As Congress prepares to debate expansion of drilling in taxpayer-owned coastal waters, the Interior Department agency that collects oil and gas royalties has been caught up in a wide-ranging ethics scandal — including allegations of financial self-dealing, accepting gifts from energy companies, cocaine use and sexual misconduct.
In three reports delivered to Congress on Wednesday, the department’s inspector general, Earl E. Devaney, found wrongdoing by a dozen current and former employees of the Minerals Management Service, which collects about $10 billion in royalties annually and is one of the government’s largest sources of revenue other than taxes.
“A culture of ethical failure” besets the agency, Mr. Devaney wrote in a cover memo.
The reports portray a dysfunctional organization that has been riddled with conflicts of interest, unprofessional behavior and a free-for-all atmosphere for much of the Bush administration’s watch.
TVNL Comment: We, along with all the other truth organizations, have been saying this and reporting the evidence for almost 8 years!
The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff has said the US is "not winning" in Afghanistan and needs a new strategy which includes Pakistan's border area.
An intelligence forecast being prepared for the next president on future global risks envisions a steady decline in U.S. dominance in the coming decades, as the world is reshaped by globalization, battered by climate change, and destabilized by regional upheavals over shortages of food, water and energy.
The most recent numbers on life expectancy around the world show that life expectancy numbers in the United States are worsening, both in absolute and relative terms - a trend that has been blamed on the large proportion of the population with inadequate health insurance.
In spite of this record, an FDA advisory panel voted 5-4 against approving the drug for breast cancer. While studies have shown that Avastin shrinks breast tumors, there is no evidence that it lengthens or improves the quality of patients' lives.
When a newborn baby takes her first breath she is already contaminated with a range of chemicals... this is the finding in the latest compelling research conducted by several leading authorities in the field of health and wellbeing. Raising awareness of toxic chemicals present in our everyday environment (food additives, personal care products, cleaning products etc.) and having the understanding that these chemicals, in most cases, are absorbed directly into the blood supply is fundamental to the health and wellbeing of our children and future generations. Most shocking from these latest findings is the fact that some of the chemicals found in newborn cord blood were banned decades ago!
