Freedom isn’t free. The National Security Agency along with the CIA, FBI and other intelligence agencies of the U.S. government has been swapping information with private companies. In exchange for private companies giving the intelligence agencies information on their users, the private companies receive access to classified intelligence.

A new bill set to be introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley would bring some transparency to the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court. The bill would force the government to reveal how it interprets National Security laws.

The problem with all this cloak and dagger stuff is that ordinary citizens cannot reliably inform themselves on the issue. The quick way to choose whom to believe is to pick the side you like better. But after that first snap decision, it helps to look at the various parties’ credibility.

The Associated Press were not the only ones to have their phone records seized by the government as it was revealed Tuesday that Fox News had their phone records seized as part of the Obama Administration’s war on whistleblowers. After being labeled a “co-conspirator” Fox News reporter James Rosen was targeted for doing basic journalism.

Only a few months after being defeated in the Presidential Election the Republican Party is having an identity crisis. The party has split in two over the issue of civil liberties and presidential power. The split came to a head when Senator Rand Paul filibustered CIA Director John Brennan’s nomination for 13 hours. In response to the popular display Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham condemned Paul mocking his arguments. McCain would ultimately insult Senator Paul by claiming he and his allies represented the wacko bird caucus.

The Cold War system of classifying and declassifying information held by United States government agencies is “overly complex, “keeps too many secrets” for to long and obstructs information sharing inside government and with the public, according to a report produced by a board of individuals that President Barack Obama ordered on classified information.

This week, Congress prepares to abuse the rights of We the People of the United States again, by extending its 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). With the House of Representatives poised to vote today on a premature five year extension, will members remember what they heard when reading the Constitution on the House floor, or instead entrench the Bush-Cheney legacy beyond even the next administration?

There are 15,000 media personnel in Charlotte at the Democratic National Convention. Some of that includes photographers, but any way you slice it, you have a substantial number of journalists. Not one of them has the fortitude to pull off what Ben Swann of Fox 19 Cincinnati did in an interview with President Obama.

At a speech today before the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney will attack the President for intelligence leaks designed to bolster the Administration’s foreign policy record. But his choice of leaks to criticize is baffling.

I noted this morning that some defense establishmentarians have reached the “bargaining stage” on the trigger cuts, trying to get out of the situation with minimal but tangible damage to the military budget.

Not everyone is there yet.