Romney to bosses: Tell workers how to vote

In a June 6 conference call that went unreported before Wednesday, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney urged an audience of small business owners to do something that’s long been considered illegal in the U.S. until just recently: He asked the bosses to tell their workers how they should vote in November.

“I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections,” Romney told members of the ostensibly nonpartisan National Federation of Independent Business, an anti-union group whose endorsements tend to align with Republicans.

“And whether you agree with me or you agree with President Obama, or whatever your political view, I hope — I hope you pass those along to your employees,” he added. “Nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business, because I think that will figure into their election decision, their voting decision and of course doing that with your family and your kids as well.”

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Democracy Now! National and Global News Headlines for Thursday, October 18

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told a courtroom at Guantánamo Bay that the United States had killed more people in the name of national security than he is accused of killing on 9/11. Mohammed addressed the court during a hearing ahead of his trial for coordinating the attacks. Speaking through a translator, Mohammed said that while about 3,000 people were killed on 9/11, the United States has killed thousands or even millions. He said: "Many can kill people under the name of national security. And to torture people under the name of national security. And detain their children under the name of national security." He went on to say: "I don’t want to be long, but I can say that the President can take someone and throw him in the sea in the name of national security. And so well he can also legislate the killings, assassinations, under the name of national security, for American citizens. My only advice to you that you do not get affected by the crocodile tears. Because your blood is not made of gold and ours made of water. We are all human beings."

#NDAA In case you missed the BIG news yesterday...

We are all now under the threat of #NDAA. Again. We had a reprieve for a few months from May to September, 2012. The case will next be heard in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, then it goes to the Supreme Court.


A federal appeals court has extended a temporary stay of a district court judge's order barring the government from using an indefinite detention provision in a defense bill passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama late last year.

A three-judge motions panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit issued the order Tuesday afternoon, indicating they saw flaws with the scope and rationale for U.S. District Court Judge Katherine Forrest's original order blocking the disputed provision of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011.

"We conclude that the public interest weighs in favor of granting the government's motion for a stay," Appeals Court Judges Denny Chin, Raymond Lohier and Christopher Droney wrote in a three-page order that also expedited the appeal.

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Democracy Now! covers Wikileaks

What do you think about the way that the U.S. government handles whistleblowers? Democracy Now! broadcast a segment that discussed documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act that show WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may have been designated an "enemy of the state" by the U.S.

See this and all of Democracy Now!'s coverage of Wikileaks here

WikiLeaks Declared 'Enemy' In US Military Documents, Australian Newspaper Reports

The United States has declared WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange to be an "enemy," an Australian newspaper reported Wednesday.

The Sydney Morning Herald, which has been reporting for months on behind-the-scenes government communications about Assange, wrote that declassified Air Force documents showed that military employees found to have been in contact with WikiLeaks personnel could be charged with "communicating with the enemy."

The maximum punishment for communicating with the enemy is death. The Herald wrote that this is the same classification given to Al Qaeda or the Taliban.

The revelation will do little to quell fears among WikiLeaks supporters about the American view of the organization. One of the reasons Julian Assange says he is still holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London is that he fears being extradited to America. Though there has been fierce debate over whether this could occur, and whether Assange is instead attempting to avoid a potential sex crimes prosecution in Sweden, it is clear he is no friend of the US government.

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