Rhetoric is no substitute for reality, and given the president's unfortunate extension of the Bush-Cheney assault on civil liberties, his administration deserves criticism.
It couldn't be a sadder thing to admit, given what happened in those years, but -- given what's happened in these years -- who can doubt that the America of the 1950s and 1960s was, in some ways, simply a better place than the one we live in now?
Eliot Spitzer and ex-Rummy aide Torie Clarke debate whether the DOD will absorb another $600 billion cut (out of $7 trillion) over the decade. They weigh Walker's big win in Wisconsin and Ed Gillespie's gaffe acquitting Obama for W's job losses.
Can freedom in the United States continue to flourish and grow in an age when the physical movements, individual purchases, conversations, and meetings of every citizen are constantly under surveillance by private companies and government agencies?
When a UC Davis police officer took out a can of pepper spray and calmly doused a group of passive, nonviolent Occupy protesters sitting on a campus pathway, he should have known that all of the world would witness his horrific act.
A FOIA request by the ACLUhas revealed a Department of Justice memo showing Verizon keeps tracking data for "a rolling year," T-Mobile officially for 4-6 months, but "really a year or more," AT&T;/Cingular since July 2008, Sprint for 18-24 months. That's not all.
It is quite ironic that the same week the news about the News of the World hacking was finally breaking, Congress held a hearing on data retention, the proposal that Internet service providers be required to retain customer information.
Providing data in the Wiretap Report is not simply compliance with 40-year-old legislation. That information is what allows us to understand what's true about this highly intrusive and secretive investigative technique and what's not.
Mary and Wayne Barrett debate what bin Laden's demise says about Obama -- no more 97 pound weakling! -- and about W and torture. Then, should Dems duplicate Rove's secret money machine?
Government secrecy is increasingly the norm. At the same time, government surveillance is pervasive, reversing the proper relationship between a democratic government and its citizens.
The FBI's current proposed rewrite of wiretap law creates serious security risks.
There is no question that bad actors, from criminals and terrorists use the network to conduct their activities. But better protections for transactional information needs to be part of new wiretap law.
Let's get one thing straight. If you are angry at Barack Obama, or any member of Congress, you are angry at your fellow citizens who voted for them. There is a name for this process: we call it democracy.
Is your email private? You may think it is, but you may also be surprised how easy it is for law enforcement to access it without a warrant.
We live in a country where privacy is melting away bit by bit. In the interest of what? Some will say if you've got nothing to hide, why worry? But the truth is actually the inverse of that argument.
The White House tapes reveal Haig as the ultimate sycophant, urging Nixon to smite the enemy in Vietnam, unleash the bombs, stand tough against the Soviets, and, not incidentally, to keep Kissinger in his place.