Controversies
Democratic Senators Move to End Ban on Gay Blood Donations
Insisting science has eliminated the need for sexual orientation-profiling when it comes to blood donations, 18 U.S. senators have asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to eliminate the ban on homosexuals giving blood. The government impose... read more
Obama Wants to Close International Labor Statistics Office
As part of his efforts to rein in government spending, President Barack Obama wants to eliminate the International Labor Comparisons (ILC) office, a move that has upset unions, academics and business leaders. Costing about $2 million a year, the I... read more
Glaxo Pays Out $1 Billion in Birth Defect Cases with 600 Lawsuits to Go
Paxil, one of the nation’s leading anti-depressant medications, has cost its manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, nearly $1 billion in damages from numerous lawsuits since the drug first became available in 1992.
The review and approval process by t... read more
VA Agrees to Review Gulf War Illness Claims
Unable to ignore the sheer number of complaints, the Department of Veterans Affairs has decided to revisit the disability claims of thousands of veterans of the Gulf War. According to advocacy group Veterans for Common Sense, more than 200,000 mil... read more
New Orleans Police Officer Pleads Guilty in Post-Katrina Killing Cover-Up
Described by local media as “a cover-up of shocking breadth,” New Orleans police officers are now being accused by one of their own of falsifying reports and planting evidence in a post-Katrina shooting that left two citizens dead and four other... read more
Bush Administration Spied on Planned Parenthood
The Department of Defense under President George W. Bush carried out illegal spying on numerous American organizations, including Planned Parenthood. This revelation surfaced after the Electronic Freedom Foundation received more than 800 heavily-r... read more
Widow of Texas IRS Building Terrorist Attack Victim Sues Widow of Killer
After Andrew Joseph Stack III committed suicide by flying his plane into a federal building in Austin, Texas, on February 18, the media gave him a lot of coverage, and some people even labeled him a hero for his violent attack on the Internal Reve... read more
Pentagon Agrees to Unblock Social Networking Sites for All Personnel
Military and civilian personnel will soon be able to access social networking websites from the Department of Defense’s non-classified computer network, according to a new policy. The Pentagon has decided to allow soldiers, as well as civilian wor... read more
Dr. Seuss’ Lorax Stands Up To Coal Gasification
Entrepreneurs in Massachusetts want to build a plant that can convert coal into fertilizer and have deliberately chosen the name of a Dr. Seuss character known for its eco-friendly association to brand the industrial operation. But the attorney fo... read more
California to Sell State Building Named after Ronald Reagan
Although the timing is not ideal from a seller’s standpoint, California is looking to unload two dozen state office buildings in order to pay off some of the state’s long-term debt. Among the buildings going up for sale is the twin-towered Ronald ... read more
VA Accused of Destroying Documents Sought by Freedom of Information Request
After learning that the Department of Veterans Affairs was under-diagnosing cases of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among soldiers, the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) sought documents from the age... read more
CBS Billboards: Anti-Abortion Yes; Marijuana Legalization No
Another subsidiary of CBS has demonstrated again the recent rightward tilt of the broadcast network corporation. CBS Outdoor is allowing right-to-life groups to display controversial messages on billboards in Atlanta that claim African-American ch... read more
Obama Subsidies to Nuclear Power Industry Put Taxpayers at Risk
Nuclear power can’t seem to escape the word “risk” even when new technologies offer promises of safer reactor designs. Because of its reputation as a dangerous source of power, efforts to develop new power plants come with considerable financial r... read more
FTC Attacks Fake “Free Credit Report” Ads
Following congressional orders adopted in the credit card reform bill of last year, the Federal Trade Commission has issued new rules to limit offers that try to con consumers to pay for allegedly free credit reports. As of April 1, businesses adv... read more
Contractors Outnumber Employees at Department of Homeland Security
More than half of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is made up of private contractors, a revelation that produced shock among the Senate committee that oversees the agency. Of the 388,000 people working for DHS, over 200,000 are private wo... read more
House Democrats Complain that Senate Democrats are Stalling 290 Bills
For once it’s not just Republicans accused of being obstructionists. Democrats in the House are fed up with their counterparts in the Senate as much as the GOP over the fact that nearly 300 bills are stalled in the upper house. While House Speaker... read more