Politics
While record numbers of Americans are migrating to the disability rolls, new data show that more than a quarter of the cases observed between 2006 and 2010 were improperly awarded. In an 18-month investigation launched by the U.S. Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, auditors found that about 25 percent of the 300 sampled disability cases were granted benefits “without properly addressing insufficient, contradictory and incomplete evidence.”
House Passes Extension of NSA's Electronic Surveillance of Americans
Written by Joe Wolverton, II, J.D.
In a move that should surprise no one aware of the increasing size, scope, and sophistication of the U.S. surveillance state, the House of Representatives voted to approve a five-year extension of the snooping scheme created by George W. Bush in the wake of the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The FISA Amendments Act was signed into law by President George W. Bush on July 10, 2008 after being overwhelming passed 293 to 129 in the House and 69-28 in the Senate.
Judge Katherine Forrest, a New York federal judge, struck down a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act that allows Americans to be indefinitely detained just for being accused of supporting terrorist groups. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit brought by journalists and scholars who were concerned that the NDAA would allow them to be indefinitely detained for speaking their minds. Judge Forrest’s ruling reaffirms a ruling she issued back in May against the indefinite detention provision.
The Office of the Special Counsel announced Wednesday that Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius violated the Hatch Act by campaigning for President Obama while in her official capacity.
A former banker with the Swiss global financial services company UBS has received a $104-million whistleblower award from the Internal Revenue Service for detailing to the IRS how UBS advised thousands of Americans to evade taxes. Of course, before receiving his astoundingly generous bounty — the largest individual federal reward in U.S. history — Bradley Birkenfeld spent a couple of years in prison, as he himself advised clients on how to shield their assets from the U.S. tax agency.
