Kerry's 'amazing journey' draws to a close

US: Democratic challenger John Kerry has reflected on an "amazing journey" as he cast his vote in the US election. Senator Kerry says he is very confident he has made the case for new US leadership.

"It's really important that people go out and vote and express their love for our country no matter who they vote for," the Massachusetts Senator said.

"We want people to participate."

Senator Kerry refused to look beyond election day but he had no trouble looking back on a two-year roller coaster ride that took him from politically dead to the Democratic nomination.

"This campaign has been an amazing journey," he said. "A wonderful journey. I'm very confident we made the case for change, the case for trust, a new direction and a fresh start."

The mood in the Kerry camp is upbeat and aides say they like their man's chances. "We're very upbeat about our prospects," senior adviser Mike McCurry said.

"Both of these candidates have fought hard and they'll both rise to the moment, no matter what the outcome."

In La Crosse, Senator Kerry told supporters they had a clear choice: a change in direction or four more years of the same under Mr Bush.

"You have a choice, all Americans have this choice today," he said. "George Bush made his choices."

[George Bush made his choice as a War Criminal, and there's nothing democratic about the USA, CIA, Reichstag 911. Or the pre-war plans by the Coalition of the Killing in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the, subsequent pre-emptive attacks on both sovereign nations states, occupations, genocide, maiming, rendition and torture, secret prisons, and the 100,000 dead in Iraq.]

Queues

Long queues have formed outside polling booths across the United States.In Arlington, Virginia, around 20 people were already waiting when the doors opened at 6:00am local time.

By 7:30am, the line of those waiting to vote stretched back three blocks.Within a few hours, voters were being warned that they could be in for a wait of more than two hours before being able to cast their ballots.

People stood in line patiently, reading books or newspapers, while some called into work on their mobile phones to warn that they would arrive late.

With the Republican and Democratic parties deploying millions of volunteers to mobilise the vote, some observers have suggested the national turnout could be as high as 120 million, a significant jump on the 106 million who voted in 2000.

All eyes are on a handful of critical states, including Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Political analysts say the candidate that takes two of those will win the White House.

Sounds like Kerry has one Pennsylvania.

By A Bird In The Hand 3 November 04

Related:

Who's counting the dead in Fallujah? CARE?
In distress: CARE says it is deeply concerned about the wellbeing of Mrs Hassan. But who's counting the dead in Fallujah?

Sydney Peace Prize winner urges Iraqi resistance!!!!!!
"One wasn't urging them to join the Medhi army [in Iraq] but to become the resistance, to become part of what ought to be a non-violent resistance against a very violent occupation," she said.

Iraqi civilian deaths put at 100,000
Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed in violence since the US-led invasion last year, according to public health experts who estimate there were 100,000 "excess deaths" in 18 months.

British militants take up 'badlands' position in Iraq
Sixty-eight British militants have died in combat and from other causes, including accidents, since the war began, compared with more than 1,100 Americans and at least 100,000 innocent Iraqi men, women and children.

BBC news boss slams US media bias
The head of the BBC's news operations has accused United States media organisations of being overly patriotic in their coverage of the lead-up to the Iraq war.

Resistance in Iraq want Japanese militants to leave
Allegedly, resistance in Iraq has threatened to behead a Japanese hostage it said worked with Japanese forces in Iraq, if Tokyo does not withdraw its forces from the country within 48 hours.

Australia, Iraq US puppet work for Hassan's release
Margaret Hassan ... her kidnap is the result of the illegal and degrading war on Iraq and the subsequent occupation, genocide, maiming and torture of a sovereign nation.

Freed journalist denies he ignored advice
Australia: Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says an SBS journalist detained by militants in Iraq was in an area of Baghdad to which he was advised not to travel.

Australia's Baghdad embassy to be moved
He says the embassy is currently located several kilometres from that area and security provided by Australian troops is "adequate".

Why is war-torn Iraq giving $190,000 to Toys R Us?
If that seems backwards, it's because it is. Iraqis have never been awarded reparations for any of the crimes they suffered under Saddam, or the brutal sanctions regime that claimed the lives of at least half a million people, or the US-led invasion, which the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, recently called "illegal". Instead, Iraqis are still being forced to pay reparations for crimes committed by their former dictator.

Iraq war protesters take to London streets
Tens of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of central London to protest against the Iraq war as Prime Minister Tony Blair struggles to shake-off fierce criticism of the invasion.

Blast hits cafe near Iraqi Australian embassy
A loud explosion has rocked a cafe frequented by Iraqi militia near the Australian embassy in Baghdad, according to witnesses.

US launches air bombing on Fallujah
US planes raided the Iraqi town of Fallujah killing five people and wounding 16. US warplanes have launched sustained and fierce attacks on the Iraqi town of Fallujah, witnesses said.

500,000 Iraqis may be in mass graves?
Satire: Baghdad, Iraq - Fatima Al-Zahra is believed to have up the ante and said Saddam Hussein's government buried as many as 500,000 opponents in 300 mass graves that dot the Iraqi landscape.

Five killed as US militants clash with resistance
United States warplanes have dropped a huge bomb on the Iraqi city of Fallujah after US marines clashed with resistance on the eastern fringes of the Sunni Muslim bastion.

Weapons inspectors missed WMD in Iraq
An Iraqi minister has said United Nations nuclear inspectors are welcome to return in response to concerns of an "apparent systematic dismantlement" of Saddam Hussein's once-vigorous nuclear program.

US accused of breaching international law
The United States is violating international law by holding prisoners in its war on terror incommunicado and in secret hiding places, Human Rights Watch said in a report to be published on Tuesday calling for an end to such practices.

