"Bush challenges hundreds of laws: President cites powers of his office." ... "President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute passed by Congress when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution." -Boston/Globe "Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts." -NYTimes

& Law Enforcement

LAW News:
US Attorneys News

20080516
• John McCain - Money - Politics - Real Estate - Arizona - Law - Federal - Military - Land - 2008 Election - "McCain Hit Again on Arizona Land Deals." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona] Sen. John McCain's ties to the real estate development arm of his home state's power company continued to prove nettlesome today, as a newspaper reported that McCain secured millions in federal funds for a land acquisition program that benefited the firm." ... "Earlier this month, The Washington Post reported that McCain had championed a deal to trade valuable federal land in northern Arizona to a rancher who then enlisted Tempe[Arizona]-based SunCor Development to build as many as 12,000 homes on the property." ... "SunCor's president, Steve Betts, is a longtime McCain supporter who has raised more than $100,000 for the senator's presidential bid." ... "Today's report, in USA Today, revealed that McCain inserted $14.3 million into a 2003 defense bill to buy land around Luke Air Force Base [Arizona]. SunCor sought the provision as the largest of about 50 landowners near the base. SunCor representatives, upset with a state law that restricted development around Luke, met with McCain's staff to lobby for funding, John Ogden, SunCor's president at the time, told the paper." ... "The Air Force later paid SunCor $3 million for 122 acres near the base, according to the report. It was the highest single land transaction of the private lots purchased by the government -- three times the county's assessed value and twice the military's estimated value." -By Matthew Mosk -WashingtonPost

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• Barack Obama - Communications -  - Radio - Media - Market - Government - Politics - 2008 Election - "Obama, Bush at Odds Over Media-Ownership Vote: Democratic Presidential Candidate Urges House of Representatives to Follow Senate's Lead, Scrap FCC's Media-Ownership-Rule Change." ... "The fight over the Federal Communications Commission's [December] Dec. 18 media-ownership vote set up a potential battle between the current president [Republican Bush] and a senator who wants to be the next one." ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.[Democratic-Illinois]) Thursday urged the House to follow the Senate's lead and pass a resolution of disapproval, an unusual legislative maneuver that would invalidate the FCC's decision to allow TV and radio stations and newspapers to be co-owned in the top 20 markets, subject to some conditions." ... "After the Senate approved the measure, Obama, a co-sponsor of the bill, released a statement saying, "I urge my colleagues in the House of Representatives to expeditiously pass the legislation."" ... "He framed the vote, as he has before, as standing up to "Washington special interests," a campaign theme. "Our nation’s media market must reflect the diverse voices of our population, and it is essential that the FCC promotes the public interest and diversity in ownership," he said." -By John Eggerton -BroadcastingCable.com

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• California - Gay - People - Parents - Politics - 2008 Election - "California Supreme Court overturns gay marriage ban." ... "The California Supreme Court struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage Thursday in a broadly worded decision that would invalidate virtually any law that discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation." ... "The 4-3 ruling declared that the state Constitution protects a fundamental "right to marry" that extends equally to same-sex couples. It tossed a highly emotional issue into the [2008] election year while opening the way for tens of thousands of gay people to wed in California, starting as early as mid-June." ... "The majority opinion, by Chief Justice Ronald M. George, declared that any law that discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation will from this point on be constitutionally suspect in California in the same way as laws that discriminate by race or gender, making the state's high court the first in the nation to adopt such a stringent standard." ... "The decision was a bold surprise from a moderately conservative, Republican-dominated court that legal scholars have long dubbed "cautious," and experts said it was likely to influence other courts around the country." ... "But the scope of the court's decision could be thrown into question by an initiative already heading toward the November ballot. The initiative would amend the state Constitution to prohibit same-sex unions." ... "The court's ruling repeatedly invoked the words "respect and dignity" and framed the marriage question as one that deeply affected not just couples but also their children. California has more than 100,000 households headed by gay couples, about a quarter with children, according to 2000 census data." ... ""Our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation," George wrote for the majority. "An individual's sexual orientation -- like a person's race or gender -- does not constitute a legitimate basis upon which to deny or withhold legal rights."" (1, 2, 3) -By Maura Dolan with contributions by Patrick McGreevy, Rong-Gong Lin II, Jean-Paul Renaud, Francisco Vara-Orta, Molly Hennessy-Fiske, John M. Glionna and Lee Romney -LAtimes 

