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14 Mar 2010 22:03

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U.S.: Obama’s presidency talks transparency, but doesn’t walk the walk

  • One year is too early to render a final judgment on how far President Obama can move the government toward openness, but this Audit finds that much more pressure and leadership will be necessary, both inside and outside the government.
  • National Security Archive general counsel Meredith Fuchs • Regarding the findings of the private group during the first year of the Obama administration. While the president claimed that his administration would focus on transparency, an audit by the organization finds that the various portions of the government are very slow in processing FOIA requests (some requests are 18 years old!), and most government agencies haven’t increased the number of information releases during Obama’s presidency. Interesting. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Mar 2010 11:20

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Tech, U.S.: Coming soon to Congress: A broadband Internet battle royale

  • FCC The Federal Communications Commission wants to expand broadband access (especially to rural areas that lack fast internet) and widen the wireless spectrum, saying the U.S. is falling behind.
  • telecom The TV industry is concerned that losing chunks of over-the-air spectrum could affect their signals; major telecom providers are also feeling mounting pressure to improve their networks. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Mar 2010 18:27

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U.S.: Ever think you were overcharged in a NYC cab? You’re probably right

  • 1.8
    million     the number of trips that were charged by a higher non-city rate
  • $8
    million     the amount the overcharging made by over 3,000 sketchy cabbies source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Mar 2010 13:36

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U.S.: Bored atheist overplays his hand on the Pledge of Allegiance

  • 2002 Michael Newdow, an atheist who’s really angry his daughter had to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, got the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to say that “one nation under God” was unconstitutional.
  • 2010 Newdow, in a separate case, tried to push this button again. This time, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said nothing required anyone to say the Pledge, thus reversing their decision. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Mar 2010 20:42

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U.S.: Thousands of Ground Zero cleanup workers get insurance settlement

  • 10k number of defendants in the World Trade Center cleanup case; they claimed the cleanup damaged their health
  • $657M the amount defendants will get in a settlement;
    the money will come
    from a $1.1 billion
    insurance fund
  • $65k the amount that sum means for each defendant (not counting lawyer fees and other costs, of course) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Mar 2010 20:24

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U.S.: Harry Reid’s family gets to try out the health system, the hard way

  • His wife and daughter were seriously injured in a car wreck. Not that the Senate Majority Leader didn’t have a personal stake in health care before, but he now has a very direct one. His wife Landra and daughter Lana were injured after a truck rear-ended their car. Landra got the worst of it – a broken neck, broken back, and broken nose. His daughter injured her neck and suffered facial lacerations. Both should be OK, but their medical bills are gonna be freaking HUGE. Best wishes, guys. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Mar 2010 10:01

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U.S.: Kansas City, Missouri will have lots of empty schools soon

  • 28 of Kansas City’s 61 schools will close this year, in the wake of budget shortfalls
  • 17k students are enrolled
    in the schools, which is half of what it was a decade ago
  • $50M will be saved with the moves, which are understandably controversial source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

11 Mar 2010 09:43

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U.S.: Bob McDonnell smartly pulls back his hand on gay rights

  • stupid Virginia’s attorney general, Ken Cuccinelli II, orders state universities to remove language from their anti-discrimination codes protecting gays and lesbians, saying only the state legislature can do that. People are PISSED.
  • better Hoping to quell the landmine Cuccinelli just stepped in, Gov. Bob McDonnell issues a directive saying that discrimination against gay and lesbian state employees is prohibited, and he’ll fire anyone he catches. It’s a good start.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Mar 2010 22:33

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U.S.: “Jihad Jane” didn’t exactly hint that she was into radical Islam

  • She was just like anyone else. She had a brother, a sister, a family. There wasn’t anything really different about her.
  • Sheldon Barnum • The ex-husband of Colleen LaRose, a.k.a. “Jihad Jane,” a middle-aged woman who got tied up in radical Islam and was plotting to kill a cartoonist who depicted the prophet Muhammad on top of a dog. LaRose, who was caught in October, wasn’t shy about telling people she was a Muslim, but she left no hints of her radical leanings anywhere – except online, where her exploits as “Jihad Jane” were everywhere. One day, she disappeared without a trace, leaving her boyfriend, Kurt Gorman, high and dry.“I was upset, worried,” Gorman said. “Maybe something happened to her. You don’t know.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

10 Mar 2010 22:14

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U.S.: A major spending bill gets through the Senate’s clogged arteries

  • $138 billion in spending shoved through, slowly source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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