The Daily MuckRep. John Boehner (R-OH) pointed out this weekend to Neil Cavuto that FISA reform was needed to address a ruling by the FISA Court that “prohibits the ability of our intelligence services and our counterintelligence people from listening in to two terrorists in other parts of the world where the communication could come through the United States.” CREW has asked the Justice Department to investigate Boehner for leaking classified information for partisan gain, as the decisions of the FISA Court are top secret. (CREW)
The NYPD must hand over thousands of pages that detail surveillance of potential protesters before the 2004 Republican National Convention, according to a federal judge. While the judge will allow certain sensitive information to be redacted, he agreed with plaintiffs that the documents are necessary to show how the police overstepped legal guidelines by detaining and fingerprinting hundreds of protesters rather than issuing summonses for minor offenses. (NY Times)
The Department of Defense’s Inspector General released a report on Friday criticizing several generals, two colonels and a chaplain for supporting a film made by an evangelical organization, the Christian Embassy, under the guise that they were participating in a documentary. Their compliance allowed the organization to film in Pentagon locations. One of the generals, however, asserted that he had done nothing wrong by using his office to support the Christian Embassy because the group has become a “quasi-federal entity.” (Time)
Two Ohio election workers will receive a re-trial because the judge that sentenced the them to 18 months in prison had a potential conflict of interest. The two workers, one of whom was the county election board’s third-highest ranking employee, were accused of rigging a recount during the 2004 presidential election to avoid a thorough review of ballots. (Associated Press)
Congress passed ethics reform! Now President Bush just has to sign the bill, and then efforts to improve government transparency become law. Well, not quite. Several experts worry that the new bill will create substantially more documentation to monitor new disclosures on earmarks; but it does not outline who will manage and process this new paperwork. Without an effective bureaucracy, the ethics bill might become toothless in practice. (Washington Post)
The commander of tomorrow’s space launch has attacked recent reports claiming that some of his astronauts have been drinking and were possibly impaired before launches. (NY Times)