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• John McCain - Marketing - Law - Politics - History - 2004 Election - 2008 Election - "McCain adviser ousted in conflict uproar." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate] John McCain's campaign asked a prominent Republican consultant, Craig Shirley, to leave his official campaign role Thursday after a Politico inquiry about Shirley's dual role consulting for the campaign and for an independent "527" group opposing the Democratic presidential candidates." ... "Shirley, a conservative public relations veteran, doubled as a consultant to McCain and to the group Stop Her Now, a 527 group barred from coordinating its activities with presidential campaigns." ... "Shirley’s firm, Shirley & Bannister Associates, was paid more than $22,000 by McCain for work this February and March to win conservative support. Stop Her Now has paid the firm more than $155,000 since 2007 for public relations work." ... "He [Craig Shirley] was reportedly a member of the team that tarred [former Democratic Presidential Candidate] Michael Dukakis with the “Willie Horton” ads in 1988, and later he helped organize the first press conference with Paula Jones, who had sued [former Democratic President] Clinton for sexual harassment. In 2004, his company did public relations work for a mov[i]e attacking [former 2004 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate] John Kerry for undermining the treatment of Vietnam Veterans, “Stolen Honor.”" -By Ben Smith -Politico.com

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20080515
• John McCain - Money - Politics - Arizona - Real Estate - Law - Federal - Military - Land - 2008 Election - "Price of power: McCain action helped Arizona land developer." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain secured millions in federal funds for a land acquisition program that provided a windfall for an Arizona developer whose executives were major campaign donors, public records show." ... "McCain, who has made fighting special-interest projects a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, inserted $14.3 million in a 2003 defense bill to buy land around Luke Air Force Base [Arizona] in a provision sought by SunCor Development, the largest of about 50 landowners near the base. SunCor representatives, upset with a state law that restricted development around Luke, met with McCain's staff to lobby for funding, according to John Ogden, SunCor's president at the time." ... "The Air Force later paid SunCor $3 million for 122 acres near the base. It was the highest single land transaction of the private lots purchased by the government — three times the county's assessed value and twice the military's estimated value. SunCor also donated another 122 acres. Alan Bunnell, a spokesman for SunCor's parent company, Pinnacle West Capital, said the donation was meant to minimize the company's tax bill and enhance the value of adjacent property it owns." ... "McCain has long-standing ties to SunCor and Pinnacle West:" ... "• McCain's campaigns have received $224,000 since 1998 from donors connected to Pinnacle West, including $104,100 for his current presidential run, according to a USA TODAY analysis of campaign-finance data compiled by the non-partisan CQ MoneyLine. Donors include employees of Pinnacle West and its subsidiaries, employees' spouses and the company's lobbyists and political committees." ... "• Pinnacle West's Chief Executive Officer Bill Post, vice president and lobbyist Robert Aiken and former president Jack Davis, who retired in March, are fundraisers for McCain's current presidential campaign. SunCor President Steve Betts, who joined the company weeks after the military land deal, is a former campaign lawyer for McCain and has raised more than $100,000 for his current campaign." -By Matt Kelley -USATODAY 

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20080514
• John McCain - Hillary Clinton - Barack Obama - US- Iraq - Afghanistan - Military - People - Money - Legislation - Politics - 2008 Election - Ariz - Ill - NY - "McCain, Military Oppose Expanding GI Bill." ... "[2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona Senator] Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. [Republican-Arizona], the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, seemed to give a thumbs down to bipartisan legislation that would greatly expand educational benefits for members of the military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan under the GI Bill." ... "Both [2008 Election] Democratic presidential candidates — Sens. Barack Obama, D-Ill. [Democratic-Illinois], and Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. [Democratic-New York], — have signed on as co-sponsors, and the bill has gained bipartisan support from 54 senators on Capitol Hill in addition to [Virginia Democratic Senator Jim] Webb. A vote on the proposal is expected before the summer." ... "But the bill, which would dramatically increase educational compensation for American troops, has run into some unexpected resistance, both at the Pentagon and now from McCain, who has remained silent on the issue, saying he had not studied the bill close enough." ... "Pressure had mounted on McCain to support the bill — a veterans group, which backs the legislation, delivered a petition to McCain's Senate office, signed by 30,000 veterans." ... "[Matt] Flavin joined the military out of patriotism shortly after 9/11, went to Officer Candidate School and, over the next five years, served tours in Bosnia, Afghanistan and with Naval special forces in Iraq." ... "While he did not join the military specifically to get benefits from the GI Bill and does not think most troops do, Flavin supports the legislation." ... ""We owe them something," Flavin said of his comrades. "They've given life, limb, everything there is to give. The people who bore the most pain and suffering are the people who could use these benefits."" (1, 2, 3) -By Z. Byron Wolf with contributions by Bret Hovell -ABCNEWS.com 

