One Thousand Reasons

[1] Women's Rights: Family planning run amok
Here comes another sneak attack on family planning by the Bush administration. Masquerading as a measure to protect healthcare providers from "morally coercive or discriminatory practices," a rule change proposed by the Department of Health and Human Services would require healthcare facilities to certify in writing that their workers do not have to assist with procedures they find objectionable.
Los Angeles Times September 24, 2008

[3] Environment: States Accuse Pentagon Of Threats, Retaliation
Environmental officials from several states that have tried to force the Pentagon to clean up polluted military sites say the Defense Department has retaliated by reducing or withholding federal oversight dollars due them.
Washington Post September 19, 2008

[5] Government: Bailout Hide and Seek
On Friday, less than a week after the government took control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the White House announced that there is no reason at this time to account for the companies in the federal budget.

That is great news for officials who prefer to hide the cost of the bailout since it is due, in large part, to their failure to adequately regulate the financial markets and steward the econo
New York Times September 13, 2008

[7] Environment: Whales, Dolphins, Sonar and the Courts
We were cheered to learn that the Navy and conservation groups have reached a court-approved settlement that allows the service ample opportunity to test its low-frequency sonar systems while protecting the habitats of marine life that can’t tolerate loud underwater sound. Sometimes compromise and good sense do prevail. So it is especially disturbing that the Bush administration is still trying to
New York Times August 19, 2008

[9] Liberty: U.S. May Ease Police Spy Rules
The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and retain it for at least 10 years.
Washington Post August 16, 2008

[11] Government: Long Overdue Crane Safety
The Bush administration generally prefers to fiddle, not regulate, as problems approach a crisis, but its failure to address accidents involving construction cranes is particularly hard to grasp.
New York Times August 2, 2008

[13] Environment: Judge: EPA turned 'blind eye' on Everglades
A federal judge said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency turned a ''blind eye'' to protecting the Everglades under the Clean Water Act.
Miami Herald July 29, 2008

[15] Justice: There Was Smoke — and Fire
It was hardly news that President Bush’s Justice Department has been illegally politicized, but it was important that the Justice Department finally owned up to that sorry state of affairs. An internal investigation released on Monday found that the department’s top staff routinely took politics and ideology into account in filling nonpolitical positions — and lied about it.
New York Times July 29, 2008

[17] Environment: Ex-EPA Official Says White House Pulled Rank
A former Environmental Protection Agency official yesterday contradicted EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson's congressional testimony on one of the administration's key global warming decisions, saying the White House ordered Johnson to block California's bid to regulate vehicles' tailpipe emissions.
Washington Post July 23, 2008

[19] Environment: Bush Cronies Tried To Redefine ‘Carbon Dioxide’ To Save Power Plants From Emissions Regulations
Earlier this month, former EPA official Jason Burnett wrote to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) with explosive revelations on how the White House has neutered climate change science to protect corporate interests. For example, OMB general counsel Jeffrey Rosen asked for multiple memos on whether carbon dioxide (CO2) from cars and plants could be regulated differently.
Think Progress July 23, 2008

[21] Liberty: Mukasey Calls On Congress to Subvert Constitution
WASHINGTON, DC - In an enormous executive branch power grab, Attorney General Michael Mukasey called on Congress today to authorize indefinite detention through a new declaration of armed conflict. Mukasey also proposed that Congress subvert the right of habeas corpus with a new scheme of procedures that will hide the Bush administration's past wrongdoing - an action that would undermine the const
ACLU July 22, 2008

[23] Liberty: The Government and Your Laptop
The Department of Homeland Security is routinely searching laptops at airports when Americans re-enter the United States from abroad. The government then pores over or copies the laptop’s contents — including financial records, medical data and e-mail messages. These out-of-control searches trample the privacy rights of Americans, and Congress should rein them in.
New York Times July 10, 2008

[25] War: US cluster bomb plans outrageous, say campaigners
US plans to respond to international pressure over the use of cluster bombs by phasing out the amount of unexploded bomblets they contain, were today branded as "outrageous" by campaigners.
Guardian July 8, 2008

[27] Government: Ideology-Based Hiring at Justice Broke Laws, Investigation Finds
Senior Justice Department officials broke civil service laws by rejecting scores of young applicants who had links to Democrats or liberal organizations, according to a biting report issued yesterday.
Washington Post June 25, 2008

[29] Justice: Deck stacked against detainees in legal proceedings
KHOST, Afghanistan — Guantanamo detainees appearing before the military tribunals that would decide their fate had little chance of receiving evenhanded hearings, an eight-month McClatchy investigation found. At least 40 former Guantanamo detainees of the 66 interviewed had tribunal hearings, but none was able to submit testimony from witnesses outside the detention facility.
McClatchy Newspapers June 18, 2008

[31] Environment: EPA ducks duty to keep water clean
To showcase its long-standing indifference toward the environment, the Bush administration last week announced it will not interfere with Florida's practice of pumping polluted farm water and suburban runoff into the Everglades and Lake Okeechobee.
Miami Herald June 15, 2008

[33] Government: Interrogation for Profit
Congress is finally moving to ban one of the Bush administration’s most blatant evasions of accountability in Iraq — the outsourcing of war detainees’ interrogation to mercenary private contractors.
New York Times June 12, 2008

[35] Immigration: Dying in Detention
The government has a duty to provide decent, effective, timely medical care to people in its custody. That should be beyond debate, but not when the government in question is the Bush administration and the people in custody are illegal immigrants.
New York Times June 11, 2008

[37] War: Senate committee: Bush knew Iraq statements were untrue
WASHINGTON— A long-awaited Senate Select Intelligence Committee report made public Thursday concludes that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney made public statements to promote an invasion of Iraq that they knew at the time were not supported by available intelligence.
McClatchy Newspapers June 5, 2008

[39] Environment: Watchdog: NASA misled on global warming studies
WASHINGTON (AP) -- NASA's press office "marginalized or mischaracterized" studies on global warming between 2004 and 2006, the agency's own internal watchdog concluded.

In a report released Monday, NASA's inspector general office called it "inappropriate political interference" by political appointees in the press office. It said the agency's top management wasn't part of the censorship, nor were
CNN June 2, 2008

[41] Education: Mr. Bush and the G.I. Bill
President Bush opposes a new G.I. Bill of Rights. He worries that if the traditional path to college for service members since World War II is improved and expanded for the post-9/11 generation, too many people will take it. He is wrong, but at least he is consistent.
New York Times May 26, 2008

[43] War: Blackwater’s Impunity
After guards from Blackwater Worldwide protecting a State Department convoy killed at least 17 Iraqis in a hail of bullets last September, we hoped the Bush administration would rethink the folly of relying on mercenaries, who have no accountability to Iraqi or American law. The ever-stubborn administration decided it couldn’t stay at war without its gunslingers.
New York Times May 16, 2008

[45] Liberty: New Government Report Reveals 2,500 Youths Held In Military Custody Abroad
NEW YORK - In a supplemental report to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) made public today, the U.S. government revealed that it has no comprehensive policy in place for dealing with youth detained by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, including nearly 2,500 youths under the age of 18 that have been held in U.S.-run facilities overseas to date. In a separate report, the A
ACLU May 14, 2008

[47] Democracy: Crippled Election Commission
The White House is removing a member of the Federal Election Commission for standing up for clean elections, while trying to install another member whose specialty is keeping eligible voters from casting ballots. The Senate, which must confirm nominees, should insist that President Bush appoint commissioners with a proven record of supporting voting rights and fair elections.
New York Times May 8, 2008

[49] Environment: New Policy Prolongs EPA Chemical Reviews
The Bush administration has changed Environmental Protection Agency reviews of chemicals in a way that will delay scientific assessments of their health risks and open the process to politicization, congressional investigators said yesterday.
Washington Post April 30, 2008

[51] War: The Tarnished Brass
As it prepared to invade Iraq five years ago, the Bush administration called up retired military officers to help sell the war. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his propaganda team courted as many as 75 retired military officers who could best market the Pentagon line, particularly on television. As detailed in The Times on Sunday, many of these officers used their access to Pentagon bigwigs to promote their private businesses.
New York Times April 26, 2008

[53] Liberty: U.S. Plans to Collect DNA on Any Federal Arrest
WASHINGTON (AP) — The government plans to begin collecting DNA samples from anyone arrested by a federal law enforcement agency, a move intended to prevent violent crime but which is also raising concerns about the privacy of innocent people.
New York Times April 17, 2008

[55] Law: Going Soft on Corporate Crime
The Bush administration has a well-known aversion to regulating big business. As it turns out, it is also reluctant to prosecute corporations that break the law.
New York Times April 10, 2008

[57] Environment: More Stalling On CO-2
After refusing to lead the nation by implementing regulations for carbon-dioxide emissions from motor vehicles, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Bush administration are now refusing to get out of the way.
Hartford Courant April 6, 2008

[59] Government: My Way or the Highway
President Bush likes to talk about not being swayed by public opinion, especially the views of Democrats. At a news conference last December, he said the most important criterion for picking a president is “whether or not somebody’s got a sound set of principles from which they will not deviate as they make decisions.”

