NYT: Democrats in Congress should remind Obama of his campaign promises, The Raw Story, July 30, 2010, by Muriel Kane, used with permission, quoted verbatim:

Senator Pat Leahy promises hearings into White House request for expanded surveillance powers

News that the White House has asked for a “clarification” in current law which would make it easier for the FBI to obtain private email and web browsing records without a court order has run into strong opposition from the New York Times.

In a Thursday editorial, the paper firmly opposed the expanded use of warrantless “national security letters,” which it points out have been widely used — and often abused — by both the FBI and the Pentagon.

“President Obama campaigned for office on an explicit promise to rein in these abuses,” the Times notes, citing a 2008 position paper which promised that “as president, Barack Obama would revisit the Patriot Act to ensure that there is real and robust oversight of tools like National Security Letters, sneak-and-peek searches, and the use of the material witness provision.”

“But instead of implementing reasonable civil liberties protections, like taking requests for e-mail surveillance before a judge,” the editorial concludes, “the administration is proposing changes to the law that would allow huge numbers of new electronic communications to be examined with no judicial oversight. Democrats in Congress can remind Mr. Obama of his campaign promises by refusing this request.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has already promised to hold hearings on the issue. In a statement released on Thursday, he writes that “the administration’s proposal to change ECPA to cover electronic communication transaction records raises serious privacy and civil liberties concerns.”

“While the government should have the tools that it needs to keep us safe, American citizens should also have protections against improper intrusions into their private electronic communications and online transactions,” Leahy’s statement continues. “We must also address past government abuses of these authorities. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings this fall to study these and other important issues.”

"Electronic privacy in the 21st century:" Julian Sanchez speaks at the Cato Institute. — 15:13.

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Evans Liberal Politics, July 4, 2010, by Lori Price of CLG News, used with permission, edited to remove some of the more flagrant anti-Obama statements. Lori and I don’t quite agree on everything, but CLG News is an excellent news source. I am proud to count Lori as one friend who tries to tell the truth. She’s perhaps more “conspiracy” minded than I am, however. The current state of affairs in the United States government should be pretty obvious to all who follow the news. That doesn’t make Obama a bad man: you’d rather have McCain I guess? Or Hillary? (who would have bombed Iran by now)…

US: Felony charges, big fines for reporting within Gulf oil spill zone, CLG Breaking News, July 3, 2010, by Lori Price:

03 Jul 2010 Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees – The Spill and Transparency – Aired July 1, 2010 (Transcript) COOPER: We’re talking about the government, a new a rule announced today backed by the force of law and the threat of fines and felony charges, a rule that will prevent reporters and photographers and anyone else from getting anywhere close to booms and oil-soaked wildlife and just about any place we need to be. By now, you’re probably familiar with cleanup crews stiff-arming the media, private security blocking cameras, ordinary workers clamming up, some not even saying who they’re working for because they’re afraid of losing their jobs… Well, the Coast Guard today announced new rules keeping photographers and reporters and anyone else from coming within 65 feet of any response vessel or booms out on the water or on beaches — 65 feet… Violators could face a fine of $40,000 and Class D felony charges. [Boy, George W. Bush has got to be the most frustrated individual on God's green Earth! Can you *imagine* the outrage -- and protests -- if Bush threatened reporters and photographers with felony charges and fines, as Barack Obama is doing in the Gulf of Mexico? It makes my head *spin* to think of how fast the left would be up in arms. But when Obama lays down and dies for his corporaterrorist paymasters day after day and suspends the First Amendment, the so-called 'left' remains silent. (remainder at CLG News, excised for "overzealousness").

Comment by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: As to the photography, cameras can do pretty well at 65 feet. It is the principle of suspending the First Amendment that is troublesome here, and the failure to allow interviews with Coast Guard and BP employees that seems entirely unjustified and unwarranted. Obama should rethink this. It's exactly what went on with Bush and Katrina, and Obama's handling of this crisis, except for the nicely choreographed appearances he made in the Gulf, seems overall eerily parallel to the disastrous and still ongoing tragedy in the handling of the whole Katrina disaster. I expected better of Obama.

Obama also has lost an appeal in an attempt to suspend habeas corpus at Guantanamo (McClatchy DC). Well, people, what part of "we are living in a security state now" isn't the court getting? Civil rights? Civil liberties? It certainly is beginning to seem like we are in what the left wing calls "the security state", right? Have we really gone that far down that road? Do we absolutely need to?

In other Gulf Oil Spill/BP news, the government for now is working with BP to assess the oil spill damage (Washington Post, July 4, 2010, by Juliet Eilperin). While making efforts to distance itself from BP, the Obama administration continues to work directly with the oil company to assess damages from the spill. Can this be a good idea?

