Blog

Sending Citizens Summons to Members of Congress

July 24, 2015
Posted in

With the long congressional recess in August through Labor Day approaching, “We the People” have the opportunity to do more than complain about the Congress and individual Senators and Representatives. There are many issues affecting you and your communities that need to be addressed by members of Congress. Over the years, it has become increasingly…

Yours To Know: Worst Pills, Best Pills

July 17, 2015
Posted in

When I co-founded the Public Citizen Health Research Group with Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe in 1971, he declared that this was his “last job.” The drug industry might have been advised to quiver. For through his Worst Pills, Best Pills books, newsletters and spectacular outreach via the Phil Donahue show, he has exposed by brand…

Smarter Foreign Policies or Bigger Blowbacks?

July 10, 2015
Posted in

Are Washington’s relentless bombings and military immersions in sectarian battles within Arab and neighboring regions accelerating the spread of terrorist attacks? Yes. The recent rash of terror attacks in Kuwait, Tunisia, Somalia, France, and other countries are tragic examples of the strategic failures of our government and its very heavy reliance on military interventions, including…

Letter to Jeff Bezos

July 6, 2015
Posted in

Jeff Bezos Amazon.com, Inc. P.O. Box 81226 Seattle, WA 98108-1226 Dear Mr. Bezos, I just learned that Mr. Paul E. Misener, VP of Global Public Policy for Amazon is testifying on Tuesday July 7, 2015 before the Senate Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security. The hearing is on the topic…

Enough! Stop More Giant Truck-Trailers on Your Highways

July 2, 2015
Posted in ,

Are you one of the millions of people in the United States who drives a car every day? How do you react to the trucking industry, whose lobbyists with ample campaign cash swarm over Congress, pressing for a rider to a transportation appropriations bill to be passed to overturn laws in 39 states that currently…

“King Obama,” his Royal Court, and the TPP

June 25, 2015
Posted in

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – a global corporate noose around U.S. local, state, and national sovereignty – narrowly passed a major procedural hurdle in the Congress by gaining “fast track” status. This term “fast track” is a euphemism for your members of Congress – senators and representatives – handcuffing themselves, so as to prevent any…

Trump for President? Giving the GOP Nightmares

June 19, 2015
Posted in

Donald Trump, the bombastic builder of Trump towers and Trump gambling casinos is moving from his reality TV show to the theater of presidential elections. If he survives the first three months of mass media drubbing him and his notorious affliction of ‘leaving no impulsive opinion behind,’ he’s going to be trouble for the other…

Coming Soon: No More Coming in Second and Winning the Presidency

June 12, 2015
Posted in

In the history of the United States, four presidential candidates who came in second in the popular vote were “elected” president (John Quincy Adams in 1824, Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876, Benjamin Harrison in 1888, and George W. Bush in 2000). This inversion of democratic elections was due to the fifty states’ winner-take-all laws and…

The Perpetual Punitive Machine Backfires

June 5, 2015
Posted in

Our nation has a penchant for creating unnecessary complexity and obstacles for its people in areas such as the tax, health insurance and student debt miasmas. The prison industry adds to this with what it euphemistically calls “collateral consequences.” In simple language, this means a series of state-based statutory punishments – rooted in the medieval…

Will Bernie Sanders Take on Hillary?

May 29, 2015
Posted in

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is off and running after his formal announcement for the presidency this past Tuesday before 5,000 cheering supporters in Burlington, Vermont. He is starting from the region that launched the American Revolution and he is promising to “begin a political revolution to transform our country economically, politically, socially and environmentally,” with…