For Immediate Release

New State Government Transparency Web Site Goes Live Today

CONCORD – As part of Gov. John Lynch’s continuing efforts to improve state government transparency and accountability, the State of New Hampshire today went live with a new Web site that puts monthly spending reports online for the first time. The site also includes other important financial information, including budgetary information and revenue reports.

“I am committed to improving the transparency and accountability of state government, and bringing greater efficiency to the way the state does business. Creating these spending reports, and posting them online is an important step in that ongoing effort,” Gov. Lynch said.

In the past year, the State of New Hampshire has instituted a long overdue technology upgrade that improves the state’s ability to track and report on state spending. Gov. Lynch is making this information available to public for the first time online.

In addition to the monthly spending reports, the new site includes other budget and financial data, including monthly revenue reports, state budget information, federal stimulus spending and state contract information.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1006/S00117.htm

Wednesday, 16 June 2010, 7:58 pm, BY Michael Collins

British Petroleum has operated as though it were a sovereign state since its
inception. When they blew the well at their Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of
Mexico, it never occurred to them that they would have to take orders from
anybody. But that may change largely due to their inability to stop the flow
of oil after nearly sixty days of gushing.

President Obama was clear in his speech last night. If any entity is going
down as a result of the catastrophe, it will be BP. Today, Obama meets with
BP's Chairman of the Board, Carl-Henric Svanberg, and the man he told the chairman

SOURCE:Los Angeles Times

U.S. report faults Air Force drone crew, ground commanders in Afghan civilian deaths

The investigation into an operation three months ago in Afghanistan's Oruzgan province that left up to 23 civilians dead prompts Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal to punish six officers.

May 29, 2010|By David Zucchino, Los Angeles Times

Reporting from Kandahar, Afghanistan — A U.S. military investigation has harshly criticized a Nevada-based Air Force drone crew and American ground commanders in Afghanistan for misidentifying civilians as insurgents during a U.S. Army Special Forces operation in Oruzgan province in February, resulting in the deaths of as many as 23 civilians.

Six U.S. officers will be punished and a sweeping review of counterinsurgency training will be undertaken, U.S. Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, said Saturday.

The well-mannered person adheres to the proposition that "if you can't say something nice, you shouldn't say anything at all." As a result, Republicans, and Senator Judd Gregg in particular, have gotten the benefit of Democrats' forbearance, even as they denigrate their "opponents" every chance they get. Moreover, ignoring their rudeness does nothing to tamp down an aggressive stance. Rather, given an inch, the intentionally anti-social will go for a mile or the whole globe. Perhaps, like other addicts, the abusive person has a bad habit and requires an intervention to make it stop.

At least, Gregg's escalation of his antagonism towards socialism into what he now calls "pandering populism" needs to be called out. His own words are rather damming:

Now we have this huge populist movement here and I'm trying to think, what is the rationale here other than just rampant pandering populism? A vote occurred in the Budget Committee last week, which I happen to be Ranking Member of, that crystallized the situation for me. Senator Sanders from Vermont, who I consider a friend and I enjoy immensely, a great guy with a great sense of humor, but we disagree on a lot of things as he runs as a socialist and I run as a conservative. Senator Sanders offered an amendment which said that the government has the right to break up large corporations.

SOURCE: Housingwire

Where Did the $2trn Bailout Go? Amendment to Dodd Bill Wants to Know

by DIANA GOLOBAY

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010, 3:16 pm

....

The Senate shot down with a 37-62 vote an amendment by Sen David Vitter (R-LA) that would have allowed the GAO to examine monetary policy decisions at the Fed.

“Senator Vitter’s amendment, unfortunately, has as its basic purposes the disassembling of that independence,” said Sen Judd Gregg (R-NH), on the Senate floor today. “It would have the Congress the authority through the GAO to go in and investigate what happens with the open market community.”

He warned the proposed amendment could have impeded the Fed’s decision-making process.

“It would influence their ability to make decisions in the sense that they would be concerned about Congress coming in and investigating,” Gregg said.

I seek names of NH towns where the following petition, sponsored by "Vote for Answers New Hampshire," appeared on Town Meeting warrants this spring, or will this fall. If available, any vote results would be welcome too. I am speaking to this petition in my town this evening, and would like to name other towns where voters considered the petition. Many thanks.

"Shall New Hampshire's Congressional Delegation be instructed to pursue a new and independent investigation to address thoroughly all of the evidence and unanswered questions related to the events of September 11, 2001?"

Please send your information to me at:
Kayren Morrill

SOURCE: ProPublica

BP, the global oil giant responsible for the fast-spreading spill in the Gulf
of Mexico that will soon make landfall, is no stranger to major accidents.

In fact, the company has found itself at the center of several of the nation's
worst oil and gas–related disasters in the last five years.

In March 2005, a massive explosion ripped through a tower at BP's refinery
in Texas City, Texas, killing 15 workers and injuring 170 others. Investigators
later determined that the company had ignored its own protocols on operating
the tower, which was filled with gasoline, and that a warning system had been
disabled.

Are you a Gulf Coast resident? Do you have direct experience as a laborer,
consultant, or contractor on offshore oil rigs? Or insight into how safety
and emergency response decisions are made and implemented? Write reporter Abrahm
Lustgarten (if needed, you can speak anonymously).

The company pleaded guilty to federal felony charges and was fined more than
$50 million by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

by Juan Gonzalez
Friday, April 16th 2010

SOURCE: NYDailyNews.com

A former banker who blew the whistle on thousands of secret bank accounts rich Americans held at Swiss giant UBS claimed Thursday some U.S. politicians also kept off-shore accounts with the bank.

"We had an office in Washington that we all referred to as the PEP office - for 'Politically Exposed People,'" Bradley Birkenfeld said.

He was speaking by phone - on tax day, no less - from Schuylkill County federal prison in Pennsylvania, where he is serving a 40-month sentence for his role in the tax evasion scheme.

"Only top managers from the bank knew the names of the political clients," Birkenfeld said.

Executives from the bank's U.S. subsidiary, UBS America, he added, helped promote those off-shore accounts through a New York "referral desk" that steered U.S. clients to their Swiss colleagues, and through dozens of high society events that the U.S. subsidiary often sponsored.

That's what Paul Krugman calls the predators on Wall Street in today's column.

ProPublica provides more details about how financial manipulators ripped the nation off.

Remarks of President Barack Obama
As Prepared for Delivery
The White House
April 17, 2010

There were many causes of the turmoil that ripped through our economy over the past two years. But above all, this crisis was caused by failures in the financial industry. What is clear is that this crisis could have been avoided if Wall Street firms were more accountable, if financial dealings were more transparent, and if consumers and shareholders were given more information and authority to make decisions.

But that did not happen. And that’s because special interests have waged a relentless campaign to thwart even basic, common-sense rules – rules to prevent abuse and protect consumers. In fact, the financial industry and its powerful lobby have opposed modest safeguards against the kinds of reckless risks and bad practices that led to this very crisis.

The consequences of this failure of responsibility – from Wall Street to Washington – are all around us: 8 million jobs lost, trillions in savings erased, countless dreams diminished or denied. I believe we have to do everything we can to ensure that no crisis like this ever happens again. That’s why I’m fighting so hard to pass a set of Wall Street reforms and consumer protections. A plan for reform is currently moving through Congress.