Unhappily for the country, we have learned that Mr. Bush has no idea when stan
New York Times March 29, 2008

[61] Environment: EPA chief bides time on court's emissions order
EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson has shelved his agency's findings that greenhouse gases are a danger to the public, and on Thursday told Congress that he will initiate a lengthy public comment period about whether such emissions are a risk before responding to a U.S. Supreme Court order.
Los Angeles Times March 28, 2008

[63] Health: Pentagon admits postponing brain screenings
The Pentagon has admitted that it delayed introducing a routine screening of troops returning from Iraq for mild brain injuries because it feared that the extent of the problem could mushroom to the scale of the Gulf War syndrome after the first Iraq war.
Guardian March 18, 2008

[65] Energy: No Action on Auto Fuel Economy Despite EPA's Urging
Congressional investigators said yesterday that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson recommended raising automobile fuel economy standards three months ago based on a staff assessment that carbon dioxide emissions threaten the public's health and welfare, but the Bush administration has taken no action.
Washington Post March 13, 2008

[67] Environment: A Toxic Time Bomb in the Northwest
Buried in President Bush's proposed budget for next year is a story of broken promises. It's a story that puts our nation's honor -- and our environment, economy and families -- on the line.

The president wants to increase spending on every major category of our government's nuclear program except one: cleaning up the toxic legacy that lurks at nuclear reservations and facilities around the natio
Washington Post March 3, 2008

[69] Government: Congress to Bush: You've Lost Mail
The Bush White House has made a mockery of the Presidential Records Act and its requirement that official White House records -- including e-mails -- be preserved for posterity.

At a congressional hearing yesterday, it became clear for the first time that top White House officials knowingly adopted a new e-mail system in 2002 that was riddled with technical problems that not only risked data loss
Washington Post February 27, 2008

[71] Government: Bush Administration Hides More Data, Shuts Down Website Tracking U.S. Economic Indicators
The U.S. economy is faltering. Family debt is on the rise, benefits are disappearing, the deficit is skyrocketing, and the mortgage crisis has worsened. Conservatives have attempted to deflect attention from the crisis, by blaming the media’s negative coverage and insisting the United States is not headed toward a recession, despite what economists are predicting.

The Bush administration’s latest
Think Progress February 13, 2008

[73] Torture: CIA says used waterboarding three times
WASHINGTON, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The CIA on three occasions shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks used a widely condemned interrogation technique known as waterboarding, CIA Director Michael Hayden told Congress on Tuesday.
Reuters February 5, 2008

[75] War: Bush fights move to rein in war contractors
WASHINGTON - Lawmakers say they will push ahead with a presidential commission designed to root out waste and fraud in military contracts despite President Bush's concerns that it could usurp his authority.
MSNBC February 1, 2008

[77] Environment: Bush opens 3m acres of Alaskan forest to logging
The US government has announced plans to open more than 3m acres (about 5,000 square miles) of Alaskan wilderness to logging, mining and road building, angering environmental campaigners who say it will devastate the region. Supporters say the plan for the Tongass National Forest, a refuge for grizzly and black bears, wolves, eagles and wild salmon, will revive the state's timber industry.
Guardian January 29, 2008

[79] Environment: Bush Administration Strips Protections from America's Largest Forest
Juneau, AK (January 25, 2008) -- Today, the Bush administration took its third swipe in recent weeks at opening protected areas in America’s national forests to logging before it leaves office. A Bush plan announced today puts a “for sale” sign on trees in vast swaths of the nation’s largest national forest – the Tongass rainforest in Alaska.
NRDC January 25, 2008

[81] Women's Rights: Are U.S. Policies Killing Women?
Even as we commemorate the landmark 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade this year, U.S. reproductive-health policies are having an inordinately negative effect outside of our borders. They're causing women to die or be maimed. Harsh words, but true.
AlterNet January 22, 2008

[83] Government: The 'pocket veto' peril
Pundits and pols who have been tracking President Bush's constitutional transgressions can add another to the list: his Dec. 28 "pocket veto" of the massive defense spending bill. Instead of issuing a regular veto, which allows Congress the opportunity to override if it can muster the votes, Bush stated that he needed to pocket veto the bill -- a power the Constitution says may only be used when "Congress by their Adjournment prevent [the bill's] Return." Bush argued that he was "prevented" from "returning" the bill to Congress because the House had adjourned.
Los Angeles Times January 8, 2008

[85] War Crimes: Warnings Unheeded On Guards In Iraq
The U.S. government disregarded numerous warnings over the past two years about the risks of using Blackwater Worldwide and other private security firms in Iraq, expanding their presence even after a series of shooting incidents showed that the firms were operating with little regulation or oversight, according to government officials, private security firms and documents.
Washington Post December 24, 2007

[87] Torture: 9/11 Panel Study Finds That C.I.A. Withheld Tapes
WASHINGTON — A review of classified documents by former members of the Sept. 11 commission shows that the panel made repeated and detailed requests to the Central Intelligence Agency in 2003 and 2004 for documents and other information about the interrogation of operatives of Al Qaeda, and were told by a top C.I.A. official that the agency had “produced or made available for review” everything tha
New York Times December 22, 2007

[89] Environment: Arrogance and Warming
The Bush administration’s decision to deny California permission to regulate and reduce global warming emissions from cars and trucks is an indefensible act of executive arrogance that can only be explained as the product of ideological blindness and as a political payoff to the automobile industry.
New York Times December 21, 2007

[91] Environment: Environmentalists: Bush Backtracks on Vow
After years of saying U.S. involvement in a mandatory global greenhouse reduction plan is contingent upon participation by China and other developing nations, the Bush administration is now rejecting such proposals, according to environmental leaders observing Bali's climate change conference.
US News & World Report December 11, 2007

[93] International: A Blow to Bush's Tehran Policy
President Bush got the world's attention this fall when he warned that a nuclear-armed Iran might lead to World War III. But his stark warning came at least a month or two after he had first been told about fresh indications that Iran had actually halted its nuclear weapons program.
Washington Post December 4, 2007

[95] Government: You’re Eating That?
A few years ago Americans walked into the grocery store and plucked items from the shelves with a confidence that the world could only envy. Now, according to a survey for the Food Marketing Institute, only 66 percent of consumers in the United States are confident that the food they buy is safe, down from 82 percent last year. With news of killer spinach, tainted hamburger patties and imported seafood that can provide as many toxins as omega-3s, who can blame them?
New York Times November 26, 2007

[97] Government: Playing Games With Toy Safety
With the holiday season approaching, there is more bad news about the federal agency charged with protecting children from unsafe toys. Nancy Nord, acting chairwoman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, joined industry lobbyists in opposing a Senate bill intended to strengthen her enfeebled agency. That was followed by the revelation that Ms. Nord and her predecessor took free trips from the
New York Times November 4, 2007

[99] Government: Strengthening of Consumer Agency Opposed by Its Boss
WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 — The top official for consumer product safety has asked Congress in recent days to reject legislation that would strengthen the agency that polices thousands of consumer goods, from toys to tools.
New York Times October 29, 2007

[101] Energy: Bush's "Poor Kids First" Kept Sick and Freezing
George W. Bush explained his recent veto of the bipartisan-supported Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, because he says he wants to put "poor kids first."

