Washington, D.C. - The Libertarian Party is questioning John McCain's rhetoric of bringing "real change" to Washington after it was revealed by a McCain adviser that the Republican presidential candidate supports the warrantless wiretap programs of the Bush administration. "McCain's support of President Bush's domestic spying program would indicate that a McCain administration would be another four years of Constitution treading and civil liberties abuse," says Libertarian Party spokesperson Andrew Davis.

"McCain has tried to project himself as a 'real change' from the disastrous programs of the last seven years," Davis continues. "However, McCain's reluctance to fully abandon the egregious policies of his predecessor makes him simply a repackaged version of the Bush administration--far from the illusion of change McCain has worked so hard to create."

On Friday, the New York Times reported that a McCain adviser had stated McCain as believing that “neither the administration nor the telecoms need apologize for actions that most people, except for the A.C.L.U. and trial lawyers, understand were constitutional and appropriate in the wake of the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.” Taking such a position would put McCain in lockstep with the highly criticized programs of the Bush administration.

"Real change--the kind that a Barr administration would bring to Americans--would be returning America to a place where citizens can trust that the government is not looking over their shoulder or listening in on their phone calls," says LP presidential candidate and former Congressman Bob Barr. "A McCain administration would undoubtedly be a continuation of the status quo from which Americans are ready to escape. McCain is not change. McCain is four more years of the same."

The Libertarian Party is America's third largest political party, founded in 1971 as an alternative to the two main political parties. You can find more information on the Libertarian Party by visiting www.LP.org. The Libertarian Party proudly stands for smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.

Federal prosecutors are no longer seeking stiffer prison sentences for former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, but have not said why.

Prosecutors filed a motion this week with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking that their appeals of the sentences be dropped. Their appeals had called for a longer prison term than Siegelman's more than seven-year sentence and Scrushy's almost seven-year sentence .

The latest filing does not spell out why prosecutors want to drop their appeals. It just says "the government has elected not to proceed with its cross-appeal as to either defendant."

Prosecutors originally asked that Siegelman be sentenced to 30 years in federal prison and Scrushy to 25 years.

The United States is operating "floating prisons" to house those arrested in its war on terror, according to human rights lawyers, who claim there has been an attempt to conceal the numbers and whereabouts of detainees.

Details of ships where detainees have been held and sites allegedly being used in countries across the world have been compiled as the debate over detention without trial intensifies on both sides of the Atlantic. The US government was yesterday urged to list the names and whereabouts of all those detained.

Information about the operation of prison ships has emerged through a number of sources, including statements from the US military, the Council of Europe and related parliamentary bodies, and the testimonies of prisoners.

The analysis, due to be published this year by the human rights organisation Reprieve, also claims there have been more than 200 new cases of rendition since 2006, when President George Bush declared that the practice had stopped.
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According to research carried out by Reprieve, the US may have used as many as 17 ships as "floating prisons" since 2001. Detainees are interrogated aboard the vessels and then rendered to other, often undisclosed, locations, it is claimed.