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PHILIP ELLIOTT (AP) - Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON White House officials told agencies across the government Tuesday they should take care to avoid even the appearance that politics played a part in the award of federal grants. The advisory came in response to an embarrassing incident last month in which a National Endowment for the Arts official asked artists on a conference call to coordinate with the Corporation for Public Service on ways to help bolster President Barack Obama's public service agenda

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger asked lawmakers to blow up the boxes of government, and on Wednesday they obliged -- though not exactly as he envisioned. A legislative budget committee delayed action on many of Schwarzenegger's proposals for cutting waste, and instead took an ax to operations managed by the governor. They voted to get rid of entire departments and agencies under his authority. The committee voted to eliminate the Secretary of Education office, an appointed position that exists to help the governor on school issues. Lawmakers declared that the governor does not need such an office, as it overlaps with the...

Calif. Voters Reject Measures to Keep State Solvent By JENNIFER STEINHAUER Published: May 20, 2009 LOS ANGELES — A smattering of California voters on Tuesday soundly rejected five ballot measures designed to keep the state solvent through the rest of the year. The results dealt a severe setback to the state’s fragile fiscal structure and to Gov Arnold Schwarzenegger and the state legislators who cobbled together the measures as part of a last-minute budget deal passed in February.The measures, which would have prolonged tax increases, capped state spending, earmarked money for education and involved the state in a complex borrowing...

California state workers outraged at possible layoffs By Jon Ortiz jortiz@sacbee.com Published Friday, May. 15, 2009 State workers were outraged and anxious on Tuesday after learning that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to lay off 5,000 of them in the coming weeks. Although the administration didn't break down which departments would lose jobs, it did say the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which runs the state prison system, would lose the most positions. And one official said the state may need to cut more jobs if California's recession worsens and the state's general fund revenue keeps dwindling. "This may not be...

SIERRA VISTA — Maj. Gen. Barbara Fast said Tuesday that protecting the nation’s borders means bringing together the different cultures of federal agencies. The Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have different procedures because of the way they handle their missions, which must be broadened to be more effective, she told more than 100 people attending a three-day Secure Border Initiative Conference at The Palms. The military and other government agencies must look at integrating homeland security and homeland defense, said Fast, who commands the Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca. “Personally, I believe sealing our borders...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2006 -- The State Department and the Office of Personnel Management have combined resources to process security clearances for overseas Defense Department installations. The joint effort will make the clearance process more efficient and cost effective, officials said. Effective tomorrow, the Department of State will activate an overseas investigative program with a cadre of special investigators working from U.S. embassies and consulates. The investigators will conduct OPM background investigations on DoD facilities. OPM will reimburse the State Department for the work performed. Officials have been working to make security clearance investigations timelier, as mandated by the...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2006 – The Defense Commissary Agency is partnering with a national anti-substance-abuse organization to promote the concept of families dining together as a means of establishing healthy lifestyles for young people, a DeCA spokesperson said today. “Since we’re the food leader for the military, anything that has to do with family quality and family lifestyles and focuses on eating is a good thing for us to be involved in,” said Bonnie Powell during a telephone interview with American Forces Press Service from her organization’s headquarters at Fort Lee, Va. DeCA will support and celebrate “Family Day...

Federal tax revenue versus federal spending by departments and agencies.

In December, the FBI was worried that Border Patrol agents' lives were in danger. But many of those officers never got the memo. Instead, agents say, they first learned of the threat -- that smugglers planned to hire gang members to murder Border Patrol agents -- when a Daily Bulletin reporter called to ask for their opinions. The fact that many officers didn't know about the threat, described in an "Officer Safety Alert" disseminated by the Department of Homeland Security, shows how poor communication among law enforcement agencies can be. The warning is "proof that we're being targeted," said a...

SIERRA VISTA -- Four people believe they were shot at from south of the border on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Border Patrol. But no evidence has yet been found to substantiate the incident, Border Patrol spokesman Gustavo Soto said Wednesday. U.S. Forest Service investigators also have not found evidence to support the report. "They perceived shots having been fired," Border Patrol spokeswoman Andrea Zortman said Thursday. "We turned everything over to the Park Service." Kym Hall, Coronado National Memorial's superintendent, said four people were stopped as they passed eastbound through the memorial at about 7:45 a.m. for driving erratically....

WASHINGTON (AP) - Law enforcement officials from five countries said Wednesday they are struggling to deal with the street gang called MS-13 that is plaguing communities from the United States to Central America. A meeting at FBI headquarters launched an unprecedented effort to make inroads against what officials called "a culture of violence." "We're trying to build networks of communication for sharing historical and current data on MS-13 members," said Deborah Strebel Pierce, deputy assistant director for the FBI criminal investigative division. Shorthand for Mara Salvatrucha, which loosely translates to guerrilla gang, MS-13 is a Latin American gang founded in...

Fred Friendly Seminars Presents IN THE BALANCE, a Provocative Look at the Social, Political, Economic, Legal and Health and Safety Implications of Terrorist Threats - Wednesday August 3, 12:42 pm ET Programs To Air During National Preparedness Month In September Presented on PBS by Thirteen/WNET New York NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 3, 2005-- A videotape claiming that a terrorist attack will happen at a shopping mall in the next few days is sent to a major national news organization. How does the organization respond? On the one hand, this is an exclusive news event; on the other, it's a potential national...

