April 18, 2008 - Federal law enforcement agencies co-opted sheriffs offices as well as state and local police forces in three states last weekend for a vast round-up operation that one sheriff's deputy described as "martial law training".

PORTLAND, Oregon - April 17, 2008 - A citizen who watched a cop illegally park, then walk into a Chinese restaurant to wait for his food, has issued the officer a series of citizen-initiated parking violations.

Policy includes people arrested but not convicted

April 17, 2008 - The U.S. government will soon begin collecting DNA samples from all citizens arrested in connection with any federal crime and from many immigrants detained by federal authorities, adding genetic identifiers from more than 1 million individuals a year to the swiftly growing federal law enforcement DNA database.

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, Canada - April 16, 2008 - CBC News has learned that transit police on SkyTrain stations in Metro Vancouver have used Taser stun guns on passengers who didn't pay the fare and tried to run away.

NEW JERSEY - April 16, 2008 - A federal appeals court ruled a New Jersey high school football coach who bowed his head while students on his team led prayer broke the law.

April 16, 2008 - A coalition of Christian organizations is encouraging students to stay home when their schools recognize the "Day of Silence" homosexual-lifestyle promotion this year - and the reaction has started coming in. It's scheduled  this year for April 25, although some schools are recognizing it on a different day.

Liberty Counsel reports it has had complaints from parents and students about a wide range of misbehaviors or misrepresentations presented by schools.

For example, in one school district a principal told a father if his son was not at school on the "Day of Silence," the student would be given a failing grade for the year. In Indiana, parents were told by public school officials it was "against the law" for them to cancel the program or excuse absences that day. And in Iowa, a school board member said a student refusing to speak throughout a school day was no more disruptive than a "Christian wearing a cross."

"When it comes to the Day of Silence, silence is not an option," said Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University's School of Law.

CONCORD, New Hampshire - April 16, 2008 - The House debated, then declined to take a final vote today on a resolution that called for impeachment of President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

After 45 minutes of debate, the House tabled the resolution on a vote of 227-95.

The resolution’s author, Rep. Betty Hall, D-Brookline, said impeachment would uncover the facts behind secrets the Bush regime has fought to protect. She said impeachment would bring out the truth about the decisions to wage the war in Iraq, use of the Justice Department for political purposes, details of domestic surveillance and the torture of prisoners.

Hall, 87, drew support from both political parties during public hearings on the bill, but it emerged from a House committee with a 10-5 vote recommending it be killed.

Rep. Kris Roberts, D-Keene, chair of the House State Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs Committee, said the resolution expects too much from a Congress that has little time to handle other affairs including the run-up to November elections.

He said part of the blame for the events stemming from Iraq should be laid with Congress. “If Congress had done its job, the President would have had to ask for a declaration of war,” he said. After the first Iraq war in 1991, Americans believed victory would be quick and easy, “so members of Congress abrogated their responsibility,” Roberts said.

Deputy Minority Leader David Hess, R-Hooksett, argued that the petition was too general, and needed to be as specific as a criminal indictment.

He said an impeachment proceeding is for criminal conduct, “not behavior that pushes to the edge some of our laws, but for high crimes and misdemeanors … We have to deal with facts.”

A rally for the resolution this week included speakers Daniel Ellsberg, Vietnam War critic who leaked the Pentagon Papers, and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.

Had the resolution passed, it would not have had any binding authority on Congress.