IRS Flaws Expose Taxpayers to Snooping, Study Finds

Information on tax returns could expose millions of taxpayers to potential identity theft or illegal police snooping, according to a new congressional report.

The Internal Revenue Service also is unlikely to know if outsiders are browsing through citizens' tax returns because barriers between tax returns and money-laundering reports don't exist, the GAO found. Thus a police officer checking up on money-laundering reports can also read personal tax returns, in violation of federal law.

U.S. eliminates annual terrorism report

One way to deal with bad news is to simply sweep it under the rug which is what Condi Rice decided to do when the annual terrorism report revealed that terrorist incidents in 2004 were the highest since 1985.

"Instead of dealing with the facts and dealing with them in an intelligent fashion, they try to hide their facts from the American public," charged Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst and State Department terrorism expert who first disclosed the decision to eliminate the report in The Counterterrorism Blog, an online journal.

Too Many Foreign Visitors Believe the US an Open Democracy

A Chinese man demanding to talk to President Bush who had suitcases authorities feared might contain explosives was tackled outside the U.S. Capitol on Monday and arrested. After tackling the man and blowing up one of hiis suitcases, Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said the bags contained no explosives or other dangerous materials and that the suspicious wires turned out to be part of a CD player.

The man drew the attention of a Capitol police officer in the early afternoon. When the man would not respond to police, they cleared the surrounding area and told people to stay away from the windows and asked staff to clear offices closest to the area.

Gainer said the man wanted to talk to Bush.

Several helmeted police officers tackled him and dragged him away by his arms before the hazardous materials response team moved in. He put up no resistance."