NSA’s cyber-security grab is a major expansion of web surveillance

By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal
Jun 26, 2009

In yet another example of his going back on campaign promises, Obama has backpedaled on his commitment to privacy rights. The slide to supporting illegal and intrusive surveillance began when Obama supported immunity from lawsuits for telecommunications companies that willingly participated in the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping program code named Stellar Wind...

What the Left Should be Learning From Iran

by Al Giordano
CounterPunch
June 19 - 21, 2009 (really!)

...As a journalist, I have always followed the stories that help me to learn something new and important to me. And every hour, I’m learning a new set of tricks from these brave communicators in Iran and around the world: methods and techniques that will serve us in this hemisphere, soon enough, too...

Click on Title above for full article...

The Disappointing Leon Panetta

By Melvin A. Goodman
Consortium News
June 19, 2009

CIA Director Leon Panetta is continuing the culture of cover-up that has plagued the Agency for the past three decades, ever since William Casey and Robert Gates collaborated in the 1980s to hide the crimes of Iran-Contra and to politicize sensitive intelligence...

The End of Impunity?

By: Tom Jacobs
Miller-McCune
June 19, 2009


An upcoming PBS documentary shows how the International Criminal Court has changed the world's approach to crimes against humanity — without, as yet, trying a case...

American Radical: The Life and Times of I.F. Stone

DemocracyNow!
June 18, 2009

Twenty years ago today, I.F. Stone died at the age of eighty-one. He was the premier investigative reporter of the twentieth century, a self-described radical journalist. I.F. Stone’s legacy of work spanned the New Deal, World War II, McCarthyism, the Cold War, Israel/Palestine, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and beyond. He scooped reporters right and left. As the FBI tracked him, he tracked down the story. He is best remembered for his self-published I.F. Stone’s Weekly. At its peak in the 1960s, the one-man publication had a circulation of about 70,000. We speak to his biographer, D.D. Guttenplan, and air historic recordings of I.F. Stone at the 1965 Vietnam teach-in in Berkeley, CA, and on The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour...

Stop the Internet Rip-Off of 2009

Time Warner Cable is trying to restrict Internet use by shamelessly overcharging people who use the Web every day. Now other phone and cable giants like Comcast and AT&T are following suit -- weighing schemes to hike prices, shut down the free-flowing Web and keep user innovation in check.
The Internet is an engine of economic growth, civic engagement and free speech. To prosper in the 21st century, we need to encourage more Internet use, not less. The Broadband Internet Fairness Act would make price-gouging plans illegal and require the big phone and cable companies to disclose their schemes to the Federal Trade Commission.
This bill is our bill. By signing this letter, you're telling your representative to support the Broadband Internet Fairness Act today.

click on title above to act...

Omnibus CYA Act of 2009

by David Swanson
Op Ed News
June 8, 2009

A healthy rivalry between the branches of government is the soul of our republic, so when the Senate's proposed ban on releasing photos and videos of torture fell short of completely covering things up, the White House proposed allowing prisoners to plead guilty to capital crimes and be executed without actual trials that might reveal evidence. Preemption being the technique of the hour, I'm going to preemptively fill you in on the next move from Capitol Hill. You will have read it here first...

Can't Buy Me Justice?

By Brenda Wright
June 9, 2009
Demos Blog

"We conclude that there is a serious risk of actual bias, based on objective and reasonable perceptions when a person with a personal stake in a particular case had a significant and disproportionate influence in placing the judge on the case by raising funds or directing the judge's election campaign when the case was pending or imminent. The inquiry centers on the contributions relative size in comparison to the total amount of money contributed to the campaign, the total amount spent in the election, and the apparent effect such contribution had on the outcome of the election."

Sonia Maria Sotomayor -- She's No Clarence Thomas, But No Thurgood Marshall Either

by Bruce Dixon
June 5, 2009
Op Ed News

...If we really want more than a change in the color of the faces at the top of American society, we'll have to spend a lot more energy evaluating their corporate connections of our judges on every level, and determining who they really serve...