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• Barack Obama - Government - Financial - Law - Illinois - New York - 2008 Election - "Obama to Receive Endorsement Of 3 Former SEC Chairmen." ... "Three former chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission will publicly endorse Democratic [2008 Election Presidential Candidate and Illinois Senator] Sen. Barack Obama's bid for the presidency Wednesday, including one who served under [Republican] President Bush." ... "William Donaldson, who was SEC [Securities and Exchange Commissio] chairman for about 2½ years from early 2003, along with [Democratic President Bill] Clinton and [Republican President Ronald] Reagan appointees Arthur Levitt and David Ruder, will join former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker in endorsing Sen. Obama, his campaign said. Mr. Volcker endorsed Sen. Obama in January." ... "In a statement released by the campaign, the four men said they believed Sen. Obama would take a "reasoned approach" to "balanced regulatory reform."" ... "The endorsements, especially that of Republican appointee Mr. Donaldson, could give a boost to Mr. Obama in the general election this fall." ... "Mr. Donaldson, a former Wall Street banker, also is a former head of the New York Stock Exchange. In government, Mr. Donaldson's tenure was marked by his push for greater regulation of hedge funds. The SEC eventually passed a hedge-fund-regulation package, in the face of vocal critics. A federal court later overturned the regulation." ... "In an interview Tuesday, Mr. Donaldson said he was struck by a speech Sen. Obama gave calling for a revamping of regulation for any business that borrows money from the government. Sen. Obama, he said, saw the "need to take a good hard look at how things are organized" and "just exactly what went wrong in terms of the regulatory oversight that we have."" -By Christopher Cooper and Kara Scannell -WSJ.com 

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• Scott Bloch - Lurita Doan - Karl Rove - Politics - Government - Hatch Act - Investigation - "Six Degrees of Scott Bloch: A Scandal Scorecard." ... "Several [Republican President] Bush administration officials have become ensnared in an interlocking set of investigations into allegations of Hatch Act violations, whistleblower misconduct and other prohibited personnel practices. At the center of these investigations is Scott Bloch, head of the U.S. [United States] Office of Special Counsel. Characters drawn into the drama include former General Services Administration chief Lurita Doan, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and top Bush adviser Karl Rove." [SEE: "relationship each actor had with Scott Bloch."] -By Ross Gianfortune, Melanie Bender, and Robert Brodsky -GovExec.com 

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20080513
• Corporate - Environmental - Health - Politics - Investigation - Manufacturing - Water - Michigan - Illinois - Indiana - Minnesota - Ohio - Wisconsin - "U.S. Senators Probe Departure of EPA Midwest Administrator." ... "The circumstances surrounding the resignation of Mary Gade, formerly the U.S. [United States] EPA's [Environmental Protection Agency's]  regional administrator for the Midwest, are under investigation by an environmental committee of the U.S. Senate." ... "On May 2, the "Chicago Tribune" reported that two top aides to Johnson demanded that Gade resign or be fired by June 1, 2008. She has since submitted her resignation and is currently on administrative leave." ... "According to the Tribune's story, Gade believed her forced resignation was due to her efforts to push Dow Chemical Company to clean up dioxin contamination in Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron stemming from its Midland, Michigan chemical manufacturing plant. Dioxin is a known carcinogen." ... "The paper also reported that officials from Dow Chemical had met with EPA officials in Washington in January 2008 because they were unhappy with Gade's approach, and that Gade's handling of this issue became the subject of criticism from her superiors in Washington." ... "On January 4, 2008, Gade terminated negotiations with Dow Chemical aimed at a settlement to conduct a study and interim cleanup actions for dioxin contamination along the Tittabawassee River system, the Saginaw River and the Saginaw Bay. The negotiations under the Superfund Act began in October 2007 with the participation of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality." ... ""I am extremely disappointed with this outcome," said Gade on January 4. "EPA approached negotiations with high hopes and realistic expectations. Our team put in many long hours of good faith efforts that came to an unfortunate end today. EPA is now reviewing its options for ensuring that dioxin contamination in the river system and the Midland area can be fully addressed."" ... "An environmental attorney, Gade was appointed regional administrator of EPA Region 5 in October 2006 to oversee federal environmental programs in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin." -ENS