Observers endorse Afghan election despite complaints
International observers in Afghanistan have endorsed the nation's first, [alleged], democratic election despite, [pre-emptive strikes on the Sovereign Nation, subsequent occupation, genocide, maiming, torture and a puppet government, as well as], irregularities that caused several candidates to boycott the poll. The, [alleged], voter enthusiasm for Saturday's first democratic poll in Afghanistan was, [allegedly], formidable.[?]

Kerry attacks Bush's Middle East policy
The US Democratic presidential contender, John Kerry, has slammed, [war criminal], President George W Bush's Middle East policy, saying democracy cannot be imposed on foreign nations.

Bloodshed continues as Rumsfeld visits Iraq
Two blasts have killed up to 18 people, including an American, [militant], in Baghdad, hours before US Defence, [War], Secretary, [War Criminal], Donald Rumsfeld visited Iraq to gauge efforts to calm violence ahead of January elections?

US votes against the draft
The US House of Representatives has overwhelmingly rejected a proposal that would have brought back compulsory militant service. The measure sought to require Americans aged between 18 and 26 to perform two years of national service.

Gaddafi joins calls for British hostage's release
Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has added his voice to calls for the release of British engineer Ken Bigley, who was kidnapped by resistance in Iraq last month. He also called on the, [war criminal], British Government to use its influence to persuade Iraqi and the, [war criminal], United States authorities to free a number of Iraqi prisoners, in line with the, [resistance], demands.

HOWARD NO REMORSE!
Australian caretaker Prime Minister, [war criminal], John Howard 'a rodent type' does not need to apologise for the illegal and degrading war in Iraq despite a new report that has found Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction at the time of the US-led invasion.

IRAQ: `Things are definitely not improving'
It's been a frequent refrain of US officials that Washington is winning its counter-insurgency war in Iraq. "It's very important for the people of the world really to know that we are winning, we are making progress in Iraq. We are defeating terrorists." In this case, however, it was US-installed Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi who made the claim.

Nothing fair about more lies, fear, terror and war!
Who's going to be sacrificed? for HoWARd's illegal and degrading war in Iraq and Australia's current foreign policies that are morally bankrupt?

Allies 'planned' Iraq war despite denials
The United States, Australia and Britain started to plan the invasion of Iraq months before the conflict, according to a report Wednesday quoting a leaked Pentagon document.

UN warns of Iraqi malnutrition
One in four Iraqis are dependent on food rations to survive and many of them have to sell what little food they have for basic necessities like medicine and clothes, the UN World Food Program (WFP) said.

Jordan's king doubts Iraqi elections possible
Iraq is far too unsafe to hold elections as scheduled in January and extremists would do well in the poll if Baghdad tried to hold it, Jordan's King Abdullah said in an interview. Excluding troubled areas from the nationwide poll would only isolate Iraq's Sunnis and create deeper divisions in the country, he said.

British hostage pleads with Blair to save his life?
A video, [allegedly], posted on an Islamic web site and allegedly recorded by Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi's group in Iraq has shown British hostage, Kenneth Bigley, pleading to, war criminal, Prime Minister Tony Blair to save his life.

Annan tells world leaders to respect law
United Nations (UN) secretary-general Kofi Annan has made an impassioned plea to bring about the rule of law across the globe today. Mr Annan told world leaders to respect international law at home and abroad.

CO-OFFENDERS DO NOT REBUFF UN ON 'ILLEGAL WAR'
The 'coalition of the killing's' complicities - the US, Britain and Australia - have insisted that their countries' military action in Iraq was legal after they have committed war crimes against humanity.

Iraq war illegal, says Annan
United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan says the United States decision to invade Iraq in March 2003 was "illegal". Australia was a key supporter of the war on Iraq and sent troops to join the United States-led invasion last year.

Bush team 'knew of abuse' at Guantanamo
Evidence of prisoner abuse and possible war crimes at Guantanamo Bay reached the highest levels of the Bush administration as early as autumn 2002, but Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, chose to do nothing about it, according to a new investigation.

Australia will not Save Your Soul
The Federal Government will not Save Australian Soul's? Even if they're an innocent bystander caught up in it. Despite a group claiming to have kidnapped two Australian security guards? The alleged group, which allegedly calls itself the Horror Brigades of the Islamic Secret Army, allegedly has given the, war criminal, Prime Minister John Howard 24 hours to end Australia's involvement in Iraq.

World wants Bush out: poll
The world wants United States President, [war criminal], George W Bush out of the White House, according to a poll that shows in 30 of 35 countries people preferred Democrat candidate John Kerry.

Free Speech Free Speech "New York Style" Eight Blocks to Go !
The opening day of the Republican National Convention. Rudy Giuliani, New York City's beloved mayor, spoke. Giuliani disappointed me, although that shouldn't surprise anyone. He spoke about the Iraq war as if it were part of the War on Terror. Speaking with Bill Hemmer, he spoke of the Iraq war as if it were the War on Terror.

Anti-Bush rally hits New York streets
More than 100,000 people have marched through New York on the eve of the Republican National Convention, protesting against President George W Bush and the war in Iraq.

TIDE? OR IVORY SNOW?: Public Power in the Age of Empire
When language has been butchered and bled of meaning, how do we understand "public power"? When freedom means occupation, when democracy means neo-liberal capitalism, when reform means repression, when words like "empowerment" and "peacekeeping" make your blood run cold - why, then, "public power" could mean whatever you want it to mean. A biceps building machine, or a Community Power Shower. So, I’ll just have to define "public power" as I go along, in my own self-serving sort of way.

