Bob Aman has the story:According to Wired, since the gag order applied only to “the EFF, its representatives and its technical experts,â€? and not to Mark Klein or any of the other news agencies, Wired was free to release the information they had. I’m not a lawyer of course, but I have a funny feeling that AT&T may try to sue anyways. The interesting part though, is … [Read more...] about Wired Publishes NSA/AT&T Documents

Bob Aman has the story:According to Wired, since the gag order applied only to “the EFF, its representatives and its technical experts,â€? and not to Mark Klein or any of the other news agencies, Wired was free to release the information they had. I’m not a lawyer of course, but I have a funny feeling that AT&T may try to sue anyways. The interesting part though, is … [Read more...] about Wired Publishes NSA/AT&T Documents

Saturday's Washington Post: The religious left is back. Long overshadowed by the Christian right, religious liberals across a wide swath of denominations are engaged today in their most intensive bout of political organizing and alliance-building since the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements of the 1960s, according to scholars, politicians and clergy members. In large … [Read more...] about Religious Liberals Gain New Visibility With A Different List Of Moral Issues

The irony of ironies from Poliblogger Steven Taylor:The paranoia of elements of the anti-immigration movement has now hit a new level. Jerome Corsi, one of the co-authors of Unfit for Command (the anti-Kerry book by Swift Book Veterans for Truth) has entered the fray....I have noted some of his writing online recently, but have largely ignored them. However, his current piece … [Read more...] about Is President George W. Bush Being “Swift-Boated” On Immigration?

We generally remain pre-occupied with our day-to-day priorities/problems/anxieties. So it is always refreshing to be reminded of the battles waged for basic dignity in a different age and era. The fascinating story of the first woman graduate of the MIT has been forwarded to me by a friend, Ram Ramachandran, an Indian who has made the U.S.A. his home. The May-June issue of … [Read more...] about Different Times: Different Battles

The big news and cause for many progressives continues to be how Ned Lamont has forced Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman into a primary. There are many excellent (and often highly emotional on both sides) takes on this battle. Here are two of the best MUST READS with differing perspectives: Tom Watson's fascinating take where he looks at Lamont and makes the case that he is … [Read more...] about Two More Views Of The Lamont Lieberman Showdown In Connecticut

If you left a comment and it's missing it wasn't intentional. We just lost some of them on a few posts due to a problem that has not arisen before. If you see yours is gone, please do leave it again (whether it was complimentary to this site or not!) … [Read more...] about Glitch In Comments

A recent decision by Israel's Supreme Court has reignited the Jewish state's debate about how it should keep itself Jewish. "WHICH basic human rights may a country override to keep itself safe? And to keep its demographic status quo? Such questions have been tormenting America and Europe recently. This week they reared their head, not for the first time, in Israel," writes The … [Read more...] about Keeping Israel Jewish: A Supreme Court Judgement

President George Bush is losing Hispanic support — and if this Washington Post report proves correct he's losing it from a variety of Hispanic groups whose preferences now clash with his own party's conservative base:Hispanic voters, many of whom responded favorably to President Bush's campaign appeals emphasizing patriotism, family and religious values in … [Read more...] about Bush’s Hispanic Support Is Falling

Did Snow tackle his maiden press conference well? Has he made changes or are there some he can make? Has he said anything that gives an inkling into how the press will be treated or a greater clarification of American policy and how the Bush administration operates? There are lots of questions....and blogger/journalism professor Jay Rosen gives you his take here. (We won't … [Read more...] about So How Are White House Press Secretary Tony Snow and His Crew Doing?

The trend over the past few months has been clear: the GOP has been looking vulnerable in the House of Representatives in a given number of seats. But now experts are saying the number of "given" seats that are vulnerable are increasing. And what about the talk of all the various political and legal tinkering over the years that was supposed to make — in the eyes of … [Read more...] about GOP Looking Vulnerable Now In More House Seats

Is this funny or not? Actually, TMV thinks this is funnier: … [Read more...] about What’s Funny?

The Himalayan region has long been recognised as extremely rich in animal and especially plant diversity. For instance, a paper published last year in Science (vol 308, p 405) concluded that Himalayan watersheds harbour more diverse ecosystems than the Amazon. The New Scientist says the Himalayas may never be the same again. The forests growing on the roof of the world are … [Read more...] about “Himalayan forests are quietly vanishing”

The Hartford Courant's copy editor put an exclamation point on its headline (something you don't see in newspaper headlines as a rule). … [Read more...] about How Dramatic Was It That Lamont Forced Lieberman Into A Primary?

There have been lots of bad news stories dealing with polling regarding President George W. Bush but this has to be one of the worst ones yet, from Knight Ridder:It's not just the way he's doing his job. Americans apparently don't like President Bush personally much anymore, either. A drop in his personal popularity, as measured by several public polls, has shadowed the … [Read more...] about Bush’s New Problem: Polls Show He’s Losing His Likability

From a fig leaf to loin cloth and then on to briefs and boxers, it's a rather fascinating undercover journey for men. However, Modern Men's underwear was largely an invention of the 1930s. On January 19, 1935 Coppers Inc sold the world's first briefs in Chicago, Illinois. The company placed a Y-shaped front and overlapping fly on knitted drawers in both short and long styles. … [Read more...] about Men’s 70-year-old Undercover Story

Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto at London Ever since Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf came to power in a bloodless coup in 1999, the General has come out unscathed despite many upheavals. However, the recent coming together of his two sworn political enemies at London seems to have given him jitters. Former Pakistani Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, … [Read more...] about Pakistan Elections 2007: President Musharraf is Jittery

With the British Prime Minister Tony Blair announcing that he would not contest the next elections, all eyes are on Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown. British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently handed Gordon Brown a central role in shaking up the criminal justice system, effectively endorsing the Chancellor's attempt to expand his influence over government policy. … [Read more...] about Gordon Brown: Britain’s Next Prime Minister?

An employee at IBM, watching the D.C. snipers get arrested, says that "[t]hey should put those two black monkeys in a cage with a bunch of black apes and let the apes f**k them." A coworker ("Jordan"), hearing the comment, talks to some of his colleagues, who confirm that this man has made similar comments in the past. Since IBM requires that its employees report any possible … [Read more...] about Slitting Justice’s Throat

We know the terrible human toll Hurricane Katrina took, and the images of death and destruction on television. But, if you recall, there were some other heart wrenching images, too: of people who, in a flash, were rescued and realized that their pets would have to be left behind. There was no option or plan to save the pets. TV had images of dogs on roofs of houses surrounded … [Read more...] about Learning From The Tragedy That Befell Katrina’s Pet Victims