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20080509
• Consumers - Food - Safety - Humans - Health - Law - Politics - Animals - Agriculture - Business - Kan - US - Japan - "Government asks court to block wider testing for mad cow." ... "The [Republican President] Bush administration on Friday urged a federal appeals court to stop meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease, but a skeptical judge questioned whether the government has that authority." ... "The government seeks to reverse a lower court ruling that allowed Arkansas City, Kan.[Kansas]-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to conduct more comprehensive testing to satisfy demand from overseas customers in Japan and elsewhere." ... "Less than 1 percent of slaughtered cows are currently tested for the disease under Agriculture Department guidelines. The agency argues that more widespread testing does not guarantee food safety and could result in a false positive that scares consumers." ... "Mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy, can be fatal to humans who eat tainted beef. Three cases of mad cow disease have been discovered in the U.S. [United States] since 2003." -By Sam Hananel -AP via -SFGate.com

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• Mother's-Day - Politics - Women - Parents- Legislation - Kan - Fla - "Republicans Vote Against Moms; No Word Yet on Puppies, Kittens." ... "It was already shaping up to be a difficult year for congressional Republicans. Now, on the cusp of Mother's Day, comes this: A majority of the House GOP has voted against motherhood." ... "On Wednesday afternoon, the House had just voted, 412 to 0, to pass H. Res. 1113, "Celebrating the role of mothers in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of Mother's Day," when [Kansas Republican Representative] Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.), rose in protest." ... ""Mr. Speaker, I move to reconsider the vote," he announced." ... "[Florida Democratic Representative] Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), who has two young daughters, moved to table Tiahrt's request, setting up a revote. This time, 178 Republicans cast their votes against mothers." ... "It has long been the custom to compare a popular piece of legislation to motherhood and apple pie. Evidently, that is no longer the standard. Worse, Republicans are now confronted with a John Kerry-esque predicament: They actually voted for motherhood before they voted against it. " (1, 2) -By Dana Milbank -WashingtonPost

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20080508
• Vito J Fossella - New York - Parent - Va - Law - Investigation - "Fossella Admits to Extramarital Affair." ... "[New York Republican] Representative Vito J. Fossella, a Staten Island Republican who was arrested on May 1 in Alexandria, Va. [Virginia], and charged with drunken driving, issued a statement on Thursday acknowledging that he had had an extramarital affair with Laura Fay, a former Air Force lieutenant colonel, and that the two of them have a 3-year-old daughter together." ... "The prospect that Mr. Fossella could face a mandatory jail sentence if convicted had already threatened to bring to an end his decade-long career in the House, where Mr. Fossella is the only Republican representing New York City [New York]." ... "He faces a mandatory five days in jail if convicted." ... "The House ethics committee also could open an investigation into the matter." ... "Mr. Fossella and his wife, the former Mary Patricia Rowan, married in 1990. They have two sons and a daughter." ... "“Vito Fossella’s behavior is a disgrace to himself, his family and to Staten Island,” said an anesthesiologist, Dr. John Ferguson, 44. “Given the fact that he votes along the Bush-Cheney line 90 percent of the time, which means he sees himself as a moral values candidate, I find his behavior completely, but not surprisingly, hypocritical. He should resign immediately.”" -By Jonathan P. Hicks with contributions by Sewell Chan, Carl Hulse, Maureen Seaberg and David Stout -NYTimes 

