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Engler and the Big Boys

December 9, 2006
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After moving the formerly progressive state of Michigan along the road to corporate serfdom, former Governor John Engler moved seamlessly to the much higher paying position as President of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) in Washington, D.C. The internal tensions of large trade associations are rarely the subject of reporters’ attentions. For if they…

Taking the Cop Off the Corporate Crime Beat

December 2, 2006
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It is clear, in the midst of a seven year corporate financial crime wave, that the business moguls and their academic apologists, who make up the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation (CCMG) have no sense of irony. It is not enough that the CCMG’s new report is recommending less law enforcement and accountability after years…

Real Estate Investment Trusts

November 24, 2006
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The torrid pace of risks and valuations reached a new level in the business known as Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Required by federal law to pass on most of their earnings to their shareholders, REIT shares have been going up and up for eight straight years, with this year clocking an unexpected 30% rise…

Rebuilding the Democratic Party

November 17, 2006
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Bush’s Brain, Karl Rove, outsmarted himself and lost a chance to keep control of the Senate in Republican hands. It started and ended in the Connecticut Senate race with Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman as his “fatal attraction.” When “pendulum” Joe Lieberman lost the Connecticut Democratic primary in August to upstart multimillionaire Ned Lamont, Rove phoned…

Challenging the Chamber

November 11, 2006
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Unlike competing sports teams, adversaries on the corporate and consumer or environment sides rarely square off in public to provide much needed drama and media. They each testify, litigate, petition and conduct press conferences on their own track. Only very rarely do they debate each other. It is not that the drama is absent. Take…

President Bush Owes Troops an Apology

November 3, 2006
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The baying pack of belligerent draft dodgers — Messrs. Bush, Cheney and Limbaugh — were out in verbal force this week against John Kerry. The Senator miscued a joke about Bush by reading without the “us” in the line, “You end up getting us stuck in a war in Iraq. Just ask President Bush.” The…

Ralph Nader Calls on President George W. Bush to Apologize to Troops and Their Families

November 2, 2006
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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Ralph Nader 202-232-7112 Statement of Ralph NaderNovember 2, 2006 President George W. Bush has called on Senator John Kerry to apologize for saying that people unable to succeed in the U.S. educational system would likely get stuck in Iraq. Senator Kerry says he was referring to the President and his administration.…

Bill Moyers for President?

October 27, 2006
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How does “Bill Moyers for President” sound to you? The long time Democrat and special assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson would surely widen the political debate inside the Democratic Party and its primaries in 2008. For over a year, since leaving Public Television and his luminous Friday night program NOW, Moyers has been completing…

Wrecker-in-Chief

October 20, 2006
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On October 17th, George W. Bush, signed into law a bill he bulldozed through Congress that, in Senator Patrick Leahy’s prophetic words, would suspend “the writ of habeas corpus, a core value in American law, in order to avoid judicial review that prevents government abuse.” This law, whose constitutionality is in doubt and will be…

Verdict Makes Bankers Tremble

October 20, 2006
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Two state court jury verdicts against two banks–one in California and one in Texas–are sending national tremors through the merchants of debt. In El Paso, Texas, a jury awarded the Farah Manufacturing Co., a large clothing firm, $19 million to be paid by the State National Bank and other lenders. The trial, which took eight…