Oversight

Rep. Mark Kirk, who wants to ban Second Life from public schools and libraries, invoked the specter of virtual suicide, human sacrifice and rape in a House speech Wednesday railing against the virtual world for posing dangers to minors:

"Second Life. It's not just a new job or a new start, it's a virtual world online with over six million people. Run by the San Francisco company Linden Lab, Second Life allows anyone in their world to do anything. And the Labs make $1 million each night. And what is offered in Second Life? My staff found rooms leading to people to commit suicide, satanic worship, buying assault weapons, leading human sacrifice and rape rooms. Game players choose to rape or be raped. This content is totally inappropriate and leads to the objectification lessons that are especially inappropriate for young boys. Linden Lab claims it provides a teen area, but the fine print of their user agreement clearly states that adults prowl in the children's area and children are in the adult area. Second Life's K Street lobbyists say, trust us, but I think we should trust informed and aware parents."

Kirk has also sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asking it to warn parents of Second Life.

Linden Lab has responded to Kirk's attacks by noting that it requires its members to verify their age before joining.

Read a snippet here, courtesy of Virtual Worlds News:

"As with many online service providers, the sheer volume of in-world activity and the ephemeral nature of the creative content prevents Linden Lab from policing all in-world activities at any given moment. However, while Linden Lab itself does not create most of the content within Second Life -- which is designed by its Residents -- we do work hard to ensure that our Residents' experience is enjoyable, safe and legal."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that the United States' military needs to prepare to for the threats of "smaller, irregular forces" that have spurred on military conflicts in the past 25 years.

In a speech at the Heritage Foundation on Tuesday, Gates said that another major American conventional ground operation is unlikely in the near-future.

"[I]t is hard to conceive of any country confronting the United States directly in conventional terms -- ship to ship, fighter to fighter, tank to tank -- for some time to come," he said. "The record of the past quarter century is clear: the Soviets in Afghanistan, the Israelis in Lebanon, the United States in Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Smaller, irregular forces -- insurgents, guerrillas, terrorists -- will find ways, as they always have, to frustrate and neutralize the advantages of larger, regular militaries."

Gates added that the United States has strength in its Navy and Air Force, which can defeat "any -- repeat, any -- adversary who committed an act of aggression."
"It is true that we would be hard-pressed to launch a major conventional ground operation elsewhere in the world at this time - but where would we sensibly do that?" he said.

Gates welcomed more scrutiny of military spending, especially when money is used for war and not to modernize forces.

"First, I believe that any major weapons program, in order to remain viable, will have to show some utility and relevance to the kind of irregular campaigns that, as I mentioned, are most likely to engage America's military in the coming decades," he said.

He said that programs such as the Army's Future Combat Systems, which calls for a group of manned and unmanned forces working together, must demonstrate its value for the "irregular challenges" the country will face to justify its cost, which could exceed $200 billion.

A former State Dept. official told the Democratic Policy Committee (DPC) today that the department has misled Congress and the American public about corruption in the Iraqi government.

Arthur Brennan, who briefly served in Baghdad as head of the State Dept's Office of Accountability and Transparency in 2007 according to the Associated Press, told Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) that Ambassador Ryan Crocker is either misleading the American public about corruption in Iraq, or is unaware of the corruption due to his own negligence.

Brennan made his statements at a DPC hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building. The DPC circulated a video of the exchange today; see it below:



When contacted for response, State Dept. spokeswoman Nancy Beck told The Hill, "As we

Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) called for police accountability in the wake of the acquittal of three New York detectives who shot an unarmed man the night before his wedding, reports NY1.

Meeks, who represents parts of Queens, said that the judge's decision in the Sean Bell case should not be "the end of the quest for justice."

"We who are members of the United States Congress must realize and utilize our legislative powers and the moral authorities of our offices, to help the victims of unwarranted and excessive use of force seek and redress grievances at a federal level," Meeks said.

Meeks and Rangel appeared in a forum on police-community relations in Manhattan with House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.), who has promised a federal probe into the shooting.