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• Oil - Corporations - Air - Environment - Ground - Water - Safety - Health - Science - Politics - "Chevron, 11 Oil Companies to Pay $423 Million in MTBE Lawsuits." ... "Water suppliers in 17 states will collect $423 million from Chevron Corp. [Corporation], BP Plc [Public limited company] and 10 other oil companies as part of a settlement of contamination claims involving the gasoline additive MTBE." ... "The suits claim the oil companies contaminated wells and underground aquifers across the country by adding methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, to gasoline as a way to reduce air pollution. They claim the oil companies hid information showing MTBE would cause ``massive'' contamination." ... "The settlement was filed yesterday with U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in New York, who is presiding over the 59 settled lawsuits brought by 153 municipalities. The six oil companies and refineries that didn't settle include Exxon Mobil Corp. [Corporation], the world's biggest publicly traded oil company, according to Robert Gordon, a lawyer for the plaintiffs." ... "The municipalities ``will use the money to continue to treat water so that it is safe and pure,'' Gordon said in a phone interview." ... "MTBE reduces air pollution by making gasoline burn more completely in a car's engine. MTBE discharged into the air contaminates groundwater through rainfall. The additive has been banned in many states." ... "Estimates of the cost to treat contaminated water in the U.S. have reached $30 billion." ... "Scheindlin denied a request by the oil companies to dismiss the suits in 2005." ... "``Innocent water providers -- and ultimately innocent water users -- should not be denied relief from the contamination of their water supply if defendants breached a duty to avoid an unreasonable risk of harm from their products,'' Scheindlin said at the time." ... "The case is In Re: MTBE, 00-cv-1898, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan). " -By David Glovin -Bloomberg

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• Israel - Racism - Palestine - Families - Human Rights - Law - People - History - "Arabs say racism on rise as Israel turns 60." ... "Salwa Abu Jaber believes her story shows Israel discriminating against its Arab citizens, 60 years after the state was established as a haven for Jews." ... "The 32-year-old mother of four from northern Israel said her five-year-old daughter has never seen her father, who lives in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Separated from the man for five years, she says she has been forced to divorce him." ... "Thousands of families have been similarly split by a 2003 ban on Palestinians in the West Bank from reuniting with their families inside Israel, imposed citing security reasons after the Palestinian uprising or intifada began in 2000." ... ""In practical terms, Israel forced the divorce on us," Abu Jaber said. "We could not continue to live like this any longer. If this is not racism, then what is it?"" ... "This week, as Israel celebrates the anniversary of its foundation, its supreme court has said it found merit in the position of numerous petitions filed by rights groups against the law that keeps the families apart." ... "But Israeli Arabs -- those Palestinians who remained after hundreds of thousands fled or were expelled from their homes when Israel was created -- say institutionalized racism and illegal killings of Arabs have increased since the intifada started." ... "After 1948, about 120,000 stayed and were granted Israeli citizenship. Now about one in five Israelis is Arab, and many prefer to be called Palestinians like their kin outside Israel." ... "About 1.5 million Arabs reside in Israel with 5.5 million Jews, but 3.8 million Palestinians live in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem." (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) -By Mohammed Assadi with contributions by Samia Nakhoul, Sara Ledwith and Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem -Reuters 

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20080507
• Vito J Fossella - New York - Virginia - Cops - Law - "Vito Fossella told cops he was on way to see 'my sick kid' at mystery gal's address." ... "When cops stopped [New York Republican Representative] Rep. Vito Fossella for drunken driving, the married congressman said he was rushing to see his sick daughter on nearby Grimm St. [Street, Alexandria, Virginia] - the home of the mystery woman who later plucked him from jail." ... "Fossella's spokeswoman has insisted the single mom, Air Force Col. Laura Fay, 45, was only a "good friend," but the Staten Island Republican implied to suburban D.C. cops that Fay's 3-year-old was his." ... ""The subject stated that he was driving down from Washington, D.C., to Grimm St. because his daughter was sick and needed to go to the hospital," a police report obtained by the Daily News reveals." ... "The report describes how Fossella, who has a wife and three children in New York, failed a sobriety test by reciting the alphabet wrong, swaying while standing on one leg and stumbling while trying to walk a straight line. " -By Rich Schapiro and James Gordon Meek, and Tina Moore -NYDailyNews.com

