Daily Bulletin
by staff

12/26/05

In the wake of the security-shattering terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, terrified Americans willingly, even gladly, conceded some of their privacy rights to help fight terrorism. Air travelers submitted to long lines and numerous inconveniences with little complaint. The people also, for the most part, supported the reallocation of billions of federal funds to fight domestic terrorism and backed the Patriot Act, which significantly increased the government's ability to investigate possible terrorists, and prevent them from committing more atrocities on American soil. The feeling of most Americans was if that's what it takes to keep the country safe, then so be it. But the revelations in recent days that the executive branch has been authorizing the National Security Agency to conduct secret wiretappings of Americans, sidestepping procedures set up expressly for the purpose of providing proper oversight, is unsettling to say the least...

http://www.dailybulletin.com/opinions/ci_3343389


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Free Market News Network
by Richard Stevens

12/23/05

What these two stories have in common is hope. The common man -- the ordinary American -- is beginning to wake up and realize what is happening around him. He is beginning to notice the society we live in is not the society our Founding Fathers intended. It's a small sign, but that it exists at all is cause for (cautious) optimism. Similar small victories and awakenings are evidenced by the responses we've received regarding Bill of Rights Day celebrations, proclamations, and published letters in newspapers...

http://www.fmnn.com/Analysis/105/3265/2005-12-23.asp?nid=3265&wid=105


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

AntiWar.Com
by US Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)

12/27/05

We're told that Sept. 11 changed everything, that new government powers like the PATRIOT Act are necessary to thwart terrorism. But these are not the most dangerous times in American history, despite the self-flattery of our politicians and media. This is a nation that expelled the British, saw the White House burned to the ground in 1814, fought two world wars, and faced down the Soviet Union. Sept. 11 does not justify ignoring the Constitution by creating broad new federal police powers. The rule of law is worthless if we ignore it whenever crises occur. The administration assures us that domestic surveillance is done to protect us. But the crucial point is this: Government assurances are not good enough in a free society...

http://www.antiwar.com/paul/?articleid=8310


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

George Walker Lyndon Baines Johnson Bush

Independent Institute
by Ivan Eland

12/23/05

Although George W. Bush likes to compare his presidency to that of Ronald Reagan, it most resembles that of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Some conservatives and liberals alike may be horrified at the comparison, but that is where the facts lead. Although Ronald Reagan’s efforts to reduce the size of government were mostly rhetorical, his philosophy was one of small government conservatism. Certainly, the deficits Reagan racked up by cutting taxes more than spending and the percolation of his philosophy into public opinion probably played at least some role in reducing the growth of federal spending during the Clinton presidency. In contrast, both George W. Bush and LBJ ran 'guns and butter' presidencies -- that is, spending other people's money was their specialty...

http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1642


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Reason
by Julian Sanchez

12/26/05

They know when you are sleeping, they know when you're awake, they know if you've been bad or good: They're the National Security Agency, and as The New York Times reported this Christmas Eve, they've been conducting analysis of telecommunications on a scale far beyond that of the targeted program of eavesdropping on domestic-to-international communications revealed earlier this month. Both programs remain shrouded in secrecy, but there's at least some reason to think that, under the logic of a Supreme Court ruling issued earlier this year, it's the more expansive one that will meet fewer constitutional obstacles...

http://www.reason.com/links/links122605.shtml


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Boston Globe
by Cathy Young

12/26/05

Even as the war in Iraq goes on and the war with a global terror network shows no signs of abating, our domestic political scene seems to have become a war zone as well. It's happening on political websites, where 'debate' often consists of trading invective and where opponents are ridiculed with slurs like 'libs' and 'repugs.' It's happening in mainstream politics, too. Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean slams Republicans as 'brain-dead' people many of whom 'have never made an honest living in their lives.' Republican master strategist and senior Bush adviser Karl Rove slams liberals as wimps whose reaction to Sept. 11 was to 'offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.' Everyone seems to agree that there is far too much nastiness in American political discourse today. And everyone seems eager to blame the other side for it...

http://tinyurl.com/cf53q


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Future of Freedom Foundation
by Anthony Gregory

12/26/05

The real threat to American liberty, the defense of which the administration still insists is the purpose of the war on terror, is a federal government without strict checks and limits on its power, whose executives feel comfortable using the military to spy on peaceful Americans, while telling the media not to report their secret and unconstitutional surveillance activities. The use of a military intelligence agency against the American people, with or without judicial oversight, is far more a 'shameful act' than reporting such activities to the American people, who have a right to know...

http://www.fff.org/comment/com0512i.asp


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

The Price of Liberty
by Nathan A. Barton

12/26/05

[O]nce more, it is time to remind all and sundry that IF George W. Bush is indeed walking in the steps of one Abraham Lincoln, that there are more than ever grounds for considering our current president to be nothing more than a dictator and a hypocrite who will use any means to further his aims. For indeed, to most of those familiar with history and not national myth, Abraham Lincoln is indeed that and more. To them, having the face of Abraham Lincoln on the front of Mount Rushmore, that 'Shrine to Democracy' is as inappropriate and upsetting as it would be to have his figure carved on Stone Mountain. Abraham Lincoln was nothing more than an elected dictator, and for that matter, elected by a minority vote even weaker than Bill Clinton's election and even more subject to claims of fraud than either of George W Bush's elections. Far from being a supporter of Black Americans' rights, he was a bigoted racist who cruelly and opportunistically used the abolition of slavery as the means to an end. ... he was nothing less than a tyrant who foreshadowed the totalitarian regimes that drenched the world in blood; and in fact, the blood of more Americans than every other president combined stains his hands...

http://www.thepriceofliberty.org/05/12/26/nathan.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp

Patrick Baudouin, a lawyer and honorary president of the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues, argues that lawless repression does not protect us from terrorism, but rather hands terrorists the victory of defeating the principles of human rights and democracy.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122605H.shtml

With signs pointing to a resurgent Democratic Party in New Hampshire, the state's all-Republican congressional delegation is becoming increasingly at odds with the national Republican Party in a state that was long a GOP bellwether, according to an analysis of votes and other actions in Congress over the past year.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/122605E.shtml