Defense lawyers in some of the country’s biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al Qaeda.

The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the government withheld critical information or misled judges and defense lawyers about how and why the men were singled out.

The expected legal challenges, in cases from Florida, Ohio, Oregon and Virginia, add another dimension to the growing controversy over the agency’s domestic surveillance program and could jeopardize some of the Bush administration’s most important courtroom victories in terror cases, legal analysts say.

When Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn of the Weather Underground surfaced from ten years underground and turned themselves into the FBI, the FBI was forced to drop all charges against them because the FBI had broken so many laws trying to find them that none of their ‘evidence’ could be used in court.

History may be about to repeat itself.

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Not really. If you fly by private plane, there are no inspections and searches by TSA.  Just walk up to the plane and fly away. The pilot might be asked to show ID, pilot license, and maybe a list of passenger names (with no addresses and ID needed for passengers.) That’s it. Private flights get a free pass from TSA inspections.

Even international private flights aren’t inspected by TSA. Customs, yes. But no TSA. What an idiotic system. Subject regular passengers to long waits and security searches, but anyone with the money to fly private gets no searches.

Thus, the system isn’t even slightly secure.

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The Greek justice ministry has launched an inquiry into the alleged torture of Pakistani terror suspects after their lawyer announced he would press charges against Greek intelligence officers named by a newspaper.

The weekly Proto Thema (Top Story) revealed on Sunday the identities of the alleged British M16 station chief in Athens and those of 15 Greek officers. They are alleged to have taken part in the arrest and abuse of 28 Pakistani terrorism suspects after the July 7 bombings in London.

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We shall be returning those 2551 miles too soon (see photo.) I am becoming dangerously relaxed here in Hawaii.

This photo was taken in Lanai City, a tiny town on the rural island of Lania, formerly the Dole pineapple planation. A book on the island says most of the native inhabitants were "relocated" while this was happening, forced from their ancestral lands so an invader could fatten himself with wealth..

The history of imperialism in Hawaii is omnipresent and continues to this day. Currently, Lanai is being remade as an upscale rural tourist island with plans for suburbanization. So, then what happens to the locals?

Sometimes they get forced out. Property taxes here are based on assessed value and are re-assessed every year. Take a family that’s been here for generations on five acres at the beach growing their own food. Taxes are tiny. Oprah buys the three acres next door for 2 million. Property taxes for everyone in the area then soar, maybe to the point where the long-time family can’t afford it. Some counties in Hawaii, like Maui, have a circuit breaker, i.e., property taxes can be no more than 3% of gross income. But other counties have no such protection. Remember, these are families that may have been here for generations and who have little income.

Lanai is still mostly uninhabited. I’d like to come back and spend a few days here hiking and swimming (before the ‘burbs come.) More and more, Los Angeles seems a ‘life out of balance." 

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I’ve no idea what they are. The fruits are at least 18 inches long. I’ve been eating lots of papaya and apple bananas (yes, these are bananas that taste a bit like apples) and stuffing myself with mahi-mahi, ahi, and ono.

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On the 45 minute boat ride back from Lania to Maui.

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