States of Disclosure

Tracking the Private Interests of Public Officials: "The Center for Public Integrity researched state requirements on the filing of Personal Financial Disclosures by all three branches of state government — executive, legislative and judicial — to help the public hold officials accountable and determine the potential for conflicts of interest." [Note: see the drop-down menu on the right hand side to view copies of reports filed by members of the executive, judicial and legislative branches in the 50 states.]

Commentary Marks 41st Anniversary of Enactment of Freedom of Information Act

Commentary - John Moss and the battle for freedom of information, 41 years later: "How one modest but stubborn congressman overcame the many entrenched obstacles to win the American people access to information about the activities of their government," by Michael R. Lemov.

Whole Grain, Not "Fiber", Lowers Colorectal Cancer Risk

All grains, from the familiar (wheat, oats, rye, corn) to the less well-known (barley, bulgur, millet, quinoa) start out as kernels. The bran (the outermost layer of the kernel) is where most of the fiber is found. The germ (the kernel's center) is where most of the vitamins, minerals and fatty acids reside. In between lies the endosperm, which contains a few vitamins and minerals and most of the starch.

Because the refining process removes the bran and germ, the main component of white bread and other products made from refined grains or white flour is starch. The reason whole grain products are darker and chewier than refined grain products is because all three layers of the kernel are ground together to make whole grain flour.

This provides the kernel's full complement of protein, antioxidants, fatty acids and a host of phytochemicals. Most importantly, perhaps, the fiber content of whole grains can be as much as four times that of refined grains.

For more of the "Whole" Story check out The American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR). It's the cancer charity that fosters research on diet and cancer and educates the public about the results. It has contributed more than $82 million for innovative research conducted at universities, hospitals and research centers across the country. AICR also provides a wide range of educational programs to help millions of Americans learn to make dietary changes for lower cancer risk. Its award-winning New American Plate program is presented in brochures, seminars and on its website, http://www.aicr.org. AICR is a member of the World Cancer Research Fund International.

Federal Election Commission Presidential Campaign Finance Map

FEC Presidential Campaign Finance Contributions to All Candidates by State
Federal Election Commission Presidential Campaign Finance Map. "Up-to-date campaign finance information for the 2008 Presidential Election is now available via an easy to use map of the USA."

MAPLight.org Launches Money and Politics Search Engine for U.S. Congress

"MAPLight.org has launched a revolutionary search engine that reveals the connections between money and politics within U.S. Congress. At the web site, journalists and the public can now rapidly follow the money and voting trail for over 100 subject areas, legislators, special interest groups, and bills for the 109th Congress and the current 110th Congress... MAPLight.org for Congress combines all campaign contributions to U.S. legislators with legislators’ votes on every bill, using official records from the Library of Congress web site and the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics (OpenSecrets.org). The resulting database of bills, voting records, and campaign contributions powers the search engine at MAPLight.org and enables people to see the links between dollars spent and votes cast in Washington D.C."

Memorial Day

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.

I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.

I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of their way and let them have it."

Dwight Eisenhower

Citizens Against Government Waste Released 2007 Congressional Pig Book

Citizens Against Government Waste Released 2007 Congressional Pig Book
Press release: "Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today released the 2007 Congressional Pig Book. The Pig Book is CAGW’s annual compilation of all the pork-barrel projects in the federal budget. The 2007 Pig Book identifies 2,658 pork projects at a cost of $13.2 billion in the Defense and Homeland Security Appropriations Acts for fiscal 2007. Only two of the 11 appropriations bills were enacted by Congress and the remaining nine were subject to a moratorium on earmarks. CAGW has identified $254 billion in pork since 1991."

New Google Desktop 5 Beta Released

The most prominent changes are to gadgets and sidebar. Some of the gadgets have been redesigned to easier to read. The sidebar has changed to blend in more with your desktop.

Iraqis use internet to survive war

Iraqis use internet to survive war, by Andrew North, BBC News, NewsBaghdad: "Google is playing an unlikely role in the Iraq war. Its online satellite map of the world, Google Earth, is being used to help people survive sectarian violence in Baghdad."

Related resources:

2006 Baghdad Reference Map: "The National Geospatail-Intelligence Agency (NGA)

OpenStreetMap Provides Comprehensive Map of Baghdad
"OpenStreetMap is an free and open collaborative map of the entire world. We gather GPS tracks and draw maps over them, in an editable wiki style database. And recently we added aerial imagery to our toolbox, thanks to Yahoo!, so dense urban areas and remote locations can be mapped just by tracing streets in the web browser. This means that OpenStreetMap has the most comprehensive map of Baghdad among any of the web mapping services."

$30 million will revert to other CDC HIV/AIDS prevention activities, which have included beachside conferences, flirting class....

The $463.5 billion fiscal 2007 spending bill set to reach the Senate floor contains a provision that would cancel funding for a new program authored by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to detect and treat HIV/AIDS in newborn babies.

Since 1994, medical experts have known how to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child. “Baby AIDS” can be virtually eliminated if expectant mothers with HIV are identified and treated with AIDS drugs. Infants whose mothers’ HIV status is unknown may also be protected if HIV antibodies are detected soon after birth and treatment is promptly administered. With treatment, the risk of transmission from mother to child can be reduced to less than one percent. Without treatment, 25 percent of children born to mothers with HIV will become infected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This may be perhaps the single most significant achievement in the battle against HIV/AIDS.

States such as Connecticut and New York have enacted laws that prioritize diagnosis, treatment and prevention and have, as a result, virtually eliminated baby AIDS. The New York Post has referred to the law as “New York’s Infant AIDS Miracle.”

In 2006, Congress established a $30 million HIV early intervention grant program—funded out of CDC’s HIV prevention budget—to provide financial incentives to assist other states eliminate baby AIDS.

Here's the link to the YouTube video of Rep. Johnson's extraordinary closing speech on the Iraq resolution.

"Remember the Maine" as you file your 2006 US tax return

Do you know the connection between the 2006 United States tax return and the Spanish-American War? American taxpayers can receive up to a $60.00 rebate in lieu of an antiquated tax that was instituted to fund the 1898 conflict.

Get Ready!

Beginning Jan. 23, 2007, all U.S. citizens -- including children -- need a current passport, even if you're arriving via private aircraft. That's according to a federal law enacted in 2004, as implemented by the departments of State and Homeland Security’s Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. Some exclusions do apply, and individuals traveling between the mainland and U.S. territories are exempt.

"New Year's Day: Now is the accepted time to make your
regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin
paving hell with them as usual."

--Mark Twain

Merriam-Webster's #1 Word of the Year for 2006

Merriam-Webster's #1 Word of the Year for 2006 based on votes from visitors to its Web site:

1. truthiness (noun)

1 : "truth that comes from the gut, not books" (Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," October 2005)
2 : "the quality of preferring concepts or facts one wishes to be true, rather than concepts or facts known to be true" (American Dialect Society, January 2006)