The president's (and his supporters') logic here is that expanding funding for the popular State Child Health Insurance Plan would mean that more people than those living in rock-bottom poverty might get access to government-subsidized healthcare, and that would be a grievous wrong. He contends that only kids born into the most desperate poverty should get help outside of private, market-priced insurance--whether they can afford it or not.
Huffington Post October 22, 2007

[103] Environment: Temporary Victory on Clean Air
Last week’s record-breaking consent decree requiring American Electric Power, the nation’s largest utility, to pay $4.6 billion to clean up its act represents a satisfying, if delayed victory for the Clinton administration and other plaintiffs who brought the suit eight years ago. More than anything, though, it is a victory for millions of people downwind of the company’s plants who have been forced to breathe dirty air.
New York Times October 15, 2007

[105] Human Rights: Carter says U.S. tortures prisoners
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States tortures prisoners in violation of international law, former President Carter said Wednesday. "I don't think it. I know it," Carter told CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
CNN October 10, 2007

[107] International: The damage is done
ATLANTA - Just imagine that Vice President Dick Cheney went on a visit to a foreign country - Great Britain, let's say - and that one of his Secret Service agents was shot several times and killed by a drunken bodyguard hired by the Brits. Let's say the British government quickly hushed up the crime and spirited the bodyguard out of the country, leaving him free to go about his life.
Baltimore Sun October 8, 2007

[109] Human Rights: More Torture Memos
PRESIDENT BUSH said Friday, as he has many times before, that "this government does not torture people." But presidential declarations can't change the facts. The record shows that Mr. Bush and a compliant Justice Department have repeatedly authorized the CIA to use interrogation methods that the rest of the world -- and every U.S. administration before this one -- have regarded as torture: techni
Washington Post October 6, 2007

[111] Honesty: Bush's Veto Lies
To say that George W. Bush spends money like a drunken sailor is to insult every gin-soaked patron of every dockside dive in every dubious port of call. If Bush gets his way, the cost of his wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will soon reach a mind-blowing $600 billion. Despite turning a budget surplus into a huge deficit, the man still hasn't met a tax cut he doesn't like. And when the Republicans were
Washington Post October 5, 2007

[113] Health: Bush Vetoes Children’s Health Insurance Bill
WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 — President Bush vetoed the children’s health insurance bill today, as he had promised to do, setting the stage for more negotiations between the White House and Congress. Mr. Bush wielded his pen with no fanfare just before leaving for a visit to Lancaster, Pa. The veto was only the fourth of Mr. Bush’s presidency.
New York Times October 3, 2007

[115] Environment: White House Taking Unearned Credit for Emissions Cuts
Seeking to counter international pressure to adopt binding limits on greenhouse gas emissions, the Bush administration has been touting the success of three mandatory programs to curb U.S. energy consumption: gas mileage standards for vehicles, efficiency standards for home appliances and state laws requiring utilities to increase their use of renewable energy sources.

But for most of the Bush pr
Washington Post September 26, 2007

[117] Environment: U.S. Trying to Block Calif. on Emissions
The Bush administration has conducted a concerted, behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign to try to generate opposition to California's request to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks, according to documents obtained by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Washington Post September 25, 2007

[119] Democracy: A 'Palpable Injustice'
THE U.S. SENATE had a chance yesterday to make history. It chose instead to add another unconscionable chapter to that well-worn volume that could be titled "The Second-Class Status of the People of the District of Columbia." A few Republicans showed enough gumption to vote for principle and against party interest. Most Republicans, led by their leaders and egged on by President Bush -- who talks
Washington Post September 19, 2007

[121] Government: Audit Cites Overpaid Medicare Insurers
WASHINGTON, Sept. 9 — Private insurance companies participating in Medicare have been allowed to keep tens of millions of dollars that should have gone to consumers, and the Bush administration did not properly audit the companies or try to recover money paid in error, Congressional investigators say in a new report.
New York Times September 10, 2007

[123] Terrorism: Fighting war on terror in wrong places
ATLANTA - What about Afghanistan? What about Pakistan? Add this to the sins of the Bush White House: Its foolish misadventure in Iraq has diverted our politics and our military away from those places that gave aid and comfort to the jihadists who staged the Sept. 11 attacks.
Baltimore Sun September 10, 2007

[125] Security: National Security Bubble
THE GOAL OF the Bush administration after Sept. 11, 2001, was simple and clear: Protect the country from another devastating attack. But in its quest to counter unprecedented threats, the White House deliberately avoided seeking the advice of Congress -- and even that of some of its own top officials -- for fear of encountering opposition to novel or aggressive tactics. This go-it-alone approach l
Washington Post September 8, 2007

[127] Government: Safety Agency Faces Scrutiny Amid Changes
WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 — In March 2005, the Consumer Product Safety Commission called together the nation’s top safety experts to confront an alarming statistic: 44,000 children riding all terrain vehicles were injured the previous year, nearly 150 of them fatally.
New York Times September 1, 2007

[129] Security: Air cargo end-run
A MONTH AGO, it looked as if Congress had finally plugged one of the gaps in air travel security: the failure of officials to inspect the commercial cargo that passenger airplanes carry in their holds. Now the Transportation Security Administration is considering an interpretation of the new law to allow companies to ship cargo that they have certified as safe, without X-ray or physical inspection
Boston Globe August 25, 2007

[131] Environment: Unfathomable: EPA Decides Oil Refinery Air Pollution is Clean Enough to Ignore
WASHINGTON (August 23, 2007) – Flouting common sense as well as the law, the Environmental Protection Agency today announced a proposed rule that concludes that tens of thousands of tons of toxic air emissions from U.S. oil refineries are not risky enough to warrant any additional safeguards for the breathing public. If it stands, the decision will impose a significant cancer risk on nearly half a
NRDC August 23, 2007

[133] Honesty: Bush Lies About Al-Qaeda Captures in Iraq
Some distortions are so massive and so deliberate as to constitute outright lies. See if you can spot the dishonesty in this line in President Bush's speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars' national convention today: U.S. forces have killed or captured an average of more than 1,500 al Qaeda terrorists and other extremists every month since January.
TPM August 22, 2007

[135] Environment: Judge Orders Reports on Global Warming
The Bush administration violated federal law by missing deadlines to produce a study on the impact of global warming, now as much as two years overdue, and must issue a summary by March, a federal judge ruled.
New York Times August 22, 2007

[137] Health: New Bush Admin Rules Aim To Block Child Health Care Programs
The Bush administration, continuing its fight to stop states from expanding the popular Children's Health Insurance Program, has adopted new standards that would make it much more difficult for New York, California and others to extend coverage to children in middle-income families.
Huffington Post August 21, 2007

[139] Law: Commerce, Treasury funds helped boost GOP campaigns
WASHINGTON — Top Commerce and Treasury Departments officials appeared with Republican candidates and doled out millions in federal money in battleground congressional districts and states after receiving White House political briefings detailing GOP election strategy.
McClatchy Newspapers August 17, 2007

[141] Government: Searching for the Miners
It is beyond belief that in this Information Age, when new technologies can eavesdrop on any conversation and track people around the globe, rescue teams have no way to communicate with the six miners trapped underground in the Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah. Instead they are drilling holes in the ground to where they guess the miners might be.

It needn’t be so. For too long, the Bush administratio
New York Times August 16, 2007

[143] Human Rights: Deported Canadian Was No Threat, Report Shows
OTTAWA, Aug. 9 — Canadian intelligence officials anticipated that the United States would ship Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian who was detained in New York in 2002 on suspicion of terrorism, to a third country to be tortured, declassified information released on Thursday shows.

