Skip to contentBlog
By Ralph NaderOriginally published on July 9, 2006 in the Baltimore SunIn no other Western democracy do third-party or independent candidates confront more obstacles and exclusions from contributing to a competitive democratic process than in the United States. These include both legal obstacles and an abject lack of media coverage.Legal impediments include ballot access barriers,…
Millions of Americans will enjoy the ocean beaches this coming weekend. Tens of millions live within a few miles of the Atlantic and the Pacific. Yet if they could, these oceans would be crying out for help. Just a few days ago, another foreboding peril was documented connecting global warming with the accelerating deterioration of…
June 30, 2006 Justice Antonin ScaliaSupreme Court of the United StatesWashington, D.C. 20543 Dear Justice Scalia, In January, we wrote you to “inquire as to how the application of Bill of Rights and related constitutional protections to the artificial creations known as corporations can be squared with a constitutional interpretation theory of ‘originalism.’” We have…
Whatever led to the metastasis of corporate demons inside the brain of the Democratic Party over the last thirty years, it has paid off the business establishment. The cost of freezing the minimum wage has deprived millions of working Americans of trillions of dollars for their necessities of life. A few Democrats, most prominently Senator…
The Honorable Jennifer M. GranholmGovernorP.O. Box 30013Lansing, Michigan 48909 I am writing to urge you to veto SB 297, legislation repealing the all-rider motorcycle helmet law. Public opinion strongly favors all-rider motorcycle helmet use laws. Last week’s crash involving NFL star Ben Roethlisberger demonstrated the recklessness of not wearing a helmet and the crucial role…
You have noticed, to be sure, how our nation’s politics gravitates to the binary position year after year. Webster’s dictionary defines “binary” as “something made of two things or parts.” So, parties, politicians and voters are overwhelmingly either characterized as conservative—right wing or liberal-left wing. I’ve never thought the binary approach was very useful; it…
On this day of infamy, an agrarian revival in the middle of urban impoverishment was stamped out by a developer whose price was met by the City of Los Angeles but whose obstinacy prevailed all the way to the bulldozers he hired to destroy the carefully cultivated little gardens. The developer has acquired a 14…
Who would have thought when the Dixie Chicks were selling more than 10 million copies each of “Wide Open Spaces” (1998) and “Fly” (1999) that they would become the most controversial band in America? Even more improbable was the likelihood that three young women would have the strength of character and personality to stand their…
South Central Farm, Los Angeles—The showdown is likely here this week over the preservation of this nation’s largest urban farm worked by 350 families for 13 years to feed themselves and their neighbors a dazzling variety of organic produce. Will the Sheriff of Los Angeles County move on this 14 acre farm with dozens of…
As the Little League season gets into full swing for millions of young baseball and softball players across the country, their health and safety on the playing field will significantly benefit from an addition in the Little League rules this year — a requirement for breakaway bases. Rule 1.06 of the 2006 Little League Baseball…