Controversies
Petraeus vs. The Numbers: Who to Believe about IED Attacks?
America’s top military commander in Afghanistan, Army General David Petraeus, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, insisted recently that Taliban attacks involving roadside bombs have “flattened” over the past year. Have they?
Petra... read more
Pentagon Inspector General Stopped Investigating Weapons Contractors
Republican Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa is unhappy with the performance of the Defense Department’s chief watchdog, and for good reason. The Pentagon’s inspector general’s office didn’t investigate a single weapons contract or contractor las... read more
Pentagon Finally Awards Medal of Honor to Living Soldier from Post-Vietnam Era
Based on the numbers alone, one would think there hasn’t been much heroism in Afghanistan or Iraq these many years. Until this week, the Department of Defense had awarded the Medal of Honor, the military’s highest honor for valor, only six times... read more
Army Denies Purple Hearts to Soldiers with Concussions
Qualifications for awarding the Purple Heart, a medal recognizing personal sacrifice by those wounded in combat, do not include any requirement that the injury be visible to the naked eye. And yet high-ranking commanders in the U.S. Army have ro... read more
Jewish Sheriff’s Deputy Who Arrested Mel Gibson Sues L.A. County for Discrimination
James Mee, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy who arrested actor Mel Gibson four years ago, setting off a drunken, anti-Semitic tirade, is now suing his agency, claiming superiors retaliated against him after he refused to clean up the Holl... read more
Ratio of Administrators at Public Universities Grows Four Times as Fast as Ratio of Teachers
Public universities in the United States are suffering from administrative bloat, according to the Goldwater Institute. From 1993 to 2007, four-year public institutions of higher learning expanded their ratio of administrative staff per 100 stud... read more
Pentagon Again Tightens Media Access
Frustrated over leaks from within the Pentagon to the media, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has instructed all Department of Defense personnel to go through public affairs officials before speaking with reporters.
Both in July and again this... read more
9 Years (and $7 Billion) after 9/11 Attacks, U.S. Still Waiting for Emergency Radio Networks
If another Sept. 11 type of attack should occur in a major American city, there’s a strong chance that local police and firefighters won’t be able to communicate with each other by radio, despite years and billions of dollars trying to correct t... read more
Uninsured Using Emergency Rooms for Normal Problems
Can the American health care system, slated to add 32 million more customers once federal reforms kick in, do a better job of keeping patients with non-critical problems out of the emergency room? That’s the question posed following a research p... read more
Taser Deaths on the Rise
Taser-related deaths by law enforcement appear to be on the rise, according to The Raw Story. Citing a 2008 report from Amnesty International, the news website found that Taser deaths averaged about four a month from 2001-2008. But more recent s... read more
Hit by a Car? Victims Pay “Crash Tax”
As if there wasn’t reason enough already to avoid getting into an automobile accident, motorists now face the risk of being hit with a “crash tax” by local fire departments for responding to their aid—even if they don’t need it and even if the acc... read more
Corporations Happy to Give to Charities Created by Members of Congress
Setting up a personal foundation or charity allows members of Congress to indirectly campaign for themselves all the time, and rake in unlimited donations from corporations.
A review of tax records and disclosure forms by The New York Times re... read more
Army Contract Employee Claims He Was Fired for Refusing to Submit False Reports
Robert D. Johnson is suing his former employer, Technologists Inc., claiming he was demoted and then fired for not collecting payments from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for work the company did not complete in Afghanistan as part of its govern... read more
Why Did Government Egg Graders Not Notice Contaminated Eggs?
Inspectors working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture have come under scrutiny for not doing more to prevent the outbreak of salmonella at two Iowa egg processors that sold hundreds of millions of tainted eggs to stores and restaurants.
Th... read more
Ending the Recession—5 Practical Solutions: Robert Reich
Getting out of the Great Recession will require substantial changes in tax and public policy, writes Robert Reich, former secretary of labor in the Clinton administration. With job growth too weak to meet demand, Washington needs to make bold move... read more
Wyoming Town Warned to Use Fans While Showering to Avoid Chemical Explosions
Drinking tap or well water for the residents of Pavillion, Wyoming (population: 165) is out of the question, and showering or washing dishes requires fan ventilation to avoid the risk of explosions, thanks to chemical contamination in the oil and ... read more