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jueves, 20 de septiembre de 2007

Watchdogs Gone Wild

The Inspector General Act of 1978 states Inspectors General (IG) are appointed within the federal government to "conduct, supervise, and coordinate audit and investigations" for "the purpose of preventing and detecting fraud and abuse." Yesterday, House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) wrote to State Department Inspector General (IG) Howard Krongard to highlight allegations from seven employees that the IG "has repeatedly interfered with on-going investigations to protect the State Department and the White House from political embarrassment." In an extensive letter, Waxman detailed how Krongard helped exonerate a contractor accused of labor trafficking in the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, interfered with incriminating investigations, and censored reports to avoid disclosure to Congress. Unfortunately, Krongard's case has become representative of the supposed "watchdogs" in the Bush administration. As Beth Daley of the Project on Government Oversight observed, "If they're breaking all the rules they're supposed to be enforcing, then obviously we've got a problem." Legislation offered by Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is making its way through Congress to strengthen IG offices and protect against corruption.

RAMPANT WASTE AND DODGING ACCOUNTABILITY:
Whistleblowers within the U.S. Postal Service in 2003 found that former IG Karla Corcoran presided over millions of dollars spent for "corporate retreats, thousands to make videos of employees dancing, building gingerbread houses, and other activities many employees found humiliating." In June, Commerce Department IG Johnnie Frazier resigned amidst "allegations ranging from fraud and abuse" to "egregious violations" of the federal law that protects whistle-blowers, demoting two employees who investigated his spending practices. Earlier this year, acting Environmental Protection Agency IG Bill Roderick was investigated by a congressional committee for allegedly launching a plan in June 2006 to cut 60 investigators and auditors from his staff and "give himself a $15,000 raise."

PROVIDING COVER FOR ALLIES: As a former Pentagon IG, Joseph Schmitz "refused congressional entreaties to declassify a report detailing how the administration was providing inadequate training and protective gear to troops in the event of a bio-chemical attack." Former Health and Human Services IG Janet Rehnquist -- daughter of former Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist -- resigned in 2003 while the target of "three federal investigations," including one from the Government Accountability Office as to whether Rehnquist delayed an audit of Florida's pension fund just as Gov. Jeb Bush (R) faced a "tight race for re-election." Rehnquist had also been accused of "using her office for personal gain and leading a bloodletting of senior staffers who disagreed with her methods." Furthermore, an April 2007 report by the Integrity Committee found that NASA IG Robert Cobb "routinely tipped off department officials to internal investigations and quashed a report related to the Columbia shuttle explosion to avoid embarrassing the agency." Cobb currently remains the NASA IG.

INDEPENDENCE NEEDED: While IG abuse is present, many watchdogs still play an exemplary role in providing a source of accountability within the federal government. Justice Department IG Glenn Fine recently uncovered excessive spending at Department events, including $13,000 spent on "cookies and brownies" for over 1,500 people at a conference. Fine has also vowed to investigate outgoing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's misleading testimony on the Terrorist Surveillance Program and the improper hiring and firing of U.S. attorneys. Additionally, Fine looked into whether Monica Goodling's "uncomfortable" conversation with Gonzales prior to testifying to Congress constituted obstruction of justice. Recently, the CIA IG revealed that former Director George Tenet "failed to marshal sufficient resources and provide the strategic planning" prior to 9/11. Despite being a former Bush campaign aide, Stuart Bowen, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, has "repeatedly embarrassed the Bush administration" for its reconstruction efforts in Iraq and has become a leading figure in exposing fraud and corruption. His efforts at restoring accountability have been so successful that he has made himself a target of the administration and congressional conservatives.


miércoles, 12 de septiembre de 2007

59% Say US Has Changed for the Worse Since 9/11

Ever since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, many Americans have believed that the events of that horrible day changed the United States forever. Each year that has gone by has seen an increase in the number who believe those changes have not been good for the nation.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Americans now believe that the events of six years ago changed America for the worse. That’s an increase from 54% a year ago. Just 21% believe that the nation has changed for the better because of that tragedy.

The current results are almost the mirror image of the immediate reaction. Six weeks after the tragedy, 57% thought the nation had changed for the better. That number actually grew to 61% by January 2002. Now, half a decade later, just 21% of American adults hold that optimistic view. Fifty-four percent (54%) say the changes have been for the worse.

A plurality of Republicans (45%) now say the nation has changed for the worse since 9/11. That view is shared by 71% of Democrats and 61% of those not affiliated with either major party.

The increasing pessimism over the past six years has caused Americans to revise their assessment of the way that President Bush responded to the terrorist attacks. Today, just 42% rate his performance following 9/11 as good or excellent. That’s unchanged from a year ago, but down from 51% two years ago and 56% three years ago.

Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Republicans now say the President did a good or excellent job following the terrorist attacks. That view is shared by just 24% of Democrats and 36% of unaffiliateds.

More than a third of all Americans, 35%, now say the President’s response following 9/11 was poor. That’s up from 32% a year ago.

