The U.S. Department of Interior has agreed with a recommendation from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), but stopped short of using the act to reduce Arctic oil drilling or otherwise limit greenhouse gas emissions.

In announcing the action, Sec. of Interior Dirk Kempthorne acknowledged that continued melting of sea ice had reduced the polar bear’s natural habitat, but stated that the Endangered Species Act was not the vehicle for reversing global warming.

"While the legal standards under the ESA compel me to list the polar bear as threatened, I want to make clear that this listing will not stop global climate change or prevent any sea ice from melting,” said Kempthorne, stressing that a "real solution" to global climate change would require action on the part of all major world economies. "That is why I am taking administrative and regulatory action to make certain the ESA isn't abused to make global warming policies."

In his remarks on the action, Kempthorne noted that scientific data did not allow a connection between greenhouse gas emissions and potential harm to endangered species, and announced a special rule allowing Arctic oil and gas production to continue.

Under the new rule, known as 4(d), any oil-producing activity currently allowed under the stricter Marine Mammal Protection Act, will also be considered acceptable under the Endangered Species Act.

"This rule, effective immediately," stated Sec. Kempthorne, "will ensure the protection of the bear while allowing us to continue to develop our natural resources in the arctic region in an environmentally sound way."

Also See:
Is Global Warming a Hoax? (Environmental Issues)
Majority Oppose Arctic Oil Drilling, Survey Says

Newsday reports that the IRS has admitted to mistakenly sending as many as 15,000 tax rebate checks and direct deposits to the wrong people. Newsday quotes an IRS representative as stating that persons receiving misdirected direct deposits must report the mistake to their banks immediately, while those receiving paper checks made out to other people, must mail the checks back the the IRS. In addition, stated the IRS spokesman, any money spent before the mistake was noticed, must be returned to the IRS.

At the same time, AP has reported that the IRS had also admitted to incorrectly failing to pay as many as 350,000 households the $300 per child rebate promised in the tax rebate program. AP quotes an IRS spokesman as promising that letters would be sent to all filers who failed to get the proper child credit rebate, and that checks paying the child credit would be mailed to those filers in July.

According to Newsday, the IRS has also set up a toll-free telephone hotline to answer questions about the tax rebates at: 1-800-829-1954.

As of late Wednesday, the IRS had not yet issued an official press release on the rebate problems, or posted information on their tax rebate web site.

More Tax Rebate Resources
Where's My Rebate? Find Out Here
Tax Rebate Information Directory
IRS Publishes 2008 Tax Rebate Check Details
IRS Launches Tax Rebate Information Center
Rebate-only Tax Filers May Now File for Free
Will I Have to Pay Taxes On My Rebate?
To Get $300 Rebate, Kids Must Have SS Number
SSI and the Tax Rebate Checks
What if I Filed Before the Tax Rebate was Approved?
Tax Rebate Checks Become Scammer's "Bait"

Frank Woodruff Buckles, the last known surviving American veteran out of the more than 2,000,000 U.S. troops who fought in World War I will be an honored guest at the National World War I Museum in Kansas City throughout Memorial Day Weekend. The 107-year-old Buckles will be the first soldier from the Great War to actually tour the National Museum since it opened in 2006.

Born in Harrison County, Missouri in 1901, Buckles served in the U.S. Army from 1917-1919, attaining the rank of Corporal. Along with 101 other men of the 1st Ft. Riley Casual Detachment, Buckles sailed from New Jersey to Europe on the HMS "Carpathia," the vessel famous for rescuing the survivors of the "Titanic" in 1912.

During his service in England and France, Buckles drove motorcycle sidecars and ambulances. After the Armistice, he served as a POW escort returning prisoners of war to Germany.

"It's best for anyone who's been in the military service if he's had some disagreeable experiences... to talk about it and get it out of his system and then forget it," stated Buckles in a Library of Congress audio interview.

Also See: VA Reaches Out to Newest Combat Veterans

With gun control looming as a potential critical issue in the 2008 election cycle, pressure is building on Congress to pass legislation reenacting the federal assault weapons ban. The original federal ban on assault weapons expired on Sept. 13, 2004, when Congress failed to reenact it.

One bill to revive the assault weapons ban has already been introduced by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D, New York, 4th). McCarthy's Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007, (H.R. 1022), would reenact the ban for ten years.

