Although the Air Force Research Laboratory million dollar grant given to Jeffrey Addicott, a professor at St. Mary's University School of Law in San Antonio, to devise new ways to limit making information available to the public via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is not likely to destroy the act completely, if adopted it could further weaken the forty year-old act. According to an early-July report in USA Today, Addicott said he will use ... [full story]

Over the past two decades, as the Christian Right has grown in political power in the United States, there has been a parallel growth in support for Israel. Organizations made up of conservative evangelical and Jewish leaders have been founded, and millions of dollars have been raised and donated to charities in Israel. Now, a new group plans to take it up a notch, becoming a significant presence in any political policy debates involving Israel. ... [full story]

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich re-inserts himself into the political debate If you thought that a global conflagration on the order of a world war was more the stuff of Biblical prophecy, science fiction and apocalyptic end-of- times novels, think again. For years, U.S. neoconservatives have been ratcheting up the rhetoric -- mostly in small gatherings and on partisan Web sites -- claiming that terrorist activities around the world constituted the initial stages of a ... [full story]

Leading Bush non-profit political ally changes name, plans expansion and new hires.  In early July, in a move akin to the establishment of a George W. Bush Center for Intellectual Curiosity & Open Government, a Barry Bonds Center for Organic Medicine, a Rosanne Barr Center for the Study of the Singing of the National Anthem, an OJ Simpson Center for Criminal Justice, or an Ann Coulter Center for Combating Plagiarism and Encouraging Civil Discourse, the Board ... [full story]

I can't say with absolute certainty, but I suspect that Karl Zinsmeister, the Bush Administration's newly appointed top domestic policy advisor, unlike his predecessor, has not been ripping off Target, Hecht or any other D.C.-area department store. I can only assume that his credit card record is clean, and that this vetting process was more thorough than the one used when former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik was nominated by George W. Bush ... [full story]

No one should be required to breathe unhealthy air as a condition of employment. Yet for the 35,000 Oregonians who work in places where indoor smoking is allowed, inhaling toxic fumes is an unavoidable part of the job. U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona has released a comprehensive new report that definitively concludes that secondhand smoke is a killer and must be addressed as a serious hazard to public health. "The debate is over," Carmona said ... [full story]

In late May, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that he would no longer be giving news conferences to the national media. Speaking to A-Channel in London, Ontario, Harper said that, "Unfortunately, the press gallery has taken the view they are going to be the opposition to the government." "They don't ask questions at my press conferences now. We'll just take the message out on the road. There's lots of media who do want to ask questions ... [full story]

So the Flag Desecration Amendment fell a single vote short of passing in the Senate. And all the liberals are celebrating way too long into the night if you ask me. I imagine the Republicans are laughing so hard right now, their drool guards are spilling over capacity. Because now, they get to bring it up again and again and accuse Democrats of dooming old glory to an ignominious fate over and over. The only  ... [full story]

Right wing media watchdog group's website catalogues the 'Top Ten Liberal Moments' from the recently cancelled program The 2,195th CyberAlert, issued on Friday May 12, 2006 was a gift to both current and former fans of "The West Wing," from the resolute media watchers at the Media Research Center (MRC). When the series premiered on NBC in September 1999 -- toward the end of the Clinton years -- it started off with a bang: President ... [full story]

The Republicans are fond of accusing the Democrats of being a party without ideas. Well, after watching the GOP trot out the trite tripe it passes off as ideas for the last couple of years, I'll tell you, no idea seems like a pretty damn good idea at this point. Estate taxes and gay bashing and flag burning seem to be their front burner issues. Which if you think about it is pretty cynical on their ... [full story]

If former Vice President Al Gore eventually decides to mount another run for presidency, it may be that the bashing he received from the right during the run-up to and premiere of "An Inconvenient Truth," his new highly-acclaimed documentary film warning of the dangers of global warming, was a motivating factor. Conservatives having a field day with the release of Al Gore's new film on global warming According to New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, Gore's ... [full story]

Its almost dead solid meteorological summer and the crossing of the solstice seems to have inaugurated a season of good news/ bad news for George W Bush, the Democrats, Iraq, you, me, pretty much everybody. Allow me to illustrate. The good news is George W Bush pulled off a secret mission and flew to Baghdad in the dead of night. The bad news is he only stayed five hours and then came right home. The ... [full story]

CNN talk show host latches onto immigration On the May 23rd edition of Lou Dobbs' nightly CNN program "Lou Dobbs Tonight," the generally affable talk-show host, who has become the network's go-to-guy on immigration issues, repeated a racist conspiracy theory and ran a graphic provided by the white nationalist Council of Conservative Citizens to illustrate his point. For quite some time, Dobbs has made immigration issues an integral -- some might say dominant -- part of ... [full story]