228 Articles
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Obama's Dilemma: Prison Corruption a Symptom of How Sick We Are in Afghanistan
(1 comments)
There are serious doubts about the Karzai government's ability to run a just and transparent detention system.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Most Happy Fella!
Can you imagine Glenn Beck at 2 A.M.?
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
And Where Was A.G. Ashcroft? A.W.O.L.
(1 comments)
After years of denial, finally an admission of guilt from the Bushies. It's refreshing. But it's also worth remembering how panicked and paranoid most of us were right after 9/11!
Monday, November 2, 2009
Justice Delayed...
(4 comments)
For those of us who seek justice, the rule of law can be frustrating. But consider what kind of country we'd be without due process!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
A Simpleton Tries to Understand the Health Care Debate
(5 comments)
An ordinary citizen tries to navigate the vagaries cf the health care debate.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The Torture Memos: Rationalizing the Unthinkable -- A Must-Read.
John Yoo's Smoke-Screen: Jimmy Carter?
Monday, September 14, 2009
Bagram's "New" Rules. So What's New?
Whatever happened to the rule of law?
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Rendition Victim Not Giving Up
(1 comments)
Thwarted by U.S. Courts, a German citizen who claims he was "rendered" by the U.S. and secretly detained and tortured for four months is taking his case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Titillating the News Business
The hottest question for TV viewers: Do you want news or cleavage?
Friday, August 28, 2009
Is This the DOJ's Detention Model?
What will Stateside detention look like for GITMO defendants?
Monday, August 24, 2009
Mubarak: Autocrat With Chutzpah
(2 comments)
What happened to our $50 billion?
Thursday, August 20, 2009
The Constitution Lives!
(3 comments)
The wheels of justice move slowly. But sometimes they do move.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
The Five Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Limbaugh. Beck. O'Reilly. Hannity. Dobbs.
(4 comments)
Has Lou Dobbs had an epiphany? Or just got the memo from Management?
Monday, August 10, 2009
Sotomayor: The Umpires Strike Out!
(1 comments)
What did we learn from Judge Sotomayor's hearing in the Senate. Did we learn anything?
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
ICE: ABOVE THE LAW?
Give us your huddled masses -- but why?
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
ACLU REPORT CHARGES RACIAL PROFILING
ACLU TO OBAMA: END RACIAL PROFILING
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Give Us Your Huddled Masses - But Battered Women Need Not Apply
A job for Obama's new Domestic Violence Czarina!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Obama: Between a Rock and You Know What!
(3 comments)
How resolve this Booesian Choice? Dear Readers: Tell Me Your Thoughts.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The Health Care Chamber of Horrors: Choose Your Bureaucrat!
(1 comments)
Harry and Louise Again?
Monday, June 22, 2009
OBAMA: WHITHER TRANSPARENCY?
(4 comments)
Is there an explanation for Obama's
U-Turn on Open Government?
Thursday, June 18, 2009
A 'Must Read' for the Book Czar
(1 comments)
Since the Obama Administration now has czars for cars, information technology, bonuses, financial products, et cetera, can a book czar be far behind?
Friday, May 29, 2009
Mr. Common Law's Next Adventure
But before he disappears into the flinty wilderness of the rural New Hampshire he loves so dearly, let me say a few words about David Souter.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Shhhhhh...It's Still a (State) Secret
(2 comments)
Isn't it time see to a bit of the change we can believe in?
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Obama Considering National Security Courts
(1 comments)
George Orwell Redux! Barack Obama is considering the creation of a national security court to try cases in which there is enough reliable intelligence to hold a foreign terrorism suspect in preventive detention, but not enough to bring a case in federal court or even through military commissions.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Pelosi's Loss; Our Gain
(7 comments)
A real investigation? Bring it on!
Monday, May 4, 2009
Torture Detainees Shoot Obama in Foot
We're all paying a high price for W's legacy!
Saturday, May 2, 2009
UN Report: Rights Abuses In Iraq
Is this what we spilled blood and spent treasure to achieve?