Along with reinstating federal criminal penalties involving possession or transfer of assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices, H.R. 1022 would expand the definition of "semiautomatic assault weapon" to include semiautomatic-to-fully-automatic conversion kits and any semiautomatic rifle or pistol that accepts a detachable magazine and that has other characteristics of assault weapons, including telescoping stocks, threaded barrels and pistol grips.

Proponents of the reinstatement argue that the number of assault weapons confiscated by police has surged since the end of the ban. Proponents also cite a 1999 National Institute of Justice study showing that murders of police officers by offenders with assault weapons declined from 16 percent of gun murders of police in 1994 and early 1995 to zero percent in the latter half of 1995 to 1996, the first full year the federal assault weapons ban was in effect. However, the same report goes on to state that the total number of such incidents were so rare during the reporting period that the data failed to permit a "reliable assessment" of whether the ban contributed to a general reduction in gun murders of police.

Opponents of the ban's renewal argue that gun crime has not increased substantially since the assault weapons ban expired, and that legally owned assault-type weapons are used for hunting and target practice.

Also See:
Who Cannot Own a Gun in America?
Brady Act Gun Buyer Background Checks

How would a landing gear tire from a space shuttle look on display in your school's library? Pretty sharp, right? It could happen, thanks to NASA's new artifact loan program.

A joint effort of NASA and the space shuttle program, the new Artifact Loan Opportunities Program allows schools, museums, planetariums, and other civic groups borrow NASA space program artifacts for education and outreach purposes.

The first artifacts available are main landing gear tires from space shuttles. The space shuttle tires, including some flown on missions, are available to applying organizations that NASA determines best meet the agency's education and public outreach goals. The shuttle tires and future available artifacts represent all the years of NASA's explorations and discoveries in space.

Organizations interested in requesting loaned artifacts may not be associated with NASA, and may include, but are not limited to, museums, schools, and civic groups. NASA requests only that the long-term loan of the shuttle tires and other artifacts be used to educate, inspire or inform the public about NASA's scientific and technological achievements through art, sculpture, furniture, building structures, exhibits or other innovative uses of the artifacts.

The deadline for submitting proposals on this initial phase of the NASA Artifact Loan Opportunities Program opportunity is June 11, 2008.

Also See:
Send Your Name to the Moon
NASA Plans Elevators to Space
NASA on Watch for Earth-threatening Asteroids

The SBA's Patriot Express small business loan program offers small business loans of up to $500,000 to members of the U.S. military community. In the program's first ten months alone, Patriot Express produced 1,304 guaranteed small business loans amounting to more than $135 million, with an average loan amount of nearly $104,000. Nearly 15 percent of the loans went to military spouses. [Find out more...]

Also See: More SBA Small Business Loan Programs
Small Business Grants? Look to the States

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warns you to be on the lookout for a new spam email related to the economic stimulus tax rebates that is, in fact, intended to steal your personal identification information.

The email, purportedly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), advises the recipient that direct deposit is the fastest and easiest way to receive their economic stimulus tax rebate. The message contains a web link to a fake form which requests the recipient's personally identifiable information, including bank account information. To convince the victim to reply, the email warns that a failure to complete the form in a timely manner will delay the issuance of the rebate check.

One example of this IRS spam email message is as follows:

"Over 130 million Americans will receive refunds as part of President Bush's program to jumpstart the economy.

Our records indicate that you are qualified to receive the 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund.

The fastest and easiest way to receive your refund is by direct deposit to your checking/savings account.

Please follow the link and fill out the form and submit before May 10th, 2008 to ensure that your refund will be processed as soon as possible.

Submitting your form on May 10th, 2008 or later means that your refund will be delayed due to the volume of requests we anticipate for the Economic Stimulus Refund.

To access Economic Stimulus refund, please click here."

There are more than one version of the spam email, but they are all similar to the above.

"Various forms of online fraud continue to proliferate on the internet and people should take the appropriate precautions to protect themselves," said Special Agent Richard J. Kolko, FBI National Press Office, in a press release.

More Tax Rebate Resources
Tax Rebate Information Directory
IRS Publishes 2008 Tax Rebate Check Details
IRS Launches Tax Rebate Information Center
Rebate-only Tax Filers May Now File for Free
Will I Have to Pay Taxes On My Rebate?
To Get $300 Rebate, Kids Must Have SS Number
SSI and the Tax Rebate Checks
What if I Filed Before the Tax Rebate was Approved?
Tax Rebate Checks Become Scammer's "Bait"

The Federal Reserve has announced proposed federal regulations to prevent credit card practices employed by banks it has called "unfair and deceptive" to consumers.