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• Vito J Fossella - New York - Va - Law - Cheney - "After Fossella’s D.W.I. Arrest, District Is Puzzled and Torn." ... "Across Staten Island [New York] on Tuesday, voters were wondering what [New York Republican] Representative Vito J. Fossella was thinking when, the police say, he drove into a Washington suburb while severely intoxicated early one morning last week." ... "Prosecutors in Alexandria, Va. [Virginia], said Mr. Fossella, 43, was driving with a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit when he was pulled over just after midnight last Thursday. Since last week, tabloid newspapers and the blogosphere have been filled with accounts of Mr. Fossella’s night, and The Daily News has taken to referring to him as “Vino Fossella.”" ... "An ally of [Republican] President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney — who appeared at a fund-raiser for him last month — Mr. Fossella remains politically strong in Staten Island, but his margins of victory have been shrinking." -By Jonathan P. Hicks -NYTimes 

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• Secret - Government - Intelligence - Terrorism - Politics - Illegal - Surveillance - Investigation - Internet - Archive - Library - Electronic - Civil Liberties - Brewster_Kahle - Censorship - San Francisco - California - Student - Health - Consumer - Telephone - Electronic - Data - National Security Letter - "FBI Targets Internet Archive With Secret 'National Security Letter', Loses." ... "The Internet Archive, a project to create a digital library of the web for posterity, successfully fought a secret government Patriot Act order for records about one of its patrons and won the right to make the order public, civil liberties groups announced Wednesday morning." ... "On November 26, 2007, the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] served a controversial National Security Letter (.pdf) on the Internet Archive's founder Brewster Kahle, asking for records about one of the library's registered users, asking for the user's name, address and activity on the site." ... "The Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Internet Archive's lawyers, fought the NSL [National Security Letter], challenging its constitutionality in a December 14 complaint (.pdf) to a federal court in San Francisco [California]. The FBI agreed on April 21 to withdraw the letter and unseal the court case, making some of the documents available to the public." ... "The Patriot Act greatly expanded the reach of NSLs, which are subpoenas for documents such as billing records and telephone records that the FBI can issue in terrorism investigations without a judge's approval. Nearly all NSLs come with gag orders forbidding the recipient from ever speaking of the subpoena, except to a lawyer." ... "Brewster Kahle called the gag order "horrendous," saying he couldn't talk about the case with his board members, wife or staff, but said that his stand was part of a time-honored tradition of librarians protecting the rights of their patrons." ... ""This is an unqualified success that will help other recipients understand that you can push back on these," Kahle said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday morning." ... "Though FBI guidelines on using NSLs warned of overusing them, two Congressionally ordered audits revealed that the FBI had issued hundreds of illegal requests for student health records, telephone records and credit reports. The reports also found that the FBI had issued hundreds of thousands of NSLs since 2001, but failed to track their use. In a letter to Congress last week, the FBI admitted it can only estimate how many NSLs it has issued." -By Ryan Singel -Wired 

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• Scott J Bloch - Criminal - Government - Computer - Censorship - Politics - Workers - Law - Virginia - "Federal Agents Raid Office of Special Counsel." ... "Nearly two dozen federal agents yesterday raided the Washington headquarters of the agency that protects government whistle-blowers, as part of an intensifying criminal investigation of its leader, who is fighting allegations of improper political bias and obstruction of justice." ... "Agents fanned out yesterday morning in the agency's building on M Street, where they sequestered Office of Special Counsel chief Scott J. Bloch for questioning, served grand-jury subpoenas on 17 employees and shut down access to computer networks in a search lasting more than five hours." ... "Bloch, who was nominated to his post by [Republican] President Bush in 2003, is the principal official responsible for protecting federal employees from reprisals for complaints about waste and fraud. He also polices violations of Hatch Act prohibitions on political activities in federal offices." ... "Bloch has long been a target of criticism, some of it by his agency's career officials, but the FBI's [Federal Bureau of Investigation's] abrupt seizure of computers and records marked a substantial escalation of the executive branch's probe of his conduct. Retired FBI agents and former prosecutors called the raid an unusual, if not unprecedented, intrusion on the work of a federal agency." ... "Agents from the Office of Personnel Management's inspector general's office, who have been investigating Bloch for more than two years, visited his home on Stockade Drive in Alexandria [Virginia] yesterday. They left carrying boxes of files." ... "Complaints from [whistle-blowers lawyer Debra] Katz's clients and others ultimately prompted the inspector general at the Office of Personnel Management to begin examining Bloch's treatment of workers and his handling of cases involving whistle-blowers at other agencies. During the probe, Bloch hired the technology service Geeks on Call to erase his computer hard drive and those of two aides, giving rise to new allegations that he was obstructing justice." (1, 2) -By Carrie Johnson and Christopher Lee with contributions by Stephen Barr and Daniela Deane and research editor Alice Crites -WashingtonPost

