Minutes for the June 18, 2004 meeting of the Texas Stonewall Democratic Caucus, discussing treasurers reports, bylaws, election of officers, and other business addressed during the meeting.

Email from Joyce Schones to multiple recipients on June 8, 2004, asking members to support Kathy Bannon, who is running for the State Democratic Executive Committee as the female representative from Senate District 8.

Handwritten note written on the back of recycled paper listing names of individuals on June 7, 2004.

A campaign flyer encouraging people to elect Anthony Pace for SD8 National Delegate with a list of his political activities and background.

Texas Daily Newspaper Associations' 2004 Elections for 2005 Board of Directors document. The document states that the nomination committee must elect 3/4 new people depending on who is elected treasurer to fill their unexpired term if they're nominated to change positions.

Report summary describing the work completed at UNO National Ports and Waterways Institute for 'Deepwater Program: Supply Logistics of OCS Oil and Gas Development in the Gulf of Mexico - Evaluation of Technological and Economic Parameters of Ports as Supply and Manufacturing Bases'. It includes background information on the project funding and sponsorship, goals, methodology, and findings.

This statement was given by Jerri-Anne Garl the director of the Office of Strategic Environmental Analysis before the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment Transportation Infrastructure Committee of the United States House of Representatives.

Report summary describing the work completed at Florida State University for 'Analysis and Validation of a Mechanism that Generates Strong Mid-Depth Currents and a Deep Cyclonic Gyre in the Gulf of Mexico'. It includes background information on the project funding and sponsorship, goals, methodology, and findings.

Dynamic time expansion or compression of a small amplitude input signal generated with an initial scale is performed using a nonlinear waveguide. A nonlinear waveguide having a variable refractive index is connected to a bias voltage source having a bias signal amplitude that is large relative to the input signal to vary the reflective index and concomitant speed of propagation of the nonlinear waveguide and an electrical circuit for applying the small amplitude signal and the large amplitude bias signal simultaneously to the nonlinear waveguide. The large amplitude bias signal with the input signal alters the speed of propagation of the small-amplitude signal with time in the nonlinear waveguide to expand or contract the initial time scale of the small-amplitude input signal.

A detector for time-resolved small-angle x-ray scattering includes a nearly constant diameter, evacuated linear tube having an end plate detector with a first fluorescent screen and concentric rings of first fiber optic bundles for low angle scattering detection and an annular detector having a second fluorescent screen and second fiber optic bundles concentrically disposed about the tube for higher angle scattering detection. With the scattering source, i.e., the specimen under investigation, located outside of the evacuated tube on the tube's longitudinal axis, scattered x-rays are detected by the fiber optic bundles, to each of which is coupled a respective photodetector, to provide a measurement resolution, i.e., dq/q, where q is the momentum transferred from an incident x-ray to an x-ray scattering specimen, of 2% over two (2) orders of magnitude in reciprocal space, i.e., qmax/qmin approx=lO0.

An horizontal advanced tensiometer is described that allows the monitoring of the water pressure of soil positions, particularly beneath objects or materials that inhibit the use of previous monitoring wells. The tensiometer includes a porous cup, a pressure transducer (with an attached gasket device), an adaptive chamber, at least one outer guide tube which allows access to the desired horizontal position, a transducer wire, a data logger and preferably an inner guide tube and a specialized joint which provides pressure on the inner guide tube to maintain the seal between the gasket of the transducer and the adaptive chamber.

