EPA - Accountability would have a "chilling effect"

The summary is taken from the following quote from EPA Associate Administrator Christopher Bliley (Source: SFGate.com article):

"EPA is concerned about the chilling effect that would occur if agency employees believed their frank and honest opinions and analysis expressed as part of assessing California's waiver request were to be disclosed in a broad setting,"

Requesting:

1. Evidence or studies suggesting that EPA employees would perform less satisfactorily in an environment with an emphasis on transparency, where they may be held accountable for their decision making methods.

"Video games have hurt far more people than they have helped"

This time it's a quote from Jack Thompson, in the Daily Mail newspaper.

The major problem with making an assertion such as this is that it is essentially impossible to prove either way.

The secondary problem is, how does one define 'hurt' and 'helped' objectively? If I play Tetris for a 5 minutes a day and develop Repetitive Strain Injury after a week - does that count? Plus - just how dangerous are video games? Googling "sports ~injuries" returns 21m results compared with 5.8m results for "video game ~injuries" - if anything more people playing video games means less getting injured playing sports. How would you even begin to assess any positive impact video games have?

Luckily it's not my problem as I didn't make a statement in public which is impossible (allegedly) to verify.

Requesting:

1. Any research or papers which address the issue of how to define and measure the terms 'hurt' and 'helped'
2. Any research or papers which determine that video games 'hurt' more than they 'help'

Response:
Jack Thompson (Jan 18th 2008):
"I was never interviewed by the paper. I never said that, and I would never
say that. It is a total fabrication, and I have complained to the paper
about it."

Is it really Industry 'Best Practice' to recycle archival tapes?

I don't believe it is, and this is where I disagree with Theresa Payton, chief information officer for the White House Office of Administration. Still, I've only been in the Industry for 11 years, so I might have missed that memo.

Now, if you clicked on that last link you may notice that it contains absolutely no contact information whatsoever - fair enough, the Office of Administration describes its sole function is to advise and assist the President - so I'll have to try the generic comments@whitehouse.gov, and request that they forward this on to the relevant department.

Requesting:

1. Sources to back up the claim that recycling archival tapes is 'Best Practice' in any industry.