Asked if she had any regrets about the campaign, Palin bemoaned “the state of journalism today.”  “The blogosphere, the two, three hour news cycles, where just too much is reported based on gossip and innuendo and things taken out of context,” she explained, adding that she’d like to help improve the profession because she has “great respect for the world of journalism.” Read more.

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Muckety: http://news.muckety.com/
See the news with interactive relationship maps visually showing the connections between people, companies and organizations.

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Silobreaker: http://www.silobreaker.com/
Silobreaker aggregates news, blogs, research, audio, video and other digital media content from global news, shared, user generated and open access sources.

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Political Friendster: http://www.politicalfriendster.com/
A crowdsourcing site of political and business connections.

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Opensecrets.org:
Presenting political news, and the actual political positions of the parties and candidates, as well as disclosing how much campaign money they have raised.

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House Lobbying Disclosure Database: http://disclosures.house.gov/lc/lcsearch.aspx

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Senate Lobbying Disclosure Database: http://soprweb.senate.gov/

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Maplight: http://www.maplight.org/
Public database that illuminates the connection between campaign donations and legislative votes in unprecedented ways.

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FEC: Campaign Finance Database: http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/mapApp.do

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Huffington Post’s Fund Race: http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/

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Seattle Time’s Earmarks Datasbase: http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/favorfactory/

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Taxpayers for Common Sense (Earmarks crowdsourcing): http://www.taxpayer.net/
Taxpayers for Common Sense is an independent and non-partisan voice for taxpayers working to increase transparency and expose and eliminate wasteful and corrupt subsidies, earmarks, and corporate welfare.

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Well-Connected Media Project: http://projects.publicintegrity.org/telecom/
Technology has created a chessboard of corporate and government interests in telecommunications and media. The players battle it out in Congress, at the Federal Communications Commission and in state houses. The “Well Connected” Project tracks this inside influence game.

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Project on Government Oversight Misconduct database: http://www.contractormisconduct.org/
The government awards contracts to companies with histories of misconduct such as contract fraud and environmental, ethics, and labor violations. In the absence of a centralized federal database listing instances of misconduct, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is providing such data.

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TOP Government Contractors (Government Executive): http://www.govexec.com/features/0808-15/0808-15s1s1.htm (August ‘08) and previous top 200: http://www.govexec.com/top200/

We have a shaggy, brown pygmy (I think) goat that you could have for free. He is not a pet…I certainly wouldn’t let him in my house. But, he will keep the weeds down for you while fertilizing the ground. He is about 2-3 years old, and has not neen neutered, so he could also be used for breeding purposes. Can deliver, if you are close enough. Contact me via e-mail, if interested…

Someone pick me up this goat?

Tuesday, August 19, 2008: Earlier this month, a thirty-four-year-old Chinese computer engineer, Hiu Lui Ng, who overstayed his visa, died in a Rhode Island immigration detention center. He had cancer in his liver, lung and bones, and a fractured spine. Despite repeated complaints of severe pain, Mr. Ng was refused independent medical evaluation by immigration officials. Before Mr. Ng died on August 6th, he told his sister that the nurses at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Center in Rhode Island had told him to “stop faking” his illness. We speak to immigration attorney Joshua Bardavid, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Renee Feltz, co-creator of the site BusinessOfDetention.com.

We turn now to the sprawling detention system within this country that some have likened to a gulag and a series of domestic Guantanamo Bays: The immigration prisons that over 300,000 people pass through each year.

Earlier this month a 34-year old Chinese computer engineer, Hiu Lui Ng, who overstayed his visa died in a Rhode Island immigration detention center. He had cancer in his liver, lung, and bones, and a fractured spine.

Despite repeated complaints of severe pain Mr. Ng was refused independent medical evaluation by immigration officials, the New York Times reported. Instead he was taken in shackles to another prison two hours away where an immigration officer tried to convince him to withdraw his appeals and accept deportation.

Before Mr. Ng died on August 6th he told his sister that the nurses at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Center in Rhode Island had told him to “stop faking” his illness.

Mr. Ng’s story is the latest in a series of similar cases of neglect and abuse at the hands of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency or ICE.

Investigations by the Washington Post and New York Times earlier this year revealed that as many as 83 detainees have died in or soon after ICE custody in the five years since the agency was created in March of 2003.

When contacted for response ICE said they could not comment on Mr. Ng’s death because it is under investigation.

Congress is responding to these deaths with legislation aimed to improve conditions for non-citizens in ICE custody. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren from California and Senator Robert Menendez from New Jersey sponsored the House and Senate versions of the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008.

Joshua Bardavid, immigration attorney in New York. He is representing Hiu Lui Ng’s family.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Democratic Congress member from California. She serves as Chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law.

Renee Feltz, investigative journalist based in New York City and creator with Stokely Baksh of the award-winning multimedia investigative project BusinessOfDetention.com. Part of this project featured on MotherJones.com, and another part will be featured in an upcoming issue of NACLA.

For video and audio, go to http://www.democracynow.org/2008/8/19/35_year_old_immigrant_detainee_dies

To see our in-depth video report, interactive map, and more, out the site at http://news21project.org/story/2008/07/22/meet_juan_crow

About the project:

The BBC reported that Abbie Hawkins, 19, of Norwich, believed that her vibrating mobile phone was the cause of some movement in her underwear, instead what she found was a bat curled up asleep in her bra.

When she looked, Hawkins found a baby bat in padding in her 34FF bra.

The hotel receptionist told the BBC that she was shocked but felt bad for removing the “cuddly” bat. She was sitting at her desk at work when she decided to investigate the strange movements in her underwear, the BBC wrote.

“It looked cosy and comfortable and I was sorry for disturbing it,” she said. “I put my hand down my bra and pulled out a cuddly little bat.”

In fact, Hawkins didn’t notice anything as she put the bra on.

“I did not notice anything as I put my bra on. The night before I had had one or two drinks and I was getting ready quickly. The bra was in my drawer but it had been on the washing line the day before.”

Fake or not, why don’t stories like this land on my lap..errr chest.

Here is a snapshot of Hawkins from the Eastern Daily Press.