Because Democracy is Not Free — we all have to work at it
Rarely these days, do I see an article of high merit coming out of mainstream media. Normally, those articles are reserved only for venues with more independent sources of revenue, like ProPublica, or TPMMuckraker. (Two of my favorites, by the way) Well, strike that thought today. The Orange County Register has a blog entitled “OC [...]
The honeymoon phase is over. Look, there’s nothing not to like. Obama is empathetic to the human plight. His thoughts are deep and well-constructed. He’s bright. He’s ambitious. He’s too ambitious. He’s trying to fix what decades of abandonment and abuse have created in our democracy. He’s trying to fix it all at once. I’m extremely saddened [...]
Last week, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced a bill to limit the use of pseudo-classified labels such as “sensitive security information.” As some readers may recall, former Federal Air Marshal Robert MacLean was terminated for disclosing SSI, even though it was not labeled SSI at the time. Yesterday, the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) accidentally [...]
Hurry, hurry, step right up! Get your special version of this personal information management (PIM) software. Richard Nixon only wished technology was so advanced in his Presidency. Yes! This special version of calendaring software automatically deletes your appointments. You don’t have to lift a finger to make it happen. And best of all, it can [...]
From Ashbury Press: I just wanted to alert you that we just updated the database to show fed employees, location, job title, salary and bonuses for FY 2008. We also have a link to the older 2007 data on the site. The database URL is still the same at http://php.app.com/fed_employees/search.php. ** This site [...]
Guest Posting from Shanna Devine on behalf of the Make it Safe Coalition: Make Sure Whistleblower Protection is on the White House Transparency Agenda Genuine federal whistleblower protection is on the verge of becoming law. Both the House and Senate held hearings in the last month on the Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act of 2009 (WPEA), documenting painful lessons [...]
So, how’s this for uncanny timing? I’m set for a hearing next week on the Department of Labor’s mass destruction of evidence,/1 and here is today’s news: whistleblower Teresa Chambers, the Park Service Chief forced out during the Bush Administration, won her privacy act appeal. The Department of Interior destroyed her favorable performance record, and the DC Court of [...]
I don’t have a whole lot of time to write, but the buzz I’m getting from advocacy groups and whistleblowers is that they are encouraged by what they heard from Congress and from the Administration regarding whistleblower protection. For those catching up on the news, a hearing was held on proposed amendments to the the [...]
Just got back from a conference. Wow. The Department of Labor claims that it has already destroyed the evidence ordered by the court. I can’t wait to see it in writing. . . It was pretty funny to see the Department of Justice Assistant US Attorney sitting there, trying not to gape. Let’s see how [...]
The big news today is Congress’ impeachment hearing of Texas Federal Judge, Samuel Kent. Kent — at the time (and apparently still) a sitting judge, was indicted on obstruction of justice in exchange for the government dropping the more serious charges of sexual assault. Today’s hearings are necessary, because under the law only an impeachment can halt salary and retirement [...]