PAMELA HESS, AP News In federal courts and on Capitol Hill, challenges are brewing to a key legal strategy President Bush is using to protect a secret surveillance program that monitors phone calls and e-mails inside the United States. Under grilling from lawmakers and attack by lawsuits alleging Bush authorized the illegal wiretapping of Americans,…
By Robert Parry, Consortium News When the Bushes are involved in dirty deals or even criminal activity, standards of evidence change. Instead of proof “beyond a reasonable doubt’ that would lock up an average citizen, the evidence must be perfect. If there’s any doubt at all, the Bushes must be presumed innocent. Even when their…
By Richard Ingham, Agence France-Presse Supporters of the Kyoto Protocol were gleeful on Saturday after Australian elections left the United States in the wilderness as the only major economy to boycott the UN’s climate pact. The ouster of Prime Minister John Howard stripped President George W. Bush of a key ally barely a week before…
By Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers. In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring the government to demonstrate that…