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Court Rebukes Bush, Obama Administrations
(6 comments)
A federal appeals court ruled yesterday that the "state secrets privilege" - routinely used by the government to block lawsuits against its officials - can only be used to contest specific evidence, but not to dismiss an entire suit. Hailed by human rights advocates, the ruling addressed the role of a flight planning company, Jeppesen DataPlan, in the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Rights Groups Assess Obama's First 100 Days
(1 comments)
Obama's First 100: So far, so good...BUT
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Happy Anniversary, Abu Ghraib!
(1 comments)
What will we learn? And will we do anything about it?
Friday, April 24, 2009
The Third Branch: Alive and Well!
Judges Who Follow the Law -- Thank Goodness They're Still Around!
Friday, April 24, 2009
The "Disappeared"
(2 comments)
Sound like something out of a Banana Republic? Well, we are now them.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Clinton, Agnew, Nixon Redux
(1 comments)
Will Bush's lawyers pay attention when their livlihoods are threatened?
Friday, April 17, 2009
C.S.I. Next Episode: C.I.A. Black Sites
Crime Scene: Preserve the Evidence!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Abu Ghraib Victims Can Sue Interrogators
Well, it's not much, but it's not nothing either.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
DOJ Releases Torture Memos; Will Not Prosecute Torturers
(6 comments)
This is enough to turn your stomach --but there's still more to come!
Monday, April 13, 2009
GITMO Lawyers: America's Last Growth Industry?
Who Knows if the Right Hand Knoweth What the Left Hand Doeth? Kafka May Know!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Obama's Big Gamble
(7 comments)
Our new president's lawyers have been traipsing into court to argue the very same legal positions used by George W. Bush in his push for the Imperial Presidency. Torture, rendition, war powers, spying on citizens - it ain't over by any measure.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
At Last, a "Good News" Story
(1 comments)
Change I Can Believe In!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
OBAMA'S OTHER MIGRAINE
How Will Bush-Appointed Federal Judges Treat Obama?
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Gitmo Plea Deal Revealed
Do we value secrecy more than justice?
Saturday, March 21, 2009
The Spirit of America: What Were They Thinking?
(1 comments)
In Dixieland I'll Take My Stand....
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Human Rights Groups Ask: Is this the Change We Can Believe In?
(9 comments)
Obama's positions on prisoner detention have Constitutional experts scratching their heads.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The Obama-Holder-Panetta Legal Disconnect
(1 comments)
President Obama needs a meeting with these officials.
Monday, March 9, 2009
The Spies Who Came in from the Mosque
Will two gaffes by the Feds help American Muslims win more public support?
Friday, March 6, 2009
Heck of a job, VA.
(2 comments)
Bush paid lip-service to our vets. Barack Obama has to DO something.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Something Obama Can Do.
(3 comments)
The President is focused on our ecomnomic meltdown, and rightly so. But there's an unfinished task he could take on right now.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
DOD, CIA Cooperated in Detainee Abuse
Human rights groups are getting a trickle of information from their lawsuit -- but enough to make some pretty serious charges.
Monday, February 9, 2009
THE ROAD MORE TRAVELED
(1 comments)
How different will Eric Holder's Department of Justice Be, After All?
First test: Not so Much.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
GITMO'S CHILD SOLDIERS
(1 comments)
Are these, too, "the worst of the worst"?
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
A No-Brainer for the Supremes?
There's no nuance here. This is a "bright line" case: Either the President has, or does not have, this power.
Friday, January 30, 2009
What's in Annex M Anyway?
Things you should know about the Army Field Manual on Interrogations
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Obama's Executive Orders: Is Egypt Listening?
(2 comments)
President Mubarak and the Mother of all Hypocracies!
Saturday, January 17, 2009
The First Hundred Days
Will the economy crowd out human rights on Obama's agenda?
Monday, January 12, 2009
THE OTHER GITMO
Another piece of Bush legacy for Obama's clean-up-the-mess list.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Still With Us: The Politics of Fear
(1 comments)
Will the Islamophobes and "Activist Judges" Ever Go Away? Let Us Pray!
Friday, January 2, 2009
Rummie's Gift to Obama
(4 comments)
The quote heard 'round the world!
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
American Values And The Financial Meltdown
Are we suffering from "values schizophrenia"?
Saturday, December 27, 2008
The "Yes We Can" Multiplier
(5 comments)
How Obama's appointees can make their work more effective.
