Author archives

New GAO Report: Tax Administration: Comparison of the Reported Tax Liabilities of Foreign- and U.S.-Controlled Corporations

Tax Administration: Comparison of the Reported Tax Liabilities of Foreign- and U.S.-Controlled Corporations, 1998-2005, GAO-08-957, July 24, 2008. “Concerns about transfer pricing abuse have led researchers to compare the tax liabilities of foreign- and U.S.-controlled corporations. (Transfer prices are the prices related companies charge on intercompany transactions.) However, such comparisons are complicated because other factors …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents

DHS OIG: A Review of the World Trade Center Captive Insurance Company

OIG-08-21 – A Review of the World Trade Center Captive Insurance Company (PDF, 53 pages) New 08/12/2008. “Due to the risks assumed by the city and its contractors working without commercial insurance coverage, Public Law 108-7 directed FEMA to provide up to $1 billion to create an insurance company. New York City, with funding from …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents

EIA: OPEC Revenues Fact Sheet and Short-Term Energy Outlook August 2008

OPEC Revenues Fact Sheet (08/12/2008): “EIA estimates that members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) earned $671 billion in net oil export revenues in 2007, a 10 percent increase from 2006. Saudi Arabia earned the largest share of these earnings, $194 billion, representing 29 percent of total OPEC revenues. On a per-capita …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents

Interactive Food & Beverage Marketing: Targeting Children and Youth in the Digital Age

“The Proliferation of the media in children’s lives has created a new “marketing ecosystem” that encompasses cell phones, mobile music devices, instant messaging, videogames, and virtual three-dimensional worlds. This report by Jeff Chester from the Center for Digital Democracy and Kathryn Montgomery from American University describes new marketing practices that are fundamentally transforming how food …

Subjects: E-Commerce, Government Documents

CBO: Contractors' Support of U.S. Operations in Iraq

Congressional Budget Office: Contractors’ Support of U.S. Operations in Iraq, August 2008. “From 2003 through 2007, U.S. agencies awarded $85 billion in contracts for work to be principally performed in the Iraq theater, accounting for almost 20 percent of funding for operations in Iraq. (Dollar amounts in this paper are in 2008 dollars.) More than …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents

Google Reports Virus Email Activity At All Time High In July 2008

Official Google Enterprise Blog: “In July, our Postini datacenters saw the biggest volume of email virus attacks so far in 2008, with a peak of nearly 10 million messages on July 24. One of the more prominent attacks in the month involved a spoofed UPS package-tracking link that was intended to lure recipients into clicking …

Subjects: Cybercrime, E-Mail, ID Theft

National Wildlife Federation: Proposed regulations would gut protections for Americas imperiled wildlife

News release: “The Bush Administration plans to rollback protections for Americas imperiled wildlife by re-writing the regulations of the Endangered Species Act. According to leaked documents obtained by the National Wildlife Federation, the proposed changes would weaken the safety net of habitat protections that have helped protect and recover endangered fish, wildlife and plants for …

Subjects: Government Documents, Legal Research

Recent CRS Reports: Intel Reform at DOE, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Nuclear Cooperation With India

Via FAS: Intelligence Reform at the Department of Energy: Policy Issues and Organizational Alternatives, July 28, 2008 The U.S. Secret Service: An Examination and Analysis of Its Evolving Missions, July 31, 2008 U.S. Nuclear Cooperation With India: Issues for Congress, updated July 30, 2008 Financing Issues and Economic Effects of American Wars, updated July 29, …

Subjects: Congress, Government Documents

U.S. Sentencing Commission Preliminary Crack Cocaine Retroactivity Data Report

U.S. Sentencing Commission Preliminary Crack Cocaine Retroactivity Data Report, August 2008 Data As part of its ongoing mission, the United States Sentencing Commission provides Congress, the judiciary, the executive branch, and the general public with data extracted and analyzed from sentencing documents submitted by courts to the Commission. Data is reported on an annual basis …

Subjects: Courts, E-Government, Government Documents

National Law Journal: Vetting Jurors via MySpace

“As personal information becomes more widely available on blogs, MySpace, Facebook and other social networking Web sites, the Internet has become an important tool for jury consultants and trial lawyers. Such sites are a treasure trove of information about potential and seated jurors that can be used in picking the right jurors, bouncing potential jurors …

Subjects: Courts, Internet, Privacy

Council on Foreign Relations: Challenges for Nuclear Power Expansion

Challenges for Nuclear Power Expansion, Toni Johnson, Staff Writer, August 11, 2008. “Global construction of nuclear reactors is rising after a decades-long decline. A number of factors account for this shift, including soaring energy demand in the developing world and the threat of climate change. Most of the new interest in nuclear is occurring outside …

Subjects: Knowledge Management

OIG: The Social Security Administration's Electronic Government Services

A-14-08-28113, 08/11/08 – Quick Response Evaluation: The Social Security Administration’s Electronic Government Services “SSA is developing a wide range of eServices to improve its services to the public because the Agency is facing what is often referred to as a silver tsunami of baby boomer claims. Due to the aging of the baby boomers, SSA …

Subjects: E-Government, Government Documents

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