[Quote:]

Barack Obama declares June to be Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.

[..]

As we honor the LGBT Americans who have given so much to our Nation, let us remember that if one of us is unable to realize full equality, we all fall short of our founding principles. Our Nation draws its strength from our diversity, with each of us contributing to the greater whole. By affirming these rights and values, each American benefits from the further advancement of liberty and justice for all.

[..]

Across my Administration, openly LGBT employees are serving at every level.

Mark Agrast- Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legislative Affairs at the Department of Justice

Raul Alvillar- Congressional Relations Officer, Housing and Urban Development

Judy Applebaum- Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legislative Affairs at the Department of Justice

Cynthia Attwood- Member, Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission

Vic Basile- Senior Counselor to the Director, Office of Personnel Management

Anthony Bernal- Scheduler, Office of Dr. Jill Biden

Jeremy Bernard- Director of White House and Congressional Affairs, National Endowment for the Humanities

John Berry- Director, Office of Personnel Management

Jeremy Bishop- Special Assistant to the Secretary, Office of Public Engagement at the Department of Labor

Brian Bond- Deputy Director, White House Office of Public Engagement

Raphael Bostic- Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research, Housing and Urban Development

Ebs Burnough- Deputy Social Secretary, Office of the First Lady

Michael Camunez- Assistant Secretary for Market Access and Compliance, Department of Commerce

Lyle Canceko- Deputy Director, Center for Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Department of Commerce

Jamison Citron- Confidential Assistant, Office of White House Liaison, Department of Health and Human Services

Brook Colangelo- Chief Information Officer, White House Office of Administration

John Connor- Director, Office of White House Liaison at the Department of Commerce

John Coppola- Member of the National Museum and Library Services Board

Jeffrey Crowley- Director, Office of National AIDS Policy

Fred Davie- Member, President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Justin DeJong- Deputy Press Secretary, Department of Agriculture

Marisa Demeo- Associate Judge, DC Superior Court

Jenny Durkan- U.S. Attorney, Western District of Washington

John Easton- Director, Institute of Education Sciences

Eric Fanning- Deputy Under Secretary of the Navy

Chai Feldblum- Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Carl Fillichio- Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Labor for Public Affairs and Communications

Daniel Gordon- Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy, OMB

Kathy Greenlee- Assistant Secretary, Administration on Aging, Department of Health and Human Services

Steve Gunderson- Member, President’s Commission on White House Fellows

David Hansell- Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Children and Families, Administration for Children and Families

Emily Hewitt- Chief Justice, U.S. Court of Federal Claims

Jennifer Ho- Deputy Director, Accountability Management at the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness

Fred Hochberg- Chairman, U.S. Export-Import Bank

David Huebner- U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand

Glenda Humiston- State Director for Rural Development in California

Shin Inouye- Director, Specialty Media

John Isa- Deputy Executive Director, Federal Office of Compliance

Karine Jean-Pierre- Regional Director, Office of Political Affairs

Kevin Jennings- Deputy Assistant Secretary, Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools

Kristina Johnson- Under Secretary, Department of Energy

Jenn Jones- Special Assistant, Department of Housing and Urban Development

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Elaine Kaplan- General Counsel, Office of Personnel Management

Brad Kiley- Director, White House Office of Management and Administration

Harry Knox- Member, President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Kei Koizumi- Assistant Director for Federal Research and Development, Office of Science and Technology Policy

Andy Lee- Chief of Staff, Office of Innovation and Improvement at the Department of Education

Jeffrey Lerner- Regional Director, Office of Political Affairs

Sara Lipscomb- General Counsel, Small Business Administration

Zach Liscow- Staff Economist, Council of Economic Advisers

Thomas Lopach- Senior Vice President, Congressional Affairs, U.S. Export-Import Bank

Sharon Lubinski- U.S. Marshall

John Marble- Public Affairs Specialist, Office of Personnel Management

Jeffrey Marburg-Goodman- Special Counsel to the USAID Administrator

Mercedes Marquez- Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Kathy Martinez- Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy, Department of Labor

Michael Martinez- Special Assistant, National Resources Conservation Division, USDA

Mary Beth Maxwell- Senior Advisor, Department of Labor

Philip McNamara- Executive Secretary, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

David Medina- Deputy Chief of Staff, Office of the First Lady

David Mills- Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement, Department of Commerce

Alison Nathan- Associate Counsel to the President, White House Counsels Office

Jeffrey Neal- Chief Human Capital Officer, U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Ven Neralla- Director of Priority Placement, Presidential Personnel

