Transparent Tuesdays

Continuing with our transparency in government series, our next site is the Sunlight Foundation. They offer an up-to-date blog that discusses current issues, applications that enable you to keep up with with congress, along with a variety of other projects. You can also join the transparency movement by signing up for their mailing list. Use Twitter? Consider following Sunlight on Twitter.

From their About Us page:

"The Sunlight Foundation was co-founded in 2006 by Washington, DC businessman and lawyer Michael Klein and longtime Washington public interest advocate Ellen Miller with the non-partisan mission of using the revolutionary power of the Internet to make information about Congress and the federal government more meaningfully accessible to citizens. Through our projects and grant-making, Sunlight serves as a catalyst for greater political transparency and to foster more openness and accountability in government. Sunlight’s ultimate goal is to strengthen the relationship between citizens and their elected officials and to foster public trust in government."

Are you following Claudette?

Tropical depression (at this time) Claudette is making her way up Alabama bringing gusty wind and rain. Along with my local weather sites, I'll be checking Weather.gov for more information regarding Claudette and future weather systems. Weather.gov includes: storm data, warnings, forecasts, NEXRAD radar displays and so much more.

Transparent Government

I thought it would be interesting to do a series on organizations that help make our government transparent. As a user, you will want to carefully consider the about information for each organization and draw your own conclusions.

Let's begin with OpenCongress.org. This organization is a project of participatorypolitics.org and sunlightfoundation.com. OpenCongress allows you to track a bill, a member of Congress or an issue by utilizing web 2.0 tools and applications like RSS feeds and a blog.

Finding Reports

Need a report? From eduction & housing to civil rights, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) produces reports on a variety of topics for the members of Congress. As a matter of fact, GAO is an independent, nonpartisan agency. It's possible to search for reports by date, topic or agency.

To give you an idea, here are some titles of recent reports:

• Characteristics and Performance of Nonprime Mortgages

• Climate Change Policy: Preliminary Observations on Options for Distributing Emissions Allowances and Revenue under a Cap-and-Trade Program

• Energy Markets: Refinery Outages Can Have Varying Gasoline Price Impacts, but Gaps in Federal Data Limit Understanding of Impacts

• Homeland Defense: Preliminary Observations on Defense Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and High-Yield Explosives Consequence Management Plans and Preparedness

Sotomayor has been confirmed by the US Senate

White House Blog

New York Times

Washington Post

College Freshmen & Credit Cards

Much of the credit card discussion has focused on adults currently using credit cards. But what about the new batch of college freshmen? (I know, most of them have had credit cards since what, 3rd grade?) Many students will be targeted with temptation beginning late August. How will the credit card companies deal with this new batch of consumers? Never fear, the new Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 specifically mentions college students:

Cleans Up Credit Card Practices For Young People at Universities. The act contains new protections for college students and young adults, including a requirement that card issuers and universities disclose agreements with respect to the marketing or distribution of credit cards to students. (from White House FACT SHEET: REFORMS TO PROTECT AMERICAN CREDIT CARD HOLDERS)

Read Public Law 111-24

FDA: For Women

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a site just for women. Here's an excerpt:

"In their daily lives, women use many products that are regulated by the FDA including medicines, cosmetics, pregnancy kits, microwaves, pet foods, and vaccines. Throughout its 100-year history, FDA has been committed to providing women with up-to-date information on all of the products that it regulates. Check the links in this section for information on women's health topics as well as news about product recalls, safety warnings, and other FDA activities."

I'll be reading the microwave use information.