Najaf clashes stretch hospital to the limit
Some stroke victims are too afraid of the fighting to go to hospital, doctors don't have the medical instruments to save many victims of mortar bombs and snipers and ambulances cannot get to patients at night. Najaf's main hospital can barely cope with the chaos gripping the city of 500,000 after three weeks of battles between resistance Shiite's and US militants.

Journalists ordered to leave Najaf as fighting continues
Journalists have been kicked out of Najaf as clashes flared in the Iraqi city, prompting speculation that a major United States-led assault on resistance Shiite fighters was imminent.

Enemy Mortars attack opening of Iraqi summit
US Enemies have fired mortars at a meeting where Iraqi puppet government leaders met to pick an interim national assembly, killing at least two people.

Howard's war crimes, Turnbull, at least he's honest
HIGH-profile Liberal candidate Malcolm Turnbull has told voters the Iraq invasion was "an unadulterated error".

Alexanda Downer guilty of war crimes!
The agreement for going to war on Iraq carried with it and incentive and that was free trade with the US. The Howard Government knew about it and went along with it with the US under the guise of Iraq's WMDs. In criminal law this is commonly know as collusion to commit a crime.

John Howard's war crimes blameworthy
General Peter Gration is the spokesman for a group of 43 ex-military leaders, diplomats and departmental heads who have criticised the Government, saying involvement in Iraq has put Australia at greater risk of a terrorist attack.

Human Rights Watch slams Iraq war attacks
Human Rights Watch has condemned the 'wanton' targeting of civilians by 'armed militants', in Iraq. Then what about the Coalition of the Killing?

Genocide and Torture in Iraq: Justice in the balance?
No one is more vulnerable than a prisoner held beyond the reach of the law. So the grim picture of life as a US detainee, [prisoner], held without charge or trial, set out in the Guardian yesterday by three Britons should come as no surprise.

Auditor Generals damning war report
The Defence Department computer system upgrade has cost Australia tens of millions of dollars in a gigantic bungle, according to the Federal Opposition. The Commonwealth auditor-general has issued a damning report into the project.

Truck drivers working for US face death: resistance
A lot has been written about Insurgents they're all over the place these days especially in Iraq and the term means "Rebel" so all the Rebel's once they've been locked up and "tortured" become "Enemy Combatants" without any "rights". Can someone explain to me what is going on?

Ancient Babylon ruined by foreign troops: Iraqi minister
Iraq: Foreign forces in Iraq have caused severe damage to the site of ancient Babylon, one of the world's most renowned archaeological treasures, and need to leave the area as soon as possible, Iraq's Culture Minister Mofeed al-Jazaeri said.

UK report propaganda
Damaged basic services, cover up of key intelligence and prisoner abuse........They got that right but they got the remedy of the report wrong. Sure as hell they're using this as serious "propaganda".

Iraqis accuse British troops of war crimes.........
British troops committed "war crimes" in post-war Iraq, unlawfully killing civilians and beating and torturing prisoners in their custody, lawyers for the victims have alleged. Soldiers played cruel "games" with prisoners, forcing them to recite lists of English or Dutch footballers and beating them if they failed, Phil Shiner, a British lawyer leading six test cases in the High Court this week, said.

Fifteen "resistance" killed in Iraq shootout
The US military said insurgents opened fire on Iraqi security forces as they provided security for the 1st Infantry Division during a raid in a nearby farming area.

US:Military Draft expected
US: There is pending legislation in the House and Senate (twin bills: S 89 and HR 163) which will time the program's initiation so the draft can begin at early as Spring 2005 -- just after the 2004 presidential election. The administration is quietly trying to get these bills passed now, while the public's attention is on the elections, so our action on this is needed immediately.

US accused of butting into Australian election
The Prime Minister, war criminal, John Howard couldn't win an election this year if he hired the cheerleaders of the US Super Bowl. Howard the coward has accused the Opposition leader of hypocrisy in his response to the, war criminal. Bush administration's criticism of Labor's Iraq policy.

Whatcha Gonna Do, When They Come For You? Bad boy!
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was a threat and sought to possess weapons of mass destruction, United States President, [war criminal], George W Bush reaffirmed when asked why no such weapons had been discovered in Iraq.

Saddam trial US propaganda
Saddam will be handed over to Iraqi, [puppet], justice on Wednesday, two days after the country allegedly regained sovereignty from Washington, but US militants will still guard him to ensure he does not escape.

US liars warn against 'fortress Australia'
The US and Australia could lose the war on terror, [the Coalition of the Killing's resource war's in the Middle East], if they adopted a fortress mentality and failed to go after the terrorists, [scapegoats and patsies], in their global strongholds, US ambassador to Australia Tom Schieffer warned yesterday.

Fahrenheit 9/11: Cannes ends in controversy
Moore's film - about the, [war criminal], George Bush presidency and its response to, [US reichstag, call to arms, false flag], 9/11 and the subsequent, [resource], wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - pulls no punches in depicting George W. as a duplicitous buffoon.

George Bush never looked into Nick's eyes
My son, Nick, was my teacher and my hero. He was the kindest, gentlest man I know; no, the kindest, gentlest human being I have ever known. He quit the Boy Scouts of America because they wanted to teach him to fire a handgun. Nick, too, poured into me the strength I needed, and still need, to tell the world about him.

IRAQ: CPT Colleagues Describe Massacre in Fallujah
What is portrayed in the US mass media as a grand and heroic firefight is,in reality, the crassest, goriest, and basest single incident of massacre of innocents by US troops in recent memory.

Lose the Occupation and Win the War on Liberty!
Friendly allies do pull militants out of illegal battles, believe it or not, under the heading, lose the battle and win the war. In this case it's lose the Occupation and Win the War on Liberty.

Spain demands 'radical change' in Iraq strategy
Spain's prime minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has demanded a "radical change" in the post-war strategy in Iraq otherwise he would withdraw Spanish militants from the country.