Similar trends are found in other questions asked regularly since the terrorist attacks.

Four years ago, 67% of all Americans believed the world would be a better place if other countries were more like our own. Today, 54% hold that view (up from 51% a year ago). Seventy-two percent (72%) of Republicans believe the world would be better if other nations were more like the United States. Just 43% of Democrats hold that view along with 49% of unaffiliateds.

Another question that Rasmussen Reports has tracked annually is whether the United States is safer than it was before the 9/11 attacks. Early in 2002, 61% thought the country was safer. Today, just 38% hold that view (up from 36% a year ago).

Today, 39% of Americans believe that the U.S. and its allies are winning the War on Terror. Last year, that figure was 41%. Three years ago, more than 50% thought the U.S. and its allies were winning.

A separate survey found that just 20% of Americans say the United States is generally heading in the right direction. Just 17% believe that Congress is doing a good or an excellent job.

Rasmussen Reports conducts a daily Presidential Tracking Poll, The firm also released polls today for the Presidential race in Virginia, Minnesota, and Massachusetts along with Senate race polls for Virginia and Minnesota.

Rasmussen Reports has also released Election 2008 state polling results in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Ohio, Florida, Arkansas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Oregon, Colorado, New Hampshire, New York and Illinois.

In Primary Polls, Clinton leads all Democrats in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida.

The Republican Primary picture is more muddled. Romney leads in New Hampshire, Thompson leads in South Carolina, and Giuliani is on top in Florida.

Crosstabs available for Premium Members only.


martes, 4 de septiembre de 2007

Go and get Opera 9.5 alpha!

Fasten your seatbelts, and get ready to test drive Kestrel yourself. After more than a year of development, we invite you to test Opera 9.5 alpha and tell us what you think about it.
In short, Opera 9.5 alpha is:
  • Performance
  • Full history search
  • Improved site compatibility
  • Access for everyone
  • Improved platform integration
  • Preview of bookmark and Speed Dial synchronization
  • Magic Windows build number :jester:
And much more! Take a look at the huge changelogs :faint: to see what is new:
Windows
Mac
UNIX

Don't forget to report bugs, but check the Known Issues list in the changelogs and discuss them in the Beta Testing forum, in the opera.beta newsgroup, or in #weekly first.

And now: go and get it! :cheers: We recommend that you make a clean install and copy over your profile data (but not your preferences file) if you'd like to test the upgrade procedure. You may not be able to downgrade if you upgrade an existing install!

Stay tuned for more updates and builds on the Desktop Team blog.

Download:
Opera 9.5 alpha for Windows
Opera 9.5 alpha for Mac
Opera 9.5 alpha for Unix

ISO votes to reject Microsoft's OOXML as standard

Microsoft Corp. has failed in its attempt to have its Office Open XML document format fast-tracked straight to the status of an international standard by the International Organization for Standardization.


Microsoft Corp. has failed in its attempt to have its Office Open XML document format fast-tracked straight to the status of an international standard by the International Organization for Standardization.

The proposal must now be revised to take into account the negative comments made during the voting process.

Microsoft expects that a second vote early next year will result in approval, it said Tuesday.

A proposal must pass two voting hurdles in order to be approved as an ISO standard: it must win the support of two-thirds of voting national standards bodies that participated in work on the proposal, known as P-members, and also of three-quarters of all voting members.

OOXML failed on both counts, according to figures provided by Microsoft, and by other sources with knowledge of the voting process. ISO has not yet officially announced the results.

Microsoft could miss out on revenue from the lucrative government market if OOXML is also rejected next year. Some governments, worried that the need for access to electronic archives held in proprietary formats leaves them hostage to their software vendor, have mandated the use of document formats that comply with open international standards.

Others are considering such a move, which could put Microsoft at a double disadvantage to open source products such as OpenOffice.org, which not only store files natively in the standardized Open Document Format, but are free.

iPhone, Wiimote, or newborn baby: which has the best built-in accelerometer

In the Kottke/Hourihan household, much of the past 4 weeks has been spent determining which has the most sensitive built-in accelerometer: an iPhone, a Nintendo Wiimote, or our newborn son.

iPhone Wii Ollie

The iPhone was eliminated fairly quickly...the portrait-to-landscape flip is easy to circumvent if you do it slow enough or at an odd angle. The Wiimote might be the winner; it registers small, slow movements with ease, as when executing a drop shot in tennis or tapping in a putt in golf.

Newborns, however, are born with something called the Moro reflex. When infants feel themselves fall backwards, they startle and throw their arms out to the sides, as illustrated in this video. Even fast asleep they will do this, often waking up in the process. So while the Wiimote's accelerometer may be more sensitive, the psychological pressure exerted on the parent while lowering a sleeping baby slowly and smoothly enough so as not to wake them with the Moro reflex and thereby squandering 40 minutes of walking-the-baby-to-sleep time is beyond intense and so much greater than any stress one might feel serving for the match in tennis or getting that final strike in bowling.

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