Project for Excellence in Journalism: “Through the first 10 months of the year, the portrait of Iraq that Americans have received from the news media has in considerable measure been a grim one. Roughly half of the reporting has consisted of accounts of daily violence. And stories that explicitly assessed the direction of the war… Continue Reading
Accurate, Focused Research on Law, Technology and Knowledge Discovery Since 2002
Monthly Archives: December 2007
Independent Auditor's Report on DHS' FY 2007 Special-Purpose Financial Statements
OIG-08-17 – Independent Auditor’s Report on DHS’ FY 2007 Special-Purpose Financial Statements (PDF, 171 pages) – New 12/21/2007 Continue Reading
President Signs Genocide Accountability Act of 2007
White House: “S. 888, the Genocide Accountability Act of 2007, which expands criminal liability for participation in acts of genocide committed outside of the United States to persons not covered by current criminal law…” Genocide Accountability Act of 2007, Signed by President December 21, 2007 – Public Law No: 110-151: “Amends the federal criminal code… Continue Reading
Congress Earmarks Funds to Sustain EPA Libraries
Follow up to previous postings on EPA Library Closures, news from Library Journal: “Reversing a policy bitterly opposed by library advocates, many Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employees, and the watchdog Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), Congress in its omnibus appropriations bill sent to President George W. Bush has earmarked $3 million to restore service… Continue Reading
Brief Asserts Public Should Have Access to 9/11 Related Court Filings
Press release: “The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press asked a federal court in Manhattan [December 21, 2007] to require open access to records in the civil case over liability following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks. Victims of the attacks and their families filed lawsuits against airline and security companies seeking to determine… Continue Reading
Declassified Hoover Plan on Suspending Habeas Corpus
New York Times, Hoover Planned Mass Jailings in 1950: “A newly declassified document shows that J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, had a plan to suspend habeas corpus and imprison some 12,000 Americans he suspected of disloyalty. Hoover sent his plan to the White House on July 7, 1950,… Continue Reading
Energy Saving Tips for the Holidays, and Thereafter
Official Google Blog: “Here’s a suggestion for everyone to save energy over the holidays (and at other times!): turn off your computer and monitor or put them into “sleep” mode when you’re not using them. Why? The typical desktop PC uses 100-200 watts even when it’s idle. That’s the equivalent of 1-2 bright incandescent (read:… Continue Reading
Federal Election Commission, Lacking Confirmed Panel, Shuts Down
Washington Post: “The federal agency in charge of policing the torrent of political spending during the upcoming presidential primaries will, for all practical purposes, shut its doors on New Year’s Eve. The Federal Election Commission will effectively go dark on Jan. 1 because Congress remains locked in a standoff over the confirmation of President Bush’s… Continue Reading
FBI Building Next Generation Identification Database
Washington Post: “The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world’s largest computer database of peoples’ physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and abroad. Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns are already flowing into FBI systems in… Continue Reading
State Dept. OIG Report on Blackwater Released After FOIA Request
TPMmuckraker, State Dept Document from 2005 Shows Fraud in Blackwater’s Iraq Contract: “A report prepared for the State Department’s inspector general in January 2005, and obtained by TPMmuckraker, shows Blackwater’s accounting system for its no-bid, multimillion dollar Iraq contract was “not considered adequate for accumulating costs on government contracts.” The report is an audit of… Continue Reading
U.S. Teen Birth Rate Rises for First Time in 15 Years
CDC National Center for Health Statistics: “The teen birth rate in the United States rose in 2006 for the first time since 1991, and unmarried childbearing also rose significantly, according to preliminary birth statistics released [December 3, 2007] by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)…The report shows that between 2005 and 2006, the… Continue Reading
Third Edition of Report Examines Uninsured Children in the South
“Commissioned by the [Kaiser] Foundation, a new report by the Southern Institute on Children and Families provides state-by-state estimates of uninsured children in the southern region of the country, which contains 17 states and the District of Columbia. The report contains fact sheets showing estimates of uninsured children for each of these states. It shows… Continue Reading
