Representative Mike Thompson yesterday introduced a resolution thatcalls on Congress to craft a plan to deal with its own e-waste, onlyusing recyclers certified to the new e-Stewards Standard - the highestin the industry.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition joins housing advocates from Texas in applauding the decision by the U.S. Departmentof Housing and Urban Development to reject the plan submitted by the state of Texas on how the statewould use Hurricane Ike disaster recovery funds.
An ad-hoc coalition of national peace advocacyorganizations is calling on people from every corner of the country toinundate the White House on Monday (November 23rd) with phone calls against militaryescalation in Afghanistan.
Sheryl Crow speaks out for the wild horses and burros onAmerica’s public lands in the west. The multi-GRAMMY®-winning singer-songwriterand mustang owner joins The Cloud Foundation, over 130 organizations,scientists, authors and celebrity supporters calling on President Obama,Members of Congress and the Department of Interior to place an immediatemoratorium on all wild horse and burro roundups until a long-term and humanepolicy to manage the animals is developed.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed acomplaint today with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) against Sen.Mary Landrieu’s (D-LA) campaign committee, Friends of Mary Landrieu,Inc. The complaint concerns a mysterious $25,300 “donation” to the U.S.Treasury made last year by Sen. Landrieu’s campaign.
The American Civil Liberties Union today applauded Franklin CountySchool System officials for reversing their decision barring a lesbianstudent from attending the school prom with her girlfriend.
The School System's about-face, permitting 17-year-old TharptownHigh School junior Cynthia Stewart to bring her girlfriend to theupcoming March 25 prom, came after the ACLU sent a letter to the schoolon November 10 demanding that their initial decision be reversed.
The increased computerization in U.S. hospitals hasn't made themcheaper or more efficient, Harvard researchers say, although it mayhave modestly improved the quality of care for heart attacks.
The findings, published in today's [Friday's] online edition of TheAmerican Journal of Medicine, contradict claims by President Obama andmany lawmakers that health information technology (health IT),including electronic medical records, will save billions and help makereform affordable.
Testifying before the New York City Council today, Free Pressdelivered signatures from more than 4,000 New Yorkers calling forstrong open Internet rules. The City Council is considering aresolution (712A-2007) urging the federal government to protect NetNeutrality.
Earlier this year, POGO urged the Obama administration to make alegislatively-mandated DoD revolving door database public. We alsosubmitted a public comment urging government officials to do the same.Yesterday, DoD finalized that rule, but denied POGO’s request for public access. In their explanation, DoD seemed to pass the buck over to over to Congress:
The House Financial Services Committee voted on Thursday to pass, by a vote of43 – 26, historic legislation that would open up the books of the FederalReserve, an institution known for its secrecy. The Paul-Graysonamendment to the Financial Stability Improvement Act of 2009 (H.R. 3996)calls for an in-depth audit of the Federal Reserve.
The military coup led by SOA graduates in Honduras has once againexposed the destabilizing and deadly effects that the School of theAmericas (SOA/ WHINSEC) has on Latin America. Torture survivors andhuman rights activists from across the Americas, including BerthaOliva, the founder of the Committee of the Family Members of theDisappeared (COFADEH) from Honduras and human rights defenders fromColombia will travel to Fort Benning, Georgia to participate in themobilization.
President Barack Obama conceded yesterdaythat the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba will not closewithin the one year mandated by the Executive Order he signed onJanuary 22, 2009. This is a disappointment but not a surprise.
Two powerful lobby groups in the food industry, The GroceryManufacturers of America and the Organic Trade Association, recently intervenedas friends of the court in afederal consumer class-action lawsuit accusing the nation's largest supplier ofprivate-label organic milk of consumer fraud. In what has been described as"the largest scandal in the history of the organic industry" USDAinvestigators, in 2007, found that Aurora Dairy had willfully violated federalorganic standards. However, industry lobbyists are now concerned thatconvicting Aurorawill set
The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights expresses grave concerns over the forced removal of Aminatou Haidar from her homeland in Western Sahara to the Canary Islands on November 14th 2009. Reportedly today the Foreign Ministers of Morocco and Spain will meet to discuss Ms. Haidar's expulsion.
The National Lawyers Guild issues its continued support of longtime member and former veteran civil rights attorney Lynne Stewart, who was ordered to report to by 5pm to 500 Pearl Street in Manhattan. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit also ordered Judge John G. Koeltl to hold a hearing on December 2 on whether to increase the 28-month sentence he ordered in 2006.
More than 900 former federal employees, including 70 former membersof Congress, have gone to work as lobbyists for the financial servicessector in 2009, according to a Public Citizen report released todayanalyzing data provided by the Center for Responsive Politics (www.opensecrets.org).
Today, CREW sent a letter to Harold W. Geisel, acting inspectorgeneral of the U.S. Department of State, requesting that he open aninvestigation into the role former Ambassador Peter W. Galbraith playedin the drafting of the Iraqi constitution on behalf of the Kurds,particularly provisions that helped the Kurds obtain control of theiroil fields. Recent media reports have revealed thatAmbassador Galbraith stands to earn $100 million or more from oilrights he obtained through provisions of the Iraqi constitution hepushed through.
Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said she is encouraged that the Senate bill does not include the extreme new anti-choice restrictions adopted by the U.S. House. However, the legislation includes a compromise that continues existing laws that unfairly single out abortion care, including a ban on federal funding.
Greenpeace welcomed today'sdecision by Indonesia's Forest Minister, Zulkifli Hasan, to temporarilystop paper giant Asia Pacific Resources International Holding Limited(APRIL) from destroying the carbon-rich forest peatlands of Indonesia'sKampar Peninsula, Sumatra, pending a review of the company's permits.
