October 17, 2007
TRAC reporting
When I was an undergraduate at Syracuse University, a good friend and often-times-roommate worked for TRAC, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. It is a very interesting little organization that Syracuse University helps provide the resources for.
As I heard on the rumor mill, TRAC was started after its creators were audited by the IRS concerning a completely different business. Of course, the audit cost them a lot of time and money (and money was something that they had made little of at that point). They were clean, but they wanted to find out just how often the IRS audited low-income folks versus bigger businesses. They filed a FOIA request, which resulted in a long slog through the courts to get the information that they wanted. Ultimately, they showed that the IRS audited far more low-income individuals and businesses than high-income. The New York Times story broke, made headlines, and they suddenly saw that their experience in gathering FOIA statistics could be very useful in helping people keep an eye on the government.
My personal feelings for the current administration aside, TRAC has faithfully reported on .gov statistics for the last 7 years -- at least, those statistics they can gather. The disturbing trend of the Republican-controlled congress and white house was a lack of data, and a lot more red tape thrown in TRAC's way. Not all that surprising, given the information that TRAC can find. I find it very interesting that our government is paying a lot more attention to immigration issues (people stealing minimum-wage jobs at worst) than to, say, government corruption and white collar crime (people stealing millions at best). I think that the argument could be summed in a foolproof comparison: a man exporting an F-14 Tomcat to Iran (Axis of Evil, anyone?) is given two years behind bars, while a woman who immigrated to the US illegally from Canada is given one year, plus a hefty fine ($120,917.69).
Somehow I don't think that the punishments fit the crimes. Here's to 2009...
Post a comment
Further back...
ArchivesFriends and Family
Search
Previous Trips...
-
Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
![]()
The Curve of Binding Energy
John McPhee follows famous physicist Ted Taylor in this piece that was -- and probably still -- ahead of its time.
Originally published in 1973, McPhee outlined the coming security and environmental issues surrounding the plutonium enrichment processes. For the most part, though, McPhee invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, although he does point out the ease with which any number of people could obtain the material (though not necessarily the manufacturing prowess) to make an atomic weapon.
The question still sits in my mind after reading -- are we being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?
Rated 
by reid
on October 01, 2007
by reid
on October 01, 2007
![]()
Zodiac
Zodiac touts itself as an 'eco-thriller,' and it is just that. Told from the first-person perspective of ST (or Sangamon Taylor), the book recounts a roughly six-month period of his life busting big corporations for violating environmental laws.
Not the tree-hugging political activist type, ST is equipped with chem labs, scuba divers, maps, and an organization (GEE International, the Group of Environmental Extremists) that masterfully brings the press into the fold to scare the public with the very real dangers posed by illegal dumping. It's sort of a Sierra Club member's wet dream -- a band of ecowarriors that actually get things done.
ST finds something odd happening in Boston Harbor during his tale: a new form of pollution that could poison everyone on the planet in a matter of weeks. His quest to uncover exactly who and what is causing the latest spike in toxins goes all the way up to the President of the United States, and could end up costing him his own life.
While a neat and fast-paced tale, the novel drags on a bit toward the end, begging disbelief from even the most forgiving sci-fi folk. While not as good as his latest offerings, it's still a great read for those that enjoy a good Stephenson novel (or even those who don't).
Rated 
by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005
![]()
Cat's Cradle
A few years ago, I attempted to woo an online datee, and she immediately criticized me for my politics. I protested the war on Iraq, which was "a shame." She defended her position of complete noninvolvement by standing behind Vonnegut.
It may seem odd to open a review that way. My assumption is now not that she was an idiot, but that she had only read Cat's Cradle, and only with a rather odd viewpoint.
Cat's Cradle looks at a cold-war world where the personifications of religious, political, and scientific single-mindedness collide to destroy the world.
Vonnegut tells a masterful tale, but it makes me wonder what one person's indifference would do to prevent us from all dying? So for now I will continue to unblindly stop unjust wars, even while I'm only reading.
Rated by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005