Brian Beutler

The congressionally mandated national ID system moved with little discussion from big idea to law. As the devilish details emerge, it’s proving easier mandated than done–and leaving immigrants to face the consequences.

Where we’ve been, and where we’re going, in the long, sordid saga of keeping Americans safe from the administration’s spying.

The good, the bad and the ugly of the Democratic Congress’ year of trying to gavel the Bush administration into order.

Citizens and legislators have tried to build pressure valves for U.S.-Iranian hostility. But both governments have gagged conversationalists with diplomatic red tape.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is trying to revive a once-lively effort to hold the White House accountable for obstructing congressional oversight. Also: the explosive failure of a telecom immunity compromise.

The question isn’t whether the Bush administration will deliberately launch a war with Iran. It’s whether unnecessarily heightened U.S.-Iran tensions will push some minor incident into a major conflict.

As the Bush administration’s saber rattling toward Iran grows louder, can a handful of congressional Democrats disarm the White House?

The GAO reported last week that the government’s watch list is growing at a clip of 20,000 records a month. That’s a list four times the size of even the most liberal estimate for the number of actual bad guys out there.

Last week’s revelation that Verizon readily opened phone logs to the feds should come as no surprise. The firm is a standout example of the revolving door between government and telecom industry.

Congressional Democrats plotted for weeks how they could rewrite the surveillance bill Bush shoved past them this summer. But the battle was barely rejoined when the minority Republicans once again took control and scuttled their bill.