Controversies
One of Four Overseas Ballots Never Counted in 2008
A congressional investigation has determined that approximately 25% of Americans living overseas, mostly soldiers, who tried to vote in 2008 did not have their votes recorded by state officials. The Senate Rules and Administration Committee and th... read more
Did Professional Psychologists Group Approve of Torture?
A recent release of emails among members of the American Psychological Association (APA) has revealed the group’s discussion of the ethics behind the role that psychologists played in designing torture tactics used at interrogation facilities, suc... read more
The Real Problem with Medicare: Robert Reich
Medicare is “a monster,” says former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, but not one that can’t be fixed. Keeping Medicare from going bust before the end of the next decade will require slowing the rate of growth of medical costs, and that problem requi... read more
Soldiers in Iraq Forced to Steal Water
Add water to the list of vital necessities that American soldiers have had to do without while fighting the war in arid Iraq. In addition to lacking sufficient body armor and explosive-proof vehicles, U.S. soldiers have at times gone without enoug... read more
A Clash between Two Obama Agencies over Greenhouse Gas Regulation
President Barack Obama has quietly presented a proposal that would allow him to bypass Congress in his efforts to reduce global warming. It is the “Endangerment Finding,” which is a scientific finding by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) d... read more
FDA Says Cheerios Health Claims Unsubstantiated
A staple of American breakfasts since World War II, Cheerios has run afoul of the Food and Drug Administration. For two years now, the maker of the cereal, General Mills, has claimed on Cheerios boxes that its product can “lower your cholesterol 4... read more
Contractor Approved Funding for Own Government Contract
The Department of Energy, overseer of the nation’s most toxic cleanup operation, allowed a private contractor to authorize its own payments for work billed to the government, according to the department’s inspector general (IG). The audit that tur... read more
Taxpayers Fund Health Care for Iraq and Afghanistan Contractors
Throughout the United States’ “War on Terror,” various services have been contracted out to private firms. These service contracts, which can range from equipment and weapons manufacturing to diplomatic security details, are often awarded without ... read more
Profiting from Swine Flu
While the pork industry has been sweating out the swine flu panic, fearing a loss of markets and profits, another industry has been gearing up to make a killing off the virus: pharmaceutical companies. Responding to the hysteria over a potential p... read more
When Audit Firms are Part of the Problem
Even after the scandals involving Enron, Tyco, WorldCom and Xerox, some big-time auditors continue to be part of the problem instead of acting like the financial watchdogs they’re supposed to be. Two top 10 audit firms—BDO Seidman and McGladrey & ... read more
Drug Sentencing—Obama Can Do More: Debra J. Saunders
“Kudos to Obama for working for needed balance [between crack and powder cocaine sentencing] but he could do more,” argues Debra J. Saunders, a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. In 1986, Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act, which impl... read more
Oil Companies Look Forward to Global Warming
What’s bad for polar bears and walruses is actually quite golden for Shell and other oil companies. While scientists, environmentalists and policymakers fret over the shrinking of the polar icecap, oil executives are planning to take advantage of ... read more
Supreme Court of Last Resort…for Corporations: Rob Larson
The U.S. Supreme Court has increasingly become a favorite of big business, writes Rob Larson, an assistant professor of economics at Ivy Tech Community College in Bloomington, Indiana. A conservative five-justice bloc, led by Chief Justice John Ro... read more
Abortion Referral Prohibited for AmeriCorps
AmeriCorps became the center of media attention when the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act passed, tripling AmeriCorps’ size and allotting $5.7 billion in federal funding for the community service programs it provides. Few news sources noticed o... read more
Pentagon Inspector General Withdraws Report on TV Campaign to Sell War
During the final week of George W. Bush’s presidency, the Defense Department’s inspector general issued a report exonerating a military public relations program that had drawn fire for trying to manipulate television and radio news coverage. At th... read more
Bush-Era SEC Hindered Investigations
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s leadership during the Bush administration worked against its own staff when it came to policing Wall Street firms, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. Under former SEC Chairma... read more