Most recently, the Pentagon announced last week that it is shutting down its TALON database, which held secret files on local antiwar activists.

First, signatories agree to conduct "THE most transparent
Administration in American history--a lofty, laudable, far-reaching
goal. This oath signals that whether it's earmarks, directives, or
ongoing management of taxpayer expenditures, the goal of transparency
will be evident throughout all policy making aspects of your
Administration."

Thanks to the fact that a
majority of members of Congress apparently cared more for starting
their August recess on time than for protecting the Fourth
Amendment-based privacy rights of the citizens they represent, this
administration now is able to intercept any telephone or e-mail

The DEA is blocking medical marijuana research -- while citing a lack
of research to justify its continuing campaigns against medical
marijuana users and state medical marijuana laws.

Since 2000, the Drug Enforcement Administration has embarked on a
muscular campaign against prescription painkiller abuse. It has
utilized undercover investigations, SWAT raids, asset forfeiture, and
high profile trials against "kingpin" doctors. These tactics should be
familiar to anyone who has studied the drug war, but the results are a

Jesse Carl Trentadue is no
liberal crusader, nor is he an antigovernment conspiracy theorist. He
grew up poor in an Appalachian coal camp, called Number 7, halfway
between Cucumber, West Virginia, and Horsepen, Virginia.

Unfortunately,( or not) I do not get to see all of the hearings in the
House and Senate that I would like to be able to. Fortunately, for me,
others do attend and are able to keep track of the substance of the
various hearings. Two hearings, I would have like to have seen as
reported in the August 27th issue of the American Conservative magazine