The proposed regulations (.pdf), which have also won the approval of both the Office of Thrift Supervision and the National Credit Union Administration, would:

• Prohibit banks from increasing the rate on a pre-existing credit card balance (except under limited circumstances) and require banks to allow the consumer to pay off that balance over a reasonable period of time.

• Prohibited banks from applying payments in excess of the minimum in a manner that maximizes interest charges.

• Required banks to give consumers the full benefit of discounted promotional rates on credit cards by applying payments in excess of the minimum to any higher-rate balances first, and by providing a grace period for purchases where the consumer is otherwise eligible.

• Prohibit banks from imposing interest charges using the "two-cycle" method, which computes interest on balances on days in billing cycles preceding the most recent billing cycle. (Credit card issuers sometimes use various methods to calculate your balance that make use -- to their advantage -- of your last two month's account activity. Two-cycle billing can allow lenders to hit customers with finance charges even during months they pay off their balances in full.)

• Prohibit banks from charging security deposits for credit cards or other forms of consumer credit.

• Require banks to provide consumers a reasonable amount of time to make payments.

The proposed regulations would also address subprime credit cards by limiting the fees that reduce the available credit. In addition, banks that make firm offers of credit advertising multiple rates or credit limits would be required to disclose in the solicitation the factors that determine whether a consumer will qualify for the lowest rate and highest credit limit.

Including a 75-day period for public comments, the Federal Reserve expects the new regulations to take effect by the end of 2008.

Also See:
Federal Regulations: Laws Behind the Acts
About the Federal Reserve System
FTC Warning on Credit Card Loss Protection Scams

The IRS today issued a clarification stating that its tax rebate delivery schedule applied only to people who filed a 2007 tax return "early enough" to have their returns processed April 15.

"In general," stated the IRS, "the payment schedule only applies if your return was received and the IRS finished processing it before April 15. If you filed your return on time, but close to the April 15 deadline, the IRS may not have finished processing it before April 15. Processing times for tax returns and stimulus payments vary. If you are getting a regular income-tax refund, the IRS will send you that refund first. Normally, your stimulus payment will follow one to two weeks later."

The IRS has provided a web site, where people can check the status of their tax rebate and full and growing list of answers to Frequently Asked Rebate Questions.

More Tax Rebate Resources
Tax Rebate Information Directory
IRS Publishes 2008 Tax Rebate Check Details
IRS Launches Tax Rebate Information Center
Rebate-only Tax Filers May Now File for Free
Will I Have to Pay Taxes On My Rebate?
To Get $300 Rebate, Kids Must Have SS Number
SSI and the Tax Rebate Checks
What if I Filed Before the Tax Rebate was Approved?
Tax Rebate Checks Become Scammer's "Bait"

U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts, 4th) has introduced a pair of bills removing federal penalties for the possession of marijuana for personal use and for medicinal purposes.

Possession for Personal Use: Rep. Frank's bill H.R. 5843 would eliminate most federal penalties for possession of 100 grams or less of marijuana for personal use, or for the not-for-profit transfer between adults. The bill would retain existing federal penalties for the public use of marijuana, but limit maximum fines to $100.

Medicinal Possession and Use: An associated bill, H.R. 5842 would prevent federal laws from prohibiting or restricting the production, distribution and use of marijuana when prescribed or recommended by a physician for medical use according to state laws. The bill would remove marijuana from Schedule 1 of the list of Federally Controlled Substances.

Along with drugs like heroine, morphine and LSD, substances listed in Schedule 1 are considered by the federal government to have a "high potential for abuse," and "no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States." Schedule 1 substances are also subject to enhanced or extended jail sentences for crimes involving their possession, use, production and transfer.

According to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), 13 states currently sanction and regulate the possession, use, production and distribution of marijuana for medical purposes. However, both the Controlled Substances Act and the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act continue to ban medical uses of marijuana at the federal level.

In June 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that federal law can be used to prevent doctors from prescribing marijuana for treatment of pain caused by serious illnesses, including cancer.

Also See: Supreme Court Rules Feds Can Ban Medical Marijuana
CA Cities Scramble to Regulate or Ban Medical Marijuana
New Mexico Legalizes Medical Marijuana
Drug Czar: Medical Marijuana No Longer a Political Issue