Blog

NAFTA

August 20, 1993
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Here it comes! The Mexico-Washington-Wall St. propaganda juggernaut to push through Congress the North American free trade agreement (NAFTA) has hit the road. First come the op-ed columns by such revolving door lobbyists as Carla Hills (who negotiates the agreement as a Bush official, then heads a rich consulting firm representing foreign and domestic companies…

Essential Redlining Paper

August 15, 1993
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Ever notice that the local television news has become a local street crime news program, along with the prolonged weather report and sports. In city after city, inner city crime on the streets dominates the television stations’ endless appetite for violence, sex and addiction. But high up in the office building towering over the cities…

Birdwatching

August 6, 1993
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What is it that the whiskered tern — a 12 inch bird -­possesses that Congress does not have? Watch Appeal! We, the citizen watchers of Congress in Washington, D.C., can only shake our heads in awe at the pulling power of this little bird. Last month this gray and white feathered bird was seen at…

Senate Securities Subcommitees Hypocrisy

July 30, 1993
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Those of you who have read about fraud, greed and mismanagement of many S&Ls, banks, insurance companies, brokerage firms and other hybrid financial institutions might have shared my amazement at recent hearings by the Senate Securities Subcommittee. The Subcommittee was not at all focused on strengthening the corporate criminal laws and reducing the legal roadblocks…

Aborting Girls, Keeping Boys in China

July 24, 1993
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New technology often generates widely differing guesses of its impact on society. Not so with the widely available ultrasound scanner in China where married couples are prohibited by the government from having more than one or two children. As tens of thousands of these scanners, costing $1000 each, find their way to an emerging market…

Clinton, Anne Bingamon, and Antitrust

July 17, 1993
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“Many consumers have never heard of antitrust laws, but when these laws are effectively and responsibly enforced, they can save consumers millions and even billions of dollars a year in illegal overcharges. Most states have antitrust laws, and so does the federal government. Essentially, these laws prohibit business practices that unreasonably deprive consumers of the…

Letter to Clinton About Access to Him by Citizen Groups

July 9, 1993
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This is an open letter to President Bill Clinton. Dear President Clinton: In choosing which groups to speak before, and which individuals to meet with in the White House, Presidents send compelling signals about their character and their agendas. You have been President for almost six months and your meetings and audiences in Washington, D.C.,…

Media Obsession with Sensationalism

July 2, 1993
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It happens almost every day all over the country at the local, state and national scenes. Americans banding together wish to communicate a cause or publicize a protest to a larger audience over the media. They have news conferences, put out a report or petition and try to be newsworthy. But little or no media…

What PrimeTime Live Didn’t Tell You About Government Waste

June 25, 1993
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For the second time in six months, Prime Time Live (ABC-TV) and Sam Donaldson devoted one hour to more examples of waste in the federal government. A guided tour into the land of taxpayer-funded boondoggles, the program covered lots of ground. There was the $16 million to refurbish the underground Congressional subway to reduce the…

Overcommercialism

June 18, 1993
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Years ago, the word “overcommercialized” used to apply to highway billboards marring the landscape. Look what rampaging commercialism is now like. Item: Governor Branstad of Iowa is opening the state tax instruction booklet to advertisements by accounting firms, banks and other companies eager to reach 1.3 million individual taxpayers He wants to solicit ads for…