Saturday, December 20, 2008
RICK WARREN: WHAT WAS OBAMA THINKING?
(4 comments)
Change We Can Believe In? What Change?
Friday, December 19, 2008
Will He Bring Change We Can Believe In?
(8 comments)
Maybe this is what they meant by Obama being tested!
Monday, December 8, 2008
Hope For Homeowners? Not So Much
(2 comments)
Does anyone remember what actualy caused our economic meltdown? Yep, at least one person.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
The End of Cowboy Justice?
(2 comments)
What future for George Bush's private army?
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
From Those Wonderful Folks Who Brought You the Torture Memos
(4 comments)
Faith-based organizations shouldn't be allowed to use our tax dollars to adopt an ideology contrary to the most basic tenets of their faith.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
The Right: Muddying Up The Waters!
(1 comments)
Conservative critics: If there are no facts, just make 'em up!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Seven Years and Counting!
The U.S. lacks the leverage with other countries to get them to accept these GITMO detainees -- while the potential destination countries are all terrified of reprisals by China.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Facts: Campaign Collateral Damage
When the issue is the single one most central to the survival of our democracy, is having a beer with the new president an answer to anyting?
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Let's Cut W. a Little Slack!
(8 comments)
Maybe the best we can do is to ignore George W. Bush until he leaves the White House. After all, he's the one who's going to have to live with his legacy.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Immigration: Have the Inmates Taken Over the Asylum?
What happens when government lawyers spent eight years trying to make what appears to be a simple rule-change -- and come up with zilch?
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Palin: Sancho Pander
(2 comments)
My nomination for writing the most mindless cynical piece of the entire campaign. Lou Dobbs in drag!
Thursday, October 2, 2008
A Debate Question for Joe Biden
(1 comments)
"Winning" tonight's debate should be a no-brainer. But Joe Biden needs to answer some hard questions too.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Goodbye, Mr. Brooks.
John McCain: Sterling judge of character? What was David Brooks thinking?
Thursday, September 25, 2008
FINALLY - A GOOD NEWS STORY
What were the immigration authorities thinking of? Were they thinking at all?
Monday, September 22, 2008
How About a Different Kind of Rescue Plan?
When we're spending $10 billion a month i Iraq, why be concerned about an $18 million budget shortfall?
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Palin: The Best We Can Hope For
A peek at the Great Moose Hunt at Number One Observatory Cirle.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Lipstick on the Constitution?
Government secrecy: One of the big issues our presidential candidates are busy not discussing.
Monday, September 8, 2008
SARAH'S BOYKIN MOMENT
(2 comments)
If God is your advisor, making public policy is a piece of cake!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
McCain: Mushy Maverick?
Another chapter in the Maverick Myth
Friday, August 29, 2008
GIVE - AND GO TO JAIL?
OFAC -- ANOTHER BLUNT INSTRUMENT.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
THOSE PESKY ACTIVIST JUDGES
(1 comments)
Voters have a right to demand that presidential candidates let us know their views on detention, rendition, the role of the courts and the limits on presidential power.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
THE HIGH COST OF OUTSOURCING SECURITY
(3 comments)
Are Iraq, Afghanistan private contractors really saving us money? The Congressional Budget Office
asts doubt.
Monday, August 11, 2008
BE VERY AFRAID. IT'S GOOD FOR BUSINESS.
(2 comments)
Keeping Fear Alive is Priority One for terrorism "experts"!
Friday, August 8, 2008
HAMDAN: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE
When you're acquitted, you go home, right? Well, not so fast!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Memo To Obama And McCain: Add To Your Do-Do List
(2 comments)
A couple of important things AG Gonzales didn't do, AG Mukasey is unlikely to do -- and will get left for our next President.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Obama Should Re-Think His Faith-Based Agenda
(2 comments)
Tearing down walls is great. But here's one that needs to be reconstructed.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Did You Give at the Office?
In the name of "Global War on Terror" the U.S. Government is waging war against charities and foundations on the no-profit sector... and impeding the fight against terrorism.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Free at Last, Free at Last! Or Not..
(2 comments)
Will the government again find a way to thwart the ruling of a federal appeals court?
