One of the features of the American military is that it is supposed to serve determined civilian aims as a branch of government subordinated to civilian control.
In the Groundhog Day hearing this year on the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy of discriminating against gay and lesbian Americans, and in the upcoming follow-up hearing in the [...]

The newspapers call him “Moderate Republican Scott Brown”.
To “moderate” is to deflect the impact of excessive force.
To “moderate” is to keep the exercise of power within a set of limits.
A “moderate” is someone who stands in the way of extreme action.
S. 3081 is a bill put forward with formal support by Senator Scott Brown. [...]

Number of Senate bill introduced by John McCain that allows the U.S. military to pick up U.S. citizens on U.S. soil and detain them indefinitely without charge: 3081
Number of times the word “rights” is used in S. 3081: 2
Number of times the word is used to indicate the lack of Americans’ rights: 2
Number [...]

On the morning of January 20 2010, Senator Patrick Leahy reacted to the Inspector General’s confirmation that the FBI had illegally obtained Americans’ phone records under false pretenses by telling stories about threats of terrorist attack that did not exist. His words:
Senator Patrick Leahy: This morning, the Inspector General released a report a few [...]

Notable House and Senate Hearings for the week of March 8-12, 2010:
War on Drugs
Thursday, March 11 at 10:00 AM, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing to mark up long-delayed legislation rectifying the discrepancy in sentencing for crack cocaine vs. powder cocaine possession.
Elections
Wednesday, March 10 at 10:00 AM, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold [...]

Last week, Senator John Ensign of Nevada voted against a six-month extension of unemployment insurance benefits for America’s jobless workers. As he has repeatedly declared, the expense is simply not justified and will only encourage the jobless to seek government handouts in the future.
Senator John Ensign also voted for billions of dollars in subsidies [...]

Last week, Republican Representative Candice Miller of Michigan issued a statement on the reauthorization of Patriot Act provisions to “sneak and peek” into Americans’ communications and possessions without probable cause:
The provisions in the Patriot Act provide critical tools to our national security and law enforcement agents to better combat terrorism and protect our nation. [...]

“I think there’s probably a stronger sense that the civil liberties concerns are less likely to be triggered by Obama administration activities than the Bush administration activities.”
– Rhode Island Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, explaining why Senate Democrats passed reauthorization of the Patriot Act. A single Senator’s objection is all that is required to force a [...]

Paul Hodes has some explaining to do.
Hearing that a bill to reauthorize the Patriot Act was being prepared for passage in the House of Representatives, a constituent of the New Hampshire Democrat wrote to him:
I note with considerable alarm that, in spite of the supposed “shutdown” of the nation’s capital due to snowfall, Congress is [...]

Utah Senator Bob Bennett has been busy declining some invitations and accepting others. Bennett failed to attend a candidate forum in his home state of Utah on February 13, 2010. On January 15 of this year, Bob Bennett declined an invitation from Tea Party activists to attend an Independence Caucus in Provo. [...]