CBO Paper: The Impact of Ethanol Use on Food Prices and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions, April 2009 this analyisis “examines the relationship between increasing production of ethanol and rising prices for food. In particular, CBO estimated how much of the rise in food prices between April 2007 and April 2008 was due to an increase in the… Continue Reading
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Monthly Archives: April 2009
Whistleblower Protection Organization Releases New Report Urging FDA Clinical Trial Reform
“Today, the Government Accountability Project (GAP) [released] a new white paper report, The ABCs of Drug Safety: Accountability, Balance, and Citizen Empowerment, which focuses on the severe problems with the current system for conducting and regulating clinical trials. The report details the urgent need for reform.” Continue Reading
NY DA Announces Indictment on Bank Fraud and Sale to Iran of WMD Technology
News release: “Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau announced today a 118-count indictment of a Chinese citizen and his company for charges relating to the misuse of Manhattan banks and the proliferation of illicit missile and nuclear technology to the Government of Iran. The Chinese company, known as LIMMT, is a major supplier of banned… Continue Reading
Congressional Oversight Panel Report Assessing TARP Strategy After Six Months
News release: “The April oversight report for COP is entitled Assessing Treasurys Strategy: Six Months of TARP. In this report, COP offers a preliminary look at Treasurys strategy and offers a comparative analysis of previous efforts to combat banking crises in the past. Over the last six months, Treasury has spent or committed $590.4 billion… Continue Reading
Money Matters: Tips from the Federal Trade Commission
“Money and the lack of it is a source of stress and frustration. And while people the world over are working to stem the global financial situation were in, folks at home are trying to gain some control over their own financial situations, too. Practicing positive, tried and true money management techniques … Continue Reading
WSJ: Electricity Grid in U.S. Penetrated by Spies
“Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system, according to current and former national-security officials…But protecting the electrical grid and other infrastructure is a key part of the Obama administration’s cybersecurity review, which is to be completed next week. Under the Bush administration,… Continue Reading
Presentations by Acting Comptroller of GAO: Accountability and Transparency in Government
Presentations By The Acting Comptroller General “Key Fiscal Challenges Facing the Accountability Community,” by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general of the United States, before the 2009 AGA Southeast Region Professional Development Conference, in Nashville, Tennessee. GAO-09-505CG, April 2, 2009 “GAO: Promoting Accountability and Transparency in Government,” by Gene L. Dodaro, acting comptroller general of… Continue Reading
Fujimori Found Guilty of Human Rights Crimes
News release (includes links to declassified documents): “As a special tribunal in Peru pronounced former president Alberto Fujimori guilty of human rights atrocities, the National Security Archive today posted key declassified U.S. documents that were submitted as evidence in the court proceedings. The declassified records contain intelligence gathered by U.S. officials from Peruvian sources on… Continue Reading
Compensation Accomplices Mutual Funds and the Overpaid American CEO
“Individuals in the U.S. have more than $7 trillion invested in mutual funds. By and large, the major mutual fund companies are generally unresponsive to investor needs and most of their customers are too busy to carefully scrutinize their practices anyway. This is why it is important for retail investors to have the basic information… Continue Reading
New Book: Anonymity, Privacy and Identity in a Networked Society
Via EPIC: “A new study by leading scholars from the USA, Canada, UK, Netherlands and Italy has revealed that laws are reinforcing technology’s ability to undermine the anonymity of citizens. The law reveals a preference for legislation requiring people to submit to identification and an increasing encroachment of rules into areas where there were previously… Continue Reading
Recovery.org by Onvia
“Welcome to Recovery.org and Onvia. This site was developed to bring unprecedented transparency and accountability to recovery spending and ensure that every business, regardless of size, has equal access to the projects associated with the recovery efforts. On this site you will find real-time data, maps, and graphs detailing the spending activity associated with the… Continue Reading
Sustainable Critical Infrastructure Systems: A Framework for Meeting 21st Century Imperatives
National Academies Press, prepublication: Sustainable Critical Infrastructure Systems: A Framework for Meeting 21st Century Imperatives, 2009. “For the people of the United States, the 20th century was one of unprecedented population growth, economic development, and improved quality of life. The critical infrastructure systems-water, wastewater, power, transportation, and telecommunications-built in the 20th century have become so… Continue Reading
