Department of Defense admits to wider surveillance of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell groups
by Michael Rogers

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Department of Defense has released documents that show wider surveillance of student organizations than previously reported, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network has reported.

The new FOIA request yielded information about an undercover investigation by the Pentagon on acitivities into student groups protesting the war at State University of New York at Albany (SUNY Albany), William Paterson University in New Jersey, Southern Connecticut State University and the University of California at Berkeley, reports SLDN.

Go read the story, and look at the images of the emails. It reminds you of reading accounts of the protest movement in the ’60s being spied on by the FBI and CIA. Blacked out telegrams and letters, and descriptions of meetings of non-violent antiwar groups being targeted because of supposed Communist leanings.

I guess some folks can’t keep Nixon buried.

Limbaugh Detained At Airport For Drugs

(CBS4 News) WEST PALM BEACH Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh was detained at Palm Beach International Airport for the possible possession of illegal prescription drugs Monday evening.

Limbaugh was returning on a flight from the Dominican Republic when customs officials found a Viagra prescription that did not bear his name. Instead, the bottle of pills had the names of two doctors on it according to the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office.

Gee, you’d think a person out on probation for drug offenses would have the sense to keep his wood juice properly labeled. What a moron.

And everyone who finds the notion of this drug-addled water buffalo wandering around the Dominican Republic, locked and loaded with a 4 hour Mr Happy and looking for love just a little bit, uh, NASTY, please raise your hand.

Bush ignores laws he inks, vexing Congress

WASHINGTON – A bill becomes the rule of the land when Congress passes it and the president signs it into law, right?

…”It means that the administration does not feel bound to enforce many new laws which Congress has passed,” said David Golove, a New York University law professor who specializes in executive power issues. “This raises profound rule of law concerns. Do we have a functioning code of federal laws?”

Granted, we spoke on this topic months ago, but its nice to finally see the MSM picking up on it. Do we have a rule of law anymore? Apparently not.

Funds for Health Care of Veterans $1 Billion Short

The Bush administration, already accused by veterans groups of seeking inadequate funds for health care next year, acknowledged yesterday that it is short $1 billion for covering current needs at the Department of Veterans Affairs this year.

The disclosure of the shortfall angered Senate Republicans who have been voting down Democratic proposals to boost VA programs at significant political cost. Their votes have brought the wrath of the American Legion, the Paralyzed Veterans of America and other organizations down on the GOP.

Maybe the troops should get a job at Halliburton. Then they’d get paid.

Democracy in chains

US Republicans are planning to change the law to stop black, Hispanic and Native American voters going to the polls in 2008.

By Greg Palast

06/23/06 “The Guardian” — – Don’t kid yourself: the Republican party’s decision yesterday to “delay” the renewal of the Voting Rights Act has not a darn thing to do with objections of the Republican’s white sheets caucus.

So Republicans have promised to no longer break the law – not by going legit but by eliminating the law.

This beats branding a tracking number on a person’s arm. I’m sure the Nazi’s would have loved this:

Proposal to Implant Tracking Chips in Immigrants

Scott Silverman, Chairman of the Board of VeriChip Corporation, has proposed implanting the company’s RFID tracking tags in immigrant and guest workers. He made the statement on national television on May 16.

Silverman was being interviewed on “Fox & Friends.” Responding to the Bush administration’s call to know “who is in our country and why they are here,” he proposed using VeriChip RFID implants to register workers at the border, and then verify their identities in the workplace. He added, “We have talked to many people in Washington about using it….”

Gee, interviewed on Fox and Friends, huh? Who woulda thunk it.

We welcome the pride of Mebane NC to Atlanta this weekend…well, at least the parents of the pride, anyway!

Bank Data Secretly Reviewed by U.S. to Fight Terror

WASHINGTON, June 22 – Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the Sept. 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.

The program is limited, government officials say, to tracing transactions of people suspected of ties to Al Qaeda by reviewing records from the nerve center of the global banking industry, a Belgian cooperative that routes about $6 trillion daily between banks, brokerages, stock exchanges and other institutions. The records mostly involve wire transfers and other methods of moving money overseas or into and out of the United States. Most routine financial transactions confined to this country are not in the database.

Oh yeah, you bet. I believe that. Sure. Just like you weren’t listening to our domestic phone calls.

Big document dump yesterday in the Abramoff case, and the little hypocrite Ralph Reed? Well, lets just add money laundering to his list of talents:

Ralph Reed fingered

Ralph Reed, a longtime friend of Abramoff’s who once served as the executive director of the Christian Coalition, also figures prominently in the documents referred to the Senate Finance Committee.

The first email from Reed shows that he was clearly involved in helping coordinate payments to anti-tax groups, while the second one from Abramoff notes that the lobbying firm had “to get him more money asap.”

Other big winners in this? Grover Norquist, Mr. Drown Government in a bathtub and Bob Ney, Bush’s go to guy in Ohio.

Crooks. They are just all crooks.

Watch for the upcoming special feature “Louie goes insane” on Youtube any day now…