'FACTOPHOBIA' HOWARD, BLAIR AND BUSH
Well think about this! Australia's intelligence agencies, [fear mongering, propaganda agencies], look set to receive a substantial funding boost in this year's Federal Budget, with the Prime Minister saying it is an obvious step to take.

US to increase Iraq border security in Iraq
Just plain rubbish, the USA are the terrorists and are dividing and conquering Iraq, by attacking the Shiite Muslims and blaming it on someone else another "A" typical false flag operation.

Halliburton's Ancient Scandals
In the world of corporate scandals, the story breaks, there is a frenzy of reportage, a culprit in the lower levels of upper management is thrown to the SEC and then, slowly, the story dies.

Missile defence program 'will lead to arms race'
A group of Australian doctors opposed to war is warning national security will be compromised by any proposed involvement in the United States' missile defence program 'Son of a bitch'..

Pope calls for sanctions on leaders who violate rights
Leader of the child molesters, Pope John Paul II has called for political leaders who violate human rights to be punished, in a World Day of Peace message released amid worldwide debate over how Saddam Hussein should be brought to justice.

War criminals should be tried: Human Rights
The UN War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague should try George Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard for their part in the coalition of the killing for crimes against humanity.

Who cares wins? Those who inflict or those who endure?
When occupation means war then who cares wins? Not those who can inflict the most, but those who can endure the most, I would have thought.

Coalition of the Killing's alliance against law 'the wrong way'
Australia and Britain [and the Coalition of the Killing], could have agreed that the [resource], wars on Afghanistan, Iraq, and liberty, the proliferation of Security Housing Units, and Detention Centres, can be addressed unilaterally - a trend in the US that is feared all over the world - but must be faced collectively.

A STRUGGLE ON TWO FRONTS: PRISONS & IMPERIALIST WAR
After a war waged by the U.S. military against Vietnam which took the lives of more than 3 million Vietnamese people and more than 58,000 GIs, the U.S. finally withdrew in 1975. It had suffered its first official major military defeat by a united people struggle led by the Vietnamese, along with a mass U.S. anti-war movement.

Police surround protesters outside US Embassy
Thousands of protesters have marched to the Lodge to protest against [war criminal], US President George W Bush's visit. The protesters had rallied outside Parliament House, booing when the president arrived this morning and chanting "go home Bush you war criminal".

David Burchell: Paradox of anti-Americanism
[War criminal] President George W. Bush's trip to our shores today has focused attention on a striking fact - the apparently irresistible rise in hostility among many Australians towards the US.

Pilger said White House knew Saddam was no threat
Australian investigative journalist John Pilger says he has evidence the war against Iraq was based on a lie which could cost George W Bush and Tony Blair their jobs and bring Prime Minister John Howard down with them.

Illegal and degrading war crimes: Society on the New World Order (OWN)! While Australia and the US are very distinctive societies war criminal, Prime Minister John Howard and war criminal, President George Bush share core values.

Thousands march for peace! But does that mean no war?
THOUSANDS of people took to the streets around the country yesterday to march against the war in Iraq and for world peace.

US disturbed over 'biased' reporting in Arab media! But the US lies to the world! How could anyone describe pre-emptive strikes on a sovereign nation, occupation, genocide, torture, and human rights abuse by the Coalition of the Killing in a positive light?

Coalition force 'surprised' by stiff resistance for food aid
About 4,000-5,000 allied forces have launched what they vowed would be an all-out blitz. "We're going straight through that city," a US Marine officer, who asked not to be named, said. "It will be a Hail Mary with guns ablazing."

Explosions rock Baghdad, jets overhead Iraq
BAGHDAD, March 20 [Rooters] A handful of explosions rocked Baghdad at dawn today as jets roared overhead, Iraqi anti-aircraft batteries opened up and air raid sirens sounded.

Bin Laden calls? CIA blind man's bluff!
A [US propaganda, fear-mongering] taped message purportedly from Osama bin Laden has warned Arab nations against supporting a war against Iraq but has branded Saddam Hussein an infidel.

U.S. AMBASSADOR WARNED TO STOP MEDDLING:
The Australian Federal Opposition and Labor Party Leader, Simon Crean, has again warned the U.S. ambassador to stop meddling in Australian politics.

War: Part one The human cost
On the road to Basra, ITV was filming wild dogs as they tore at the corpses of the Iraqi dead. Every few seconds a ravenous beast would rip off a decaying arm and make off with it over the desert in front of us, dead fingers trailing through the sand, the remains of the burned military sleeve flapping in the wind. "Just for the record,'' the cameraman said to me. Of course. Because ITV would never show such footage.

Mandela speaks out against Bush, Blair
Former South African leader Nelson Mandela has lashed out at US President George W Bush's stance on Iraq, saying the US leader has no foresight, and cannot think properly.

All the way with (LPK) Love Peace and Kindness: Dalai Lama
Communication is a two way street. Threats and punishment solve nothing and serve none. In fact it is against the law in most countries to threaten or punish a person.

Pleas for peace ring the globe
Anti-war demonstrators turned out in their hundreds of thousands around the world on Saturday to protest against United States military preparations for an invasion of Iraq.

Not too late for Iraq peace, Blix says
But we all know that's rubbish now. The Coalition of the Killing were not seeking WMD in Iraq, they were there for their resource wars. So who gave the 'UN' and Blix the wrong information back then? War criminals!

George Bush's other poodle
John Howard, Australia's PM, is the mouse that roars for America, whipping his country into war fever and paranoia about terrorism within.

Death Penalty Forensics?