The three detectives, who were part of a group of five involved in the shooting, said they believed Bell was trying to run them down with his car outside of a strip club.

The Senate Ethics Committee on Thursday dismissed a complaint

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) is scheduled to meet Tuesday with a former New England Patriots assistant who has turned over eight tapes that reportedly show the three-time Super Bowl champions filming opponents' play-calling signals.

Matt Walsh, a former video assistant for the Patriots from 2000 to 2002, has given tapes to the National Football League of signals in six Patriots games, including the 2002 conference championship game between New England and the Pittsburgh Steelers, reports the Boston Herald.

The NFL docked the Patriots their 2008 first-round draft choice for filming the signals of the New York Jets during a 2007 game.

Specter has criticized the NFL's decision to allow the tapes of the Jets' signals to be destroyed. Specter has also said that he could call on NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to testify about the "Spygate" controversy in a Senate committee hearing over the league's federal antitrust exemption.

A new congressional report has found the Labor Department failing to monitor how it spent nearly $300 in earmarks.

The General Accountability Office (GAO) found the Labor Department did not set goals and follow the progress of grants for job training and economic development that were partially paid for by earmarks.

Democrats on the Senate appropriations subcommittee for labor plan to question Labor Secretary Elaine Chao about the spending at a hearing today.

"This Administration has asked American taxpayers to trust its discretion in awarding these grants without full and open competition, and now it appears that good decisions were not made in choosing or accounting for how to best spend taxpayer dollars,

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) is asking fellow members of Congress not to rush to judgment when reviewing the $35 billion air force tanker contract awarded to a group that includes the European Aeronautic Defence And Space Company (EADS).

Several House members have criticized the Defense Department for giving the contract to EADS and its U.S. partner Northrop Grumman and not to U.S.-based Boeing. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) has suggested that Congress block funding for the deal.

But Hensarling, chairman of the Republican Study Group, writes in his letter that the deal with EADS will still create American jobs. He adds that the debate should be over "which tanker serves our airmen best" and that overturning the Defense Department decision could risk setting off a trade war with other countries.

Boeing has filed a formal protest with the Government Accountability Office, which is scheduled to rule on the case by June 19.

Download Hensarling's letter here.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) is asking the U.S. Inspector General to look into the Pentagon's program of having generals defend Bush administration foreign policy on talk shows, which was first reported by the New York Times.

"This extensive propaganda program should have been revealed, not by a newspaper, but long-ago by the DoD Office of the Inspector General, which is responsible for eliminating waste, fraud and abuse at the department, as well as promoting integrity and serving the public interest," wrote DeLauro in a letter to the Inspector General. "Now that the program has been halted, we must take the next steps to determine how high-ranking officials within the Pentagon were allowed to operate a program aimed at deceiving the American people."

DeLauro was joined by 40 other House Democrats in her letter, Think Progress reports. In the Senate, Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) has asked the General Accountability Office to determine whether the Pentagon's program was illegal.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has filed another complaint against a television ad run by a conservative advocacy group in Louisiana's 6th congressional district race.

In its complaint to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the DCCC charges that the spot by Freedom's Watch, which tries to tie the Democratic candidate Don Cazayoux to excessive government spending, breaks election law by taking a position on Cazayoux's voting record. The DCCC views this as an appeal to vote against Cazayoux, which is prohibited three weeks before an election. The complaint also argues that the group broke the law by failing to disclose donors who each gave $1,000 or more for "the purpose of furthering electioneering communications."

This is the DCCC's second complaint to the FEC over the ad; last week, it had accused Freedom's Watch with illegally coordinating its message with the National Republican Congressional Committee, which had run a similar ad about Cazayoux.

Cazayoux faces Republican Woody Jenkins in a May 3 special election for the House seat. Rep. Richard Baker (R) vacated the seat in February to take a job with a lobbying association representing the hedge fund industry.

Ed Patru, a spokesman for Freedom's Watch, called both of the DCCC's complaints "nonsense."

"The DCCC is obsessed with keeping Don Cazayoux Read more...