Biscuit Variety Pack

The Irish Examiner reports that the CIA can now interrogate Irish citizens in total secrecy. What does the Examiner think of this? Well, the article's not an opinion piece, but it's not difficult to figure it out:

The person who will request co-operation is US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the man who, as White House counsel, instigated the notorious 'torture memo' to US President George W Bush which advised how far CIA agents could go in torturing prisoners. The person to whom the request is sent is the Minister for Justice.

About 20,000 immigrants, who have not been charged with any crime, are currently in prison in the US. In two recent US Supreme Court cases, the US Government argued that US citizens could be imprisoned indefinitely without charge if the president designated them as "enemy combatants".

In other news, WaPo reports that

The House for the first time in five years will weigh in on national space policy today, considering a bipartisan endorsement of President Bush's initiative to send humans to the moon and Mars and authorizing an extra $1.3 billion over the next two years to forestall cuts in NASA's traditional programs in science and aeronautics.

Because going to Mars should definitely be a big priority right now.

Oh, and while we're parsing the French Fries case, Congress is working on making most of the Patriot Act permanent.

Also, the UK police ask for lots of fun new powers to combat terrorism.

Most of you probably have seen this already, but New York has just started random searches of subway passengers' bags. Boston, D.C., and all the other major transit systems are watching closely to see if they, too, can violate passengers' rights for no actual public safety benefit.

Finally, did you know the military has developed microwave ray guys for crowd dispersal? That's so Futurama, dontcha think?