Mr. Arar was sent by American intelligence officials in October 2002 to Syria, where he was tortured and jailed for a
New York Times August 10, 2007

[145] Health: HHS Hacks Plant Lies in Letters
Four regional directors of the Department of Health and Human Services signed their names on copycat letters sent to editorial pages across the country, spreading misinformation about opposing children's health insurance proposals.
Huffington Post August 7, 2007

[147] Middle East: The Mideast needs more guns?
THE LAST THING the Middle East needs is a new round of arms sales, but that is what the Bush administration wants Congress to approve, the better to contain Iran's bid for dominance in the region. Under its current leadership, Tehran is a threat to regional stability. But that threat is best contained through diplomacy and a clear statement that, whatever happens in Iraq, US forces will not leave
Boston Globe August 5, 2007

[149] Environment: The Owl and the Forest
The spotted owl, once famously referred to by the first President Bush as “that little furry-feathery guy,” was not exactly a popular little guy among angry timber workers in the Pacific Northwest.
New York Times August 5, 2007

[151] Government: When a Government Won't Own Up
Rescue and cleanup workers, who put their lives on the line in our nation's darkest hour, weren't given information about environmental risks and are now paying the price with financial hardship, illness, and even death.

Hundreds of thousands of people living on the Gulf Coast survived a horrific natural disaster and a failed government response, only to be placed in trailers that FEMA knew were
The Nation August 2, 2007

[153] Health: Bush Aide Blocked Report
A surgeon general's report in 2006 that called on Americans to help tackle global health problems has been kept from the public by a Bush political appointee without any background or expertise in medicine or public health, chiefly because the report did not promote the administration's policy accomplishments, according to current and former public health officials.
Washington Post July 29, 2007

[155] Politics: Drug czar deployed for GOP, papers show
WASHINGTON — As President Bush fought to keep Congress in Republican hands last year, the White House political director enlisted the nation's drug czar to attend events with vulnerable GOP incumbents, documents made public on Tuesday disclosed.
Los Angeles Times July 18, 2007

[157] War: Pentagon balked at pleas from officers in field for safer vehicles
Pfc. Aaron Kincaid, 25, had been joking with buddies just before their Humvee rolled over the bomb. His wife, Rachel, later learned that the blast blew Kincaid, a father of two from outside Atlanta, through the Humvee's metal roof.

Army investigators who reviewed the Sept. 23 attack near Riyadh, Iraq, wrote in their report that only providence could have saved Kincaid from dying that day: "There was no way short of not going on that route at that time (that) this tragedy could have been diverted."
USA Today July 16, 2007

[159] Health: Former Bush Surgeon General Says He Was Muzzled
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The first U.S. surgeon general appointed by President George W. Bush accused the administration on Tuesday of political interference and muzzling him on key issues like embryonic stem cell research.

"Anything that doesn't fit into the political appointees' ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried," Dr. Richard Carmona, who serve
New York Times July 10, 2007

[161] Environment: E.P.A. Scaled Back Rules on Wetlands
WASHINGTON, July 5 — After a concerted lobbying effort by property developers, mine owners and farm groups, the Bush administration scaled back proposed guidelines for enforcing a key Supreme Court ruling governing protected wetlands and streams.
New York Times July 5, 2007

[163] Government: Waxman questions legality of Cheney's secrecy
Rep. Henry Waxman has caught on to something that the Tribune first reported in April of 2006: Vice President Dick Cheney exempts his office from a demand that executive agencies report each year on the volume of documents that they classify or declassify – something required by a presidential executive order his boss signed.
The Swamp June 21, 2007

[165] Middle East: Takeover by Hamas Illustrates Failure of Bush's Mideast Vision
Five years ago this month, President Bush stood in the Rose Garden and laid out a vision for the Middle East that included Israel and a state called Palestine living together in peace. "I call on the Palestinian people to elect new leaders, leaders not compromised by terror," the president declared.

The takeover this week of the Gaza Strip by the Hamas militant group dedicated to the elimination
Washington Post June 15, 2007

[167] Liberty: FBI Finds It Frequently Overstepped in Collecting Data
An internal FBI audit has found that the bureau potentially violated the law or agency rules more than 1,000 times while collecting data about domestic phone calls, e-mails and financial transactions in recent years, far more than was documented in a Justice Department report in March that ignited bipartisan congressional criticism.
Washington Post June 14, 2007

[169] Government: FDA called 'cozy' with drugmakers
While revising their drug-review policy last year, Food and Drug Administration officials met 112 times with industry representatives but only five times with consumer and patient groups, according to data out Monday from the House Appropriations Committee.
USA Today June 11, 2007

[171] Liberty: European agency details alleged secret prison activity
PARIS — The CIA held suspected Al Qaeda militants in secret prisons in Poland and Romania, enlisting top officials in those countries to create and conceal the facilities, a European intergovernmental agency alleged Friday.

Current and former intelligence officials in Europe and the United States told the Council of Europe that the interrogation facilities were hubs of a global anti-terrorism cam
Los Angeles Times June 9, 2007

[173] Government: Forget Ethics, Remember Politics
The Bush administration’s never-ending push to turn federal agencies into favor-filled partisan clubhouses has just been confirmed in red-handed detail at the General Services Administration, the government’s main housekeeping agency. Investigators found that Lurita Doan, the Bush appointee running the agency, violated the Hatch Act, which forbids federal workers from politicking on the job.
New York Times May 28, 2007

[175] Environment: U.S. rejects German climate position - G8 draft
LONDON, May 25 (Reuters) - The United States has rejected Germany's bid to get the Group of Eight to agree to tough cuts in climate warming carbon emissions, according to a draft of the communique to be presented to next month's meeting.
AlterNet May 25, 2007

[177] Government: U.S. Attorneys, Reloaded
As the United States attorney scandal grows, so does the number of prosecutors who seem to have been pushed out for partisan political reasons. Another highly suspicious case has emerged in the appointment of Bradley Schlozman, a controversial elections lawyer, to replace a respected United States attorney in Missouri. From the facts available, it looks like a main reason for installing Mr. Schloz
New York Times May 10, 2007

[179] Environment: Bush Appointee Could Endanger Public Health
WASHINGTON (April 4, 2007) – A radical reactionary who believes in allowing arsenic in drinking water and that smog is actually beneficial because it can protect people from sunburn has been appointed by President Bush to the position of administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). OIRA is little known to the public, but has enormous power to weaken, delay and eliminat
NRDC May 3, 2007

[181] War: Bush Vetoes Troop Withdrawal Bill
WASHINGTON -- President Bush vetoed legislation to pull U.S. troops out of Iraq Tuesday night in a historic showdown with Congress over whether the unpopular and costly war should end or escalate.
Washington Post May 1, 2007

[183] Government: Crippling Government From Within
The Bush administration has proved indefatigable at finding industry foxes to upend the regulatory chicken coops. The result has been an undermining of restraints on everything from strip miners to long-haul truckers and corporate executives intent on consumer-unfriendly mergers.
New York Times April 27, 2007

[185] Education: Testimony alleges mismanagement of federal reading program
Federal advisors mismanaged President Bush's $1 billion-a-year reading program and profited from close ties to the Bush administration, according to testimony released Thursday — in one case repeatedly rejecting one state's funding proposal until state officials dumped a successful reading test and bought one written by a top Bush advisor.
USA Today April 19, 2007

[187] Disaster: Broken Promises to a Broken Gulf
President Bush has reneged on his promises to Katrina’s victims. Shamefully, the president has chosen the interests of bureaucracy over those of American towns on the brink of failure.
New York Times April 18, 2007

[189] Science: Loosening the Stem Cell Binds
The Senate easily approved a bill this week that would free embryonic stem cell research from the worst shackles imposed by the Bush administration. The House passed its version earlier. A substantial majority of Americans tell pollsters they support embryonic stem cell research. Yet one man, President Bush, and a minority of his party, the religious and social conservatives, are once again trying
New York Times April 13, 2007

