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Craig Becker – Nominee National Labor Relations Board

Craig Becker has been nominated to serve on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). He was nominated in April by Obama to serve on the five-member board, which supervises union elections, investigates labor practices, and interprets the National Labor Relations Act.

Becker is associate general counsel at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which has been closely tied to ACORN. Mr. Becker argued for rewriting current union-election rules in favor of labor and suggested the NLRB could do this by regulatory methods, without a congressional vote, in a 1993 Minnesota Law Review article written while he was a professor at UCLA.

In written responses to Sen. Orrin Hatch, Becker promised only to "maintain an open mind about whether [his] suggestions should be implemented in any manner." In other words, he won't tell Congress what he intends to do. He also refused to give a clear answer concerning his role in preparing several pro-labor executive orders issued by President Obama shortly after his inauguration. Becker's name was found on at least one of the documents, suggesting he had written it while serving on the Obama transition team.

The Wall Street Journal reports that "One of the many accusations leveled against former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is that he accepted money from SEIU in return for taking actions giving collective bargaining rights to Illinois home health-care workers. While Mr. Becker denies any knowledge of, or role in, contributions to the former Governor, he does admit that he provided 'advice and counsel to SEIU relating to proposed executive orders and proposed legislation giving homecare workers a right to organize and engage in collective bargaining under state law.'"

Obama Czars Thrown Under Obama’s Bus

To preface this discussion, you must understand that Obama has had relationships with most of his czars and advisers for many years, some relationships more close than others.

VAN JONES-Green Czar -- An avowed communist sympathizer with long ties to ACORN and highly praised by many in the Obama administration. He was fired in the middle of the night, on a weekend, after being exposed by Glenn Beck on the Fox News Channel.

SUSAN CRAWFORD-Internet Czar -- The administration has faced growing bi-partisan opposition to the radical net neutrality advocated by Crawford and FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski.

The American Spectator reports:
"[Summers] and other senior Obama officials were unaware of how radical the draft Net Neutrality regulations were when they initially internally circulated to Obama administration officials several weeks ago. 'All of a sudden Larry is getting calls from CEOs, Wall Street folks he talks to, Republicans and Democrats, asking him what the administration is doing with the policies, and he isn't sure what they're talking about,' says one White House aide. 'He felt blind-sided, and Susan was one of those people who heard about it."'

BigGovernment.com reports:
Sources say that such ongoing concern and criticism regarding the push for neutrality could further impact the thinking of key Obama advisers-including Summers and potentially Obama strategist David Axelrod-and ultimately result in the administration backing away from net neutrality entirely. The White House aide cited by the Spectator notes that radical figures within the administration "are just a bunch of targets on our back that we can't shake."

The full quote obtained by the American Spectator:
"They haven't done us any good on any level, and now they are just a bunch of targets on our back that we can't shake."

This won't end the net neutrality war, for nothing with the Obama administration ever seems to end. However, it is one more radical leftist out of the inner circle and that's a good thing. It's also a reminder of Neil Stevens' doctrine: Elections Have Consequences.

ANITA DUNN-White House Communications Director -- Dunn has announced that she is stepping down after being exposed by Fox News as an admirer of Chairman Mao.

Which weighed most heavily against Dunn's tenure, the war with Fox News or the praise of Mao? During her assaults on Fox News Channel, she denounced the cable network as "a wing of the Republican Party" and "opinion journalism masquerading as news."

YOSI SERGANT-National Endowment for the Arts spokesman -- Sergant was forced to resign after it was revealed in a telephone conversation with the White House that he intended to use taxpayer funds to promote artists with a favorable opinion of Obama. In other words, to socialite artists willing to promote Obama personally as well as his agenda.

David Hamilton – Nominee to Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reed is attempting to push through the confirmation of David Hamilton early next week. Hamilton, a sitting federal district court judge, holds radical views, a former ACLU activist, who ordered the Speaker of the Indiana House to immediately stop "sectarian prayers" at the opening of legislative sessions.

Hamilton ruled that prayers using "Christ's name or title" were sectarian and therefore unconstitutional. He went on to rule that prayers to "Allah" were acceptable.

Hamilton was a former fundraiser for ACORN and was labeled "not qualified" by the American Bar Association. He has blocked informed consent abortion laws and has a long record of overt judicial activism.

It is imperative that you contact your senators over this weekend to oppose Hamilton's confirmation before Harry Reed slips another radical judge under the radar.

EFFector 22.32: PATRIOT Reform and State Secrets Reform Bills Pass House Committee

EFFector Vol. 22, No. 32, November 9, 2009 editor@eff.org

A Publication of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
ISSN 1062-9424

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In our 522nd issue:

* Two Battles Won: PATRIOT Reform AND State Secrets Reform Bills Pass House Committee
After two long days of legislative battle, the House Judiciary Committee rejected almost all amendments that would have weakened Chairman Conyers’ PATRIOT reform bill, HR 3845. Thanks in no small part to those of you who took action with our alert, the Committee voted to recommend the bill to the House floor by a vote of 16 to 10.

