CIA Director Leon Panetta has refused to release interrogation tape records out of concern that the details of torture could be used for propaganda by enemies of the United States. -DB American Civil Liberties Union Press Release June 9., 2009 NEW YORK – In another attempt to avoid public and judicial scrutiny of the Bush administration torture program, CIA Director Leon Panetta argued that records related to the destruction and content of interrogation tapes should

A former Southeastern Economic Development Corp. president lost a $100,000 plus severance package after a community activist brought suit charging the SEDC board awrded the package in secret without public notice. -DB voice of san diego.org June 10, 2009 By Will Carless A legal appeal lodged by former Southeastern Economic Development Corp. President Carolyn Y. Smith against a lawsuit that challenged her lucrative severance package has been dismissed by a judge as moot. 

Smith’s $100,350

Relations between North Korea and the United States have worsened after two American reporters were seized and tried after crossing the border from China and North Korea on March 17. The reporters are thought to be pawns in the struggle between the United Nations and North Korea over the country’s nuclear tests. -DB Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press June 8, 2009 By Caitlin Dickson Two American journalists were sentenced to 12 years hard

The Berkeley Daily Planet June 4, 2009 By Richard Brenneman A small group of East Bay residents are waging a campaign against the Berkeley Daily Planet for publishing what they call anti-Semitic criticisms of Israel’s policies and actions. The Planet itself has not assumed an editorial stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but occasionally runs letters and commentaries from Berkeley residents, most of which are critical of Israel. In an investigatory report on the activities of

A prison who wrote a vulgar note to a prosecutor on a piece of toilet paper found that the federal appeals court did not consider it within the bounds of protected speech under the First Amendment. -DB Houston Chronicle June 8, 2009 By Michael Graczyk HOUSTON (AP) — A vulgar note written on a piece of toilet paper by a Texas inmate and sent to a prosecutor is not constitutionally protected free speech, a federal