Travelers Still On The Hook; Gov. Richardson Not So Much

In an August 27 statement, DHS "announced new directives to enhance and clarify oversight for searches of computers and other electronic media at U.S. ports of entry." However, the Washington Post says the policies aren't really new:

The Obama administration will largely preserve Bush-era procedures allowing the government to search -- without suspicion of wrongdoing -- the contents of a traveler's laptop computer, cellphone or other electronic device, although officials said new policies would expand oversight of such inspections.

The policy, disclosed Thursday in a pair of Department of Homeland Security directives, describes more fully than did the Bush administration the procedures by which travelers' laptops, iPods, cameras and other digital devices can be searched and seized when they cross a U.S. border. And it sets time limits for completing searches.

But representatives of civil liberties and travelers groups say they see little substantive difference between the Bush-era policy, which prompted controversy, and this one.

Separately, a corruption investigation of Gov. Bill Richardson is apparently all for naught:

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former high-ranking members of his administration won't be criminally charged in a yearlong federal investigation into pay-to-play allegations involving one of the Democratic governor's large political donors, someone familiar with the case said.

The decision not to pursue indictments was made by top Justice Department officials, according to a person familiar with the investigation, who asked not to be identified because federal officials had not disclosed results of the probe.

"It's over. There's nothing. It was killed in Washington," the person told The Associated Press.

So, the Justice Dept won't prosecute Richardson, won't prosecute those individuals intimidating voters in Philadelphia, but will prosecute CIA interrogators while at the same time trying to come up with reasons to set terrorists free. And they said the Bush Justice Department was politicized?