« previous | MUCK HOME | next »
The Daily Muck
Rep. 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)
Comments (11)
whiddeygrl wrote on August 7, 2007 12:09 PM:*******the Christian Embassy.... has become a "quasi-federal entity.*** ???!!!
Sounds like a peek into how cemented the ideology has become...truly scary.
Chris wrote on August 7, 2007 12:17 PM:"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.""
That's...disturbing. I hope you plan to do some followup on that statement. Exactly what does it mean to be a quasi-federal entity? How pervasive is it, in membership and in scope across the federal system? Most importantly, how much influence do it's leaders have on it's members actions? Just curious...
nation wrote on August 7, 2007 12:28 PM:I find it perversely funny that we have drunk space shuttle drivers. I guess it makes sense. We got an ex-drunk as prez.
I guess he's now overqualified to be an astronaut?
Richard L. Adlof wrote on August 7, 2007 12:35 PM:CREW asks law-dogs to put bite on Boner . . .um . . . Sorry . . . Boehner.
Go CREW!
Richard L. Adlof wrote on August 7, 2007 12:36 PM:CREW asks law-dogs to put bite on Boner . . .um . . . Sorry . . . Boehner.
Go CREW!
Richterscale wrote on August 7, 2007 12:50 PM:I wonder if hangovers in space are less or more severe? We need to find out...
Roberta wrote on August 7, 2007 12:52 PM:From the NYT: A federal judge yesterday rejected New York City’s efforts to prevent the release of nearly 2,000 pages of raw intelligence reports and other documents detailing the Police Department’s covert surveillance of protest groups and individual activists before the Republican National Convention in 2004. ... [Christopher] Dunn [associate legal director of the New York Civil Liberties Union] said. “We believe these documents will reveal not only the vast scope of the N.Y.P.D.’s political surveillance operation, but also that there was no need for the Police Department’s harsh treatment of protesters.”
Darn those Republicans! At least the Chicago Police, at the 1968 Democratic National Convention, just beat the protesters over the head with nightsticks.
I hope this case finds out who ordered this undercover "investigation."
eliot wrote on August 7, 2007 3:04 PM:Jesus christ TPM, truthout broke the story on the Christian Embassy last friday.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080307A.shtml
Their report is far more in-depth than Time's.
Why do you choose to ignore this and continue to plug MSM BS? Can't you guys stay on top of things?
parrot wrote on August 7, 2007 4:12 PM:They can't even run the space program right. No! Left! *crash*
powkat wrote on August 7, 2007 5:25 PM:Recently a humor column in the local paper was lamenting the end of the World Weekly News (the check-out tabloid with the space alien and bat boy) by listing some of the best ever headlines. One of them was "Space Prostitutes on Shuttle." Gets increasingly harder to tell what is news, doesn't it?
jim wrote on August 8, 2007 3:51 AM:Can't the air force rid itself of jesus freaks? The air force is supposed to a leader in science technology and it is supporting creationist butheads that don't accept evolution. The US is not a theocracy. Unbuckle the goddam bible belt!