Government Information & Kent Cooper Services

The new exhibit by the Herman B Wells Library ET2 elevator celebrates UNESCO’s commitment to cultural heritage by focusing on the latest addition to its Intangible Cultural Heritage List from Indonesia – batik. See: http://www.unesco.org/culture/ich/?RL=00170

The lower case highlights the professional life of President Barack Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, whose batik collection toured the USA this summer. IU’s copy of her PhD dissertation (Hawaii, 1992), forms the centerpiece of the display.  See: http://www.libraries.iub.edu/index.php?pageId=8500 and http://www.libraries.iub.edu/index.php?pageId=8486 .

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was created in the wake of the Great Depression to restore investor confidence and enforce clear rules about trading.  Today, their mission is “to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.”

On September 4^th the SEC released a public version of the Office of Inspector General’s “Investigation of the Failure of the SEC to Uncover Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme”. You can get this file, or the Executive Summary alone, on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s site:  www.sec.gov.  Finance and investment news, testimonies, and public statements, often related to high-profile issues, are published on the site daily.�

The National Archives has released a wide range of UFO-related documents covering the years 1981-1996. The release includes a “highlights guide”.

http://ufos.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

Confirmation hearings on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to fill a Supreme Court vacancy have been held by the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Transcripts of witness testimony and Committee member statments are available at the Committee’s website:  http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing-search.cfm.  Type Sotomayor in the relevant search box to access this information.

America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, House Bill H.R.3200, sponsored by Representative Dingell (MI), was ordered reported for consideration by the full House of Representatives on July 31.  Summary, full text and other information concerning this proposed legislation are available from the Library of Congress at http://thomas.loc.gov and may be accessed by typing H.R.3200 in the Search Bill Summary and Status search box.

The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009 (P.L.111-10) requires the establishment of a Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission “to examine the causes, domestic and global, of the current financial and economic crisis in the United States.”  The text of this law and other information are available from the Library of Congress at http://thomas.loc.gov.  Search Bill Summary & Status by Senate Bill number, S.386.  This commission was inspired by the Depression era Pecora Commission; Pecora Commission hearings are available at http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/publications/sensep/.