Government Web Site Getting $18 Million Upgrade
A taxpayer-funded government web site intended to help taxpayers see how their tax dollars are being spent will undergo a major upgrade at a cost of $18 million taxpayer dollars. Read more...
More Americans Unemployed and Loving It
As the U.S. unemployment rate tops 9.5 percent, headed for 10, many members of Congress are bashing President Obama’s economic stimulus plan for not doing enough, fast enough to keep Americans working. Now along comes evidence that a growing number of Americans forced into joblessness by the recession are actually loving it and not even planning to look for new jobs. Read more...
Reverse Mortgages Can Endanger Seniors, GAO Warns
Reverse mortgages can be a great deal. They allow senior homeowners to convert their home equity into much-needed cash while continuing to live in their homes. But watch out, warns the Government Accountability Office (GAO), reporting that a lack of oversight by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) leaves seniors at risk to abusive lending practices in the reverse mortgage market. Read more...
Oversight of Bottled Water Lacking, GAO Finds
While Americans now drink 23.9 gallons of bottled water per-person every year, federal requirements for the purity and safety of city tap water far exceed those for bottled water, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Read more...
Mortgage Fraud Soaring, FBI Reports
GAO Smuggles Bomb Parts into Federal Buildings
Undercover government investigators succeeded in smuggling bomb components past Federal Protective Service’s (FPS) security guards at 10 out of 10 federal buildings in four major cities, according to a July 8, 2009 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Read more...
Cap and Trade, Climate and Cost
Cap and trade – it’s either the heroic idea that will save us all from the environmental Armageddon of global warming or the budget monster that will drive us all into the poorhouse through skyrocketing utility bills. No matter which group of politicos you believe, you need to know about this key feature of the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, already passed in the House and soon to be debated in the Senate. [Read more…]
Also See:
House Passes Landmark Climate-change and Energy Bill
Obama Administration Releases Sweeping Climate Change Report
Climate Study Predicts Dire Events
Obama and Medvedev Reach Agreements
U.S. President Obama and Russian Federation President Dmitry Medvedev, sat down in Moscow on July 6 to talk about items of importance to both nations, including development of missile defense systems, strategic nuclear arms reduction and Afghanistan. Read more...
Bring Me Your HIV-Infected
HIV-infected travelers may soon be allowed to enter the United States under a change to federal regulations proposed by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Read more...
USDA Breeds 'Kinder, Gentler' Chickens
Chickens that are bred purely for commercial egg production (laying hens) tend to be mean to the point of pecking each other to death and then eating their victims -- a real downer around the roost and a definite drawback to egg-laying. Now biologists at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) report the development of a breed of “kinder, gentler” laying hens that get along better, still lay plenty of eggs, but do not need to have their beaks trimmed off, like commercially-bred hens. Read more...

