News release: “Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Acting Chairman Walt Lukken announced today that, for the fourth consecutive year, the agency earned a clean audit opinion on its fiscal year (FY) financial statements. The FY 2008 report also shows the CFTC in substantial compliance with all financial laws and regulations, with no material weaknesses or… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: December 2008
Coalition Letter to President-elect Obama on the Future of Privacy
“Thirty privacy, consumer, and civil liberties organizations sent a letter to President-elect Barack Obama on the importance of protecting privacy in the next administration. The organizations support the incoming presidents expressed on privacy, consumer rights, and civil liberties. President-elect Obama stated support for strengthening of privacy protection by harnessing the power of technology to hold… Continue Reading
HHS's Leavitt Announces New Privacy Principles, Agency Issues Guidance
CDT: “HHS Secretary Leavitt announced new key privacy principles for electronic health information exchange. In addition, HHSs Office of Civil Rights published new HIPAA Privacy Rule guidance, which provides important clarifying information on how the Privacy Rule governs covered entities engaged in electronic health information exchange. For example, it clarifies when covered entities must enter… Continue Reading
Pew Survey: The Religious Makeup of Congress
Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life – Faith on the Hill: The Religious Affiliations of Members of Congress, December 19, 2009 “Members of Congress are often accused of being out of touch with average citizens, but an examination of the religious affiliations of U.S. senators and representatives shows that, on one very basic level,… Continue Reading
Individual Carbon Emissions: The Low-Hanging Fruit
Vandenbergh, Michael P. , Barkenbus, Jack and Gilligan, Jonathan M.,Individual Carbon Emissions: The Low-Hanging Fruit (July 16, 2008). UCLA Law Review, Vol. 55, 2008; Vanderbilt Public Law Research Paper No. 08-36. Available at SSRN. “The individual and household sector generates roughly 30 to 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and is a potential source… Continue Reading
Communicating With Employees During the Current Financial Crisis
Most Companies Step Up Communication to Ease Workers’ Recession-Related Stress: “As economic uncertainties raise anxiety levels among workers across all industries, employers are making changes in their communication programs. They are increasing communication about organizational performance and solvency, as well as pay and benefits. Using a variety of traditional communication channels, as well as social… Continue Reading
Project On Government Oversight Concerned About TARP Funds
POGO letter to Congressional Oversight Committee leaders concerning certain financial companies seeking backdoor access to TARP funds: “The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is a non-partisan, non-profit government watchdog that works to achieve a federal government that is effective, accountable, open, and honest. In our continuing scrutiny of the Troubled Asset Relief Program’s (TARP) implementation,… Continue Reading
Conference Board Employment Trends Index Signals More Strong Employment Declines to Come
News release: “The Conference Board Employment Trends Index (ETI) declined further in November. The index fell to 102.9, down 1.6 percent from the October revised figure of 104.5, and down over 13 percent from a year ago. Thus far, the U.S. economy has lost 1.9 million jobs and the declines in the ETI suggest job… Continue Reading
Bush Administration's Plan to Assist Automakers
Follow up to previous postings on auto industry, today’s White House press release: “…the only way to avoid a collapse of the U.S. auto industry is for the executive branch to step in. The American people want the auto companies to succeed, and so do I. So today, I’m announcing that the federal government will… Continue Reading
President-elect Obama names key regulatory appointments
News release: “President-elect Barack Obama called for a a 21st century regulatory framework to ensure that a crisis like this can never happen again in announcing the nominations of two top regulatory officials: Mary Schapiro as the Chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Gary Gensler as the Chairman of the Commodity Futures… Continue Reading
Report: Building an Americanization Movement for the Twenty-first Century
Building an Americanization Movement for the Twenty-first Century – A Report to the President of the United States from the Task Force on New Americans, December 2008 “This report is the culmination of more than two years of research into immigrant integration efforts across all sectors of society in the United States. The report provides… Continue Reading
FTC Issues Report on Social Security Numbers and Identity Theft
News release: “The Federal Trade Commission issued a report today recommending five measures to help prevent Social Security numbers from being used for identity theft. Principal among the reports recommendations is that Congress consider taking action to strengthen the procedures that private-sector organizations use to authenticate their customers identities…The FTC report states that adopting nationwide… Continue Reading
