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Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke appeared incredibly nervous during an interview aired last night on PBS' NewsHour, particularly during a question on the ongoing effort to pass legislation that would see the Fed's books being opened up to a general audit.

Newly declassified documents reveal that an active member of Students for a Democratic Society and Port Militarization Resistance in Washington state was actually an informant for the US military. The man everyone knew as "John Jacob" was in fact John Towery, a member of the Force Protection Service at Fort Lewis. The military's role in the spying raises questions about possibly illegal activity. The Posse Comitatus law bars the use of the armed forces for law enforcement inside the United States. The Fort Lewis military base denied our request for an interview. But in a statement to Democracy Now!, the base's Public Affairs office publicly acknowledged for the first time that Towery is a military operative. "This could be one of the key revelations of this era," said Eileen Clancy, who has closely tracked government spying on activist organizations. [includes rush transcript]

On its very face, this is also a flagrant violation of the 5th amendment. Any census form that goes beyond asking how many people live in the residence is a violation of the 5th amendment, and court cases have established this, yet the census becomes more and more invasive each time.

Demolition workers facing questions over the botched implosion of a building in Turkey only have themselves to blame, since they didn't follow new laws of physics introduced on 9/11 which dictate that to achieve a perfect demolition of a building all you need to do is set a few office fires and wait for the entire structure to fall perfectly in its own footprint while partially evaporating into dust.

independence, and it wouldn't put Congress in charge of monetary policy. An audit is simply an examination of records or financial accounts to check their accuracy. We must not equate "independence" with secrecy. No matter how intelligent or well-intentioned the Fed chairman and his staff may be, it isn't appropriate to give a handful of people the power to lend an unlimited supply of money to anyone it wants without sufficient oversight. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The American people have a right to know what is being done with their hard-earned taxpayer dollars. This money does not belong to the Fed; it belongs to the American people. ad_icon BERNARD SANDERS U.S. Senator (I-Vt.) Washington The writer is the sponsor of the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act. Tuesday, July 28, 2009 Regarding the July 24 editorial "Focus on the Fed": What a sad day for a newspaper with a storied reputation for exposing waste, fraud and abuse in government, to oppose the Federal Reserve Sunshine Act, legislation that would simply increase transparency at the Federal Reserve. The Fed has expanded its balance sheet by more than $1 trillion in taxpayer dollars in response to the financial crisis. Who received this money? Is it being used primarily to help ordinary Americans or just the wealthy and well-connected? What conflicts of interest exist between members of the Fed and Wall Street bankers? This is all information that the American people deserve to know. The Fed isn't answering these questions. That is why an independent audit of the Fed is gaining such bipartisan support. This legislation wouldn't undermine the Fed's

As questions about gun rights swirl around the nomination of a new Supreme Court Justice, and debate continues over attempts in Congress to make it easier to carry concealed weapons state-to-state, an increasing number of Long Islanders are applying for pistol permits.

A rather surprising finding from the newly released CNN poll. Question three on the national survey of 1,136 adults (which includes an oversample of African-Americans) asks, "Do you consider the first six months of the Obama administration to be a success or a failure?"