Congress has created a bootleg market for CRS Reports
Information, Please. Watchdog Groups, Some Lawmakers Say Congressional Reports Should Be Made Public, By Elizabeth Williamson, Washington Post, February 19, 2007; A17. [Another copy here]
For years, open-government groups have fought to make the [Congressional Research Service] reports public, and for years, many lawmakers have kept them under wraps. Or so they thought. By insisting on secrecy, Congress instead created a bootleg market for the research. Every day, a small Texas company compiles the reports and sells them to lobbyists, lawyers and others who pay thousands of dollars for a peek at the reports and what they say about the congressional agenda. And it's all legal. "How I get them is my trade secret . . . but I get them all," said Walt Seager, who digs up the reports for Gallery Watch, a legislative tracking service.... Subscribers to Gallery Watch pay about $4,000 a year to get all the CRS reports, online and searchable, delivered weekly.Continue reading
Audio and Video from the Fall Depository Library Council Meeting
GPO is providing audio and video files from the Fall DLC meeting and Library of the Year award presentation here. They note that "Audio files are available in .mp3 format, while video files are available in .mov format. All files have been compressed in zip format for easier download. Transcripts are available in PDF format.... In the future, we hope to provide these podcasts in streaming format. For now, however, they are only available as downloadable content." Continue reading
CRS describes Budget Documents in useful 5 page report
FY2008 Budget Documents: Internet Access and GPO Availability, by Jennifer Teefy, Congressional Research Service, February 13, 2007
This 5 page document provides brief descriptions of the budget volumes and related documents, together with Internet addresses, Government Printing Office (GPO) stock numbers, and prices to obtain these publications. You might be able to use this as a handout if you have lots of budget users.
Thanks to OpenCRS!
Continue readingNews war
Lowell Bergman and PBS Frontline has put up the first two parts of a great 4-part series titled News War, which examines the battle between the White House & the national media and how they both fight to set the national agenda. Part I, which aired last week, investigates the Plame affair and breaks down how the Bush administration manipulated the media, which, in turn, manipulated and exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. Part III and IV will be up on the site soon. It's well worth it, trust me. Check here for local listings. Continue reading
Matsui Legacy Project
An interesting new project that includes government information is the Honorable Robert T. Matsui Legacy Project: Road to Redress and Reparations. Developed at California State University, Sacramento, the digital archive focuses on the late Congressman Robert T. Matsui’s leadership in gaining redress and reparations for Japanese Americans interned during World War II. It contains digital reproductions of select photographs, documents, video and audio clips from public sources and the Matsui family. The focal point of the website is on Robert T. Matsui and his leadership in Congress working to secure redress and reparations for Japanese Americans following the incarceration and exclusion of Japanese Americans from the West Coast of the United States during World War II.
See: Digital archive highlights Matsui’s efforts for WW II internees California State University, Sacramento • Public Affairs February 18, 2007
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