Authorities Mining More Corporate Data for Personal Information

We learn from the Wall Street Journal that banks, Internet service providers and other companies are being besieged by law enforcement authorities who want to pore over their corporate data in hunting for clues in criminal cases.
Just another example of how the government is going through personal records.

Posted on May 20, 2006 READ MORE  | 25 READS

Student Tells Why She Ripped McCain as He Listened

Jean Rohe, the graduating senior at the New School University who spoke just before John McCain’s commencement speech explains why she “tore McCain’s speech apart before he even opened his mouth.”

Posted on May 20, 2006 READ MORE  | 26 READS

Gay Rights on the March in Okla.

In Oklahoma City, a federal judge just struck down a two-year-old law that prohibits Oklahoma from recognizing adoptions by same-sex couples from other states and countries.

Posted on May 20, 2006 READ MORE  | 44 READS

White House in Disarray Over English Language Directive

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales claims that Bush has never supported making English the national language, but White House Press Secretary Tony Snow just said the opposite. (And the Senate just voted to make it so.)

Posted on May 19, 2006 READ MORE  | 18 READS

Danger, Joe Lieberman: Lamont Coasts Into Primary

Ned Lamont, the neophyte antiwar Democrat who is challenging Sen. Joe Lieberman for his seat in Conn., easily garnered enough votes to force a primary with Lieberman—who is Bush’s favorite Democrat.
This is a big deal. Lieberman is in trouble. If you want to learn more about Lamont, check out the Truthdig interview.

Posted on May 19, 2006 READ MORE  | 22 READS

Vatican Disciplines Top Priest on Sexual Abuse Charges

Father Marcial Maciel Degollado, 86, is the most prominent priest yet to be disciplined for allegedly molesting young members of the Church. But because of his advanced age, he’s getting only a slap on the wrist—a demand that he give up his ministry in favor of a quiet life of “prayer and penitence.”
Assuming the allegations are true, good riddance.

Posted on May 19, 2006 READ MORE  | 62 READS

U.N. Panel: Close Guantanamo

A United Nations panel on torture isn’t buying President Bush’s assurances that America does not send suspected terrorists to countries known for using torture to extract information. The panel also recommended the closing of America’s Guantanamo military prison in Cuba.

Posted on May 19, 2006 READ MORE  | 26 READS

Scalia to Conservatives: Butt Out!

Justice Antonin Scalia told fellow conservatives on Capitol Hill to butt out of the Supreme Court’s business in regards to using foreign law in its constitutional rulings. “It’s none of your business,” he said during a speech.

Posted on May 19, 2006 READ MORE  | 28 READS

McCain Is Booed at Graduation Speech

The Arizona senator got heavily jeered during his commencement address for a New York university. One student banner read, “Our commencement is not your platform.”

Posted on May 19, 2006 READ MORE  | 132 READS

Return of the Brainless Hussies

Salon writer Rebecca Traister examines why today’s most prominent young female role models seem to be “jiggly video stars, boobie-flashing twits, half-clad clotheshorses and label-whoring anorexics.” (Reg. or advert. req’d.)

Posted on May 19, 2006 READ MORE  | 243 READS

Petition Circulating Against U.S. Aggression in Iran

As the White House’s campaign against Iran heats up, the Campaign for Peace and Democracy is gathering signatures in support of its statement “IRAN: Neither U.S. Aggression nor Theocratic Repression.”

Posted on May 19, 2006 READ MORE  | 21 READS

Small Miracle: House Votes Against Oil Subsidy

In this time of record profits for oil companies, the House approved a measure to withdraw a $7-billion subsidy over the next five years. Unbelievably, 165 Republicans wanted to let the oil companies keep the public’s money.

Posted on May 19, 2006 READ MORE  | 76 READS

‘The Simpsons’ as Philosophy

The BBC takes a look at the philosophy of the show: “It’s not that the Simpsons is atheist propaganda; its main target is not belief in God or the supernatural, but the arrogance of particular organised religions that they, amazingly, know the will of the creator.”

Posted on May 19, 2006 READ MORE  | 151 READS

STORY FALSE: Iran Eyes Badges for Jews, Christians? STORY FALSE.

Editor’s note: The newspaper that originally ran this report has now retracted it and printed an apology.

In retrospect, Truthdig should never have linked to this story. We should have realized that its sourcing was highly suspect.

Posted on May 19, 2006 READ MORE  | 10063 READS

As Death Stalks Iraq, Middle-Class Exodus Grows

In the last 10 months, as the violence has continued unabated, Iraq has issued new passports to 1.85 million Iraqis, 7% of the population and a quarter of the country’s middle class.

Posted on May 18, 2006 READ MORE  | 113 READS