Day: March 3, 2006

Republicans marched in lockstep while all but nine Democrats and one independent caved and voted to reauthorrize the rights-robbing USA Patriot Act Thursday, giving President George W. Bush the power he craves to ride roughshod over the Constitution.

Those who sided with Bush included Democratic leader Harry Reid and every Republican member of the Senate, ending months of wrangling over renewal of the law that civil libertrarians call a major threat to freedom in this country. 

By THOMAS HARGROVE

A Democratic takeover of Congress, especially the House, appears possible this year despite conventional wisdom.

Pundits and odds makers recently have upped the numbers of House districts they count as competitive despite a still common assumption that Congress is so carefully gerrymandered that challengers have little hope.

By ERIC NEWTON

Perhaps surprisingly in this day of write-it-yourself Web sites, there dwell in America some 125,000 human beings known as "general news journalists."

Hardly anyone likes them. The bloggers call them "mainstream media." Liberals call them "corporate media." Conservatives call them "liberal media." Everyone else just dismisses them as "THE MEDIA."

By LIZ SIDOTI

One of the most prominent House Republicans on military issues said Thursday he would try to scuttle a Dubai-based company’s effort to manage U.S. ports as lawmakers’ complaints about the Bush administration’s handling of the issue continued to spread.