Thursday, January 19, 2012 Congress Needs to Get to Work (3 comments)
This year, Congress will spend well over $3 billion on its own expenses to do nothing of significance other than shift more debt to individual taxpayers by depleting the social security payroll tax by over $100 billion so both parties can say they enacted a tax cut! That is what the Democrats in Congress and the President call a significant accomplishment.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 Iran: The Neocons Are At It Again (4 comments)
The same neocons who persuaded George W. Bush and crew to, in Ron Paul's inimitable words, "lie their way into invading Iraq" in 2003, are beating the drums of war more loudly these days to attack Iran. It is remarkable how many of these war-mongers are former draft dodgers who wanted other Americans to fight the war in Vietnam.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 How can the expectation levels of this two party duopoly sink any lower? (17 comments)
President Obama is deemed by his fellow Democrats to have won the financial battles, but the Republicans won the rest. How can the expectation levels of this two party duopoly sink any lower?
Wednesday, October 19, 2011 Time to Allow Farmers to Once Again Start Growing Hemp (7 comments)
Not only does hemp have a wide range of uses, but its cultivation in the United States could help to spur our lagging economy. Since the cultivation of hemp is outlawed in the United States, the U.S. market for hemp and hemp-based products is entirely dependent upon imports.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011 Putting the Lie to the Republicans (3 comments)
Wake up Democrats. Learn the political art of truthful repetition to counter the cruelest Republicans who ever crawled up Capitol Hill. You've got massive, documented materials to put the Lie to the Republicans.
Saturday, September 3, 2011 The Empire is Eating Itself -- Painful Lessons From 9/11 (14 comments)
We the people have not exercised our civic duties enough to make our representatives in Congress fulfill their obligations under the Constitution to decide whether we go to war and act as a watchdog of the president's conduct. The Libyan war was decided and funded by President Obama without congressional approval.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011 Tar Sands Arrests on Obama's Doorstep (1 comments)
At moments of reflection, those 1,000 citizens standing tall before the White House must look up at the sun and all the forms of available renewable energy it gave this planet zillions of years ago and wonder how nuts our life-sustaining star must think Earthlings have been all these years.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 Verizon; Going Increasingly Wireless and Increasingly Shameless (2 comments)
Here are just a few of the concessions the new Verizon CEO, Lowell McAdam, is insisting upon:
-More power to contract out and offshore jobs to add to the 25,000 already in that category; thereby undermining job security.
-a freeze on pensions;
-elimination of the sickness and death benefit program;
-reduction in sick days;
-major increase in employee contributions to and deductibles under their health insurance coverage
Friday, August 12, 2011 Ray Anderson: Enlightened CEO and Environmentalist (2 comments)
The loss of Ray Anderson at age 77 took from our country the greatest CEO, the greatest engineer, the greatest hands-on educator of industry making peace with the planet, of them all.
Monday, August 8, 2011 Call it the "TEA PARTY Downgrade" (24 comments)
these House and Senate Tea Partiers are like mad dogs -- at times even beyond control of their political and corporate masters. Fanatics neither think nor blink in their hostage politics.
Monday, July 18, 2011 The Corporate Supreme Court; Time For Impeachment (60 comments)
Five Supreme Court Justices--Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, Alito and Kennedy are entrenching, in a whirlwind of judicial dictates, judicial legislating and sheer ideological judgments, a mega-corporate supremacy over the rights and remedies of individuals.
The artificial entity called "the corporation" has no mention in our Constitution whose preamble starts with "We the People," not "We the Corporation."
Tuesday, July 5, 2011 Discussing a Taboo Subject; Mandatory Voting (9 comments)
The first nationally televised debate (C-SPAN) on the subject of mandatory voting, or voting duty, occurred in Washington D.C. on June 27, 2011 Why did it take so long? Because discussing this topic has been a taboo in electoral, legislative and main media arenas.