Thursday, July 3, 2008
THOSE PESKY JUDICIAL ACTIVISTS
A decision for the next President. Who do you think will take it on?
Monday, June 9, 2008
Yes, we can - pander.
(3 comments)
How far should a presidential candidate go to win critical votes?
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
GITMO FOREVER!
Whether there will ever be any trials at Guantanamo Bay remains unclear. So does the future of America's Caribbean paradise.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Inspector Clouseau Squared
How Scott Bloch's investigation of the White House, and vice versa, will end: With a whimper!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
More Abuse by Pentagon, Contractors
Questions our presidential candidates are not asking -- and aren't being asked.
Friday, May 2, 2008
A Prosecutor's Holy Grail: Another Scalp
Ever wonder why prosecutors are so totally relentless in pursuing cases -- even when they know they are baseless?
Saturday, April 19, 2008
No YouTube Left Behind
Knowing everything about Paris Hilton ain't the same as reading a newspaper.
Friday, April 11, 2008
WARRIORS IN KNEE-PANTS
(1 comments)
Is the U.S. contributing to robbing children of their childhood?
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Peering Into the Racial Divide on the Redneck Riviera
(1 comments)
Racism hasn't gone away -- there are just a lot more people who reject it.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
CASHING IN ON THE WAR ON TERROR
Yet another reminder of the prescience of President Eisnhower's warning about the growth of the military-industrial complex.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
A Double-Standard for Jordan?
Peace and Justice? Well, maybe not so much.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Collateral Damage?
These must be part of "the special interests" our presidential wanabees keep talking about.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
THE DOWNSIDE OF THE 24/7 NEWS CYCLE
Is there a light at the end of the tunnel for electronic journalism?
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Selling Democracy De Lux Model with Double-Standards Built In
Can our next president figure out how to combat terrorists while working just as hard to persuade authoritarian governments to allow Arab citizens their basic civil liberties?
Thursday, March 27, 2008
OUR 'WAR ON TERROR' ALLIES
The 'war on terror' produces strange bedfellows.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Bush Spins Iraq. The Dems go A.W.O.L.
When will Barack and Hillary give us a real plan to exit Iraq?
Saturday, March 22, 2008
THE WHEELS COME OFF AGAIN
Whatever happened to the "maverick" many of us respected?
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The Fierce Urgency of How
Another debate? Issues we should expect candidates to address -- even if they're way down in the weeds.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
NEITHER SNOW NOR RAIN, ET CETERA
(1 comments)
There are times when your friendly letter carrier can bring you bad news. Very bad.
Friday, March 14, 2008
It's About a Lot More Than a 3 A.M. Phone Call
(1 comments)
Remembering where we've been, and where we are now, has to trigger just a tad of optimism.
Monday, March 10, 2008
McCAIN'S TURNABOUT
Pandering 101 for the Straight-talk Express guy.
Monday, March 10, 2008
GITMO PROSECUTOR TO TESTIFY FOR DEFENSE
(1 comments)
"We can't have acquittals, we've got to have convictions."
Monday, March 10, 2008
GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS
By all means, we should talk human rights with China. But what's our credibility?
Saturday, March 8, 2008
IF IT BLEEDS IT LEADS
This timeless press mantra is the fuel that drives the engine in the televised presidential debates.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
NO TRIVIA LEFT BEHIND
The Presidential "debates." Don't we deserve better?
Sunday, March 2, 2008
ASYLUM: THE LATEST THIRD RAIL
This ball is now squarely in the court of Michael Mukasey, our newest AG. We wonder if he'll defy the third rail and actually get something done.
Watch this space.
Friday, February 29, 2008
UNSPINNING THE PRESIDENT
(13 comments)
"There Will Be Blood," was Dubya's message. Be afraid. Be very afraid!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
DISCLOSURE BY DRIP, DRIP, DRIP?
(2 comments)
Friday, February 22, 2008
BOEING SUB SCOT FREE, HAYDEN, BRADBURY ON THE HOT SEAT
Monday, February 18, 2008
BACKDOORING THE CONSTITUTION
Monday, February 18, 2008
THE REAL STRAIGHT-TALK EXPRESS
Friday, February 15, 2008
GITMO AGAIN: JUSTICE OR SHOW TRIALS?
