U.S. Government

Featured Participatory Project: Tracking the Superdelegates in the Democratic Primary

Citizen journalism logoAs Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama run neck-and-neck in the Democratic primary, a "brokered" convention is possible where the Democratic delegates cut deals and shift sides to give one candidate the threshold they need to gain the party's nomination.

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Who's Spinning Who in the U.S. Presidential Race

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's media team is led by "Kirsten Fedewa, a long-time press adviser from Huckabee's days with the Republican governors' association ... and Alice Stewart, a glamorous Arkansas TV anchor," according to the Belfast Telegraph's rundown of candidate "spinmeisters." Mitt Romney's "press team leaders are ...

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James Glassman: The Journalist Turned Journo-lobbyist's Bid to Be PR Czar

James GlassmanJames Glassman, the nominee for Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, probably won't have much of an impact on how the United States presents itself to the rest of the world.

For one thing, he'll only have 11 months in the post. For another -- as his predecessor Karen Hughes proved -- putting shinier lipstick on the pig of U.S. foreign policy doesn't do much to assuage widespread anti-American sentiment. Still, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's January 30 hearing on Glassman's nomination provided some insight into Washington's evolving view of public diplomacy.

U.S. Freezes Out Arctic Science

Scientists in eight Arctic nations prepared "a landmark assessment of oil and gas activity" in the region over six years, including "a clear set of recommendations on how to extract safely what are thought to be up to one quarter of the world's energy reserves." But the United States government blocked the report's release, as it prepares "to sell off exploration licenses for the frozen Chukchi Sea off Alaska, one of the last intact habitats of the polar bear." One of the authors of the report said the U.S. move "could be linked to activities in the Chukchi Sea ...

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Seeking Protection for Whistleblowers That's Worth Its Salt

The case of Pierre Meneton is fueling demands for legal protections for whistleblowers in France. Meneton is a researcher for the National Institute of Health and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research. He is going to court on January 31, 2008, to face charges of defamation. Several industrial salt producers are suing Meneton for a comment he made during an interview in March 2006. "The lobbying of salt producers and agribusiness is very active.

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Rumsfeld Calls for Propaganda 2.0

Rumsfeld with Gen. Peter Pace in Nov. 2005Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is concerned that the United States "is losing the war of ideas in the Muslim world, and the answer to that, in part, is through the creation of [a] new government agency," writes Sharon Weinberger.

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