Slashdot | States Pass Thousands of Info Restriction Laws: "nebaz writes 'The AP has published an article analyzing over 1000 laws passed by state legislatures since 9/11, and discovered a disturbing trend. More and more information is being made unavailable to the public. Some of this information may seem reasonable, dealing with national security and all, but there are other things, such as safety plans at schools, medication errors at nursing homes, and disciplinary actions against state employees, that are becoming restricted.'"

(Via /.)

Martini Republic » Ordinary People: "Almost daily, I get reminded that the premise of the war was based on lies, however. And not just lies about WMD. And not just involving the US and Great Britain. In Australia, folks are beginning to hone in on the oil story a little more precisely: the nation’s leading oil company negotiated secret deals to secure Iraqi oil deals, using the same folks involved in the oil-for-food scandal. In Germany, while the nation posed as being anti-war at the UN in 2003, German spies in Baghdad were supplying the Americans intelligence, and one was even in the office of General Tommy Franks. And the Iraqis are following our own example. Doug Bandow points out that the truth is now being discouraged even in Iraq, a purported fledgling democracy, where telling the truth would appear to be very important to securing the country."

(Via Martini Republic.)

AlterNet: Throwing Consumers to the Wolves: "Frank Monroe is one pissed-off federal bankruptcy judge. Just before Christmas, Judge Monroe was forced to deny Guillermo Sosa, an Austin, Texas, house painter, and his wife, Melba Nelly Sosa, emergency bankruptcy protection to avoid foreclosure on their mobile home. While sympathetic to the Sosas, Judge Monroe's hands were tied by the new bankruptcy law. The so-called Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA) required that the Sosas receive consumer credit counseling before filing for bankruptcy. Unaware of this stipulation, they had failed to do so, making them ineligible.

In his angry ruling [PDF], Monroe wrote that 'the parties pushing the passage of the Act had their own agenda … to make more money off the backs of the consumers in this country. … To call BAPCPA a 'consumer protection' act is the grossest of misnomers.'"

(Via AlterNet.)

Capitol Hill Blue - Bush declares war on freedom of the press: "Bush recently directed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to use 'whatever means at your disposal' to wiretap, follow, harass and investigate journalists who have published stories about the administration's illegal use of warrantless wiretaps, use of faulty intelligence and anything else he deems 'detrimental to the war on terror.'

Reporters for The New York Times, which along with Capitol Hill Blue revealed use of the National Security Agency to monitor phone calls and emails of Americans, say FBI agents have interviewed them and criminal prosecutors at the Justice Department admit they are laying 'the groundwork for a grand jury that could lead to criminal charges,'

CIA Director Porter Goss told Congress recently that 'it is my aim and it is my hope that we will witness a grand jury investigation with reporters present being asked to reveal who is leaking this information. I believe the safety of this nation and the people of this country deserve nothing less.'"

(Via cypherpunks.)

AlterNet: Internet Freedoms Come of Age: "As government entities around the world discuss what limits to put on the internet, it's time to call freedom of information what it is: a basic human right."

(Via AlterNet.)