(2 comments)
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
LET THE EAGLE WHORE
(7 comments)
My nomination for "Most Outrageous Statement of the Year."
Friday, February 8, 2008
KABUKI ON THE HILL
If there was a big winner here, it was the audience!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
SIGNING AWAY THE CONSTITUTION
(7 comments)
Thursday, January 31, 2008
CONGRESSIONAL ODD COUPLE
Reigning in "State Secrets"
Friday, January 25, 2008
THINK YOU KNOW THE GODSQUAD? THINK AGAIN!
(5 comments)
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
THE PENTAGON'S REVOLVING DOOR
(1 comments)
One flew back into the cuckoo's nest. More to follow.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
CANDIDATES COMPETE TO BE "MORE CHRISTIAN"
Sunday, January 13, 2008
THE OTHER GITMO
Human rights organizations are attempting to focus attention on "the other GITMO."
Saturday, January 12, 2008
THE TIMES, THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'?
Evengelical What?
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
My Last Debate
(7 comments)
I have watched my last presidential debate.
I am sick to death of well-coiffed cable TV news anchors asking vapid questions designed to generate heat, not light. I am sick to death of presidential wannabees filibustering questions they choose to avoid by delivering slogans, not answers.
And I am sick to death of the faux choice presented to voters: Change versus Experience. Could someone out there please tell me...
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
IS THIS HOW TO WIN FRIENDS?
Saturday, December 29, 2007
2007: YES, VIRGINIA, THERE WAS SOME GOOD NEWS
(4 comments)
Where do I find the Good News?
Monday, December 24, 2007
THE ARMY: AHEAD TO THE PAST?
Sunday, December 23, 2007
"AMERICAN TALIBAN" WHISTLEBLOWER JOINS TAPEGATE FUROR
(1 comments)
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
BOEING'S UNFRIENDLY SKIES
Friday, December 14, 2007
ANOTHER BRILLIANT BUSH APPOINTMENT: BUT DOES IT REALLY MATTER?
(1 comments)
Can competence sell a flawed product?
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
WONDER WHAT SHE STUDIED IN HIGH SCHOOL!
Seems modern American history wasn't part of the curriculum!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
CLERGY JOINS "TAPEGATE" BATTLE
(9 comments)
Monday, December 10, 2007
WHAT CAN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION CELEBRATE ON HUMAN RIGHTS DAY?
State Department report "a complete whitewash."
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Perturbing the Judiciary? Hurting the Country's Image? Shame on You!
(1 comments)
Another kind of terror!
Monday, December 3, 2007
BEYOND ANNAPOLIS -- WHAT MODEL?
Will a Palestinian state look like one of Israel's neighbors?
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
ANN OF A THOUSAND SLURS
The Goddess and Me
Monday, November 26, 2007
PATRIOT ACT LITE?
(1 comments)
Soft on Terrorism? Not me!
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
GITMO LAWYERS KEEP TRYING
(1 comments)
GUANTANAMO FOREVER?
Sunday, November 18, 2007
CHARITY BEGINS...WHERE?
It's not enough to say "I gave at the office."
Thursday, November 15, 2007
RENDITION VICTIM TRIES AGAIN
(1 comments)
Sunday, November 11, 2007
"REALPOLITIK" LIKELY TO DRIVE US-PAKISTAN ALLIANCE
More on the unending conflict between democracy promotion and "realpolitik."
Friday, November 9, 2007
DIPLOMATS DEBATE IRAQ, VIETNAM SERVICE
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Scapegoating US Diplomats
Facing growing scrutiny of the State Department's shortage of experienced diplomats in Iraq - and the Department's announced intention to force Foreign Service Officers to serve in Baghdad against their will -- the leader of America's diplomatic service is charging that critics, "including people who urged the 2003 invasion," are seeking to blame the State Department for their own failures.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
WAS TOP STATE DEPARTMENT RESIGNATION A POLITICAL MOVE TO PROTECT HIGHER-UPS?
(1 comments)
Was Griffin 'thrown under the bus' to protect politically connected higher-ups?
Thursday, July 5, 2007
EXACTLY WHAT ARE CONSERVATIVE JUDGES CONSERVING?
