Controversies
Pentagon Avoids Giving Some Veterans Benefits by Changing Name of Their Disorder
U.S. Senator Christopher “Kit” Bond (R-Missouri) has launched his own inquiry to determine how many veterans have been discharged for “adjustment disorders,” which can have the same symptoms as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But unlike sol... read more
Park Service Turns Blind Eye to Illegal Native American Removal of Plants
An environmental group has accused the National Park Service (NPS) of violating its own rules when it comes to the illegal removal of native plants from national parks. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) claims park managers,... read more
Army AWOLs and Desertions Double; Sex Crimes Triple
Disturbing behavior is on the rise in the U.S. Army, which is struggling to keep its troops in place and from committing sex crimes. An Army report shows AWOL and desertion case have skyrocketed 234% since 2004. An even bigger jump has occurred wi... read more
Patent Office Has Backlog of 700,000 Applications…3-Year Wait
The mother of invention is currently stuck in traffic, waiting for the long line ahead to clear up. That about sums up the patent system today in the U.S., where an inventor can wait up to three years to hear back from the U.S. Patent and Tradem... read more
Most Who Hack into Federal Agencies Are Not Spies or Terrorists…They Want Money
If a U.S. government computer comes under attack, the incentive is most likely money, not terrorism. The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) at the Department of Homeland Security found that 90% of incidents of computer attacks in the... read more
Illegal Immigrants: 4% of U.S. Population, 8% of Births
Advocates for changing American immigration law received new information to fuel their argument that children born to illegal immigrants in the U.S. should not receive automatic citizenship. A study released by the Pew Hispanic Center showed that ... read more
Justice Department Investigated Only 1 of 1,997 Civil Rights Complaints This Year
Nearly 2,000 civil rights complaints were filed against employees of the Department of Justice in the first half of 2010, but the agency’s inspector general only bothered to investigate one of the cases. The IG reported that almost all of the 1,99... read more
Scientists Claim Obama Administration Tried to Control Oil Spill Reports
Only weeks after BP’s undersea well began spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, scientists from two universities conducted early studies revealing that large amounts of oil were accumulating at the bottom of the ocean. But the U.S. Coast Guard and ... read more
FBI Has Backlog of More Than 3,200 DNA Cases
The FBI’s forensic laboratory is having a tough time keeping up with demand for DNA analyses from its agents, as well helping local and state law enforcement deal with DNA testing. An investigation by the Department of Justice’s inspector general ... read more
Fisheries Service Gives Navy Permission to Kill or Harm 27 Species in Pacific Training
The U.S. Navy has gotten the okay from the National Marine Fisheries Service to harm up to 27 different Pacific Ocean species during its training exercises scheduled near the Mariana Islands. The authorization includes killing up to 10 beaked whal... read more
Superman’s Hometown Worries about Uranium, Not Kryptonite
Metropolis, Illinois, has two powerful distinctions that separate it from all other cities in America. One, it’s the self-proclaimed hometown of Superman. Two, it’s home to the nation’s only uranium conversion plant—where striking workers are refu... read more
Why are American Girls Developing Breasts Earlier?
A new study published in the journal Pediatrics is again raising the question: Why are girls reaching puberty at a younger age?
Following up on research published in 1997 that showed similar results, the new study revealed more girls age seven... read more
Psychologists Move against One of Their Own Who Helped Torture
For the first time, the American Psychological Association (APA) has publicly questioned the ethics of a military psychologist who oversaw the CIA’s torture of a detainee during the Bush administration.
The APA wrote a letter to the Texas lice... read more
Government Printing Office Employees Lead Agencies in Discrimination Complaints
The Government Printing Office (GPO) may not be very large, but it has its share of unhappy employees. One of the smaller agencies in the U.S. government, the GPO, with about 2,300 workers, recorded the highest rate of discrimination complaints (2... read more
Cancer Cluster Near Ft. Detrick in Maryland
Fort Detrick in Maryland is responsible for numerous cases of cancer, including three in one family, according to local residents. Base officials have admitted Agent Orange was used there a long time ago, along with industrial solvents, but the cl... read more
Romania Coin Honors Anti-Semitic Prime Minister
Bank officials in Romania have come under fire from Holocaust experts for issuing a special coin honoring Miron Cristea, a former prime minister who demonized Jews prior to the outbreak of World War II.
Cristea led Romania’s Orthodox Church be... read more