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The Daily Muck
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo may demand the return of an estimated $4 billion paid in bonuses by Merrill Lynch last December, according to sources close to the matter. Cuomo also hopes to find out exactly how much Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis knew about plans for bonuses at Merrill Lynch and about the company's staggering 4th quarter losses. (Bloomberg)
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) wants to rethink funding for the National Science Foundation after it came to light earlier this week that top staffers at the organization spent long periods of time surfing the internet for pornography. Grassley has sent a letter to the Office of the Inspector General at the NSF requesting any information it has related to the revelations, which were found in a foundation report by a team lead by Grassley's finance committee aide, and is asking Congress to withhold $3 billion in funding until his request is met. (Associated Press)
A CIA employee jailed in 1997 for espionage has been able to continue spying for Russia through his 24-year-old son, according to the New York Times. Harold Nicholson was apparently able to train his son through jailhouse visits and coded letters. Nicholson was jailed for selling the names of American agents to Russia; from jail he was able to explain to Russian handlers how to identify sources working for the U.S. His son was caught transferring portions paid by the Russian government to his father. (New York Times)
The manager of the prostitution ring famously patronized by former New York governor Eliot Spitzer was sentenced Thursday to six months in prison. Cecil Suwal, a 24-year-old college student, pleaded guilty last year to money laundering, conspiracy, and conspiracy to promote prostitution. (Associated Press)
Wes Cooley, a former Republican representative from Oregon's second congressional district, was indicted Thursday on federal money laundering and tax charges related to a fraudulent investment scheme. Cooley and two other men tried to sell unregistered stock in an internet company to investors by telling them the company would be acquired by eBay. Cooley has previously been fined $2.2 million dollars in a civil suit relating to the same fraud. (Associated Press)
Josh
Zachary
"Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) wants to rethink funding for the National Science Foundation after it came to light earlier this week that top staffers at the organization spent long periods of time surfing the internet for pornography."
Do they not have "Web Sense" or any other "content blocking" software like most other state and federal agencies? I can't even get to MySpace at work.
January 30, 2009 10:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Forget the blocking software, and even forget how anybody could be dumb enough to surf porn at work. Even forget the snarky thought that it's not like scientists had anything else to do with Bush in charge and reports getting written by lobbyists. Grassley is just worked up about this like the GOP wanted STD related provisions out of the stimulus bill: someone mentioned sex, sorry, s*x, and they can't stand that. Mature adults have bigger problems to think about than whether prob showed up on PC. Maybe if there were allegations that this was done as part of sexual harassment I'd care, but otherwise I really don't.
January 30, 2009 11:29 AM | Reply | Permalink
Agreed - but yes there was at least one incident in which harassment issues came into play. Someone watching pornographic videos while on the job - with the computer speakers on loud enough for co-workers to overhear. (What kind of moron does it take to overlook the option of using headphones?)
For details of the actual violations, and the NSF actions in response (which did include installing content-blocking software, btw), here's the report; check the investigations section:
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/oig0901/index.jsp
Might be interesting to know whether or not the NSF senior official** who spent 20% of his working time (and $40,000, over two years) on pornographic chat sites was a political appointee.
**The other violators discussed in the report were identified as either "staff" or "employees"; only one senior staff is reported to be involved. So Chris, "top staffers" plural is a bit misleading, unless you have some inside info on who's involved.
January 30, 2009 12:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
In my fair city, some firefighters were discovered to have been surfing for porn while on the job. Apparently by Grassley's standards that means we should de-fund the fire department.
January 30, 2009 12:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly. The question of funding should have to do with whether the goals and mission of the NSF are worth funding, not whether handful of the NSF emloyees were jacking-around instead of doing their jobs. This is a management issue, not a funding issue.
January 30, 2009 1:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
"...after it came to light earlier this week that top staffers at the organization spent long periods of time surfing the internet for pornography"
too bad fraud against taxpayers is no longer a crime. This falls under misappropriation of funds... to the tune of $60,000 in this one case. If federal prison time and repayment and fines were given this behavior wouldn't stop, but I bet it would diminish considerably.
Won't happen, though, will it folks... 'cause "WE The People" are no longer in charge...
...as we consider our slide downhill...
January 30, 2009 12:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Does anybody else see this as just an extension of the Bush/GOP "war on science"? That's my take.
They no longer control the executive branch, but they'd still like to discredit and under-fund science and scientists, as much as possible.
It wouldn't surprise me to learn that some of the people involved in this were political appointees, whose goals are aligned with the aforementioned.
-- ARG
January 30, 2009 1:56 PM | Reply | Permalink