Just yesterday I delivered the bad news that a judge (a Bush appointee) denied the request of NASA scientists for protection against invasion of their personal privacy by the Federal Government. I mentioned that the case was under appeal. Those who have been following this story will know that this case directly affects my wife, who will also be required to waive her rights if she wants to work at a NASA facility even though none of the work she does is sensitive. This has been hanging over our heads for weeks now.

Well, in this case, the courts moved fast. The appeal has been successful and the Ninth Circuit Court has issued an injunction against the oppressive implementation of Homeland Security Presidential Directive #12.

This is taken (with links to the full thing) from a series on Culture Kitchen and Daily Gotham describing my own family's ongoing experience with Bush's paranoid America. The original story is a three-part (to date) story which has been picked up outside the blogsphere, but not so much within the blogshere.

Since parts are a Culture Kitchen exclusive, I will mainly excerpt here with links the original diaries. The basic jist of the series is this: every single Federal employee is now to be treated as if they work on sensitive projects requiring extensive background checks. All Federal employees are being asked to sign blanket waivers giving up their basic rights so that the government can investigate every aspect of their personal life should they deem it necessary for any reason. Keep reading...