[191] Liberty: Fundamental rights
AS PRESIDENT Bush purports to export democracy to Iraq and other nations, he continues to deny it at home. He gained the support this week of six Supreme Court justices, who refused to hear the appeals of 45 detainees at the Guantanamo prison in Cuba. Each of the 45 has been held prisoner for more than five years without a criminal charge, and without legal protections that have been treasured by
Boston Globe April 7, 2007

[193] Government: New regulatory head favors hands-off approach
WASHINGTON -- President Bush on Wednesday appointed as his top regulatory official a conservative academic who has written that markets do a better job of regulating than the government does and that it is more cost-effective for people who are sensitive to pollution to stay indoors on smoggy days than for the government to order polluters to clean up their emissions.
Los Angeles Times April 5, 2007

[195] Democracy: Manipulating Justice to win elections
As we reported in Salon beginning more than a week ago, the Bush administration's partisan grip on the Department of Justice has reached well beyond the U.S. attorneys fired en masse last year. Over the past six years, the administration maneuvered to spread voter-fraud fears and recast the Civil Rights Division -- doing so in ways "that clearly were intended to influence the outcome of elections,
Salon March 30, 2007

[197] Liberty: FBI Provided Inaccurate Data for Surveillance Warrants
FBI agents repeatedly provided inaccurate information to win secret court approval of surveillance warrants in terrorism and espionage cases, prompting officials to tighten controls on the way the bureau uses that powerful anti-terrorism tool, according to Justice Department and FBI officials.
Washington Post March 27, 2007

[199] Environment: Bush-Cheney Administration Issues Polar Bear Gag Order
ANCHORAGE, Alaska– Today the Center for Biological Diversity denounced a Bush administration directive restricting the ability of government scientists traveling abroad to discuss global warming, sea ice, and polar bears. The memo requires employees traveling in situations where these topics could arise to submit a statement of assurance that the employee understands “the administration’s position
Center for Biological Diversity March 8, 2007

[201] Health: FDA Rules Override Warnings About Drug
The government is on track to approve a new antibiotic to treat a pneumonia-like disease in cattle, despite warnings from health groups and a majority of the agency's own expert advisers that the decision will be dangerous for people.
Washington Post March 4, 2007

[203] Government: White House Backed U.S. Attorney Firings, Officials Say
The White House approved the firings of seven U.S. attorneys late last year after senior Justice Department officials identified the prosecutors they believed were not doing enough to carry out President Bush's policies on immigration, firearms and other issues, White House and Justice Department officials said yesterday.
Washington Post March 3, 2007

[205] Law: Evidence against Muslim charity appears fabricated
When the Bush administration shut down the nation's largest Muslim charity five years ago, officials of the Dallas-based foundation denied allegations it was linked to terrorists and insisted that a number of accusations were fabricated by the government. Now, attorneys for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development say the government's own documents provide evidence of that claim.
Los Angeles Times February 25, 2007

[207] Government: Justice Department Fires 8th U.S. Attorney
An eighth U.S. attorney announced her resignation yesterday, the latest in a wave of forced departures of federal prosecutors who have clashed with the Justice Department over the death penalty and other issues.
Washington Post February 24, 2007

[209] Liberty: American Liberty at the Precipice
In another low moment for American justice, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that detainees held at the prison camp at Guant?mo Bay, Cuba, do not have the right to be heard in court. The ruling relied on a shameful law that President Bush stampeded through Congress last fall that gives dangerously short shrift to the Constitution.
New York Times February 22, 2007

[211] Environment: States sue Bush administration over cement plant emissions
ALBANY, N.Y. --Massachusetts and eight other states have sued the Bush administration for what officials claim is a failure to regulate mercury and other pollutants from cement plants.
Boston Globe February 20, 2007

[213] Government: DOJ Denies Access to Eavesdropping Documents
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., blasted the Justice Department Monday for denying his committee access to information about President Bush’s domestic eavesdropping program to catch terrorists.

“We are extremely disappointed,” said Conyers, noting that his panel has jurisdiction over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a court that the Bush administration bypasse
Cox February 16, 2007

[215] Liberty: The Government Wants to Tap Your Internet Calls
Over the past several months, the FCC and Justice Department have been working overtime, and fighting hard to tap not only your land line phone and cell phone, but to tap Internet calls, as well.
AlterNet February 14, 2007

[217] International: U.S. Declines to Join Accord on Secret Detentions
PARIS, Feb. 6 -- Representatives from 57 countries on Tuesday signed a long-negotiated treaty prohibiting governments from holding people in secret detention. The United States declined to endorse the document, saying its text did not meet U.S. expectations.
Washington Post February 7, 2007

[219] Liberty: An Iron Curtain is Descending
"Why are you travelling so often to Canada?" the tough U.S. border guard barked. I was on Amtrak, going from New York to Montreal, as I'd done dozen of times before over several decades. This was my first experience (summer 2006) of the increasingly standard and intrusive "U.S. Exit Interviews" on trains crossing the border. I've been hassled on every train crossing since then, most recently Janua
CounterPunch January 30, 2007

[221] Liberty: Military Expands Intelligence Role in U.S.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 — The Pentagon has been using a little-known power to obtain banking and credit records of hundreds of Americans and others suspected of terrorism or espionage inside the United States, part of an aggressive expansion by the military into domestic intelligence gathering.
New York Times January 13, 2007

[223] Health: Pediatricians try to rescue child health study
CHICAGO — In private conversations across the country this holiday break, pediatricians are buttonholing their congressmen and making a heart-felt plea: Save the National Children's Study. This is the latest attempt to rescue the most important study of children's health and the environment in the United States.
Star-Tribune December 25, 2006

[225] Environment: Muzzling Those Pesky Scientists
The Environmental Protection Agency disclosed last week that it had revised — stood on their head is more like it — procedures it has used for 25 years to set standards for air pollutants like soot and lead. The administration said the change will streamline decision making. Perhaps it will. It will also have the further effect of decreasing the role of science in policy making while increasing th
New York Times December 11, 2006

[227] Environment: EPA Relaxes Rules On Pesticides
(AP) The Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that pesticides can be applied over and near bodies of water without a permit under the federal Clean Water Act. The decision brought immediate criticism from an environmental watchdog group and from a senator involved in environmental issues. They said it would make it easier to pollute the nation's lakes and streams.
CBS News November 22, 2006

[229] Honesty: Fantastic Job, Mr. President
There is something refreshing about George Stephanopoulos. After George Bush announced that he was firing Don Rumsfeld, Stephanopoulos -- on the air at the time -- actually seemed shocked that just a week earlier the president had said he would do no such thing. Stephanopoulos not only suggested that the president had lied but that he was wrong to have done so. In Georgetown, where the ABC newsman
Washington Post November 14, 2006

[231] Government: Investigators Say Appropriations Panel Lost Appetite for Oversight
Last month’s mass firing of House Appropriations Committee investigators followed years of declining appetite for tough oversight and partisan squabbles that the investigators say often stalled their work.

Several members of the team, some of whom spoke on the condition that they not be identified by name, defend their record against committee spokesman John Scofield’s charge that recent work was
CQ November 4, 2006

[233] Health: Conservative moral crusaders are 'impeding health goals'
RELIGIOUS fundamentalists in the US and the Vatican are damaging attempts to reduce sexually transmitted diseases and improve reproductive health, according to a new study. Right-wing religious leaders and their political allies are hampering the work of experts treating people for diseases such as gonorrhoea and syphilis, the report says.
Times (UK) October 31, 2006

[235] Environment: Bush Appointee Said to Reject Advice on Endangered Species
A senior Bush political appointee at the Interior Department has rejected staff scientists' recommendations to protect imperiled animals and plants under the Endangered Species Act at least six times in the past three years, documents show.

