friday reads

Congress is asking questions about another ex-employee of government contracting firm KBR who claims she was raped in Iraq.


The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction faces four seperate investigations.


A mistrial has been declared in the "Liberty City 7" trial in Miami on Thursday. One defendant was acquitted in the case of plotting to destroy Chicago's Sears Tower and wage war against the U.S.


The House approved legislation yesterday that would bar the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics, drawing an immediate veto threat from the White House and setting up another political showdown over what constitutes torture.


Glenn Greenwald:

The Senate is going to take up debate today on the new FISA bill -- including the provisions for telecom amnesty and presidential surveillance powers -- and Harry Reid is apparently bringing the bill to the floor (a) in precisely the way designed to help the administration's goal of ensuring there is telecom amnesty and fewer surveillance oversight protections and (b) contrary to the way his office has been assuring everyone concerned that it would be done.

Paul Krugman: After the Money's Gone

Digby: Unleashing The Beast


Bill O'Reilly declares victory over reality.


A Who's Who of America's top scientists are launching a quixotic last-minute effort this week to force presidential candidates to detail the role science would play in their administrations -- a question they say is key to the future of the country, if not the world.


AlterNet: Big Coal's Dirty Plans for Our Energy Future