(6 comments)
A disgraceful Supreme Court Sesssion.
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
A DARK ANNIVERSARY
This week, the world marks the fifth anniversary of the arrival of the first detainees at the U.S. naval facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Saturday, January 6, 2007
RELIGIOUS LEADERS PUSH BACK AGAINST REP. GOODE
Prominent religious leaders launch an online petition pushing back against the bigotry of Rep. Vigil Goode of Virginia .
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
DEATH TO INFIDELS VIA VIDEO GAME
"This is the first time any Christian religious instructional video has recommended killing all non-Christians who refuse to convert to Christianity."
Saturday, November 25, 2006
U.S. v. BUSH, et al
(5 comments)
The charge is Conspiracy to Defraud the United States. And the defendants are President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, outgoing Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
SCIENTIFIC SLEIGHT OF HAND
(1 comments)
Abstinence-until-marriage education programs -- which receive about $158 million annually from the Department of Health and Human Services -- are not reviewed for scientific accuracy before they are granted funding.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
MUSLIM-AMERICANS TURN TO THE LAW
A rapidly increasing number of first generation Muslim-Americans have decided to pursue careers in the law.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
THE LIMITS OF PRESIDENTIAL POWER
President George W. Bush's widespread use of so-called "signing statements" to unilaterally decide which parts of acts passed by Congress he will enforce continues to face mounting opposition.
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
OF PITBULLS AND LAPDOGS
The recent Supreme Court decision in the Hamdan case has opened a widening chasm among members of the president's own party.
Monday, July 10, 2006
THE END OF DEMOCRACY PROMOTION IN IRAQ?
The Bush administration is substantially reducing funding for the organizations that are traditionally mandated to promote democracy in Iraq.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
THE ISSUE THAT WON'T GO AWAY
The Pentagon is pushing to omit from new detainee policies a central principle of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans "humiliating and degrading treatment."
Saturday, June 17, 2006
REACHING OUT TO IRAN: NEGOTIATION OR REGIME CHANGE?
Congess got it right last week when it defeated Senator Rick Santorum's proposal to appropriate $100 million to promote pro-democracy efforts in Iran.
Monday, June 12, 2006
SAUDI ARABIAN COSMETICS?
Saudi Arabia puts the finishing touches on its new Human Rights Commission.
Monday, May 29, 2006
OIL ON TROUBLED WATERS
Hugo Chavez has been busily scoring points with low-income American consumers.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
USED THE PHONE LATELY? WORRIED?
The ACLU filed has launched a nationwide campaign to encourage citizens to make their utility commissions aware of their privacy concerns.
Monday, May 22, 2006
PAIN MANAGEMENT: A DOUBLE STANDARD?
Rush Limbaugh's drug case may reveal evidence of a double-standard applied by the DEA and its state and local partners.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
BLOCKING JUSTICE
(1 comments)
The "state secrets" defense has become a routine defense used by the U.S. Government to keep embarrassing cases from being tried.
Tuesday, May 2, 2006
AMERICAN BEDFELLOWS
The Global War on Terror has produced the unintended consequence of bringing the United States ever-closer to some of the worlds most repressive regimes.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
THE ISSUE THAT WON'T GO AWAY
Remember Defense Secretary Rumsfelds 2002 statement referring to Guantanamo prisoners as the worst of the worst?
Thursday, April 20, 2006
ANTI-TERRORISM FINANCING LAWS
Muslim charities are being summarily shut down for supporting terrorist causes while giant firms such as Halliburton are receiving the full protections of American law for allegedly breaking U.S. government sanctions.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
WORDS TO PONDER
Despite our flawed strategy and our many tactical mistakes over the past six years, the U.S. still has lots of lots of non-military carrots and sticks to apply.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
SUPPORT FOR SPREADING DEMOCRACY
A majority of those surveyed in a recent poll 58 percent) said they feel "democracy is something that countries only come to on their own."
Thursday, April 13, 2006
ALAS, POOR SCOTT
Scott McClelan, like most presidential press secretaries before him, he is kept out of the loop on many key issues so that is "plausible deniability" is not compromised.