In addition, staff complaints that their scientific findings were frequently overruled or disparaged at the behest of landowners or industry have led the agen
Washington Post October 30, 2006

[237] Government: Weakening the Fight for Mine Safety
Despite being twice rebuffed by the Senate, President Bush has named Richard Stickler, a stolid mining industry careerist, to run the mine safety agency whose serial ineptitude has been laid bare this year by the deaths of 42 mineworkers. Waiting until the Senate left town for the elections, Mr. Bush resorted to a recess appointment to place Mr. Stickler at the heart of enforcing new safety reform
New York Times October 26, 2006

[239] Government: Bush defies Senate, appoints mine agency head
WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (Reuters) - President George W. Bush appointed former energy executive Richard Stickler to head the federal mine safety agency on Thursday, even though the U.S. Senate rejected Stickler's nomination twice in two months.
AlterNet October 19, 2006

[241] International: Bush Sets Defense As Space Priority
President Bush has signed a new National Space Policy that rejects future arms-control agreements that might limit U.S. flexibility in space and asserts a right to deny access to space to anyone "hostile to U.S. interests."
Washington Post October 18, 2006

[243] Church & State: Religious right wields clout
For six decades, CARE has been a vital ally to the US government. It supplied the famed CARE packages to Europe's starving masses after World War II, and its work with the poor has been celebrated by US presidents. So the group was thrilled when it received a major contract from the Bush administration to fight AIDS in Africa and Asia.

But this time, instead of accolades came attacks. Religious c
Boston Globe October 9, 2006

[245] Democracy: American Elections and the Grand Old Tradition of Disenfranchisement
The House of Representatives struck a major blow against democracy last month. It passed a bill that would deny the vote to anyone who shows up at the polls without a government-issued photo ID. The bill’s requirements are so onerous and inflexible that they could prevent millions of eligible voters without driver’s licenses — who are disproportionately poor, minority or elderly — from casting a ballot.
New York Times October 7, 2006

[247] Security: Blowing the Easy Ones
THE BUSH administration has pushed aggressively for expanded surveillance powers, military commissions and rough interrogation techniques. When it comes to fighting the war on terrorism, just about anything goes. Except, that is, those routine steps with no civil liberties implications at all that might significantly interrupt terrorism -- such as, say, reading the mail of convicted terrorists hou
Washington Post October 6, 2006

[249] Honesty: Bush the Nation-Builder
One of the biggest promises made by George W. Bush as a candidate – no more nation-building – has turned out to be his biggest lie as president.

In the final weeks of the 2000 campaign, Bush slammed the Clinton administration for doing exactly what he's doing now, only worse. He warned voters his opponent Al Gore would turn more U.S. soldiers into "nation-builders" and "peacekeepers." Bush pledge
Anti-War October 6, 2006

[251] International: Embrace for a Strongman
PRESIDENT BUSH once made the authoritarian president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, a focus of his freedom agenda. He urged the ruler of the energy-rich Central Asian nation to allow more freedom for political parties and media and to hold a fair election for president. The effort failed utterly: Mr. Nazarbayev was awarded 91 percent of the vote last December in an election condemned by international observers. Two months later, a leading opponent was brutally murdered by members of the state security forces. In July, Mr. Nazarbayev ignored Western objections and approved a law tightening already-strict controls on the media.
Washington Post September 29, 2006

[253] Education: Audit: Bush reading program beset by favoritism, mismanagement
WASHINGTON (AP) — A scorching internal review of the Bush administration's reading program says the Education Department ignored the law and ethical standards to steer money how it wanted.

The government audit is unsparing in its review of how Reading First, a billion-dollar program each year, that it says has been beset by conflicts of interest and willful mismanagement. It suggests the departme
USA Today September 22, 2006

[255] Environment: EPA SOOT POLLUTION STANDARD THREATENS HEALTH OF TENS OF MILLIONS OF AMERICANS,
WASHINGTON (September 20, 2006) -- The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to keep in place an inadequate standard for soot pollution, threatening the health of more than 75 million Americans, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).
NRDC September 20, 2006

[257] Iraq: Best-Connected Were Sent to Rebuild Iraq
After the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003, the opportunity to participate in the U.S.-led effort to reconstruct Iraq attracted all manner of Americans -- restless professionals, Arabic-speaking academics, development specialists and war-zone adventurers. But before they could go to Baghdad, they had to get past Jim O'Beirne's office in the Pentagon.

To pass muster with O'Beirne,
Washington Post September 16, 2006

[259] Environment: EPA plans to close labs, drop scientists and reduce oversight
WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency intends to close labs, cut its cadre of upper-level scientists and reduce regulatory oversight, according to an internal agency document.
McClatchy Newspapers September 15, 2006

[261] Security: FEMA Overhaul Debate Stalls Funds for Interoperable Radios
House Republicans are blocking an attempt to spend $3.1 billion to help the nation's police and fire agencies communicate in emergencies as Congress debates a proposed overhaul of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Washington Post September 14, 2006

[263] Liberty: Military lawyers see limits on trial input
WASHINGTON -- Despite assuring Congress that career military lawyers are helping design new trials for accused terrorists, the Bush administration has limited their input on their key request, that any tribunals must give detainees the right to see the evidence against them, officials said.
Boston Globe August 27, 2006

[265] Liberty: At Guantanamo, Caught in a Legal Trap
SARAJEVO, Bosnia -- On Jan. 18, 2002, six men suspected of plotting to attack the U.S. Embassy were seized here by U.S. troops and flown to Cuba, where they became some of the first arrivals at the Pentagon's new prison at Guantanamo Bay.

The seizure was ordered by senior U.S. officials in defiance of rulings by top courts in Bosnia that the men were entitled to their freedom and could not be dep
Washington Post August 21, 2006

[267] Government: Save the Endangered Whistle-Blower
If ever government whistle-blowers needed protection from official retaliation it is now, in the secrecy-obsessed Bush administration. Federal employees daring to disclose fraud and abuse in their bureaucracies have been under virtual siege, isolated as pariahs and shipped off under gag orders to lesser jobs in far-off places.
New York Times August 19, 2006

[269] Honesty: Bush's Primetime Lies Still Go Unchallenged
The far greater offense is not President Bush's words being picked up by an unguarded microphone on July 17th at the G8 summit meeting in St. Petersburg and broadcast throughout the world. The deeper offense is the lack of mainstream media's response to his scripted words spoken directly into a microphone at a news conference in Chicago on July 7th before national and local reporters. Here he did
CounterPunch August 12, 2006

[271] Honesty: Rumsfeld and the fine art of lying
You could probably understand why Donald Rumsfeld initially refused to testify publicly before the Senate Armed Services Committee this week. Aside from the demands of his very busy schedule, the defense secretary probably had a hunch that he'd face some uncomfortable questions about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He did an about-face after his plans to snub the committee sparked an uproar on C
Salon August 3, 2006

[273] Law: Legal Group Faults Bush for Ignoring Parts of Bills
WASHINGTON, July 23 — The American Bar Association said Sunday that President Bush was flouting the Constitution and undermining the rule of law by claiming the power to disregard selected provisions of bills that he signed.
New York Times July 24, 2006

[275] Health: In First Veto, Bush Blocks Stem Cell Bill
President Bush today used the first veto of his presidency to stop legislation that would have lifted restrictions on federally funded human embryonic stem cell research.

"This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others," Bush, speaking at the White House, said after he followed through on his promise to veto the bill. "It crosses a mor
Washington Post July 19, 2006

[277] International: Czech prez complains over U.S. visa regime
PRAGUE, Czech Republic, July 11 (UPI) -- Czech President Vaclav Klaus told reporters that he was puzzled by Washington linking its visa regime to the number of troops foreign allies deploy to Iraq.
UPI July 12, 2006

[279] War: Warnings on WMD 'Fabricator' Were Ignored, Ex-CIA Aide Says
In late January 2003, as Secretary of State Colin Powell prepared to argue the Bush administration's case against Iraq at the United Nations, veteran CIA officer Tyler Drumheller sat down with a classified draft of Powell's speech to look for errors. He found a whopper: a claim about mobile biological labs built by Iraq for germ warfare.

