.
Cointelpro, Patriot Act style. (Score:3, Interesting)
The federal government has a LONG and storied history of illegal attempts to thwart political dissent. cointelpro [wikipedia.org]is only one of the most famous examples. The wars agaisnt political dissent continued through the 1990's [4reference.net] and continues to this day.
To go from a few random acts of violence to soem conclusion that this justifies seizing IndyMedia's servers is more than a stretch. But luckily, under the Patriot Act, the feds don't actually have to go before a judge or produce any evidence or anything icky like that.
This entire country has recently been through a massive disinformation campaign (WMD's anyone?), most people should be more suspicious of an action of this kind, especially so close to national elections.
I'd wager that in a few months the Indymedia 'investigation' will quietly end with no charges being filed and no explainations given.
Unfortunately for whoever is coordinating this latest governmenteffort, dissent and public disbelief in Official Government Lies has pread far beyond the underground radical fringe. Heck, you can buy Fahrenheit 9/11 at WALMART... where they sell guns and everything.
If the Indymedia people are worth their salt as activists, they'll be able to parlay this government action into increased visibility and increased participation in their efforts.
Re:Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press! (Score:2, Interesting)
No, the guy was right the first time. A Libertarian is a member of the Libertarian party. A libertarian believes in minimal govenrment intrusion. A civil libertarian agrees with libertarians on civil issues, but not on economic ones, but without the modifier "civil," that is not implied.
Re:Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press! (Score:4, Interesting)
Unless, of course, you were in on it
Stop being such a Cassandra.
Bush (Score:4, Interesting)
I don't know much about what's going on with Iraq, but if Kerry wins theres a good chance of having war here... China won't happily tolerate Chen Shui Bian () much longer. Mainland Chinese been threatening to attack for years, and if the US abandons, they will.
Sounds fake (Score:3, Interesting)
The man reporting it that gun shot was Phil Parlock (Republican campaigner).
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/091804X.shtml
The same guy who was attacked (when he was with his daughter) by democrats and had his Bush poster tore up.
Trouble is he does the every election, so it seems about as fake as can be, this is the 3rd election in which he's done this stunt.
Re:Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press! (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyway there exist court orders to prevent "the press" republishing information which has previously been published elsewhere.
Is Bush Wired? (Score:3, Interesting)
http://isbushwired.com/2004/10/voice-in-bushs-e
Theory is that Bush has a tiny mic (or dental implant) through which Karl Rove, Cheney or some other intelligent grown-up tells him what to say.
Sound crazy? Then what's that Power Unit [isbushwired.com] with a thick wire doing under his coat during the 1st debate? (Note this was only noticed because the TV network disobeyed the Bush campaign's order not to show candidates from behind.)
Pre-screening crowds for campaigns (Score:5, Interesting)
I just heard a report on NPR this morning. A reporter went to a Bush appearance wearing a Kerry T-shirt. He was told by the secret service he would be arrested if he didn't leave. He went to a Kerry appearance wearing a Bush T-shirt. Nothing happened.
I thought - big whoop. They then went on to interview and describe many others who had been removed with the threat of JAIL from Bush appearances because they were "questionable". One woman had a small Kerry pin on her jacket. One guy had come from a Kerry rally and had a Kerry T-shirt on, which he had covered up with a long-sleeve shirt. At one high-school, several students were removed in tears by secret service officers for having Kerry items on. The list went on and on. One guy complied, and took off his Kerry item, and was still ordered to leave. Some people were put in jail for 2 hours, then charges dropped. The local police said they were following the orders of the secret service, and the secret service said they were following the orders of the white house.
So now you aren't allowed at a Bush event unless you support him? I guess it is all about the image of having support. It must be pretty easy to have a chanting mob of supporters if you pre-screen the crowd. It sounds kind of like a tent revival for an evangelical con-man.
I didn't see the report on NPRs website yet, so I can't link to it. But I did just hear it this morning on the way into work.