By William Fisher
During 2004, the Bush Administration issued more secret court orders, spent $148 creating new classified documents for every $1 spent releasing old ones, invoked the ‘state secrets’ privilege in court cases more frequently than ever before, and received 25 per cent more requests for documents under the Freedom of Information Act.
These are among the findings of a new “Secrecy Report Card” prepared by
OpenTheGovernment.org, a coalition of organizations dedicated to (…)
Home > Keywords > International > USA
USA
Articles
-
THE PRICE OF SECRECY
20 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
1 comment -
Former White House Official Arrested
20 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
By MARK SHERMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) - A former Bush administration official was arrested Monday on charges he made false statements and obstructed a federal investigation into his dealings with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, according to court documents and government officials.
David Safavian, then-chief of staff of the General Services Administration and a former Abramoff lobbying associate, concealed from federal investigators that Abramoff was seeking to do business with GSA when Safavian (…) -
Bush Official Arrested in Corruption Probe
20 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
2 commentsBy R. Jeffrey Smith and Susan Schmidt
The Bush administration’s top federal procurement official resigned Friday and was arrested yesterday, accused of lying and obstructing a criminal investigation into Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s dealings with the federal government. It was the first criminal complaint filed against a government official in the ongoing corruption probe related to Abramoff’s activities in Washington.
The complaint, filed by the FBI, alleges that David H. (…) -
What has happened to Iraq’s missing $1bn?
20 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad
One billion dollars has been plundered from Iraq’s defence ministry in one of the largest thefts in history, The Independent can reveal, leaving the country’s army to fight a savage insurgency with museum-piece weapons.
The money, intended to train and equip an Iraqi army capable of bringing security to a country shattered by the US-led invasion and prolonged rebellion, was instead siphoned abroad in cash and has disappeared.
"It is possibly one of the (…) -
Senate’s Kabuki Dance With Roberts
20 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
By William Fisher After three days of hearings on the confirmation of Judge John G. Roberts to be the seventeenth Chief Justice of the United States, what the public has learned is that the nominee appears to be as much Talmudic scholar as jurist. In the relatively few questions he did not duck altogether by saying they related to issues likely to come before the Court, or by claiming the views he wrote were those of the administrations he has worked for in the past, Roberts responded (…)
-
A patchwork of help—Greenhouse School’s unique approach to Katrina relief
20 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
by Daniel Patrick Welch
The Hurricane Katrina disaster is bringing out an instinct to help from schools, churches and groups all over the world. However, students at The Greenhouse School are taking a unique approach to helping victims of Katrina—and one that is familiar at the same time. “We wanted to do something, like a lot of people, but we wanted it to be special and in line with how we work,” said Julia Nambalirwa-Lugudde, the school’s assistant director.
She and her colleague, (…) -
Division of Funeral Corp. Charged With Desecrating Corpses Hired to Collect Deceased Victims of Hurricane Katrina
20 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
1 commentBy Jason Leopold
A funeral services company which recently learned that one of its subsidiaries is negotiating a lucrative contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to remove dead bodies in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, paid $100 million to settle a class-action lawsuit several years ago alleging the company desecrated thousands of corpses, and dumped bodies into mass graves.
Moreover, the company paid $200,000 to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that sought to expose (…) -
If Corporations Could Laugh
20 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
2 commentsby Ralph Nader If only corporations could laugh. If only corporations could laugh during the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearings on Judge John Roberts’ nomination for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, they would head for the nearest champagne closet in their executive suites.
What a triumph for the most dominant powers in and around our nation. Judge Roberts got away without having important questions asked regarding the interface between corporations, the Constitution, the election (…) -
Witnessing History
20 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
By Scott Galindez
I spent three weeks in Crawford, Texas. The heat was unbearable; bugs were everywhere, including fire ants crawling into my keyboard. But I wouldn’t have traded Camp Casey for any other story that I have ever covered.
I remember the frigid cold of January in Washington DC, when millions around the world said no to the war in Iraq. We covered the Democratic and Republican conventions, I went to Iowa and New Hampshire to cover the primaries. These were all stories that I (…) -
Whoops! There Goes Another Pension Plan
20 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
ROBERT S. MILLER is a turnaround artist with a Dickensian twist. He unlocks hidden value in floundering Rust Belt companies by jettisoning their pension plans. His approach, copied by executives at airlines and other troubled companies, can make the people who rely on him very rich. But it may be creating a multibillion-dollar mess for taxpayers later.
As chief executive of Bethlehem Steel in 2002, Mr. Miller shut down the pension plan, leaving a federal program (…)