Freedom Lawyers of America

Iran: Police to arrest women in "un-Islamic" dressGuardian "Iran's Islamic authorities are preparing a crackdown on women flouting the stringent dress code in the clearest sign yet of social and political repression under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. From today police in Tehran will be under orders to arrest women failing to conform to the regime's definition of Islamic morals by wearing loose-fitting hijab, or headscarves, tight jackets and shortened trousers exposing skin. ... The clampdown coincides with a bill before Iran's conservative-dominated parliament proposing that fines for people with TV satellite dishes risefrom £60 to more than £3,000. Millions of Iranians have illegal dishes, enabling them to watch western films and news channels. ... The new campaign will hold taxi agencies accountable for their passengers' attire, police will be able to impound cabs carrying women dressed 'inappropriately.' Agencies guilty of repeat offences will be closed."(04/19/06)http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,1757071,00.html

Family denies FBI peek at late columnist's papersCNN"The family of late columnist Jack Anderson has rejected the FBI's demand to grant government investigators access to the famed muckraker's papers and notes. In a letter to the FBI Tuesday,attorneys for Anderson's family said the family had concluded it would be inconsistent with the life's work of the reporter to provide the materials to the bureau. 'After much discussion and due deliberation, the family has concluded that were Mr. Anderson alive today, he would not cooperate with the government on this matter,' the letter said."(04/18/06)

http://tinyurl.com/njncl

Dalai Lama embraces religious tolerance San Francisco Chronicle
"Referring to himself as one of the 'defenders of Islam,' the Dalai Lama, the world's most influential Buddhist leader, urged an interfaith gathering in San Francisco on Saturday to promote a pluralistic view of religion. The Nobel Peace Prize winner said that the era of 'one truth, one religion' was reserved for ancient times in which many of the world's religions were founded. But not today. The Dalai Lama said all believers need to learn understanding for other faiths -- particularly for Islam, because, he noted, oil from the Middle East fuels economies around the world. 'In terms of community, in terms of humanity, the concept of several truths, several religions is very relevant,' he said." (04/16/06)
http://tinyurl.com/mztl2
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MA: Dueling do-gooders Boston Globe
"They plant flowers, pick up trash, hold bake sales. In all of civic life, there may be few images more harmonious than those of the volunteers who look after neighborhood parks. Not so in Allston these days. At Stanley A. Ringer Park, two volunteer groups -- Ringer Park Partnership Group and the new Friends of Ringer Park -- have now emerged from a recent history of rancor and power-grabs. In a word, the groups hate each other. Their leaders have exchanged insults in the letters section of a neighborhood newspaper. Meetings at a local community center have been carefully scheduled to avoid confrontations, and the park's annual spring cleanup this year will be two separate efforts. The conflict, simmering since 2004, entered a new phase last month when one leader spread word that an opponent of the group was a Level 2 sex offender. Volunteer groups in Boston play a key role in park maintenance and beautification, and city parks officials routinely meet with groups to coordinate efforts. But behind closed doors at City Hall, some officials have taken to calling some of the feuding Allston volunteers the 'nutcases from Ringer Park.'" (04/15/06)
http://tinyurl.com/gvdez-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US building massive embassy in Baghdad Yahoo! News
"The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq's turbulent future. The new U.S. Embassy also seems as cloaked in secrecy as the ministate in Rome. 'We can't talk about it. Security reasons,' Roberta Rossi, a spokeswoman at the current embassy, said when asked for information about the project. ... The embassy complex -- 21 buildings on 104 acres, according to a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report -- is taking shape on riverside parkland in the fortified 'Green Zone,' just east of al-Samoud, a former palace of Saddam Hussein's, and across the road from the building where the ex-dictator is now on trial." (04/14/06) http://tinyurl.com/nu6rc


Sheldon (Shelly) Waxman, J.D. http://www.thelawyer.info
IC Specialist http://www.independentcontractor.info
NewPulp Literary Productions-- http://www.newpulp.net

NH: Say no to national ID, senate urgedManchester Union Leader"Voices from the right and left urged state senators yesterday to pull the state out of the National Identification System. A broad range of groups --from the conservative Cato Institute to the liberal American CivilLiberties Union -- denounced the system, known as Real ID. House Bill 1582,which passed the House 217-84, would bar the state from participating. Congress passed the Real ID act requiring states to assemble specific sets of data to create a national secure system of driver licensing. ...speakers said the Real ID system smacks of Nazi Germany or the SovietUnion. 'I am not a number. I am a free man,' said John Babiarz, formerLibertarian Party candidate for governor. Barry Steinardt of the nationalACLU office, said several states are considering a challenge. 'If you go first, other states will follow,' he said. 'New Hampshire can be the first to say "The emperor has no clothes.'" (04/11/06)

http://tinyurl.com/lrydu

OH: "Drugged driving" law set to pass Raw Story
"After approval by the State Senate and House, a bill that bans 'drugged driving' is set to become law in Ohio, RAW STORY has found. Activists groups that focus on the decriminalization of marijuana are outraged that the almost-certain-to-become law will also target individuals found with trace amounts of tetra-hydro cannabinol or THC -- the active ingredient in the drug -- still in their system, even if they weren't 'drugged' at the time. Marijuana can remain in a user's system for up to weeks afterward. According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law (NORML), Ohio will soon be joining Nevada and Indiana as 'zero tolerance' states that handout DUIDs (driving under the influence of drugs) to motorists for detectable trace amounts of THC." (03/31/06) http://tinyurl.com/mxznl