Drumheller instantly recognized the source, an Iraqi defector suspected of being mentally unstable and a liar. The CIA officer took his pen, he recounted in an interview, and crossed out the whole paragraph.
Washington Post June 25, 2006

[281] Immigration: Illegal Hiring Is Rarely Penalized
The Bush administration, which is vowing to crack down on U.S. companies that hire illegal workers, virtually abandoned such employer sanctions before it began pushing to overhaul U.S. immigration laws last year, government statistics show.
Washington Post June 19, 2006

[283] International: In Foreign Territory
The Senate plans to begin consideration today of the defense authorization bill for the coming year. One particularly distressing section of the package would reauthorize the Pentagon to arm and train foreign militaries, something it was first authorized to do for 2006. Although the money involved represents only a $200 million piece of the half-trillion-dollar Pentagon budget, it marks the contin
New York Times June 12, 2006

[285] International: U.S. moves diplomat critical of Somali warlord aid
NAIROBI (Reuters) - A top U.S. official handling Somalia has been transferred from his job after criticising payments to warlords that are said to be fuelling some of Mogadishu's worst-ever fighting, diplomats said on Tuesday.
Boston Globe May 30, 2006

[287] Liberty: Freedom Of The Press: Damage control
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has come up with a new right; one he says cannot be trumped by the public's right to know. The Constitution's explicit right to a free press, Gonzales says, can't trump "the right that Americans would like to see, the ability of the federal government to go after criminal activity."
Seattle PI May 23, 2006

[289] Liberty: Big Brother at NSA
PRESIDENT BUSH has tried to justify the warrantless tapping of Americans' phone calls by saying that the government only listened to calls with Al Qaeda suspects overseas. Now it turns out that the government is collecting records on untold numbers of domestic calls, for no clear purpose other than to detect patterns. So far, none of the sources that described this practice to USA Today has said t
Boston Globe May 12, 2006

[291] Government: In Leak Cases, New Pressure on Journalists
Earlier administrations have fired and prosecuted government officials who provided classified information to the press. They have also tried to force reporters to identify their sources. But the Bush administration is exploring a more radical measure to protect information it says is vital to national security: the criminal prosecution of reporters under the espionage laws.
New York Times April 29, 2006

[293] War: Bush won't rule out nuclear strike on Iran
TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Bush refused on Tuesday to rule out nuclear strikes against Iran if diplomacy fails to curb the Islamic Republic's atomic ambitions. Iran, which says its nuclear program is purely peaceful, told world powers it would pursue atomic technology, whatever they decide at a meeting in Moscow later in the day.
Reuters April 18, 2006

[295] Environment: Climate Researchers Feeling Heat From White House
Scientists doing climate research for the federal government say the Bush administration has made it hard for them to speak forthrightly to the public about global warming. The result, the researchers say, is a danger that Americans are not getting the full story on how the climate is changing.
Washington Post April 5, 2006

[297] Environment: Pentagon blocked move to make water safer
The Pentagon stalled efforts to clean water supplies contaminated by a carcinogenic chemical despite evidence that it posed a significant health risk to millions of people, it was reported yesterday. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigated the solvent, trichloroethylene, which is extensively used on military bases, after significant quantities were found in water supplies. In its re
Guardian March 29, 2006

[299] Environment: Selling the Forests
It's rarely a good idea to sell off assets to pay normal operating expenses. It's an even worse idea when the assets are chunks of national forest. But that's exactly what the Bush administration wants to do.
New York Times March 25, 2006

[301] Health: Illogical Cutbacks on Cancer
When I was a kid I had the wildest crush on my Uncle Breeze's wife, Betty. She was beautiful and with all my heart I wanted to grow up and marry someone just like her.

I remember acutely the sadness I felt some years later when my mother told me that Aunt Betty was ill. She died not long after that. Cervical cancer.

This old memory was brought back to me by, of all things, a small but telling item in President Bush's mammoth budget proposal.
New York Times March 20, 2006

[303] Government: Discovering What Happens Next
The White House has a sorry history of withholding information that the public and Congress need to make informed policy judgments. A proposal in President Bush's new budget would take that damaging tendency one step further by eliminating a government survey that captures the real-world impact of welfare reform, Medicaid, child-support enforcement and many other policies and programs.
New York Times March 4, 2006

[305] Liberty: DOD secretly continued intel program
WASHINGTON, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- A controversial counter-terrorism program has quietly continued despite being theoretically ended two years ago.

The Department of Defense's Total Awareness Information program was halted by lawmakers more than two years ago amid outcries from privacy advocates. However, it was stopped in name only and has quietly continued within the intelligence agency now fending o
UPI February 23, 2006

[307] Education: 'Leave No Child Behind'?
President Bush can't seem to tell people enough times, in enough ways, about his self-proclaimed determination to "leave no child behind." The most recent occurrence came, predictably, during his State of the Union address, when he offered this bit of faux-wisdom, "If we ensure that America's children succeed in life, they will ensure that America succeeds in the world."

He then promptly cut Depa
The Nation February 9, 2006

[309] Government: Censoring Truth
The Bush administration long ago secured a special place in history for the audacity with which it manipulates science to suit its political ends. But it set a new standard of cynicism when it allowed NASA's leading authority on global warming to be mugged by a 24-year-old presidential appointee who, quite apart from having no training on that issue, had inflated his r?m?
New York Times February 9, 2006

[311] Gay Rights: US legislators press Rice on UN vote against gays
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Bush administration's support for Iran's proposal to bar two gay rights groups from a voice at the United Nations sparked a demand from U.S. legislators on Tuesday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repudiate the action.
Reuters February 7, 2006

[313] Environment: Post-9/11 air quality cover-up continues: Democrats
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the White House continue to mislead the public about air quality in the Ground Zero area immediately after the September 11 attack and have not properly decontaminated the area, two congressional Democrats said on Friday.
Reuters February 3, 2006

[315] Government: Gonzales Is Challenged on Wiretaps
Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) charged yesterday that Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales misled the Senate during his confirmation hearing a year ago when he appeared to try to avoid answering a question about whether the president could authorize warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens.
Washington Post January 30, 2006

[317] Environment: Climate Expert Says NASA Tried to Silence Him
The top climate scientist at NASA says the Bush administration has tried to stop him from speaking out since he gave a lecture last month calling for prompt reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global warming.
New York Times January 28, 2006

[319] Government: Secrecy as a Spoil of Victory
Never mind the golf junkets and poolside seminars. One of the rawest displays of lobbyists' power in the Capitol occurred beyond the sight of the public last month, when Republican Congressional negotiators tweaked a budget-cutting bill in order to provide the health insurance industry with a $22 billion windfall.
New York Times January 25, 2006

[321] Democracy: The President Does Not Know Best
OK, everyone who has studied the Unitary Executive Theory of the Presidency, raise your hand. Anyone? Anyone? If you are not raising your hand, you're not alone. As regular readers are aware, only recently has the world received notice that President Bush's "I can do anything I want" approach to governance has a name: the Unitary Executive Theory of the Presidency.
AlterNet January 19, 2006

[323] Democracy: Conspiring Against the Voters
President Bush has announced four nominees for the Federal Election Commission, moving to keep the policing of campaign abuses firmly in the hands of party wheel horses. The timing of the announcement - the president waited until the Senate had gone home - is likely to allow the nominees to avoid the full hearing and confirmation process needed to evaluate them properly.
New York Times December 31, 2005

[325] Honesty: Big Lies
Dec. 22, 2005 - Every holiday season, we on "The McLaughlin Group" hand out news awards. Some categories, like "Biggest Winner," are easy (My choice was Chief Justice John Roberts, with the oil companies as runner-up). Others are a struggle to fill, like who to insult with the “Overrated” award.

