Tom Paine has an odd post up about health care costs. The argument, I think, is that we need to be careful containing health care costs because the industry generates many jobs, and health care costs are high, generally, because of demand. The predatory lending industry provides jobs, too. It's costs are quite high, yet there is demand for its products. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't cut those costs, right? This passage bugged me, too:

According to BNA ($), Former Minerals Management Service auditor Bobby L. Maxwell testified in Congress yesterday that the Interior Department tried to prevent him from collecting unpaid royalties from oil company Kerr-McGee Corp. He was told that pursuing the case would make MMS director Johnnie Burton "unhappy," and was subsequently fire from his job after filing a lawsuit under the False Claims Act.

GSA Administrator Lurita Doan got a grilling from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today. Check out this " target="_blank">clip from the hearing where Doan fails to give any explanation for what appears to be the political usage of federal assets- taxpayer money being used to get Republicans elected. If this is the best she can do, Doan's days as GSA administrator should be numbered.

As Reg•Watch blogged earlier, the Government Accountability Project released a report detailing Bush administration political interference in climate science. The report includes evidence of manipulation by OMB. For example, the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) is supposed to be a clearinghouse for accurate and up-to-date climate science produced by agencies. Unfortunately for the American people, OMB is one of the overseers of CCSP. According to the GAP report, OMB and other political offices sit on a panel that must approve CCSP communications. The panel has approved startlingly little information. It is worth noting that since 2004, CCSP has cautiously produced and posted on its website only five fact sheets and two research summaries, all ranging from two to four pages in length. It issued eight press releases — three of which were administrative announcements — and held one workshop on November 14-16, 2005. Furthermore, with the exception of three press releases, CCSP has not produced any new material as of January 2006. That's not much product from a staff of 14. (Current staff-level according to CCSP website).