We've been lobbying the Department of Justice all these months without realizing that the key to justice lay in the Department of the Interior, and specifically in the National Park Service, which has told activist Steve Lane he will be prosecuted if he attempts to demonstrate waterboarding at Thursday's anti-torture rally in Washington, D.C. The permit for the rally reads "Waterboarding exhibit will not be allowed for safety reasons."

I've been up late every night for a week, watching for news from Iran, doing what I can to help spread the word. Tonight, though, I just wish I could be there. I wish I could be in Tehran today, Saturday, for the Sea of Green. I don't have a lot of Iranian friends. I had a few in college, but we fell out of touch. Those friends taught me what Iran was really like, though. They taught me to see past the rhetoric, Iranian and American, that says Iran is our enemy. They taught me that when you walk out your door, in Tehran or in Manhattan, people aren't so different.

I was hoping they would cancel Father's Day this year, mostly because my son Ezra Malik died. He was my baby boy, and he died the day before he was born, in a hospital in August of last year. We grieving fathers need to know we are not alone this Father's Day.

Health care reform could eliminate spur economic growth, reduce the national debt, and expand access to medical care. On the surface, the costs of health care reform seem staggering. But when one compares the costs and benefits of health care reform, it becomes clear that health care reform could save $1.82 trillion over ten years.

Lawmakers want to be sure that health care reform -- if it happens -- won't worsen the deficit over the next ten years. That's laudable, but it's not enough. There's a risk that reform could be paid for over ten years, yet still worsen our long-run budget crisis. Policymakers should therefore focus on the long-run trajectory of new spending and offsets, not just the 10-year budget scores.

It has been demonstrated repeatedly, tolerance is good for business. To win the battle over legalizing same-sex marriage then focus on the potential power that socially tolerant public policies could have on America's financial bottom line. Going pro-gay means going pro-greenbacks.

I've held off on what is going on in Iran because some things needed to become clearer. The power of technology in the hands of the people changes the dynamics tremendously. I would imagine that the information from Iran is simultaneously inspiring people and frightening power-mongers around the world. The ability to get pictures and video out means that authoritarian approaches can not easily choke off information flow.

One of the great perks of living in DC is that, when you decide to host an informative Health Care House Party for OFA, you sometimes find a national correspondent from Fox News showing up at your doorstep and have the sublime pleasure of turning them away.

By Tom Parker, Policy Director, (Counter) Terrorism and Human Rights Four Uighur former Guantanamo inmates are now in Bermuda, other detainees have been released to France, Chad, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Hungary, Italy and Palau appear to have joined the ranks of countries prepared to accept detainees cleared for release. The pace of releases finally seems to be picking up and that is a cause for optimism.

The conservative media and blogosphere think they have an explosive story on their hands. President Obama did not "illegally" fire Walpin. To fire an IG, according to the Inspector General Reform Act of 2008, the president must inform Congress 30 days before terminating the IG's employment as well as provide Congress with a reason for doing so. Obama suspended Walpin with pay and informed him that he would be terminated after 30 days. Obama wrote Congress to inform them of this decision and supplied his reasoning for doing so.

Read Older Articles