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By Elliot D. Cohen
$67.45
By Daniel Ellsberg
$18
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Flickr / dbking
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The Supreme Court examined the District of Columbia’s handgun ban Tuesday, a case that could at last yield a conclusive ruling on the Second Amendment. So far, it doesn’t look good for gun control advocates.
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By Eugene Robinson — When you Google the phrase “unconstitutional third term,” you get references to a rogue’s gallery of strongman leaders—Vladimir Putin, Alberto Fujimori, Olusegun Obasanjo, Islam Karimov, Hugo Chavez—who in recent years at least have flirted with the idea of holding on to power beyond statutory limits. Now the name Bill Clinton pops up, too.
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By Elliot D. Cohen — It’s not enough for George W. Bush’s government to eavesdrop on phone calls, monitor financial transactions and sneak a peek at other people’s e-mails. Now the administration says it needs to monitor all Internet activity in the United States. That means you and everything you do online.
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AP photo / Alex Brandon
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Here’s further evidence that Mike Huckabee isn’t exactly worried about currying favor with Log Cabin Republicans: In an interview with Beliefnet.com, the conservative presidential candidate made the woefully familiar argument that condoning gay marriage is akin to condoning bestiality.
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Nepal’s long-standing monarchy is about to become obsolete, after more than two-thirds of the country’s provisional parliament voted to amend the constitution and give the government the power to abolish the monarchy and establish a “federal democratic republican state” instead.
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By David Sirota — Now, a handful of states have disproportionate power to determine our national path in presidential elections. But a remedy is available.
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The one and only anti-war Republican presidential candidate didn’t raise his hand when asked who doesn’t believe in evolution, but it turns out he may have wanted to. In this clip, Paul responds to a question about the incident by saying that it was an “inappropriate question,” but that “I think it’s a theory—theory of evolution—and I don’t accept it.”
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AP photo / Fernando Llano
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Hugo Chavez sounded an optimistic note Monday after ending up on the losing end of a vote—by a slim 51 to 49 percent margin—that would have expanded his constitutional powers as Venezuela’s president and instituted changes in federal fund allocation and labor policy, among other proposed developments.
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White House photo by Eric Draper
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Just weeks after publicly fretting about Pervez Musharraf’s dictatorial power grab, George W. Bush has decided that the Pakistani president “hasn’t crossed the line” and “truly is somebody who believes in democracy.” It’s an assessment that would be comical if it didn’t have to do with the freedom of millions of people and the security of dozens of nuclear weapons.
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news.bbc.co.uk
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The Supreme Court will rule on the Second Amendment for the first time since 1939, when it examines whether a handgun ban in Washington, D.C., is constitutional. A decision is expected next summer, so expect to see a lot of tap dancing from the candidates, particularly those who’ve changed their minds about gun violence or suddenly discovered a love of hunting.
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AP photo / Brennan Linsley
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By Chris Hedges — The last, best hope for averting a war with Iran lies with the United States military. We will be saved or doomed by our generals.
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By Marie Cocco — Sheldon Whitehouse, new to the Senate, was searching for what he called a “moment of moral clarity.” Seated alongside the other members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in its crowded hearing room, the Rhode Island Democrat was looking in precisely the wrong place.
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By Amy Goodman — U.S. attorney general nominee Judge Michael Mukasey admits waterboarding is repugnant, but refuses to say whether it amounts to torture. Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein voted for his confirmation anyway.
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Pakistan’s ousted chief justice has called on the masses to “rise up and restore the constitution,” adding, “This is a time for sacrifices.” Iftikhar Chaudhry, who was fired and placed under house arrest when he refused to sign off on President Pervez Musharraf’s declaration of emergency, made the address by telephone. Mysteriously (or not), mobile phone service in Islamabad suffered a breakdown as Chaudhry was making his remarks.
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AP photo / Khalid Tanveer
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The government of President Pervez Musharraf has expanded its crackdown on democratic institutions in Pakistan, detaining political rivals as well as journalists and rights advocates. Condoleezza Rice, meanwhile, has hinted that the U.S. will likely continue to send billions of dollars in aid to the increasingly dictatorial regime. Updated
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By Marie Cocco — The nominee for attorney general doesn’t know “what is involved” in waterboarding, and he appears to back Bush’s usurpation of power. Isn’t it time for the Democrats to grow some spine?
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By Joe Conason — The senator rarely surrenders a juicy quote without a struggle. Yet her familiar preference for caution over candor is gradually changing with each step that she takes toward her party’s presidential nomination.
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AP photo / Reinhold Matay
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Looks like Rudy Giuliani has changed his tune when it comes to gay marriage. Giuliani reportedly told Family Research Council leader Tony Perkins that he would support a constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage—a bit of news, the Huffington Post points out, that might surprise Rudy’s former roommates.
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AP photo / Charles Dharapak
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By Scott Ritter — The former intelligence officer and weapons inspector argues that the president’s recent World War III comment offers some rare insight into the highly secretive world of George W. Bush’s White House, where the leader of the free world gets advice from reckless neoconservatives, “war criminal” Dick Cheney and “God.”
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By Marie Cocco — By simply deciding that something is a “state secret,” the Bush government has avoided answering for its brutal treatment of innocent victims in the war on terror. This is a perversion of the principle of American justice.
