Labor Day - A Brief History
Sunday August 31, 2003
It’s been a long time since the 4th of July and Americans are ready for a day off. However, why do we really celebrate first Monday in September – a ... Read More
No More Wars for U.S. Coast Guard?
Sunday August 31, 2003
The Washington Post reports that Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld has all but decided to remove the U.S. Coast Guard from taking part in future wars. The prospect of sitting out ... Read More
Tobacco Pellets Cannot be Regulated, FDA Rules
Saturday August 30, 2003
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ruled that tobacco pellets, sold as an alternative to cigarettes, cannot be regulated by the federal government. The FDA said the pellets, sold ... Read More
Despite ‘Reforms’ Political Parties Rake in Record Cash
Saturday August 30, 2003
Even with the much-ballyhooed Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, which banned the political parties from raising so called, “soft money” now in effect, Republican and Democratic campaign committees managed ... Read More
Thursday Was “Family Day” In America
Friday August 29, 2003
Seems like sort of an odd day to dedicate to spending time with one’s family, helping them strengthen relationships and avoiding “risky behaviors,” but President Bush proclaimed yesterday, Thursday, August ... Read More
Despite War, Military Recruitment Remains High
Friday August 29, 2003
When the war on terrorism began, fears sprang up that people would stop volunteering for military service, thus requiring reinstatement of the draft. Not to worry, say Department of Defense ... Read More
WTC Transcripts Reveal Horrors of 9-11 Attack
Thursday August 28, 2003
The New York Port Authority has released transcripts of over 260 hours of radio and telephone transmissions, and handwritten notes made by victims and survivors during the Sept. 11, 2001 ... Read More
Banks to Seek More Personal Info Under Patriot Act
Thursday August 28, 2003
That USA Patriot Act, passed in reaction to the 9-11 attacks, armed the Justice Department with wide-ranging and controversial new powers to gather personal information about Americans. One of those ... Read More
Airport Screeners Raking In Hidden Weapons
Wednesday August 27, 2003
From a pistol-packing teddy bear to bayonets in hollow legs, TSA airport security screeners have intercepted more than 7.5 million potential weapons from passengers since February 2002. The take has ... Read More
After Columbia Report, Does NASA Have a Future?
Tuesday August 26, 2003
Now that the shuttle Columbia disaster investigation team has slammed NASA’s management for its lack of a “safety culture” leading to the deaths of the seven shuttle astronauts, what changes ... Read More
Benefits for U.S. Government Employees
Tuesday August 26, 2003
Even the largest private sector employers have a tough time matching the outstanding benefits programs offered to employees of the U.S. Federal Government. Those fortunate enough to land government jobs ... Read More
Dope Impairs Rats’ Ability to Cope
Tuesday August 26, 2003
In yet another “Who would have thunk it?” piece of taxpayer-funded research, scientists at the National Institutes of Health have found that rats given stimulant drugs such as amphetamine or ... Read More
Should the U.S. Bring Back the Draft?
Monday August 25, 2003
With our military engaged in ongoing battles against terrorism around the world, should the U.S. bring back the draft? According to this article in TIME, the draft is the last ... Read More
Student Jobs and Internship Programs
Sunday August 24, 2003
Descriptions and links to over 60 student job and internship programs in U.S. Government agencies open to all high-school and college students. These jobs and internships provide clearly defined learning ... Read More
Majority of Voters Does Not Want Bush Back, Newsweek Poll Finds
Sunday August 24, 2003
Seeing Iraq as a potential quagmire, a majority of American voters now does not want to see President Bush elected to a second term in the 2004 presidential election, according ... Read More
Adoption Alive and Well In America
Saturday August 23, 2003
About 2.1 million adopted children under age 18 now live in American households, many of them with families who tend to be better off economically than those of biological children, ... Read More
Ten Commandments Judge Backs Down, Gets Suspended
Saturday August 23, 2003
Alabama Chief Justice Ray Moore has agreed not to block the court ordered removal of a sculpture honoring the Ten Commandments from the Alabama State Supreme Court Building. That wasn’t ... Read More
Iowa Man Arrested for Threatening Kobe Bryant Witness
Friday August 22, 2003
After an investigation by the FBI, a 22-year old Iowa man has been arrested on charges that he phoned in a death threat against a witness in the Kobe Bryant ... Read More
Ala. Justice Still Defends Ten Commandments Sculpture
Friday August 22, 2003
In a classic battle of separation of church and state and the First Amendment, Alabama Chief Justice Ray Moore has again refused to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments ... Read More
Democratic Texas Senators Forced into “Exile”
Thursday August 21, 2003
Just to prove that California isn’t the only state mired in political turmoil, comes this letter from Texas State Senator Rodney Ellis who, along with 10 of his fellow Democratic ... Read More
Viagra Gets Competition
