FCC Cashes In on Spectrum Auction

Staff / Truthdig Mar 19, 2008 After two months and 261 rounds of bidding, the FCC announced Tuesday that it has raised a total of $19.6 billion from the sale of the U.S. wireless spectrum. The revenue, slated to fund "public safety and digital television transition initiatives," is nearly double what Congress had previously estimated for the publicly owned spectrum. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Congress Holds Sensory-Deprived Session

Staff / Truthdig Mar 14, 2008 At the request of House Republicans, Congress on Thursday held a closed-door session to debate the FISA warrantless eavesdropping bill. The last time a closed-door session occurred was in 1983, when lawmakers convened in secret to discuss clandestine U.S. support of Contra paramilitaries in Nicaragua. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Back to Work

Staff / Truthdig Mar 13, 2008 All three presidential candidates are scheduled to be back in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. A Republican senator has proposed a yearlong ban on earmarks and, shocking though it may seem, John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are apparently on board with the idea. Their colleagues in the Senate, however, are somewhat less enthusiastic. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Waterboarding, ‘Harsh’ Techniques OK by Bush

Staff / Truthdig Mar 9, 2008 The reputation of the U.S. on the world stage might be further colored by President Bush's veto of a bill that would have limited the CIA's (and other intelligence agencies') array of interrogation techniques to those in the Army field manual. In defending Saturday's veto, Bush once again invoked 9/11. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Farm Bill Brings the Bacon

Staff / Truthdig Feb 29, 2008 What has the power to unite progressive Democrats and conservative Republicans? According to a compelling article in the San Francisco Chronicle, agribusiness is having its way in Congress, even getting Democrats to cut food stamps to make room for subsidies. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Sad Uncle Sam

Patrick Corrigan, The Toronto Star Feb 18, 2008 Dig deeper

Gang-Rape Victim Accuses Halliburton/KBR of Cover-Up

Staff / Truthdig Dec 11, 2007 Over two years ago, Jamie Leigh Jones was working for Halliburton/KBR in Baghdad's Green Zone when she was gang-raped, allegedly by several co-workers. According to Jones, instead of attending to her injuries and bringing her assailants to justice, KBR officials held her for 24 hours in a shipping container without food or water and then told her she would lose her job if she left Iraq. Now, it's unclear whether the case will go to trial, and her attackers may escape punishment due to a legal loophole regarding U.S. contractors working abroad. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Rep. Stark Sorry for Bush-Bashing Remark

Staff / Truthdig Oct 23, 2007 Professing his remorse for his Oct. 18 suggestion that President Bush would be amused by American soldiers getting their heads "blown off," Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., apologized on Tuesday to Bush, his family, the troops and his congressional colleagues, adding that he hoped he could now go back to being "as insignificant as I should be." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Colbert Satirizes Rovian Smear Tactics

Staff / Truthdig Oct 24, 2006 In an interview with N.Y. congressional candidate (and former Orleans frontman) John Hall, Stephen Colbert deftly mocks the mud-splashing techniques that have become a hallmark of Karl Rove-style political campaigns. (Colbert and Hall also sing an awful duet.) Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Politics Make for Very Strange Bedfellows

Staff / Truthdig Oct 14, 2006 So, as if the Mark Foley stuff wasn't weird enough already, it's about to get even weirder and nastier. According to Max Blumenthal at The Nation, some anti-Republican gay rights activists (inspired apparently by the Foley scandal and a supposed "gay clique" that some claim to be responsible for the coverup) sent a memo with the names of closeted congressional staffers to Christian-right advocacy groups in hopes of inciting a "purge" of gay Republicans from Washington. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

GOP Rep. King Compares Latinos to Drunks

Staff / Truthdig Jul 17, 2006 The anti-immigration congressman made a speech before Congress in May that blasted the idea of providing interpreters for Spanish speakers at polling stations, saying the practice would "coddle" Hispanics, "just like an enabler for an alcoholic, hand them a bottle of booze so they do not cure themselves" This is the same guy who recently proposed erecting an electrified fence along the US-Mexico border, and compared Latinos to livestock . Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Colbert Takes a Ride on a GOP Road

Staff / Truthdig Apr 28, 2006 Georgia Republican Congressman Phil Gingrey seconds Colbert's motion that homosexuals shouldn't be allowed to "gay up" the highways. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )