Newt Gingrich on BCRA, and the electioneering communications rule: This is horribly wrong. What would the Founding Fathers have thought of such free speech “blackout periods”? The days leading up to an election ought to be filled with debate. Free speech and activism, by informing and organizing the public, empower average citizens to promote a cause they believe in and to demand honest and responsive representation. Instead, the incumbent politicians that supported McCain-Feingold prefer to keep us quiet and prevent us from making noise about their records as Election Day gets closer.

The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a federal lawsuit to force the Department of Defense to turn over records it wrongly kept on peace groups and law-abiding Americans throughout the country. "The U.S. military should not be in the business of maintaining secret databases about lawful First Amendment activities," said ACLU attorney Ben Wizner. "It is an abuse of power and an abuse of trust for the military to play any role in monitoring critics of administration policies." For the press release

We are hearing that proposals for sunset commissions are accelerating through the House now. Reports are emerging from Boehner’s office that indicate some yet-to-be-unveiled vehicle will get a floor vote next week. We need to stop this legislation which would give unelected commissions the power to recommend which federal programs live, die, or get realigned, and then force those recommendations through Congress on a fast-track, take-it-or-leave-it basis. And we need your help making nonprofit voices heard! We are circulating a sign-on letter to send to the House, the text of which follows. It would be great if the groups who care about social services, public health, safety, civil rights, the environment, scientific research, and access to justice — i.e., you! — would sign. Deadline Friday COB. To sign, just email stopsunsets [at] ombwatch.org to let us know that your organization will sign on!