Thursday August 21, 2003
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new drug for treating erectile dysfunction. Produced by the Bayer Corp. in Germany and to be distributed in the U.S. by ... Read More
Aging Baby Boomers Flocking to Doctors
Wednesday August 20, 2003
Suffering mainly from high blood pressure, arthritis and diabetes, members of America's "Baby Boomer" generation accounted for over half of all visits to the doctor during 2001, according to the ... Read More
Program Will Recruit Veterans for Government Jobs
Wednesday August 20, 2003
Veterans will soon receive additional incentive and assistance as they transition from military service into the federal workforce under a new recruiting program just announced by the Office of Personnel ... Read More
Navy Deploys Dolphins Against Terror
Tuesday August 19, 2003
In an effort to thwart terrorist attacks like those on the USS Cole, the U.S. Navy has deployed a new animal-ally in the war on terrorism -- the MK 6 ... Read More
13.2 Million Could Have Alzheimer's by 2050, NIH Predicts
Tuesday August 19, 2003
As many as 13.2 million older Americans could have Alzheimer's disease by the year 2050, unless new methods of prevention are developed, according to National Institutes of Health scientists. According ... Read More
Judge Vows Alabama’s Ten-Commandments Sculpture Will Stay
Monday August 18, 2003
Chief Justice Ray Moore of the Alabama Supreme Court has announced he will defy a federal court order to remove a Ten Commandments sculpture from the rotunda of the Alabama ... Read More
Bush Won’t Back Down on Alaskan Oil Drilling
Monday August 18, 2003
Despite the fallout from the worst power backou in U.S. history, the Bush Administration says it has no intention of backing down from pushing its Alaskan oil and gas exploration ... Read More
Daily Activities are Also ‘Exercise,’ Says CDC
Monday August 18, 2003
The folks at the Centers for Disease Control have finally realized that everyday activities, like gardening, vacuuming and walking during errands, are just as much forms of “exercise” as jumping-jacks ... Read More
Bush Talks Healthy Forests in Radio Address
Monday August 18, 2003
President Bush discussed his Health Forests Initiative in his weekly radio address to the nation on Saturday. The meat of the Initiative calls for the selective thinning of forests to ... Read More
Sen. Schumer Calls for Blackout Hearings
Sunday August 17, 2003
Sen. Charles Schumer said what many of the 50 million Americans affected by last week's massive Northeast power outage were thinking while sitting in the dark, "We've been able to ... Read More
Republicans and Democrats Losing Their Luster
Sunday August 17, 2003
In what has to be great news to supporters of third party candidates, a poll just conducted by the Washington Post showed that neither the Republican or Democratic party were ... Read More
Hot Government Jobs of the Week
Sunday August 17, 2003
Every week or so, a few U.S. Government agencies designate selected job openings as “top-priority, must-hire” with the Office of Personnel Management. These are typically higher paying jobs in a ... Read More
Schwarzenegger’s Grassroots Website Hits the Air
Saturday August 16, 2003
If your imagination is captured by the idea of Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming the Governor of California in the October 7 recall election, you’ll certainly enjoy ArnoldGovernor.net, the Governator's’s grass roots ... Read More
Bush Says National Parks Need Repair
Saturday August 16, 2003
Hoping to clean up his environmental image, contaminated lately by his easing of federal logging restrictions, President Bush toured Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and highlighted his agenda for ... Read More
Mint Goof Means Good News and Bad for Coin Collectors
Saturday August 16, 2003
On July 28, the U.S. Mint began shipping its 2003 United States Mint Silver Proof Sets to customers who had ordered the coins. Two days later, on July 30, Mint ... Read More
WolfPack Kills Enemy Communications
Friday August 15, 2003
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), inventors of the Internet and personal information “data mining” has announced a new device that can be planted or dropped behind enemy lines ... Read More
Recognizing Email Identity Theft Scams
Friday August 15, 2003
The deceptive skills of email scammers have reached new highs (or lows) with tricks designed to get even careful consumers to give up their vital personal information. Identity thieves sending ... Read More
Terror Preparations Help Families Weather Blackout
Thursday August 14, 2003
In a positive spin-off from the war on terrorism, preparations made for future terrorist attacks helped many families ride out the massive Northeast power failure with minimal inconvenience. Extra flashlight ... Read More
New Cholesterol Fighting Drug Approved by FDA
Thursday August 14, 2003
Move over Lipitor and Zocor, a new cholesterol-busting drug, Crestor (rosuvastatin) by AstraZeneca has just won its FDA approval, allowing the drug to be prescribed by doctors. Of course, there ... Read More
Top Five Credit Management Tips of All Time
Thursday August 14, 2003
Hoping to help keep even more Americans from getting sucked into the black hole of consumer credit debt, the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board have announced the top ... Read More
Go East, Young Man!