Even science may not make a death sentence infallible

In proposing a new death penalty for Massachusetts last month, Governor Mitt Romney offered firm assurance that no innocent people would be executed: Convictions, he said, will be based on science.

According to the proposal, a death-penalty verdict would require not only an especially heinous crime, but also ''conclusive scientific evidence'' of guilt. If it passed, Massachusetts would become the first state to require a scientific link to a crime to impose a death sentence.

[Conclusive scientific evidence like DNA can be planted at a crime scene?]

Romney's plan, however, comes at a difficult time for courtroom science.

[But], much scientific evidence is coming under fresh attack from lawyers and judges, either for technical unreliability or for the human errors that can color the results.

Even fingerprint analysis - once the gold standard of scientific evidence - is being questioned. Last month, an Oregon lawyer was released from custody after the FBI acknowledged he was wrongly linked to the, [false flag], Madrid terrorist train bombings through poor fingerprint analysis.

''The premise is interesting that scientific evidence is more reliable than other evidence. . . . It would be nice if it were true,'' said Simon A. Cole, an assistant professor of criminology, law and society at the University of California at Irvine. ''In the cases of wrongful conviction that we know about, scientific evidence is a very significant factor.''

Romney's plan, which would be applied only to particular first-degree murders such as killing a police officer or murders involving torture, does not require absolute scienti fic proof. Rather, it would require a jury to find evidence ''reaching a high level of scientific certainty'' that will ''strongly corroborate the defendant's guilt.''

While DNA is the most ironclad evidence now available,[?], other categories such as photographs, video and audiotapes, fingerprints and tool marks may suffice. Multiple layers of review in the plan would ensure ''as much as humanly possible'' no innocent person be sentenced to death.

Military lawyers await probe on DNA tampering

The Army's Criminal Investigation Command said nearly 500 forensic test results from all services dating back 10 years are under review after one of its examiners allegedly faked results. About 119 of those cases pertain to the Navy and Marine Corps.

Corrupt police planting DNA evidence at crime scenes

Others have raised concerns about corrupt police planting DNA evidence at crime scenes.

''We can't get to zero, but we can get close,'' said Joseph Hoffmann, a law professor at Indiana University who cochaired the panel that crafted the Romney plan.

Only a minority of murder cases have enough biological evidence to provide DNA, according to defense lawyers and crime experts. This means that the burden of proof could more often fall on far more subjective and much more controversial evidence, such as tire tracks or fingerprints. Though often presented as science by prosecutors and expert witnesses, such evidence is increasingly derided by defense lawyers and academics as an interpretive art.

''[Technicians] are actually told to develop this intuitive sense of certainty when they review fingerprint comparisons that they've obtained a match,'' said David Faigman, a University of California law professor who wrote ''Laboratory of Justice: The Supreme Court's 200-year Struggle to Integrate Science And The Law.''

He said there are no required standards for fingerprint analysis, and labs often declare a match between two prints based on years of examining fingerprints rather than a clearly spelled-out methodology. ''From a scientific standpoint,'' he said, ''that is the voodoo part.''

Faigman and other critics argue that science has a long and checkered history in the courtroom. Lawyers once used body characteristics, such the lengths of people's arms or shape of their heads, to prove a defendant's propensity to commit a crime.

In 1927, a phrenologist was called into court to ''read'' a woman accused of murdering her husband; the phrenologist declared that the suspect's chin ''tapered like the lower face of a cat,'' demonstrating treachery.''

As phrenology was being dismissed as quackery, the early 20th century saw the birth of forensic science as a specialized profession, with laboratories and experts who aimed to link suspects definitively to crime scenes.

Eventually, handwriting, fingerprints, photographs and blood samples became regularly introduced into evidence, and the belief that ''every criminal leaves a trace'' became a cornerstone of police investigations.

[Also by now, as well, other cornerstones of police investigations certainly included the 'ruling class', with their wide-spread use of 'planting or fabricating evidence at crime scenes. Evidence used to convict innocent people, evidence can easily be planted by police and set up by experts with biases to ensure 'noble cause corruption' convictions, a must for every ruling class.]

By the late 1980s, DNA testing had been widely adopted, and today technology is still marching on: A new technique called ''brain fingerprinting'', a kind of lie detector based on brain signals, was admitted into court in Iowa in 2003 in order to help free a man in prison for murdering a retired police officer. (The man was freed by the Iowa Supreme Court, although the judges did not refer to the technology in their decision.)

[The idea by the ruling class is to have a formidable tool to convict people for things like, 'state terror' and 'false flag' operations or to blame someone else who is innocent of a crime. DNA became that formidable tool. Now people who it is alleged that their DNA was found at a crime scene, would be convicted on 'flawed circumstantial evidence' based on their 'alleged' DNA being allegedly found at a crime scene.]

If history is any lesson, however, today's certainty is tomorrow's question mark. For example, the rise of DNA testing has revealed enormous failings in the microscopic hair analysis that was considered reliable a generation ago. In 2002, DNA analysis helped free a Montana man who had spent 15 years in prison for rape based in large part on faulty expert analysis of pubic hair found at the crime scene. According to the Innocence Project, which works to free wrongfully convicted people, in 25 of the first 82 DNA exonerations around the country, scientists and prosecutors presented bad or tainted science to convict a defendant.

[Note: when the police or the ruling class don't ever want a persons miscarriage of justice known, then they usually destroy the DNA evidence used to convict a person. In NSW Australia there is no Innocence Panel either.]

So concerned was the US Supreme Court about the growing role of science in the courtroom in the 1990s that the court instructed judges to act as gatekeepers for scientific evidence, scrutinizing experts and procedures to be sure scientific techniques were peer-reviewed or tested, with known and acceptable error rates.

