By Billy Hallowell and Lyle Hickman
This week's Transparency Recap opens with a Corruption Chronicles blog entry entitled "'Nonpartisan' La Raza Council Endorses Obama." The National Council of La Raza was founded in 1968 in Washington D.C. as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. While the organization touts nonpartisan status, Judicial Watch (via its blog, the Corruption Chronicles) is charging partisan support for the presumed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. According to Corruption Chronicles:
Moving on, ABC News' The Blotter covers a warning issued by the United States embassy located in Baghdad, Iraq. According to The Blotter, "Weapons are continuing to be left unattended throughout the Embassy compound . . ." Unattended weaponry in an embassy is unacceptable, especially when considering the current situation in Iraq. The war makes the embassy a prime target of the Iraqi insurgents. According to The Blotter the U.S. embassy warns its employees and cohorts:
In other news, Secrecy News penned a piece about the "Foreign Relations of the United States" -- a series that the State Department defines as ". . . [a presentation of] the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. The series, which is produced by the State Department's Office of the Historian, began in 1861 and now comprises more than 350 individual volumes."
While one can easily see the importance of such an official historical account of U.S. activity, Secrecy News reports the following:
Over on the Sunlight blogs, Ellen Miller covers the growing divide between Sen. Joe Lieberman and the Democratic Party. According to Miller,
The relationship is in such shambles that left-wing activists are petitioning for Lieberman to be stripped of his rank and removed from his Homeland Security chairmanship. Democrats are calling for these actions to be taken following the 2008 presidential election in November.
And in other news, former Arlington National Cemetery Public Affairs Director Gina Gray was allegedly fired for advocating for more media access to soldiers' funeral processions. After publicly disclosing the fact that ceremony officials are not allowing media access at funerals -- even after families agreed to said coverage -- Gray was fired. All Things Whistleblower poses an interesting thought regarding the next administration:
In closing, OpenSecrets.org's Capital Eye is "Calling All Citizen Journalists." Check the contest out and you could potentially win $100!