Saturday, June 18, 2011 Waging Another Unconstitutional War (7 comments)
In 2007, then-Senator Barack Obama stated that "the president does not have any power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation." Vice President Biden was even more vehement on this issue. And Secretary of Defense Robert Gates originally opposed the attack on Libya before falling in line.
Sunday, June 5, 2011 Open Letter to President Barack Obama from E.coli 0104:H4 (4 comments)
In the past two days of detention, scientists have subjected me to "enhanced interrogation," as if I have any will to give up my secrets.
Thursday, May 26, 2011 Revitalizing the AFL-CIO (1 comments)
Mr. Obama promised labor in 2008 to press for a $9.50 federal minimum wage by 2011, and the Employee Free Choice Act, especially "card check," and then forgot about both commitments.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 Taking Progressives for Granted (10 comments)
Cuomo calls himself "a progressive Democrat who's broke." A progressive Democrat would push for sacrifice at the wealthy top and work down if necessary.
Friday, April 1, 2011 President Obama Treats Tax Dodging GE's Immelt Better than Consumer Protecting Elizabeth Warren (8 comments)
Selecting Elizabeth Warren and backing her fully through the nomination process will always be remembered by Americans across the land. Not doing so will not be forgotten by those same persons. This is another way of saying she has the enthusiastic constituency of "hope and change" -- that is "change you can believe in!"
Sunday, March 20, 2011 Nuclear Nightmare (4 comments)
Japan's nightmare should be a wake up call for Americans.We need to deal with issues associated with nuclear enery now.
Monday, March 14, 2011 In The Public Interest: PBS-NPR-Leaning Right (2 comments)
National Public Radio has been moving right for years. Americans don't seem to understand NPR belongs to them while the corporate welfare bums like Hannity & Limbaugh get richer & richer.
Saturday, February 19, 2011 Time to Topple Corporate Dictators (23 comments)
America needs to follow the example of Egypt today and look in the mirror to find who can rescue the USA from runaway corporate control. Big business is successfully rewriting the nation's charter to assign power, rights and wealth to themselves and their puppets in government and media. Show up now at polls, rallies, marches and public hearings because it's exactly what Jefferson would do.
Monday, December 27, 2010 Pharmaceutical Industry Fraud (2 comments)
In the past, the Pentagon took top honors at being most effective at defrauding the government,now it's the pharmaceutical companies.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010 Wikimania and the First Amendment (10 comments)
Wasn't it Jefferson who said that "information is the currency of democracy" and that, given a choice between government and a free press, he'll take the latter? Secrecy-keeping the people and Congress in the dark-is the cancer eating at the vitals of democracy.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010 Majority of One (6 comments)
Last Friday, Sanders tore the covers off an oligarchic driven Congress and a concessionary President with eight-and-a-half hours of non-stop presentations of facts and figures and a plea for fairness and justice. His goal was not heated rhetoric, though he showed deep moral indignation, but to attempt to rally the American people "to voice their feelings" to their members of Congress via phone calls, letters and e-mails.
Monday, November 29, 2010 Missing the Mark on Deficits (2 comments)
Two deficit commissions & next to nothing from the establishment insiders that indicates our government is even aware let alone actually operates on behalf of the best interests of the American people.
Monday, November 22, 2010 My Friend Barack (5 comments)
After nearly two years out, I can imagine George W. Bush writing his successor the following letter:
First, I can scarcely believe my good fortune as to how your foreign and military policies--"continuity" was the word used recently by my good friend, Joe Lieberman--has protected my legacy. More than protected, you've proven yourself just as able--and I may say sometimes even more so--to "kick ass" as my Daddy used to say.
Friday, September 24, 2010 What would explain a Republican win in November? (4 comments)
How does the Big Business-indentured Republican Party get away with expectations of a runaway election victory this November? If such a victory should occur, it will be due to a ten percent or so shift in voters who voted Democratic in 2008 and are expected to vote Republican this year or stay home in despair or disgust. What would explain such a shift in voter preference?