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• Scott J Bloch - Lurita Alexis Doan - Illegal - Political - Government - Workers - Hatch Act - Computer - Censorship- 2004 Election - Travel - "FBI seizes Doan, Rice case files in raid of OSC chief's office." ... "About 20 FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] agents and administrative investigators executed search warrants Tuesday on the U.S. [United States] Office of Special Counsel in a daylong raid that appeared at least partly focused on finding information on the office's high-profile investigations into alleged illegal political activity by [Republican President] Bush administration officials." ... "Last year, the OPM IG's office began looking into Bloch's hiring of private computer technicians to remove files from his office computer and those of aides. The files had been sought by investigators, but Bloch has described the files as personal and not relevant to the probe." ... "But OSC employees said the grand jury subpoenas seek a wide range of information that goes beyond Bloch's deletion of computer files or treatment of agency employees." ... "Investigators have demanded all files on OSC's investigation last year into allegations of improper political activity by Lurita Doan, the former head of the General Services Administration, who was forced to resign last week by the White House." ... "OSC found that Doan, in a January 2007 meeting to discuss Republican congressional races with the agency's political appointees and a White House political operative, violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from using government resources for partisan politics. But the finding generated criticism from House Republicans, who accused Bloch of leaking results of the Doan investigation to the news media." ... "During Tuesday's raid, investigators did not seek files from the wider Hatch Act probe, but they subpoenaed at least two OSC employees who are part of the unit looking into the suspected political activities. They also sought Bloch's expense and credit card records, information regarding his use of storage facilities or safety deposit boxes and material related to testimony he has delivered at congressional hearings." ... "In addition, investigators demanded documents related to OSC's investigation into allegations that Secretary of State Rice used federal resources to travel to campaign appearances supporting President Bush's re-election in 2004. Bloch's office closed the case, finding no violation by Rice." -By Dan Friedman -CongressDaily via -GovExec.com 

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• Scott J Bloch - Karl Rove - Criminal - Government - Workers - Politics - Hatch Act - History - Computer - Data - Censorship - "FBI Raids Special Counsel, Seizes Data." ... "Federal agents raided the Office of Special Counsel, a government agency involved in several high-profile and politically sensitive investigations. The agents seized computer files and documents from its chief, Scott Bloch, and his staff." ... "Mr. Bloch, who was appointed by [Republican] President Bush, has been under investigation since 2005 by the Office of Personnel Management for employee claims that he abused his agency's authority, retaliated against its staff and dismissed whistleblower cases without adequate examination." ... "The Justice Department joined the case as the inquiry was widened last year to include possible obstruction of justice, which is a criminal offense. The Wall Street Journal reported [November] Nov. 28 that in the midst of the inquiry Mr. Bloch used an agency credit card to hire a commercial firm, Geeks on Call, to erase data from his computer and those of former staff." ... "The Office of Special Counsel, created in the 1970s in the wake of the Watergate scandal, probes sensitive personnel and whistleblower claims by government workers. It also enforces the Hatch Act, which forbids the use of federal resources for partisan political purposes." ... "Among the office's recent inquiries was whether former [Republican President Bush] White House political director Karl Rove and others improperly used U.S. [United States] agencies to help elect Republicans." ... "Mr. Bloch's investigation of the White House political operation began after a Rove deputy gave a series of political presentations to government agencies on Republican prospects in specific congressional races. Mr. Bloch's office wanted to know whether such presentations violated the Hatch Act." -By John R. Wilke -WSJ.com 

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