SACRAMENTO – Moody's Investor Services and Fitch Ratings, two of three Wall Street bond agencies, upgraded the state's bond ratings last week in the wake of a nearly on-time budget. The upgrades, from A minus to A, are slight, but they help give investors more confidence that the state is trying to dig itself out of a hole. Q: Why did they upgrade California bonds? A: Both agencies cited the state's improving economy and effort to close its budget gap. California started off the year with a $9 billion ongoing structural deficit, which is now between $5.7 billion and $7.5...

White House overhauls spy agencies The move was spurred by questionable prewar Iraq intelligence. The Associated Press June 30. 2005 6:01AM AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite FBI Director Robert Mueller discusses President Bush's decision to create a national security service within the FBI, during a press conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Wednesday, June 29, 2005. Mueller, who will share authority for choosing the head of the new service with National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, added that he does not regard the new agency as an infringement on the FBI's independence. President Bush granted the new national intelligence chief expanded...

SANTA ANA, Calif. - Frustrated by illegal immigrant criminals who slip their grasp, a growing number of state and county police agencies nationwide are moving to join a federal program that enlists local officers to enforce immigration laws. The federal government has already granted that authority in Florida and Alabama, and the program is under consideration in Connecticut, Oklahoma and Arkansas. It's also in the works in Southern California - one of the nation's most ethnically diverse regions - where it would reverse a long-standing local police policy of avoiding questions about immigration status during criminal investigations. Immigrant rights groups...

A recent report on US intelligence harshly critiqued counter-spy efforts.WASHINGTON – Amid all the criticism of the US's faulty intelligence-gathering, a new concern is surfacing about America's premier national-security agencies - their vulnerability to counterespionage. Because the US has reached such lone, superpower status, government officials say, at least 90 countries - in addition to Al Qaeda - are attempting to steal some of the nation's most sacred secrets. It's not only foes, like members of terror groups or nations that are adversaries of the US, but friends as well. The top five countries trying to snoop on US plans...

WASHINGTON - President Bush's commission on weapons of mass destruction will castigate U.S. intelligence agencies for their continued failure to share information after numerous reforms aimed at improving coordination, federal officials said Tuesday. One official familiar with the commission's workings, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the report also goes into great detail on why prewar intelligence on Iraq's weapons programs turned out to be flawed. The report is scheduled to be released Thursday. The report examines factors that might have led to errors, the official said, such as whether policy-makers were seeking preconceived conclusions, whether foreign intelligence agencies had...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A communications firm with close ties to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is helping a state contractor persuade department heads to join a struggling procurement program, an official with the contractor said Wednesday. The contractor, Virginia-based CGI-AMS, recently hired Wilson-Miller Communications, which is co-owned by Marty Wilson, a top political adviser to Schwarzenegger and his main fund-raiser. Last May, the Schwarzenegger administration hired CGI-AMS to help the state trim its $4.9 billion purchasing bill. A spokeswoman for CGI-AMS said her company hired Beth Miller, Wilson's partner, to develop a marketing and education program aimed at getting more state officials...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

National NFRA: US Government Votes to Raise Oil Prices in OPEC CIA AND OTHER U. S. INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES HELP OIL CARTEL OPEC IN OIL PRODUCTION CUTBACKS TO SKYROCKET OIL PRICES WORLDWIDE By Carl Olson U. S. intelligence agencies have a duty to assist occupied Iraq and its oil cartel Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. "The President and Congress should reveal what help American spy agencies have provided to OPEC in causing skyrocketing oil prices," stated Carl Olson, Chairman of State Department Watch, a nonpartisan foreign policy watchdog group headquartered in Washington, D. C. "The American public does not deserve to...

<p>State Controller Steve Westly on Monday called on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to consider abolishing or reducing the budgets of state agencies, which he said may add an unnecessary level of government.</p> <p>"Everybody appreciates the need to streamline," Westly said. "It's important to reduce the number of layers in government. ...</p>

Fake drivers licenses easy to obtain Government investigators easily dupe state agencies, warn of terror loophole NBC's Bob Hager reports on how easy it is to get a fake driver's license. By Bob Hager and Bob Sullivan MSNBC AND NBC NEWS Sept. 9 — Armed with fictitious birth certificates, utility bills, out-of-state licenses and other falsified documents, congressional investigators easily convinced motor vehicle agency employees around the country to issue genuine drivers licenses, a security flaw that could open the door to future terrorist attacks, a government report to be released Tuesday says. THE REPORT from the General Accounting Office,...

TEHERAN, July 26 (AFP) - Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has expressed alarm over the treatment of political activists by unofficial intelligence agencies, the country's main reformist party told state media Saturday. Khatami issued a formal complaint to the office he set up after his election in 1997 to record violations of constitutional rights, said the reformist party Iran Participation Front (IIPF), lead by the president's brother Mohammad Reza Khatami. The president's written complaint claims that around 60 political radicals have been arrested by unofficial intelligence agencies, kept in isolation and subjected to psychological abuse to extract forced confessions, official news...