See also: BP Texas Refinery Had Huge Toxic Release Just Before Gulf Blowout, Pro Publica & PBS collaboration, July 2, 2010, by Ryan Knutson, excerpt quoted verbatim:

TEXAS CITY, TEXAS -- Two weeks before the blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, the huge, trouble-plagued BP refinery [1] in this coastal town spewed tens of thousands of pounds of toxic chemicals into the skies.

The release from the BP facility here began April 6 and lasted 40 days [2]. It stemmed from the company’s decision to keep producing and selling gasoline while it attempted repairs on a key piece of equipment, according to BP officials and Texas regulators.

BP says it failed to detect the extent of the emissions for several weeks. It discovered the scope of the problem only after analyzing data from a monitor that measures emissions from a flare 300 feet above the ground that was supposed to incinerate the toxic chemicals.

The company now estimates that 538,000 pounds of chemicals escaped from the refinery while it was replacing the equipment. These included 17,000 pounds of benzene, a known carcinogen; 37,000 pounds of nitrogen oxides, which contribute to respiratory problems; and 186,000 pounds of carbon monoxide.

See also: Oil found in Gulf crabs raises new food chain fears, McClatchy DC, July 1, 2010, by Geoff Pender, excerpt quoted verbtim:

BILOXI, Miss. — University scientists have spotted the first indications oil is entering the Gulf seafood chain — in crab larvae — and one expert warns the effect on fisheries could last “years, probably not a matter of months” and affect many species.

Scientists with the University of Southern Mississippi and Tulane University in New Orleans have found droplets of oil in the larvae of blue crabs and fiddler crabs sampled from Louisiana to Pensacola, Fla. The news comes as blobs of oil and tar continue to wash ashore in Mississippi in patches, with crews in chartreuse vests out cleaning beaches all along the coast on Thursday, and as state and federal fisheries from Louisiana to Florida are closed by the BP oil disaster.

“I think we will see this enter the food chain in a lot of ways — for plankton feeders, like menhaden, they are going to just actively take it in,” said Harriet Perry, director of the Center for Fisheries Research and Development at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. “Fish are going to feed on (crab larvae). We have also just started seeing it on the fins of small, larval fish — their fins were encased in oil. That limits their mobility, so that makes them easy prey for other species. The oil’s going to get into the food chain in a lot of ways.”

SCANDAL! – Swedish BP chairman ‘whisked married lover on luxury cruise as oil spill chaos erupted’, Mail Online, July 2, 2010, by Daniel Bates.

It just gets “funner and funner” doesn’t it? Happy Fourth of July! ~ Paul Evans

Government attempts to keep torture case secret –Holding case taken by former Guantánamo detainees behind closed doors would set ‘very dangerous precedent’, says lawyer 08 Mar 2010 The government will attempt today to have a case about torture heard entirely behind closed doors in a move that some lawyers say would extend secrecy to a new area of hearings, overriding ancient principles of English law.

This morning a case will come before three appeal judges in London in which seven men are seeking damages against the government for mistreatment during what they say was their “extraordinary rendition” and torture facilitated by the British security services.

Alleged torture victims facing ‘secret and one-sided justice’ –Legal experts have warned the judgment threatens British principles of justice and have branded it a ‘constitutional outrage’. 08 Mar 2010 British intelligence services must be stopped from using secret evidence against former Guantanamo Bay detainees, the Appeal Court heard today. Alleged torture victims seeking to sue the Government over Britain’s complicity in their unlawful imprisonment are facing ‘secret and one-sided’ justice, their lawyer claimed. Six former detainees are hoping to win damages from the Government over allegations that Britain knew about their ill-treatment. Their lawyers have begun a challenge at the Court of Appeal against a ruling which would allow the security services and the Government to withhold evidence from the men during the civil case.

Commentary by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: They said Obama was “soft on terrorism”: exCuse me, is anybody listening here? Do you think they might be trying for a conviction, here??? Republicans, are you really that stupid, or are you just lying about how tough Obama in fact IS on terrorism and trying desperately to score some big political points. McCain tried that on Obama in the campaign, too. (The fact is, the United States has decided to do basically the same thing Great Britain is doing here: secret trials with military tribunals. Right, and the Patriot Act renewal, too. The surge in Afghanistan, do you think that might be evidence Obama is going to always do the right thing, even if the left doesn’t like it? Oh, I know you’re going to try to claim credit for that, the incredible force of your protests at the still possible trials in New York, the force of your incredible patriotism, I know.) You Could try actually reading the news…. Oh, you do that? Well then you are a bunch of lying demagogues, who don’t really care about the facts of the matter at all. What’s Actually going on is that Obama is so tough on secrecy, the Patriot Act renewal, terrorism, the surge in Afghanistan, etc., that he has managed to alienate the whole left wing of the Democratic Party, isn’t that the case? Go away Republicans, you are annoying Obama and nobody’s impressed. Seriously, grow up!

UPDATE: See Experts Urge Keeping Two Options for Terror Trials, The New York Times, March 8, 2010, by Charlie Savage and Scott Shane.