Quickie- What just happened?
After McClellen said Bush would veto a short PATRIOT 3 month extension, and after the Senate approved a 6 month extension, which the President apparently liked- the House comes in, led by Republicans to pass a 1 month extension. Will Bush veto? What the hell is even going on in Washington today?
General News
-NYC: Union ends transit strike
-Gaza Strip: Israel threatens to cut power to all Palestinian civilians
-Texas: Another one of DeLay’s appeals gets turned down
-Pennsylvania: Southern Baptist leader/Karl Rove buddy alleges Judge’s “secular terror”
News from Washington
-Washington: FISA Court to be briefed on Bush’s secret spying
-Washington: Dems gain Senate ground, block ANWR drilling, force PATRIOT compromise
-Washington: […]
Quickie here. Speaking of Bloomberg (the son of a bitch from the previous entry), it seems he’s again at odds with the NYC public. This rich white republican mayor hates the union, and wants them to stop the strike immediately. Meanwhile, the people side with the union and the workers. In other words, the people […]
Annnnnnnd more bad news about government spying on the public. This time, it’s New York City Police operatives spying on peaceful protesters for peace. Here we go with more:
Undercover New York City police officers have conducted covert surveillance in the last 16 months of people protesting the Iraq war, bicycle riders taking part in mass […]
Via EZ writer comes news about the future of the FISA court:
The judges could, depending on their level of satisfaction with the answers, demand that the Justice Department produce proof that previous wiretaps were not tainted, according to government officials knowledgeable about the FISA court. Warrants obtained through secret surveillance could be thrown into question. […]
From the AP, via the Guardian:
Meeting notes, released Tuesday by a union representative for federal emergency workers, stated that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told employees that many changes planned after Hurricane Katrina were for publicity purposes.
Chertoff’s spokesman firmly denied he ever made such comments.
The typed notes, purportedly taken by an unidentified official, said Chertoff […]
Roundup of Judges in the news:
A Republican Judge in Pennsylvania has ruled against the teaching of “Intelligent Design,” forcing the Dover School District to go back to teaching regular old science in classrooms after Winter Break.
A U.S. Federal Judge on the FISA court has resigned in protest against the Bush Administration’s spying on Americans without […]
Yesterday, I noted the trend of blogs leading the mainstream media (MSM).
Today, along comes another great example of this, and a more personal one for me. Following WaPo’s article which mentioned a few juicy details previously unknown about the timing of the now infamous NYT NSA spying story, including the fact that the lead journalist […]
As we all know, the Transit Workers Union (TWU) of New York City have gone on strike after an extended period of failed negotiations with the city. It’s a pretty classic example of a union fighting for workers rights while city management and a crappy mayor try to screw them over. Blogger Steve Gillard and […]
Quick update on a big news day. As usual, the bloggers are way ahead of conventional print media.
As is now known, the President lied repeatedly about how wiretaps still required court approval. Blogs had this story early tuesday morning.
Meanwhile, this angle won’t break until tomorrow in the manstream media, as evidenced by this solitary Wednesday […]
In the past few days, a deluge of reports have come out regarding the now admitted spying on the American people. By connecting these reports, a possible timeline emerges, which may explain a good deal more about the NSA-Gate/Snoop-Gate/Wiretap-No-No-Gate than we ever expected in the first place. Also, this theory works to answer a major […]
Normally wouldn’t be running a followup roundup on an issue this close after the original post. The President’s unconstitutional and explicitly illegal wiretapping of Americans without warrants is the issue- and the critics are coming out of the woodwork. Is it just me, or are we working together better on this one? Here’s a roundup […]
Wired News is running a story about how after India was pressured (by the WTO)into relaxing rules and outlawing affordable generic drugs- multinational pharmaceutical corporations are now using India’s poor population for testing new drugs. According to Wired:
Given the rising cost of drug research in the United States and Europe, more and more drug companies […]
By Arlen ParsaReaders may remember way back to right before President Bush took office, in 1999. The economic situation was stellar. The largest surplus in history (at least 115 Bln) had been achieved, and left intact for the next incoming President. In fact, projections said, if things were to continue on track, this trend […]
Although it feels like the President has been running around making speeches every other day last week, brand new poll numbers show bad news for the President. Read on for more.
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