Will Specter Rein In the White House?

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I’m not sure what to make of Arlen Specter’s latest proposed bill that would authorize the FISA court to review the constitutionality of the Bush administration’s domestic spying program. It seems like a step to bring oversight to the program, and to determine whether it’s legal or not, but why couldn’t this have been done with from the beginning? And what if the FISA court finds that the administration has been acting illegally all this time? At any rate, as with most “policy shifts” from the White House these days, this strikes me as quite suspicious, so I’ll hold off rejoicing until we learn more.

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Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do.

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