Secret court judge attended expenses-paid terrorism seminar (run by a Koch grantee)

[friendly_iconoclast]

http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/06/07/12784/secret-court-judge-attended-expenses-paid-terrorism-seminar

Secret court judge attended expenses-paid terrorism seminar
Lecturers included advocate for strong executive powers

U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson, who signed an order requiring Verizon to give the National Security Agency telephone records for tens of millions of American customers, attended an expense-paid judicial seminar sponsored by a libertarian think tank that featured lectures from a vocal proponent of executive branch powers.

Vinson, whose term on the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court began in 2006 and expired last month, was the only member of the special court to attend the August 2008 conference sponsored by the Foundation for Research on Economics & the Environment, according to disclosure records filed by the federal judge...

...But Eric Posner, a University of Chicago law professor who delivered two lectures, argued in a 2007 book he co-wrote — Terror in the Balance: Security, Liberty, and the Courts — that “the executive branch, not Congress or the judicial branch, should make the tradeoff between security and liberty.”

The book also asserts that while “no one doubts that injustices occur during emergencies, the type of judicial scrutiny that would be needed to prevent the injustices that have occurred during American history would cause more harm than good by interfering with justified executive actions.”

If you read down at the first link, you will find that FREE (love the Orwellian acronym) received >$400,000 dollars
from the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, which is run by Charles Koch:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2010/10/19/the-koch-empire-and-americans-for-prosperity/

(note: emphasis added)

...The brothers refer to their philanthropic work as the “Koch Family Foundations.” Listed on the Koch Industries Inc. web site are the Fred C. and Mary R. Koch Foundations (the deceased parents of Charles and David); the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation and the Kansas Cultural Trust, renamed the Koch Cultural Trust in 2008. The web site does not list the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation which is controlled by Charles Koch.

Claude Lambe was a real estate developer and insurance broker in Kansas. He invested in a company formed by Fred Koch in 1934, the Buffalo Oil Corporation. Lambe’s wife, Pauline, died in 1976; Lambe died in 1981. According to a Koch Industries publication, Charles Koch was left in charge of Lambe’s estate. Charles Koch and his wife, Elizabeth, serve as Directors on the Foundation’s board. Hopefully, Lambe wanted to fund all of these right wing causes because that’s what his foundation has been doing since his death.

[NYC_SKP]

1. K/R. (nt)

[WestStar]

2. Since Judge Vinson dosen't initiate the request for a continuation of the data collection

It would appear that the DOJ (Holder) did a little "judge shopping" to insure a favorable outcome for their 90 day renewal. Vinson has probably just automatically signed it every 3 months for years.

That really puts the lie to the whole "judicial review" argument that the administration has been trying to make.

It was a fucking rubber stamp!

[Initech]

3. The Kochs are the real terrorists and criminals in this world. Fuck them.

[Iliyah]

4. And you guys are

what, that ok, as usual.