Congress is set to investigate a contract under which the Defense Department contracted with 22-year-old Efraim E. Diveroli’s AEY Inc. for $200 million to supply ammunition to the Afghan Army and police. Instead of supplying Hungarian bullets, the company allegedly committed a series of false statements to supply shoddy Chinese products. Continue reading ““Lad of War”: Administration Gave 22-Year-Old’s Company $200 Million for Faulty Chinese Ammunition”
Category: Congress
It is hard to express the anger that comes with the following story. It appears that after refusing to cut billions in pork and wasteful earmarks, Congress and President Bush have cut the NASA’s budget and forced scientists to curtail their research on Mars. Scientists planned to put one of the twin Mars rovers to sleep and to try to meet the shortfall. Now, after a public outcry, NASA has rescinded the order. Continue reading “Congress and the President Force Mars Rovers to Be Shutdown Temporarily Due to Budget Cuts”
The State Department has fired two contract the passport file of Barack Obama’s passport file. The Department insists that it was a case of “imprudent curiosity,” but an investigation is planned by the inspector general. Continue reading “Administration Cites “Imprudent Curiosity” and Fires Two Employees in Obama Passport Controversy”
At oral argument today, at least five justices appeared to favor the recognition of an individual right to gun ownership under the Second Amendment. Justice Kennedy and possibly Justice Breyer could join the right side of the Court in upholding the lower Court. As the audio recording below shows, the appeal of this case was probably a legal blunder given the predictable response from this Court. Continue reading “Oral Argument Appears to Favor Individual Right to Gun Ownership”
The Supreme Court today will hear arguments in District of Columbia v. Heller, No. 07-290. The lower court decision in Parker v. District of Columbia, 478 F.3d 370 (D.C. Cir. 2007) contained strong majority and dissenting opinions on the question of whether there is an individual right to gun ownership. The odds favor gun owners for the first time in securing a decision that clearly establishes an individual right. Their case is helped along by a bizarre appearance of Vice President Dick Cheney opposing positions of his own administration before the Court. Continue reading “Supreme Court Hears Second Amendment Case As Cheney Opposes His Own Administration on the Question”
In a measure of just how unrepentant our congressional members are over rampant corruption and waste in government, barely one-fourth of the Senate voted to freeze earmarks for just one year. It was a vote of utter contempt for not just government reform but the voters . . . and they are probably right. Continue reading “Only 29 Senators Vote to Suspend Earmarks for Just One Year”
The Bush Administration has long been ridiculed by the international community as converting the United States from a leader in human rights to the very symbol of the violation of core principles of human rights. However, few were prepared for the utter hypocrisy of watching the Administration condemn China for its use of torture on the very same time that President Bush vetoed a ban on the use of torture in the waterboarding bill. Now China is using our torture program to defend its own abuses. Continue reading “Bush Legacy: China Defends Its Use of Torture By Citing The Bush Torture Program”
The House of Representatives fell 51 votes short of an override of President Bush’s veto of the ban on waterboarding. Continue reading “House Fails to Override Bush’s Veto of Torture Bill”
New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has confirmed that he has been snared in a criminal investigation of a high-priced prostitution ring in Washington, D.C. Spitzer appears to have been “Client No. 9” in an investigation of the Emperors Club VIP, which hires out prostitutes for as much as $5,500 an hour. The question remains whether he will be indicted, which is more of a likelihood in high-profile cases. To make matters worse for Spitzer, he appears to have been caught on a wiretap. Continue reading “New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer Target in Criminal Prostitution Investigation”
As counsel to older pilots around the country challenging the Age 60 Rule, I have been litigating the FAA’s orders forcing hundreds of experienced pilots into retirement upon turning 60 years old. The recent enactment of the Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots Act merely replaced one Age 60 regulatory rule with an even more arbitrary and capricious Age 60 statutory rule. Below is our contesting the enforceability of the act in our ten pending appellate cases. Continue reading “Airline Pilots Challenge the Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots Act”
Former USA Today reporter (and now West Virginia journalism professor) Toni Locy faces financial ruin after an extraordinary order from U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton. The court imposed $5000 a day on her personally for refusing to disclose her sources in the case filed by former Army scientist, Steven J. Hatfill related to the 2001 anthrax attacks. The question is whether this order will finally prompt Congress to pass a need federal shield law. Continue reading “Federal Judge’s Order Could Financially Ruin Former Reporter for Protecting Sources”
Imagine this. The country is fresh from a close presidential election when the Supreme Court is asked to decide who will be president. If you are thinking about the 2000 election, think again. The expected nomination of John McCain for president could trigger a fight over a relatively obscure provision in the Constitution: the requirement that president and vice president be “natural born” citizens. McCain is certainly a citizen, but there is a legitimate question of whether he is a “natural born citizen” given his birth in the Panama Canal. Continue reading “The Supreme Redux: Is John McCain Ineligible to Be President?”
As President Bush appears to be winning over House Democrats to join their Senate counterparts in granting immunity, President Bush says in this video that it is not enough to wipe out roughly 40 civil liberties lawsuits — citizens need to say “thank you” to the telecom companies for their “patriotic” actions. The fact that the program constitutes a crime under our laws is besides the point. The real issue is who will thank telecoms for not allowing a bunch of laws stand in the way of warrantless surveillance of their customers. Continue reading “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Telecoms: Bush Calls On All Americans to “Thank” the Telecoms”
The Senate Democrats have again caved on the issue of torture, unanimously confirming
Chicago federal Judge Mark Filip to be the second-in-command at the Justice Department despite his refusal to answer the simple question whether waterboarding is torture — a fact established by U.S. and international courts. As with the telecom immunity controversy, the Senate delayed the vote to suggest that they were actually taking a stand on torture and then voted with the White House to avoid a final confrontation on the question. Continue reading “Senate Unanimously Confirms Filip for No. 2 Position at Justice Depsite His Refusal to Answer Torture Question”
Civil libertarians are alarmed by Sunday’s interview with the House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes, suggesting that the House may surrender on the telecom immunity question. For a short period of time, it appeared that for once members of Congress would actually stand on principle and refuse immunity. Now, Reyes is saying that he is open to “compromise” and that a deal may be close. Continue reading “House Intelligence Chairman Indicates that House May Capitulate on Telecom Immunity”