Bank Data Secretly Reviewed by U.S. to Fight Terror
Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the September 11 attacks, counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States, according to government and industry officials.House Bill Would Discourage Church-and-State Suits
A bill that supporters say is targeted at the American Civil Liberties Union may undo a law that forces losing defendants to pay plaintiffs' legal fees in cases involving some rights issues. John Hostettler's (R-Indiana) bill is aimed at changing a law passed in the 1970s making it easier for Americans to sue the government over civil-rights violations.CREW Forces Department of Labor to Release Anti-Union Docs and Emails
Yesterday, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released 108 pages of documents it received from the Department of Labor (DOL) in response to a CREW Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit. These documents reveal that the DOL has become anti-labor, disseminating anti-union propaganda and developing relationships with anti-union organizations.Congress May Bestow Unchecked Spying Powers on President
While dozens of lawsuits challenging the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance of Americans slowly move through the courts, the Senate Judiciary Committee is poised to consider legislation that would effectively legalize the practice. Civil-rights advocates and Constitutional-law experts say several proposed bills attempt to "whitewash" executive wrongdoing before Congress has the opportunity to conduct hearings and gather the facts surrounding the National Security Agency's involvement in warrantless wiretapping and telecommunications data mining.A Look at Republican Priorities: Comforting the Comfortable
The New York Times editors say "bill would put $760 billion in new debt on the backs of Americans in the name of making a handful of extremely rich people even richer. Congressional leaders may know how to count votes, but otherwise their math is pathetic."A Look at Republican Priorities: Afflicting the Afflicted - New York Times
At the same time that Republicans are fighting to exempt the richest estates from taxes, they are blocking a raise for the nation's poorest workers.EU and US "Partners in Crime" on CIA Flights: Amnesty International
Amnesty International urged European states on Wednesday to stop being "partners in crime" with the United States over the alleged kidnapping of terrorism suspects and their transfer to countries that use torture. In a report and a letter addressed to EU leaders meeting on Thursday and Friday in Brussels, the human rights groups backed accusations that the US Central lntelligence Agency ran secret transfer flights and that European countries were aware of it.Custodians of chaos by Kurt Vonnegut
In this extract from his forthcoming memoirs, Kurt Vonnegut is horrified by the hypocrisy in contemporary US politics.Illustration credit: Robbie Conal. Poster.
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