Friday, September 10, 2010 What keeps the Democrats from making their case? (52 comments)
The Democratic Party's problems are much deeper than the Sunday talk shows indicate. First the Democrats do not have a progressive political philosophy. They could learn from a four time winner--Franklin Delano Roosevelt--when it comes to being perceived as the working families friend.
Friday, September 3, 2010 Labor Day pean for underappreciated workers (2 comments)
The hands-on workers who harvest our food, clean up after us, repair our property, look out after our health and safety conditions and serve as nannies to our children receive few honors, status or anywhere near the compensation of those who gamble with our money, entertain us or drive us into wars they don't fight themselves.
Saturday, August 14, 2010 GM Pollutes On Our Dime While Community Banks Die On The Vine (2 comments)
Obama is playing corporate favorites with the TARP bailouts, shunning a community bank that has successfully served "red-line" districts but experienced the same default rates as the "too big to fail" banks after they destroyed our economy losing risky bets. GM, on the other hand kept it's pollution-lobbying arm after the US taxpayer assumed 61% of the company with Obama's toothless EPA keeping mum about cleaner cars.
Friday, July 9, 2010 Ralph Nader's Suggested Summer Reading
Ten books to help you emerge from the summer smarter about politics, the economy, nature -- and life in general.
Saturday, May 29, 2010 RESTORE THE CONGRESSIONAL OTA
When the Republican Gingrich devolution took over Congress in 1995, it stripped the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) of all its funding and left it a shell with no experts to advise committees and members of Congress.
Bad mistake for America.
Friday, May 21, 2010 Senate Goes Light and Leaves Out A Lot on Finance Bill (2 comments)
In the end, late on Thursday's Senate passage of the financial regulation bill, the Senate had no time for independent, non-government consumer power. In the end, after listening to swarms of corporate bank, brokerage, hedge fund, private equity, and insurance lobbyists, the Senate had no time for Senator Chuck Schumer's amendment to create a non-profit Financial Consumers Association (FCA, SA 3772).
Friday, April 9, 2010 Coal Kills (7 comments)
The tragedy at the Massey Energy Company's very profitable Upper Big Branch coal mine at Montcoal, West Virginia, which so far has cost 25 miners' lives, is another reminder of the immense human and environmental cost of this fuel.
More coal miners have lost their lives from cave-ins, explosions and lung disease since 1900 than all the Americans who died in World War II. The devastation extends to chronic sickness from...
Tuesday, March 23, 2010 Middle East Game Changer? (6 comments)
What Obama's people are publically starting to say is that regional peace is about U.S. vital interests in that large part of the Middle East and, ultimately, the safety of American soldiers and personnel. As one retired diplomat commented "This could be a game-changer."
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 Senate Has Become Graveyard of Congress (2 comments)
he Senate lies paralyzed even as it is controlled by 59 Democrats--usually enough for comfortable passage of legislation sought by a majority party that also controls the presidency.
A combination of a few reactionary Dem Senators, a unified pro-corporate Republican opposition, anti-democratic Senate rules and the decades-long weakening of citizen and trade union groups have combined to produce a constipated Senate
Friday, February 12, 2010 Beware the Nuclear Power Lobbyists (6 comments)
Making his case with brilliant concision, Lovins, a consultant to
business and the Defense Department, demonstrated with numbers and
other data that nuclear power "is being dramatically outcompeted in
the global marketplace by no and low-carbon power resources that
deliver far more climate solution per dollar, far faster." However, the swarm of nuclear power lobbyists is gaining headway in Congress, spreading their money.
Friday, January 22, 2010 The Supreme Court decision further weakens our democracy (11 comments)
Yesterday's 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission shreds the fabric of our already weakened democracy by allowing corporations to more completely dominate our corrupted electoral process.
