Woman faces 13-year wait for public records
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) News, Canada's national public broadcaster, reported Monday, January 22, 2007 that
A woman from the Rural Municipality of Daly in western Manitoba faces a long wait — 13½ years, to be exact — for government records she requested about the province's livestock industry.Read the full story online: Woman faces 13-year wait for hog industry info. Officials from Manitoba Province were not available for comment on Monday. Continue reading
CRS Director Moves to Restrict Analysts’ Media Contacts
The FAS (Federation of American Scientists) blog on government secrecy posted an interesting article today on additional restrictions on CRS analysts' contact with media representatives. Supposedly, the new policy is being driven by CRS management fearing "that the agency may come to be perceived as having an institutional agenda of its own or that its impartiality will be questioned by members of Congress". That's a legitimate concern, perhaps driven from wanting to manage their reputation and the quality of their work. But, the author of the FAS blog entry suggests the new policy may have a negative effect on the employees --which may affect the quality of their work after all. Continue reading
Doing Legislative Research or Budget Research? Here are two helpful articles
- Testing the THOMAS Beta By Peggy Garvin, LLRX January 15, 2007.
The full January issue of LLRX is now online with Peggy Garvin's article (previously mentioned here) in which she runs the THOMAS beta test site through its paces, evaluating the new search engine and enhanced navigations features, accompanied by screen shots. - Authorization and Appropriation By Paul Jenks, LLRX January 15, 2007.
Paul Jenks explains the process of key Congressional activitiy: before money can be spent, Congress must authorize the expenditure first, and then must appropriate the money to do so.
The Digital Divide: Guide, Discussion, Links
Your Guide to the Digital Divide, by Mark Glaser, MediaShift. PBS (17 January 2007)
The digital divide is the chasm separating the haves and have-nots in digital technology. On one side are people who can afford or who have access to computers, a high-speed broadband connection and the plethora of services from online banking to social networking to blogging. On the other side of the equation are people who cannot afford the technology, cannot get broadband access because of their location, or who have learning or cultural limitations to using the technology. There are many digital divides: Rural and urban; poor and rich, African-American and white; old and young; disabled and able; developing nation and developed nation. All these factors have been studied and solutions have been debated for years.Continue reading
Looking for Presidential Directives? CRS Report Helps.
The type and scope of various Presidential orders can be a bit confusing and tracking them down frustrating. This report describes Executive orders, proclamations oral presidential directive, Homeland Security Presidential Directives, Letters on Tariffs and International Trade, Military Orders, National Security Instruments, Presidential Findings, and more and lists source tools with URLs. Presidential Directives: Background and Overview [PDF], Updated January 7, 2005, by Harold C. Relyea, Specialist in American National Government Government Division. Congressional Research Service Order Code 98-611 GOV. Also see: Abstract. Continue reading