Three Hours, Three Years

In Other Words

Bob Fertik writes:

"The news media stopped dead in its tracks today over a three-hour lie. In Washington, the biggest political corruption scandal since Teapot Dome was exploding, but it barely got a moment's notice."

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Bush's Long War with the Truth

Robert Parry writes: "George W. Bush's dysfunctional relationship with the truth seems to be shaped by two complementary factors �" a personal compulsion to say whatever makes him look good at that moment and a permissive environment that rarely holds him accountable for his lies."

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Dictatorship Is Easier.us: Bush Can Still Bypass Torture Ban

Not only was the McCain amendment neutered in a Senate compromise, but Bush now asserts that he can bypass whatever ban does exist.

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Surveillance Court Is Seeking AnswersWashPost:

WashPost: "The members of a secret federal court that oversees government surveillance in espionage and terrorism cases are scheduled to receive a classified briefing Monday from top Justice Department and intelligence officials about a controversial warrantless-eavesdropping program, according to sources familiar with the arrangements."

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A Cult of Presidential Power: The Unrestrained President

Tom Englehardt writes: "As 2006 begins, we seem to be at a not-completely-unfamiliar crossroads in the long history of the American imperial presidency. It grew up, shedding presidential constraints, in the post-World War II years as part of the rise of the national security state and the military-industrial complex. It reached its constraint-less apogee with Richard Nixon's presidency and what became known as the Watergate scandal -- an event marked by Nixon's attempt to create his own private national security apparatus which he directed to secretly commit various high crimes and misdemeanors for him."

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The Bush Family Coup

James Ridgeway writes: "In opening a conference on counterintelligence in March 2005, former president George H.W. Bush, who headed the CIA from 1975 to 1977, said, 'It burns me up to see the agency under fire.' Recent criticism, Bush said, reminded him of the 1970s, when Congress 'unleashed a bunch of untutored little jerks out there' to investigate the CIA’s involvement in domestic spying, assassinations, and other illegal activities, and subsequently passed laws to prevent abuses."

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