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AP photo / Evan Vucci
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In a scathing editorial on Sunday, The New York Times accused President Bush of playing on the nation’s post-9/11 fears in order to justify violating our civil liberties and protecting big telecom companies implicated in his wiretapping scheme. The Bush camp “use[d] the nation’s tragedy to grab ever more power for its vision of an imperial presidency,” the Times editorial board charged.
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democrats.georgetown.edu
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John McCain’s campaign is in dire straits, which may be why he told Beliefnet that he would prefer a Christian president who would “carry on in the Judeo-Christian principled tradition,” and that “the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation.”
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pbwt.com
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President Bush has selected former federal judge Michael Mukasey as his new attorney general. Mukasey has a reputation for being tough and impatient, which is fortunate, considering that he’ll have only 15 months to turn around an ailing Justice Department.
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AP Photo / Mark Humphrey
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By Scott Ritter — Although Karl Rove is stepping down, the real menace in the White House is staying on. Dick Cheney, Ritter argues, more than Kim Jung Il or Osama bin Laden, is the greatest threat to American and international security in the world today.
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thewe.cc
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After suffering three years of isolation, alleged torture and constitutionally suspect detainment, Jose Padilla has been convicted of terrorism conspiracy charges. The government’s key piece of evidence was an al-Qaida application, which Padilla was accused of filling out in Arabic, using an alias.
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Department of Homeland Security
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Robert Higgs author of “Neither Liberty Nor Safety” speaks with Truthdig’s James Harris and Joshua Scheer about how political opportunists and fear mongerers are gobbling up our individual liberties.
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By Ellen Goodman — Let me wish the Supreme Court justices a fond farewell as they set out on their summer vacation. We can all rest assured now that they won’t do any more damage until the first week in October.
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By Mike Farrell — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s stance on the death penalty issue raises some serious questions, according to actor, author and activist Mike Farrell, who poses several of his own in this fiery piece.
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msnbc.com
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In a landmark ruling, a federal appeals court has sided with broadcasters against the Federal Communications Commission on the issue of indecency, saying the regulatory body has not adequately explained how the Constitution could permit the censorship of “indecent” language.
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AP Photo / Ron Edmonds
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By Scott Ritter — The former weapons inspector and author of “Waging Peace” argues that the mere impeachment of President Bush would fail to repair the damage caused by an executive branch run amok and an uninformed and uninvolved citizenry.
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allscifi.com
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Democratic legislators in California are upset over a new execution chamber to be built in San Quentin Prison. Some lawmakers have accused Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of trying to “bypass the Legislature” by concealing details of the project.
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By E.J. Dionne, Jr. — The president and his allies seem eager for a constitutional showdown, but with the people on their side, the Democrats and the Congress are poised for victory. Updated to reflect Tuesday’s Senate vote
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By Marie Cocco — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales suddenly finds himself in hot water over the U.S. attorneys scandal, but the truth is, the Senate should never have confirmed him in the first place.
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The Freedom of Information Act was signed into law by Lyndon Johnson in 1966, and has proved to be an indispensable tool for our democracy, but negotiating the bureaucracy can be intimidating. Luckily, the Bad Guys blog has collected a helpful assortment of FOIA resources. Check it out and find out what your government is up to.
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msnbc.com
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A parade of experts before the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmed the power of Congress to “validly limit the presidential use of force.” Tuesday’s hearing came as legislators prepared to square off against Bush’s war escalation and amid the concern, shared by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., that a constitutional battle is “imminent.”
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Keith Olbermann responded to the passage of the torture bill with this tongue-in-cheek investigative report on habeas corpus. (Video & Transcript)
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In recognition of Bush’s visit to the Utah capital, Mayor Rocky Anderson gave a speech to a crowd of thousands calling Bush a “dishonest, war-mongering, human-rights-violating president” whose time in office would “rank as the worst presidency our nation has ever had to endure.” Thank you, Salt Lake City! Watch it here. Full transcript here (pdf).
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From koce.org
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The arch-conservative Supreme Court justice is quoted in this Jonathan Alter column as saying that banning flag-burning would “[dilute] the very freedom that makes this emblem so revered.?
Mr. President, when you find yourself to the right of Antonin Scalia, you’ve crossed over into crazy town.
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From real-e-works.com
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In the wake of the marriage ban’s failure in the Senate, conservative Christian leaders are discussing an unprecedented—although apparently legal—maneuver to amend the Constitution without congressional approval.
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By Norman Solomon — Members of the media have been too easy on the Republican push to ban gay marriage. Yes, it may be all about politics, but does that mean society shouldn’t react harshly to the attempt to codify discrimination in our Constitution?
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The Senate voted down a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, but Republicans will keep the issue alive in the House with another vote. Two Democrats, Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson and West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd, voted in favor of the ban.
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Top: Mike Luckovich / Middle: Dwayne Powell / Bottom: Mr. Fish
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President Bush renewed his call for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Detractors called the move transparently political—in light of the fact that the proposed amendment stands virtually no chance of passing either house of Congress.
Full-sized cartoons: top, middle, bottom
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Truthdigger of the Week: Medea Benjamin
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