Top Stories
Obama Administration Again Defends Bush Wiretapping
The Department of Justice (DOJ) under President Barack Obama has gone beyond anything the Bush administration tried to do in defending the government’s unauthorized wiretapping of American communications earlier this decade, according to legal sch... read more
Judge Slams Justice Department for Hiding Witness’ Mental Illness
It might be difficult to find a more irate judge in the country right now than U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan, who has publicly scolded the Justice Department over the shady legal practices of government attorneys handling the cases of Guantán... read more
Red Cross Accuses U.S. Medical Personnel of Aiding Torture
While CIA agents tortured suspected terrorists at secret facilities, medical personnel were not only present, but assisted in the interrogations, thus committing a “gross breach of medical ethics,” according to a previously confidential report by ... read more
It Still Pays to be a CEO
According to the Hay Group, a management consulting firm that analyzed proxy statements for companies with annual revenues exceeding $5 billion, the median salaries and bonuses for the top executives of 200 large United States-based companies fell... read more
Unemployment Benefits to End Soon for Many Americans
As if the economy wasn’t experiencing enough trouble already, a “monstrous problem” may be heading this way later this year. That’s when estimated 700,000 unemployed Americans are expected to run out of their unemployment benefits, with most unlik... read more
Geithner, Part of the Problem, Claims He Can Now Be Part of the Solution
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is pushing hard to be given broad new powers over the financial industry, arguing, “We’re having a major financial crisis in part because of failures of supervision.” This is the same Timothy Geithner who previo... read more
Judge Rules Bagram Prisoners Have Rights in U.S. Courts
If the Obama administration was planning to ship detainees to Afghanistan as part of its closure plans for Guantanamo Bay, then a federal judge has thrown a wrench into those preparations. U.S. District Judge John D. Bates ruled on Thursday that t... read more
Most Intelligence Office Employees Don’t Understand Their Mission
Among the many problems plaguing America’s intelligence operation is the fact that a majority of those working for the nation’s top spy agency don’t have a clear understanding of their mission, according to a highly critical report released Wednes... read more
GM’s 50-Year Slide Finally Slips into the Red
No wonder General Motors went belly up. Nate Silver, in his political blog FiveThirty Eight, reviewed the operating margins of the legendary automaker from the 1950s to now. He found that GM has been headed for the junkyard for the past 50 years. ... read more
World’s Most Powerful Laser Powers Up
Ever since scientists first split the hydrogen atom in the 1950s as part of the U.S. government’s nuclear weapons research program, experts have dreamed of developing a new, seemingly limitless energy supply through the process of fusion. This Jun... read more
Spanish Court to Consider Torture Investigation of 6 Bush Officials
The Spanish judge who went after Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1998 has now set his sights on former members of the Bush administration, arguing that they violated international law by justifying the use of torture against suspected terrori... read more
Congress Approves Protection of 2 Million Acres of Wilderness
President Barack Obama will soon get the opportunity to sign into law the largest expansion of protected national wilderness since Bill Clinton’s first term in office. The Omnibus Public Land Management Act, approved by the House of Representative... read more
Combat Brigades to Remain in Iraq Beyond “Withdrawal”
As previously reported in AllGov, there are loopholes in President Obama’s Iraq withdrawal plan that allow the United States to keep combat troops in Iraq long after the president promised he would. Now, Pentagon spokesmen have revealed some of th... read more
Difficult Truths about Guantánamo
Writing for The Washington Note, Lawrence B. Wilkerson, who was Colin Powell’s chief of staff while Powell was Secretary of State, has laid out seven aspects of the Guantánamo debate that have been largely kept out of the media and thus out of th... read more
Poor Economy Helps Military Recruiting
One winner in the economic downturn is the military, which has finally seen a five-year recruiting crisis come to an end. In February, all branches of the military met their recruiting goals, and the Army, which has been under the most stress,... read more
Obama Asks American Bar Association to Resume Vetting Judicial Nominees
President Obama has reversed another policy of George W. Bush by asking the American Bar Association (ABA) to resume reviewing potential judicial nominees and to rate their qualifications. Beginning in 1953, the ABA’s Standing Committee on the Fed... read more