That instruction led to the first major court decision questioning fingerprint evidence. Two years ago, a Philadelphia judge ruled an expert could not link fingerprints found at a crime scene to a defendant because the matching technique used by fingerprint experts had never been proven valid.

There was no proof, the judge said, that fingerprint analysis had been scientifically tested or its error rates calculated. The judge later reversed his decision after the FBI testified about training, procedure and error rates, but the challenge opened up the floodgates for other defense attorneys protesting fingerprint analysis.

''It has never been demonstrated that fingerprint examiners use a proven methodology,'' said Lyn Haber, a California forensic researcher.

With DNA analysis, the problem is different. [?] The scientific underpinnings of DNA analysis are welltested [?] and conceded to be solid even by critics. [? Not by this critic!]

But the certainty of a DNA match can be overshadowed by the larger question of how the DNA evidence was obtained and handled.

In the O.J. Simpson murder case, for instance, defense attorneys cast doubt on DNA results because of sloppy lab work, ultimately suggesting investigators planted the evidence at the scene. And a DNA match to a crime scene, many defense attorneys point out, only proves a suspect was there - not that he or she committed a crime.

[It doesn't even prove that they were there at all, it only proves that the DNA was there, but exactly who placed it there? Oh! Trust the false flag state terrorists they know best?]

''The problems with DNA are partly human error, or worse, human corruption,'' said Harvey Silverglate, a Boston civil-rights attorney who fears innocent people may still be convicted under the Romney plan.

Human error is also emerging as a key problem in crime labs, both in Massachusetts and around the country. Stephan Cowans, who was convicted in 1998 of shooting a police officer in a Roxbury backyard, was freed from prison this year after it was revealed the fingerprint evidence used to convict him did not come from his finger.

A recent article in Champion, a magazine published by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, noted widespread problems at crime labs across the country, many exacerbated by overwork and small budgets.

[But don't just be thrown off by crime lab mistakes because that only takes away the focus off planting evidence at crime scenes and that we cannot have a disregard for. Because the ruling class will claim that they fixed the problem with infallible crime labs, but diverted attention away from other flawed evidence problems and possibilities.]

In Massachusetts, a state report two years ago noted that space in the State Police crime lab in Sudbury was so limited that scientists had to extract evidence from suspect and victim's clothing on alternate days to avoid cross-contamination.

Stung by that report, officials say the state has since gone through a voluntary accreditation by a national board that sets standards for crime labs. [? See!!! Big Brother rubbish.]

But that is only partially true: The Sudbury lab is accredited only in DNA testing and "criminalistics,'' the analysis of trace evidence, fibers and tool markings. The offices of ballistics and fingerprint analysis are not accreditated; nor is the state's DNA database.

State officials say they are attempting to get them accredited and are also seeking a large increase in funds for that lab. [? What about other problems?] Under the death penalty plan, Romney has pledged to ensure that all labs are operating as flawlessly as possible so there will be no questions about the way evidence is collected or analyzed. [Rubbish!] If valid questions do arise, prosecutors would not seek the death penalty.

Death penalty opponents agree that if labs were better monitored and funded fully, there would be less suspicion about whether the evidence was tainted or analyzed incorrectly.

[But not less suspicion about whether evidence is planted.]

And the authors of the Massachusetts death penalty proposal are clear in wanting an independent scientific review of the collection, analysis and presentation of evidence, along with other safeguards. But as long as humans are involved in science, either analyzing it or interpreting it, mistakes can happen, others say.

''What we say in forensic science is the more certain the scientist is, the less reliable the scientist is,'' said James Starrs, a professor of law and forensic sciences at George Washington University.

''We all want to be on safe ground, always looking for a magic bullet. But our society can easily be taken in by science, and that is worrisome.''

By Beth Daley and edited by Gregory Kable posted 11 June 04

Death Penalty Links:

Clive Stafford-Smith: The Death Penalty
British lawyer Clive Stafford-Smith, who for the last 20 years has worked with death row prisoners in the U.S. is returning to his home in Britain, to fight for the Guantanamo Bay prisoners in Cuba.

Silencing the Cells: Mass Incarceration and Legal Repression in U.S. Prisons People without a voice are not people in any meaningful sense of the word. Silenced people cannot express their ideas; they can neither consent nor protest. They are reduced to being pawns in the schemes of the powerful, mendicants who must accept whatever is imposed upon them. In order to keep people in a state of subjugation, silencing their voices is essential. Nowhere is this clearer than in U.S. prisons.

U.N. Group Seeks End To Executions The United States, Japan, China, India and Muslim nations including Saudi Arabia opposed the resolution. Burkina Faso, Cuba, Guatemala, South Korea and Sri Lanka abstained.

US Execution: Huang Thanh Le
Dear Friends, this is so sad especially for our dear friend, San Nguyen. San who lives in Oklahoma worked very hard with the rest of the Vietnamese community to stop Mr. Le's execution.

US Execution: Please contact the Governor
The Vietnamese-American Community, the ACLU, and many others want the March 30 execution of Huang Thanh Le commuted.

Death penalty: a lawyer sees the light
The observation by [Cherie Blair?] "Americans are from Mars and Europeans are from Venus" is illustrated by the two nations' differing reactions to the use of the death penalty as a legitimate punishment for murder.

Cherie Blair attacks US over death penalty in Catholic paper
Cherie Blair has renewed her attack on America's use of the death penalty. In a book review in the Catholic journal The Tablet, under her maiden name Cherie Booth, she says: "Capital cases are uniquely prone to error and thus call into question whether we can ever be really sure of obtaining the just result.

Insane prisoner granted stay in the USA
The case of a condemned killer with a history of paranoid delusions and violent outbursts raises questions about executing the mentally ill.

