From the United States Institute of Peace:
This USIPeace Briefing discusses the continued looting of Iraqi antiquities and measures that have been taken to recover and protect Iraq’s cultural heritage. In addition, it highlights the value of international law and policing to prevent such crimes.
Archive of entries posted on November 2008
Iraq’s Cultural Heritage: Preserving the Past for the Sake of the Future
Congress moves swiftly on net neutrality
From Information World Review:
With the election over Congress is moving quickly on the net neutrality issue, and is planning to introduce a bill in January.
Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democratic senator, and Olympia Snowe, a Republican senator from Maine, have announced plans to introduce the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, which will make it illegal for [...]
Lose the BlackBerry? Yes He Can, Maybe
From the New York Times:
. . . But before he arrives at the White House, he will probably be forced to sign off. In addition to concerns about e-mail security, he faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas. [...]
Obama Wrote Federal Staffers About His Goals
From the Washington Post:
In wooing federal employee votes on the eve of the election, Barack Obama wrote a series of letters to workers that offer detailed descriptions of how he intends to add muscle to specific government programs, give new power to bureaucrats and roll back some Bush administration policies. . .
. . . He [...]
Taxpayer Group Announces Government Spending “Transparency” Web Site
Press Release:
The 362,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) today joined with the online resource Sunshine Review in the next major step toward building a collaborative community of advocates for government “transparency.” NTU has integrated its Show Me the Spending Web site with Sunshine Review’s Wikipedia-like site that enables people to find and share information about whether [...]
Bush E-Mail Records Could Be Lost To History
From NationalJournal.com:
Since the presidential transition from Ronald Reagan to George H.W. Bush, George Washington University’s National Security Archive has been a watchdog of federal e-mail preservation policies. Most recently the archive, which manages a library of security documents, joined a lawsuit that seeks to hold the George W. Bush White House and the National Archives [...]
Australian web filter to block 10,000 internet sites
From the Australian Herald Sun:
Australia’s mandatory net filter is being primed to block 10,000 websites as part of a blacklist of unspecified “unwanted content”.
Some 1300 websites have already been identified by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
Court Rejects White House on Missing E-mails
From the National Security Archive:
A court ruled today that the National Security Archive may proceed with its effort to force the White House to recover millions of Bush Administration Executive Office of the President (EOP) e-mail records before the presidential transition. Rejecting the government’s motion to dismiss the Archive’s lawsuit, the Court ruled that the [...]
Obama Poised To Reverse Bush Policy
From CBS News:
Transition advisers to President-elect Barack Obama have compiled a list of about 200 Bush administration actions and executive orders that could be swiftly undone to reverse White House policies on climate change, stem cell research, reproductive rights and other issues, according to congressional Democrats, campaign aides and experts working with the transition team.
A [...]
Bloomberg News Sues Fed to Disclose Collateral From Taxpayer Loans to Banks
From ABC News:
Bloomberg News today filed a lawsuit to force the U.S. government — specifically the Federal Reserve — to disclose which securities it is accepting as collateral for $1.5 trillion of loans to banks, such as Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (This doesn’t include the $700 billion bailout package).
Bloomberg LP vs. Board [...]