Tuesday, April 4, 2006
BUSH'S MIXED SIGNALS
The Bush Administration is sending dangerously mixed signals precisely to those whose "hearts and minds" it claims to be trying to win.
Monday, March 27, 2006
IRAQ TOLD TO REBUILD ITSELF
Last weeks announcement that Iraq will now have to pay for its own reconstruction has left some observers wondering whether the yet-to-be-formed government there will be up to the task.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
THE OXYCOPS
(1 comments)
In its zeal to stamp out the illegal drug use, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is cracking down on doctors who prescribe medications to relieve chronic pain, and the patients who depend on these drugs to live normal lives.
Monday, March 20, 2006
GIVE US YOUR HUDDLED MASSES OR NOT
There will be no comprehensive reform proposal approved by the U.S. Congress during this session or any session in the near future because the immigration restrictionists have seized control of the debate.
Saturday, March 18, 2006
THE AGE OF ANXIETY REDUX
We are living though an age of high anxiety (for which the governments favorite cliché is the post-9/11 environment) that is likely to have a very long-lasting effect on the American psyche.
Monday, March 13, 2006
QUOTH THE CRAVEN EVERMORE*
(1 comments)
Wednesday, March 1, 2006
SON OF GITMO
The Pentagon should have learned that getting out ahead of bad news is far better than waiting for its inevitable disclosure by the press.
Monday, February 27, 2006
DEATHS IN U.S. CUSTODY
Saturday, February 25, 2006
DEATH IN U.S. CUSTODY
Command Responsibility ought to begin with the Commander-in-Chief.
Friday, February 24, 2006
REMEMBER RENDITION?
Monday, February 20, 2006
THE PLIGHT OF NATIONAL SECURITY WHISTLEBLOWERS
Find illegal activity in the U.S. national security agency you work for. Report it to your superiors. Get rewarded by being demoted or having your security clearance revoked -- tantamount to losing your career while those whose conduct youve reported get promoted.
Friday, February 17, 2006
WHAT TO DO WITH THE PRISONERS?
Foreign policy and human rights experts appear to agree with the United Nations report calling on the U.S. to shut down its detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Saturday, February 11, 2006
RISING ABOVE PRINCIPLE
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
PALESTINE: WHATS NEXT?
That President Bush is a big fan of elections should surprise no one. Hes won a lot of them. But his simplistic equation -- elections = freedom = democracy = peace -- has been running into a bit of trouble lately.
Monday, January 30, 2006
THE END OF U.S. AID?
The funeral of USAID is far from a done deal yet. But, given the tight relationship between President Bush and Secretary Rice, there's a good chance that USAID's demise may never have to be announced in a State Department press release.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
RUSSIAS NEW NGO LAW: A CONTRARY VIEW
Human rights groups have condemned Russias new law governing non-governmental organizations, but the leader of one major NGO disagrees.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
DEPORTEES SUE
Another test of whether our justice system can work in an environment of war, fear, and executive power.
Monday, January 23, 2006
WHO SAYS GOVERNMENT CANT HUSTLE?
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
WHY SHOULD WE BE SURPRISED?
(2 comments)
Irans president launched a media tsunami when he declared the Holocaust a myth.
Monday, January 2, 2006
BUSH AT YEAR-END
On September 11, 2001, GWB could have asked the American people to pay any price and we would have done it.
Saturday, December 31, 2005
MIXED MESSAGE?
A new international exchange program for journalists named for famed broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and emphasizing the democratic principles that guided Mr. Murrow's practice of his craft: integrity and ethics and courage and social responsibility.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
PLEASE, MISS CONDI
MAY I?
(2 comments)
President George W. Bush is famous for not admitting mistakes. But every now and then he tries to correct one without fanfare and well under the radar.
Monday, December 19, 2005
ABOUT BUSH, MCCAIN, TORTURE AND BEYOND
Monday, December 12, 2005
WINK, WINK, NOD, NOD
Excusing political theater of the absurd.
Friday, December 9, 2005
HOW DO AMERICANS FEEL ABOUT TORTURE?
If the Bush Administration listens to the American public, rather than to Sen. John McCain, it neednt be too worried about the issue of torture of suspected terrorists.
