Today, the Obama truth is revealed. Change has come in the form of familiarity. Some American's are embarrassed. Others embrace what, when presented by the previous Administration, they rejected. Apathy helps most Americans to avoid a sense of shame. It was announced; Obama defends Bush-era secrets. This Administration has gone further to establish government sovereignty. As a nation, the Obama White House tells citizens, our country will be better protected if details about the surveillance program are considered "Top Secret - Sensitive Compartmented Information."
By Mandy Simon, ACLU Senior Legislative Communications Associate.
The Senate Judiciary Committee had their weekly "business" meeting today and finally (finally!) got around to marking up the State Secrets Protection Act (S. 2553). The privilege allows the government to guard legitimate national security information during lawsuits. But, from wiretapping to torture, the Bush administration has been misusing the privilege to pull the curtain around its misconduct, effectively stopping litigation in its tracks. The bill being marked up was introduced by committee member Senator Kennedy (D-MA) in an effort to narrow the scope and usage of the state secrets privilege and was passed out of committee by a healthy vote of 11-8. Hopefully we'll see some floor action on this legislation soon so we can begin to knock down the wall of secrecy standing between those who've been wronged by our government and justice.
Amnesty International reported yesterday that China is the world's top executioner. From ITN News in the UK:
But as with everything else in life, there are unseen ties that link China's use of the death penalty with the United States' use of torture in conducting the "war on terror".