Better still, the Committee kept going after it was finished with PATRIOT to consider Representative Nadler’s State Secret Protection Act (HR 984), which would reform the state secrets privilege that the government has repeatedly used to try and throw EFF’s warrantless wiretapping cases out of court. After an impassioned defense by Mr. Nadler, who described how the government has used the privilege like a "magic incantation" to cover-up wrongdoing and warned that state secrecy "is the greatest threat to liberty at present," the bill passed with even better numbers than the PATRIOT bill, 18 to 12!
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/11/battle-won-not-war-patriot-reform-bill-passes-out-

* Leaked ACTA Internet Provisions: Three Strikes and a Global DMCA
Negotiations on the highly controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) began last week in Seoul, Korea. The closed negotiations focused on “enforcement in the digital environment.” Negotiators discussed the Internet provisions drafted by the US government. No text has been officially released, but as Professor Michael Geist and IDG are reporting, leaks have surfaced. The leaks confirm everything we have feared about the secret ACTA negotiations. The Internet provisions have nothing to do with addressing counterfeit products but are all aimed at imposing a set of copyright industry demands on the global Internet, including obligations on ISPs to adopt Three Strikes Internet disconnection policies and a global expansion of DMCA-style TPM laws.

For the leaked commission memo: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/4516/125/

For the full Deeplink:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/11/leaked-acta-internet-provisions-three-strikes-and-

* New York Court Scores Over Orgeon in Recent Email Privacy Opinions
Two recent district court opinions took opposing views on the question of whether the Fourth Amendment protects stored email. One of the cases easily adopted the prevailing view that the Constitution protects electronic communications, while the other ignored existing U.S. Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit precedent to find that consumers have no expectation of privacy in messages stored with third parties. EFF will be watching these developments closely as we continue to press for email privacy rights in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in U.S. v. Warshak.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/11/new-york-court-scores-over-oregon-recent-email-pri

* DVR Is TV’s New BFF
Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), once considered a mortal threat by the entertainment industry, have now become its new best friend. It's just the latest example of how the industry's constant warnings of the dangers of "piracy" frequently turn out to be baseless hysteria.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/11/dvr-tvs-new-bff

* Hey Texas Instruments Stop Digging Holes
Texas Instruments (TI) ultimately failed to stand behind its misguided claim that calculator hobbyists violated copyright law by having public, online discussions about techniques to get more functionality from TI calculators. Yet the company continues to dig itself new holes by issuing more improper take-down letters. While it's no surprise that TI gave up when it found itself in the legal wrong, it is scandalous that the company continues to send its improper demands to other bloggers and hosting companies.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/10/texas-instruments-stop-digging-holes
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miniLinks

~ Map of Threatened or Arrested Bloggers Around the World
Global Voices' interactive map showing bloggers who have been threatened, arrested, or killed for speaking out online.
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/03/map-of-threatened-or.html

~ 60 Minutes Gets Piracy Wrong
An hour of laughable, factually incorrect MPAA propaganda on movie piracy.
http://techdirt.com/articles/20091101/1818186751.shtml

~ EFA Board Report
What Electronic Frontiers Australia (no relation, still awesome) has been up to this year.
http://www.efa.org.au/news/2009-efa-agm-report/

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Announcements

* Vote for EFF on Credo's 2009 Donations Ballot

Each year, the progressive phone service provider Credo polls its
members to figure out how to distribute donation funds to various
nonprofits. This year, EFF is one of the nonprofits listed on the ballot! The size of the donation is proportional to how many votes
the organization gets, so every vote for EFF counts! If you've taken a
Credo action alert, or if you're a Credo mobile, Credo long distance,
or Working Assets credit card customer, then supporting EFF is easy --
simply log in and vote for the Electronic Frontier Foundation now:

http://act.credoaction.com/voting/login.html

* "The Future of DVD" Panel/Happy Hour, Monday, November 9, at 5:30 p.m.

Please join the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for a panel discussion on "The Future of DVD" at the Varnish Gallery in San Francisco tonight, Monday, November 9, at 5:30 p.m.

Panelists include Kaleidescape CEO Michael Malcolm, Real Networks Vice President and General Counsel Bill Way, and EFF Senior Staff Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "The Future of DVD" will examine the legal battles over DVD rentals, ripping, backups, home media servers, and portable media players. The current legal battles involving RealDVD, Kaleidescape, and Redbox underscore the continuing struggle between Hollywood, consumers, and innovators over the future of the DVD.

"The Future of DVD" panel is free and open to the public and includes a hosted bar. EFF would like to thank Real Networks for helping to make this event possible.

WHAT:
"The Future of DVD" Panel and Happy Hour

WHEN:
Monday, November 9
5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

WHERE:
Varnish Gallery
77 Natoma St.
San Francisco, CA

RSVP:
For more information or to RSVP, please email events@eff.org.

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Administrivia

EFFector is published by:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation
http://www.eff.org/about

Editor:
Eva Galperin, Referral Coordinator
eva@eff.org

Membership & donation queries:
membership@eff.org

To support EFF:
http://links.eff.org/emaildonate

General EFF, legal, policy, or online resources queries:
information@eff.org

Back issues of EFFector are available at:
http://www.eff.org/effector/

Reproduction of this publication in electronic media is
encouraged. This newsletter is printed on 100% recycled
electrons.