OHIO: Judges join dissent on execution delay
Lewis Williams - his attorneys argued that he was mentally retarded, was executed by lethal injection on Jan. 14 2004 in Lucasville, Ohio at age 45.

Mexico Awaits Hague Ruling on Citizens on U.S. Death Row
Sbaldo Torres, a convicted murderer on death row in Oklahoma, should have been dead by now, his appeals exhausted, his time up. But because 15 judges in The Hague, acting at the request of the government of Mexico, have forbidden his execution for now, he is alive in a cell in McAlester, awaiting the next move from the Netherlands.

Jury Passes On Business Of Killing
US: This drives the death penalty crowd in the legislature nuts. Yet another jury - another 12 men and women, tried and true, who had all attested to their belief in the death penalty - has refused to join in the killing business.

Ultimate Punishment: Dealing With the Death Penalty
Scott Turow has long juggled two careers‹that of a novelist and that of a lawyer. He wrote much of his first and best known legal thriller, Presumed Innocent, on the commuter train to and from work during the eight years he spent as an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago, and he has churned out another blockbuster every third year since joining the firm of Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal in 1986.

A Question of Innocence Rubin Carter: Day after day, week after week, I would sit in that filthy cell, seething. I was furious at everyone. At the two state witnesses who lied, at the police who put them up to it, at the prosecutor who sanctioned it, at the judge who allowed it, at the jury who accepted it, and at my own lawyer, for not being able to defeat it.

Are you sane enough to be executed?
New York: The US Supreme Court has let stand a ruling by a federal appeals court in February that officials in the state of Arkansas had the right to force a convicted murderer to take drug treatment to make him sane enough to be executed.

Amnesty steps up campaign to abolish death penalty
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International is urging people around the world to pressure countries to abolish the death penalty. Amnesty director Irene Khan has released a statement, which raps governments for carrying out "executions".

Port Lincoln Mayor has lost the plot!
Controversial Port Lincoln Mayor Peter Davis has called for drug addicts to be given a lethal injection to cut rising illicit drug use on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula.

'LAND OF THE FREE' SET TO EXECUTE TWO PRISONERS BY FIRING SQUAD: Wanted: Willing executioners for two convicted murderers. Must be psychologically sound and familiar with .30-calibre rifles. No victims' relatives need apply.

There has been some debate whether: 'Capital punishment should be re-instated in Australia, since the terrible events that took place in Bali' In all democratic nations, every human being is considered innocent of any alleged crime, until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt by a court of law. For this reason, certain safeguards must be used for capital punishment cases.

TEXAS EXECUTES 300th PRISONER
Keith Clay was executed tonight, becoming the 300th prisoner in Texas to die by lethal injection since the rogue state resumed the death penalty 20 years ago.

AUSTRALIAN COALITION AGAINST DEATH PENALTY
" ... Our nation was built on a promise of life and liberty for all citizens. Guided by a deep respect for human dignity, our Founding Fathers worked to secure these rights for future generations, and today we continue to seek to fulfil their promise in our laws and our society.

Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Please note the following article carefully.....it shows clearly the hateful, uncaring and anti-human rights attitude as reflected by the Governor of Texas (and most other elected Texas officials).

Supreme Court Justice Blocks Execution
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens blocked Indiana from putting to death its oldest death row inmate Tuesday to give the 71-year-old prisoner, who is partially deaf and blind, extra time to file federal appeals.

Stephen Romei: Death knell sounds for US capital law
GEORGE RYAN, outgoing governor of the US state of Illinois a republican who leaves office today, has put US capital punishment on the road to oblivion by commuting the sentences of all 167 of the state's death row inmates. Three were re-sentenced to 40 years' jail and the remaining 164 got life without parole.

Bush rules out death sentence review US President George W Bush says has dismissed any chance of a review of America's system of capital punishment.

Amnesty urges Bush to shut death row
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has urged US President George W. Bush to take a "moral stand" and abolish the death penalty after the Illinois Governor dramatically emptied that state's death row.

USA - A NATION IN TURMOIL: As the year 2002 draws to a close, little if anything, has changed in the United States in regards to state-sanctioned killing. Various campaigns, calls for clemency, petitions, and international condemnation, have failed to humanize U.S. politicians.

Here come de Judge - Time to Leave [266]
There have always been examples of rulings and interpretations that have supported the saying "The law is an ass". This is increasingly the case, because even the best intentioned judges are now facing an avalanche of new technologies and social change. But, it is no good making excuses for the judiciary and continuing to accept their strange interpretations. We must recognise that not only judges but the whole legal system will struggle more and more. In the end the whole system will become a farce. This is the way empires end.

Updated 2009: DNA Links:

Fresh swipe at DNA labs
Scientist Kris Bentley, whose departure yesterday follows that of forensic biologist Deanna Belzer after concerns about "inaccurate" DNA results and unvalidated equipment, issued a scathing resignation letter leaked to The Courier-Mail.

DNA leads 'CSI' cold-case squad to first arrest?
Frozen case? I don't really know what to say about them until they come up with their case. They say it involves DNA evidence but that's the only stuff we know.

Criminal's DNA filed under relative's name
The New South Wales Opposition is calling for an investigation into claims that police have entered DNA data for serious offenders under incorrect names.

DNA fingerprinting 'no longer foolproof'...
The genetic profiles held by police for criminal investigations are not sophisticated enough to prevent false identifications, according to the father of DNA fingerprinting.

THE BUTLER DIDN'T DO IT!
PROFESSOR BARRY BOETTCHER: Now, there should be a law enacted within Queensland so that when cases come up like this they can be brought to attention and if an appropriate authority such as a judge of your Supreme Court considers that it merits further inquiry, an inquiry be ordered.

