• The new head of the FCC is an internet expert who is a strong advocate for net neutrality and cheaper broadband access.

As anticipated, Julius Genachowski has been tapped by President Barack Obama to head the Federal Communications Commission.

The move is another indication that incoming leadership in Washington will move decisively to protect the free flowing Internet from those seeking to become gatekeepers to new media.

It also fulfills Obama’s promise made on the campaign trail to appoint an FCC chair who shares his support for Net Neutrality.

  • Obama’s secret letter to Russia purportedly said if Russia helps with Iran, the European missile defense system will no longer be needed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he wanted to work with Russia to resolve a nuclear stand-off with Iran but denied reports he had offered to slow deployment of a missile defense shield in exchange for Moscow’s help.

The New York Times reported that Obama had sent a letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev suggesting he would back off deploying a system in eastern Europe to intercept and destroy missiles, a move Russia sees as a military threat, if Moscow helped stop Iran from developing long-range weapons.

SAN FRANCISCO — President Obama’s Justice Department halted the death penalty trial of an alleged San Francisco gang leader Monday by accepting a 40-year prison sentence that the Bush administration had vetoed.

The plea agreement for Emile Fort remained on hold after a federal judge heard a tearful plea from a murder victim’s mother for a life sentence and summoned prosecutors to a closed-door session to describe their case against Fort.

WASHINGTON “" President Barack Obama on Wednesday ordered an overhaul of the way the U.S. government awards contracts for private sector work, reversing a Bush administration policy that in some cases led to federal investigations of procurement practices and no-bid contracts.

Obama joined Republican Sen. John McCain, his presidential campaign rival, and other congressional figures to announce an executive memorandum that commits his administration to a new set of marching orders for awarding contracts. Obama said “the days of giving government contractors a blank check are over” and said changes could save up to $40 billion a year.

About The Author

Trevor Francis is a Blast Magazine staff writer. He manages the Politics, Sports, Anything Blog

One Response

  1. Whi

    WIDESPREAD FEDERAL FRAUD BY STATES AWARDING NO-BID CONTRACTS FOR GOODS AND SERVICES REIMBURSED BY FEDERAL FUNDS

    We are encountering widespread state fraud here in NY and we are pretty sure that if it is happening in NYS, it is happening elsewhere. We have a whistleblower action of our own whereby NYS is not following procurement law and is allowing no-bid contracts from preferred vendors (either paybacks, kickbacks or vendors that the state has an obligation to fund i.e. charities, not for profits, healthcare, universities) without any oversight to ensure that the bid is at market rate or competitive with industry standards. The no-bid contracts are awarded at supracompetitive prices of multiple times market prices.

    We have contacted the NYS inspector general and comptroller’s office as well as Federal oversight agencies and told them that NYS is not putting contracts reimbursed by Federal programs including block grants (i.e. TANF, Title XX Social Services Block Grant), Medicare, Medicaid, iv-e etc. out for bid. The NYS Inspector General’s office replied that contracts reimbursed by Federal money were not required to be put out for bid and no price comparisons need to be made.

    This statement and NY policy is not in accordance with NYS law or OMB 87 which governs the provisions states must follow when receiving federal funds.

    There has been a recent investigation into no bid contracts at NYC schools alone and there has been hundreds of millions of no-bid contracts issued.

    We are a small business, we pay taxes and we find it very disturbing as a taxpayer that we have to pay for subsidizing these supracompetitive prices for products and services.

    We want an investigation into NYS procurement process of contracts reimbursed by Federal monies.

    Reply

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