UPDATE: Stevens unmasks himself!
Looks like there will be no surprises in the search for the "secret hold" Senator. A consensus is forming that the chief suspect, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), is blocking the "Google for government contracts" bill out of revenge for Sen. Tom Coburn's (R-Okla.) successful campaign to defeat the "Bridge to Nowhere". The guys at TPM Muckraker, and a helpful reader, have pulled up a Fort Smith (Ark.) Times Record article from Aug. 18th which labels Stevens as the holder. Coburn also accuses Stevens of being the holder. Over at Redstate diarist Erick writes, "Last week, I called every senator's office," except for the five chief cosponsors, and "only one would not give me a definitive "no."" That office was Sen. Stevens' office.
Transparency Issue Unites Right and Left Blogs
Final Four Update: So a combination of Porkbusters and Muckraker tallies has the search for the "secret hold" Senator down to the Final Four. Is it Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), or Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska)? The money is pick is Stevens who's had it out for Coburn ever since the Oklahoma Senator killed the "Bridge to Nowhere". (Frist calls on all Senators to "honestly and transparently" answer whether they are the "secret Senator" when contacted by "the blog community".)
Who Has Put the Secret Hold on Transparency Legislation?
From Porkbusters:
Senators Tom Coburn and Barak Obama have proposed S. 2590, legislation that would create a single website with access to information on nearly all recipients of federal funding. The bill cannot proceed, however, because one or more Senators placed a "secret hold" on it. Who is the secret holder? We want to know, and we want your help finding out. Call your Senator, and ask them to go on the record denying that they placed the hold. Then e-mail Porkbusters and let us know what they said! Senators who issue denials will be removed from the suspect list --- and those who do not, won't!Continue reading
Blogs and Federal Spending Database
It looks like Ellen beat me to posting about Sen. Coburn's hearings on a federal spending database. Aside from the bill's co-sponsors Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and OMB's Gary Bass, blogger/journalist Mark Tappscott gave testimony as well. Tappscott, who blogs at Tappscott's Copy Desk, voiced his support for the bill, and in his written statement declared his belief that a database of federal spending could start a new generation of blogs devoted to monitoring different issue areas.
Continue readingWhat Good is Transparency When it Becomes a Form of Blindness?
Brent Cunningham of the Columbia Journalism Review poses this rhetorical question at the end of a post on transparency in journalism. What he is referring to is the push by many bloggers for journalists and their publishers to provide information regarding the author’s political background, affiliations, and biases toward the story. “A reporter covering a proposed smoking ban, for example, should tell readers whether she smokes,” Cunningham writes, “The assumption being that if she smokes, we can infer that her sympathies lie with opponents of the ban, and vice versa.” Cunningham, before posing his final question, concludes by stating, “To assume that we can know what someone thinks by identifying their personal traits, habits, and predilections is a dangerous notion, and really has nothing to do with clarity.” So, can transparency in the political sphere become “a form of blindness”?
Continue reading- « Previous
- 1
- …
- 80
- 81
- 82
59063
