Nonprofit Group To Add Its Rankings To Crowded Field, By Anna Wilde Mathews: “The nonprofit Consumers Union is launching a new hospital-ratings service, adding to the growing competition to provide online consumer information about health care. The effort by the publisher of the popular Consumer Reports magazine is a gamble that the credibility of the… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: May 2008
Recent CRS Reports: National Security Strategy, Science, Technology, and American Diplomacy, Mexico-U.S. Relations
Via Secrecy News: National Security Strategy: Legislative Mandates, Execution to Date, and Considerations for Congress, May 28, 2008 Science, Technology, and American Diplomacy: Background and Issues for Congress, May 22, 2008 Mexico-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress, updated May 23, 2008 German Foreign and Security Policy: Trends and Transatlantic Implications,” updated April 29, 2008 The Army’s… Continue Reading
Guidance for Homeland Security Presidential Directiv 12 Implementation
Guidance for Homeland Security Presidential Directive (HSPD) 12 Implementation (May 23 2008) (4 pages): “This document serves as a guideline to assist agencies in preparing or refining plans for incorporating the use of Personal Identity Verification (PIV) credentials, to the maximum extent practicable, with physical and logical access control systems.” Continue Reading
New GAO Reports: Force Structure, International Food Security, Prison Construction
Department of Defense Pilot Authority for Acquiring Information Technology Services under OMB Circular A-76, GAO-08-753R, May 29, 2008 Force Structure: Ship Rotational Crewing Initiatives Would Benefit from Top-Level Leadership, Navy-wide Guidance, Comprehensive Analysis, and Improved Lessons-Learned Sharing, GAO-08-418, May 29, 2008 International Food Security: Insufficient Efforts by Host Governments and Donors Threaten Progress to Halve… Continue Reading
Myths and Facts About FEMA Housing Following Katrina
FEMA: Myths and Facts About FEMA Housing Following Katrina, May 26, 2008 Continue Reading
Doctrine of Eternal Recurrence – The U.S. Military and Counterinsurgency Doctrine, 1960-1970 and 2003-2006: RAND Counterinsurgency Study
Doctrine of Eternal Recurrence — The U.S. Military and Counterinsurgency Doctrine, 1960-1970 and 2003-2006, RAND Counterinsurgency Study — Paper 6, by Austin Long. [Note: related reports/papers are available online here] “The publication of a new counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine manual in late 2006 was widely heralded as an indication that the U.S. military was finally coming… Continue Reading
Markey Announces Revolutionary Global Warming Bill: Cap-and-Invest System Follows Science, Invests in Clean Energy Future
News release: “Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) introduced a revolutionary new global warming bill today that would reduce global warming pollution according to scientific targets, reinvest any revenue back to American workers and technology, and would re-establish America as a leader in solving the globes greatest challenge, climate change…The bill is called the Investing in… Continue Reading
Treasury Releases Papers on Anniversary of President's 2003 Tax Relief
News release: “The Treasury Department released today two papers illustrating the benefits to American families and businesses from the tax relief enacted over the last seven years. The papers were released on the five-year anniversary of President Bush’s signing the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, which lowered rates on capital gains… Continue Reading
White House: Fact Sheet: the Largest Tax Increase in History Is Looming
White House – Fact Sheet: the Largest Tax Increase in History Is Looming, May 28, 2008 – “President Bush’s 2001 and 2003 tax relief fueled economic growth and reduced the marginal rate for every income tax bracket. By the end of last year, Americans would have paid an additional $1.3 trillion in taxes had it… Continue Reading
FTC Permanently Halts PretextingScheme; Defendants Barred From Obtaining or Selling Consumers' Phone Records to Third Parties
News release: “The Federal Trade Commission has put a permanent halt to an operation that allegedly obtained consumers confidential phone records without their knowledge or consent and sold them to third parties. The defendants are barred from obtaining consumers telephone records without their consent and court orders impose judgments on the defendants totaling more than… Continue Reading
UN: Soaring food prices: facts, perspectives, impacts and actions required
High-Level Conference on World Food Security: The Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy, Rome, 3 – 5 June 2008. Report: Soaring food prices: facts, perspectives, impacts and actions required (50 pages, PDF) “The world is experiencing a dramatic increase in food prices. During the first three months of 2008, international nominal prices of all major… Continue Reading
EIA Petroleum Supply Monthly, Country Analysis Brief – Russia
Petroleum Supply Monthly (05/28/2008): “Supply and disposition of crude oil and petroleum products on a national and regional level. The data series describe production, imports and exports, movements and inventories.” Country Analysis Brief – Russia, May 2008: “In 2007, Russias real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by approximately 8.1 percent, surpassing average growth rates in… Continue Reading
