Controversies
Torture Enthusiast Escapes from Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley, Professor John Yoo, who crafted the Bush administration’s legal justification of torture, is on leave from his tenured post at UC Berkeley to teach foreign relations law as a visiting professor at Chapman Univer... read more
Will Obama Protect Bush’s Secrets?
Many advocates of open government have urged the Obama administration to release documents that the Bush administration refused to reveal. So far, President Obama has sent mixed messages about his intentions. On the one hand, he has signed executi... read more
Senator Leahy Calls for Bush-Era Truth Commission
Monday, Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont proposed the creation of a “truth and reconciliation commission” to investigate Bush administration policies such as its use of waterboarding and warrantless wire-tapping and the improper firing ... read more
KBR Wins Iraq Electrical Contract Despite Electrocution Deaths of Soldiers
The Army Corps of Engineers has awarded a $35 million contract to KBR for work at Camp Adder in south-central Iraq despite the fact that KBR is under criminal investigation in the death by electrocution of at least two American soldiers. The work ... read more
Revolving Door Still Open for Lobbyists
“Revolving door” describes the common phenomenon of government officials being in charge of regulating companies for which they worked, and then, after they leave office, going to work for the same companies they were just regulating. Citizens for... read more
Anti-Illegal Immigrant Criminal Program Shifted Focus Away from Criminals
As the Obama administration promises to revamp its immigration policy to target criminals, a new report says that in recent years, a high-profile federal program created to catch illegal immigrants with criminal records shifted its focus towards s... read more
Kansas Rethinks Prison and Parole Policies
The United States accounts for just 4.5% of the world’s population, but 23% of the world prison population. The U.S. has the highest prison population rate in the world: one out of 132 Americans are in jail or prison. One state that has concentrat... read more
Anti-Illegals Clash with IRS
In a strange twist, the Weld County Sherriff’s Department in Colorado, in its campaign to crack down on illegal immigrants, has found itself in conflict with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). From the point-of-view of the IRS, many illegal immig... read more
Bush’s Last-Minute Gift to Drug Manufacturers
Just days before President George W. Bush left office, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new guidelines that make it easier for drug manufacturers to market what are known as “off-label” prescription drugs. The FDA, after clinical tria... read more
Border Surveillance Webcams Fail
It seemed like a good idea at the time: install 200 live webcams along Texas’ border with Mexico in order to stop drug smuggling and illegal immigration. Citizens, watching at home, could report any suspicious activity. Texas Governor Rick Perry a... read more
Six Government Problems that Won’t Go Away
Every two years the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issues a report to Congress regarding the federal government’s most “high-risk” areas in terms of fraud, waste, mismanagement and general inefficiency. This year’s list includes 30 issues.... read more
Obama Bans Bush-Era Torture Techniques…For Now
President Barack Obama issued an executive order requiring all intelligence agencies, including the CIA to limit their interrogation techniques to those approved in the Army Field Manual. Among the techniques authorized by the Bush administration ... read more
Obama Freezes Late Bush Regulations
On the day he took office in 2001, President George W. Bush reversed twelve executive orders issued by Bill Clinton in his final weeks as president. Now, eight years later, Barack Obama is using the same tactic against Bush’s late regulatory chang... read more
Obama Asks for Suspension of Guantánamo Trials
In one of his first acts as President of the United States, Barack Obama asked military prosecutors at the naval base at Guantánamo Bay to delay for 120 days all legal proceedings against Guantánamo prisoners in order to give his administration ti... read more
Freddie, Fanny Borrowers Must Waive Right to Sue
The federal programs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own or guarantee 58% of all single family home loans in the United States. In November the government announced that the two institutions would be used to modify loans for hundreds of thousands of bo... read more
Surveillance Cameras Don’t Reduce Violent Crime
A recent study of surveillance cameras in San Francisco found that cameras in public places led to a significant decrease in pickpocketing, purse snatchings, and theft from automobiles and buildings. However, the cameras appear to have little noti... read more