Link of the month: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)

The OCC was established in 1863 as a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and is headed by the Comptroller, who is appointed by the President.
The main purpose of the OCC is to provide regulations and supervision of the charters to all national banks. Therefore the website allows the researcher not only to access pending and recently enacted legislation, but to explore law and licensing documents providing guidance, establishing precedents and court documents of interest. In addition one may check if any national bank or foreign branch has ever been under scrutiny by the OCC.

Link of the month - Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS)

With the latest salmonella scare out in the media I had to look for reliable information to appease the hypochondriac inside me; and I found it in the Food and Safety Inspection Service, the public health agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

This website is a one-stop-shop for anything food safety related and it is responsible for ensuring the safety of the nation's commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products. The site not only contains all regulations, directives and notices in this area, but as well recalls, fact sheets covering everything from safe food handling to advice for at-risk population groups, and the possibility to sign up for an emails alert for future recalls.

Germany’s Federal Convention to elect new President

On Wednesday, June 30th, the German Federal Assembly is going to elect a new President. The election comes after the previous President, Horst Koehler, unexpectedly resigned in late May. President Koehler was very popular among German citizens, but had received growing criticism from the reigning conservative government for his remarks about the involvement of the German armed forces in Afghanistan and the status and prestige of politicians. In a climate of unjustified criticism and plain backstabbing he did what he felt was the only thing he could do, resign. That left everyone stunned (including Chancellor Merkel) and presidential candidates had to be found, as according to Art. 54 (4) the Basic Law (commonly referred to as the German Constitution) the new President has to be elected within 30 days after the President leaves office.

The three candidates on the slate are Christian Wulff, Joachim Gauck and Luc Jochimsen. Merkel's governing coalition presented Christian Wulff who is currently minister president of the state of Lower Saxony, as its candidate. Wulff is one of the rather plain and unimpressive career politicians who nevertheless managed to get ahead in party politics (maybe because he is so unimpressive). That he was nominated by the CDU, one of the governing parties, is seen as a strategic move by Chancellor Merkel as she is well aware, that Wulff not only disagrees with her in many areas but more importantly will do anything to discredit her. If he gets elected however he will be “out of the way” and can’t cause further trouble.

His main opponent is Joachim Gauck, a pastor from the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), who was once the first Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Archives, and is widely favored by the public as well as the opposition. To nominate Gauck was a surprising move by the Socialdemocratic Party as well as the Greens. While he is a well known human rights activist, he described himself as a “liberal conservative” and would have wanted to be the candidate of the CDU.

The third candidate is Luc Jochimsen. Before her retirement in 2002 she was an accomplished journalist and documentary director. Since then she became an outspoken proponent of the GDR and declared that it was not “a state of injustice”. Jochimsen never lived in the GDR and why she believes she can voice such an opinion is a miracle (not only to me).

The German people have no say in Wednesday's vote; the federal president will be elected by a federal assembly, which includes 1,244 lawmakers. Merkel's governing coalition has a slim majority in the convention and usually the members are expected to vote with the party that selected them for participation, but a number of high ranking personalities suggested that no one should be “forced” to vote according to party lines. It is very likely though, that everyone will vote as they are told and Wulff will be elected in the first round.

Link of the Month - Bureau of Justice Statistics

Looking for criminal justice statistics can be very challenging but luckily there is the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) that was established in 1979 and is the primary course for criminal justice statistics in the United States. Its mission is to collect, analyze and publish information on crime and its victim, criminal offenders and the judicial operations at all government levels.
The site offers access to the online version of the sourcebook of criminal statistics, as well as searching abilities of the BJS data collection which provides not only the collected data itself, but as well a comprehensive overview of the survey instruments.

Link of the Month - Eurostat

With this month downgrading by Standard & Poor of Greece and Spain I was looking for an authoritative tool to research the economy of European Countries (and to figure out who might be next). The tool I found was Eurostat. Eurostat is the statistics office by the European Union located in Luxembourg. According to the website, “its task is to provide the European Union with statistics at European level that enable comparisons between countries and regions”.
Take a look for yourself.
(Btw, I think Italy is a “good” candidate)

Link of the Month - Dictionary of the German Parliament

From time to time I translate legal documents from German into English or English into German. Usually I rely on my one and only "Rechtsenglisch" dictionary, but more often than not I can't find exactly what I'm looking for. That's when the terminology database of the German Bundestag come in handy. It offers political, legal, and scientific translations for from German into English, French, and the other way around. Once you are on the main page select in the upper right corner the language combination and continue on the following page with an entry of the search term. The search screen appears rudimentary but once I tried it I was surprised by the depth of it.

International Women’s Day in Brazil

Another country that observes the IWD is Brazil. Up to today women are given roses on that day accompanied by congratulations. In the last couple of years though this custom has caused feminists to refuse the roses and demand “equal pay, more presentation in politics and less violence” instead.
Domestic violence continues to be a huge problem in Brazil. In a 2006 report on Human Rights it was pointed out, that although the government tripled the punishment for family violence and spousal abuse, the problem remains widespread. Among other interesting information the same report contains facts about (un)equal pay, maternity leave and the number of women in government positions.