FTC Issues Final Telemarketing Sales Rule Amendments Regarding Prerecorded Calls
News release: The Federal Trade Commission has announced two amendments to the Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR). One will expressly bar telemarketing calls that deliver prerecorded messages, unless a consumer previously has agreed to accept such calls from the seller. The other related technical amendment modifies the TSR's method of calculating the maximum permissible level of "call abandonment." The amendments will not affect consumers' ability to continue to receive calls that deliver purely "informational" prerecorded messages--notifying recipients, for example, that their flight has been cancelled, that they have a service appointment, or similar messages. Such purely "informational" calls are not covered by the TSR because they do not attempt to sell the called party any goods or services.

SEC Announces Successor to EDGAR Database
News release: Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox has unveiled the successor to the agency’s 1980s-era EDGAR database, which will give investors far faster and easier access to key financial information about public companies and mutual funds. The new system is called IDEA, short for Interactive Data Electronic Applications. Based on a completely new architecture being built from the ground up, it will at first supplement and then eventually replace the EDGAR system.

Justia Pre-Beta Lawyer Directory Released
Justia: Find Attorneys, Legal Aid and Legal Services - Arranged by practice areas, states and metro areas.

FEC Summarizes Party Financial Activity
Source: Federal Election Commission
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has announced that Republican party committees raised $409 million from January 2007 through June 30, 2008. This represents about a one-percent increase over a similar period in 2006, but reflects a 12-percent decline in funds raised during the first six months of the 2004 Presidential campaign. Democratic party committees continued to raise more money than in previous years, with total receipts of $351.1 million from January 2007 through June 30, 2008. This is an increase of 21 percent over a similar period in 2006 and 26 percent higher than in 2004.

New GAO Report and Correspondence (PDFs)
Source: Government Accountability Office
18 August 2008
+ Reports
1. PBGC Assets: Implementation of New Investment Policy Will Need Stronger Board Oversight
2. Food and Drug Administration: Approval and Oversight of the Drug Mifeprex
3. Supply Chain Security: CBP Works with International Entities to Promote Global Customs Security Standards and Initiatives, but Challenges Remain
+ Correspondence
1. Superfund: Funding and Reported Costs of Enforcement and Administration Activities

Thoughts from the Bonesetter’s Daughter, a novel by Amy Tan
Some people talk about peeves more than passions.
Discoveries are refreshing.
Television can be an artificial caregiver.

Novel of the week according to The Week, August 22-29, 2008
The Lace Reader by Brunomia Barry—bizarre set of characters in Salem, Massachusetts

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has ruled that the NFL did not violate the Sherman Antitrust Act when it awarded an exclusive license for its apparel to Reebok. The plaintiff in the case was American Needle Inc., which prior to 2000 was one of several vendors licensed to make apparel for the National Football League. In 2000, the NFL awarded an exclusive license for most of its apparel to Reebok. American Needle then filed suit against the NFL in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, claiming that the league was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, which outlaws any "contract, combination... or conspiracy, in restraint of trade."
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202423923888

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog in three acts starring Dr. Horrible/Billy Buddy, Penny and Captain Hammer—was shot in six days and viewed more than 2.2 million times in its first week. Please send home for viewing if you are at work.
http://www.hulu.com/videos/search?query=horrible

On August 20, 1882 the "1812 Overture" debuted in Moscow. Pyotor Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote the piece to commemorate Russia's defense in 1812 at the Battle of Borodino against Napoleon's invasion of Russia. The piece includes 16 cannon shots, which are written into the piece along with all the other orchestral instruments. The overture is 15 minutes long, and begins with a Russian Orthodox hymn, moving through traditional and military themes to convey the distress of the Russian people at the invading French. But even though it is a piece about Russia and France, it's now a popular choice for patriotic American festivals. This tradition began in 1935 when Chicago's Grant Park Orchestra performed it for the Fourth of July. Now the Boston Pops Orchestra plays it every year for their huge July 4th celebrations. It's played every July 4th on the Capitol Lawn in Washington, D.C., and the United States Army Band performs the piece every August.
August 20 is the birthday of the poet Edgar Albert Guest, (books by this author) born in Birmingham, England, in 1881. He spent most of his life in Detroit, and he is the first and only poet laureate of Michigan. After his father died, Guest dropped out of high school to work full time at the Detroit Free Press, where he went from copy boy to reporter. He wrote poems that were syndicated in over 300 American newspapers, and these verses were called "Breakfast Table Chat." Even though Guest was the author of more than 11,000 poems, he called himself "a newspaper man who wrote poems."
The Writer’s Almanac