Wednesday August 13, 2003
Could be the weather, or the prospect of having Arnold Schwarzenegger as the state's "Governator," but for some reason, the once booming state of California is losing many of its ... Read More
Discount Airline Flies Past the Big Dogs
Wednesday August 13, 2003
For the first time in the history of the airline industry, a discount carrier – Southwest Airlines – carried the highest number of passengers over a one-month period. Flying 6.5 ... Read More
U.S. Hospitals Not Up to Bioterror Attack, GAO Says
Wednesday August 13, 2003
America’s urban hospitals lack the resources necessary to deal with the numbers of patients driven to them in the event of a biological terror attack, according to a new report ... Read More
Bush Tags Utah Gov. to Head EPA – Touts Healthy Forests
Tuesday August 12, 2003
President Bush has chosen Utah’s three-term Republican Governor Mike Leavitt to replace Christine Todd Whitman as head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Leavitt has stated he favors giving the ... Read More
Schwarzenegger Polls Ahead in California Recall Race
Monday August 11, 2003
According to this CNN story, Arnold the “Governator” Schwarzenegger holds a commanding polling lead over some 200 other candidates in California’s public cricus a.k.a. the gubernatorial recall election, set for ... Read More
Big Brother - Thinner Brother
Monday August 11, 2003
Obesity... overweight... fat. No questions, it's one of this nation's worst and most costly health problems. But, can government, in its finest "we know what's best for you" tradition, use ... Read More
Rep. Burton Calls Drug Industry Plan ‘Insult to Consumers’
Sunday August 10, 2003
Rep. Dan Burton (R-Indiana) has called plans by major U.S. drug makers to curb their sales to Canadian pharmacies "an insult to consumer interests." As spending for prescription drugs hits ... Read More
Jobs at the US Mint – A ‘Golden’ Opportunity
Sunday August 10, 2003
“Why settle for the ordinary, when you can do something extraordinary? Join the United States Mint, where you can build a successful career while serving your country as a member ... Read More
Study Shows Public Feels Government is Inefficient
Sunday August 10, 2003
A majority of Americans now "believe Washington is too big, inefficient and wasteful," according to a recent study by conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute. Trust in government has also ... Read More
Cool Facts About the White House
Saturday August 9, 2003
Have you ever wondered how many rooms there are in the White House, or how many windows, or how many gallons of paint it takes to freshen it up? Washington ... Read More
NYPD Records Show De Niro, Keitel, Stern Pack Guns
Saturday August 9, 2003
The New York Post reports NYPD records show that actors Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, shock-jocks Howard Stern and Don Imus and developer Donald Trump are among some 3,600 ... Read More
DD-214, Military Records Can Now be Requested Online
Friday August 8, 2003
The records of former members of the U.S. military can now be requested online, but only by a military veteran, or next of kin of a deceased, former member of ... Read More
Oil and Gas Development Regulations Eased
Friday August 8, 2003
As part of its implementation of President Bush’s National Energy Policy, the Bureau of Land Management has issued new policies aimed at reducing or eliminating impediments to oil and gas ... Read More
West Nile Virus Infects 153 - 4 Deaths Reported
Thursday August 7, 2003
The CDC reported on August 7 that known cases of West Nile virus in the U.S. had tripled in less than a week. So far 153 people are reported with ... Read More
Women of Color Making Gains in US Workforce
Thursday August 7, 2003
Women of color now comprise 14.5 percent of the American workforce, according to a new study from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). While African American women continue to ... Read More
Spending for Prescription Drugs Soars
Thursday August 7, 2003
The U.S. the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality reports that consumer spending for prescribed medicines rose from $72.3 billion in 1997 to $103 billion in 2000. Spending for people ... Read More
Schwarzenegger Will Run for Governor of California
Wednesday August 6, 2003
