Former U.S. Army Lieutenant and lawyer Brandon Mayfield may be the Patriot Act’s most prominent innocent victim. The federal government imposed warrantless surveillance and a “sneak-and-peek” search of his home upon the innocent U.S. citizen and Muslim convert and arrested him on a “material witness” warrant, even though officials never intended to have him testify in court. In fact, Mayfield was under investigation for supposedly having had a role in the 2004 Madrid train bombings, as the FBI initially identified him (using his military service fingerprints) as one of the persons whose fingerprints were on a bag of bomb parts similar to those used in the bombing.

An alternative budget proposal submitted by Congressman Paul Ryan (Wis.), the House Budget Committee's Republican ranking member, would increase the federal budget deficit even more than President Obama's bloated budget — nearly $1 trillion more — according to a February 24 analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

House Democrats have caved in to Republican pressure, removing an anti-torture provision from the Fiscal 2010 Intelligence Authorization Act (H.R. 2701). “The controversial provision,” the Washington Post reported February 26, “would have subjected intelligence officers to up 15 years in prison for interrogations that violate existing anti-torture laws, including the use of extreme temperatures, acts causing sexual humiliation or depriving a prisoner of food, sleep or medical care.”

President Obama signed into law February 12 a bill that would increase the federal debt limit by $1.9 trillion to a total of $14.3 trillion. The legislation also included a restoration of the “pay-as-you-go” provision of congressional budgeting that requires new spending proposals in Congress to be matched by cuts or tax increases in order to prevent accelerating the already out-of-control federal budget deficit.

The U.S. House of Representatives on July 9 voted almost unanimously to rebuke President Barack Obama over his June 24 signing statement openly declaring that he could ignore provisions of the law he was signing.

“Cap-And-Trade” global-warming legislation that would — by President Barack Obama's own admission — “skyrocket” electricity rates as well as raise taxes on consumers narrowly passed the House of Representatives June 26 by a vote of 219-212. The legislation would levy new taxes and dramatic new regulations in order to cap carbon and other “greenhouse gas” emissions. Congressional Quarterly reported that eight Republicans who voted for the bill tipped the balance in favor of the legislation.

The Washington Post has reported today that Congress will vote Friday on the 1,092-page American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454) to restrict carbon-dioxide emissions in order to fight global warming. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the measure, which is also known as  "cap-and-trade" legislation, would create $846 billion in higher taxes and increase federal “direct spending by about $821 billion.” In addition to the direct tax implications, the bill's extensive new “cap-and-trade” regulations could skyrocket all Americans’ utility bills and create massive job losses.

The ACLU has begun using Arizona's S.B. 1070 immigration law as a fundraising tool.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's highly touted RomneyCare has cost Massachusetts some 18,000 jobs, reduced investment in the state by tens of millions, raised health care costs, and lowered per capita disposable income, according to a computer model study by the Suffolk University-based Beacon Hill Institute. RomneyCare became the model for Obama's national health care reform legislation Congress passed in 2010, including an individual mandate, tax penalties for companies that don't offer care, a health insurance exchange, and several other similar key components.

An article in the most recent edition of the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) suggests that as many as two million children who are "morbidly obese" should be put on a diet by government and removed from their parents and families if they don't show progress.