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.”

Sarah Palin’s July 3 resignation from the Alaska governorship created a wave of publicity and hand-wringing among liberals in the major media who counseled that Palin was politically finished with the resignation. Of course, these are the same liberals who said she was finished anyway after the November presidential election.

It’s not funny, but former Saturday Night Live comedian Al Franken is officially the new senator from Minnesota. Franken was recently declared the winner in the long-contested Senate race by a mere 312 votes over incumbent liberal Republican Norman Coleman. Franken will become the 60th Democrat in the United States Senate, which will give congressional Democrats a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

Since he was asking about things that had already happened back in February, George Stephanopoulos might as well have asked White House adviser David Axelrod on This Week if he thought New Hampshire Republican Judd Gregg would withdraw his name from consideration as Obama’s secretary of commerce.

President Barack Obama praised the efforts of the Federal Reserve Bank during his press conference June 23, telling reporters, “I think that the Fed probably performed better than most other regulators prior to the crisis taking place,” adding that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke “has performed very well.”

If anyone ever wanted proof of columnist Joe Sobran’s dictum that “war is just one more big government program,” they need look no further than the supplemental appropriations H.R. 2346 conference report awaiting President Obama’s signature.

The New American recently warned that Americans who oppose policies emanating from Washington are being tarred as right-wing extremists and even potential terrorists by the Obama administration's Department of Homeland Security as well as by the New York Times and other liberal media organs. This push to demonize and even criminalize political dissent appears to be accelerating.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) withdrew its controversial report on “Right Wing Extremism” (PDF) as a terrorism threat back in May, but now left-wing media pundits say it’s time to bring back the report that tarred all U.S. military veterans and any political conservative as potential terrorist threats.

President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2010 budget proposal owned up to a $1.75 trillion annual deficit for fiscal 2009 (the fiscal year began last October), but considering the President's overly optimistic economic assumptions the final tally probably closer to $2 trillion. The New American reported Obama’s figure three weeks ago. The official figure doesn’t count about $150 billion that will be stolen from “trust funds” like Social Security, but it’s still quadruple the 2008 record budget deficit.