From our friends at DownsizeDC:

My second thought was that the Constitution gives Congress no authority over public safety, except on federal property. This power is left to the states.

by Declan McCullagh

The U.S. Senate is investigating allegations by two National Security Agency whistleblowers who have described widespread monitoring of innocuous telephone conversations by the Bush administration's clandestine program.

This was published in the Federal register on Monday. If you find yourself being forcibly injected with somehting during a "public health emergency," and it hurts you, Homeland Security says that's just tough luck. You won't be able to sue because the Homeland Secretary Chertoff has unilaterally declared these companies won't be liable.

[Federal Register: October 6, 2008 (Volume 73, Number 194)]
[Notices]               
[Page 58239-58242]

From our friends at Fairfax County Privacy Council:

Norfolk police step on it again on Fourth Amendment privacy
In an interesting article at http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/norfolk-police-clashes-fires-gun-rights-... the Norfolk police defend an apparent custom and practice to seize people not suspected of any crime in violation of the Fourth Amendment merely because somebody calls 911 and “requests service.”

SNIP

September 23, 2008

Transparency coast to coast

This past weekend I was in Baltimore at a national open government retreat working on recommendations for the next President on how to make the federal government more transparent and accountable.

Among the 70 individuals at the retreat were representatives from OMB Watch, National Security Archive, ACLU, Society of Professional Journalists, OpenTheGovernment.org, League of Women Voters and Reporter’s Committee for Freedom of the Press to name a few.

The House and the Senate passed bills to protect federal employees who blow the whistle on waste, fraud and abuse by veto proof margins last year (H.R. 985, S. 274), but have yet to agree on a final bill. Now is the time to tell negotiators, leadership, and other interested Members of Congress that passing a strong bill -- especially one that extends protection to whistleblowers in the FBI and intelligence agencies -- before Congress goes on recess is a priority!

Rep. Barney Frank has drafted a bill to make sure that the law passed against Internet gambling does not lead to widespread surveillance of online financial transactions. Pokernews.com describes it this way:

The bill, entitled the “Payment Systems Protection Act of 2008,” prohibits the U.S.

From our friends at the ACLU:

ACLU Asks Court To Strike Down Unconstitutional Spying Law (9/12/2008)

Dragnet Surveillance Puts Innocent Americans' Telephone Calls And Emails At Risk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

Thanks to Tom Devine & Adam Miles from GAP for producing the following response to the Bush Administration's SAP against protecting whistle-blowers thru bi-partisan legislation

Well, the Mainstream 'American' Media (MSM) may not be interested in the case of Sibel Edmonds, former FBI whistle-blower but its looks the the FBI is after the Sunday Times of London ran a few articles about her case.  Unfortuantely, they are not interested in her case per se just the fact that the Sunday Times ran their stories.