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Daily Archives: February 7, 2008

EPA Calculator Puts Greenhouse Gas Savings in Everyday Terms

“EPA’s new Greenhouse Gas Calculator helps you turn greenhouse gas savings into more easily understood everyday terms. The calculator converts greenhouse gas-related savings estimates, typically presented in “million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents,” into familiar terms such as the greenhouse gas emissions that would result from:

  • Driving a particular number of cars for a year, Using a particular amount of gasoline or barrels of oil, Using a particular number of tanker trucks’ worth of gasoline, Providing energy to a particular number of homes for a year, Growing trees across a particular number of acres for a year, Recycling a particular quantity of waste instead of sending it to the landfill, or Generating electricity from a particular number of coal fired power plants for a year.”
  • Leahy: Founding Fathers’ Papers Should Be Put Online

    Press release: “Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) today called for the papers of the Founding Fathers Project [Pew Charitable Trusts: “The Project was established more than a half century ago to publish the complete, annotated writings of the country’s founding fathers—including George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and Benjamin… Continue Reading

    Corporate Integrity Agreement Between HHS Office of Inspector General and Merck & Co. Inc.

    Corporate Integrity Agreement Between the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and Merck & Co. Inc., February 7, 2008. “Merck & Company has agreed to pay more than $650 million to resolve allegations that the pharmaceutical manufacturer failed to pay proper rebates to Medicaid and other government health care programs and… Continue Reading

    New GAO Reports on DOD, DHS, FAA, Surface Transportation

    The Department of Defense’s Civilian Human Capital Strategic Plan Does Not Meet Most Statutory Requirements, GAO-08-439R, February 6, 2008 Department of Homeland Security: Status and Accountability Challenges Associated with the Use of Special DHS Acquisition Authority, GAO-08-471T, February 7, 2008 Federal Aviation Administration: Challenges Facing the Agency in Fiscal Year 2009 and Beyond, GAO-08-460T, February… Continue Reading

    Congress Moves to Make "Do Not Call" Listings Permanent

    CDT: “The Senate yesterday gave final congressional approval to legislation making “Do Not Call” listings permanent. Without the legislation, consumers’ phone numbers would have been automatically removed from the FTC controlled list after five years. CDT applauds the decision to eliminate the list’s current expiration policy, which would require consumers who want to remain on… Continue Reading

    Senators Leahy, Whitehouse Urge AG Mukasey To Clarify Testimony About Destruction of CIA Tapes

    Press release: “Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who also sits on the panel, sent a letter Thursday urging Attorney General Michael Mukasey to clarify testimony given to the Committee during last week’s Department of Justice oversight hearing. In the letter, they ask the Attorney General to explain the… Continue Reading

    Safety Groups Claim DOJ Has Failed to Produce National Database to Help Prevent Auto Fraud

    Press release: “More than 15 years after Congress required the federal government to set up a national database to allow car buyers to determine whether a vehicle has been stolen or rebuilt after a wreck, the system is still not in place, three consumers groups said Wednesday in a lawsuit filed against the Department of… Continue Reading

    CIA Freedom Of Information Act Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2007

    Central Intelligence Agency Freedom Of Information Act Annual Report for Fiscal Year 2007, Unclassified. “For those FOIA cases closed in FY 2007, 80% were closed in 175 days; median response time was 40 days; average response time was 223 days. For those Privacy Act cases closed in FY 2007, 80% were closed in 58 days;… Continue Reading

    Preservation in the Age of Large-Scale Digitization

    Preservation in the Age of Large-Scale Digitization, A White Paper by Oya Y. Rieger, February, 2008. 52 pp. Published by the Council on Library and Information Resources. Executive Summary: “The digitization of millions of books under programs such as Google Book Search and Microsoft Live Search Books is dramatically expanding our ability to search and… Continue Reading