President Obama selected Massachusetts senior Senator Ted Kennedy to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom July 30, supposedly the highest civilian honor the United States government gives.

The Obama administration has picked up the Bush administration’s policy of denying justice to detainees rather quickly, using the tactics of delay as the Bush administration had done. But in the case of child-combatant Mohammed Jawad, U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle may not allow it anymore.

President Bush considered ignoring the long-standing and explicit prohibition against using military forces within U.S. territory, the New York Times reported on July 25. The deployment of military forces against U.S. civilians was banned by the Posse Comitatus law, which was enacted shortly after Civil War reconstruction ended. President Bush reportedly considered using military forces to arrest five suspected terrorists near Buffalo, N.Y., in September 2002, despite the law.

Four Democratic committee and subcommittee chairmen signed a July 21 letter rebuking President Barack Obama for asserting in a “signing statement” that he could ignore the law as passed by Congress.

President Obama reiterated his false claim that he has not raised the taxes of Americans.

Special Inspector General of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) Neil Barofsky told House members on July 21 that the TARP program and other government bailout programs have mushroomed the liability of the federal government to $23.7 trillion.

President Obama is really starting to feel the heat on the bogus economic projections he used to sell the “stimulus” package and budget to Americans, and he’s also used cabinet-level executive branch officials to bite back at political critics.

Bush-era Justice Department Attorney John Yoo is mad that various inspectors general have concluded that his legal memoranda on Bush-era warrantless eavesdropping have “serious factual and legal flaws.”

Seven Democratic members of Congress recently penned a strong letter to CIA Director Leon Panetta asking him to apologize for claiming back in May that the CIA didn't lie to Congress. Panetta had written in May:  “Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and values.” Panetta’s claim was false. Last week, Panetta informed House Intelligence Committee members for the first time of an intelligence program that had existed since 2001.

The House of Representatives passed a measure that is a direct attack on the First Amendment on June 25 by a vote of 389-22. Within the $671 billion fiscal 2010 Defense Authorization bill (H.R. 2647) is a proposal to ban the U.S. military from recruiting or retaining “a person associated or affiliated with a group associated with hate-related violence against groups or persons or the United States Government, as determined by the Attorney General.”