Free Republic

WASHINGTON - The National Security Agency intercepted private e-mail messages and phone calls of Americans in recent months on a scale that went beyond the broad legal limits established by Congress last year, government officials said in recent interviews. Several intelligence officials, as well as lawyers briefed about the matter, said the N.S.A. had been engaged in “overcollection” of domestic communications of Americans. They described the practice as significant and systemic, although one official said it was believed to have been unintentional.

Apocalypse Soon: Has Environmental Abuse Finally Gone too Far? by Brandi Neal In light of recent environmental disasters, it's time to pose a question. How many of these recent events are attributed to human involvement and how many can be written off as the earth's fury that we couldn't possibly have had any control over? After the death of environmentalist David Brower in 2000, former Congressman and Executive Director of Voice of the Environment, Dan Hamburg wrote, "David Brower challenged us to comprehend both the awesome beauty of creation and the awesome responsibility we have to preserve it. Whether we...