In compiling this year’s list, I had the highest number of entries for the category, “Biggest Lie.” I
Newsweek December 26, 2005

[327] Liberty: Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts
WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 - Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying, according to government officials.
New York Times December 16, 2005

[329] International: Winking at genocide
A RECENT letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed by 109 members of Congress from both parties castigated the Bush administration for ''engaging in a policy of appeasement" toward the government of Sudan, which both Congress and former secretary of state Colin Powell have denounced as a perpetrator of genocide in the nation's Darfur region. The policy being carried out by Rice and her
Boston Globe November 8, 2005

[331] Environment: THE CALIFORNIA WATER WARS WATER FLOWING TO FARMS, NOT FISH
After 50 years of legal infighting, a victor has emerged in California's water wars -- agriculture.

A decade after environmentalists prevailed in getting more fresh water down the north state's rivers and estuaries to improve fisheries and wildlife habitat, farmers are again triumphant. Central Valley irrigation districts are signing federal contracts that assure their farms ample water for the next 25 to 50 years.
San Francisco Chronicle October 24, 2005

[333] Environment: Environmental Studies Waived in Oil Push
WASHINGTON - In an aggressive push by the Bush administration to open more public land to oil and gas production, the Interior Department has quit conducting environmental reviews and seeking comments from local residents every time drilling companies propose new wells.

Field officials have been told to begin looking at issuing permits based on past studies of an entire project, even though some
Yahoo News October 18, 2005

[335] International: Summit failure blamed on US
The failure of last week's United Nations summit to deliver an agreement designed to prevent terrorists acquiring 'weapons of mass destruction' was sabotaged by the US, senior diplomats have told The Observer.

Officials involved in the negotiations have confirmed that the Bush administration's refusal to countenance any form of disarmament blocked attempts to push measures that would prevent regi
Guardian September 17, 2005

[337] War: Pentagon Revises Nuclear Strike Plan
The Pentagon has drafted a revised doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons that envisions commanders requesting presidential approval to use them to preempt an attack by a nation or a terrorist group using weapons of mass destruction. The draft also includes the option of using nuclear arms to destroy known enemy stockpiles of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.
Washington Post September 10, 2005

[339] Health: Declining health
AT FIRST glance, the latest report by the US Census Bureau on national income and health insurance shows little change in the United States between 2003 and 2004. Just under the surface, however, the figures reveal an erosion of earnings and health insurance benefits among people with jobs. Government policies ought to mitigate the impact of these declines and seek to reverse them. The Bush admini
Boston Globe August 31, 2005

[341] Government: Evading Responsibility, Again
After four and a half years, we have come to expect the Bush administration to refuse to hold anyone of stature accountable for errors, misdeeds or even potential violations of the law. The bungling of the war in Iraq and the abuse of prisoners at military camps both come to mind. But the inspector general's report on the failures of the Central Intelligence Agency before the 9/11 attacks elevates
New York Times August 27, 2005

[343] Environment: Protecting our coastal waters
THE ENERGY BILL that was just signed by the president includes a provision that would open all of the waters of the United States Continental Shelf to oil and gas exploration. This means there could be oil and gas drilling on Georges Bank, vital fishing ground off the coast of Nantucket.
Boston Globe August 13, 2005

[345] Government: Bush Appoints Bolton as U.N. Envoy, Bypassing Senate
President Bush bypassed the Senate confirmation process today and appointed John R. Bolton as the new United States ambassador to the United Nations. The appointment, while Congress is in recess, ends a months-long standoff between the White House and Senate Democrats who deem Mr. Bolton unfit for the job and have been holding up his confirmation.
New York Times August 1, 2005

[347] Nuclear Proliferation: Green Light for Bomb Builders
The Bush administration is full of tough talk about opposing the spread of nuclear weapons. But it keeps undermining the world's most effective instrument for doing so: the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. In May, top administration officials stood aside as a crucial review conference meant to strengthen the treaty ended in a stalemate. Now Washington wants to allow India an end run around the tre
New York Times July 22, 2005

[349] Church and State: Evangelicals Are a Growing Force in the Military Chaplain Corps
COLORADO SPRINGS - There were personal testimonies about Jesus from the stage, a comedian quoting Scripture and a five-piece band performing contemporary Christian praise songs. Then hundreds of Air Force chaplains stood and sang, many with palms upturned, in a service with a distinctively evangelical tone.

It was the opening ceremony of a four-day Spiritual Fitness Conference at a Hilton hotel h
New York Times July 11, 2005

[351] Women's Rights: Rejecting Treaties is a Bush Convention
The treaty is in very distinguished company. It has joined the ranks of those rejected by George W. Bush, a mark of distinction and in virtually every case, of high quality.

The most recent addition to the family of rejects has the menacing title of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, or CEDAW. This work was adopted in 1979 by the U.N. General Assembly
Common Dreams, June 24, 2005

[353] Environment: GOP senator abandons bill to cut emissions
WASHINGTON -- Attempts to require US industries to cut carbon dioxide emissions as a way to address global warming appear to be headed for defeat in the Senate after a key Republican withdrew his support amid White House lobbying to keep greenhouse gas control programs voluntary.
Boston Globe June 22, 2005

[355] Environment: Bush eases land use for ranchers
ASHLAND, ORE. – For 70 years, the federal government has regulated - or tried to, anyway - the cow herds that graze across millions of acres of public land in the West.

It's been a political struggle between preserving a rural way of life that epitomizes the nation's mythical pioneering history, supporting a slice of a regional economy that's dwindled in comparison to recreation and high-tech cor
CS Monitor June 21, 2005

[357] Star Wars: Panel Faults Tactics in Rush to Install Antimissile System
An outside panel chartered by the Pentagon has concluded that the rush to deploy a national antimissile system last year led to shortfalls in quality controls and engineering procedures that could have better assured the system would work, according to the panel's final report.

Bent on meeting President Bush's deadline to install the first elements of the system by the end of 2004, Pentagon offic
Washington Post June 10, 2005

[359] Energy: Virtually Unprotected
When the East Coast and Midwest were hit by a blackout in 2003, the first fear of many people was that terrorists had attacked the electricity grid. It turned out not to have been terrorism, but the fears were well founded. Experts have long warned that the nation's power, transportation and communications systems are vulnerable to "cyberattacks" that could devastate the economy and cause huge dam
New York Times June 2, 2005

[361] Africa: Day 113 of the President's Silence
Finally, finally, finally, President Bush is showing a little muscle on the issue of genocide in Darfur.

Is the muscle being used to stop the genocide of hundreds of thousands of villagers? No, tragically, it's to stop Congress from taking action.

Incredibly, the Bush administration is fighting to kill the Darfur Accountability Act, which would be the most forceful step the U.S. has taken so far
New York Times May 3, 2005

[363] Civil Rights: Civil Rights Agency Cuts Budget by 9%
The financially strapped U.S. Commission on Civil Rights voted yesterday to lay off employees, order a staff furlough and close two of six regional offices to save about $800,000.

The decision to cut about 9 percent of the budget was followed by news that at least four auditing firms had declined to examine the commission's financial affairs because of the poor conditions of its records and beca
Washington Post April 9, 2005

[365] Liberty: Panel Ignored Evidence on Detainee
A military tribunal determined last fall that Murat Kurnaz, a German national seized in Pakistan in 2001, was a member of al Qaeda and an enemy combatant whom the government could detain indefinitely at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The three military officers on the panel, whose identities are kept secret, said in papers filed in federal court that they reached their conclusion based largely on classified evidence that was too sensitive to release to the public.
Washington Post March 26, 2005

[367] Environment: US tries to sink forests plan
The US plans to wreck a British initiative to commit the G8 states to combatting illegal logging in the world's threatened rainforests, a leaked memorandum revealed last night.

The development secretary, Hilary Benn, wants G8 environment and development ministers meeting in Derby tomorrow and on Friday to insist that all timber bought by official bodies in rich nations comes from properly manage
Guardian March 16, 2005

[369] Environment: Bush to Permit Trading of Credits to Limit Mercury
WASHINGTON, March 13 - The Bush administration th