Thursday, December 8, 2005
THE ISSUE THAT WONT GO AWAY
2005 may be remembered as the year torture and rendition became parts of the everyday American vocabulary.
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
TERRORISM PROSECUTIONS, 2005: HOW MUCH PROGRESS?
Amidst charges that President Bush and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) are inflating the number of criminal prosecutions for terrorism, five cases shed light on the administrations mixed record of convictions during 2005.
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF FAKE NEWS
Congressional leaders were angered by the Pentagons admission that it has been planting and paying for Iraqi newspapers to publish good news stories.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
FORUM FOR THE (DISTANT) FUTURE
A key pillar of the much-vaunted Middle East democracy initiative of President George W. Bush has collapsed brought down by Egypts insistence that Arab governments should have more control over grants from a new fund designed to help indigenous pro-democracy organizations.
Saturday, November 26, 2005
DANGEROUS DENIAL
Americas newest public diplomacy czarina, Karen Hughes, is in dangerous denial and needs professional help.
Saturday, November 19, 2005
NEW BROWNIES IN THE WINGS?
Washington is a town where the best and the brightest co-exist with well-connected political hacks. It defies credulity that the Bush Administration continues to shoot itself in the foot by stubbornly choosing the latter, and thereby setting itself up for another Brownie.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
ROSA PARKS: WHY ONE PERSON MATTERS
Saturday, November 12, 2005
THE NEXT JUDY MILLER?
(1 comments)
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
THE FOX AT THE HENHOUSE
Can a member of the Bush team produce a credible report on what went wrong with Katrina and how to fix it?
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
WHO SHOULD PAY FOR KATRINA?
Advertising gurus Gerald Rafshoon and Doug Bailey, who were on opposing sides during the Jimmy Carter-Gerald Ford campaign in 1976, have come up with a pretty good alternative to financing Katrina reconstruction with taxpayer money.
Friday, September 16, 2005
MR. BUSHS LEGACY: MORE THAN DUCT TAPE NEEDED
The speech President George W. Bush delivered in New Orleans last evening had the phony ring of a second-term president driven by a single goal: to rebuild what is left of his tattered legacy.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Senate's Kabuki Dance With Roberts
After three days of hearings on the confirmation of Judge John G. Roberts to be the seventeenth Chief Justice of the United States, what the public has learned is that the nominee appears to be as much Talmudic scholar as jurist.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
TODAY, PADILLA. TOMORROW, WHO?
Friday, September 9, 2005
THE PRICE OF SECRECY
(1 comments)
Saturday, September 3, 2005
FROM THE IRAQI FRONT
Sunday, August 28, 2005
NGO SUES OVER PROSTITUTION POLICY
Saturday, August 20, 2005
DIPLOMATIC ASSURANCES -- WORTHLESS
Friday, August 19, 2005
AIR FORCE ACADEMY (AGAIN)
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
LOOKING BACK AT LBJ
Sunday, August 7, 2005
A WIN FOR SCIENCE!
Monday, August 1, 2005
TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION IN NORTH CAROLINA
(1 comments)
Friday, July 29, 2005
SAUDI AND NIGERIA IN THE CROSSHAIRS
Monday, July 25, 2005
KAREN HUGHES BEHIND THE FIREWALL
Monday, July 25, 2005
BILL OREILLY IN DRAG
(2 comments)
Friday, July 22, 2005
GOVERNMENT WATCHDOGS: THE INSPECTORS GENERAL
Friday, July 22, 2005
GOVERNMENT WATCHDOGS
Friday, July 22, 2005
FINALLY: A DEGREE IN PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
Friday, July 15, 2005
SKATING ON THIN ICE
Friday, July 15, 2005
ABUSE, WHAT ABUSE?
Monday, July 11, 2005
DONT ASK, DONT TELL
Twelve gays and lesbians discharged from the military because of their sexual orientation are suing the U.S. Government in an effort to overturn the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that bars homosexuals from openly serving in the military.
Monday, July 11, 2005
GITMOS FORGOTTEN SOLDIER
Many people will remember Janice Karpinsky, the Army Reserve Brigadier General who was reprimanded and demoted for failing to stop the prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. But few will remember Brigadier General Rick Baccus.
