Government reform orgs. deliver news on major events within their areas of expertise.
Small Businesses Lose Again…and Again
http://snurl.com/4n986-dw
POGO - Project on Government Oversight
Small businesses received two pieces of bad news in recent days. The Small Business Administration (SBA) announced that the federal government missed its 23 percent small business contracting goal, awarding 22 percent ($83.2 billion) to small businesses in FY 2007. Although the award total was higher than in FY 2006, few agencies met their small business goals, and the overall goal was missed. The scorecard shows that many agencies, including DOD, NASA, Education, Justice, and USAID, fell well short in numerous categories.
To make matters worse, recent reports have suggested that these numbers might not be very reliable. The Washington Post did an analysis showing that many agencies made "mistakes" by categorizing large companies as small companies in federal contracting reports. In fact, small business data has been a problem for many years, with the SBA often at the forefront of the debate and questions raised about manipulation of the numbers to increase small business totals.
[...]
Citizen Tim takes on Obama himself
http://snurl.com/4n9ec-dw
CIR - Center for Investigative Reporting
The one form of political advertising that's completely unregulated and free is the speech of an individual citizen, even when money amplifies that speech by putting it on the airwaves. Tim D'Annunzio, who describes himself as a "concerned North Carolina businessman," is doing just that.
[...]
U.S. Election Will Cost $5.3 Billion, Center for Responsive Politics Predicts
http://snurl.com/4n9j9-dw
OpenSecrets.Org - The Center for Responsive Politics
WASHINGTON -- The 2008 election for president and Congress is not only one of the most closely watched U.S. elections in years; it's also the most expensive in history. The nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics estimates that more than $5.3 billion will go toward financing the federal contests upcoming on Nov. 4.
The presidential race alone will cost nearly $2.4 billion, the Center predicts. Already the candidates alone have raised more than $1.5 billion since the election cycle's start in January 2007. This is the first time that candidates for the White House have raised and spent more than $1 billion, and this year's total is on track to nearly double candidate fundraising in 2004 and triple 2000.
[...]
Congress house members want iPhones!
http://snurl.com/4n9ns-dw
Hardware2.0 - ZDNet.com
[...]
The Chief Administrative Office (CAO), which oversees the communications systems for the House, has begun testing a small number of iPhones within its ranks to see if they are compatible with the working needs of lawmakers and staff.
[...]
What would you do with $534,000?
http://snurl.com/4n9vh-dw
Citizen Vox - Public Citizen
* Action Alert *
Our country is facing its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. AIG, an insurance giant, recently received $123 billion of taxpayers’ money to rescue it from bankruptcy. But even though AIG executives knew their company was in danger of going broke, they continued the party, leaving taxpayers to deal with the hangover.
[...]
Votes Reportedly Flipping from Repub to Dem in TN!
http://snurl.com/4na08-dw
The BRAD BLOG
Yesterday we reported the problems experienced at the Davidson County (Nashville), TN polls by Election Integrity filmmakers David and Patricia Earnhardt. Patricia, like so many others before, in so many elections past, saw her vote flip before her eyes on the ES&S iVotronic touch-screen system from her intended candidate, Barrack Obama, to the Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney.
Last week, we noted voter reports from two different WV counties, Putnam and Jackson, both counties where the same ES&S iVotronic touch-screen machines (which are notorious for flipping and losing thousands of votes and costing at least one Democratic U.S. House nominee her rightful seat) similarly flipped votes away from Democratic candidates.
Earlier today, John Gideon reported on ES&S iVotronics in SC which fail to include a number of races on the final review screen. In at least one county in that state, during the Republican Primary earlier this year, the machines had failed to even turn on at all, leading voters to scramble to find scraps of paper to vote on. ES&S is the nation's largest supplier of voting machines.
Now, finally --- and thankfully --- we have a report of voters experiencing votes flipping from the Republican candidate John McCain, to the Democratic candidate Barack Obama in a second TN county. Does this mean someone can actually take some action to get these machines the hell out of service now?!...
[...]
Groups Call for Transparency In New President's Administration
http://snurl.com/4na66-dw
Sunshine Week
Regardless of who wins the presidential election, the one certainty is that there will be change. With an eye to that change, several groups are launching projects and reaching out to the candidates to ensure that government openness and Freedom of Information are priorities in the next administration.
[...]
Find Your Polling Place!
http://snurl.com/4naml-dw
Declare Yourself!
So you're registered....now what? Two things, get informed and then find your polling place! Google has just released their polling place locater on Google Maps. Click here, then enter your address and the map will show you exactly where your polling place is!