Friday, January 8, 2010 Nader: Talk Dorgan Out of Quitting (3 comments)
Will Senator Dodd use his lame duck status to his advantage? And what of Senator Dorgan?
Ralph Nader gives voice to some intriguing questions.
Friday, December 11, 2009 Obama Violates His Own Criteria for a "Just War" (17 comments)
President Obama, the Afghan war escalator, received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, and proceeded to deliver his acceptance speech outlining the three criteria for a -"just war-"- which he himself is violating.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 Dear President Obama; Who Are You Getting Your Afganistan Advice From? (8 comments)
Who would have thought last year that on assuming the presidency, that you would consider plunging deeper in to this quagmire without an exit strategy? The deeper you plunge, the greater your rejection of the history of occupations fueling insurgencies in that region. The more you insulate yourself from contrary judgments to those you have been receiving from your inner councils.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 Health Ins. "Reform" Over: Dems Failing the People, Republicans Disgracing Selves (13 comments)
The House of Representatives debate on the health insurance “reform” is over with the Democrats failing the people and the Republicans disgracing themselves as having left their minds back in the third grade (with apologies to third graders).
House Democrats were determined to pass any bill with a nice sounding name...
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 Ralph Nader: Only the Super Rich Can Save Us! (7 comments)
Will an awakening of conscience among the progressive super-rich save America from the its baser tendencies? Warren Buffet plays a central role in my first work of fiction, Only the Super Rich Can Save US!
Sunday, September 6, 2009 Words in the service of corporate masters. (1 comments)
The corporate controlled media and their proxies continue their vicious, and soporific, assault on the citizens of this nation.
This article by Ralph Nader discusses clearly and succinctly the erosion of truth and reality by what is left of journalism today.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 The Drive for Single Payer (2 comments)
After protests at Senate hearings and health care events by single payer advocates (visit singlepayeraction.org), 6 physicians from Oregon, calling themselves “Mad as Hell Doctors,” are crossing the country in a Winnebago making stops in nearly 30 cities, to advance full medicare for all. Everybody in, nobody out.
After Obama's met with scores of Health Care CEOS he refuse outright to meet with these advocates
Saturday, July 25, 2009 Obama Learned Next to Nothing From the Clintons On Health Care Reform (9 comments)
Affordable health care for all Americans is being sacrificed at the alter of greed. Why President Obama is repeating mistakes from the past by allowing conservative Democrats to sabotage his reforms.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 Last Year's Excuses Are Gone. Come On Already (28 comments)
Face it, America. You are a corporate-controlled country with the symbols of democracy in the constitution and statutes just that-symbols of what the founding fathers believed or hoped would be reality.
Thursday, July 2, 2009 Did Obama Appoint People With Track Record of Making Right Decisions? (1 comments)
Here is a fundamental question that should have been asked of presidential candidate Barack Obama: "If you get to the White House, will you appoint to top positions Americans who have a track record of making the right decisions in their respective fields?"
"Of course, I will," Obama would have undoubtedly replied.
Of course, he did not...
Saturday, May 9, 2009 The Single Payer Taboo (6 comments)
Among the giant taboos afflicting Congress these days is the proposal to create a single payer health insurance system (often called full Medicare for everyone).
How can this be? Don't the elected politicians represent the people? Don't they always have their finger to the wind?
Well, single payer is only supported by a majority of the American people, physicians and nurses.
Friday, April 10, 2009 Where were the giant accounting firms? (8 comments)
An indictment of the accounting firms, which are supposed to be our first-line defense against fraud and deceit. These are supposed to be independent professionals with judgment about real, underlying value. Evidence is that they were paid big money to rubber-stamp Wall Street's cooked books.
Friday, March 13, 2009 In the Public Interest (2 comments)
Here are seven avoidance indicators which outline what Washington is not doing to prevent another round of greed and misdeeds by the Wall Street few against the innocent many throughout the country.