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The executive branch hired nearly 95,000 new employees during fiscal year 2003. Improving the federal hiring process is critical given the increasing number of new hires expected in the next few years. In May 2003, GAO issued a report highlighting several key problems in the federal hiring process. That report concluded that the process needed improvement and included several recommendations to address the problems. Today, GAO is releasing a followup report requested by the subcommittee that discusses (1) the status of recent efforts to help improve the federal hiring process and (2) the extent to which federal agencies are using two new hiring flexibilities--category rating and direct-hire authority. Category rating permits an agency manager to select any job candidate placed in a best-qualified category. Direct-hire authority allows an agency to appoint individuals to positions without adherence to certain competitive examination requirements when there is a severe shortage of qualified candidates or a critical hiring need."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The General Accounting Office (GAO) discussed some of the work the it is undertaking to address various operations and rebuilding efforts in Iraq. Specifically, GAO has a body of ongoing work looking at a range of issues involving Iraq, including Iraq's transitional administrative law, efforts to restore essential services to the Iraqi people, and the effectiveness of logistics activities during Operation Iraqi Freedom, among others. Importantly, given the challenging security environment in Iraq and the various other accountability organizations involved in the oversight process, it is attempting to coordinate its engagement planning and execution with other organizations as appropriate. In this testimony it discussed (1) its report (GAO-04-605) that was released yesterday on the contract award procedures for contracts awarded in fiscal year 2003 to help rebuild Iraq and (2) its preliminary findings on the military's use of global logistics support contracts. These support contracts have emerged as important tools in providing deployed military services with a wide range of logistics services."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Farmers receive about $15 billion annually in federal payments to help produce major crops, such as corn, cotton, rice, and wheat. The Farm Program Payments Integrity Act of 1987 (1987 Act) limits payments to individuals and entities--such as corporations and partnerships--that are "actively engaged in farming." This testimony is based on GAO's report, Farm Program Payments: USDA Needs to Strengthen Regulations and Oversight to Better Ensure Recipients Do Not Circumvent Payment Limitations (GAO-04-407, April 30, 2004). Specifically, GAO (1) determined how well USDA's regulations limit payments and (2) assessed USDA's oversight of the 1987 Act."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Since the end of the Gulf War in 1991, many of the approximately 700,000 U.S. veterans have experienced undiagnosed illnesses. They attribute these illnesses to exposure to chemical warfare (CW) agents in plumes--clouds released from bombing of Iraqi sites. But in 2000, the Department of Defense (DOD) estimated that of the 700,000 veterans, 101,752 troops were potentially exposed. GAO was asked to evaluate the validity of DOD, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and British Ministry of Defense (MOD) conclusions about troops' exposure."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1936, the Social Security Administration (SSA) established the Social Security number (SSN) to track workers' earnings for social security benefit purposes. Today, private and public sector entities frequently ask individuals for SSNs in order to conduct their businesses and sometimes to comply with federal laws. Although uses of SSNs can be beneficial to the public, SSNs are also a key piece of information in creating false identities either for financial misuse or for assuming an individual's identity. The retention of SSNs in the public and private sectors can create opportunities for identity theft. In addition, the aggregation of personal information, such as SSNs, in large corporate databases, as well as the public display of SSNs in various records accessed by the public, may provide criminals the opportunity to easily obtain this personal information. Given the heightened awareness of identity crimes, this testimony focuses on describing (1) how private sector entities obtain, use, and protect SSNs, and (2) public sector uses and protections of SSNs."

Transcript of the twelfth public hearing held by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States held June 16, 2004 at the NTSB Conference Center in Washington, D.C. The two-day hearing focused on two distinct topics: the 9-11 Plot and the federal government's immediate response to the attacks on September 11, 2001.On June 16 at the National Transportation Safety Board Conference Center, the Commission heard from several of the federal government's top law enforcement and intelligence experts on al Qaeda and the 9-11 plot. The hearing resumed on June 17, with the top military and civilian aviation officials testifying about their agencies' responses to the 9-11 attacks. In addition to witness testimony, three staff statements were presented during the course of the proceedings.

Transcript of the twelfth public hearing held by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States held June 17, 2004 at the NTSB Conference Center in Washington, D.C. The two-day hearing focused on two distinct topics: the 9-11 Plot and the federal government's immediate response to the attacks on September 11, 2001.On June 16 at the National Transportation Safety Board Conference Center, the Commission heard from several of the federal government's top law enforcement and intelligence experts on al Qaeda and the 9-11 plot. The hearing resumed on June 17, with the top military and civilian aviation officials testifying about their agencies' responses to the 9-11 attacks. In addition to witness testimony, three staff statements were presented during the course of the proceedings.

Official statement issued by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States describing preliminary findings regarding the conspiracy that produced the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States.

Official statement issued by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States describing preliminary findings regarding the nature of the enemy that carried out the September 11 attacks.

Million Solar Roofs (MSR) Partners Make Markets Executive Summary is a summary of the MSR Annual Partnership Update, a report from all the partners and partnerships who participate in the MSR Initiative.

Articles focus on a training course available from EPAct and Clean Cities, flexibility in ordering AFVs for MY 2004/2005 vehicles, reporting reminders, a legislative update, and more.

A Clean Cities publication regarding the Clean Cities Coordinator Award winners announced at the 2004 Clean Cities Conference.

This document describes the research activities and accomplishments of the DOE Solar Energy Technologies Program for fiscal years 2002 and 2003. It includes detailed accounts, charts, and photos of R&D activities in the areas of photovoltaics, concentrating solar power, and solar heating and lighting