Dave Noble- White House Liaison, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Matt Nosanchuk- Senior Counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Department of Justice

Dylan Orr- Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Labor, Office of Disability Employment Policy

Joseph Palacios- Board of Visitors for WHINSEC

Paolo Palugod- Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, DOJ

Peter Pappas- Chief Communications Officer for the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce

Raul Perea-Henze- Assistant Secretary of Policy and Planning, Department of Veterans Affairs

Drew Perraut- Policy Analyst, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB

Mark Perriello- Director of Priority Placement, Presidential Personnel

Gautam Raghavan- Deputy White House Liaison at the Department of Defense

Peter Roehrig- Special Assistant, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Constance L. Rogers- Deputy Solicitor for Energy and Mineral Resources at Interior

Donna Ryu- U.S. Magistrate Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

Ellie Sue Schafer- Director, White House Visitors Office

Tarak Shah- White House Council on Environmental Quality

Amanda Simpson- Senior Technical Advisor to the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security

Richard Sorian- Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, HHS

Campbell Spencer- Regional Director, Office of Political Affairs

Everette Stubbs- Deputy Director, White House Visitors Center

Nancy Sutley- Chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality

Jonathan Swain- Assistant Administrator, Small Business Administration

Kenneth Tolson- Member, President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Moe Vela- Director of Operations, Office of the Vice President

Alex Wagner- Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs

Douglas B. Wilson- Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, Department of Defense

William Woolston- Staff Economist, Council of Economic Advisers *

[Quote:]

The first paragraph of today’s New York Times article by Charlie Savage:

The 48 Guantánamo Bay detainees whom the Obama administration has decided to keep holding without trial include several for whom there is no evidence of involvement in any specific terrorist plot, according to a report disclosed Friday.

The Report itself, in a matter-of-fact-tone, describes the individuals to be kept in a cage indefinitely without charges this way:

They can’t even be prosecuted in the due-process-abridging military commissions we invented out of whole cloth for those who can’t be convicted in a real court.  In other words:  of course we’ll provide a fair tribunal for proving your guilt — as long as we’re certain we can convict you — otherwise, we’ll just imprison you indefinitely without charges. 

[Quote:]

A team of top federal prosecutors and investigators has taken the first steps toward a formal criminal investigation into oil giant BP’s actions before and after the drilling rig disaster off Louisiana.

The investigators, who have been quietly gathering evidence in Louisiana over the last three weeks, are focusing on whether BP skirted federal safety regulations and misled the U.S. government by saying it could quickly clean up an environmental accident.

The team has met with U.S. attorneys and state officials in the Gulf Coast region and has sent letters to executives of BP and Transocean Ltd., the drilling rig owner, warning them against destroying documents or other internal records.

Underscoring the gravity of the inquiry, the team is headed by Assistant Atty. Gen. Ignacia Moreno of the environment and natural resources division and Assistant Atty. Gen. Tony West, who heads the Justice Department’s civil division.

[Quote:]

The World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park will be expanded to include thousands of hectares of ecologically sensitive land that has uranium worth billions of dollars.

Aboriginal traditional owner Jeffrey Lee has offered the land to the federal government so it can become part of Kakadu, where he works as a ranger.

Mr Lee, the sole member of the Djok clan and senior custodian of the land known as Koongarra, could have become one of Australia’s richest men if he had allowed the French energy giant Areva to extract 14,000 tonnes of uranium from its mineral lease in the area.

Mr Lee is an extremely shy and humble man who shuns publicity. “I’m not interested in money. I’ve got a job. I can buy tucker; I can go fishing and hunting. That’s all that matters to me,” he told The Age in a rare interview in 2007.

[Quote:]

Perhaps you saw news footage of President Obama in Grand Isle, La., on Friday and thought things didn’t look all that bad. Well, there may have been a reason for that: The town was evidently swarmed by an army of temp workers to spruce it up for the president and the national news crews following him.

Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts, whose district encompasses Grand Isle, told Yahoo! News that BP bused in “hundreds” of temporary workers to clean up local beaches. And as soon as the president was en route back to Washington, the workers were clearing out of Grand Isle too, Roberts said.

“The level of cleanup and cooperation we’ve gotten from BP in the past is in no way consistent to the effort shown on the island today,” Roberts said by telephone. “As soon as the president left, they were immediately put back on the buses and sent home.”

Roberts says the overnight contingent of workers was there mainly to furnish a Potemkin-style backdrop for the event — while also making it appear that BP was firmly in command of spill cleanup efforts.