‘Human shield’ faces thousands of dollars in fines

According to a letter dated Mar. 20 from the federal Department of the Treasury, Faith Fippinger broke the law by crossing the Iraqi border — a violation of US sanctions that prohibit American citizens from engaging in “virtually all direct or indirect commercial, financial or trade transactions with Iraq.”

Fippinger, who returned home on May 4, learned of the letter from her brother, who kept track of her mail while she was overseas. Once she arrived in the United States, she had 20 days to respond, which she did.

Now, Fippinger, 62, owes the United States at least $10,000, which is $10,000 more than she says she will pay. In a letter Fippinger mailed to the government in May, she said she would not pay a fine.

“If it comes to fines or imprisonment, please be aware that I will not contribute money to the United States government to continue the build-up of its arsenal of weapons,” Fippinger wrote in her response to the charges. She said she has no intention of paying. “Therefore, perhaps the alternative should be considered.” The alternative could be as much as 12 years in prison.

If Fippinger does not pay, the fine may increase, and the money will be drawn from her retirement paycheck, her Social Security check, or any of her assets. She says she doesn’t have much.

“She was [in Iraq] in violation of US sanctions,” said Taylor Griffin, a Treasury Department spokesman. “That’s what happens.”

The letter asked for the name of any travel agent who arranged the trip, any US goods she might have donated and any Iraqi goods she might have brought home.

“They’re saying that I, as a human shield, exported services to Iraq by going over there,” Fippinger said Aug. 15.

In her response, Fippinger wrote that the only money she spent was on food and emergency supplies. She and others from 30 countries spread out through Iraq in a futile effort to prevent American bombing of the country. She spent about three months there, including time at an oil refinery. Only about 20 of nearly 300 “human shields” were Americans, she said. They all face the same charges as Fippinger.

So far, arguments against the penalties have proven fruitless.

“When you break the law, you can expect to get a fine,” Griffin said. “The Bush administration is committed to the full and fair enforcement of the law.” (The Herald Tribune)

Medicare recipients will still face high drug bills

Although Medicare beneficiaries with very modest incomes are the ones least likely to have drug coverage, many would receive only limited help under the Medicare drug bills being considered in Congress, according to a new report from The Commonwealth Fund. Average out-of-pocket costs for a couple at 160 percent of poverty would be reduced only slightly under both the House and Senate bills, according to the report.

“Both the House and Senate drug bills fall short in the help they provide to needy beneficiaries,” said Karen Davis, president of The Commonwealth Fund. “Most of the analyses today have focused on an individual beneficiary, but for an elderly couple trying to get along on a very modest income, high drug costs can be devastating. The bills now being debated in Congress will still burden many of these couples with large shares of their incomes devoted to paying for drugs.”

Beneficiaries living on $10,000 to $20,000 annually are less likely than those in either lower or higher income groups to have prescription drug coverage; they also spend more out of their own pockets for prescriptions. However, many elderly and disabled beneficiaries in this group would see limited benefit from the bills currently under consideration because premium assistance begins to be phased out for those above 130 percent of poverty. Low-income subsidies are phased out completely for those with incomes above 160 percent of poverty. While the Senate bill provides somewhat greater assistance to those at 130 percent of poverty, it does not provide coverage to Medicaid beneficiaries, leaving the states to pick up those costs. (The Commonwealth Fund)

Nader pied

Ralph Nader got a pie in the face at an event on Aug. 12 with one of the people running for California governor.

The former Green Party presidential candidate was in San Francisco to endorse Peter Camejo, who is one of six declared Greens running in the recall election.

At the end of a news conference, a man ran into the room, shoved a pie in Nader’s face, and ran out.

Nader threw some of the pie at the unidentified man as he took off — but the police didn’t catch him.

Later, Camejo said he thought the Democrats were behind the pie throwing. (NBC)

Smile! You’re on Campus Camera

A Mississippi school superintendent says installing Internet-wired video cameras on district campuses has provided a safer environment for students, faculty, and the public.

Three years ago, the Biloxi School District began installing “web cams” in every classroom. Now there are 800 cameras in the district that can be found in hallways, outside buildings, and in parking lots. As superintendent Larry Drawdy puts it: “The moment you arrive on campus by bus or by car, you’re on videotape.”

The superintendent explains that the web cams deter misbehavior. “According to many of the reports that I’ve received from the principals, discipline referrals to [their] offices have [dropped] significantly,” he says.

“If teachers, staff, and students all are aware that they are on camera and being filmed, it tends to make an honest person more honest.” (Agape Press)

Indianapolis infoshop raided

Solidarity Books, an infoshop in Indianapolis, was raided by police on the evening of Aug. 14.

