Because Democracy is Not Free — we all have to work at it
I was joshing with a Westlaw specialist about the need for inside detail on the courts. And she does have such a database. Well, not exactly. The Almanac of the Federal Judiciary is published by a third-party, Aspen Publishers. Westlaw has a licensing agreement for the product. Here are small excerpts on what lawyers had to say [...]
I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to this website to make it ours. As of today, this site has collected enough to pay for the domain name as well as a good portion of the web hosting. When I first asked if others would be willing to contribute, coming from the selfish world of [...]
NASA in Colbert conundrum over Space Station CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – NASA’s outreach to the public to drum up interest in the International Space Station started innocently enough with an online contest to name the station’s new living quarters. But Stephen Colbert, a comedian who poses as an ultra right-wing news commentator on cable [...]
Did anyone else see this? The Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) just released its latest newsletter, “Issues of Merit.” It’s actually quite good. Now, the only question is whether this quasi-judicial executive branch agency has really changed with the new administration, or whether it will go down as one of the biggest hypocrites ever. addthis_url = [...]
The New York Times points out some good news. Of the ten cases brought by a team of undercover agents posing as aggrieved workers, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour division got one right! You can read the Government Accountability Office’s 35-page report here. One might say that the good news for the newly [...]
I don’t have a whole lot of time to go into detail, but because several readers have asked about the two cases, here’s a quick breakdown: 1. Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) Administrative Judge LuNell Anderson permitted a jurisdictional hearing on EEO-related constructive discharge, then stated that even if everything was proven true, it didn’t matter. [...]
On March 20, Attorney General Eric Holder issued the much awaited FOIA memorandum to Agency heads. His memo rolls back eight years of Bush-era secrecy and declares the rebirth of transparency and governmental openness. ProPublica has details on the March 2009 Holder memorandum. The Federal Open Government Guide notes on its webpage, that the Obama administration has been [...]
This is a good sign. It’s not quite 60 days into his presidency, and President Obama has selected his first Judicial Branch nominee. Judge David Frank Hamilton is already a Title III judge with lifetime tenure. He is the Chief Judge in the Southern Indiana District Court and has lengthy experience, having been first appointed in 1994 by Bill [...]
Insurer AIG has already accepted billions of bailout dollars from the taxpaying public. When asked nicely by the White House to cancel the $165 million in bonuses it intends to pay to its executives, the company declined. Obama wants to recover the bonus money, but isn’t sure if he has the authority to do so. Representative [...]
I heard back from our hero in the field, Robert MacLean. Mr. MacLean just returned from a trip to Washington DC for the National Whistleblower Assembly. He reports back that our representatives and senators have been largely receptive to his plea for more accountability in federal government. In fact, on his profile, Mr. MacLean writes, [...]