The Goodson Blogson

Friday, July 27 marks the opening of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The massive international competition will last until August 12 and feature more than 10,000 athletes competing in 26 different sports. (See this page for descriptions of each summer sport, as well as information about the criteria for adding a new sport to the Olympic program.) Planning for each Olympic Games is a complex process, from site selection to judging each event. The primary organization which oversees the Games is the International Olympic Committee , in cooperation with International Sports Federations (IFs) and National Olympic Committees (NOCs). This "Olympic Movement" adheres to a lengthy Charter which outlines the various rules and by-laws which make the Games possible. The IOC website includes the text of the Olympic Charter, a directory for the members of the international as well as national committees, and more information about financing and governance. Several works in the Goo...

Last week, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a House resolution intended to provide wider public access to reports prepared by the Congressional Research Service . CRS staff members research and draft reports on current legislative and policy concerns, which are made accessible to all members of Congress. The reports give important background information to lawmakers on such diverse topics as the impact of recent Supreme Court decisions , the political outlook in other countries , and even the procedure for naming U.S. Navy ships . Their access to the public is far more unpredictable, though – citizens may request free copies of particular reports from their elected representatives, assuming that they are able to identify a desired report title. A commercial publisher, Penny Hill Press , provides RSS feeds of newly-released reports, and sells them as PDF downloads for around $30 each. As described in the library's research guide to Federal Legislative History , the full ...

Over the weekend, California residents bid au revoir to foie gras, as a statewide ban signed in 2004 finally took effect on Sunday. The expensive delicacy is made from the livers of geese or ducks which have been fattened, often through a controversial force-feeding system called gavage . The Force Fed Birds Act of 2004 (text via CA legislature or HeinOnline’s Session Laws Library ) prohibits both the practice of gavage as well as the sale of products which result from such force feeding, meaning that California farmers and restaurateurs alike are affected by the ban. Most new laws don’t take effect immediately, in order to allow sufficient time to adjust to changes. In fact, California usually delays the effective date of new laws until the following January 1 (see Gov. Code § 9600 at http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml ). But if a 7+ year delay seems excessive, look no further than the statute itself for the explanation: the lengthy gap was intended to give th...