[...]
NTU Launches New Website: BeyondBailouts.org
http://snurl.com/4naqu-dw
Government Bytes - National Taxpayers Union
* Action Alert *
As time wears on post-bailout, conservatives and libertarians will be engaged in a long battle with liberals to define the root causes of our current financial difficulties and their proper remedies. In an attempt to counteract the rapidly proliferating view that “deregulation and the excesses of capitalism” were the cause of our probems, NTU has joined with our friends at the Competitive Enterprise Institute to launch BeyondBailouts.org. Our press release was sent today.
The purpose of the website is to educate about government’s role in our current financial difficulties and suggest reforms that address those root causes, but most of all, it’s an outlet for Americans to contact their Members of Congress and the Administration to express their frustration.
[...]
Agencies Counted Big Firms As Small
http://snurl.com/4natb-dw
NewsTrust
U.S. government agencies made at least $5 billion in mistakes in their recent reports of contracts awarded to small businesses, with many claiming credit for awards to companies that long ago outgrew the designation or never qualified in the first place, a Washington Post analysis shows.
[...]
Long Lines on Election Day: A Form of Voter Suppression?
http://snurl.com/4navh-dw
NewsTrust
Fogel is the director of FairVote. He said today: "FairVote surveyed 96 out of 134 Virginia city and county election officials and found that the state does not have a standardized method for allocating poll booths, which may cause long lines on Election Day. Long lines are often caused by an inadequate number of poll booths and have plagued voters, particularly in lower-income neighborhoods, in the past several election cycles."
[...]
Groups Challenge Constitutionality of New Telecom Immunity Law
http://snurl.com/4naxk-dw
Advocacy Blog - OMB Watch
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has challenged the constitutionality of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Amendments of 2008, which grants telecommunication companies retroactive immunity for helping with the government's warrantless surveillance program.
[...]
To Gut Species Protection, Interior Calls "All Hands on Deck"
http://snurl.com/4nazj-dw
REG WATCH Blog - OMB Watch
The Bush administration is moving at warp speed to finalize a rule that will allow big government projects to intrude on the habitats of endangered species.
[...]
Protect the Count Pt 1: Video the Precinct Tally Tapes: NEW Black Box Voting video: WHAT TO DO ON ELECTION NIGHT - Protect the Count!
http://snurl.com/4nb25-dw
Election Defense Alliance
While everyone's watching the VOTING, not enough people are watching the COUNTING! The action in this video is the #1 most important thing you can do to Protect the Count.
[...]
CCAGW and NTU Recommend Budget Cuts to Presidential Candidates
http://snurl.com/4nb4b-dw
Citizens Against Government Waste
Dear Senators McCain and Obama,
In your series of Presidential debates, you have both expressed support for the idea of going through the budget “line by line” in order to root out waste and inefficiency. As watchdog organizations dedicated to the elimination of wasteful spending, the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) and the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) have spent years doing exactly that.
Both of our organizations maintain extensive lists of programs that could be cut or legislation that would reduce spending. We target programs that are either ineffective or duplicative, or activities best left to state and local governments or the private sector.
[...]
Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack: A Preventable Homeland Security Catastrophe
http://snurl.com/4nb66-dw
The Heritage Foundation
A major threat to America has been largely ignored by those who could prevent it. An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack could wreak havoc on the nation's electronic systems—shutting down power grids, sources, and supply mechanisms. An EMP attack on the United States could irreparably cripple the country. It could simultaneously inflict large-scale damage and critically limit our recovery abilities. Congress and the new Administration must recognize the significance of the EMP threat and take the necessary steps to protect against it.
[...]
Bad Court Ruling Could End Checks on Industry Funded 'Science'
http://snurl.com/4nb9h-dw
Watchdog Blog - Public Citizen
Yesterday, the Washington Post noticed a disturbing trend that we have been following for a long time – the corporatization of scientific research ostensibly conducted by unbiased and trustworthy sources like, in this case, the Food and Drug Administration. Science has been twisted to serve corporate ends for decades – see the tobacco industry's "studies" showing that smoking is not dangerous. Most of the time, these justifications for unhealthy or dangerous products are given precisely the credibility they deserve – none. Perhaps realizing this, the new trend is to funnel money behind the scenes to get disreputable science published by reputable sources.
[...]
>All Things Reform Mobile: allthingsreform.mofuse.mobi >Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 (not toll-free) >US House/Senate Mobile: bit.ly/members >Contact your reps tips: bit.ly/dear >Shortened All Things Reform URL: bit.ly/dw
