Don’t Believe the Flawed NSA-Spying Poll

Staff / Truthdig May 13, 2006 The Washington Post loaded a poll so it would appear that most Americans support the NSA's phone record collection program. Blogger Jane Hamsher did the original analysis on this sloppy poll, and Buzzflash sums it up. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Verizon Hit By Two Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuits

Staff / Truthdig May 13, 2006 The telecom giant faces two suits--one for $20 billion, another for $5 billion--for handing over customers' phone records to the NSA. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Truthdigger of the Week: Leslie Cauley

Staff / Truthdig May 13, 2006 Truthdig salutes Leslie Cauley, the USA Today reporter who broke the blockbuster story about the NSA's program to amass the records of every phone call made in America. Her scoop laid waste to President Bush's assertion that his domestic spying targets only a handful of suspected terrorists living in the U.S. In the wake of her story, GOP Sen. Arlen Specter is calling for congressional hearings. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Presidential Ears

Mike Luckovich / Truthdig May 13, 2006 Dig deeper

Wag the Dog?

Staff / Truthdig May 13, 2006 President Bush will deliver a rare (for him) television address, a Monday night talk on immigration reform. Is it too cynical to ask whether he's wagging the dog to distract attention from the NSA phone record issue? Is it possible to be too cynical about Bush's motives? Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Watching What You Say

Staff / Truthdig May 12, 2006 Before the USA Today story, The Nation magazine had loads of details on the NSA-telecom spying program: a lawsuit against AT&T; links between telecom officials and the White House; and a history of how these insidious relationships developed. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

N.Y. Times: Bush’s Ever-Expanding Secret

Staff / Truthdig May 12, 2006 The Sept. 11 attacks "did not give the president the limitless power he now claims to intrude on the private communications of the American people," the N.Y. Times says in an editorial about the NSA spying story. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Bush: Spy Program Isn’t ‘Mining’ Private Info

Staff / Truthdig May 11, 2006 "We're not mining or trolling though the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans,'' Bush says, without directly addressing the NSA program reported in USA Today. Meanwhile, GOP Sen. Arlen Specter demands that phone company executives testify before Congress about the data they provided to the NSA. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Bipartisan Furor Over NSA Program

Staff / Truthdig May 11, 2006 Many Republican and Democratic lawmakers are furious over the alleged NSA phone record collection program. GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham: "The idea of collecting millions or thousands of phone numbers, how does that fit into following the enemy?" Democratic Sen. Pat Leahy: "It is our government, it's not one party's government." Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Buzzflash: “Tyranny Creeps In…” at the NSA

Staff / Truthdig May 11, 2006 "The NSA's gathering of phone call records of millions of Americans is "something that would make the late Leonid Brezhnev proud of Bush -- and [Gen.] Michael Hayden, the Pentagon apparatchik, who saw it through," Buzzflash writes in an editorial. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

The Gravest Assault on Privacy in U.S. History

Staff / Truthdig May 11, 2006 Late coming to the story about the NSA's massive telephone record collection program? The Washington Post does a 360-degree report. Neither Bush nor his aides denied any facts in the original USA Today story. Senate Intel Chair Pat Roberts wants to shoot the messenger (USA Today). Bush's pick for CIA chief, Gen. Michael Hayden, oversaw this program at the NSA, a fact that guarantees fireworks at his confirmation hearing. Check out the original story. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Robert Scheer: Hayden–the Spook in Your Phone

Robert Scheer / Truthdig May 10, 2006 UPDATE: Michael V. Hayden, nominated by President Bush to head the CIA, is the man responsible for the most extensive attack ever on the privacy of U.S. citizens. While head of the NSA, he oversaw the program that recorded the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans. Want to take action? Check out StopHayden.org (includes video proof that Hayden is smugly incorrect about the privacy foundation of the Fourth Amendment). Dig deeper ( 4 Min. Read )