“I will go to Sacramento and clean house,” promised Arnold “the Terminator” Schwarzenegger in announcing he would run for governor of California in the state’s October 7 recall election. The ... Read More
What's Under Your Sink Could Kill You
Wednesday August 6, 2003
Many common household products, probably stored right under your sink, can do serious physical damage to anybody who ingests or inhales, or just comes in contact with them. Good news ... Read More
Tons of Beef Recalled for Possible E. coli
Wednesday August 6, 2003
Howard Beef Processors (dba: Ellison Farms), of Pipestem, MN, is recalling 194,700 pounds of frozen ground beef for contamination with potentially deadly E. coli bacteria. The product was distributed nationwide ... Read More
US Warns Airlines of Bombs Hidden in Electronics
Tuesday August 5, 2003
The Department of Homeland Security told CNN it plans to issue orders to all federal airline security screeners to passenger-carried electronic devices that could conceal bombs. Items like remote key ... Read More
State Denies Colin Powell Departure
Tuesday August 5, 2003
The State Department has issued a brief, but direct statement refuting a Washington Post story claiming that Secretary of State Colin Powell planned to step down if President Bush were ... Read More
Man Gets Jail for Threatening the President
Tuesday August 5, 2003
The Department of Justice reports that a California man has been sentenced to a 51-month prison term for sending President Bush a threatening letter. The 29-year old man confessed to ... Read More
Scientists Link Nutrition to Eye Health
Monday August 4, 2003
USDA scientists have found evidence that certain fruits, vegetables and grains could delay cataract formation. About 16 million people, age 45 and over, suffer from cloudy vision caused by cataracts. ... Read More
Bush Goes Back to Economy
Monday August 4, 2003
In his weekly radio address to the nation, President Bush focused on the nation’s economy, noting faster growth than expected during the second quarter. The bad news is, nobody can ... Read More
$1.2 Million Spent to Study Conservatism
Sunday August 3, 2003
Yes, you paid for this one, too. U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney was, to say the least, hot when he found out that research conducted at the University of Maryland and ... Read More
So, Who's NOT in Jail Now?
Sunday August 3, 2003
Americans must love prisons, since 1 out of every 143 of us now lives in one, with another 700 of us moving in every week. The latest report from the ... Read More
Terrorism Just “a Day’s Work” for Buffy
Sunday August 3, 2003
“It is never clear whether the threat is internal, from an individual, or from an outside organisation. The scenarios are unpredictable and have very unclear motivation. The attackers have no ... Read More
New “al Qaeda” Tape Threatens U.S. and Allies
Sunday August 3, 2003
A new audiotape, purportedly recorded by Ayman al-Zawahiri, top aid to Osama bin Laden (Remember him?), threatens more terror attacks against the U.S. and her allies should harm come to ... Read More
First Woman Named Head of DEA
Saturday August 2, 2003
The U.S. Senate has voted without dissent to appoint Karen P. Tandy, a prosecutor and senior Justice Department official, as the new head of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). As ... Read More
Earning the American 'DREAM'
Saturday August 2, 2003
Just introduced in the U.S. Senate, the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act would help young, undocumented immigrants earn legal status in the United States.
The bill would ... Read More
The Many Faces of Saddam Hussein in Altered Photos
Friday August 1, 2003
With a little plastic surgery and make up, Saddam Hussein could look like “the guy next door.” Realizing that fact, the U.S. Central Command has released these five photographs ... Read More
Condoleezza Rice Answers Up
Friday August 1, 2003
On July 30, President Bush’s National Security Adviser Dr. Condoleezza Rice appeared on the Jim Lehrer show to answer some tough questions like, “Did you know, or should you have ... Read More
Sun Records Studio Named Historic U.S. Landmark
Friday August 1, 2003
Sun Records Recording Studio in Memphis Tennessee, along with 17 additional sites around the nation, has been added to the list of National Historic Landmarks, according to this Interior Department ... Read More