'Rape' officer clears his name
UK: A former policeman has been cleared of rape after protesting his innocence for 15 years. Judges at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh ruled that Brian Kelly, 47, had suffered a miscarriage of justice over crucial DNA evidence.

New unit investigates unsolved deaths?
A new police unit has been established to investigate more than 360 unsolved deaths in New South Wales, with many of the deaths dating back more than 30 years.

Prisoner's bid for review denied
Prisoner Roger Cheney has lost a Supreme Court action to have a judicial review of his 1993 convictions an 30-year jail sentence. Justice Shaw said he was concerned about the prisoner's claim that DNA evidence held by the police could prove his innocence. Although Cheney had requested the results of the DNA tests, he had been denied access to the forensic analysis.

QLD Prisoners DNA Bid THE curious case of Queensland's "cat lady" murder is set to test the state's legal authorities again, with the man convicted of the killing asking the Attorney-General to take the unprecedented step of releasing blood samples for DNA retesting.

Database clears up crimes?
NSW Police Minister John Watkins said at the launch of a Sydney conference of international forensic experts meeting to mark 100 years of fingerprinting in NSW. He said the collection of DNA from prisoners and suspects in NSW during the past two years had led to more than 5,400 matches on the forensic database.

A Question of Innocence
Katrina Bolton: The promise of DNA freeing the innocent as well as convicting the guilty has been repeated by politicians across Australia, usually while DNA laws are being expanded. The promise was made as a national DNA database, ‘Crimtrac’ was created, and it was made as NSW introduced legislation giving unprecedented powers to take DNA samples from prisoners, by force if necessary.

Weak Carr Government suspends Innocence Panel
It's a callous disregard for justice! The panel takes applications from convicted prisoners for DNA evidence to be analysed a move that may help in a future court appeal.

JUST BEAT IT! Govt lauds crime-solving technology?
The New South Wales Government says advances in crime solving technology are helping the progress of hundreds of police investigations.

DNA testing causes debate in murder case
The use of voluntary DNA testing in the investigation of a murder case in New South Wales has been applauded by victim support groups who are ill informed about the process said Justice Action's spokesperson Gregory Kable.

Abolition of double jeopardy law a political stunt: NSW Opp
Why draconian laws? What about the re-trial by media that goes along with it? Twice shy?

ARE YOU INNOCENT?
The NSW government has finally appointed somebody (Justice John Nader) to head up its Innocence Panel and has produced leaflets and forms for people convicted of serious crimes (eg murder) to apply for DNA testing if they believe it may help prove their innocence. You can get the info by phoning 1300 881 717 or writing to the panel at GPO Box 45 Sydney NSW 2001.

Is the Westminster System flawed?
Most people would say Lady Di got the boot and NSW has so much trouble getting the Innocence Panel moving. I said hey, what's going on!

Murder charge first for DNA data bank link, but not the same as solving the murder Mass DNA testing of prisoners has led to the first NSW case of a person being charged with a previously unsolved murder as a result of a controversial gene-matching data bank. The Herald reported 25 Nov 02 "a DNA saliva swab led to the charging of a former prisoner with the bashing murder of a woman. Police had been unable to find any witnesses or suspects following the murder in Sydney's inner city two years ago. Detectives had admitted they faced a tough job finding the killer."

Prisoners can prove innocence for $20
Les Kennedy Daily Telegraph reported today that" Prisoners who believe that DNA will prove they were wrongly convicted will have the chance to prove their innocence for a mere $20 administration fee. The move comes 20 months after NSW inmates were asked to provide DNA for comparison with a databank of DNA from unsolved crime scenes for possible convictions.

DNA yours or mine?
Now they have isolated two genes that they say tells you if you're more likely to be depressed. What does that mean? It could mean that you should stay in jail because you are more likely than not to continue your offending behaviour according to a Department of Corrective Services Forensic Psychiatrist.

DNA = Do Not Assume - DNA Controversies!
The national DNA database of all known offenders proposed by Prime Minister Tony Blair could mean that innocent people will be accused of crimes they did not commit.

DNA Evidence of Bipartisanship
Last week the U.S. Congress passed the Justice for All Act, which includes provisions of the Innocence Protection Act. As of this posting, the legislation has not yet been signed by President Bush. Attached is an analysis of the legislation prepared by the Justice Project.

DNA - A Shadow of Doubt
One case points to misinterpretation of evidence that helped put a man behind bars. The other shows just how easy it is to plant falsely incriminating DNA evidence. As our forensic techniques become ever more sensitive, so the possibility of abuse continues to grow.

Here come de Judge - Time to Leave [266]
There have always been examples of rulings and interpretations that have supported the saying "The law is an ass". This is increasingly the case, because even the best intentioned judges are now facing an avalanche of new technologies and social change. But, it is no good making excuses for the judiciary and continuing to accept their strange interpretations. We must recognise that not only judges but the whole legal system will struggle more and more. In the end the whole system will become a farce. This is the way empires end.

2nd Renaissance -15 The Rabbits And The Wolves [180]
Historically, there have been periods when legal distinctions between animals and humans have been blurred. For instance, in medieval Europe, in the 14th and 15th centuries, numerous trials and executions of animals occurred. One source identifies 34 recorded instances of pigs having been tried and cruelly put to death. Besides pigs; rats, chickens, goats, and bees were similarly tried. Some of the pigs were fully dressed in human clothes at the time they were, inevitably, found guilty. In one case a vicar excommunicated a flock of sparrows that infested his church. All this happened despite the theological stance that animals had no soul, and no morals or conscience. They could not really be guilty of transgressing the Rule of Law.