Geldof's praise for the US is criticised by aid agencies By Raymond Whitaker 29 May 2003 Heedless of the dismay caused to international aid agencies by his support for Washington's Africa policies, Bob Geldof heaped more praise on the Bush administration yesterday.The Live Aid founder, who is visiting Ethiopia for the first time in nearly 20 years to highlight the danger of another famine, hailed President George Bush's signature on a $15bn (£9bn) plan to fight Aids in Africa and the Caribbean, saying: "That is extremely radical and welcoming ... and will take the fight against Aids to new heights."...

U.S. Agencies have warned that Hizbullah has been recruited by Syria to prepare massive retaliatory attacks in any confrontation between Damascus and Washington.U.S. Officials said that the Central Intelligence Agency and State Department have warned that Iran and Syria could employ Hizbullah to launch attacks against U.S. interests in Europe, the Middle East and North America.They said the Shiite movement is seen as more entrenched in the West than Al Qaeda and could have up to 12 cells in the United States alone.'It has a signifcant presence of trained operatives inside the United States waiting for the call to action,'...

Spy agencies compete to find Saddam secrets Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow, Julian Borger in Washington, Ian Black and Richard Norton-Taylor Friday April 11, 2003 The Guardian US forces in Baghdad have secured the Iraqi interior ministry for the CIA in the hope of finding documents on the ousted regime's human rights abuses and the development of weapons of mass destruction, according to intelligence sources. The development comes amid reports that Russian agents have been scouring Baghdad, as the scramble by foreign governments to secure the prized archives of the Iraqi intelligence agencies and Saddam's regime gathers pace. Russian newspapers...

Voluntary Alternatives to Taxation Stuart K. Hayashi Most Americans believe paying taxes is a patriotic duty. Yet this very nation was founded upon people evading taxes in 1776. When individuals don’t pay taxes, the government goes after them with guns, even though they haven’t used force on anyone else. Thus, taxation is an initiation of physical force against the individual’s right to life, liberty and property. Because taxation is forcible extortion, it violates your right to property. If you don’t pay taxes, you can be jailed, hence depriving you the right to liberty. And if tax “evaders” fight tax...

<p>A sign at the Placer County Democratic Party booth was printed in Spanish inviting people to register to vote, but none of the volunteers spoke Spanish and all the voter registration cards were printed in English.</p> <p>The booth at the Hispanic Heritage Festival in Roseville attracted few people compared to the one a few feet away belonging to the Republicans.</p>

<p>California School Employees Association members protest the budget stalemate on the Capitol's north steps on Wednesday. They urged the Legislature to immediately pass a state spending plan - but without cutting funding for public education.</p> <p>The Davis administration on Wednesday told state departments to plan for permanent 20 percent cuts to their budgets next July 1, including a likely reduction in programs and staff layoffs.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO - Gov. Gray Davis on Wednesday directed state agencies to monitor their own technology projects in coming months as state officials develop a new agency to oversee California's technology systems after the demise of the Department of Information Technology.</p>

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- President George W. Bush (news - web sites) acknowledged Friday that his plan to reorganize the government so that one federal department has primary responsibility for defending against terrorist attacks will be a tough sell, but he expressed confidence that he will succeed. "This is going to be a tough battle because we are going to step on people's toes. I understand that. You see, when you take power away from one person in Washington , it tends to make them nervous," Bush told supporters in Iowa . "So, we are just going to keep the pressure...

If the federal agencies tasked with protecting the American people against terrorism were a single person, that person would be committed for some heavy duty psychiatric treatment. But, since this craziness is the accumulation of programs of federal agencies, Americans seem it write it off as business as usual. Let's start with the obvious: A few radical Islamic fundamentalists hate us enough to become homicide bombers in order to kill a few of us. Therefore, our government "cracks down" on all American citizens at airports and other areas. So as to be "fair" -- and not just target that group...

Bush Administration Took Appropriate Action in Response to General Threats Americans know that President Bush when faced with credible information about a threat would act swiftly and strongly. It is terribly unfair to the victims and victim families of the terrible tragedy of September 11 for anyone to suggest anything to the contrary. Such statements are irresponsible and politically motivated. Last summer, President Bush received briefings that contained general information about possible threats. The information was not specific. It did not mention time, place or method. These general threats were also uncorroborated. Any briefings containing specific information were uncorroborated and...

Dear subscriber, Here is today's ACTION ITEM: ISSUE: In a recent report, CNSNews.com asked, "What can be done about a federal bureaucracy run amok? Set an expiration date for federal agencies and let Congress intervene if it wants them saved from extinction. That's the solution put forward by Republican Congressman Kevin Brady and Democratic Congressman Jim Turner." It's called "sunsetting." Sunsetting establishes the process to evaluate the performance of federal agencies. The law proposed by Brady and Turner, the "Abolishment of Obsolete Agencies and Federal Sunset Act of 2001" (H.R. 2373), would also promote accountability and customer service within agencies...