After forming an initial perimeter in the two blocks around the collective space, the police proceeded to pull over two cars as they tried to leave, claiming minor traffic infractions. The police then moved in on the space itself. Tickets were issued to many of the cars parked outside, as fire marshals demanded entry to make a safety inspection. The marshals lacked any documentation of a complaint or report, let alone a warrant. Nevertheless, they not only entered the house, but they were accompanied by police officers who were supposedly protecting the marshals. The police officers then searched every room in the house, including the personal belongings of the collective members who live on the second floor.

The police officers were shortly followed by officers with the ATF, bomb squad, and the Seattle Police Department, who stated that they were acting as consultants to the Indianapolis Police Department over the weekend. There were no weapons or other contraband in the space and no arrests were made. (infoshop.org)

Freedom ride to aid immigrants

More than 150 supporters of immigrants’ rights showed up for a rally in Las Vegas on Aug. 12, the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Speakers said immigrants in the US are being treated unfairly, not receiving workers’ rights, being paid low wages without adequate health insurance and finding it difficult to get citizenship.

“Many immigrants are being treated as third-class citizens. This is a great country, we should not let it happen,” said Miguel Barrientos, president of the Mexican-American Political Association of Las Vegas.

Barrientos plans to be one of 40 Las Vegans joining the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride to Washington, DC, Sept. 23 in the spirit of King’s national Freedom Ride in the 1960s.

The journey will take the freedom riders into 10 different cities across the nation, ending Oct. 4. The rally and trip to Washington is sponsored by the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride Coalition, which includes a diverse group including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Culinary Union and Episcopal Diocese. (Las Vegas Sun)

Attorney general to defend anti- terrorism law

Attorney General John Ashcroft began a nationwide campaign this to defend the anti-terrorism law adopted after the Sept. 11 attacks that faces criticism from civil libertarians and others for giving the government broad powers to eavesdrop and detain immigrants.

Justice Department officials said Ashcroft was kicking off the month-long effort with a speech to a conservative think tank in Washington. He will be traveling to more than a dozen cities to try to drum up support for the USA PATRIOT Act.

The law, adopted less than six weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks, enhanced the government’s ability to tap phones, share intelligence information, track internet usage and cell phones and protect US borders.

The American Civil Liberties Union has spearheaded opposition to the law and questioned whether Ashcroft’s tour was politically motivated. And legislation is pending in Congress that would roll back a key provision of the law allowing the government to conduct “sneak and peek” searches of private property.

“An attorney general going on the road, away from his official duties, to favorably spin policies violative of civil liberties is troubling, to say the least,” said Laura Murphy, director of the ACLU’s Washington office.

“It raises two serious questions: is this tour — which incidentally hits Iowa, Michigan and Ohio — political in nature and how prudent is it to be spending public money on a ‘PATRIOT Act’ charm offensive?” she asked.

Justice Department officials have been concerned that opposition to the law is increasing and might scuttle efforts to adopt new anti-terrorism legislation.

About 150 local governments have also approved resolutions objecting to the PATRIOT Act. (Reuters)

Schwarzenegger’s father was a Nazi

In July 1990, following news reports that his father was a Nazi, movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger approached his friends at the Simon Wiesenthal Center and asked that they find the truth.

The center, named after the famed Nazi hunter, had the resources to conduct such a probe. And it was an institution that Schwarzenegger had financially backed over the years.

After a two-month investigation, in which Simon Wiesenthal was involved, the verdict was in: Gustav Schwarzenegger was indeed a member of the Nazi party; he voluntarily applied for membership in 1938. But there was no evidence that he was a war criminal.

But documents in the Austrian State Archives in Vienna, reviewed by The Los Angeles Times this week, show that Gustav Schwarzenegger had a deeper involvement in Hitler’s regime than the Wiesenthal Center had uncovered.

One document in particular shows that Gustav Schwarzenegger was a member of the Sturmabteilungen (SA), also known as the “storm troopers” or “brown shirts.” He joined the SA on May 1, 1939, according to the entry in the archive file.

The Austrian documents also show that Gustav Schwarzenegger served with German Army units that saw some of the most brutal bloodshed of World War II, including the invasions of Poland and France and the German rampage through Russia and the siege of Leningrad.

As a military policeman, he appears to have been in theaters of the war where atrocities were committed by his army. But there is no way to know from the documents whether he played a role.

For years, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been dogged by his father’s past and unsubstantiated rumors that he is an anti-Semite and a Nazi sympathizer. He sued a writer for libel over such allegations in a 1988 British newspaper article. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount of money and a public apology from the writer. (Los Angeles Times)