Quotabull

Our purpose is, and has always been, to ensure a civil and safe environment where the many types of campus activities and open discourse can occur.
— University of Florida Police Chief Linda Stump. According to an Oct. 25 Associated Press story: “University of Florida police were justified in using a Taser against a student who [...]

Dodd threatens filibuster of FISA bill

“Why does Harry Reid hate America and freedom?”
That’s the question I was asking myself after S&R reader “Dee Loralei” pointed out in comments to my post yesterday that Senate Majority Leader Reid was planning to move ahead with a vote on the FISA update, even in the face of Dodd’s hold on the bill. [...]

Democrats’ spines turn to jelly on warrantless spying once again–but there’s still hope

It was largely expected, but no less disappointing to wake up this morning and find out that Senate Democrats on the Intelligence Commitee agreed to carry water for the Bush administration by granting retroactive immunity to the telecom companies involved in the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping scandal:
The draft Senate bill has the support of the [...]

Homeland security: the lethal illusion

In defense of the indefensible.
If you go through life without making any enemies you’re doing something wrong. If you go through life making a lot of enemies you’re doing something worse.
For a long time, the US contented itself with one enemy, the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, the CIA conducted covert operations such as rigging elections for [...]

Verizon to the government: “Our customer information…let us show you it.”

In response to an inquiry launched by House Democrats as to the role the major telecoms played in abetting the NSA surveillance program, Verizon came out yesterday and admitted that it had turned over customer data to federal authorities 720 times between 2005 and 2007–or once a day, every day, for the last two years:
The [...]

The NSA was spying on Americans before 9/11, and telecoms were in on it

That’s the accusation levied by disgraced former Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio, who claims that he was approached by officials from the Bush administration to bring his company into an NSA surveillance program in February 2001–as in, several months before the 9/11 attacks, and contradicting claims made by the White House that 9/11 was the reason [...]

Democrats battle Bush–and each other–over telecom immunity for spying

Although this Reuters article does a masterful job of burying the lead (as Denny would say), the fact remains–the House Judiciary Committee refused to grant immunity to telecom companies for illegal spying in their FISA law update
[T]he House Judiciary Committee voted 21-14 to reject an amendment sought by the White House that would shield telecommunications [...]

Six minutes to midnight in the surveillance society…

As our own Sunfell excellently explained recently, our society is rapidly becoming one where your data shadow can chase you wherever you go. Where privacy is an illusion, where every thought, word, deed, and action you take can be catalogued and used to call you a terrorist sympathizer, deny you employment, shatter your reputation, or [...]

Who needs a police state when the state polices itself?

Last week, Homeland Security approved a program “giving law enforcement officials and others the ability to view data obtained from satellite and aircraft sensors that can see through cloud cover and even penetrate buildings and underground bunkers,” as Joby Warrick reported in the Washington Post.
That’s nice, we think. The CIA can use all the help [...]

Quotabull

And Brian will be back in our next hour with a look at the life- and-death question that is now being asked in Utah. Is it possible for those trapped miners to still be alive?
Well, they are cute, colorful, and they may be dangerous to your kids. Mattel is recalling more than 20 million toys [...]

Rudy Giuliani: Everything you hate about Bush, and worse

“I’m pro-choice, I’m pro-gay rights,” Giuliani said.
–CNN.com Inside Politics, May 2, 1999.
Giuliani has described himself as a backer of civil unions and is frequently described that way in news reports. But he began distancing himself from civil unions in late April, when his campaign told The New York Sun that New Hampshire’s new law goes [...]

Toyota’s new plug-in Prius

Hybrid vehicles are a big deal, reducing oil consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. But plug-in hybrids are even better, especially since electricity is cheaper and the CO2 is localized to a power plant where, theoretically, it could be captured and sequestered. Plug-in hybrid vehicles are like your standard hybrid, but you can [...]

Protecting our nation’s secrets – why have deadlines passed with no apparent consequences?

Today is July 27, 2007. A little over a month ago, Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (aka Oversight Committee), demanded that the White House and the Oversight Committee make some progress on scheduling interviews with White House officials about improper oversight of our national secrets. [...]

A proposal for a progressive agenda

Over the course of the last several years, we have experienced the results of failed Republican policies. The subjugation of all other foreign policy objectives to national defense has created a situation where we are literally less safe for having our soldiers fighting abroad1. Lower taxes are bankrupting the government, leading to a [...]

Appeals court nixes lawsuit against warrantless spy program

Read it and weep:
CINCINNATI – A federal appeals court on Friday ordered the dismissal of a lawsuit challenging President Bush’s domestic spying program, saying the plaintiffs had no standing to sue.